In the winter of Bei Yao’s final year of university, Pei Chuan brought her back to City C for the New Year.

City C had an especially heavy snowfall that year. The entire city was blanketed in snowflakes, and the air carried a hint of coolness.

Zhao Zhilan was unwilling to leave the old house. Having lived there for so long, this was their roots.

Red lanterns hung outside the Bei family home. Zhao Zhilan was overjoyed knowing they were coming back and had specially made lots of sausages and cured meat.

Before the New Year, Granny Chen who sold tofu lost her husband. It was said that the old man who couldn’t see died one day, and Granny Chen followed him the next day.

The two elderly people leaned together by the window. Outside, a violent snowstorm raged, and their bodies had long since grown stiff and cold.

The residents of this old neighborhood all felt sympathy. When Granny Chen was young, she had been a beautiful girl in her home village. Later she married her blind husband and worked hard for half her lifetime, getting up before dawn to sell tofu.

She had cared for her husband all her life, smiling at everyone she met.

When he left, she followed him the very next day.

The two elderly people had no children, and their funeral arrangements hadn’t been made. After people discovered them, everyone voluntarily raised money to bury them.

Two people, one grave.

Bei Yao and Pei Chuan also went to pay their respects.

On the way back, someone sighed with emotion. “Who knows what Granny Chen was after, serving someone all her life, and following him in death. Her whole life was so hard. She never enjoyed any blessings, and when she was old, she had no one to see her to the end.”

Pei Chuan looked at the lonely white poplar trees in the distant wind and snow, silent for a moment.

Bei Yao held his hand.

His body temperature was very high. Bei Yao’s small hand was ice-cold. He naturally gripped her hand in return and placed it in his pocket to warm it.

Bei Yao turned her head. “What are you thinking about? I won’t allow you to think nonsense.”

Pei Chuan lowered his eyes. “I’m thinking that since the snow is so heavy this New Year, I’ll take you out to build a snowman.”

Bei Yao said, “Your body temperature is so high. It seems warm all year round.”

She found it miraculous. Clearly he had such a cold personality, yet his body temperature was higher than many people’s.

He smiled slightly and said nothing, holding her hand as they walked home together.

The old neighborhood still vaguely resembled how it had been in those years. The plum blossoms bloomed, their rich fragrance filling the entire neighborhood.

This year, the neighbors in the old neighborhood still visited each other and exchanged gifts.

Only Fang Mingjun was absent. When Zhao Xiu came to visit, she said cheerfully, “My Minmin is going to Huo Dinglin’s hometown for the New Year this year.”

Everyone knew that Fang Mingjun had been engaged before, yet at this moment they were still somewhat stunned.

The fall of the Huo family hadn’t affected the home of their distant relative, civil servant Huo Dinglin.

Bei Yao did run into Chen Yingqi though.

She almost didn’t recognize him. Chen Yingqi had already lost weight and wore a blue down jacket, smiling like he used to.

He patted Pei Chuan’s shoulder. “I really envy you.”

Pei Chuan glanced at him coolly. “Let’s talk outside.”

Chen Yingqi naturally agreed.

Pei Chuan turned back and looked at his little wife who was bursting with curiosity. He touched her hair and said with a helpless laugh, “Why are you curious about everything?”

Bei Yao turned her face away. “Not curious. Not listening.”

Pei Chuan glanced at her and went out with Chen Yingqi.

After he left, Bei Yao looked over eagerly. What were they talking about so mysteriously?

That evening, she heard Uncle Chen complaining that even before the New Year was over, Chen Yingqi had already gone back to work at his company.

Bei Yao felt it had something to do with Pei Chuan. However, the man calmly tapped away at his keyboard as if nothing had happened. She’d said during the day that she wasn’t curious, but now she was dying of curiosity.

She lay across his legs. “Pei Chuan.”

Pei Chuan typed on the keyboard, sparing her a glance. He suppressed his amusement and turned back to code to earn extra money to support his delicate little wife.

She squirmed around, restless for even a moment. Pei Chuan was so smart—she hoped he could understand what she meant.

Pei Chuan turned a blind eye.

Snow fell outside. The married couple lived in the Bei family’s old house, and Zhao Zhilan had even specially installed air conditioning for them.

The only awkward thing was that the old house wasn’t soundproof. Once night came, they could only sleep properly and obediently.

Otherwise, if the parents next door heard something, it would truly be an embarrassing matter. They were staying in Bei Yao’s former bedroom. Last night, Bei Yao had been restless, feeling that Pei Chuan was so serious and rigid after returning to the old home, not gentle at all like at their own home. She had deliberately teased him, teasing until Pei Chuan couldn’t help but press her down, and then she giggled. “My parents are still next door.”

Pei Chuan’s veins had bulged.

Tonight it was her turn to want to know about Fang Mingjun and Chen Yingqi’s matters. But Pei Chuan was seriously working and said coolly, “It’s cold. Go to bed yourself. I’ll finish this software.”

Bei Yao was extremely frustrated and lightly bit his leg.

Pei Chuan had removed his prosthetic. He stiffened when she bit him.

He lightly pinched her cheek. “Get up.”

Bei Yao said indistinctly, “What did you say to Chen Yingqi today? He left without even finishing the New Year.”

Pei Chuan said casually, “Weren’t you not curious?”

“…”

Bei Yao’s chin rested on his leg. She felt he was being a bit mean and petty. He was definitely still holding a grudge. Pei Chuan clearly had the most perceptive mind, but this time he was deliberately using her words against her. Bei Yao reached out to touch his residual limb.

Pei Chuan intercepted her hand, gripping it tightly. “Stop messing around. When did you develop this bad habit?”

Bei Yao looked up at him and said, “You’re being especially petty today.”

He said, “Nonsense.”

She said with a smile, “Are you still angry about last night?”

“No.” Pei Chuan said.

Bei Yao suppressed her amusement, looking at the man’s unruffled face. “Let me count. Before my break, I was taking final exams, and after coming back, it’s been how many days now?”

He lowered his eyes and glanced at her nonchalantly.

Bei Yao inexplicably found him particularly interesting like this. She boldly said in a small voice, “We’ll be quiet and not make any sound. First tell me about Minmin’s situation, okay?”

Pei Chuan gritted his back teeth and said nothing.

Bei Yao was laughing so hard inside she could barely breathe. She propped herself up, straddled him with her legs apart, her face pink and tender, her eyes clearly showing playful amusement.

Pei Chuan suddenly snapped the laptop shut and covered her mouth. “Don’t make a sound. If we’re heard anyway, we’ll lose face together.”

*

Outside the window, heavy snow laid down thick layers of white. Her eyes were full of misty moisture.

The Bei family no longer stayed up all night for New Year’s these past two years. At midnight, firecrackers went off in succession.

Pei Chuan smiled and praised her. “Such a good girl.”

She really hadn’t made a single sound out of shyness, and couldn’t bear to bite him, looking utterly pitiful.

He held Bei Yao and turned over, helping her regulate her breathing while he himself was also breathing lightly. Amid the firecrackers of the New Year, his hoarse voice told her about Chen Yingqi and Fang Mingjun’s matters.

“Before I went to prison, I asked him to take good care of you all. I also gave Chen Yingqi a sum of money to start a business. He took the money but didn’t touch it. His character is quite good. Chen Yingqi has a genetic predisposition to obesity. Losing weight is countless times harder for him than for many people, yet these past few years, he’s persisted every day, winter and summer. But in his career, although he has technical skills, he could only do odd jobs for others.”

“I guess he’s stayed in City C all along also because he can’t let go of Fang Mingjun.” Huo Dinglin wasn’t a good man. Chen Yingqi probably understood this and didn’t dare leave.

“He refused to accept favors for nothing. I never took back that money from before, so I told him to try doing it himself. If he succeeds in the future, he’ll give me half the shares. If he doesn’t succeed, he’ll compensate me a small amount. He has to fight for a future—he can’t wait indefinitely for an unknown result.”

Outside, firecrackers crackled and popped. She leaned close to his ear. “You men are so strange. It’s not as if you have to be wealthy to spend a lifetime together.”

Pei Chuan smiled slightly and said nothing.

It wasn’t that they needed to be wealthy. It was just that for them, sometimes having one more bargaining chip meant not being so humble. Love alone couldn’t feed his precious baby—they also needed bread.

The matter of Granny Chen’s death had also touched him deeply.

He lowered his head and said softly in her ear, “Stop using contraception. Let’s have a baby, hmm?”

Bei Yao asked with a red face, “Do you like children?”

Pei Chuan said, “I don’t know.”

“You don’t know?”

He had no experience interacting with children, but one thing was certain—children didn’t easily like him. This New Year, he’d given Bei Jun a big red envelope, and the child had awkwardly called him “brother-in-law, thank you.”

Pei Jiadong was also somewhat afraid of him. Pei Chuan rarely interacted with children in the first place. Even when he himself was a child, he wasn’t good at getting along with his peers, so he truly didn’t know if he liked them or not.

But if in this world there was someone with similar features to hers, with close blood relations, looking at them would definitely make his heart involuntarily soften.

On this night, goose-feather snow flew through the air. He gazed at the goose-feather snowflakes drifting outside the window.

For the first time, Pei Chuan hoped she didn’t love him as deeply as he loved her, hoped he wasn’t her everything. That way, even if one day he left first, there would still be a child to take care of her in his place. She could still divide her love among other people. He’d heard that maternal love surpassed all other feelings in the world.

That way she would still live well.

Not like Granny Chen, dying in the freezing snow.

He kissed the top of her head.

However, in this lifetime, Pei Chuan was already mired deep. If you go first, I’ll follow right after.

*

After the New Year, when they returned to school, it was already the spring of the following year.

When Bei Yao graduated, it was a brilliantly sunny June. At that time, lotus flowers bloomed in full splendor. She wore a Republic-era student blouse, held up an oil-paper umbrella, and took graduation photos with her roommates.

On campus, young and tender faces gradually took on mature contours and angles.

Qin Dongni leaned close to Bei Yao and said with a smile, “Sometimes I feel that looking at you, I see what love looks like.”

From childhood sweethearts who were innocent playmates to now staying close together just as in the beginning.

Having weathered countless storms, nothing compared to the purity of being cherished and protected from the very start. Over these years, Qin Dongni had met many people, but through all the comings and goings, she was bewildered about what she wanted.

So how difficult, how difficult was it for two people from completely different worlds to bring their hearts so close together?

When Pei Chuan came to attend her graduation ceremony, he wore a suit specially for the occasion.

Normally for work, they didn’t need to wear such clothing—it was cumbersome.

He walked into the university campus, and many people turned to look at him. By now, Professor Pei was considered a celebrity at University B. The man looked especially mature in his suit, with a cool, hard handsomeness.

Bei Yao turned around and saw him.

She thought he’d been busy with matters at the research institute recently and wouldn’t come, but unexpectedly he’d come to pick her up without a word.

She flew into his arms. Pei Chuan caught her and took the decorative oil-paper umbrella from her hands.

The girl’s voice was clear and joyful. “Pei Chuan, I’ve graduated!”

He also showed a faint smile.

This year, he was in a suit and leather shoes while she wore a Republic-era student qipao, graceful and gentle. Amid the falling petals, they were beautiful as a painting.

Many people quietly looked over.

The flowers on campus bloomed brilliantly. Pei Chuan pressed the painted oil-paper umbrella downward. Under the umbrella became their own little world.

She heard the man’s voice carry laughter. He said in a low voice—

“Dr. Little Bei, congratulations on growing up.”