Without waiting for their response, Beijiao lifted his foot and walked towards the kitchen. The scent of soap from the youth grew stronger as he approached.
Under the silent gaze of the two, he squeezed next to the stove, tasted the soup from a small dish for tasting, and slightly raised his eyebrows. “It’s too bland. Add more salt.”
He put down the spoon, turned around to leave, but was called by his name. He turned his head, gazed at her gently, and asked, “What’s wrong?”
This was the first time she had actively noticed his presence in days, yet he did not show any joy, instead his eyes remained calm.
He was smiling, but his deep eyes were completely calm.
It was somewhat different from the way he had looked at her timidly and cautiously when he first came back…
Perhaps.
Jiang Ran looked him up and down uncertainly, hesitated for a moment, and her tone became hesitant, “I want to talk to you.”
Upon hearing this, Beijiao did not immediately respond, but instead instinctively looked at Qiu Nian beside him—
In fact, Qiu Nian’s expression was exactly the same as his, both openly displaying: Now? I (she) am still here!
The atmosphere suddenly became very tense. For a moment, Jiang Ran also regretted blurting out her words. Her fingers, hanging loosely by her side, slightly curled, betraying her emotions.
“Let’s talk after dinner,” the boy said slowly, his voice still unhurried. “I’m hungry. Aren’t you two hungry?”
He fixed his gaze on Jiang Ran, and the curve of his lips didn’t change.
He bent down, effortlessly opened the cabinet above, and smoothly took out bowls and chopsticks. With just one hand, he neatly stacked the bowls and chopsticks for five people and carried them out of the kitchen—
Since staying at the villa these days, every corner of the house had become familiar to him. His every movement was as natural as if he were at home.
After he left, Qiu Nian nudged Jiang Ran with her elbow. “You say it now, where does he go next? Sleep in the hallway? The airport is closed, he can’t go back to Guangzhou.”
Jiang Ran didn’t answer. She turned off the stove still burning on the cooktop, the borscht in the pot gradually stopped boiling, and absentmindedly added a large spoonful of salt.
Taste it again.
Well, now it was overly salty.
…If it’s too bland, you can add salt, but if it’s too salty, you have to add water. Then you have to wait for it to boil again, and the flavor might not be right anymore.
Jiang Ran, uninterested, threw the ladle back into the pot and announced in a flat tone, “This soup is beyond saving. Let’s just take it out.”
…
Ever since after the New Year holidays, when Beijiao arrived in Jilin, the dinner seating at the table had basically been fixed. Today, everyone sat down according to habit, with Beijiao sitting next to Jiang Ran.
After Jiang Ran sat down, he habitually picked up her bowl and served her rice.
Her hands were still under the table. She stared silently at the bowl of rice in the boy’s hands for a while.
“What’s wrong?” Beijiao asked, “You don’t even want to touch the rice I served you?”
With that sentence, everyone at the table fell silent.
Jiang Ran lifted her head, surprised as she looked at him. She noticed that the curve of his lips was exactly the same as earlier in the kitchen. She couldn’t tell whether he was joking or serious…
If he was serious, then he really had a bit of a defiant attitude.
Well.
Who in this house didn’t know their situation? What was there to hide?
Jiang Ran’s lips twitched. She thought he was bold, that mix of humility and stubbornness, daring to provoke her openly. Was he crazy?
That craziness stirred a thin anger within her—
Her nostrils flared slightly. Just as she was about to say “Yes” to humor him, unfortunately, she was interrupted again by Qiu Nian.
“One bowl of rice and you two have so much drama—go on, sit down and eat properly, dog.” Fear flickered in Qiu Nian’s eyes as she said, “It’s the first day back. Everything is fine. Don’t cause trouble. Be good, okay?”
As she spoke, she kicked Lixingnan hard under the table.
The latter didn’t even lift his head, silently picked up a piece of eggplant with his chopsticks and placed it into Beijiao’s bowl. He tapped the bowl lightly with his chopsticks as a reminder, looking completely unaffected. “Eat.”
Sometimes, everyone couldn’t help but admire Lixingnan’s ability to act like a patriarch. With just that one word, so concise and commanding, he successfully diffused the tension between Beijiao and Jiang Ran.
Beijiao placed the full bowl of rice in front of the woman and sat down.
As he sat, his head slightly turned, and his eyes shamelessly swept across Jiang Ran’s face during the entire process…
She kept her eyes lowered the whole time, picked up her own bowl, and didn’t lift her eyelids even once.
—But at least she picked up the bowl.
Qiu Nian looked at Lixingnan with admiration, thinking this guy was reliable, his image unprecedentedly towering. Moved, she poured him a bowl of soup… He drank it without even frowning, put it down, and didn’t touch it again.
Jiang Ran observed his actions and seemed to gain some inspiration. She also served a bowl of soup and pushed it toward Beijiao. “I was just spacing out earlier. Why are you thinking so much?”
Her tone was as gentle as always.
Beijiao, who had been gloomy and moody just moments ago, almost couldn’t hold back the urge to cry when he looked at the bowl of soup. He forced himself to suppress it, took a spoonful of soup, and almost spat it back into the bowl—
Has the street salt seller been beaten to death?
He put down the bowl, determined not to touch the soup again that night, when he saw Jiang Ran turn her head and smile at him.
He had a bad feeling.
Sure enough, he heard her say indifferently, “What’s wrong? Are you angry? Don’t even want to touch the soup I served you?”
Exactly the same sentence, with only two words changed, returned to him verbatim.
Beijiao’s lips twitched. He picked up the bowl with one hand and gulped down the soup in one go. He put the bowl down, stood up directly, turned into the kitchen, and drank almost half a pot of water.
The sound of pouring water, placing the cup, and swallowing was deafening… Jiang Ran had played enough, her eyes expressionless. Before Beijiao returned to the table, she calmly scooped more than half of the rice in her bowl to Ah Jie, saying, “A pig couldn’t eat this much in one meal.”
Ah Jie: “…”
…
The meal was eaten with no appetite.
After dinner, turning on the TV brought only news related to the pandemic. Changing channels, even the TV dramas had scrolling subtitles reminding the people in front of the TV about the number of new infections nationwide and the further lockdowns in various areas, urging everyone not to go out unless necessary…
It was annoying to watch, so Jiang Ran turned off the TV directly.
She played for a while on Lixingnan’s old phone, which had been temporarily handed over to her. In her busy days, during her spare time, she only wanted to play on her phone, even watching news about the international economy could be fascinating—
Now that she had nothing to do, scrolling through any interesting videos felt dull.
The short video app was flooded with videos from various influencers in her circle, all with the same caption: It’s snowing again, I really want to ski!
She threw the phone aside and made a face of utter boredom.
Qiu Nian suggested playing Mahjong, but Jiang Ran didn’t know how to play and was too lazy to learn, and Beijiao only had one hand, and there was no automatic Mahjong table at home, so someone had to help him stack the tiles…
In such a situation, of course, Jiang Ran wouldn’t help him, so this plan also failed.
The group exchanged glances, unable to sleep but feeling satisfied—
At least they had friends to exchange glances with.
In the entire resort area’s stranded children group, today already the third older sister was screaming: Let me out! I can’t take it anymore! The first thing I do when I get out is get a divorce!
Men become idle and start causing trouble; this is probably the nature of the male species.
Finally, with nothing else to do, someone suggested, why not have a few drinks? Getting drunk would be perfect for going to bed, and then another blissfully hazy day.
This proposal immediately received support. There was a large stock of alcohol at home: red wine, white wine, beer, cocktails, and whiskey. All of them were taken out and placed on the table.
Everyone sat around the table, drinking and chatting. Between Jiang Ran and Beijiao sat a very uncomfortable and innocent Ah Jie, making him feel uneasy even while drinking.
Qiu Nian wanted to make sure that Jiang Ran and Beijiao wouldn’t continue being in a tense atmosphere where they might draw swords at any moment—
Not necessarily to reconcile.
At least not like enemies.
After a few drinks, the atmosphere softened slightly under the numbing effect of alcohol. Jiang Ran curled up under the sofa watching pet videos, chuckling at a video of a cat trying to fly from the wardrobe to the bed but falling down before even taking off…
Qiu Nian thought it was the right time and asked Ah Jie to check if her game rune setup was correct, asking him to come over and help.
Ah Jie was quite comfortable in his seat and felt inexplicably summoned: “I don’t even play a priest. Ask Lixingnan to look at it. He was the top healer on the server before—”
Qiu Nian stared at Ah Jie expressionlessly.
Ah Jie: “…”
Ah Jie: “And I’m the second best healer?”
Qiu Nian raised her chin at him.
Sighing, Ah Jie put down his glass, placed one hand on the edge of the sofa, and was about to get up when suddenly his wrist was grabbed by a hand from the side… That hand was as soft and slippery as a snake, smooth and cold, wrapping around his wrist.
He was slightly startled, turned his head, and met Jiang Ran’s calm, dark brown pupils.
Ah Jie: “…”
His half-raised butt hesitated and sank back down two millimeters.
At that moment, he suddenly felt a piercing gaze on his cheek. Before he could react, he heard a “clink” as a glass of water was placed back on the table.
The glass of water landed on the table.
The next second, a much larger, warmer hand, rougher and hotter than a woman’s, reached over and covered the back of her hand—
The thumb, calloused and thick, seemed to intentionally or unintentionally rub across the back of her hand.
As goosebumps quickly spread from the touched area up her arm, he grabbed one of her fingers and idly played with it for a while, then suddenly flicked his fingertip—
Effortlessly, he lifted her hand off his wrist.
Jiang Ran felt her hand suddenly empty, Ah Jie’s wrist gone.
Then her own hand fell into a warm palm with clearly defined lines.
Her hand instinctively clenched into a fist, and he silently covered her fist with his palm.
Jiang Ran: “…”
Ah Jie quickly lifted his butt and rushed to the side of Lixingnan and Qiu Nian to escape the trouble.
With the barrier gone, the two people who had been locked in a tense standoff for days were now connected hand in hand, exposed to everyone’s eyes, separated only by one person.
Qiu Nian glanced over, her eyelids twitching: holding hands? Great, that’s right, one day as husband and wife, a hundred days of kindness, how could there be overnight enmity between couples—
Before she could show a look of approval on her face, she saw Jiang Ran frowning and waving her hand to shake off his.
“Don’t touch me.”
Her voice was cold and hard.
Everyone present turned their heads, their expressions varied.
Only the one directly threatened with cold words remained calm, glancing at her indifferently and slowly withdrawing his hand.
He turned to look at Ah Jie: “You’re better off sitting there.”
Ah Jie glanced at Qiu Nian on his left and Li Xingnan on his right, then exclaimed, “Ah!”
Jiang Ran: “Why do you care where others sit?”
“I don’t care,” he said in a low voice, “just not next to you, anywhere else will do.”
A Ju: “……”
So what’s your basis for dragging me into this love triangle?
……
Until the hand passed eleven o’clock.
The people who had been sitting neatly around the sofa were now scattered in every corner of the room.
Li Xingnan occupied the couch playing video games; Aju was checking what liquor was left; Qiu Nian showed strong interest in the dust-covered vintage stereo, seemingly wanting to test if it still worked—
Jiang Ran sat by the bay window, gazing out through the glass.
Beijiao watched her from a distance, several empty liquor bottles already scattered around him. He felt she had drunk enough, and if she continued, who knew what she might say. Driven by the instinct to avoid trouble, he got up from the sofa and said he was going back to sleep first.
Having just recovered from a serious illness, he couldn’t drink alcohol and barely spoke while sitting there, enduring for several hours… Except for Jiang Ran, everyone else had long felt uneasy. Qiu Nian, hiccuping from alcohol, lifted his head from the old-fashioned stereo, his gaze bleary: “Go get some rest. Tomorrow is another day.”
Before Beijiao left, he gave Jiang Ran a deep look.
Jiang Ran had climbed onto the bay window by now, with a blanket draped over her legs, gently swirling the red wine glass between her fingertips.
Outside the window, there was no snowfall today. The rare clear sky even allowed the moon to peek through the clouds. A night breeze swept over the snow outside, lifting white snow dust that rustled against the glass panes.
The streetlights from the neighborhood cast their glow through the glass window into the room, illuminating the young woman’s face with a pale, moon-like radiance, while her dark hair seemed enveloped in a hazy moonlight.
Hearing that Beijiao was about to leave, she slightly turned her face. Her beautiful and delicate features were now slightly flushed from the wine, her gaze hazy and unfocused. She let out a soft hum from her nose.
Bei Jiao stood behind her, gazing at the figure bathed in moonlight.
She sat on a faux fur mat beneath her, her smooth, fair calves lightly brushing against the soft fur. Her gaze lingered on her ankles, and it took all his willpower not to reach out and grasp one, letting it slip back beneath her skirt instead.
The two had been at each other’s throats all night, but now the atmosphere had eased slightly.
It was probably the moonlight falling on the boy’s face, softening his half-awake, half-dreamy expression. He gazed down at her with eyes brimming with deep tenderness…
Once, how much she had craved his undivided attention?
Too bad.
All of it was fake.
Ironically, even he himself couldn’t tell.
Jiang Ran averted her gaze, unwilling to keep looking at him, but unfortunately, the ache spreading in her chest didn’t ease at all.
“Go ahead,” her voice, hoarse from fatigue and resignation, “and ask Ju to bring me a whiskey on the rocks.”
Beijiao turned and left.
A minute later, Ju appeared behind Jiang Ran, carrying two glasses.
She saw his reflection in the glass window, then lazily turned around, took one of the glasses from his hand, clinked it against his, and downed it in one gulp—just as she’d requested, whiskey with ice.
She smiled slightly, “At least he’s reliable as a messenger.”
It sounded like self-muttering, but also as if she were speaking to Ju. She patted the furry blanket beside her and shifted her bulky body to make some space, signaling him to sit.
Ju stretched his long legs and sat down beside her. Unlike his usual energetic and chatty self, he was unusually quiet tonight. He glanced at Jiang Ran and said, “Seriously? You’re going to get drunk on purpose?”
Jiang Ran nodded, then shook her head. She hugged her knees, staring out the window at the swirling snow illuminated by the streetlights, seemingly mesmerized, “Just not feeling good inside, that’s all.”
Ju snorted.
“Do you think I’m overreacting?” she asked.
He didn’t answer immediately. He swirled the ice in his glass, listening to the clinking sound, carefully choosing silence.
The wind was pretty strong tonight, whistling over the eaves like ghostly wails, as if the house might be blown away at any moment.
It was always like this every March, giving the illusion that it shouldn’t still be this cold by now.
Yearning for spring.
Yet also hoping it wouldn’t come.
Such a contradiction.
“You yourself analyzed it pretty clearly, didn’t you?” Ju said indifferently, “So why are you questioning it now?”
Jiang Ran pursed her lips and fell briefly silent.
Lately, it seemed like everyone was trying to mediate—
More accurately, it was Qiu Nian and Li Xingnan. They seemed to think that since Jiang Ran had been alone for so many years, having someone by her side now was actually quite good…
Even if he had many flaws and shortcomings, he could still bring her happiness.
In contrast, Ju unusually refrained from giving much advice, mostly appearing indifferent or noncommittal.
“You opinion matters more to me,” Jiang Ran turned to look at him.
Ju blinked, then gave a knowing, light chuckle. Fellow sufferers, perhaps?
“If Lin Shuang were still alive, just maybe with a bunch of broken bones, what would you do?”
Her eyes gradually lost focus, as if sinking into her own fantasy—imagining what it would be like if Lin Shuang were still alive.
“Probably the same as you. First time, I’d yell at you. Second time, I’d reason with you. Third time, I’d be furious. Fourth time, maybe we’d break up.”
He answered without hesitation, then added after a pause, “But that doesn’t mean we wouldn’t get back together.”
“If we broke up, why get back together? Are we out of our minds?”
“Why not? What else can you do? Who can stand it—when she’s not under your eyes, you just feel something’s going to happen. And she’s not someone who listens to advice anyway. Once her bones healed, she’d still go wherever she wanted. I know exactly what she’d do—better to let her have her way and then reconcile. Less hassle.”
“…What if she keeps going until she’s eighty?”
“At eighty, that’s even better—then it’s a golden love. They can do square dancing together and feed the geese in the park lake. Isn’t that safer than jumping off helicopters and sliding down mountains?”
“…”
That made a lot of sense.
Just like a certain dog.
If Lin Shuang were still alive, during just these few days of lockdown alone, those two would probably have built a castle on the mountain top at Songbei Ski Resort…
Or maybe even dug a tunnel straight through the mountain.
At the very least, they could have torn the roof off this villa.
Jiang Ran was amused by her own fantasy, her lips curving into a soft giggle.
“So break up,” Ju sighed, “definitely break up.”
There was a sense of familiarity in Ju’s tone, as if they were discussing someone who was still alive, someone who was right behind them drinking at this very moment.
“Really break up?” Jiang Ran smiled, her eyes flashing with an unspoken emotion, “You can let go?”
Ju smiled but didn’t answer.
“You can’t.”
She declared decisively, put down her glass, sat up a bit, and leaned toward Ju with one hand supporting her body—her alcohol-laced breath still carried a strong pressure. He instinctively shrank his shoulders and leaned back, his back pressing against the edge of the bay window.
She stared at him, as if she could see straight into his thoughts.
“Otherwise you’d already have a new girlfriend by now, Huang Can.”
Ju had been pretty drunk himself, but at her firm conclusion, the alcohol in his system suddenly cleared up significantly.
Looking down at the woman so close to him, her lips curved into a mischievous smile, addressing him by his full name.
She poked his shoulder with one finger lazily, “You understand how I feel the most.”
She paused.
“That’s why I’m scared of looking at you.”
“…Scared of what?”
“What if I want to stay alone forever after the person I love dies? Damn it, just thinking about it scares me. Suddenly I don’t want to fall in love anymore—while I haven’t fallen head over heels, while he’s still alive—”
Ju wasn’t small by any means, just a bit shorter than Li Xingnan and Beijiao. He went to the gym regularly, so his arms were impressively muscular.
The sensation of poking his arm was hard and solid; her finger almost broke.
At this moment, he expressionlessly grabbed her poking fingers with one hand and finally said after a while, “That’s why I didn’t say much when you insisted on breaking up. I just told you that the mutt’s nature isn’t bad. He might just—”
“He has no heart.”
Jiang Ran finished for him.
Ju released her fingers.
Jiang Ran flopped back.
At this moment, each occupied a corner of the bay window. Jiang Ran looked up and down at her companion, someone she’d known for so many years. She hadn’t really noticed before—hidden under Li Xingnan’s brilliance, Ju was actually quite a presence—
To most people, he was even handsome, with those single-lidded eyes, high nose bridge, and a bit of Australian heritage in his family (she couldn’t remember exactly), giving his features a slightly mixed look…
His dyed yellow hair was tied up, the roots already showing some black, the black-yellow gradient surprisingly stylish instead of messy.
When he turned his face sideways, the earring on his ear glimmered under the night view outside the window, his thin lips pressed into a straight line…
Looking quite unhappy about being exposed for his celibacy.
Still quite cute.
Jiang Ran smiled, lifted her foot, and playfully kicked him with her toes, “We’re in the same boat. Can’t you show a bit of warmth and comfort me?”
Like hell I’ll comfort you,
He slapped her foot away.
With a loud slap, her foot turned red.
She winced, “Ow!” Retracted her foot, turned around to sit up again, and this time, really drunk, she leaned close to him again, bumping her shoulder against his, “Say, do you think we two nutcases with ten levels of trauma are even worthy of finding someone else in this circle? It makes sense, right? Skiing is an extreme sport to begin with. Who the hell would play it without a bit of daring and rebelliousness—”
So everyone in the circle is high-risk.
Ju glanced at her, “So you’re saying everyone else in the circle is young, and only we two are old fogeys?”
His summary was so spot-on that Jiang Ran laughed. Laughing, she let her head fall weakly onto his shoulder, not forgetting to lift her hand and pat his head, mumbling “So yeah.”
“So what?”
Just as he asked, a sharp pain shot through his scalp—Jiang Ran’s hand mercilessly tugged at his hair, forcing him to tilt his head back, frowning, “Let go, you damn—”
“So either find someone who doesn’t ski.”
“Oh, no thanks.” Ju hadn’t even relaxed his frown yet, “Can you stop pulling my hair?”
But Jiang Ran completely ignored his polite request.
“But can you really stop yourself from teaching the person you love how to do what you love? No—you can’t. So that won’t work.”
As if petting a pet, she effortlessly buried her five fingers into his hair, messing up his ponytail, Jiang Ran said, “So we can only grow old together in loneliness.”
She dropped this quite reasonable conclusion, wanting to add something like, when they were old, they could help each other go down the beginner’s slope and push along with the newbies carrying turtles…
“Depend on each other for life!” she declared.
“Depend on your mom—”
Hell no, I won’t depend on a woman with such strong hands for life!
When I’m old, she’ll throw me like a sandbag and I’ll die from being thrown!
Ju was tugged so hard that tears almost sprang from his eyes.
Hearing him almost cry, so genuine, Jiang Ran finally mercifully let go. He instinctively pulled back, but suddenly, her fingers caught onto his hair tie and yanked it off.
Stunned, she looked at the little thing in her hand, “Oops, sorry,” then opened her arms to tie his hair back up for him.
“Forget it, don’t touch.”
Of course, Ju couldn’t expect her to do anything gentle. He reached out, trying to steady the wobbly woman… but she wouldn’t stay still even for a second.
He was about to lose his temper.
He’d had quite a bit to drink too. The two of them pushed and pulled, almost tumbling off the windowsill together. He frantically reached out to steady her—
She chuckled, spreading her hands to gently cup his face, stabilizing her swaying body.
A brief moment of time seemed to stop.
Suddenly, as if sensing the air’s stillness, the woman’s fingertips lightly trembled on the man’s face, her soft laughter abruptly ceasing.
From the corner of her eye, she noticed someone standing nearby—black hoodie, black sweatpants, barefoot without slippers, one hand hanging limply at his side from injury…
Jiang Ran paused, turning her head casually.
At this moment, her fingers still rested on Ju’s jaw.
And about half an hour ago, this teenager should have already gone to bed. But here he was, back again, standing in front of them—
Her current boyfriend, at least in name.
The boy’s pretty, youthful face showed not a trace of emotion.
Cold as always, his usual expression toward outsiders.
His pitch-black pupils held emotions, yet unfathomably deep, reflecting the silver-white light from outside—whether moonlight or streetlight was unclear. That was probably the only light in his eyes.
After a long silence,
Beijiao was the first to break it.
“I forgot my jacket,” he said calmly, “Hope I didn’t interrupt anything.”
Author’s note:
The dog: Let me die!!!
Tai Sui Yellow Amulet Paper FuLu Taoist Love Talisman Traditional Chinese Spiritual Charm Attracting Love Protecting Marriage