Snow cake
It's snowing outside the window.
It started during one evening self-study session.
When it snowed, Wen Sheng was working on her science exam. When she got to the physics page, she looked up and noticed that a layer of white had quietly appeared outside the window.
At first she thought it was fog, but upon closer inspection, she saw tiny snowflakes drifting silently under the lamplight, falling one by one into the deep winter night.
Some people in the classroom noticed it too, and they all instinctively leaned out the window to look. Someone exclaimed in a low voice, "It's really snowing!"
Wen Sheng put down her pen, rested her chin on her hand, and looked out the window, wondering what the old locust tree would look like when it snowed.
She couldn't help but imagine whether the locust tree was being covered by layers of white.
I later learned that it snowed all night.
When she stepped out of the dormitory the next morning, it was still dark. Her feet made a "crunch" sound as she stepped on the ground, the sound of the snow being compacted. Her breath turned into white mist in the air, which was blown away by the cold wind after a few steps.
And so, winter truly arrived.
Two whole months have passed since that day when I was dragged away under the old locust tree.
The days of my first year of high school suddenly sped up, I don't know when it started.
October and November passed, and one monthly exam and weekly test after another turned daily life into formulas and scores. Classroom seating changed, the grade list on the bulletin board downstairs was posted and torn down repeatedly, our clothes went from short sleeves to cotton coats, and even the cafeteria's menu was updated.
But some things remain unchanged.
For example, there was the "make-up class" every Saturday. She would still appear in the office on time, and Xu Jianing would sit across from her at the desk as always, flipping through her test papers, circling the wrong questions she didn't want to face in red ink.
He's still the same person who would take out a watch to keep track of time.
"Twenty minutes." Xu Jianing said, placing the watch on the table and leaning back in his chair to watch her solve the problem. When the time was up, he tapped the table twice with his fingers to remind her, "Collect the papers."
For example, she would still occasionally "pass by" Class 1 of Grade 11.
Sometimes he would leisurely stroll around the water fountain after evening self-study, carrying his schoolbag; other times he would drag Li Qingmiao to get water after dinner, insisting on choosing the water fountain upstairs, saying that the water came out faster, which Li Qingmiao didn't bother to call out.
As usual, there was always a candy on the windowsill. Wen Sheng knew who put it there. Every time she passed by, she would pretend not to see it, but her movements were more skillful than anyone else's. She would reach out, take it, stuff it into her pocket, and walk away in one smooth motion.
Only after she'd walked a distance would she unwrap the candy and pop it into her mouth. The sweetness filled her mouth, but her mind remained preoccupied with formulas and wrong answers.
Oh well, at least this candy didn't test her with multiple choice questions.
The end of the semester is less than a month away.
When school let out in the afternoon, Li Qingmiao leaned against the window, staring at the heavy snow outside, and excitedly turned to call out to her, "Wen Sheng, Wen Sheng, let's go have a snowball fight!"
"Huh?" Wen Sheng was engrossed in solving a physics problem when she looked up, her face blank. "What?"
Li Qingmiao excitedly circled around Wen Sheng's desk, "It's snowing so heavily outside, it's perfect for a snowball fight! Look, there are people building snowmen on the playground."
"But I haven't finished my homework yet..."
"No rush, ten minutes isn't necessary!" Li Qingmiao rushed to her in three steps, and before she could refuse, she grabbed Wen Sheng's scarf from the back of the chair and quickly put it around her neck.
"Let's go, let's go!" she urged, dragging Wen Sheng outside. "The snow will get dirty if we're any later! Besides, I've already taken a semester's worth of exams. Now, I'm going to get my revenge on the school!"
Wen Sheng didn't have time to pack her schoolbag, so she could only hurriedly stuff the test paper into the drawer. As she was being pulled away, she couldn't help but laugh: "Your excuse is too far-fetched."
"You understand, that's all that matters!" Li Qingmiao winked at her.
When we arrived at the playground, it was still snowing, and a lot of people had already gathered there.
Some were building snowmen, some were chasing each other and having a snowball fight, and some of the bolder ones simply stuffed snow down the back of their classmates' necks, running and laughing so hard they couldn't catch their breath. Even the teachers in the office couldn't help but peek out to watch the fun.
As soon as Li Qingmiao arrived, she excitedly made a snowball and pointed it at Wen Sheng: "You stand there and don't move!"
Wen Sheng stood there, arms crossed, obediently becoming Li Qingmiao's "live target," and said helplessly, "Aim carefully, don't hit my face."
"Don't worry." Li Qingmiao patted the snowball, took a few steps back, her feet scraping in an arc on the snow, squinted as she aimed, muttering to herself, "My physics teacher said angle is very important, Shengbao, take this!"
After saying that, he flicked his hand, and because he used too much force, the snowball flew out with a "whoosh," drawing a crooked parabola.
Li Qingmiao shouted, "Ah, no, no!"
Snap!
The snowball hit a boy right in the face as he came out of the teaching building.
The boy paused for a moment, spat out the ice shards in his mouth, and glanced around the playground before finally settling on Li Qingmiao's frozen smile.
The boy next to him leaned to the side, casually sticking out half of his shoulder to glance over there.
"Your sister seems to be trying to murder you," Xu Jianing said with a smile, his hands still in his pockets, looking like he was enjoying the show.
Li Qingmiao was about to go over and apologize when she saw the boy's face. Her expression changed, and she turned and ran, shouting as she ran, "Brother! Brother, I was wrong! I didn't mean to!"
"Who told you to throw a snowball at my face!" Li Changshui threw his schoolbag on the ground and chased after her. "Li Qingmiao, you stop right there!"
Li Qingmiao was chased all over the playground by her brother, pleading for mercy as she ran: "Brother, calm down! Brother, don't hit me! We're family!"
On the other side, Wen Sheng stood still, her hands still in the same pose she had just taken when she was the "target".
Xu Jianing walked over and asked, "Are you cold?"
Wen Sheng shook her head and opened her mouth to say "I'm not cold," but when she put her hands down, she found that they were almost frozen, so she quickly breathed on them to warm them up.
Xu Jianing watched her breathe on her hands and feet and stomp her feet. She smiled, took off her own gloves and gave them to her. "Wear these. I just warmed them up."
"Then what will you do?" Wen Sheng didn't answer.
"I just came out of the teaching building, and I'm going to buy some food and go back. It's not cold," Xu Jianing said.
Wen Sheng hesitated for a moment, but still took it and put it on. The gloves were a size bigger than her hands, and her five fingers dangled inside, unable to grip or hold on tightly, but they were really warm.
"Wow, it's huge..."
"My hands are bigger than yours, that's normal."
On the other side of the playground, Li Changshui was chasing his sister Li Qingmiao all over the field, shouting, "You wait, you want to slap my face?" He slipped and almost fell on his butt, which drew laughter from those around him.
Wen Sheng couldn't help but laugh. Her gaze fell on the white snow at her feet. Her hands itched, so she squatted down and made a snowball. She weighed it in her hand and then secretly glanced at Xu Jianing, who was still watching the fun beside her.
Her eyes darted around, and she called out to him, "Xu Jianing!"
Xu Jianing turned her head upon hearing the sound: "Hmm?"
Wen Sheng's eyes lit up, and taking advantage of the moment he turned around, she flicked her hand and the snowball landed steadily on Xu Jianing's head, scattering snowflakes in a circle.
Wen Sheng looked up at him and said in a serious tone, "Your hair has turned white."
Xu Jianing lowered her head and shook her hair, a few fine snowflakes still clinging to her eyelashes. Hearing her words, she was first taken aback, then laughed out loud: "You've got some nerve, Wen Sheng."
As he spoke, he slowly squatted down and began to make snowballs.
Seeing his stance, Wen Sheng wanted to run away, but then she felt it would be too embarrassing to run now since she had started it. So she stood there with her hands behind her back, pretending to be calm: "You're not really going to hit me back, are you?"
"What do you think?" Xu Jianing asked with a smile, her hands still kneading snowballs.
Wen Sheng stood still, her hands behind her back, and whispered, "Don't hit me in the face."
"Stand still," he said.
Wen Sheng was nervously staring at the snowball in his hand when he suddenly reached out, went around behind her, tugged at her loose scarf, and pulled it up.
"Your scarf isn't on properly. It'll hurt if the snow gets in."
Wen Sheng was about to say "thank you" when she felt a cool sensation on her head. Fine snowflakes fell from her hair and landed on her scarf.
Xu Jianing took a half step back and said with satisfaction, "Alright, you've gone gray too."
"Didn't you say you wouldn't hit my face?" Wen Sheng brushed the snow off her hair and glared at him.
"I didn't slap anyone." He shrugged, some snow still on his hands from making snowballs, his fingertips red from the cold.
Wen Sheng snorted, brushed the last bit of snow off her hair, and said defiantly, "Anyway, you did it on purpose."
"Yes, I did it on purpose." Xu Jianing didn't dodge the other person's glare, looked up at the sky, and sighed, "Today is truly worth growing old together, with such heavy snow."
He squatted down, scooped up a pile of soft, clean snow with both hands, patted it firmly in his palms, then carefully rolled it into a ball, piling it up layer by layer.
Wen Sheng looked at him and couldn't help but ask, "What are you doing?"
Xu Jianing didn't answer. After piling up three layers, he stood up, walked to the old locust tree next to him, brushed away the snow under the roots, picked out two thin branches of about the same thickness, compared their lengths in his palm, and then exchanged them for another one.
He didn't seem quite satisfied, so he squatted down again to look for something new. He finally chose the straightest and thinnest branch, then bent down and rummaged through the snow, picking up two small pebbles of similar size. After rubbing the snow off them, he walked back.
Wen Sheng became increasingly curious as she looked: "Are you making a snowman?"
Xu Jianing gave a perfunctory "hmm," then inserted the thinnest twig into the center of the top snowball, and pressed the two pebbles into the middle snowball, making them symmetrical.
After completing the task, he carefully lifted his work out of the snow and held it in his palm.
Make a wish.
Wen Sheng was taken aback and looked down at the "snowball" in his hand. It was three-layered, round, with a small twig stuck on top.
She asked in confusion, "What is this?"
Xu Jianing looked at what she was holding and introduced it earnestly: "This is a cake."
“This branch is a candle, the snow is a cake, and the stones are decorations,” he said, pointing to each element with his finger.
"Li Changshui said the cake was three-tiered with candles on top, so I made one according to his instructions."
"I don't know what cakes in the city actually look like, but I imagine birthday candles aren't the kind you light when there's a power outage at home."
The snow was still falling, and a layer of white snow had accumulated on Xu Jianing's eyelashes and hair. He wasn't wearing gloves, and his hands were red from the cold. The "snow cake" in his palm had started to melt slightly at the edges because he had been holding it for too long.
Make a wish.
"But today is not my birthday."
Although Wen Sheng had never seen a cake before, she knew that it was something that was usually only served on birthdays.
Xu Jianing stared at the melting "cake" in his palm, his hands red with cold, but he didn't let go. He looked at her and said earnestly:
"You can eat cake even if it's not your birthday."
"Then let's celebrate, today we've both turned white-haired."
Wen Sheng took the "snow cake" and carefully held it, making sure the three layers of snow didn't tilt.
She closed her eyes and made a solemn wish: "I hope we can both get into universities in the capital."
But what she really wanted to say was:
"I hope we can really grow old together."
Not just today, but for the rest of my life.
Li Changshui and Li Qingmiao, who were far away, had already stopped their snowball fight. They stood at a distance, watching Wen Sheng close her eyes and make a wish on the "snow cake".
Li Qingmiao asked, "Brother, was Senior Xu like this before?"
Li Changshui was also dumbfounded, and after a long while, he asked, "Sis, was Junior Sister Wen like this before?"
After a while, the two looked at each other and said in unison, "She/He wasn't like this before!"
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