Later on, Jiang Ran secretly suspected whether her surgery had actually failed, and the doctor was just too polite to say so. She accidentally let this thought slip during a casual conversation. Her attending physician remained silent for a long time before not literally kicking her out of the office. He smiled and told her that if she had any doubts, she could go on Weibo and tag him or even buy a trending topic. He might end up in jail for decades, which would indeed be satisfying for everyone.
Jiang Ran, awkwardly rubbing her nose, was ushered out of the doctor’s office. She borrowed paper and a pen from the nurse’s station and wrote a tearful apology note, sliding it under the office door. Only then did she limp back to her ward.
After that, she kept quiet for a few days and felt too shy to look the doctor in the eye whenever he made his rounds.
That ridiculous expression—if it weren’t for the doctor being about the same age as Jiang Huaimin, Bei Jiao might have suspected long ago that this woman had secretly changed her heart.
Then Jiang Ran was discharged from the hospital.
After discharge, on a Thursday when Bei Jiao had no afternoon classes, they went to the Civil Affairs Bureau to register their marriage. It was a truly realistic and surreal scene—
Their conversation before registering was like this: “Have you eaten?” “I had some takoyaki while waiting for you.” “It’s said you should rest for a hundred days after a bone injury; you shouldn’t eat too much seafood before fully recovered.” “Okay.”
No grand oaths or tearful confessions, but Jiang Ran washed her hair carefully, put on makeup, and wore nice clothes, becoming the most beautiful bride among the newlywed couples waiting in line that day.
They told their close friends about getting married first and then announced it on their social media that evening while the whole family sat around the dinner table, enjoying their bright red marriage certificate and Zhang Lingling’s miserable yet forced cheerful face.
Recently, Zhang Lingling had been very nice to Bei Jiao, and outsiders might think she had always been so kind and loving. But Jiang Ran felt that she had simply accepted the inevitable, realizing she couldn’t become the mistress of the Jiang household, so becoming a mother-in-law wasn’t too bad of a consolation.
Jiang Ran felt indignant on behalf of Bei Jiao, but he took it very lightly.
At that time, he was in Jiang Ran’s apartment, stirring a bowl of bird’s nest soup specially delivered by Zhang Lingling after driving a long distance—
“Jiang Ran, have you ever heard this saying?” He scooped a spoonful of bird’s nest and fed it to his pouting wife, “No matter how sinister, despicable, or cunning someone might be by nature, if a person can behave like a gentleman for a lifetime, then he truly is a gentleman.”
Jiang Ran was speechless, staring with wide eyes and biting the spoon, looking somewhat dazed.
Bei Jiao pulled the ceramic spoon from her mouth. She blinked and asked, “Why do you always have so many profound truths?”
“Because the first half of my life was bitter.”
He said it calmly, stating it as a fact. After finishing, he looked up and saw her still reacting slowly, now turning into a stunned expression.
Amused but trying to keep a straight face, Bei Jiao turned his face slightly, sounding somewhat puzzled as he said, “Hmm.”
As if she had just come back to her senses, Jiang Ran crawled across the couch toward him, snuggling into his arms without saying a word, tenderly caressing his cheek.
“It’s all good now,” Jiang Ran said. “With me here, every day of yours will be sweet.”
“…”
He took a few seconds to process her cheesy romantic line. Although for a moment or two he had hoped she might have a more touching declaration, he thought maybe this was the best she could do, so he shouldn’t expect more.
He successfully convinced himself and, for that brief moment, felt his heart race a little faster as he lifted the corner of his lips and said, “If you aren’t mad at me, then yes, that’s true.”
She hugged him even tighter, as if wanting to drown herself completely in his arms.
……
In December that year, snowfields in the three northeastern provinces gradually entered their best season.
Social media became active again, with daily updates about who had new work, who met a jerk at the snowfield, and who was fighting with someone else over some stupid snowfield incident.
The new snow season had officially begun.
On the first day of December, Jiang Ran finished her last rehabilitation session at the hospital. By then, her left leg had fully recovered and could run and jump normally. The doctor joked that if she had no intention of switching careers to pole vaulting or ballet, she should be able to continue her athletic career carefully.
This statement reassured her, and after resting at home for a few days, she went to the Genting Snow Park in Chongli—
Thanks to the Winter Olympic track, which now served as a standard for athletes to compare and record data, Chongli had become a paradise for professional training teams, loved by provincial and national team members alike.
On the day Jiang Ran arrived, the Heilongjiang provincial team was already training there. She met many people she hadn’t seen in a long time, including her former female teammates and male teammates like Xie Yu.
Everyone knew about her injury at the World Cup and how she had stood back up again. Even before her surgery, not only Nie Xin but many others had lost their appetites out of concern…
At that moment, seeing Jiang Ran dressed like a polar bear, with both hands and feet intact, walking toward them with her hands in her pockets and struggling with each step, everyone looked at her with the affectionate gaze of family members.
As the female team captain, Chun rushed forward and grabbed Jiang Ran’s hands, saying, “We were all still single when we parted ways. Now we meet again and you’ve already married early! Let me see the ring—damn it, so shiny—where’s your husband!”
“…In school.” Saying this made Jiang Ran feel like she was committing a crime, “He has his postgraduate entrance exam next week.”
This was also the reason Jiang Ran came to Chongli early—because Bei Jiao had such an important exam the following week.
According to logic, as newlyweds, she should be sitting beside him like a scholar’s assistant, flipping pages and offering spiritual comfort. But the moment she sat beside him, Bei Jiao would easily get distracted, looking like a foolish emperor. So Jiang Ran just packed her bags and left.
Now, hearing Jiang Ran say “in school,” Chun paused for three seconds, also feeling it was surreal: “Back then at Harbin Creation, when I saw him secretly hugging you to sleep, he looked young but reliable. I didn’t expect he was actually that young.”
Jiang Ran chuckled and scratched her face.
“Xie Yu only gave up when he saw your marriage certificate,” Chun said, “I told him all along your husband is a hundred times handsomer than him…”
Hearing him repeatedly say “your husband,” Jiang Ran felt quite embarrassed.
Just as she was about to modestly reply, she saw Wang Jiaming walking over with his hands in his pockets and a snowboard tucked under his arm. The words from Chun about Bei Jiao being a hundred times handsomer than Xie Yu probably just reached his ears, and he glanced sideways at Chun.
Chun ignored him completely. The girl chattered excitedly while holding Jiang Ran’s hand, and Wang Jiaming simply nodded at Jiang Ran and asked, “Can we start training tomorrow?”
Jiang Ran’s leg no longer hurt, though it felt a bit sore before snowfall, more accurate than the weather forecast. She nodded.
Wang Jiaming withdrew his gaze, satisfied. To Jiang Ran’s surprise, he turned his head and, lowering his eyes to look at Chun with a blank expression, said, “44.37 seconds. If you have time to chat nonsense, you might as well slide one more round.”
Jiang Ran: “?”
Chun also looked stunned, then reacted, releasing Jiang Ran’s hand. “Wang Jiaming, are you out of your mind? Do you have nothing better to do than time provincial team members? Are you that bored?”
Jiang Ran: “??”
In Jiang Ran’s memory, she had never directly addressed Wang Jiaming by his full name. Indeed, the gap between teams was like a mountain—she hadn’t figured out how her former captain could be so bold.
Wang Jiaming didn’t seem offended at all. His perpetually sleepy-looking single-lidded eyes looked at Chun, who glared back fiercely.
Until the female team members rushed forward, dragging Chun away with multiple hands and awkwardly saying to Jiang Ran, “Basic drill, basic drill.”
Jiang Ran was completely confused but didn’t ask further.
The next day, Jiang Ran’s snowboard bag arrived. She got up early in the morning and headed up the mountain with her snowboard.
Sitting on the conveyor elevator, Jiang Ran took out her phone to send a message to her “left-behind” husband.
[Whose Ran Ran Duck: Up yet?]
[My Duck: «Picture»]
Bei Jiao seemed to be waiting. Just a minute after she sent the message, a picture came back: several small steamed buns, a bowl of tofu pudding, and an iPad showing an English news morning report.
Away from her, this big brother had finally returned to his scholarly nature.
[My Duck: What’s my wife doing?]
Jiang Ran couldn’t help smiling as she stared at the words “my wife.” She took a photo of the crowded mountaintop and told him she was preparing to resume training with the Heilongjiang provincial team and the national team. Nie Xin and Wang Jiaming were both there, keeping a close eye on her.
Just a routine report, but unexpectedly, this guy focused on something completely off-track.
[My Duck: Why is Xie Yu there too?]
Jiang Ran glanced and indeed saw a tall figure standing out in the crowd. She hadn’t noticed him until Bei Jiao mentioned it. She casually said that Xie Yu was probably close to meeting the national team’s standards, and Wang Jiaming coming back this time was not only to lead training but likely also trying to recruit a few people from Nie Xin.
[My Duck: Oh.]
[My Duck: I’ll come find you after finishing my exam.]
[My Duck: You should keep your distance from Xie Yu. If he looks at you once, you must tell him that seducing a married woman is not only immoral and condemns you to hell but also violates basic national laws.]
[Whose Ran Ran Duck: …Just study your books!]
At that moment, the elevator reached the top, so Jiang Ran put her phone back in her pocket.
The training team members had already started training. Jiang Ran didn’t rush to hit the course immediately. She hadn’t skied for two months—this was the longest break she had had since learning to ski.
Muscle memory does exist, but the human body isn’t like a computer program that just needs to open and load data. So there was a process to recover it…
This was one of the great life lessons she learned in rehabilitation class. She always felt like her hands would develop calluses from holding the railings. Those days weren’t just about physical recovery but also about cultivating her mind and temperament.
Eventually, that restless energy she once had completely disappeared, polished smooth along with the handrails she had clutched. Lately, the phrases she used most often were “It’s okay,” “No rush,” and “Let’s see.”
Jiang Ran suddenly becoming so laid-back was the main reason Bei Jiao felt comfortable letting her return to training alone.
Throughout that day, the training team used one slalom gate, while Jiang Ran queued up with recreational skiers who had the day off but were training on their own using the other gate.
During this process, Jiang Ran finally interacted with her national team teammates and got to know each other. For athletes, the office politics and backstabbing often depicted in competitive novels—like putting blades in shoes or stabbing teammates in the back—simply didn’t happen. Everyone discussed movement details, helped each other refine techniques and find flaws, creating a harmonious atmosphere.
Jiang Ran had quite a good time.
By the end of the day’s training, she was able to recover to a track speed of around 42 seconds. Of course, this was still a gap from her peak time of under 39 seconds, but she was already very satisfied.
Wang Jiaming and Nie Xin were also very satisfied.
In the afternoon, after finishing training and returning to the dormitory, she placed her snowboard, still covered in snow, by the door, took a deep breath, and couldn’t help smiling.
[You seem in a good mood?] On the video call, the young man with black hair was eating in the school cafeteria. He reached out and tapped the screen, [I was worried you might feel you’ve regressed and hide to cry again.]
“I won’t. I’ve become so Zen that I can recite a passage of the Heart Sutra right now.” Jiang Ran took off her snow jacket, “I won’t cry anymore.”
It sounded more like she was telling herself.
Hearing her bring it up, Bei Jiao chuckled softly on the video call.
There was a story behind the Heart Sutra. During the first half of her rehabilitation, her progress was slow, and her mindset wasn’t great. For a while, she even had insomnia.
She didn’t say anything about it. As a serious athlete about to resume training, she couldn’t take medication carelessly, fearing residual substances might affect a urine test, so she just endured it.
That led to a certain night when Bei Jiao suddenly woke up, intending to catch her in the act and force her to rest, only to find this woman writing scriptures under a desk lamp…
Bei Jiao lay on the couch, accompanying her silently for an hour while she copied scriptures without her knowing. Then he watched her pack up and turn around to sleep peacefully.
As a contemporary medical student studying Western medicine, Bei Jiao was amazed by how humans sometimes needed to rely on mystical forces to find spiritual comfort…
But he didn’t stop her.
As long as she could sleep and eat well, no matter how she dealt with things, it was fine.
Later, as Jiang Ran’s condition improved, her eating and diet returned to normal, and she became more mature.
This injury incident finally revealed its positive impact.
……
On the fifteenth of December, Jiang Ran officially resumed training.
The day before, Bei Jiao completed his postgraduate entrance exams and booked a flight to Zhangjiakou that day. From the moment she woke up that morning, Jiang Ran’s heart kept pounding—partly excited, partly apprehensive.
She couldn’t even tell herself whether it was due to the training or the person.
Her heart was pounding so hard that she didn’t eat breakfast. Sometimes she believed that hunger could keep the mind sharp. Even standing at the start of the course, her heart was still racing wildly.
At the top of the mountain, other team members gradually arrived. Those she had become familiar with in recent days gave her encouragement and support. Her teammate Song Song hugged her tightly again and again. Jiang Ran finally managed to peel her off and looked up, casually asking, “Where’s Chun?”
“She caught a cold and has a slight fever. She’s waiting for a nucleic acid test, so she’s resting today,” Song Song replied casually.
Jiang Ran let out an “oh,” and thought about going to see her after training.
It was soon Jiang Ran’s turn for her first run of the day. Considering it was her first day back in training, her teammates kindly left the best snow for her first run.
Wang Jiaming stood beside the timing device with a blank expression while Nie Xin stood with his hands on his waist. He could clearly hear Jiang Ran swallow hard as she stood gripping the railing, taking a deep breath before her run.
“Did you have breakfast?” Nie Xin asked.
Jiang Ran and Wang Jiaming both looked at him in disbelief for a moment before Nie Xin shrugged innocently. “What? You looked nervous, so I was just trying to chat to ease the tension!”
His attempt at small talk didn’t ease the tension much. Wang Jiaming started the timer, and Jiang Ran leapt from the starting platform—
The first three gates were for accelerating and adjusting to the snow conditions of the day, and from the fourth gate onward, she focused on controlling her route and speed.
Throughout the run, Jiang Ran’s heart raced. The sky was overcast, and as she smoothly crossed the finish line, she still felt the snow was glaringly bright, making her dizzy.
Standing at the bottom of the slope, she hopped forward on one leg unsteadily. Looking back at the summit, she saw Wang Jiaming waving at her, signaling that her time was 40.58 seconds—decent, but not good enough.
She hadn’t broken the 40-second mark yet, not even once these past few days. She was so frustrated she considered paying the Russian champion handsomely to come to Chongli and train with her.
Jiang Ran felt a bit depressed.
…
Putting her phone away, she realized that looking down at it made her dizzy again, and she couldn’t figure out what was going on before she decided to splash some water on her face.
The ski hall was gradually filling up with people.
At this point, the entire Chongli ski resort had reopened to the public. Though the Yunding ski area was usually less crowded than the summit area, the ski hall still had a sparse population…
Passing recreational skiers couldn’t help but glance at Jiang Ran, who wore the national team jacket.
“Look, it’s the national team member.”
“Dang, so impressive.”
“This big sister is so pretty. If I didn’t see her jacket, I’d have thought she was an internet celebrity here for photos…”
In this moment, Jiang Ran’s vanity reached its peak. In this same ski hall, she recalled how she used to envy athletes in national team uniforms who passed her by…
Today, it was finally her turn to be envied.
Jiang Ran floated on air as she walked until she ran into Xie Yu at the ski hall restroom entrance. He looked at her with a dazed expression from a distance and asked, “Didn’t you have breakfast? I saw your legs shaking near the last few gates. Could it be low blood sugar?”
It really might be.
His words snapped her out of her thoughts. Jiang Ran waved her hand, “Then help me out, I’ll go grab something to eat—”
Before she could finish, her hand was grabbed and a candy appeared in her palm.
“Don’t faint before you even reach the dining hall. Eat this candy first to calm yourself.”
Xie Yu smiled at her, didn’t say anything else, and walked away with his hands in his pockets.
Jiang Ran stared at his back for a while in a daze. When she turned around, she accidentally saw a handsome young man with black hair standing three meters away, his dark eyes silently staring at her and the candy in her hand.
Jiang Ran: “…”
He stood next to her without moving, and Jiang Ran immediately melted into him, hugging his waist. The bright red national team training jacket contrasted strikingly with the black snowsuit he wore.
He held her hand, fingers interlaced, and his ring on his right middle finger touched her ring on her left middle finger.
He even took the candy from her hand.
Jiang Ran didn’t seem to mind. She clung to him, burying her nose in his open collar, greedily inhaling his scent. “When did you get here?”
“Not important. What matters is that if I had arrived three minutes later, you would have eaten the candy from another man.”
“Bei Jiao, I’m having low blood sugar.”
“I told you not to skip breakfast. Didn’t I tell you that even if you’re not hungry in the morning, you should eat something to line your stomach?”
As he spoke, he still reached out to steady her waist. Looking at her pale face, he slightly furrowed his brows.
Jiang Ran knew from his frown that he was about to scold her, but she was too impatient to listen to his nagging. She raised a finger to press against his furrowed brow. “We’ll talk later. I’m annoyed right now.”
What could be bothering her? Nothing more than her poor training performance.
Bei Jiao obediently closed his mouth, chuckled lightly, peeled the candy Xie Yu had given her, and threw it into his mouth—it tasted like apples.
Jiang Ran was just thinking that this guy must be crazy, a jealous psychopath, when her chin was lifted. Her mouth was wide open in shock from beginning to end. He easily used his tongue to pry her jaw open, then pushed the candy into her mouth with his tongue.
Then their lips parted. He paused for a moment before leaning down again, kissing her one more time with reluctance.
“What does that mean? Isn’t it a candy from another man?”
He “oh’d” lightly. “So I disinfected it myself.”
Jiang Ran fell silent, refusing to speak to the madman, and was dragged by the hand toward the cafeteria.
Halfway there, she received a message from Wang Jiaming, telling her that Bei Jiao had arrived.
With one hand still held tightly by him, she could only type with one hand to her coach, saying she already knew he was right in front of her…
Then Coach Wang replied that the morning session would be off, as he had something to attend to.
This training fanatic actually had personal affairs to give them a break? Was his house on fire or something?
Jiang Ran was a bit surprised but didn’t mind. At this moment, she was feeling fragile after her poor performance on the first day back, needing to curl into her man’s arms for comfort. So she didn’t refuse Wang Jiaming’s kindness and followed Bei Jiao, who had packed breakfast, back to the dormitory.
As she was halfway through her breakfast, Bei Jiao noticed her eating slowing down. He wrapped himself around her from behind like a large python.
Jiang Ran dropped her spoon.
The person behind her kept nuzzling her neck with his cold nose, making her body heat up all over. She slightly turned her head. “What are you doing?”
“You’re not in a good mood, right?” He looked innocent. “Let me do something to make you happy, okay?”
Right now, he looked completely different from the man who had coldly watched another man give her a candy by the restroom.
“There’s still training this afternoon.”
Bei Jiao’s hands had already lifted the hem of her shirt. “This is your emotional support time. You know the saying—sharpening the axe doesn’t delay chopping firewood, right?”
…Indeed, he was sharpening the axe.
He just didn’t specify whose axe he was sharpening.
…
The dog was indeed well-behaved. Although clingy and annoying, he was still restrained, only teasing her a little without making her tired.
In total, it only took less than two hours. He wasn’t quite satisfied, but Jiang Ran was. The slight depression she had felt that morning had completely vanished.
Appropriate indulgence helps maintain youth.
At noon, he held her under the blanket, personally feeding her porridge. Jiang Ran, being taken care of like she was still lying in a hospital bed, suddenly thought of a real patient around her.
As Bei Jiao, holding a wet wipe, patiently wiped her mouth, she peeled herself out from under the covers and said, “I should go check on the squad leader. I heard she caught a cold. I wonder if she’s eaten.”
Bei Jiao put down the porridge, staring somewhat reluctantly at her lips, slightly swollen and red from his kisses. After a moment, he said, “Oh, then I’ll go with you.”
Jiang Ran didn’t object and took him with her to another dormitory building that was more hotel-style.
Their training team actually lived together with the skiing tourists. With so many people coming and going, and without wearing uniforms, it was hard to recognize anyone…
From a distance, Jiang Ran saw Wang Jiaming standing expressionlessly at the foot of the building where Chun lived.
She was still wondering why he was there when the glass door behind him opened. Chun walked out expressionlessly and took the packed food from Wang Jiaming’s hand.
At that moment, Jiang Ran immediately stopped in her tracks, purely out of instinctive alertness like a small animal sensing danger—
The young man lazily following behind her also stopped. After a few seconds of silence, he rested his head on Jiang Ran’s shoulder, voicing the question Jiang Ran also wanted to ask. “How did these two end up together?”
No one answered him.
They watched as Chun put down the food and said a few words to Wang Jiaming. Wang Jiaming remained expressionless and turned to leave. Just as he had taken a couple of steps forward, he was suddenly pulled back—
Chun, still unwell, had flushed cheeks, her eyes even redder.
Girls in sports really had great physical strength. Chun wrapped her arms around his shoulders and jumped straight into his arms, wrapping her legs around his waist and lowering her head to kiss the man on the lips.
He frowned, seemingly stunned for a few seconds before he tried to push her away.
Bei Jiao watched with great amusement. Jiang Ran tried to pull him away, but he kept looking back. “Let’s watch a bit longer. The argument is probably coming next, right?”
Jiang Ran’s worldview was shaken. From her limited understanding, Wang Jiaming was genuinely old enough to be in the same zodiac year as Chun—
In other words, when he was taking the entrance exam for middle school, Chun had just popped out of her mother’s belly.
“Wang Jiaming really did it.”
“He didn’t. He was quite reserved.” Bei Jiao scoffed. “Your squad leader initiated it. Don’t twist the facts here.”
Jiang Ran glared at him.
Bei Jiao gently hooked her palm. “Not delivering food anymore?”
Jiang Ran thought he was doing it on purpose. “Do we even need to deliver it anymore?!”
She didn’t control her voice, which came out a bit loud, but luckily they had already walked far enough.
Bei Jiao followed behind her, chuckling.
…
In the afternoon, when she returned to the mountain fully equipped, Jiang Ran couldn’t help but look at her perpetually sleepy-looking coach, Wang Jiaming, with intense eyes.
Wang Jiaming looked at her in confusion. “What are you staring at?”
Jiang Ran turned her gaze away, hesitated, and asked, “What did you do this morning?”
“Nie Xin’s team member got sick. There was no specific training for the national team this morning, so I went to check on him.” Wang Jiaming’s expression was calm and straightforward. “What about it?”
…
It’s just… since when did you start running errands for Nie Xin? Did it start raining red rain?
Jiang Ran hesitated, then finally held back her words, lips twitching as she turned back and muttered, “Never mind.”
Wang Jiaming clicked the stopwatch as if playing with it, raised his eyelids slightly, and still spoke in his usual steady tone. “Did you rest well at noon?”
“…Pretty well.”
Just without that last shocking incident, it would have been better.
Jiang Ran couldn’t help but think bitterly, while Wang Jiaming only gave her a suspicious glance, then nodded toward the training starting platform with his chin. “Go on. Pay attention to your route. Don’t fold too much. The snow isn’t good anymore. Be less aggressive, reduce the jump turns, and don’t fall.”
Jiang Ran walked away with a complicated mood. Standing at the starting platform, she turned back to look at Wang Jiaming again, wondering what on earth Chun saw in him.
Although they weren’t on the same training team, it wasn’t against any rules, and even morally, there was nothing wrong with it—nobody could really stop them… but the vibe was just too different!
Tsk tsk.
Jiang Ran felt her scalp crawling. When Wang Jiaming gave the order, her nerves snapped, and she shot forward like a ghost was chasing her.
Because of this unexpected incident, all her nervousness from the morning vanished. All she could hear was the primal sound of her skis slicing through the snow—
The sound calmed her heart.
The wind howled past her ears. She perfectly maneuvered around each gate, and as she crossed the finish line, her heart clenched and then relaxed…
A few seconds later, she heard cheers coming from the summit behind her.
She didn’t even have time to unbuckle her skis before turning around. She saw a crowd of people on the mountain. Some surrounded Wang Jiaming, pulling at his hand to check the stopwatch, while others waved and cheered at her—
This scene felt familiar. She seemed to have seen something similar before at the Harbin Sunac.
Everyone was clapping and cheering for her.
She blinked, her breath still uneven, but something swelled in her chest. For a moment, she suddenly felt like she didn’t care so much about her performance anymore…
Her phone rang. She answered the call, and Bei Jiao’s pleasant voice came through—
“38.79 seconds, my wife, you’re amazing!”
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