The sun is setting and twilight is approaching.

It was January, and Moyu City, a small third-tier city located in the cold days of the north, had been snowing heavily for three days and three nights in a row.

The snow covers the whole city with a thick layer of white, and the snowmen of all kinds built by young people stand in the ice and snow, just like the ice and snow town in a fairy tale, which makes people feel like they are there.

With the heavy snow came the icy bone-chill, and most of the passers-by wrapped themselves tightly, revealing only a pair of black eyes outside, for fear of being blown by the cold wind.

Even cats who are born with their own cold-proof 'coats' do not want to stay in the yard, but want to get into the owner's bed to find warmth.

By this time, it was almost dark, and it was difficult to see a single pedestrian or vehicle on the street, only the heavy snow was still falling tirelessly.

But in a remote alley, there was a young figure with his hands in his jacket pockets, wearing a down jacket and hat, stepping on the snow step by step, leaving a string of deep footprints on the snow, but it was soon re-covered by the heavy snow.

The young man who walked through the snow in the twilight was Zhong Lixiu, a senior at an ordinary high school in the city.

It's not that he ran out to step on the snow to find excitement with idle eggs, but just finished working overtime, bought some noodles and braised eggs, and rushed back to the rental house against the heavy snow, planning to make a bowl of longevity noodles to celebrate a simple birthday for himself.

Zhong Lixiu still remembers that when he celebrated his birthday when he was a child, the old man who was over sixty would always make him a bowl of hot longevity noodles and watch him eat and drink.

The busy back of the old man standing in front of the stove, and the pair of dry and blackened hands were deeply imprinted in his mind, lingering.

It's a pity that when Zhong Lixiu was fourteen years old, the kind old man left the world.

Tomorrow is Zhong Lixiu's eighteenth birthday, and the reason why he chose to make himself a bowl of longevity noodles tonight is because he will have to work late tomorrow and have no time to go home and cook.

When Zhong Lixiu was less than five months old, his parents went to work on the construction site and unfortunately had an accident, which, according to eyewitnesses, collapsed a dozen stories and ruthlessly ended their lives and the lives of other workers. Even in later excavations, even the bodies could not be identified.

Zhong Lixiu, who was still in infancy, was sent to an orphanage, and when he was one year old, he was adopted by a lonely old man who picked up waste for a living.

It was the lonely old man who pulled him up, but fortunately, the old man raised a dairy goat, and the strong dairy goat had enough milk. Zhong Lixiu still had hot goat's milk to drink since he was a child.

But the old man who had worked hard all his life finally failed to enjoy a day of happiness, and he died like this. It was a sunny noon, and when Zhong Lixiu came home from school, the old man curled up in the yard, next to a big bag of scrap he picked up today, but he closed his eyes forever.

With the help of a few neighbors, Zhong Lixiu buried the old man with the money he scraped together, and after kneeling in front of the old man's grave and accompanying him for three days and three nights, he returned to school, and used his spare time on weekends and after school to work part-time to earn tuition.

Because he was a minor, not many people dared to let him work under his hands, for fear of being accused of abusing child labor, so Zhong Lixiu specially found those small factories and trucks to work as a porter.

Those little bosses still scoffed at first, after all, even some adults couldn't hold on to these hard jobs, let alone Zhong Lixiu, a boy who was only fourteen years old.

But when Zhong Lixiu stubbornly carried bags of cement, and moved more goods than those adults in a day, the little bosses stopped saying anything.

After working for a long time, the little bosses have remembered this young man who is willing to work hard and is always happy.

Although he eats coarse tea and light rice, fortunately, Zhong Lixiu often does hard work, and has practiced a pair of muscles that are not very burly but very strong.

Therefore, his classmates often ridiculed him, although his name was delicate and even a little girly, he was a "rough man".

Zhong Lixiu could only smile helplessly, although the name was a bit girly, but it was chosen by his parents, so he never thought of changing the name.

He is actually very good-looking, with a clear water chestnut face, short bangs, a height of one meter seven, and strong muscles, full of man's masculinity.

……

Standing at the door of the rental room, looking at the closed door, Zhong Lixiu patted the snow above his head, raised his hand and knocked gently.

"Who? I don't sleep in the middle of the night, knocking on a ghost? ”

A middle-aged woman's voice was heard inside, as loud as a lion's roar, and even the snow on the trees was almost shaken down.

Fortunately, the residents in this alley are far away, otherwise, if they are heard by others, there will definitely be a war of words.

Zhong Lixiu looked down at his watch, and said helplessly: "Aunt Lin, it's not even ten o'clock now, where is the middle of the night?" It's not even half the night, right? ”

As soon as the words fell, the door was opened, and a middle-aged woman surnamed Lin walked out, glanced at Zhong Lixiu, and said angrily: "Why did you little rabbit cub come back so late?" I'm going to get up from the covers and open the door for you. ”

"No way, I'm working overtime again, Aunt Lin, go back to the room quickly, it's cold, don't freeze your body."

Zhong Lixiu laughed dryly, closed the door, and hurriedly slipped into the house in the middle-aged woman's slightly softened face.

Behind him came the muttering of a middle-aged woman and the sound of slippers stomping on the snow: "It's snowing so hard in this damn ghost weather, sooner or later you're going to bury people alive." ”

Then, with a "bang," the middle-aged woman closed the door, but the sound was like smashing the door.

Zhong Lixiu, who returned to the room, took out the noodles and boiled eggs in his arms, put them on the table, and then walked to the door, took off his coat, shook off the snow on it, and hung them on the hanger.

After gently closing the door, Zhong Lixiu reached out to plug in the electric blanket, but found that it had been plugged in, and it was very warm in the bed, obviously it had been plugged in for a while.

The corners of Zhong Lixiu's mouth grinned, and he hurriedly put his hand into the quilt to keep warm, and his hand, which was almost stiff, finally had some warmth and numbness.

His landlord, a middle-aged woman surnamed Lin, may be lonely because her husband who drives a big truck and her son who is going to college are out of town, and her mood swings are too great, or it may be because the menopause is longer than the average person, which causes her voice to be very loud all the time, but she is an excellent person.

Although she often hears her loud voice, she will not ruthlessly kick Zhong Lixiu out because he is in arrears of rent and paying less utility bills, and occasionally cooks more meals for Zhong Lixiu to have a meal. The dishes and chopsticks are cleaned by Zhong Lixiu.