The thing about the epidemic is that it is so merciless. At the beginning, people almost got used to a certain rhythm—every night before going to sleep, they optimistically thought, “Today should be the worst day. Tomorrow everything will end, and life will return to normal.” Then the next morning, they’d wake up and unfortunately realize that yesterday wasn’t actually that bad—it was clearly worse today.
This day was the twenty-ninth day of the twelfth lunar month. Jiang Ran felt relieved when she didn’t see any new updates from the housekeeper early in the morning. Taking advantage of the current situation where “exiting was allowed but entering wasn’t” yet strictly enforced, and with express delivery still able to drop off goods at a designated location at the foot of the mountain for self-collection, she hurriedly ordered some ingredients for the New Year’s Eve dinner on her phone. The villa was a Christmas gift from her father in a certain year—not rented. Spending the New Year here required some ceremony. She filled her shopping cart with all sorts of things: food, drinks, daily necessities, and carefully calculated that even if the mountain was sealed off for a month, the five of them wouldn’t starve. Only then did she stop.
By then, her drowsiness had worn off, and she went to the room of the little brat next door. Kicking the door open, she found Xiao Zai still sleeping soundly. When she shook him awake, Bei Jiao thought he was having a nightmare—he couldn’t remember a single day since he met her when she had woken up earlier than him.
“What?!” He hugged his pillow, his face full of resistance. “Are you throwing me out?”
Jiang Ran suspected he wasn’t fully awake yet.
“Get up, we’re putting up Spring Festival couplets,” she patted his back.
Five minutes later, Bei Jiao, now washed and groomed, stood by the table watching the woman carefully take out the essential New Year items—couplets, the character “Fu,” some window decorations, and even a few small lanterns—from an elaborately packaged box.
“Why can’t we put them up later?” He yawned. “We can come back and do it in the afternoon after skiing.”
“Do you know why your past twenty years have been so poor and miserable?” Jiang Ran stuck double-sided tape on the back of the couplets without looking up. “It’s because you never got up early on the designated day to put up the couplets. This is an old tradition from our ancestors.”
“…”
She walked around the room with various small decorations.
Sitting on the sofa, Bei Jiao could only see the hem of her long nightgown fluttering like rolling waves. Her slippers were light blue, and her pale, slender ankles rested on the fuzzy slippers, drawing his gaze for a while.
The slippers looked really soft.
After hanging the lanterns on the doorknobs and taking a look at the couplets, Jiang Ran reached out to adjust the coarse wool sweater that had slipped off her shoulder. She lowered her eyes and ordered the silent person behind her, “Come help.”
The person on the sofa floated over like a ghost.
It was early in the morning, and the temperature outside was about minus four or five degrees Celsius. When Jiang Ran opened the door, she shivered from the cold and muttered, “Let’s get this over with quickly,” then was about to hand the couplets to Bei Jiao to stick them on the door—
The next second, her whole body lifted into the air.
She let out a soft exclamation, then felt herself being suddenly lifted as if by a monster. Her slippers kicked off her feet with a soft “thud.”
The strong, solid arm of the boy supported her waist. Somehow, he effortlessly lifted her so that half of her bottom sat on his hard shoulder muscles.
Jiang Ran blinked, her hand resting on a fuzzy head. Looking down, she couldn’t believe she was sitting on his shoulders—
How broad were his shoulders?
Could they really support her?
Now she was as high as the door frame.
“Stick it.”
He said calmly, with a person sitting on his shoulders.
Seeing her frozen and unmoving for a long time, he looked up, puzzled, and met her gaze. There was no extra expression on his face.
“Aren’t we supposed to get this over with quickly? Aren’t you cold?”
One hand on her waist, he wasn’t as calm as he appeared. His mind was blank… He didn’t know why he had suddenly lifted her up. Now, half supporting and half holding her, he could only feel the soft pressure on his shoulders.
His hand on her waist also felt soft and pliable.
If circumstances allowed, Bei Jiao thought he could maintain this posture forever.
But he couldn’t say that out loud, so he just “hummed” softly, as if urging her.
This low nasal sound brought Jiang Ran back from her shock. Her hand holding the couplet trembled slightly. She “oh”ed softly, quickly tore off the double-sided tape, and lifted her hand to stick the top horizontal scroll on the door frame.
After sticking it, the person beneath her didn’t move.
She tugged at his ear.
He looked up at her again.
“Okay, put me down,” her earlobes were slightly red. “Your shoulders are so hard.”
“Oh,” he said expressionlessly. “There’s harder.”
Jiang Ran: “??”
Before she could recover from her shock, he had already casually lowered her, her feet landing steadily back in the slippers she had kicked off earlier.
As Jiang Ran bent down to put her slippers back on, the door opened, and the boy who had been beside her a moment ago rushed into the house…
She felt a bit lost, feeling like she understood but not really, and instinctively hurried in after him.
She only had time to see his back disappearing into the bathroom.
She hurried after him and was about to call him before the bathroom door slammed in her face—
She braked abruptly in front of the bathroom door and stood there waiting for three minutes, watching his shadow move inside until the sound of the shower being turned on came out.
Half an hour later, Bei Jiao came out.
At this time, Jiang Ran had already crawled back into bed, half-asleep while playing on her phone. She felt the door open, and the boy, who had soaked in the bathroom for half an hour and was almost steamed into a big white steamed bun, squatted by the bed and remained silent for about ten seconds.
Then he reached out and pulled her head out from under the covers.
“Hmm?” She half-closed her eyes.
He leaned over the fluffy quilt and quietly leaned in to “smooch” her on the cheek.
Jiang Ran: “???”
Bei Jiao remained expressionless: “I’m going up the mountain.”
Jiang Ran: “Okay.”
…
About ten minutes after Bei Jiao left, Jiang Ran buried her head back under the covers and fell asleep.
An hour and a half later, her phone rang again.
Startled awake by the loud ringtone, she groggily reached for her phone and mumbled, “Hello,” her voice still heavy with sleep, so drowsy that she even forgot her morning grumpiness.
The person on the other end of the call clearly sounded a bit hesitant upon hearing her voice.
“Haven’t you gotten up yet?”
“… Just fell asleep.”
“What time is it… Are you coming? I’m waiting for you at the cabin below the G-cable,” the boy’s trembling voice came through the phone, “It’s snowing again, I’m cold. Bring me a jacket.”
Sitting on the soft bed, Jiang Ran reached out and pulled the curtain aside to look. Sure enough, outside it was snowing heavily again, with a fresh layer of white snow covering the rooftops.
With the epidemic coinciding with New Year’s Eve, tourists had mostly left in the past couple of days, leaving the entire villa area quiet, occasionally interrupted only by the faint sound of a door opening or closing from a distant location.
In this kind of weather, having finished the pre-New Year chores, it was originally only suitable to relax and go back to sleep. But considering the boy’s voice on the phone, shaking as if he were about to die, Jiang Ran still threw off the covers and got out of bed.
Quickly washing up, she went into Bei Jiao’s room to grab a jacket, then stuffed two hand warmers in her pocket and prepared to head up the mountain.
As she was changing shoes at the door, Qiu Nian, yawning, walked out of his room.
“I heard you two making noise early in the morning. Did you finish putting up the Spring Festival couplets? Aren’t you going back to sleep?”
Jiang Ran waved the jacket belonging to Bei Jiao in her hand. “My little dog is going to freeze to death at the G索.”
“It’s snowing again outside, and he didn’t even wear a jacket? How old is he? Doesn’t he check the weather forecast before going out?” Qiu Nian looked puzzled. “He doesn’t even know to wear more clothes. Do you think he can survive five days without you?”
Jiang Ran leaned against the door frame while opening the door, smiling at that remark.
In reality, Bei Jiao thought that she was the one who couldn’t survive five days without him.
After saying goodbye to Qiu Nian, Jiang Ran headed up the mountain with the clothes in her arms. As usual, the cable car station was nearly empty today. Jiang Ran casually entered a cabin, which was unusually occupied by someone else.
It was a strange girl.
From the moment the cable car started moving, she was on the phone arguing with someone, “How was I supposed to know what’s going on at Longjia Airport? I told you, I asked many people earlier, and their flights were all canceled… It has nothing to do with the weather! When have you ever seen flights not flying in the airports of the three northeastern provinces because of snow? Flights across the country are being canceled on a large scale. Do you understand?”
Jiang Ran glanced at her with half-lidded eyes. The girl probably thought she was speaking too loudly, so she suddenly stopped and gave her an apologetic smile.
Lowering her voice, she continued to scold the person on the other end of the call, “Don’t rush me. I’m more anxious than you right now. I’ve bought and returned tickets three times, it’s like visiting Zhuge Liang three times, which is not easy! I’m from Dalian, and now I have to take a flight with a stopover in Guangzhou just to get back to the three northeastern provinces. I’m praying sincerely that the flight takes off normally! Otherwise, I can only take a bullet train from Changchun to Harbin or Shenyang to fly, but who knows what the situation is like in those two cities!”
She rambled on in frustration, obviously feeling that the operation of flying from Changchun to Guangzhou for a stopover in Dalian was impressively difficult. Finally, she angrily hung up the phone and locked eyes with the seated Jiang Ran.
Jiang Ran gave her a sympathetic smile. “In a hurry to go home for the New Year?”
“Yeah, everything was fine when I came, but now I can’t go back!” the girl said in exasperation. “Sis, if you also want to go home, you’d better run fast. The situation doesn’t look right to me—”
“Hmm?”
“I have a friend who works at the airport, and he told me that 70% of the flights were canceled today. You know, this is during the Spring Festival travel rush… If following the usual procedure, closing the airport will be followed by closing the expressway exits. Once everything is closed, the city will be locked down—”
The girl shivered. “The news just came out yesterday, and today it’s like this. The situation is developing too quickly. You’d better run while you can.”
“I’m spending the New Year at the ski resort this year.”
“At the ski resort? That’s fine, as long as the ski resort doesn’t stop operating…”
The girl continued, staring out the window for a while and muttering, “This is so stressful,” “If the ski resort doesn’t stop operating, I can stay here, at least I can still ski. I’m just afraid that if it stops, I won’t have anywhere to ski—”
“If it stops operating, the resort will issue an announcement.”
“I hope so.”
Their conversation temporarily ended.
After getting off the cable car, Jiang Ran heard the girl ask the station staff, an old man, “Will you be open in a few days?” The old man replied, “No news yet. One day at a time, I guess.” His fluent response clearly indicated that he had been asked this countless times today.
Carrying her skis and walking toward the G cableway, Jiang Ran felt a little distracted. She couldn’t help but worry that the snow season she had eagerly anticipated all year might come to an abrupt end before February even arrived.
But just a few days ago, everything was still fine.
How could this happen?
…
After getting off the cable car, turn left and walk a short distance to reach the G-lift. There was a small cabin at the base of the mountain for skiers to rest, offering drinks and ready-to-eat snacks.
When Jiang Ran arrived, it was still snowing.
Because her mood wasn’t very good, she skied quickly. From the time she told Bei Jiao she was leaving, subtracting the ten-odd minutes on the cable car, it had been less than half an hour in total.
She pulled open the cabin door. Inside, there were two or three people sitting around, each absorbed in their phones.
Her entrance didn’t disturb any of them.
Jiang Ran shook the snow off her coat and walked into the cabin, heading straight for the corner where the little brat was sitting.
He was wearing ski overalls, with only a thick, non-waterproof hoodie underneath. Snow had fallen on the hoodie, melting from his body heat, leaving him soaked and freezing in the wind.
At that moment, Bei Jiao was looking down and chatting with someone on WeChat when suddenly a piece of clothing landed on him. He let out a surprised “Huh!” and quickly pulled the clothes off…
He looked up and saw the woman silently staring down at him.
The previous displeasure vanished in an instant, and the boy’s dark pupils brightened, shifting into another expression.
He grabbed her hand and pulled her to sit beside him: “You’re so fast. Didn’t you just leave?”
After speaking, he remembered who he was talking to. He was fast on the G-cable, sliding down swiftly—
And Jiang Ran could only be faster.
If she wanted to speed up to get somewhere.
… Thinking about this, he seemed to recall something, and his mood became even more cheerful.
His tone was filled with genuine joy.
It reminded one of a puppy sent to the groomer’s, and when it sees its owner through the glass door coming to pick it up, its tail wags so hard it might fall off.
Jiang Ran originally wanted to scold him a bit, but in the current atmosphere, she couldn’t bring herself to do it. She urged him to take off his hoodie, tore open a hand warmer, and stuck it between the layers of his quick-dry shirt and thermal underwear…
During this time, he shivered like a real stray dog freezing in the cold.
Jiang Ran placed his soaked hoodie on the radiator in the cabin to dry. Watching him casually put on the jacket and sit in the corner… She sat down next to him and instinctively reached out to ruffle his short hair.
Bei Jiao was just about to instinctively lean in and nuzzle her when he noticed that her hand paused on his hair. After a slight hesitation, she retracted her hand and asked, “Why is your hair wet too?”
“Huh?”
Bei Jiao put down his phone and touched his hair. Indeed, it was soaked—
It must have been from the snow.
As he was about to say something, he heard her ask, “Where did you go? Didn’t you wear a helmet?”
Her tone barely changed, still gentle.
But who was Bei Jiao? He knew Jiang Ran too well. He understood that when something was out of the ordinary, there was always something behind it. When she spoke to him in a soft and kind manner, it usually meant she was hiding some emotion.
His heart sank. He realized something was off and instinctively wanted to make up a story about having sat outside the cabin for a while…
But the words caught at the edge of his tongue, almost reflexively halting. After a moment’s hesitation, he decided against lying and simply nodded, slowly glancing at her expression before cautiously adding, “I recorded a short video earlier. I took my helmet off for about ten minutes.”
As he spoke, his hand had already reached out to grasp her elbow, as if fearing she might stand up and leave. With his other hand, he pulled out his phone to show her the video he had recorded half an hour ago.
The park features at Songbei Ski Resort are located halfway down the G cableway hill. Sliding down from the top of the G cableway, one passes through the park with its several platforms of varying heights. One can surf down the entire slope before finally reaching the rest cabin at the end of the G cableway.
Sometimes Beijiao would go there to play for a while when he got tired of carving.
Today, at the top of the G cableway, he met up with a group of freestyle skiers he had encountered a few days earlier, including Datou, who had taken him in years ago and whom he had met at the Guangzhou Sunac resort. Running into each other on the mountain brought a strange sense of heartfelt emotion, akin to “true friendship revealed in adversity,” and the group happily entered the park together.
Later, amidst the chaos, someone mentioned that the ski resort might close tomorrow, so they decided to record a nice video to keep as a memory.
Somehow, the definition of “nice” had become slightly skewed, and he ended up taking off his helmet to record a jump video.
In the video, the teenager performed skillfully, smoothly accelerating and taking off from the jump. In the heavy snowfall, his black hoodie flashed by, the large hood flapping in the wind as he took off. His hair flew wildly in the wind.
It was beautiful.
It exuded youthful energy, the kind of carefree attitude seen in those fearless international freestyle skiers who seem to leave their heads at their waistbands when they head out.
Jiang Ran had long known that he was very familiar with the park at Sunac, hanging out with Zhao Keyan and others, that he could jump and grind rails, and that he was pretty good at it.
But.
“You jumped without wearing a helmet?” Jiang Ran asked, as if needing to confirm, “Seriously?”
Beijiao mumbled, “I wasn’t thinking clearly, I just thought the medium jump wasn’t that high—”
“There’s a forest next to the medium jump, and the safety net beside it isn’t even half as high as the jump itself. If you flew off, there’d be nothing to catch you. If you hit a tree, do you think you’d still have your head?”
She interrupted him calmly and handed the phone back.
Beijiao thought for a moment and didn’t argue further. After all, even a three-year-old knows you must wear a helmet when entering a ski resort.
In the past, foreign ski resorts weren’t so strict about mandatory helmet use, but in recent years, with the increasing number of accidents, some resorts have started to enforce the rule.
Though the rules might seem annoying, they’re ultimately for the skier’s own safety.
Beijiao had no response. He deleted the video in front of Jiang Ran and tugged at her sleeve, showing her the photo album on his phone…
This was the most sincere apology he could think of.
Jiang Ran glanced at the “sincere apology” he presented with both hands but didn’t seem particularly concerned about it. She merely furrowed her brow slightly, clearly wishing he wouldn’t hang out with that group of freestyle skiers he met on the slopes last time—
Yes.
She didn’t even need to ask. She already knew that the idea of taking off the helmet to record the video must have come from those freestyle skiers they met that day. From the way they jumped over the nets and skied off the designated tracks, she could tell that group probably danced dangerously close to the edge of safety regulations all the time.
But when the words reached the tip of her tongue, she couldn’t bring herself to scold him too harshly—
He wasn’t a child anymore. He should know what was good for him.
Saying too much would only make her seem annoying.
She sighed, not scolding him. Instead, she reached into her pocket, pulled out a tissue, stood up, and tugged at the drawstring of his hoodie. As he leaned in towards her, she silently wiped the snow from his hair.
It was so cold outside. If his hair stayed wet, the cold wind would surely give him a cold later.
At a time like this, catching a cold would make it hard to go out and buy medicine.
After drying his hair halfway, she turned and threw the tissue away. When she came back, her waist was suddenly grabbed in a tight embrace.
The boy’s damp head nuzzled against her. Sitting down while she stood, his chin rested perfectly on the zipper of her snow jacket as he looked up at her, “Are you angry?”
He seemed to be observing her expression.
However, Jiang Ran’s face remained calm, which made him even more uneasy.
Feeling the arm around her waist tightening endlessly, to the point where she felt actual pain and slightly furrowed her brow, she softly said, “It hurts,” and he immediately loosened his grip, though he didn’t let go.
“I’m not angry,” she said, looking down at his furrowed brow. Her soft fingertip gently touched his furrowed brow, “You should know to be careful for your own sake, not just because you think it might upset me.”
Her voice was gentle and slow, enough to kill.
She lowered her eyes to look at him.
Looking at him like that, Beijiao felt his heart stop beating.
He pulled down his face mask, revealing his handsome face, his eyes sparkling as he gazed at her, as if he completely knew she couldn’t resist this look.
He sat up a bit straighter, his big hand moving from her waist up to her neck, applying a gentle but clinging pressure urging her to lower her head.
Then, cautiously tilting his face upward, he kissed her from below.
It seemed very humble.
But in reality, it wasn’t at all.
His tongue eagerly slipped in, entwining with her soft lips. As he desperately tried to draw in her breath, she could feel his anxiety.
She sighed silently. She hadn’t intended to make him feel uneasy or troubled. Her tightly closed mouth relaxed slightly, easily allowing him in. Her tongue tentatively touched the base of hers.
She moved slightly, and he was startled, immediately pulling back.
At such close proximity, he watched her cautiously for a long time, ensuring she had no adverse reaction before relaxing and leaning in again.
He had been soaked and shivering from the cold, but perhaps the warming patch he had applied earlier worked wonders. Now, his breath was hot and scorching…
The scent of snow and ice spread between their mouths as their kiss remained quietly soundless.
The other few people in the small cabin didn’t even look up. The sound from the short video app was the only noise in the room. One of the guys was even foolishly laughing, unaware of what had happened in the corner.
The young woman bent her head, accepting the boy’s kiss.
When the kiss finally broke slightly, he gently rubbed his lips against hers, then stared at her lips, now flushed from his bite. He was captivated by her slightly parted mouth, revealing half of her pearly white teeth.
A small patch of white, like a seashell, very cute.
Jiang Ran heard the boy whisper in a muffled but sincere voice, “I’m sorry, I won’t do it again next time.”
Acknowledging one’s mistake and changing for the better is a great virtue.
Her hands, which had been hanging at her sides, finally lightly rested on his shoulders. As he anxiously waited for her response, almost to the point of breaking down mentally, he finally heard her softly say, “If there’s a next time, I will be angry.”
As she spoke, her soft fingers absentmindedly pinched his earlobe, then let go.
The boy’s ear tips turned pale and then quickly flushed red. He took a deep breath and said, “Okay.”
The alarm was completely cleared.
Beijiao let out a long sigh, burying his face in her chest, thinking that if she had yelled at him at that moment, he might have stubbornly retorted, “I didn’t die, after all—”
But she didn’t argue.
Just a few words, a single glance.
And a soft, “I’ll be angry next time.”
He was done for.
He was completely under her control without any resistance.
…
The two lingered in the small cabin for a while. Around 11 a.m., Qiu Nian and the others also came up the mountain. The group discussed plans to ski until 3:30 p.m., when the resort’s daytime operation would end.
The G cableway was almost empty, with just the five of them having the entire G cableway to themselves. They could ski with their eyes closed without worrying about anyone coming from behind. By the end, Li Xingnan even said, “It’s so empty it’s creepy.”
In the last hour, they went to the A cableway. There was a bit more activity there, though not much. Occasionally, they could squeeze into the lift together with someone else.
It was strange, really. Usually, the slopes were full of beginners practicing turns or doing flatland tricks and freestyle jumps, with very few carving skiers around…
But at this moment, it seemed like the only people still skiing on the mountain were carving skiers.
Occasionally, they saw someone carrying a hammer-shaped board outside the lift. Upon recognizing their boards placed outside, they would forgo an empty lift and squeeze in with them.
Once inside the lift, they would realize they were sharing it with a group of skiing experts, exclaiming “Wow!” and settling in to chat for a bit.
Thus, in that final hour, Jiang Ran’s group heard countless rumors, all saying the resort wouldn’t make it to the Lunar New Year, and would likely close tomorrow…
By the end, the rumors had become so convincing that even the lift operator, who initially said, “We haven’t received any notice. Where did you hear this?” had changed his tune to, “I really don’t know. Well, go back and wait for further instructions.”
Anxiety spread among the skiers.
On the final ride to the summit, an older skier in the same lift sighed as he stepped out, “This year’s ski season is over!”
That sigh, combined with the sunset at the mountain top, the golden light reflecting off the silver snow, stirred up everyone’s melancholy.
At the summit, it seemed like all the skiers had finally gathered. Acquaintances and strangers alike were taking photos to commemorate the moment. When they saw Jiang Ran and her group disembark the lift, they shouted, “Ran Jie and Erche are here too!” and waved them over to join.
People gradually recognized them in the crowd and called out their names.
In the end, a scattered but enthusiastic group of about twenty to thirty people gathered—different clubs, different sponsors, and a few newcomers, all happily mingling without any sense of hierarchy.
At the cheerful shout of the lift operator calling out “Cheese!” for the picture, the “left-behind children” who had previously declared their determination to stay with Songbei Ski Resort until the very end finally took a group photo at the summit.
After the photo, everyone noisily disbanded and went their separate ways.
The group of skiers exchanged contact information, promising to meet again at the mountain top next ski season, and then slid away on their skis.
The flatland skiers stopped doing tricks, the carving skiers stopped carving, and they all just randomly skied around, arms wide open, embracing the sunset, letting out primal roars—
“2019 to 2020, ski season is over!!!”
“Sealing—our—boards—for—the—season!!”
“Coronavirus—I! F***! YOU! MOM!”
…
When they reached the foot of the mountain, everyone’s phones buzzed with WeChat notifications.
[Important Notice]
[To support national efforts in preventing and controlling the novel coronavirus pneumonia, Songbei Ski Resort will officially cease operations on January 24, 2020.
Thus, the 2019-2020 ski season at Songbei Ski Resort will officially come to an end.
We apologize for not being able to stay open until the last snowy day with you.
As spring approaches and the pandemic fades, let’s meet again at the next ski season.]
Tai Sui Yellow Amulet Paper FuLu Taoist Love Talisman Traditional Chinese Spiritual Charm Attracting Love Protecting Marriage