Zhuang Yu said: "I'll be back home after the Spring Festival, didn't you want to...". The rest was spoken in a low voice, I couldn't hear it. As they were talking, Tan Jiao chuckled again.

  The two girls let go, and Zhuang Yu asked again: "Aren't you going back home for Chinese New Year?"

  Tan Jiao didn't answer, she just smiled and shook her head. I understood what she meant, she wasn't even sure if she would make it through the Spring Festival days.

  Zhuang Yu left, and I walked back to the inn with Tan Jiao side by side. I felt that she was a bit sad because of her friend, but there was no way to comfort her. The villagers often passed by, sizing up the two outsiders.

  Tan Jiao asked: "Do you think that intersection point will be where?"

  I shook my head.

  She also said: "Could it be at the bottom of that lake?"

  I nodded: "It's possible."

  She fell silent for a moment and then said: "Could it be Ou Miao's case?"

  I didn't say anything.

  "After that intersection..." Tan Jiao said, "we will probably go our separate ways, and this back-and-forth process will also come to an end. Finally, there's a head."

  I smiled slightly and said, "Yes."

  She lowered her head and said: "At that time, Ah Yu, will you forget me?"

  She asked very calmly, with a soft tone, completely unlike her usual lively and careless self. However, I remembered that this was already the second time she had asked such a question.

  I said: "I said I wouldn't."

  "She said: 'How did you know?'"

  "I just know."

  "Will you never forget?" she said again.

  I'll be quiet for a moment and say: "Even if I die, I won't forget."

  I didn't raise my head, not looking into her eyes. The wind around us blew gently, with snowflakes falling. Then I heard a sound, and it was her stretching out her hand to grab the snow on the tree. It seemed like she had no particular purpose, just grabbing some down, crumbling it in her hands, and throwing it away. The sunlight was weak, shining on the sparkling snowy ground. She played for a while, and I quietly watched from the side. It could be seen that her mood had finally improved.

  Looking at her white and slender fingers, stained with a bit of snow. I asked: "The place where your hand was scalded, does it still hurt?"

  "What's that?" She turned back to me with a radiant smile, "It doesn't hurt anymore. Hey, since we're at the mercy of fate every day, why don't we take some time off and build a snowman?"

  My mood also became extremely relaxed at this moment, and for a while I didn't want to think about anything. I lit a cigarette, held it in my mouth, looked at her fingers that had been frozen to some redness, and said: "You stand aside, don't move your hands, I'll pile them up."

  "What's the big deal?" She pouted, crouched down, and actually started digging snow with her hands. I looked at her silly appearance and couldn't help but chuckle quietly. She raised her head to look at me, and in her eyes was a light that shone even brighter than the snow.

  We crouched together like this, and a snowman gradually took shape. Although our hands were frozen cold, neither of us paid attention to it.

  "...... Ah Yu?" A familiar hesitant voice came from behind us. I paused in my actions, and Tan Jiao also froze.

  This winter, Chen Ruying stood behind us on the rural path. Wearing a white down jacket and red scarf, perhaps it was too cold, she also wore a mask, only revealing a pair of curved eyes, looking at me with surprise, excitement, and some nostalgia. Then she looked at Tan Jiao in astonishment, her eyes filled with doubt.

  I pulled Tan Jiao up slowly and suddenly became clear in my heart.

  Chen Ruying doesn't remember what happened on the boat and didn't recognize Tan Jiao beside me. Just like Yan Yuan.

  Later they still forgot everything.