Chapter 117 Growing Old Together: When He Ming opened his eyes again, his handsome face was inches away...
"Do you still want to play in the snow?" He Ming asked, shoving the gloves into her hands.
Zhu Liushuang thought she had misheard, and froze, momentarily forgetting to reply.
Her silence gave the man the wrong impression, leading him to believe that she was unwilling, so the engine started up again.
"Yes!" Zhu Liushuang said urgently, gripping her gloves tightly as the car was about to leave.
The man stopped driving, turned his head to carefully examine her expression, and after confirming that she really wanted to play in the snow, he slightly raised his chin and said, "Then put on your gloves."
Gloves?
Is it the pair she's holding?
But it's huge! It's almost the size of both of her hands!
Zhu Liushuang glanced at the gloves silently, and was about to ask him who knitted them, but He Ming seemed to have read her mind and took the initiative to explain.
"These gloves were knitted by my grandmother before she passed away. I haven't worn them much. They're a bit big, but at least they keep me warm, so I'll just have to make do with them..."
He Ming's maternal grandmother and maternal grandfather passed away in the same year, which is now six or seven years ago.
From this perspective, he is not cold-hearted at all; in fact, he can be described as an extremely sentimental person.
Zhu Liushuang lowered her eyes and couldn't say a word, only silently putting her hands into her gloves. After putting them on, she raised her two hands, which were bulging from being wrapped up, to show him.
"It feels like ants have crawled into a bean husk..." she said exaggeratedly as she shook it, "but it's lined with a thin fleece, so it's really warm and not prickly at all."
"Okay, it's good that you can wear it. Get off the bus."
The left car door opened, letting in a blast of cold air. Zhu Liushuang, however, felt no cold at all; her heart and eyes were filled with the joy of playing in the snow with He Ming.
She got out of the car after him, and as soon as her feet touched the ground, a large black umbrella appeared overhead.
With a slight thought in her mind, Zhu Liushuang, filled with excitement and nervousness, walked with him towards the large lawn covered with white snow.
————
Under the streetlights, the thin layer of snow on the ground shimmered with a warm luster, like cheese cream mixed with gold leaf.
Once she reached the center of the lawn, Zhu Liushuang's eagerness finally burst forth. She squatted down and started rolling snowballs. After finishing one, she enthusiastically rolled a second one.
"Build a snowman?" The man standing beside her, helping to hold the umbrella, realized her intention.
Zhu Liushuang patted the snowball and smiled shyly: "Isn't that a bit childish?"
He Ming didn't answer directly, but took the snowball from her hand and placed it on top of another one: "The snow isn't thick enough yet, but we should be able to build a bigger one tomorrow."
Zhu Liushuang wasn't particular about the size of the snowman. What she enjoyed was simply the pleasure of being alone with him.
The suggestion to play in the snow was impromptu, and they didn't bring any tools or accessories, so naturally they couldn't build a decent snowman.
Looking at the two bare snowballs in front of her, she pouted and muttered, "No nose, no eyes, so ugly..."
Someone gently touched her sleeve, and the person next to her opened their palm as if by magic, revealing two small gray-black pebbles lying in their large palm.
"Oh... eyes!" Zhu Liushuang exclaimed in surprise.
She had no idea when he had dug up those two stones.
After putting the snowman's eyes on, the man squatting beside her handed her an umbrella and walked away to break off a dry branch. She remained squatting, gazing at him from afar. In the swirling snow, the man strode towards her.
She couldn't wait to straighten up and run towards him, her footprints overlapping on the snow.
"Why are you breaking branches, senior?" He was much taller than her, so she had to stand on tiptoe to support him.
"The snowman has a nose and...arms?" He Ming glanced at the withered tree branch, answering her question while taking the umbrella from her.
As the weight in her hands lightened, Zhu Liushuang's tiptoes landed firmly on the ground.
She had actually noticed some details quite early on, for example—
He Ming would habitually tilt the umbrella towards her when he held it up.
That was true before, and it will be true tonight.
Back at the place where they built the snowman, Zhu Liushuang added a nose and arms to the snowman according to He Ming's idea. After the decoration was finished, the two of them took a few steps apart and observed it for a while.
"Ugh—it's still so ugly!" she said honestly, puffing out her cheeks.
He Ming gazed at her round, chubby cheek and said very softly, "Quite cute."
"Cute...Are you sure?" Zhu Liushuang asked disapprovingly, hands on her hips.
"Hmm—" The last syllable of her voice carried a faint hint of amusement.
She naturally had no idea whether He Ming was referring to her or commenting on the snowman when he said "cute."
Although the two disagreed, they did not continue arguing on the topic, because Zhu Liushuang had another idea.
"Senior, do you want to have a snowball fight?" She blinked and looked at him expectantly.
Upon receiving the signal, He Ming asked helplessly, "Are you sure?"
The tone was as if it were a warning to her in advance: don't cry if you get hit.
"Yes! The last time I had a snowball fight was in junior high... It was organized by the PE teacher. My pants and shoes got all wet, and my mom scolded me when I got home, but it was so much fun..." she said, her face beaming. "Has it been a long time since you've had a snowball fight, senior?"
"Yeah, it's been many years since I played it."
"Then how about... I help you review it?" While speaking, Zhu Liushuang bent down, grabbed a handful of snow, quickly kneaded it into a ball, and threw it at He Ming.
Before the man could react, he was hit by a snowball that exploded in his chest.
The perpetrator, having succeeded, laughed and ran away, disappearing to a more distant place.
He Ming deliberately frowned and said in a serious tone, "Playing a sneak attack?"
No sooner had he finished speaking than he grabbed a handful of snow and retaliated.
Unfortunately, Zhu Liushuang was prepared. Like a nimble little deer, she nimbly dodged his pursuit.
The giggles echoed across the snow-covered ground as two figures, one tall and one short, chased each other. If someone were to pass by and watch, a few glances would be enough to tell that the man was intentionally letting the woman win.
"Senior, you have such a high shooting percentage in basketball, but you can't hit me at all in the snowball fight. Are you secretly letting me win?" Zhu Liushuang stopped panting after playing for a while and asked suspiciously.
He Ming said without changing his expression, "I didn't hold back, you just reacted quickly."
Overjoyed by the praise, Zhu Liushuang's smile grew increasingly unrestrained: "Let's do it again... This time I'll try to run a little slower... Senior, throw it quickly..."
The smiling face grew increasingly blurry, so He Ming made another snowball and threw it at Zhu Liushuang.
Compared to his previous restraint, this time he used more force, and with a "smack," the snowball accurately hit her side waist.
Zhu Liushuang, who was laughing heartily just a moment ago, suddenly wilted, squatted down on the ground, and buried her face in her knees as if in pain.
He Ming was taken aback, then threw away the remaining half of the snowball in his hand and strode towards her: "Liu Shuang?"
Looking at the woman whose shoulders were trembling, the man's voice carried a hint of annoyance.
With his lips pressed tightly together, he bent down to check on her, but suddenly a pair of bright almond-shaped eyes entered his field of vision.
It turned out that her trembling shoulders weren't suppressing a sob, but rather restraining a laugh.
"Just kidding!" Zhu Liushuang looked up, smiling slyly, and suddenly threw a snowball that had been poised to strike, slapping his cheek and then sliding down his neck.
The icy touch sent chills down his spine. He Ming chuckled helplessly, "Not bad acting—"
“That’s for sure…” Zhu Liushuang said smugly.
Before he could finish speaking, a snowball hit him, and the man revealed a rare youthful innocence: "All's fair in war—"
She jumped up from the ground and ran after him. She managed to grab the back of his coat with all her might, but he suddenly turned around and pulled her back. The two forces collided, and due to inertia, they both fell into the soft snow.
Amidst the gasps of surprise, Zhu Liushuang felt dizzy, a gust of wind swept through her mind, and when she opened her eyes again, He Ming's handsome face was right in front of her.
Their breaths mingled as he braced himself with one hand directly above her and the other hand firmly protecting the back of her head.
Zhu Liushuang tensed up, staring blankly at him.
The snowflakes continued to fall from the night sky, but at this moment, her eyes could see nothing but him.
He Ming's pupils were like a tranquil pool of seawater, beckoning her to look down. There, not only was her reflection hidden, but also an indescribable emotion.
The man's breath enveloped her tightly, and Zhu Liushuang felt like she could hardly breathe.
"Senior..." she said, her thin lips moving slightly as she offered an innocent smile.
The pristine snow made her skin appear even whiter with a hint of pink. Her delicate face was no bigger than the palm of a hand, and every smile and frown she made became an invisible catalyst in the man's eyes.
He Ming swallowed hard, and suddenly felt the blood rushing to his head.
Before he realized something was about to happen, he hurriedly stepped back, awkwardly withdrew his hand, and lay down to the side.
Zhu Liushuang felt a little uncomfortable as the warmth behind her head suddenly disappeared.
She slowly sat up from the ground and looked around. The lawn was covered with their footprints. Some were mostly covered by fresh snow, while others were still clearly visible.
Her gaze shifted back to He Ming.
He was lying flat on his back, his legs casually crossed, his arms bent and resting behind his head.
Snowflakes fell on his dark forehead and hair, turning his thick eyebrows white.
Suddenly, a sentence popped into Zhu Liushuang's mind.
"To stay together forever, until our hair turns white."
She had heard that phrase on his radio program sometime in the past.
One winter, he climbed Changbai Mountain alone and took a picture of the road sign with this vow engraved on it halfway up the mountain...
Tonight, their hair was all white with snow.
She secretly thought that this could be considered another way of "growing old together".
A figure appeared beside me.
The man, who hadn't spoken until now, sat up and asked her gently, "Liu Shuang, are you feeling any happier now?"
That entire night, he didn't ask her what was wrong.
Zhu Liushuang then thought her acting was flawless.
It wasn't until he asked that question that she belatedly realized he knew.
He can sense everything.
She caught her breath, then forced a smile and said, "I'm so much happier, so incredibly happy."
"That's good. Are you going back?" the man asked after a moment of silence.
Zhu Liushuang asked in surprise, "Why don't you ask me what happened tonight?"
The man stood up and reached out to pull her along: "If you want to talk about it, you'll naturally tell me. If you don't want to, why should I force you to recall those unhappy things?"
The umbrella was opened again, and she walked beside him, her mood brightening even more.
The headlights of cars on the roadside not far away shone white, illuminating their way home.
Zhu Liushuang thought: Whether she said it or not didn't seem to matter that much. Because she no longer cared about those who had passed through her life so quickly.
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Author's Note: [Loud-eared rabbit head] Senior He's affection for Shuangshuang is purely physical! It was from the very beginning! Later, it developed into a love that encompassed both body and soul. [Cat head]
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