A snowball fight?
Snow in Xi melted before it even hit the ground—where would she have ever had a snowball fight?
“I’ll fight your ghost!” Jiang Nong thought it might actually be fun, but she deeply condemned Yu Lingxin for his lack of morals and decency. She bent down, scooped up a handful, and threw it right back.
Yu Lingxin dodged, grabbed another handful, and showed her: “You have to pack it together—tight. That way it stings when it hits.”
He showed her his packed snowball. Jiang Nong’s hands were warm; hers were packed much tighter. While he wasn’t paying attention, she smacked him in the face with it. His cheek turned red where it hit. Jiang Nong felt a bit guilty—she packed her next snowballs looser and aimed away from his face.
Yu Lingxin loosened his own snowball and threw it back.
No one remembered who got angry first.
By the end, their eyes were red, old grievances and new resentments rising together. They stopped packing snowballs and just went at each other, digging up old scores.
Jiang Nong straddled Yu Lingxin and grabbed his throat: “What grudge do you have against Chao Ning? Why did you have to kill him? He’s so innocent and kind—what’s wrong with you? Couldn’t you talk it out?”
Yu Lingxin grabbed her, rolling on top, the two of them tumbling in the snow—hair and clothes messy, covered in white.
“Right! He’s innocent and kind, a real good person—that’s why you like him, isn’t it? That’s why you abandoned me for him! Didn’t I pretend to be good and true? Why couldn’t you just act like you didn’t know? I turned out this way because you pushed me!”
“You poisonous husband! If you changed, just say you changed—don’t blame everything on me! Yes, I was the one who broke things off back then, but we were young—love wasn’t that deep. What’s there to hold onto? You’re just too petty, you know that? I found a way to send you back to Tan. Couldn’t you just live your life? Why hold a grudge against me?”
Yu Lingxin’s eyes were splitting with fury, bloodshot, grabbing her collar: “I’m petty? Jiang Nong, do you have any conscience? Stealing a wife is an irreconcilable grievance! Should I just watch you die in Dang and become ghost-married to Chao Ning—is that what you call being generous?
Did I say I wanted to go back to Tan? I knelt in front of you—didn’t I say I’d follow you even in death, begging you to take me with you? And you—do you dare say you agreed to that marriage alliance just to send me back to Tan? Weren’t you doing it for your useless brother, your mother? They cried, and you abandoned me! What am I to you?”
Jiang Nong glared back, panting: “Don’t curse us! What do you mean we’d die in Dang? Stealing a wife—Chao Ning hasn’t even accused you of stealing his! You just can’t stand to see anyone happy! Yes, I did it mostly because my mother wanted me to marry—to help my mother and brother. What’s wrong with that?”
Yu Lingxin jabbed at her chest: “Do they care about you? I said I’d follow you as a servant, as a slave—and you gave me up for them? Jiang Nong, you have no conscience! You’re a heartbreaker! Isn’t it only right for me to hate you? And how do you know you wouldn’t have died in Dang? What skills does he have? Nothing but eating, drinking, and playing—a complete waste!”
Yes—Jiang Biao and Lady Song had only used her. Jiang Nong couldn’t deny that. She guiltily turned her head away: “How do you know we’d die?! Chao Ning is a good person—don’t call him a waste! Even if he were, he’s still far better than a cruel, tyrannical despot like you!”
“Keep defending him then! He’s all you ever think about! Do you know you’re married? Jiang Nong, do you know whose wife you are now?”
“Being married to you and not liking you aren’t mutually exclusive. Why do I have to protect you just because I married you? Can’t I protect my brother too?”
Yu Lingxin’s eyes grew redder—like a rabbit’s, the purple one more bloodshot than ever, as if about to drip blood. In the moonlight, he looked even more unsettling. Mad with rage, he laughed bitterly and released his grip on her clothes. Jiang Nong let go of his neck too.
Seeing his eyes like that, she stopped provoking him. His eyes were already bad—what if he went blind from anger?
Her tone softened, almost soothing, as she said earnestly: “Anyway, Chao Ning doesn’t hate you anymore. Even if you won’t thank him, at least don’t make trouble for him. He’s my brother—a better brother than Jiang Biao ever was.”
Yu Lingxin felt no comfort—only a cold laugh: “He doesn’t hate me? As if he has the right not to hate me! I’m the one who hasn’t hated him yet! Do you not know how you died?”
Two lifetimes—that useless Chao Ning had caused Jiang Nong’s death twice. And now she said Chao Ning had forgiven him—how magnanimous!
Jiang Nong fell silent. Yu Lingxin knew. His fingers dug deep into the snow, his eyes reddening: “You know how you died, don’t you! Hate me—I’m the villain, I did bad things—so it’s only natural to blame everything on me! Jiang Nong, do you have any conscience! Sometimes I really want to kill you!”
How could she be so cruel to him—and only to him?
“Look at you, getting angry again—why so fiery in this freezing weather? You can’t blame me for putting everything on you, because that’s genuinely what I believed at first.” Before coming back to life—or more precisely, before she knew of Yu Lingxin’s unwavering loyalty—Jiang Nong had truly believed that. That Yu Lingxin had poisoned her out of revenge, slowly torturing her to death.
It was only after spending more time with Yu Lingxin in this life that she realized otherwise.
The hate Yu Lingxin spoke of was more like love that couldn’t be obtained—hate born from being abandoned by her, but in truth, it was love that had curdled. That was why he resented Chao Ning so deeply—even though she’d said many times that Chao Ning was her brother, Yu Lingxin still hated him enough to curse him to a miserable death.
But as for the poison—it likely wasn’t his doing. Even if he was a bad person—a killer, a villain, violent and selfish, cunning and treacherous, untrustworthy, a liar, heartless and mercurial—
“You know you wronged me, at least.” Yu Lingxin’s jaw was tight. He looked up at her, his defenses receding somewhat.
To be fair, she couldn’t really blame herself. A vicious dog, a mad cur, an ugly mangy mutt—every time Jiang Nong passed by, it would bark at her, baring its fangs, looking like it wanted to tear her flesh.
If Jiang Nong was walking at night and a dog bit her, of course she’d suspect that dog first.
How was she to know the dog was just bluffing—that it barked at her only because, years ago, when it was still a puppy, she had abandoned it?
If she just called its name, it would wag its tail and roll over in front of her again.
“I only wronged you about that one thing.” Jiang Nong glared at him and flopped back onto the snow.
The soft, cold snow pressed against her cheeks.
Yu Lingxin suddenly rolled over, grabbed her head, and kissed her—savagely, as if trying to tear a piece of flesh from her. He pried open her teeth, swept through her mouth, hooked and sucked her soft tongue, draining the last breath from her—more ferocious than ever.
Jiang Nong was nearly suffocating. She pounded on him until they finally broke apart, gasping, a silver strand connecting them. Her lips were swollen and sore.
Yu Lingxin wiped the moisture from her lips, his dark gaze scanning her face inch by inch. She recognized that look—all too familiar.
Panting, she scooped up a handful of snow and shoved it down his collar, then lay back and said: “Cool off. Stop being in heat in the middle of winter.”
Yu Lingxin collapsed back into the snow too.
They lay side by side, arms spread wide, swinging them back and forth to trace two pairs of butterfly wings in the snow.
It started snowing again.
Snowflakes landed softly on their lashes—like the fine white frost on dried persimmons, sweet and cool, leaving a refreshing chill.
It was a bit warmer now—but still freezing.
Yu Lingxin brushed the snowflakes from Jiang Nong’s lashes and showed them to her in his palm: “Snowflakes—how many petals?”
He couldn’t see clearly. Jiang Nong counted carefully and said: “Seven petals—so rare.”
“I heard that if a special snowflake like this lands on someone, they’ll have good luck.”
Jiang Nong didn’t believe it: “How could that be? If it really worked, no one would farm or work—they’d just wait for winter and look for seven-petaled snowflakes, then gold would fall from the sky.”
Yu Lingxin pursed his lips. Jiang Nong thought he actually believed it. She dabbed the seven-petaled snowflake on her fingertip and pressed it to his face: “Fine, fine—now you’ll have good luck too. Happy?”
Jiang Nong had a strong constitution and high body heat. After staying outside so long and playing in the snow, her hands were still warm. The moment she touched him with the snowflake, it melted—leaving only a warm drop of water on his face, like a tear.
Not good—that’s unlucky. The cold wind would chap his face. Jiang Nong wiped it off with her sleeve.
They brushed the snow off each other, stamped their feet, and after their fight, went back in to soak in a hot bath together before bed.
Before sleeping, Yu Lingxin turned Jiang Nong over and told her to apologize.
She was half-asleep, nearly drifting off, when he roused her. Though it felt a bit strange, she did owe him one: “I’m sorry. But I’m only apologizing for wrongly accusing you of poisoning me. I’ll keep hating you for everything else. Okay? Can I sleep now? Don’t wake me again.”
Yu Lingxin turned her back over, tucked in her blanket, and said: “Fine. I forgive you. Sleep.”
Jiang Nong curled her arms close to her face. Within moments, she was fast asleep, her breathing even and deep.
Yu Lingxin stroked her face, kissed her lips for a while, kissed her cheek, then lay down to sleep too.
In the dim bedchamber, the one candle left burning crackled softly—warm and fine. Outside, the cold wind whipped snow against the door. All was quiet, all at peace.
A timely snow promises a good harvest. Perhaps the new year would be a good one.
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