If I don't have money to go to college, I can only go to slay the dragon

Chapter 353 Matvey

From noon, the severe cold wind brought thick snowflakes flying wantonly on the snow field outside the port. The soldiers on guard at the port hugged their long rifles and huddled in the corner to avoid the wind and snow. The outdoor visibility fell below one meter. You can be invisible in the dark, and now you can do the same in the Arctic during daylight.

This is probably the white hair wind that the old people in Verkhoyansk often say. When men go out to the wild, they will lose their vision and lose their way when they encounter this wind. Usually there will be a blue smile on the face, probably because of the hallucinations before death, but some people insist that this is the "Snow Maiden" in the fairy tales, and there was a beautiful dew before death. Yuan, you must have walked peacefully before dying.

Many people also think that this legend is just a legend. After all, such anecdotes cannot withstand scrutiny. It is not absurd to meet a snow girl at a place of minus [-] or [-] degrees, but in that kind of icy and snowy place, you can still talk to the snow girl. The girl was born with dew, this story undoubtedly seems outrageous, forty or fifty degrees below zero, let alone dew, even the weather of flooding will freeze for you in minutes.
But now many old people in Verkhoyanskri still believe in the existence of this legend. After all, in the days before, the Soviet Union was not as prosperous as it is now, and there were endless potatoes. Braving the severe cold to go hunting, brown bears, Eurasian wolves, musk deer, and ravens are all their prey.

If you can’t catch the prey, the whole family will be hungry. It’s not a good sign to be hungry in that kind of weather, so no matter how harsh the weather outside is, you have to bite the bullet and drill into the snow field. Everyone risked freezing to death and starving to death. The determination to survive, every adventure to the snowy field may be the last, who does not want to have some good expectations in this environment?
It is precisely because of this that Snow Maiden is highly respected and believed by the old people. There is always a reason for the existence of such things as strange talk and myths. Everything that is rational is realistic; everything that is realistic is rational. It is developing and dying in the process of development, just like now, no one believes in the Snow Maiden anymore, young people talk about it and only find out, looking at those who swear by it is like looking at Khrushchev holding corn on the cob.

At this moment, Renata is experiencing such doubts. Under the gaze of her companions on the grass, she hugged the little bear puppet named 'Zorro' and tried to defend, "But it's true, I really I saw the Snow Maiden when we were at Alyosha's funeral."

"What does the Snow Maiden look like?" Sergey, who was taller among the boys, sat lazily basking in the sun on the grass and asked casually without looking at Renata.

"Very beautiful, with blond hair, just like Khorkina."

"Golden hair? How could Snow Maiden's hair be golden? You wouldn't mistake Khorkina for Snow Maiden, would you? After all, Khorkina is also very beautiful." Yakov said with his hands raised and his eyebrows raised.His questioning attitude was very strong, and the so-called masculinity was pressed on Renata, which made the little girl a little breathless.

"Don't interrupt her, let her continue talking, and continue to talk about the other characteristics of Snow Maiden." Among the girls, Natasha couldn't help but help Renata to say half a sentence, and Yakov turned over the words. A blank stare, after all Natasha is always on the girl's side, no matter what is right or wrong.

But everyone didn’t mean to force Renata to shut up. After all, there was no fun for everyone in the port, and the stories told by the nurses were already tired of listening to them. The stories of "The Story of Prince Ivan, the Firebird and the Big Bad Wolf" and "The Lord of the Rings", but these classic stories are often the ones that can go deep into the innocence of children. When the nurse talks about the goldfish that can realize the wish, everyone wants to raise A goldfish, when it comes to the magic ring, everyone pulls the grass from the lawn and asks the ingenious girls to program the ring to wear on their fingers.

Now the Snow Maiden mentioned by Renata is undoubtedly the supporting character of the story "Old Man Frost". The image of Snow Maiden not only appears in Russian folklore, but also mentioned in Russian folk fairy tales: , and revived", often the old man Yan Han and the Snow Maiden appear together, the latter is the granddaughter of the former, and will bring [gifts] and [happiness] to those who see them.

Will Renata receive gifts and happiness when she sees Snow Maiden?Many girls folded their hands and looked at Renata enviously, while the boys dismissed it, thinking that it was a lie carefully crafted by a paper doll to get attention, the nature of which was the same as that of Ochumelov last time. It's as ridiculous for a fool to spread a rumor that he saw a man-eating monster at night.

"What kind of clothes does Snow Maiden wear? I heard that Snow Maiden wears a white dress made of snow, her shoes are crystal slipper made of ice, and she also has earrings and necklaces made of solidified snowflakes." Natasha looked at Natasha curiously. Tasha.

"She is dressed similarly to us." Renata replied in a low voice after being stunned for a moment.

"You really see Khorkina as a Snow Maiden, don't you?" Sergey on the ground couldn't help laughing, and turned to look at Khorkina who was dancing rubber bands in the distance (girls in the former Soviet Union really like to play this game).

"Are you referring to the clothes we are wearing now?" Natasha asked.

The children gathered in front of Renata on the lawn, and the boys and girls running around the edge, all dressed in neat white cotton clothes, gloves, with different numbers embroidered on the cuffs, at first glance they really look like Snow Maidens Will wear white clothes.

"No, we wore coats at that time, and if Snow Maiden was dressed like us, she must have a coat, and even a bearskin hat," Yakov said.

Now everyone is wearing white cotton clothes, not as thick as when they went out earlier, this depends on the ingenious design of the port, all the buildings are close together, and then covered with cement up to one meter thick On the wall, open an open space in the center, plant cold-resistant plants, and lock the surroundings to keep the open space at a constant temperature. Play on the lawn.

"Yes. She is wearing the same clothes as we were at that time." Renata's voice began to become smaller and smaller at this time, as if even she was not confident in her own words.

"Haha, Snow Maiden is wearing a bearskin hat." Anton laughed, and the boys laughed one after another.

Renata couldn't speak, so she could only fall into silence, but she clearly remembered, remembering so clearly, the voice of the blond girl was so clear, like the crisp sound of cracking ice, it was impressive and unforgettable. Miss every word she said.

"By the way, I bumped into Yakov when I found her." Renata said in a voice like a mosquito, as if she suddenly remembered something.

"Me?" Yakov pointed to himself and found that everyone was looking at him, and raised his eyebrows, "I don't remember you bumping into me."

"but you"

"Renata, you must have read it wrong, right?" Natasha's expression was a little hesitant at this time. Although she likes to protect the girl's side, she can still tell the difference between right and wrong. I don't want myself to be the laughing stock of the boys, and it seems a bit stupid to support Renata blindly at this time.

Renata stopped talking. Today she said too much in one breath, more than in a week in the past. She hugged her doll and shrank away from the slightly mocking eyes of her companions. In the unoccupied corner, the blood on his face due to the argument gradually faded, and he became the quiet paper doll in the past.

Seeing that Renata was gone, the laughter of Anton, Sergey and other boys gradually faded away. It was hard for them to see paper dolls arguing with them, so they laughed so loudly. Normally, Renata She looks like she is not afraid of crying and scolding, as if her whole body is made of paper, and there is no reaction to the marks of random people, but today she showed some emotions after a long time, so she must seize the opportunity to tease and laugh. Now it seems that their goal has indeed been achieved.

Boys of this age are also very mean-spirited. The girls glanced at Renata angrily, as if they were unhappy that she had let these boys succeed, they all shook their heads and walked to the side to play together, leaving only a few The boys were still standing or sitting in the middle of the lawn and chatting about other topics, as if they were talking about some details of the morning that Alyosha died. The words were horrifying, and seemed to be related to some things about Alyosha's body and the port. The man-eating monsters lingering in the sky scared away the few girls who stayed behind with just a few glances and words.

Obviously he left in the morning, but he told him a ghost story at noon, and he didn't know if it was childish or heartless.

But it doesn't care about Renata, she is sitting by the wall, with her legs bent and Zorro placed, beside her is an arctic poppy blooming quietly, the stamens in the pale white have a bit of coquettish purple, The colors contrast so well.At this time, the children who were running on the lawn suddenly stopped and spontaneously gathered towards the gate of the office not far away.

"The doctor is here!" Someone shouted excitedly, and more people gathered around, as if they were meeting some important person. Everyone was very excited and cheerful, like a puppy wagging its tail, looking forward to the owner's arrival. Give a reward for touching the forehead.

Even Renata stood up, but she didn't push through, she just watched from a distance. From the crowd, she easily saw the doctor who was much taller than all the children. The close-fitting woolen military uniform was too old for him. His back is as straight as a young man in his 20s, but the old cheeks under the silver combed hair show that he is indeed old, but age does not only bring him oldness, but more The handsomeness that an old man should have has been precipitated from the ground, and there is kindness and profoundness in his eyes all the time.He is like a mottled oil painting, and the years can only bring him a higher evaluation.

The nurses and soldiers on duty at the edge of the lawn all bowed to the old man and called him "Dr. Herzog" affectionately, while the old man also nodded with a light smile. He was surrounded by children, but he didn't look at anyone On his body, he kept his head down and stared at something or someone beside him.

When the doctor walked to the middle of the lawn, Renata finally saw clearly that there was really a person beside the doctor. It was a child, a strange boy, at least she had never seen him before, about six years old to Seven years old, his hair is as black as ink, and his skin is sickly white as if without blood. Even the thick white cotton coat can't hide his slender body, like a sick dead wood. He was sick, but obviously this boy was fine, his face was thin and sick, and he coughed lightly from time to time, which made people worry that his body would fall apart due to coughing.

"This is your new friend." The doctor held the boy's hand and smiled, "His name is 'Матвей' (Matvey)."

The head nurse took the lead in applauding, and the applause sounded like thunder on the lawn. The boys and girls were all curiously watching this frail boy with his head down, who was stage-frightened, and guessed where he came from and how long he would stay here. Taking the initiative to talk to people without making eye contact with anyone is so timid that it makes people feel ridiculous.

However, in Renata's sight, it seemed that this was not the case. She stared blankly at the boy, as if keenly aware that this strange boy was not out of stage fright, but was avoiding everyone. His eyes were quietly looking for something.

That dim gaze scanned the crowd cautiously, like a lost little seal, not daring to bark, just turning its head and widening those black eyes, looking for his mother.

　ps: none
　　
　
(End of this chapter)