Chapter 075: Anomalous Times 41

Chapter 075: Anomalous Times 41

When the first snowflake melted on a warm cheek, the stranger walking down the street with downcast eyes thought they couldn't hold back their tears.

It wasn't until the next crystal-clear droplet of water spread across their skin that their dark, bright eyes widened in surprise, instinctively looking up at the night sky.

The night was deep and heavy, countless snowflakes like delicate paper scraps weaving through long verses as they drifted down.

The streets were bustling and noisy, neon lights flickering, giant screens on high-rise exteriors streaming colorful signals. People with indistinct faces hurried along but almost all stopped at the same time, looking up in sudden realization or shock to the vast night sky.

Today's news was incessant, sweeping across every electronic screen that remained lit. Discussions about the global sky anomalies hadn't ended when an unexpected cold snap suddenly arrived, sparking speculations about doomsday and disasters that echoed around the planet.

But tonight, the stars no longer cared about these things.

In a brief moment of stunned silence, those who paused for the snow exchanged glances with strangers around them, their eyes filled with amazement colliding in the snow.

The beautiful city, after a moment of silence, became extraordinarily lively and joyful.

"Is it snowing?"

"Our city is actually snowing!"

Messages and voices began to spread, weaving a transparent, vast web over the city, connecting countless moods related to the snow.

An old man selling fruit on the street corner widened his eyes, extending his hand tremulously into the cold air alongside a customer who had been selecting fruit, curiously catching the snowflakes from the sky.

Young people in cubicles released their mouse, turning to gaze blankly out the window. After a while, they came to their senses, hastily raising their phones to send images of the snow through transparent signals to those not by their side.

A child at a desk in a room stood up, approaching the window with a face full of delight, dropping their homework and pen, excitedly calling to their parents in the living room behind them, "Mom! Dad! Let's go downstairs to see the snow!"

"Just a moment, your homework isn't—" footsteps followed, accompanied by equally excited laughter, "Forget it, let's see the snow first!"

White snowflakes fell like feathers, landing in the wrinkled, aged palms, quickly melting into drops of water.

The study's glass window was opened, and an elderly man with silver hair stood by the window, watching as he caught one snowflake after another in his hand, still feeling a sense of unreality, as if he were in a beautiful illusion.

Hasty footsteps echoed in the corridor, briefly knocking once before a spry elder impatiently pushed open the door, peeking inside to look at him.

"I knew you'd be here!" Uncle Butler spoke quickly, "Yunjiang, it's actually snowing outside!"

"Yes, it's snowing," Zhang Yunjiang retracted his hand suspended in mid-air, sighing, "How many years has it been since we've seen such snow."

In the beautifully serene courtyard bathed in moonlight, large snowflakes fell heavily, a genuine snowy day.

"I think about it, there were a few light snowfalls in earlier years, but so slight they didn't last past dawn."

The elderly uncle had a good memory, counting on his fingers, "The last proper snowfall I remember was four or five decades ago!"

As he said this, he couldn't help but laugh, "You were just a kid then! We had a snowball fight, do you remember?"

Zhang Yunjiang was brought back to distant memories, laughing similarly, "Of course I remember, but I wasn't a child then, I was seventeen? A young adult."

"Yes, yes, you were taller, Fu Gui was shorter." The uncle immediately nodded, his voice vivid, "He was fourteen, truly a child, daring to stuff snow into the teacher's collar, making him so angry he overturned the chessboard and chased after him with a feather duster to beat him!"

Zhang Yunjiang subconsciously replied, "The teacher was originally worried that he might have scolded him too harshly, but now, he regretted not being harsh enough before."

"Oh, only Fu Gui had such courage, you wouldn't dare!"

Under the moonlit snow, yellowed, old memories surged up, both elders laughed heartily, their brows and eyes filled with the scent of time.

"It was really good back then," the uncle said, "I was only in my twenties, able to play snowball fights with you two for an entire afternoon!"

"Yes, now we can't run anymore, and there hasn't been snow that blankets the ground since."

Their laughter gradually faded, leaving behind a tranquil nostalgia.

The refined elder gazed at the snowflakes fluttering outside the window, sighing softly, "Truly an anomalous season."

"An anomaly is fine," the uncle's cheerful smile remained, "I'm nearing the end of my life, being able to see such beautiful snow again is also a good thing!"

The older elder, having seen the snow, glanced over the notebook spread out on the study table, smilingly asking the younger man, "Rarely do they come to see you, why don't you chat more instead of being cooped up writing chess manuals?"

"I sensed they all seemed to have something on their minds, so I didn't bother them."

Zhang Yunjiang responded in a matter-of-fact tone, looking at the chess manual spread out on the table, then saying, "This isn't newly written, it's still yesterday's game, taking advantage of this free time to ponder it."

Upon hearing this, the uncle deliberately walked over to take a look, he also knew some Go, "Still the game you played in the park yesterday?"

"Yes."

"Aren't you saying that very talented young man already solved it?" the uncle was somewhat puzzled, "It was a brilliant move, a Heavenly Flying Immortal!"

This was originally a stalemate between two elders, the impatient black pieces about to lose to the calm white pieces, but in the hands of a novice learning Go, miraculously turned defeat into victory.

Zhang Yunjiang first nodded, then shook his head.

"He did solve it, very impressive, very spectacular," the elder mused, "But when I repeatedly looked at this chess manual, I vaguely felt that besides that move, there should be another way to break the deadlock."

The uncle, upon hearing this, immediately started to leave, "Then you continue pondering, I won't disturb you!"

But Zhang Yunjiang waved his hand, "No problem, I definitely won't figure it out today, drank too much alcohol, my mind is a mess, probably not as sober as Doctor Yu yet."

Thinking of the young man who talked more when drunk, the uncle couldn't stop laughing, "Then don't ponder it, just enjoy the snow calmly, I'll make some sobering tea!"

Steamy tea spread a clear fragrance in the night.

Snowflakes floated past the clear glass window, gazing at the flickering TV screen from afar.

Yan Jing, alone in her room watching TV, stood motionless by the window, taking a while to come to her senses, hastily shoving the half-eaten snack into her mouth.

He hurriedly freed both hands, raising his phone to snap a flurry of photos at the night sky before he lowered his head and started typing rapidly, his fingers and cheeks moving at lightning speed.

[Are you still awake, Xiao Bai? Come out and play if you are!!]

[It's snowing, holy cow!!!!]

The transparent radio waves silently traversed the vast courtyard, drifting merrily through the snowy night.

On the warm yellow chessboard, several black and white stones were scattered about. The cushions at either end of the table still retained some warmth, while outside the ancient-style corridor of the Go room, two small figures sat side by side under the eaves.

The little girl with two braids reached out cautiously to catch the snowflakes, her childish voice filled with novelty: "I'm seeing snow for the first time!"

Beside her, a slightly shorter little boy looked up at the heavy snow blanketing the courtyard, his eyes reflecting a similar sense of wonder, yet tinged with a faint melancholy.

"If it snows all night, you can have a snowball fight with others when you wake up tomorrow."

"Can I really have a snowball fight? I've only seen such illustrations in my textbooks!"

The young child was brimming with yearning and joy. "How wonderful, the snow is so beautiful."

The other child responded in realization. "Yes, it's truly beautiful."

"Grandpa Yuan, have you seen snow before?"

The clever little girl now only called him Grandpa when there were no outsiders around, ensuring she didn't slip up.

"I have," said Yuan Yuhang. "Coincidentally, it was also here that I saw it."

He Xi let out a surprised "oh": "Was it during the days when you were learning Go as a child?"

Both grandpas had said she had a natural talent for Go, and tonight, Grandpa Yuan had secretly led her to the Go room to teach her how to play.

She wasn't sure if she had any talent, but she listened attentively, whether it was to the complex and unfamiliar Go terms or the stories related to the game.

She had just learned that the two grandpas had learned Go as children in this very spacious and elegant courtyard.

"Yes," the elderly man, who looked like a child, nodded and sighed. "What a coincidence, being in another time and space, yet able to sit here and see the snow."

The same black and white chessboard, the same beautiful and light snowflakes.

But different children learning the game.

And intertwined lives and deaths.

The old man wore a wistful expression, while the child's face was innocent. Picking up where their conversation left off before the snowfall, she asked curiously, "So how long did you and Grandpa Zhang learn Go together?"

"I studied for a bit over three years, and he should have done four. He had more talent than me and persisted longer."

He Xi exclaimed, "That's a long time!"

To the eight-year-old girl, that was a very, very long time, almost the length of her entire life.

"What happened after you finished?" she asked naively. "Did you go to competitions to see who was better?"

The little boy laughed at her question. Shaking his head, he said, "It's the opposite."

"What's the opposite?"

"It's because we knew we couldn't beat others that we stopped learning." He spoke matter-of-factly. "Go is a discipline that heavily relies on talent. If your dream is to be a lifelong player, passion alone isn't enough."

"But you mustn't follow in my footsteps and give up halfway. You're much more insightful than I was as a child."

He Xi nodded, half-understanding, and said, "Grandpa Yuan, did you stop learning because you thought you weren't good at Go?"

When she couldn't learn what her teacher taught, she often had the thought of not wanting to go to school anymore.

"Mm."

"So why didn't Grandpa Zhang continue learning?" she asked in confusion. "You said Grandpa Zhang had talent earlier."

"He did have more talent than me, but circumstances were special, so even with that talent, it wasn't enough for him to continue learning."

"What kind of special circumstances?"

"He was an only child, and his family's situation was not ordinary." Yuan Yuhang used a phrase popular among young people nowadays. "Unless he became the best in the world, he would have to return home to inherit the family fortune."

He spoke casually, as if joking, but He Xi didn't laugh. A serious expression appeared on her young face.

She murmured, "Not being able to continue learning Go... Grandpa Zhang must have been very sad back then."

The little boy was taken aback, remaining silent as he reached out to tousle the little girl's hair. His aged gaze softened considerably.

Feeling the warmth from the top of her head, He Xi whispered, "Grandpa Yuan, you must have been very sad too when you decided to stop learning."

Even she could tell that the two grandpas, despite their white hair, still loved Go so much.

They must have loved it even more in the past.

"Not really," the little boy turned away, his voice soft. "I didn't have the talent, and my family was poor. How could I keep wasting time on this thing? Giving up was the right choice."

He spoke softly and quickly, his words melting into the cold night like a snowflake quietly turning into a droplet of water.

The snow continued to fall.

The naive little girl watched the snow in silence, her palm already catching countless pure white flowers.

She saw Uncle Butler hurrying along the nearby corridor, smiling at her when their gazes met.

He Xi smiled back, waving at the passing elder before asking the little boy beside her, "By the way, Grandpa Yuan, why do they call you Fu Gui?"

She had pieced together the general story and knew that the "Prosperity" mentioned by Butler Grandpa and Grandpa Zhang was actually Grandpa Yuan.

But Grandpa Yuan's name was clearly Yuan Yuhang.

It was a beautiful name.

"Is that a nickname?" the little girl asked enviously. "I don't have any other nicknames."

The child's question was innocent, and Yuan Yuhang was slightly taken aback before he sighed and smiled. "Your name is already so good that you don't need another one, Xiao Hexi."

"Prosperity wasn't a nickname; it was my old name. I changed it when I was in my teens."

The little girl's eyes widened in surprise. "Eh, you changed your name?"

"Yes, originally it was Yuan Fugui, pretty rustic, right?" said Yuan Yuhang. "My grandfather named me that. When I was young, if someone shouted 'Prosperity' on the street, an entire platoon of people would turn around. It was silly, but thankfully I changed it."

Hexi laughed until her eyes curved, hurriedly saying, "Your current name sounds especially nice, like something from ancient times. Did you choose it yourself?"

Yuan Yuhang didn't answer directly, only saying, "This name does indeed come from an ancient poem."

"Really? What poem?"

Under the snow-covered eaves, the short little boy gazed at the distant stars and moon on the horizon, lost in thought. After a long time, he found his voice again.

"The dew washes the jade universe clean without a trace of smoke, the moon slowly travels across ten thousand miles of sky." He said softly, "These two characters were taken from this line of poetry."

The little girl listened attentively. "Grandpa Yuan, what does this line of poetry mean?"

She couldn't understand the meaning behind the verse, but she felt it painted a very beautiful picture.

As beautiful as a snowflake resting in the palm of her hand.

The clear, crisp voice of the child made the old-souled little boy recall the only obscure ancient poem he could recite in full, the dreamlike laughter and joy of tonight, and many more things.

He looked at the truly young child before him, his voice suddenly choking up.

"The poem says that you will see a very beautiful, very vast world... as long as you follow your heart and keep moving forward."

The moonlight was clear as water, and the fine snow continued to fall.

The young man by the window stared for a long time before coming back to himself, suddenly turning to look at the person behind him. His warm brown hair drew a splendid arc in the air.

"It's snowing outside," Yu Bai murmured. "Is it really snowing... or is it just my imagination?"

He had just wished for a snowfall in the rarely snowy Star City, and now the snow was suddenly falling.

Almost like a divine promise.

The light brown eyes, now filled with snowflakes, shone brighter than the moon, and the man looking at him was also filled with a faint smile.

"It's not an illusion," He said. "It's really snowing."

Who made the snow fall?

The answer was obvious.

Yu Bai, standing by the window, wondered this, his brows and eyes curving as he asked Xie Wufang, "Aren't you going to come see the snow?"

The man standing by the sink put down the kitchenware he had just washed and walked over as instructed.

It was only a few steps away, no more than a second or two.

In the first second, Yu Bai saw Him, who originally disliked white, obediently walking towards the snowy scene by the window.

So he put down the cup of hot chocolate in his hand and casually placed it on the dining counter.

In the second second, he took the initiative to step forward.

The tiny human, drunk and acting on impulse, gave the god a bright and pure hug.

His pale cheeks suddenly pressed tightly against the shoulder that was radiating warmth, slightly damp hair brushing against the man's stern jawline. The glass window reflected the sudden ripples in the gray-blue lake.

"I like this snow," he hugged the god who fulfilled his wish tightly, his voice joyful and bright. "It's beautiful, really beautiful."