During the three years when Xu Zhaoling lived under someone else's roof, he met Li Chengan - that young man whose edges had been worn away but who was willing to give him all his tenderness.
They shared frosty oranges in the utility room, kept each other warm under the street lights on winter nights, and secretly exchanged trembling kisses in corners where no one could see them. Li Chengan said: "Wait until I take you away and never come back." Xu Zhaoling believed it and engraved this sentence into his bones.
But the family's opposition was like a blizzard, caught off guard. On the day Xu Zhaoling was forcibly taken away, the snow was falling endlessly. He opened the car window and saw Li Chengan still chasing the car desperately, shouting his name repeatedly.
Xu Zhaoling walked back through the old snow, and the street lamps at the alleys changed their appearance. The death of his relatives allowed him to return to his hometown.
Li Chengan's eyes were full of tiredness, but his eyes turned red the moment he saw him. They walked side by side on winter nights as they did before, with snow foam clinging to the ends of their hair. He said, "I've been looking for you for a long time and I didn't dare to stop."
The three years since they reunited were the warmest times in Xu Zhaoling's life. They made up for the missed meals, the unsaid words, the belated time together, and even the snow outside the window was sweet. Mr. Li Chengan said: "When I get your health better, I will take you to see the sea."
But the knife of fate never shows mercy.
That snowy night, Li Chengan was lying on the hospital bed, holding his hand and breathing weakly. In the end, he didn't say "I'm afraid" and only repeated "Don't be alone again."
On the day of the funeral, it snowed as hard as when he left.
The old snow has not yet melted, and new snow has fallen. Standing in the wind and snow, he finally understood: some encounters are redemption, some staying together are extravagant hopes, and their love is a blizzard after all. After a brief reunion, it was even more painful to return.
Concept: Youth and growth, the secular dilemma of sexual emotions
