She turned and pushed open the door, walking out. The guards outside tried to stop her, but Rong Heng seemed to sense something and said, "Let her go."
Stepping out of the teahouse, Zhu Jiayu took a deep breath. The first snow of the year was falling slowly, and pedestrians on the long street hurried home. Vendors also began to pack up and head back. Not far away, someone carrying a twenty-four-ribbed green umbrella walked slowly through the surging crowd and the fluttering new snow to her.
"Hearing you were here, I wondered if you had brought an umbrella." The man held an umbrella in one hand and pulled her under it from the teahouse entrance with the other, his jade-like fingers long and smooth.
Zhu Jiayu grabbed his hand and looked up at him, asking, "So you came to pick me up? Aren't you afraid of missing me? What if I brought an umbrella? What if I left?"
"More than anything, I'm worried about how long you'll have to wait here alone until the snow stops if you don't have an umbrella. The cold is getting worse, and I don't want you to catch a cold. It's okay if you make a wasted trip."
Ahead of them, there was a young man holding an umbrella who had gone to the shop to pick up his wife and take her home. Zhu Jiayu squeezed Wei Qinglou's hand: "What others have, I have too."
Wei Qinglou tilted the umbrella towards her and replied softly, "Even if there are, you have more than they do."
He didn't ask her how she got from the Ning residence to here, nor did he ask who she had met. He simply held up an umbrella to shield her from the wind and snow.
His girl had endured so much suffering before finally reaching his side. Today, and for the rest of her life, through all the storms and snow, he would stay by her side, holding an umbrella for her and adding layers of clothing for her.
Red crepe lanterns swayed in the wind in front of the small buildings lining the long street, and fine white snowflakes fell on their raven-feather-like long hair. Behind them was a vast sky and a sky full of white snow.
As they walked home, their heads were covered in frost and snow; though not yet white-haired, they were already white-haired.
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Here it comes! You've all been waiting a long time!
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