Cheng Rui has a face people never forget. He just doesn't know it.
He plays the violin. In a heavy snowfall in Toronto, he walks onto campus, the wind lifting one corner of his ivory coat as his derby shoes sink into the slush. Cool and immaculate, he never makes the first move or clings to anyone. He's like moonlight falling into someone's heart, yet he belongs to no one. But he has one fatal flaw: in love, he can't find himself. He's been in love many times, and every time he was sincere, every time he lost himself. In the end, he learned not to respond, not to get close, and not to let anyone truly in.
Xu Songnian is different. He's the most doted-on younger son of the old-money Xu family in Canada, and a major investor in the university Cheng Rui attends. He wears a black cashmere coat with sharp shoulders, and his eyes are so dark they seem bottomless. He has paranoid delusions and trusts no one, entering no relationships. But the first time he sees Cheng Rui, outside the academic affairs office, the person who quietly says "Sorry" as he walks past him carries a faint scent of cedar. Xu Songnian stands there, motionless.
Fang Shikai is the first person to make Cheng Rui feel something. Cheng Rui finds Fang Shikai's ID card and runs after him through the snow. Fang Shikai turns around, striking and handsome. But Fang Shikai only sees him as a brother. He's Xu Songnian's close friend, and the protagonist of another story.
One man can't find himself; the other trusts no one. One protects himself by not responding; the other protects himself by keeping his distance. They keep meeting in the snow, in elevators, at stairwells, and outside classroom buildings. Neither of them speaks first.
Good Harvest Heralded by Auspicious Snow: Rui is Cheng Rui, and the good harvest is his Songnian. Snow falls throughout the book, heralding the slow arrival of spring.
Premise: Find healing in love, and draw closer through healing.
