Chapter 1 North Wind Xiaoxiao

"watch out!"

Phew~, the snowball flying in the air crossed an arc and hit the head wearing a black velvet hat not far away.

Bang! The snowflakes flew away~, "Damn it!", with an angry sound, the figure under the black velvet hat shook his head. The scattered snow took the opportunity to slip into the collar, "Ah" with a trembling exclamation, which made people angry.

The companions in the distance laughed.

"Come on, Nissan~"

"Haha, the boy from the Baichuan family is indeed a nerd. The snowball mark on his hat is whiter than a rice stick."

The crowd watching the excitement also started to cheer, including the little girl next door who clapped her hands to cheer the boy up, and the lazy guy chatting in front of the door during the winter.

The young man shook his collar. Hearing the crowd's joking and the proud look of the guy opposite him shaking his head, he was quite unconvinced and grabbed a handful of snow and squeezed it, ready to start his revenge.

"Xiao Feng, it's time to eat."

Shirakawa Kaede followed the sound and looked, and saw a woman wearing a crimson canvas kimono under the eaves waving to him.

"Hai" Bai Chuanfeng threw away the snowball in his hand and clapped his hands. Before returning home, he did not forget to turn around and shout to his revenge target, "Torataro, I will spare you today, but I won't be like that next time."

Good luck."

Even if Bai Chuanfeng doesn't need it now.

Dark blue coarse cloth kimono, head wrapped in white scarf. Dark land, farmhouse with cedar bark roof. When Shirakawa Kaede opened his eyes for the first time and saw this scene, if it weren't for the difference in language, he almost thought he had returned to his hometown.

Rural areas in the 1970s.

Just find some work there, and the money you can earn in one day is almost as much as the harvest of a month's work in the fields in the village. So one after another people began to defect to the big cities.

However, his reserve was destined to be in vain. Bai Chuanfeng didn't notice his father's expression at all. As soon as he came out of the kitchen, he couldn't wait to sit down at the low table.

It was obvious that he was in a good mood. Whether it was the bumper harvest this year or the fact that his son was about to go to a prestigious university, he had plenty of reasons to be happy.

Not to mention whether you can afford them, you can at least appreciate their colors and shapes, or smell their incense.

In the dead of night, Shirakawa Kaede was still tossing and turning in bed. Maybe it was the excitement of going to Tokyo, or maybe it was because of what his parents said.

Not to mention various dishes, vegetables and mushrooms are good if they can meet daily needs. Rice tubes are enough, after all, they are the only thing available in Akita Prefecture. Oh, by the way, there is also sake.

Shirakawa Hayato calmed down and poured himself a glass of warm sake. "Although there are some twists and turns, it's mostly done."

He threw down his velvet hat and couldn't wait to climb onto the table. "Pop!" A pair of chopsticks accurately hit his paws halfway out.

But I still want to find even a little bit of my somewhat monotonous life experience over the past few decades, which can comfort my son's heart when he is about to drift away. Experience like this is also good.

This is Akita Prefecture's traditional food, rice stick pot. It has a history of hundreds of years. At first, Shirakawa Kaede was not interested in such local delicacies. In the past, there were thousands of Chinese delicacies, most of which were enough to beat rice.

Bang pot.

After saying that, he raised his glass and drank it down in one gulp, and then let out a sigh of satisfaction. Kazuko also felt as if a stone had fallen from the bottom of her heart, her shoulders relaxed slightly, and then she quickly filled her husband's glass of wine.

"Eighteen years old?" Hezi glanced at him doubtfully, "That's still far from twenty years old, but what does it matter? When you are happy, you should do happy things."

At this time, someone noticed that Torataro was breathing white, still holding his head proudly, and couldn't help but tease him.

As long as Xiaofeng can graduate successfully, he might be able to settle in a big city like Tokyo in the future. At least he won't have to live in this remote mountain village and be a farmer all his life.

At this time, Shirakawa Kaede remembered that the legal age of adulthood for RB people was still twenty years old, which was still a long way from the eighteen years old in China.

After being hungry a few times, he once again faced the rice stick pot brought to him and took a sniff. It actually smelled quite good.

…

As for heating, sorry, rural areas do not have such conditions.

Alas, they are really too poor. It’s not that this family is poor, it’s that the whole village is poor.

Although he has been a farmer in the countryside for generations, it does not mean that Shirakawa Hayato does not understand the importance of going to college. Especially his wife's vision is broader than his own, so he is right to listen to her.

Shirakawa Hayato relaxed and prepared to reward himself with another drink. When he raised his head, he saw that his son had come out of the kitchen and was sitting upright, maintaining his father's dignity.

The howling cold wind made Bai Chuanfeng wake up from his fugue. He closed the window and prepared to continue his dreaming career. At this time, there was movement from the door.

Seeing Bai Chuanfeng's back with his head held high, if he hadn't seen it with his own eyes, he would have thought that he had won the battle.

Now I am very restrained just by raising the corners of my mouth.

Seeing Shirakawa Kaede disappearing into the kitchen while muttering, Shirakawa Hayato curled up the corners of his mouth, which made his serious face look a little warmer.

When Torataro heard this, he became even more excited. Regardless of the cold weather, he directly rolled up his wide kimono sleeves to reveal a pair of thick black arms. He shouted, "I'm going to Tokyo to make a lot of money. Maybe in the future I'll be like Xiao Feng."

You still need my help."

However, Meiji University is equally famous for its high tuition fees. Unlike national universities, private universities have almost no tuition subsidies.

A glass of sake went into his throat, and the unique fragrance and sweetness of rice flowed between his lips and teeth. His eyes lit up, what a good thing.

It is a joyful thing for my son to be admitted to college, let alone a prestigious school in Tokyo. Hayato Shirakawa, who has been an out-and-out farmer all his life, may not know what Meiji University means.

Looking at the rest, the entire field of vision is a vast sea of ​​forest.

As a wife, Kazuko understands her husband best. "I feel very good."

There are some, but they cannot be compared with national universities at all, and among them Meiji University is the best.

Those legendary women, fine wines, and all kinds of new gadgets are things that people here have never seen before in their lives. They are wrapped in a dazzling coat and displayed in the windows in a dazzling array.

Looking up, his mother was looking at him with a smile, "Eating without washing your hands is not a good habit."

"Well" without his son present, he didn't need to pay attention to the majesty of an old father, and showed a smile to his wife.

Now that his mother's health is getting better day by day, he can no longer hold back the restlessness in his heart. When Shirakawa Kaede is going to Tokyo to study, it is natural for him to go with her.

"It's so warm." After returning home, she turned around and closed the thick curtain. The temperature of the fire in the room made Bai Chuanfeng shiver comfortably.

In order to raise money for Shirakawa Kaede's tuition fee of several hundred thousand yen, all the rice at home and the jewelry and kimonos passed down from Kazuko's family were exchanged for money.

Besides, in this era, the entire village did not have such a habit, except Shirakawa Kaede's mother who insisted on him doing this.

"How are things going?" Taking advantage of her husband's good mood, Hezi asked about the most important things at home recently.

"It's okay to have a drink once in a while. It's also good for your body."

"Xiao Feng, would you like some?" Hezi shook the sake in her hand. The important matters at home were settled, and she poured herself a glass in a relaxed mood.

It is now mid-to-late March, and school will start in early April. Because it is located in the countryside of Northeast China, Shirakawa Kaede needs to pack her bags in advance and arrive in Tokyo before the end of March.

Well, if I don't feel good today, it definitely means I can't beat Torataro.

Now Torataro is about to become one of them. According to his past temperament, he should be the first group to leave here. It's just because his mother's health has been in poor health and his father is a bad drunkard who barely has a home.

It slowed down his steps.

"Ha~i~" he said in a protracted tone, and Bai Chuanfeng turned to the kitchen listlessly to complete the Baichuan family's fixed pre-dinner ritual.

People in mountain villages make a living by farming, and they mainly rely on rice. However, due to geographical reasons, the fields here are basically terraced fields.

It was said to be miso soup, but in fact it was more like a casserole. In addition to soup, there were vegetables, mushrooms, and even one or two pieces of chicken that Shirakawa Kaede saw, which made his index finger move even more.

There is an arched snow cave under the eaves, which houses the water god's tablet. This is also a custom here. There is such a snow cave in front of every house. The hostess will go in every day to pray for good weather and good harvests in the coming year.

Hearing Torataro's words, the crowd burst into laughter again. After the laughter, everyone quickly fell silent, occasionally accompanied by one or two sighs.

"Hey, Torataro. The Shirakawa family is going to Tokyo to study. Why are you following along to join in the fun?"

After saying those harsh words, Bai Chuanfeng calmly walked towards the door of his house.

Shirakawa Kaede has been thin and weak since he was a child, which is why Kazuko insists that he wash his hands before every meal. If he accidentally gets sick, the conditions in the mountain village will be enough for the family to suffer for more than half a month.

Finally, he simply got up and opened the window. The cold air hitting his face made him shiver subconsciously. It also made his restless heart feel a little calmer.

"Speaking of which, the boy from the Shirakawa family is not very good at fighting, but he is really good at studying. I heard that he is going to Tokyo to go to university soon?"

As a result, I received more and more descriptions of rural people who left here and were now bathed in the glory of the big city.

In this small mountain village at the bottom of the mountains, almost no one has been to the legendary metropolis before. However, with the development of the economy in the past two years, there has been a gap in the labor force required by the big cities.

Shirakawa Feng, who was immersed in the roasted rice sticks in the bowl, raised his head when he heard this, "Ogasan, I'm still a few months away from turning eighteen."

Without waiting for Shirakawa Kaede's response, Kazuko took out another wine glass, poured some sweet sake into it, and gently pushed it in front of him.

"Although Torataro is a little impulsive sometimes, he is still very reliable." After another drink, Shirakawa Hayato began to chat with his son about the upcoming trip to Tokyo.

It's just that... Shirakawa Hayato took another look at his son's small body, and decided to play it safe.

"I'm going to start." He closed his hands in a perfunctory manner, and couldn't wait to grab a rice stick and stuff it into the miso soup in front of him.

Looking at the clear liquid in the wine glass in front of him, Bai Chuanfeng hesitated for a moment, but still could not resist the temptation.

The last ray of sunset on the horizon in the distance also quietly disappears into the mountain forest. The tireless cold wind blows through the treetops and leaves behind a whistling sound, which is the only melody in this mountain village at night.

Although washing hands before meals was a basic habit in previous lives, who would be willing to put their hands into the cold water when the north wind blows?

The dark night is endless and silent, but the white snow is still clearly visible. The river not far in front of the house is covered in white snow, leaving only a shallow trace, just like his last name, Baichuan, white river.

In fact, it’s not much different, just the location is changed to neon.

He felt that it was only natural for a man to drink some alcohol, not to mention that Akita, located in the Northeast, spent three or four months of the year in white snow.

"I haven't slept yet" the mother and son's voice came from the door, but she did not open the door and come in.
To be continued...