Jiang Ran leaned against the door frame, watching the entire interaction between father and son. Observing her son looking up at his dad with a mix of longing and fear, she couldn’t help but suspect that her own husband was emotionally manipulating their child—otherwise, how could he be both scared of and obedient to his father while still clinging to him?
Before Beijiao could count down to “one,” Beichi obediently grabbed his ski boots and bravely climbed onto a chair to try putting them on by himself. Watching the little boy struggle with his short arms and legs, Jiang Ran’s eyebrows nearly shot up into her forehead.
“You should help him,” she couldn’t help but play the role of the overly indulgent mother.
But the moment she spoke, both father and son turned to look at her. The younger one’s eyes sparkled with a clear “I don’t want help,” while the older one’s gaze was icy cold, silently saying “mind your own business.”
She cleared her throat and said flatly, “Fine, I shouldn’t have said anything. Please, carry on.”
Beijiao turned back and continued directing his son to put on the ski boots from above.
Coincidentally, the cabin’s sound insulation wasn’t great, and no one had closed their doors. Jiang Ran could clearly hear the family next door—owned by Shan Chong—where Wei Zhi was also teaching her little daughter to put on ski boots.
Next door: “This tongue of the shoe needs to be opened first, then just put your little foot in!”
In their cabin: “How can you stuff your foot in without opening the tongue?”
Next door: “Oh, we can’t pull it, it’s okay, Mommy will do it!”
In their cabin: “Push harder!”
Next door: “Okay, stand up and jump a bit, yes! Does it feel tight or uncomfortable? Shan Chong, squeeze the front of your daughter’s shoe to see if her toes are cramped.”
In their cabin: “It’s normal to feel tight at first. After two days, you’ll get used to it. Be a real man and don’t be so sensitive.”
Jiang Ran: “…”
She rubbed her temples, waiting until Beijiao squatted down to tie Beichi’s ski bootlaces before taking his hand.
Beichi nimbly jumped off the chair, seemingly unfazed by—or perhaps already accustomed to—his father’s coldness, and tugged his hand to rush outside.
Beijiao picked up the child’s ski board and was about to bend down when Beichi tugged his sleeve. Unprepared, he swayed slightly and said indifferently, “Don’t rush.”
Jiang Ran: “?”
Jiang Ran: “Watch your words. This is your son, not a dog.”
Her interruption earned her another lazy glance from the man, who still ignored her.
… What a petty, grudge-holding man.
She had merely pinched his testicle earlier—very lightly!—because he had been misbehaving, slipping his hands under her clothes after she had already warned him.
It wasn’t even hard! Was it really necessary to act like he’d hold a grudge forever?
Beichi turned around, saw his dad and mom facing off again, and let go of his father’s hand to run off and play in the yard. The little swing in the yard was still there, and he climbed onto it with his short arms and legs.
As soon as the little boy disappeared, the room fell silent. Jiang Ran tilted her head, her deep brown eyes glinting with ambiguous meaning: “Still sore? Want me to massage it for you?”
All these years later, her voice remained unchanged—slow and slightly husky, sexy, as if even a serious sentence could sound teasing.
Most men couldn’t resist that.
In the darkness, Beijiao’s ear tips turned red. Just as she was about to reach out, he lightly slapped her hand away.
His handsome face barely maintained its coldness as he lifted his chin at her, then proudly strode out the door, clearly signaling, “Apologize or I won’t cooperate.”
…
Outside, there was a small slope in the yard—not steep, but long enough. When Beijiao reached the slope, Li Xingnan was already there with a shovel, tidying up the snow, essentially acting like a homemade snow compactor.
Beijiao and Shan Chong arrived later and obediently grabbed shovels to help maintain the ski trail.
Three similarly aged little kids were playing and shouting behind them.
Shan Chong was diligently shoveling snow when he suddenly felt his pant leg being tugged. He looked down and saw Jiang Ran’s son—objectively speaking—even with parental bias, Bei Chi’s looks still stood out among the children. He had been undeniably adorable from the moment he was born.
“Hmm, Aoao, what’s up?”
Shan Chong squatted down, bending over to speak softly to the tiny child, his voice involuntarily turning gentle.
“Where is Xiaoman jiejie?”
Shan Chong turned his head and signaled Beichi to look. As they both turned, they saw Shan Xunyue sitting by the railing at the doorstep, wearing rabbit-ear earmuffs, fluffy gloves, and a little cloak. She was leaning against the railing with a sweet smile, appearing serene and adorable.
Shan Chong: “…”
This was a classic case of unknowingly raising a Lin Daiyu for eight years.JPG
Bei Chi immediately let go of Shan Chong and ran toward Shan Xunyue with his little legs. From afar, they could still hear him pulling Shan Xunyue’s hand, inviting her to build a snowman together.
As Shan Xunyue was dragged over, Shan Chong turned back to continue shoveling snow, then thought for a moment and said to Beijiao, “I think the dowry should still be four hundred million.”
An additional one hundred million would cover Shan Xiaoman’s performance expenses. Considering she might have to pretend for another decade or two, even one hundred million was a bargain.
At the sudden price hike, Beijiao remained calm, didn’t even lift his head, and directly passed the buck: “You talk to Jiang Ran. I’m a son-in-law living at my wife’s home. You know what I mean? I don’t even know the payment password for my own Alipay account.”
“Nonsense,” Shan Chong said. “What about meals?”
“Oh, hospital or school cafeteria. My wife already loaded my meal card.”
“What if you want a cup of coffee?”
Beijiao smiled sarcastically, “So she generously gave me small payment exemptions.”
“…”
His logic was a bit tight, leaving Shan Chong speechless. Thinking back to the previous Double 11 when Wei Zhi had refused to let him buy the latest handheld console, saying, “You bought a new one last year, why do you need another one this year? No buying!” and how they had argued so fiercely that it felt like chickens and ducks were flying everywhere, he realized he had been a bit ungrateful.
He should apologize. He really should apologize to her later.
With a sigh, he patted Beijiao’s back and turned to tease Li Xingnan: “Considering Yangyang’s temper, I think I could even offer a 20% discount.”
Li Xingnan turned around just in time to see Shan Yang grabbing a snowball and stuffing it down Li Nian’s collar. Startled and cold, Li Nian let out a yelp and pushed her head into the snowman he had just shaped, sending snow flying.
Li Xingnan: “…”
Li Xingnan snorted and said, “Thanks, but maybe you should write out a discount voucher first? You know the saying, ‘a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush,’ right?”
Normally, none of the three men had much say at home, yet now they were discussing their children’s marriage matters with utmost seriousness.
Behind them, in the three small cabins, Wei Zhi and Qiu Nian gathered in Jiang Ran’s cabin. There was a kang table in the room where they drank tea and ate sunflower seeds, chatting casually.
They talked about all kinds of snow resort gossip.
With Wei Zhi around, the snow resort gossip from Chongli was complete—ranging from messy high-society entanglements, to gold-diggers and gold-digging women deceiving for money and emotions, to this year’s unified increase in ski instructor fees…
The puzzle was finally complete, and the afternoon’s casual chat managed to cover a wide variety of topics without repetition.
Occasionally, they could hear children’s shrieks and a man’s low scolding from outside.
Outside, it had started snowing again at some point. Jiang Ran held a cup of hot tea, gazing out the window absentmindedly when she heard Bei Chi’s sweet voice saying, “Daddy, let go. Bei Chi can do it!” and the sound of skis gliding over snow…
She unexpectedly felt a rare sense of peace and tranquility.
Once, she had thought that living to around seventy was enough. When old age came, she’d simply kick the bucket and prepare for reincarnation to start the next life’s struggles—
But now, she didn’t want to leave so soon.
She wanted to live to 120, grow old with white hair, and walk hand in hand with the two lucky men who had randomly entered her life until the end of the world.
…
As dusk approached and hunger set in, it was nearly time for dinner.
Qiu Nian and Wei Zhi got up, like fishermen preparing to collect their daily catch, ready to retrieve their husbands and the kids who had played themselves silly.
Jiang Ran lazily sucked on a persimmon candy, unmoving. Upon hearing them leave, she merely rolled her eyes slightly and said unenthusiastically, “Go ahead. Ping me on WeChat group when it’s time to eat.”
Qiu Nian looked back at her, a bit surprised she hadn’t followed out to inspect the day’s “training results”—like if Bei Aoao hadn’t learned how to turn, she’d beat Bei Aoao’s dad up.
But Jiang Ran didn’t move at all, just leaning against the cushion, meeting Qiu Nian’s gaze with her deep brown eyes.
Qiu Nian understood immediately: “What did you two do this time?”
Jiang Ran smiled slightly at her, “Could you take Bei Aoao to play in your room for a bit?”
Qiu Nian blinked, then quickly caught on, as if realizing something messy. She rolled her eyes and said, “I swear, I’m really impressed,” before slowly walking out the door.
This led to what happened later: Beijiao returned alone, pushed open the cabin door, and found the room empty, only hearing water sounds from the bathroom.
Jiang Ran didn’t have obsessive-compulsive cleanliness, but she always took a shower before leaving home. And because she had used transportation, she would shower again upon arrival.
At that moment, Beijiao didn’t find it odd, still mindful of their little cold war. He took off his coat, leaving only a hoodie on, and leaned against the kang while scrolling through his phone.
The window was slightly open, with an unfinished stove nearby, on which sat half a piece of persimmon candy… He knew immediately who had left it there after taking a bite. He casually opened a short video app, where all his messages were from people booking ski lessons with him during the season.
He browsed his schedule, planning his vacation, arranging lessons to earn extra money, and making time to accompany his wife and son—so busy he wished he could split himself into three.
Just as he was busily enjoying his work, the water sounds from the bathroom stopped. The woman inside peeked out wrapped in a towel.
The room was dimly lit by a single yellow lamp. Beijiao lazily glanced at the bathroom door, watching Jiang Ran tiptoe out. He then glanced at the extinguished stove and shut the window blowing cold air into the room.
Jiang Ran slowly climbed onto the kang, neither acknowledging him nor casting a glance in his direction.
But Beijiao couldn’t help but look at her.
Wrapped only in a towel, she radiated the sweet scent of body wash, her fair, delicate skin flushed pink from the steam, a droplet of water sliding down her long, elegant neck—
He stared at that droplet for a long time, finding it hard not to reach out and brush it away.
But he held himself back.
If he gave in, he’d lose.
Beijiao didn’t notice that his phone had been playing the same short video over and over since Jiang Ran stepped out of the bathroom. But Jiang Ran, with her back to him, had noticed.
She silently curled her lips into a small smile, still facing away as she took out her body lotion.
The sweet scent of bergamot and other fragrances quickly filled the room, a familiar aroma that acted like a conditioned stimulus, easily triggering Beijiao’s hormones to stand at attention.
Jiang Ran slowly applied lotion to her limbs. When she turned to reach for her back, she felt a warm, rough palm finally press against her skin.
“Let me do it.”
His voice came from behind, deep and husky.
The body lotion was taken from her hand.
His Adam’s apple moved silently, and then the hand that had been obediently applying lotion to her back started to wander—
She quickly reached back to stop him, her voice still carrying a chill, “What are you doing?”
Beijiao wasn’t fooled by her pretense of propriety. In the next instant, Jiang Ran felt the world spin as she was abruptly pressed onto the kang, the towel slipping away as he pinned her beneath him.
His tall nose gently nuzzled her neck—something he had wanted to do the moment he saw that droplet. Like a large dog pinning her down, preventing her from moving, inhaling her scent.
Jiang Ran’s heart raced as she grabbed a handful of his hair: “Aren’t you ignoring me?”
“You went to the trouble of getting Qiu Nian to take our son away,” he lifted his head slightly, placing a kiss at the corner of her lips, “I can’t afford to be impolite.”
So this was all part of her carefully laid plan.
…
By the time Jiang Ran and Beijiao walked hand in hand to knock on the neighbor’s door, it was already pitch dark.
When Qiu Nian opened the door, Jiang Ran’s waist was still resting in Beijiao’s palm. Everyone in the room turned to look, surprised to see that Shan Chong’s family was also there.
At that moment, Li Xingnan was propping her head on one hand, guiding Shan Xunyue through math homework. Wei Zhi was in a corner, lying on the bed with the exhausted Li Nian and Shan Yang fast asleep.
Bei Chi was sitting on Shan Chong’s lap watching skiing videos on his phone. This peacock of a man was showing his competition videos to someone else’s kid. As the door opened, the commentator in the video was shouting in the classic way of invoking divine names: “Shan Chong!”
The peaceful scene of everyone waiting for dinner to start made Jiang Ran blush slightly.
She scratched her nose: “Sorry we’re late. Shall we eat?”
Before Qiu Nian could answer, Bei Chi turned around to look at his parents standing at the door and said, “Auntie Year said Bei Chi is going to have a little sister!”
Jiang Ran immediately reached out to hit Qiu Nian.
Qiu Nian giggled and dodged to the side.
Behind them, at the kang table, Shan Xunyue raised her head slightly and tilted it: “So if Beichi has a sister, will he still want to play with me?”
What did a child know about sibling rivalry? Although Shan Xunyue and Shan Yang fought constantly, they were still the closest in the world—
She had already decided that when they started school, Shan Yang would go to the same elementary school as her, and she would protect her, letting her walk proudly through school and defeat all the annoying little brats.
So when she suddenly heard that Bei Chi was going to have a sister, she casually asked the question, feeling an inexplicable sense of impending loss of her beautiful little brother.
Wei Zhi was stunned. When she had her second child, she hadn’t faced the question of “Will you still love me if you have a younger sibling?” She had thought Shan Xunyue didn’t care about such things.
But now, she was caught completely off guard.
Just as all the parents in the room were seriously contemplating how to gently guide the child to achieve the perfect effect, Beichi walked up to the kang table, stood on tiptoe, and hooked Shan Xunyue’s little finger.
“There can be many little sisters,” he said, “but there’s only one big sister.”
The room fell silent briefly.
Everyone saw fireworks explode on Shan Xunyue’s face—vibrant, colorful, bright, and radiant.
The problem that the parents couldn’t solve was resolved effortlessly, and a warm, joyful atmosphere filled the entire room.
Beijiao: “…”
Beijiao: “Aoao, your mouth is getting too flowery.”
Jiang Ran covered her mouth with one hand, her eyes almost tearing up: “I told you not to let Zhao Keyan hold him when he was first born!”
In Jiang Ran’s tearful eyes, her son had already comforted the little girl. Not forgetting his parents, he ran over like a little cannonball and hugged his dad’s leg.
The force was so strong, completely unlike a three-year-old who had been skiing for several hours in the afternoon. He was full of energy.
Beijiao naturally bent down and picked him up.
Sitting in his dad’s arms, Bei Chi wasn’t done yet. He stretched his arms out to his mom, then looked back and saw no one paying attention to him. His grape-like eyes rolled mischievously as he whispered conspiratorially, “Mommy smells good.”
Jiang Ran leaned over and kissed her son’s soft cheek, only to be pulled into Beijiao’s arms as he hugged her neck. Her son whispered in her ear, “Is there really going to be a little sister?”
Before she could answer, she looked up and saw the man towering above them gently kiss her nose.
She was startled and looked up.
She saw a faint, almost imperceptible smile on the man’s lips: “If Aoao wants a sister, Dad will try his best.”
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