Jiang Ran was genuinely terrified by Beijiao, to the point where she remained wide awake in the late hours of the night, not at all like someone who had been given medication by a doctor. Her eyes were swollen and red, almost unable to open, yet she refused to close them and rest for even a moment.
“I keep dreaming about filling out the transfer application form, and everyone keeps telling me I can shine just as brightly at the Paralympics,” she murmured, her eyes clouded with confusion. Her hands tightly gripped Beijiao’s collar, her nose pressed against his Adam’s apple, unknowingly rubbing against him, making it impossible for him to evade.
“The Paralympics are fine too,” Beijiao said, patting her waist gently, signaling her to stop moving.
At this point, she had stopped crying, and he had regained some composure, his hardened demeanor returning slightly, his voice turning indifferent. “It’s all skiing. Is it really that scary to lose sleep over?”
The skiing category at the Paralympics involved a custom-made sled, with only a single ski serving as the track. Athletes sat on the sled and controlled its direction using their upper body and hip strength.
Jiang Ran had seen it in Harbin Sunac, knowing that because the entire weight was on just one ski, the tracks they left were always deep.
“No way,” she said. “That’s a completely different style. If I really go there, I have to start from scratch. At my age, relearning a new skill will kill me.”
Her focus was always a bit off.
Beijiao looked down, thinking that she wouldn’t need the sled for now anyway, so discussing it was just a waste of breath… This thought reignited his anger slightly.
So he simply ignored Jiang Ran’s words.
Jiang Ran had become quite adept at sensing his emotions through atmosphere and heartbeat. She vaguely felt that he had thought of something again, and that dark anger was beginning to resurface…
She tugged at his collar again.
She felt him bend down slightly, looking at her coldly from above. “What’s wrong?”
Jiang Ran felt wronged—
It was her who had suffered, the most painful experience of her life. Now she was weak and dizzy, her injured left leg immobile despite the pain subsiding… Yet the first thing she did after waking up was apologize to him. How could he still have that expression?
At this moment, she slightly lifted her head to look at him, her nose red from crying like a clown in a circus, her lashes still carrying unshed tears, making her seem delicate and fragile.
“Are you still angry?”
Yes.
Still angry.
But when he told her not to cry earlier, he had already softened and accepted her apology. He couldn’t very well contradict himself now, could he?
He pursed his lips, gently pushed her hands away, and said indifferently, “No.”
Jiang Ran hesitated slightly, scrutinizing him up and down: “Then tomorrow, when my father comes to the hospital and scolds me, will you stand by me?”
She sniffled pitifully as she asked.
She was trying to turn him against her father, realizing her recklessness and anticipating the scolding, she was already seeking a way out.
How clever she was, knowing that her tears wouldn’t work well on Jiang Huaimin—
Otherwise, she wouldn’t have been left alone in Vancouver at such a young age, unable to return home.
Beijiao wasn’t buying it. He smiled gently at her—though to Jiang Ran, this smile looked deceptively sinister: “I have class during the day. When your dad scolds you, I probably won’t be there.”
Jiang Ran scooted closer, hugging his waist like a sweet girl: “Oh, then forget it. Don’t talk about that. Have you been sleeping badly these days? You have such dark circles… Let’s go to sleep?”
Beijiao raised his eyebrows.
He stared at the top of her head for a while, then chuckled softly: “Okay, then let go of me, I’ll go take a nap on the sofa.”
Upon hearing this, the hands around his waist tightened even more instead of loosening. “Sleep on the bed.”
The voice came from around his waist.
The private ward was several times more expensive than a regular ward, so the bed was much larger, easily accommodating two or three adults lying side by side.
“I’m afraid I’ll hurt you.”
“I’m not afraid.”
Listen to what she was saying—completely unreasonable. She was practically glued to him. Beijiao had no choice but to wrap his arm around her waist and lie down on the bed with her.
After lying there for a while, she felt tired again, tugged his clothes, and asked to turn to her side. Fortunately, he didn’t scold her for being too fussy. After a moment’s consideration, he decided that lying flat for too long wasn’t good either, so he helped her turn to her side, carefully positioning her injured leg—
The entire process was gentle, at least without causing her pain. As soon as she was repositioned, her pale, lotus-root-like arms wrapped around him again…
Normally at home, when sleeping, it was always her who found him clingy. Sometimes when she was particularly annoyed, she even insisted on sleeping under separate quilts. Now, clinging to him like a lifeline was quite rare.
Beijiao lazily rested his hand on her waist. Holding a living person like this in his arms, although she was full of injuries, at least she was alive.
The warm embrace felt particularly reassuring.
But she seemed to want even more, burrowing deeper into his arms until her entire body was pressed against him, her lips resting on his chest, until she felt the person holding her gradually steady in breathing—
He was indeed tired.
He hadn’t slept well for days.
For a moment, Jiang Ran felt a twinge of guilt. She hesitated slightly: “Then tomorrow, if I call you, will you answer?”
Like the moment when Jiang Huaimin stormed into the ward with killing intent.
She was already waiting.
Upon hearing this, Beijiao’s drowsy eyes fluttered slightly. Those dark eyes, which had already closed, opened again. He chuckled softly, then raised his hand and gave her butt a slap.
With a loud “slap,” it was half-shameful, half-painful. Jiang Ran let out a scream and curled up like a shrimp.
“Sleep.”
His hand landed on her butt and didn’t move away. Instead, he used force to lift her butt and move her onto the pillow. Now she was face to face with him.
He half-opened his eyes, watching her bite her lower lip in defiance.
“Beijiao,” she called him by his full name, her teeth grinding in hatred, “you can’t just abandon me like this.”
“Don’t worry, you won’t die,” Beijiao yawned. “When your dad chartered a plane to find a route from Xinjiang back to Guangzhou, he was decisive enough not to haggle over the price. There’s no need to go to such lengths for someone on their deathbed.”
Jiang Ran bit her lower lip until it was almost broken.
He closed his eyes again and reached out to pry her teeth apart. “Don’t bite.”
She bit his fingertip, and he let her play around… until Jiang Ran, with his fingertip in her mouth, saw that he hadn’t reacted for a while. She lifted her eyes, ready to provoke him by asking if he couldn’t handle it anymore, only to find that he had already fallen asleep.
At such a close distance, even with her eyes swollen and red, she could see the heavy dark circles under his eyes…
Normally, before going to bed, Beijiao would always read a bit or do something else to help himself fall asleep. Even if they had been up all night fooling around, he would inevitably hold her before sleep and whisper a few words, as energetic as a dog that never needed rest.
If he wasn’t extremely tired, he wouldn’t fall asleep like this in an instant.
She spit out his fingertip, thought for a moment, then quietly lowered her head to kiss the tooth mark she had bitten on his finger.
She raised her hand, trying to smooth the furrowed brow in his sleep, but found that no matter how she tried to comfort him, he seemed to be sleeping uneasily.
After hesitating for a moment, her hand rested on his shoulder, pulling the tall, dark-haired young man into her arms. Her still somewhat dry lips gently rubbed against his brow. “I’m here, sleep.”
Her voice was soft, as if speaking to no one in particular.
She felt the arm around her waist tighten slightly…
The next second, the furrowed brows relaxed, and his breathing became steady, obviously having truly fallen into a peaceful sleep.
…
Jiang Ran didn’t sleep for long, mainly because she had been sleeping for two days straight, as if she had slept for both her and Beijiao.
When she woke up in the morning, she just happened to see Beijiao coming out of the bathroom after taking a shower. He was holding a towel, standing by the window like a large dog shaking water off his head after a bath…
In the sunlight, the dark circles under his eyes had faded a bit.
Jiang Ran deliberately made a little noise, and sure enough, he looked over. Their eyes met in the air, and Beijiao reminded her, “Your phone is by your pillow. Send a WeChat moment to let everyone know you’re okay. Those people—”
He pursed his lips, somewhat at a loss.
“They’re about to fall apart.”
Not just Qiu Nian and others who were close, but also other snow circle people—especially those in the carving circle. Upon hearing that Jiang Ran had been injured in the World Cup competition, they were all freaking out.
How could they not be anxious?
The parallel giant slalom in snowboarding is the only related event in the carving circle. After waiting for so many years, everyone had finally found hope in someone who started with popular technical sliding and often practiced together at Sunac. Regardless of how people used to view Jiang Ran, everyone was eagerly anticipating her achievements.
But she got injured right at the start, and the injury was so severe that she was still in the hospital, unable to undergo surgery due to the severity of the injury (*Beijiao’s original words: “Wait until the trauma site’s swelling subsides before arranging surgery,” which was then distorted in retelling)—
If the injury was so severe that treatment was abandoned, then what hope was there left!?
Later, because the World Cup was held in Xinjiang, many domestic staff on-site learned about Jiang Ran’s injury and reported that she had gritted her teeth and completed another round, making it into the top four…
Eventually, the snow on the track was dyed completely red by the blood from her leg.
It was as if she knew she couldn’t make it and wanted to leave a bold mark on her career before leaving—
This tragic atmosphere was fully charged.
The snow circle people were so moved that they wished to compile Jiang Ran’s story into an 800-character essay and include it in elementary school Chinese textbooks, requiring students to memorize and recite it in full.
At this moment, Jiang Ran opened her phone and was overwhelmed by a flood of unread messages, thinking that even a top celebrity’s phone during a scandal couldn’t possibly be this packed…
She randomly opened a few, filled with various crying emoji packs. She selected a few cute cat and dog emoji packs with a blank expression—considering that all her female friends were as loud and excitable as Qiu Nian, the emoji packs on her phone were even more vulgar than those of a 40-year-old uncle.
This was a perfect opportunity to fill the gap.
She clicked into the WeChat group named 【It’s Cold, Don’t Want to Ski】, a group of six people that was always active and thus remained at the top of her chat list. Qiu Nian was currently @Beijiao asking if Jiang Ran had woken up and whether she could eat some soft food, saying she would buy some abalone and crab to make porridge to send over.
【My Duck: …】
【Second Car: @Year Year I don’t want you taking care of me when I’m sick, I’m scared I’ll die from your care.】
【Year Year: What’s going on? Is she having trouble eating? Can a bowl of porridge choke her to death? I saw her yesterday, and aside from a slight fever, she was fine!】
【Year Year: @My Duck Speak!】
【Who’s Ran Ran’s Duck: …】
【My Duck: …Seafood is not allowed when you’re sick, it’s a trigger food. Just make some pork rib vegetable porridge.】
【Year Year: Oh.】
【Year Year: @Second Car Did you hear that? Pork rib vegetable porridge. Let’s go buy the ingredients together later.】
【Year Year: Wait, did something just fly by?】
The group members began to @Jiang Ran frantically. She couldn’t help but laugh and cry at the same time, having to repeatedly emphasize that she wasn’t disabled nor in critical condition. Pork rib porridge was just fine, and if possible, she hoped they could add some pig blood.
【Year Year: Of course I know you’re fine, damn it! Do you think I’m as stupid as those outsiders? Now there’s a rumor going around that you’ll never walk again!】
【Year Year: The craziest part is even Olympic champion Chong Ge went to ask Li Xingnan about your condition, like he was scared you were dead!】
【Year Year: It’s not surprising that even Chong Ge was moved. When he was injured back then, he was carried away immediately after hitting a tree. You should see the photos online and in the group chats. Oh my god, some staff took pictures of you rolling down the track in the last few seconds. The blood on the track was so graphic that kids under ten need parental guidance to view it. It’s even suitable for pixelating!】
【Year Year: How dare you!】
【Year Year: Why didn’t Gouzi scold you to death!!!!】
Jiang Ran watched her one-second ten-post essay.
At this moment, the person who should have scolded her to death but was too tired to even open his mouth had already walked over.
He took her phone, and when she looked up at him, he naturally leaned down and kissed her lips.
“I’m off to class,” he said, “just reply to these people on your phone. Don’t play for too long.”
After saying that, he tried to leave, but she grabbed his sleeve again.
He “mmphed” and pulled his foot back, looking down at her—she blushed, also realizing that she seemed too clingy. She quickly let go, her hand helplessly flailing in the air before retreating under the covers.
“Go,” she regained her usual cold and noble demeanor, “I’ll chat with Shan Chong about the experience and insights of making a comeback.”
It wasn’t for any other reason; she just thought if she were to have a private chat with another male, she should let him know.
But Beijiao’s indifferent “oh” made her a bit dissatisfied, “What do you mean by ‘oh’? I’m going to chat with another guy. You should at least raise your eyebrows a bit to show some reaction.”
He scoffed, staring at her blushing face. She looked much better than the past few days when she was pale and looked like she might die in his arms at any moment. He raised his hand and gently hooked her chin.
“Wait until Chong brother pulls you out of the ‘genderless creature’ category, then I’ll furrow my brow.”
…………………………Men as a species are just so annoying.
After Beijiao left, Jiang Ran took out her phone, swiped down past countless contacts before finally finding Shan Chong. Amidst a bunch of messages like “Crying.JPG” and “Hang in there.JPG,” this champion senior had an oddly original idea and sent her: “Cat observing secretly.JPG.”
It was obvious this emoji was stolen from his wife.
【WhoIsRanYa: Thanks for the invite, but I’m not crippled.】
He replied quickly enough.
【CK, Chong: If you don’t retire, you’re a guaranteed champion in Milan. How could you stand on that podium without even getting a steel pin implanted?】
【WhoIsRanYa: ……】
【WhoIsRanYa: Thanks for the auspicious words.】
【CK, Chong: If you don’t retire.】
Jiang Ran felt his emphasis was particularly meaningful.
【WhoIsRanYa: …………I was just about to ask you this—why did you retire back then? I saw rumors saying it was because of your family.】
【CK, Chong: Because I fractured my spine back then, and was practically just 0.1 millimeters away from being disabled. My family thought I’d end up losing my life if I kept doing ski jumping.:)】
【WhoIsRanYa: So you listened to your mom’s advice?】
【CK, Chong: Every family has its own difficult sutra to chant. My situation was a bit more complicated than yours, because I also have a younger sister who had an accident while figure skating. If I got injured again, it would be like a second blow… I had no choice but to compromise back then.】
【WhoIsRanYa: Then why did you decide to come back later?】
【CK, Chong: Later on, I realized that not jumping would actually kill me.】
Jiang Ran replied with a “…”, plus a thumbs-up emoji, then put down her phone. She seriously pondered—if she were in Shan Chong’s situation back then, what would she have done?
She thought for a while, almost going crazy from the dilemma, feeling the immense pressure of responsibility. Half an hour later, when she typed onto WeChat Moments, “Nobody is making me retire,” and was almost about to post it publicly, she suddenly realized she had gotten too immersed in the role.
At most, her father Jiang Huaimin would just scold her.
But soon, she realized she had been too naive. The family’s difficult sutra had finally caught up with her doorstep.
……
At one in the afternoon.
Beijiao was in the lab, performing surgery on a rabbit.
Just after putting down the scalpel and taking off the gloves, her WeChat on the table lit up.
The woman who almost never initiated messages to her sent seven or eight crying images in a row. She opened them, paused for a moment, then put her phone down.
At that moment, a female classmate from the same research group glanced sideways, blinked in surprise, and exclaimed, “Wow, so many emojis! Which girl is this? A freshman?”
It wasn’t surprising she jumped to conclusions. In her understanding, only a first-year student who had just enrolled and didn’t really know Beijiao well would dare to be so bold—
Beijiao was the type who wouldn’t say a word even if you hit her with eight sticks at school. Although she was pretty and becoming even more attractive with age, she was seen as an unapproachable, lofty flower—someone to admire from afar, but never to pursue.
People could appreciate her, but when it came to pursuing her, they were all of the type who would say, “Thanks for the invitation, but I won’t go.”
Seeing someone sending her so many cute emojis now, this girl was extremely surprised, even thinking to herself, which bold freshman dares to do this—perhaps someone who’s tired of living.
To her surprise, watching the lofty flower, whose lips were usually expressionless and pressed into a straight line, actually quirked up slightly. She picked up her phone and slowly replied with a “?”. Then, putting the phone down, she said, “My girlfriend.”
The girl opened her mouth, the words “Who is she? So brave” nearly escaping, but she swallowed them back.
At that moment, the other party sent a voice message “whoosh”. Beijiao clicked to play it.
A voice both girlish and mature, with a slight huskiness, came out: 【Dad is here, he’s scolding me, calling me an unfilial daughter… Do you really not care whether I live or die?】
He said he was in class. Jiang Ran probably never expected the voice message to be played through speakers instead of being converted to text. Her tone still had a nasal quality, naturally intimate, as she coquettishly appealed to him.
The echo sounded muffled, possibly because she was hiding under the covers, calling for help.
This sweet, coquettish voice immediately stunned all the members of the research group. No matter what they were doing, they all turned their heads “swoosh” and stared at Beijiao in shock—
They couldn’t be blamed.
After all, during past group projects, they had to say “thank you” three times just to ask Beijiao to pass a pair of scissors. They’d carefully compose their WeChat messages in advance, trying to be concise and to the point…
Coquetry?
They wouldn’t dare even if they were drunk out of their minds.
Only Zhang Liang, who shared a dorm with Beijiao, remained calm: “Is Sister Ran looking for you? Since you’ve finished your part, do you want to go check on her?”
Beijiao considered for a moment, then tucked her phone back into her pocket, clearly wanting to leave, but she didn’t move immediately. Instead, she turned to look at the other members of the group, as if asking for their opinions.
Of course, no one stopped her. Everyone eagerly escorted her all the way to the classroom door. After greeting the teacher, Beijiao left the campus.
As soon as she left the campus, she wanted to take a taxi, but then thought better of it, deciding to let Jiang Huaimin scold her a bit more.
So she turned around, scanned a shared bike, and leisurely and healthily rode slowly toward the hospital.
……
Meanwhile, Jiang Ran was already in deep trouble.
Lying in bed, her legs inconvenient and unable to move, she had nowhere to hide, only curling up under the covers and rolling her eyes furiously.
Outside the covers, Jiang Huaimin was grumbling:
“You are my only daughter. The seven layers of shares in the Jiang family will eventually be yours. When that time comes, you can have anything you desire. But you insist on trading one thing money can’t buy for another? Jiang Ran, I think you’ve grown too comfortable—so much so that you’ve become this ungrateful child, indifferent to whether your father lives or dies. Do you resent me for living too long? Do you wish for me to die young and join you in the grave early?”
The thing money can’t buy = life.
The other thing money can’t buy = Olympic medal.
Jiang Ran was buried under the covers, her back turned to Jiang Huaimin, her brows deeply furrowed as she let out an impatient “Ah!”
“Dad’s heart is broken. Jiang Ran, do you even have a conscience!” Jiang Huaimin reached out and patted her shoulder, “You’re not short on money, you only lack dreams. Return the money for the chartered flight to me!”
A chartered flight costs just a few cents. He was clearly just speaking irrationally.
“Even Olympic champions can retire after injuries and listen to their parents. Why can’t you!”
It was hard for Jiang Huaimin not to mention the hottest Olympic champion of this session.
“He retired but came back!” Jiang Ran lifted the covers, sat up abruptly, “Parallel giant slalom isn’t as dangerous as big air—”
“Then why are you lying here now!”
“……The probability of such an accident is less than 1%.”
“But once it happens, it’s 100%!” Jiang Huaimin slapped the wall, his face red and his neck swollen with anger, “Have I ever stopped you from doing anything before? You used to ski casually and still got lots of admiration. Why did you have to go pro—”
“I’m not doing it for other people’s admiration!”
“Don’t talk nonsense. That’s exactly what you are doing.” Jiang Huaimin pointed at his daughter, who was spiritedly arguing back from the bed, “The nutrition IVs must’ve been too much lately. Your face is rosy, your energy full. Call the nurse to cut them in half!”
“Fine, cut them. I can eat now. Who cares about IVs? They’re so high in calories, enough for half a month of salads outside.”
Jiang Huaimin was so angry he couldn’t speak. He pointed at her in midair, then turned around fiercely, pacing beside the hospital bed.
An hour ago, when he had just arrived at the hospital, facing his daughter’s sincere apology and admission that she had been too reckless and ignored her physical condition, they were clearly in a harmonious, father-and-daughter scene, almost ready to embrace and cry.
Everything changed when Jiang Huaimin, sensing the moment was right, casually mentioned, “Why don’t you stop competing? Dad just can’t bear to see you get hurt again.”
Jiang Ran was shocked. She hadn’t expected that what Shan Chong said in the morning would come true so quickly—
But unlike Shan Chong’s hesitation, she immediately and without hesitation said, “Impossible.”
Then Jiang Huaimin’s face changed.
And then it turned into the current scene.
“Dad, I really know I was wrong. It’s not that I don’t value my safety. After I was hit, I really didn’t think anything was wrong. I didn’t even realize I was bleeding until later.” Jiang Ran said, “When my ankle hurt, I had already skied halfway. I thought it wasn’t that serious, I could just grit my teeth and get through it.”
“Don’t repeat this to me. I’m scared just hearing it now.”
Jiang Huaimin naturally didn’t miss the video others had sent of the scene—how Jiang Ran crashed face-first after crossing the finish line…
“I can forgive your recklessness this time, and I believe you won’t make the same mistake again. But my dear girl, accidents don’t only happen when you’re not careful.”
Jiang Huaimin stood by the bed, “What if another accident happens next time?”
Jiang Ran didn’t want to lie. She lowered her eyes, gripping the quilt tightly, “As long as I can still stand, I will ski. Dad, don’t waste your energy. I won’t compromise.”
The middle-aged man at the bedside fell into a long silence, as if shocked by her honesty, stunned by her stubbornness.
His own daughter. He had always worried she might break easily under pressure, given how smoothly her life had gone…
Now he realized, her pride had already reached a new height.
When difficulties came, she probably didn’t break. Instead, she flapped her wings, got back up, and walked forward resolutely, even with a bleeding head wound.
Her eyes were focused solely on that one goal. Once decided, she wouldn’t change.
Jiang Huaimin couldn’t say whether this was good or bad. If it were someone else, he would certainly admire such a stubborn, determined character—
But this was his only daughter.
He pulled a chair over and sat beside Jiang Ran’s bed. Thinking for a while, still too angry, he randomly grabbed a pillow and threw it at her: “How selfish can you be! Who taught you to be so selfish! Unfilial daughter!”
Jiang Ran caught the pillow and threw it back without hesitation: “Shut up! I’d rather die on the track!”
Jiang Huaimin exclaimed “Hey!”—he couldn’t bear to hear such an unlucky word.
Just as he was about to scold her again, the hospital room door slid open.
The father and daughter, in the middle of throwing pillows at each other, turned their heads simultaneously and saw the young man with black hair standing outside the door—
Backlit, his hair soaked in the orange sunlight from the hospital corridor behind him. The sunlight gilded the tips of his hair with a golden halo.
Clearly having heard Jiang Ran’s last sentence, he showed no emotion, his entire aura icy cold. His long eyelashes fluttered slightly, and those black pupils looked over with a chill as piercing as the cold of early spring.
“Jiang Ran.”
His lips were tight, sharp as a blade.
“Say that again, and we’re breaking up.”
The hospital room fell into a few seconds of deadly silence.
The air seemed to freeze in an instant.
If her memory served her right, this was probably the first time “breaking up” had ever come out of Beijiao’s mouth since they met, got together, broke up, and got back together.
In the past, it was always Jiang Ran casually tossing around those two words like rice, and Beijiao, from initial shock to panic, and finally treating it as background noise…
But the same two words coming from his mouth now sounded like a thunderous hammer from the god of lightning, carrying immense weight.
He said it so seriously, glancing at the stunned daughter on the bed. Jiang Huaimin almost wanted to applaud this future son-in-law.
Until the person being addressed finally spoke.
“Fine, break up.”
Jiang Ran said calmly, her expressionless gaze meeting the person standing at the door, “Then go to the civil affairs bureau and get the papers. If you’re not my girlfriend anymore, you’ll have to give me another identity.”
Beijiao: “…”
Jiang Huaimin: “…”
Beijiao turned his head slowly and looked at Jiang Huaimin.
Jiang Huaimin clearly saw the future son-in-law’s eyes instantly crack, revealing five words: I can’t argue with her.
Author’s Note:
Dog: She’s a thug (small, pitiful, and helpless)
Tai Sui Yellow Amulet Paper FuLu Taoist Love Talisman Traditional Chinese Spiritual Charm Attracting Love Protecting Marriage