Cold snowy night.
Outside the window, the snow was dancing in the sky. Beautiful snowflakes seemed to come from the elves in the depths of the night, falling down lively, making this cold winter night look like a fairy tale world.
A girl about seven or eight years old couldn't resist the temptation and gently pushed open the window in the bedroom. Suddenly, a strong cold wind rushed in and blew on her tender face.
But she didn't care at all and was only focused on enjoying the beautiful scenery in the night sky.
Under the thick eyelashes, a pair of pupils like black pearls reflected white snowflakes, and the delicate cherry lips slowly blossomed into a smile as pure and romantic as snowflakes.
At this time, a familiar piano piece came faintly from the next room. The piano sound was not very beautiful and was obviously not in harmony with such a beautiful snow scene .
Listening to the piano music with frequent mistakes in rhythm, she couldn't help but stretch out a white little hand. A light snowflake fell on her palm, cool, and then slowly melted by the warmth of her palm...
Her thick eyelashes trembled slightly, and a strange light flashed across her clear pupils. She seemed to remember something and said to herself in annoyance, "Oh no! I forgot to go and see the injured bird today. It's snowing. I wonder if it's frozen!"
Thinking of this, she became extremely anxious and ran out of the bedroom without even closing the window.
Mom and Dad were helping her sister practice piano in the piano room, so she came out of the bedroom, went downstairs to the living room, and ran out of the house.
She was only thinking about taking the bird home as soon as possible, so, under the dim orange light, she kept speeding up and running forward in the snow.
However, when she ran to a corner, a boy of similar age suddenly rushed out!
She was startled, and before she could dodge, the boy's figure quickly enlarged in her pupils, and then her body was hit hard!
She let out an "ah" and her body involuntarily took a few steps back and fell to the ground!
The pain from her butt made her whole round little face wrinkle, but she pursed her lips and didn't let herself cry out.
The light from the street lamps cast a faint glow on her body, casting a dreamy orange glow. The tears in the corners of her eyes were like dewdrops on flower petals in the morning, so crystal clear that it made people's heart beat.
The frightened little boy was stunned for a moment, then quickly walked to her side, clasped her arms with both hands, and tried to help her up.
The girl endured the pain and stood up with great effort. She covered her aching buttocks, slightly pouted her pink lips, and muttered, "It hurts..."
Her voice is so soft that it softens one's heart and fills one with infinite love.
"sorry……"
The boy's low voice was a little hoarse, and his agate eyes looked at her panicked and apologetic, revealing a bitterness that did not belong to his age.
She endured the pain and subconsciously looked at the boy. In the dim light, she could vaguely see his haggard and childish face. She subconsciously said, "You are not the private one of Uncle Ou next door..."
Before she finished saying the word "illegitimate child ", she suddenly realized something and immediately shut her mouth. She lowered her eyes in shame, but inadvertently discovered that his clothes were stained with large areas of bright red blood, and she couldn't help but gasp.
The next second, she opened her eyes wide in shock, staring at the dead branch stuck in his chest!
She was completely stunned, her eyes not blinking. A snowflake fell silently on her eyelashes, quietly wetting her eyes.
A look of heartache immediately flashed through her clear eyes, and she trembled as she said, "How could this be stuck in your body? And it bled so much... It must have hurt, right?"
The boy froze again.
Ever since his mother passed away, no one had cared for him so sincerely. Such warmth made him seem to forget the pain for a moment.
He opened his mouth, but before he could say anything, a curse was heard not far behind him.
A look of panic immediately filled his face!
The girl recognized the voice as that of Aunt Qiuyao from next door. She stared at him with her eyes wide open and asked nervously, "Aunt Qiuyao looking for you?"
Although she had not had much contact with her, she had often heard people say that Aunt Qiuyao was very dissatisfied with Uncle Ou's illegitimate son and often found fault with him. Precisely because he was an illegitimate child, most of the neighbors nearby disliked him, and even her sister often teased him with his half-brother.
The boy's expression was complicated and nervous, his thin lips were pursed into a stiff arc. Without saying anything more to her, he walked around her and tried to run away!
The girl hurriedly grabbed his hand and said solemnly: "Follow me!"
At this moment, she had already forgotten the pain in her buttocks. She pulled his hand without saying anything and ran quickly towards her home. Before the aggressive Guan Qiuyao caught up with them, they had already entered the Xu family's yard.
The lights in the Xu family's villa were bright, and one could clearly see snowflakes falling from the sky.
"Why did you bring me here?" The boy looked around nervously and vigilantly, with obvious wariness in his voice.
"This is my home, don't worry, they won't find this place!"
The girl looked at him with her bright eyes, her sweet smile like falling snowflakes, clean without a trace of impurities.
The boy's dark eyes still revealed deep doubt and uneasiness. He opened his mouth and was about to speak, but the girl quickly made a gesture to keep quiet and said in a low voice: "Let's find a place to hide first!"
After she finished speaking, she winked at him playfully, took his hand, and tiptoed around the main house to the cabin behind the garden.
The cabin is located in a remote corner of the Xu family's home. It is not very large and is quite simple. Even the servants are too lazy to go in and clean it. It is a quiet little world.
It was dark in the cabin, but the girl was afraid of turning on the light and attracting other people's attention, so she found a candle, lit it, and placed it on the ground. The faint candlelight quietly illuminated the two young faces.
With the candlelight, she could clearly see a layer of fine beads of sweat on the boy's forehead. Her eyes could not help but fall on the shocking wound on his chest again, and her heart suddenly ached. She looked at him distressedly and suggested carefully: "You are so seriously injured, I should take you to the hospital first?"
"No!" A look of panic flashed across the boy's agate-like black eyes, and he immediately shook his head to refuse without thinking.
She looked at him with an expression of pity and said with great concern: "If this continues, you won't be able to hold on..."
"It's okay..." He lowered his head slightly, bit his lips and tried hard to endure it, and the sweat on his forehead became more and more dense.
The girl's nose felt sour. She suppressed the urge to cry. After pondering for a moment, an idea suddenly flashed through her mind, so she immediately jumped off the chair, "Wait for me."
She quietly opened the door of the cabin and trotted out.
In less than a few minutes, she returned with a cardboard box filled with various items.
She put the paper box on the small coffee table and sorted out the items in the box while saying, "In the past, there were always injured birds falling to the ground in the forest. I would pick them up and bandage them. I was really happy to see them fly again..."
The boy stared at her blankly without saying anything.
After the girl had sorted out everything, she slowly walked in front of him, looked at him nervously, and whispered, "It will hurt..."
"It's okay, I'm not afraid of the pain!" The boy clenched his hands secretly, but his childish voice revealed a stubbornness and determination that was inconsistent with his age.
His ruthlessness surprised her a little, but it also calmed her nervous heart. So she took a deep breath, slowly stretched out her fair little hand, and then tremblingly grasped the dead branch that was stuck in his chest!
She told herself to stay calm, but she still felt a little uneasy, and even the air in the room seemed to freeze in an instant.
She took another deep breath, stared at the dead branch in her hand, and asked softly, "I heard your name is Mingzhe, right? You are older than me, so from now on, can I call you Brother Mingzhe?"
"Um?"
The boy didn't seem to expect that she would suddenly say this to him at this time. He was stunned for a moment, but while he was distracted, the girl had already pulled out the dead branch from his chest with force!
"ah--"
He suddenly cried out in pain, his face turned pale in an instant. He subconsciously clenched his teeth, trying hard to endure the extremely intense pain coming from the wound.
The girl then breathed a sigh of relief and moved quickly and methodically to stop the bleeding and then bandaged the wound. She completed the series of actions very skillfully.
After getting used to the pain, the boy's eyes slowly moved to her focused face, the faint candlelight shining on her body, as if she was the most beautiful angel halo, and he couldn't look away for a moment.
A soft feeling that I had never felt before quietly welled up in my heart...
"Why did you save me?"
He stared at her closely, without a trace of expression on his face, and fine beads of sweat flowed quietly on his pale face.
After the girl bandaged the wound, she looked up at him and asked with concern: "You are in pain, right?"
The boy was stunned for a moment, then looked away awkwardly, sat in the corner, subconsciously shrank his neck, pursed his lips and stopped talking, with a look of indifference and alienation that kept people at a distance.
But if you observe carefully, you can feel a strong sense of sadness pervading his body and that cannot be dispelled.
The girl felt distressed. Although his attitude was so indifferent, she couldn't help wanting to get close to him and care about him.
"By the way, the necklace on your neck is very beautiful." She reached out and touched the exquisite necklace on the boy's neck. On the pendant in the center of the necklace, there was a letter "M" engraved.
"This... is a birthday gift from my mother. It's the only memory she left me." The boy did not avoid her touch. He lowered his head and thought for a moment before asking, "Why are you helping me?"
"I don't know why I should help you. Maybe it's because we are the same kind of people?" The girl smiled, but her smile was a little bitter.
Just as lonely, just as cowardly and only able to be bullied...
She sighed softly, sat down beside him, hugged her knees, looked ahead with confused eyes, and couldn't help but slowly told him: "My mother died of complications during childbirth when I was born. I have never seen her. Since I was a child, I have seen other children with their mothers by their side, and I have been very envious..."
The boy was a little surprised at first, and then he listened to her quietly, his eyes sometimes dim, sometimes sad... Every word she said made his heart tremble slightly.
The girl did not notice the change in his expression, and continued quietly, "Later, my father finally found me a new mother, and I also got a sister. At first, I was really happy. The originally deserted home was finally lively, but the new mother seemed to only have eyes for my sister, and never looked at me more than once. Moreover, the new sister did not like me either. No matter what I did, she would oppose me..."
At this point, she paused, raised her eyes and looked at him, her black pearl-like eyes seemed to be filled with a layer of mist, "But, fortunately, I have Xiaodudu, every time I am unhappy, it is he who accompanies me!"
She took out the little wooden puppet that she never left from her pocket, stroked it reluctantly, then hardened her heart and handed it over.
The boy looked at her blankly, but the vigilance in his eyes had disappeared, and his expression softened quietly under the candlelight.
"This is for you! Whenever you are bullied or unhappy, just talk to it and you will feel much better!" The girl stuffed the puppet into his hands without saying anything, "Please take good care of it!"
The boy looked at the puppet in his hand, and a complex emotion surged in his heart. He hesitated and said, "But you gave it to me, what will you do?"
The girl blinked her long eyelashes and tilted her head and said, "It's okay. I can talk to the birds, and they will occasionally chirp back at me!"
Looking at her sweet and lovely face, the boy was a little dazed, and an inexplicable warmth spread in his heart.
He was stunned and silent for a moment, then an idea flashed through his mind. He put his hand to his neck and tugged at the necklace, but suddenly stopped, seeming a little embarrassed.
The girl saw his hesitation and said considerately, "That is the only souvenir your mother left you. It is too precious. Please choose something else to give me. Anything is fine."
The boy nodded gratefully, fumbled around his body with his hands, and finally found a small key. He bit his lip, handed the key to her, and said a little embarrassedly: "This is all I have. It's the key to the old house where I used to live with my mother... I give it to you!"
"Thank you!" The girl happily took the key, her eyes shining with joy. She held the key lovingly, looked at it again and again, and then said with a smile, "Brother Mingzhe, since we have given each other gifts, from now on, we are good friends!"
The boy hesitantly repeated: "Friends?"
What a strange word this was to him.
The girl smiled at him, revealing two cute dimples on her pink cheeks, bright and sweet. She blinked her clear eyes and looked at him brightly, "Well, my name is Xu Wanda. From now on, we will be friends. We must care about each other, take care of each other, and never leave each other ..."
The boy stared at her, the flickering candlelight reflected a warm glow in his dark pupils. He nodded gently and said, "Never leave or abandon..."
the following few days.
The snow fell and stopped, stopped and fell again.
From time to time in the cabin, a girl's clear laughter like a silver bell could be heard, and occasionally there would be another boy's voice laughing along with her. Although the cold wind was howling outside, the cabin was always shrouded in a warm atmosphere.
However, none of them noticed that outside the cabin, a pair of eyes had been staring at them at some point, and seeing their happy smiles, they seemed very dissatisfied...
this day.
Xu Wanda got up early as usual. She put on her clothes and opened the door excitedly, but she saw her sister Xu Yunxi standing at the door. She looked at her coldly and said sarcastically, "Why, you still want to go find that brat? Don't blame me, your sister, for not reminding you. Your parents are waiting for you downstairs. Let's see how you explain it!"
"You all know?"
Xu Wanda looked at her in surprise, with a bad feeling in her heart.
"Now everyone knows it!" Xu Yunxi looked at his sister mockingly, "You've learned to hide people at home at such a young age. I don't know who you learned it from!"
"Where is Brother Mingzhe?" Xu Wanda's heart was in her throat. She asked nervously, "Did my parents do anything to him?"
Xu Yunxi rolled his eyes and said, "What can my parents do to him? Last night, after you fell asleep, his family took him away!"
Xu Wanda opened her eyes wide in disbelief: "How did his family know he was here?"
"If you don't want others to know, then don't do it yourself!" An evil smile appeared on Xu Yunxi's petite and tender face.
Xu Wanda was suddenly in a panic, her mind was in a mess, she was worried and sad, she walked quickly past Xu Yunxi, and walked downstairs, muttering to herself: "No, he can't just leave like that, we agreed to play chess together today..."
Xu Yunxi had a malicious smile on her lips. She said slowly, "Ah, there's something I forgot to tell you. Last night, that brat had an accident and fell into that wishing river..."
Xu Wanda's face turned pale instantly. She turned around in shock, staring at her sister in disbelief, and asked in a trembling voice, "What did you say?"
This can't be true! It can't be true. Brother Mingzhe wouldn't fall into the river. She wouldn't believe it no matter what...