In the Northern Song Dynasty, he started by marrying the eighth daughter of the Su family.

"Wow! So tall! Taller than Aning!" Aning clapped her little hands and excitedly circled around the snowman. Her pink face was red from the cold, but her eyes shone like stars in the sky.

She reached out her little hand and carefully touched the snowman's round belly. The cool feeling made her giggle. "Grandpa is so amazing!"

She turned around abruptly, pounced on him like a little cannonball, and hugged Chen Taisu's leg tightly, rubbing her face against his cold cotton cloak. "Grandpa, is the snowman cold? Aning will warm it up!"

He crouched down and awkwardly embraced his granddaughter.

"It's not cold... Ah Ning made it a snow coat, it's not cold... Ah Ning, be good, how about going back with your wet nurse to have some hot soup? Grandpa's a little tired..."

Ah Ning nodded understandingly. Although her eyes were still filled with reluctance to part with the snowman, she still extended her little finger, which was a little red from the cold: "Then, Grandpa, once you've rested, you'll play with Ah Ning again! Pinky promise!"

Chen Taisu hooked her fingers around those small fingers again, the fingers that carried the last bit of human warmth.

"Pinky promise..."

The wet nurse quickly stepped forward and took Ah Ning's hand.

Then, pulling along Ah Ning, who kept turning back and waving at the snowman, he quickly walked into the depths of the warm pavilion. The heavy curtain fell, blocking out the small figure and the clear child's voice.

Only the howling wind and the snowman with a red date nose, a withered twig mouth, and black pebble eyes remained in the courtyard.

He slowly took off his leather gloves, which were covered in snow and mud, refused the coat offered by the old steward, and looked at the constables outside the door.

The Right Vice Minister rubbed his hands together, a thin layer of snow accumulating on his hat brim and shoulders, and said, "Grandpa Chen, why be so sad? According to the laws of the Great Song Dynasty, he should be demoted to a commoner, stripped of his scholar status, and forbidden from returning to the capital for life. It is not a matter of life and death separation."

"Demoted to commoner status... stripped of official rank... forbidden from ever entering the capital again..."

Chen Taisu murmured these words repeatedly. His cloudy gaze passed over the Right Vice Minister, as if piercing through the thick walls of the mansion, and looked towards that distant, unfamiliar "rural land" that he could never set foot in again in this life.

There was no warm pavilion there, no clear children's voices in the corridors, no small figure rushing over to hug his legs, and no Ah Ning who would look up at him with her little face and ask, "Grandpa, will the snowman be cold?"

It meant that he and A Ning were now completely separated by an invisible legal chasm, stronger than the walls of Bianjing.

Life is like death.

The Right Vice Minister looked at Chen Taisu, his brows furrowing almost imperceptibly. He said no more, stepped aside, and said, "Grandpa Chen, please. The snow is heavy, and the road is difficult to travel."

Two burly constables from the Right Division stepped forward silently, one on the left and one on the right, and firmly and silently took Chen Taisu's withered arms.

Chen Taisu did not struggle. He was like a soulless shell, letting them hold him up. He took one last, deep, greedy look at the tightly closed curtain of the warm chamber—

It was as if he could see through the thick curtains and take another look at his beloved little Aning.

The Right Vice Minister followed at the back, and after walking out the door, he said to Chen Taisu's retreating figure, "The snow in Bianjing can't hold people back. After leaving the capital, the world is vast and there's always a place to return to. The young lady will always grow up..."

After saying this, he said nothing more, but waved to the constable, signaling him to quicken his pace.

"Go!" the constable shouted, increasing the pressure on his hand.

Supported, Chen Taisu stumbled through the deeper snow, heading towards the Dali Temple.

But at that moment, a child's voice, tinged with tears, weak yet piercing through the wind and snow, suddenly stabbed into his eardrums:

"Grandpa—!"

Chen Taisu was terrified and looked back in disbelief!

Under the eaves sheltered from the wind by the door, the wet nurse was tightly embracing a figure wrapped up like a small dumpling. Little Aning struggled desperately, her face red from crying, tears freezing quickly in the cold wind, her little hands reaching out towards him without hesitation.

"Grandpa! Grandpa, don't go! Aning doesn't want the snowman anymore! Aning wants Grandpa! Waaaaah..."

The Right Vice Minister glanced at A Ning, who was crying so hard she was almost breathless, with a complicated look in her eyes, and then looked at Chen Taisu, who was frozen in place and seemed to have aged ten years in an instant.

The Right Vice Minister paused for a moment, then nodded slightly in the direction of the wet nurse, signaling her to comfort the child. He then turned to Chen Taisu, his voice softening slightly, but still retaining a cold, businesslike quality:

"Old Master Chen, don't be late. The child is innocent; don't let her see too much."

"Grandpa—!!" Ah Ning's cries pierced through the wind and snow, echoing in the empty street. "Nanny! Nanny! Is Ah Ning being naughty? Does Grandpa not want Ah Ning anymore...?"

Little Aning, like a startled young animal, burst forth with astonishing strength, struggling desperately. Her little face turned red, and tears, like beads from a broken string, quickly froze into ice crystals in the biting cold wind, hanging on her frostbitten, purple face.

Her small arms stretched desperately toward Chen Taisu, her fingers futilely scratching at the cold air.

"Ah Ning will never ask to build a snowman again! Does Grandpa not want Ah Ning anymore... Waaah... Ah Ning was wrong... Grandpa, come back..."

This time, Chen Taisu did not struggle or turn back. He was like an empty shell that had completely lost its soul, letting the two towering constables of the Right Division lift his withered arms again.

He knew perfectly well that the phrase "children are innocent" was true. But the price of this "innocence" had to be borne by this small child who didn't yet understand the ways of the world, and the one who started it all was himself.

The Right Vice Minister followed silently behind, watching the old figure staggering through the snow and quickly swallowed by the white expanse. He glanced back at the tightly closed and silent gate of the Chen family mansion, then simply wrapped his official robe tighter around himself and quickened his pace.

"Hurry up!" The constable tightened his grip, forcing Chen Taisu to quicken his pace and disappear into the overwhelming snowstorm of Bianjing in the dead of winter.

The familiar vermilion gate of Dali Temple gradually revealed its outline in the wind and snow. The stone lions in front of the gate, which used to symbolize law and majesty, were covered with thick snow and silently watched their former master, now a prisoner.

The escorting procession stopped in front of the gate. The Right Vice Minister stepped forward and whispered a few words to the guards. The heavy door creaked open a crack, revealing a corner of the brightly lit but somber hall inside.

"Go in."

The bailiff's voice was devoid of any emotion, but he only gave a light push, applying a little force so that Chen Taisu, whose body was somewhat frozen, could walk in.