The time was already 11 o’clock at night. Mi Cai picked up her handbag beside her and said to us, “I’m a bit tired today, I’ll go back to rest first.”

Only then did I remember that Mi Cai had been in Shanghai for a day of business talks today, and then came to the bar to save the day despite her fatigue. I felt more than grateful, I felt guilty.

CC nudged me and said, “Zhao Yang, aren’t you going to see Mi off?”

I quickly nodded and said, “Yes, I’ll walk her out.” I took the handbag from Mi Cai and carried it for her.

Mi Cai said “Thank you” and walked towards the bar exit before me. I followed her and said, “You always thank me, it makes our relationship seem so distant!”

“Really?”

Mi Cai’s absent-minded reply left me at a loss for words. I just followed her in silence.

Suddenly, we stopped under the eaves outside the bar. To our surprise, it started to snow. Winter had finally arrived.

I exclaimed subconsciously, “It’s snowing!”

“Hmm!” Mi Cai responded, but she seemed to appreciate the scene more than I did. She took out a card camera from her handbag and captured the silver-wrapped world in her lens. Then she left the eaves and walked into the snow.

I followed her, picked up a handful of snow from the ground, and calmly called out, “Mi Cai.”

Mi Cai turned her head subconsciously, and I ruthlessly threw the snow at her. The snow blossomed on her clothes.

Mi Cai frowned at me, and I provocatively said, “If you dare, throw some at me. How could a dignified lady like you stoop to play such a childish game as a snowball fight…”

Before I could finish my sentence, Mi Cai pushed me hard. The ground was already slippery with snow, and this sudden push made me fall flat on my back.

I couldn’t save face, so I jumped up, grabbed Mi Cai, and pushed her down on the ground. Then I pressed on her and said angrily, “Damn, you really hit hard. What if there was a rock behind me? You could have turned me into a vegetable!”

At this moment, we were very close. Mi Cai looked at me without saying a word. I could even feel her breath, like a gentle orchid. My heart started to beat faster, but I didn’t want to get up.

Mi Cai didn’t struggle at all. She just looked at me expressionlessly. Suddenly, she grabbed a handful of snow from the ground and smashed it on my face. The cold sensation spread across my face, and I was tricked by her again.

Mi Cai took the opportunity to push me away and kicked me. Finally, she cursed, “You’re crazy!”

I wiped the snow off my face, stood up again, and said angrily, “You’re really bad. You were such a dignified lady, but look at what CC has turned you into. Not only do you use foul language, but you even dare to kick me!”

Mi Cai looked at me as if she had won a battle, but she remained silent as usual. I couldn’t possibly hit her, but I didn’t know how to respond to her silence, so I just stared at her.

So, the two of us, with different emotions, stood in the heavy snow, looking at each other.

Finally, Mi Cai said to me, “You can keep standing. I’m leaving.”

The sudden snow seemed to make me sentimental. I didn’t want Mi Cai to leave, so I shouted at her, “You hit me and now you want to leave? I tell you, no one has ever dared to bully me like this in my life!”

“You were the one who threw snow at me first.”

“Yes, I did throw snow at you, but that was just a snowball fight. What did you do to me afterwards? You just brutally pushed me down! This behavior, isn’t it an assault?”

“Don’t you know that I really dislike your childish behavior?”

“Even if you dislike it, you can’t do this! If there was a knife next to you just now, would you have mercilessly stabbed me?”

“I don’t have time to argue with you.” Mi Cai finally lost her patience and didn’t want to deal with me. She turned around and walked towards her car.

Watching her retreating figure, my mood suddenly dropped. But I didn’t know what excuse to use to keep her and talk to her a little longer.

I lit a cigarette and could only watch Mi Cai’s car disappear from my sight. After a long time, I realized that the cigarette in my hand had burned out and a layer of snow had fallen on my shoulder.

I didn’t know when Robben came to my side with his guitar. He took the burnt-out cigarette from my hand, stuffed another one into my mouth, lit it for me, and asked, “Do you like her?”

I took a puff of the cigarette subconsciously, but calmly asked Robben, “Why do you say that?”

“A man’s intuition.”

I shook my head seriously and said, “Robben, you’re wrong. A man’s intuition is unreliable. I, Zhao Yang, have experienced all kinds of emotions in my life. There’s really no woman who can touch my cold heart anymore!”

Robben looked up at the sky and sighed, “This snow was probably brought out by your pretentiousness, right?”

……

Late at night after I got home, I put aside all the messy emotions, turned on the desk lamp, and started working on the marketing plan for “The Fifth Season”. I also searched online for some pictures that could be used for the bar renovation.

The time left for me was really short. I had to finish collecting the data within a day, finalize the renovation plan with the decoration company in two days, and find channels to spread the bar information during the renovation period. I aimed to make the bar famous within a month after its reopening.If everything goes smoothly, once the bar is on track, I should seriously consider whether or not to return to Xuzhou. Compared to the drifting and unease in Suzhou, perhaps I prefer the stability and peace of Xuzhou deep down.

However, before considering this issue, I have to figure out a way to pay back the 500,000 yuan I owe Jian Wei. Only when I don’t owe anything can I truly leave with peace of mind.

In the midst of my thoughts, I light a cigarette for myself, lie back in my office chair, and zone out, preparing to rest for a moment. Unintentionally, I see the snow outside the window still falling heavily. I can foresee that tomorrow morning, the city where I am will turn into a world of ice and snow, interpreting the beauty of this winter.

In the midst of the smoke, the notification sound of WeChat rings. I pick up my phone and look. This late-night message is actually from Mi Cai.

“Zhao Yang, do you know how to build a snowman?”

I immediately reply: “Of course, you’re not going to ask me to build a snowman now, are you?”

“It’s too late now, let’s do it tomorrow morning, it’s the weekend!”

I’m happy inside, but I reply with a guilty conscience: “Who wants to build with you! You just kicked me!”

Mi Cai quickly replied to my message: “Then I’ll find CC.”

“Don’t joke, CC is such a mature woman, she won’t play these childish games with you. Maybe she would be interested if you asked her to conquer a snowy mountain!”

“What should I do then?”

Mi Cai’s reply made me smile. It seemed like we were tacitly playing a childish game of sulking on this snowy night.

But the world of children is the most innocent, the most crystal clear…

When the phrase “crystal clear” flashed in my mind, I suddenly wondered, could this Mi Cai, who always sulked with me but kept her distance, be the woman with long hair falling over her shoulders in that city?