Beginning of winter and the beginning of cold
After the Beginning of Winter, the north wind suddenly changes its temperament. Instead of sweeping away fallen leaves with the crispness of autumn, it carries a gloomy, pervasive chill. The sky is always gray, with low-hanging clouds, seemingly suffocating the city. Sunlight becomes rare and precious, and even when it occasionally penetrates the clouds, it appears pale and weak, devoid of warmth.
The massive floor-to-ceiling window in Ye Shu's apartment seemed like a gateway to cold. Though well-sealed, an invisible chill still seeped in, condensing into an invisible layer of coolness on the floor, walls, and furniture. He usually sat right by the window, and now, after sitting for too long, he could feel the wisps of cold air creeping up his trouser legs.
He still drank hot tea, but held the cup longer, his fingertips greedily enjoying the limited warmth. Occasionally, when he stood up to add more water, his bare feet on the slightly cool floor would bring a clear sense of the changing seasons.
That afternoon, the wind grew stronger, pounding against the windows with a soft, whistling sound. Chen Xu arrived, bundled in a thick down jacket, hat, scarf, and mask, revealing only a pair of wind-swept, red eyes. He clutched a bulging paper bag, and the moment he entered, he brought in a gust of bitter cold.
"Hiss—it's freezing, freezing!" He stamped his feet and hurriedly slammed the door shut, shutting out the howling north wind. "This damn weather, it gets cold instantly, without any pause at all!"
He took off his heavy coat, and the sweater he wore underneath looked thicker than usual. He placed the paper bag on the table and, rubbing his hands together impatiently, moved closer to the air conditioner vent. "Why don't you turn it up a bit?" He felt the temperature inside wasn't much better than outside.
"Just enough," Ye Shu replied. The "just enough" he mentioned was probably the minimum standard needed to avoid freezing.
Chen Xu curled his lips and pulled two still-hot brown paper bags from the paper bag. A warm, simple sweet aroma of caramel and starch instantly filled the air. "Quick! Freshly baked sweet potatoes! I saw them on the street and quickly bought two! They're perfect for warming your hands!"
He peeled open a paper package, revealing a reddish-brown sweet potato inside, slightly burnt and oozing with sugar. It was steaming hot and extremely tempting. He broke it in half, revealing the golden flesh steaming white, and handed it to Ye Shu: "Try it! It's very sweet!"
The scorching temperature and rich sweet fragrance form a sharp contrast with the cool air in the room, carrying a kind of unruly vitality that belongs to the streets of the city.
Ye Shu looked at the half piece of sweet potato that was almost burning, and hesitated for a moment. He was not used to such direct and rough food.
"Take it! Eat it while it's hot!" Chen Xu stuffed it into his hand without saying a word.
The scorching heat instantly penetrated the brown paper and burned the palm of his hand. The feeling was so intense that it almost stung. Ye Shu subconsciously wanted to let go, but the real warmth made him pause. He held it carefully, as if holding a small, burning piece of charcoal.
Chen Xu had already started to nibble on it. He gasped for air from the heat, but his face was filled with satisfaction. "Mmm! Delicious! This is the taste! I must eat this in winter!"
Ye Shu imitated him, taking a tiny bite. The soft, sweet potato flesh melted in his mouth, carrying the aroma of firewood. Simple, yet with a heart-piercing warmth and satiety. The warmth spread from his mouth all the way to his stomach, then rippled through his limbs, dispelling the chill that had settled within him.
He ate slowly, without speaking, the warmth and sweetness seeming to temporarily override his usual preference for clean and restrained food.
Chen Xu quickly finished his own, licking his fingers with unsatisfied satisfaction. He looked out the window at the gray sky and swaying dead branches, and sighed, "Oh, I really don't like winter. It's so cold and bleak. Everything feels so boring."
Ye followed his gaze out the window. The branches of the trees swayed in the wind, looking particularly lonely. The dead leaves on the ground were picked up by the wind, swirling around, with nowhere to go.
"It will be beautiful after the snow falls," Ye Shu said suddenly. He finished the last bite of the sweet potato, and a little sticky sugar juice stained his fingertips.
"That's also a beautiful sight to behold." Chen Xu disagreed, then curiously asked, "Hey, Ye Shu, these trees have lost all their leaves and are standing here bare. Do they... feel cold? Do they feel... desolate?"
Ye Shu lowered his head and carefully wiped his fingertips with a tissue. His movements were slow, as if he was thinking.
"Trees don't feel cold." He wiped his hands clean, threw the tissue into the trash can, and then looked up. "They just adapt to the season and gather their strength into their roots. Falling leaves isn't death, it's storage. Depression isn't the end, it's waiting."
His gaze returned to the seemingly lifeless branches outside the window. "Look at them. Even though they're bare, the shape of the branches is clearer. Each branch points in the direction it wants to go. Without the obstruction of leaves, you can see the vastness of the sky even more clearly."
Chen Xu was stunned, subconsciously following his description and looking at the trees. Sure enough, the lush green leaves had faded, and the branches, some thick and some slender, stretched out against the gray sky with an extremely clear, even somewhat sharp, posture, forming a powerful, silent pattern. Indeed... there was a different kind of beauty, different from the lushness of spring and summer.
"Wait..." Chen Xu murmured the word again.
"Hmm." Ye Shu walked to the window and lightly ran his fingers across the cold glass, as if feeling the temperature outside. "Like this roasted sweet potato. Buried in the ashes, enduring the long roasting process, only then can this ordinary root be transformed into this sweet and warm taste."
He turned and looked at Chen Xu: "The meaning of winter is not to resist the cold, but to learn how to draw warmth from deep within, how to see the essence in the bleakness, and wait quietly."
His voice was as calm as ever, but it was like a stream of hot spring water, silently soaking into Chen Xu's heart, which was curled up due to the cold.
Yes, winter is not a pause in life, but another form of accumulation and precipitation, just like trees taking energy back to their roots, and like sweet potatoes quietly accumulating sugar in the soil.
Resistance and complaining won't shorten winter; instead, they'll make it more tormenting. It's better to learn, as Ye Shu said, to extract those overlooked nutrients from it—like the simple satisfaction of a hot meal, the clear skeleton revealed after the bustle fades, and the precious moments of warmth in the cold.
Chen Xu suddenly felt that the howling north wind outside the window no longer seemed so hateful. It was just part of the rotation of the seasons, a necessary process for all things to sleep and accumulate.
He looked down at the no longer hot sweet potato on the table, picked it up, peeled it, and continued eating. Although it was a little cooler, the sweetness and satiety were still there.
"It seems... it's not that cold anymore." He said with a smile, and the subtle wrinkles in his heart caused by the change of seasons seemed to be gently smoothed out by an invisible hand.
Ye Shu stopped talking and brewed another pot of hot tea. The aroma of the tea rose up, mixing with the sweet aroma of roasted sweet potatoes that lingered in the air, forming a wonderful and warm atmosphere.
Outside the window, the north wind is still blowing and the winter is getting deeper.
But in this cold apartment, a deeper warmth that comes from acceptance and understanding is quietly spreading, fighting against the coldness of the world outside the window.
It’s the beginning of winter, and everything starts to be stored.
And some warmth is just right to brew slowly in such a season.
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