Many shops along the street were decked out in heavy Christmas decorations.
Strings of colorful lights flickered in the display windows, woven through lush, artificial pine branches and dotted with sparkling glass baubles and red silk ribbon bows.
The glass door of a pastry shop was covered in huge decals of snowflakes and reindeer wearing Santa hats. Beside it stood a small, slightly comical snowman that was nonetheless brimming with festive spirit.
Neon lights formed the outlines of snowflakes and Christmas trees, pulsing with a warm and dreamlike glow in the cold night.
The two of them walked home in silence, hand in hand.
Li Zhi's gaze swept over the display windows, which the lights rendered with a deliberate, almost cloying warmth, and the wind chimes that tinkled by the doors.
