TPW – Chapter 119

For the entire month of February, Qiao Lu and her husband lived under the spotlight. Life after being exposed was no longer as carefree as before, which brought them a bit of trouble.

Fortunately, no matter the era, the public is always forgetful.

And this wasn’t the highly connected 21st century, nor were there any crazed fans like modern idol chasers. Once the storm of attention passed in a month or two, people would go back to their own lives. In reality, not many would keep watching you all the time.

In just a short month, Purple Dragonfly had become the most well-known clothing brand in Lian City.

If previously, some of the more remote areas of the city hadn’t heard of the brand, through word of mouth, now almost everyone knew about Purple Dragonfly and Anqiao.

Especially Purple Dragonfly—the name was pleasant, easy to remember, and catchy, making it hard not to notice.

Time flowed like a murmuring stream, passing swiftly.

In late February, a cold air mass from Siberia unexpectedly brought snowfall to this small southern city?

It was simply unprecedented, unheard of.

Although the snow was light, after settling overnight, it had accumulated into a three to four centimeter thick layer—more than enough for a snowball fight.

Early in the morning, the joyful laughter of children downstairs woke them up. Pulling open the curtains, Qiao Lu saw—to her amazement—it had snowed!

On the eaves, the branches, the lawn… all was a blanket of white. Qiao Lu rubbed her eyes in disbelief, thinking she hadn’t fully woken up yet, and quickly pushed the window open for a clearer look.

A fierce, icy wind rushed in through the window gap, stealing away the last trace of warmth in the room.

Xu Haizhou shivered from the cold and instantly sobered up.

He rubbed his eyes and noticed the snowy scene outside. Lifting the blanket to go take a look, he realized—he wasn’t wearing a single stitch.

With a couple of light coughs, he quickly searched for clothes.

But there were no pajamas on the bed. A glance at the floor revealed that, thanks to their enthusiastic activities the night before, his pajamas had been flung aside in a mess, pitifully huddled in a corner of the wall, silently accusing their owner of heartlessness!

With no choice, he got out of bed, braving the cold to grab the crumpled robe from the floor and threw it on, tightening it as he walked forward. With practiced ease, he naturally wrapped his arms around Qiao Lu’s waist from behind and rested his chin on her shoulder.

His hot breath tickled her cheek. “What are you looking at? Snowing?”

Qiao Lu turned to glance at him and squeezed his hand, her voice full of excitement. “Yeah, it’s snowing. It’s almost March, how is it snowing now? It’s incredible.”

She pointed at the kids having a snowball fight downstairs, curiously peeking out like a child herself.

“Mhm, nothing incredible about it. Anything’s possible.” His voice, still husky from just waking up, was low and sexy.

Hearing that made Qiao Lu’s ears tingle. Just as she was about to elbow him away, the man gently bit her earlobe, nuzzling her.

“Ah! What are you doing? That tickles…” She tried to push away his broad chest, but her resistance was, of course, ineffective. He pulled her into his embrace and kissed her deeply.

“Mmm—!”

“You haven’t even brushed your teeth, you jerk!”

“It’s fine. I don’t mind you.” Xu Haizhou chuckled lowly and continued nibbling on her lips, completely unbothered, like it was a game.

“I mind you!” Qiao Lu was both exasperated and amused. “And the curtains aren’t even drawn, you idiot! There are people down there!”

As soon as she said that, Xu Haizhou wrapped his arm around his wife’s shoulders and guided her back inside—now it should be safe, right?

In the midst of their pushing and pulling, Qiao Lu’s foot accidentally bumped into the baby crib, waking up the little one who was still sleeping soundly.

With eyes closed, the baby yawned, rubbed her chubby little fists against her puffy eyes, blew a few bubbles, and slowly began to stir awake.

“Mama” Her first words were “Mama”—who knows if she was hungry or just missing her mom.

“Xu Haizhou, move… Qiaoqiao’s awake…”

If not for their daughter waking up, Qiao Lu had no doubt this rascal would’ve gotten up to something first thing in the morning!

Hearing his daughter’s voice, Xu Haizhou gradually loosened his hold on Qiao Lu until she broke free from his embrace. She walked over to the crib, picked up the child, and kissed her little chubby cheek.

“Qiaoqiao, little baby, wake up and come see the snow!”

It was the first time Qiaoqiao had ever seen snow since she was born. The world outside was a vast blanket of white—completely different from before, no, completely different even from just yesterday!

It was magical. It was beautiful. The little one kicked her arms and legs in excitement and clapped happily. “Mama! Daddy! Ma~ma!”

“This is called snow, snowflakes, snow…”

“Mama~”

“Say it with Mama—snow…”

“Mama?” The little one didn’t quite understand what she meant.

“Snow, baby, snow.” She pointed at the scenery outside the window as she spoke.

After repeating it seven or eight times, little Qiaoqiao finally learned to say the word “snow.”

Not bad—her efforts weren’t in vain.

After getting dressed and heading to the bathroom to wash up, Qiao Lu waited while Xu Haizhou prepared breakfast. After breakfast, she still had to nurse her daughter. She told Xu Haizhou to take their son downstairs to play in the snow while he still had time, and she would come down with Qiaoqiao after feeding her.

This was the last month Qiaoqiao would be breastfed. Once February was over, they would switch to formula and solid foods.

After feeding her, there was no rush to head to the store. She had to go downstairs and play in the snow with her two little ones first.

Only when she got downstairs did she realize that nearly all the kids in the neighborhood had dragged their parents out for snowball fights and snowy fun. They were actually a bit late.

“Where’s your brother? Where’s Daddy? Qiaoqiao, help Mama find them—where are they?” Qiao Lu lifted Qiaoqiao’s hand and waved it in the air.

Because of the cold, the little one was bundled up like a bear. From head to toe, she was wrapped in thick fabrics, wearing a scarf, gloves, and a knitted bunny hat. Only her pretty little face peeked out.

The reflection of the snow made her fair little cheeks glow with radiance.

Snowflakes landed on her eyelashes, fluttering prettily like tiny feathers.

“Brother~ Daddy~” Children really do have sharp eyes—within half a minute, Qiaoqiao spotted her dad and big brother having a snowball fight in the distance and pointed at them, calling out.

Qiao Lu gave her a kiss and hurried over, carrying her daughter: “Oh, our Qiaoqiao is amazing. Let’s go find Daddy and Brother.”

After her little sister and mom arrived, Qiao An stopped his snowball fight with Dad and redirected his attention to Qiaoqiao.

Since snow is cold and they didn’t want Qiaoqiao’s hands to freeze, Qiao An made a snowball and held it up to her.

He didn’t let her hold it, just touch it—a light press of her fingertips until the snowball crumbled. The little one grinned widely and giggled gleefully. It was so much fun.

“Brother! Brother~” she pointed at the white snow on the ground, clearly asking for another one.

Qiao An happily obliged and made her another.

“Mama, my hat today is the same as Sister’s! We’re both wearing bunny hats!” Qiao An suddenly pointed at his knitted hat and Qiaoqiao’s.

Qiao Lu laughed and flicked his bunny ears: “That’s right. From now on, Mama can make matching hats and gloves for both of you. That way, when we go out, everyone will know you’re siblings. Like that?”

Qiao An dropped his snowball and hugged Qiao Lu’s head excitedly, planting a big kiss on her: “Mm! Mama, I love it! I like matching with Sister!”

Then, as if he suddenly remembered something, he asked excitedly, “Mama, can we go to Grandma’s for the next New Year? I want to play in the snow over there. There’s so much snow, and Grandpa pulled me on a sled and helped me have snowball fights—it was so much fun!”

This kid really has a great memory—he even remembers stuff from two years ago.

“Sure. This year Mama and Daddy will work extra hard and hire more people. Then during the Spring Festival, we can leave the factory to the staff and go visit Grandpa and Grandma.” Even if they might not actually go, it was something to say for now. Who knows—maybe they’d really get the chance? At least give the child something to look forward to.

“Yay!”

The little guy eagerly hugged his sister and began telling her all about the snow in the north, not caring whether she understood or not.

“This year we can bring Qiaoqiao to the north! Qiaoqiao, listen—up north the snow is so pretty, really deep, and there’s a ton of it. You can build snowmen, have snowball fights… Oh right, you can’t have snowball fights yet—those kids are way too good, even I can’t beat them!”

“If anyone dares hit you, I’ll protect you. Don’t be scared.”

At this moment, Qiaoqiao wasn’t scared at all. In fact, she was thrilled, excitedly pointing at the snow on the ground, asking her brother to make more snowballs.

What a little chatterbox her brother was.

Playing in the snow is only fun with people you love. Over here, Qiao An was making snowballs while babbling on to his sister. Over there, Qiao Lu had already started a snowball fight with Xu Haizhou.

This kind of “adult pairing” wasn’t uncommon in the neighborhood—there were even some elderly people playing along. The yearning for snow runs deep in the bones of southerners. Since it finally snowed, of course they had to make the most of it.

“Take this! Hee—hahaha—” A solid snowball flew straight at Xu Haizhou and hit him right in the chest, exploding like a flower.

“I’m dodging—ah, missed!” Qiao Lu pouted and stomped her foot, a little annoyed. “You really hit me! Can’t you be a bit more gentle with your delicate wife?”

Then Xu Haizhou softened his movements—and ended up taking a full-on snowball right to the face from Qiao Lu.

Snowflakes burst open and fell everywhere, with a few even slipping down his collar. That icy sting—

“A beauty trap! Biu—hahahaha—”

Xu Haizhou grabbed a snowball and retaliated, hitting her on the shoulder. Qiao Lu screamed again: “Ah! Don’t throw at me, it’s cold! Xu Haizhou! I’m mad! I’m not talking to you anymore!”

She pretended to be angry and turned away to leave. Xu Haizhou quickly stopped and jogged after her. But the smile hadn’t even faded from the corners of Qiao Lu’s mouth. As soon as he got close, not realizing she still had a snowball hidden in her hand—bam!—a perfect hit.

Xu Haizhou: “…”

“I’m not playing anymore, you keep cheating!”

Qiao Lu lunged at him, hugging his waist tightly, her cold face rubbing against his coat.

Xu Haizhou didn’t stop walking, and Qiao Lu refused to let go, clinging on as he dragged her across the snowy ground for quite a distance.

“Haizhou, Xu Haizhou~ I’m your wife. So what if you fell for your wife’s honey trap? What’s wrong with giving in to me a little? You hit me so hard, and I haven’t even said anything about that yet.”

“Still haven’t said anything?” Xu Haizhou was speechless. He pinched her cheek. “This is exactly what they mean by ‘only state officials can set fires, but commoners can’t light lamps’. That’s you. And besides, that wasn’t a honey trap — that was a threat.”

Qiao Lu burst into laughter, and Xu Haizhou, annoyed, pinched her cheek until it slightly hurt. She quickly batted his hand away and pinched him back.

“What? So what if you give in to your wife? You’re so strong, isn’t it only right for you to go easy on me?” She held out her hand in front of him with an aggrieved tone, palm up. “Look, it’s all red from the cold.”

Xu Haizhou chuckled softly and cupped her hand in his, blowing warm air on it. “Is it warm now?”

“It is, but your hand’s so rough.”

Xu Haizhou: “……”

“My man doesn’t need delicate hands. As long as mine are soft, that’s enough.”

As she spoke, she gently kneaded his hand, clearly enjoying the touch.

He claimed to be warming her hand, but in reality, he was just taking advantage of her. Qiao Lu laughed and gave him a playful kick.

“Your scarf is halfway undone,” she pouted and motioned for him to wrap it back up.

Xu Haizhou glanced down, then held her hands without moving. “Wrap it for me.”

Just as Qiao Lu pulled her hand back to help him with the scarf, the shameless man leaned in, clearly aiming for a kiss.

“You looking for a beating?” Qiao Lu quickly looked around, guilty like a thief. “If someone sees us, you’re dead meat!”

She yanked his scarf and pulled him closer, motioning for him to bend down, then wrapped the scarf snugly around his neck.

Xu Haizhou let out a low laugh, teasing, “Since when are you this shy?”

Still reeling from his sneak attack kiss, Qiao Lu glared at him sharply.

“Even if we’re an old married couple, you might not be embarrassed, but I still care about appearances.” Despite the words, her tone was sweet.

Xu Haizhou knew his wife well. She loved this kind of act — what was it called again? Right — “Domineering CEO.”

He remembered her mentioning it before, saying this kind of man was super attractive, especially if he was good-looking.

So Xu Haizhou, who considered himself “good-looking,” often acted like a domineering CEO in front of his wife to win her favor.

And clearly, it worked. Though Qiao Lu liked to act picky, she was honest at heart — even his “beauty trap” worked wonders on her.

“Mommy, what time is it? I have to go to school!” Qiao An’s voice suddenly broke the flirtatious moment between the couple.

Qiao Lu responded quickly, “Oh, right! Coming!”

She glanced at her watch — it was time to leave.

She picked up Qiao Qiao, planning to walk Qiao An and Xu Haizhou to the neighborhood gate before heading back home.

Later, Qiao Lu would push the stroller and take Qiao Qiao to the store with her. The store was close to Nanhu Jiayuan — walking slowly, it took about fifteen minutes.

“Mom, Sister made a snowball.”

“Wow, Sister is so awesome! That deserves a reward.”

Qiao An tried to reach for his mom’s hand, but his dad beat him to it — one arm around Mom’s shoulder, the other hand grabbing his.

Qiao An didn’t mind. Holding Daddy’s hand was fine too. He happily said:

“Mom, tomorrow’s Sunday and I’ll be off school. Can I come to the store and play? I also want to visit Dad’s factory, and then go to the courtyard to find Brother Tao Tao.”

“Sure! But let’s get through today first.”

The little guy bounced and skipped down the steps of the garden pavilion, one step at a time. “Okay, just one day — it’ll go by fast! I have so many classmates at school and lots of friends. I can even read books there. Time at school passes so quickly. Zoom!”

He was so excited, then suddenly remembered something important. “Ah! Mom, I forgot my schoolbag!”

Xu Haizhou and Qiao Lu looked at each other and burst out laughing.

The two grown-ups were so caught up in playing around that neither of them remembered.

Shaking her head in exasperation and amusement, Qiao Lu said, “Then hurry and go get it. Here, ask Dad for the key.”

“Mom, I have the key around my neck. I can open it myself.”

Qiao An pulled out the key hanging around his neck and darted upstairs with light, quick steps — full of youthful energy.

Watching her son’s lively figure disappear, Qiao Lu felt a sudden wave of emotion. When did he grow this big? She still remembered the first time she woke up and saw him — a tiny, scrawny bundle, shy and sensitive, barely daring to speak above a whisper, as if afraid of being disliked.

A few years later, he had grown into such a cheerful, outgoing little boy. It was truly heartwarming and emotional.

As he watched Qiao An’s retreating figure, Xu Haizhou suddenly pulled Qiao Lu closer into his arms.

Qiao Qiao was still in her mother’s arms. Seeing this, she turned her head and reached out with her chubby little hands to pinch Daddy’s nose, laughing with delight.

Xu Haizhou nuzzled Qiao Qiao’s tiny palm, then leaned his forehead against Qiao Lu’s, gazing at her deeply. After a long moment, he whispered, “Thank you, wifey.”

He squeezed her hand as if holding a treasure.

“What’s up with you? Acting all strange — did you eat something funny?” Qiao Lu smiled and handed Qiao Qiao to him, freeing her hands to straighten his collar.

The motion brought back memories of their wedding night. Back then, they weren’t that familiar with each other. She stood on tiptoe, he bent down, she fixed his collar, and he gently leaned in to kiss her cheek.

His heart suddenly thumped, and his eyes grew warm. “Thank you for marrying me.”

Qiao Lu froze.

Then she heard his hoarse voice as he wrapped both her and Qiao Qiao in a tight embrace.

“And thank you for giving me two treasures.”

Qiao Lu understood then.

That sudden confession was just his way of expressing emotion and gratitude.

She couldn’t put the feeling into words — her heart just felt sweet and full.

She poked his chest with her index finger and looked up at him. In that moment, all she could see was the white of the snow — and all of him.

“Then use the rest of your life to thank me.”

“Mm.” A deep, joyful laugh rumbled from his chest.

“Sweet as honey.”