On the Winter Night the First Snow Falls

Sponsored Student and Benefactor | 10-Year Age Gap | Reunited After Years

Resilient Little Wildflower x Self-Restrained Guardian

From the age of eight to eighteen, Liang Huaiyu was the only snowfall of her girlhood.

From then on, her world was blanketed in snow, never to thaw.

1

Liang Huaiyu could barely be called a doting older brother.

But from the moment his younger brother brought his girlfriend to meet him, he stopped being one.

Liang Huaiyu looked at Liang Jingyi, and at the familiar yet unfamiliar young woman beside him.

"Bro, this is my girlfriend, Jian Zhi."

Liang Jingyi had lost his parents as a child. His older brother had raised him like a father.

If he wanted this relationship to last, he needed his brother's approval.

A phone call summoned Liang Jingyi away, leaving only Liang Huaiyu and Yu Jianzhi in the room.

She looked nervously at the man before her. Her voice softened despite herself, like a kitten's paw pressing against his shoulder:

"...Brother Huaiyu."

2

Yu Jianzhi's hometown was a small mountain village in the south, where it never snowed in winter.

Liang Huaiyu, who paid for her education and living expenses, brought her to Beijing.

It happened to be the first snowfall. Delighted to see snowflakes falling for the first time, she held out her hand to catch them.

He said, "Come to Beijing to see the snow every winter from now on."

From then on, he came once a year, never missing an appointment.

The first time she watched the snow with him as an adult, on a winter night in Beijing, Liang Huaiyu draped his scarf around her. She rubbed the edge of it and murmured her thanks.

That night, Liang Huaiyu gave her two choices.

And she chose neither.

The world was vast, and their paths parted there.

Years later, she returned to Beijing.

She opened the car window, and a snowflake drifted into her eye.

Her boyfriend reminded her not to catch a chill. She agreed and closed the window.

Just then, she heard Liang Huaiyu's calm voice:

"Miss Yu, do you love snowy days?"

She answered, "I do."

Because all her precious memories

seemed to have happened on snowy days.

Later, the first snow fell again.

He took her away from her boyfriend's side.

Liang Huaiyu said, "Jianzhi, I'll give you two choices again."

Liang Huaiyu would always be patient with her.

*

"Bro, what did you do to her?"

"Everything I should have done, but didn't get the chance to do before."

0. The romance begins after they reunite. There are no romantic feelings during the period when he sponsors her.

1. It isn't really much of a love triangle.

Next Book: Between Clear Skies and Rain

1

A gale was blowing outside, but Shuwei insisted on taking the dog for a walk.

The housekeeper tried to stop her, saying a heavy rain was coming.

The young lady from the Jin family, who had married into the Zhou family, was widely said to be spoiled and willful. In truth, she was not.

But Shuwei would not give an inch on this matter.

The little dog that had come with her when she married into the Zhou family

was one she insisted on walking herself every day, never leaving it to anyone else.

Zhou Zhikai was drawn downstairs by their argument.

"Go ahead. It's fine."

His words settled the matter.

The housekeeper fretted. "Mr. Zhou, you indulge your wife too much. It won't hurt the dog to miss a walk for one day. What if she gets soaked and catches a chill..."

Zhou Zhikai said, "She's an adult. She knows what she's doing. Please don't make decisions for her in the future."

The housekeeper was about to go upstairs to clean, but Zhou Zhikai stopped her and told her to do something else.

He himself wandered up to the second-floor terrace and lit a cigarette.

Below, branches whipped violently in the wind. An unknown young man was walking Shuwei's little dog.

His newlywed wife had her arm linked through the young man's and was leaning against his shoulder.

Every so often, they turned to kiss, as if they would happily keep walking together forever, even with a storm raging ahead.

The Jin family's daughter really had been spoiled rotten. Even after getting married, she made no effort to hide her romance with someone else.

Rain began to fall, one drop, then two, and soon formed a white curtain.

They pulled an overcoat over their heads, sharing a dry little world beneath it.

Their shadows sank low, then rose again. Their steps grew entangled. The little dog fretted at their feet, but neither of them cared enough to pay it any mind.

The cigarette burned down to his fingers. Zhou Zhikai glanced down, and the pain arrived belatedly.

2

Shuwei came home with the little dog in her arms. The big and small soaked dogs shook themselves dry in unison.

The housekeeper was already waiting with a warm towel. "Oh, Madam, why didn't you find an awning to shelter under?"

Shuwei smiled. Her voice was muffled as the towel rubbed her dry. She blamed the dog, saying it wouldn't let her.

The bathtub in her second-floor bedroom was already full of hot water.

By the time she had finished getting cleaned up and came downstairs, the dog had returned to its usual neat and adorable state, too.

The housekeeper served her a bowl of ginger soup, saying that her husband had asked her to prepare it after Shuwei left. She couldn't help praising him as a thoughtful man, the sort who was hard to find.

Then she told Shuwei how her husband had just washed the dog. It was such a tiny thing, but he couldn't get a proper hold on it. It slipped around like a loach.

In short, the mischievous little dog had splashed water everywhere and soaked Zhou Zhikai through.

Shuwei burst out laughing, imagining a man as composed as him, who had been just as calm at their wedding, being left helpless by a dog one day.

Theme: Love built on equality