If Bei Jiao’s mind was functioning properly, he should know that since the 1980s, English has been promoted and popularized starting from elementary school in China. In major examinations such as the transition from primary to secondary school, the high school entrance exam, and the college entrance exam, English has always played a significant role.
Therefore, even a student who only thought about causing trouble during school days and completely slacked off during English classes would still find it relatively easy to say “I’m from China” or “Chinese.” After all, even a sixty-year-old auntie on the street could proudly say these two phrases to a reporter in Times Square not long ago.
It’s not that Jiang Ran was overly confident, although she had left China for overseas studies without taking the college entrance exam, she truly didn’t feel her English was worse than Bei Jiao’s. She had gone abroad back when she was in junior high school, and at that time, there weren’t so many Chinese people in Vancouver. In her school, there was only one student from Taiwan who could speak Mandarin. It was a pure case of either speaking English or starving to death—just two choices.
Her English couldn’t possibly be bad. Moreover, she could even switch between several languages to tell any curious onlooker, “I am Chinese.”
………… How dare this kid! Why didn’t he just say she was mute!
…But that’s not the point.
The real issue was that no volunteer would act like a snake, clinging tightly to an athlete while translating, resting their head on her shoulder, appearing overly affectionate and sweet.
The two international friends present were clearly taken aback by Bei Jiao. However, since Jiang Ran herself didn’t speak up immediately, and Bei Jiao’s face was just too handsome and misleadingly charming, they didn’t suspect him of being a pervert.
Even the champion older brother chatted with him briefly—
asking why Jiang Ran hadn’t participated in this Winter Olympics. Oh, because she had just joined the team recently, right? Was it because she lacked points? Then what had she been doing before? Oh, she had been doing recreational carving techniques before turning professional. Ah, she got third place at the World Cup in Finland, which was pretty impressive, especially since everyone was competing fiercely for points back then. He looked forward to seeing her excellent performance in Milan. Thank you.
That was it.
Bei Jiao spoke English in a completely different tone than when he spoke Chinese. When speaking Chinese, he either sounded cold enough to make someone shiver or acted overly sweet and annoyingly cute.
But when he spoke English, he exuded a cold, academic aura. Every word he uttered was clear yet devoid of emotion, like a machine coldly reciting a medical report, steady and composed.
Extremely serious.
After hearing him speak a little, Jiang Ran realized she quite liked his spoken English. She indulged herself by pretending to be deaf and dumb, listening quietly through the whole conversation. Then she suddenly noticed that Bei Jiao actually made a pretty good interpreter—he spoke politely without any impropriety.
He seemed to know everything about her. No matter what question was asked, he could answer it.
What surprised her most was that he even remembered the date she joined the national team. When the champion older brother asked why she hadn’t participated in this Winter Olympics, he clearly stated the exact date—month and day—when she officially joined the national team.
……At that time, they were supposedly in the middle of breaking up.
She had only posted a brief update on her social media about joining the national team, and even then, it was only visible to a specific group.
Maybe Qiu Nian had casually taken a screenshot and showed it to him, but she hadn’t expected him to remember it so clearly.
Suddenly, Jiang Ran didn’t resent him quite as much for his aloof, high-and-mighty god-like demeanor when he walked out today, looking at her like even one glance was too much.
If it weren’t for the bright daylight and the sheer number of people around, she might have even reached out lovingly to pat his dog head the moment he calmly recited the date she joined the national team.
Women always pay attention to details.
This dog had a strange temper, but he always managed to notice the small things.
After exchanging a few polite greetings, the other person gave Jiang Ran a quick once-over and smiled at her. Then he extinguished the cigarette in his hand. Instead of crouching at the finish line to welcome his teammates and guide their training, he turned around and headed up the elevator…
After entering the elevator, he even turned back to look at Jiang Ran once more.
Presumably, he was going up to the summit to report the situation to the coach.
The elevator hummed.
Once again, only Jiang Ran and Bei Jiao were left at the scene. Her first opportunity to interact with an Olympic champion had been perfectly strangled in the cradle.
—Throughout the entire time, she had stood to the side like a decorative figurine, smiling awkwardly yet politely.
At this moment, the head resting on her shoulder moved slightly and turned toward her, asking in a nasal-sounding voice as if seeking praise, “Did I do well?”
She thought, actually, it was pretty good.
But if she said that, it would be the end. It would be like encouraging him to become even more uncontrollable. So she could only keep a cold expression and ask, “Since when have I been restricted from talking to any male creatures?”
“…”
The teenager standing behind her straightened his back and lifted his head from her shoulder. “I wasn’t like this when I was around twenty, after all, I didn’t find many people better than me at that age—”
He paused for a moment, “But men in their thirties are a different story. That’s another world altogether. Who knows if your taste might suddenly mutate.”
His reasoning for being so vigilant was actually quite logical.
“Shan Chong is almost thirty as well, falling into the category of the older men you’re worried about. Why don’t you throw away the Bing Dwen Dwen you got from him already?”
Jiang Ran said as she reached out to flick the keychain hanging from his badge. She had noticed this morning that one of the five Bing Dwen Dwen figurines on the coffee table was missing.
Then the culprit, who had sneaked it away, posted on his social media—a work ID badge from the Winter Olympics volunteer, with a Bing Dwen Dwen placed on top of it…
He almost never posted on social media, but today he did. The caption was just a single “。”—so full of humblebragging.
Yet everyone on his social media was very cooperative, actually getting genuinely excited, leaving comments about how he had a Bing Dwen Dwen and a Winter Olympics volunteer ID badge. Bei Jiao was the most successful man in the snowboarding circle this season.
And because Jiang Ran was so low-key, no one knew she had come to attend the national team’s “interview,” nor did they know where this Bing Dwen Dwen came from. So in front of the Bing Dwen Dwen and the volunteers, she didn’t even get a mention by name.
She was feeling pretty sour about it.
And he still had the nerve to bring the conversation in this direction.
Jiang Ran also knew it was pretty immoral to drag in Shan Chong, a married man, but coincidentally, an acid-spewing, morally indifferent woman didn’t care about such things when she was too upset to choose her words carefully.
At this moment, hearing her sarcastic remarks, Bei Jiao’s expression didn’t even change. “Chong Ge is already married young, and he’s definitely not into your type. Why should I be worried?”
Jiang Ran was momentarily stunned at his words: “What?”
Could it be that someone actually wasn’t into her type? How was that possible? Those male snowboarders all worshipped her!
Bei Jiao gave an “oh” and continued, “Chong Ge said years ago, ‘When it comes to carving, you should do it moderately, especially for women. If they end up as ruthless as Jiang Ran, I get scared just watching them swing their snowboards. That’s when it’s really over.'”
Jiang Ran: “…”
Jiang Ran: “?”
Never in her wildest dreams did she expect Shan Chong to be the kind of man who gossiped behind her back!
She had sincerely wished him good luck to win the gold medal just two days ago!
What kind of person was he!
Jiang Ran tried to hold back her anger: “Why did you have to ask Shan Chong? He’s just some park rat who thinks carving is nothing but messing around in the snow. What kind of guidance can their taste provide? What good opinion do you expect to hear from them?”
It had only been less than three days, yet he had already gone from being “Chong Ge who gave the Bing Dwen Dwen” to “that park rat.”
Bei Jiao gave another “oh”: “At the time, the loudest one agreeing was Zhao Keyan. He said even during the two months he was single the longest, he never considered making a move on you.”
“He just didn’t dare.”
“He really didn’t dare.”
“…”
Before Zhao Keyan got into flatland tricks and park events seriously, he was actually part of the provincial team’s snowboard racing slalom professional team. So it wasn’t wrong to say he was among the earliest in China to do carving.
Although the thought of Zhao Keyan making a move on her made Jiang Ran want to twist his head off—
But as the saying goes, of course, I don’t want it, but if you go around proclaiming you don’t want to give it, then you must die.
At this moment, Jiang Ran’s face looked more miserable than swallowing a caterpillar whole. And this sensitive topic she couldn’t address had already been swallowed down, even transforming into a butterfly fluttering in her stomach.
She thought carefully and then turned to Bei Jiao with a pointed question: “Are you trying to PUA me?”
Bei Jiao: “? No.”
Jiang Ran: “Then why does it sound like no one in the world likes me?”
Her tone carried a hint of grievance.
(Note: “委屈” is a nuanced Chinese term that conveys a sense of being wronged or unfairly treated, often with an undertone of helplessness. The translation “grievance” captures the emotional weight while sounding natural in English. Alternatives like “a touch of hurt” or “a trace of resentment” could also work depending on context.)
Bei Jiao: “Of course not. Am I not a person? I like you.”
Jiang Ran pushed him away and turned around, silently heading toward the elevator. Bei Jiao followed behind her, continuously asking questions: “Who else do you want to like you besides me? Isn’t me enough? Are you thinking of choosing someone else? Is it not a single choice question until you’re married?”
He was so talkative, pestering her all the way until the elevator doors opened again.
Because the Russian team was training, there were a lot of people from various countries on the viewing platform. So when the elevator doors opened again, Jiang Ran felt as if the person following her and chattering nonstop had suddenly pressed a mute button and gone quiet.
She looked back in surprise and found that the person behind her had unknowingly put on a mask again, with the volunteer badge neatly hanging on his chest…
Now he looked like someone not to be approached.
It was a completely different person from the one who had been ranting nonstop beside her in the elevator.
“Did you lose your tongue?”
“People are around,” he mumbled from behind the mask, “I’ll argue with you later when we get back.”
Jiang Ran let out a loud sarcastic laugh.
At this moment, Wang Jiaming heard her laugh and turned around. Upon seeing her, he immediately approached, although his face still looked gloomy, but that was just how he looked—he couldn’t be helped. In fact, his eyes were already red with excitement. He raised his hand and patted Jiang Ran’s shoulders twice, “papapa,” but didn’t say a word…
Clearly too excited to speak.
After a while, Jiang Ran asked him, “How was it?”
He nodded vigorously and gave her a thumbs-up.
Jiang Ran felt better. See? There were still people who appreciated her talents. He was practically about to cry for her!
Wang Jiaming calmed down a bit and praised Jiang Ran a few times, giving her a detailed breakdown of her exciting performance during the run with the Russian team’s bronze medalist—
“I recorded it.”
A low voice came from behind the two of them. They both turned around, and Wang Jiaming only then noticed Bei Jiao standing behind Jiang Ran with his hands behind his back, expressionless. Although he clearly wore a volunteer badge, his work attitude was obviously not enthusiastic—
There were so many international visitors on the viewing platform, and communication sometimes had difficulties. Occasionally, when someone needed him, they would call him over, and he would approach with a cold face, quickly resolve the issue, and then stick back to Jiang Ran’s side.
“Boyfriend?” Wang Jiaming asked.
“Yeah.” Jiang Ran said expressionlessly, “And you’d better keep some distance from me. He doesn’t let me talk to men over thirty.”
Wang Jiaming: “?”
Bei Jiao was right behind her at this moment, clearly hearing every sarcastic word she said, yet still expressionless, “Except the coach.”
Jiang Ran: “…”
Wang Jiaming: “…”
After Wang Jiaming walked away, for the first time in his life, he proudly went to socialize with other team coaches. Only then did Jiang Ran feel the person behind her bend slightly and leaned his ear close to her: “If it weren’t for him not being as tall as me, even the coach wouldn’t be allowed. I’m 186.”
Over the years, Jiang Ran had never asked Bei Jiao about his height—
But as the saying goes, men over 180 don’t need you to ask; they’ll tell you their height within three sentences themselves.
Example: Did you eat? I did, two bowls of rice, because I’m 181, hahaha, being tall means you eat more.
Above.
Bei Jiao had held back for so many years, and now couldn’t help but show off his peacock feathers, clearly trying to impress her with a big move.
Jiang Ran was completely unimpressed.
What was the point of being so tall? Other than being able to pick her up… and do mischief, she had never felt the slightest benefit.
“If you’re bored, go wander around a bit,” Jiang Ran said expressionlessly, “see if there’s anything you can help with. Don’t keep following me like this, it looks bad—”
Bei Jiao: “Oh, just a little longer.”
Jiang Ran: “How long is ‘a little’?”
Bei Jiao: “Until February 11th.”
February 11th was the date they were leaving Chongli to return to Guangzhou for the Spring Festival. Yesterday, Jiang Ran had personally bought the plane tickets while they were in bed.
Jiang Ran: “…”
Bei Jiao: “If you’re not satisfied, you can go to the volunteer service center and file a complaint against me.”
Jiang Ran hadn’t really considered filing a complaint. Not because she was afraid his social practice resume would look bad or anything like that…
Mainly because she considered that this “volunteer” had only been working for less than half a day. She couldn’t possibly get him fired for job negligence and thus expelled from the country—
Such a good thing, don’t even think about it.
Actually, anyone could guess with their toes that which college students volunteering here were all enthusiastic. Whether it was for practicing spoken English, social practice, or participating in this grand sports event…
All of the above personas were basically completely unrelated to Bei Jiao.
As the owner of the “Wu Wo” bar put it, Bei Jiao chose him among so many part-time jobs, and it had little to do with having a conscience. First, because bartending didn’t require much talking, and second, because he paid too well.
This person was purely profit-driven.
She didn’t want him to get what he wanted.
And now, seeing that Jiang Ran didn’t speak, Bei Jiao even took the liberty to draw his own conclusion: “Not going? I knew you couldn’t bear to part with me.”
Jiang Ran: “…”
Jiang Ran gave him a shove, then turned and stepped onto the elevator as well.
…
In the following days, Jiang Ran, as an outsider, brought Wang Jiaming along to be active on the parallel giant slalom competition grounds.
They were like hungry ghosts who hadn’t eaten in ten years, challenging almost all the athletes who hadn’t returned home yet, either actively or passively, over those few days.
Of course, there were both wins and losses.
Their reputation had already spread, although not very loudly, but everyone knew that after the Winter Olympic Games’ competition paused, the battle at the parallel giant slalom venue had resumed.
The host team, which previously hadn’t performed particularly outstandingly in this event, suddenly set up a challenge platform, and the one guarding the platform was a newly joined national team member, a woman who hadn’t had the chance to showcase her skills at the Winter Olympics.
She was pretty strong too, having beaten the Icelandic team, flattened the Danes, evenly matched with Norway, and could fight against Russia…
Most of the time, she successfully defended her position.
As long as you went there anytime, she would always be there. All you needed to pay was a Bing Dwen Dwen keychain as a bet, and she would race with you.
The news inevitably leaked out, and soon the parallel giant slalom snowboarding venue became the liveliest place apart from the ongoing competitions because of a crazy woman and her equally crazy coach forming a mad duo…
Day by day, people flocked there continuously.
Snowboard athletes were generally somewhat playful, and some, having finished their own events and having nothing else to do, also came to join the fun, paying a keychain as an entry fee to race against her—
Even if they were overwhelmed and crushed due to differences in their specialties, they still enjoyed themselves immensely.
This event was even reported on February 8th. Amidst all the reports about winning gold and silver medals at the Winter Olympics, it barely managed to cling onto the trending topics as a small tail—
The photos showed various foreign friends handing over their Bing Dwen Dwen keychains with bright smiles, along with audio recordings.
The interviewed individual spoke in his native language: [“This atmosphere outside of competition is even more surprising to me. It made me realize that coming to the Winter Olympics isn’t just about medals; we exchange and learn from each other, and the atmosphere is truly amazing!”]
After that, he gave a thumbs-up and awkwardly said in Chinese: “Thank you, Beijing. Very good.”
As the Lunar New Year approached and the sports gala was ongoing, people loved watching these cheerful and positive stories.
Commentators marveled at how professional athletes knew how to have fun, and some even asked who exactly this newly arrived national team member was, wondering how she could be so energetic—
But the news reports didn’t provide any details about her true identity, and even photos were scarce.
People scoured through all the photos and at most found out she had long hair and always dressed very conservatively wherever she went…
Some even asked friends who were volunteers at the Olympic Village, but they were equally clueless, after all, it was said that the older sister wasn’t very good at English, so the national team specially assigned a fixed volunteer for her; in other words, they didn’t get the chance to interact with her.
And that volunteer and the older sister were inseparable, like Siamese twins. With him around, the older sister probably didn’t speak more than three sentences a day.
After hearing this, everyone went back to check the photos again and indeed found that in almost every photo where the mysterious older sister appeared, there was a tall young man standing behind her, a full head taller than her.
He wore a volunteer vest and badge, but his broad shoulders and perfect waist-to-hip ratio made the volunteer vest look particularly stylish.
In one photo, he was bending down, his head level with hers, hovering over her shoulder while translating for her to talk to a blonde, blue-eyed foreigner.
One strand of his black hair was rebelliously sticking up from sleep, paired with those smiling black eyes slightly curved…
Under this photo, the comment [“Damn, this volunteer looks really handsome. Am I the only one shipping this couple here?”] received hundreds of thousands of likes.
This news was forwarded to the group by Qiu Nian.
Bei Jiao saw the news at noon on February 10th, during lunch break. Holding his phone by the door waiting for Jiang Ran to swipe her card to open it, Bei Jiao lazily said: “There are hundreds of thousands of people who think we look perfect together just from the top half of our faces visible above the masks.”
Jiang Ran glanced back at him but didn’t bother to refute his behavior of forcibly sticking close to her for the past few days to create a couple hype—
Wang Jiaming really liked Bei Jiao, thinking he was polite and good at English. Most importantly, one day when Jiang Ran wasn’t watching where she was going and sprained her ankle, he picked her up and placed her on a chair, quickly taking care of her injury so that she could resume competing normally within half an hour without any aftereffects.
When they asked, they found out this kid was actually a medical student, so Wang Jiaming loved him even more, and from then on he was unofficially recognized as the “designated volunteer for the snowboard national team.”
Jiang Ran had once tried to resist: “My English is very good.”
What did Wang Jiaming say? He said, “What are you talking about? Save your energy for snowboarding, okay?”
The person behind her was so smug he almost wagged his tail in the air.
Jiang Ran huffed and opened the door, and the person behind her followed closely, his chest pressing against her back as he entered. He took off his mask, his tall nose immediately nuzzling her warm neck.
A satisfied purr rumbled from deep in his throat.
Outside their door was a box, which was Bei Jiao’s suitcase, now emptied specifically for collecting Bing Dwen Dwen keychains.
Every day when Jiang Ran came home, she could throw five or six of them in, to the point that scalpers would exclaim in admiration.
Now she tossed today’s morning spoils into the box, slightly turning her head as the face nuzzled against her neck lifted— the perfect volunteer big brother in people’s minds now stretched out his long arms, pulling his charge into his arms and murmuring in a toneless voice by her ear: “We’re going home tomorrow.”
Jiang Ran was just about to ask if he was reluctant.
His cold fingertips had already slipped under the hem of her snowsuit.
The long fingers still carried the chill from outside, now seriously lifting her warm quick-dry shirt to grasp her.
At the main entrance, the door wasn’t even closed yet.
Only now did Jiang Ran realize he wasn’t reluctant—he was ecstatic.
For these past few days, he had behaved properly, sleeping with her at night, sometimes even avoiding sniffing her too much to prevent any accidents—
Now they were finally going home.
He could finally stop abstaining.
“Slid for six days straight, isn’t that enough? Let’s stay in this afternoon, okay?” He bit her ear, “I’m in heat.”
He always used shocking words when begging for affection in bed.
Jiang Ran was stirred up by his teasing, a rush of heat surging from her tailbone, almost giving in and letting him have his way.
But reason eventually prevailed. She sighed, catching his wrist… then turning around to face him, standing on tiptoe to kiss his lips: “This afternoon I’m meeting Alekseyev.”
After seeing the flicker of light in the puppy’s eyes instantly extinguish, she felt a sense of guilt as if she were the worst person in the world.
The next day was the last day before returning to Guangzhou for the Lunar New Year. Jiang Ran, emboldened by dogged determination, challenged the men’s world champion in snowboard parallel giant slalom at this Winter Olympics as a final showdown.
During the nap, the puppy hugged a pillow and glared at her with resentment.
“You rejected me for another man. I’ll remember this.”
He said.
Here’s the English translation of your text:
*”When we get home for the New Year, I won’t let you go for a single day. I’ll make love to you until you cry out, but you won’t dare to be too loud—afraid Uncle Jiang in the master bedroom upstairs might hear. Then you’ll beg me to be gentle, but I won’t listen. All you can do is stifle your sobs and keep quiet.”*
(Note: The translation maintains the tone and intent while ensuring natural phrasing in English.)
His description was too vivid.
Jiang Ran blushed from his words, almost wanting to smother him with a pillow.
…
At noon, she didn’t even share a quilt with Bei Jiao for their nap.
This allowed her to appear in front of her opponent in the afternoon with a fresh and energetic demeanor.
When Jiang Ran carried her board up the mountain, Alekseyev was already waiting at the summit, wearing a plain snowsuit. This time, however, he wore yellow racing boots. He was relaxed, tilting his head sideways, chatting casually with his teammates who had come to watch while smoking a cigarette—
He wasn’t nervous at all. After watching most of Jiang Ran’s matches over these many days, he thought she was indeed impressive, but there was still a gap between them.
He had agreed to race her today just as a polite gesture to play along with the host’s little girl, and the funniest part was that some journalists had also come, holding cameras and waiting.
Jiang Ran looked a bit nervous. The man in front of her exuded a mature aura and had a tall, imposing figure… Although Jiang Ran always thought of herself as being of a certain age compared to girls like Aynovella, standing next to Alekseyev made her feel like a niece standing in front of her uncle.
She shyly raised her hand to scratch her head.
Bei Jiao, his hands in his pockets, watched coldly as the woman’s ear tips turned slightly red. He shifted his gaze from her ears to meet the man’s eyes, who was slightly taller than him. He grinned, [She’s nervous.]
[After all these days, let her speak for herself.] Alekseyev snorted, [You’re watching her too closely.]
Honestly, even facing someone tall, handsome, and academically excellent like Song Die, Bei Jiao didn’t feel much sense of crisis… As for Xie Yu later on, he didn’t even take him seriously.
But at this moment, the look of surprise and admiration in Jiang Ran’s eyes toward this older Russian man made Bei Jiao’s sense of crisis surge from the soles of his feet upward—
The most annoying part was that the man didn’t seem to be doing anything at all, speaking to her all along in a condescending tone, and that look of admiration and shock from Jiang Ran made him want to cover her eyes.
And he could do nothing about it.
Bei Jiao had enough self-awareness. He might be an outstanding figure in the general technical skiing circle, but a world champion?
He was far from it.
So he could only suppress his jealousy with effort, his face darkening as he listened to Jiang Ran chatting happily with the man, promising to meet him again at the World Cup points race in North America…
When his face was about to darken to the point of dripping water, she casually took a step back.
Her back bumped into his chest, as if unintentionally slipping herself into his arms.
Bei Jiao was stunned. Just as he thought he might be imagining things, she brushed her hand against his wrist, then placed her own hand in his, palm up, indicating she wanted him to help her put on her gloves.
All the while, she continued talking to Alekseyev, not even glancing in his direction once.
Her entire demeanor instantly became gentle. The young man with the unruly black hair, who had been bristling with irritation just moments ago, was now tamed. He lowered his eyes and patiently tightened the BOA laces on her gloves.
Then the race quickly began.
Compared to the man standing on the blue course, Jiang Ran on the red course looked very small. They both leaned forward into their starting positions simultaneously. From behind, Alekseyev looked broad-shouldered and imposing.
The timer beeped, and they both took off—
When compared to female skiers and even some male skiers, Jiang Ran’s skiing always exuded a sense of power. It wasn’t soft or light, but rather forceful, as if she were trying to break her snowboard.
Her aggressive style of skiing was the main basis for later comments such as “just follow her lead and you’re doomed.”
At this moment, against the tank-like figure on the blue course, she appeared even more nimble and fragile. Alekseyev was a competent athlete. Although he seemed careless beforehand, clearly just there for fun, once the race started, his eyes changed completely—sharp and focused. He gave it his all, showing no mercy—
The sound of the snowboards cutting through the snow was unprecedentedly loud!
Jiang Ran, on the red course, could clearly hear the noise from the adjacent track, like a dinosaur passing by!
Such a thunderous sound naturally shocked her deeply. In all her previous skiing experiences, once she started moving, she had almost never heard anyone else’s skiing making such a disturbance that could interfere with her own—
But Alekseyev did. The intense pressure made her heart race like a drum!
At first, Jiang Ran could barely keep up with him, which was already astonishing enough. The crowd at the summit was filled with sighs and admiration.
Although everyone knew Alekseyev hadn’t started his second acceleration yet—
Just like the habit of the Russian national team, they usually accelerated again after passing the midpoint timer.
Jiang Ran also did this, but she was fast, yet ultimately couldn’t match the blue course skier.
The gap between them gradually widened after passing the midpoint. Jiang Ran only heard the frequency of the turns on the adjacent track clearly speeding up. Then, after two gates, the figure that had been beside her suddenly surged ahead!
The sound of the wind whistling past her ear drums!
Jiang Ran rounded the final gate, watching the figure on the adjacent track already cross the finish line!
She released her board, following through the finish line about 2-3 seconds later. Then she pushed off with her feet, braked sharply, and almost collapsed onto the snow, her legs too weak to support her.
Behind her, countless cameras focused on her, even flashbulbs capturing her battered appearance lying on the ground.
For a moment, she couldn’t even stand up, one hand supporting her as she gasped for breath on her knees, desperately trying to catch her breath, feeling as if her legs were still shaking…
She had tried her best.
Really, like never before.
She felt that even during the Finland World Cup, when she thought she had already given one hundred and twenty percent, she hadn’t been even a tenth as exhausted as today.
Beijiao rushed over, scooped her up from the ground. Her heartbeat had not yet returned to normal, her face slightly pale. She hooked her arm around his waist and whispered in a voice only they could hear: “His skiing is so scary.”
Beijiao wanted to say that he often had the same thought when watching her ski.
Not far away, Aleklov kicked off his skis, took out a pack of cigarettes from his pocket and lit one. In the curling white smoke, he flashed a vague grin toward Jiang Ran’s direction.
Jiang Ran felt like shivering under his gaze. Vaguely, she thought that if Jiang Haimin had even half of this oppressive presence, her personality would definitely not have developed into such an arrogant and domineering one today.
As she was lost in thoughts, the person half-holding and half-carrying her shifted slightly. A rough, warm hand extended from his sleeve, and in a spot invisible to the camera, gently touched her cold cheek. Beijiao lowered his voice and said, “39.77 seconds. You’ve broken forty seconds.”
On the final day in Chongli, under the guidance of a world champion, Jiang Ran exerted every ounce of strength she had and broke her own record.
…
That evening while packing her luggage and talking about the world champion, Jiang Ran still felt a lingering fear.
“For those last few moments, my legs were so weak I wanted to call him daddy,” she sighed. “He’s just too amazing. I wonder how many more years of effort it will take for me to catch up to someone like him.”
In fact, with a time of 39.77 seconds, according to theory, in the women’s snowboard parallel giant slalom final at this Winter Olympics, if she improved just a little more, fighting for the championship might not be impossible.
That was what Wang Jiaming said, but instead of comforting her, it made her even angrier, because since she started skiing, she had never really considered the concept of strength differences between male and female skiers—
Now, Aleklov’s appearance brutally informed her that she still had a real gap to reach the pinnacle of the world.
Seeing her distracted, Beijiao threw aside the clothes he was folding, scooped her up in his arms, and carried her back to the bed like a child, settling her on his lap.
He gently stroked her back to soothe her, then thought seriously, “He really is pretty scary.”
The charm of a man in his thirties, damn it.
Especially one who seems, in a certain specialty area, to be someone she temporarily can’t surpass.
He really needs to be kept at a distance.
Poor Jiang Ran, who only had ambitions for her career, thought that this love-struck guy had, for once, sensibly aligned with her thoughts and shared her sense of solidarity. She was deeply moved and, unusually, snuggled closer to him of her own accord.
His hands instantly grew restless around her waist, and his lips descended. Just as he had begun kissing her—starting from her temple in a lingering, intimate manner down to her earlobe—
The phone rang.
It was the genuine Jiang Haimin, a father figure with no real pressure or stern aura. He immediately asked his beloved daughter when she was coming back.
Jiang Ran naturally didn’t think that being away for ten or so days was enough reason for her father to miss her. Sitting up slightly from Beijiao’s arms, she asked Jiang Haimin what was up.
“It’s like this, do you remember Uncle Aitai who lived at the very front of our building unit? He makes electronic chips for medical equipment. Recently, due to the poor business environment and safety concerns, his family has moved back. He invited me to have tea yesterday…”
“If you have time, then go,” Jiang Ran said, puzzled. “Why do I have to go too?”
“Uncle Aitai is back, and his son too. He’s thirty-one this year. He’s been busy with his private hospital for the past few years and hasn’t had a girlfriend. Now that it’s near the end of the year and the whole family is gathering, he’s come back too—”
Ah, during the holidays, the places crowded with people, besides the train stations during the Spring Festival rush, are probably just the matchmaking tea houses.
Jiang Ran couldn’t even remember if Uncle Aitai had a son. She only remembered playing quite well with a little girl named Taili when she was in elementary school.
As she was pondering where this son had suddenly come from, she suddenly felt the hand lazily resting on her waist tighten. She was pulled into a tight squeeze, gasping silently, and turned her head to see the person behind her looking at her with lowered eyes, expressionless.
On the other end of the phone, Jiang Haimin kept chattering away, getting more and more absurd, something about having three kids in two years, saying that a high-achiever like him could average out her low IQ—
Jiang Ran couldn’t even argue back when she was pressed into the soft bedding. She glanced at the half-packed suitcase nearby, feeling like tonight she probably wouldn’t finish packing it after all.
“Hello?” The culprit was still calling out. “What are you doing, not speaking? Is there someone else beside you? Or are you just too shy? You really are a blockhead!”
Beijiao’s lips landed on the corner of her mouth, and she could only mumble, “I’m taking a shower,” before hastily hanging up the phone.
Because right then, the tongue of the person pinning her down had already slipped into the blockhead’s mouth, entwining with her tongue. He kissed her until she was desperately short of breath, her eyes gradually reddening…
Saliva, not yet swallowed, dripped from the corner of her lips.
And he casually brushed it away with his fingertip.
“Three kids in two years.”
He softly scoffed, repeating it in a breathy whisper by her ear.
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