How did hiring someone to press a pig image during Chinese New Year become a top trend?

On the other end of the phone, Director Wang roared like an elder: "What are you doing peeling corn! Someone at home will peel it for you! Three million people in Harbin are waiting for you at the ice slide!"

Xu An wanted to die.

The kind of person who would rather walk on the street than be near a wall feels like he's about to be sent to the guillotine when he thinks about being watched by three million people.

But under the "physical persuasion" of the driver and Xiaoyue, Xu An was once again shoved into the SUV like a kidnapped bride.

On the way back to the city from Hongxing Forest Farm, the snow was still falling, but the road surface was already clean.

That was the result of sanitation workers working through the night; a sense of dedication emanated from every streetlamp.

Four hours later, when the off-road vehicle stopped at the entrance of the Ice and Snow World, Xu An slid straight off his seat.

That wasn't a car; it was a crystal palace built of ice and snow. Under the night lights, it was so beautiful that it caused Xu An, this "clear-headed and foolish" college student, to have his brain short-circuit for a moment.

This isn't the human world; it's like a palace from the Milky Way in the sky has been moved one-to-one onto this permafrost.

The ice tower, tens of meters high, glows with a deep blue light, and the staggered corridors resemble a crystal maze.

At this moment, the live stream wasn't just filled with flying comments; it was burning code.

【ID Southern Little Golden Bean】: My God! If I don't go to Harbin at least once in my life, I won't die in peace!

[ID Color Aesthetics]: The purity of the ice and the saturation of the light are simply a visual feast!

[ID Harbin Reception Center]: Teacher Xu An, look at that ice slide over there, that's a special green channel reserved for you!

As soon as Xu An got off the bus, a volunteer uncle wearing a bright red coat and a red nose put his arm around his shoulder.

The uncle didn't say anything fancy; he just handed Xu An a steaming hot sweet potato and also slipped two hand warmers into his hand.

"Anzi! Let's skip the formalities! Have fun here, don't hold back!"

"Go clubbing if you want! Go down the slide if you want! Even if the sky falls, we tough guys from Harbin will hold it up for you!"

The uncle had a loud voice, but his movements were very delicate. He even helped Xu An pull up the collar of his tattered cotton-padded jacket.

Xu An lowered his head and whispered, "Uncle, I want to keep a low profile..."

The middle-aged man laughed heartily: "In Harbin, do you think you can keep a low profile? Look up at the sky!"

Xu An looked up.

Above the Ice and Snow World, hundreds of drones sponsored by Harbin Institute of Technology suddenly changed formation.

First, there was a giant erhu, then it turned into a pink letter, and finally...

The row of drones actually formed the shape of an adorable little figure wearing a military overcoat with his hands in his pockets, accompanied by the four words: "Xu An, awesome!"

At that moment, tourists inside and outside the Ice and Snow World cheered in unison, their voices so loud they almost cracked the ice sculptures.

Xu An was so frightened that she almost crawled into the uncle's red coat.

His extreme social anxiety, when faced with such extreme courtesy, left him with only one reaction: What have I done to deserve this?

He didn't know that his kneeling before the old forester at the forest farm, and his gesture towards the group of female workers on the train, were worth ten thousand drones in the eyes of these straightforward Northeasterners!

Guided by Xiaoyue, Xu An cautiously walked towards the world's longest ice slide.

Because of Director Wang's specific instructions, the authorities did not clear the area, but simply asked everyone to voluntarily make way.

Xu An, with his hands tucked in and head down, moved up the queue.

He noticed that none of the tourists who passed by him screamed or shoved him like they would a celebrity.

People would simply pat him lightly on the shoulder or whisper, "Anzi, well done."

This restrained yet powerful kindness gradually eased Xu An's pent-up emotions.

Ahead of Xu An in line was a middle-aged man with his seven-year-old son.

The little boy was holding a candied hawthorn skewer and staring intently at Xu An's old, pilling cotton-padded jacket.

"Daddy, is this older brother the hero who gave the white-haired grandpa the zither?" the little boy asked in his childish voice.

The middle-aged man patted his son's head and replied gently, "Yes, what he gave was not a musical instrument, but the dignity of an old soldier."

Xu An's ears turned bright red as he listened. He squatted down and took out a pine nut that Lao Lin had given him from his canvas bag.

"Hey... here, this stuff is good for your brain."

The man took the pine nuts, looked at Xu Ann's shy and evasive eyes, and said sincerely, "Brother, you've worked hard."

Xu An shook his head, but a warm current was surging through his heart.

Finally, it was Xu An's turn to skate.

He sat on the inflatable mat, his palms sweaty, looking at the 500-meter-long, transparent track under the neon lights.

"Get out of here!"

With a gentle push from the staff, Xu An felt his mind go blank for a moment, followed by a scream from the feeling of weightlessness.

"Huh?! What's going on?!"

This scream, delivered with a distinct Henan accent, pierced the Harbin night sky, making the viewers in the live stream laugh so hard they almost fell over.

The wind whistled in his ears, as if washing away the fatigue of his journey.

Surrounded by transparent ice walls, shimmering with light, he felt as if he were truly flying down a slide through time.

The end of the slide leads to that famous disco where tens of thousands of people dance.

The host was a cool guy wearing sunglasses, who was standing on a high platform, wildly shaking his head.

"Friends in Harbin! Friends in Xujiacun! Has that ultimate postman in the padded coat arrived yet?!"

"We've arrived!" Ten thousand people responded in unison, their momentum overwhelming.

Xu An tumbled down the end of the slide, his hair a mess like a bird's nest, his military overcoat covered in ice shards.

He stared blankly at the tens of thousands of people dancing in unison in front of him, and at the huge DJ booth.

The music is an extremely down-to-earth electronic remix of "Heroes' Song".

In that instant, in the heart of this extremely bustling scene, Xu An suddenly realized that he wasn't actually that afraid of crowds anymore.

He discovered that every person waving glow sticks had a genuine smile on their face.

They weren't watching him, this internet celebrity; they were celebrating this moment of reunion and joy.

Xu An stood in the snow, feeling the heartbeat brought on by the resonance.

He took out his phone from his pocket and sent a video to his grandfather, who was far away in Henan.

On the other end of the video, Grandpa was sitting in the newly built "White Rabbit Canteen," with steaming hot braised pork with vermicelli on the table.

Second Uncle, Fifth Aunt, and Uncle Hei were all there, waving large white steamed buns at the camera.

"Anzi! Look at our cafeteria! The heating's so strong everyone inside is wearing short sleeves!"

"The road the bureau chief repaired for us was so shiny with black paint you could see your reflection in it!"

"Don't rush back. Eat something good outside, don't embarrass our Xu Family Village!"

Xu An looked at his grandfather's wrinkled but smiling face, and his eyes suddenly welled up with tears.

He turned around and bowed deeply to the three million Harbin natives who were dancing.

This bow is not for the sake of traffic, but for the warmth of this unity among all people.

When he got tired of playing, Xu An took a break behind a small cart selling ginger cola.

The shop owner was a woman nearing sixty. She didn't recognize Xu An, but just noticed that the boy was dressed warmly.

"Child, are you tired? Have a cup of hot drink, it's homemade by your auntie, no charge."

Xu An took the cup, the steam blowing on his face, making him feel more at ease than the millions of dollars in tips.

Just as he was about to go back to his car for a nap, he caught a glimpse of a shadow on the ice wall out of the corner of his eye.

A young man wearing a sanitation worker's vest was huddled in a corner, gnawing on a frozen, cracked steamed bun.

He didn't go to collect the free hot soup; he just stared blankly at the bustling city in the distance.

Xu An walked over, his movements very light.

He didn't say anything, but took out the Shanxi sesame seed cake that Aunt Li Aijun had given him and the frozen pear that Lao Linzi had given him from his canvas bag.

He placed the items on the young man's vest and turned to leave.

After taking two steps, he stopped again, turned around, and gave the young man a simple, honest smile.

"Bro, eat this. This stuff... keeps you full."

The young man was stunned. Looking at the back of the man in the military overcoat, tears streamed down his face.

This scene was secretly filmed by Xiaoyue, who had been protecting Xu An from the shadows.

In the live stream, netizens who were still discussing the wonders of ice and snow were completely overwhelmed by this one detail.

[ID Silence is Golden]: No matter how beautiful the ice sculpture is, it's not as beautiful as the pancake in Anzi's hand.

[ID Official Culture and Tourism]: We have taken note of this sanitation worker and have sent someone to contact him. We will ensure that everyone who contributes to this city has hot soup to drink.

[ID Xu An Fan Club]: This is the kind of blogger we follow. Even though he has become a top influencer, he still looks at everyone equally.

Xu An had no idea that his casual action had given the director of the Culture and Tourism Bureau another reason to work overtime late at night.

After putting down the frozen pears and sesame cakes, Xu An moved so fast that he almost left a trail of afterimages on the snow, and the hem of his military overcoat was flung around with the force of a fighter jet.

His only thought now was to quickly find Director Wang's SUV parked in the corner, and then scramble inside like a startled groundhog, even if there was no heating in the car.

The feeling of being photographed "doing good" in public was, for him, a top-tier socially anxious person, no less than running naked in the threshing ground of Xujia Village.

However, before he had run fifty meters, a group of "Little Golden Beans from the South" suddenly rushed out from the side wearing colorful fluffy hats and carrying little yellow duck backpacks.

This group of girls, averaging 1.6 meters tall, were like a flock of cheerful little sparrows, moving with an extremely synchronized rhythm, instantly physically surrounding Xu An, a 1.8-meter-tall man from Henan.

"We caught him! We caught him! The boy in the cotton-padded jacket who played the erhu for the tiger is here!"