Night Light Cup: Waiting for Snow
Over the years, it hasn't snowed much in Xi'an. Like gold in scarcity, occasional snowfall brings a flurry of excitement on people's friends, everyone excitedly gathering to eat hotpot, going to parks or wilderness to take photos of snow scenes, as if welcoming a festival.
Snow has always been a thing of excitement. Thirty years ago, in rural areas, winters were as cold as icy cellars. Occasionally, a clear blue sky, men, women, and elderly people were wearing bulky cotton clothes and cotton pants, with their hands tucked into their sleeves, standing in front of the door to bask in the sun. The winter holiday was the coldest period of the year, finally no more having to go to school, children were all lying around. When suddenly glimpsed the snowflakes or someone said 'It's snowing', it was like receiving an order, crawling out of bed, no matter whether the clothes were already warm in the quilt, pulling them over to wear.
The textbook says 'Snow brings good fortune', but wheat growth is good or bad, grain harvest is good or bad, not related to children's affairs. As long as there are fun things, we are happy. In the 1980s, winter life in rural areas was monotonous and boring, children's entertainment was too little, they were always throwing sandbags, jumping on jump ropes, kicking shuttlecocks. Our expectation of snow exceeded and , but I expected the snow for a reason. In order to wait for snow, I was like a little adult, starting to pay attention to weather conditions.
After watching the daily news broadcast, it was the weather forecast. In Northwest China, most of the winters were cloudy, snow was shy and late to appear. I often looked at the sky, gambling, if snow doesn't come, just let it be, since I can wear cotton shoes during the Chinese New Year.
People in rural areas wore handmade cotton shoes in winter, called 'wowo' in Shaanxi, also called 'cotton wowo'. Loving beauty is a human affair, 'cotton wowo' is old-fashioned in appearance, sewn together with two pieces of fleece, with a layer of cotton in the middle, the thicker the layer, the fatter the cotton wowo, just like the song says: 'Little pig, little pig, chubby',. Just by imagining you can know, cotton wowo looks warm, wearing warmer, but the bulky and clumsy appearance is really unsightly.
Cotton wowo is unsightly, but it's a necessary item for rural people to pass winter, and it's the only cotton shoe. And in 1988, I had another choice. One afternoon after school, I just walked into my home, I heard my father bought me new shoes in the city. Rather than delicious, girls would rather wear it well. I excitedly opened the shoe box, inside was a pair of burgundy short-tube leather cotton shoes, with a zipper on the side, the inside is plush. I turned the shoes over and looked, the soles are full of bumps. Really people depend on clothes, I wore cotton shoes, combined with the new clothes for the Chinese New Year, standing in front of the mirror looked at myself, as if transformed into a doll, as charming as a doll.
However, the new clothes could not be worn until the Chinese New Year, cotton shoes were in season, and they were anti-slip and waterproof, it was the most suitable to wear in the snow, so I always hoped for snow. Time passed day by day, I still hadn't waited for snow. I was impatient, I took the shoes out and looked at them, touched them, looked at them, tried them on. No snow, I couldn't make excuses, I wore cotton shoes. Midway through the twelfth lunar month was my birthday, on that day, the cotton shoes hadn't been put on foot.
One night, the weather forecast said that the next day there would be snow, I immediately washed my feet, changed into clean socks. I put the cotton shoes on the pillow, and I was excited for a long time before I fell asleep.
The next morning, I opened my eyes and shouted to my mother who was sweeping the yard, asking her, 'Is it snowing?' After receiving a positive answer, I lay on the windowsill, pulled open the curtain and looked, indeed it was snowing. I didn't care about the cold, didn't wait for the clothes to warm up in the quilt, I put on cotton shoes and ran to the center of the yard. I jumped and shouted, 'It's snowing, it's snowing, finally waited!' (Liu Yun)
