Jiang Tan rarely made requests to Zhou Yinghuai, so much so that she seemed to avoid it at all costs.
So today's occurrence seemed to Zhou Yinghuai as unusual as the sun rising from the west.
Therefore, he made sure to address it meticulously and flawlessly.
As for Jiang Tan, after sending her message to Zhou Yinghuai, she just lay in bed in a daze. When she woke up, it was already dusk and he was making a phone call from the breezy balcony.
Seeing his silhouette, Jiang Tan felt an indescribable wave of emotions.
Her phone lit up, displaying a weather update indicating that a cold front was two days away from reaching Ning City, almost certainly bringing with it snow.
Zhou Yinghuai's birthday was in winter.
Jiang Tan had it clearly remembered, January 20th.
She counted the days silently. Spot on, one month to go.
One month... was enough.
On some inexplicable impulse, Jiang Tan got up, pushed open the balcony door, and stood beside Zhou Yinghuai.
He was on an international call, conversing in fluent French, strikingly charming.
Many people say that French is a romantic language.
But Zhou Yinghuai, he wasn't romantic, he was the embodiment of rationality.
It was his captivating exterior that left people disoriented.
After Zhou Yinghuai ended the call and turned around, he saw Jiang Tan standing behind him.
He raised his hand to touch Jiang Tan's face, which was cool from the wind. "What are you doing here?" He asked.
"Watching you."
"And then?"
Jiang Tan took Zhou Yinghuai's hand, stood on her toes, and kissed the corner of his lips.
"And then sneak a kiss."
Her actions were both pure and tender.
But Zhou Yinghuai only paused for a moment before taking control, his hand wrapping around her neck, his desire and dominance clear. Passion stirred, making it impossible to disentangle herself from him.
But then, Jiang Tan suddenly pushed him away.
Her eyes were moist, glittering in the bright moonlight.
She suddenly called his name, "Zhou Yinghuai."
"Yes?" He responded.
"Meeting you this summer, has been a joy," she said, her voice so soft in the silent night, it made one's heart tighten.
"..."
Zhou Yinghuai watched her, frowning slightly, an expression he was not accustomed to.
"I know, you give me shortcuts, and I accompany you. It's fair," she continued.
Jiang Tan blinked and laughed, her voice trembling slightly, "But I can't be the other woman."
"..."
"If you get married, we will have to part."
Seeing her feigned composure, yet with eyes already reddening, Zhou Yinghuai's earlier lust had completely vanished.
He walked up to Jiang Tan, his fingers gently brushing the corner of her eye. He lowered his posture, coaxing her, "Didn't you tell me today that you wanted candied haws? I brought some for you, a whole bunch."
He pointed to the bag full of candied haws.
Jiang Tan followed his gaze to the bag. Her mind diverted from her previous thoughts, she initially laughed but then teared up, "But why didn't you respond to my message..."
If it weren't for Jiang Tan, Zhou Yinghuai wouldn't have believed that he would ever go to such lengths to appease a woman.
He was typically cold and indifferent, lacking much empathy. Besides benefits, he was rarely moved by anyone. Over the years, the rumours about him avoiding women were true, not for any other reason, but because he found interpersonal relationships troublesome.
For a moment of joy, getting entangled with someone was unbearably tedious.
And he was a man who detested troubles.
However, at that moment, seeing Jiang Tan's tears on his fingertips, Zhou Yinghuai felt something strange.
Before he could ponder on the feeling, his instincts compelled him to say, "Tantan, you know, I usually only respond to messages about official business. But if... if you're upset, I'll try my best to respond to you in the future."
He chose his words carefully, making strict word choices.
Jiang Tan watched Zhou Yinghuai's gradual concessions.
She heard a voice in her heart whispering: Jiang Tan, what else do you want? Isn't this enough? You're being too greedy.
The scariest thing in life is not knowing when to stop, yearning beyond the boundary.
Jiang Tan, while gnawing on a candied haw, chose to retreat from those overstepping steps.
On the snow day, Zhou Yinghuai took a rare day off, sleeping in bed with Jiang Tan, looking rather peaceful.
After eating the candied haws that night, Zhou Yinghuai had someone move all of Jiang Tan's things into the master bedroom.
Zhou Yinghuai said, "Winter is about to come. You are always cold. It's better if I hold you when we sleep."
His words were genuinely endearing.
If it weren't for the earlier wake-up call from Meng Yanxi, Jiang Tan would've trapped herself in recklessly.
Truth to be told, the candied haws weren't that delicious. The taste of candied haws sold at the gate of No.12 Middle School was no longer the same as in Jiang Tan's memory.
Jiang Tan didn't know why she had sent that message to Zhou Yinghuai that day.
Now that she thought about it, she probably wanted a bit of favoritism.
Zhou Yinghuai's favoritism.
It was absurd, he didn't even have love, let alone favoritism.
Jiang Tan was certain that she was the only one who had seen Zhou Yinghuai in this condition. She carefully observed his sleeping face.
He had long eyelashes, the curve of his eye was deep, his nose was prominent, his lips were thin, and his skin was flawless.
The relationship between Jiang Tan and Zhou Yinghuai prevented her from touching his face, she just observed him obediently.
Just because others called her 'girlfriend', it did not mean she was being thoughtless to believe that she was Zhou Yinghuai's girlfriend.
Jiang Tan was never Zhou Yinghuai's girlfriend.
Until the call from Zheng Heng disrupted Zhou Yinghuai's sleep.
Zheng Heng said, "Yinghuai, bring your Jiang Tan out to play Mahjong!"
Zhou Yinghuai, who had just woken up, had an unusually soft look in his eyes, it even seemed gentle.
He looked at Jiang Tan's obedient eyes, stroked her hair and said, "Got it."
Jiang Tan chose a red coat when she left the house.
Her white skin made the red coat look exceptionally bright, far less ethereal and much more captivating.
Zhou Yinghuai stared at her for a while, then simply said, "This one's not good-looking, change it."
Jiang Tan didn't think much of it. She hesitated for a moment before agreeing. She turned to go change but was called back by Zhou Yinghuai.
Zhou Yinghuai said, "Never mind, I'll find one for you."
Jiang Tan had high expectations for Zhou Yinghuai's taste, so when he brought out a goose yellow thick cotton-padded jacket, her lips twitched.
"You... picked this out?"
"What, it's not good-looking?" Zhou Yinghuai said deadpan, "A young girl like you would look just right in it."
Jiang Tan hypnotized herself: it's Zhou Yinghuai's friends, I won't embarrass myself!
She took a deep breath after repeating it three times, took the cotton jacket from Zhou Yinghuai's hand, and went to change.
It wasn't really that bad, just that the style seemed to be for a junior high school student, with a little yellow duck on the chest.
The mahjong room was on the rooftop of the Zheng Family's residence, Zheng Heng had specifically reserved a large flat, decorated like an ancient study with everything included. Even though it was exquisite, it was just a place to play mahjong.
Upon entering the room, Jiang Tan was mesmerized by the eclectic decor.
However, the three people inside were equally surprised to see her.