Snow always fell heavily in Hai Cheng, and it was no surprise at all that heavy snowfall would block the roads there every winter.

“Young Marshal, rest assured. We have reserved two carriages on that train, and the guards inside are all led by Captain Liu Yin. The Commander’s safety is absolutely guaranteed,” the adjutant said. “Young Marshal need only wait for news of the Commander’s safe return.”

Shi Ting nodded. “Go ahead and get to work.”

As a precaution, Shi Ting had ordered Zuo Liang placed in prison rather than the military police headquarters.

The prison was heavily guarded with dedicated wardens. If Shi Guang wanted to rescue Zuo Liang, it would not be nearly as simple as getting in and out of the military police headquarters.

He was confident it would not be long before Shi Guang learned of everything that had happened at the Qiao mansion.

“Young Marshal, this was sent over by the Young Mistress.” The adjutant brought over two lunch boxes.

To keep them warm, the lunch boxes had been resting on hot water the whole time, so they were still warm when held.

The tension in Shi Ting’s features, upon hearing those words, instantly softened like a warm spring breeze sweeping through, bringing blossoms into bloom.

“The Young Mistress said you would surely forget to eat again, so she made some food and sent it over.” The adjutant arranged the lunch boxes in front of Shi Ting and smiled. “The Young Mistress truly cares for the Young Marshal in a way that makes everyone envious. All the single men on our side who are looking for wives now hold the Young Mistress as their standard.”

Shi Ting breathed in the fragrance of the food. Even though it was bitterly cold outside, warmth flooded his heart.

She always had a way, when he was busy and exhausted, of making him feel that there was no difficulty in this world that could not be solved, no threshold that could not be crossed.

As long as she was here, he would feel that every day he woke was filled with sunshine. With such a wife, what more could a husband ask for?

Shi Ting gazed at the two lunch boxes, a bright smile blooming at the corners of his mouth.

The adjutant knew that only when it came to matters involving the Young Mistress would the Young Marshal reveal such an expression — a heart of steel turned to gentle silk.

~

Yan Qing sat in the office at the hospital, leafing through some experimental data she held in her hands.

Because of the New Year, the number of patients at the hospital had dropped considerably. At this hour there were only a sparse few patients, and the doctors and nurses were taking shifts to rest.

Today was the fifteenth of the first lunar month — the Lantern Festival in Shun Cheng, and also a holiday of reunion.

But since Yan’s elder — Father — was currently undergoing treatment and could not return home to reunite with the family, Yan Qing had come early so he would not feel lonely.

She had accompanied him for sweet rice dumplings and had gone out for a walk with him, and only after he grew a little tired did she return with him to rest in his ward.

Father and his fellow patients had been receiving treatment for nearly a month, and their conditions had been improving at a visible pace.

The two patients whom the doctors had told to prepare for the worst were now vigorously gathered together playing cards.

Watching the several of them, Yan Qing understood the truth of that saying — when facing a powerful illness, one’s mindset is also an effective weapon against it. People with an optimistic outlook tend to recover far more easily than those who wallow in self-pity and lament.

With a creak, the door swung open.

Yan Qing’s attention was focused on the materials before her. Hearing the door open, she assumed it was one of the doctors returning from their rounds.

Just as she paid it no mind, a pair of hands suddenly covered her eyes. These hands carried a coolness to them, so when they covered her eyes they did not press tightly against them.

Yan Qing was startled for a moment, then laughed. “Do I need to guess who you are?”

“Guess,” a familiar voice sounded from behind her.

“You’re already talking — and you still want me to guess?” Yan Qing said, both amused and exasperated. “Isn’t this an easy gift of a question?”

“Then did you figure it out?”

Yan Qing said: “I only know that this person is handsome, and clever, and most importantly, he dotes on his wife very much.”

“Somehow it feels like you’re talking about me.”

“Young Marshal, sir — could you be a little more modest?”

Shi Ting released his hands and came around to face her, giving a little wave of what he held in front of her eyes. “Brought you a surprise.”

“Is today a special day?” Yan Qing propped her chin in her hand and thought carefully.

“Does it have to be a special day to have a surprise?”

Yan Qing blinked at him mischievously. “What else? When someone flatters you out of nowhere, they’re either up to no good or after something.”

Shi Ting looked helplessly at the little wife making faces at him, and couldn’t stop himself from leaning across the desk and precisely sealing her non-stop mouth.

“Hey — how can you just silence someone when you can’t win an argument?” Yan Qing pulled her chair back, and Shi Ting’s kiss missed its mark.

At the same time, the thing in his hands was snatched away by her clever fingers.

“Let me see what this surprise is, that it needs the Young Marshal to be so secretive.” Yan Qing opened the paper bag in her hands and found inside a small box made of sandalwood. When the box was opened, a flash of silver light was reflected into her eyes.

“How beautiful.” Yan Qing’s eyes reflected two delicate little earrings.

This pair of earrings was made in the shape of a half-moon, with a three-dimensional latticed hollow design. In the hollow center hung a sparkling diamond, and this diamond — upon closer inspection — was suffused throughout with a pink hue and also crafted in the shape of a half-moon: a moon within a moon.

“Do you like them?” Shi Ting said softly. “Today is the fifteenth of the first month, and I wasn’t able to spend the holiday with you, my lady, so I could only buy a gift as compensation.”

“I like them.” Yan Qing held the little box and stared at it without blinking, absolutely captivated.

“Let me put them on for you.” Shi Ting came around the desk to her side, first tucking the loose strands of hair near her ear behind it, then bending slightly at the waist and gently removing the pair of jade earrings she wore on her earlobes.

She did not usually care much for gold and silver jewelry. The few adornments she wore were hair clips and earrings.

She had many pairs of earrings, and would change them to match different outfits.

“I remember you have a set of moon-white garments. Paired with this earring set they would certainly look beautiful.” Shi Ting took one earring from the box while Yan Qing tilted her head slightly to cooperate with his movements.

“Indeed, a beautiful pair of earrings still needs an exquisite person to wear them.” After Shi Ting had put both earrings on, he regarded her like a craftsman admiring his own finely carved artwork, with an expression of complete satisfaction.

Her skin was naturally pale, her ears small and delicately rounded, her neck slender and long. These earrings worn on her ears displayed their beauty in every aspect, perfectly and exactly.

“Do they look nice?” Yan Qing gently swayed her head, and the pair of earrings swung left and right in response.

“Beautiful.” Shi Ting picked up a mirror from the desk beside him and held it in front of her. “See for yourself.”

Yan Qing leaned closer to the mirror, equally pleased. “All I can say is that your taste is excellent.”

“No — it is that my lady is too beautiful.”

Shi Ting stood behind her and couldn’t help bending down to press a kiss near her ear. “You look beautiful in anything you wear.”

“When Young Marshal praises his own wife, he truly doesn’t blush or miss a beat.”

“If I’m just speaking plain truth, what is there to blush about?”

“By the way, have you eaten?” Yan Qing set the mirror down.

Shi Ting said: “When a feast for the eyes is before me, there is no need to eat.”

“That won’t do.” Yan Qing said. “Today the family sent sweet rice dumplings to Father. The sugar content was too high, so I didn’t let him have many, and there are still quite a few left. Wait for me a moment — I’ll borrow the hospital’s kitchen and boil you a bowl.”

“I’ll come with you.”

“All right.”

The two of them took the sweet rice dumplings to the hospital kitchen.

This kitchen was reserved for hospital staff, used ordinarily for heating soups and meals, and on late-night shifts for boiling noodles and dumplings and such.

Soon, the water in the pot had come to a rolling boil. Yan Qing slid the sweet rice dumplings in one by one along the side of the pot.

The dumplings boiled in the pot for a while and quickly swelled into round, plump little spheres, bobbing to the surface.

“Qing Qing, look at the moon.” On one side of the stove was a window, and looking out through it, one could see just the right angle to glimpse the full moon hanging in the sky.

“Don’t you feel the moon is especially large tonight?”

Yan Qing knew this was the phenomenon of a supermoon, caused by the varying distance between the moon and the earth. But at this time, people still believed the moon was home to a divine palace and emitted its own light.

“Yes, large and bright.” Yan Qing gazed out the window, her eyes shimmering with the moon’s boundless glow.

“This is the first time you and I have watched the full moon of the fifteenth together.” Shi Ting couldn’t help encircling her waist from behind. “I’m not sure why, but it just feels especially large and beautiful.”

The full moon of the fifteenth is also a symbol of reunion. Is there anything more romantic or more blissful than gazing up at the moon together with the one you love on such a night?

May I be as the stars, and you as the moon — night after night, shining brightly, pure and clear upon each other.

“The dumplings are going to overcook.” Yan Qing suddenly remembered the dumplings in the pot and quickly used the ladle to scoop them into a bowl.

The sesame-filled sweet rice dumplings had generous filling and thin skin. With one bite, fragrant sweetness bloomed everywhere.

Shi Ting ate the dumplings while Yan Qing propped her chin in her hand and watched him. She had watched him like this for countless days and nights, yet every day she felt he was new to her — no matter how much she looked, she could never get enough.

He always ate with an elegant propriety, never getting food on the corners of his mouth. Though he appeared unhurried, his pace was not slow at all.

Only after he had drunk the last drop of the soup did he wipe his mouth and sigh with heartfelt contentment: “My lady’s sweet rice dumplings are especially sweet.”

No matter what she made, he would eat every last bit of it.

“By the way, how is Father’s condition now?”

“Better than I had hoped.” Yan Qing’s eyes shone with a bright light. “My new research with Gu Zhen is also making progress. I believe everything will be all right.”

“If the experiment succeeds, can it be mass-produced?”

“From what we can see at present, the equipment for mass production is insufficient and the conditions are not yet favorable. To mass produce, we would need to rely on foreign instruments and technology.”

“When I was studying abroad I made a few friends — they are all working in medical research now. I’ll get in touch with them later and see if they can help.”

“That would be wonderful.” Yan Qing couldn’t help pressing a kiss to his cheek. “Thank you, husband.”

Shi Ting smiled. “Just one kiss?”

“Then what would you like?”

Shi Ting surveyed the small office with a thoughtful look.

Yan Qing hurriedly said: “You’re not thinking of — hey, this is an office, and there are doctors on duty.”

Shi Ting raised an eyebrow. “My lady, what are you imagining? I only meant I wanted you to give me two kisses…”

Yan Qing realized she had been tricked, and laughed as she moved to hit him — but at that moment she heard the sound of an alarm coming from outside.

The hospital alarm had sounded, signaling an emergency patient who needed urgent care.

~