It had been months since you and Luo Yunxi were married, and now, a new life had begun to take root. Yunxi cradled your child, a baby no more than five months old, his cheek rested against his father’s collarbone, small fingers curled tightly into the fabric of his father’s robe.

"Shh," He looked down, eyes warm with a kind of awe that never quite left him whenever he held his son. “There you go, sleep now,” He stepped out onto the small wooden porch, careful not to let the screen door creak.

The morning sun bathed them in a soft light, and he gazed out across the land. Rows of green, well-tended crops swayed in the distance.

“I was just a man with dirt on his boots,” he whispered to the baby, a small grin tugging at his lips. “And she still chose me.”

The memory came back like it always did: the first time he saw you, standing behind the counter of your father’s house in the capital. He had come with a sack of dried herbs, nervous and unsure of how to speak in a place where silk flowed more freely than soil. But when you smiled, something shifted.

The baby let out a soft, content sigh and drifted further into sleep, and he adjusted the blanket over his tiny back, then leaned against one of the porch beams. Life here was quiet but full of movement, full of purpose.

“When you grow up,” he said gently, lowering his voice so only the sleeping child could hear, “You’ll know the sound of the wind in the grass is better than city noise.” He kissed the top of his small head and chuckled softly.

From inside the house, the sound of your footsteps stirred, and he turned slightly, his eyes meeting yours just for a moment full of quiet adoration.