clothing
Winter came suddenly and fiercely. Overnight, the ground outside the window turned white. The cold wind blew on the glass, making a whistling sound.
When Lin Xiyan woke up, he felt a bone-chilling chill in the air. He shrank back and sat up from beneath the thin blanket. The rental house had no heating, and his breath turned to white mist.
He opened the small, old wardrobe; it was completely bare. The thickest items were his spring and autumn school uniform and a thin, long-sleeved shirt that had become loose at the collar from washing. He silently took out the long-sleeved shirt and put it on under his school uniform, zipping it up to the top to try and keep out the cold.
It seemed... it was useless. The cold wind seeped through every pore, seeping through the cracks in the fabric and numbing his fingertips. But he was used to it. He had always gotten through winter like this before. Just endure it, and it would pass.
He shouldered his schoolbag, pushed open the poorly windproof door, and walked into the blizzard. The cold wind pierced his face like a knife, instantly turning his exposed skin red with cold. He lowered his head, buried his face in his collar, which was of no use at all, and inched his way towards the school.
When he reached the classroom door, he was almost unconscious from the cold, his fingers were stiff and uncontrollable, and a thin layer of white frost formed on his eyelashes.
The classroom was heated to the hilt, and the heat wave that hit him made him shiver violently. The noisy voices and the heat mixed together to create an atmosphere that was incompatible with the coldness that surrounded him.
He lowered his head, trying not to attract attention as he walked towards his seat. As he passed the back row of the classroom, he heard familiar laughter.
Jiang Yibai was huddled together with Lu Panji and He Yunling, laughing so hard his shoulders were shaking. He was wearing a warm-looking black turtleneck sweater, casually layered with a cashmere jacket. His cheeks were rosy, and his fingers twirled a pen nimbly, looking well-cared for and oblivious to the cold.
Lin Xiyan quickly averted his gaze and walked over to his window seat. The cold desk and chair made him shudder again. He put down his schoolbag and tried to rub his frozen hands, but found that his fingers were completely unresponsive, and his movements were clumsy and stiff.
The laughter in the back row suddenly stopped.
A shadow fell.
Lin Xiyan looked up. Jiang Yibai had unknowingly stood beside his desk. The smile on his face had vanished without a trace. Those purple eyes stared at him unblinkingly, his brows knitted tightly together, revealing a clear sense of… heartache and disbelief.
"Is this all you're wearing?" Jiang Yibai's voice was a little tense, his eyes swept from the collar of his thin school uniform to the cuffs of the thin long sleeves that covered nothing at all, and finally landed on his fingers that were red and even a little blue from the cold.
Lin Xiyan subconsciously wanted to retract her fingers into her sleeves, but Jiang Yibai grabbed them faster.
The coldness of the tentacles made Jiang Yibai's pupils shrink suddenly, as if he was frozen, and his heart also tightened violently. These were not hands at all, they were like two pieces of ice!
"I..." Lin Xiyan tried to pull her hand back, but it was held tighter. Jiang Yibai's palm was burning hot, and the warmth made his frozen skin sting.
"Aren't you cold?" Jiang Yibai raised his voice a little, not questioning, but with a kind of almost anxious heartache. He simply couldn't imagine how this person could have walked through the wind and snow.
Lu Panji and He Yunling also came over, and when they saw Lin Xiyan's outfit and how cold she was, the smiles on their faces disappeared.
"Damn, Lin Xiyan, you're only wearing this? It's below zero today, brother!" Lu Panji was shocked.
He Yunling didn't say anything, just frowned.
Lin Xiyan felt even more uncomfortable being surrounded by them. He lowered his head and said weakly, "...It's okay. I'm used to it."
"What habit?" Jiang Yibai seemed stung by the words, his tone a little anxious, but there was still no trace of blame, only heartache and anxiety. He held Lin Xiyan's hand, trying in vain to warm the two pieces of ice with his body temperature, but found that it had little effect.
He suddenly let go of his hand, and before Lin Xiyan could react, he started to take off his cashmere coat which looked very expensive.
"Put it on." He put the coat, which still carried his body temperature and scent, on Lin Xiyan without saying a word.
"No!" Lin Xiyan shrank back suddenly as if she was scalded, and refused in a panic, "You put it on yourself... I'm not cold, really..."
That coat was too expensive and too warm. It carried Jiang Yibai's clean and pleasant scent. He couldn't have it.
"How come you're not cold? Your hands are so cold!" Jiang Yibai ignored his refusal and stubbornly pushed the coat onto his shoulders, his tone anxious and distressed, "Put it on quickly! You'll catch a cold!"
"I really..." Lin Xiyan frantically resisted, her voice filled with pleading, "...No need."
One of them insisted on giving it, while the other tried desperately to avoid it, and a small, silent tug-of-war formed at the desk.
Lu Panji and He Yunling watched from the side and could not help.
Jiang Yibai watched as Lin Xiyan's lips turned purple from the cold, yet she still stubbornly refused. His anxiety instantly turned into an overwhelming sense of weakness and helplessness. He knew that forcing her wouldn't work.
He suddenly stopped, his hand holding his coat dropping. His shoulders slumped, and he lowered his head slightly. His hair obscured his eyes, obscuring his expression. He looked as if he had been doused with a bucket of cold water, completely limp.
"...Oh." He uttered a low, single sound, his voice muffled, with a heavy nasal tone and obvious frustration and grievance. "You would rather freeze... than take my things."
He raised his eyes, his purple eyes misty with moisture, as if he had suffered a great injustice. He stared at Lin Xiyan, his eyelashes trembling: "Am I so... annoying to you?"
The change in expression was so swift and the difference was so huge. Just a moment ago, he was so anxious and angry, and in an instant he turned into an abandoned puppy.
Lin Xiyan was completely stunned, all his attempts to refuse froze in mid-air. He looked at Jiang Yibai, who looked so aggrieved that he was about to cry, and his heart felt like it was being squeezed hard, aching and numb.
"No... I..." He was incoherent, not knowing how to explain. He wasn't annoying, he was... unworthy, afraid, used to carrying it all alone.
"Then why don't you want it?" Jiang Yibai pressed on, his voice lower and more aggrieved. He took a small step forward and gently handed the coat, which still carried his body temperature, to him, as if offering a treasure and begging him, "Put it on, okay? Look, I've taken it off, and I'm cold too..."
As he spoke, he sniffed very lightly, as if he was really cold, and looked at Lin Xiyan with moist eyes, which were full of accusations of "I will be sad to death if you don't wear it."
Lu Panji was stunned watching from the side and mouthed to He Yunling: "Fuck! Here it comes again!"
He Yunling turned his face away silently, his shoulders shaking slightly.
Lin Xiyan looked at the clothes being handed to her, then at Jiang Yibai's expression that said, "If you don't agree, I'll cry right now!" All the words of rejection got stuck in her throat. The familiar feeling of powerlessness against Jiang Yibai's direct and coquettish behavior surged up again.
He... he really is...
Finally, as if he had exhausted all his strength, he sighed very softly, his shoulders relaxed slightly, and his voice was so low that it was almost inaudible: "...I don't hate you."
Jiang Yibai's eyes lit up instantly, but he still maintained an aggrieved expression. He pushed the coat forward even further and said, "Put it on then?"
Lin Xiyan was silent for a few seconds, her eyelashes trembled, and finally, very slowly, she nodded.
Jiang Yibai's expression instantly brightened, and his smile blossomed like the sun, without a trace of grievance left. He immediately stepped forward and carefully draped his large coat, still warm from his body, over Lin Xiyan's shoulders, carefully gathering the front of it, as if to wrap him up completely.
The remaining body heat and clean breath on the coat instantly enveloped Lin Xiyan, dispelling the chill that surrounded him. The warmth was so hot that his heart was trembling.
"Put your hand in." Jiang Yibai was still not satisfied. He opened the sides of his jacket and motioned him to put his hands into the sleeves.
Like an obedient puppet, Lin Xiyan clumsily thrust her cold hands into the overly wide sleeves. The cuffs were long, leaving only a tiny bit of her fingertips visible.
Jiang Yibai looked at him wrapped in his coat, looking even thinner, and smiled with satisfaction. He reached out and took Lin Xiyan's hand, including the long sleeve, and rubbed it in his palm.
"Are you feeling warmer?" he asked, his eyes sparkling.
"...Yeah." Lin Xiyan lowered his head, his voice muffled by the collar of his coat. It wasn't just warm, it was almost burning.
Jiang Yibai was finally satisfied and rubbed his hair: "Be good."
He then seemed to remember that he would feel cold too, and rubbed his arms: "Hiss, it's really a bit cold." After that, he ran back to his seat happily, took out a spare sweater from his schoolbag and put it on.
Lu Panji and He Yunling exchanged a look that said "there's no hope".
Lin Xiyan stood there, tightly wrapped in the overly large coat that was filled with Jiang Yibai's scent. Her cold body gradually warmed up, and her silent heart seemed to be soaked in warm water, feeling sore and hot.
The cold wind was still howling outside the window, but for the first time, he felt that this winter seemed... not so unbearable.
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