Cheng Linyan had been waiting for Ye Jinqu for five years.
Five years ago, she was General Longwuwei, with a red scarf and silver armor, and a sword of jade that shocked the entire army. He was just a concubine of the county magistrate's family. He had pale skin and was told that he would not live long. He was too late to get married at the age of twenty-five. It was she who recruited him as her husband, helped him pass the exam, and gave him everything.
Then a letter of divorce pushed him back into the mud.
Now he is the Duke of Wei, with the title of Minister of the Ministry of War. Everyone says, "The grandeur of Duke Wei is really as good as jade carved from snow."
No one knows that he is afraid of being burned. No one knows that he sits on the top floor of Liuli Banquet every snowy day, waiting for a figure wearing a red scarf and silver armor.
Ye Jinqian is back.
Skinny and covered with frostbite, he shivered by the charcoal fire. She didn't recognize him, asked his name, and looked at him like a stranger.
Cheng Linyan knelt down to hold her hand, but she did not pull it back. He clutched it all night, and at dawn she asked, "Have you cried?" He looked down and saw two water marks on the back of his hand - not hers, but his own.
He doesn't know. From the moment she stepped into the Liuli Banquet, every tremor, every "who are you?", Every movement of shrinking into his hand was calculated.
She remembers. She remembered everything. The arrow in the northwest battlefield didn't kill her, but it made her discover a secret that she shouldn't have discovered. The letter of the letter was "Severance of friendship and righteousness", but it actually meant "The further away you are from me, the safer you will be."
Cheng Linyan hated her. I hate her divorce letter back then, and I hate her disappearing for five years without any news. But she still lay on the warm couch in his room and fell asleep. She was so thin that her ribs were clearly defined, and her breathing was so shallow that it seemed like she might stop at any moment.
He sat on the edge of the couch and watched her for half the night. When he reached out to tuck her into bed, her eyelashes fluttered - he didn't see it.
- She is awake. She stayed awake. The moment his fingertips brushed across her eyebrows, she used all her strength not to open her eyes.
Snow is still falling outside the window. Some people are back, and some are still on their way home. And some people spend their whole lives paving the way for others, and then turn around and walk into the snow themselves.
Cheng Linyan didn't know. He only knew that her hand was in his palm. It was cold, thin, and had protruding joints. It was the hand that held the knife back then. Now I can't even hold a glass of hot wine.
"Don't be afraid," he told her, "I'm here."
She closed her eyes and dug her nails into her palms. She wanted to hear this sentence five years ago.
Concept: Under power, love is a cage