Running away from the Love-Brain

Castle-Shaped Clouds

Q: What kind of person has Cui Muhuo always been in your impression?

A: A very smart, very proud, very stubborn, very brave person who loves to make plans and has to complete them. Someone who gets sick often, not very enthusiastic, a bit sharp-tongued, and very, very childish...

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A little kid.

In her impression, Loopy shouldn't have grown up like this.

She's a little creature with two round black eyes, a nose that sometimes turns red, and a big front tooth that makes her look clumsy. When she cries, her cheeks puff up, and when she gets angry, she puts her hands on her hips. She doesn't have very good eyesight...

A "silly" pink beaver.

——Cui Xijin stood in front of the snowman Loopy, holding a bag of truth mangoes, gazing at it aimlessly, this pink beaver that had turned completely white and lost all its cuteness.

The night was murky, and the street was a mess of snow. Cui Xijin had her hands in her pockets—one pocket held a squished pill box, and the other held her lipstick and phone.

Her breath turned into a white mist, and she subtly assessed the passing shadows of people around her; hardly anyone had the leisure to notice this side.

She slightly retracted her chin.

Slowly taking out her lipstick from her pocket, she twisted it open. The tip felt cold against her finger, almost as if it were about to freeze in the wind.

With her slightly cold fingers, she hesitated for a moment before extending her hand and casually applying it to the tip of snowman Loopy's nose.

Just one swipe, and Loopy's nose turned red, looking quite pitiful.

The cold wind blew, making her hair a bit messy. She coughed out a puff of white mist in dissatisfaction. The unevenly applied red made the snowman look even stranger than before. She twisted her finger to blend the remaining lipstick and carefully applied it a little more, turning Loopy's nose, cheeks, and the tips of its ears all rosy.

Only then did she straighten her aching back.

Without changing her expression, she stared at the snowman that had already changed so much. Was it perhaps a bit too much? With this thought in mind, she carelessly tossed the mango back to the side, squatting down by the remaining snow on the roadside, her long puffer coat billowing in the wind.

The cold air brushed against her waist, which was wrapped in a sweater, as she picked up a clump of snow with her frostbitten fingers and patted it onto Loopy's nose to lessen the redness.

She furrowed her brows, stared at Loopy, and then pinched off a bit of the big front tooth, feeling that it was just the right size. She stood up, her chest feeling thin and fragile as if it were filled with cold air, and an unguarded cough could cause ice cubes to evaporate inside.

She had never had such an uninhibited experience of playing in the snow.

When she was younger, most of the time she spent being sick was sleeping. During the times she wasn't sick... she was told by Cui He and Yu Hongdong about many things she shouldn't do, what it meant to be responsible for herself, and to be careful not to get sick.

As a result, she developed some rather harsh habits that others might find excessive.

Not playing in the snow during winter or going to the beach in summer—this survival rule wasn't harsh for her. Besides, it didn't snow every year in Chengdu, and there was no sea.