For a moment, Jiang Ran even doubted whether she had woken up yet, otherwise how could she be trapped in a nightmare.
“How come you’re here?”
While Jiang Ran remained silent, Song Die beside her had already voiced the question she wanted to ask. She gave her student a praising glance.
Bei Jiao noticed this and thought to himself how these two had started exchanging glances again after just a day apart.
Of course, he ignored Song Die, whose voice in his ears naturally became “buzz buzz buzz.” Lazily leaning there, he only stared at Jiang Ran, as if she were the only human in the room.
Song Die, seeing Bei Jiao’s indifference, muttered, “Persistent little pest.”
Bei Jiao heard that clearly.
With a stiff expression, he turned his head for the first time since arriving and gave Song Die a proper glance: “Didn’t I already tell you? You came in from outside, right?”
Song Die: “Oh, you can hear me again now?”
Bei Jiao turned his head back: “Starting from now, I can’t hear you anymore.”
Jiang Ran: “…”
These two combined probably wouldn’t make it into a middle class at kindergarten.
Just then, the door of the ski equipment store was pushed open from outside.
A familiar figure darted in, muttering as he rushed inside: “Coming, coming, coming! Man, I almost couldn’t hold it anymore. When nature calls, it really can’t be stopped… Hey Bei Jiao, thanks for watching the store for twenty minutes. No one came in during that time—huh?”
The familiar chatty store clerk’s voice suddenly stopped when he noticed the group of people inside the store.
First, he spotted Jiang Ran, raised his eyebrow, and greeted her: “Ran Jie, bringing students to spend money?”
Well, it’s fine if they’re here to spend money, but why make the atmosphere so stiff? It was unsettling, making him feel like his bladder was stirring again despite having just emptied it.
“I’m looking for a carving beginner’s board…”
Jiang Ran’s brain felt numb, operating purely on reflex.
At this moment, the latter walked behind the pile of boxes, bent down, picked up a white stuffed animal body, and slowly started putting it on. Jiang Ran’s first thought was why he was wearing that broken thing again…
Then she noticed something familiar about the toy.
Until Bei Jiao raised a Bing Dwen Dwen head from behind the pile of messy boxes.
Jiang Ran: “…”
Jiang Ran: “Was that you at the entrance of Sunac just now?”
Holding the Beijing Winter Olympics mascot’s head, the boy lazily glanced at her and gave a “Hmm” sound. After thinking for a moment, he added one sentence as if explaining: “The Olympic mascot can’t have a clear gender orientation, so the supervisor wouldn’t let me speak.”
That’s why he hadn’t called her just now.
He had only helped carry her board bag for three seconds, then threw it back on the ground after seeing Song Die appear.
Jiang Ran was completely flustered: “What are you doing here?”
Bei Jiao turned the front of the Bing Dwen Dwen head toward Jiang Ran, looking puzzled as if she had asked a stupid question he didn’t know how to answer: “What else could it be besides working?”
“Working here?”
“Wherever there’s work, there I go. Do you think I can afford to be picky?” Bei Jiao shook the panda head in his hand, pushed it closer to her, and asked, “Cute, right?”
Seeing the fluffy item handed in front of her, Jiang Ran instinctively reached out to take it. Bei Jiao chuckled lightly and let go, letting the heavy thing fall into her arms.
She was a bit stunned holding the Olympic mascot’s head.
At this moment, the chatty clerk looked back and forth between the two interacting well, never having seen Jiang Ran look so confused and cute, being so easily manipulated…
He effortlessly captured her attention.
It seemed so easy.
His gaze lingered on Bei Jiao’s handsome face for a moment before he sighed meaningfully: “Do you two know each other? How did you meet?”
He didn’t think Bei Jiao, who worked everywhere, could afford to pay Jiang Ran for lessons… Not to mention, he didn’t know how to ski at all.
When asked, Jiang Ran finally reacted, coming back to her senses, placing the fluffy item on the nearby stool. She lifted her hand, brushed her hair back behind her ear, and replied indifferently: “Yes, he’s my younger brother.”
Her immediate answer made Song Die, who had been temporarily ignored and couldn’t find an opportunity to speak, feel extremely pleased.
He smiled slightly and took a step forward.
Before he could say anything, Bei Jiao, as if he had eyes on his back, stepped in front of him first. At this moment, there was no disappointment on the boy’s face that Song Die wanted to see. He simply bent down closer to her, staring at her face: “What ‘brother’?”
Jiang Ran: “If not a brother, then what?”
Bei Jiao: “Didn’t you just call me ‘brother’ very nicely?”
Jiang Ran looked at his face, which was very close and serious, not looking like he was joking.
She expressionlessly raised her hand and pushed his face, which had gotten very close to her—
She had just come out of the refrigerator at Sunac, her hand was very cold, and the sudden contact with his cheek was icy and soft… Bei Jiao turned his face away with the force, blinked once.
His tongue touched the inside of his cheek, the feeling she left still lingering.
At this time, Jiang Ran had already walked past him, taking Song Die to choose the board they could use for today’s lesson.
This ski equipment store was indeed a high-end one, whether carving, flatland tricks, or park, there were all kinds of boards available for rent…
Song Die is 183 cm tall and weighs 78 kg. Jiang Ran picked and chose for a while before selecting a Gray DESPERADO model, 166 cm long, wide, with a black base and small tree patterns in black shadows. The background of the trees was blue, so in the snowboarding circle, this board was called “Blue Tree.”
The Blue Tree is a hammerhead board.
Different from ordinary boards, the hammerhead board has a square nose, which sacrifices its flexibility but increases the effective edge length, making high-speed sliding more stable during use.
Jiang Ran checked the board’s condition and was particularly satisfied when she flipped it over—
Since the board itself was a carving-specific board, the bindings it came with were also set for carving. Jiang Ran opened the binding baseplate and looked at the angle, then without looking up, said: “Hand me the screwdriver.”
Before others could react, Bei Jiao picked up the screwdriver from the table, turned it around so the sharp edge faced himself, and handed the handle to Jiang Ran’s palm.
Jiang Ran glanced at him, then lowered her head to work on the bindings.
Three men stood there watching her standing in front of the board wielding tools, removing the bindings and adjusting them to her preferred angles (33, 21)…
“Is there anything I can help with?”
Song Die asked, feeling that dealing with screws and screwdrivers was usually a guy’s job.
It felt a bit awkward for the three of them to just stand there watching a girl do all the work.
“No need,” before Jiang Ran could respond, the chatty clerk nodded toward her direction, “This is Jiang Ran we’re talking about. Installing a binding is something she can do with her eyes closed.”
Unlike ordinary girls in their early twenties who liked getting manicures, she had no nail polish and no nails left. When bending the binding baseplate, her rounded fingertips turned slightly pale due to the force…
When some people present thought she might not be able to bend the plate, she adjusted the angle with two “clicks,” smoothly covered the baseplate lid, and placed the adjusted binding back on the snowboard.
She raised her hand and waved toward Song Die: “Come try the stance width.”
One action followed another seamlessly.
For a moment, neither Song Die nor Bei Jiao spoke.
The chatty clerk leaned on the counter with his elbow, letting out a sigh: “No wonder American TV dramas love scenes of beautiful girls leaning halfway into a car engine hood fixing the car…”
Jiang Ran placed the snowboard at Song Die’s feet, not even lifting her eyelashes: “I’ll take that as a compliment, even though I wasn’t bending over.”
“It was a compliment, Ran Jie. Has anyone ever told you that you look especially sexy when you’re adjusting bindings and snowboards?”
“Yes,” Jiang Ran said, “Zhao Keyan said that, but I always take whatever he says as nonsense.”
The chatty clerk obviously knew about Zhao Keyan’s reputation and chuckled.
Squatting beside the snowboard, Jiang Ran tilted her chin up and asked Song Die, who was stepping onto the bindings and testing his stance, whether the width felt comfortable. Song Die nodded, smiling slightly with a bit of shyness: “I’m used to the duck stance, suddenly changing to a forward stance, both toes pointing in the same direction feels really awkward.”
“You’ll get used to it. Once we get on the slopes, I’ll take you through the basics of the forward stance again—”
“So this is like starting from scratch?”
“Yeah, exactly, starting from scratch. You usually slide, and I keep telling you not to open your shoulders and hips. Carving is afraid you won’t open your shoulders and hips.”
The two talked back and forth about what they would do in the upcoming lesson.
Bei Jiao stood beside them, realizing he didn’t understand a single word.
He was idly playing with the smooth nose of the Bing Dwen Dwen plushie in his hand, his clear eyes fixed on the two people nearby, silent.
No one knew what he was thinking.
Until Jiang Ran checked the time and urged Song Die, who had finally finished choosing his board, to pay, get his board, and leave.
At this point, someone behind her gently tugged a strand of her long curly hair that was softly cascading down her back.
Not too hard, just a slight tug.
She turned around following the force and saw her cheap little brother standing behind her, slightly bending down, looking down at her condescendingly—
Her hair was still in his hand.
“What?” she asked.
“I want to learn too,” he said calmly, “Didn’t you say you’d teach me?”
As he spoke, he tugged her hair again, as if to emphasize his words.
Jiang Ran didn’t bother asking him the useless question, “Aren’t you not interested anyway?” She slapped his hand away and reclaimed her hair: “I have a lesson today.”
Bei Jiao turned his head to look at Song Die, with that kind of look that said, “This thing is really annoying,” and guessed that the so-called “lesson today” was Song Die’s lesson.
He retracted his hand: “Sunac has night sessions. I’ll wait for you.”
Jiang Ran: “Snow pass?”
Bei Jiao: “Employee discount.”
Jiang Ran: “Snowboard?”
Bei Jiao turned his head to look at the chatty clerk without saying a word.
The chatty clerk immediately felt his scalp tingling: “Lend it, lend it! I’ll lend you mine!”
Bei Jiao turned back to stare at Jiang Ran, as if to say: See, problem solved.
Jiang Ran: “…”
Jiang Ran: “Okay.”
…
After agreeing to teach Bei Jiao how to ski, she completely underestimated the boy’s sudden determination after making a decision.
Jiang Ran was giving Song Die a lesson. They were already on the advanced slope now, needing to take the cable car. After swiping their passes through the gate, they saw the boy wearing a Sunac staff jacket, waving a shovel and shoveling snow.
Jiang Ran: “…What are you doing here?”
Bei Jiao continued shoveling snow without looking up: “I’m off work. They said I could substitute at the cable car until the night session, so they lent me the snow pass.”
Jiang Ran wanted to say something else, but Bei Jiao pointed at her behind: “The cable car is coming.”
She hurriedly took Song Die onto the cable car.
Song Die felt even more frustrated—
He had just changed to the forward stance, nothing was familiar, coming down the advanced slope, his previously skilled edge changes suddenly became clumsy and awkward due to the angle change.
By the time he got to the lower part, he fell again, covered in snow from head to toe, aching all over as he got up from the ground, and saw the boy standing not far away watching him—
He stood there motionless, shovel upright, hands folded on the end of the shovel handle, chin resting on his hands, not saying a word or doing anything, but somehow, the atmosphere of watching someone’s failure was very strong.
Song Die: “…”
He almost wanted to gouge out his eyes, so annoying.
…
Time quickly passed with Song Die rolling around until around 5 PM.
Song Die’s lesson ended. As a way of repayment, he didn’t leave but waited to see if Bei Jiao could fall more gracefully than him.
So when the night session’s snow groomer rumbled away and people came in with their passes, they saw three people already at a bench in a corner of the snow park.
Two men and one woman.
One of the men was wearing the most expensive ski suit currently available on the market, hugging a GRAY Blue Tree board, standing silently beside it with his head down;
The woman was squatting by the chair with her arms around her knees, with a GRAY Red Tree board beside her. It was the TYPE-R model, with the same black-based pattern as the Blue Tree, but where the Blue Tree was blue, this board was bright red… The Red Tree was one of the top carving boards, and even beginners who had just started carving for a month couldn’t handle it.
Two carving professionals were now surrounding a newbie wearing a rented snowsuit from Sunac Snow World, who was bending down to put on the rented snow boots.
The woman was giving instructions: “Tie it tighter, if you tie it like that, it’ll loosen after a few runs. The shoes from Sunac are already loose since so many people have worn them…”
The newbie looked up at her, and she replied calmly: “What are you looking at, I’m not making any dirty jokes.”
Bei Jiao: “Not tight enough.”
“Can’t you just loop it here to make it tighter? You’re so dumb.”
Jiang Ran slapped Bei Jiao’s hand away, grabbed the shoelace from him, then stepped on his foot with the sole of her shoe, pulling the shoelace down hard to tighten it—
“Endure it, it might feel a bit uncomfortable at first.”
“My foot is going to break, what discomfort?” Bei Jiao said, “Does it have to be that tight? Are you deliberately messing with me?”
Jiang Ran couldn’t even remember when was the last time she taught a student from tying shoes…
There might not have been such a case at all.
He was ungrateful and still picky.
Jiang Ran didn’t even bother to reply, finished tying his shoes, and told him to stand up.
As Bei Jiao wandered around trying to get used to the feeling of the bindings on his feet, Jiang Ran was quite confused thinking: How did she end up teaching a complete beginner?
She couldn’t figure out the steps at all, so she simply opened the app and started searching—
Oh, first step: put on the shoes; second step: determine the leading leg.
The leading leg is the leg that actively supports during sliding, also known as the “front foot.” Everyone’s leading leg is different; some people lead with their left foot, some with their right.
For example, Jiang Ran was a right-foot-forward rider.
“Which foot do you step up with when going up stairs?” Jiang Ran looked at her phone without lifting her head and asked.
Bei Jiao didn’t answer her but leaned over to look at her phone: “…Are you following some other snowboard coach’s basic snowboarding tutorial to teach me?”
Jiang Ran: “…”
Bei Jiao: “Didn’t you say you were great? Why do you need to look at a tutorial?”
His tone was full of “you’re lying to me.”
Jiang Ran: “Because I’ve never taught someone this bad before. If you had to explain why ‘1+1’ equals ‘2’ to a kindergarten kid, wouldn’t you have to think about it?”
Bei Jiao: “Just hold up two fingers and bend them down one by one, right?”
Jiang Ran couldn’t stand it anymore and pushed him.
Bei Jiao wasn’t prepared and staggered forward, almost falling to his knees.
“What are you doing?”
He turned around and asked.
“Oh, so you’re also right-foot-forward.” Jiang Ran crossed her arms, mercilessly looking at the unhappy little kid and said, “The second way to determine the leading leg is that when someone pushes you and you instinctively step forward with one leg to steady yourself, that’s your leading leg… If I had known this trick worked, why would I waste so much time talking to you?”
“…”
Bei Jiao looked at Song Die, who was standing beside them holding the board and watching the show.
They looked at each other for a few seconds. For the first time since meeting today, Bei Jiao was finally willing to talk to him properly. Pointing at the cold-faced woman beside them, he sincerely asked—
“She’s this cold in class and you still pay her? Do you have Stockholm syndrome or something?”
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