Return
The training of the mechanical kites continued in full swing, but it was often the disciples from other academies who were all smiles. They flew their mechanical kites around and around, shouting and yelling. Everyone in the mechanical kite group had suffered a lot in the flight, and they were completely willing to give up their opportunities to others. In their anger, they turned their grief and indignation into motivation and turned it into unremitting efforts for the mechanical kite network.
It is extremely difficult for beginners, no less than learning a skill from scratch. But the members of the organization have so many years of experience, they are not to be trifled with. After a few tries, they mastered it and used the new tools created by Meng Yan with ease. The nets they wove were piled up into a thick little mountain by the wall.
"Junior Sister Yan! We've got enough internet, do you want to make more?"
Li Li waved the paper in his hand, looking at Meng Yan from a psychologically safe distance.
Over there, Meng Yan, who had just rested in his cabin, still had his hair disheveled by the wind on the side of his face. He was smiling as he saw off a talented student when he heard his voice. He turned around abruptly and searched for Meng Yan's location in a bald patch of dense forest.
"Here!" Li Li jumped up, waving his arms.
"That's enough already? I was counting on it to take another week!" Meng Yan stood up on the mechanical kite and replied with exaggerated gestures.
Li Li thought to himself that they were all forced to learn how to fly birds because they didn't want to, but he still responded politely: "You teach people to fly mechanical kites in the back mountain, working under the sun and eating dust every day. How can we rest peacefully in the courtyard? We have no choice but to work harder to relieve your worries."
Meng Yan never worried about these things. She trusted her senior brothers and sisters, and they had never let her down. This was probably what family felt like.
"Make a few more, I'll keep them as a backup in case of emergency, and we'll also keep a copy for ourselves, so we don't forget how to make them next year."
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Carrying his new friends from the seaside neighborhood and Mr. Weng's old friends, Meng Yan, basking in the fading heat of the sun, suddenly dashed into the clouds.
Watching their junior sister's departing figure, everyone breathed a sigh of relief, and then laughed and joked with each other.
"So you were afraid that Junior Sister Yan would ask you to deliver goods!"
"Don't talk about me. Didn't we all breathe a sigh of relief? When Junior Sister Yan was taking stock before she left, I felt like I had already ascended to heaven before her."
"Everyone has their strengths. We were the ones who created the big bird, so why are we all so bad at this?"
"Why worry about this? I see that many of those up-and-coming talents are skilled in this area. If we really need to deliver goods and transport people in the future, it won't be our turn to cause trouble, right? Vegetable people have their own blessings!"
With the pressure of rushing to finish the work gone, the group of people dispersed in small groups.
The weather is sunny and the breeze is gentle; it's the perfect time to rest.
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The sky gradually turned tinged with twilight, and the setting sun touched the water's surface, rippling out layers of red waves.
Just as the fishing boats returned from the sea, the mechanical kites appeared in the crowd's view along with them, coming from different directions but heading in the same direction.
"Yan Yan!" Everyone waiting at the dock looked up and called out.
Stopping at the place where they had last landed, Meng Yan called on everyone to take the nets in order. The team meandered to the shore and then folded back onto the beach.
Two groups of people were busy on the shore beside the boat, sending the small fishing village into the night.
Xiaoling came to help Meng Yan, handing him about half a fishing net. She looked around and gently whispered in Meng Yan's ear, "Yan Yan, didn't Yue Lang come with you? I thought you two were together the whole time."
Meng Yan uttered a few words in a moment: "It was my own decision, I didn't go to call him."
This little thing is easy for Meng Yan, but taking Yue Lang, who can't lift a finger or carry anything, might be troublesome. More importantly, it's not good to go looking for trouble for no reason. No matter how good the relationship is, you can't treat people like objects, summoning them at will and dismissing them at will. Friends wouldn't do that.
"Oh, so you two had a fight?" Xiaoling asked with concern.
Meng Yan answered truthfully, "No, it's just been half a month since we last met."
Xiaoling: "!" This hasn't even started yet!
The fishing nets were quickly shipped out according to the orders. As expected, some people saw others coming to buy them and joined in the fun, asking Meng Yan if he had any extra stock.
"Yes." Meng Yan shook the few nets left in his hand. "That's all. The next time we come will be after the New Year."
Without her explanation or recommendation, the nets were immediately snapped up. After checking the accounts, Meng Yan took out Mr. Weng's tools from the cabin; this was the last thing she had to do on this trip.
The wooden door was as clean as ever, but the copper chain behind it had probably been taken back by Yue Lang and was nowhere to be seen. The three rooms stood tall, blending into the moonlight, with only the central room glowing with firelight, adding a touch of life to the room.
"They're here."
Before Meng Yan could even put down his hand that was knocking, the door opened from the inside to both sides, and Old Man Weng stood kindly behind the door, looking much better than before.
She intended to hand over the utensils and leave, but Old Man Weng insisted that she stay for dinner. Not being good at refusing, she sat back in her usual spot, just like the three of them had done in the past.
Meng Yan ate the meal listlessly and without much energy, but she herself didn't realize it. It was Old Weng who told her.
"If no one picks out the thorns and peels the shells for you, will you just starve and not eat?" the old man joked.
Looking at the mess of meat bones on the plate in front of him, Meng Yan poked at his chopsticks, realizing the necessity of taking Yue Lang out with him.
Although she eats little, she doesn't actually starve herself. After thanking the old man for his help with her skills and appetite, she rarely thinks of the usual routine of visiting relatives and friends, and leaves the old man with a blessing - wishing him an early Happy New Year.
Old Mr. Weng smiled and asked her where she lived so he could keep her as a memento.
After a somewhat eerie farewell, Meng Yan soared into the sky, heading towards the moon.
.
The heaters were completely cleaned up during everyone's enthusiastic visits. Brother Hao boasted, "After delivering this whole set of door-to-door warmth, our faces and pockets are cleaner than tree branches swept by the north wind."
Despite this, it served as a fitting end to the year's hard work. The entire organization stopped working, and the gate to the courtyard was locked with the key in the mortise lock, so that no one could slip their hand to open it as they passed by.
A few days later, the first snow fell, covering the valley in white. The group of government officials who had been the first to announce their resignation did not stroll along the street as usual. Instead, their footprints lingered in the snow, leading to the frozen wooden door.
Meng Yan twisted the key stuck in the lock cylinder, and in the icy snow, she heard a "click." She silently squatted down to check whether the lock was open or the key was broken.
Fortunately, neither was the case.
The noise came from inside the door. She wiped the snow off the latch with her frozen red hands and found that the door was not closed at all. With a little force from her fingers, the sound of snow crunching came from behind the door. The wooden door slid open a crack with difficulty, and a blast of cold wind rushed in, making Meng Yan close her eyes.
"Wow, it's quite lively today. Who's here this time?"
Wiping the fine snow off his eyelashes, Meng Yan rubbed his eyes, pushed open the door and looked inside. Amidst the white snow, several senior brothers squatted on wooden blocks, braving the heavy snow and north wind to warm themselves by a small fire, with the faint aroma of sweet potatoes wafting from the fire.
"Junior Sister Yan?!"
"Huh?" "Who?"
The figures, who had formed a circle, all turned around and stared at the half-snowman by the door.
"Junior sister, don't just stand there like an idiot. Are you cold? Come and warm yourself by the fire!" The senior brother shoved the junior brother next to him with an elbow, sat down in his seat, patted the empty seat he had just been sitting in, and beckoned Meng Yan over.
The junior brother wasn't annoyed. While he was talking, he grabbed a snowball from the ground and stuffed it into his collar as soon as he finished speaking. The two of them ran away shouting like monkeys.
With two seats suddenly available, it would be a waste not to take them, so Meng Yan stumbled and slipped into the fire pit, making snow holes with each step.
"Junior Sister Yan, did you come here because you were bored?" Senior Brother Li fiddled with the firewood, turning the sweet potatoes over with a crackling sound. The aroma suddenly became richer, causing the junior brothers and sisters to swallow their saliva.
Meng Yan stared at the roasted sweet potato until it was charred, watching its syrup ooze from its cracked skin, leaving a dark watermark that dripped onto the firewood with a "sizzle!"
"It smells delicious," she replied.
Someone agreed with her, excitedly adding, "It smells good too!"
Laughter erupted, and the two people, who had been bewitched by the sweet potatoes, finally returned to the freezing cold.
Meng Yan shook his head, which was frozen, and warmed himself by the fire for a while to recover. "It's not that I was bored, I just suddenly wanted to come and see. It's been quite a while since we said we were quitting."
I'm starting to miss this place.
That's exactly what my senior brothers have been waiting for!
Suddenly pulling out brooms from somewhere, they swept away the surface snow, revealing the pre-cut wooden blocks underneath.
"Since you're free too, let's work together!"
Fine snowflakes obscured his vision, and Meng Yan looked at his senior brother through the white expanse, silently expressing his confusion.
Li Li turned the sweet potato over again. The flames scorched away the white mist, and with the warmth of the rising fire, he explained, "We don't have any work to catch up on right now, so we're among the most relaxed people in the valley. After a few days of leisure, Junior Brother Qi came to me and asked if I wanted to do something big."
"We only found out when we got here that there are quite a few people who want to do this big thing," the junior brother nodded in agreement.
Meng Yan took a moment to focus on the sweet potato: "So?"
Senior Brother Qi raised the wooden strip in his hand and waved it like a flag in the heavy snow: "Want to build a mechanical kite?"
"This..." Meng Yan pointed to the bright yellow amidst the black and white, "Can it be used as an initiation fee?"
.
Braving the swirling snow, Meng Yan returned to the front of the house. She bounced around a few times to shake off the snowflakes from her clothes. The stove inside was burning, and she could still feel the warmth through the door. She didn't want the new clothes Chu Ming had sent to get wet like this first.
She hopped around a few times to shake off the snow that had been following her all the way, and regained feeling in her numb legs. The wind was mostly silenced by the buildings, but she heard some familiar gurgling sounds among them. She stopped pushing the door open and began searching under the eaves.
The mechanical sparrow stood by the windowsill, its body covered in snow, its beak frozen, flapping its wings to attract its owner's attention.
Who sent the letter despite the heavy snow?
He carried the little sparrow into the house, and the two huddled together by the stove for warmth. After wiping the remaining water off its body, Meng Yan unfolded the neatly folded paper, glanced at it, and put it back on the table. He then got up and warmed himself a pot of tea.
The hot water flowed through her body and mind, and she breathed out a comfortable sigh of relief, watching the wisps of white steam dissipate before turning her gaze back to the letter.
"It's snowing, Yan Yan. Now that you've read this letter, stop and go have a cup of hot tea."
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