RUSTLE… RUSTLE.

Jiangg Ning lay in bed, sleeping peacefully. Bright moonlight streamed through a gap in the curtains, spilling onto her tranquil profile.

In truth, she was a light sleeper. With the constant rustling beside her, it wasn’t long before she opened her eyes.

“What’s wrong?”

In the dim bedroom, Jiangg Yao, lying in the same bed, tossed and turned. More than an hour had passed, and she still wasn’t the least bit sleepy.

Jiangg Ning whispered her question, and Yaoyao turned to face her.

She glanced at her sister and replied softly, “It’s so strange… Now that I’m back home, I feel out of place. My own bed feels so unfamiliar.”

Jiangg Yao rolled onto her side, wrapped her arms around her sister’s waist, and draped a leg over her.

She stared at the ceiling, her spirits low. “And I don’t know why, but I’m just in a really bad mood. My mind keeps racing.”

“What are you thinking about…?”

A lazy hum came from Jiangg Ning’s throat as she asked faintly, her eyes still closed.

“Sigh… Do you think Chen Yuan really sees me as cheap?”

“Hmph.”

“Hey, say something, Sis. Don’t just ‘hmph’ at me. Are you giving me the silent treatment?”

“Looks like what I said really got to you, since you’re still thinking about it this late.”

“Because you were right, weren’t you?” Jiangg Yao silently moved her long leg away and straightened her messy hair. “People don’t cherish things that come too easily. I get that, I do. But when I’m with Chen Yuan, I just can’t control myself.”

“So?”

“So… am I too concerned about his feelings?”

“You should be more concerned about your own feelings. This is your first relationship, after all.”

“Says the one who’s in the same boat…” Jiangg Yao pouted. After a moment of silence, she leaned in close to Ningning’s cheek. “So, how are things when you two are together?”

“Trying to scout for intel? I’m not telling.” A faint smile played on Jiangg Ning’s lips as she turned away.

Jiangg Yao forcibly turned her back around.

“Oh, come on, just tell me! Otherwise, I won’t be able to sleep all night.”

“Fine, then. I’m going to my own room to sleep.”

“No! Wherever you go, I go. If you don’t tell me, I’ll just bother you… and bother you until you give in.”

Jiangg Yao tugged at Ningning’s clothes, snuggling into her arms and nuzzling against her while muttering under her breath.

“Okay, okay, stop it. I’ll tell you, alright? When we’re together… it’s just more natural. The atmosphere is very relaxed.”

“What does ‘relaxed’ feel like?”

“It means that even when we’re not doing anything, just being together feels blissful. And we don’t have to deliberately go out of our way to do things.”

“So you don’t feel this desperate rush to love him? Like… like you’re afraid if you’re a few seconds late, you’ll miss your chance to love him.”

“I’d never feel that way. You’re thinking way too much.”

Jiangg Ning reached out and gently squeezed Yaoyao’s cheek.

She said consolingly, “You haven’t even learned to love yourself, yet you’re already trying to love someone else. A truly healthy relationship has a very subtle sense of balance. It shouldn’t be so tense that you can’t breathe. You worry that he can’t feel how much you like him, but it shouldn’t be like that… If you feel like you have to constantly be the one giving, that’s not love.”

After hearing her sister’s words, Jiangg Yao felt they made a lot of sense.

She mulled it over for a moment.

Suddenly, she frowned. “Does that mean I’m doing it wrong? Should I try to change…?”

“That’s up to you. Chen probably doesn’t think too much about it. It’s his first relationship, after all. You can both learn and grow together… Anyway, just go to sleep.” Jiangg Ning turned over to find a more comfortable position and sighed. “We have a busy day tomorrow.”

“I can’t. Now I’m even more awake.”

“…”

“Sis, Mom’s not back yet, is she?”

“I don’t know.”

After that, the entire room fell silent.

Jiangg Ning waited for a long time. Her sister beside her didn’t say another word, and she couldn’t feel her moving at all.

Just as she was feeling satisfied, thinking she could finally get a good night’s sleep…

…Jiangg Yao suddenly shot up like a zombie, sitting bolt upright.

“Sis, I’m suddenly craving ice cream!”

“Argh! For crying out loud, will you please just give it a rest!”

In the middle of the night, Jiangg Ning was ultimately dragged downstairs. Like two mice creeping out of the darkness, they stealthily opened the refrigerator and began whispering.

“Ooh, this one looks good… I want this one.”

“This one seems nice, too.”

“Nah, on second thought, maybe a popsicle.”

“Who eats a popsicle in the middle of the night? You’re being ridiculous.”

“But I want one…”

The two sisters sat cross-legged on the bed. As Jiangg Ning put a spoonful of cloyingly sweet ice cream into her mouth, her heart was filled with guilt.

‘I can’t even imagine how many calories are in this one bite.’

‘How much exercise will I have to do tomorrow to atone for tonight’s sin…’

“Ahhh, so good!”

Jiangg Yao sighed in contentment. A popsicle was held between her moist, cherry-red lips, her tongue swirling around it, darting in and out. The icy-cold sensation was immensely satisfying.

Ning stared at her for a moment, her expression suddenly turning a little odd. She said softly, “I never noticed before, Yaoyao. Your tongue is pretty agile.”

“Is it?”

“…”

For some reason, Ningning’s cheeks flushed slightly. She turned away, her gaze averted.

‘It seemed she was recalling some… inappropriate image.’

…

Late December approached the New Year, and the last month of the lunar calendar marked the year’s end.

Every year around this time, those who had drifted far from home would rush back from all corners of the country, just to share a warm reunion dinner and see the family members they had long missed.

The elderly in the old residential complexes, standing watch like statues, were always especially eager for the New Year’s arrival.

The winter wind was piercing, howling as it swept through the small county town. It left frost on the withered grass, hung icicles from tree trunks, and gradually stilled the waters of a once-lively lake. Then, flurries of snowflakes began to fall, making the dim sky appear even more somber. When Chen Yuan woke from his sleep, the world outside was a vast expanse of white.

He climbed out from under his covers, answered the phone in a daze, and headed downstairs still in his pajamas.

His mom had bought a ton of groceries but couldn’t manage them past the building entrance. Exhausted and out of breath, she had called him for help.

But when he got downstairs, he was stunned by the pure white world that greeted him.

The ground was completely covered. The soft snow was already piled thick, sinking under his feet. In the distance, every roof wore a pure white cap. Huge snowflakes were still falling, threatening to bury the world.

“You silly boy, how could you come out in just your pajamas? It’s freezing out here!”

Mrs. Chen spotted Chen Yuan from a distance and yelled.

Her tone was full of reproach, as if she wanted to march right over and drag him back inside.

“It’s snowing?”

“It started at four this morning. It’s been snowing for hours, and you’re just now noticing?”

“No wonder it’s so heavy.”

Chen Yuan hurriedly pulled out his phone. Ignoring the cold, he quickly snapped pictures of the spectacular, snow-covered world. The branches of the barren trees in the distance looked ready to collapse, a testament to just how heavy this sudden snowfall was.

Even though Chen Yuan lived in the north, he didn’t see snow this heavy every year.

He tilted his head back, aiming his phone’s camera at the sky.

If he hadn’t been standing under the eaves, his head and face would have been covered in snow in seconds.

Of course, Chen Yuan immediately shared the pictures of the scenery with his girlfriends. After all, they wouldn’t see anything like this in Lanjing or Mingzhu City.

“Are you still taking pictures? Hurry up and get inside!”

“I know, I know.” Chen Yuan took the enormous bag of cabbage from his mom, picked up the pork, and trudged up the stairs.

He would have to come back for a second trip.

This residential building was five stories tall and had no elevator.

Climbing the stairs was exhausting. Mrs. Chen had to stop several times on a single trip. In the time it took him to go up and come back down, his mom had only made it to the second floor.

The snow fell.

And with it, the festive spirit of the New Year grew stronger.

「In the living room.」

Chen Yuan was chatting with his friends online, one leg crossed over the other as he watched TV.

It had also snowed in Zhongzhou. Wei Zhen was excitedly building a snowman outside, and it looked like a little girl was with him.

She looked to be about seven or eight years old.

The video he’d sent was filled with cheerful laughter.

He could even hear the little girl repeatedly calling out, “Big brother, come here!” Listening to it, Chen Yuan felt a sudden warmth. As an only child, he’d never known what it was like to have siblings.

Liu Nan also popped up in the group chat.

Only Quan Yafeng hadn’t made an appearance all morning. Who knew if he was still asleep or what.

“Yuan, I need to talk to you about something.”

At the doorway.

Shaking a layer of snow from his clothes, Mr. Chen, who had just come in from outside, took off his glasses. He wiped them clean, put them back on, and then called out to Chen Yuan.

“What is it, Dad?”

“Your biological father is coming over in a little while. He needs to take you out for something.”

“Out?”

Chen Yuan froze.

‘It’s snowing so heavily, what could possibly be so urgent that it has to be today? Besides, Jiang Zhengfeng should still be out of town. Did he drive all the way back?’

“I saw you were asleep yesterday, so I didn’t tell you,” Mrs. Chen said calmly from the kitchen, where she was chopping cabbage. “I don’t know the details, but it seems pretty urgent.”

“Sigh. A friend of Zheng Feng’s passed away. I heard they were one of Chen Yuan’s elders, too,” Mr. Chen added.

“Oh, is that right… Was it an elderly person?”

“I don’t know.”

The couple exchanged a few more words.

Chen Yuan overheard and understood. He was being taken to a funeral.

“About when will he get here?”

“In the next ten or twenty minutes. We can all have lunch together.”

“Okay.”

Chen Yuan nodded. ‘He really didn’t know he had any elders besides the grandparents and aunts from the Chen Family…’

‘Jiang Zhengfeng had never mentioned them.’

‘A long time ago, he’d heard Mr. Chen say that his biological father had lived a tragic, dramatic life. That’s why Mr. Chen had told him not to be willful or make his real dad angry, even when he was staying with Jiang Zhengfeng.’

‘Basically, Jiang Zhengfeng hadn’t had it easy.’

‘Going to a funeral in this heavy, swirling snow… it felt strangely appropriate.’

‘Clutching the TV remote, Chen Yuan suddenly felt that he didn’t really know his own father at all.’

…

A discreet black sedan, covered in the snow from its journey, pulled up to the residential building.

The driver got out, opened an umbrella, and held the car door for Jiang Zhengfeng.

“That’s fine. I’ll head up. You wait here for a bit.”

“Yes, President Jiang. Do you need an overcoat?”

“No need. It’s warm upstairs.”

Jiang Zhengfeng glanced at the watch on his wrist.

‘It’s twelve noon now. We should be able to get to Lanjing with Chen Yuan before six this evening.’

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep