After the deep autumn, winter arrives.
The weather becomes increasingly colder, and the sight of pedestrians bundled up in heavy clothing becomes a unique spectacle of winter, known as “bulky.”
Just as “coolness” is a distinctive feature of summer.
Nan city, being in the south, receives its first snow later than the north.
But the first snow, eagerly anticipated by Xie Tao, eventually arrives.
On a Sunday.
When Xie Tao wakes up in the morning and opens the curtains, she discovers thin ice crystals clinging to the window glass and sees fine snow falling outside.
It must have snowed during the night, as a thin layer has already formed on the window sill, the eaves, and even on the street lamps.
Opening the window, Xie Tao is immediately greeted by a bone-chilling wind, causing her to sneeze in an instant.
Yet, rubbing her nose, she smiles, her eyes filled with surprise and delight.
At that moment, Wei Yun, standing in the corridor dressed in brocade and draped in a large cloak, looks up to see the sky filled with snowflakes, like tiny grains of salt scattered about. Something seems to flicker in his indifferent eyes.
“Can I watch the first snow with you?”
The girl’s voice is soft and slightly shy, as if filled with earnest hope.
For a moment, he seems to hear her voice again.
Echoing around him.
Right by his ear.
The pale sky and the snow on the eaves seem to flow and merge into one another, creating a deeply meaningful ink painting.
A swath of daylight, carrying the snow, falls into this square courtyard, and Wei Yun, watching for a moment, suddenly calls out, “Wei Jing.”
Wei Jing, standing not far behind Wei Yun, steps forward, holding a sword, and bows, saying, “My lord.”
“Prepare the horse, we’re going to Canghe Mountain,” Wei Yun says, turning to him.
“Why would my lord…”
Wei Jing is puzzled at first, but as he begins to speak, he stops himself and promptly bows, saying, “Yes.”
This is the only time Wei Yun has decided to ride out after two years in the capital.
On such a cold day, there are few people on the long streets, so the sound of horse hooves is especially clear and audible as it echoes through the streets and alleys.
Occasionally, a woman yawns and opens a window on a small building, catching a glimpse of a dark figure fleeting by in the sound of hooves.
Even just a hurried glimpse of his long, dark hair blown by the wind and the jade pendant on his hair band attracts many curious onlookers.
Meanwhile, Xie Tao has already boarded a bus.
She is wearing a thick sweater, a long woolen coat on top, and a red woolen scarf around her neck.
The thick red scarf around her neck makes her skin appear even fairer, highlighting her clean and delicate face, which seems smaller.
Outside the city of Nan, there’s a Yan Mountain, a renowned spot for its excellent views.
There’s a farm up there, and a winery that produces wine.
The scenery there is exceptionally beautiful throughout all four seasons, with clouds and mists enveloping the mountains, and waves of green, presenting a charming and delightful landscape that always attracts many tourists to visit and play on the mountain.
However, during the winter season, there are hardly any people there.
While on the bus, Xie Tao received a call from Xie Lan, the young man on the other end of the phone seemed a bit irritable.
“Tao Tao, where are you? Your brother Lan has been knocking on your door for a long time, and you didn’t answer!”
Xie Tao didn’t know that Xie Lan had actually gone to her house to look for her.
She quickly replied: “I’m sorry, Xie Lan, I had something to do and went out…”
Xie Lan wondered: “What’s going on? I came to invite you for beef hotpot! You’ll miss it if you’re late! It’s rare for old Xi to be so generous and let me invite you for a meal.”
Xie Tao hurriedly apologized again, “I’m sorry… I really had something to do today.”
Xie Lan was about to cry, “Do you know that by rejecting this, you’ve cost me another opportunity to eat meat!!”
“…I’ll make it up to you next time,” Xie Tao said softly.
“You better!”
Xie Lan snorted and hung up the phone, clearly unhappy.
After Xie Tao arrived at her stop, she followed the paved stone steps, carrying a backpack, and walked up the mountain step by step.
She had been here before with Su Linghua.
It was during their first two days in Nan City.
Her mother held her hand, leading her up the steps, which seemed endless.
Back then, Xie Tao was very young. Holding her mother’s hand, she looked at her mother’s expressionless face and her dull, lifeless eyes, daring not to say anything.
At that time, her mother would often repeat the same phrase to her:
“Tao Tao, from now on, you no longer have a father. You only have me, you know?”
Often, as she spoke, her mother would start wiping away tears.
Xie Tao knew that from the moment she was forced to choose between her adulterous father and her mother on the verge of a breakdown, from the moment her father Xie Zhengyuan’s figure disappeared at the end of the bluestone road in Qizhen, she only had her mother.
Being young, Xie Tao felt a corner missing from her sky.
It was a silhouette formed by her father’s turning back, a puzzle piece that could never be put back together.
Perhaps because her mother said it so often, Xie Tao, only a few years old, instinctively held onto her mother’s hand tightly, a natural dependence on her mother.
But later on, her mother tore open the missing corner, gradually turning it into a large hole.
Thus, all the hardships and trials poured in fiercely.
Nan City was once the beginning of her and her mother’s life together, and also the source of her nightmares.
A mother who once loved her so deeply eventually became the person who precisely inflicted every wound on her heart.
Xie Tao remembered the good times she had, remembered all the hardships she endured for herself, but she also remembered the hurt inflicted upon her.
It was a deep despair that accumulated over the years.
Thus, on that New Year’s Eve, she finally realized that in this world, a mother could have a new husband, a new home, but that would never be Xie Tao’s home.
Xie Tao… had long been without a home.
From the night she left the Zheng family, she made up her mind that no matter how difficult or bitter her life would be, she would never look back.
Today, she returned to Yan Mountain again.
Everything here seemed unchanged, only that the memories of that summer were now marked with a few traces of thin snow, and the once verdant greenery had added a bit of withered yellow.
What was different was that she had come here with her mother back then.
But now, she was alone.
Perhaps, this wasn’t so bad after all.
Finally reaching the mid-mountain, Xie Tao immediately saw a stone pavilion situated there.
Thin layers of snow had already covered the eaves, and it was deserted all around, with only the wind blowing through her cheeks and reddening her nose.
Xie Tao walked over and sat down on the stone bench.
Because she had come here, she dressed a bit thicker than usual.
After walking for so long, she felt both hot and tired at the moment.
She sat on the stone bench, rested for a while, and then hurriedly took out her mobile phone from her bag, opened the WeChat video call, and supported the phone with a small tripod.
In just a few seconds, the figure of Wei Yun appeared on her phone screen.
“Wei Yun!”
Xie Tao was just taking out a thermos from her backpack and had just unscrewed the lid without having time to take a sip of hot water when she saw the jade-like face appearing on the phone screen.
At this moment, Wei Yun was already in the stone pavilion on Canghe Mountain, with a small green furnace prepared by Wei Bo on his behalf, burning fine, smokeless charcoal inside, brewing a pot of hot tea.
There were also a few plates of exquisite pastries beside him, differing in color, which were rare decorations amidst the snow.
Catching a glimpse of the unfamiliar scene behind her, Wei Yun frowned, “Where are you?”
“I’m on Yan Mountain in Nan City, I came here specially to see the snow!” Xie Tao took a sip of hot water and said with a smile.
She seemed to be very happy.
She even took her phone, stood up, walked to the roadside railing, and aimed the screen at a winding mountain below, from here, one could see most of the urban area of Nan City.
“Do you see it, Wei Yun! Isn’t it beautiful!”
Wei Yun stared at the light screen on the copper pendant, where the image showed no sign of the girl. Instead, there was a view of a mountain enveloped in thin snow, lush with greenery, and a corner of a city area hazily visible through a mist below.
Snowflakes drifted through the sky, silent like a flurry of finely shredded petals, creating a vast and dust-free scene amidst the foggy mountains.
At that moment, Xie Tao put away her phone, aiming its screen at herself as she walked back into the stone pavilion.
“Where are you?” She noticed a patch of mottled stone color of the cliff behind him.
Wei Yun had no choice but to aim the copper pendant outside the stone pavilion.
“Are you outside too?” Xie Tao exclaimed in surprise.
Wei Yun withdrew his hand, looking down at the light screen at the girl with her nose tip reddened by the cold, a hint of warmth finally appearing in his usually distant eyes.
He said, “Didn’t you say you wanted to see the snow?”
It seemed always to lack something just sitting in the courtyard of the house watching the snow with her.
This snowfall.
He must come out and watch it with her.
For some reason, that was what he thought from the beginning.
Upon hearing his words, Xie Tao’s heart seemed to beat faster uncontrollably.
She pursed her lips, trying to suppress a smile, but her mouth corners lifted slightly.
At this time, Wei Jing and Wei Bo had driven the carriage away to a distance, barely able to see the situation here clearly.
“On such a cold day, why would the master suddenly have the leisure to come here to watch the snow?” Wei Bo stroked his graying beard.
Wei Jing shook his head.
He had never been able to understand the master’s thoughts, and now, even less so.
Wei Bo and Wei Jing were chatting on one side, and on the other, Xie Tao was talking to Wei Yun.
Most of the time, Xie Tao did the talking, while Wei Yun listened quietly, only replying a few words after she finished speaking.
“Is your tea good?” Xie Tao suddenly asked him.
“It’s decent,” Wei Yun replied briefly.
“I want some too…” Xie Tao looked at him eagerly.
Wei Yun paused, “Unfortunately, I can’t deliver it to you right away.”
After the last incident with the robe, Xie Tao thought she could bypass the delivery locker like Wei Yun, only to find out that, apart from that one time, she still had to pick things up from the delivery locker downstairs as usual.
“I really don’t understand what’s going on…” Xie Tao was always confused.
She felt her phone might have its own temperament.
The two of them continued talking.
Wei Yun drank his tea, Xie Tao sipped hot water from her thermos, snacked on food she brought from home, all the while admiring the snow scene before them.
Later,
Leaning on her chin, Xie Tao sat on the stone bench for a long time, looking at the young master in the phone screen dressed in a dark cloak, with a golden crown tying up his hair, exuding an aura of rosy clouds and moonlight charm. For a moment, she couldn’t explain why, but suddenly her eyes felt a bit sour.
The snow gradually became heavier.
Countless snowflakes fell under the eaves, with the sound of the wind in her ears.
Was she really alone?
Since the night she left her home, the Zheng family, she had decided to live alone.
But at this moment, looking at Wei Yun’s face on the phone screen, she thought again, perhaps she wasn’t alone after all.
This year, the luckiest thing for her was meeting him.
Even separated by two different timespaces, she firmly believed that this was a one-in-a-million kind of fortune.
However…
Just… was this all there could be between them?
She could never walk up to him, just as he could never truly stand before her.
What separated them was an insurmountable gap in time and space.
She could never touch him.
This might be considered their first date, separated by the boundaries of time and space, on two different mountains, in two different pavilions.
The only constant seemed to be the snow.
It was always pristine and indistinguishable.
Separated by two different timespaces, what they saw might as well be the same snow.
Both remained silent, their hearts filled with an indescribable melancholy.
As he looked beside him, she also turned her head to look beside her. In such a grand snowscape, separated by a boundary of time and space, they seemed to feel each other’s presence.
As if they were sitting right next to each other.
Suddenly,
A screen of light appeared before Xie Tao, and at the same time, it also appeared before Wei Yun.
At that moment,
Through that screen of light, they could clearly see each other’s faces.
Sometimes clear, sometimes blurry, like the unsettled light on the surface of a lake.
It’s unclear why, but after a sudden shock, Xie Tao’s eyes reddened slightly, and two tears fell.
“Tao Tao,”
It wasn’t the sound from a phone screen, but rather through a suddenly appearing light screen that Xie Tao heard his gentle voice.
“Why are you crying?”
She heard him sigh softly, as if with a mix of helplessness and tenderness.
Xie Tao looked at the young lord in the light screen, his skin pale and cold, lips as red as rouge, and long hair soft. Her gaze fell on the tie of the large cloak fluttering in the wind around his neck, her lips trembling.
Emotions she had deliberately let go of, deliberately ignored, surged up at that moment.
Her voice was almost choked, trembling.
“I want to see you…”
Just five words, but they made her emotions overflow, her crying even more intense,
“I really want to see you so much…”
No longer separated by such a mysterious light screen, nor by the cold phone screen, she wanted to truly see him.
Even, to embrace him.
But, it seemed, this was a particularly difficult thing to do.
Once she had fallen for him without warning, unaware that there was already such a long distance between them.
What a long and ancient distance it was.
Perhaps, it was a distance that couldn’t be traversed in a lifetime, a journey of mountains high and rivers long.
Wei Yun listened to her crying, and his own heart felt as if it had been pricked by fine needles.
A tumult of emotions surged within him, like molten lava rolling.
Wei Yun looked at the girl with tears brimming in her eyes through the light screen, his heart filled with mixed feelings.
Suddenly, he reached out his hand.
As if wanting to touch her face through the light screen.
But when his fingertips just touched the light screen, they seemed to burst into flames, instantly burning and damaging the light screen, leaving no trace in a moment.
His fingers stiffened, momentarily stunned.
Turning back, he noticed that the copper pendant on the stone table no longer showed any signs of the star disc or light screen.
The fine snowflakes blown into the pavilion by the cold wind landed on the copper pendant.
After a long time, he suddenly murmured softly.
“How am I not the same?”
“Tao Tao…”
