That winter vacation, Shi Yang had two little tails behind him. The tails were head-to-tail, biting each other, firmly tied to his behind.
In the snow-covered family housing compound, Shi Yang held Zhao Meimei’s hand, Zhao Meimei held Xu Xu’s, and the three of them walked towards the small building.
Xu Xu stood outside the two-story building, looking at the tall iron gate in front of him, blinked his long eyelashes twice, his dark pupils brightened slightly.
Xu Xu walked slowly up the spiral staircase from the first floor to the second, keeping his head up as he watched Zhao Meimei who was guiding him and Shi Yang high above. It felt like Shi Yang’s home was a castle, Shi Yang was the prince living in it, Zhao Meimei was the princess, and he was just a little dwarf with only a thatched cottage.
As the year-end approaches, the heating from the boiler room is well supplied.
Shi Yang entered the house and took off his down jacket.
Zhao Meimei also followed suit, removing her outer clothes.
Xu Xu glanced at them, quietly unbuttoned his cotton jacket, then habitually folded it neatly. When he wanted to help Zhao Meimei tidy up her cotton-padded jacket, he saw Zhao Meimei’s pale yellow cotton jacket being rescued by Shi Yang and swiftly folded neatly, placed atop Shi Yang’s high-end down jacket on the chair in the living room.
Xu Xu sat cautiously beside Zhao Meimei on the sofa, his pretty eyes darting around, examining Shi Yang’s home.
In Xu Xu’s eyes, Shi Yang’s home was truly luxurious. Just like Zhao Meimei when she first entered Shi Yang’s house, Xu Xu was deeply shocked by it. A seed quietly planted itself in his young heart, a seed yearning to grow swiftly into a mighty tree brimming with hope.
Shi Yang had quite a good impression of Xu Xu, thinking the little boy was quite handsome and endearingly obedient. In fact, quite a large portion of this sentiment stemmed from the affectionate halo surrounding Zhao Meimei.
Shi Yang took out the snacks at home and the high-end gift packages from others, opened them for the two children to eat.
Xu Xu didn’t eat; he peeled open a nut, turned to give it to Zhao Meimei for her to eat. Then, while peeling the next one, he secretly put his finger to his mouth to lick and sniff it, smacking his lips as if he could also taste a rather unfamiliar yet fragrant sweetness.
When Xu Xu handed Zhao Meimei the peeled nut again, Zhao Meimei took it but reversed her hand to stuff it into his mouth instead.
With the nut in his mouth, Xu Xu’s eyes widened, staring at Zhao Meimei.
Zhao Meimei grinned at him: "You should eat too, why give it all to me? This tastes so good, try it."
Xu Xu’s eyes intensely fixed on Zhao Meimei, pursing his lips, a crooked smile at the corner of his mouth. As he carefully chewed on the nut and the crisp, fragrant taste permeated through his mouth, a rapid surge of warmth flared up within him, hotter than the heat in the room.
At noon, Shi Yang cooked for the two little tails, slicing ham, washing vegetables, peeling a few big shrimps, and making three bowls of hot fragrant seafood noodles.
After finishing a bowl of noodles, Shi Yang said, "So hot, I need to take my clothes off."
Zhao Meimei was also sweaty, following suit, saying, "I’m taking off mine too, so hot."
Xu Xu glanced at them both, quietly joining in to take off his clothes as well.
Shi Yang took off his sweater, revealing the vest he was wearing underneath, and removed his long johns, wearing plaid briefs.
Shi Yang’s figure was great, broad shoulders, a slim waist, long legs, well-proportioned. His skin, tanned from college military training, gradually turned white over the winter, a light wheat-colored skin contrasted against the pure white tight vest, highlighting extremely beautiful harmonious lines.
Zhao Meimei stared at Shi Yang for a long time, thinking her Brother Yangyang was particularly handsome and charming. The impression formed during her teenage years was magical and profound. Even as Zhao Meimei grew up, she steadfastly believed that in this world, no man could surpass her Brother Yangyang, who firmly occupied the position of male god in her heart like an immovable rock.
Shi Yang went back to the provincial city for university, and Zhao Meimei steadily passed through fifth grade and crawled into sixth grade.
In the class, star stickers started trending, and all the classmates seemed to grow up overnight, no longer fascinated by childish cartoon protagonists, but turned to the pursuit and admiration of TV celebrities.
At that time, Zhao Meimei was deeply infatuated with a male celebrity who acted as a hero and all the positive roles, because this male celebrity smiled very much like her Brother Yangyang.
She started collecting all stickers related to the male celebrity, initially sticking them on her stationery box, textbooks, and desks. Later, when they couldn’t fit anymore, she began sticking them on Xu Xu’s textbooks.
Xu Xu had a sticker on his desk too, of a female pop singer.
The female singer had an oval face, slender eyes, a lightly made-up face, with her hair neatly tied back.
The original owner of this sticker was the class arts committee member, a cute little beauty who could sing and dance well. Later, Xu Xu unintentionally discovered this sticker, stared at it dazedly for a few moments, and asked for something from someone for the first time in his life.
The arts committee member blushed at the time, looking at Xu Xu, asking, "Do you also like listening to her songs?"
Xu Xu didn’t say anything then, but when he returned to his seat with the sticker, he quietly turned his gaze to Zhao Meimei, who was enthusiastically chatting with the classmates in front, observing intently, thinking the sticker’s female pop singer looked more and more like Zhao Meimei.
Later, during a period, when Xu Xu didn’t dare to turn around to look at Zhao Meimei in class, he would silently stare at the female star. The expression on the sticker was a smiling manner, and sometimes Xu Xu, while looking, couldn’t help but return a smile, and then when the teacher wasn’t paying attention, he would quickly glance at Zhao Meimei, feeling an indescribable sensation, a bit happy and a bit sweet.
Zhao Meimei’s stickers soon filled all of Xu Xu’s textbooks, and she began to put her attention on Xu Xu’s desk.
The school didn’t allow too large or obvious things to be stuck on desks, usually only a schedule was allowed. So the classmates worked hard to expand their thoughts to look at their idols’ different expressions and actions more during class. Thus, the area of the schedule started quietly expanding bit by bit, and besides course records, more stickers began appearing.
When Zhao Meimei reached towards Xu Xu’s sticker of the female pop singer at the prime location, Xu Xu firmly rejected her without hesitation.
Zhao Meimei attempted to persuade him, "You’re a boy, staring at a female singer all day, isn’t it strange? See how handsome my idol is, stick him on and look a few more times, you might just grow up to be like him."
Xu Xu was unmoved, "But I like her."
Zhao Meimei: "Your sticker is losing color, mine is so new! Much better looking than yours. Don’t you really like it?"
Xu Xu’s big eyes stared at Zhao Meimei, "No matter how she changes, I like her. Just like now you look better than you did in first grade, but even then, I liked you."