You are so lucky.

In the place Lin Yu couldn’t see, Qing Mo’s lips curled slightly.

Her voice was faint and soft as she whispered:

"Say more."

"I like listening to you."

?

A question mark slowly surfaced in Lin Yu’s sluggish mind. Gasping for breath, he asked between pants:

"You like it?"

"Shouldn’t you prefer crawling on the ground while I whip you from behind, saying those kinds of things?"

"Why do you suddenly like this now?"

After asking, Lin Yu waited for a response, but instead of words, he felt something warm, wet, and soft gently envelop his earlobe.

Qing Mo gave his earlobe a light nip to express her displeasure at his words, then released it, her voice as light as a goose feather as she murmured:

"Who said I only like that?"

"Sometimes..."

"..."

"I also want to see your gentle side..."

The atmosphere suddenly fell silent, with only the unrelenting howl of wind and snow filling the void.

After a pause, Lin Yu adjusted Qing Mo on his back and forced a chuckle:

"Don’t worry."

"I’m the gentlest person you’ll ever meet."

"You’ll get to see plenty of it later."

...

"Do you really like her?"

Qing Mo abruptly asked, her question seemingly out of nowhere.

Lin Yu knew exactly who she meant. He tried to keep his tone light, masking the bone-deep exhaustion as he replied:

"Of course I like her."

"How could I not?"

...

"How much?"

After a quiet moment, Qing Mo spoke again.

"How do I even measure that?"

Lin Yu hesitated, struggling for words. Finally, he said:

"Liking someone is just... liking them."

"It’s not like gold—you can’t dig it out of your heart and weigh it on a scale."

"Anyway, I like her a lot."

"Enough to spend a lifetime with her, if nothing goes wrong."

Once Lin Yu finished, Qing Mo fell silent again.

Time ticked by.

Lin Yu grew increasingly worried.

Over the past while, he could clearly feel Qing Mo’s body temperature dropping from an extreme high.

But this wasn’t a good sign.

If this continued, she could freeze to death!

Lin Yu was deeply concerned about her condition.

Given how cold he felt despite his intense physical exertion,

Qing Mo was probably teetering on the edge of her limits.

With her injured foot, she couldn’t move at all, and her clothes weren’t thick enough.

She had no choice but to endure the biting cold,

lying helplessly on his back as the blizzard stole away her warmth.

Lin Yu was terrified she might fall asleep.

So even when exhausted, he mustered the energy to respond to her, afraid she might slip away unnoticed.

"Hey."

"Where exactly were you planning to take me today?"

Noticing Qing Mo’s prolonged silence, Lin Yu tried to engage her with questions, hoping to keep her awake.

Whether unwilling or afraid to answer, Qing Mo dodged the question and continued her playful interrogation.

"If I don’t mind her being there..."

"Can I also have that kind of love? The 'spend a lifetime together' kind?"

Her feather-light words nearly made Lin Yu stumble.

Seriously?!

Now’s not the time for this!

"Absolutely not."

Lin Yu refused firmly:

"She wouldn’t agree, and neither would I."

"The law says one man, one wife."

"Stop fantasizing."

"We could go abroad—"

"Not happening, no matter where!"

"Give up on that idea!"

Lin Yu stood his ground, shutting down any possibility of the story veering into an absurd harem scenario.

What a joke!

Even if I die,

I’ll still be the champion of pure love!

I’d never do something so disgusting!!!

As he trudged through the blizzard with Qing Mo on his back, Lin Yu eventually ran out of energy to keep talking.

All he could do was occasionally shake his head or nudge her gently to keep her awake.

Each time, Qing Mo would respond with a faint, dreamlike hum.

If she stayed silent too long, Lin Yu would bump his head against hers, eliciting a reaction.

Battling the cold, Lin Yu relied entirely on sheer willpower to keep moving.

Death shadowed him, tiptoeing at his heels.

He knew that if he collapsed in the snow, death would pounce instantly, tearing apart this haphazardly acquired life of his.

He just wondered if it might mercifully toss him another ticket to a different world this time.

His steps grew increasingly unsteady, his mind blank, his body spent.

Then, something cool pressed against his neck, pushing down the collar of his coat.

The brief chill jolted him back to alertness, straightening his buckling knees.

"Actually..."

"Dying like this..."

"Might not be a bad ending for me."

Qing Mo’s voice was so faint that even pressed against his ear, Lin Yu had to focus to hear her.

"Sometimes I hate myself."

"Hate how pathetic I am."

"Hate how I’ve thrown away all dignity, shamelessly clinging to you."

"But I can’t help it..."

"I can’t control myself."

"I can’t leave you."

Her whisper brushed his ear like a final testament.

"Don’t worry."

"We’re not dying here."

Lin Yu rasped:

"If you don’t believe me, let’s make a bet."

"I bet we won’t die here!"

When Qing Mo didn’t respond, Lin Yu panicked, calling out urgently:

"Qing Mo?"

"Qing Mo!"

"Qing Mo!!"

"Qing Mo!!!"

Finally, she answered with a mosquito-like "Mhm."

"Qing Mo, do you dare take my bet?"

"I bet we won’t die here!"

Lin Yu raised his voice slightly, desperate to keep her awake.

"Bet what?"

Her reply was as faint as a dream.

"I don’t know."

"But I’m certain we’ll survive."

"How about a wish?"

"If I win, you grant me one."

"If you win, I’ll grant you one!"

"Deal?"

The absurdity almost made Qing Mo laugh.

If we live, you win—I owe you.

If we die, I win.

But what’s the point if we’re dead?

Think I’m stupid?

She wanted to laugh, but she had no strength left.

Lin Yu lightly rested his chin on Qing Mo's shoulder, agreeing to this unfair bet.

Seeing Qing Mo accept, a tiny flicker of excitement stirred in Lin Yu's heart.

With this condition,

his days ahead would surely go much smoother.

But soon,

that flicker of excitement twisted into a bitter smile.

As his vision filled with endless white, a wave of despair surged from the depths of his heart, quickly sapping all strength from his body.

Or perhaps it was more accurate to say it had reduced him back to his original state.

Seems like I'm going to lose...

Lin Yu could no longer hold himself up, his legs giving way as he nearly collapsed onto the snow-covered ground.

Just then, through the thick curtain of falling snow, his gaze landed on a splash of color—different from the blinding white—on the distant slope ahead, near the highway guardrail.

Squinting, he realized the shape resembled a person. Desperate, Lin Yu waved his arms wildly and screamed hoarsely.

But he was already at his limit.

He tried to wave for attention, yet even lifting his arm felt like an impossible effort.

He tried to shout, to make himself heard over the howling wind, but the sound that escaped his throat was so weak he could barely hear it himself. Let alone carry across the thousands of meters to reach that person's ears.

Realizing the futility of his actions, Lin Yu was once again swallowed by boundless despair.

Those thousands of meters might as well have been the distance between Earth and the atmosphere—he couldn’t take another step.

Kneeling exhaustedly in the snow, he stared hopelessly at that vibrant speck of color on the slope, eyes filled with resentment and despair, before finally collapsing.

In his final seconds, he couldn’t tell if it was a hallucination or not,

but he thought he saw that figure turn its head...

noticing him...

...

The moment Lin Yu opened his eyes, he was met with a delicate, youthful face—so exquisitely pretty it made him wonder if he’d arrived in heaven.

Normally,

seeing a beautiful girl

would have lifted Lin Yu’s spirits.

Especially one as stunning as this.

Yet, despite the girl before him being far more beautiful than most, Lin Yu felt no joy at all.

Su Yuyao!

I knew it’d be you!

Misinterpreting Lin Yu’s icy expression as his usual demeanor, Su Yuyao paid it no mind. She handed him a cup of warm water, her voice sweet as she said,

"Here, drink some water, brother."

Lin Yu didn’t want to accept it, but his throat felt like parched earth, cracked and aching with dryness, leaving him no choice.

In the end, he took the cup.

But convinced this was all some cruel twist of fate, his expression remained dark and unreadable.

Not a trace of gratitude showed for the girl who’d saved his life.

Su Yuyao didn’t seem bothered.

She perched on the chair by the window, her fair, slender arms resting on the soft cushions. Too short to touch the floor, she swung her delicate legs playfully, watching Lin Yu with a cheerful smile.

"Brother,"

"Your luck is really something."

Lin Yu nearly scoffed out loud.

"Yeah,"

"Such great luck."

"Almost dying, only to run into you."

His voice carried a hint of resentment.

Truthfully, Lin Yu wasn’t angry at Su Yuyao—just frustrated with the predictability of it all, with this life that felt puppeteered by fate.

But then, Su Yuyao’s next words left him stunned, frozen in disbelief.

"No, not that,"

Su Yuyao shook her head, speaking earnestly:

"Brother’s luck was getting into that car accident."

"Otherwise, if you’d kept going down that road, you would’ve walked right into the avalanche ahead!"