Chapter 57: Restroom

Jiang Ran: “I never taught you how to do the snow-spraying wall move. Who taught you that?”

Beijiao: “Song Die.”

Song Die: “Right, all the bad stuff you know, I taught you. Why don’t you just call me Master, huh?”

Song Yan: “What’s a snow-spraying wall move?”

Beijiao: “What’s it to you? Just focus on pushing up your hill.”

This awkward dialogue took place around the dinner table.

There were only a few places to eat in the village, and once the ski resort closed for the day, it became time for drinking. At this moment, the small restaurant was joyfully packed with several tables of skiers. As soon as the dishes arrived and the alcohol was poured, the happy ski season officially began.

Of course, the happiness belonged to the neighboring table. Compared to their large crates of Wusu beer, Jiang Ran’s table had only a few bottles since not many of them could drink. The most remarkable thing was that no one at the table wanted to clink glasses with anyone other than themselves.

Jiang Ran felt that even if she moved to the neighboring table, the atmosphere would be warmer than being forcefully squeezed together with these four.

But she didn’t mind; she had never been someone who enjoyed crowds. The neighboring table was almost turning into chaos, but it didn’t affect her calmness as she steadily picked peanuts one by one and placed them into her mouth.

When she was in a good mood, she reluctantly clinked glasses with Song Die, deliberately ignoring his shocking remarks on the basketball court that day. In Jiang Ran’s eyes, out of this entire table, he was barely considered a decent person.

“You think getting a woman drunk and impressing her is an old-school tactic from the 1970s? Song Die, are you going for a retro style lately?”

Those who only knew how to bark didn’t count.

“If you can’t handle it, don’t push yourself. Don’t throw up on me in the middle of the night.”

He had only taken two sips the entire time; his alcohol tolerance was so poor. Under the influence of alcohol, he started talking more, although it hadn’t affected his barking skills at all.

Song Die propped his chin up with one hand: “I’m starting to wonder now, why did we decide to go skiing together? I really haven’t figured it out.”

And they even had to squeeze onto the same bed.

Beijiao sarcastically lifted the corner of his lips: “Maybe it’s because none of us have any friends?”

Jiang Ran let out a scoff, silently applauding Beijiao for going so far as to criticize even himself.

Song Yan looked embarrassed, frantically glancing at Jiang Ran with her eyes, not forgetting the incident where she had her WeChat friend deleted the day after their last drinking session…

And she dared not speak out in anger.

The atmosphere at the table, which had barely managed to sustain some conversation (even if it was just arguing), froze once again. At that moment, the shabby glass door of the restaurant was pushed open from the outside, and the last group of customers for the day arrived.

Beijiao was sitting facing the door. Originally, he hadn’t even bothered to lift his eyelids, focused solely on opposing Song Die. At this moment, he caught a glimpse of Jiang Ran’s hand hesitating as she poured her drink from the bottle—

He glanced toward the door and then quickly looked away.

She stopped pouring the alcohol. Instead, she directly brought the glass bottle to her lips and took a long swig.

Beijiao: “…”

Most of the time, he didn’t have much against her, even thinking she was an excellent combination. It was just that occasionally, she needed to be a bit more refined instead of acting like Apollo, the sun god, riding the most unruly and fierce horse in history—kicking anyone who dared approach.

Reluctantly raising his eyes to scan who had caused Jiang Ran to kick up her heels, he then noticed it was exactly the people he had met at the ski resort earlier that day—

A woman with straight black long hair, now tied into a high ponytail.

Male No. 1 had a crew cut, tattoos on his arms (his sleeves were rolled up since it was warm inside), and wore an earring.

Male No. 2 had bright yellow hair, looked young and pale, and had the same look as an old chain smoker.

Where had he seen these people before?

Beijiao didn’t really care much about these random people.

Compared to his serious thinking, Song Die on the other side seemed completely unaware of Jiang Ran’s brief moment of distraction. Taking advantage of Beijiao’s inattention, he leaned close and said, “Big sister, are you just going to let him lie like this? I never taught him the snow-spraying wall move. He secretly watched your short video platform, downloaded it, and painstakingly analyzed every frame to learn it on his own.”

“Why does diligent practice sound so sneaky and underhanded coming from you?” Beijiao heard him and stopped thinking about those random people. He turned his head, puzzled, and looked at Song Die.

“Not learning good things and trying to drag fellow apprentices into it—what else can you call that if not sneaky and underhanded?”

“What fellow apprentices?” Beijiao glanced at him. “Are you trying to provoke a quarrel?”

Before the latter could answer.

He pointed at himself, “Me, officially certified, a genuine apprentice.”

Then he pointed at Song Die, “You?”

He mimicked the gesture Jiang Ran had made to him that morning on the ski slope, slicing his hand across his neck… He really learned bad habits quickly.

Beijiao’s voice wasn’t low, and as he proudly uttered the word “apprentice,” he noticed from the corner of his eye that the three people who had entered last glanced over. They weren’t looking at him, but at Jiang Ran.

The woman with the high ponytail, in particular, stared directly without any avoidance, her dark eyes seeming to contain poison.

Beijiao put down his glass, his ears perking up.

In his suddenly alert state, with his side facing that group, Jiang Ran didn’t even lift her eyelids. She simply raised her hand and gently patted the young boy beside her who hadn’t tired all day from skiing and had been bouncing around energetically: “Alright, do you have to make so much noise that the whole world knows a local mutt is sitting here?”

“Exactly,” Beijiao smirked, crossing his legs. “Here comes the dog lord.”

After a day of various nicknames like “dog genius,” “local dog,” “wow, that local dog,” and “doggy,” he had completely accepted this stage name with resignation—

Even though “doggy” might have been the kindest among them.

Seeing that he looked so proud and unresisting, Jiang Ran lightly laughed and casually picked up a glass of alcohol from beside her, bringing it to his lips.

The wheels of history rolled across his face. The last time she had handed him a drink was three months ago, when he had been as cold and hard as an old ice pop.

But now?

He lowered his head and obediently drank half the glass from her hand.

The amber liquid, not yet swallowed, dripped from his pale lips down his jawline. He moved his face toward her, and Jiang Ran put down the glass. With one hand, she hooked his chin and wiped away the drop of alcohol from his jaw.

At the same time Song Die coldly asked Beijiao if his hands were broken, a slight commotion occurred at the table behind them. It was the yellow-haired guy moving his chair backward, creating an ear-splitting screech.

Beijiao immediately snapped out of his previous affectionate atmosphere, furrowing his brows and straightening his body to turn around—

However, before he could move, soft fingertips grabbed his chin, forcibly turning his face back. She pinched his chin, pulling the skin there.

The Wusu beer was right at his lips as she said indifferently, “Don’t meddle. Drink.”

…

“So, do you know them? They look familiar.”

Beijiao rested one hand under his chin, his entire upper body leaning toward Jiang Ran, his waist bent forward. Looking up at her face from below, he said expressionlessly, “I just can’t remember where I’ve seen them before.”

There was still a glimmer of alcohol on his lips.

Usually, his dark, bright eyes were already slightly hazy from the alcohol. His tolerance was truly poor, though it didn’t show much on his face, which remained pale and fair.

Before Jiang Ran could answer, the person behind them moved.

Beijiao followed the sound and saw that the woman with the high ponytail from the newly arrived group was walking over with two glasses of white liquor. She stood while Jiang Ran sat, making her seem somewhat condescending.

Jiang Ran didn’t react, but Beijiao was already displeased, slowly frowning.

The boy didn’t say a word, his arm resting on the table, glaring menacingly at the unexpected guest. The woman wore dark lipstick, resembling an old witch.

“You’ve taken on a new apprentice, making it widely known… Well, shouldn’t we come and congratulate you?” The woman with the high ponytail said, handing the glass of white liquor to Jiang Ran. “Have a drink?”

She emphasized the word “apprentice,” loaded with meaning.

The air in the room grew heavy. Even a fool could sense that this woman meant no good… The two remaining men at their table turned their bodies to look this way. The yellow-haired one was smiling, while the tattooed one remained expressionless, but he wasn’t looking at his companions. His gaze was fixed unwaveringly on Jiang Ran’s face.

Beijiao twitched, ready to lash out.

Under the table, he was immediately kicked by Jiang Ran. He bit his lip, restraining himself with visible displeasure.

Song Die wanted to stand up, but Song Yan pressed his shoulder down.

Throughout all of this, only Jiang Ran’s expression remained unchanged. Her gaze moved from the glass of white liquor in front of her, tracing up the woman’s arm until it finally rested on her face.

When Beijiao thought that, given her temper, she would at least flip the woman’s wrist and throw the glass back in her face…

She instead took the white liquor, leveled the rim of the glass, clinked it against the other glass in the high-ponytail woman’s hand, and downed it in one gulp.

This way of drinking would leave even a grown man with trembling legs, but she didn’t even blink. She even turned the cup upside down, showing the woman that not a single drop remained.

“Thanks,” Jiang Ran placed the empty cup back in her hand, saying indifferently, “Wishing my new apprentice to be a bit better behaved.”

Beijiao thought to himself: What does that have to do with me being well-behaved?

As he was distracted, the woman with the high ponytail also tilted her head back and downed her glass of alcohol in one go. She gave Jiang Ran a deep look, as if trying to peel a layer of skin from her face.

Then she turned and returned to her seat.

…

The danger passed.

Just moments ago, the entire restaurant had been filled with a tense atmosphere, but with the clattering of dice from the neighboring table and their cheerful shouts, the small restaurant’s atmosphere once again warmed up.

About the time when people were young, after several rounds of drinks, Beijiao felt drowsy.

Jiang Ran sat beside him, holding Song Die’s video, telling him about the flaws in his current skiing. Her voice was neither high nor low, reminding one of a senior English class.

Under the influence of alcohol, his eyelids were about to droop when suddenly, the restaurant’s glass door opened and closed, as if someone had gone out, and he immediately perked up.

The sound of Jiang Ran talking to Song Die abruptly stopped. She looked up at him with a slightly confused expression.

The young apprentice exhaled a breath of warm, barley-scented air, leaning close to her face as he leaned on the table, “Going to the restroom.”

Jiang Ran nodded in understanding.

…

The restroom of the restaurant was outside, shared by both men and women.

Qiu Nian stepped out of the restroom, standing alone in the icy snow to sober up. She washed her hands, turned on the faucet, and splashed icy cold water onto her flushed, feverish face.

The white vapor she exhaled condensed in the air. She leaned against the sink’s edge with both hands, closed her eyes briefly, and when she lifted her head, she noticed someone standing behind her in the mirror’s reflection.

It startled her in the middle of the night—

Behind her was a teenager wearing a black hoodie, expressionless, silently standing there like a ghost in the night.

Startled by her sudden reaction, he lazily lifted his eyelids, his thin lips slightly parted. The boy’s unique low, magnetic voice sounded: “I think I remember who you are now.”

Qiu Nian took a step back, leaning against the damp sink edge.

Still shaken, she recognized the person in front of her as Jiang Ran’s apprentice. From when she went to toast earlier, he had been staring at her the entire time, his gaze cold and hard, like a vicious dog ready to pounce and bite her at any moment.

After a few seconds of silence, she had no desire to waste words with him. She exhaled a cloud of white vapor and stiffly tried to pass him—

At that moment, her elbow was abruptly gripped by a force from behind.

She was caught off guard and stumbled.

Looking up, she met the boy’s handsome face. He frowned, looking somewhat impatient: “We’re not done talking yet. Why the rush?”

She shook her hand, but the strong grip on her elbow didn’t loosen at all. She quickly caught her breath, somewhat incredulously, lowering her voice to ask in a hoarse whisper: “Do you have something to say?”

The boy slowly let out a “Hmm.”

Qiu Nian stared at his face for a while before suddenly revealing a mocking smile: “Are the women at your table not enough to play with? Do you have to follow others around like a dog?”

Beijiao didn’t respond immediately. He was thinking about why this woman’s words were so offensive.

He released her elbow immediately, even spreading his palm and wiping it on his clothes as if it had touched something dirty.

“Do you have some kind of illness?” His voice was cold, mixed with genuine confusion, “Did I ask you for your WeChat?”

Qiu Nian was momentarily silenced by his gloomy expression.

She only saw the boy tilt his head slightly, his expressionless gaze lowering to look at her with his dark, deep pupils, like a supreme ruler looking down at an insignificant creature.

“I don’t know if we’ll meet again in the future, but if we do, don’t look at Jiang Ran with that kind of gaze anymore.”

He said indifferently, “I usually don’t go out of my way to hassle girls, but your gaze… really annoys me.”

As if trying to awaken something from her, then take it away.

He couldn’t quite describe it, so he gave up and simply said, “It really annoys me.”

Under his cold, intense gaze, Qiu Nian dropped her fake smile and silently faced the teenager. She noticed that he radiated an aggressive sense of possession without holding back—

If she had dared to argue even a single sentence.

Today would not have ended so simply.

“You don’t know anything,” she stared at him and said calmly.

But she saw the boy give a light laugh. In the cold wind, his pale canine teeth looked sharp. “And where exactly did that come from?”

His voice was slightly hoarse, drifting lightly.

“I’m not interested in your old, worn-out stories anyway.”

…

Inside the restaurant.

Jiang Ran raised her hand, tucking a strand of short hair that had fallen beside her ear behind it. She had just finished explaining to Song Die what was wrong with his skiing movements in one of the videos.

Song Die lifted his head and casually asked, “Did that dog fall into the toilet? He’s been gone so long.”

Jiang Ran looked confusedly back at the door, not seeing him return… Her gaze uncontrollably shifted to the table near the door where the yellow-haired and tattooed guys were still there, but the woman with the high ponytail was missing.

With one person missing from their table, the two carefree individuals seemed completely unfazed, continuing to eat their barbecue.

A sense of unease sank in her chest. Jiang Ran stood up from the table, outwardly composed: “I’ll go check on him.”

Outside the restaurant, it was already pitch black, and the sub-zero wind blew in her face, mixed with the scent of snow. She shivered and instinctively pulled her neck in, instantly sobering up a large portion of her alcohol.

She walked in the direction of the restroom, the streetlights almost completely obscured by the falling snow, the light nearly nonexistent. She listened to the “crunching” sound under her feet, her mind blank.

She didn’t see Qiu Nian, but she noticed the restroom door slightly ajar not far away, and the familiar teenage figure standing inside, with his back to her.

……………………Could it be that this damn dog locked Qiu Nian in the restroom?

Jiang Ran couldn’t believe her own absurd guess, startled by the thought. She quickened her pace, rushing to the restroom door in a few steps and yanking it open: “You damn dog, what are you doing——”

The teenager facing away from her turned around in shock and confusion.

With one hand still in front of him holding his most private part, his broad shoulders and tall, slender figure twisted around in a strange way. His dark pupils, under the dim restroom lighting, looked very innocent.

In front of him was an open toilet.

Only a toilet.

Jiang Ran’s mind went completely blank, not even having time to apologize. Before his thin lips could part to speak, she “slammed” the door shut with a loud bang!

Beijiao froze in his half-turned posture by the restroom door. The overhead light swayed, and he felt dust drifting onto his face from the vibration of the door frame…

He sneezed.

After about ten seconds, through the door, which had slammed shut and then bounced open again, now helplessly creaking in the wind, he saw Jiang Ran furiously washing her hands at the sink outside.

…Why was she washing her hands?

Shouldn’t she be washing her eyes?

He let out a lazy scoff, then looked down at his good buddy still in his hand. After a long while, he regained his composure but found himself unable to smile.

…

When Beijiao came out of the restroom, Jiang Ran was still standing there like a statue.

Silently, she watched the boy slowly turn on the faucet to wash his hands, wash his hands, shake off the water.

A droplet splashed onto her face. She pursed her lips but didn’t get angry.

After he finished washing his hands, his gaze inevitably drifted over, lightly brushing over her face like a feather. He smirked slightly: “Alright, I’m done. You can use it now.”

She didn’t move.

“Are you not going to use it? Then why did you come out here? Isn’t it cold outside?” He continued trying to engage her in conversation.

Jiang Ran was like a soul had left her body.

“So…”

What was there to say?

Beijiao lowered his eyes, pondering for a moment, feeling at a loss for words.

A few seconds later, he looked at her again.

“Was it good to look at?”

Author’s note:

Beijiao: …Shameful.jpg

Jiang Ran: Aaaaaaaaah! Shut up!?!?