The next day, the crisp sound of birdsong wafted over the empty village, and the echoing sound broke the silence of the morning on the snowy mountains.

The sun was shining, and the snow-capped mountains seemed to have just woken up from their sleep, listening tirelessly to the whispers of the mountain elves.

Smoke rose from the houses in the village, and from time to time there were several scolding voices of women urging their children to get up. In the open space at the entrance of the village, however, a group of young children ran and chased, small snowballs flying everywhere, and high laughter wafting among the snow-covered pines.

At this time, under a pine tree in the distance, Zhou Xiaotian was dressed in a single coat, alone with his back to the pine, squatting on the snow, looking at the teenagers running around in the distance with a pair of envious eyes, as if he belonged to two completely different worlds from them.

"I knew you would be here!" a silver bell-like voice came from Zhou Xiaotian's front.

Not far away stood a little girl of his age, who was wrapped from head to toe in a heavy leather jacket and cotton hat, her feet were deep in the snow, her pink face was delicate, her long eyelashes were still hanging a few snowflakes, and she was stepping on the thick snow, clumsily walking towards the pine tree.

Looking at the girl who came running, Zhou Xiaotian had a sweet smile on the corner of his mouth, and a trace of warmth welled up in his heart.

For a long time, in addition to her parents, only Hu Tianyao will not dislike her strange illness, and only she will accompany her and confide her thoughts to herself.

Hu Tianyao walked under the tree, sat next to Zhou Xiaotian with his knees crossed, and gasped: "In such a cold weather, you don't wear more clothes!"

Zhou Xiaotian's expression was stunned, and he smiled helplessly, and said, "You also know that I am not afraid of the cold, but if I wear more, I will always feel hot." ”

The girl suddenly remembered that Zhou Xiaotian was most afraid of others asking him about a strange illness, and there was a trace of embarrassment on her little face, and she hurriedly apologized: "Xiaotian, I'm sorry!"

Zhou Xiaotian reluctantly smiled and said, "It's okay!"

He seemed to suddenly remember something, and his voice changed, and he said, "Sister Tianyao, tomorrow is your birthday! ”

As he spoke, he reached into his bosom with his right hand, as if he was about to pull out something.

Hu Tianyao's embarrassed face suddenly changed, and he suddenly smiled again, like a happy bird, and said happily: "I didn't expect you to remember this! Today, grandpa went to Tianlai County to buy a birthday gift for me, I'm really looking forward to it! Xiaotian, you must come to celebrate for me tomorrow." ”

At this moment, Zhou Xiaotian's right hand, which he wanted to take out of his arms, paused, and the smile on his face was a little stiff, and he said unnaturally: "Yes...... Isn't it? The gift that Grandpa Hu bought must be very precious!"

Hu Tianyao heard that his tone was wrong, and immediately noticed the right hand in his arms, squinted at Zhou Xiaotian with his eyes, and said angrily: "What is hidden in your arms? ”

Zhou Xiaotian was a little overwhelmed, and hurriedly replied: "No, it's nothing!!"

Hu Tianyao had a wicked smile on his face, stared at Zhou Xiaotian's eyes full of suspicion, and said, "Is it really nothing?"

Zhou Xiaotian was stared at by her, so he had to slowly take out his right hand, hand it to Hu Tianyao, shyly lowered his head, and said timidly: "This, this is my birthday gift to you." ”

I saw that he was holding a small humanoid stone sculpture in his hand, and the knife work was very rough, and it was vaguely seen that it was the image of a girl.

Zhou Xiaotian's body has been weak since he was a child, and he can't usually do heavy work, so he began to learn the stonemason craft with his father when he had nothing to do.

"Wow, what a beautiful stone puppet. Hu Tianyao snatched the stone puppet from Zhou Xiaotian's hand and held it in his arms, as if he liked it very much: "I really like it, thank you Xiaotian!"

Zhou Xiaotian was flattered for a moment, raised his head and said, "Really, really? Do you really like it?"

Before Hu Tianyao could answer, he only felt a cold head, and the fur hat on his head was taken off from behind his back.

"Hahahaha... Come and see! There's a little monk here!"

Suddenly, there was a young man's mocking voice behind him.

I saw a young man of about eleven or twelve years old, with delicate eyebrows and fair complexion, shaking Zhou Xiaotian's fur hat with an arrogant face.

Zhou Xiaotian stood up and faced the young man, his face was full of grievances, but he couldn't give birth to a trace of resistance, as if he had long been accustomed to such humiliation.

"Brother Qingcheng, please give me back your hat!" Although he was begging for his own things, Zhou Xiaotian's tone was full of begging.

Liu Qingcheng threw the fur hat in his hand upward, and said with a provocative expression: "Why a little monster, you want a hat......?

The young men around him also laughed along with Liu Qingcheng, obviously always looking at him as the first horse.

At this time, Hu Tianyao suddenly jumped up, blocked in front of Zhou Xiaotian, his little face was slightly bulging, he pinched his waist with one hand, held the stone puppet with the other hand and pointed at Liu Qingcheng, and shouted angrily: "Liu Qingcheng, don't deceive people too much, quickly return the hat to Xiaotian, otherwise I will tell my grandfather, I will make you look good when the time comes!"

As soon as he heard Hu Tianyao's grandfather Hu Lao, Liu Qingcheng's faces changed, and they were uncertain.

Speaking of Hu Lao, his origin is very mysterious, and the people in the village do not know. I only know that his real name is Hu Yishan, he has a quirky personality and his whereabouts are haunting, but he only loves his granddaughter more.

A body of medical skills is also unfathomable, over the years the people in the village are sick and sick, and they can only turn evil into good fortune by taking care of Hu Yishan. Zhou Xiaotian is sick and sick, and it is thanks to him that he can live to this day, the people of a village are grateful to him, and even Liu Qingcheng, the father of the head of a village, has to be polite when he sees him.

Liu Qingcheng's face quickly returned to calm, he knew that Hu Tianyao was not easy to mess with, if he really let Hu Lao know, he would definitely not be able to eat and walk around.

He rolled his eyes, ignored Hu Tianyao, and still smiled evilly: "Little monster, will you only hide behind a woman? ”

Hu Tianyao was about to speak, but was dragged by Zhou Xiaotian behind him.

Hu Tianyao turned his head, looked at Zhou Xiaotian in surprise, and said, "Xiaotian, Xiaotian."

I saw Zhou Xiaotian take a step forward, shook his head at her gently, stood side by side with her, and smiled: "It's okay, I'll take it myself!"

In the soft whisper, in addition to a little trembling fear, there was also a hint of firmness, so that Hu Tianyao could no longer speak.

Looking at Liu Qingcheng with an evil face, Zhou Xiaotian's body trembled, gritted his teeth, straightened his small body, and walked forward.

When he walked in front of Liu Qingcheng, Zhou Xiaotian still couldn't hide his inferiority complex, lowered his head slightly, didn't dare to look directly into his eyes, and said tremblingly: "Brother Qingcheng, please, please give me back your hat!"

Liu Qingcheng never thought that Zhou Xiaotian would ask for a hat by himself, in front of everyone, he felt a little embarrassed for a while, and he was very faceless, so he drank it suddenly, and said: "If you want a hat, how can it be so easy!"

Before Zhou Xiaotian could react, Liu Qingcheng's hands had already reached his shoulders, and Zhou Xiaotian was suddenly forced, staggered back a few steps, and fell to the ground unsteadily.

Zhou Xiaotian, who is usually weak, felt a little dizzy when he fell to the ground.

"What are you kidding if you want to get your hat back for this?"

"Hahaha......"

The onlookers laughed again.

Zhou Xiaotian, who was lying on the ground, clenched his hands, and a ruthless energy surged into his heart, he tried to support his somewhat weak body and slowly got up, walked in front of Liu Qingcheng again, looked directly at each other, stretched out one hand to Liu Qingcheng, and said resolutely: "Return my hat!"

At this time, the smile on Liu Qingcheng's face was a little stiff, and he was slightly panicked in his heart, seeing the disbelief in Zhou Xiaotian's eyes, he was angry again, and his face looked a little hideous, and said: "Little monster, you have a kind, it seems that I underestimate you! With that, he pushed it to the ground again.

Zhou Xiaotian was young, although he had low self-esteem, but his temperament was extremely strong, and he fell to the ground again, but he didn't say a word, and he looked resolutely not surrendering or yielding. With both hands on the ground, he got up and stood in front of Liu Qingcheng again.

In this way, no matter how many times Liu Qingcheng pushed him, Zhou Xiaotian always stumbled up, and then walked in front of him.

In the end, Liu Qingcheng seemed to be tired of it, and after pushing Zhou Xiaotian to the ground again, he slammed the fur hat in his hand to the snow, and said impatiently: "It's really boring, I feel sick when I see your bald head." ”

After saying hello, he ran towards the open space with a group of teenagers.

Hu Tianyao picked up the fur hat on the ground, ran to Zhou Xiaotian's side, and carefully helped him up. The little face was bulging, his eyes were slightly red, he had obviously just cried, and complained: "What can you do! Obviously you can't beat him, but you still insist on stepping forward and letting him beat him, are you a pig?"

"I, I just want to get my hat back by myself! Look, I'm not okay now? hehe......" After saying that, no matter what Hu Tianyao said, he just kept giggling.

For Zhou Xiaotian, what he got back was not only the hat that was taken away, but also a kind of dignity, even if he was embarrassed, it was a victory in his heart.