Shadow and Light: The Bride Who Clicks Her Way to Love-Chapter 385 - 398: The First Snow

Autumn deepens.

In the blink of an eye, the first snow of early winter arrives.

The delicate snowflakes fell from the sky like feathers, turning this upscale villa district into a fairy-tale world.

Han had never seen snow before when he lived in Country F. Upon first sight of it, he was overjoyed, running around the snowy ground on his little legs, his little face flushed bright red with cold.

Mrs. Gui was stewing soup in the kitchen. Su Xingyu was sitting under the garden pergola, carefully wiping an old camera. This was something she loved doing after moving into this house—on long, silent days, finding things to occupy time was the only way to avoid being overwhelmed by memories and sadness. The faint aroma of food drifted from the kitchen, while the garden was filled with the sounds of children playing happily. Su Xingyu was in a good mood today, and couldn’t help but lift the camera to capture Han rolling in the snow, pressing the shutter lightly. In her hands—those of a goddess-level photography master—Han’s cute and silly expressions were captured without disguise. Looking at the photos, she chuckled, thinking that when Han grows up, he will surely find these to be embarrassing history, right?

Meanwhile, despite being playful, Han keenly noticed that his mom was photographing him.

"Mommy, mommy," he ran over, his tiny hands frozen stiff by the ice and snow, reaching out to pull her, "come play with me."

"You play, and I’ll take photos of you," Su Xingyu smiled, shaking the camera in her hand.

The little boy brought his head over to look. At such a young age, he didn’t understand what silly and cute meant, and seeing himself face-first in the snow on the photo, he gleefully exclaimed, "Mommy’s photo is great! Take more pictures of Han, could you? And also take some of Jue! Can you take some for him too? I’ll call him to come play!"

Su Xingyu said, "Sure! But it seems like Jue doesn’t like coming down to play."

That child’s autism was quite severe, staying silent in his room all day long, barely changing his posture.

Su Xingyu once doubted the child could speak at all, were it not for Lu Shifeng’s firm assurance that Jue can indeed call him "daddy," she would truly suspect there was something wrong with the child’s ability to vocalize.

Han was somewhat troubled too, "Jue always likes to stay cooped up in his room, but Mr. Lu and Mrs. Gui said it’s because he’s sick. How about I bring some snow to show Jue? Maybe he’ll like it and want to come down and play with me!"

The child was meticulously calculating.

Su Xingyu sighed in her heart and said to the child, "You can give it a try."

No one knew why exactly, but Han was genuinely close to Jue, even when Jue was indifferent and apathetic; whatever was good to eat or fun to play, Han would always think of him first.

Sometimes Su Xingyu thought, Han really is a loving child. If his twin sister hadn’t died years ago, Han would have been a great little brother, right? That child who had died, was the same age as Han and Jue...

Every time she thought like this, her heart ached a little.

She put down the camera, went to the kitchen with Han, took a crystal bowl, squatted in the garden to scoop up a bowl full of clean snow, and headed upstairs toward Jue’s room.

As usual, Jue’s room was dark, the walls were covered with complex diagrams.

The child sat among the drawings, his face expressionless, his glazed eyes seemingly scanning through them into the distant void, his gaze unfocused.

Su Xingyu sometimes wondered, what does Jue think about? What does he see through those diagrams?

Could it be the vast starlit sky? Or the mysterious, unspeakable movement of particles?

Is that world so beautiful, that he’s unwilling to return to reality...?

"Jue, Jue!" Before she finished her thought, Han had already run over with the bowl of snow, presenting it to Jue like a treasure, "It’s snowing outside, isn’t it pretty?"

But Jue didn’t react, his gaze remained fixed on that void within the diagrams.

Undeterred, Han—having spent so much time together these days—was used to Jue’s indifference. He placed the bowl of snow on the floor in front of Jue and sat down himself, starting to play right there. "Look, Jue, I can make a little person out of this snow..."

The child spoke on as he started to knead the snow into shape.

All the while mumbling, "This little person is Jue, cold like Mr. Lu... And this one is Han..."

Watching Han having a good time, Su Xingyu couldn’t help but sigh, wondering if her parenting had failed—his hands-on skills seemed to be in the negatives. The snowman he was making was all over the place, and besides him, who could tell what it was supposed to be?

Maybe Jue was annoyed by the noise, or maybe he couldn’t stand the crooked lump Han was making. Finally, Jue shifted his gaze away from the drawings, casting a stoic glance at the crystal bowl and the messy pile of snow.

He waved his hand, toppling the bowl.

Han blinked, hesitating whether to cry—he’d learned to be sensible now. He knew that when Jue ruined his things, it wasn’t always bullying; sometimes it might just be part of playing. So whether to cry depended on the situation; he’d saved a few tears when it didn’t benefit him.

Indeed, it wasn’t bullying.

Or perhaps the quiet, almost eerie child had no concept of bullying.

He pushed the scattered snow away, then methodically spread and smoothed it out, covering a large part of the bedroom floor.

"Jue, what are you doing?" Han asked curiously, blinking as he lay down to watch Jue manipulate the snow.

His little head moved close to the patch of snow, almost brushing against its edge, and Jue discontentedly pushed him away, his small hand landing squarely on Han’s face.

"Ah!" Han was startled and cried out.

Jue seemed startled too, quickly withdrawing his hand, but then he pushed Han again.

Han looked at him with teary eyes, feeling wronged, "You’re bullying me."

Su Xingyu watched the two children with some anxiety. Although they usually got along well, they hadn’t avoided fights entirely, and she was really worried they’d start fighting again.

Jue’s face stayed blank as he reached again, pushing Han’s face. Just as Han thought to dodge, Jue pinned his other cheek with his other hand, leaving Han unable to move.

"Mmm... mmm..." Han’s face was pinched on both sides, making him emit muffled sounds.

Su Xingyu took a couple of steps forward, trying to gently ask the child, "Jue, what are you doing?"

"Cold, cold, cold." Jue remained expressionless, monotonously repeating one sound, while his little hands tightened their grip on Han’s face.