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

Since noon, the fierce cold wind has brought dense snow foam flying wildly on the snowfield outside the port. The soldiers standing guard at the port huddled in the corner with their long rifles in hand to avoid the wind and snow. The outdoor visibility once dropped to less than one meter. It was possible to be invisible in the dark, and now it is also possible to do so in the Arctic during the day.

This is probably the white-haired wind that the old people in Verkhoyansk often call. When men encounter this kind of wind when they go out in the wild, they will lose their vision and lose their way until they are found frozen to death in the snow and turned into ice cubes the next day. Usually there is a green smile on the face, probably because he was frozen and hallucinating before death, but some people insist that it was the "Snow Girl" from the fairy tales, and there was a beautiful dew before death. Fate, he must have passed peacefully before his death.

Many people also think that this legend is just a legend. After all, such anecdotes cannot withstand scrutiny. It is not nonsense to meet the snow girl in a place forty or fifty degrees below zero, but in that kind of ice and snow, you can still be with the snow. This story about a girl's fate of dew is undoubtedly outrageous. It's 40 to 50 degrees below zero, let alone dew. Even in flood-like weather, it will freeze solid for you in minutes.

But even now, many old people in Verkhoyanskri still firmly believe in the existence of this legend. After all, in those days, the Soviet Union was not as prosperous as it is now and there were endless potatoes. At that time, the men could only make a living. Braving the cold and going out to hunt, brown bears, Eurasian wolves, musk deer, and ravens are all their prey.

If you can't catch a prey, the whole family will go hungry. Being hungry in that kind of weather is not a good sign, so no matter how harsh the weather outside is, you have to bite the bullet and dig into the snowfield, risking everyone to freeze and starve to death. Determined to survive, every adventure into the snowfield may be the last one. Who doesn’t want to have some good expectations in this environment?

It is precisely because of this that Snow Girl is highly praised and believed by the old people. There is always a certain reason for the existence of such things as weird myths. Everything that is rational is realistic; everything that is realistic is rational, and things are always rational. It is developing and dying in the process of development. Just like now, no one believes in Snow Girl. When young people talk about it, they will only find that looking at those who swear by it is like looking at Khrushchev holding a corn cob.

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

"What does Miss Snow look like?" Sergey, the taller of the boys, asked casually while sitting on the grass lazily basking in the sun without looking at Renata.

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

"Golden hair? How could Snow Girl's hair be golden? You didn't mistake Khorkina for Snow Girl, right? After all, Khorkina is also very beautiful." Yakov raised his eyebrows while holding his hands. His questioning attitude was very strong, and the so-called masculinity pressed against Renata's body, making the little girl breathless.

"Don't interrupt her, let her continue, and continue talking about Snow Girl's other characteristics." Among the girls, Natasha couldn't help but help Renata say half a sentence, and Yakov was moved by it. Rolling her eyes, after all, Natasha always sides with girls, no matter what is right or wrong.

However, no one had any intention of forcing Renata to shut up. After all, no one had much fun to do in the port, and they were tired of hearing the stories the nurses usually told. Over and over again they were "The Story of the Fisherman and the Goldfish", "The Story of Prince Ivan, the Firebird and the Big Bad Wolf" and "The Lord of the Rings", but it is often these classic stories that can penetrate children's hearts. When the nurse talks about the goldfish that can grant wishes, everyone wants to keep it. A goldfish, when it comes to the magic ring, everyone pulls out the grass on the lawn and asks a clever girl to program the ring to wear on their finger.

Now the Snow Maiden mentioned by Renata is undoubtedly the supporting character in the story "The Cold Old Man". The image of the Snow Maiden not only appears in Russian folklore, but is also mentioned in Russian folk fairy tales: "Made from snowdrifts" , and resurrected" such descriptions often appear together with Old Man Yanhan and Miss Snow. The latter is the granddaughter of the former and will bring [gifts] and [happiness] to those who see them.

Then will Renata receive gifts and happiness when she sees Snow Maiden? Many girls looked at Renata enviously with their hands folded, while the boys dismissed it, thinking that this was a lie carefully crafted by a paper doll to get attention, just like Ochumelov's little one last time. It's just as ridiculous for an idiot to spread the rumor that he saw a man-eating monster at night.

"What is Snow Girl wearing? I heard that Snow Girl is wearing a white dress made of snow, crystal shoes made of ice, and earrings and necklaces solidified with snowflakes." Natasha looked at Lei curiously. Nata.

"She wears similar clothes to us." Renata was stunned for a moment and then replied softly.

"Do you really think of Khorkina as a snow girl?" Sergey on the ground couldn't help laughing, and turned to look at Khorkina dancing rubber bands in the distance (girls in the former Soviet Union really like to play this kind of game).

"Does this refer 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 on the edge were all dressed in neat white cotton coats and gloves, with different numbers embroidered on the cuffs. At first glance, they looked like Snow Maidens. Will wear white clothes.

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

Now everyone is wearing white cotton clothes, not as thickly wrapped as when they went out earlier. This depends on the ingenious design of the port. All the buildings are close together and covered with one meter of cement. On the wall, leave an open space in the center, plant cold-resistant plants, and lock the surrounding areas to keep the open space at a constant temperature. It will always be green all year round, and the children can also wear less clothes and move around freely and flexibly. Playing on the lawn.

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

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

Renata was speechless and could only fall into silence, but she clearly remembered it. She remembered it so clearly. The blond girl's voice was so clear and clear, like the crisp sound of cracking ice, which was impressive and unforgettable. Can't remember every word she said.

"By the way, I bumped into Yakov when I found her at that time." Renata said as carefully as a mosquito as she suddenly remembered something.

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

"But you"

"Renata, you must have seen it wrong, right?" The expression on Natasha's face was a little hesitant at this time. Although she likes to protect the girls, she can still distinguish between obvious right and wrong. She didn't want to become the laughingstock of boys, and blindly supporting Renata at this time seemed a bit unsmart.

Renata stopped talking. She said too many words in one breath today, more than she had in a previous week. She hugged her own doll and shrunk it away in the slightly mocking eyes of her companions. In the uninhabited corner, the color on his face that was originally caused by the argument gradually faded away, turning into the quiet paper doll he used to be.

Seeing Renata leave, the laughter of Anton, Sergei and other boys gradually faded away. It was difficult for them to see the paper doll arguing with them about something, so they laughed so loudly. Normally Renata She looks like she is not afraid of being beaten or scolded, as if her whole body is made of paper. No one will rub it and leave traces without any reaction. But today, after a long time, she showed some emotions, so she naturally took the opportunity to tease and laugh at her. Now it seems that their goal has indeed been achieved.

Boys of this age are all mean-spirited. The girls glanced at Renata with encouragement, as if they were unhappy that she allowed these boys to succeed. They all shook their heads and walked away to play by themselves, leaving only a few. The boys were still standing or sitting in the middle of the lawn talking about other topics. They seemed to be talking about some details of the morning when Alyosha died. Some of them were very scary. They seemed to be related to some things about Alyosha's body and the port. The man-eating monster wandering inside scared away the few remaining girls with just a few glances.

It was clear that the person left in the morning, but it was only noon that the person was told a ghost story. I don’t know if it was childish or heartless.

But that didn't matter to Renata. She was sitting by the wall, her legs bent and Zorro on her side. Beside her, an Arctic poppy was blooming quietly, with pale white stamens with a hint of enchanting purple. The contrasting colors look extremely eye-catching. At this time, the children who were running on the lawn suddenly stopped and spontaneously gathered towards the door 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 happy, like a puppy wagging its tail, looking forward to its owner. Reward with a forehead stroke.

Even Renata stood up, but did not follow her and squeezed over. She just looked 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 did not bend with age. His back is as straight as that of a young man in his twenties, but the old cheeks under the silver combed-back hair show that he is indeed old, but age does not only bring him oldness, but also makes him older. The handsomeness that an old man should have has accumulated in many places, and his eyes are always kind and knowledgeable. He is like a mottled oil painting, and time can only bring him a higher evaluation.

The nurses and soldiers standing guard on the edge of the lawn bowed to the old man and called him "Dr. Herzog" affectionately. The old man also smiled and nodded. He was surrounded by children, but his eyes did not fall on anyone. He always lowered his head and stared at something or someone around him.

When the doctor walked to the center of the lawn, Renata finally saw clearly that there was really someone beside the doctor. It was a child, a strange boy. At least she had never seen him before. He was about six years old or older. Seven years old, his hair is as black as ink, and his skin is as sickly white as if there is no blood. Even the thick white cotton coat can't hide his slender body, like a sick piece of dry wood. Sick, but obviously this boy can do it. His face has become thinner and sickly, and he coughs slightly from time to time, which makes people worry that his body will 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 looked curiously at this frail boy with his head lowered as if he had stage fright. They wondered where he came from and how long he would stay here. The other party also didn't know. He takes the initiative to talk to people without making eye contact with anyone. He is so timid that it makes people feel ridiculous.

However, in Renata's eyes, it seemed that this was not the case. She stared at the boy in a daze, as if she was keenly aware that this strange boy lowered his head not because of stage fright, but to avoid everyone's attention. His eyes were quietly searching for something.

The dim eyes scanned the crowd cautiously, like a lost baby seal. It didn't dare to scream, but kept turning its head and widening its pair of dripping black eyes, looking for its mother.

ps: none