It was impossible to kill someone, and even more impossible to harm her in the slightest—this was the unspoken thought shared by the two gentlemen at the scene, both held hostage by morality. Jiang Ran’s passive resistance brought a brief moment of peace; the men who had been attacking her fell silent. Satisfied, she picked up her phone for a quick check, only to unfortunately discover that the limited-time event causing her trouble was still ongoing—
After three hundred million people hit the ice and snow, skiing temporarily became a quasi-noble, limited-access sport due to its high entry barrier. This led to a slight fluctuation in the general atmosphere of the skiing community, giving rise to various types of social chaos: indiscriminate socializing, scammers, fake socialites and playboys…
Jiang Ran had often seen people lament elsewhere, “The skiing circle is such a mess.” But today, holding her phone and staring blankly at WeChat, she thought indifferently: This is quite unfair; the people in my circle are all highly moral.
The reason was a message she had dug out from a pile of unread notifications:
【AKK: Ran Jie, you barely know Beijiao. You’re in the same club, always seeing each other here and there. I also heard he already has a girlfriend, and they’re in a great relationship. It would be really awkward if she sees it. You should delete it.】
【AKK: Don’t mind my nagging, I’m just worried. A lot of people know he has a girlfriend. If this gets out, people will definitely have opinions. That would sound really bad.】
This message had been sent over an hour ago, while she was on a plane and hadn’t been able to see it.
The sender was an uncle in his late thirties, with a son nearly graduating elementary school. His words might not have been very tactful, but they were filled with kindness and a fatherly aura.
Jiang Ran’s head buzzed. Out of all the messages, she only replied to this one.
[Whose Ranran Duck: Uncle, have you ever thought that maybe I’m telling the truth?]
【AKK: Ah, I thought you were ignoring me because you were angry!】
【AKK: Come on, don’t joke around. How could that be true! If you two really knew each other, would he have left you behind and gone to Chongli?】
As a middle-aged man in his forties, he typed quickly and spoke logically.
It wasn’t until he reminded her that Jiang Ran hadn’t even realized—how could she and Beijiao possibly not know each other at all in other people’s eyes?
Well, they really didn’t know each other at all.
Both were top-tier skiing stars, one in Chongli, the other in Jilin, never crossing paths, almost like kings refusing to meet.
[Whose Ranran Duck: I’m serious. He went to Chongli because we had a fight that lasted over two years, and I wouldn’t let him go back to Jilin.]
But in this world, how could any normal couple still reconcile after arguing for years?
So he replied with just four words:
【AKK: Don’t be ridiculous.】
Jiang Ran put her phone down, slightly regretful. She regretted not filming a video yesterday of Beijiao pinning her down and bossing her around, sweat on his forehead turning into mermaid pearls hitting her face, just to post on her Moments for an official announcement.
Actually, it wasn’t too late to make up for it now, but it didn’t really matter.
Mainly because she posted on Moments for her “family dog” to see, meaning she wasn’t hiding anything or feeling like he wasn’t worth showing off…
As for what others thought or how they viewed her—as a bad woman—that didn’t concern her much.
She was just dating someone; what did it have to do with others?
She wasn’t even a celebrity, expected to be responsible for public morality.
…
After returning home, Jiang Ran went to her room feeling gloomy and washed up before going to bed. But before closing the door to her room, she stood by the entrance for a while, quietly waiting for Beijiao to carry her suitcase upstairs and hand it to her.
Beijiao had originally expected only a closed door waiting for him. He had planned to simply place the suitcase at the door like a tool and leave. He didn’t expect her to be waiting at the door, so he was momentarily stunned.
That confused expression made Jiang Ran a little irritated. She thought: What are you so shocked about? Like you always think I’m heartless and treat you badly?
She bit her lip slightly and said, “Good night.”
Beijiao rubbed his thumb on the suitcase and replied, “Mm.”
Jiang Ran dragged the suitcase and turned back into her room, finally closing the door in front of him.
The corridor light dimmed gradually with the closing of her door until the last sliver of light on his face narrowed into a thin line and disappeared. He stood there for a while, head lowered, seemingly lost in thought, before turning to go back to his room.
When he returned, Zhang Lingling was already sitting at his desk, flipping through a postgraduate English textbook he had left behind. Seeing his book in her hands, he frowned slightly without a word.
—Who said he had no obsessive-compulsive tendencies befitting a future doctor? It was strange, though, that he hadn’t minded when Jiang Ran used his books as coasters for takeout.
“Something up?”
He raised his eyes slightly, asking in a somewhat cold tone.
Zhang Lingling casually placed the book on her lap, sitting upright and looking at him—she looked really young, perhaps just slightly more mature than the female students in a university study room. She smiled at him: “Did you two have a fight?”
“She,” naturally referred to Jiang Ran.
Beijiao thought to himself, What’s it got to do with you? He projected this question onto his facial expression.
Zhang Lingling’s smile didn’t fade: “Why did you fight? Was it because you heard from Uncle Jiang that he wanted to set up a blind date for Ranran? Then she didn’t clearly refuse, so of course you got angry.”
Beijiao leaned against the wall, waiting to hear what other brilliant insights she had—
He had already noticed that during the car ride, although she hadn’t spoken, Zhang Lingling had been observing the back seat the whole time. Jiang Ran instinctively turned her head to look at Beijiao when resisting Uncle Jiang’s arrangements, or kicked his leg under the seat—probably all seen by her.
“You should understand her,” Zhang Lingling sighed, as if genuinely concerned about the matter. “After all, how is she supposed to tell her father that she already has a boyfriend, and that the boyfriend is you?”
She paused here, suddenly realizing: “Ah, so that’s what you two fought about.”
She stood up, gently lifting the book from her lap, and walked up to Beijiao—
He was too tall, so she had to raise her head to look up at him. Standing in front of him, her face bore a faint resemblance to Beijiao’s, her expression calm: “A Jiao, you’re still too young, acting too hastily… How long have you two even been together, and you’re already in a rush to claim your status?”
She lowered her gaze, as if speaking to him, but more like talking to herself: “I’ve been with Jiang Huaimin for so long. Look what I’ve gotten out of it?”
At this point, Beijiao more or less understood.
He had been wondering why this woman was picking a fight out of nowhere—it turned out she was just frustrated and came to mock him.
“How,” he raised an eyebrow, “did you ask Uncle Jiang for a marriage certificate and not get it?”
He accurately caught the brief stiffness on her face and the flash of anger in her eyes, but she was still smiling, even more so, lightly tapping his chest with the book in her hand, teasingly: “I’m telling you this because you’re my son—”
The corner of the thick book pressed against his heart.
Zhang Lingling’s smile faded. “People like them simply have no heart.”
Lose control of yourself, and you’ll lose everything.
In the end, you’ll get nothing.
But what could be done?
Because the chips in your hand are limited—just yourself… Once they no longer want you, you won’t even have the right to negotiate.
Zhang Lingling thought of that day. She hadn’t sat down to seriously discuss the marriage certificate with Jiang Huaimin either—she was too afraid.
It was just a very ordinary afternoon. An old friend of hers was chatting with her on WeChat. As they chatted, her friend mentioned that she had divorced, her ex-husband gave her a house to live in, but not much cash, and now she was raising her child alone, hoping to borrow some money from Zhang Lingling.
At the time, Zhang Lingling had carelessly turned on speakerphone, even feeling slightly embarrassed and turning her head to look at Jiang Huaimin… The middle-aged man, with his big belly and peeling peanut skins in a leather jacket, threw the plump peanuts into his mouth, his eyes fixed on the TV. “Having a house is pretty good. An ordinary person works their whole life just for a house.”
“Yeah,” Zhang Lingling smiled, “I’ve met her ex. He wouldn’t even open a pack of napkins at the restaurant. If they hadn’t gotten married, he probably wouldn’t have given her that house either.”
Since it was someone else’s business, and not someone she knew well, Jiang Huaimin didn’t comment.
Zhang Lingling then coquettishly called out, “Huaimin.”
Jiang Huaimin finally reacted, but his eyes never left the TV. He said casually, “I can give you a house too. Two enough? One in Guangzhou, and another in your hometown.”
Houses were the one thing Jiang Huaimin had no shortage of. Wasn’t his meaning obvious enough—
He would give her houses, but nothing else.
Actually, it was already quite generous. After being with him for years, getting two houses—Jiang Huaimin wasn’t heartless.
But Zhang Lingling wasn’t satisfied. Two houses might be a lot, but she didn’t know exactly how many “two houses” Jiang Huaimin actually had. She wasn’t stupid; she wanted more.
But she couldn’t get it. She could only pretend to be deaf and dumb, swallowing all her dissatisfaction inside. At the time, she had actually felt like a bucket of cold water had been dumped over her head, but she still smiled and said in a playful voice, “Mm, you’re still the best.”
Now, watching Beijiao making the same mistake, what could she say—
Her son was too distant from her; she couldn’t care for him, even secretly hoping to see some drama and feeling a bit schadenfreude. But after all, he was still her son; she didn’t want him to fall too hard and become completely disheartened.
It would be better to see the reality sooner.
Thus came the conversation above.
Beijiao clearly didn’t take any of this to heart. After listening to Zhang Lingling’s little speech, he remained indifferent—no sudden epiphany, no sense of being moved, nor any feeling of offense.
—Zhang Lingling was Zhang Lingling, and he was himself.
They were completely different. He didn’t think it was worth dwelling on. So throughout, his face showed no expression, only a very calm tone as he said: “I’m different from you.”
After saying this, he reached out and took the English book from Zhang Lingling’s hands, the one she had been flipping through. Without even looking, he casually threw it into the nearby trash can.
The book landed in the trash can with a soft “thud.”
Like it had landed on someone’s heart.
Watching Zhang Lingling’s calm face shift from surprise to gradual distortion, Beijiao pulled the already open door wider.
“Get out.”
His tone was flat. He didn’t plan to say much more, nor did he feel the need to explain that he didn’t care about even a single penny from Jiang Ran. He even thought that even if you stripped away her excessive, absurdly large deposits, if Jiang Ran were penniless, he still had the ability to support her…
But none of this needed to be explained to Zhang Lingling.
Her words had no effect on him whatsoever.
Jiang Ran might be a bit clueless and unreliable, making him feel insecure—it was true. But when it came to big decisions about the future, he wasn’t afraid at all.
…
The next day, Jiang Ran was woken up early. There was a family-style tea house gathering for morning tea, as a welcome for Uncle Tai.
She had no intention of going, even kindly preparing an excuse: “Just tell him I haven’t come back from Chongli yet.”
Jiang Huaimin made a “Hmph” sound, stroking his belly as if looking at someone extremely absurd: “When I made the appointment with him, I said, ‘My beloved daughter has returned after conquering everything in Chongli!’”
Jiang Ran found the phrase “conquering everything” familiar. Thinking for a moment, she asked indifferently: “What, did you see follow-up reports about me on the trending topics? You’re so trendy, even surfing the internet now!”
Jiang Huaimin was too lazy to argue with her and hurried her to go wash up. He promised it was just one meal. Ta Li would be there too. If she didn’t like Uncle Tai’s son, she could ignore him the whole time and not even exchange contact info.
As he said this, Beijiao was just coming upstairs from downstairs—
The dark-haired young man in headphones stood in the morning sunlight, hands in his pockets, looking sweaty from his morning jog.
He glanced over emotionlessly.
Jiang Ran felt a chill under his dark gaze. After thinking for a moment, she said: “I won’t add him on WeChat. Give it up.”
“Got it!” Jiang Huaimin waved his hand impatiently. “I know you’ve seen through worldly matters, don’t want to get married, want to become a nun. Do you have to repeat it so many times? Hurry up and go wash up!”
After sending off his obedient daughter, he turned around and saw Beijiao standing not far away. The middle-aged man’s face lit up with a smile again. He warmly invited Beijiao to join them for tea.
Beijiao took off his headphones, politely declined with a smile, and told Jiang Huaimin that he had also made plans with a Guangzhou friend for morning tea. He asked where they were meeting, maybe they could run into each other.
Jiang Huaimin had booked a famous Cantonese morning tea house in Guangzhou—locals didn’t necessarily go there on regular days, but it was suitable for catching up with old friends, the food was decent, and the price was moderate.
Beijiao nodded and said they’d see each other later.
Half an hour later, the bright morning sun had suddenly turned gloomy, and it looked like rain might come soon.
Jiang Ran, her face bare and pouting, opened the door of Jiang Huaimin’s Levante car, then stuck her head out to look at Beijiao, who was standing motionless outside the car. She pointed at him and petulantly asked: “Why isn’t he coming with us!”
Her tone was natural and indifferent, as if she were talking about a servant at home.
“He has his own appointment, unlike you who has no friends!” Jiang Huaimin raised his eyebrow and brushed her hand away, “Pointing at people with your finger is impolite!”
Jiang Ran withdrew her hand, rubbed her sore back, glanced at Beijiao whose face remained expressionless, and then frowned unhappily.
It was fine not mentioning Beijiao, but at the mention of him, Jiang Huaimin acted as if talking about his own son. He took out Jiang Ran’s car key from his pocket and asked, “Was there any girl among A Jiao’s tea companions?”
Feeling a heated gaze upon his face, he slightly curved his lips and replied, “Yes.”
“Then you should drive there too, don’t let your friends look down on you.” Jiang Huaimin tried to hand him the key.
“What! Why! I won’t give it!” Jiang Ran raised her eyebrows, “That’s my car. Why should he drive it?”
“Because I’m your father, and I bought that car.”
Ignoring Jiang Ran’s unhappy expression, Jiang Huaimin glanced at her trench coat, “Go change into a heavy coat. I think the weather might turn windy at noon.”
“I won’t change.”
“Freeze yourself to death then.”
Jiang Ran loudly huffed and climbed into the back seat of the Maserati, crossing her arms and coldly watching Beijiao, who originally seemed reluctant to accept the car key, finally take it from Jiang Huaimin after glancing at the weather.
“You don’t even feel the wind on the subway!” she couldn’t help but protest, “Why drive?”
Then, she paid the price for losing her temper—
Beijiao looked at her.
Jiang Huaimin scolded her again.
…
When they arrived at the teahouse, Jiang Ran realized her misfortunes were just beginning.
After taking her assigned seat and exchanging greetings with Uncle Tai’s family, she only saw Taili, who was as passionate as fire and eager to hug her, but did not see Uncle Tai’s so-called son.
She mentally celebrated: See! He doesn’t want this blind date either! He didn’t even come!
Delighted at his absence, she happily refrained from asking awkwardly about his whereabouts and didn’t feel offended in the least.
She buried her head in the menu, marking the dishes she wanted to eat, thinking she could enjoy a peaceful meal.
Until a group of young people noisily entered and sat at the table next to theirs.
She had just checked off an egg tart on the menu when she looked up, startled by a pair of black eyes. Shocked, she froze with her pupils wide, while the other maintained a calm expression, clearly having anticipated this encounter.
“Dad!” Jiang Ran could guess the situation even with her toes, “Why did you let him sit next to us!”
By himself, Beijiao wouldn’t have had the capability to book a table beside them to monitor her blind date!
“Haha, I asked A Jiao this morning if he was coming for breakfast, and he said he had friends to meet. So I just reserved a table together, saving trouble, right?” Jiang Huaimin reasoned, “Don’t be so stingy. He’s sitting next to you but not bothering you. What’s your problem?”
Jiang Ran turned red with frustration, unable to explain her bitterness.
Worse still, the person at the neighboring table maintained an indifferent expression, which infuriated her even more.
At this moment, the group who came with Beijiao basically consisted of skateboarders from Guangrong, some of whom noticed Jiang Ran and came over to greet her, exclaiming “What a coincidence!”
After greeting “Uncle” to Jiang Ran’s table full of elders, they dispersed, maintaining a peaceful distance between the two tables.
… Well, not entirely separate.
Taili, sitting beside Jiang Ran, reacted first. She nudged Jiang Ran and whispered, “Do you know those people? The one in the black hoodie with a turtleneck underneath is so handsome. Do you know him?”
“We usually ski together.”
Though many at the neighboring table wore hoodies, Jiang Ran knew exactly who she meant without turning around, “The one you mentioned, not really familiar.”
Her words had barely ended when she was hit.
It turned out that Jiang Huaimin had been eavesdropping on their conversation. Upon hearing Jiang Ran’s cold tone denying familiarity, he reached out and patted her, “Not familiar! And you act like that to his older sister!”
“I’m not his older sister,” Jiang Ran retorted indignantly.
Jiang Huaimin ignored her and turned to Taili with a smile, introducing the young man as his current girlfriend’s son. He offered to introduce them “formally” if she wanted to meet him, praising the young man as capable and promising…
He rambled on and on.
Jiang Ran’s blind date suddenly turned into Beijiao’s blind date, and the shift in atmosphere was too fast. Jiang Ran even wanted to remind her father that today’s main character wasn’t Taili but herself, the one who couldn’t get married!
Feeling annoyed, she shoved the menu in front of Jiang Huaimin, “Old people should stop meddling in other people’s love lives. What’s so great about being a doctor? Doctors always work overtime and are never at home. How can Taili live without someone around—just order more dishes! What a waste of effort!”
Jiang Huaimin smiled, “Doctors might not be home often, but they know how to take care of people.”
Jiang Ran frowned impatiently, “Take care of my foot!”
…
While this table was discussing Beijiao, the other table was also busy.
Thanks to yesterday’s “official announcement,” both protagonists of the gossip were present. At Beijiao’s table, some nosy individuals exchanged knowing glances, looking back and forth between Jiang Ran and Beijiao. If it weren’t for the elders present, they would have already started teasing.
“Brother Bei, you should at least say something. You look so calm, like nothing happened. Normal people would at least blush a bit!”
“Just kidding, why would he blush! If he really blushed, that would be a disaster!”
“Hahaha, that would indeed be fun. What disaster? That would be—” one of them was about to mention Jiang Ran’s name but automatically stopped, nodding toward the woman at the neighboring table who was silently devouring a large egg tart, “How many people have tried to win her over? Not only no chance, they couldn’t even find the window.”
Beijiao followed his gaze and saw Jiang Ran expressionlessly stuffing a big egg tart into her mouth. He chuckled softly and turned his gaze back.
This chuckle caused quite a stir. Some of the guys at the table hadn’t even seen him smile since they met him.
“Oh! He smiled!” The people at the table were excited, “Smiling means something’s going on!”
Beijiao lifted his eyes, and his smile became more apparent, as if intentionally letting them see clearly.
Looking closely, this wasn’t a mocking smile; he was genuinely smiling, even looking quite handsome.
“Hey, you guys shouldn’t talk like that!” Suddenly, a girl said, “Doesn’t Bei Ge have a girlfriend? I heard about it even when I wasn’t in Jilin. Don’t you guys check the group messages at all? There was quite a stir around Christmas last year!”
“Oh, right, Bei Ge, damn it! You have a girlfriend! Yesterday’s social media post was widely shared. Did your girlfriend see it? Didn’t she get angry with you?” Reminded, the person at the table wasn’t so excited anymore, “Oh, probably Qiu Nian and the others were drinking at noon. If there’s any problem, let me know, and I’ll ask Ran Jie to delete the post?”
The speaker was somewhat familiar with Jiang Ran. Beijiao slightly toned down his smile, glanced at the person, and calmly said, “It’s okay.”
As Jiang Ran had sighed last night, the people in the snowboarding circle still had their values intact.
After the girl’s kind reminder, the few who had been joking felt embarrassed and slapped their thighs, all with apologetic expressions: “That’s right, we forgot Bei Ge has a girlfriend. Oops, sorry, sorry, it’s inappropriate to joke about this—”
“Yeah, maybe we should ask Ran Jie to delete the post, so it doesn’t cause any arguments between the couple.”
“Bei Ge, it’s hard for you to finally start a lightning romance with a girl… It’s probably really love, so there’s no need to argue over someone else’s joke, right?”
As they spoke, Beijiao didn’t react much. He looked back at Jiang Ran, who was completely unaware of their conversation, and silently quirked his lips. He said, “It’s really okay, no problem…”
He paused slightly, “It’s Jiang Ran.”
His meaning was that no one would argue with themselves, after all, she wouldn’t scold herself in the mirror for being a seductress.
However, he didn’t know that the two-character name, Jiang Ran, when spoken by him with just the right tone, carried a hint of romantic and provocative flavor, instantly silencing everyone at the table.
Seeing that his expression was genuinely calm and untroubled, everyone at the table exchanged puzzled glances, completely at a loss.
After a few seconds of silence.
“What’s going on here?” A girl dryly laughed, “I really don’t think Ran Jie’s social media post was a joke anymore.”
“… I took a quick look. The background of Bei Ge’s photo looked very much like the Olympic Village room of foreign athletes. You know—”
Olympic Village indicated it was a recent photo.
“What was Jiang Ran doing at the Olympic Village?”
“She didn’t go there, right?”
“If she did, I wouldn’t be surprised at all—”
“I don’t know, she didn’t report to me. I only found out half a year later when she started shining abroad in professional skating.”
The chatter continued.
“But it can’t be Jiang Ran! Isn’t Bei Ge’s girlfriend using Mahjong tiles and playing eight-character fortune-telling? Jiang Ran only plays one-character fortune-telling!”
“Yeah, there’s a bit of a connection between one-character and eight-character fortune-telling: ‘incompatible.'”
“Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha, you’re quite funny! Are you looking down on eight-character fortune-telling? I’ll hammer you! What’s wrong with eight-character fortune-telling? Her figure skating jumps are higher than yours!”
“And that little girl would cry in Bei Ge’s arms when she didn’t skate well. When have you ever seen Jiang Ran cry over that? When she didn’t skate well, she just got up an hour earlier the next day, and if she still didn’t do well, she got up another hour earlier… She never shed a tear even when she broke bones. She’s more of a man than men!”
“That’s why she’s called ‘Ran Jie,’ not because of her age, but because of her status in the circle.”
They chattered on, getting more and more off-track.
Until the food arrived, Beijiao waved his hand to stop their wild guesses, “Stop guessing. Whether the goddess belongs to anyone, she’s still the goddess. I’m just an ordinary person. You can consider me a playboy.”
… He admitted to being a “playboy” remarkably quickly.
Once again, the table fell silent.
“Eat.”
Beijiao pushed the food on the table, and the guessing finally ceased.
…
Jiang Ran was completely unaware of the earth-shattering conversation at the neighboring table.
She just knew that Beijiao’s table was really there to eat, and after finishing, they left. When her acquaintances came to say goodbye, Jiang Huaimin and Uncle Tai were still reminiscing about the financial crisis of 1998.
They probably still had twenty years left to finish reminiscing.
Jiang Ran was full but had to politely stay with the elders and couldn’t leave early. She looked up and saw Beijiao nodding to Jiang Huaimin to say goodbye. He left calmly, following the group and being the last to depart.
He paid the bill before leaving, whether it was to split the cost later or paid entirely by himself.
It was past two in the afternoon. Jiang Ran endured another hour or so, during which she showed Taili Beijiao’s social media profile—
Only then did she notice that this person, who rarely posted on social media, had changed his background back to the old one. It was the group photo taken on the mountain top during the early days of the 2020 pandemic lockdown.
There were many people in the photo, but a cropped close-up with a heart drawn around it was placed as the WeChat background. It was their only individual group photo.
Under the background image, next to his profile picture, his personal description read: 【↑ When can I put your individual photo here】.
The small arrow pointed at the background wall.
Jiang Ran’s lips twitched, but she silently maintained the slight smile. She muttered softly, “This lovesick fool.”
As her words fell, Taili turned her head, stared at her for a while, and asked, “Are you secretly in love with this person too?”
“What?” Jiang Ran resumed her expressionless look, “No.”
“Then why are you smiling so sweetly at his social media profile?”
“I’m not smiling.”
“Do you want me to get you a mirror? I have one.”
“… I was thinking about something else.”
Jiang Ran turned her head away with a cold expression. Fortunately, Taili was a cute girl who had never been pushy since childhood. She let it go this time and didn’t press further.
At four in the afternoon, the hot water had been changed multiple times, the teahouse chairs were worn out from sitting, and Taili had scrolled through all her social media apps. Finally, she impatiently complained about back pain.
Uncle Tai and Jiang Huaimin finally remembered the restless younger generation present and, with mutual understanding in their handshakes, reluctantly said their goodbyes—
“What’s all this for? Uncle Tai will be back, right?” Jiang Ran waved her hand, unable to watch anymore, “You can even make plans to take out the trash together for community waste sorting.”
The middle-aged men let out an awkward laugh and stood up to leave.
Throughout the entire event, Uncle Tai never mentioned his missing son—
This was indeed unusual. These businessmen valued etiquette the most, maintaining proper manners even with close friends.
As Jiang Ran walked out, she was just wondering about this when she suddenly heard Jiang Huaimin sigh loudly, “I don’t know when my daughter will ever understand love,” and then the sound abruptly quieted.
Accompanied by a chilly gust of wind from outside, she shivered with goosebumps and tightened her thin trench coat… She lifted her eyes and saw a black-haired young man standing tall outside the teahouse gate in the cold wind.
He was holding a black cashmere coat.
The wind slightly messed up his hair, making him seem less mature and more youthful.
As if he had heard something, his long eyelashes lifted, and from across the crowd, he met her gaze with calm eyes, offering a slight smile.
A few seconds of silence passed.
When the people around them finally reacted, Jiang Huaimin, who was standing at the front, was just about to ask why Beijiao had not yet left, when he saw Jiang Ran, who had originally been at the back of the group, suddenly step forward, brushing past him.
She hurried forward a few steps to stand before the young man with black hair, stopped, and emotionlessly looked up at him for a moment before opening her arms and stepping into his embrace.
He was momentarily stunned.
Quickly regaining his composure, he unfolded the cashmere coat in his hand, draped it over her shoulders, wrapped his arm naturally around her waist, and leaned down to gently kiss her forehead.
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