Wenxu Jiang stood still for a while. He didn’t come back to sense until the cigarette burnt his finger. And his sudden rise caused a loud screech between the chair feet and the wooden floor.

“Wenxu Jiang? Wenxu Jiang! What’s wrong with you?” Jingwen Zhang was a bit worried. He witnessed Wenxu Jiang’s condition; the man probably couldn’t handle a tiny bit of external stimulation.

Wenxu Jiang hung up the phone. He could barely hold his coat. He stepped outside his office in an unclear mind and before he knew it, he started running awkwardly.

Assistant Song was trying to calm the grumpy puppy down when his boss banged the door open.

“Drive me to the airport; ask about the ticket of the earliest plane to Hangzhou.” Wenxu Jiang’s voice was placid but it was perceptibly quivering.

“Now?” Assistant Song was shocked. He replied by instinct. It was too sudden but he knew he couldn’t ask more. He picked up the puppy and said, “Boss, I’ll have the receptionist look after it.”

In the car, Wenxu Jiang found his heart was under too much pressure, his limbs dead cold. He feared and he knew.

He was alive; the operation was a success. But how come a person could just die like that… What about Zhishu He then?

Jingwen Zhang did tell him that bone marrow wouldn’t do anything at this stage of Zhishu He’s leukemia but Wenxu Jiang never listened. He kept refusing to accept the fact that Zhishu He would eventually die. Wenxu Jiang found himself absurd. Why was he so convinced that Zhishu He would live a happy life with him again after he got better soon?

Wenxu Jiang finally grudgingly admitted a horrifying thought that he might lose Zhishu He, like forever.

“Boss, I have made a phone call; the earliest plane will be eight thirty tonight,” Assistant Song took off his Bluetooth earphone, “Book that one now?”

Wenxu Jiang only hummed while watching the gloomy sky outside the window. He must take one last look at Zhishu He, even from a distance, just to assure himself. He wouldn’t… wouldn’t upset him again.

It was only about four o’clock when he arrived at the airport. Wenxu Jiang wanted to head straight into the airport lounge by himself yet saw snow coming down from the sky while getting off the car.

Wenxu Jiang’s heart jerked and he asked, “Did you read the weather forecast?”

How could Assistant Song notice that when he didn’t even have time to turn on a TV or check his phone? He turned on his 4G to check the weather in a hurry after hearing Wenxu Jiang’s question.

Light snow.

“Should be fine.” Assistant Song said.

Wenxu Jiang didn’t get off the car, they waited together another two hours. In the two hours, the snow got heavier; it was two or three centimeters on the ground.

“Why… does Beijing snow so much this year?” Wenxu Jiang said it so lightly as if he talked to himself.

Assistant Song stayed quiet.

By 7 o’clock, it almost turned into a blizzard. Winds were gusting. The car radio was reporting the closed highways. Assistant Song received a ticket refund message saying the airline was canceled.

Wenxu Jiang’s temples were popping. The pain and the sensation of asphyxia struck together; he nearly crushed his teeth. “Head back.”

He still went back to his and Zhishu He’s apartment.

Wenxu Jiang almost watched the snow for the entire night at the balcony. Everything was covered in whiteness; it was so cold and desolate like the temporary emptiness after noises and lights.

At midnight, he called Ziyu Ai like he was hit in the face.

He called again and again, and there came the same programmed female voice over and over again, “Sorry, the subscriber you dialed is power off…”

Wenxu Jiang felt he was pushed into the abyss by some irresistible force.

The snow hadn’t stopped yet, and Wenxu Jiang’s mind was exceptionally clear overnight. He hardly considered and made up his mind just like he decided to take Zhishu He away at the train station 14 years ago.

The snows were 5 centimeters thick, and the blizzard didn’t stop. He decided to drive to Hangzhou.

He resumed his sense while he sat on the driving seat. His body couldn’t allow him to do crazy stuff young men could do. He called Assistant Song. Two men driving in turns was safer and faster.

He had to give him a pay raise though.

It was a tough journey. The entire north snowed, and highways were all closed. Small roads were twisty and dangerous and misleading. They didn’t feel slightly relieved until they entered the south.

It took them two days to drive from Beijing to Hangzhou.

It was before noon when they arrived at that little tea garden. The sun shone on Wenxu Jiang’s face through the car window; one second bright, next second dark. The sun was shining but had no heat at all.

It was empty. That two-story building was empty; the jasmines in the garden were all dead.

Wenxu Jiang stumbled. He nearly fell.

[Your step-mother author has to tell two inevitable things—a sudden bad ending and plain abuse plots.

There is no heart-breaking abuse in separation and abuse. If it disappoints you, please don’t complain or criticize too much.]