It's snowing.

Hopland in the south has a rare light snowfall, and snow is a novelty in this warm seaside city.

White snowflakes slowly drifted from the sky and landed in the courtyard, the air became colder than usual, and some children wore cotton jackets to play happily in the snow, throwing snowballs and building snowmen, for them who grew up by the sea, this was almost the first time in their lives, so they were also very excited.

Large frost-covered glass windows separate the cold outdoors from the warm interiors, and the fireplace burns silently and the mahogany bronze pendulum clock against the wall ticks.

Meilu sat quietly on the small sofa by the fireplace, the armrest on the left was a little hot by the fire, it was very warm to the touch, and she was draped with a blanket, the blanket was woven of velvet, which looked a little old, and there were small fur balls in some places.

It stands to reason that the eldest lady of the Helis family, and the current head of the family, are not too big to afford a good blanket, but this one has a special meaning for her.

When she was about 8 years old, Hopland also had a snowfall, which was bigger than this time, and she played in the snow with Feng Nai and some other girls of the same age, and tried to pile up various things with snowflakes, such as villains, kittens, puppies, etc.

But because of their inexperience, they always don't look like each other, and they are ugly, and the boys of Edley and Wick laughed at them next to them, and Feng Nai was angry for a while, so he picked up the snowball and smashed it, and this time it was good, and the boys and girls on the snow had a snowball fight with each other, throwing snowballs back and forth.

When she was fighting and running, the small animals that had been piled up were also stepped on by others, and she was so angry that she cried, her heart was full of grievances, and Feng Nai comforted her on the side, but she still didn't stop. Later, Feng Nai went to find Big Brother Fenton, who was almost an adult at that time, and was considered the oldest of their generation, and was also very prestigious.

He quickly brought in Adeley and Wick, who were about 9 years old, and asked them to apologize to him, although Adeley was naughty at that time, he didn't dare to disobey Fenton's big brother, so he had to reluctantly apologize to her, and then she stopped crying.

Later, Big Brother Fenton found a few shovels and shoveled the snow on the ground much faster than they could with their hands, and then asked Addley and the other boys to help build the snow, but they were a little dismissive at first, not wanting to play house games with the girls. But the pile also became interested, and Wick suggested that everyone build a castle together, which was approved by many of the children.

So a dozen children joined forces to build a castle on the snow, and Fenton watched from the sidelines, sometimes going to find some tools to help flatten the snowdrift into large squares, and gave them some small planks to make the snowdrift into an angular shape, which made them even more interested.

For a whole day, they didn't even want to eat at noon, and all they thought about was how to build a beautiful castle. A dozen children run around in the snow, constantly collecting the snow to the middle place. They first roughly built a small hill, then Fenton helped them plan the general shape, such as the wall, the main body of the castle, the tower, etc., and then one person was responsible for a small part and began to act.

Edley wants to build the tallest fortress in the castle, Kaze Nai wants to build a tower, and Wick wants to build the main body of the castle, because they have the best family backgrounds and are usually the leaders, and the other children can't earn it, so they can only let them choose first. When Brother Fenton saw that she didn't choose, he ran over a little curiously and asked if he was too shy to say.

She didn't really know what to choose, so she had to say that I would build the city wall with the other children, it would be easier. In this way, 5-6 children such as Kazeno piled the main body of the castle in the middle, and the other 8-9 children piled the castle wall on the periphery.

It was not until the afternoon that the castle was completed, and during this time, Brother Fenton was shown several times, and several repairs and changes were made before it was completed.

The white ice castle, the city wall is a little twisted, uneven, the main body of the castle in the middle is not very symmetrical, and the tower is really a little thick, and it doesn't look beautiful. But on the whole, you can still see that it is a castle.

It wasn't perfect, but everyone was happy, and they started to assign themselves where they wanted to live in the castle in the future.

Adelley was the first to speak, and he said that he would live in the fortress rotunda in the middle of the castle, because that was where the king lived. Then there is Kazeno, who says that she wants to live in the tower and be like a princess. Wick looked at it and said that he lived in the middle of the castle, that he wanted to be a general, and then the other children also told him what he thought, where he lived, who he wanted to be, whether he was a minister, a hero, a queen, a bishop, a poet, and so on.

Finally Fenton asked her where she wanted to live, and she thought for a moment and replied that she wanted to live with her family, and everyone would be happy together. After saying that, Adeley laughed and said that this wish was too boring and what was there to think about. Seeing that she was about to cry again, Brother Fenton reprimanded Adellie a few more words, telling him not to judge other people's dreams arbitrarily, and she felt a little better.

After playing in the snow all day, she was relatively weak at that time, and when she came back, she had a cold, headache, and fever, and she was curled up in bed all day. Sleeping in bed and sleeping too much is a little uncomfortable.

Aunt Lig, the head maid, saw that she was in a bad mood all day, so she talked to her by her bedside, and her hand was not idle, weaving a blanket.

At that time, she would lie on the bed and listen to Aunt Lig talk about some of the past, such as the scene of Ligea's life in the mountain village when she was young, the wild boars, monsters, foxes, etc., as well as the story of Aunt Lige's own children and siblings when she was a child, what they would play with, etc., which made Meilu listen to it with relish, and lying in bed was not so boring.

The cold lasted for a week or two, during which Feng Nai also looked for her a few times, but for fear of infecting her, the parents on both sides did not let them meet, but left some gifts, not only Feng Nai's, but also other children, and even Edley and Wick asked Feng Nao to bring her a beautiful little dagger.

When the cold was cured, the blanket woven by Aunt Lig was also completed, so that Meilu would wear it when it was cold, and be careful not to catch a cold again in the future.

Time passed slowly, and the blankets that once covered the whole body were now only suitable for draping over the shoulders, the people who weaved the blankets were gone, and the children who played with them also went their separate ways, disappeared into life, and some would never be seen again.

The fire burned quietly, the past seemed to emerge in the flames, Meilu was immersed in the memories, sometimes smiling, sometimes sad, and when the blanket on her shoulders slipped off, she inadvertently woke up, pulled the blanket again, and then played with the firewood in the fireplace to let it burn again.

Meilu looked at the orange-red flames, and there was no longer the worry and uneasiness of the past in her eyes, and a calm and peaceful fire light was reflected in it.

Even if the past is no longer and the familiar people are gone, she will still move on, just like she dreamed when she was a child, she will make the Helis family a warm family again.