Chapter 111: S Grade

Jiang Ran almost teared up. She knew it—pretending to be the victim still worked. Qiu Nian indeed stood by her side. This was the right vibe!

She pitifully scooted next to Qiu Nian and mumbled something, which sounded quite unbelievable. Qiu Nian thought for a moment and then asked sideways, “Did you apply any ointment?”

Jiang Ran shook her head. She had no idea what medicine to use, so she dared not act recklessly. She simply endured the burning pain and applied some aloe vera gel.

Qiu Nian sighed inwardly at Jiang Ran’s somewhat clueless expression. She stood up, grabbed the first aid kit, pulled down Jiang Ran’s pants, and pried open her knee. Jiang Ran sharply inhaled cold air—

Jiang Ran originally thought the pain had eased, but suddenly it flared up again. She dramatically hugged a pillow and grumbled, “I mean, after doing this, he still dares to ask me for money!”

Qiu Nian squeezed the ointment onto her fingertip and started applying it. Fortunately, her fingertip was warm and soft. Jiang Ran, pretending to be delicate, let out a few “ow”s and heard Qiu Nian say, “Money for what! Are you out of your mind! He wants a person—he probably thinks that after all this, you two should reconcile.”

Jiang Ran said, “Hmm.”

Qiu Nian paused in applying the ointment and looked up, “What do you mean by ‘Hmm’?”

“I don’t understand,” Jiang Ran blinked. “What does ‘reconcile’ even mean?”

“?”

“Do we really have to sit down face-to-face and say, ‘I like you, let’s get back together’ ‘Okay, okay’ like that? Isn’t that awkward? I just think about it and I feel awkward.”

Qiu Nian held the ointment, somewhat at a loss.

“Didn’t I go there when he lured me with the postcard at night? Isn’t that obvious enough?”

Jiang Ran grumbled discontentedly. Heaven knows how long she had hesitated in the living room yesterday before finally making up her mind.

That’s why when he handed her the postcard and acted like “if you want to leave, just go,” she almost cried.

Otherwise, why would she suddenly have emotional fluctuations—damn it!

“What else does he want? Should I publicly declare him as the heir in my will? He’s asking for too much!”

Qiu Nian listened as she almost jumped up, barely piecing together from the clues why Jiang Ran hadn’t returned home last night—the spark was that postcard she sent back when she was competing in Finland?

…That’s nothing, the competition was already over.

Don’t let Jiang Ran’s appearance fool you into thinking she’s easily deceived, being led around by the nose, like a turtle needing constant pushing to reluctantly inch forward. In reality, she knows everything.

She had actually walked from the villa area to the apartment area in the freezing cold last night just to knock on his door. It was essentially stepping down from her high position and bowing her noble head.

Looking at Jiang Ran’s confused expression, Qiu Nian clearly saw her bewilderment and asked, “Did you ever tell Gouzi about your inner journey?”

“Do I have to spell it out?” Jiang Ran raised her voice incredulously. “Didn’t he go to school? Is his brain undeveloped? He didn’t hesitate at all when he took my pants off yesterday! Is this just his usual game!”

When a woman gets stuck in a rut, her logic easily goes off track, usually “if you want to accuse someone, there’s no lack of excuses.” Qiu Nian thought of Li Xingnan, who often pointed at her nose, got so angry she couldn’t speak, and finally blurted out “Forget it” before turning away.

………………Now Qiu Nian also wanted to say “Forget it.”

She “pfft” squeezed out a pile of ointment and calmly skipped the process of advising them to “talk and reconcile”: “That’s not necessary. If he’s used to playing games, you wouldn’t be here whining while applying ointment.”

Jiang Ran loudly “Hmphed.”

After applying the ointment, they discussed some details together. When Qiu Nian praised Beijiao for her moral stance aside from technical issues, the door to their home opened.

Li Xingnan, who usually stayed at the ski resort until the end of the day session, returned unusually early, followed by A Ju.

Li Xingnan’s expression was serious. He furrowed his brow, placed his skis down, and looked up at the two women sitting shoulder to shoulder in the living room.

Just as he was about to bend down to take off his ski boots, one hand leaning against the wall, Qiu Nian said, “Hold on.”

Li Xingnan removed his hand from the ski boot laces and stood up straight, expressionless.

Qiu Nian: “You can speak first, but if it’s not pleasant to hear, you can just leave immediately, saving the trouble of taking off and putting on your shoes again.”

A Ju snickered behind him, kicked off his ski boots, and shrugged indifferently before patting Li Xingnan’s shoulder, passing him to head toward the fridge, grabbed a drink, and sat down.

Li Xingnan indeed didn’t take off his ski boots. Standing at the entrance, he solemnly said, “Speak kindly to Beijiao. What does that little kid know? Who doesn’t start off clumsy and heavy-handed? Why say things that hurt her self-esteem?”

Looks like someone went to him, the second car dad, to complain.

Qiu Nian crossed her arms and said nothing.

Jiang Ran looked from Qiu Nian to Li Xingnan.

At this moment, Li Xingnan stood at the entrance, locked in a stalemate with the people in the living room for a few seconds. When she didn’t speak, he raised his head to address A Ju and Jiang Ran, “The weather forecast says snow tomorrow. Bring my backcountry skis up the mountain. I’m going to the office.”

After speaking, he indeed didn’t look back and opened the door to leave.

Qiu Nian was scolded inexplicably and looked very unhappy.

But Jiang Ran’s focus had completely shifted—

As soon as Li Xingnan entered the door, without saying a word, with just a glance, Qiu Nian knew what he was going to say.

After Li Xingnan spoke, without Qiu Nian needing to drive him away, he knew he could just leave.

……………………How perfect!

This flawless unspoken understanding was exactly the ability she longed for Beijiao to possess!

As Li Xingnan slammed the door with a thunderous bang, Jiang Ran sighed, “I’m so envious. They can finish arguing without wasting words.”

Qiu Nian: “…”

Qiu Nian: “Are you out of your mind?”

……

However, no matter how envious Jiang Ran was, it wouldn’t help.

The signal of her generous acceptance might not have been as strong for Beijiao as her leaving the next morning after getting up from bed. He was convinced she was playing with him.

Now he was thoroughly angry.

There’s no need to hide anymore when they meet at the ski equipment hall. His thin lips pressed together, he ignored her as if he hadn’t seen her, turned his head away, and looked extremely cold.

Jiang Ran thought to herself, who gave him the courage? She looked up and saw Li Xingnan standing behind him like a door god.

Then Li Xingnan saw Qiu Nian standing behind Jiang Ran, and reenacted the previous scene—

Only this big brother was more profound. If Beijiao’s averted gaze still looked a bit cute and pitiful in its sulkiness, then Li Xingnan’s emotionless coffin face could only be described as infuriating.

Jiang Ran could even hear Qiu Nian grinding her teeth behind her.

She tugged Qiu Nian once, and the two of them, hugging their skis, went up the chairlift. As Qiu Nian exited the ski equipment hall, she couldn’t help but curse, “They two fit together perfectly, Avengers, right! Spoiling them with bad habits! It’s almost New Year, who are they showing their cold faces to!”

At this time, it was just approaching New Year’s Day, still far from the “Spring Festival.” Jiang Ran patted her shoulder. With Qiu Nian so angry beside her, she felt nothing herself. She calmly waited for that dog to come to his senses. They had managed two years without talking, who would get anxious over a couple of days?

——This was probably the unique charm that made Jiang Ran different from other girls.

According to common sense, after having a relationship, people usually have some inexplicable longing, psychologically. They feel closer, and not seeing each other for a while might make them miss each other even more than at the beginning of a romance.

But Jiang Ran didn’t feel that. After all, he was on the same mountain, if she wanted to miss him, she really didn’t miss him much. She just needed to habitually hug an extra pillow when she went to bed and couldn’t kick off the quilt recklessly anymore because no one would cover her at night.

Drowsily hugging the pillow, she always thought of him lying on the bed in just a loose pair of jeans. Her mind would go blank for two or three seconds, followed by a dry mouth and throat, and an unnamed warmth gathering in her lower abdomen.

Perhaps this was what was called yin and yang harmony.

She missed him, yes, but more his body.

And this was something she could easily solve by opening a short video app and clicking into his homepage.

Hugging her board, Jiang Ran thought about how Beijiao had looked just now—his face full of suppressed grievance, wanting to glance at her but not daring to meet her eyes, forcing himself to turn his head away. She chuckled softly.

They were waiting in line for the chairlift, and Qiu Nian turned her head and saw Jiang Ran laughing at the air.

She was taken aback: “This is the joy of being the one who initiates the breakup? Because you have no heart, you can even enjoy quarreling.”

Jiang Ran: “?”

Qiu Nian: “I’m so angry, maybe Li Xingnan is also squatting somewhere laughing at the air secretly?”

“That’s not the case,” Jiang Ran said. “He never finds joy in anything he does.”

The two of them talked as they boarded the chairlift. With nothing to do on the chairlift, they played on their phones. Jiang Ran hadn’t checked her phone since she got up and wanted to deal with some unread messages.

Just as she took out her phone, she saw the club owner, who had nothing better to do, wanted to go skiing. After all, he had a group of people who did carving, so he also tried carving, though he wasn’t very good at it. Every day he randomly grabbed a club leader on the mountain to ski for free—

Right now, he was in the group chat calling people, asking where his little treasures were skiing today.

“Boss is gathering people again,” Jiang Ran sighed. “Asking where we’re skiing?”

She was considering whether to do a good deed today when she suddenly heard Qiu Nian, who had been staring out the window of the chairlift, curse and frantically grab her phone to type—

【Who is Ranran Duck: G-Suo!!!!!!!!!!】

Jiang Ran was puzzled: “What are you doing?”

Qiu Nian expressionlessly threw the phone back to her.

Jiang Ran quickly understood—

Right after her string of exclamation marks, immediately followed Li Xingnan and Beijiao.

【Second Car: …】

【Beijiao: …】

【Second Car: Switch from A4 to A2.】

【Beijiao: Same here.】

As is well known, A-Suo is the main thoroughfare at Songbei Ski Resort, while A4 and A2 are the most bustling ski runs. These slopes are wide with moderate gradients, but for carving experts like Li Xingnan and Beijiao, skiing there is nothing but frustrating.

G Suo is located on the backside of the mountain, featuring a full advanced-level run. It’s steep with some wind but less crowded. By the afternoon, the snow conditions are usually excellent, making it a favorite spot for carving enthusiasts.

At this moment, they were quarreling as a group and naturally needed to avoid each other, occupying two separate mountaintops so they wouldn’t see one another. Qiu Nian and she had already taken the G cableway first, so the two of them had to go to the A cableway.

Jiang Ran gave Qiu Nian a thumbs-up.

Qiu Nian loudly “Hmphed” at Li Xingnan’s ellipsis on the phone screen.

……

At lunchtime, to avoid the awkwardness of meeting in the restaurant again, they directly ignored lunch. After all, whether they had one more meal or one less didn’t really matter.

Sliding until two or three in the afternoon, Qiu Nian’s Nollie 720° with a blunt nose board was almost perfected. She was indeed the slowest among them in progress. When Jiang Ran was already messing around with a blunt nose board and could do 900°, she had just started to figure out 720°.

And before that, Li Xingnan had almost given up on her.

Was it that she didn’t want to learn?

It was just that under the intense gaze of men, she felt a lot of pressure. The more anxious she got, the worse she jumped. She wouldn’t let Li Xingnan nag, and Li Xingnan couldn’t possibly scold her. Every time he could only sit by the side of the slope watching her tumble and then sigh.

This inevitably led to arguments between them whenever he sighed, making it impossible for him to teach.

But Jiang Ran was different. She had taught many people, seen even the clumsiest ones. Getting angry and sighing would only make her look older, so she was more patient in teaching. In one afternoon, she helped Qiu Nian achieve a miracle, stabilizing her position in the circle of experts.

This greatly improved Qiu Nian’s mood, as she clung to Jiang Ran’s arm affectionately: “It’s really you. What use do men have besides making people angry!”

On their last run, they slid down and threw their boards into the club’s office, then turned to the commercial street—it started to snow lightly as the sky darkened at noon, and Qiu Nian said she wanted to eat fried chicken.

What to eat was naturally decided by whoever had achieved something that day.

While Qiu Nian queued up to buy fried chicken, Jiang Ran went to the adjacent supermarket to buy beer and drinks, plus some snacks to go with them, preparing to go back, eat fried chicken, and watch variety shows. Thus, a wonderful day would end.

Carrying a basket of snacks, Jiang Ran threw them onto the self-checkout counter.

Just as she bent down to take out her phone to scan and pay, she suddenly caught sight of a box of red square boxes near the checkout counter she had always passed by without looking sideways.

Baby diapers.

Her gaze paused for a moment, suddenly filled with boundless curiosity.

Although she was of age, since she had never used them, she still felt a bit ashamed. Besides, the supermarket had no cashier at this time. She looked around and picked up a box to take a look.

She picked the small size.

…When she turned it over, the back was all Japanese. Her level was only enough to pass N2, and she had returned all of it to her teacher. She didn’t have the patience to piece together the katakana. She was just curiously looking through the box to see if there was any indication of different sizes.

She was carefully flipping through, trying to judge the general size of Asian men from the distinctions on this item, when she didn’t notice the door opening behind her and someone coming in.

She vaguely felt like someone had grabbed something and approached, probably also wanting to check out. She didn’t have the audacity to stand there and occupy the spot while someone else helplessly watched her study the condom sizes. So she simply threw the box she was holding into her shopping cart, preparing to take it home for further study.

She just grabbed a bag of chips and scanned it through the machine when she heard a “beep.” Suddenly, she felt the atmosphere behind her was off, simply put, as if the temperature had dropped a few degrees.

She turned her head in confusion and saw the person who had ignored her this morning now standing coldly in front of her, looking down at her with a stern expression.

His ski suit was still properly zipped up, only his helmet was taken off and held in his hand. His hair was a bit messy, and he was holding a bottle of mineral water.

Their eyes met, and they silently stared at each other for four or five seconds.

He pursed his thin lips and asked, “Who is that for?”

His voice was low, but the atmosphere was clearly stormy.

………………This tone couldn’t possibly be asking about the bag of chips in her hand.

Jiang Ran hesitated for a moment, her eyes involuntarily shifting downward, landing on his crotch.