Chapter 193: A Winter of Rest

The small town of Trochena in the canton of Vaud, Switzerland, is located in the French-speaking west, near Geneva, at an altitude of 418 meters, belonging to a low-altitude region.

In winter, the temperature in Trochena is roughly between 0 and 6 degrees Celsius. Around Christmas, scenes covered in snow and ice are even more common.

However, this place is not at a latitude higher than Alaska, so the climate is certainly not as severe as that region near the polar circle.

The courtyard at this time of year requires no special care; basically, as long as those flowers and grasses are alive, that is already good. No one would deliberately prune them in winter.

But it is not as if one does nothing in winter and just hides by the fireplace to pass the season.

The most important task is clearing the accumulated snow. From the roof, and from the courtyard paths.

The snow in the town of Trochena does not accumulate as thickly as in Alaska, so roofs collapsing under the weight of snow is rare.

The snow on the roads is mainly the trouble. Do not look at it as just a thin layer; one step down reaches the ground, as if no special clearing is needed.

But such an action usually just tramples the snow into thin ice, not making the snow disappear. And thin ice is very slippery; that is to say, if not specially cleared, one merely turns one's own courtyard into something much like an ice rink. It would not be surprising if someone fell to their death at any time.

So Henry's important task upon waking early in the morning is clearing the accumulated snow. The roof does not need clearing every day, but the path in the courtyard must be paid close attention to, because strolling in the garden is the only exercise Lady He Ben can do now.

The accumulated snow will not disappear unless Henry uses a heat ray to melt it. However, he has no desire to do such a thing; simply piling the snow to one side is enough.

Simply pushing the accumulated snow aside is truly too boring. So Henry did something he had wanted to do for two lifetimes but never got to do: building a snowman.

Therefore, in the town of Trochena this winter, at Lady He Ben's house, one could see early in the morning a young man, after shoveling snow, building a snowman. And beside him, five Jack Russell Terriers were frolicking.

This is because the roads are slippery in winter, so Robert did not go out for a run and to walk the dogs, but only exercised inside the house. These five dogs could only take the opportunity while Henry was outside to vent their energy, rather than being confined to the house.

However, the joy of building snowmen lasted only two or three days, because Henry began playing with snow sculptures.

From the beginning, alien-like figures comparable to Cthulhu that made people's SAN values plummet; progressing later to Rodin's The Thinker, Michelangelo's David, the Greek goddess Athena, and the Statue of Liberty in New York.

Basically, shoveling snow every day and changing the shape every day. One would see Henry waving a large shovel, scraping here and shoveling there. If he went too far, he would just pat snow from the ground back on; it was much simpler than real sculpture, at least offering a chance to regret and start over.

Henry did not expect to make anything very detailed; anyway, placed outside, with snow drifting, whatever the original appearance was would deform. Basically, it was just to pass the morning time.

The remaining time was unprofessional piano practice time. Lady He Ben's house had a carefully maintained second-hand piano, not some famous brand or antique instrument.

Occasionally, guests familiar with the art of the piano would come to perform a piece; occasionally, the lady would be in the mood and strike the keys to soothe her mood. But most of the time it gathered dust.

Henry took this opportunity to use this piano to practice.

Although Audrey Hepburn and Robert Wolders were not famous pianists, being actors, they possessed a certain ability of appreciation and could offer a few suggestions on Henry's piano playing, more or less.

And Henry's piano playing, in Robert's words, was strictly according to the score without his own personality. But at least it would not make people feel uncomfortable listening to it.

But the piano practice time would not be long, ending in at most an hour. For the rest of the time, everyone followed Lady He Ben's preference, immersing themselves in the world of reading. However, Robert would occasionally go do his own thing; he did not like reading that much.

The books at home, those borrowed from the town library, sometimes everyone would exchange thoughts on them.

The person who read the most miscellaneous things was, of course, Henry. Especially since he could also understand foreign-language books that neither Lady He Ben nor Robert could understand, so both of them often pestered him to discuss their reading insights, sometimes with Lady He Ben listening alone.

Reading time was usually in the afternoon; the group would sit before large windows where the sun shone, feeling the warmth brought by the winter sun while reading the words on the pages, chewing on the author's thoughts.

"Henry, what book are you reading today?" Lady He Ben asked, putting down the book in her hands to rest her eyes after reading to a certain extent.

Henry raised the book, displaying the cover, and said: "Kusamakura by Natsume Soseki. This is a Japanese modern literature writer from the end of the nineteenth century."

It was not that he did not want to read Chinese books, but the Chinese collection in the town library had been finished long ago.

"What is the content?"

Henry said: "The poppy flower referred to in the book title is a kind of red poppy; this flower is extremely gorgeous, and therefore in ancient texts of Eastern culture it is often used as a metaphor for a beauty. Also, because this flower is the raw material for opium, it also implies the harm behind beauty.

"The story in the book is the same. Using the heroine's seduction of men, it metaphorically suggests that the prosperity brought by Western civilization entering Japan at that time was merely a bubble-like, groundless illusion."

"Sounds like a sad story," Lady He Ben said intuitively.

"Rather than saying it is writing a sad story, it is more like a vehicle to show off literary skills, then chattering endlessly about a bunch of useless grand principles."

Lady He Ben chuckled and said: "How did your one evaluation make the whole feeling completely different?"

Henry shrugged and said: "Literati, they just use the most gorgeous words to tell the most ordinary stories, and then hide some grand principles just to preach to others."

"You are not wrong," Audrey Hepburn agreed.

"Actually, regarding this author, there is also a rather interesting anecdote."

"What is it?"

Henry said: "Because the author encountered Western culture quite early, he served as an English teacher for a while, teaching students English. At that time, a student directly translated 'I love you' in English into 'I love you' in Japanese as 'Ware kimi o aisu'."

"He said Japanese people would not use such a direct expression; using the expression 'The moon is beautiful tonight' would be more appropriate. This sentence means 'The moon is beautiful tonight', implicitly expressing the wish 'to share a beautiful night with you'."

"Wow, that sounds truly beautiful. Is this story true?"

Henry said calmly: "No, according to verification by later generations, the earliest source of such a statement was more than ten years after Natsume Soseki's death. It was probably fabricated by later generations."

"Ah, you detestable child, could you not let people keep a beautiful thought?" Audrey Hepburn said discontentedly.

"Hehe," Henry said again with a smile: "But if a story spreads out making people feel, 'Ah, indeed, this is something that person would do,' isn't that also very impressive?"

"Indeed so."

(End of this chapter)