On the Wedding Night, I Transmigrated to After the Divorce – Chapter 92

Snow Night

What is the birthday wish?

The plane landed at sunset. As it taxied, Yu Yan looked out the window to a world of endless white—snow like a quilt blanketing the sleeping earth. After leaving the airport, they got into the pickup car and drove slowly down the middle of the road, where the snow piled along the roadside was thick enough to bury a person whole.

            

She couldn’t even imagine how much fun snow this deep would be. Yu Yan was already itching to play, wanting to ask the driver to pull over. But the stern woman beside her wouldn’t allow it—her gloves and scarf were still packed in the suitcase, and she was worried about frostbite.

After over an hour’s drive, they arrived at the hotel in darkness. After dinner, Yu Yan had no patience for snow play anymore—she dragged Fu Yunqing off to the hot springs.

The hotel sat in a secluded forest. Beyond the floor-to-ceiling windows, snowdrifts nearly topped the glass, bare trees standing in rows that vanished into the endless night. But in the distance, moonlight illuminated the mountains, and on the other side, not far away, lay the sea.

            

Stepping onto the terrace, there was a pool of hot spring water. Yu Yan slipped off her bathrobe and eased into the water slowly, pulling Fu Yunqing in right after her.

She was too beautiful—the way she stood naked in the water, hair pinned up. Yu Yan made no effort to hide her infatuation, throwing her arms around her neck to kiss her without a moment’s hesitation. They shared a searing kiss in the steam rising from the pool. When they parted, both their faces were flushed. Seeing Fu Yunqing blush like that, Yu Yan couldn’t help herself and kissed her several more times.

Kissing consumed oxygen, and the steam soon left her weak and limp. She leaned against the edge of the pool, resting on Mommy’s shoulder, content, playing with Mommy’s fingers.

            

She gazed lazily at the silence outside. Here, there was nothing but the boundless dark night, the forest, the snow, the towering snowcapped mountain in the distance—and the two of them.

What a blissful night.

They could do whatever they wanted, with nothing else on their minds.

            

As if to welcome Yu Yan’s arrival, fine snowflakes began to drift from the sky, beautiful in the glow of the eaves’ pendant lights. The flakes landed on Fu Yunqing’s smooth, flushed shoulders and melted instantly. Yu Yan wanted to taste them. She took Fu Yunqing’s arm and kissed her there.

A little cold. Fu Yunqing’s shoulder was so smooth. Yu Yan still remembered saying she’d help scrub her back.

Back then she’d been so hopeless—mention hot springs and all she could think of was helping jiejie scrub her back.

            

Well, she was the same way now—her head full of nothing but lust.

So Fu Yunqing rested her arms on the pool’s edge, and Yu Yan knelt behind her, slowly scrubbing her back with a towel. Fu Yunqing half-closed her eyes, gazing peacefully at the snowy scene, feeling wonderfully relaxed.

This went on for a while. Drowsiness crept in. The person behind her set the towel aside and wrapped her arms around her. Fu Yunqing turned her head and was met with a kiss on the corner of her lips.

            

Yu Yan thought Fu Yunqing’s eyes were so tender they could spin silk. But they couldn’t stay in the hot spring too long. Supporting each other, they rose, dripping wet, and stepped onto the shore. They’d barely grabbed their robes to wrap around themselves before they were inside—and moments later, the robes were tossed carelessly onto the floor beside the bed.

Outside, the snow fell heavier and heavier. The fireplace crackled by the floor-to-ceiling windows, and the heating was ample. On the soft, wide bed, two bodies intertwined—warm, soft. Love so dense it overflowed, tumbling and turning, tangled and lost in each other.

No need to think about anything unnecessary. No need to distinguish day from night. These past few days had been like this—half the time spent in bed, food and drink brought to them. Yu Yan was lazy and decadent, in a pleasant daze, treating everything with idle nonchalance. Apart from having to figure out how to sneak cigarettes without Fu Yunqing noticing, she had no worries at all.

            

The addiction was there—she couldn’t simply not smoke even if she wanted to. Going without made her miserable, an itch in her chest, her mood even a little unstable. Only after smoking did she feel right again.

Every time she sneaked a cigarette behind Fu Yunqing’s back, she’d go wash her hands, brush her teeth, use mouthwash, even quietly change her clothes—making absolutely sure Fu-jiejie couldn’t smell a thing. But you can’t walk by the river without getting your shoes wet¹; getting caught was only normal. Even so, Yu Yan wasn’t flustered. She knew how careful Fu Yunqing was with her now—barely daring to discipline her, unable to bring herself to scold her. So she openly kept puffing away right in front of her.

Only when she met her eyes did she feel a tiny bit guilty, turning her head away when she exhaled.

            

Fu Yunqing truly didn’t scold her. She simply sat beside her, keeping her company in silence, and didn’t launch into any earnest lecture about how smoking was unhealthy.

“I heard from Auntie Zhang that during the time I was away, you were smoking heavily too, and drinking heavily,” Yu Yan said, turning to her after finishing a cigarette.

“Mm.” Fu Yunqing answered, “My mood was troubled, so I smoked a lot. I couldn’t sleep without drinking.”

            

“Would you like one?” Yu Yan held up the cigarette pack and offered it to her.

Fu Yunqing shook her head. “No.”

Yu Yan admired her.

            

Generally speaking, when someone had smoked that heavily, it wasn’t easy to quit. Seeing someone else smoke would surely trigger a craving.

Yu Yan was so indulgent, yet Fu Yunqing was so disciplined.

Why?

            

Of course Yu Yan still remembered she’d once said she hated the smell of smoke.

Yu Yan looked at her profile, a fine, scattered ache creeping through her heart.

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The evening of January 18, heavy snow.

            

After dinner, the two soaked in the hot spring, chatting. They’d rested well here these past few days—lazy, yes, but their energy was restored. They talked about where to go next, how to spend tomorrow’s birthday, and what Yu Yan’s birthday wish was this year.

Yu Yan had never believed that saying a wish out loud would jinx it. She only knew that whatever she said, Fu Yunqing would make come true. So in past years she’d never hidden anything—seven or eight wishes at once, all told to Fu Yunqing, and spilling them early was a common occurrence. But this time she played coy, saying Fu-jiejie might not be able to make this one come true.

Might not be able to make it come true?

            

Hearing that, Fu Yunqing felt a surge of unwillingness. She wanted to argue back, but the words reached her lips and she swallowed them.

Over a year apart—so much had come between them. She had to admit that Yanyan had grown up. She had to admit she’d been absent for that growth, no longer knew her the way she used to, could no longer see through her at a glance.

This unpredictable version of her—perhaps she really did have a wish that Fu Yunqing couldn’t fulfill.

            

Fu Yunqing was still unwilling. She felt a wave of loss.

She tried to set aside the problems she couldn’t solve yet, leaving them to time. She gathered her composure, and later, they changed into cold-weather gear to head out.

They’d agreed: on Yu Yan’s twenty-fourth birthday, they would go together to see the snowy sea. It was her wish—she’d commandeered what should have been Yu Yan’s right. But Yanyan remembered it more clearly than she did, having prepared early, bringing a camera, saying she wanted photos to remember it by.

            

The roads were slick with heavy snow and visibility was poor. Since driving didn’t seem safe and the seaside wasn’t too far, they chose to walk. It was still some time before midnight—a slow stroll there would be just right.

A night of wind and snow, the roads empty of pedestrians. Long streetlights still glowed on both sides, casting light for the snowy night. The lamps were amber, and so the snow turned amber too—one glance and it felt so cinematic. Every footstep landed on snow, hurried flakes constantly darting into view. Fortunately they were bundled up warm—hat, scarf, gloves—neither of them felt very cold.

They didn’t speak much along the way. Both were absorbed.

            

Before long, they could hear the sound of waves. At the end of the road, across one more street, lay the sea—a vast expanse of white and black. The sea merged into the night, nothing visible from a distance, but its roaring presence made its grandeur unmistakable. Yu Yan’s heart surged with it, and she couldn’t help quickening her pace. Fu Yunqing followed behind her.

The beach had become a snowfield. Sea wind carried a sky full of scattered snow, waves crashing endlessly—everything so fierce that breathing itself became difficult. Yu Yan stood in the center, squinting as she faced its boundless, surging expanse, her heart racing, her grip tightening on the object in her pocket. She looked back—Fu Yunqing stood behind her.

“Beautiful, isn’t it?” Yu Yan’s eyes sparkled with shimmering delight. “Is this what you wanted to see, Fu-jiejie?”

            

Of course it was.

Fu Yunqing gazed at her deeply. Seeing her so elated and excited, she couldn’t help smiling too. She’d finally recovered some of the old feeling. Yanyan had changed, and yet hadn’t. She was still the same as before—childlike in her excitement at spectacular sights, smiling so brightly, her joyful expression dissolving into the snowy night as if merging with the way she’d looked the first time they came to see the sea together. Her vitality was still so moving… But what was this? Fu Yunqing suddenly felt a wave of heartache.

Aching for her, probably. Seeing her smile always made her think of the painful time she’d endured alone. She felt she owed her too much.

            

“Beautiful…” Fu Yunqing had been counting the time, and felt it was about right. She said sincerely, “Yanyan, happy twenty-fourth birthday.”

In this moment, that feeling of unwillingness surged stronger than ever. She still wanted to close the distance between them sooner, still wanted to make her wishes come true, wanted to bring her every beautiful thing in the world, wanted to make up for her pain, wanted her to always look this radiant.

“Can you tell me your birthday wish now?”

            

“That fast? It’s already midnight?” Yu Yan voiced her doubt but didn’t reach for her phone to check. Instead she handed the camera to her. “Your photography skills are better than mine. First, record a late-night seaside emo video for me. I haven’t updated Douyin in ages.”

A late-night seaside emo video?

Fu Yunqing laughed. “Alright.”

            

Yu Yan pulled out her phone, opened Douyin, and scrolled through a few examples for Fu Yunqing. “You have to walk and film at the same time, pan around in a circle—capture the surging waves and the swirling snow. Then I’ll add some melancholic music and it’ll be perfect.”

She said it so earnestly that Fu Yunqing adjusted the camera just as seriously, finding the right angle, pointing the lens at the sea.

She pressed record, searching for the melancholic feeling Yu Yan wanted, braving the fierce snow as she walked and moved the camera. She was so focused that she didn’t notice at all what the person beside her was doing—until suddenly, Yu Yan called her name.

            

“Fu Yunqing, film me.”

Fu Yunqing startled and turned toward the sound. Yu Yan stood not far to her right, her figure barging boldly into the frame. She stood with her back to the sea, hands clasped behind her, looking slightly nervous. She caught her breath, lowered her eyes for a moment, then raised them immediately, staring straight into the lens with a smile. A snowflake landed on her lashes.

Fu Yunqing thought she simply wanted to include herself in the snowy scene. She adjusted the angle carefully, pointing it at her, and stepped closer.

            

Suddenly, Yu Yan raised her right hand, which had been hidden behind her back. In her hand was a small black box. Inside the box lay a silver ring.

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The author has something to say:

Yan: jie is definitely holding back something big.

            

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