Top secret

It doesn't snow much in Yuncheng in winter, but since the beginning of winter this year, there have been three snowfalls, big and small.

When Jiang Yuzhou was cleaning the envelope, he found the envelope from a hidden compartment that he hadn't noticed before.

The original snow-white paper had turned a little yellow, and the bright red thread on the envelope had also faded, making this letter, which already had a special meaning, even more aged.

Jiang Yuzhou has a habit of writing letters. He is used to putting a little sealing wax on the seams of the saddle. This letter that was handed to Li Du a few years ago still has the sealing wax, that is to say, Li Du has not read this letter.

Every year from the end of December to New Year's Day, Li Du is always in a low mood.

This snowfall was heavier than ever, and there was no intention of stopping for a while, Li Du was not in the mood to open, so the teahouse was simply on holiday, and the two of them had nothing to do in the afternoon, so they cleaned the house while they were free.

Li Du was busy in the small wing room, and Jiang Yuzhou contracted to clean the bedroom.

There are two large wardrobes in the bedroom, one for seasonal clothes for two people, and one for infrequently worn clothes and quilts that cannot be covered.

These things are usually sorted by Li Du, but the temperature has dropped sharply in the past few days, when Jiang Yuzhou hugged the quilt outside, he found a sandwich in the deep part of the cabinet.

That long letter that spanned life and death, after an unknown amount of time, lay there quietly.

Jiang Yuzhou slid his thumb across the envelope, and the scene of writing a letter in the dormitory back then reappeared. After a long while, he put the letter back in the mezzanine intact.

There were not many things in the small wing room, but Li Du never came out. As soon as Jiang Yuzhou entered, he saw him standing facing a cabinet against the wall, looking a little distracted.

"What's wrong?" Jiang Yuzhou walked over and put his hand on his shoulder, "What are you thinking?"

Li Du didn't speak, his gaze was slightly lowered, Jiang Yuzhou looked along, and there was a broken purple sand bowl at the bottom of the cabinet.

This small bowl, Jiang Yuzhou, looked familiar. It was the same set as Li Du's favorite purple clay teapot, but he didn't remember when one was missing. Since he remembered, that set had always consisted of three bowls.

Jiang Yuzhou squatted in front of the cabinet, picked up a piece and flipped through it back and forth, then raised his head and asked Li Du, "When did you call?"

Li Du regained his composure, "It's been several years."

"Why are you still keeping it? Is there a special meaning?" Jiang Yuzhou raised his eyebrows, put the fragments back, stood up and pulled Li Du out, "Tell me and listen."

It was still snowing outside, and the snow in the yard hadn't been swept yet. Li Du was wearing summer slippers, and when he walked, his heels didn't get into the snow, and he was a little red from the low temperature.

The two quickly walked back into the room, and Li Du followed Jiang Yuzhou's gentle push to the sofa and sat down, "Then I'm so sorry."

Jiang Yuzhou pulled a few pieces of paper to wipe his feet, then stretched the thin blanket on the side to cover his legs, "Is there anything else you're embarrassed about?"

Li Du pulled the blanket by himself, and shrank his feet back, "It must have been when I first met you."

"Huh?" Jiang Yuzhou didn't understand, "Why don't I remember?"

Originally, it was dark early in winter, and with the snow, the light in the house was also very dim.

The two of them didn't turn on the light when they came in. Jiang Yuzhou pulled the blanket and wrapped himself up with Li Du, with one hand wrapped around Li Du's waist from back to front, loosely.

"Of course you don't know." Li Du was a little ticklish, moved to the side, grabbed Jiang Yuzhou's hand, and kept him from moving.

"Then I want to know more." Jiang Yuzhou squeezed his fingers between Li Du's fingers, rubbing a thin callus on his index finger under the dry and warm blanket.

Li Du sighed pretentiously, "Then I'll try to make it difficult for me to talk about it."

The small purple sand bowl was indeed broken by Li Du when he first met Jiang Yuzhou. Jiang Yuzhou had just arrived in Yuncheng that year, and Li Du was 24 years old.

In fact, the matter is simple to say, but it was Li Du's carelessness when he saw Jiang Yuzhou in a hurry and went down to find Jiang Yuzhou.

"It was autumn when you came," Li Du said.

"Well," Jiang Yuzhou nodded, "at the end of September."

"It was actually quite cold at that time," Li Du tilted his head slightly, drawing a beautiful arc from his chin to his collarbone, "but I remember that you wore very little."

"Well," Jiang Yuzhou asked, "what else?"

"The sun was also very good that day," Li Du said slowly, as if immersed in a long and distant memory, "It should be in the morning, but the light looks like four or five in the afternoon."

Jiang Yuzhou listened quietly, Li Du continued, "You are smoking downstairs."

"and then?"

"Then I broke the cup." Li Du said flatly.

"...and then what?" Jiang Yuzhou asked.

Li Du turned his head to look at him, frowned slightly, and said innocently, "It's gone."

"That's it..." Jiang Yuzhou thought for a while, but still asked incredulously, "It's gone?"

Li Du leaned back on the sofa, with a puzzled expression on his face, "Actually, I thought I could always remember this, but when I said that just now, I found it seemed..."

Jiang Yuzhou interrupted him, "I seem to have forgotten?"

His tone was a little dangerous, as if Li Du would be really angry if he said he forgot.

Maybe his reaction was a little exaggerated, Li Du was also taken aback for a moment, but soon came back to his senses, "That's not true."

"But there are so many more important things than this one."

Li Du is 28 years old this year, and he is full of plans. He has only been with Jiang Yuzhou for four years, but maybe Jiang Yuzhou's identity is too special, and the story between them is too twists and turns, which makes Li Du always feel that he and Jiang Yuzhou have been together for a long time.

On that chaotic morning, the dull pain of the heart hitting the chest, and the love that was so serious that they dared not say it, was the starting point of all their relationships.

But that kind of strong and shocking emotion was skipped by Li Du's seemingly understatement.

For an ordinary person, in the face of life and death, heartbeat is not so important anymore.

Jiang Yuzhou was silent for a long time, then pulled his hand from between Li Du's fingers, walked around his waist and led him towards him, "It will be early next month."

"At the beginning of next month, let's go see Lao Zhou."

The 27th is the day when Lao Zhou left them.

Li Du didn't answer his words, he just stood up and walked towards the bedroom, "When the tea bowl fell on the floor, I didn't even look back."

That set of tea bowls was left to him by the old lady, and he cherishes it very much. Jiang Yuzhou has never seen him use it for anyone, and he usually uses other tea sets when entertaining guests.

"What about now?" Jiang Yuzhou followed him step by step, trying to cheer him up, and asked deliberately, "Is the tea bowl or me important now?"

Li Du chuckled, but his mood was still low. He lay on his back on the bed, narrowed his eyes slightly and looked at Jiang Yuzhou, "You can smash a teacup to see."

Jiang Yuzhou lay down beside him, hugged him gently, "That year..."

"Huh?" Li Du closed his eyes and responded.

He raised his hand and scratched Jiang Yuzhou's head. Jiang Yuzhou's hair hadn't grown out in the past few years. It was still so short that his scalp could be seen, and it was a bit irritating to the touch.

Jiang Yuzhou squinted his eyes, let Li Du grasp and hold him gently, and asked for a long time, "Why didn't you read the letter I wrote to you that year?"

He didn't say anything, but he only wrote a letter to Li Du once, so he was sure that Li Du knew what he was talking about.

Li Du's subordinates paused, "I don't want to watch."

The tip of Jiang Yuzhou's nose came close to Li Du's neck, and his voice was muffled, "Then what if I didn't come back then?"

Li Du became silent again, and after a few minutes, he turned his back to Jiang Yuzhou, "Brother, I'm sleepy."

They didn't talk anymore, and the lights in the house were not turned on. It seemed that the snow outside the house was getting heavier, and one of the bamboo trees in front of the window was crushed and broken.

Jiang Yuzhou heard the sound of broken branches falling to the ground, but because of the thick snow, there was only a slight movement.

Therefore, Li Du's ambiguous words were not overshadowed by this movement.

"That life is too long." Li Du said.