The first snowfall in Jinling City that year came after a sudden frost.
During the day, I could see the wintersweet blossoms on the street corner, but at night, the branches were covered with snow all night. Qi Yao thought of a poem: The plum blossoms are less white than the snow, but the snow loses the fragrance of the plum blossoms.
The wind blows down from Zhongshan Mountain and into the homes of ordinary people. Qi Yao was sitting in the interrogation room of the Jinling North District Military Headquarters. There was an encrypted telegram on the table that had not yet been opened.
He was in no hurry to look. Someone was clearing snow outside the window, and the sound sounded like someone was blowing away ashes in their heart.
He turned to read the newspaper with his head down, hoping to distract himself, but he couldn't read a word between the lines.
He had seen too many women. There are noble families, young women on the run, foreign female teachers, and brothel oirans. Some of them handed incense, some shed tears, and some knelt before him and said they were willing to live and die for him.
He was not tempted.
Until that afternoon, on the stormy street, he saw her through the window walking through the crowd holding a bloody piece of cloth with bare hands and firm eyes.
On the cloth were several lines of ugly words:
"I will petition to the death to return Haizhou to me."
She was wearing an old school uniform, her hair was messed up by the wind, but she seemed to have a light on her body. At that moment, Qi Yao suddenly remembered that he was like this when he was young, full of passion and not knowing whether to live or die.
He remembered that she walked very fast that day and never looked back. Maybe she never noticed anyone looking at her all the time.
But he can't forget.
Later, much later, she stood in the Buddhist pavilion of Zhongshan Temple and asked him in a low voice: "Is this the first time you saw me?"
He nodded.
She smiled a little, but there were a little tears in her eyes.
She said: "I also saw you that day, just once."
Concept: Love grows in spy wars and suffering