It’s hard to say whether it’s more frustrating to see an ex-boyfriend find a new girlfriend or to see a former apprentice find a new mentor.
Jiang Ran casually imagined some other girl hanging on Bei Jiao’s arm, possibly prettier, younger, and perhaps (maybe inevitably) more obedient, and her face couldn’t help but twitch slightly.
She thought again about how he hadn’t appeared at the Songbei ski resort this entire snow season. When Qiu Nian and others said the dog had gone to Chongli, Jiang Ran had thought to herself that this fellow was quite considerate. Turns out he went to Zhangjiakou to find a new mentor…
How impressive.
Her face was frozen in icy displeasure.
A whole year had passed.
She thought she had moved on. During casual chats, she could calmly discuss topics like “How’s the dog lately?” brought up by Qiu Nian or Li Xingnan. But when it came to fundamental issues, she realized she still couldn’t handle it.
She had given herself a three-year deadline—it was already quite generous—and this was only the first year.
Some people, at ninety years old and lying in the ICU right before passing away, still think about their first love. So she had already made remarkable progress.
Jiang Ran lifted her hand to rub her face, returned her phone to the student, and gave a perfunctory evaluation: “Not bad.”
The student smiled shyly: “Of course he can’t compare with you! He’s quite self-aware too. I asked him if he would teach in Guangrong during summer, and he said there are so many excellent carving riders in Guangrong that I wouldn’t even get a chance to learn from him… I mean, how can someone resist making money like that! Back in Chongli, if I hadn’t insisted on learning carving from him after finishing the basics, he wouldn’t have even taught me, saying he himself had only been riding for a short time and couldn’t teach carving properly. But I thought he was already pretty good!”
The student’s voice beside her was full of confusion, muttering repeatedly about how someone could resist making money. Jiang Ran just smiled.
—Because she had once said she looked down on those who had just started learning, barely able to switch edges smoothly, yet rushed into the snowboarding scene to cash in while the country was promoting winter sports.
“Yeah, probably,” Jiang Ran replied indifferently. “He’s been riding for a year, maybe he’s smart. His skill level in one year is probably equivalent to others’ three or four years. He’s good enough to teach carving basics.”
Still couldn’t help but praise him a little.
If talking purely about carving, this student of hers was practically his apprentice, since after all, Bei Jiao’s fundamental riding skills were all taught by her—starting from how to put on the boots, identify the leading leg, holding hands to push down the slope, and so on.
Now he has admirers too.
Jiang Ran supported her chin with one hand, her eyes narrowing slightly as she let out a faint, ambiguous scoff.
Her “great-grandstudent,” emboldened by her approval, gained another level of admiration for Bei Jiao: humble yet sharp, young, such a down-to-earth young man was hard to find even with a lantern!
“I wonder who the legendary master is who taught Bei Ge carving,” he muttered. “When I asked him, he wouldn’t say, just said that person didn’t want him to reveal—hey, what’s there to hide? If I had trained such an excellent apprentice, I’d be broadcasting it on a loudspeaker at the ski resort entrance all day long!”
Her lips slightly tightened, Jiang Ran turned her head away with a complicated mood, staring blankly at the ski slope below.
At the top of the mountain, she explained the principles of 360° to her “great-grandstudent,” then let him try jumping on his own. At first he definitely wouldn’t make it, just needed to practice some ollie turns—
For someone who rides well, a nollie 360° in powder snow usually becomes manageable after a couple of tries, and a whole run wouldn’t even be used up.
She needed to see how well he grasped the fundamentals of flatland tricks, correct him step by step, before properly teaching him.
The tall, lanky guy quickly agreed, didn’t ask many questions, put on his board and eagerly went to try jumping.
Jiang Ran stood with her hands behind her back at the top of the mountain, watching him fall repeatedly until he was practically smoking, only going down herself when he rolled halfway down the hill. She skied up to him and explained the issue with his gaze—
“Your gaze shouldn’t look up the hill or down the hill—360° happens in an instant. There’s no need for visual guidance; just don’t look anywhere… A one-direction pivot, different from the duck stance. You need to follow the momentum of your high-speed riding, use that force, keep your core tight, and then spring upward.”
She paused slightly, “I’ll do one for you, watch my legs and the direction my body faces at the moment of takeoff.”
Today she was using the Gray Mach board, the one originally priced at 9980, later dubbed the “flatland-carving holy grail” because so many pros used it, and this year it had soared to 18,000.
This board has a rounded nose, specially designed for flatland tricks at medium to high speeds. It’s softer and lighter than traditional carving boards like the Type-R, with greater elasticity.
She rode on both edges, gained speed, then pushed off with her front foot, causing the board to bend significantly under her, simultaneously lifting her back foot—
The board’s nose bent into a terrifying curve under her force, and as she released the force to jump, the rebound propelled her high into the air!
Her long hair traced a beautiful arc in the air!
Jiang Ran was wearing a pink snowsuit today. This jump carried a bit of emotional intensity—something like “My former apprentice betrayed me to learn 360° from some random nobody, pfft, how dare he compare to me, he’s ruined!”—at this moment, she looked like a pink skyrocket—
Jumping as high as possible!
That height, whether for those beside the slope, at the top of the mountain, or for people casually leaning on the railings of the chairlift watching below, whoever saw it couldn’t help but exclaim: “Wow! So high!”
For instance, just then, a slow chairlift happened to be right above her, carrying a little chubby kid in a children’s snowboard gear, leaning out of the chairlift looking down curiously…
At the moment Jiang Ran jumped, the kid was instantly shocked, shouting with genuine emotion: “Oh my god! This lady is amazing, so high! She almost jumped right in front of me!”
…
The chairlift swayed to the station.
The little kid was wearing a green dinosaur costume, looking adorable with a long tail dragging behind him. He rolled and tumbled off the chairlift, then hurriedly started sliding down the advanced slope.
Kids naturally have a fearless spirit. Some advanced slopes that even adults struggle to navigate smoothly, he spread his arms wide like a giant bird and glided down effortlessly on edge.
In the afternoon, he even managed to pull a stylish tail press over some moguls.
After reaching the bottom, he looked around and realized he had lost sight of the pink skyrocket from earlier. He stomped his foot in frustration, let out a “Ah!” of disappointment, took off his snowboard, and walked out of the ski resort.
The rental hall was bustling with people.
The little kid looked left and right, finally finding his target behind a row of lockers—
Lazily lying on a bench between the lockers was a tall, black-haired young man. He had clearly just finished skiing; his wet snow boots were loosely tied with the straps and buckles undone;
His snowsuit was unzipped, revealing the hoodie underneath;
His face protector was removed. Probably scolded by staff for lying around with it on, now a mask was crookedly hanging on his face.
Under the mask, his narrow eyes were half-closed, his dark eyes showing ambiguous emotion in the dim lighting of the rest area.
As the little kid dragged his tail rushing toward him, he was playing with a lighter in his hand. With a “click,” the flame shot up, illuminating the laziness in his eyes.
“Bei Ge! Bei Ge! Master! Master!”
The kid spread his arms to hug him.
The young man, lying on the bench with a snowboard bag as a pillow and one arm under his head, slightly lifted his eyelids at the noisy voice, slowly turning his head.
With a flick of his wrist, he put the lighter back into his pocket. Tilting his face slightly, the perfect jawline under the mask became more distinct. His voice was emotionless: “I’m not deaf, why are you shouting so loud?”
His voice was slightly hoarse, a unique low magnetism typical of a boy transitioning into manhood.
The kid threw himself onto him, rubbing against him: “I’m tired!”
He acted as if he had no bones, his body swaying like noodles with the little kid’s weak shaking: “Then rest. Do you need me to invite you?”
“My head hurts because the new helmet is squeezing my brain!” the kid said seriously with wide eyes, “Can I ride without a helmet?”
As he spoke, he unfastened the helmet strap and lifted it off his head with both hands—
Before the helmet had even left his head, a big hand from above “plop” pressed it back down.
“Ouch!” the kid exclaimed.
“No.” The young man, who had been lying on the bench, said flatly, “Keep it on. Don’t act up… act up again and I won’t teach you next time.”
The kid wasn’t afraid of his cold face. After a pause, he suddenly remembered another thing and grabbed his arm, pulling insistently: “I’ll wear the helmet if you come in with me again! Don’t slack off here! Just come in for a quick look, I’ll show you something good!”
Bei Jiao snorted: “You think I’m going to go back in just to play with you after class? Sure, but it’ll cost extra.”
“No, I don’t need you to play with me! There’s really something good inside!”
He dug his ear lazily, finding the kid noisy, and asked casually: “What good thing?”
“There’s a lady, she’s super awesome, you should really see her!”
Bei Jiao didn’t seem interested at all, responding with a disbelieving “Oh,” in the tone of “I’m listening to your nonsense”: “How awesome? Can she fly off a jump and do three flips, or pose on the slope in just a bikini—”
“No, you pervert old man, I’m being serious!” the kid frowned, “There’s a lady inside—a big sister! She did a carving 360° right in front of me, like a skyrocket ‘whoosh’ into the air, I thought she was gonna jump onto my chairlift! Seriously, wow, super awesome! Way more awesome than you, like ten thousand times!”
As he spoke, he kept tugging Bei Jiao’s sleeve.
He kept pulling but couldn’t move him, and the teasing had stopped.
Looking closely, the young man who had been lazily smiling had stopped smiling.
He sat up, raised his hand, and with a hook of his finger, one side of the mask slipped down, revealing a handsome and refined face that surprisingly matched his tall frame.
Over the past year, the youthful look on his face had faded a bit, replaced by a more steady and quiet demeanor.
He leaned forward, getting close to the kid, his dark eyes gleaming with an unknown light: “What lady?”
“The skyrocket?” the kid was confused, trying to use his limited vocabulary to describe her, “The pink skyrocket big sister?”
…He really shouldn’t have expected much from a first grader’s (online class version) vocabulary.
“…You’re sure she did a carving jump?”
“Come on, I’m not blind. At this point, I can tell if it’s a switch or regular stance.”
“She has long hair?”
“You should admire others’ skills, pay homage, learn and observe. Why are you so concerned about hairstyle?”
As soon as the words left his mouth, the dinosaur head was pushed back down into the helmet, “puff,” everything went dark. The kid stumbled forward and fell into the young man’s arms. He extended one hand and effortlessly lifted him out.
The kid’s dinosaur tail dragged on the ground. As soon as he steadied himself, a strawberry lollipop was suddenly placed in his hand.
He widened his eyes: “Why are you giving me candy?”
“Who said it’s for you?” Bei Jiao gave him an emotionless glance, “Go in and give this candy to your pink skyrocket.”
Seeing his apprentice looking up at him blankly, he raised an eyebrow: “What are you looking at?”
“Shouldn’t I look?” the kid asked confusedly, “But why am I giving her candy for no reason… What do I say if she asks me?”
“Just say you admire her.”
You’re lucky I didn’t make you kowtow when you saw your grandmaster.
“…”
The kid held the lollipop, “Master?”
Bei Jiao tilted his head slightly, “Hmm?”
The kid hesitated, “You finally want to start dating, right?”
Bei Jiao: “…”
The kid: “But I think skyrocket big sister probably won’t like you. These days, good looks aren’t enough for a man. Your nollie 360° isn’t even half as high as hers.”
Bei Jiao’s face darkened, lightly kicking the kid with his foot, muttering lowly, “Less nonsense,” watching the little green dinosaur flailing away, finally grabbing onto the next row of lockers. The kid turned around with a bitter face, “It’s not that I don’t want to go, I tried my hardest just now but couldn’t keep up with her! She’s way too fast, how can I give it to her!”
“…”
Well, that’s not really your fault.
If she really focuses on riding, even your master can’t catch up with her.
“Have you learned the idiom ‘waiting by a stump for a rabbit to come along’? If you can’t catch her, just wait at the foot of the mountain. She’ll have to take the chairlift eventually, right?” He said, then lay back down, “Go.”
After giving the emotionless order, he closed his eyes again.
…
About half an hour later.
After just an hour of class, Jiang Ran and her “great-grandstudent” came down again when they were ambushed by a kid in a green dinosaur costume.
He had originally been sitting on the bench by the door, daydreaming with his face in his hands. As soon as he saw Jiang Ran, he “whoosh” jumped off the bench, dragging his snow-covered dinosaur tail behind him. His chubby little face was red from the cold.
He ran up to Jiang Ran, held up the lollipop in his hand high, and shyly said, “Sister, for you.”
He even lost his northeastern accent, speaking standard Mandarin.
Jiang Ran bent down, saw the lollipop in his hand, paused for a moment, and thought it looked familiar—
There used to be a small convenience store at the entrance of the ski resort. Occasionally, she would go there to buy tissues or a bottle of water, and sometimes she’d grab a lollipop to have some fun when she had nothing to do.
She hadn’t bought one today.
But someone had bought one and delivered it to her.
After a brief moment of shock, she smiled, her eyes narrowing, “Why are you giving Sister a candy?”
…Because my master wants to date you but is too shy, so he sent me instead and wouldn’t even let me say it was from him!
“I saw you on the chairlift just now, your nollie jump was so good! I admire you!”
The kid’s answer was loud and firm.
There’s nothing more satisfying than being sincerely flattered by a child. The moment before, the frustration of her former apprentice betraying her to learn from someone else vanished instantly. Who says little kids aren’t angels? They’re way better than those heartless men—
At this moment, the little dinosaur was still desperately standing on tiptoe, trying to lift his candy-filled hand high—
Until the woman reached out, taking the candy from his chubby little hand wearing thick gloves, she gently patted his dinosaur head, peeled the candy in front of him, and put it in her mouth.
“So sweet… Thank you!”
She sucked on the sweet strawberry flavor, bent down, and gently fastened the strap of his helmet that had just come loose.
“You need to wear your helmet properly!”
She said, then stood up straight.
The chubby kid stood frozen in place, suddenly enveloped in a scent mixing candy sweetness and something else pleasant. Then, a hand softer than his own chin fastened the helmet strap for him…
And then, that pleasant scent suddenly disappeared.
Staring at the pink skyrocket’s back as she waved goodbye and walked away, he was completely mesmerized—
Wow!
From now on, he never wanted his master’s rough hands to fasten his helmet again!
…
When Rongchuang was about to close, Bei Jiao finally saw the little kid who had played enough. He yawned, listening to the kid chattering about his day.
When he talked about the skyrocket big sister fastening his helmet strap, he looked dreamy, intending to mock his master’s rough hands, but Bei Jiao just fell silent for a moment, then stretched out a finger to hook the kid’s chubby chin.
The rough touch barely brushed against his soft skin before it was pulled away.
The little kid, who had been animated just a second ago, suddenly turned pale with shock, taking three steps back: “What are you doing, molesting me!”
But Bei Jiao didn’t even acknowledge him, staring at his fingertip for a long time, expressionless, thinking—
You’ve breathed the same evening breeze I did, so can we say we’ve embraced? You’ve touched the same chin I did, so can we say we’ve held hands… huh?
He was lost in thought.
Then suddenly stood up, looked around, then leaned down to his apprentice with a blank expression and said: “Wait here and change clothes properly, don’t run around, I need to go pee.”
The little kid didn’t understand why this person suddenly had the urge to pee, so he just confusedly said “Okay” and started taking off his snow boots, climbing onto the chair.
Bei Jiao left the locker area, aimlessly wandering around the equipment hall, somewhat nervously, as if he were doing something wrong.
He hadn’t really hoped for much in the beginning, but finally, in a café near the restroom, he saw the person he wanted to see—
A whole year had passed.
Last winter, after the risk control period ended, she didn’t return to Guangzhou all summer, staying in Harbin instead. In winter, she went to Xinjiang and Jilin, while he stayed in Chongli…
And so, a year passed like that.
Throughout this year, Bei Jiao had only seen Jiang Ran through short video apps, listened to her voice for a while, and after one spring, summer, autumn, and winter, he finally saw her again, alive and vivid.
Right now, she was asleep on the table.
The warm light of the café cast a soft halo over her soft black hair. Her pale face was hidden among the messy strands, only revealing a delicate, small nose.
People came and went around her, but she slept soundly, big-hearted, with a white stick of a lollipop in her mouth, sleeping with the candy in her mouth.
Bei Jiao walked up and stood beside her, looking down at her.
His hand by his side moved slightly.
He placed one hand on the table’s edge, watching his shadow fall over her as he leaned in, then raised his hand, gently brushing his finger across her nose.
In her sleep, she seemed to sense a familiar scent from deep in her memory, mixed with a faint trace of unfamiliar tobacco. Her eyelashes fluttered slightly, like a fragile butterfly flapping its wings.
He pulled his hand back.
“Bei… Bei Ge?”
A confused voice came from behind.
The young man straightened up, calmly turned his head, and saw the tall northeastern guy who had followed him for the entire snow season last winter standing behind him. Now, he was holding a hot cup of coffee, staring at him in shock.
Looking at him, then at the sleeping Jiang Ran partially covered by his shadow, he opened his mouth.
The black-haired young man lowered his eyelashes, raised one finger, and gently pressed it to his lips, signaling for silence.
He gave a light chuckle.
He had caught her.
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