Shen Xiabai carried the fruit all the way to Chuyuan. He did not see a single maid or older servant along the way, and reached the courtyard without hindrance.
The body in the courtyard had vanished. Beneath the window of the main room, a pale-pink figure was crouched down, digging at the earth with her bare hands. A small mound of soil had already piled up beside her.
The woman had tied her sleeves up around her arms. A thick layer of snow lay across her shoulders, while the wind kept blowing her dark hair about. Her flushed profile was red from the cold.
Xing'er stood nearby holding an umbrella, but it could not shield her from all the wind and snow.
Shen Xiabai’s heart clenched painfully. He tossed the fruit to Yu Feng, strode forward, and gathered the girl on the ground into his arms.
“A Chu.”
She was ice-cold against him, without a trace of warmth.
Cui Yunchu’s fingernails were packed with dirt, black and filthy.
She raised her head and met Shen Xiabai’s reddened eyes, then smiled. “Why have you come again in broad daylight? Did you climb over the wall? Did you run into anyone?”
Shen Xiabai did not answer. He lowered his eyes to the pit she had dug, his brows drawing tightly together.
Cui Yunchu seemed to understand what he was thinking. With a smile, she said, “Don’t be afraid. Nanny Zhang’s body was carried out of the residence. It wasn’t buried here. I was only digging to pass the time.”
She pulled herself free of his arms and continued digging. “I haven’t gone mad. I wouldn’t bury a body beneath the window.”
Only someone who had lost their mind could do such a thing. She was not mad.
Shen Xiabai did not pull her away. Instead, he crouched beside her, using his body to shield her from most of the wind and snow. “Then why are you digging?”
“To pass the time,” Cui Yunchu replied. “Staying in the room was boring. I didn’t know what else to do, so I found something to occupy myself.”
She kept her head lowered, digging with great focus and force, as though she were completing some kind of task, wholly absorbed in it.
“A Chu.” He caught her icy wrist and tucked her hand into his sleeve to warm it. “Let me keep you company while you pass the time. All right?”
The corners of Cui Yunchu’s eyes were still red, but her lips remained curved upward. “I thought you wouldn’t come during the day.”
She smiled. “I used to love lying in bed, but today it felt awful.”
Whenever something painful happened in the past, she would sprawl on her bed like a corpse and sleep until she lost all sense of time. After lying there for several days, she would recover and become lively again.
But this time, no matter how much she tossed and turned, she could not get comfortable. Her heart kept tightening painfully, and she even felt a little nauseated.
She had thought he would not come today.
Cui Yunchu looked at the large, dark pit. “Once I dig a little deeper, wait until night falls, and then wait for dawn tomorrow, perhaps I’ll be all better again.”
Shen Xiabai said nothing. He silently took the oiled-paper umbrella from Xing’er and held it beside Cui Yunchu. “All right. I’ll stay with you. However deep you want to dig, I’ll help you.”
“It’s dirty. Don’t get your white clothes filthy.”
Shen Xiabai took her hand and pressed it against his sleeve, leaving a small black handprint behind.
Cui Yunchu stared at the tiny handprint. His sleeve had ridden up slightly, revealing the bite mark on the web between his thumb and forefinger. Cui Yunchu gazed at it without blinking.
After a while, she began digging again. But as the soil was lifted out, it was not only snow that fell—crystalline droplets fell as well.
Cui Yunchu was wearing very little. Shen Xiabai leaned against her side, doing his best to pass his warmth to her while helping her dig.
Suddenly, Cui Yunchu stopped. “I don’t want to dig anymore. Let’s go inside.”
“Good.”
Shen Xiabai handed the umbrella to Xing’er, then slipped one arm beneath Cui Yunchu’s knees and the other around her lower back, lifting her straight into his arms.
Cui Yunchu leaned against his chest, the corners of her eyes and brows bright red.
“I thought you wouldn’t come back today.”
She whispered those words into his ear again and again, as though delighted, astonished, aggrieved, and reluctant to let him go all at once.
Xing’er brought over hot water. Shen Xiabai took Cui Yunchu’s little hands and placed them in the basin, then carefully wiped them clean with a cloth.
“Fortunately, I came. I could keep you company and help you pass the time, so you didn’t have to dig all day.”
Cui Yunchu smiled.
“You’re right. If I’d known you were coming, I would have waited for you instead of digging.”
After draping a cloak over her shoulders, Shen Xiabai carried her onto his lap and carefully picked the dirt from beneath her fingernails.
The two of them lowered their heads, both watching Cui Yunchu’s fingers.
“Shen Xiabai, I want to celebrate my birthday.”
Shen Xiabai paused.
Yunchu said, “Having a birthday during a season of heavy snow would make it unforgettable. By next year, surely many people would remember it.”
“All right,” Shen Xiabai agreed.
“I want to invite every noble young lady in the capital, as well as the commanderies’ princesses and the imperial princesses, and have a grand celebration.”
Shen Xiabai’s movements stilled. He gently stroked her fingers, his voice tender. “How about waiting until after the New Year? When spring comes and the flowers bloom, you can invite anyone you wish.”
“No.” Yunchu frowned. “I want it while the snow is falling. The sooner, the better.”
Shen Xiabai lifted his eyes to look at her. Then, suddenly, he cradled the back of her neck and kissed her.
His kiss was gentler than any of their previous ones. His lips and tongue slowly traced the outline of hers before meeting the tip of her tongue.
“A Chu.” He placed his palm over her heart and rubbed it lightly. “Leave it to me. I’ll ease your pain.”
Cui Yunchu smiled, though her eyes filled with mist. “There’s a bitter taste in my mouth.”
“I bought you some sweet fruit.” Shen Xiabai opened the oiled paper packet on the small table, picked up a piece of fruit, and fed it to Cui Yunchu.
Cui Yunchu chewed and swallowed it. Shen Xiabai immediately picked up another and fed it to her.
The two leaned against each other, one eating and the other feeding her, never pausing.
“It’s very sweet.” Cui Yunchu’s eyes curved as she smiled. She wrapped her arms around Shen Xiabai’s neck and rested her head against his shoulder.
“Thank you.”
Cui Yunchu’s voice was very soft. At that moment, she seemed to understand what Yunfeng had said.
When someone cherished you to the depths of their soul, regarded you as their life, and stayed by your side through every storm, how could you bear to give them up?
At last, someone had come to ease her pain. When bitterness filled her mouth, he fed her fruit; he held her close and helped her through the lowest moments.
She no longer had to writhe restlessly in pain, peeling herself open layer by layer until she was raw and bloody, then stitching herself back together all over again.
“Before I met Lord Shen, Cui Yunchu was living perfectly well.” She murmured softly beside his ear.
There had always been many people who bullied her. No matter what methods they used, she had never let any of them off easily. Take that beast from the Gu family, for instance. Even if it meant killing an enemy at the cost of suffering a thousand wounds herself, he would never have been able to gain even half an advantage over Cui Yunchu!
Her voice was soft and gentle, yet it carried an immeasurable vitality and an unyielding stubbornness that refused to surrender.
Shen Xiabai curved his lips into a smile and gently stroked her head. “All right. Then I shall be A Chu’s shield. You need only charge forward. No more hesitating, and no more letting yourself be constrained by worrying about the consequences. Do as you please. No matter who it is, your Lord Shen can bear the responsibility.”
Cui Yunchu pulled her lips into a smile.
He was right. In the past, she had always hesitated, considering the consequences.
For example, if she had had Lord Shen back then, her foot would never have struck the Gu scion’s most vulnerable spot. Instead, the blade hidden in her sleeve would have been drawn, and she would have slashed it across that beast from the Gu family’s throat.
If she had Lord Shen, she would not have had to expose her scars before that old bastard time and again whenever she made a mistake and was ordered to kneel in the ancestral hall—bringing up her past and pretending to be pitiful just to escape punishment, afraid that he might truly let her freeze to death.
The very words Lord Shen had given her boundless courage.
From then on, she too dared to stake everything on a single gamble. After all, someone was there to back her.
With reddened eyes, Cui Yunchu leaned against his shoulder. She lifted one hand to cup Shen Xiabai’s chin, turning his face toward her. “Lord Shen, I find myself falling more and more in love with you.”
She leaned forward slightly and took the initiative to press her red lips to his.
The two of them were so lost in their kiss that they failed to notice Yu Feng enter. He hurriedly covered his eyes and backed out, then reported, “My lord, the Ministry of Justice has sent word. They’ve agreed to your terms.”
Shen Xiabai drew away from Yunchu’s soft lips and brushed the loose strands of hair from her forehead back behind her ear. “White and red make the finest contrast. I’ll take A Chu to collect a little interest.”
Who knew whether warm blood could melt the snow of winter?
