Little Jiang Yining looked up at him, her cheeks flushed a bright red like ripe apples. Her eyes were wide and glistening as she caught her breath, her small hand gripping the hem of his jacket as if she would never let go. “Ningning… Ningning is just scared of getting lost…”
From that day on, a small shadow followed behind Xie Shiyan wherever he went.
Time slipped by, and the scene shifted.
At the end of a high school corridor, Xie Shiyan leaned against the window in his blue and white uniform. In his hand was a chilled can of cola, beads of condensation sliding slowly down the aluminum surface and onto his fingers.
His gaze rested quietly on the scene unfolding a short distance away.
Jiang Yining was surrounded by several boys, some from her grade and some older. She hugged her books close to her chest, her head lowered slightly as a faint blush crept up her ears.
In front of her stood a tall, handsome basketball captain, his face red as he nervously held out a carefully decorated light blue envelope. The boys around him laughed and cheered.
“Go on, Jiang Yining, our captain is serious.”
“Come on, give him a chance, school beauty.”
Jiang Yining looked flustered, the love letter in her hands feeling unbearably heavy. She glanced up, her eyes searching through the crowd with a flicker of helplessness. Then, as if by instinct, her gaze found him at the end of the corridor.
The moment their eyes met—
A sharp metallic crack split the air.
Without realizing it, Xie Shiyan had tightened his grip. The cola can in his hand crumpled instantly, cold soda bursting out and spilling over his fingers, splashing onto his spotless white sneakers.
The chill made his hand twitch, but his expression remained unchanged.
His jaw tightened, his gaze turning cold and sharp. The air around him seemed to freeze.
He stepped forward, his stride steady and unhurried. Reaching out, he took Jiang Yining’s hand and pulled her to his side. His eyes flicked toward the boy who had confessed, indifferent and distant.
“She’s my girlfriend. Do you want trouble?”
…
The scene shifted again.
Outside the freshman registration area at Tsinghua University, the first snow of early winter fell softly from the night sky. Under the warm glow of the streetlights, the drifting flakes shimmered like gold.
Xie Shiyan stood beneath the light, dressed in a white turtleneck and a dark coat. A thin layer of snow rested on his shoulders and in his hair, his breath forming faint clouds in the cold air.
Jiang Yining ran toward him from the bustling crowd, her face lit with excitement. The tip of her nose was red from the cold, but her eyes sparkled brightly. She waved two slips of paper in her hands.
“A-Yan, A-Yan, look!”
She stopped in front of him, slightly out of breath. “We got in. Both of us. Foreign Languages and Computer Science.” She pointed eagerly at the printed lines with their names and majors.
He looked at her, at the brightness in her eyes, at the snowflakes caught in her lashes.
Without warning, he reached out and gently cupped her cheeks.
Her skin was cool beneath his fingertips.
He lowered his head and kissed her.
Her lips were soft and slightly cold, carrying a faint sweetness. The kiss was clumsy, unpracticed, yet it burned with a heat strong enough to melt the cold around them.
For a moment, time seemed to stop.
Snow fell quietly onto their hair and shoulders, brushing against their skin with a chill that could not touch the warmth rising between them.
He pulled back just slightly, his forehead resting against hers. Their noses brushed as their breaths mingled in the cold air.
“Ningning… we promised. Now, we can finally be together.”
…
Memories surged like a tide.
Sunlight, laughter, the beating of young hearts, spring blossoms, winter snow, that first burning kiss.
And then, the campfire from just days ago.
She had leaned against his shoulder, gazing up at the stars, while he whispered softly into her ear.
“When we graduate, Ningning, let’s get married.”
Every word was still so clear.
Yet now, before him, there was only a cold stone and a smile frozen forever in a photograph.
“Didn’t we agree…” His voice trembled as he spoke to the silent tombstone, rising with a fragile, breaking edge. “After graduation… didn’t we say we would get married after graduation?”
“Ningning!”
His fists clenched tightly, nails digging into his palms, but he felt nothing.
Only emptiness.
“You lied to me. You didn’t keep your promise.”
“Liar!”
His voice broke into a hoarse cry as he slammed his forehead against the cold edge of the tombstone. Pain shot through his skin, sharp and immediate, yet it was nothing compared to the agony tearing through his chest.
His body trembled violently.
The sobs he had held back for three days finally tore free, broken and raw.
“Come back… please come back… I’m begging you… Ningning, please…”
His voice fell apart into helpless fragments.
Tears he had refused to shed began to fall at last, heavy and unstoppable, splashing onto the cold marble and leaving dark, damp marks behind. He called out again and again to someone who would never answer.
After a long time, he slowly reached into his pocket.
His fingers brushed against something familiar.
He pulled it out.
A small transparent ziplock bag with a lemon pattern.
Inside were a few round, yellow lemon candies, the bag already half empty.
They had always been Jiang Yining’s favorite. Sour enough to make anyone wince, yet she loved them. She said they kept her mind clear. Sometimes she would pop one into her mouth without warning, and sometimes she would mischievously push one between his lips, laughing as he reacted to the sharp taste.
Now the candies lay quietly in his pale, cold palm, the plastic reflecting the dull gray light of the sky.