*Marriage first, love later | Reunion after years apart | A secret crush comes true
*The female lead's perspective: a secret crush comes true; the male lead's perspective: marriage first, love later
*Gentle, meticulous literary editor x cool-headed, self-possessed head of a prominent family
Cross the snow of drunken nights, climb over the biting winter.
Here, spring has yet to arrive.
*
On the first snowy night of 2018,
Xi Nianzhi met Wen Xubai for the first time.
The man stood beneath the eaves outside the courtyard, only a few steps away from her as she sheltered from the snow.
That night, snowflakes fell softly on his shoulders, but all Xi Nianzhi could hear was her own heartbeat.
Years passed before news of their arranged marriage arrived:
Wen Xubai was going to marry her.
After the wedding, Wen Xubai was considerate and courteous, fulfilling all the responsibilities of a husband.
But Xi Nianzhi knew their marriage was merely a business partnership between their families. She did not want Wen Xubai to think she had ulterior motives, so she carefully hid all her affection. She never asked him about anything, either.
Xi Nianzhi had always thought he was simply fulfilling his marital duties.
Until one late night, Wen Xubai suddenly pulled her into his arms. Resting his chin on her shoulder, he asked:
"Was it me that night in the snow?"
*
One day after their wedding, Wen Xubai noticed Xi Nianzhi growing mint.
He asked casually, "Why are you growing this?"
Xi Nianzhi's heart tightened, but her expression remained especially calm. "I like it."
He said nothing more. When he came home from work the next day, Xi Nianzhi found another pot of mint in the house, nestled right beside the one she was growing.
Late that night, Wen Xubai woke to find Xi Nianzhi was not beside him. He went to the living room and found her standing by the window, looking at the mint.
He gently embraced her from behind. "I bought a bunch on my way home today, so the mint you like wouldn't be lonely."
Xi Nianzhi looked at the two pots of mint, and suddenly her eyes grew hot.
He did not know
that the flower language of mint was: meeting again.
She grew mint because on that snowy night, there had been a faint scent of it on him.
The mint had always remembered the affection she had never spoken aloud.
*
Another winter came. While sorting through old things, Xi Nianzhi came across a book she used to love, with a dried mint leaf tucked inside.
It was the one she had picked up by the roadside on that first snowy night.
She did not know why she had picked it up. She had simply been reluctant to let that night go.
Footsteps came from behind her. Wen Xubai suddenly leaned closer. "What are you looking at?"
She hurriedly closed the book and put it on the shelf, pretending nothing was wrong. "Nothing."
That night, Xi Nianzhi tossed and turned, while Wen Xubai got up and left the bedroom, not returning for a long time.
When she opened the study door, she saw Wen Xubai flipping through that book, a mint leaf pinched in his hand.
She panicked and tried to explain, only to hear him ask, "You picked this up after that snowy night?"
Xi Nianzhi froze. "How did you know?"
Wen Xubai put the mint leaf back in the book, closed it, and looked at her with a dark, intent gaze.
"Because I picked one up too."
*Blurb archived by screen recording on 2026/02/19
Reader notes:
1. One-on-one, happy ending. Only the male lead is sexually inexperienced!
2. Five-year age gap, 23 x 28
3. Bittersweet ratio: 1 to 2
4. vb@Nan Zhiyi Nazny
.
Theme: Spring has yet to arrive, but it will come at last.
