Leng Hua looked at the turtle, his eyes flickering as though something had touched him.
In that gaze, submerged beneath the wind and snow, endless sorrow surfaced. Those bygone days were like smoke—had the wind scattered the past? Yet what it could not scatter was memory, the days when they had been childhood sweethearts, growing up together.
A voice echoed in his mind, crisp and clear. "Leng Hua, this is my favorite little turtle. I'm giving him to you. Can we never be apart? When I grow up, I'll marry you!"
Tears slowly streamed down Leng Hua's face. He seemed to have remembered something.
He remembered that day, when he had held his cousin's hand and run joyfully toward the forest with her. Their laughter and happy cries still lingered in his ears.
Then he heard a startled cry. "Leng Hua, your hand—it's so cold!"
He spun around and only then saw that snow and ice had already crept across Zhiyun's face. She had just been about to speak, but in an instant, she froze into a block of ice.
"Zhiyun, what happened to you?!"
"Zhiyun, don't scare me! Why aren't you moving? Answer me!"
Young Leng Hua panicked as he looked at Zhiyun, frozen solid. Gripping her shoulders with both hands, he shook her desperately, completely losing his composure.
But Zhiyun gave no response. Through the transparent ice, he saw her star-bright eyes gazing intently at him.
"No!"
"I didn't do this!"
Leng Hua looked at his hands, which had already turned frost-white, while snowflakes swirled around his body.
Soon, a passerby saw the scene. His eyes filled with disbelief as he stared at it. The moment Leng Hua looked toward him, the man turned and fled in panic.
Leng Hua did not chase after him. He hurried around