Cui Qiao hesitated for a moment before responding, “At this moment, Young Master should be waiting in the front hall.”
The weather today was not good; it had been gloomy since morning, and now dark clouds loomed overhead. The wind was picking up, and despite it being autumn, there was a hint of winter chill in the air.
Shen Qingyao hugged herself, shrinking her neck into her thick clothing, which was already thicker than most wore. Yet for her, it still felt inadequate.
Cui Qiao glanced at the sky and couldn’t help but whisper, “Miss, it looks like the weather is about to change. Let’s hurry to meet Young Master.” She furrowed her brow, still concerned about Shen Qingyao’s recent coughing bout, and added as if to convince Shen Qingyao, “In the capital, unlike the south, it’s unusually cold this year. It might snow in a few days. Miss, with your delicate health, you mustn’t catch a cold again!”
However, Shen Qingyao paid no heed. She waved her hand dismissively, indicating she had other priorities. She then leaned in and whispered something to Cui Qiao, who looked at her bewildered, not understanding her intentions.
“You should go then! And remember to tell Elder Brother Lu Zhao!” Shen Qingyao blinked and nudged Cui Qiao before walking away in another direction.
Upon receiving the message sent from Shen Qingyao, Lu Zhao lightly tapped the cup and set aside the fine tea without hesitation. He stood up, adjusted his clothes, asked no questions, and headed to the place mentioned by the little girl.
Passing through the round archway, the garden was deserted, tranquil yet slightly lonely amidst the autumn scenery.
The place seemed familiar to Lu Zhao, who was stunned momentarily. What did the little girl summon him here for? His eyes scanned the small garden, and not finding Shen Qingyao who had summoned him, he noticed a pavilion not far away. A fire burned brightly in a small stove, and steam billowed from a teapot on top, creating wave after wave of white mist.
Lu Zhao chuckled softly, approached, sat down at one end of the table, picked up a jade-green teacup, and played with it in his hand. The scene matched a memory perfectly.
Hidden in the shadows, Shen Qingyao exhaled softly. Seeing Lu Zhao amidst the swirling mist, he seemed almost unreal. She shivered involuntarily, feeling a surreal sensation of time and space shifting.
[Host, what are you doing?] The system, perplexed by Shen Qingyao’s actions, felt a sense of familiarity but couldn’t quite grasp the situation.
Shen Qingyao paused, rolled her eyes after a moment, thinking the system’s memory was quite poor. With a flat tone, she said, “Just a little romantic gesture between young lovers. Are you sure you want to hear about it?”
System : […]
After an [Oh,] the system fell silent again. Perhaps because of its sudden malfunction which made him embarrassed in front of Shen Qingyao, even though she didn’t seem to mind, it felt too shy to engage in conversation with her unless absolutely necessary.
So, it chose to silently observe.
Meanwhile, Shen Qīngyao, crouching low, claimed it was a romantic gesture, but in reality, it was just a whim, a sudden nostalgia.
She waited for a while, seeing no reaction from Lu Zhao, who remained calm and brewed tea in the pavilion as if nothing else mattered except the boiling water before him. Grinding her teeth, Shen Qingyao couldn’t decide if she was angry at her own childishness or at Lu Zhao for being so cooperative without asking any questions.
Lu Zhao added more water once again, poured two cups of hot tea, left one in front of himself, and pushed the other to the empty end of the table. In that moment of looking down, he caught sight of a piece of clothing in the corner of his eye. Unable to resist, he smiled faintly. After all this time, the little girl still didn’t know how to hide her tracks.
He leaned against the stone table, counting inside his mind one by one. By the time he reached the tenth tap, the little girl hiding behind the rockery seemed to finally lose her patience. The withered grass rustled a few times, and a small figure stumbled out and rushed straight towards him.
At first, Lu Zhao smiled as he watched her, waiting for her to come closer. After a few moments, he sensed something was wrong. The girl indeed seemed unsteady on her feet.
His expression hardened, and he swiftly moved forward.
Once again, the scene overlapped with his memory. Lu Zhao leaped forward and caught her.
Shen Qingyao blinked. This time, she wasn’t panicked at all. Instead of closing her eyes in fear, she looked at him with wide eyes, gradually smiling sweetly.
“You’re still smiling?” Lu Zhao freed a hand and gently tapped the tip of her nose, reproaching, “Why do you still behave like a child? If I hadn’t caught you, you would have really fallen!”
Shen Qingyao quietly stuck out her tongue, not daring to say it was just an accident. She had intended to reveal herself, but the moment she stood up, she suddenly felt a pain in her chest. The pain intensified with each occurrence, causing her to lose balance and stumble out.
Similar to the first time the system pushed her out, the circumstances were strangely similar.
So, she did something she hadn’t dared to do the first time she met Lu Zhao here: she reached out and hugged his waist, smiling mischievously. “I’m not afraid! Elder Brother Lu Zhao is here; he will definitely catch me! He caught me last time.”
Lu Zhao also chuckled, understanding which time she was referring to.
After all, it was the same place, the same setup, and the same reckless little girl.
The last time she rushed out and asked him if he wanted to marry her. Now, she was his wife, free to lean on him shamelessly, and he could freely focus all his attention on her.
“Why did you suddenly think of this place?” Lu Zhao gathered Shen Qingyao’s cloak around her as the wind outside picked up, and lead her to the pavilion with a warm stove. The tea that had been set earlier was now at the perfect temperature. Shen Qingyao took a sip, warming her numb fingertips.
“Um, I just suddenly remembered,” Shen Qingyao vaguely replied, unable to explain herself.
Perhaps it was the mood brought on by revisiting the old place, causing her to be unexpectedly sentimental, or perhaps… she had already resigned herself to the fact that her heart disease couldn’t be cured, so she wanted to reminisce about the past to sustain herself.
Suddenly, she propped her chin on her hand and looked at Lu Zhao, calling out again, “Elder Brother Lu Zhao…”
“Yes?” Lu Zhao, who was tending to the fire, looked up.
“If… that day, I hadn’t run out to propose to you, what would you have done?” Would you have silently watched me from the shadows like in the dream, or would you have done something else?
Lu Zhao’s hand paused for a moment. After a moment, he resumed adjusting the fire with the tongs as if nothing had happened. Then he smiled, “If Yaoyao hadn’t come, maybe… I would have gone to propose to you instead!”
He looked at her deeply with a profound gaze, but his tone was light, “I always had to find you, didn’t I?”
Shen Qingyao’s heart seemed to be gently scratched by something.
Thinking back to the plot without her impulsive and reckless actions, they didn’t end up together. But after she passed away from illness, Lu Zhao did go to find her, in such a tragic way.
Shen Qingyao’s eyes reddened as she turned away.
“What’s wrong again?” Lu Zhao chuckled inexplicably but couldn’t bear to see her looking so forlorn. He quickly got up, walked over, and embraced her, softly saying, “Come on, let’s talk. Why are you crying again? Aren’t you the one who said you’re not a crybaby?”
At the mention, Shen Qingyao felt a numbness all over, remembering what happened the last time he called her that, completely dispelling any hint of sorrow.
She hummed softly, quickly calming herself down, lazily leaning against him. After a while, she murmured, “It’s nothing. Just thinking that today doesn’t feel quite like that day. It was snowing heavily that day, but not today.”
As she spoke, a cold wind blew again, making Shen Qingyao shiver. She snuggled deeper into Lu Zhao’s embrace. Soon after, a few sparkling snowflakes were lifted by the wind, gently falling on her nose. Shen Qingyao shuddered and wiped away the scattered droplets.
“Huh?” She blinked, then leaned out to look and saw that after a long gloomy period, the sky was already sprinkling down a lot of snowflakes, quickly forming a thin layer of frost on the branches and ground outside.
“It’s snowing?” Shen Qingyao murmured, then became even more excited. She jumped up to hug Lu Zhao’s neck, exclaiming, “Elder Brother Lu Zhao! Look! It’s snowing so early!”
Lu Zhao smiled, steadying her form and softly agreeing, “This year, I was able to see the first snow with Yaoyao. We will surely see it many times in the future, hand in hand till old age. Okay?”
The words sounded a bit childish and sentimental, making Shen Qingyao pause in place. She couldn’t help but place her hand on her chest. Could she really have many futures ahead?
Looking up again into Lu Zhao’s calm and gentle eyes, the anxieties and sadness she had buried deep inside these days, nearly deceiving herself, were now uncovered and brought to light. Yet, she also gained much courage and strength at the same time, thinking of trying again and holding on a little longer.
Shen Qingyao smiled, but the cold wind carrying snowflakes made her cough.
Lu Zhao immediately nervously held her close, gripping her ice-cold hand tightly, his brow furrowing deeply. He pinched her hand, her delicate wrist already thin, now even more pronounced.
Shen Qingyao still smiled, but the cough seemed like a switch had been pressed, impossible to stop, the more she laughed, the more she coughed.
“Yaoyao!” Lu Zhao felt the girl’s strength slipping away bit by bit, relying solely on his slight force to support her, and became more panicked. He watched the cold sweat on Shen Qingyao’s forehead suddenly emerge, never expecting that the girl who was just excitedly talking about the first snow with him would suddenly feel so uncomfortable.
“Yaoyao, hang on, I’ll take you to find Kong Lin right away!” Lu Zhao said, lifting her up.
Shen Qingyao’s sudden illness wave came too suddenly. She hadn’t even reacted yet. The pain far beyond usual was like a heartbreak, instantly blurring her consciousness. When Lu Zhao lifted her up, she couldn’t control herself anymore, forgot to hide, and thick, viscous blood overflowed, staining Lu Zhao’s pale clothing with patches.
In a daze, when she looked at Lu Zhao’s face again, she saw his eyes suddenly narrow fiercely, his expression blank for a moment, then he widened his eyes and gritted his teeth in rage.