Jiang Ran added his WeChat, watching helplessly as he openly checked her profile picture and Moments visibility settings right under her nose.
He was extremely meticulous and arrogant about it. If she had ever dared to block him from viewing her Moments, he might have had the audacity to demand she unblock him on the spot.
She had no doubt about it.
“You’re drunk?”
Recalling how he had been acting like a sweet younger brother since he arrived, which was genuinely unusual, Jiang Ran couldn’t help but ask.
“I drank,” Beijiao said, “but not drunk.”
“…”
Right, he was definitely drunk.
Jiang Ran concluded expressionlessly.
Beside them, Song Song watched like a nervous client supervisor making sure they successfully added each other on WeChat.
“Oh my!” Song Song cheerfully announced to everyone present, “Who was it just now saying that Jiang Ran is always busy with work and never dates anyone? See? You shouldn’t talk about it—it really works like magic, talking about it brings the opportunity!”
“A younger guy?” a curious girl from a neighboring provincial team giggled, eyes crinkling, “Haha, Beijiao is younger than Jiang Ran, right? I remember he is. These days, age-gap relationships with younger guys are actually really popular!”
Jiang Ran narrowed her eyes slightly but didn’t respond.
“Is that so?”
Beijiao replied slowly, revealing a clear smile, “I don’t know. She doesn’t seem much older than me.”
Generally speaking, he didn’t smile this much—
Only when he was with Jiang Ran.
Or when he was drunk.
Or when all the elements were combined, like now.
Seeing his smile, everyone around them smiled warmly. Who wouldn’t like a polite and proactive handsome younger guy? If Jiang Ran didn’t know his true vicious dog nature, she would probably be thrilled to think she’d won the lottery today.
This devil with top-notch acting skills.
“I don’t agree with age-gap relationships with younger guys. You’ll know how frustrating it is once you’ve tried,” Jiang Ran interrupted the cheerful laughter, saying indifferently, “I dated one before. After that experience, I felt like if a son fell from the sky, I could raise him just fine, since they’re both equally troublesome.”
Song Song turned to stare at Jiang Ran like she was the only sour note in a harmonious atmosphere, eyes narrowing into slits.
“Guys grow up,” Beijiao said.
“Oh really,” Jiang Ran flipped her hair, smiling, “too bad you won’t wait. Because by then, the older sister would already be old.”
Beijiao didn’t plan to argue with her about this. His goal had already been achieved—if the saying “younger guys grow up” was a real thing, then probably the first thing a younger guy learns after growing up is when to back off.
He continued chatting casually with the people at the table, enduring the increasing effects of the alcohol, before getting up to return to his friends.
He had barely started walking back to his seat when someone from Jiang Ran’s group couldn’t hold back anymore. A girl asked in confusion, “Ran, are you allergic to relationships or just to men in general?”
“If you keep pushing the topic of age-gap relationships with younger guys, I’ll upgrade to being allergic to humans,” Jiang Ran said, “He’s just not good.”
Song Song: “How do you know he’s not good? You haven’t even tried him.”
Jiang Ran smiled kindly: “Honey, this isn’t the time to be talking dirty.”
Song Song: “…”
I’m just being honest. Don’t you feel any regret? Do you know how many people out of the 700,000 likes would kill to touch those biceps through the screen? You once had the chance to touch even more than just those!
You were the woman closest to heaven!
Yet you insist on crouching in a well, croaking “gu gua (lonely) gu gua (lonely)” all day long!
“Just a small incident,” Jiang Ran said, “how many cases are there where you add someone on WeChat at a bar and that’s the first and last time you ever speak to them? Stop talking about me and keep drinking.”
“Pour me a glass of white wine, I’ll drink!” Song Song said, “I’m afraid I won’t be able to sleep tonight… I just can’t stand it when people waste food. If it’s right in front of you and you still won’t eat, it’s infuriating.”
Jiang Ran: “…”
…
Meanwhile.
As Jiang Ran was being interrogated, Beijiao returned to his friends under everyone’s watchful eyes.
Agua approached excitedly: “Did you get it? Did you get it? Damn, you actually dared to ask!”
A boy next to Agua was bubbling with jealousy: “What’s there not to dare? If I had his face, I’d even ask Jiang Ran if she wants a sudden passionate romance, woohoo!”
“Then go ahead,” Beijiao said, “see if she doesn’t hit you.”
First, he was in a great mood.
Second, his heart was beating rapidly due to alcohol and various external factors.
Finally, he was feeling very excited.
So he made his first joke of the night.
As the boy clung to Agua crying “woe is me,” a girl approached: “Let me see her Moments! Let me see her Moments!”
Beijiao looked at her blankly, thinking what’s a girl butting in for, yet still pressed his phone to his chest and said expressionlessly, “No.”
If a dog could speak when protecting its food, it would probably say exactly those two words.
The girl slowly widened her eyes, as if finding the person ridiculous, “I’m a girl! What’s wrong with me taking a quick look!”
Agua sympathetically glanced at her: “What logic are you trying to use with a drunk person?”
Innocent girl: “He only had one drink!”
Agua: “Last time he also only had one drink, yet he still danced a sexy dance at home for thirty seconds, added a big paragraph of inappropriate dirty talk, and ended up with 700,000 likes.”
Beijiao: “It’s already 900,000 now!”
Agua: “Okay, okay.”
Speechless girl: “I just want to see the pretty older sister’s Moments!”
Beijiao thought to himself, no way, how do I know your sexual orientation, but still replied concisely, “It’s just the usual stuff, nothing interesting. Don’t get so close, you smell like alcohol, it’s giving me a headache—”
The girl gave him a blank look, belched, and sat back down.
Agua asked, “How do you know what’s in her Moments? Did you already check? So fast?”
Beijiao ignored him. Of course, he hadn’t had time to check yet, but he was about to.
—Reviewing a new friend’s Moments first is a basic survival rule in human society.
Everyone does it…
Especially a starving vicious dog who’s been hungry for two years.
Although Qiu Nian occasionally showed him Jiang Ran’s Moments, he didn’t see every single one… So at this moment, Beijiao was like a child who had just received a new toy, filled with anticipation as he saw the little frog with a lotus leaf reappear on the first page of his WeChat—
It felt genuinely warm and familiar.
He had dreamed of seeing this frog every time he opened WeChat.
Clicking on the frog’s profile—opening the chat interface—clicking the frog’s profile again—entering Moments, these were the normal steps to access the Moments section in WeChat.
When he reached the third step, Beijiao was being careful, because the WeChat developers had a screw loose and invented a feature called “pat on the head”—double-clicking a WeChat profile would display “XX patted you”…
This feature had caused countless people to cringe on the spot from accidental taps.
He leaned back with his phone, carefully moving his hand over to Jiang Ran’s profile picture, just placing his finger on it, when Agua, unaware of what was happening, tugged at his arm: “Bro, I need to tell you—”
【Beijiao patted “Whose Ranran Duck’s” genius little head】
Beijiao: “………………………………”
Beijiao: “Ah!”
Agua was startled by his scream: “What! What!”
Turning his head, he saw the young black-haired man beside him hugging his phone like he’d been punched, curling up into a ball. Confused, he reached out to shake him.
Beijiao lowered his head and pushed his hand away with his elbow, his mind collapsing to the point where his face was now expressionless. He picked up the phone he had been holding tightly to his chest, afraid to look.
【Whose Ranran Duck: ?】
Beijiao: “…”
Agua: “Seriously, bro, what are you doing, I need to tell you—”
Beijiao sighed: “Don’t talk, I’m begging you.”
Agua closed his mouth in confusion.
Beijiao thought, what could he possibly say now to save face and not look so stupid?
He hated whoever developed the “pat on the head” feature with every fiber of his being. What kind of brain hole could possibly lead to such a brain-dead feature?
They might as well open up the feature to show visitor footprints on Moments, and then the Earth could just explode.
With a thousand elephants stampeding in his mind, Beijiao curled up even tighter, almost breaking into a sweat at his temples, but still needed to type, trying to appear casual—
First, reply to her with the same “?”
Then type.
【Beijiao: Nothing.】
【Beijiao: Just checking Moments.】
He thought being honest might actually make him seem less panicky—
And maybe his assumption was correct.
Facing his composed reply, Jiang Ran didn’t send any mocking words or sentences. She just sent back a disbelieving “…”.
And that was already the most encouraging reply he could imagine that would give him the courage to keep living.
…
Beijiao didn’t know that, at his most desperate moment, Jiang Ran had actually turned to look at him once.
She saw, under the dim lights of the bar, the young man whose bones and appearance had subtly grown up, for some reason curling up on the sofa again, this time at least keeping his shoes neatly off the sofa.
He was hunched over, eyebrows drooped, silent and curled into a ball.
Like a dead dog slumped on the sofa.
The childish youthfulness had almost completely faded, except for the faintest trace lingering in the furrow of his brows.
Jiang Ran thought of that Spring Festival two years ago.
But it wasn’t exactly the same.
It was only two years ago, yet it felt like a lifetime. Back then, Beijiao was still a complete teenager, full of energy like he had ADHD, unable to stay still for even a second. That day, he had unusually stayed quiet for ten minutes, leaning against her… then patted her and showed off the cherry stem he had tied into a knot with his tongue.
She seemed to have teased him about it.
Or maybe not.
She couldn’t remember clearly.
Only remembered that in the end, they leaned together, quietly, freely, without worrying about anyone else, kissing on the sofa…
His tongue was gentle, carrying a hint of weariness, that lazy vibe making her think he actually didn’t want any intimacy, but every time she tried to pull away from his mouth, he would hum and press closer, clingy and persistent.
Just like his usual personality.
Sometimes Jiang Ran couldn’t figure out what he really wanted, like right now.
Her hand silently tightened around her phone, the pressure so strong the edges were digging into her soft palm… Facing the inexplicable “pat,” Jiang Ran slowly turned her head away and sent him a question mark on WeChat. This was their first proper communication on WeChat in two years.
It meant nothing.
It symbolized nothing.
She lowered her eyes, using her long lashes to hide her emotions.
At that moment, Song Song tugged at her sleeve, asking her about the combined performance of a certain brand of ski binding and footbed, Jiang Ran “oh”ed absentmindedly, her mind still on the fresh green cherry stem resting quietly on the boy’s tongue.
She replied distractedly, “Which one?”
“The CG binding and Allflex footbed! We use them all the time!”
Because of the boots, competitive snowboard bindings differ from regular snowboard bindings and are not compatible with soft boots.
Compared to regular bindings, they also have a footbed between the binding and the board. The binding isn’t in the form of straps, almost identical to those on double boards. It has two buckles in the front and back. The hard boots step into the buckles, which pop up to secure the front and back ends of the boots.
“Guangling says there’s something off about using SG bindings with Allflex footbeds,” Song Song pushed Jiang Ran, “I told him everyone else uses them fine, so if there’s a problem, it must be him, right? You see if he has something wrong with him?”
Jiang Ran tilted slightly in the direction of the push, turned her head, and saw the younger brother named Guangling—Song Song’s target for the night. The young guy was completely oblivious, youthful yet brimming with typical male stubbornness. He was arguing about technical issues, clearly unconvinced, holding up his phone to show his own skiing videos.
“Senior Ran, look at my skiing! I don’t think it’s my skiing that’s the problem! But when I use this brand combo, I feel really tired!”
Seeing Jiang Ran turn her head, he immediately pressed play. The video started playing but was hard to see clearly due to the dim bar lights, so Jiang Ran leaned a bit closer to his side.
After barely finishing the video, she said, “It doesn’t seem to be the bindings. Didn’t you feel only your front leg was sore while skiing?”
Guangling said, yeah, sore.
“Your center of gravity is a bit forward, not very obvious, so it doesn’t affect much, but after skiing for a long time, the problem will show… Try shifting your center of gravity back.”
Jiang Ran took his phone, pulled the progress bar, and told him at which second it was clearly leaning forward. Guangling went from “oh” to “oh,” finally nodding repeatedly.
Song Song stood beside them, arms crossed, smirking.
“See, it’s your problem.”
Guangling immediately argued back.
“You just scold me without explaining anything!”
They started arguing—
“But I had Ran explain it for me, isn’t that the same as me explaining?”
“You’re really good at taking credit for yourself!”
“How could I show you if I didn’t say anything?”
“Then why didn’t you show me?”
“Come on, I’ve never taken anyone skiing before, how would I know what’s wrong with others? If you give me someone who just learned how to change edges and has problems everywhere, and ask me to point out the mistakes, I’d only say ‘something feels off somehow!'”
“…You’re actually proud of that!”
The chaos and noise belonged to the teenagers.
Jiang Ran had a headache from their noise, smiling as she rubbed her temples and returned to her seat. She picked up her phone and found it flooded with new WeChat messages.
[Beijiao: ?]
[Beijiao: What are you doing?]
[Beijiao: What are you looking at?]
[Beijiao: What exactly are you and that guy with the hedgehog hair looking at so intensely that you have to get so close?]
[Beijiao: Why is he smiling at you?]
[Beijiao: Why are you smiling at him?]
[Beijiao: Stop looking.]
[Beijiao: …It’s okay to look, but don’t get that close.]
[Beijiao: Do you know how close you two are? Close enough that your shadows on the wall have already overlapped and become one person. Tell me, isn’t that ridiculous?]
Jiang Ran thought to herself, this was indeed ridiculous. How on earth had she been so possessed to actually let him add her back on WeChat?
She lifted her head and turned around, only to see the drunk dog who was slouched on the chair, no longer pretending at all. He was staring at her.
His chin resting on the edge of the sofa, occupying a corner, one hand holding his phone, the other dangling loosely over the edge of the sofa—
He looked completely lazy, as if he had no bones.
Except for his dark eyes fixed on her, bright and alert.
When their eyes met, he seemed to instantly perk up, lifting his head slightly…
So far away.
As if a big dog on the sixth floor of an apartment building had been depressingly spinning and rolling around the doorstep all day, and finally heard the sound of its owner’s footsteps on the stairs at the end of the workday, suddenly springing to life.
He used his entire being and his eyes to signal, waiting for her reply.
How could Jiang Ran bear to disappoint him?
[Whose Ranran: ?]
She replied.
Not just one message.
[Whose Ranran: Shut up.]
The message was sent, and immediately the screen of the young man’s black phone lit up. She had already turned her head away and resumed chatting and drinking with others by the time he turned to look.
Sonsong and Guangling had already stopped arguing and were whispering together again.
The table had seen several rounds of drinks, and while a few people who had been tightly seated left, others joined in. Most of them, slightly tipsy, grouped with familiar faces and scattered into various corners of the lounge…
Most people were only slightly drunk, speaking less or more, just laughing and clinking glasses with those they liked.
The boy who had skied with Jiang Ran on twin tips earlier sat beside her again. Somehow, he had gotten two cocktails and generously offered her one.
Jiang Ran accepted it.
As her fingers touched the cocktail glass, her phone on the table lit up.
[Beijiao: It’s basic common sense not to accept drinks from strangers in bars.]
[Beijiao: ???]
[Beijiao: Do you have any common sense?]
[Beijiao: You actually accepted it?]
Jiang Ran, who had just drunk a lot of strong alcohol, wanted something sweet now.
As for this young guy in front of her, whether they were familiar or not, he could just call Nie Xin and probably find out where he lived, so what kind of stranger was that—
Thinking of this, Jiang Ran herself paused, shocked to realize she had actually been led around by the nose by that screaming person, worrying about whether this kid who hadn’t even turned twenty was dangerous!
For heaven’s sake!
Among everyone present, he was the most dangerous one, okay!
With a guilty heart (not really), Jiang Ran downed the orange-flavored cocktail in one gulp.
With a loud “clap,” she put the empty glass down powerfully. Right next to the empty glass, her phone’s WeChat app vibrated intensely.
[Beijiao: You actually drank it.]
[Beijiao: How did you survive to almost thirty?]
[Beijiao: Why do you still have no safety awareness at almost thirty?]
[Beijiao: Jiang Ran, you actually drank it!!!!!!]
Jiang Ran had never worried about her age. For women, every age had its unique charm. She didn’t envy adults wearing gold and silver when she was little, nor did she envy girls in school uniforms when she grew up.
…But that didn’t stop her from wanting to twist someone’s head off when someone started sentences with “you’re almost thirty” even though she was only twenty-six.
She pushed the glass away with the back of her hand, picked up her phone, and typed expressionlessly.
[Whose Ranran: Send again and I’ll block you.]
…
At the central booth in the bar, Beijiao had sent so many messages he couldn’t even count, the entire screen filled with his green chat records.
He was bored.
Because the people who came to the bar with him saw that he was already drunk enough to hang like a rag on the sofa, and no one wanted to come over to toast with him or play games with him anymore…
So he had plenty of time left to observe Jiang Ran and type messages to her.
[Whose Ranran: Send again and I’ll block you.]
At this moment, seeing the new chat records popping up on the screen, Beijiao sneered and sat up from the sofa.
[Beijiao: You dare?]
Alcohol emboldened the timid.
He replied with these two words, full of intimidation.
Thinking again, he added, “If you block me, I’ll kiss you in front of everyone,” feeling satisfied with the manliness in this sentence, he pressed send.
Then this message was immediately greeted with a red exclamation mark.
Beijiao lifted his head and looked at the woman in the corner booth, who had already put down her phone and resumed chatting and laughing with her teammates.
Beijiao: “…”
Fine.
She indeed dared.
…
The drinking session lasted until two in the morning, when Sonsong reminded everyone with, “If we don’t go back now, it’ll be daylight and none of you will have time for anything tomorrow.” Some people at the table still had to attend a park terrain review the next day and needed to get up early.
A group of people paid the bill, kindly agreed to transfer money via WeChat the next day, and then staggered up to leave.
Sonsong was still looking at his phone as he was about to step out the door when he suddenly lifted his head and said he needed to pee, patting Jiang Ran’s shoulder to ask her to wait.
Jiang Ran said “Okay,” turned her head, and noticed that Guangling was also missing from the group of boys.
She smiled knowingly.
Naturally accepting that this pee might take so long that Sonsong might get hemorrhoids from squatting, Jiang Ran walked around the bar again, greeted some people she knew, and chatted briefly.
Five minutes later, at this time most people in the bar were too drunk to control their volume, she felt the bar was a bit noisy, so she gathered her scarf and pushed open the bar door.
Outside, the snow had already stopped.
The quiet night breeze blew gently, mixed with the scent of ice and snow, everything outside was covered with snow, a completely silver world.
The temperature difference between indoors and outdoors made the woman exhale a milky white mist with her first breath of fresh air. She rubbed her hands, and the alcohol-numbed brain became much clearer.
Staring at the dark, starless night sky, she thought expressionlessly: Should she let that dog out of the blacklist? He should have realized his mistake.
Just as she was pondering, suddenly her elbow was grabbed from behind, she was startled, then immediately pulled by a great force into the dark alley beside her.
When people are most frightened, they can’t make a sound.
She felt her mind “buzz” suddenly, moved her lips slightly, hadn’t even had time to scream instinctively when her mouth was covered by a big hand—
The familiar scent of pine needles mixed with cheap laundry detergent, and a little lingering tobacco smell, entered her nose.
Beyond the big hand, the originally frightened and nearly frozen brown pupils immediately widened, the tense shoulders relaxed, she leaned against the wall, her whole body completely relaxed after the sudden relief—
If it weren’t for his arm still pressing her waist, trying to pin her against the wall, she might have slid down the wall in a messy heap.
“I’ll let you go.”
The young man’s voice was low, completely unaware of how much like a kidnapper he sounded. He tilted his head to look at her, negotiating.
“Don’t scream, okay?”
Jiang Ran thought to herself, okay, why not? The moment you let go of me, will be the moment of your doom.
She blinked.
And saw Beijiao smile.
The young man with black hair grinned, showing her a row of white teeth.
The hand covering her mouth and nose moved slightly, his ring finger rubbing her high nose bridge.
“Forget it, I won’t let go… You look like you want me to become childless in the next second, your expression is so fierce.”
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