Chapter 179: Falling Snow
Jiang Chuchu stared fiercely at her phone screen. What kind of nonsense was this—how dare someone set their sights on her best friend?
Xia He clearly sensed her attitude from those three exclamation marks and sent another message, briefly explaining what Wei Yan had told him.
Jiang Chuchu calmed down a little, but her mood was still far from good.
From Wei Yan’s words, it seemed Wei Xiao was only curious about how someone like Gu Qinghuan—without any background—could receive special treatment from the student council, and wanted to understand the situation.
But still! The mere thought of Wei Xiao getting close to Gu Qinghuan made Jiang Chuchu want to smack him flat—like smashing a cockroach with a slipper!
Seeing her grim expression, Qin Yue asked curiously, “What’s wrong?”
Jiang Chuchu jerked her chin toward Wei Xiao. “That guy is interested in Qinghuan.”
Qin Yue’s brain froze for over ten seconds before he finally reacted, gritting his teeth. “Who does he think he is, trying to get close to our class monitor?!”
Ever since Walking with Light aired, students from other classes had often come asking about Gu Qinghuan.
The students of Class Three were quite happy about it—they felt their outstanding class monitor deserved this kind of popularity. If not for certain things they couldn’t reveal, they would have loved to brag even more.
So normally, Jiang Chuchu and Qin Yue didn’t mind that “someone is interested in Gu Qinghuan.”
The problem was—when that someone turned out to be Wei Xiao, both of them felt a strong, instinctive dislike.
Jiang Chuchu thought it over. Maybe it was because they already knew Wei Xiao was going to be engaged to Yu Yuan, so they subconsciously assumed his “interest” went beyond simple friendship.
Maybe they were overthinking—but even the possibility was enough for Jiang Chuchu to decide: she would keep a much closer eye on him.
After a full day of gathering, everyone went home.
Qin Min sent Qin Yue back first, then got into Xia He’s car to have a talk.
“Enjoying university life?” Xia He’s attitude toward Qin Min was fairly mild.
“It’s alright—quite fulfilling,” Qin Min replied, then asked, “What about you? A’Yue said you spent a huge amount of money just to grow taller?”
Xia He shrugged. “More accurately, I removed the drug effects and replenished the hormones I was lacking. For details, you’d have to ask a professional.”
Qin Min looked at him for a moment. “Why the sudden change of mind?”
“Because I realized there are still quite a lot of interesting things. I want to keep watching,” Xia He said casually.
“So… you won’t harm yourself anymore? And you’re not thinking about suicide either, right?” Qin Min asked slowly.
Silence filled the car.
After a while, Xia He spoke softly, “I once thought I saw a star.”
Though he began with that sentence, what followed shifted elsewhere.
Staring at Qin Min, he continued, “I used to consider giving everything the old man left me… to you.”
Qin Min’s expression didn’t change. Xia He continued on his own:
“But you’re not suitable. You have too many weaknesses—your parents, your brother, and… the woman you like.”
At that, Qin Min finally showed a trace of discomfort, lightly coughing into his fist.
Xia He pretended not to notice. “You’re not ruthless enough. If you had the Xia family’s assets, they’d only bring you trouble. So I chose Xiao Bai instead.”
To Bai Hanshan, Bai Qingyin wasn’t a weakness—she was a brake.
If someone tried to threaten him using Bai Qingyin, he had plenty of ways to play along while waiting for the right moment to strike back harder.
Xia He had even established Wuyin Entertainment specifically to support Bai Qingyin, and Bai Hanshan naturally agreed to become his partner.
But in truth, Xia He had planned that after his death, everything would be handed to Bai Hanshan—to deal with Xia Nanzhi and Xia Xiuzhu.
As for what became of the Xia family afterward, Xia He didn’t care.
In that sense, Bai Hanshan was effectively his chosen successor.
“I got along well with Xiao Bai. With him around, I didn’t need to think about what would happen after I die. So I just lived casually, guiding him along, waiting for the time to come,” Xia He said.
“Unfortunately… no, unexpectedly, you brought Gu Qinghuan into my life.”
“She’s completely different from me. I could tell she was wary of me. She rejected me many times—not out of fear, just treating me like an ordinary classmate.”
“I thought she was a star—a small light in the darkness. So I walked toward her, gradually guided away from where I used to be.”
“Until everything around me became brighter, and I realized—she wasn’t something I could hold in my hands. She was the sun.”
“Impossible to get closer to. Impossible to give up that warmth.”
“And more importantly… at that moment, I realized I was no longer in darkness.”
Xia He calmly gazed out the car window. His reflection faintly appeared in the glass, a slight smile on his lips—gentle and relieved, unlike anything Qin Min had ever seen.
“Turns out, when you follow the sun… you become light yourself.”
“Xia He…” Qin Min couldn’t help calling his name.
Xia He turned back, returning to his usual casual tone. “Anyway, I’m living quite comfortably now. Occasionally I deal with those two, watch what new trouble is happening around Gu Qinghuan, and lend a hand when necessary.”
“But she doesn’t need to know any of this. Even without me, she’d figure things out herself. I just want to help a little—consider it repayment.”
“After all, as the future head of the Xia family… my life is quite valuable.”
Qin Min let out a long breath.
The car stopped.
Before the driver could come around, Xia He had already stepped out.
“Huh,” he said, looking up at the sky. “It’s snowing.”
The snow was falling fast. The driver hurried over with an umbrella, but Xia He waved him off and said to Qin Min, who had also gotten out, “Let’s go. The food at the Wei family’s event was all cold dishes—terrible. I’ll treat you to hotpot.”
Qin Min glanced at his expensive wool coat. “You’re going to eat hotpot dressed like that?”
“It’ll be taken care of when I get back,” Xia He replied, already walking ahead.
Qin Min shook his head but followed.
Their footprints quickly disappeared into the thin layer of snow.
Cat-like paw prints appeared on the snowy ground.
Yu Yuan held up her phone, taking a photo, then sent it to Yu Xin:
[Sesame left paw prints in the snow!]
Yu Xin, sitting in the living room, took a picture of Yu Yuan playing with Sesame in the yard and sent it back:
[Your head’s full of snow. Come back soon.]
A few minutes later, Yu Yuan came back inside, holding Sesame.
A maid hurried over with a warmed towel, gently drying Yu Yuan’s hair and hands.
Yu Yuan wanted to take it and do it herself, but her hands were too cold, so she let herself be a little lazy.
This maid was newly hired after the New Year. The previous one had to leave early due to family matters and recommended a replacement.
The Yu family usually didn’t call maids by their full names, so Yu Yuan only knew her surname was “Yu.”
At first, she thought it was the same as her own surname, but later learned it was a different character—just pronounced the same. Maybe because of that, she found Aunt Yu quite easy to get along with.
Yu Wenxiu carefully made sure all the moisture on Yu Yuan was wiped dry, then, still worried, went to make a cup of brown sugar ginger jujube tea.
Yu Yuan held the warm cup, took a sip—fragrant and sweet—and couldn’t help narrowing her eyes into a smile. “Thank you, Aunt Yu.”
Yu Wenxiu quickly waved her hands. “No need to thank me.”
Yu Yuan went off to sit with Yu Xin, while Yu Wenxiu returned to her place. When no one was paying attention, she quietly rubbed her eyes again.
She hadn’t yet been assigned cleaning duties, and she didn’t know where surveillance cameras might be in the Yu household—so she couldn’t risk collecting Yu Yuan’s hair for a DNA test.
But it didn’t matter.
She wasn’t in a hurry.
After searching for more than ten years, what were a few more days?
