novelraw Chapter 655: First Snow
Chapter 655: First Snow
Chapter 655: First SnowThe black Toyota Alphard slowly pulled away from the bustling CBD of Yangcheng.
It threaded through several old streets full of everyday life and eventually stopped outside the gate of Lanxin Garden Community.
“Sister Wen Ruan, i-it’s... it’s here.” Zhang Yan’s voice trembled with nervousness and embarrassment.
“Mm, it looks pretty quiet. The environment’s not bad,” Wen Ruan peered through the car window, taking in this neighborhood that carried a bit of age.
The two of them got out and walked into the community, one after the other.
Looking at the weathered walls and the slightly dim stairwell, Zhang Yan felt her heart climb up into her throat again.
She fumbled out the keys and opened the old security door.
“Uh… the place is a bit old. Please don’t mind,” she turned to the side, scarcely daring to meet Wen Ruan’s eyes.
Because of its age, the little apartment had almost no modern renovation—more like an old rural house than something presentable.
And Wen Ruan was a board director at Nebula International;
her clothing and manner showed she was from another world entirely.Zhang Yan had never had a same-sex friend from that layer of society, which was why she was so anxious.
Yet Wen Ruan’s face betrayed no oddness at all.
Instead, she smiled and looked around at the small home that had been tidied with care and filled with everyday warmth.
“It’s lovely—clean and cozy.”
Only then did Zhang Yan finally exhale.
At that moment—
“Meow~”
A plump orange cat, like a warm little cannonball, shot out from the sofa corner.
It rubbed affectionately against Zhang Yan’s pant leg, purring softly.
“Oh, you must be Juzi, right?”
Wen Ruan’s eyes lit up instantly;
she crouched down and stroked the cat’s fur, her face openly delighted.
Tang Song had mentioned before that Zhang Yan raised a particularly adorable and particularly hungry orange cat.
“Hello, little guy. I’m Wen Ruan.”
She spoke and carefully scooped up the cat.
Juzi, far from shy, nuzzled her palm.
“Aww, such a good kitty.” Wen Ruan was completely melted. She looked up at Zhang Yan with crescent eyes and said, “Not to hide it— I have a cat too, a ragdoll named Snowball. She’s insanely clingy. We should introduce them sometime.”
“Okay!” Zhang Yan’s tension dissolved completely;
a happy smile spread across her face. “Sister Wen Ruan, you can sit in the living room for a bit. I’ll make dinner.”
“Sure thing. Thanks for the trouble. I’ll keep Juzi company.”
Zhang Yan nodded, set down her shoulder bag, and hurried into the kitchen.
Wen Ruan fetched a small stool and sat by the kitchen door.
She stroked the cat while chatting with Zhang Yan through the doorway.
They talked about the cat’s eating habits, then the recent hit dramas, then some funny things at work.
The clack of spatula on iron wok, the hum of the range hood—these sounds wove together into a long-missed domestic atmosphere.
Dinner was brought to the table quickly.
Stir-fried Chinese broccoli, steamed eggplant, tangerine-peel pork ribs, and fragrant white rice.
Wen Ruan picked up her chopsticks to try a rib;
her eyes widened immediately.
“This flavor is spot-on! Yan-yan, you’re an amazing cook!”
Blushing at the compliment, Zhang Yan smiled shyly.
They sat around the small coffee table, eating and chatting.
Juzi lay quietly at their feet, occasionally meowing.
The mood was warm and natural.
Over the course of the meal, the rising steam seemed to open up the space between them.
Zhang Yan’s shy smiles grew more frequent, and she began to tell Wen Ruan about her previous unlucky work experiences.
After dinner, Wen Ruan walked into Zhang Yan’s bedroom for a simple look around.
The room was old but clean and neat, everything thoughtfully placed.
Her gaze was soon drawn to a photo frame on the desk.
She stepped forward and picked it up.
In the photo, Zhang Yan wore an elegant Hanfu, holding a round fan, standing in a classical Qing-dynasty garden.
Her temperament was gentle and graceful, her brows and eyes like a painted beauty—as if she had stepped out of an ancient poem.
Compared to her usual modern look, she seemed like a different person.
“This photo is beautiful,” Wen Ruan said sincerely. “Where was it taken?”
“Uh... at Yuyin Villa. It’s a Qing-era classical garden—very pretty,” Zhang Yan answered, a little embarrassed.
The photo had been taken recently when she and Lulu rented Hanfu for a day out. She had only just gathered the courage to put it on display.
“Really?” Wen Ruan glanced at her, then took Zhang Yan’s hand. “You’ve been tired lately. Your mother’s situation is okay now. You should relax a bit. How about we go again tomorrow? Honestly, I want a set of photos like that too.”
“Ah? O-okay!” Zhang Yan immediately agreed.
She then looked at Wen Ruan’s striking curves and thought to herself— with Wen Ruan’s proportions, wearing that Hanfu would be outrageously stunning.
By nine p.m., the night had deepened.
The streets outside Lanxin Garden were quiet.
Neon signs cast light on the gray walls;
occasionally a vendor’s call could be heard packing up.
Zhang Yan walked Wen Ruan to the community gate;
they stood side by side under the chill moonlight.
A cold breeze of early winter ruffled their hair.
“All right, my car is here. Let’s call it a night—see you tomorrow.”
“See you tomorrow, Sister Wen Ruan... thank you.”
“For what?”
Zhang Yan blushed. “Talking to you has made me feel so much better.”
It was her first official day integrating into the work flow;
the pressure inside her had been immense. Add to that constant worry about her mother—she had rarely been able to truly relax.
Tonight, Wen Ruan’s company, her sharing of joy and concern, had eased Zhang Yan completely.
“Hehe.” Wen Ruan smiled and opened her arms, giving her a warm, firm hug.
After letting go, she looked into Zhang Yan’s moonlit, unusually clear eyes and suddenly asked, “Yan-yan, can I ask you something else? What exactly is your relationship with Tang Song right now?”
At this question, Zhang Yan’s eyes fluttered;
her pale face flushed bright red.
“I-it’s... me.” She lowered her head, eyes on her toes, stammering without being able to form a full sentence.
On the night before they parted in Yancheng, she had mustered the greatest courage of her life to confess;
he had said he liked her back.
By normal logic, they should be boyfriend and girlfriend.
But reality could not be summed up by “normal logic.”
Liu Qingning’s presence pressed on her chest like a mountain, making it almost impossible to look up.
Moreover, she had no idea what Tang Song’s true state of mind was—she occupied only a corner of his complicated life.
She glanced secretly at the alluring, charismatic Wen Ruan in the night and felt her gaze dim.
She wasn’t foolish.
From Wen Ruan’s attitude toward her and Tang Song’s unguarded trust in Wen Ruan, she could feel clearly that their bond was far more intimate than “just friends.”
Whether it was the kind of relationship she feared, she didn’t dare to ask or to think deeply about.
Just one Liu Qingning was already crushing the air out of her lungs.
“All right, I think I have the answer.” Wen Ruan fussed her head like a true elder sister and smiled, “Tang Song... huh. He’s got his flaws in feelings, but he’s a good man and very sentimental.”
She waved goodbye and turned to sit in the Alphard’s backseat.
The black window rolled up slowly, cutting off Zhang Yan’s sight.
The car left smoothly.
Inside the vehicle, Wen Ruan’s smile faded;
she sighed.
Tang Song had placed Zhang Yan at Nebula International and then sent Wen Ruan to reach out to her intentionally.
Clearly the intent was for this ‘experienced one’ to do the psychological groundwork and ideological tutoring for the pure little white rabbit.
In short: take the blame.
Some things needed to be said sooner or later, and given Wen Ruan’s awkward position now, it was better for Zhang Yan to understand the situation she would face sooner rather than later.
North City Garden.
A bedroom was bright and warm.
Yao Lingling sat cross-legged on the bed in a white camisole and grey-blue pajama pants.
In front of her was the “battle outfit” she had carefully chosen for tomorrow’s date and various items to bring—all spread over half the bed.
“Amitabha... may God bless this.” She clasped her hands and muttered a few words to the ceiling, then picked up her phone for the nth time.
On the screen was the chat with Tang Song.
Her finger hovered over the input box for a long time;
after much hesitation she didn’t dare to type out “let’s go to the hot springs together.”
Technically, they were going to an overnight resort in the suburbs tomorrow.
She should tell him in advance to bring a change of clothes.
But that plan felt so embarrassing.
Inviting a guy to soak in a private hot spring and stay in a hotel looked, from some angles, like perverted behavior.
But... tomorrow he’ll be my “boyfriend”!
If we’re boyfriend and girlfriend, this invite is reasonable, she told herself forcefully.
He shouldn’t be mad;
considering he’s temporarily my boyfriend, I can be a little willful—he’ll accept it.
Yes! Right! That’s settled!
Anyway, she knew his measurements and had helped tailor clothes for him before. She could buy swim trunks and spare clothes at the mall.
Hotels would naturally have other daily necessities.
Her thoughts then drifted to his perfect physique.
She’d only measured over clothing before;
she had never seen him naked.
If he wore swim trunks tomorrow... the scene would be—!
“Ahhh—”
Yao Lingling buried her face in the pillow;
her heart pounded.
Originally she only wanted a casual date—holding hands, a hug. But learning that Tang Song was something of a ‘player’ had emboldened her.
Since he already had multiple girlfriends, being a little forward might not be a problem, right?
While her mind ran wild, the phone rang—her mother calling.
“Hello, Mom.”
“Lingling, are you settled in the new place? Is work busy? Are you used to the new home?” Her mother’s familiar concern came through.
“Everything’s fine. Don’t worry.”
They caught up for a bit.
Yao Lingling suddenly remembered: “By the way, I won’t come home this weekend. I’ll go next week.”
“What?” Her mother sounded hesitant. “What about Rourou’s thing...”
Yao Lingling waved it off. “Oh, you two go ahead. I’m invisible there anyway;
it makes no difference if I go or not.”
“That’s not the point. My daughter is a well-known designer now—I’ve been bragging to relatives. I want to show off a bit.”
“You’re still so childish. What’s there to show off?”
“You don’t know—your uncle’s been strutting like a peacock. My daughter finally made something of herself;
I’m allowed some pride, aren’t I?”
Yao Lingling laughed and teased her mom.
Her cousin Yao Rourou was the family’s success story—she got a provincial government job and had a new boyfriend who was an up-and-coming deputy section rank officer at the provincial development commission—definitely a rising star.
Uncle Yao had always liked to brag in front of relatives and was now riding high on the news;
they wanted to have a family dinner to show him off.
Yao Lingling had no interest in such gatherings, and with tomorrow’s date, she definitely wouldn’t go.
Her parents’ sudden enthusiasm for buying her a car was clearly because Su Yu had worn the jacket she designed—and social media exploded.
“By the way, Lingling, it’s getting colder. You still can’t be riding that little scooter everywhere—it’s dangerous. You should buy a car. Your father and I talked and can give you a 100,000 down payment. Pick something.”
“Wow?! That generous? Is that my stingy mother talking?”
“Cut it out. When was I stingy? Your salary has gone up—buy something nice, nothing under 300,000!”
“All right! With that, I’ll be bold and pick one.”
The mother-daughter banter continued cheerfully.
After hanging up, Yao Lingling leaned against the headboard and thought seriously.
She was the chief designer at Heyi, and with the shell jacket’s viral success, her income had risen sharply. Continued sales commissions were coming in.
A thirty to forty-thousand car was no longer an impossible dream.
She also understood that her mother’s sudden enthusiasm hid years of suppressed desire to show pride again. Her mother, born in the ’80s, had once been stylish and worked in clothing sales before several failed ventures left her running a neighborhood tailoring shop.
Those failures had been fodder for relatives’ gossip;
the competitive streak never left her.
Now that Lingling had accomplishments, her mother’s long-dormant pride flared up.
But none of that was the main point.
The key was tomorrow’s date.
She picked up the bikini she had bought for design inspiration.
The top was a gathered, supportive style with thick padding—but even so, it couldn’t hide her biggest flaw: a tiny A cup. Ridiculous.
She compared it to her own chest and sighed.
Then she stood and did a few hip-lifting exercises in the bedroom.
She dashed to the living room and faced the huge dressing mirror in the corner.
Slowly turning, she looked at her reflection from behind.
In an instant, all her insecurity evaporated.
Because of targeted butt workouts and a generous natural advantage, her waist-to-hip ratio was outrageously exaggerated.
As netizens said: waist-to-hip ratio is also a deadly weapon for attracting men.
Maybe my chest is lacking, but my butt is huge!
From the front a bikini might look average, but from behind... it would be a view Tang Song couldn’t take his eyes off.
After all, he had once patted it in the office...
Remembering this, she imitated Tang Song and gave her own butt a little pat.
“Pa-pa-pa~”
The crisp, slightly provocative sound echoed in the quiet living room.
Her cheeks flushed crimson.
Tomorrow would be the decisive battle!
...
November 25, 2023, Saturday, -6~3°C.
5:30 a.m.
His biological clock woke Tang Song on time.
Outside the window, the ink-dark world was still;
inside, the room was warm as spring.
The breath of early morning filled him with vibrant energy.
He walked to the large floor-to-ceiling window.
The curtains slid aside soundlessly.
Tang Song’s breath caught almost imperceptibly.
From some unknown moment, fine snowflakes had begun to fall.
The delicate flurries were like shredded willow fluff, swept by the cold wind between tall buildings, drifting down quietly against a gray-white sky.
On the street, orange street lamps lit up the snowflakes like countless dancing fireflies.
The whole city softened and blurred in the falling snow.
Yancheng’s first snow had arrived.
A subtle emotion rose in Tang Song’s chest.
He grabbed a sketchbook and pencil from the corner and sat by the window.
“Shh-shh-shh—”
The pencil tip slid across paper, producing small rhythmic sounds.
His wrist moved lightly;
long fingers traced precise, fluid lines.
Outlines of tall buildings, halos around street lamps, falling snow...
In a dozen minutes a snow-scape sketch, full of light and shadow details, was complete.
Tang Song admired it quietly for a moment, then smiled lightly as if having another idea.
He pulled out his phone and aimed the camera at the sketch he had just finished.
He hit record.
He pinched a corner of the paper with his hand and gave it a slight shake;
the page trembled.
Then he lifted the camera and pointed it at the snowy view outside.
He carefully adjusted focus and exposure so the distant lamp halos and the nearby falling snow would blend into a dreamy, beautiful texture.
After finishing, Tang Song went to the study.
He imported the two short videos into editing software on his computer.
His fingers flew across keyboard and mouse.
The city outside began to wake.
Half an hour later he previewed the video.
The footage opened with a silent black-and-white snow sketch. As the artist’s angular hand trembled, the paper seemed to ripple into motion.
Set to rhythmic music, the scene cut seamlessly to the city dawn outside, snow falling quietly.
Romantic and beautiful.
It was as if the world in his drawing had come alive at his fingertips.
After watching it several times, a bright smile spread across Tang Song’s face.
He transferred the video to his phone, opened Douyin, and uploaded it.
Caption: “This winter I want to watch the snow with you—not just this year, not just this winter, not just watching snow.”
He posted it in one go.
“Ding-dong—” A WeChat notification chimed immediately.
A new message popped up.
[Lingling: “(。>
V<
。) Ding-dong! Little Snow today turns sweet! Good morning, my dear boyfriend. Do you remember me—your girlfriend?”]
Tang Song chuckled and replied, “Good morning, my dear girlfriend. Up so early—were you missing me so much you couldn’t sleep?”
[Lingling: “Hmph, of course I missed you, but I won’t tell you how much (=wink)”]
They traded playful stickers back and forth.
Tang Song suggested, “Haven’t had breakfast yet, right? Want to eat together?”
[Lingling: “Yes yes! C-can I come to your place? I’ve never been to my boyfriend’s home. I want boyfriend-made breakfast with love~”]
[Lingling: pleading sticker]
Tang Song smiled and replied, “Of course. What do you want to eat? I’ll make it.”
[Lingling: “Anything you make I’ll love! I’ll lick the plate clean!”]
After some teasing, Tang Song sent the location of Yanjing Tiancheng and reminded her to message when she was near so he could come downstairs to pick her up.
While waiting, Tang Song went to the bathroom to properly wash up.
He shaved off the faint stubble on his chin and tidied his hair in the mirror.
Since he had promised his junior, he wanted to be the best “boyfriend” possible and make it feel ceremonial for her.
Admittedly, he also wanted to properly appreciate the junior’s prodigious butt—today was a good opportunity.
He went into the kitchen, opened the fridge, took out ingredients, and began to prepare breakfast.
At that moment, a piercing system notification sound rang out.
“Ding! Congratulations, player. Branch quest [Charm Manifestation] completed.”
“You gained [Charm +1]!”
“You obtained [Skill Pack *1]!”
Tang Song paused slightly, wiped his hands, and opened the Douyin app to check.
His follower count had quietly passed the one-million mark.
The video he’d posted at dawn had gone viral;
likes were nearing eighty thousand.
He opened the system interface and entered the inventory.
A treasure chest glowing with a soft light lay quietly inside.
He selected [Skill Pack] and opened it at once.
“Ding! You obtained active skill [Healing Hands Adjustment].”
[Healing Hands Adjustment]: Upon use, you automatically acquire basic theories of traditional Chinese medicine and Taiji health-preserving practices, and possess therapeutic palm techniques, meridian adjustments, and acupoint massage comparable to top-level therapy masters. When making physical contact with others, you can precisely sense their bodily stagnations and accurately adjust techniques to guide and harmonize them.
(Attached special effect: While using this skill, you will naturally exude a calm jade-like warmth and approachability, inspiring trust and comfort.)
[Note: When this skill is used with your hands, contact with the opposite sex may produce unexpected results.]