Chapter 44
The raw, pungent smell of tobacco smoke hit her face. Jiang Shangwan closed her eyes and gently yet forcefully kissed his lips. She parted his lips, letting the murky smoke she held in her mouth enter his. Some of it was swallowed by him, while the rest drifted up into the sky, blown by the cold wind along the line where their lips met.
The large smoke rings tingled in his mouth. Ladies’ cigarettes were much milder than regular ones, with a sweet, cloying fragrance. But Shi Yu had never smoked before, and the sharp, spicy tobacco scent caused a shock to his mind. The faintly bitter, yet fresh sweetness of the mist swirled in his mouth, still clinging to Jiang Shangwan’s uniquely soft lips and tongue.
It was both pleasurable and painful.
After a long while, Jiang Shangwan slowly pulled away from him. As soon as they separated, he started coughing uncontrollably.
“Can’t handle it already?” Jiang Shangwan wiped his lips. “You need to inhale the smoke into your lungs. The first time you do, you’ll get dizzy from it. What I gave you was just shallow smoke.”
Still choking, Shi Yu’s mind was a blur. The complex tobacco flavor mixed with Jiang Shangwan’s soft fragrance made him shiver all over. When he finally stopped coughing, he turned his head back to look at her with reddened eyes.
He reached out and pulled her back into his embrace.
This kiss didn’t have the harsh, pungent taste of smoke. Shi Yu held her waist, slowly savoring the fragrance in her mouth. The faint bitterness faded significantly, leaving behind the lingering sweetness. He teased her soft tongue, gently biting it.
They shared a kiss laced with tobacco, a kiss that lasted long, until every corner of their mouths had been carefully explored. They felt each other’s warmth, their breaths completely tangled, before slowly pulling apart.
“Wasn’t it much better without the smoke this time?” Jiang Shangwan, feeling soft and weak from the kiss, hung onto him, grabbing the zipper on his chest and teasingly pulling it down, letting the cold wind blow on them. She then clung to his clothes and playfully complained, “You kissed too hard, I can’t stand.”
“The smoke was really harsh at first, but I liked it,” Shi Yu kissed the corner of her lips, the touch as light as a feather. “Bitter Wanwan, sweet Wanwan, fragrant Wanwan, I like them all.”
Jiang Shangwan pushed him away, not wanting to be too close, as some passersby on the street glanced their way.
By the time they returned to the hotel, it was already deep into the night. The air was even colder, and in Haishi, winter days were short, and nights were long, with the darkness growing more intense.
Jiang Shangwan held up the two round pears and asked, “How do you make frozen pears? Do you just freeze them?”
“Yes,” Shi Yu taught her. “It’s particularly cold here outdoors, so you can just leave them outside to freeze overnight. You can take them inside tomorrow, let them thaw, and freeze them again until the skin turns black. That’s when they’re ready.”
Jiang Shangwan was quite curious and remembered it. The next morning, she took the pears back out and refroze them. After some time, when she saw the pear skins had turned a deep, dark black, she took them out again. “Is it ready?”
“Yes,” Shi Yu replied, taking the pears and soaking them in cold water to thaw before slicing them up for her to taste. “It’ll be a little cold.”
The texture was sandy, and despite the skin being soft, it was quite magical. “It’s really juicy when you bite into it.” The taste was far better than she had imagined, especially since they didn’t look appealing. It was refreshing, cutting through any heaviness, and had a better texture than regular pears.
“I’m glad you like it. But don’t eat too much. Too much cold can hurt your stomach.” Shi Yu always kept an eye on her diet, afraid that one day she’d relapse with stomach issues and be in pain.
“I know.” Jiang Shangwan naturally preferred cold and spicy foods, so the frozen pear suited her taste perfectly.
In the afternoon, when the temperature rose and the sun hung high, it felt a little warmer. They had booked a rafting trip, and Shi Yu had prepared raincoats in advance to prevent splashes from getting their clothes and shoes wet.
The two of them sat facing each other on the small raft, drifting along the current for 40 minutes. On both sides of the river were misty, frosty trees, and the banks were covered in thick snow. As they floated along the water, the scenery changed with the movement, like they had entered a fairy tale world from Snow White.
“It’s beautiful, but it’s also really cold.” Jiang Shangwan pulled herself into her oversized down jacket. She wanted to get closer to Shi Yu to absorb some warmth, but the small raft made it difficult to move too much. Instead, she reached out to hold his hand.
Shi Yu had grown up in Haishi and was already used to the temperature there. He held her hand while exhaling warmth, helping her maintain her body temperature. In just a few minutes, she had turned red from the cold, her nose running, looking somewhat awkward.
“Hang in there, it’ll be over soon. If you can’t handle rafting, you definitely won’t be able to handle the outdoor snow hot springs. You’ll catch a cold and get sick.”
Jiang Shangwan grumbled softly, “It’s really too cold, I feel like I’ve turned into a big ice cube. You could put me in a wine glass and soak me.”
“That won’t do, how could I bear to soak Wanwan in wine?” Shi Yu smiled, unzipping his jacket and pressing his hand against her clothes. “Is this better?”
Jiang Shangwan pressed her skin against his. In the extreme cold of minus twenty to thirty degrees Celsius, he felt like a warm little stove.
“Aren’t you cold?” Jiang Shangwan leaned against his waist, her fingers unusually cold. But he didn’t shiver or move away. He simply kept his jacket open to help her warm up.
“I’m fine, just don’t freeze yourself.”
As soon as the rafting ended, Jiang Shangwan hurriedly grabbed Shi Yu’s hand and pulled him ashore. She probably wouldn’t ever want to experience this again. For someone like her, who had always lived in warmer climates with low tolerance for the cold, this felt like paying money to suffer.
They were too frozen to have the energy for any more outings, so they returned to the hotel to rest and recover. The next day, Jiang Shangwan and Shi Yu finally set off for the true destination of their trip: Heavenly Lake of Changbai Mountain. They walked hand in hand, climbing for a long time before finally reaching a view of the lake.
The sky was an incredibly deep shade of blue, stretching out endlessly, crystal-clear with sparse clouds drifting by. Beneath the blue sky was an even deeper color, dark and unfathomable, as if reflecting the surrounding snow-capped mountains and the low-hanging horizon.
The scene was tranquil, resembling a traditional Chinese landscape painting—vast, boundless azure skies above, surrounded by pure white snow, creating an overwhelming dreamlike feeling.
Many tourists were taking photos, while Jiang Shangwan simply held onto Shi Yu’s arm, quietly observing.
“Do you want to take a picture?” Shi Yu asked her. “This angle would make for a beautiful shot.”
“Sure.” Jiang Shangwan took off her hat and let her hair fall freely. The sunlight shone through her flowing hair, illuminating her side profile with a look of elegance. She stood in front of the camera, surrounded by the magnificent work of nature, with her lover gazing at her intently.
She curved her lips into a soft smile, a subtle but radiant expression on her face.
The moment froze in time when she smiled.
“This photo turned out really well.” Jiang Shangwan complimented him. “It looks amazing.”
She enjoyed taking photos and often arranged shoots with photographers, but she found that in Shi Yu’s photos, she appeared more natural and expressive. She hadn’t put on any makeup, just a simple lip gloss to brighten her complexion. Her features were already striking, and her bare face on camera was even softer and more refined than when she wore makeup, giving her a unique charm.
However, she rarely posted on social media, taking lots of photos but sharing very few. In this moment, with her arm casually slung over Shi Yu’s, she lifted her eyes to the clear sky in the distance. On a whim, she decided to post the photo Shi Yu had taken of her on her social media, without any caption, only tagging the location of Tianchi.
Shi Yu noticed what she was doing, thought for a moment, and then posted as well, adding the location but with a caption: 【My love.jpg】
He pinned it at the top of his feed, the only post in his otherwise empty profile.
“You’ve already changed your profile picture to one of me, and now you’re posting about it again. Isn’t it a bit much?” Jiang Shangwan clicked her tongue.
“Mm.” Shi Yu tightly held her hand. “I want the whole world to know, Wanwan is mine.”
In just a moment, on their way down the mountain, their social media feeds were practically exploding, filled with countless likes and comments.
Jiang Yingting scrolled through her feed and immediately understood after seeing two identical posts. She quickly liked and commented: 【Blessings!】
Qiao Yuqing: 【When did you go to Haishi for a trip?】
Shen Luo: 【You’re on vacation, and I’m at work—ahhh, I’m going crazy!】
Then, a message with a small green sapling icon popped up in Jiang Shangwan’s private WeChat chat, and Jiang Yingting expressed her dissatisfaction: “Hey!!! I didn’t know about this! You secretly started dating! And went to Changbai Mountain too? I want to go too!”
Jiang Shangwan replied with a smile: 【I’ll take you next time.】
Shi Yu had fewer friends than Jiang Shangwan, mostly classmates, teachers, and investors he added after starting his business, along with colleagues, but almost everyone who saw the post sent sincere blessings.
Jiang Shangwan raised an eyebrow. “So many messages.”
“Mm.” Shi Yu chuckled softly. “They’re all praising how beautiful you are.”
—
After finishing their visit, they headed back to Haishi from Changbai Mountain. Jiang Shangwan rested her head on Shi Yu’s leg, dozing off, and suddenly spoke: “Puppy, let’s go see your home. Didn’t you say you used to live at your aunt’s house?”
Shi Yu remained silent for a while. His hometown was in a town under a county-level city, and it would take half a day to get there by car from the city.
“I want to visit the place where you grew up.”
“Visiting the area near Haishi’s capital is the same,” Shi Yu said. “Our place is a very small town, with no decent places to stay. If you go, I’m afraid you won’t feel comfortable. Also… my aunt’s place is in bad condition.”
“It’s fine. Didn’t I also visit Haidi High School for an inspection before?”
That was their first meeting.
Shi Yu couldn’t convince her and finally agreed. He wanted to explain the complex, winding situation, but seeing her tired from the long journey, eyes already closed as she leaned on him to rest, he was forced to swallow his unspoken words.
As they neared their destination, the cars became fewer. The highway stretched on, passing many service stations, winding through overlapping mountain ranges. The scenery grew more desolate.
The black Audi A8 stopped in front of a dilapidated apartment building. The scene before them seemed to belong to a completely different world from the hotel where they had stayed earlier. The walls were covered with patches of peeling paint, the streets were disorganized, and the door of the building was weathered, as though it might fall off with the slightest touch.
The driver took out the boxes of gifts that Jiang Shangwan and Shi Yu had specially prepared in advance and respectfully placed them on the ground. “Mr. Jiang, let me help you carry these upstairs.”
Shi Yu stood still at the door, head lowered, not moving for a while. He seemed to be hesitating about whether he should really take her upstairs.
“Shall we go?” Jiang Shangwan tugged at his sleeve. “Now that we’re here, we should go up and have a look. I don’t mind. Which floors?”
“…502.”