The first snowfall at year’s end drifted down in thick, swirling flakes.
Feng Mingshu hopped off the bus and hurried toward her small Western-style house without looking back.
“You’re back, Miss.”
Wang Ma had been waiting anxiously at the gate. Seeing Feng Mingshu running through the snow, she quickly stepped forward with an umbrella, chattering incessantly: “Are you cold, Miss? Are you hungry, Miss? What would you like to eat… Oh, Miss, there’s a man in military uniform across the street who seems to be looking our way. Is he an officer you met at the dance?”
Hearing Wang Ma’s surprised exclamation, Feng Mingshu started and immediately turned to look across the street. She only caught a glimpse of a blurred figure in the wind and snow before it disappeared into an alley.
“I don’t know him. He must be just passing by,” Feng Mingshu replied, secretly relieved.
Wang Ma sighed with some regret, looking at her as if wanting to say more. But Feng Mingshu quickened her pace: “Wang Ma, I am actually quite hungry. Is there anything to eat at home?”
Wang Ma’s attention was immediately diverted: “Miss, we have some pastries and fruits at home, but it’s almost mealtime. You can have a little snack to tide you over, though too much wouldn’t be good…”
As Wang Ma rambled on, Feng Mingshu wasn’t really listening. Her mind was still in a daze, bewildered by the kind of man she had encountered.
He showed no concern about her capitalist family background, yet he was assertive in his actions. When she questioned whether his persistent attention after their first meeting meant he was merely shallow and attracted to her looks, he told her it wasn’t their first meeting.
The first time was at the hospital, in a noisy corridor. After he regained consciousness from severe injuries, the first person he saw was her.
If she were to drag someone into her life to shelter her for the next ten years, this man would be like a pie falling from the sky—temptingly delicious. But her conscience would ache.
She had fled so quickly because she didn’t want to hesitate. After all, she had a conscience, but not too much of one.
“Zhuzhu is back? Did you meet anyone you liked, or anyone who liked you?”
As soon as she entered the house, her mother stopped her, snapping her out of her reverie.
Her mother’s gentle, penetrating gaze seemed to see right through all the secrets in her heart. Feng Mingshu couldn’t help feeling guilty but firmly denied it: “Mom, no one.”
No sooner had she spoken than Mingxue, standing excitedly at the top of the stairs on the second floor, called out to her: “Sister, come quick! There’s a really tall man in military uniform standing at our gate. Is he my brother-in-law?”
Caught in her lie so immediately, Feng Mingshu’s face flushed with heat. She didn’t dare meet her mother’s eyes and was afraid that Zhou Jinshan might actually be waiting outside. In her panic, she even forgot to correct her sister, quickly rushing up to the second floor to look out the glass window.
Snow fell thick and fast, blanketing the world in white.
Before the stern black iron gate stood a tall, straight figure. Snowflakes rustled down onto his military cap and shoulders, quickly accumulating into a thin layer. He stood motionless, almost merging with the vast, snowy landscape.
But the moment Feng Mingshu looked at him, the man suddenly lifted his head, his gaze shooting straight toward her.
Almost instinctively, Feng Mingshu withdrew her gaze and stepped back, accidentally bumping into someone. Turning around, she saw it was her mother and grew nervous: “Mom, he’s not… I don’t…”Yu Jingqiu’s eyes held both understanding and a hint of amusement. She patted her daughter’s hand reassuringly, “Zhuzhu, don’t worry, it’s alright. Whatever you decide, Mother won’t oppose it. But the guest is already outside the door, and it’s snowing. Shall we invite him in for a cup of hot tea?”
“Mom, there’s no need…”
Meeting her mother’s disapproving gaze, Feng Mingshu bit her lip and revealed a bit of her thoughts, “Mom, I haven’t made up my mind yet. It wouldn’t be appropriate to invite him in as a guest. I’ll go out and give him an umbrella so he can leave.”
After saying this, she ran downstairs, took a black umbrella from Wang Ma, and was about to go out when images flashed through her mind: the snow piled on the man’s shoulders, the wound at his temple, and the blood all over him when she saw him at the hospital last week.
Her footsteps involuntarily paused. She turned and ran into the kitchen, rummaging through the cabinet to pull out a military water bottle, then quickly rinsed it under the tap.
Wang Ma followed her in, “What would you like to do, Miss? Let me handle it.”
“No need, Wang Ma. Just pass me the brown sugar.”
After nearly filling the military water bottle, Wang Ma handed over the brown sugar. Feng Mingshu immediately scooped a spoonful into the bottle.
Then, thinking it wasn’t enough, she added another spoonful, and then another. When she was about to add more, Wang Ma stopped her.
“Miss, that’s plenty. Any more and it’ll be sickeningly sweet,” Wang Ma said with a smile, her eyes twinkling with teasing.
Feng Mingshu: “…”
Feng Mingshu didn’t explain. She screwed the cap on tightly, took the umbrella, left the building, and hurried to the courtyard gate. Taking a deep breath, she opened it.
To her surprise, no one was outside.
A sense of relief washed over her. She thought it was just as well that he had left. She could explain to her mother by saying—
“Comrade Feng.”
A man’s voice came from the side, mingled with the wind and snow, sounding somewhat ethereal and unreal.
Feng Mingshu froze for a moment, then turned her head to see Zhou Jinshan emerging from the left alley and walking toward her. The snow beneath his feet crunched with each step, as if trampling directly on her heart.
“You… didn’t you leave?” Feng Mingshu’s voice stammered, chilled by the cold night.
“I didn’t leave,” Zhou Jinshan stopped in front of her. “I promised you I wouldn’t appear in front of your family for now. Just now, I was worried it might be one of your family members coming out, so I stepped aside.”
But her whole family had seen him!
Feng Mingshu was furious. She had clearly let him off, yet this man kept hovering around her: “I never agreed to anything, and you just show up and stand in front of my house. Do you have any sense of boundaries at all?”
In the wind and snow, the young girl lifted her fair, pink-tinged face to angrily question him. Before anything else could happen, her own eyes reddened, looking like a rabbit’s—misty and utterly captivating.
Zhou Jinshan’s Adam’s apple bobbed. He thought to himself, with her looking so easy to bully, who knows how other men might take advantage of her?
How could he allow that?
Zhou Jinshan straightened his expression and looked at her seriously, “Comrade Feng Mingshu, I am pursuing you. I want you to be in a relationship with me. That is why I’ve been waiting outside your home.”
“You don’t have to agree, but I reserve the right to pursue you.”
“If you think it’s inappropriate for me to appear at your doorstep, next time I’ll keep my distance. How about across the street?”The man spoke with a serious expression, yet his words were persistently clingy. Feng Mingshu felt her conscience dwindling, but the scene of him lying bloodied on a stretcher that day flickered before her eyes again, causing her conscience to regrow.
The tug-of-war in her conscience stirred a hint of irritation. She reached out and pushed him: “What opposite side of the street? I just don’t want to see you! Go away, hurry up and leave, or I’ll call someone to beat you up!”
Feng Mingshu’s final threat was met with nothing but a light chuckle from the man. He remained unmoved, leaning closer to look at her and saying, “Go ahead and hit me. I won’t fight back.” He even pretended to grab her hand to strike himself.
Feng Mingshu recoiled from his touch and immediately stepped back, only for her heel to catch on the doorstep. Losing her balance, she began to fall backward, but an arm swiftly wrapped around her waist and pulled her outward.
The man’s breath, mingled with the wind and snow, turned into a mist that brushed against her face, still carrying a faint warmth and an indescribable sense of intimacy.