The Thanksgiving cold wind howled through the academy all night.
It still had not let up by the following morning.
After getting up, Zheng Qing was unsurprised to find the ground covered in dead branches and fallen leaves. Bald-nosed Crows and Gray Squirrels hurried about against the wind, picking through the nuts blown down from the trees, gathering nature's gifts and preparing for the foreseeable winter.
Fatty Xin, meanwhile, lavished praise on the Thanksgiving gifts the little elves had sent yesterday.
"I thought I'd never have any use for this stuff in my life."
On the way to class, he tugged at the thick scarf tucked beneath his hood and collar. The wind had turned the tip of his round nose bright red, and his voice sounded muffled in the gale. "When I get back tonight, I'm bringing them a bottle of Apple Dew. Even unicorns like that drink!"
"You should have given it to them last night if you wanted to look sincere, instead of hastily plucking the leaves off your laurel branch one by one and stuffing them into a box that used to hold fried chicken." Sheltering behind the fat wizard's broad shoulders, Zheng Qing mercilessly mocked him.
Although Jiuyou Academy did not celebrate Thanksgiving with great fanfare, that did not mean its students were wholly indifferent to the day. Especially with a well-known holiday like this, the bad habit of exchanging gifts inevitably arose—though unlike major occasions such as Valentine's Day, New Year's Eve, or Christmas, Thanksgiving gifts were mostly exchanged among groups linked by "gratitude."
For instance, shop owners gave gifts to their employees. This was D&K's first holiday season, and Zheng Qing's gift to the mouse brothers Ears and their fox accountant Hank was a half-day off. There was no discounting it whatsoever; at