Chapter 53: Snow Country

Ruan Suhua returned quickly.

She had finished washing and dressing, her slightly curled black hair falling over her shoulders, a few damp strands clinging to her forehead. Her clear face had a subtle elegance, like a lotus emerging from pure water. She wore a black formal suit, both dignified and solemn.

She moved skillfully and gently beside the bed, dressing Yu Zhu with care. She carefully avoided his left hand while helping him with his morning wash, and once everything was properly arranged, she took him downstairs for breakfast.

Zhang Jingliang was seated at the dining table downstairs, with various breakfast dishes in front of him, lazily leaning back in his chair, sending a message on his phone.

“Yo, Miss is up early today,” he said, seeing Ruan Suhua. He sat up straight, spinning his phone in his fingers before tucking it into his pocket.

Ruan Suhua led Yu Zhu to sit across from him, waiting for the bowl of congee by his hand to cool before casually glancing at him.

Zhang Jingliang’s face broke into a playful smile as he looked at Yu Zhu. “Good morning, Xihe. Is your hand still hurting?”

Yu Zhu shook his head at Ruan Suhua’s attempt to feed him personally, his arm still fixed in a cast.

“That’s good. But you injured yourself carelessly this time. You’ll need another month to fully recover, and you have to be careful. Otherwise, you’ll suffer even more later.”

He had arrived at the villa yesterday afternoon, yet Ruan Suhua had not told him the true reason for Yu Zhu’s injury.

“I understand,” Ruan Suhua answered on his behalf.

“Miss, you know…” Zhang Jingliang picked up a slice of toast, pretending to sigh, glancing at Yu Zhu as he slowly spooned a bit of congee, “I can’t even blame you. Xihe has grown into someone like this. If I were a woman, I might have been completely enchanted by you, losing all reason.”

“Well, then I guess it’s hard to say who’s actually benefiting here.”

Yu Zhu finished the small portion of congee he could manage, sitting quietly as he looked at Zhang Jingliang.

Because of his previous surgery, he couldn’t eat anything too greasy or coarse. His appetite was minuscule—just one small bowl of plain congee per day.

He gave Zhang Jingliang a faint, meaningless smile. After all, the man had helped him and kept the villa from being too empty.

Zhang Jingliang froze mid-chew, staring for a while before speaking to the deliberately slow Yu Zhu and Ruan Suhua: “Honestly, Miss, in the end, you’re the one who’s lucky here.”

He muttered, “It’s unreasonable… Can anyone really grow up like this? It completely defies human limits… it’s just… not fair…”

Even after seeing it many times, he was inevitably stunned by her beauty.

Was she carefully crafted by Nüwa herself? Compared to ordinary humans like them, the difference was colossal.

How much virtue must Miss have accumulated in previous lives to meet him in this one, and to live together daily in this villa?

Ruan Suhua didn’t hesitate to place her hand on Yu Zhu’s. Her long eyelashes fluttered as she looked at him, saying to Zhang Jingliang: “I told you before, it’s just my luck.”

Her luck—so fortunate that everything could start anew.

Zhang Jingliang finished his toast, putting on a serious expression. “Tsk, you haven’t gone out in months. The Fu family, Su family, and other young ladies kept asking me, wondering what Miss Ruan has been up to all this time.”

“They also invited me to some banquets, but I refused.”

“No wonder they asked me then.”

“What did you tell them?”

“You didn’t give me any new reason in advance, so I just… said whatever.”

…

After breakfast, Zhang Jingliang gave Yu Zhu a full-body check, then spoke briefly with Ruan Suhua in the corridor before leaving.

In the study, Yu Zhu sat by the window, sunlight pouring in brilliantly, a gentle breeze stirring the deep green leaves outside.

He watched Zhang Jingliang get into his car, and after a while, vanish at the end of the shaded road.

Suddenly, a stabbing pain shot through his left hand. Yu Zhu bit his lip, gripping the armrest with his right hand, trying to endure the sudden pain.

The book resting on his lap began to slip. He had no strength to lift it, but as he slowly released his grip, another hand caught it.

Ruan Suhua had not gone to see Zhang Jingliang off personally. After speaking with him, she returned, changed clothes, and hurried to the study.

She would no longer leave the boy alone for too long. Even with a first-floor study with floor-to-ceiling windows, Xia Qingyi could still do something reckless—she shivered at the thought.

“Xihe, it doesn’t hurt anymore, it’s okay.”

Ruan Suhua set the book aside, sitting in front of him. She separated his fingers from the armrest and held his right hand firmly in both of hers.

When fully conscious, Yu Zhu rarely showed vulnerability. He endured physical pain calmly and coldly. Yet when the pain made his mind blur, the hurt and fragility on his face became impossible to hide, eliciting deep sympathy.

After a long while, the pain gradually subsided. Yu Zhu blinked, his sweat-blurred vision refocusing on Ruan Suhua.

“Xihe, shall we rest here for a while?”

She held his hand, genuinely feeling his pain. Sweat beaded delicately on her forehead.

Yu Zhu looked at her and shook his head lightly.

He was no longer in pain.

He had slept too long and wanted to enjoy the sunlight a little more.

“Then let’s rest here,” Ruan Suhua said softly. She didn’t insist, releasing his hand and picking up the book on the floor.

“Nothing else, just basking in the sun and reading.”

She turned the book to the first page, her voice faint and crisp, like fresh snow, reading the words aloud.

“Passing through the long tunnel at the county border, one enters the Snow Country. Beneath the night sky, all is white. The train stopped at the signal station…”

“A girl stood up from the seat opposite, opening the window before Shimamura’s seat. A rush of cold air swept in…”

It was Kawabata Yasunari’s Snow Country.

The sunlight warmed his body, and Ruan Suhua’s soft, clear voice seemed to mimic delicate snowflakes falling outside the window and the train.

Yu Zhu recalled a past day in C City, snow falling outside the villa. Through the curtain’s faint light, he could see pure, white flakes drifting down.

Su Zhi lay beside him, covering his eyes with her hand. “Don’t look,” she whispered.

Don’t look.

Yu Zhu glanced at his bandaged left hand, then back to the distant blue sky outside.

Xia Qingyi’s reckless actions in front of him, shedding her friendly mask, had forced him to delay what he wanted to do.

C City…

Yu Zhu lowered his gaze, Ruan Suhua continuing to read softly beside him:

“The evening scene moves behind the mirror, that is, the reflected image in the mirror moves like an overlay in a film…”

“…Especially when the lights from the mountains and fields shine on the girl’s face, the indescribable beauty nearly makes Shimamura’s heart tremble.”

A fleeting, illusory love, based on appearances.

A brief, extreme, and frenzied emotion.

Yet in this world, nothing lasts forever.

Yu Zhu looked at Ruan Suhua’s jade-like face in the sunlight, his thoughts in turmoil.