“操，这鬼天气。”张凡又从被窝里钻出来，蟒蛇似的缠着身上那件单薄的粗布老棉袄。棉絮都碎了，风一吹，直漏风。他哆哆嗦嗦爬到桌边，煤油灯头一晃，昏黄的光刚好照亮书桌上那本摊开的破书。就是这破玩意儿，害得他今天早上差点冻死。破书？

他呲牙咧嘴对着那本发黄的旧书比划了两下，书页哗啦响，好像在嘲笑他似的。“《五行基础》，呵，狗屁不通的东西，学了三年，连个鬼都变不出来。”张凡啐了一口，唾沫星子差点溅到煤油灯上。桌角那碗剩下的狗粮散发着酸馊味，他皱着眉头躲得远远的。

冷得受不了，他又钻回被窝里，把脑袋拱进棉袄里。“不行，得想想办法。”他搓了搓冻得通红的手，眼神盯着窗外。天刚蒙蒙亮，远处山头上就冒起了灰白色的雾气，天儿是越来越冷了。

“去镇上？不行，没吃的，没穿的，更没那几文钱。”张凡摇头，“只能等雪停了……应该快了，这几天风都小了。”

他 crawls back into the quilt, burying his head in the cotton coat. The cold seeped in despite the flimsy garment. He could feel his teeth chattering. "Stupid book," he muttered, glaring at the dusty 《五行基础》 on the table. "Wasted three years on this trash. Never learned a damn thing."

"Maybe I should try again," he thought, rubbing his hands together. Then he paused. "But what if...?" An idea flickered in his mind, faint but promising. "What if I focus on the Dragon Heart?"

The thought made him shiver, not just from the cold. This was nuts. The Dragon Heart. A mythical thing. But who knew? Maybe the legend wasn't entirely fake.