The feeling of slacking off during work hours when others are doing their jobs is absolutely different.
Just like when I was a kid going to school, I didn't feel any different during holidays, but whenever other students were in class and I was standing outside the school, that feeling of ease was incomparable.
Unable to sleep any longer, she got up and put on her clothes. The whole room was filled with heat. She stretched and then put on her cotton-padded trousers. After getting off the bed, she tightly fastened her warm cotton-padded jacket, which had been sitting on the heated brick bed.
Pushing open the door, a blast of cold air hit her face, so cold and refreshing that it made her feel as if the clothes she had just put on had been chilled to the bone. The sudden influx of cold air cooled her chest instantly, and before she could even process what was happening, her hand had already slammed the door shut.
In just a few seconds, a lot of the heat in the room dissipated, and Jian Dan could feel that the tip of her nose had turned red.
"Oh my god, it's so cold."
Walking along the path she had cleared that morning, she saw piles of snow on both sides. She had only cleared such a narrow path that morning, just wide enough for one person to pass through. If she were any heavier, she would have been able to bring down the soft, knee-deep snow as she walked.
Opening the gate, the outside was still a vast expanse of white, much like inside the courtyard. In the middle was a path cleared by the villagers that morning, and both sides of the path were covered in snow, though not as pristine as in her courtyard. There were piles, scattered snow, and trampled snow, indicating that many people had walked on it, leaving very obvious traces.
From a distance, I could see a few children playing, probably having a snowball fight. Their movements of bending over and grabbing snow were very rhythmic, and they were laughing and joking around. It made me a little itchy to join in.
Perhaps it was because her bright red floral cotton-padded jacket was too eye-catching, the children over there quickly noticed it, turned around and huddled together saying something, and then all ran over here.
Jian Dan's eyesight was pretty good. As he got closer, he realized that the one leading the pack was Tiger from Uncle Liu's family. Tiger was panting heavily with his little mouth open, his face was flushed from running, and he was even breathing out wisps of white steam.
Seeing her vivid expression brought a smile to my face.
"Sister Jian, you're up?"
Jian Dan was immediately dumbfounded. How did the child know that she was taking a nap?
Let's skip this topic altogether.
"What are you guys playing over there? Aren't you cold?"
The children didn't seem to be dressed very warmly, probably because they had been playing for a while, and they didn't seem to be cold at all.
"Sister Jane, we're playing in the snow. We've made some little figures. I say mine is the prettiest, and he says his is the prettiest. Come and see whose is the prettiest?"
The other children weren't as close to Jian Dan as Hu Zi, so they weren't as relaxed, but upon hearing Hu Zi's words, they instinctively retorted.
"It's clearly me who looks better,"
"I look good,"
"Sister Jane, you can trust me, it looks good. I made a little flower, the most beautiful one."
A new round of fighting has begun. Simple has no patience to appease the child; only forceful suppression is available.
"Alright, alright, stop arguing. I didn't see it, how would I know who's prettier?"
That's true, but it was only quiet for three seconds.
"Come with us and take a look. It's right in front of my house."
He glanced back at the pitiful little path in his own yard, then decisively shook his head.
"I'm not going, I still have work to do."
Almost as soon as the words were spoken, a sound came from the direction of the village entrance. Listening closely, it sounded like an earthquake during morning exercises, and it even had the momentum of a wild boar coming down the mountain, but that direction shouldn't be it.
As they got closer, Jian Dan felt the snow beneath her feet tremble.
As they got closer, the feeling became more pronounced, and the children noticed it too, all looking towards the village entrance.
Tiger clung tightly to Jian Dan.
"Sister, could he be a bad person?"
Upon hearing this, the other children also tensed up and stared intently.
The world was pure white, so any other color would be jarring and eye-catching.
"Oh, isn't that the uncle who closed the mountain last time?"
Ah, Jian Dan saw it too. Although she couldn't see his face or expression, his clothes were very distinctive.
A group of people, dressed in uniform and marching in unison, ran into the village.
"It really is."
A slightly older child took off running towards the village, leaving behind a single sentence in the distance.
"I'll go get the village chief."
After the snow was cleared, the adults went home to work, leaving mostly children outside. Tiger was about to go back to his grandfather when suddenly the group turned a corner and headed straight for them.
The children immediately surrounded Jian Dan nervously, with Hu Zi even clinging to his leg, their wary eyes never leaving him. To them, these were all strangers.
It's strange that JianDa is here to find him.
The one leading the group was an acquaintance, Lin Zhengde, who had hunted wild boars with Jian Dan. When Lin Zhengde arrived, Jian Dan's stern expression softened, even showing a hint of a smile.
"Hello, Xiao Jian, a former educated youth."
"Ah, Captain Lin, you're here to see me?"
It's no wonder Jian Dan was surprised. Apart from the last time she hunted wild boars, she didn't seem to have any interaction with them.
"What's up?"
Seeing that her expression didn't seem fake, Lin Zhengde was even taken aback for a moment.
"Jian Zhiqing, do you remember the last time we went up the mountain?"
"ah?"
Go up the mountain?
Simple blinked and looked up at the mountain before realizing that he was referring to the person she had casually grabbed.
To be honest, what impressed me most that day were the good things; I've completely forgotten about the person.
"Ah, I remember, I remember, you said,"
Judging from that expression, I've already forgotten what Lin Zhengde does; I must have just remembered him on the spur of the moment.
“Jian Zhiqing, you helped us a lot last time. He knew our plans and routes like the back of his hand. If it weren’t for you, he would have been fighting a guerrilla war with us in the mountains. Who knows what might have happened?”
Thanks to your attentiveness and courage, we were spared much danger and the country suffered enormous losses.
"Huh? What? The country?"
This height... isn't right?
"This person is a foreign mole planted in our country, and has been deliberately sabotaging national development and unity. Based on his confession, we have seized the dangerous goods they hid in the mountains. The quantity is so large that it has shocked us as well."
"If we let the educated youth succeed, the harm to the people and the loss to the country will be immeasurable."
My first reaction was, "What? There's actually something good here?"
Although he implied it was some kind of dangerous item, I felt a pang of regret that she hadn't discovered it sooner; it pained me to no end.
I made a mistake. I really can't be lazy. Look at this, I only slacked off once, and I missed out on so much!
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