Tea-flavored Romance

Snowflakes fell outside the window, the snow gradually subsided, and the lights of thousands of homes were lit up at this moment. The moonlight in the sky seemed thin and cold. The custom of staying up late on New Year's Eve has been gradually forgotten. In the silent night, people dispersed and went home to rest, waiting for the joyful greeting of "Happy New Year" on the first day of the Lunar New Year the next morning.

Even as night deepened, a lamp remained lit on the desk in Man Yue's room. After Ning Yuan left, she sat alone, gazing silently at the air before her for a long, long time, as if oblivious to the passage of time. Finally, she gently opened a drawer, took out a letter, and unfolded it, softly stroking the last page depicting a scene of them riding the Ferris wheel together.

He just said before he left... does that mean he's leaving Yanjing first thing tomorrow morning?

The girl gently picked up her phone. The screen was completely silent. It was so late, and there were no calls or messages to alleviate the loneliness.

Perhaps she should give him a chance to talk more, at least that way she wouldn't be so upset that she couldn't sleep all night.

Perhaps this is the best arrangement from heaven... If you miss it, just let it pass.

She raised her eyes slightly. The room was warm and stuffy. Manyue got up and slowly approached the windowsill. She gently opened the tightly closed window. In the distance, Gu Guanxue's room was completely dark. A few snowflakes of the cool air outside swirled into the room and disappeared after a moment.

Just then, the phone, which had been silent all along, suddenly rang. The sound seemed particularly abrupt in the empty and desolate night. Jiang Manyue gently picked up the phone, a thought suddenly striking her mind.

It is Ningyuan.

At 3:12 a.m., a scumbag broke his promise and made a harassing phone call. The girl hesitated for a moment, but finally answered gently.

The scumbag on the other end of the phone was breathing heavily, and there was a faint sound of wind. Although it was a bit noisy, it made Jiang Manyue feel inexplicably at ease in the night.

"Full moon... Are you asleep?" Ning Yuan asked cautiously.

"..."

"Do you think I'm sleepwalking?" Jiang Manyue replied softly.

“No, I was just worried you might be feeling a bit sleepy…” Master Ning touched his cold fingers, his tone carrying a hint of joy: “Would it be convenient for you to come down for a moment? Come to your yard.”

"I'm waiting for you here. I have something I want to tell you."

The girl was slightly taken aback when she heard this. She moved closer to the window and looked down. A figure waving in the snow quickly caught her eye. Snowflakes fell on his shoulders and hair, as if trying to wrap him up like a snowman. Beside him was an ugly little snowman, which seemed to be a failed attempt at stacking.

Why are you building a snowman here in the middle of the night instead of sleeping? Who are you trying to impress?

And the way it's piled up looks so ugly, it's really stupid.

As Jiang Manyue pondered this, a smile suddenly appeared on her face, like a spring breeze thawing the ice. She put on her trench coat and scarf, opened the door and went downstairs. In the spacious backyard, she and Ning Yuan exchanged a glance from a distance, and then they started walking together.

The girl, with her hands in her pockets, walked slowly toward Ning Yuan. Ning Yuan, with a smile on his face, also slowly walked toward Jiang Manyue. Snowflakes accumulated little by little on the girl's long hair and scarf. When the two finally stood facing each other at the midpoint, the girl seemed to be transforming into a brand new little snowman.

But such an exquisitely beautiful snowman doesn't exist in this world. Ning Yuan reached out and brushed away the few glistening ice flowers clinging to the girl's cheek, smiling slightly:

"I've heard people say that when frost and snow cover your hair, you've reached old age... Full moon, we've reached old age."

Jiang Manyue's heart stirred slightly. She neither dodged nor flinched, letting his cold fingers touch her delicate, fair skin. She gazed quietly at the boy in front of her, her eyes seemingly asking him why he had called her out so late.

“I know you’re angry and haven’t been able to talk to me properly. I also know I have no reason to expect you to talk to me properly. The fault lies with me, and I can’t deny that… But Man-wol… I can’t hold back anymore.”

“I’ll probably be going back tomorrow. I haven’t been able to spend time with my family at the end of the year, and I feel really bad for them… But I don’t regret coming to Yanjing to see you and Gu Guanxue.”

"Although Grandpa Gu's health has improved a lot, this is only a temporary solution. The Gu family needs an heir besides Xiaoxue. I plan to go and help her first, and then personally train an heir for them."

"You might think I'm bragging, but I'm confident that this process won't be too long, but it might not be too short either. At the earliest, it will take three years, until the third generation of the Gu family grows up, and then they can decide for themselves whether they are willing to take on this responsibility... I've already tested the waters, and that little girl Gu Huaige seems quite interested. Xiaoxue also has a lot of confidence in her. In the end, maybe once she comes of age, Xiaoxue and I can just sit back and relax..."

Ning Yuan kept talking, and Jiang Manyue listened quietly. As the snowflakes fell, it seemed as if time itself was frozen by the girl's deep gaze.

"I was planning to have a good chat with you first thing tomorrow morning, but I couldn't sleep and tossing and turning. The heated room is too dry, so I had to come out for a walk to get some fresh air... I wanted to make this snowman look like you and make it cute. But my hands got too cold when I was only halfway through... so I didn't pay much attention to the details... Full Moon... Full Moon, are you listening to me?"

The girl stared silently at the small, ugly snowman behind Ning Yuan, seemingly lost in thought, or perhaps pondering every word Ning Yuan had said. Finally, she gently raised her eyes and looked at Ning Yuan:

"You mean you want me to forgive you?"

“There’s no need to forgive right away… Actually, it’s okay not to forgive… As long as you don’t give me the cold shoulder like before, that’s fine…” Master Ning replied cautiously.

"Actually, you're quite easy to deal with now, right? Gu Guanxue likes you, and that silly girl Lu Jiujiu is most likely to be the one who can't live without you. Either of them is much more likely to compromise than I am."

"As I said before, I have no intention of changing my mind, and it's very likely I never will," Jiang Manyue said softly. "Even so, are you still choosing to waste your time on me?"

"Who knows, in the end, you might lose two other people because of me?"

“That’s what I’ve already prepared for,” Ning Yuan said softly. “No matter what the final outcome is, even if I lose miserably, I still want to give it a try.”

"Do you want to help Gu Guanxue obtain the freedom she desires?"

"Ah."

"Don't you think that if you make up with me, I might stop you from helping her?"

“That’s possible, but I’m more inclined to believe that you, Manyue, actually wanted to see Xiaoxue grow up.” Ning Yuan nodded gently and smiled. “Otherwise, you probably wouldn’t have chosen to travel thousands of miles to school with Gu Guanxue.”

"Even so, that's only on the premise that there's no such strange relationship between us." Jiang Manyue sneered, "Why do you think I'm so magnanimous as to tolerate someone else using my things for three years? Hasn't she always said I'm stingy?"

"Of course, Xiaoxue was just making things up..." Master Ning reached out and pinched Miss Manyue's cold little face, and chuckled, "I've always thought that Manyue is generous and understanding."

"Then you've probably mistaken me for someone else." Jiang Manyue sneered and pinched back her hand in return: "I really am a petty person."

"That's alright." Ning Yuan continued with a smile, "I'll still like you even if you're stingy. No matter what kind of person you are, as long as it's you, I'll like you very much."

"..."

The girl's grip loosened slightly, and finally she gently lowered her hand, remaining silent for a moment before speaking softly:

"You are not allowed to interfere in the Gu family's affairs after three years."

Ning Yuan was slightly taken aback, but quickly realized what he meant:

"it is good."

"In Yanjing, you only have me as your girlfriend."

"..."

"it is good."

"Don't let me see you being intimate with Gu Guanxue, or I can't guarantee I won't do something impulsive."

"Of course... cough cough... actually, Xiaoxue and I are just being affectionate but have always kept our relationship within the bounds of propriety, we've always been very proper..."

"You have to compensate my grandfather for those two bottles of wine."

"Um... okay~"

"The snowman looks too ugly. I'll build a new one tomorrow morning."

"Good~"

"And... you want to marry me."

Jiang Manyue spoke such a startling sentence in the most calm tone on this snowy night. Ning Yuan was silent for a while after hearing this, and then gently pulled the girl into his arms.

"it is good."

The girl leaning against Ning Yuan's chest had a calm expression. The thick clothes concealed her heartbeat, but they couldn't hide the affection between the two of them in their embrace.

Since you're prepared to be entangled with me for life, and perhaps never find happiness in old age... then bring it on...

I want to see whether you or I will compromise in the end.

Chapter 344: Epilogue (Part Two): The moon sets on the snow-covered plains, the snow melts into frost under the full moon.

"Hey! Jiang Muyu, look at this snowman... Why is it so weirdly shaped? And it's in our backyard... Jiang Chaoyun, you didn't build it because you had nothing better to do, did you?"

"Go away, even if my aesthetic sense is a hundred years behind, it could never reach this level!" Jiang Chaoyun pushed up his glasses and said decisively, "It must have been piled up by Jiang Muyu."

"How could it be me! Jiang Mufeng, you must be the one crying 'stop thief'!"

Early on the morning of the first day of the Lunar New Year, a quarrel quickly broke out in the backyard of the Jiang family. Just as the three little ones were arguing more and more fiercely and were about to come to blows, Master Ning couldn't help but step forward and say a few words of justice:

"Just a passerby, but to be honest, isn't this snowman actually quite good-looking? It has a very postmodern style, doesn't it?"

"Come on, Brother Ning, this thing doesn't deserve to be called postmodernism. It's ugly, not to mention incomplete... Look, it's not even a complete body."

"Maybe it's because the guy who built this snowman wasn't wearing gloves at night and his fingers got too cold, which is why he didn't finish the piece?" Master Ning argued stubbornly. "That reason should be understandable, right?"

"Well, he can only blame himself. It's just ugly... We can't put it in our backyard. If the Gu family sees it, they'll think our Jiang family's aesthetic sense has fallen so far behind..."

Master Ning: "..."

Young man, I'm doing my best to save you... If my baby doesn't see the snowman in the yard when he wakes up after his full moon celebration, I'll have to report it truthfully.

It's the Lunar New Year, and he's just a child... Well, let's keep him alive.

Enraged, Master Ning, supporting his still slightly sore back, slowly left the backyard. Only after he disappeared from sight did the young men who had been gathered there belatedly realize what had happened.

"Huh? Why is my cousin-in-law at our house so early in the morning?"

Not only the younger generation, but also the elders of the Jiang family were bewildered when Master Ning shamelessly appeared at the Jiang family's breakfast table. However, they didn't think much of it, assuming the young man had simply gotten up early and come to visit. Mr. Jiang, eating his breakfast and reading the newspaper, only realized after a while that his daughter wasn't at the table and asked in confusion:

"Why haven't you gotten up yet, even though it's a full moon celebration?"

Jiang's mother was also somewhat puzzled. Miss Manyue's daily routine was always very regular, and sleeping in on the first day of the Lunar New Year was not her usual style. However, taking a break during a holiday was not a heinous crime, and the two quickly dismissed the small ripple in their conversation, completely unaware of the cold sweat on Master Ning's forehead beside them.

Eat... focus on eating... I need to go back and lie down for a while after I finish eating...

On the first day of the Lunar New Year, the only sounds on the alleyways were the shoveling of snow. The long-awaited leisurely holiday made almost everyone appreciate the beauty of life. Soon, people would be visiting each other to exchange New Year's greetings, and this lively scene would probably not gradually diminish until work resumed on the seventh day of the Lunar New Year.

Both the Jiang and Gu families undoubtedly need to visit their respective relatives and friends for the New Year. However, in this three-generation family, the effort of visiting surrounding relatives is eliminated; they only need to visit their parents-in-law or other friends' homes. Manyue and Xuebao will naturally also go to their maternal grandparents' house. As Master Ning has not yet fully integrated into the family as a son-in-law, this is a good time for him to say goodbye.

Since his luggage was still at the Gu family's house, he had to say goodbye to the Jiang family first before heading to the Gu family to bid farewell to Grandpa Gu and Xuebao's family. The Jiang family was fine; Grandpa Jiang and his in-laws were very understanding. After gently kissing the sleeping Miss Manyue's forehead, Master Ning turned to leave.

But when he turned around, his wrist was grabbed by a girl. The awakened Emperor Jiang still had a faint trace of drowsiness in his eyes, but even in this unadorned sleeping face, he was still unreasonably beautiful.

What are you doing?

"I'm giving you a kiss to say goodbye," Master Ning explained. "You're going to visit your grandparents with your parents for the New Year later, so I didn't wake you up so you could sleep a little longer..."

"..."

"How long have I been asleep?" Jiang Manyue asked calmly.

"Soon, it will probably be just a little later than you usually get up."

Upon hearing this, the girl slowly sat up from the bed. The neckline of her pajamas revealed her delicate and alluring collarbone and slender neck. She gathered her hair behind her back and tied it into a loose ponytail, with her crystal-clear and delicate earlobes peeking out from among the strands of hair.

"I'll take you to the airport in a bit."

"No, please... Can you even get out of bed now...?"

Last night, the Tea Emperor was weakened and exhausted after the battle, but she still pretended to be indifferent. It wasn't until she struggled to get out of bed that her legs gave way and she fell into Ning Yuan's arms that the Tea Emperor's bravado slowly turned into a blush of embarrassment and anger.

"Is it funny?"

"Of course it's not funny, not funny at all."

Master Ning suppressed a laugh, swept Manyue into his arms, and the two walked step by step towards the bathroom, standing in front of the mirror for a moment. The girl's pajamas couldn't cover her slender legs, and her pair of crystal-clear, perfect little feet in the mirror seemed to be swaying gently.