Chapter 116 "I'm freezing to death...and...I'm heartbroken!"
Lu Yu squatted down and picked up the frozen Manta roses in the lake. There was a thin string behind each flower, and a piece of paper was left in the glass bottle of the thin string.
"Would you like to open it and take a look?" Lu Yu picked up the glass bottles one by one and handed them to Lin Che slowly.
Lin Che pulled up the hem of her down jacket, then squatted down and took the glass bottle from Lu Yu's hand.
He unscrewed the sealed bottle cap and poured out the rolled paper inside.
His fingertips trembled slightly as he slowly unfolded the piece of paper that was slightly moistened by moisture.
On the first note was Lu Yu's powerful handwriting.
"I'm having a headache revising the third edition of the project plan. I thought if you were there to help me out, maybe it wouldn't be so difficult."
Lin Che chuckled, his nose aching. He looked up at Lu Yu, who was staring at him intently, his eyes reflecting the light of snow and anticipation, with a subtle hint of nervousness.
He reached for the second bottle. The note unfolded:
"After a transoceanic meeting at three in the morning, it was snowing outside the window. I suddenly wanted to take you to see real snow."
Lin Che's throat churned. He could imagine the scene. In the quiet of the night, Lu Yu stood alone in front of the French window, wearily gazing at the snow in a foreign country, his mind filled with the thought of bringing him to see the snow.
The third bottle:
"The owner of the Reindeer Farm asked me why I prepared so many roses. I said, I wanted to make someone happy and was afraid one rose wouldn't be enough."
Lin Che's heart skipped a beat, and his fingertips stroked the edge of the note.
The fourth bottle:
"The guide who dug the ice cave said I was a romantic lunatic. I said, 'Probably.' After meeting him, my rationality often took a leave of absence."
One by one, Lu Yu's whispers that he would never express in his daily life, his thoughts and plans hidden in between his busy work and late at night in a foreign country, were all laid out in front of Lin Che without reservation through these small pieces of paper.
"The aurora forecast says there's a high probability of seeing one tonight. If you're lucky, I hope you can see it. The light in your eyes should be more beautiful than any aurora."
"Hot cocoa needs double cream, I know. Finnish cream is very fragrant, you should like it."
"Cheng Yi said that shortening my schedule was self-torture. He didn't know that the thought of being able to take you out was like taking stimulants no matter how tired I was."
"Actually, I'm a little nervous. I'm worried you'll feel cold, that the itinerary isn't good enough, that... you won't like it enough."
The last note, the handwriting seemed a little sloppy:
"Lin Che, the legend of Magic Mirror Lake may not work, but I know what I desire most. It's for you to be by my side forever."
All the notes were spread out in Lin Che's palm, like feathers carrying love. He clenched the notes tightly, as if holding Lu Yu's burning sincerity.
Lu Yu kept looking at him quietly, watching him read every note and watching the emotions surging in his eyes.
Until Lin Che raised his head, his eyes, which always had a bit of cunning and laziness, were now filled with emotion and heartache that were almost overflowing.
"Lu Yu..." Lin Che's voice was heavily nasal. He took a deep breath of cold air, trying to suppress the heat surging in his chest. "You are such a... complete fool!" He cursed with a sob, but there was no blame in his tone, only surging love.
He pounced forward, his thick down jacket hitting Lu Yu's arms. He wrapped his arms tightly around his waist and buried his face deeply in the crook of his neck that smelled of cedar and coldness.
"I'm freezing to death...and...I'm heartbroken!" A muffled voice came from the side of Lu Yu's neck, with a hint of moisture.
Lu Yu was knocked back slightly by him, and then he caught him steadily, hugging the slightly trembling body in his arms with both arms, "It's worth it. With you, everything is worth it."
When Lu Yu's kiss fell, Lin Che's eyelashes were still wet, and a white mist of mixed breath briefly filled the space between the two of them.
Lin Che panted slightly, resting her forehead against Lu Yu's. Their noses touched, absorbing each other's scent and warmth. Her cheeks flushed with a charming blush from the lingering kiss and the warmth surging in her heart.
Lu Yu's thumb gently wiped away the remaining moisture from the corners of his eyes, and his deep eyes were filled with a tenderness that almost drowned people.
He lowered his head and gently kissed Lin Che's slightly swollen lips again, then one hand was still firmly around Lin Che's waist, and the other hand slowly covered the back of Lin Che's hand that was placed on his chest.
Lin Che's heart skipped a beat when Lu Yu's hand came over him. He looked up at Lu Yu in confusion, not understanding the meaning of this gesture.
Lu Yu didn't say anything, but his deep eyes looked straight at Lin Che. He guided Lin Che's hand, which was wrapped by him, and slowly reached into the bulging pocket on the outside of his down jacket, which was where the Manta rose was hidden before.
Lin Che's fingers felt a little cold. When they touched the edge of the soft petals in his pocket again, he thought Lu Yu was going to give him another flower. His heart softened and he was about to say "enough" when Lu Yu's fingers guided him and gently pushed the flower away.
Instead of touching the new flower stem, the fingertips touched a smaller, cold object with hard edges.
It is hidden under the soft rose petals and is well protected.
Lin Che was slightly startled, and looked up at Lu Yu in confusion. The corners of Lu Yu's lips curved into a very shallow but extremely gentle arc, and his eyes encouraged him.
With a hint of curiosity and inexplicable throbbing, Lin Che's fingers, under Lu Yu's guidance, carefully reached in and gently pinched the cold, ring-shaped little thing.
Just as he was about to pinch it with his fingertips, Lu Yu wrapped his hand and steadily took it out of the warm pocket.
As they moved together, the pale pink Manta rose that served as a cover was gently brought out, and the flower stem drooped gracefully.
And at the end of the flower stem, in the dazzling halo of golden sunset light reflected through the ice, a silver-white ring was firmly wrapped around the bottom of the slender flower stem. It slid down silently with the movement and fell precisely into Lin Che's palm covered by Lu Yu.
The cold metal felt clearly on the palm of my hand, carrying a heavy weight.
Lin Che's breathing stopped instantly.
He almost held his breath as he watched Lu Yu's hand, which was covering the back of his hand, slowly move away.
Without any obstruction, the object in the palm of his hand was completely exposed to the pure snow light and the faint glow of the aurora.
That's a ring.
Lu Yu slowly knelt on one knee in the snow, the ice making a slight crackling sound beneath his knee. His movements were solemn and pious, as if this icy lake under the aurora was the most sacred temple.
"The ring I gave you three years ago," he said in a low and gentle voice, especially clear in the silent snowfield, "was the first time I learned to express my love. I was so clumsy back then, I couldn't even utter a proper word."
Lin Che's fingertips trembled slightly, and the ring reflected a brilliant light in his palm. He looked down at Lu Yu, who knelt before him. His deep brows were filled with seriousness. Snowflakes landed on his eyelashes, then quickly melted away in the white mist he exhaled.
"Later, I kept thinking," Lu Yu gently held Lin Che's hand, "If I had done a little better back then, I wouldn't have let you secretly be sad for so long."
Lin Che's eyes became hot again.
Lu Yu's thumb gently stroked his knuckles. "I've been preparing for this for a long time. From choosing the location to predicting the aurora, from the rose variety to the hot cocoa recipe." He paused, his voice softer. "I even wrote more than a dozen versions of the proposal."
Lin Che chuckled, but her tears fell even harder. This man, who was always decisive in the business world, actually pondered over a single confession.
"In the end, I found that none of them were good enough." Lu Yu looked up at him, the gradually brightening aurora reflected in his eyes, "So I thought, why not write down for you everything I haven't had time to say in the past three years."
He pointed to the glass bottles floating in the ice cave, each of which carried a few words of longing.
"Now," Lu Yu took a deep breath and gently picked up the ring from Lin Che's palm, "I want to stand under the aurora, with heaven and earth as witnesses, and ask you again—"
The ring shone with a warm luster in the cold wind, and the inner ring was engraved with the initials of their names and the words "My Aurora".
"Lin Che, are you willing to let me be your legal husband? This isn't a commercial marriage, it's not a contractual relationship. It's simply because I love you, from soul to blood, without a single falsehood."
The aurora was at its peak at this moment, and the emerald green light bands rolled and danced in the night sky, enveloping the two hugging people in a dreamy halo.
Through her tear-stained eyes, Lin Che saw that Lu Yu's usually calm eyes were also gleaming with tears.
He suddenly threw himself into Lu Yu's arms and cried out in a sobbing voice: "I do! Of course I do!"
Lu Yu solemnly put the cold ring on his ring finger, fitting perfectly.
Lu Yu hugged him tightly, their down jackets rustling against each other. Lin Che buried her face in his shoulder, inhaling the familiar scent of cedar, and heard a whisper of laughter in her ear, "How would you rate this proposal?"
Lin Che looked up and put on a deliberately stern face: "Just barely passing." But the moment Lu Yu raised an eyebrow, she broke her composure and leaned forward to kiss him with a smile, "I kid you not, it's a perfect score, always."
Lu Yu looked up at the aurora in the sky, then looked down to see Lin Che's eyes filled with the reflection of the aurora, just like the first time he saw him.
The eyes seemed to be filled with fragments of the entire galaxy, and beneath this brilliance, they were now filled with love that was brighter and hotter than the aurora.
Lu Yu suddenly felt his throat tighten. It turned out that he didn't need those repeatedly revised proposal words, he didn't need carefully calculated romance, and he didn't even need the witness of the aurora sky.
Because the look Lin Che gave him always gave him the answer.
It turned out that the answer he wanted was written in the other person's eyes when he looked at him.
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