Winter has arrived. The gray sky hangs heavy over the low roofs of the old city's shantytowns. Fine snow falls silently, painting the bumpy alleys with a thin layer of white.
The doors and windows of Sun Guixiang's small house were tightly closed, with rags carefully stuffed into the gaps. The fire in the stove was burning red, trying to dispel the infiltrating cold.
The air was filled with the faint smell of sulfur from burning low-quality coal, and... a hint of the sweet and mellow aroma of mung bean cakes just out of the pot.
Ye Qingliu sat on the wooden chair covered with a thin old cotton pad next to the stove.
He was still wearing the old indigo cotton shirt that was too big for him, with the sleeves rolled up a few times, revealing his wrists as white as jade and his slender fingers.
The faint light of the fire danced on his handsome face. His gray-blue eyes looked quietly at the flickering charcoal fire in the furnace through the delicate silver-rimmed glasses.
His back was straight, and even though he was in a shabby room, the aloofness and refinement ingrained in his bones were not diminished in the slightest. Only the softness of his old cotton-padded jacket strangely neutralized a hint of the chill.
"Are you cold, kid?" Sun Guixiang rubbed her skinny hands covered with frostbite cracks, turned away from the stove, her cloudy eyes full of worry.
She looked at Ye Qingliu's thin old cotton coat, then at the snow falling silently outside the window, her brows furrowed.
"This snow may not look heavy, but it's freezing cold! You need to dress warmly. Grandma has prepared new clothes for you!"
Her cloudy eyes sparkled with excitement and a light like presenting a treasure. She hunched her back and walked quickly to the old wooden box in the corner.
Ye Qingliu's gray-blue gaze moved away from the fire and fell on her unusually solemn back.
The eyes behind the lenses were still calm, but with a subtle hint of alertness.
Finally, Sun Guixiang sighed with satisfaction. She turned around and came back with a neatly folded, brightly colored package in her arms.
"Come on! Kids, try this!" Sun Guixiang's voice was filled with suppressed joy. She carefully placed the package on the small wooden stool at Ye Qingliu's feet, and then carefully uncovered the wrapping cloth layer by layer.
When the contents of the package were fully revealed in the dim light of the fire and the light of snow outside the window, Ye Qingliu's gray-blue eyes behind the lenses froze for a moment, which was extremely rare and clear.
It was... a coat? Or rather, a winter coat with a decidedly childish design.
The main colors are pure sky blue and soft milky white. The coat is a short hooded cotton coat that is fluffy and soft, and you can tell at a glance that it is filled with thick cotton.
The most eye-catching thing is the large pattern of a cute puppy's head outlined in white fluff on the front of the clothes.
The round white furry nose has a wet nose tip and a cute triangular nose pattern delicately embroidered with black wool thread. Two round, slightly drooping puppy ears, also made of white fur, are three-dimensionally embellished on both sides of the brim.
The blue background is like a clear sky, and the white puppy pattern is like a fluffy cloud. The whole design is full of childishness and warmth.
There was also a hat in the package.
Not a colorful variegated hat, but a pure, fluffy white hat.
The hat is a classic melon-shaped hat style, but the material is extremely soft and fluffy white imitation rabbit fur, which is thick and warm. The brim of the hat is also rolled with a circle of the same fluffy, slightly darker beige edge. It looks and feels great, like a cloud that has just been plucked.
Finally, there's a scarf.
The scarf is made of soft light blue cashmere with a pure and gentle color and moderate length. It has no exaggerated stitches but only delicate texture.
Although it is full of childishness, the blue and white color combination is fresh and clean. The puppy pattern is cute but not childish or rough. Instead, it exudes a sense of sophistication.
Especially the fluffy white hat, which brings warmth and cuteness to the extreme.
Sun Guixiang's cloudy eyes were surprisingly bright. She picked up the blue and white puppy coat, shook it open like a treasure, and showed it to Ye Qingliu: "Look! How energetic! So warm! The material is so soft! This puppy is so festive!"
Ye Qingliu looked at the cotton coat that was full of childishness and completely opposite to his temperament, and then looked at the pure joy and expectation in Sun Guixiang's eyes without a trace of impurities.
Deep in his gray-blue eyes, beneath the frozen lake, extremely complex emotions surged: resistance, absurdity, a hint of helplessness... and, wrapped in that hot, clumsy kindness, an extremely subtle, even unconscious... loosening of compromise.
"Come on, kid, change! You'll be warm once you put it on!" Sun Guixiang picked up the blue and white puppy cotton jacket without saying a word, and motioned him to take off his old indigo cotton coat.
This time, Ye Qingliu made no obvious resistance. He remained silent, his gray-blue eyes resting calmly on Sun Guixiang's face, as if silently confirming something.
Sun Guixiang took this silence as tacit consent.
Her cloudy eyes smiled into crescents, and she immediately stepped forward, her skinny fingers reaching out to the buttons of his old indigo cotton coat with unprecedented caution and tenderness.
His movements were still a little clumsy, but full of complete cherishment, as if he was treating a rare treasure.
The buttons were undone one by one, and the old cotton coat was taken off, revealing the equally clean white shirt underneath.
Then, Sun Guixiang picked up the brand new blue and white puppy cotton jacket.
She shook it open carefully, pointed the cuff at Ye Qingliu's arm, and motioned him to put it in.
Ye Qingliu raised his arm very slowly, with an almost resigned obedience.
The soft, thick, and new-fabric-scented sleeves of his padded jacket gently wrapped around his slightly chilled arm. Then the other arm.
My dear, there is more to this chapter. Please click on the next page to continue reading. It will be even more exciting later!
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