While the dads were talking, Xiao Jin took on the responsibility of taking care of his siblings and supervising them. And he really found out something was wrong!
ZhiZhi’s mind didn’t seem to be on the firewood gathering game at all, their eyes and feet kept glancing to the west.
Earlier, Xiao Jin collected firewood in the west. He knew that although there were many trees, they were all evergreen species. After half a day’s effort, he did not pick up many dead branches that could be used as firewood. He was just reminded of this, so ZhiZhi went in the wrong direction!
And if they walked a little farther, they would definitely exceed the line that Daddy said!
The thought of ZhiZhi worrying Daddy, Xiao Jin’s sense of responsibility as the eldest brother skyrocketed, and he walked up to ZhiZhi, saying coolly, “ZhiZhi, you’re going too far.”
Since the moment ZhiZhi entered the forest, they keenly felt that something was attracting them somewhere, and its attraction was so great that it could be said that the little treant’s whole heart was adorned with it. When suddenly preached by their brother, they were not prepared, and were really scared. When they recovered, they gathered their thoughts and nodded their head, followed their brother back, and said they would not run away.
Xiao Jin succeeded in getting his sibling back on track and was in a very good mood. But not long after, ZhiZhi from time to time looked over there.
Xiao Jin was a bit embarrassed, he had just told his younger sibling, if he said it again, he would certainly be uncomfortable in his heart. Xiao Jin’s eyes fell on the white tiger, who changed form as soon as he left the house. He now firmly did not want to turn into a human, with claws and big mouth to collect firewood with much difficulty. He gave up the game, and the tree trunk faced the impotent rage of FanFan. Xiao Jin had a plan.
He went over to the white tiger and gave him a few instructions, only to see the tiger’s eyes, which had lost hope, suddenly light up and look happily in the direction of ZhiZhi, nodding repeatedly.
Thus, the following scene happened. FanFan had completely given up the firewood collecting job.
The range of activities centered around ZhiZhi, while pretending to pick this tree, and sniffing that tree. Once he saw ZhiZhi go deeper into the woods, he would quickly run over to block the road ahead. No matter where they went, there were big white tiger eyes brightly gazing at themself. ZhiZhi was completely annoyed in the end and also diverted their attention, regardless of what attracted them to the forest, to play chase with FanFan.
And, they (ZhiZhi) also picked up firewood on their way to chase.
When Jing Man felt that the kids were almost done with their outdoor activities for the day, he gathered them in front of him and counted their harvest for the day. ZhiZhi was surprised to find out that they came in third place in their semi-paddling form!
BaiBai was so preoccupied with chatting with Phil that he picked up a few branches and went to hide under a tree, while FanFan was too busy playing with himself and couldn’t pull many branches with his tiger paws.
And Xiao Sang… The youngest brother was not surprised by anything he did, at least today he was not in the mood to pick up branches on the right.
Xiao Shui, the only child who has been seriously collecting firewood since the beginning and had not lost his mind at all, ignored his other siblings’ firewood and seriously compared his own firewood stack with that of Brother Xiao Jin’s.
It turned out that his older brother was too good! That pile was better than his own, no matter the quality or quantity of firewood, or even the neatness of the pile together!
And, there was happy news to share with everyone! His hair didn’t freeze in the snow!1
Over the next few days, the family wandered around the foothills, familiarizing themselves with this mountain, which was shrouded in snow all year round, and gradually accepting the good cold of the northern country well.
A few days passed, BaiBai’s emotions over not seeing Phil calmed down, and became the family’s good baby again. When he got up this morning, he even praised the smell of snow mixed with the smell of pine needles.
While making ginger cola in the house, Jing Man suddenly remembered something and raised his eyes to look out the window. He looked back at everyone in amazement and laughed, “We’ve been here for so many days and it hasn’t snowed! Isn’t that great?”
Mu Canzhou noticed this as well. The snowy forest area had more snow days than sunny days, which was why the snow stayed on all year round. It was reasonable to say that this was still autumn and winter, there were only two clear days in a month at most, so the snow should not only fall, but should fall a lot. Yet, they have been here for several days, and not a single piece of snow has fallen. All they saw was old snow!
He checked the terminal and found that there was nothing special about the weather, only outdated news. It said that a while ago there seemed to be some kind of meteorite landing in the snow forest area, but after breaking through the atmosphere it disappeared, and scientists had not been able to find the specific landing site. Looking at the time, this was a few months ago on the news. He only chatted with everyone, and they did not take it to heart.
At night, Mu CangZhou took the three big children into the room. When the children were all asleep, he heard a soft knock on the door. Mu CangZhou’s lips curled up in a faint smile, put on his shoes and opened the door for Jing Man. The two of them had to sleep in separate rooms for the past few days with the kids, so it was a surprise that Jing Man could come to him.
As if he was afraid of waking up the children, Jing Man didn’t follow him to the bed. Instead, he led him straight to the window, and when he turned around, his peach blossom eyes reflected the layers of bright, white snow.
Mu CangZhou looked at his appearance and his throat rolled. The moonlight was tantalizing, since the two could not easily be alone. He lowered his head and tried to kiss him. This caused the other man to unromantically turn his head to point outside, wet eyes with the intention of offering treasure, “Brother Mu, look outside, the snow!”
The charming scene was immediately broken, anyone who saw this woodland deer look could not be profane. So, Mu CangZhou closed his mind and replaced it with a light kiss on the forehead.
The two did not stay too late, mainly because Jing Man was afraid that the children would wake up and have fear in their hearts when they saw he was not by their side. After leaning together for a while to watch the snow fall, he left through the door.
The next day, Jing Man woke up very early. Although he did not sleep long last night, he felt refreshed.
After tucking in the sleeping children, he went to the window to watch the snow. The light snow from last night had long disappeared, and now all that fell was snow large as goose feathers, flying lightly in the air. The restful time did not last long, he saw Mu CangZhou return from the house with his head down, walking with a pace not as spirited as usual, but with a touch of numbness.
What time is it, Brother Mu got out of bed and left? Jing Man put on his coat and rushed over to open the door for him.
When the door opened, the wind and snow poured in first, freezing him tightly. Yet, after waiting a few breaths, Mu Cangzhou was still standing outside the door with his head hanging low.
“Come in, Brother Mu, it’s so cold.” Jing Man was uncertain, reached out and pulled him in, who was very cold to the touch, not knowing how long he had been out. He asked a few more questions, but Brother Mu did not say a word, as if the whole spirit of the person was taken away. Jing Man unexpectedly read a piece of loneliness and panic from his eyes.
Jing Man was tempted to ask what was wrong, but thought better of it and didn’t say anything. He just took a duster to help him flick the snow off his body, the house was warm and the snowflakes had started to turn into water.
By the time the snow was cleared from his body, the man finally regained some vitality.
Mu CangZhou turned his head to look at the two rooms, fists clenched. The door was obviously now properly closed… But how could last night…
Jing Man finally couldn’t help himself and raised his voice, “Brother Mu! What’s going on? What are you doing out early in the morning? You don’t say anything, I’ll worry!”