Chapter 122: Emerging from the Clouds

By the year's end, winter in Yun City remained snowless as ever.

The entire day was cloaked in a desolate white, and the timely cold wind stirred a thousand wrinkles upon the heart.

They each concluded their work, only to take up another burden named life.

Though the performance of the customer service department at Kaisheng had seen its share of ups and downs, it finally caught up in the second half of the year. Reviewing the net profits for the whole year, it surpassed that of the previous year.

Yishu firmly held the top spot in performance and earned a bonus of three thousand yuan. This time, the worries she had harbored did not come to pass. Although Guo Yamei felt disappointed, she refrained from uttering harsh or mocking words. Of course, congratulations were not something she would voice.

Some seamstresses from Guizhou and Sichuan bought cheap train tickets a week early to return home. Master Yao was among them.

Yishu remembered the day he left; she had just returned to Kaisheng for some matters. Senior management had pleaded with him to stay, almost to the point of groveling. Master Yao’s face was etched with difficulty, yet he could not bring himself to refuse.

Yishu stepped forward to say a few words—though now she could barely recall the specifics. They were merely trivial parting wishes. Yet during the conversation, she vaguely sensed he would not return to Yun City next year.

Probably not.

Some decisions, delayed too long, only deepen the resolve to follow through.

The workshop, once cluttered with scraps of fabric, curtains, sewing threads, and edging strips stretching as far as the eye could see, remained in disarray. But lacking the noise of many workers and machines, it felt strangely unfamiliar.

Will she continue as an online customer service representative at Kaisheng next year?

Perhaps.

Nearly six years had passed; no matter the initial discomfort, habits had been formed.

Descending the stairs, Yishu saw a stranger heading toward the showroom—a plump middle-aged woman clad in an over-the-knee down coat trimmed with raccoon fur, walking ahead of the general manager’s wife.

That unfamiliar figure was likely the newly recruited designer. After six months of planning, the project was finally coming to fruition.

From afar, he glanced briefly at Yishu. His bangs were long, nearly obscuring his eyes.

Standing in the backlight, Yishu could not discern his gender. What impressed her most was his wearing a gray-blue Chanel-style tweed jacket, edged with plush trim at the cuffs, collar, front placket, and pockets. Beneath, a grayish-white turtleneck sweater. His pants and leather boots nearly matched the color of his outfit.

In the days that followed, Xu Shixi also completed his year’s tasks. The successes and hardships of Xunyuan’s Happy City finally set it on the expected path.

Tang Dai, in her last moments in Yun City, never revealed what terms she had traded to secure Shang Da’s compromise.

Afterwards, Xu Shixi made several calls to her, only to find her phone off or unanswered. It was as if she had vanished from the world.

He always felt a deep sense of guilt toward her—though unable to pinpoint the exact reason, the feeling was undeniably real.

Contact with Qiao Siming also dwindled; even when calls connected, conversations were brief and curt.

Between them stretched an artificial chasm, like a small isolated island suddenly risen from a submarine volcanic eruption, trapping them on opposite shores.

After the last day of operations, Fengche Logistics closed its rolling shutter.

Lu Xugao held Yan Lu close as they stood before the entrance, watching the company that had operated for half a year earn its place in Yunbei. This achievement was at least a passing grade.

The road ahead was long, but they had each other. Hand in hand, no matter how far, they could forge a smooth path beneath their feet.

That night, Yan’s mother prepared a feast. The usual two dishes and one soup returned to the old four dishes and one soup. Plus, with Lu Xugao present, she made an extra pot of braised pig’s trotters.

Around the table, everyone ate quietly, exchanging occasional words about daily trivialities to keep the atmosphere from growing too awkward or solemn.

Most of the time, Yan’s mother’s eyes were fixed on Yan Lu opposite her. She had changed—perhaps grown up? Yet a peculiar ache coursed within.

Yan Lu dared not meet her gaze. The words she had spoken felt like daggers embedded in her heart, fused with flesh for months. Today, she forced herself to pull them out, pain lingering faintly, without the courage to share the burden.

Yan’s mother held back her speech. Looking back, they always tore into arguments after just a few words. Once a cold war began, it lasted at least three days and nights.

She turned and went to the bedroom, retrieving a square red notebook from the desk drawer beneath the window.

“I’ve already paid the down payment. The house isn’t big—about seventy square meters.” She pressed the property certificate into Yan Lu’s hand. “I was too harsh before; it was hard for you to bear. But I only want you to live well.” Her eyes glistened with moisture. “If you live well, I’ll be content.”

“I can’t accept it.” Yan Lu handed the certificate back.

“Just keep it.” Yan’s father emerged from the kitchen, wiping his hands on a white apron. “This is a little token from your mother and me. Only the down payment is paid; the monthly mortgage still needs you two to repay together. If you refuse, your mother and I can’t afford it.”

Yan Lu’s eyes filled with tears. The deep emotions among family were always expressed through tears. “Mom, thank you!” She embraced her, letting her tears soak the other’s clothes.

The wedding was scheduled for the twenty-eighth day of the twelfth lunar month—just two days before the New Year. After the Yun City ceremony, they would celebrate again on the third day of the new year in Guangzhou.

To attend Yan Lu’s wedding, Yishu deliberately postponed her return to Beijing with Xu Shixi.

Unexpectedly, on this day when Yun City had not seen snow for years, thick flakes began to fall, blanketing the world in pure white romance.

Yan Lu stubbornly pulled Lu Xugao into the swirling snow beneath the vast sky, capturing rare and precious photographs.

That oft-repeated verse—“May you find a soulmate, to grow old together without parting”—perhaps this was its true embodiment.

Closing their umbrella, braving the snow, hands clasped tightly, they walked forward, growing old together step by step.

The snow fell heavier, and Yan’s mother rushed from the corridor into the snowfield, pulling Yan Lu back into the hall.

Guests took their seats one after another.

A wedding both grand and simple unfolded.

Champagne roses adorned the venue.

Yan Lu disliked the garishness of red roses and the monotony of white ones, but was enamored with champagne roses. Perhaps, in the end, women cannot resist the allure of roses.

The ceremony was streamlined, cutting out tearjerker moments and even omitting the recounting of how they met, got to know each other, and fell in love—going straight to the heart of the matter. Yan Lu strongly disliked pouring out her feelings before a crowd of near strangers, sniffing and sobbing. Some emotions needed to be shared only with certain people; outsiders had no right to witness them.

Yan’s father, arm linked with Yan Lu’s, entered slowly. Under the heated gazes of all present, he could not conceal his nervousness. This tension passed through their connected hands to Yan Lu.

“I entrust my daughter to you,” he said, heavy with sorrow. “Take good care of her.”

Yan’s father had rarely shed tears in his life. He was not good at expressing feelings through tears. Today, though his heart ached bitterly, he held back the tears from joining the occasion.

“Thank you, Dad,” Yan Lu said with a hazy gaze.

“Thank you, Dad,” Lu Xugao replied with a pleased expression.

They exchanged rings.

The ring was encrusted with tiny diamonds resembling grains of sand, centered around a simple yet stylish circle. The circle’s edge was adorned with powdery fragments of diamonds.

Yishu sat in the audience, eyes fixed unwaveringly on this historic moment.

Yan Lu had found happiness—her own unique happiness.

Xu Shixi leaned her against his shoulder. After all, everyone’s attention was on the stage or the abundant feast. No one would notice them.

Would she and he be as happy as Yan Lu and Lu Xugao?

It was worth remembering that Yan Lu and Lu Xugao had endured far more hardships together than Yishu and Xu Shixi.

Yishu ceased her imagination.

On the road ahead, having him was enough.