Heavy snow

Heavy snow

With final exams approaching, Chen Muwei is very busy, going to the library to study every day.

The winters at Hui City were cold and damp, and I eventually got tired of going out to reserve seats, so I simply studied in my dorm. I huddled under the covers, memorizing the points the teacher had highlighted in advance.

The night before each exam, she would receive a message from that unknown number wishing her good luck on her exam.

Shen Muwei would look at the messages, but never replied, and this continued until the last exam was over.

Guan Panfu did return during the final exams, but she didn't have much stuff to begin with and wasn't often at school. After the exams, she had a meal with everyone and then left again.

Zhao Ranzhu and Qian Eryun both live in other provinces. After arriving at the dormitory, they began packing their things to go home. They had bought their tickets in advance.

Shen Muwei only needed to pack a few daily necessities, underwear, and electronic products, then she could go home with her backpack. She was the one with the most relaxed life.

Shen Muwei received another text message from that unknown number.

From the moment Shen Muwei tacitly allowed this number to send text messages, he dared not be presumptuous at all, only daring to send four-word text messages, mostly in the form of "May xx be happy" or "May xx be successful".

Because there wasn't much disturbance, Shen Muwei tacitly allowed him to send messages, and gradually got used to seeing the four-character messages every day, somewhat like a subscription account, with a monthly fee deducted regularly.

Qian Eryun bought a high-speed train ticket for a little after 4 p.m., and was already eager to go home. She couldn't stand the lack of heating in the south; it was unbearably cold indoors, and unbearably dry when the air conditioning was on.

Zhao Ranzhu bought a plane ticket for noon the next day, so she could stay in the dormitory for another night. Shen Muwei would stay with her in the dormitory for another night before going home, or she could stay there until the school notified her of the departure date, if she wanted.

Zhao Ranzhu packed quickly, throwing in all the clothes she needed to pack. Her luggage was spread out on her side, and she planned to throw in her toiletries last after she finished washing up.

Zhao Ranzhu still had a lot of snacks left from the large box she had bought earlier, so she gave them all to Shen Muwei to take home and eat. Taking this opportunity, she cautiously inquired about Xiang Zhixing, but didn't dare mention her name. She only vaguely asked if she planned to exercise during the holidays, such as going for a night run.

Shen Muwei was peeling an orange, and the juice splashed onto her hands, giving them a light yellow, translucent color.

"It's too cold to run, and it's not safe to run at night with the New Year approaching."

"Oh..." Zhao Ranzhu said thoughtfully, and began to tidy up the messy table. She picked up things and put them down again. She didn't seem to get anything done for a long time, and it was unclear what she was busy with.

Seeing her like that, Shen Muwei added, "Ask whatever you want, I've already gotten over that feeling."

"It's nothing, I just noticed you haven't been talking to that person for a long time, and I was afraid you'd ignore me too."

Why should I ignore you?

Zhao Ranzhu finally put down what she was holding and said seriously, "I'll be honest with you. Actually, I noticed something was wrong a long time ago, but I didn't think Xiang Zhixing could cause any trouble, so I didn't plan to tell you. But now that you're ignoring him, I'm afraid that one day you'll find out and ignore me too."

Shen Muwei chewed on an orange, her mind racing, seemingly trying to figure out what was wrong. She eventually traced the problem back to Zhao Ranzhu's initial disapproval of Xiang Zhixing, including her occasional subtle expressions.

Zhao Ranzhu clasped her hands together and said, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to. I just thought it was better to mind my own business."

Shen Muwei wasn't angry. Otherwise, she would have felt like she was being hypocritical. She would have turned on Song Yuanbai on the spot if he hadn't told her, but she wasn't angry at all when Zhao Ranzhu kept it from her.

"Well, so you're a traitor after all," Shen Muwei joked.

Zhao Ranzhu looked troubled and said that she had a bad sense of humor and wanted to see Xiang Zhixing fail. To show her loyalty, she told Shen Muwei that Xiang Zhixing had contacted her some time ago, but she had ignored him completely.

After Shen Muwei finished eating the last segment of orange, she washed her hands and came back. Zhao Ranzhu had already handed her tissues and a hand warmer.

She dried her hands before taking the hand warmer, and asked casually, "What did he ask you?"

"What else could he ask? He just wanted to know how you are doing. Oh, and he also asked me to bring you something, but I didn't accept it. See how loyal I am?"

"Reward," Shen Muwei said.

As if they had found a reason, when they went to bed that night, Shen Muwei held his phone and hovered over the input box for a long time.

After a long while, she sent a message: "Don't contact my roommate again."

The cold, hard words chilled one's heart even more on this winter night.

After deliberating for a long time, Xiang Zhixing replied with a single word: "Okay".

Shen Muwei felt her anger rise even higher. Staring at the "good," she decided not to give him any chance at all.

He should feel sorry for her, Shen Muwei felt she should be satisfied, but she just couldn't feel happy. Why did she just agree with whatever she said? Didn't this person have any of her own thoughts?

When Shen Muwei can't figure something out, she just goes to sleep. Right now, she just covered her head and fell asleep.

Zhao Ranzhu woke up early the next day to catch her flight, as the university town was quite a distance from the airport.

Shen Muwei got up and asked her if she wanted a ride home. She said no, closed her suitcase, and stood it up. As she was about to leave, Zhao Ranzhu added a comment:

“Xiaowei, sometimes it’s best to just follow your heart. You don’t have to be so clear about your principles and boundaries.”

Shen Muwei didn't react at first. She thought that she had just woken up and her mind was still not clear, so she couldn't understand.

Zhao Ranzhu, as an outsider, could see it all clearly.

Although she and Shen Muwei had only been roommates for three years, she could tell most of the time that Shen Muwei was a person with very clear principles. If something made her angry, there were other ways to resolve it, but she would not deal with it in the new way. She would choose to escape and judge in her heart that his actions were wrong and unforgivable.

However, since meeting Xiang Zhixing, Shen Muwei has made exceptions for him many times.

Regardless of whether the other party is truly at fault, Zhao Ranzhu believes that communication is a very important human skill.

She nodded and replied, "Okay."

I didn't really understand it.

After dropping Zhao Ranzhu off downstairs, she went back to her dormitory to pack her things and rushed home for lunch before noon.

Thus, her winter vacation officially began.

Sleeping until noon every day is normal for them, and then the mother and daughter go to their maternal grandparents' house for a meal.

The weather is freezing cold. It has been snowing for a week, and the roads are already quite icy. The weather forecast has issued an orange alert.

Shen Muwei never expected to see Xiang Zhixing at school, and she was even more surprised that her mother was chatting with Xiang Zhixing so casually.

It's almost the Little New Year, and he still hasn't left school?

Mu Qing started by introducing him: "Xiao Xiang, I kept running into him when I was exercising recently. There aren't many young people like him who love exercising these days. Our Xiao Wei is one of them, right?"

Shen Muwei was baffled, wondering what had gotten into her mother. It wasn't like she didn't know Xiang Zhixing; he had always used photos taken casually to tease her.

But in front of her mother, she dared not be presumptuous, and simply nodded and said, "Hello."

Xiang Zhixing also pretended not to know her and nodded to greet her.

Mu Qing asked him why he hadn't left school yet.

He replied that there was no one at home right now, so he figured it would be better to stay at school for a while and have some warmth there. He bought a plane ticket to Los Angeles and will be leaving in a couple of days; his family will be spending the Lunar New Year there this year.

Mu Qing gradually steered the conversation toward people's family situations.

Shen Muwei took a deep breath and tugged at the hem of her mother's down jacket.

Mu Qing calmly brushed her hand away.

So Shen Muwei was forced to listen to Xiang Zhixing's family background. She then learned that he came from a divorced family, and his mother was always too busy to take care of him, flying all over the world. The reason he was spending the Chinese New Year in Los Angeles this year was because his mother had a business meeting there.

When Shen Muwei heard him talk about his family situation, she assumed that he was unloved by his parents and couldn't help but feel a pang of pity.

But she stopped just as soon as it surfaced. It felt so familiar. Wasn't this the usual setup for a male protagonist in a novel?

She pursed her lips, shifted her gaze to the other side, and her pity vanished. After all, they were spending the New Year in their villa in Los Angeles; what did it have to do with her?

After hearing what he said, Mu Qing was too embarrassed to pry any further, and only cautiously asked, "So, how is your relationship with your mother?"

Xiang Zhixing replied, "I have a very good relationship with my mother. She supports every decision I make. She is a very open-minded mother."

Mu Qing breathed a sigh of relief, thinking that his family background was quite suitable. She secretly calculated that Xiao Wei would live in a large flat by the river, and there were villas in various cities where she could live. Her mother-in-law would not come home often and would not be harsh on her. Since she was an open-minded mother, she probably wouldn't have the old-fashioned traditional constraints on her daughter.

Thinking about it this way, Mu Qing felt a little sorry for Qiu Hui, who was currently on an Antarctic expedition team. The two had secretly arranged a marriage between Shen Muwei and Song Yuanbai years ago. Qiu Hui vowed to treat Xiao Wei as her own daughter.

Mu Qing could only shake her head silently in her heart: Qiu Hui, it's not that I don't want to, it's just that Xiao Bai is so disappointing...

Shen Muwei had no idea what her mother was thinking and remained silent the whole way.

When they were about to part ways outside the school, Shen Muwei regained her senses and heard her mother say, "Okay, Auntie wishes you a safe journey and a Happy New Year in advance. Hurry up and have lunch, we're going too."

Until Xiang Zhixing completely left, Shen Muwei didn't look at him once. But when she and Mu Qing walked in the direction opposite him, she couldn't help but turn back and look at him again. This became the last time she saw him this year.

His silhouette was destined to be lonely as he walked slowly under the deep green camphor trees in the market, their branches laden with ice. The snow on the ground was so deep that it covered the soles of his shoes.

Shen Muwei didn't want to be so indecisive, so she quickly looked away, thus missing the glance he gave her when he turned around.

Xiang's trip landed in Los Angeles four days later.

He didn't bring much luggage, just a 26-inch suitcase, and Leung Wai-chi personally came to the airport to pick him up.

She hadn't seen her son for over half a year, but she noticed something was wrong with him. His face was no longer as frail as before; it had a healthy, rosy complexion. Even though he had taken off his thick down jacket and was now wearing a loose-fitting sweater, she could clearly see the outline of his muscles.

Sitting in the back seat of the Bentley, Leung Wai-chi pinched her son's biceps when he wasn't looking.

He immediately exclaimed, "You little rascal! Are you in love?!"