In sports competitions, athletes who are penalized for fouls often feel wronged. They cry, throw tantrums, and some even impulsively want to confront or physically attack the referees on the spot to seek justice for themselves. Later, they might post emotional updates online to initiate large-scale cyberbullying—this is quite common.
Among the athletes penalized for fouls, some genuinely suffer unfair treatment due to referees’ poor judgment or bias, which is truly regrettable—for example, in a certain year’s World Cup, a referee was reportedly later killed, and it’s hard to say whose fault that ultimately was.
Yet, behind these athletes who genuinely suffer from unfair rulings, there are always one or two who actually deserved the penalty but insist on stirring the pot.
As the saying goes, “No one knows your innocence better than the person who wrongfully accuses you.”
At this moment, on a snowy mountain, Jiang Ran watched as Liang He arrogantly shoved aside staff members who tried to stop her, charging furiously toward her. Jiang Ran sat still, not even flinching, and even had the presence of mind to poke at Song Song: “She’s coming. She looks really angry. Is it really worth getting this upset over? It’s just a regular competition. There’ll be plenty more like it next year, right?”
When Liang He arrived like a whirlwind, Jiang Ran still kept her hands tucked in her sleeves, leaning slightly toward Song Song, appearing as if she were happily watching the mess she had caused—
She had a clear understanding inside.
And she wore her confusion openly on her face.
When Liang He rushed over and angrily kicked the table—
The table, previously sitting neatly, was knocked askew, its edge hitting Jiang Ran’s waist!
If the table hadn’t been on snow at that moment, it probably would have produced a loud, grating screech!
The gentle bump didn’t hurt, but Jiang Ran’s body leaning toward Song Song stiffened instantly, sensing all the surrounding eyes suddenly turn toward her…
Only then did she slightly narrow her eyes in mild displeasure.
She didn’t mind watching the commotion unfold, but being treated like a monkey on display was unnecessary.
Though she inwardly disapproved of Liang He’s lack of composure, Jiang Ran didn’t change her seated posture, merely turning her head to face the young girl standing across the table—
At this moment, numerous staff members rushed forward wanting to restrain her, but at her sharp shout of “Don’t touch me,” they hastily withdrew their hands.
Another staff member, more stern and composed, appeared to find her table-kicking behavior utterly inappropriate—essentially, a sign of disrespect toward the competition organizers. He spoke in a lowered voice, “Miss, what exactly are you trying to achieve? All competition results have undergone multiple rounds of review and voting. It wasn’t solely Jiang Ran’s decision. If you disagree, you can file an appeal with the organizers after the event instead of causing a disturbance like this!”
Liang He found him ridiculous: “Jiang Ran, Jiang Ran, Jiang Ran—does saying her name earn you money from the sky? Why do you all chant her name like a mantra! Appeal? The competition is already over! What good will an appeal do now!”
The staff member also found Liang He ridiculous: “What you’re doing right now is pointless and could even harm your personal reputation at our ski resort!”
Liang He laughed: “Great, then damage it. Do you think I care? I wasn’t planning on coming back here anyway. Who are you trying to threaten? What kind of mess have you made organizing this competition? Sitting on the judging panel just to settle personal scores—where’s the fairness in that!”
Jiang Ran had waited patiently for her cue in this dialogue. Finally, after the two had argued for so long and finally shifted past meaningless attacks to include her in the conversation—
She slowly let out a nasal sound, and as the two arguing individuals turned to look at her, she finally sat up straighter: “Excuse me for interrupting—what exactly do you mean by ‘settling personal scores’?”
Her question only infuriated Liang He further: “What else could it be if not settling personal scores! Just admit it! I’ve known all along that decision was your idea. What’s the point of that? If you have a problem with me, you can just say it. You can even scold me! Back in Guangzhou, it was my fault for meddling, speaking out of turn and making everyone—including Ah Tuan—unhappy. But how long ago was that!”
Jiang Ran: “?”
Jiang Ran: “…”
She thought carefully about what had happened in Guangzhou—
Finally recalling the chubby little kid quickly climbing onto Bei Jiao’s shoulders and sobbing uncontrollably—
Jiang Ran nodded: “Yeah, you’re right. I had completely forgotten until you mentioned it.”
Liang He let out a sharp, rooster-like laugh, clearly not believing her: “Pretending what? If you have a problem with me, just say it! Don’t use your authority like some sacred mandate. Don’t you think that looks bad? If you act like this, don’t let the professional team regret choosing you—”
Without warning, Jiang Ran suddenly raised her hand and slapped the table with a loud “Pah!”
It was even louder than Liang He’s earlier kick, making everyone flinch involuntarily!
She stood up abruptly. Since the judging platform was already slightly elevated, from Liang He’s perspective, Jiang Ran suddenly loomed over her like a monster from the bay, her shadow towering over her…
Jiang Ran leaned forward, her tone still relatively calm: “If you want to talk about me, just talk about me. Why drag in the professional team?”
Nie Xin, although talkative and meddlesome, truly cared for his teammates.
He was determined to achieve results but lacked social skills, so despite his abilities, he had remained in the provincial team for years without advancing—
But honestly speaking, even though they argued daily, everyone quite liked him, and certainly didn’t want to hear others speak of their provincial team with disdainful remarks like “Is your coach blind to pick such trash?”—that was pushing the boundaries a bit.
Jiang Ran didn’t like hearing that, but Liang He misinterpreted it as a sign of guilt. With a cold smirk, she turned to the staff and said, “See that? You invite judges like this just to boost popularity? And you still claim to be the most official unofficial competition to trick us into signing up… So what’s the outcome? What kind of trash are you putting on your judging panel?”
She pointed sharply at Jiang Ran—
“Yesterday she was just an ordinary amateur sliding with us, and now she gets to put on a professional jacket and order us around?!”
Her arm was straight, pointing directly at Jiang Ran’s nose.
But Jiang Ran wasn’t going to tolerate it. Since the male staff couldn’t physically intervene, she could.
“Excuse me, but I actually can.”
As Jiang Ran’s cold voice echoed in the momentarily quiet surroundings, the moment Liang He raised her finger, she felt a powerful force “Pah!” strike her hand!
Liang He cried out in pain, nearly losing her balance!
She quickly pulled her hand back, shocked and wide-eyed, unable to believe Jiang Ran had actually dared to hit her. She turned sharply to glare at her—
Jiang Ran looked at her expressionlessly: “Young lady, didn’t your mother teach you not to point fingers at people randomly?”
Liang He’s face turned bright red. Her hand hurt, and she held it slightly sideways, glaring at Jiang Ran who was still coldly staring down at her from the judging panel: “I really wanted to get along with you nicely!”
“Sorry, but I don’t even know you?” Jiang Ran replied, “What ‘getting along nicely’ are you talking about—”
The way to defeat a ‘green tea’ girl is simple: if you’re too lazy to join their game and outsmart them with even more sophisticated manipulation…
Just use your hardworking hands to flip the tea table!
After all, why bother acting?
Jiang Ran found it extremely odd that this person was speaking to her in such a theatrical tone, as if she were playing a character saying, “Sister, I’m just a concubine who wants to live peacefully with my husband”—she herself didn’t feel embarrassed, but Jiang Ran did.
With so many people watching, what would it look like if this got out!
She waved her hand, signaling to the staff that she really didn’t feel like wasting words on this person. The judging results had gone through multiple layers of review and signatures. Now that the dust had settled, what was the point of keeping this person here arguing?
Receiving a look from Jiang Ran, the staff member seemed to gain infinite courage, grabbing Liang He’s arm: “Come on! Stop yapping like this, what kind of image are you giving! If you look down on our competition, why are you still here stirring up trouble? Just take the trophy home then!”
Liang He stumbled as he was pulled, her eyes red as she glared back at Jiang Ran: “Don’t get too cocky! Do you think I’m the only one questioning why and how you could sit here today! Plenty of people have doubts! Don’t think too highly of yourself! People who want everything might end up with nothing!”
The staff looked like he wanted to cover Liang He’s mouth.
“Don’t cover it,” Jiang Ran said coldly, “Let her keep talking!”
“You think you’re something!” Liang He seemed to have lost her mind, speaking without thinking, “You’re just a propaganda tool for the professional team to promote parallel giant slalom to the general public!”
Yesterday, that had just been an idea—
Today, under Jiang Ran’s calm and mocking gaze, she shouted it out as if it were fact.
Instantly, whispers and murmurs rose from all directions.
Jiang Ran didn’t even show a hint of surprise or offense.
When Song Song started rolling up his sleeves, ready to climb over the table to fight, she merely curved her lips slightly and said, “Nice imagination.”
She looked like she had just heard a joke, which only made Liang He even angrier with her calm expression.
Her pale, round eyes glared at her intensely.
“I know you ski well, but that’s only in soft boots, in the general skiing category. But competitions should be for professionals—now I’m questioning your professionalism, what’s wrong with that?”
The referees guarding the panel today were all experienced in major competitions, some even chief referees for the upcoming Beijing Winter Olympics.
The judging panel consisted of actual professional parallel giant slalom athletes from various provinces.
No matter how skilled Jiang Ran was in casual skating, without official qualifications, she was simply unqualified!
Liang He stood there defiantly, full of provocation.
Strangely, Jiang Ran showed no sign of being offended throughout, and even after more accusations, her teammate who had previously seemed angry suddenly calmed down—
“Although I feel proving myself after being insulted is somewhat beneath me.”
The young woman’s calm, gentle voice rose.
“But after questioning the fairness of Heilongjiang team’s selection process and then questioning the snow resort’s review of the judges’ qualifications, this moral high ground really makes me…”
She paused to think.
“Very unsure of what to do.”
In the gently falling snowflakes, her voice became the only sound at the scene, making her words, though not loud, clearly audible to everyone.
Not a single person present—including Liang He—believed she was genuinely unsure of what to do.
Under everyone’s watchful eyes, she tilted her head slightly, her soft, wavy long hair slipping off her shoulder, and smiled as she asked, “So, may I ask, how exactly should I prove myself?”
…
On the mountain.
The person who had initially intended to ask Bei Jiao to mediate had barely managed to descend the mountain with great difficulty, and was now laboriously crawling back up on all fours, gasping for breath.
“I… I found out! There might be a protest happening soon!”
He reported breathlessly to the black-haired young man.
Upon hearing this, the latter simply said “Ah,” and raised his hand to scratch his chin, his expression calm as if he were detached from everything—
Which he indeed was.
Throughout, Bei Jiao had remained squatting in place, only slightly furrowing his brows when Liang He’s finger nearly poked Jiang Ran’s nose—
But just as he began to rise—
Liang He’s hand had already been ruthlessly slapped away.
…which made Bei Jiao quite envious. He had wanted to do that for a long time.
Liang He had always been talkative and lively since they met, and lately kept showing off in front of him, occasionally pulling or tugging at him—
Which annoyed him greatly.
Sometimes he wanted to push her away but dared not, fearing that if he raised his hand, he might accidentally break her arm, leading her to angrily demand medical compensation and even post about him on every social media platform she had…
What Jiang Ran did seemed perfectly natural—
First, she was a woman.
Second, it was well-known in the circle that Jiang Ran was arrogant and domineering, capricious and ruthless. Anyone who dared to point a finger at her should already have the awareness that ordinary people could never attain.
“So who’s in the demonstration?” Bei Jiao looked down at the two women confronting each other halfway down the mountain, “Jiang Ran?”
He had already tried his best to sound like an impartial bystander, especially when calling her name, it was hard not to add a hint of affectionate nasal tone—
After all, according to past experiences, when he called her full name, it usually meant something bad was waiting for her. The principle of sweet-talking first to save himself was always correct, and he had long gotten used to it.
“It’s Jiang Ran.”
“Then isn’t that good?”
“Good where?”
“Didn’t you guys argue yesterday at the bar whether Jiang Ran was suitable to be paraded around under the provincial team’s banner, discussing it for almost half an hour?” Bei Jiao lifted his eyelids slightly, “So now is the perfect time.”
“Ah?”
“Whether it’s a donkey or a horse, you have to take it out for a run to know.”
Bei Jiao slightly turned his head, smiling at the people standing behind him. It was an innocent, harmless smile, his tone gentle, “Then you can all shut up with satisfied hearts!”
After speaking, he accidentally noticed the surrounding silence, reflecting a bit, he realized his remarks were somewhat aggressive and clearly taking sides.
“Of course, it’s also possible that she ends up disgraced.”
Under the indifferent gazes of the surrounding people, he added a sentence that was ultimately of no help.
…
It was almost lunchtime anyway, and part of the women’s event remained to be completed after the midday break.
If the organizers had any regrets, it was that they somewhat regretted not scheduling the women’s competition earlier in the day, leaving the men’s competition for the afternoon. At least men, with their greater weight and height, could better control the edges of their skis and were less likely to be thrown off by bad snow conditions.
Now that this unexpected situation had occurred, they couldn’t admit fault, so they had no choice but to boldly announce that the remaining women’s events would be held in the afternoon—
There would be an extra exhibition match before lunch.
Standing at the summit, Jiang Ran accepted her yellow shoes and race board from Song Song.
About five meters away, Liang He stood with her arms crossed, watching coldly. She clearly didn’t believe that changing equipment would make Jiang Ran suddenly capable of anything spectacular.
Jiang Ran finished putting on her gear, fastened her helmet and goggles, then turned and smiled at Liang He, saying lightly, “Just this once. Otherwise, if everyone wants me to perform, I’d die of exhaustion.”
“Do well this time first,” Liang He sneered. “Don’t get thrown off halfway.”
Jiang Ran didn’t bother arguing.
【Now we move into the overtime exhibition match, serving as a conclusion to the morning’s competition.】
【We can see standing on the blue slope is one of the judges originally seated on the judging panel—a professional female athlete from Heilongjiang’s snowboard parallel giant slalom team… and she also holds considerable influence in public technical snowboarding.】
【Ah, one of only two dual-ski board-sponsored athletes nationwide—undoubtedly a testament to this athlete’s recognition by sponsors.】
At this moment, the commentator used the term “snowboarder” rather than the usual “female snowboarder” within the circle, proof enough that this competitor’s skill had long since surpassed the need to emphasize gender—
She was simply the best.
The very best.
Jiang Ran signaled to the judging panel, indicating she was ready.
【She’s about to start now.】
【Her hands are on the starting pole. Alright, let’s get ready—】
With a loud electronic beep, Jiang Ran’s exhibition match began.
Designed for speed, the race board was slender and narrow at the waist, and its bindings weren’t fixed in the traditional way…
Therefore, when gliding, besides the loud sound of the board’s edge cutting through the snow, each turn produced a crisp “click” sound, as the edge pressure increased with every transition.
The audience first heard this powerful, intense sound, and only then did they see a figure shoot forward like an arrow released from a bow—
So fast it was almost a blur, streaking past every spectator!
She was truly fast. Each turn was clean and sharp, her skiing style completely transformed from what people remembered. Her legs were deeply bent, her body leaning forward over the front of the board, pressing hard on the edges, maintaining a stable center of gravity—
The ruined snow that had plagued the morning was nothing to her.
Her board’s edges cut deeply into the snow, and any uneven terrain seemed nonexistent to her!
Amidst the snow she kicked up, she passed through countless snowflakes falling from the sky like curtains!
【The line is perfect.】
【I can hear one of the judges on the panel giving praise.】
Unaffected by the outside world, at this moment, with her board on, Jiang Ran’s eyes were fixed only on the neatly spaced gates ahead—
Her body leaned extremely close to the poles, her shoulders nearly brushing them several times!
But she didn’t hit them. Clearly, she had chosen the route in advance, and her skiing was calm and steady!
【Now our athlete Jiang Ran has entered the final three gates, two, one—】
With the commentator’s rare, excited tone, the woman perfectly rounded the last gate and crossed the finish line!
【Finish!】
At the same time, the finish-line timer stopped. As the woman slowly braked by turning her board sideways and straightened up, the commentator immediately announced the final time—
【52.31 seconds!】
A brief silence fell over the venue, then erupted into heated discussion—
【I think that’s pretty fast! So, is this considered fast or not?】
【To the naked eye, yes.】
【Holy crap, since when has Jiang Ran become so skilled with hard boots?! Someone save me! Is there anything she can’t do?!】
【I don’t usually watch competitions, can someone tell me what this 52.31 seconds means? I feel like the commentator used an exclamation mark when announcing the result!】
【Obviously it’s fast, you idiot! The men’s first place this morning was over sixty seconds, and she’s already in the early fifties! Can’t you do basic math?!】
【But she used hard boots, right? Of course she should be fast!】
【Putting that aside, I think she’s definitely good enough to join a provincial training team. We aren’t even a winter sports powerhouse, so why nitpick?】
…
Opinions varied widely.
Most spectators had no idea how to interpret this result—
As the discussions showed, some simply thought Jiang Ran was fast, while others were confused about what this time really meant. How fast was fast?
And if it was slow, how much slower was it?
They only knew that the men’s preliminaries this morning had a first-place finish of 64.21 seconds—Jiang Ran had beaten that by nearly twelve seconds—
But she had indeed used hard boots and a race board!
“Haha! So I said, it’s nothing special!”
On the mountaintop, Liang He said, “You guys don’t know, right? The Beijing Winter Olympics training venue just opened recently. According to the latest data from the parallel giant slalom event, a woman needs an average time of around 43 seconds just to pass the first round of qualifying! 52.31 seconds! At the Winter Olympics, she wouldn’t even make the top seventy in the qualifiers! What’s there to be proud of!”
Amidst the murmurs, her voice was sharp and clear. The crowd, who barely understood the level of competition at the Winter Olympics parallel giant slalom event, finally heard some concrete data and felt momentarily dazed, thinking: Oh, 43 seconds—then 52 is indeed a bit slow.
Someone muttered indignantly, “But that’s the Winter Olympics, one of the most prestigious competitions in parallel giant slalom. She’s just a provincial team athlete. Why hold her to such elite standards?”
Such a rebuttal had little positive effect.
“Professional athletes shouldn’t have such a big gap. Have you ever seen a short-distance competitive sport where the provincial and national teams differ by ten seconds in the same event? Usually, a difference of a few seconds already separates two completely different worlds! How can that not be considered high standards?”
“Exactly! Exactly!”
Just as people were each deep in thought, suddenly from the back of the crowd, a slightly deep male voice sounded—
“Are you guys out of your minds? Or just bad at math? The Beijing Winter Olympics course was 560 meters long. Today’s course is 660 meters. Are you just ignoring the extra 100 meters and nearly ten additional gates?”
In an instant, the crowd on the mountaintop fell into an unusual silence.
Three seconds later, someone began counting on their fingers, suddenly realizing the truth.
The person who had just calculated average speeds first exclaimed, “Oh my god! Then this 52 seconds—who the hell wouldn’t say that’s amazing!” Then instinctively turned around, trying to find the person who had just enlightened everyone—
But at this moment, the crowd on the mountaintop was packed, and after that sharp, unapologetic remark, the person remained silent, hiding their identity and achievement.
Nobody had the slightest idea who had spoken.
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