Kun Lun gave the old man the look to hold his tongue.
Li Yuan’s voice was raspy as he looked at the old man and asked, “Where’s the girl at the gate?”
The old man was taken aback for a moment before nodding. “I gave her an umbrella and told her to go home.”
Li Yuan hummed in acknowledgment and told Kun Lun not to come along as he wheeled himself to the door and quietly looked out to the gate.
The old man whispered a question to Kun Lun. “Is the young lady whom the young master is looking for?”
Kun Lun bobbed his head. “Yes.”
The old man sighed in frustration and worriedly added, “I should have given her a jacket. What if she catches a cold in this heavy snow?”
So it turned out the young lady was the girl who saved the young master’s life. With a smile so sweet and warm as hers, it was no wonder the young master could not take his mind off of her.
Putting the umbrella aside, Shen Xi sat on the stone steps at the gate and whipped out her phone to send a text message. ‘Brother, it’s snowing.’
Following a vibration to the phone on his lap, Li Yuan lowered his head to read the message. As tenderness slowly replaced the desolation and bleakness in his eyes, his slender fingers tapped out a reply on the screen. “Are you home yet?”
After reading the text, Shen Xi looked up to glance at the plaque above. Feeling lifted from the heavy mood, she replied to him, “Not yet. Are you cold there?”
Was it snowing over at his side? Was it very cold? Did he layer up his clothes? Did he eat well? Did he sleep well? Did Kun Lun take good care of him? There were simply so many worries in her mind.
Li Yuan took a glance at the gate. His fair lady was there right now, but he did not have the courage to meet her in his current state. He answered her, “Not at all. Hurry home.”
It was cold outside. He wondered if she wore clothes warm enough when she attended Old Master Situ’s birthday banquet at the Situ’s residence. Was she scared now that the sky was dark?
His little lady was a chipmunk when food was involved. Her tummy must be protesting since she missed her dinner.
With a smile on her lips, Shen Xi turned back to look at the gate as affection overtook her body. She typed. “I’ll head back in a bit.”
Li Yuan had no idea what she was up to at the gate, but she knew a smart girl like his fair lady would have guessed his identity. He urged her. “Isn’t it snowing? You should return home soon.”
Shen Xi responded. “I’m looking at the snow and will make a move in a sec.”
She wanted to stay a little longer. This was his home, a place he was sentimentally attached to the most and where his deepest pain lay.
Filled with heartache, Li Yuan wished nothing more than to barge right out there to bring her in. Alas, he was not at his best state to meet her now as she would only worry. “Okay.”
The snowfall grew heavier and soon it was like falling feathers.
The North wind howled and sent chills into the bones.
Kun Lun apprehensively gazed at the man a short distance away. In just a moment, Li Yuan was already covered in a thin layer of snow that even his hair appeared white. Kun Lun opened the umbrella and went over.
Uncle Li extended his arm out to stop him and shook his head.
The kid was too young to get anything.
With the young master’s beloved standing in the snow, Li Yuan’s innermost desire was to be with her.
Two persons separated by a gate.
She did not know he was by her side.
Yet she was at his arm’s length.
The fluttering snowflakes continued to descend upon the quiet Sunnyside where houses were huge and people were scarce.