Toon Chapter 30

30

============

A heavy snow began to fall during the night.

Before going to sleep, Liansheng had argued with Zhou Lingchun and rolled himself into the corner of the bed with a hot water bottle. Zhou Lingchun tried to coax him back, but he refused. In the middle of the night, the hot water bottle cooled, and Liansheng woke up. He found his back was warm—Zhou Lingchun had taken advantage of his sleep to pull him back into his arms.

Outside, the moonlight reflected off the snowflakes, casting a faint, silvery light through the window, like a weak lamp had been turned on. Liansheng felt curious. He stepped into the gap between Zhou Lingchun’s body and the bed, grabbed the window frame, and peered outside.

A thin layer of snow already covered the ground outside, like a layer of willow catkins falling in spring.

Zhou Lingchun woke up and saw Liansheng, dressed only in a thin layer of pajamas, with half his body practically sticking out the window. He dragged Liansheng back under the covers and said sleepily, “What are you doing? Aren’t you cold?”

“It’s snow!” Liansheng joyfully placed a bit of snow he had touched by the window into Zhou Lingchun’s hand. The temperature under the quilt was high, and the tiny bit of snow had already turned into ice water on Zhou Lingchun’s palm. Feeling the chill, Zhou Lingchun wrapped his hand around Liansheng’s icy one and asked, “Is it snowing?”

“Yes, it’s snowing!” Liansheng was still extremely excited. “You can already see the snow outside. I opened the window just now, but the window ledge was covered by the awning, so I had to reach out and feel around, and I found some on the other side.”

Zhou Lingchun chuckled deeply, holding Liansheng’s warm body without speaking.

Seeing that the other man didn’t reply, Liansheng continued, “I wonder if the snow is falling heavily. Do you think we can build a snowman first thing tomorrow morning? What if the snow suddenly stops in the middle of the night?” Liansheng sounded worried. “Why don’t we go build one now? We can build a small one first, just in case the snow melts when I wake up tomorrow morning.”

Zhou Lingchun sat up, not forgetting to tuck the quilt around Liansheng. He looked through the glass outside. The falling snowflakes were as large as petals; this year’s first snow was clearly not going to be small.

He lay back down, hugging Liansheng tightly around the waist, and whispered close to his ear, “No, let’s sleep first. The snow on the ground will be deep tomorrow, and we can build a big one.”

“Really?”

“Really.”

Liansheng relaxed, lying in bed with his eyes still fixed on the pale, glowing light filtering through the air. It was warm and cozy under the quilt, and the falling snow outside had completely chased away his sleepiness. He rubbed his feet together under the covers, planning to wait until Zhou Lingchun fell asleep again, then sneak out to play for a while.

They had shared a bed for so long that Zhou Lingchun knew what Liansheng was thinking with just a glance. Zhou Lingchun reached out and covered Liansheng’s eyes, saying half-coercively, half-coaxingly, “Sleep. If the snow is heavy tomorrow, we might even catch wild rabbits.”

Liansheng grabbed the man’s wrist. “If we catch them, can we keep them? I don’t want to eat roasted rabbit.”

“We’ll catch two. One to keep, and one for you to eat.”

“You’re so mean. Then let’s not catch rabbits tomorrow.”

“Alright.”

Liansheng released his hand, knowing it was impossible to sneak out and play. He reluctantly snuggled closer into the man’s arms.

The next day, Liansheng was awakened by the sound of shoveling snow.

He immediately sat up in bed. The first thing he did was look out the window. The snow had stopped, and the ground outside was covered in a thick layer. Zhou Lingchun was wearing a thick cotton coat, using a shovel to clear a narrow path from the doorway outwards.

The entire world had transformed, blanketed in silver-white. In the distance, gray smoke drifted up from Granny Sun’s kitchen.

It was so beautiful. Liansheng watched with his mouth slightly agape, like a little girl looking at expensive, exquisite items in a display cabinet.

He suddenly shivered, his teeth chattering. Only then did he feel the cold. He immediately started rummaging through the cabinet for his cotton coat, scarf, and gloves.

Once fully dressed, Liansheng jumped off the bed, just as Zhou Lingchun came in. The man was holding a pair of cotton-lined rubber boots, with a layer of cotton fabric sewn around the top of the shaft.

“When did you buy these?” Liansheng was both surprised and delighted.

“Granny Sun brought them over this morning. She said she meant to give them to you a few days ago but forgot.”

Liansheng smiled and took the boots, feeling the inside with his hand. “They’re really thick.” He sat down on the edge of the bed and let Zhou Lingchun put the shoes on him first.

Zhou Lingchun set the boots aside and first checked Liansheng’s attire. Liansheng looked bundled up, wrapped in a large cotton coat, but he was only wearing a shirt underneath the coat. Zhou Lingchun felt his legs and realized he wasn’t even wearing cotton trousers.

Zhou Lingchun then pulled out all of Liansheng’s winter gear from the cabinet, dressing him in layers upon layers.

Liansheng was so plumply dressed that he resembled a bear, feeling heavy all over, unable to lift his arms or move his feet properly. He wore a long face as the man put the cotton-lined rubber boots on him, but he couldn’t help but complain, “How am I supposed to go out and play dressed this thickly?”

“It’s cold outside. You’ll know when you go out,” Zhou Lingchun said.

As soon as the boots were on, Liansheng stiffly ran outside, hearing Zhou Lingchun cautioning him from behind, “Run slowly, be careful not to slip.”

“I know, I know!”

Stepping out of the house, the biting cold air rushed at him, making his nasal passages ache slightly. Liansheng realized the man hadn’t been fooling him. Fortunately, he was dressed warmly, and not a trace of cold air could touch his body.

He excitedly scooped up a handful of snow and packed it into a snowball. Seeing Wangcai nearby, he casually threw it at the dog. The white snow burst open on Wangcai’s black fur. Wangcai looked back in surprise, then grinned and ran toward Liansheng, wagging his tail.

Liansheng and the dog played a joyful snowball fight.

Liansheng would usually pack small snowballs and throw them at Wangcai, who would bounce around dodging them. When excited, Wangcai would suddenly sprint around twice before returning to play with his owner.

It was Zhou Lingchun who eventually dragged the person back inside to brush his teeth, wash his face, and eat breakfast.

The weather was too cold for the elderly, so after eating, Grandma returned to her room to sit.

The two young men started building a snowman by the door.

Zhou Lingchun used the shovel to pile up the body, slowly smoothing it into a sphere with his hands. Liansheng, meanwhile, rolled a small ball from the doorstep all the way to the path, creating a head.

“Zhou Lingchun, hurry up! This ball is too big, I can’t lift it.”

Zhou Lingchun turned to look. The snowman’s head Liansheng had rolled was already twice the size of the body, and oddly shaped.

He walked over with the shovel, scooped up the snowman’s head, and placed it on the body.

The snowman they built looked like it was standing upside down.

“Hahahaha, why is this so funny?” Liansheng had a low threshold for laughter and was already sitting on the snow, nearly rolling around. His cheeks were red from the cold, and his body was bulky. Wrapped in a scarf, only his palm-sized face was visible, making him look exactly like a little bear cub in the snow mountains.

Zhou Lingchun also laughed and walked over to pull Liansheng up. Liansheng’s eyes darted mischievously, and he used his body weight to pull the man down onto the ground, then grabbed a handful of snow and shoved it down the man’s neck. He laughed and tried to run, but the man grabbed him and pinned him down.

Luckily, the snow was thick, and neither of them was hurt by the fall.

“Haha, I’m sorry! Please let me go, it’s cold! Cold!”

After playing in the snow, they looked at each other, and finally lay on the ground, sharing a gentle kiss.

The snowman was later fixed by Zhou Lingchun with the shovel, though it still maintained an inverted posture. Liansheng continuously added snow, piling the snowman up until it was almost as tall as a person.

Zhou Lingchun stood up to shape the snowman’s feet, while Liansheng squatted below, installing eyes, a nose, and a mouth on the head.

“Hmm, this carrot is really hard to stick in…” Liansheng muttered to himself while squatting. His hands were already frozen, making it difficult to exert force.

Zhou Lingchun recalled the winter Liansheng first arrived. He had built a palm-sized snowman, used a small stick for a nose, and placed it on the windowsill, where it eventually melted into water as time passed.

Time moves so fast. In the blink of an eye, another winter had passed. He should cherish the person by his side even more.

Soon, snow began to fall again. They returned indoors only after white flakes had settled on their heads.

Liansheng brushed the snow off Zhou Lingchun’s body and suddenly had a thought: “When we get old, our hair should be this white too. We’ll definitely become ugly then, right? If I’m not good-looking anymore, will you still like me?”

Zhou Lingchun said, “I’ll like you even if you don’t have a single tooth left when you’re old.”

“Ah, I don’t want that. I don’t want to lose all my teeth.”

“It’s fine, I’ll lose mine too.”

Liansheng nodded. “That’s right. You’re older than me, so if anyone loses them first, it’ll definitely be you. You won’t get to mock me then!”

Zhou Lingchun smiled, brushing away the melted water from the back of Liansheng’s neck, then placed Liansheng’s nearly frozen hands against his chest, slowly warming them…

*

The following spring.

Zhou Lingchun earned a large sum of money and used part of it to start a business. Their life improved steadily.

Liansheng was sitting by the door reading when he saw Zhou Lingchun carrying back a sapling, roughly the same height as Liansheng.

“Oh, why did you bring back a tree? What kind of fruit tree is this?” Liansheng asked.

“A Chinese toon tree,” Zhou Lingchun replied. “A tree of peace for you.”

——————–

My dears, let’s end the story here. Although I am reluctant, it is time to conclude. Let them live the rest of their lives together~

Thank you all for loving this story. See you in the extras~