Long Snowy Night - Chapter 1

01

I reunited with Lin Shouye at my university.
He had donated a library, and the school administration invited him for an interview.

“Mr. Lin, you are young and accomplished. What made you think of investing in education?”
His tone was extremely faint: “To ensure that those who wish to read have books to read. That is my wish.”
“Is this wish related to your past experiences?”
Lin Shouye fell silent.

Three years ago, he lost his memory and was dumped in a desolate rural area, where he spent the hardest year of his life—no one knew about this.
I sat in the audience, watching him from afar.
The Lin Shouye of today wore an expensive suit and bore an expression of indifference.
And I was just a female college student who had just finished applying for financial aid.
There was less than a hundred meters between us.
Yet, it felt like a celestial chasm separated us.

My roommate cupped her face, lovestruck: “He’s so handsome. Truly worthy of being my husband.”
Another roommate chimed in: “He’s my husband!”
There were plenty of rich second-generation heirs popular online. But very few could rival the entertainment industry in both physique and looks like Lin Shouye. Everyone jokingly called him “Husband.”

“By the way, do you guys know about the rumors of my husband going missing three years ago?”
“I heard he just went abroad to study, not that he went missing.”
“Xueya, have you heard anything?” My roommate suddenly cued me.
I shook my head. “I’m not sure.”
“I heard he was eventually found in the Northwest. Xueya, aren’t you from the Northwest? You didn’t hear even a whisper?”
“No.”

I’m not good at lying, but fortunately, the theater lights were dim, hiding my guilty expression.
Three years ago, Lin Shouye wasn’t just in the Northwest.
He was in my home.
He lived and ate with me for over a year.
At our most intimate, I held him while we slept in the same bed.
These secrets could only rot and die in my heart.

02

The interview neared its end, moving to the Q&A session.
A student raised their hand: “Mr. Lin, I heard you have a fiancée and that you even tattooed her name on your body. Is that true?”
Gossip is human nature; the atmosphere instantly livened up.

“That has nothing to do with today’s theme—”
The speaker was Wen Xiaoxue. She was sitting next to Lin Shouye and was also a guest today.
She was his capable assistant. Rumor had it they were childhood sweethearts with family ties.

“It is true,” Lin Shouye answered proactively. “The tattoo is right on my pulse.”
He pulled back his cuff, revealing a character on his wrist.
“Xue” (Snow).
The crowd erupted.
Wen Xiaoxue was right there. Could this “Xue” be anyone else?
Wen Xiaoxue herself lowered her head shyly, seeming to admit it.

That’s good.
Matching social status; they were a good match.
I felt no ripples in my heart, only a desire to rush back to the dorm and do my homework.

As I passed the backstage area, the Student Council President stopped me.
“Yu Xueya, you came at just the right time. Can you help get a jacket for the guest?”
“Huh?”
“I have period cramps. I can’t hold on anymore. Sorry to trouble you.”
The President’s face was pale, clutching her stomach. It didn’t look like she was faking it.
When I applied for aid, she helped me a lot. I had no reason to refuse.

But, the guest was…
The interview had ended.
Lin Shouye was walking toward the backstage on his long legs.
I wanted to hide, but it was too late.
He turned his head and saw me.

03

Lin Shouye’s gaze paused on me for a moment.
Running away now would be too suspicious.
I decided to stand my ground casually.
—Thankfully, I was wearing a mask.

Lin Shouye frowned slightly. “You are also a student at this school?”
I nodded.
He lifted a foot as if to walk toward me. “What is your name?”
“Yu—”
I only managed to say my surname.
Lin Shouye was pulled back by Wen Xiaoxue. “Let’s go, it’s weirdly cold in here.”
He was dragged away.
By the time he turned back to look for me, I had already vanished.

But I hadn’t gone far.
Their final conversation drifted into my ears:
“Stop looking. Her surname is Yu. It’s not her.”
“The eyes look similar.”
“So what if it is her? She extorted a huge sum of money from you…”

I lowered my eyes, trembling slightly.
She was right.
It was my insatiable greed that “sold” Lin Shouye.

04

I used to be called Wang Xueya.
My hometown is in the Northwest, in a very poor little village.
How poor? When I was little, my family couldn’t afford rice. My mother would pick up sour noodles thrown away by others, wash off the maggots, and cook them for the family to eat.

The year I was seventeen, it snowed heavily.
When the heavy snow sealed the mountains, I found Lin Shouye at the village entrance.
He was sitting there foolishly, his gaze vacant.
I walked up and asked, “What is your name?”
“Ye… Ye…”
He couldn’t even speak properly; his mind was broken.
I wanted to walk away, but he grabbed me, his eyes pleading.
“Cold… Hungry.”

In weather like this, he would freeze to death in one night.
Every winter, people froze to death in our village—drunks who fell asleep in the snow, their bodies stiff by morning.
I didn’t really want to get involved.
But a human life is a human life. I couldn’t turn a blind eye.
I took him home.
That day, as I stepped into the house through the wind and snow, I never imagined that our entanglement would last so long.

05

He looked a few years older than me.
I called him “Xiao Ye Gege” (Brother Xiao Ye).
He had no identification on him, his past so blank it seemed intentional.
I took him to look for his family, visiting various departments.
With no results.
This wasn’t strange. In small places like ours, everyone knows how it is. The clerks are people appointed through connections, just idling their time away. Who would seriously help you solve problems?
They told us to go home and wait for a notification. That wait lasted a year.

The fool stayed in my house.
Actually, I had selfish motives.
My mom was sick; she was often confused.
Later, in college, I learned the medical name for it was Alzheimer’s disease.
It was incurable.
I took care of Mom every day, plus I had to study and work odd jobs.
After Xiao Ye came, at least I didn’t have to do the odd jobs anymore.
He was young and vigorous; manual labor was no problem for him.

But he was strange.
Big and tall, yet incredibly delicate. At first, he couldn’t do anything right, clumsy and always complaining about being tired.
Seeing him eating without earning, I got anxious:
“If you keep this up, I won’t want you anymore.”
Lin Shouye panicked right then: “Xuexue, you can’t throw me away. I’m your husband.”

Right, I had tricked him, saying that since he ate our food, he had to marry me in the future.
It was a white lie.
Because this fool was too good-looking, attracting a swarm of matchmakers.
Only by saying this could I shut their mouths.
Poor people marry early. In our area, getting engaged in your teens was normal.
When I said I didn’t want him, Lin Shouye looked helpless.
He had a face meant for fickleness and romance, yet he looked at me timidly.
From then on, Lin Shouye worked hard and finally stopped eating for free.

As time passed, he began to show an abnormal side.
Once, I got my period and stained my pants without knowing.
When I walked out of the school gate, the boys around were laughing at me.
Lin Shouye was at the gate to pick me up.
Those boys said, “Look, Yu Xueya’s pretty husband. Her butt is bleeding; her husband probably broke her…”
Hearing this, Lin Shouye rushed up and beat the boy to the ground.
He fought viciously, every blow aiming for a vital spot, like a crazed beast no one could stop.
In that moment, he was a stranger to me.
I hugged his arm: “Brother Xiao Ye! Stop hitting him!”
He stopped instantly, letting me lead him away.
“Xuexue says no hitting, so no hitting.”

The boy had multiple bruises. His parents came to our door, demanding medical expenses.
Our already poor family was hit with more frost.
That night, Lin Shouye seemed to know he had made a mistake, sitting dejectedly in the corner of the room.
When I went to comfort him, I found his face covered in tears.
“I’m sorry, Xuexue. I know I was wrong. I won’t cause trouble anymore. Don’t… don’t throw me away.”
When he cried, he looked like a big puppy.
My heart softened, and I coaxed him: “Then be good from now on. I only want an obedient husband.”
“Okay.”

The next day, Lin Shouye came home with a sum of money.
He had sold his watch.
When I found him, he was wearing a watch that looked very expensive.
I was anxious: “How could you sell it? You need that watch to find your family later.”
He smiled brightly: “You are my family. I’m not going anywhere. I’ll just be with you.”
This fool definitely got ripped off.
That watch was surely worth more than that money.
But Lin Shouye didn’t care.
He became very, very obedient, listening only to me.

However, that boy had terrible luck afterward.
Nails in his shoes, bugs in his clothes, stones in his rice.
When riding his bike, the tire went flat, and he fell into the river, among other things.
How could it be such a coincidence?
I looked at Lin Shouye.
He looked back at me, grinning.

06

Actually, thinking back now, Lin Shouye showed signs even then.
He corrected my English pronunciation.
I asked him, “Did you learn English?”
He paused. “I don’t know. Did I?”
Although his memory was gone, the instinct for language remained.
My mom told me back then, “Xiao Ye might be from a big city.”
I said, “That’s great. I want to test into a big city too.”
My mom looked worried, not having the heart to discourage me—
If he really was a city person, there would be no future for us.
The gap was too wide.

The day the College Entrance Exam ended, it rained heavily.
Our old house wasn’t sturdy; it leaked.
My small bed couldn’t be slept in, so I had to make a pallet on the floor with Lin Shouye.
We were very close, our breathing within reach.
“Can’t sleep?” he asked.
“What if I don’t get in?”
“You won’t fail.”
“I heard students in the city are very amazing, and the teachers are too. Even if I work hard, I probably can’t compare to them.”
“Where does Xuexue want to go for university?”
I thought about it. “Beijing. I want to go to the capital to see Tiananmen.”
Don’t laugh; every rural child has a dream of seeing Tiananmen.
“Okay, then we’ll go to Beijing. We’ll take Mom with us.”
“Xiao Ye, what if I didn’t pass…”
“Then I’ll take you.” Lin Shouye’s tone was certain. “I’ll take you both.”

My heart felt like it had been struck.
In my eighteenth year, I finally understood what a heartbeat felt like.
I was glad he was my “fiancé.”
I reached out and hugged him, drawing warmth from his body.
Lin Shouye’s body stiffened for a moment, and then he gently hugged me back.
We stayed like that, quietly embracing, doing nothing, yet it was better than anything.

Looking back now, I was blinded by sweetness that night.
So I didn’t notice Lin Shouye’s abnormality.
He wasn’t foolish anymore.
Every word he spoke was effortless, hiding a sharp edge.
His eyes, too, flashed with a piercing light in the darkness.
The light that belonged to him.