Yu Rujia: "Alright, you're familiar with this place, we'll all follow your arrangements."
It was past nine o'clock after breakfast. Yu Rujia walked side by side with Gao Shujing, who was carrying Duoyi, with her hands in her pockets. Duofu and Duoshou followed beside them, while the other mischievous kids followed not far away, playing and frolicking.
They were wearing thick clothes and straw hats on their heads.
These straw hats were woven by Gao Guojing after he learned that they would be coming; he specially took some time to go up the mountain to collect some dry grass.
The brim of their straw hats extended past their shoulders, blocking the snowflakes from reaching them; only a few stray snowflakes managed to drift onto them.
The snow on the ground was just above the soles of my shoes, so it didn't affect my walking much.
This is a military region. Children on holiday are playing outside in groups of three or five, while the adults are still working. There are very few adults walking on the road.
Once outside the military region, the snow on the ground became thicker because the snow wasn't cleared as frequently as it was in the military region. The accumulated snow in front, plus the snow that fell last night, reached up to the calves on both sides of the road.
Duolu skipped and hopped over to Gao Shujing and asked, "Uncle, there's so much snow here! Can we have a snowball fight?"
Last night, we learned about various ways to play with snow from Gao Guojing and Xia Jingrong, and the mischievous kids have been itching to try them out.
Gao Shujing smiled slightly: "This is a main road, with people coming and going, it's not suitable for a snowball fight. Let's go further outside, there's a bigger open space and more snow there, you can have more fun."
This is a road. Even if the snow isn't cleared as frequently as in the military region, it's still cleared more often than in the mountainous areas outside.
Except for the fact that there was more snow on both sides of the road, the snow in the middle of the road they were walking on was so deep that it didn't even reach the top of their shoes.
The group walked for a few more minutes and finally saw a thick layer of snow on the ground, where some children were already playing.
Duole was having fun, so he imitated a child, scooped up a handful of snow from the ground, rolled it into a ball, and threw it at Duolu, who was jumping around.
Duolu was looking for a place to play when something hit him. He turned around and saw a snow mark on his body. Not far away, Duole was gloating over hitting him and laughing non-stop.
Doro immediately stopped looking for a place and turned his attention to Doro: "You little brat, Doro, you actually tried to ambush me. Let's see how I deal with you."
After saying that, he grabbed a snowball from the ground and threw it at Du Le a few times; the little guy turned around, the snowball missed and fell to the ground.
Duole put his hands on his hips and laughed loudly: "Second brother, you missed, you missed..."
Joy turned to sorrow when Duo Le was soon struck by a snowball from another direction—Duo Xi.
Seeing his brothers playing, Dorje also scooped up snow from the ground, made it into balls, and threw them at Dorje.
And so a chaotic battle ensued.
Duofu and Duoshou were originally standing properly next to Yu Rujia, but the mischievous kids got carried away and snowballs flew everywhere, hitting the two of them several times.
Although the two were calm and collected, they were still young at heart. When they saw something fun and were beaten up by their brothers, they quickly joined the battle.
A snowball knocked Dorje's hat askew, blocking his view. Taking advantage of the situation, Dorje threw a few more snowballs at him, knocking him to the ground and filling his mouth with snow.
Duole, oblivious to everything, pointed at Duoji and laughed loudly, "Fifth Brother, you're so useless! You actually got knocked to the ground. Watch me avenge you!"
Dorje was mocked, and the little guy rolled his eyes and reached out to pull his younger brother's leg, who was laughing smugly. Dorje was pulled to the ground by his older brother.
Dorjee: "You made fun of me, and now you've fallen down too, haha."
Dole spat several times to get the snow out of his mouth, and said unconvinced, "That doesn't count. You were knocked to the ground by the snowball, but I was dragged to the ground by you. You cheated, so it doesn't count."
A snowball hit him on the head. It was Doroo. He put his hands on his hips and said smugly, "Does this count? You two bastards, I'm the best."
Reality taught him that one shouldn't be too complacent. A huge snowball hit Doroo in the back, knocking him to the ground, where he collapsed into the thick snow.
Duolu rolled over, spat out the snow in his mouth, and wanted to see who had ambushed him. He saw Duole happily surrounding Duofu.
Duole: "Brother, your ball was huge just now, how did you do that?"
Duofu bent down and demonstrated for him: "To roll in the snow, first make a small snowball, and roll it like this. After rolling it a few times, it will become a big snowball. You can roll it as big as you want."
In the blink of an eye, a huge snowball took shape right under Dole's nose.
Duole immediately started to fight, but before he could get a big snowball, a small snowball came flying at him. It was a small snowball that flew out during the chaotic battle between Duoxi and Duoshou.
The big snowball that Du Le had just made was smashed to pieces by the small snowball.
The little guy got angry and snatched the snowball that Doroku had just rolled up, throwing it at Toshou.
Seeing her older brothers having fun, Xiao Duoyi kicked her little feet in her father's arms, wanting to get down and play with them.
After kicking a few times but still unable to break free, the little guy pulled on his father's clothes, pointed his little finger at his older brothers, and said in a babyish voice, "Dad, I want to play, play."
Gao Shujing changed the way he held his son and coaxed him gently, "Xue Leng, how about we wait until Duo Yi is a little older before we play together?"
Duoyi's bright, clear eyes darted over her older brothers, and her small, spherical body tried to lean closer to them: "Play, play, play."
Seeing this, Yu Rujia said, "Shujing, why don't you take Duoyi for a walk around the neighborhood? I'll stay here and watch the other children."
Duoyi is such a little guy, even if he's dressed in thick clothes, we still have to be careful not to let him get cold.
Gao Shujing exhaled a puff of white mist, fixing his youngest son's small body in place, and said, "Alright, I'll wait for you at the intersection ahead."
After Gao Shujing carried Xiao Duoyi away, the snowball fight between the kids grew bigger and bigger, and Yu Rujia was hit by several of their attacks.
She immediately refused and turned to join the fray.
After the snowball fight ended, the six children and one adult were covered in snow. They played for a while and built a snowman before finally finding Gao Shujing, who was holding Duoyi Ruanbaozi, waiting for them at the intersection, and going home.
Gao Shujing knew his family's appetite. After playing in the snow for half a day with the children, he and the older children often went to the market and brought back large amounts of meat, vegetables, rice, and flour every day.
After two or three days of happiness, Xia Taishun and the others were given a holiday. Except for those on duty, everyone else could rest for a few days.
After breakfast, Gao Guojing excitedly announced, "I'll take you fishing. The fish here are different from those in Shangfen Brigade. I'll show you something new today."
Duolu raised his hand and asked, "Uncle Guojing, the water outside is frozen. Where can we catch fish?"
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