Returning Home on a Snowy Night

Clear-headed, stubborn mountain-village girl x refined, respectable, cold-hearted big boss | Bittersweet romance | Office romance

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Tao Xi had always known.

Her relationship with Song Siyan was nothing more than a transaction in which they each got what they wanted.

They had never been alike. Their social status, family backgrounds, personalities, and habits were worlds apart.

Song Siyan had been pampered since childhood and had resources and a birthright most people could only dream of. She was just an ordinary girl who had climbed out of the mountains.

But he treated her so well.

When she said she liked his scent, he had a special edition of the perfume made just for her.

When she was in danger, isolated and helpless, he put work aside and drove back to pick her up, then made her hometown milk tea with his own hands.

She needed connections and opportunities, so he brought her to social events and introduced her as his girlfriend.

The appearance of tenderness and sweetness always made people do what they knew they shouldn't. She thought that maybe it was all right to be a moth flying into the flames just once.

The day she learned about the schemes he had laid, Tao Xi didn't cry. She just smiled and asked her friend, "Song Siyan dragged me into his scheme too, didn't he?"

That blow at the moment she was most smitten finally made her understand that so-called clear-eyed surrender was still a mire she couldn't escape.

Tao Xi also remembered that long ago, she had clearly asked him, "You did want to use me more than trust me in those matters, didn't you?"

Song Siyan had answered calmly, "Don't put it so absolutely. We're just each getting what we want."

Once she came to her senses, she no longer let herself sink so deeply. Even later, when he said he loved her, wanted a serious relationship, and wanted to marry her, Tao Xi still didn't believe they could have a future.

Their last argument before breaking up.

Song Siyan asked her furiously, "So in your eyes, I'm really worth nothing? I'm not as important as your career, your friends, or anything else in your life. Am I just something you can throw away whenever you want?"

She looked into his eyes. After a long while, she said just one word: "Yes."

[His perspective]

Even Song Siyan himself couldn't understand how someone as cold-hearted and unfeeling as he was had fallen in love.

He understood even less why, after giving her resources and love, and being willing to give her status and a future, she had still walked away without hesitation.

When they met again, she coolly and distantly addressed him: "Mr. Song."

Song Siyan suddenly remembered that in all the years they had been together, she had never once lowered her head to him. Whenever they had a falling-out, he was always the one to ask her to stay.

He thought he wouldn't lower his head so easily this time. He wouldn't let her trample on his pride and his sincere feelings again.

But that night, when he heard that she had changed her flight to the earliest one and left overnight after their negotiations ended, he still went and nearly smashed her door down.

He only wanted to hold her tight. His tone was helpless, and he thought himself ridiculous.

"I wish I could make myself have a little more self-respect, too. Tao Xi, you've always been more heartless than me, but how can you not miss me at all?"

She was still just as heartless, still unwilling to lower her head, and he still loved her just as much.

Just as he had back then.

[Reading guide] (Craft beer flavor: astringent, rich, with fine, dense bubbles)

1. Clear-headed, stubborn mountain-village girl x refined, respectable big boss. Five-year age gap. Both leads are each other's first and only. The female lead has a slight avoidant attachment style.

2. This is very clearly a bittersweet, push-and-pull romance. The leads won't speak their minds, are awkward and stubborn, and will use hurtful words to wound each other. If that's not your thing, proceed with caution.

3. Neither lead is perfect, and this is not a female-dominance story. The female lead's journey upward will involve plenty of ups and downs. It's a story about two imperfect people learning to get along.

Readers with high expectations for the characters should proceed with caution. Both the male and female leads have their own dark sides and aggression. The characters have obvious personality flaws in the story.

4. Urban workplace setting, slow burn, starting from their first meeting (not a reunion after a long separation), not a typical pursuit-after-a-breakup story. The focus is on the emotional back-and-forth between the leads, with bittersweet tension ^ ^

5. The volume titles are color swatches from the traditional Chinese palette of blues, arranged from light to dark. Look them up if you're interested!

[Advance preview separator]

A bittersweet second-chance romance of the same type: Snow in the Forecast

"Weather Forecast Series"

Second chance after a breakup | Years of unspoken attraction | Cool, dissolute man x innocent, pure woman |

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Before she met Zhou Jin, Zhou Xunxue had never truly understood what it meant to be worlds apart.

She was an only child, the apple of her family's eye, and her family was fairly well-off.

When she was twenty, she fell for someone. Everything developed so quickly that Zhou Xunxue naively thought he was the one meant for her.

It wasn't until she went to a gathering with Zhou Jin that she realized his identity was no ordinary one.

It was a social circle she had never encountered before.

Back then, nobody took her seriously. The others asked Zhou Jin right in front of her which heiresses were on his list of preferred marriage alliances.

After the gathering, he drove her back to campus.

Zhou Xunxue gathered her courage and asked him, "Will you marry someone else in the future? Someone from a family worthy of yours?"

Zhou Jin's tone was light, as if he were used to it. "Yes."

"Then what am I?" She had thought they were going to have a proper relationship. She had thought they would get married.

Zhou Jin's answer was just as cold. "You shouldn't think too far ahead about a relationship. Don't overthink it. It won't do you any good."

She quietly answered, "Okay."

She swallowed down all her shattered, wounded, sensitive feelings.

Later, she asked to break up. Zhou Jin didn't try to stop her. They parted peacefully and wished each other well.

They met again during Zhou Xunxue's graduation trip after completing her master's degree. She and several friends were checking in at the front desk of their hotel.

One of them was someone she was then in the early stages of flirting with.

While everyone was joking about how to divide up the rooms, a gust of wind suddenly rushed in behind them. The receptionist froze, lowered her head, and said, "Mr. Zhou..."

She had even forgotten to check in the guests standing right in front of her.

Zhou Xunxue's heart trembled. She turned to look at him, and their eyes met for two seconds, like strangers seeing each other for the first time.

Zhou Jin seemed to be only passing by, but just before getting into the elevator, he suddenly turned back and said calmly to the receptionist:

"Give this lady a complimentary upgrade to the presidential suite."

"She isn't used to the other room types."

A blizzard fell that night.

Someone knocked on her door.

Zhou Xunxue went to open it. As the cold wind swept in from outside, the man's hot breath swept in with it.

He pinned her against the doorway and kissed her deeply.

As her mind roared, she heard his voice tremble, rare for him: "I miss you so much."

"It's been four years. You still haven't let go, Zhou Jin?"

"It's not that easy."

Theme: Say less and do more.