Volume 0 / Chapter 1: Mo Xueyao

Volume Zero: Prelude - Sixteen Years Like a Dream

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Mo Xueyao’s name was given by his still-living great-grandfather. He was an ethnic Russian who had left his homeland for distant shores due to certain events, departing the perpetually snow-covered land of Russia – known at the time as the Soviet Union.

Just a few decades later, that once-great nation seemed to collapse overnight.

After rigorous screening, Great-grandfather, a seasoned architecture expert, finally obtained a Chinese ID card and became a Chinese citizen. From then on, he settled with his family in a second-tier coastal city in southern China.  

Snow was rare in the south, let alone the kind that seemed capable of 'drowning' the whole world in white.  

Therefore, even before Mo Xueyao was born, his great-grandfather had decided on the name: regardless of gender, the child would be called ‘Xueyao’ (雪遥 – Snow Distant).

It signified that the homeland, perpetually drifting with snow, was now far away – even though, at that time, the great nation hadn't yet fallen. Yet, great-grandfather had foreseen that future.

Indeed, seven years after Xueyao’s birth, this colossal nation—once humanity’s hope—crumbled like a sandcastle.  

Interestingly, in the year 1984, when Mo Xueyao was born, boundless snow truly did drift down from the sky. When children ran outside to play, more than half their bodies could sink into the snowdrifts.

Whenever anyone expressed confusion about why Mo Xueyao, a boy, had such a feminine name, he would launch into the lengthy explanation above.

By Mo Xueyao's generation, his family was no longer considered wealthy. Great-grandfather had three sons, and his own grandfather, in turn, had three sons.

Mo Xueyao's father was the most mediocre of those three sons.

Still, even as the most mediocre son, through his and his wife's efforts and a bit of luck, he managed to acquire property in that second-tier city.

Well, it was a second-tier city, but it was still the provincial capital.

The time was late August 1999.

Mo Xueyao, having just graduated from junior high, had idled away the entire summer vacation at home. Now, he sat lazily in the living room, hugging a large block of ice while a fan blew over him.

The electric fan blasted hot air, but with the ice, the breeze turned deliciously cool.

In those days, air conditioning was still a rare luxury. Having an electric fan in every household was considered pretty good already.

Mo Xueyao’s mother wasn't highly educated. She worked as a housemaid, managing to slip back home at noon to cook him lunch. Right now, she was in the kitchen stir-frying eggplant in spicy bean sauce.

While the aroma was enticing, the cooking fumes were thick and heavy, clouding the living room to the point where Mo Xueyao could barely make out the picture on the TV.

“Mom! The fumes are terrible!” Mo Xueyao rubbed his stinging eyes and yelled towards the kitchen.

“Put up with it! That’s just how the exhaust fan is here!” came the reply.

Mo Xueyao’s eyes darted around. He grabbed the electric fan and placed it right at the kitchen doorway, blowing the air into the kitchen.

Ai yo, that felt much better immediately; the smoke was held back. But then his mother started coughing violently.

“Cough! Cough! You ungrateful little rascal! Trying to choke your mother to death?”

“Heh heh heh—” Mo Xueyao scratched his head sheepishly and quickly moved the fan away.

Fortunately, the stir-fried eggplant was finally done. Just looking at it made his mouth water.

Mother reached up and pulled a cord to turn off the exhaust fan.

That’s right – not a switch panel, but a pull-cord switch.

Years of accumulated grease and grime coated the cord, leaving it looking grimy, grayish-brown, and sticky.

“Mom, tell Dad to buy a proper range hood tomorrow.”

“Little rascal, do you have any idea how expensive those hoods are?” Mom rolled her eyes. “We’d be better off spending that money on an air conditioner! Besides, this exhaust fan still works well enough.”

“Yeah, yeah! We should get AC! I’m roasting alive here!” Xueyao panted dramatically like a dying dog, sticking his tongue way out.  

His mom yanked his tongue. “Put that away. You look ridiculous.”  

“Heh heh…”

“Serves you right, feeling the heat. You never exercise, never get a chance to sweat, just laze around at home all day watching TV, playing games— Speaking of which, have you finished your summer homework?”

“Heh…” Mo Xueyao offered a sheepish grin. “Of course I…”

“Listen here, don’t think you can just play forever. There is homework between junior high graduation and starting high school. Your teacher told me, don’t think your mom doesn’t know. Summer break only has half a month left; see if you can finish it in time.”

“Ah, homework’s nothing. I’ve got experience. I’m just… building momentum, okay? You know, save it for the last three days and power through. Like they say: ‘One effort, then decline, then exhaustion…”

“Stop talking nonsense! Get your own rice! Mom has to eat lunch and then rush to another family’s place to clean and cook dinner!”

Mo Xueyao made a face and served himself a heaping bowl of rice. He’d always had a big appetite since childhood, yet he never seemed to gain weight. Maybe it was related to being in the middle of puberty.

Hmm… though he wasn’t entirely sure he was actually in puberty.

His height hadn’t shot up much, no beard had sprouted, and no matter how much he felt for it, he couldn’t find an Adam’s apple.

Sure enough, at the dinner table, Mom started nagging again.

“You, you can’t just stay holed up at home all the time. You need to get out and exercise. Other boys have skin like bronze, looking healthy and full of sunshine. You? Your skin’s paler than a girl’s, your body’s all soft, not a single muscle anywhere. You look like some medieval vampire.”

“Isn’t that cool? I wish I were a vampire, then I could live forever.”

“Enough of your smart mouth! Eat up, quick! Clean up after yourself when you’re done. Wipe the grease off the stove too. If it’s not spotless, see if I don’t deal with you!”

“Yes, yes, yes…”

In the sweltering heat, eating lunch made you sweat even more.

Mo Xueyao shoveled down his meal in a few quick bites and busied himself washing the dishes and chopsticks.

His mother rushed out the door without a moment's pause, hurrying to her next job.

If she had time to spare, she might even pick up an extra gig cooking lunch for someone else.

What could they do? The family was poor. Life had to be pinched and scraped like this.

Their ancestors might have been well-off, but that was generations ago. As the saying goes: wealth never lasts three generations…  

Mo Xueyao comforted himself with this thought as he hugged his block of ice and plopped back down in front of the TV.

Worried about getting his clothes wet, he didn't bother with a shirt or pants. He just sat cross-legged in his boxer shorts.

If you only saw his back, coupled with the ear-length hair he hadn't cut all summer, you might easily mistake him for a girl!

Of course, a look at the front would reveal he was a boy.

Because—well, there was simply no chest to speak of.

Set up before Mo Xueyao was a "Xiao Bawang" Little Overlord "Learning Computer." Though called a learning tool, it was really used for playing games – all kinds of games. In that era, it was practically every child's dream possession.

It was a gift from Mo Xueyao's father.

He'd earned it because his results in the senior high school entrance exams Zhongkao were quite good, getting him into Hangzhou's no.14 high school – ranked among the city's top five.

No.14 had both junior and senior high sections. He hadn't made it into the junior high part, but he'd managed to test into the senior high section through hard work. This recognition of his effort prompted his father to give him the Xiao Bawang Learning Computer.

—Of course, Mo Xueyao and his friends much preferred to call it the Xiao Bawang Game Console.

In Hangzhou, with dozens of high schools, getting into one of the top five was indeed a commendable achievement.

"Ah, it's already two o'clock… Hmm, time to do homework." Mo Xueyao switched off the TV and hauled the fan into his small bedroom.

This little room faced inward towards the residential complex, oriented north. During summer, it counted as one of the slightly cooler rooms in the apartment.

Below were large patches of flowers, grass, and trees. Though they grew somewhat wild, they at least offered something green to rest his eyes on after studying.

Playing was his reward, but he certainly hadn't forgotten about his studies. Though this summer vacation did feel a bit like he'd gone slightly overboard with the fun.

“Since triangle ABC…” Working on a geometry problem, Xueyao suddenly froze, clutched his stomach, and slumped over the desk. 

It was summer, yet cold sweat poured down his back. He felt plunged into an icy abyss.  

This pain had started occasionally in ninth grade, but he’d ignored it. Over the summer, it grew more frequent—now sometimes daily. He didn’t know why, but he refused to tell his parents. He didn’t want to add to their burdens.  

If he could endure it, he would.  

Besides the pain, nothing else seemed wrong. And it always passed, leaving no trace.  

Half an hour later, the pain gradually faded until it vanished completely.  

Xueyao exhaled in relief, wiping sweat from his brow as if he’d just been fished out of icy water.  

But an hour later, he was again so hot he wished he could crawl into the fridge.  

“Actually, a little pain now and then to cool off isn’t so bad…” he muttered softly before heading to the bathroom for a cold shower.  

Well, ‘cold’ was relative. The water felt lukewarm at best—the weather outside was scorching. The forecast said it hit forty degrees today!  

Evening crept in. His mother wasn’t home yet. Neither was his father.  

By eight PM, after another shower, Xueyao sat watching cartoons. He’d seen this Tom and Jerry episode multiple times on different channels, but he still enjoyed it. After all, cartoons weren’t on TV all day, and not all were ones he liked. Catching a favorite was a rare treat!  

Click— The sound of a key turning in the lock.  

Xueyao instinctively looked toward the door. His mother walked in, exhausted, leaning against the shoe cabinet to remove her shoes.  

“Where’s your dad?”  

“Not back yet.” Xueyao didn’t look up.  

“Have you eaten dinner?”  

“Nope.”  

“Couldn’t cook for yourself?”  

“Uh, wasn’t hungry.”  

“How about mixed noodles?”  

“Sure. Better with a fried egg.”  

“Thought you weren’t hungry?”  

“Cough! Heh heh…” Xueyao grinned sheepishly.  

Just as his mother stepped inside, the door opened again.  

His father walked in, carrying a large box.  

“Come, come! Xueyao, honey, look what I brought home!”  

Xueyao scrambled from the living room to the entryway, more eager than when his mom arrived. He craned his neck at the long box. “Is it…?”  

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(Author's notes: 

(Having the character ‘snow’ (雪) in your name doesn’t automatically make you a girl. Take the historical figure Cao Xueqin, for example. Or an ordinary person living in the present day—our protagonist, Mo Xueyao. )  

( Mo Xueyao’s body possesses both male and female characteristics. As the story unfolds, the physical differences will become apparent. Please understand.)  

( The protagonist’s condition is based on real medical cases. The author has consulted relevant information to ensure accuracy. However, for narrative flow, some details may be modified. Please approach with understanding. )