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

The girl in the lead, wearing a long pink down jacket, had a clear voice as if filtered through ice from Harbin, and her eyes shone with a starlight that could burn even the most socially awkward person.

Xu An froze, his hands clenched unconsciously in his sleeves, his clear eyes revealing an intense confusion and terror.

"Um... ladies, I... I'm not some kind of brother, I'm just a messenger. I don't have a zither here, nor a tiger."

He stammered as he explained, his legs unconsciously rubbing against the ice in embarrassment, wishing he could disappear on the spot.

"We know! We cried several times watching the live stream. My heart broke when you delivered the pancakes to that sanitation worker!"

Without a word, the other little golden bean shoved a freshly baked cranberry-filled hot air balloon bread into Xu An's hand with such force that it was impossible to refuse.

Xu An looked down at the bright red bread in his hand, and an extremely absurd thought flashed through his mind: Doesn't Northeast China only have green onions and sauerkraut? Where did cranberries come from?

He took a bite, and the sweet and sour taste exploded on his tongue. The suffocating feeling of being surrounded by "Southern She Beef" was actually slightly relieved by this taste.

The number of viewers in the live stream had quietly surpassed 1.6 million, and the barrage of comments on the screen had long since turned into a sea of ​​joy.

【ID: Southern Number One Cutie】: Well done, sisters! Physically surround Anzi and let him experience the warmth of Southerners!

[ID Erbin Wild Spokesperson]: Anzi's eyes look exactly like my husky's when it was forced to take a bath. It's amazing!

[ID Science Guru]: You guys are missing the point! Didn't you see Anzi's completely bewildered expression just now? He was questioning his existence. When did cranberries become available in Harbin?

[ID: Uncle Xujiacun]: Anzi! Eat it! That's a girl's heartfelt gift. If you dare to spit it out, I'll beat you up when I get home!

Xu An looked at the comments on the screen, then at the group of enthusiastic girls around him, his face turning so red it could almost melt the ice sculpture next to him.

"Um... aren't these cranberries imported? Do we... grow them here too?"

Xu An asked in a low voice, trying to change the subject and ease the awkwardness of being stared at by hundreds of people.

Xiao Yue from the Culture and Tourism Bureau popped out of the van at some point, holding a box of freshly cut, icy red cranberries.

"Teacher Xu, you don't understand, do you? Fuyuan City in Heilongjiang Province is the largest cranberry growing area in China!"

Xiaoyue smiled slyly and waved at the camera, "Our Erbin has pulled out all the stops to entertain all the little beauties from across the country; we've even kept it a secret from our own families!"

Xu An opened his mouth wide. At this moment, he felt that he had really wasted his four years of university studies. This shock of "reverse output" made him feel a strange sense of awe for the land beneath his feet.

Before he could finish his reflection, the group of little golden beans launched a new offensive, with some grabbing the corner of his clothes for a photo and others stuffing White Rabbit milk candies into his pocket.

The most outrageous young man carried a huge model of the Hagia Sophia on his back and asked Xu An with a naive look, "Brother, where did you buy that military coat? I want to get one too. Will wearing it give me a buff on the slide?"

Xu An was sweating profusely from the various interactions. He could only nod and bow while repeating "It's...it's...great...thank you" like a broken record.

This extreme liveliness, which outsiders see as a surge in popularity, is, in Xu An's eyes, a super heist called "Love in Harbin".

Director Wang also came over at some point. He looked at Xu An, who was surrounded in the middle, his face flushed but still obediently cooperating with each tourist, and a hint of relief appeared in his eyes.

"Anzi, don't be afraid. Here, you're not some internet celebrity. You're just our Heilongjiang's eldest nephew."

Director Wang walked over and patted Xu An's shoulder with his large, kind hand, like a stabilizing force that instantly silenced the surrounding noise.

"Our little golden beans in Harbin are all very well-behaved. They just feel that you are sincere and want to give you the best of everything."

Director Wang turned to the group of enthusiastic tourists and announced loudly, "Please don't crowd Teacher Xu. It's a local custom in Erbin to be hospitable, but don't scare your own child!"

Upon hearing this, the tourists who were originally trying to push forward actually took a step back in unison, and their high level of civility once again earned praise from the viewers in the live stream.

Xu An breathed a sigh of relief and gave Director Wang a look that said, "I will never forget your life-saving grace."

In a corner of this bustling, snowy world, an elderly man wearing an old gray coat and holding a thick stack of flyers caught Xu An's attention.

The old man huddled in the shadow of the ice slide, his eyes not filled with the excitement of sightseeing, but with a scrutiny that was both expectant and desperate.

He looked at the frolicking young people, then at Xu An's military overcoat, his lips trembling slightly, but he never dared to come over.

Xu An's social radar accurately detected this kind of aura at this moment—a loneliness that was also on the margins, yearning yet cowardly.

He pushed through the crowd, ignoring Xiaoyue's attempts to stop him, and walked step by step to the old man.

"Sir, is there something you need?"

Xu An's voice was low, carrying his signature simplicity and patience. The naturalness he dared not show in front of the camera was instantly switched when facing his peers.

The old man dropped the flyer in his hand onto the snow. It depicted an old-fashioned steam locomotive against a backdrop of heavy snowfall.

He looked at Xu An, and tremblingly pulled out an envelope wrapped in layers of oil paper from his pocket, his voice hoarse as if he had been working on the railway for decades.

"Child... I saw you delivered a letter to that old man in the Red Star Forest Farm, and I was thinking... could you deliver one for me too?"

The old man's hands trembled violently, and the oiled paper wrapping made a rustling sound in the cold wind. "This letter... has been under my pillow for thirty-eight years. I dare not open it, nor dare I send it."

Xu An was stunned. He looked at the yellowed oil paper package, and a sense of fateful heaviness washed over him once again.

The cheerful atmosphere in the live stream room froze instantly, and the chat became purer than ever before.

[ID: Harbin Native]: That's the old North Station sign! Is this old man from the old steam locomotive crew?

[ID Emotional Blogger]: This is yet another letter that transcends time. Xu An's gaze just now truly penetrated the old man's heart.

[ID Official Culture and Tourism]: We are verifying the identity of this elderly man. Please keep quiet and do not disturb his obsession.

Xu An solemnly extended both hands, as if receiving a heavy cauldron in front of everyone.

"Sir, who is this letter for?"

The old man raised his head, his cloudy tears glistening in the lamplight. He pointed to a very blurry red handprint on the envelope and uttered two words.

"madman."

"That crazy guy who dared to drive a motorcycle without a windshield for two hundred miles in minus forty degrees Celsius through heavy snow."

No sooner had the old man finished speaking than a giant ice sculpture not far away suddenly emitted an extremely dull cracking sound, like some kind of fateful hammer, once again smashing onto the frozen soil of Harbin.

Xu An clutched the package of letters tightly. He knew that his journey to the North was not yet over.

He turned his head to look at the excessively bustling ice and snow world, then looked at the letter in his arms, his eyes gradually becoming firm.

"Okay, sir, I'll take this letter. Just provide meals, no need to pay."

Xu An blurted out this simple sentence, which made the two million viewers in the live broadcast room laugh and cry at the same time, typing "Mission accomplished" all over the screen.

The wind picked up again, carrying the sweet and sour taste of cranberries and the smell of machine oil from the old paper, all of which flooded into Xu An's life.

The next stop, the destination known as "Madman's," was sending him a whistle that echoed through thirty-eight years, carried on the swirling snow.

That was the second piece of his puzzle in Harbin, and also the necessary path for him to transform from a socially awkward college student into a god of everyday life.

Xu An took a deep breath, tightened his military overcoat, and strode towards the SUV that was waiting for him.

This time, he didn't bow his head; he was looking at the road ahead, at the broken regret that needed him to mend.

In the dead of night in Harbin, the neon lights of the Ice and Snow World shrink to a tiny colorful dot in the rearview mirror.

Xu An sat in the back seat of the SUV with the heater turned up to the maximum, clutching the yellowed oil paper package tightly in his arms.

He now felt that what was hidden in that military overcoat was not a letter, but a time bomb that could explode at any moment.

The driver was handpicked by Director Wang; he was a burly man surnamed Zhao, nicknamed "Zhao the Cannon."

While steadily steering the wheel, Master Zhao glanced at Xu An's cowardly appearance through the rearview mirror.

"Anzi, what did Old Zhou from the old North Station say to you just now? Look at your face, it's redder than a cranberry."

Xu An shrank his head into his collar and replied in a muffled voice, "It's nothing, just let me deliver a letter to a 'madman'."

Upon hearing those two words, Mr. Zhao's hand on the steering wheel visibly trembled, and the wheels made a series of dull thuds on the ice.

"Madman...you mean that 'One-Eyed Fire Dragon' from the Haqi Line back then, the one who didn't care about his life?"