Chapter 231 A Thousand Years of Dreams
The white snow came quietly in the night of Otaru, falling lightly from the gray-blue sky.

Overnight, the window glass was covered with a thin layer of frost.

Outside in the old town, the snow was covered with a thick layer, and the snow line on the roof and the edge of the black tiles outlined a clear arc.

A six-year-old girl woke up early, listening to the ticking of the clock in the corner. She lay by the window, her bright eyes looking out at the century-old red pine tree covered by snow.

The world outside the glass was cold and empty, but she didn't care. She stretched out her little hands and drew two stick figures on the cold glass.

One big and one small.

The older one carried the younger one on his back. Behind the two of them, there was an iron gate that looked very similar to the one at the welfare home.

dong dong.

Suddenly, there was a knock on the door behind me.

She turned her head and saw Aunt Yamaoka walking in. She was fat and holding a cane, tapping along the edge of the bed.

"Get up, everyone get up!" Her impatient voice echoed in the room.

More than a dozen children in the room rubbed their sleepy eyes and sat up from their beds.

"Is it snowing outside?"

“Lots of snow”

"I saw it last year. It's nothing special."

"Alright, alright, stop chatting and get changed! Let's go eat!"

Yamaoka Miyoshi continued to tap the edge of the bed with his cane, the sound becoming more and more urgent.

In Xiao Qiansui's impression, Aunt Yamaoka would come to wake everyone up like this every day, and then urge everyone to change clothes and go to the cafeteria to eat together.

Aunt Yamaoka was the one who ate the most, she ate five big bowls of rice, so everyone secretly said that Yamaoka Miyoshi was very fat.

Xiao Chitose looked at Yamaoka Miyoshi and found that she was staring at her as she walked towards him.

"Change your clothes, did you hear me?" Yamaoka Miyoshi frowned.

"." Xiao Qiansui just stared at her without saying anything.

"Forget it. You've been a taciturn person since childhood. I don't bother to care about you."

Yamaoka Sanji shook his head and turned to face the other children in the room. He tapped the edge of the bed with his cane and urged them loudly, "Eat, eat! Change your clothes quickly! Do you hear me? Don't make me remind you three times! Watch out for a beating!"

After repeated urging and the threat of a cane, the children finally became more alert.

They quickly jumped out of bed, changed their clothes, and quickly lined up.

Chitose was a little slow. After the last boy changed his clothes, he was afraid of being beaten and ran out in a hurry, while she was still struggling with which button to button.

Yamaoka Sanyoshi walked up to her, his face full of impatience:

"Why are you so slow again? Okay, okay, let go of your hands and feet, I'll help you. Let go of your hands and feet! Do you hear me?!"

"."

She buttoned up Xiao Qiansui roughly, mumbling, "Really? This orphanage couldn't afford to support so many children, but they picked you up. Not only that, but you're sick. Look at you, you're already six years old. The director has been trying to cure your illness and buy medicine for you. Not only can't she buy meat, she can't even pay me."

She fastened the last button with force, "You are just a burden, do you understand?"

Xiao Qiansui lowered his head and dared not speak.

"I really don't know what they picked you up for. You're a thousand years old, and what name did that kid Shu give you? I don't think you'll live past seven years old."

After that, she pushed Xiao Qiansui's thin back and said, "Okay, hurry up, go line up outside."

Xiao Qiansui looked back at her.

Unexpectedly, Yamaoka Sanji glared at me and said, "Why are you looking at me? Do you want to eat me? I'm telling you, consumptive bastard, if your dean can't pay me next month, then I won't have to take care of you annoying brats anymore!"

Xiao Qiansui didn't say anything else, but just walked out of the room silently and went to the end of the line of children.

When the little boys at the end saw her approaching, they consciously stood a little further away from her, and then they smiled and chatted with each other.

Xiao Qiansui put his hands behind his back and lowered his head.

After Miyoshi Yamaoka counted the number of people, the children lined up and walked happily towards the restaurant.

Breakfast was a simple white rice porridge with pickles, a few slices of toast, and an ear of corn.

Chitose was at the end of the line. When she stood in front of Yamaoka Miyoshi with her plate, unfortunately, the toast was gone, only a little bit of pickles was left, and only the smallest piece of corn was left.

"Don't blame me today. You got up last and were the last in line."

Sanji Yamaoka made her a bowl of rice porridge, gave her the smallest piece of corn, waved his hand and sent her away.

Xiao Chitose found a corner in the cafeteria and sat down.

Unlike other children who started eating directly, she first smoothed her skirt, then put her hands together in front of the food in front of her, thanked the food, and then started eating.

She still remembered what Brother Tree had said to her.

Take a sip of white rice porridge, eat a small bite of corn, and then eat it with the few pickles.

To be honest, it doesn't taste good.

It was far inferior to the candies that Brother Shu brought her when he came back from the city.

In the past, she would always hang around Brother Tree.

When Brother Tree came back, she asked him for candy. One was not enough, she asked for two, three, and more, and Brother Tree would give her every time.

But I haven't eaten candy for a long time.

Not only was there no candy, but even the bacon that was originally part of the orphanage’s breakfast was gone.

The older children said that the orphanage had become poor.

Became poor. Why?

Aunt Yamaoka told everyone that the director had spent all the money of the welfare home on her own medical treatment.

This sentence has been circulating among people for a long time.

People spread the word and even said that their heart disease might be transmitted to them.

Xiao Qiansui didn't know why, and she couldn't refute it herself.

After breakfast and studying, it is time for outdoor activities.

It's snowing heavily today and everyone is looking forward to running out and playing.

As soon as it was time to go outdoors, a dozen children rushed out of the classroom and ran to the playground in the yard to play in the snow.

Xiao Qiansui saw everyone gathered together.

For some reason, she felt a little envious and she wanted to be together too.

She tried to get closer, but was hit by a snowball.

"Go away! You have a contagious disease!"

"."

"Yes! There is an infectious disease, go and play by yourself!"

Xiao Qiansui was stunned for a moment and stood there.

But because of this moment of daze, she was hit by several more snowballs.

"Go away! Go away!"

"You are not welcome!"

Xiao Qiansui stared at the snowball on his body and couldn't tell what this feeling was.
It’s just that my eyes are sore, my heart is empty, and I feel very uncomfortable.

She was about to turn around, but another snowball hit the hat that Brother Tree had knitted for her.

She couldn't help herself, so she grabbed a handful of snow from the ground and threw it at the first little boy who threw a snowball at her.

Coincidentally, there was a small stone in the snow she grabbed, which hit the person on the other side's head.

Xiao Qiansui saw the boy being hit by him, covering his head in pain, and blood was flowing from his forehead.

She took a step back in fear.

"you"

The boy spread his hands and saw the blood on his forehead. The other party seemed angry, bent down again, grabbed a piece of snow, and threw it at her again.

Xiao Qiansui quickly raised his hands to protect his head and hid in his arms.

She couldn't see what was happening outside, but the other side kept throwing snowballs at her.

She also heard someone on the other side say, "Let's get rid of the infectious disease together! Get rid of the infectious disease!"

Next, countless snowballs flew onto her head.

Accompanied by countless laughter and playfulness around.

Her hat was getting dirty, so she took it off and held it over her heart.

But the boy saw that she was easy to bully, so he approached her and poked her with a stick, trying to drive her away. He also pulled other children to join in the commotion, repeating in unison, "Go away!", "Go away!", "You are not welcome!"

Xiao Qiansui couldn't stand it for a moment and rushed over angrily, but was pinned down in the snow by several older boys.

The skin on her face was freezing cold as it touched the ice and snow.

She also saw the cotton hat that Brother Shu gave her fell to the ground and was being stepped on by them carelessly.

Xiao Qiansui was so angry that he wanted to stand up angrily, but he was held down by several people and could not move at all.

She struggled as hard as she could, but she couldn't move.

Every attempt ended in failure.

"Really? You couldn't win but still insisted on fighting with those brats. Look at you. Now you have a heart attack and you have one less dose of medicine to take."

"."

"Say something, you."

"." "Forget it, you're just a dullard. Come here, it's really annoying to change your clothes, and I have to wash your clothes again. If it were me, you should just leave alone, so you don't have to stay here and suffer. Your parents don't want you, and this welfare home can't accommodate you. Tsk, I can tell from the first glance that you're a disaster star, and you'll be unlucky wherever you go."

At dinner time in the evening, Chitose did not go to the cafeteria.

Instead, he walked alone to the century-old red pine tree in the courtyard.

She was squatting alone, hugging her legs, on the huge roots of an old red pine tree.

The little girl looked at the sky and the snow in Otaru.

The sky was a little dark, and what he held in his hand was a dirty hat.

Xiao Qiansui stared at the hat in his hand and tried to scrape the dirt off the cotton hat with his fingers, but he could not scrape it clean.

Accompanying the irritability in my heart are countless sadness and loss.

She didn't know how to explain it to Brother Tree.

Brother Tree clearly told me to cherish it, but I broke it.
The more I scraped off the cotton hat, the dirtier it became, and the fluff inside was damaged.

She clearly didn't cry when she was fighting with those people.

But when Xiao Qiansui saw his cotton hat become like this, he couldn't help crying.

Tears kept falling, and while her hands were scraping away the dirt, she kept wiping her red eyes.

She kept scraping until the iron gate outside the yard was opened.

A dilapidated truck drove in next.

Xiao Qiansui looked over to find the sound, and after the truck drove in, there was a shadow standing at the door lock.

The other party seemed to have noticed her. After looking at Xiao Qiansui, he walked towards her.

"Chitose.? What are you doing squatting here?"

"Brother Shushu."

The young Fujii Itsuki laughed, "You called me so sweetly. It's okay. Brother Shu is back. You're still squatting here in the heavy snow. Do you miss me?"

"Yes!" Xiao Qiansui quickly agreed.

"I'm so sorry. I'm going to be out with the dean for a week. But it's okay. The goods sold well this time, so I made a lot of extra money. I'll bring it to you. Wait a minute, what's wrong with your face?"

Fujii Itsuki reached out to scratch her little face, but with the help of the light behind him, he discovered a large wound there.

".nothing."

"Give me back your hat"

Xiao Chitose quickly hid the hat behind her.

How could Fujii Itsuki be fooled by the child's trick? He immediately began to check Xiao Qiansui's body, including his face, arms, ears and legs.

The bruises were obviously caused by a fight.

"what happened?"

"Nothing!"

Xiao Qiansui was afraid that he would be angry too.

"Nothing's wrong with you. What's wrong with you? Your eyes are red from crying."

"me."

"Did someone bully you?"

Xiao Chitose shook his head vigorously.

"Okay, let's go while everyone is eating."

Without saying a word, Fujii Itsuki dragged Chitose to the cafeteria. Chitose saw that his brother Itsuki did not let him in, but stood outside the door, smiling and touching his head.

"Chitose, can you just stay outside for now?"

"Um"

Xiao Qiansui didn't understand what Brother Shu was going to do, but he nodded anyway.

The next moment, she saw Brother Shu walk into the cafeteria.

Then came the voice of Brother Shu and Aunt Yamaoka, and Brother Shu also called out a lot of children's names.

Not long after Xiao Qiansui was outside, he saw his brother Tree coming out with a group of children.

Xiao Qiansui recognized them. The one who threw snowballs at him in the afternoon and the one who pressed him to the ground in the afternoon were all here.

They were all very afraid of Brother Tree and seemed particularly timid.

"Everyone go up and apologize."

Brother Shu just said this, and Xiao Qiansui saw the guys who were laughing in front of him in the afternoon come to him in fear, bend down and apologize to him.

One after another, one after another.

"Are you ready to forgive them, Chitose?"

"Listen to Brother Shu." Xiao Chitose hesitated for a long time before looking at Fujii Shu's smiling face and said.

"Well, let's leave it alone for now. Listen carefully, all of you. Don't bully girls in the future. What's the big deal about a few boys bullying girls younger than you? Be careful in the future or I will punish you."

"Yes"

"Okay, go back and eat your meal."

Those people all returned to the cafeteria. Xiao Qiansui saw Brother Shu bending down in front of him again and taking out some candies from his pocket.

"Come on, open your hands."

Xiao Qiansui did as he was told.

"Didn't Brother Shu say that it would be hard to get candy in the future?"

"I gained a lot from being away for a week, so there it is."

Xiao Qiansui looked at the candy in her hand, then looked at him, and chose to hand her little hand to him, "Then give it to Brother Shu."

Fujii Shu smiled and said, "Brother Shu, don't buy it. Brother Shu bought it for you."

“But everyone says that the orphanage is very poor.”

"Very poor."

"Then give it to Brother Shu."

"No, Chitose, you eat it. Chitose always insisted on having it before, why doesn't she want it this time?"

Little Qiansui lowered his head, "Everyone says that Qiansui has bankrupted the welfare home and left everyone with no meat to eat."

"Who said that? Nonsense! Who do you think it was? I'll scold him in person on your behalf. The welfare home is out of money for other reasons. I went out with the director to earn money just to buy delicious food for Qiansui."

"Chitose is still ill."

"It will be fine."

"Everyone also said that Qiansui had no parents and no one wanted her in the welfare home. Many adults came but none of them liked Qiansui."

"Who said that? Others don't want it, but I do. Besides, Chitose, you already have me."

"Brother Shu, why do you want Qiansui? Qiansui is so useless, sick, ugly, thin and small, and he may not live past the age of seven."

"Who said Qiansui has to be useful? Even if Qiansui is useless, Brother Shu still needs you. Brother Shu loves you. Your parents don't want you, but Brother Shu wants you. Your parents don't love you, but Brother Shu loves you. It's because I picked you up and gave you the name."

"Brother Tree"

"From now on, Qiansui, whenever you feel sad or uncomfortable, just go to Brother Shu's arms, okay? From now on, Brother Shu will hug you and protect you when you are bullied, okay?"

"Brother Tree"

Fujii Itsuki laughed again, "Look at you, why are you crying again? Girls should not cry. Crying will make you ugly when you grow up."

"Brother Shushu, then, then after a thousand years, when I grow up, when I become pretty, I will marry Brother Shu as my bride."

"Haha, why are you talking about this all of a sudden? Well, when you grow up and become pretty, Brother Shu will marry you, okay?"

"Ok!"

"Well, be good, go back to your room first, okay? Brother Shu has to go find the dean now."

".I want to go to Brother Shu."

"Come to my place? Sure."

"It's snowing. It's very cold at night. I want to sleep with Brother Tree."

"Anything is fine, everything is fine."

Brother Tree. Brother Tree. Brother Tree.
Yang Kui Chitose is at home, hugging her own pillow. She can still remember the night when she hugged her brother Shu on a snowy night and slept in his heart.

"Chitose! Come downstairs and help!!"

Until her father's voice downstairs woke her up.

Yang Kui Chitose got up, rubbed her eyes, and quickly replied: "Coming! Right away!"

She quickly tidied up the quilt and walked barefoot on the tatami to the dressing mirror.

She dressed up and tied a beautiful red rope for her short hair. The girl stared at herself in the mirror, who was very different from her past self in her dream, and smiled.

Now I should be able to be Brother Shu’s bride, right?
“Chitose!!”

"coming!!!"

Yang Kui Chitose put on her shoes, pushed open the wooden door, and before leaving, she looked at herself in the mirror again.

pat pat pat.

She rushed downstairs with a smile on her face.

(End of this chapter)