Building a Snowman

“Mother, what are you looking at?”

When Zhuang Zhuang woke up from his afternoon nap, he saw Xiaoguo standing by the window with a glass of hot water in her hand. He couldn’t tell what she was thinking.

Xiaoguo turned around when she heard the voice and saw Zhuang Zhuang rubbing his eyes in a daze. Her maternal instincts were triggered instantly. “Zhuang Zhuang is so cute.”

“Yes…” When Zhuang Zhuang woke up and heard Xiaoguo praise him like this, he really felt shy. “Mother…”

Looking at Zhuang Zhuang, who was squirming and blushing, Xiaoguo shook her head. He was usually quite thick-skinned outside, but when she praised him at home, he would become shy like a little girl. Sigh, she didn’t know what to do with him. What a shy little man.

“Mother?”

“Yes?” Xiaoguo looked back at him, wondering what was wrong.

Zhuang Zhuang got out of bed and ran to her side. He stood by the window with her and looked out through the gap. There was nothing there. Everything looked white and glaring. “What are you looking at?”

His eyes had turned blurry from looking at the snow, but he couldn’t see anything.

“It’s the poetic atmosphere, my son.” Xiaoguo put down her teacup and nodded at him. Zhuang Zhuang was still young, so he definitely couldn’t appreciate this quiet atmosphere.

“Alright.” Zhuang Zhuang shrugged. He really didn’t understand.

Xiaoguo looked at the snow, which was getting heavier. It was rare for her to feel worried. At this rate, if she were to go out tomorrow morning, would the snow block the doorway?

“Zhuang Zhuang, shall we build a snowman?”

Xiaoguo suddenly had an idea. In this heavy snow, it would be a waste not to build a snowman.

“What’s a snowman?”

Zhuang Zhuang shook his head, indicating that he didn’t understand

“Uh, a snowman is a person made of snow.”

Xiaoguo smiled to herself after explaining. That was what it means literally, so her explanation made sense.

“Wow, people made from snow are amazing! I will make a snow father!”

Hearing Zhuang Zhuang’s words, Xiaoguo’s legs went weak. A snow father?

Looking at Zhuang Zhuang’s excited back, Xiaoguo sighed for Jiang Danhe. She hoped that he would be happy to hear it.

“Wait a minute. Put on your quilted coat.”

Xiaoguo quickly stopped Zhuang Zhuang, who was about to leave without a coat. After ensuring that he had put on an additional layer, she brought him out to build a snowman.

Xiaoguo was a professional at this. As a northerner, it snowed heavily in her hometown every year. She had never missed out on any single year. As long as it snowed, she would build a gigantic snowman. Xiaoguo would gather all the surrounding snow and make a super big one.

It wasn’t that she didn’t like smaller snowmen, but they were just a little too cute. They don’t look as impressive as a big snowman in the courtyard.

“Is this how I do it, Mother?”

Zhuang Zhuang followed Xiaoguo’s demonstration step by step, and it turned out looking quite decent.

“Yes, sure. But it would be even better if it were rounder!”

Xiaoguo looked at Zhuang Zhuang’s snowman, which was already looking good. She couldn’t help but sigh. It was only his first time making a snowman and he was doing it so well. It was really infuriating. Even now, she could still remember the first time she made a snowman. It was all lopsided and looked nothing like a snowman at all. It looked more like something from a horror movie.

At the thought of this, Xiaoguo quickly shook her arms. She was getting goosebumps. When she had finished reminiscing, she heard Zhuang Zhuang calling her.

“Mother, how is it this time?”

Zhuang Zhuang filled in the uneven spots with snow again. After seeing that there were no other problems, he asked Xiaoguo to look.

“It’s perfect this time. All that’s missing are the facial features and arms.” At this point, Xiaoguo suddenly thought of something. “Wait for me.”

Under Zhuang Zhuang’s puzzled gaze, Xiaoguo walked into the kitchen taking small steps. After a while, she came out with a few things in her hand.

“Mother, what is this?”

Zhuang Zhuang’s heart ached when he saw Xiaoguo sticking a carrot into the snowman that he had painstakingly made.

When Xiaoguo heard this, she didn’t answer him immediately. She just sped up what she was doing. When she was done, she pulled him to take a closer look. “Zhuang Zhuang, look.”

Zhuang Zhuang walked closer reluctantly and instantly felt that the snowman was complete. He couldn’t help but cry out, “Wow, wow, wow!”

“Haha, how is it?”

Xiaoguo was also admiring her work. The white snowman looked lively with its coal eyebrows, eyes, mouth, and carrot nose.

“Eh? Mother, what are you doing again?”

Zhuang Zhuang looked at Xiaoguo, who was walking towards the door this time, and was a little puzzled. Her facial features were already there. Why was his mother still going?

“Wait here.”

Without looking back, Xiaoguo told him to wait and walked out of the house in small steps.

Xiaoguo opened the door and carefully walked to the big tree at the door. Fortunately, there were some low branches, so she could easily break off a few branches.

She quickly returned to Zhuang Zhuang’s side and handed him two. She held two in her hand. “Let’s fix arms for them.”

“Sure!” As soon as Xiaoguo said that, Zhuang Zhuang understood. He imitated her and gently inserted them on both sides of the snowman. Two perfect snowmen appeared in the courtyard.

“Mother, should we make a few more?”

Zhuang Zhuang was raring to make another one. He asked Xiaoguo for permission to continue.

Xiaoguo did not want to be a spoilsport. When it comes to making snowmen, one could either make none or make countless ones. How could it be enough for each person to make only one? Of course, there had to be more.

“That’s wonderful!”

Zhuang Zhuang raised his arms into the air and gave Xiaoguo a hug. Then, he found an empty spot and focused on building the snowman.

“Zhuang Zhuang, snowmen don’t always have to look like this. Just do whatever you want.”

Children had vivid imaginations. They shouldn’t be too restrained. Instead, they should be guided to let their imaginations run wild.

“Okay!” As expected, when Zhuang Zhuang heard Xiaoguo’s words, he immediately destroyed the small ball he had made and reconstructed his snowman.

Xiaoguo smiled at him. Alright, Zhuang Zhuang had gone to make his own snowman. It was time for her to think about what a snowman should look like.

She seemed to have done everything that was round and flat. What other shapes could she make?

Xiaoguo thought carefully about what to do, whereas Zhuang Zhuang had already started working.

Zhuang Zhuang rolled the snowballs seriously. He had decided to make a father-snow-general.

Although the name was a little long, he had thought about it for a long time.

Just like that, mother and son worked on their own individual snowmen in the heavy snow. After a long time, the two of them had come to the last stages of their work.

Xiaoguo was the first to put on facial features and arms. Zhuang Zhuang was a step behind.

After the two of them were done, they explained the names of the snowmen to each other. On one side was the father-snow-general, and on the other side was the zombie snowman.

The two of them admired each other’s snowman. Xiaoguo looked at Zhuang Zhuang’s rather interesting snowman and felt that it did have some resemblance to Jiang Danhe.

His snowman had the same characteristics as Jiang Danhe. They were both tall and strong. Their shoulders and backs were straight. It was obvious that they were very well-built. Zhuang Zhuang had done a good job.

Just as Xiaoguo was praising him non-stop, Zhuang Zhuang had some questions. What was a zombie snowman?

“Mother? What are zombies?”

He knew what a snowman was, but zombies were indeed beyond his understanding.

After admiring Zhuang Zhuang’s work, Xiaoguo heard his question and came to his side. She looked at the zombie snowman she had made and explained to him.

“Zombies are depressed people.” Xiaoguo’s explanation was far-fetched and not quite the correct answer.

However, as soon as Zhuang Zhuang heard her words, he looked at the snowman again and realized that it did look a little like it. Depressed people usually walked with hunched backs and with their heads lowered. They would also move with shaky legs as if something was bearing weight on them. Looking at it this way, his mother had managed to make it look pretty realistic.

“Mother, you’re amazing!”