January 3, 2012
The sky had cleared.
Following the previous night's snow.
A thin layer of untouched white had covered the world, but the temperature had also dropped a few degrees. Several little boys were constantly shuttling and sprinting along the ridges of agricultural fields, laughing and shouting, enjoying the last moments of fun before the final exams.
One of the boys, dressed in red and carrying a bamboo fishing rod, pointed at a pond nearby and yelled,
"Let's go, let's go to Sanquan Bay. My dad went fishing there on Labor Day, and the fish there are really plump."
"Are you guys going?"
"Jinjin said we shouldn't play by the water."
"The teacher also said that kids shouldn't go to the pond or river by themselves. If I go back, my mom will beat me."
The two younger ones were somewhat timid at this point. They looked around and realized they were blocked by a row of withered trees and couldn't see the village; emboldened, they grew braver.