Just like the most frequent word pediatricians in hospitals say to kids who are about to get injections is “relax,” Jiang Ran couldn’t help but feel helpless when she muttered the word for the fifth time.
The firm, full muscles beneath her hands visibly tensed. If she were here to give him an injection today, the steel needle might snap right in his tightly clenched butt muscles.
With every breath he took, his muscle lines seemed to tighten into diamond shapes.
“First time?” she asked.
Was she implying whether it was his first time wearing underwear in front of a girl?
The question was a bit ambiguous. The boy clutching the blanket tightened his arms, veins bulging on the back of his hand. After a while, he gritted his teeth and said, “Do you have to talk like a pervert?”
Jiang Ran saw that he was already too tense. Considering teenagers these days value their pride, she let him off the hook. From then on, she didn’t touch him with her hands again. She simply lifted his floral underwear, sprayed the medicine, and then pulled it back down.
She even thoughtfully pulled it down a bit further to cover more of his thigh, showing great respect for his conservative male virtues.
“Wait until the pain subsides before taking a shower. Wrap it with plastic wrap. Don’t use hot water. For the first couple of days, it’s not suitable for heat therapy.”
She placed the medicine bottle aside and stood up, only to find the person burying his face in the bed still motionless, as if he were dead.
His limbs hung limply over the edge of the bed, like a paralyzed soft-bodied animal.
Unable to resist, she lifted her foot and lightly kicked the sole of his foot dangling at the edge of the bed, asking if he had listened to her.
Only then did the person on the bed reluctantly move a little. His face buried in the blanket, his voice sounded muffled when he spoke. He asked Jiang Ran to turn off the lights first. Jiang muttered, “You’ve got so many requests,” and turned them off.
The room suddenly darkened. Only then did he slowly lift his face from the blanket, turned his head to look at the woman standing behind him. The dim lighting perfectly concealed his expression. He spoke slowly, “You can go now. I’ll take a shower in a while.”
His voice was slightly dry and hoarse.
Yet his eyes were moist and bright. In the shadows, that was the only part of his face Jiang Ran could clearly see.
Jiang Ran stood by the door without moving, scrutinizing him suspiciously from head to toe. After a while, she asked, “Did you cry from the pain?”
Her answer was a pillow flying straight at her.
That night, she lay in bed, listening to the door of the adjacent room opening and closing, followed by the sound of water from the bathroom… The sound of water lasted about twenty minutes, and the person inside still hadn’t come out, as if he were cultivating immortality.
Wrapped in her blanket, she wondered what he was doing in there until she grew drowsy from exhaustion and finally drifted off to sleep.
…
Jiang Ran belonged to the type of person who would fall asleep before midnight and definitely wake up once during the night.
So when she opened her eyes in the middle of the night, she played on her phone for a while until the sky outside turned bright, then yawned and prepared to go back to sleep.
She had just fallen asleep when she felt her blanket being gently touched from the outside. Then, slowly and carefully, one corner was lifted.
Half-asleep, her heart skipped a beat, and she was instantly stunned with fear, thinking a thief had broken into the house…
The next second, she reacted again. She realized she wasn’t alone at home anymore.
There was also a “livestock” living at home.
Drowsily opening her eyes, she indeed saw the puppy crouching at the head of her bed, his hands resting on the edge of the mattress, his chin on the bed, not daring to get too close, his black eyes focused and bright as they stared at her.
Seeing her struggle to open her eyes, his eyes lit up, and he immediately perked up a bit: “You’re awake?”
His voice wasn’t too loud or abrupt, but that didn’t stop Jiang Ran—whose heart had just settled after the sudden fright—from grabbing a plush toy by her pillow and hurling it fiercely at his face!
He was hit on the tip of his nose, “Mm”ed softly, and as the plush toy bounced off, it seemed as if it had eyes of its own, catching it deftly and placing it neatly back on her pillow.
Jiang Ran pulled the blanket up a bit, covering her head: “How did you get in?”
“The door wasn’t locked.” Bei Jiao leaned in slightly and asked, “Do you want breakfast?”
“…If you keep talking, get out.”
A surge of morning anger burned in her chest. Her hand reached out from under the blanket to grab her phone. She glanced at it—it was 8:30 a.m…
8:30!
She hadn’t seen the sun at 8:30 a.m. in a year!
Bei Jiao saw her wrapped in the blanket and hesitated for a moment before reaching out to pull aside a corner of it—immediately hit by her warm, body-temperature scent, smothering his face.
He immediately let go of the blanket and took a few steps back. After thinking for a while, he stood half a meter away from the bed and asked, “Do you want to go skiing?”
“…”
Her mind went blank, not even reacting to what he was saying. She lifted the blanket and sat up, looking at the boy standing by the bed with hopeful eyes. “What did you say?”
“The ski resort opened,” he said, “I don’t have work today.”
Oh my god.
“…The ski resort doesn’t open until 9:30.”
“If we get up now, wash up, and have breakfast, we’ll be there by 9:30.” He had it all planned out, “I want to learn to switch edges today. Song Die already knows how.”
Switching edges means connecting frontside and backside leaf turns with a straight slide. Learning to switch edges basically means you’ve basically learned how to snowboard.
It’s not wrong to strive for progress.
There’s always a saying in the skiing community about making plans to “be the first in” the next day—”top the gate,” meaning to make an appointment to rush in together as the snow resort opens, sliding on the freshly groomed “noodle snow” (noodle snow: fresh snow, just pressed by the snow groomer, with no one having skied on it yet, leaving behind lines that look like noodles, hence the name “noodle snow”)—
But for Jiang Ran, who usually doesn’t open her eyes until noon, such an operation is basically something that only exists in legends.
So sitting by the breakfast table, numbly slurping a small pork wonton, Jiang Ran wondered if she had gone crazy.
“Milk or soy milk?” Bei Jiao sat across from her, fidgeting restlessly on his seat, moving back and forth.
Glancing at him from the edge of the bowl holding the wontons, Jiang Ran said, “I want to drink your blood.”
Bei Jiao: “…Didn’t you wake up yet?”
Jiang Ran: “You just noticed that? I thought the dark circles under my eyes were already deep enough—I must remember to lock my door tonight. I originally didn’t want to treat you like a thief, but now it seems you’re scarier than a thief.”
Bei Jiao: “No need. I have work tomorrow.”
Jiang Ran clasped her hands together: “Great! Do you have any more day jobs? Take on a few more. Just don’t let me see you before 2 p.m… Or maybe I can help you sign up for street cleaning? The plan for the day is in the morning.”
Bei Jiao: “…”
…
When they met Song Die at the entrance of the ski resort, Bei Jiao turned his head with a very forceful and emotional gesture, staring at Jiang Ran with an accusatory gaze.
The latter yawned indifferently, “I only charged him four hundred. He’s willing to learn with you. You two should be together; you’ll progress faster.”
Bei Jiao’s gaze changed from “accusing you” to “you’re lying.”
Song Die came in, dropped his snowboard bag, unzipped it, and took out two snowboards—
Both were OGASAKA, commonly known as Xiao He boards, same as BC and GRAY. These three brands are currently the more common brands for carving snowboards among the general public.
The rest are custom-made professional boards with longer waiting periods.
“Look how good Song Die is,” Jiang Ran flipped through the two boards, “getting up early to rent boards for you, and you still find fault with everything.”
As her words fell, she received a 400 yuan transfer from Bei Jiao on WeChat. She lifted her head, a bit puzzled, looking at him. He had a blank expression: “What for?”
“You also have to give me four hundred yuan for the lesson fee?” she said in a very threatening tone, “You’ve forgotten what I told you yesterday?”
“…”
Under her increasingly cold gaze, he clearly felt the teenager wasn’t as arrogant and self-righteous as before. After a brief pause, as if he had just come to his senses, “Can’t I transfer the board rental money to him? Do I have to get a free ride from him? Are we close enough?”
It seemed that getting a free ride was an extremely humiliating thing for him.
Jiang Ran accepted the money and transferred the board rental fee to Song Die, then hurried the two to go change clothes.
…
Bei Jiao didn’t wear the rented clothes from the ski resort today. Under Jiang Ran’s selection, he barely picked out a waterproof pair of pants (bought for rainy days), a thick hoodie with a hood worn over a windbreaker. Not exactly proper ski gear, but at least he looked somewhat decent.
He changed clothes avoiding Song Die, not wanting him to see the bruises on his butt.
This morning when he got up and took a shower, he had seen the bruises in the bathroom. The bruising had spread out, looking colorful and terrible.
While Song Die was on the phone, he quickly changed clothes.
When Song Die was busy making a second call to coordinate something for work, behind him, Bei Jiao silently put on his newly bought ski boots with a sense of ritual… As he put them on, he felt like he was punishing his feet. The toe area was so tight it was numb, and the blood circulation was poor.
He immediately sent a message to Jiang Ran asking if the shoes didn’t fit.
…Then he was scolded fiercely.
[Who’s Darling Duck: Didn’t I tell you to try them on yesterday and you wouldn’t listen! You were showing off halfway through putting them on and taking them off! Now look, 3,600 yuan shoes don’t fit!]
Bei Jiao was a bit taken aback, especially since the shoes cost 3,600 yuan, and they couldn’t be returned or exchanged… Could he really only blame the cheap cigarettes?
He was holding his phone, lost in thought, the apology stuck in his throat, hesitating whether he should take the initiative to apologize, when he saw another message come through—
[Who’s Darling Duck: Will you dare not listen to advice in the future?]
…Fine.
[North Glow: Oh.]
That single “Oh” was already the biggest concession he could make. He couldn’t possibly say something like “No, I won’t” like a sick dog, that would be too weak.
A few seconds after he sent it, he saw another message come through—
[Who’s Darling Duck: It’s good that you know you’re wrong. Just wear them. New shoes are like this, they squeeze, it’s normal. Everyone experiences this. It’ll be fine after a couple of days.]
Bei Jiao: “…”
He couldn’t believe his eyes.
[North Glow: ? Are you scamming me?]
[Who’s Darling Duck: Don’t speak so rudely. What do you mean by ‘scam’? This is called PUA.]
Bei Jiao had no idea what “PUA” meant, but anything coming out of Jiang Ran’s mouth couldn’t be anything good?
He threw his phone away.
Enduring the pain, he finished putting on the shoes and wanted to walk out. Passing by a full-length mirror, he casually lifted his eyelids to take a look. After putting on the new shoes, he no longer looked like a beginner like yesterday.
The inside of his own snow boots was dry and warm, with great support, and there was no worn feeling of being worn by many people. Except for the tightness on his feet, there were no other problems.
Bei Jiao looked at the boy with a cold expression in the mirror. He looked no different from those people outside who could ski well—
At least he didn’t look as out of place as yesterday when he was wearing the rented ski clothes.
He lowered his head, took out a proper face mask for cold protection, and studied the order of wearing it and the helmet. He found that he didn’t quite know how to do it properly, so he turned his head to look at Song Die—
But he wouldn’t ask out loud.
Just learn by watching secretly.
At this time, Song Die had just finished a WeChat call with the basketball team members and put his phone down. He only started to take off his outdoor clothes after Bei Jiao had already put on his snow boots.
Bei Jiao slightly pursed his lips in impatience, thinking this person was really slow.
Watching him take off all his outerwear, he pulled out a tight-fitting thermal top and pants from the suitcase he had dragged in.
“What’s that?” Bei Jiao asked.
“It’s moisture-wicking gear. It absorbs sweat quickly, so you won’t feel cold even if you sweat. And because it’s elastic, it can better stabilize your muscles to prevent soreness.”
Song Die said as he pulled it on.
Bei Jiao watched for a while and couldn’t help but ask, “Is this what they call ‘the underachiever with fancy stationery’?”
Song Die paused mid-motion of putting on the thermal wear, glanced back at him, and found that this time he didn’t seem aggressive at all. He wasn’t being annoying on purpose, but genuinely being annoying.
He ignored him and took out another pair of pants from the suitcase—
This pair of pants, strictly speaking, didn’t look like regular pants. It was a onesie-style thermal pants with sponge pads protruding on the spine of the waist, the buttocks, the crotch, the knees, the front and back of the thighs, and the front and back of the calves.
Song Die wore it over his moisture-wicking pants and ski socks.
“What’s that?”
Actually, Bei Jiao wanted to ask, “How many more layers are you going to wear?”
Song Die finished putting on that strange pair of underwear, pulled up his ski overalls, and the loose ski pants covered all the strange layers underneath… After pulling up his pants, he looked at Bei Jiao somewhat curiously, “Protective gear.”
Bei Jiao: “?”
Song Die: “…You fell yesterday when you caught an edge, then caught another edge after that, rolling around in the snow. Didn’t it hurt?”
It hurt.
What a stupid question.
Bei Jiao’s eyes flickered, he stared at him cautiously before replying, “It was okay, I could handle it.”
“I couldn’t,” Song Die said frankly, “If I fell and got bruises all over my legs, the teammates would ask me questions if I wore basketball clothes. Isn’t that annoying? So I have to wear protective gear.”
“Aren’t protective gears usually fuzzy?”
“No, this is the kind you wear inside. The fuzzy ones are for beginners. Usually, once you start learning to switch edges, you switch to the inner ones… They don’t look as silly, and when you do 360-degree falls while switching edges, the fuzzy ones might shift around, but these won’t.”
Bei Jiao let out an “Oh.”
“Actually, the people who know how to ski all wear them inside. You just can’t see it,” Song Die said, “Unless you’re particularly tough, like you.”
Bei Jiao moved his lips but didn’t say anything, grabbed his helmet, and rushed out of the locker room.
…
Jiang Ran had already changed into her ski clothes and was sitting outside playing on her phone, waiting for the two slow teenagers. When she looked up, she saw her “domesticated wild dog” whirlwind past her.
She looked up from her phone, puzzled, and asked him, “What’s wrong?”
She heard him lower his voice, his breathing not yet steady, as he leaned close to her and spoke in a tone similar to a monitor tattling on a classmate to the teacher, “Song Die secretly wears protective gear under his pants.”
Jiang Ran: “…Huh?”
Bei Jiao: “He’s not tough at all; he just wears protective gear that no one knows about!”
Jiang Ran: “…”
Jiang Ran: “I know that.”
Bei Jiao: “What?”
Jiang Ran: “That protective gear was even ordered by me for him through an agent, with an 20% discount.”
Bei Jiao: “…”
Jiang Ran: “…You know you’re looking at me like I’ve just stabbed you in the heart, right?”
Author’s note:
Bei Jiao: Traitor!
Tai Sui Yellow Amulet Paper FuLu Taoist Love Talisman Traditional Chinese Spiritual Charm Attracting Love Protecting Marriage