Ten minutes earlier, Lao Yan’s expression changed dramatically as he looked up from his phone, his previously relaxed face suddenly freezing.
For a brief moment, Jiang Nanfeng felt a twinge of sadness. Regardless of their initial intentions or hidden thoughts, shouldn’t there be some fondness between people who become a couple? Love should be sweet, not filled with hostility and lost smiles upon seeing each other.
So, this whole situation was disappointing and tasteless.
Jiang Nanfeng stood up gracefully from her chair and walked towards the two nearby. When Lao Yan stammered out “Jiejie,” she ignored him and turned to the puzzled-looking girl beside him.
The girl appeared to be a university student around Lao Yan’s age, her face full of youthful collagen that inspired envy. She watched the short-haired young woman approach, noting her attractive eyes visible above her black mask.
Hearing Lao Yan call her “Jiejie,” the girl turned to him in confusion. “When did you get an older sister?”
Before he could answer, Jiang Nanfeng let out a soft, derisive laugh. Without a word, she reached out to adjust the hoodie the strange girl was wearing – the one Jiang Nanfeng had personally chosen. Her gaze lingered, and she said slowly, “It suits you well.”
Lao Yan wasn’t stupid. He realized being caught in this situation was like a thunderbolt from the blue. He remained silent, knowing explanations would only make him seem guilty and foolish.
In the past, when ex-girlfriends caught him with other girls, they’d usually cry, shout something like “You’ll never find someone who treats you as well as I did,” and run off in tears. If he wanted to maintain the relationship, he’d comfort them later. If not, he’d let them become exes and move on.
But as Jiang Nanfeng approached, he felt inexplicably uneasy. She wasn’t crying or shouting. Her mask hid her expression, but her slightly curved eyes suggested she was likely smiling.
Releasing the hoodie’s hem, she visibly withdrew her hand before looking up and saying, “As the saying goes, ‘Clothes make the man, gold makes the Buddha.’ But if you want nice clothes, you should buy them yourself.”
Jiang Nanfeng’s words were subtle yet unmistakable in their meaning.
The girl, who had been standing there, looked bewildered. She glanced between Lao Yan and Jiang Nanfeng before asking him, “What’s going on? Is she your girlfriend?”
Lao Yan didn’t respond, just staring at Jiang Nanfeng.
“You have a girlfriend again? Why didn’t you tell us?” the girl continued, clearly not one to back down easily. Stung by Jiang Nanfeng’s contemptuous tone and seeing Lao Yan’s unprecedented shock, she felt like scolding him. Why was he so stunned? This wasn’t the first time they’d been in this situation!
She turned to Jiang Nanfeng with a smile. “I’m sorry, miss. Lao Yan didn’t tell me this hoodie was from his girlfriend. He was just opening a package, and I borrowed it because I didn’t dress warmly enough today. We’re just friends who’ve known each other for a long time. Please don’t misunderstand.”
As everyone knows, the phrase “We’re just friends” often carries a hidden implication: If we were going to be together, we would have been already. You’re not even in the running.
She finished speaking, lifting her chin proudly.
Faced with this green tea bitch mixed with white lotus flower – let’s call her “Camellia” – Jiang Nanfeng showed no emotional reaction. She merely turned her head slowly, glanced at Camellia, and said flatly, “To be honest, I’m not very interested in what kind of relationship you have.”
Lao Yan stiffened.
The smile at the corner of Camellia’s lips froze.
Jiang Nanfeng looked at Camellia as if inviting her to deliver more classic lines if she pleased.
“I’ll give the hoodie back to you,” Camellia said. “Don’t be angry with Lao Yan. He’s just careless and doesn’t understand anything.”
She continued, and Jiang Nanfeng was satisfied.
Jiang Nanfeng smiled without speaking, but Lao Yan’s face darkened as he turned to Camellia. “What’s it to you? Alright, can you leave so I can talk to her for a moment?”
Camellia looked displeased. “Did I say something wrong?”
Jiang Nanfeng, observing their back-and-forth, asked, “Should I let you two continue talking?”
She looked at Lao Yan. “After all, there’s nothing for us to discuss.”
She patted another hoodie on the table. “This isn’t expensive. Keep it since it was given to you. It doesn’t matter who wears it. Once it’s given, it’s yours… I don’t have a habit of taking back gifts after a breakup.”
She didn’t mention the snowboard Lao Yan had given her. In truth, during their relationship, if one calculated carefully, although Jiang Nanfeng was the “older sister,” the total value of gifts Lao Yan had given her was indeed higher than what she’d given him. But it was just ski gloves and snowboard bindings, worth maybe ten thousand yuan or so, not enough for her to buy proper clothing. Bringing it up now would seem petty to her.
With that, she prepared to turn and leave.
She had finished speaking, and Lao Yan hadn’t been able to get a word in edgewise.
It wasn’t until he saw her about to leave that he came to his senses and realized this situation was different. He didn’t even need to sit down and think about it; he knew immediately that he didn’t want to end this relationship.
No way.
He stepped forward, intending to grab Jiang Nanfeng’s arm-
But she seemed to have eyes in the back of her head. She suddenly turned around, her wrist perfectly avoiding his hand. She looked up at him slightly, raising a finger in front of his face. “Don’t follow me.”
“…”
“Lao Yan,” she said in the calmest voice, speaking the most terrifying words as the tall young man’s pupils constricted, “I’m serious. Don’t follow me. You’ll make me angry.”
The last four words were emphatic.
Lao Yan truly stood there, dazed, watching her walk away.
…
It wasn’t until Jiang Nanfeng was out of sight that he came to his senses and ran to the ski resort to look for her-
Under normal circumstances, she would usually go find Wei Zhi at times like this, right?
Jiang Nanfeng had indeed gone there but had already left, leaving behind the little cat board thrown on the ground.
November’s new little cat freeride board comes in blue and yellow base colors. The blue is for women, the yellow for men, with the difference being the cat’s eyes on the front of the board…
It could be considered a couple’s set.
Lao Yan had a yellow one, and the blue one was the one he had chosen for Jiang Nanfeng that day in the ski equipment store.
Now that blue little cat board lay quietly on the snowy entrance of Guangzhou Sunac Snow World…
Who would have thought?
Sometimes even an inanimate object without feelings can look as lonely and abandoned as a poor creature.
Lao Yan’s sense of loss instantly doubled.
Wei Zhi asked him, “So what exactly did you do?”
Lao Yan paused, glancing at her. “You know she sent me two hoodies, right?”
Wei Zhi nodded, thinking he must have carelessly lost or misplaced the clothes. That would be a bit scummy and deserve scolding.
Lao Yan picked up the snowboard, brushing off the snow clinging to it. He said numbly, “When I was opening the package, Zhao Ran was watching nearby. She happened to be underdressed today, just wearing overalls and a quick-dry shirt with a fake two-piece. She asked if she could borrow one to put on… How the hell was I supposed to know Jiang Nanfeng would show up? So I gave it to her.”
Chinese has one drawback-
“He,” “she,” and “it” all have the same pronunciation.
Sometimes you can’t even tell if someone’s talking about a person or a dog.
Wei Zhi listened in confusion, looking back at Shan Chong. Shan Chong returned her gaze with an expressionless face and said, “A woman.”
Wei Zhi: “…”
Wei Zhi’s scalp went numb. She had thought Lao Yan had just lost the clothes-
Damn!
It would have been better if he had lost them!
Even throwing them in the trash would be better!
“Are you crazy?” Wei Zhi asked sincerely. “You gave clothes your girlfriend sent you to another girl to wear? You- What? This? What? Is something wrong with your brain? What were you thinking!”
She berated him fiercely. Shan Chongzhi sat down nearby, thinking to himself, “As long as my girlfriend isn’t scolding me, I can enjoy watching her get red-faced and angry. It’s even cute when she looks like she wants to hit someone.”
Lao Yan suddenly raised his head. “I didn’t know Jiang Nanfeng was there!”
“What does her presence have to do with anything?” Wei Zhi was shocked. “Didn’t you tell that Zhao girl’s sister that this was a gift from your girlfriend? How dare she wear something your girlfriend gave you?”
Lao Yan pressed his lips together, remaining silent.
Wei Zhi was utterly stunned. Seeing his guilty expression, she realized he probably hadn’t mentioned having a girlfriend at all. If asked, he likely said it was from “someone,” “a friend,” or “an acquaintance.”
Wei Zhi didn’t know how to react.
At that moment, Lao Yan asked pitifully, “Did she tell you where she went?”
Unfortunately for him, Wei Zhi, who was attracted to Shan Chongzhi’s stoic face, wasn’t susceptible to his act. She replied flatly, “I don’t know. Anywhere without you, maybe even the moon?”
Shan Chongzhi chuckled.
Lao Yan grabbed his sleeve, tugging it.
Shan Chongzhi raised an eyebrow. Seeing Lao Yan’s lost expression, he was about to say something when the young woman shouted, “Don’t tell him!”
The man paused, turning his face back. He saw her standing with her hands on her hips, stomping her foot in anger. “Don’t tell him! Why should you? You should be scolding him too!”
Shan Chongzhi silently gave Lao Yan a look that said, “You heard her, don’t drag me into this.” Then he pulled his sleeve from Lao Yan’s grasp.
After a moment, he said seriously to Wei Zhi, “I’m different. If you gave me clothes, I’d wear them to sleep at night.”
Wei Zhi’s lips curled in exasperation.
Before she could praise his survival instinct, Lao Yan interjected, “Oh, I said the same thing on WeChat before giving the clothes to Zhao Ran.”
Shan Chongzhi was speechless.
Before he could retract his words, the young woman fell silent. Then she let out an earth-shattering “Hmph!” Abandoning her snowboard, she ran out of the snow field, presumably to chase after Jiang Nanfeng.
Shan Chongzhi was left dumbfounded.
He hooked one foot under the rainbow board’s binding.
The man idly moved his foot back and forth on the board’s surface.
After a while, he turned to Lao Yan with a perplexed expression. “Did you have to drag me into this?”
Lao Yan reached for a cigarette pack in his pocket, then remembered smoking was probably prohibited here and put it back. His voice was incredibly hoarse: “Back then in Chongli, I was skiing just fine on the mountain when you called me down to teach Jiang Nanfeng.”
That accusation came out of nowhere.
Truly the master’s good son.
“So because you’re getting scolded, I have to join you?” Shan Chongzhi asked. “I told you to come down and teach, which led you to find a girlfriend. Did I tell you to give clothes your girlfriend gave you to another woman?”
Lao Yan was silent.
Shan Chongzhi pondered, then asked the same question as Wei Zhi: “What were you thinking? Is something wrong with your brain? Are you mentally ill?”
Lao Yan remained quiet.
Shan Chongzhi continued, “Or are you some kind of psycho who wants to see other women cry over you—”
“She didn’t,” Lao Yan said in a ghostly tone. “She didn’t cry or make a scene. She just smiled, said a few words, and left. It was as if she had no emotional reaction at all…”
Shan Chongzhi tried to imagine the scene but couldn’t quite picture it. He then considered what it would be like if Wei Zhi argued with him without crying, just smiling at him. Oh, he thought, that would be terrifying.
He said expressionlessly, “So you’ve grown tired of toying with girls and want to taste what it’s like to be dumped?”
“Chong-ge,” Lao Yan asked with difficulty, “Did she never like me? Was she just playing with me? How else could she react like this?”
“Maybe she likes you too much,” Shan Chongzhi guessed irresponsibly. “She didn’t take back the hoodie she gave you, but she left behind the snowboard you gave her.”
He was just making wild guesses. With only Wei Zhi as his reference, he didn’t understand women at all.
However, this irresponsible guess felt like a knife to Lao Yan’s chest, cutting deep.
It was Lao Yan’s fault for seeking comfort from Shan Chongzhi when he was confused and hurt. His “comfort” only made him feel worse.
He felt worse than ever before.
It was different from anything he’d experienced.
Looking at the snow slope in the distance, Lao Yan felt like he was hallucinating—
Every girl on the slope reminded him of Jiang Nanfeng practicing with him.
She fell repeatedly, and he patiently explained the key points each time.
When she succeeded, he was even happier than she was.
Jiang Nanfeng was the smartest and most talented student he had ever taught. Truly, for a moment, Lao Yan thought he could teach her all the freestyle tricks he knew—things others couldn’t even dream of doing. By the next snow season, she could have been the top female snowboarder in China’s freestyle scene.
They had even made videos together.
They’d slide down the slope together, then simultaneously perform a backside 540, followed by a nollie 360, drive spin 540…
Their synchronization was impressive. When they posted the video, even Bei Ci praised it.
Lao Yan’s eyes reddened.
For the first time in his life, his eyes turned red. His heart ached. He shouldn’t have remembered all these things.
…
Jiang Nanfeng had arrived by car and left the same way.
As everyone knows, a Maserati’s speedometer goes up to 320 km/h. Wei Zhi was genuinely afraid Jiang Nanfeng might lose control and treat China’s highways like German autobahns, driving at 300 km/h. So she stayed on a voice call with her the entire journey.
They chatted about everything, even digging up stories about elementary school classmates to gossip about. Finally, when Wei Zhi heard Jiang Nanfeng enter the Nancheng highway toll station and exit the highway, she felt relieved enough to end the call. Before hanging up, she didn’t forget to ask Jiang Nanfeng to send her a message when she got home.
Jiang Nanfeng agreed, then after a few seconds of silence, said, “I can’t believe I fell for this.”
Wei Zhi felt uncomfortable. After thinking for a moment, she forced herself to say, “It’s not that bad. Lao Yan has more followers than Shan Chongzhi on short video platforms. Freestyle tricks are popular, and he’s quite the player himself. You could say he’s like Somalia… After you left, he looked like his soul had flown away.”
Jiang Nanfeng laughed coldly, saying there was no need for that.
Wei Zhi wanted to say more, but at that moment, someone ruffled her hair. She turned around, still holding the phone, to see the man standing behind her with his hands in his pockets. He said lazily, “Lao Yan’s drunk. We need to go pick him up.”
“Drag him out and leave him on the street, then let fate decide?” Wei Zhi looked at him blankly. “Why are you telling me this?”
“Just asking your opinion,” the man said expressionlessly. “I’m afraid of being implicated… You did the same thing this afternoon.”
Wei Zhi grumbled, “Who told you to say unnecessary things? Don’t you know I’m easily startled?” She hung up the phone.
The man reached out and pinched her face, easily squeezing her mouth with two fingers, bunching up the flesh of her cheeks. “Then why don’t you come along?”
“What would I do there?”
“I don’t know, watch the drama unfold?” Shan Chongzhi pondered. “A bar isn’t a place for someone with a partner to go alone, right?”
Lao Yan’s experience served as a cautionary tale.
Whether he had learned his lesson or not was unclear, but Shan Chongzhi immediately raised all possible defenses he could think of.
Wei Zhi thought it might be interesting to watch the drama unfold, and she didn’t have anything better to do at the hotel anyway, so she decided to go along.
When they arrived at the bar, they found that Lao Yan wasn’t just drunk—he was completely wasted. He was hanging off the edge of the table like a dead dog, with Bei Ci sitting next to him looking exasperated—
“I told you all not to fall in love. Women slow down your blade work.”
They had seen Lao Yan in relationships before, but this might be the first time he’d been kicked to the curb with a smile. Now he was feeling miserable, clinging to Bei Ci all night, one moment saying, “She never liked me, I’m an idiot,” and the next, “She liked me too much, I’m an idiot…”
At this point, he was starting to appreciate the depth and breadth of the Chinese language.
When others are depressed, they might say, “One moment I’m okay, the next I’m not.”
Not Lao Yan.
He followed the principle of “One moment I’m not okay, the next I’m even worse.”
He successfully drank himself into oblivion.
Now, hearing people approach, he struggled to get up, calling out “Jiejie” and seeing Wei Zhi. He swayed, trying to reach for her—
Before his hand could touch her arm, a larger hand from behind her swatted his away with a “smack.”
“This is not a ‘jiejie’ you can touch,” Shan Chongzhi warned mercilessly. “Kid.”
Lao Yan tried to open his eyes wider. He knew it wasn’t Jiang Nanfeng who had come. Lowering his head, he rubbed his sore hand and mumbled to Wei Zhi, “Has she contacted you?”
“Mm-hmm.”
“And then?”
“She told me all sorts of gossip about her ex-boyfriends, including the one from fifth grade—but she didn’t mention you, probably because it’s too recent and not entertaining enough.” Wei Zhi sat down and picked up a raisin from the table. “Lao Yan, do you actually like Jiang Nanfeng?”
Lao Yan didn’t speak, just stared at her dazedly—
But his eyes were visibly reddening.
This guy’s face still had a touch of immaturity, and looking at him like this, that harmless expression did make one feel quite sorry for him.
“So you do like her?” Wei Zhi said mercilessly. “Too bad I’m the one asking, not Jiang Nanfeng—I just want to say, that belated passion is cheaper than grass.”
Bei Ci and Shan Chongzhi listened to the little Shimei bullying the little side. One couldn’t be bothered to intervene, the other didn’t want to.
Lao Yan was out of line, and it was about time someone put him in his place.
Bei Ci sat nearby playing with his phone. As he played, he said, “Hey, Jiang Nanfeng posted on her Moments.”
While Lao Yan floundered about, trying to find his phone like a blind man groping around, Wei Zhi calmly opened her phone, refreshed, and saw Jiang Nanfeng’s post:
[Happy to have once had the chance to chase mountains, seas, snow, and forests for someone. The sunset at the top of Chongli Mountain ski resort was beautiful.
When will winter end? I want to go to the beach this summer.]
Wei Zhi immediately called Jiang Nanfeng: “Are you trying to destroy him completely?”
Jiang Nanfeng replied, “Don’t put it so harshly. The sunset in Chongli was beautiful, and is it wrong that I want to go surfing in the summer?”
Wei Zhi looked back at Lao Yan, who was sitting on the sofa, clutching his phone, his bloodshot eyes fixed on the screen, silent…
He looked like he had aged ten years overnight.
Lao Yan turned to Bei Ci and said, she likes me so much, but I lost her.
Wei Zhi turned away.
“Alright, you’ve achieved your goal. Killing with kindness, right? Well done, well done.”