Jiang Ran curled up in the back seat of the car wrapped in a black cashmere coat. Right now, the exquisitely beautiful woman was unusually devoid of her usual haughty arrogance. She kept her head down, eyes lowered, trying to minimize her presence by curling herself into a small ball in the corner.
Her nose was slightly red from the cold, and the drooping corners of her eyes made her appear somewhat listless, though not entirely so. After a long while, perhaps due to nervousness or simply because she had nothing else to do and had eaten too much, she let out a small burp.
The tiny sound was startlingly out of place in the deathly silent car. Her face turned even paler than before. She rolled down the window, letting the cold wind blow across her cheeks, dispelling the drowsiness brought on by overeating.
She looked sneaky and furtive, just like a well-fed quail waiting calmly for its journey to begin, with an expression that seemed to say—
Come on, try to hit me, I’m not afraid, I’m ready… but not too hard, okay?
In short, she was both cowardly and serene.
There were three people in the car altogether. The front passenger seat was empty, Bei Jiao sat beside her, and Jiang Huaimin was at the wheel of the spacious SUV. With the window down and the cold wind blowing in, the air inside was fresh, yet Jiang Ran kept sniffing, feeling as though she couldn’t breathe properly.
“Hello? Anyone home? Can someone say something? If no one speaks up, I guess we’re all okay with the current situation, and we can just go home now?” Unable to bear the strange atmosphere any longer, Jiang Ran struggled to lift her eyelids and broke the silence.
She was quite good at summarizing things, jumping straight to the conclusion with a casual tone—just like yesterday, when she held up a single screw and declared the start of building an aircraft carrier, and today she was clapping and celebrating its launch.
The entire construction process could be completely skipped.
Luckily, after she bravely spoke up, the other two statuesque figures in the car finally reacted.
Jiang Huaimin glanced at her with a look that said, “Have you gone mad?”
Bei Jiao let out a soft, ambiguous chuckle, subtly reminding her with his eyes that Jiang Huaimin’s hand hadn’t even moved toward the ignition button.
Jiang Ran: “…”
Not speaking,
not scolding either.
What exactly were they trying to do?
Jiang Ran stretched out her foot and lightly kicked Bei Jiao’s shin: “Then why don’t you apologize to my dad?”
She said it in a tone like, “Since we’re bored anyway, let’s play a round of mahjong.”
Although she didn’t really know why an apology was needed, if the current atmosphere required someone to do something to break the ice, then Bei Jiao seemed like the best candidate.
If she had to analyze who could do something without being scolded, it had to be someone who just blindly apologized.
So the conclusion was: Let Bei Jiao apologize.
Bei Jiao was used to her strange logic, but still politely declined. He asked, “What should I apologize for?”
Jiang Ran replied without changing her expression, making it up as she went: “You ‘abducted’ the beloved daughter of this driver here. For the sake of his mental stability while driving, an apology wouldn’t hurt, right?”
Bei Jiao said “Oh” and turned to Jiang Huaimin: “Uncle Jiang?”
Jiang Huaimin sighed. Jiang Ran had expected him to say something like, “Break up with my daughter for a hundred million,” but instead he said, “A Jiao, I’m to blame for spoiling her so much that she lacks manners. Sometimes I even wonder how you manage to put up with her.”
Jiang Ran: “?”
She fiddled with a button on her coat, thinking to herself that something about that sentence sounded off.
She recalled what had happened earlier—outside the teahouse, she had stepped out of Bei Jiao’s arms, turned around, and braced herself for her father’s stormy reaction. But instead, he had simply stood behind them with his hands behind his back and his belly out, expressionless, watching the entire scene unfold—a clichéd romantic drama of a poor boy kissing a rich girl, a stepbrother and stepsister entangled in a soap opera storyline.
When their eyes finally met, and Jiang Ran’s belated realization and unease met his gaze, he had only said three words: “Get in the car first.”
Then they returned to the car, maintaining silence until just now.
The imagined scene of her father flying into a rage, grabbing her by the ear, and scolding her for her shamelessness hadn’t happened at all. Jiang Ran remained immersed in the uncertainty of the situation…
until the next second, when Jiang Huaimin asked, “Jiang Ran, if I hadn’t come to drag you out on a blind date, how long were you planning to hide A Jiao from me?”
Jiang Ran’s mind went blank. She lifted her head, confused. “Why am I ‘Jiang Ran’ and he’s ‘A Jiao’?”
Jiang Huaimin didn’t answer, clearly exasperated by her focus.
“How about you give me a hundred million to leave your cheap son?” Jiang Ran asked. “Not that it’s not negotiable?”
As soon as she finished speaking, a hand reached over from the side—
since he had quit smoking, his hands only carried the clean, faint scent of soap. Now, those warm, long fingers deftly fastened the top button of her coat, then pulled up the collar to cover her mouth.
Jiang Ran was silenced in the gentlest way possible.
And since her mouth was now closed, her brain finally managed to reboot from its initial state of complete shock and began to function again. She blinked, rethinking Jiang Huaimin’s words, gradually sensing something was off—
this feeling perfectly overlapped with her initial suspicion.
“Dad?” Jiang Ran pulled down the collar and asked softly, “Does Uncle Tai really have a son?”
A so-called “son of Uncle Tai” who had never been named, never mentioned, and was absent without even a customary apology—there was only one possible explanation: he simply didn’t exist.
Jiang Huaimin chuckled, and Jiang Ran felt like she had just been struck by lightning.
She sat up a little straighter, “You tricked me?”
Her blood rushed to her head as she heard her father’s laughter, raising her voice, “You tricked me!”
She was almost jumping, lifting her hand to heavily slap the back of the seat, asking Jiang Huaimin, “This wasn’t even a blind date at all, right? Uncle Tai only has a daughter!”
As Jiang Ran spoke, suddenly remembering something, she turned her head sharply and glared at Bei Jiao—
Bei Jiao raised both hands: “I don’t know anything.”
He hadn’t originally intended to take the car keys from Jiang Huaimin today. He had only decided to drive because Jiang Huaimin mentioned that it might get windy in the afternoon, and since Jiang Ran had only worn a windbreaker, he wanted to bring her a coat.
All her coats were extremely expensive, and she was so particular that she wouldn’t wear even slightly wrinkled clothes or anything with the faintest smell of smoke…
So naturally, he couldn’t take the subway or a taxi carrying her coat.
Thinking this through, he finally accepted the keys from Jiang Huaimin.
Luckily, Jiang Ran always trusted him. As soon as she heard his words, she obediently scooted over and snuggled up to him—
a pitiful look of someone deeply deceived and emotionally frozen by her own father, now seeking warmth from her lover.
Bei Jiao casually put an arm around her waist, letting her lean more comfortably against him.
Then he lifted his gaze and asked, “Uncle Jiang, so you’ve known all along? When did you figure it out?”
“Quite early,” Jiang Huaimin said. “That time when I came out of the quarantine hotel, you two came to pick me up. When you got out of the car, you turned back to look at my daughter in the front passenger seat. That’s when I knew.”
Jiang Ran: “…”
Bei Jiao: “Oh.”
Jiang Ran: “Impossible.”
Jiang Huaimin: “Why not?”
Jiang Ran: “What does him looking at me mean? Can his eyes really speak that well?”
Bei Jiao smiled, and Jiang Huaimin joined in: “It’s not that his eyes can speak. It’s the look a man gives when he’s looking at his woman… You’re not a man, so how would you understand anything!”
What did gender have to do with it? Jiang Ran didn’t get it. She now felt like her father had randomly guessed the correct answer on a math test and was now making up some ridiculous reasoning.
She was thinking this when Jiang Huaimin continued—
“And didn’t you guess earlier that I had seen those trending news stories about you? You even praised me for being an old-fashioned man who can surf the internet… Why didn’t you think that in every report with your silhouette, there was always A Jiao behind you? Don’t tell me that’s not you two—my eyesight isn’t that bad.”
Jiang Ran mumbled a few incoherent phrases like, “He’s not your son, where does he look like me” and “nonsense.”
“Later on, when I saw you two seemed to have an argument after returning from Chongli, but not the kind that meant you were breaking up, I got curious and checked your video account. I found the comment section full of people mocking you for fantasizing that A Jiao was your boyfriend—”
“You actually read the comment section of a short video app to make deductions!”
“I was analyzing stock trends based on social news and trends long before you were even born.”
“…”
“After reading the comments, I figured it out—you wanted to publicly acknowledge him, but no one believed you.”
“…”
“By the way, was it on your WeChat Moments? You blocked me, didn’t you? How filial… no wonder no one believes you, it’s karma!”
“…Not ‘figured it out’ like that! That kind of talk really hurts!” Jiang Ran said. “And then you wanted to help him come out again publicly? Are you really taking his side?”
Jiang Ran nestled in Bei Jiao’s arms, stretching her neck to argue with the driver in front. At this moment, her dear father looked like a sly old fox in her eyes—
an old fox with weight issues.
Where was the saying that fat people are honest and kind? What was wrong with this middle-aged man!
Jiang Ran was mentally ranting furiously, overwhelmed by the dual impact of her father’s acting skills and intelligence, when she suddenly noticed Jiang Huaimin’s expression turning hesitant as he spoke.
His hand rhythmically tapped on his thigh.
When it came to mutual understanding, Jiang Ran actually knew her father quite well. For example, this kind of unconscious small gesture meant he was struggling to say something difficult.
The last time he had this expression was during a Christmas holiday when she was practically rolling on the floor, crying hysterically, begging to return to China for high school. Mr. Jiang had looked at his daughter throwing a tantrum in the office with that same expression and said, “No.”
So now, when this gesture appeared again, Jiang Ran, already traumatized, became alert.
Her eyes changed, her deep brown irises turning nearly black. She yanked off the coat wrapped around her and sat up from Bei Jiao’s embrace: “What do you mean? What are you hiding? You forced us to come out, don’t tell me you orchestrated all these complicated plots just to watch this drama and then make us break up—”
Her tone hardened toward the end.
She raised her hand and pushed Bei Jiao protectively behind her, transforming from a defeated quail into a fiercely protective hawk.
“I won’t!”
Her voice was sharp and decisive, her eyes flashing with intensity.
Bei Jiao, lightly pushed behind her, was momentarily stunned. Then, like a genuinely helpless and pitiful creature, he obediently hid behind her (ignoring the ironclad arm still firmly wrapped around her waist), resting his chin on her shoulder.
Before Jiang Huaimin could answer, Bei Jiao, watching her tense profile, couldn’t help himself. He leaned over and pecked her cheek.
A loud, abrupt “smooch” sound.
This kiss instantly deflated her aggressive aura—
Jiang Ran’s ears turned red, and she irritably pushed his face away: Love-struck fools really only got in the way!
She would’ve scolded him if she weren’t busy dealing with Jiang Huaimin right now!
In the tense atmosphere Jiang Ran had convinced herself was about to erupt, Jiang Huaimin’s fingers finally stopped tapping. He turned to look at Bei Jiao with a hesitant expression, then said, “Let’s go home first.”
Bei Jiao had driven here, so he immediately got out and went to get Jiang Ran’s car.
Jiang Ran felt like there was still something unsaid, that Jiang Huaimin was holding something back. She hesitated for a moment but decided not to follow Bei Jiao. Rooting herself in the back seat of Jiang Huaimin’s car, she watched warily.
“Not going with him?”
“No,” Jiang Ran said expressionlessly. “I’m filial. I won’t forget my dad just because I have a boyfriend now.”
She emphasized the word “boyfriend,” as if deliberately highlighting something.
“Look how nervous you are. I haven’t even said anything yet,” Jiang Huaimin said. “You accused me of taking sides, but now look who’s really biased?”
Jiang Ran turned her head to look out the window, watching her own car and the parking spot as a Mercedes-Benz SUV, probably specially circling around, passed by their parking spot. As it passed, the window rolled down and the person inside nodded at them.
Then it drove away.
Jiang Ran looked at the driver’s sharp profile, calm and polite, not humble but not arrogant. She felt a pang of sadness as she rubbed her eyes. If it weren’t for her, Bei Jiao would probably be seen as the ideal son-in-law by any father-in-law…
But she didn’t know what Jiang Huaimin was thinking.
Jiang Huaimin had never pushed her to take over the family business. Before, Jiang Ran had naturally assumed he was just waiting for an arranged marriage so the husband’s family could take over.
But what could Bei Jiao, a medical student, do?
“Don’t worry too much,” Jiang Huaimin said. “I dropped out of high school and still did just fine. A Jiao is smart. If he wants, he can work in our family hospital after graduation… or go to a grassroots position in a major hospital first.”
Jiang Ran had been listening numbly at first, but as she listened, she suddenly lifted her head, slightly widening her eyes as she stared at the driver in front.
“I also know how hard it was for you to find a boyfriend,” Jiang Huaimin said. “I value this son-in-law!”
“It’s not that I couldn’t find one,” Jiang Ran took a deep breath. “It’s that I couldn’t find anyone better than him.”
Her tone was firm.
“So you really like him, huh?”
Jiang Ran clicked her tongue in disdain, slumped back into the corner of the seat, and pulled up her coat collar to cover her face.
“You like him so much; does A Jiao know?”
“…He doesn’t need to know,” Jiang Ran rolled her eyes, “There’s no need to tell him everything. Pah!”
…
When she arrived home, Jiang Ran saw her car already parked in the garage.
The person in the driver’s seat didn’t get out immediately but sat there playing on their phone. Only when they returned did they follow suit and get out.
Jiang Ran jumped off Jiang Huaimin’s car and naturally fell into Bei Jiao’s arms.
Her hands reached toward his waist, then slid down before he naturally took her hand in his.
Jiang Huaimin walked ahead, and this time he didn’t bring Zhang Lingling along to the tea house.
Jiang Ran didn’t understand why, but Bei Jiao knew the reason—it was purely because after Zhang Lingling’s failed attempt to move up a level, there had to be a cooling-off period.
Recently, Zhang Lingling had also been unusually quiet, continuing her routine as usual. For instance, right now, she was already waiting at the entrance when she heard the sound of the Maserati approaching.
She had already placed the slippers out.
As soon as she stepped over the threshold, Jiang Ran looked at Zhang Lingling smiling there, hanging around. When she remembered that she was Bei Jiao’s birth mother, she felt a bit awkward—after all, she had “corrupted” her son or something like that.
She called out, “Auntie Zhang,” and then realized her hand was still in Bei Jiao’s, feeling a bit embarrassed and trying to pull away.
However, he didn’t give her the chance, instead gripping her hand even tighter.
Jiang Huaimin walked ahead, and Bei Jiao appeared completely unfazed, his expression calm. He even bent his index finger and gently hooked it against her palm.
This tugging and the sharp exchange of glances naturally caught Zhang Lingling’s attention. Her gaze followed their swaying shoulders downward and landed on their tightly clasped hands.
For a moment, Jiang Ran was puzzled because Zhang Lingling didn’t show any surprise or joy at the idea of “family ties growing closer.” Instead, her smile faded, and she turned pale, looking toward Jiang Huaimin who was changing his shoes beside her.
Jiang Huaimin ignored her, glanced at his obedient daughter and her boyfriend holding hands, and calmly asked, “Are you planning to change shoes like Siamese twins?”
Jiang Ran abruptly pulled her hand away from Bei Jiao and gave him a light slap.
At this moment, Zhang Lingling’s face was completely drained of color.
She even took a small step back, as if deeply hurt, and threw out, “I’ll go check the soup in the kitchen,” before fleeing in disarray.
As she hurried away, an odd silence suddenly fell in the foyer.
Jiang Ran was baffled, genuinely not understanding why she reacted like that. Setting aside the fact that Zhang Lingling usually didn’t care about Bei Jiao, wasn’t she already aware they were together? Now she was acting as if deeply shocked—
What did it have to do with her?
Too bad Bei Jiao didn’t get beaten up by Jiang Huaimin?
Bei Jiao, however, seemed unaffected by Zhang Lingling’s unusual behavior. He continued changing his slippers until Jiang Huaimin sighed behind them, “A Jiao, has your mother said anything to you recently?”
Jiang Ran was startled.
Bei Jiao paused mid-motion while slipping on his slippers and softly responded, “Mm.”
Jiang Ran raised her eyebrows, “Has she been bothering you again?”
Bei Jiao thought for a moment, glancing toward the kitchen where the clanging of pots and pans occasionally echoed, clearly indicating the person inside was quite agitated.
After a pause, he spoke in a very neutral and calm tone, “Not really. It was just after we came back from Chongli. I was messing around with Jiang Ran, and my mom noticed the subtle change in atmosphere during that conversation about matchmaking in the car. She figured out the reason we were messing around was simply because we hadn’t gone public yet… Later, she came to my room and told me not to aspire too much for the Jiang family, otherwise—”
“Otherwise, she would be rejected by me, just like her.”
Jiang Huaimin finished for him, “During those days you were in Chongli, Zhang Lingling once subtly suggested to me that we should get married, but I rejected her.”
Jiang Ran blinked, somewhat surprised. She had always thought that although Zhang Lingling was heartless and dramatic, she lacked ambition, which was why she could stay by Jiang Huaimin’s side for so long…
“If it weren’t for you two putting on this little show, I probably wouldn’t have kept her around much longer.”
Jiang Huaimin confirmed Jiang Ran’s suspicions.
“However, the situation is different now. Since you two are together, that’s great. I definitely can’t marry Zhang Lingling, otherwise, whether morally or legally, you two would have to separate—”
Jiang Huaimin finished with a hypocritical smile, “As elders, how could we sacrifice the happiness of the younger generation for our own marriage?”
Like a unique weight and a scale, balance always tilts to one side. Now that Bei Jiao and Jiang Ran have publicly come out to their parents, Zhang Lingling must give up all hope.
Stepchildren from reconstituted families are not allowed to marry, but if the parents don’t have a marital relationship, then they no longer have any ties, either biologically or socially, and can naturally be together—
That’s the national law.
Just a few days ago, when Zhang Lingling was casually rejected by Jiang Huaimin, she certainly wouldn’t give up after just one rejection. She might only think that the timing wasn’t right and that she had been too hasty, and might continue to drop hints in the future.
Jiang Huaimin, however, was tired of these hints. So once the scale tips toward Bei Jiao and Jiang Ran, Zhang Lingling would realize that she had absolutely no chance left.
Isn’t that great?
Everyone wins—
And this kind of “happy ending” was precisely why Zhang Lingling had just felt utterly devastated, because she clearly knew that only one of her and Bei Jiao could remain.
Under her daughter’s stunned gaze, Jiang Huaimin chuckled happily, “On one hand, I also think A Jiao is quite capable. When you went to Chongli, he was willing to go crazy with you, staying by your side nonstop. It’s really unfair not to give you two a proper status; on the other hand, of course, since you two came out, I might as well do you a favor…”
Sitting on the shoe bench, the middle-aged old fox with a big belly made a childish gesture of drawing a bow and arrow, even making a “whoosh” sound with his mouth.
The old fox said, “Killing two birds with one stone, impressive, right?”
Jiang Ran: “………………………………………”
Jiang Ran: “?”
Jiang Ran: “Dad!!!!!!!”
…
Jiang Ran was completely devastated by her father’s “killing two birds with one stone” comment.
After the New Year, on the second day of the Lunar New Year, she packed her suitcase and left her home, which had no warmth (not really) and was filled with scheming (not really).
Originally, she didn’t even want to bring her family dog when she left, but Jiang Huaimin thoughtfully bought them a ticket with adjacent seats and said with a fatherly smile, “What are you talking about? Of course A Jiao has to go with you!”
The logic here was somewhat incoherent and a bit forceful.
Jiang Ran numbly accepted it.
Bei Jiao smoothly followed her back to the Songbei ski resort, to the second floor of the villa, to his doghouse next to Jiang Ran’s room. He opened the door and looked at the half-finished room, completely emptied, not even a bedsheet left. He was silent for a moment.
He opened the wardrobe, remembering that he had left one or two pieces of clothing behind when he left, but now the wardrobe was also empty.
Looking around the room, which had been cleared out to the point of making it seem like no one had ever lived there, he had no doubt that it was done by Jiang Ran herself the day after their argument and breakup, when he was kicked out.
He closed the wardrobe door and let out a cold chuckle, saying, “So ruthless.”
Jiang Ran stood behind him with her arms crossed, feeling not the slightest bit guilty or embarrassed—
She snorted through her nose and proudly returned to her room.
Since the “killing two birds with one stone” incident, she had maintained this attitude, always feeling that Bei Jiao understood everything but didn’t tell her, clearly in cahoots with Jiang Huaimin like a pair of rats and snakes.
Now, she recalled that day at the teahouse and still wanted to die of embarrassment.
She had been so proactive in throwing herself into his arms, like a self-sacrificing prey throwing itself into the hunter’s arms—
So stupid.
Just thinking about it made her want to dig her toes into the ground out of embarrassment.
…
She stayed in Songbei until the third day of the Lunar New Year. Then, a new event came up at the club. Taking advantage of the Spring Festival holiday, they wanted to promote winter sports and sell equipment, so the club owner himself funded a free group class under the club’s name.
At that time, many skiers from the club were still in their hometowns celebrating the New Year, so there weren’t too many children left behind at the Songbei Ski Resort. Including Jiang Ran, who had left home right after the New Year, there were only about seven or eight people in total.
It was already February, and the temperature in the northeast had reached its peak. Naturally, Jiang Ran had no intention of going to any group classes—
Too lazy to go out, and no mood either.
This “good opportunity” naturally fell on Bei Jiao, the club’s living brand.
He wasn’t particularly enthusiastic about such things, but he had a good habit of taking any job he accepted very seriously. For several consecutive days, he had been sitting in the living room with his laptop, sorting and screening the list of enrolled students, discussing the teaching content plan for the group class with the owner…
When encountering difficulties, the club owner said, “If you’re not sure about the teaching part, just ask Jiang Ran. She has taught thousands of students.”
He had already known about Jiang Ran and Bei Jiao’s relationship. Under Jiang Ran’s “official announcement” WeChat post, he had left a meaningful “haha”.
At this moment, from the video call on the laptop screen, he could see Jiang Ran, wearing a fuzzy home outfit, sitting on the sofa behind Bei Jiao with a blank expression, hugging a big box of ice cream and scooping spoonful after spoonful into her mouth.
Bei Jiao glanced back at her, only to receive a cold look from her.
He sneered slightly and turned back to the club owner, saying, “You see, she’s been like this since before the New Year, sulking and scowling all day. Do you think she’d even talk to me?”
The club owner made a “tsk tsk” sound with his tongue.
Jiang Ran stuck the spoon into the ice cream box, determined not to acknowledge him.
…
The next day.
Jiang Ran was sleeping groggily when she felt the arm draped around her waist being pulled away, and the indentation on the mattress beside her bounced back.
The sound of the shower came from the bathroom. She turned over, taking over the whole bed by herself, then caught the scent of Bei Jiao from the other side of the bed… Irritated, she kicked the blanket a bit, then silently rolled back to her half of the bed.
She closed her eyes and forced herself to sleep for a while longer. Then she was dug out from under the covers, and she grumbled in annoyance, “Mmm…”
But the person ignored her complaints and forcibly kissed her on the tip of her nose.
“I’m heading out.”
His voice was low and magnetic.
Jiang Ran, still with her eyes closed, reached out her hand and pushed his face without any gentleness, leaving three faint scratches on his forehead, visible only after removing his helmet.
Bei Jiao grabbed her mischievous hand again and kissed it, then tucked her back under the covers before preparing to leave.
Downstairs, the door opened and closed again, with as much quiet as possible. Jiang Ran opened her eyes…
She couldn’t really fall back asleep anymore.
Wrapped in the blanket, she got up and let out a yawn, staring blankly at the ceiling for a while—
An hour later, Jiang Ran appeared at the Songbei ski resort, holding her snowboard.
It was the Spring Festival holiday, and the Songbei ski resort was packed with people.
At the entrance of the A-Suo cable car, where a long line was forming, their club had spent a lot of money to set up a stage. The stage had invited some moderately famous singers to perform impromptu. In the daylight, the atmosphere was lively and vibrant.
In front of the stage, where crowds of people gathered, countless flags were planted. Each giant flag flapped in the north wind, bearing the club owner’s collection—
The club’s skiers.
The flags were a gray-blue color, with half-body portraits of the skiers. Below each portrait was a line of white text with their names.
Jiang Ran saw her flag placed in the center, with Li Xingnan on the left and Bei Jiao on the right—
In the cold wind, the flags fluttered.
Bei Jiao’s photo wasn’t many, probably bought by the club owner from photographers on a snowboarding photography app. It was a shot of him sliding. In the photo, he wasn’t wearing a face mask, only goggles, revealing his delicate and clear jawline. He was sliding on his back edge…
In the photo, he had apparently just raised his hand, with snow dust flying from his gloves.
This photo was quite nice, Jiang Ran thought expressionlessly. Why didn’t he send her one?
Jiang Ran’s photo was one she had chosen herself. She was wearing the provincial team’s training uniform, and the five-starred red flag on her arm was the only splash of red in the gray-blue palette. In the photo, the beautifully made-up woman slightly lifted her chin, looking down at the camera with a haughty and annoying expression.
Jiang Ran admired her own beauty for a while.
Then she heard someone nearby discussing.
“How come Bei Jiao is also in this club now?”
“Ah, the boss is amazing, right? If he’s willing to spend money, there’s nothing he can’t do—Now it’s great, there are only a few well-known names in the domestic carving circle, and they’re all in this club.”
“I previously thought Bei Jiao would go to Chongli’s club, and then Chongli would have Bei Jiao, while Jilin would have Jiang Ran. The two masters would each dominate their own territory, like kings who never meet… That would also be good for boosting Chongli’s carving team, and Chongli still has a good park atmosphere now.”
“Isn’t it just like the distribution of Rongchuang refrigerators now? All the good players tend to gather together.”
“What a pity.”
“There’s nothing we can do. Usually, these things follow the master, wherever the master is, the apprentice will be there too. And no one even knows who Bei Jiao’s legendary master is. He never talks about it, so everyone just assumes he learned carving in Chongli—”
“No, I heard that when he went to Chongli, he was already at the entry level in carving. He might have learned it somewhere else.”
Amidst the clamor of discussion, Jiang Ran took her eyes off Bei Jiao’s flag.
She used her shoulder to push through the tightly packed crowd, hugging her snowboard, and walked straight ahead to the end of the line waiting to take the cable car.
She had only taken a few steps when she heard someone shouting behind her, “Ran Jie! Ran Jie!”
Jiang Ran paused mid-step and turned around.
He saw a familiar passerby, who was now winking and making faces: “Jiao Shen’s public class is about to start—wanna listen to him talk for a bit? Know your enemy, know yourself, and you’ll win a hundred battles?”
The tone clearly showed that the person still remembered Jiang Ran’s earlier “announcement.”
Jiang Ran was silent for a few seconds. When he looked up, he saw the subject of their discussion standing not far away—
Dressed in a white Yakky overalls, with a dark blue hoodie underneath. The young man stood tall and slender, surrounded by a group of students who were gazing at him with admiration.
A red tree gray Type-R snowboard was planted upright in the snow beside him. On the board’s surface, a BC limited-edition sticker wing—already aged—had one side worn off, while the other shimmered with iridescent light under the sun.
The image of that young man from the past, wearing mismatched ski gear with no sense of style, pushing up the slopes at Sunac, now seemed like a distant memory.
“Did you see that sticker? It’s the BC limited edition,” the passerby whispered into Jiang Ran’s ear. “Originally, it was awarded only to winners of major competitions. Later, because it looked nice, Taobao sellers started making replicas, and many people stuck them on their boards. But the replicas don’t have the iridescent effect.”
“I heard Jiao Shen’s is the real deal—he’s got the credentials,” the passerby added.
Jiang Ran thought to herself, had the rumors really reached this level?
“Did he say he got it himself?”
“No, he’s being humble,” the passerby laughed. “He said it was given to him by his master. Tsk tsk tsk, that mysterious divine master again.”
Jiang Ran remained silent.
As she was lost in thought, she suddenly noticed a long-haired girl among the students approach Bei Jiao, pointing at the bindings on her snowboard and saying something…
Bei Jiao bent down to look, and the girl giggled as she pulled out a candy from her jacket pocket and handed it to him.
Bei Jiao was momentarily taken aback and didn’t refuse in time.
The passerby beside Jiang Ran chuckled, “Jiao Shen truly deserves to be Jiao Shen—his popularity is through the roof.”
Her eyes flickering slightly, Jiang Ran calmly said, “What is he? Can someone who’s only been skiing for three years really be called a ‘god’? Skiing is an extreme sport—where’s the respect you’re supposed to have?”
She hadn’t lowered her voice, and the wind carried her words in all directions.
With people bustling all around, everyone turned their heads at once—including Bei Jiao himself, who stood in the center of the crowd like a star surrounded by others, and also turned to look.
In an instant, the place fell silent. The ski resort turned into a crematorium.
You couldn’t imagine how quiet an outdoor venue with thousands of people could become. Everyone’s eyes were wide open, scanning frantically like X-rays between Bei Jiao and Jiang Ran—
Eagerly anticipating the bloody showdown between the top female and male legends atop the Forbidden City…
Yet at that moment, Bei Jiao merely stood there, calm and composed, his eyes lowered gently.
“Listen to her.”
Everyone: “?”
In their minds, Jiao Shen had always had a bit of a temper—not that he often lost his cool, but when those dark eyes stared at you silently, they could make your legs go weak.
But right now, those deadly silent eyes were calm and deep, fixed steadily on the woman in the distance.
“Ran Ran.”
His voice was low and resonant, softer than anyone had ever heard it.
Not loud, not soft, yet in the ears of the crowd, it was like a thunderclap in spring.
Seeing that the woman standing there with a cold face showed no reaction, he slowly lowered his gaze. In an instant, the alpha wolf transformed into a loyal dog, extremely obedient.
“Master.”
Everyone present couldn’t help but open their mouths slightly, stunned, unable to believe their ears.
Everyone knew Bei Jiao had a legendary master, who had trained him from a complete novice in snowboarding to becoming a god in just three years.
But whenever people asked for the master’s name, all they ever got was a faint smile from Jiao Shen, followed by a rather emotionless voice telling them, “She doesn’t allow me to say.”
Bei Jiao’s divine master had always been a mystery.
But today, finally, they found out—the divine master was Jiang Ran.
“…He called her Ran Ran, did you hear that?”
A passerby murmured in shock,
“OMG, that ‘announcement’ was real.”
Tai Sui Yellow Amulet Paper FuLu Taoist Love Talisman Traditional Chinese Spiritual Charm Attracting Love Protecting Marriage