That evening, they each returned to their separate hotel rooms, as properly as schoolchildren. It wasn’t that Shan Chong wanted to be so proper.
In the afternoon, Wei Zhi had been furious when she found her intimate item in the ventilation duct. She practically chased the man away – a new experience for him, being driven off by her.
At night, they could only find solace in a video call. Thankfully, she answered, wearing her pajamas. She placed the phone on her side, working while chatting with him. Her position was cleverly chosen – from his angle, he couldn’t see what she was drawing, but could just glimpse her side profile as she leaned on the table with raised arms.
The girl’s arms were smooth and delicate. With every turn or stand, the green straps of her top shifted, bringing the rounded curves to life…
Shan Chong wanted to ask if she was ever going to stop. Did she need to be pinned down on the spot before realizing the consequences of her actions?
But the atmosphere didn’t allow for such behavior. The girl was seriously asking him about ski jumping techniques. This time, he didn’t question why she was researching moves she’d never performed. He simply answered whatever she asked, watching her diligently note it down on her phone memo app before returning to her drawing tablet.
Around 1 AM, Wei Zhi yawned and said goodnight, ending the video call to go to sleep. Shan Chong then picked up his phone to check the results of her work.
“18 Cultivation Positions in Another World” has been updated.
Today’s update went something like this – the male lead accompanied the female lead to eat at an inn. In the best room, outside was the bustling street with vendors calling out their wares. People could look up and see the female lead leaning languidly against the window, her eyes lazy but with a hint of redness at the corners…
It turned out that before the meal, the male lead had “eaten” the female lead first.
He had only tasted, mischievously refusing to truly satisfy her. When the waiter knocked to serve the food, he emerged from under her skirt, kissed the corner of her lips, and smiled, saying they should eat first.
Readers below cursed the male lead, calling him not a real man.
Long fingers scrolled across the screen as Shan Chong sneezed and snickered.
Then the female lead removed her underwear and stuffed it into the male lead’s embrace – who would know that the cold-blooded, feared constable was carrying such a thing while investigating cases with a stern face?
During the meal, he held the female lead, wearing only an outer skirt, tightly in his arms. One hand gripped her shoulder, burning hot.
Yet he couldn’t take her right there, and could only endure.
Readers below cheered, saying the male lead deserved it.
Shan Chong finished reading today’s update.
Beside him, Bei Ci rolled over. The phone screen illuminated his face as he remarked, “Master, your girlfriend is getting more and more creative-“
Shan Chong said nothing, lifting the blanket. Before lying down, he turned and gave Bei Ci a meaningful glance.
That look was quite profound.
Bei Ci froze, pondering its implications. After a long moment, he asked, “Don’t tell me- No, Chong-ge, the fundamental difference between humans and animals shouldn’t be, at least shouldn’t be… Tell me you didn’t.”
“I didn’t,” the man replied coldly.
Before Bei Ci could sigh in relief, he added, “At least not under the surveillance cameras.”
Bei Ci: “…”
The creative one wasn’t his little junior sister.
Never underestimate a magician.
Just as an expert isn’t useless, he simply doesn’t act carelessly.
Bei Ci looked at the phone in his hand and put it down with a pained expression: “Then tell me, should I keep following this comic? I’ve been reading it since it started, and now I feel like I might step on a landmine at any moment-“
“As you wish. I don’t care.”
“…”
I care!
I care!
Damn it!
Under Bei Ci’s tearful gaze, Shan Chong thought for a moment and asked, “Should I ask her for some creative fees?”
Bei Ci: “?”
Shan Chong: “Without my help, how could she have updated so smoothly today?”
Bei Ci: “When people go crazy, they dare to ask for any kind of money.”
Shan Chong gave an ambiguous cold laugh, crawled under the covers, turned over, and ignored him.
…
The next day’s itinerary was a day trip to the hospital.
The winter camp courses had finished quickly, and there was still about a month before the New Year. Originally, everyone was hesitating between returning to Xinjiang or going back to Chongli. With Shan Chong’s order, they decisively chose to gather in Chongli.
This matter was discussed at Lao Yan’s hospital bedside.
Then, under her brother’s pressuring gaze, Wei Zhi called Jiang Nanfeng, asking if she was going to Chongli.
The other end was silent for a moment, probably considering for a few seconds, before saying, “It’s almost New Year’s, return tickets are hard to buy. As a freelancer, you should be more considerate and not add to the national Spring Festival travel rush troubles.” Then she mentioned she had just signed up for a street dance class, asking if Wei Zhi wanted to join, saying the teacher was very cute.
Jiang Nanfeng didn’t mean any harm.
How could she know that Wei Zhi had been forced by Lao Yan to put the call on speakerphone?
That casual “cute” left Wei Zhi stunned. She looked up to see the puppy-faced boy in his hospital gown turning green, with grass growing on his head.
After hanging up, the air froze.
Wei Zhi was at a loss for words, finally squeezing out: “I told you not to put it on speaker…”
Not just Lao Yan, even she felt like crying. What a mess this was. As she grumbled inwardly, she leaned back – what was behind her? Shan Chong, of course. The man stood expressionlessly behind her like a door god. She had found him annoying earlier, blocking the light, but now she felt a sense of security.
Just as she leaned against him, she heard the man say lightly from above: “Street dance? Your friend has quite diverse interests.”
Wei Zhi hugged his waist from behind, one hand reaching around his back, frantically tugging at his clothes, signaling him to shut up.
Shan Chong ignored her, looking up at Lao Yan: “You’ve already broken up. No need to sit here with a face full of emotions. Pack up and go back to Chongli… it’s your territory, find someone else, there’s still time before the New Year.”
“…” Wei Zhi looked up, unable to bear it anymore. “Do you have to speak?”
“I’m comforting him.”
“Does his expression look like he’s been comforted by you?”
Shan Chong hesitated, finally taking a serious look at Lao Yan. After a few seconds of silence, he picked up the girl in his arms and suddenly said they had one more errand before leaving, quickly fleeing the scene with her.
Shan Chong’s so-called errand was to visit South City, officially representing the authorities to check on the unfortunate person who had fallen on the Guangrong platform. Originally, it wasn’t his turn to go, but his casual act of picking someone up had made him some kind of moral standard in the snow circle, directly putting him on a pedestal…
Plus, the person’s family had been saying they wanted to meet him in person to express their gratitude.
It took about an hour by taxi.
Arriving at the entrance of South City Third Hospital, the man got out of the car first, then went around to open the door for Wei Zhi. Holding her hand, he led her past the emergency department and orthopedics department, making a round before finding the inpatient department.
Wei Zhi: “Han Yiming might be in the operating room now, do you want to knock on the door?”
The man gave her a lazy glance, as if not understanding what she was saying. After a while, he said: “I just forgot how to get to the inpatient department for a moment.”
There was no one with a better memory than him.
Now he could lie without blinking, his face not reddening nor his heart racing.
As he spoke, he still held her hand without letting go, leading her to the inpatient ward – the man who claimed to have forgotten the way to enter the inpatient department, making seven or eight turns until Wei Zhi was dizzy. He stopped accurately in front of a ward.
It was a large six-person ward. Looking in, the unfortunate person lay in the leftmost bed of the left row, lying flat. Several days after surgery, the monitoring equipment had been removed, making him look less frightening.
A middle-aged woman sat by the bed, looking at her phone.
Judging by her age, she should be his mother.
As Shan Chong and Wei Zhi walked in and put down the fruit basket they had brought as a gesture of sympathy, the middle-aged woman put down her phone and stood up. She looked somewhat nervous, wiping her hands on her clothes before expressing her gratitude to them.
Wei Zhi noticed that her voice was hoarse and tired, with heavy dark circles under her eyes.
But these were just physical manifestations of fatigue.
The woman’s eyes – Wei Zhi dared not look again after one glance.
They were clear, but filled with unconscious numbness and bewilderment.
The unfortunate man lying in bed formally apologized to Shan Chong, who of course wouldn’t hold it against him. Leaning one hand on the bed, he asked about the surgery.
It wasn’t good.
The spine is the most important joint in the human body. Non-professionals never know what unexpected place might suddenly go wrong after a fall –
Of course, it’s possible nothing would happen.
It’s also possible he might never be able to sit up or walk again.
Or there could be a series of issues like incontinence.
This person’s fall was in a bad position. Although he had surgery, whether he could stand up in the future or walk like a normal person was still unknown. All these possibilities were based on long-term, continuous rehabilitation treatment.
This requires a lot of time and money.
For an ordinary family, no one could bear such a sudden blow.
As the man spoke with them, his mother used a cotton swab dipped in water from a cup to moisten his dry lips. She explained that he had been bedridden for several days and wasn’t very willing to eat or drink, his physiological needs were reduced to a minimum.
As she spoke, she turned away to wipe her eyes.
There weren’t many words of blame. The imagined lines like “I told you not to do dangerous things, why didn’t you listen” didn’t appear. In the face of reality, it seemed everyone could understand that after-the-fact reproach was useless.
There was a brief silence in the ward.
The silence was also quite uncomfortable.
The middle-aged woman stood up, carrying a basin, saying she was going to wash a towel to wipe his face. As she turned to enter the ward’s bathroom and the sound of water started, the person lying in the hospital bed smiled and said: “Chong-Shen, when you retired back then, was it actually like this too?”
Shan Chong stood by the hospital bed, looking a bit slow to respond with an “Ah.”
“You didn’t want it yourself, maybe felt a bit unwilling, thinking it was just bad luck, that if given another chance you definitely wouldn’t fall again.” The man’s smile faded as he stared at the ward ceiling, saying expressionlessly, “I’m almost thirty, but these past few days since waking up from anesthesia, seeing my mom like that… She didn’t say anything, but I felt a bit upset. I’m thinking maybe I should just accept my bad luck and give up, not try to prove anything anymore.”
Shan Chong didn’t speak.
“Ah,” the man said, “It’s so annoying. What if I’m paralyzed like this?”
His voice sounded a bit lost.
As if questions he had been holding back for many days were finally spoken aloud.
He probably didn’t expect anyone to answer him.
When the middle-aged woman came out with the washed towel and basin, her eyes were also a bit red. She smiled at the only young girl in the ward, as if a bit afraid of frightening her.
Wei Zhi’s throat felt very dry. She looked at the person lying in the hospital bed, her mind in chaos, as if the disinfectant smell had eroded all her ability to think.
As Shan Chong led her out of the ward, she put her mask back on. Using the mask as cover, she blinked rapidly and took several deep breaths, her fingertips tightening around the man’s hand.
“I was quite lucky back then,” he suddenly spoke.
“When I first entered the hospital, I could still move all my limbs. After X-rays, it showed a compression fracture of the spine, pressing on the nerves, but luckily just short of piercing the membrane, so there was no damage to the spinal cord or cauda equina.”
He turned around, omitting the more dangerous details from back then, only mentioning the good outcome. He didn’t say that he had almost injured his cauda equina, forcing the surgery to be extended by several hours, with the doctor in the operating room stitching that thing until his eyes blurred…
The man spoke casually while raising his hand to adjust the collar of the girl beside him… In the winter cold, the back of his hand was a bit cold, intentionally or unintentionally brushing against her soft cheek.
“So, am I not standing well in front of you now?” he said in a gentle voice. “Your soul-lost look troubles me.”
It didn’t sound like he was truly troubled.
As his hand was about to leave her collar, she quickly caught it.
The next moment, the girl leaned in and hugged him. Her soft arms, unexpectedly strong, seemed to want to break his waist…
As the man was stunned, he heard her muffled voice in his embrace: “I’m sorry.”
“Hm?”
He lowered his eyes.
“Just now, standing by that person’s hospital bed, seeing his mother like that, I thought, if it were you lying in that bed, I would also hope you’d never go to the flying platform again, preferably not even look at one.”
She stumbled over her words.
Her voice immediately became hoarse, as if holding back emotions, “But I know if I asked that of you, you’d be unhappy.”
Her face was pressed tightly against his chest, feeling frustrated.
“I don’t want you to be unhappy either.”
The man was silent for a long while, the corners of his eyes slightly curved. He lowered his head and kissed the top of her head.
Being kissed like this didn’t improve her mood; instead, she felt worse. She shed two tears in his arms, her nose red as she sniffled, “It’s so contradictory.”
People outside want to see you return to the competition platform, shining brightly, like the protagonist of a fantasy novel, unlocking the cheat code of returning to the arena, breaking through obstacles, and bringing glory to the country.
Despite her outward appearance, only those close to her could see the footprints she left on the thorny path she’d traveled. Those footprints might have been stained with blood. When her sword slashed through the thorns, the sound they made as they fell resembled the cold beeping of medical monitors.
People didn’t ignore her pain, offering their highest praise and admiration. But only those close to her knew that lying in a hospital bed was agonizing. Illness always brought despair, not something that could be glossed over with simple words.
The man held the soft, delicate young woman tightly in his arms, his gaze fixed on a spot around the hospital corner, lost in thought. His long fingers unconsciously brushed through her hair as his heart suddenly beat strongly beneath his chest.
He thought he’d never ask anyone this question again, yet at this moment, he found himself unable to control the words that came to his lips. After a brief pause, he heard his voice abruptly ask, “What if I told you I never considered giving up ski jumping?”
His tone was light, even carrying a hint of laughter. However, if one looked closely, they’d see no mirth in his dark eyes, only a sharp and solemn gaze.
How could he ask such a shocking question so casually? She couldn’t understand at all.
Her mind went blank for a moment before reflexively recalling that day at the Big Air training base near the Silk Road ski resort. In the sunset, he had leaped from the high jump, his silhouette elongated in the golden light as he gripped his board…
Even then, she had sensed it, hadn’t she? His unwavering determination to never give up.
So, it wasn’t really surprising.
Blinking, the young woman let out a small “Ah.” This question wasn’t particularly difficult to answer.
Unable to see his expression, her face still buried in his chest, she took a few deep breaths.
“Then you’d better be careful,” she said. “Don’t get hurt. Don’t make me the one sitting by your hospital bed, crying and trying to hide my tears. If you do that, I’ll leave you.”
Hearing her words, the man’s expression softened. A ripple of tenderness crossed his dark, unfathomable eyes.
Bending down to meet her gaze, he quirked his lips. “Really? You’d leave me just for that?”
Wei Zhi’s eyes were as red as a rabbit’s. She pressed her lips together, stubbornly meeting his gaze.
“How heartless,” he teased.
She fell silent, wrapping her arms around his neck and leaning in. Carefully, she removed her mask, then his, and gently kissed the corner of his still-smiling lips.
“Hmm?” He tilted his head, looking at her.
“Shut your crow’s mouth,” she scolded, replacing his mask with no real threat in her voice. “You’re so annoying.”
…
By the time Wei Zhi and the others returned to Guangzhou, it was already afternoon.
The return journey was different from their arrival. The young woman clung to the man like sticky rice dough, sweet and clingy. If the driver hadn’t been a stranger, she might have climbed onto his lap…
It was as if she suffered from some kind of skin hunger syndrome.
No sooner had they returned to the hotel than Bei Ci called, saying the hospital had notified them that Lao Yan had run away.
… Well, let him run. He was due to be discharged the next day anyway. The morning check-up hadn’t shown any problems. Bei Ci went to pay his bills, grumbling, and told Shan Chong to call and ask where he’d gone.
Now Shan Chong felt like he’d raised a son.
He called Lao Yan, but the call was immediately hung up.
Before he could get angry, Lao Yan obediently sent a WeChat message, telling his master that he’d gone to Nancheng.
What could he do in Nancheng but look for Jiang Nanfeng?
The little milk dog, relying on the occasional glimpses of her work information from when their relationship was still good, had remembered the name of her company and gone to find her…
He hadn’t remembered incorrectly.
However, he almost wished he had when the navigation led him to stop in front of an impressive building in Nancheng’s busiest district.
The reality was cruel! The building’s side displayed the names of the companies inside, and Lao Yan immediately spotted Jiang Nanfeng’s studio:
4F, Jewelry and Jade Design Studio, simply named: Nanfeng.
Previously, Lao Yan had thought Jiang Nanfeng’s work was just a small studio, maybe three or four people cramped in one office. Now he realized it was quite different from what he’d imagined. While this commercial building certainly didn’t belong entirely to her, having an entire floor in a high-end office building in Nancheng’s bustling district, where real estate prices rivaled those of Guangzhou, Shenzhen, and Zhen, was no small feat.
Such an office would probably cost one to two hundred thousand yuan a month in rent.
Lao Yan’s annual tuition was just over ten thousand yuan, earned from teaching during holidays.
He was stopped at the building’s entrance. The security guard was responsible and polite, asking for his work badge to scan for entry.
At this point, his baby face became a stumbling block. He looked like a college student, so where would he get a work badge? He didn’t make a fuss, just smiled and asked when the jewelry studio on the fourth floor usually closed. Rubbing his nose, he went to squat outside and wait.
Lao Yan crouched by the roadside, lost in thought for a while, unsure what to say. He vaguely knew Jiang Nanfeng was well-off financially, but he had only been mildly surprised before…
He hadn’t taken it to heart.
After all, whether in Chongli or Xinjiang, expenses were about the same. Apart from different hotels, they split meal costs, and lift tickets were the same price. The difference in wealth was most noticeable in equipment.
But Lao Yan had plenty of sponsors. He had more new boards than he could use, his clothes were sponsored and cost several thousand yuan per set, and even his gloves were over a thousand yuan a pair.
He used these things as a matter of course, never feeling there was anything unusual about it.
Moreover, he was naturally talented at skiing. Wherever there was snow, he shone brightly. People everywhere sought him out for lessons.
Until he left everything related to snowboarding behind and returned to reality.
He was just a college student with some savings.
An ordinary college student.
Perhaps, if he were to fall into the sea of humanity, she wouldn’t even give him a second glance.
The sense of disparity felt like stepping into an abyss.
Lao Yan swayed as he crouched there, lifting his head to look at the building across the street. It felt like a mockery of himself. He scratched his head and checked his phone.
While he had been lost in thought, Bei Ci and Shan Chong had called countless times.
Wei Zhi had also sent him a WeChat message, telling him to give up and questioning why he was so persistent.
Lao Yan didn’t know what he was being persistent about. He just wanted to clear things up face-to-face. Hadn’t he said before, “Whether you stick your neck out or pull it back, it’s still going to be cut”? Now, he had come to face that cut.
He crouched on the street, waiting for over an hour.
In between, he bought a bottle of water, his eyes never leaving the building’s only exit during the entire transaction… As closing time approached, people started coming down.
On the street, luxury cars like Mercedes, BMWs, Audis, and Porsches pulled up one after another, picking up well-dressed white-collar women.
Lao Yan took a sip of water, momentarily confused about what he was doing.
During his bewilderment, he heard the roar of an engine in the distance. Turning his head, he saw a Ninja H2 motorcycle speeding towards them from afar. This city hadn’t yet restricted motorcycles, and the thirty-something thousand yuan bike, primarily black with a touch of green trim, instantly overshadowed the ordinary luxury cars parked nearby.
Besides thrilling extreme sports, boys typically loved vehicles.
According to common perception, few snow-loving boys were indifferent to motorcycles. The Ninja H2 was a dream bike for many, including Lao Yan.
The guy riding it wasn’t bad-looking either. Dressed in full riding gear with a green helmet, he brought the bike to a stylish halt in front of the office building across the street. He removed his helmet, appearing to be about twenty-seven or twenty-eight, with handsome features and the arrogance and disdain of a spoiled rich kid.
Lao Yan gave him a couple of extra glances.
His attention was quickly drawn to the woman exiting the office building.
Today, Jiang Nanfeng wore simple jeans and a shirt, casually topped with a luxury brand coat. She wore sunglasses, and her bright red lips made her young face appear more mature, exuding an unapproachable aura…
She looked completely fine – immaculate makeup, neat hair, rosy complexion – not at all like someone who had just broken up with someone.
As soon as she appeared, some passing office workers turned to look at her.
“…”
He wanted to throw her over his shoulder and walk away, telling everyone to stop staring – she was his.
Lao Yan pressed his lips together, his mood complex. His shoes scraped the ground as he stood up straight.
Just as he was about to cross the street, he saw Jiang Nanfeng look left and right before walking expressionlessly toward the motorcycle guy.
The latter pulled out a spare helmet from the back seat and handed it to her.
She took it.
Standing across the street, Lao Yan was stunned for three seconds. He clenched his hand, inconspicuously slipping it into his hoodie pocket. Taking a deep breath, he stepped forward to confront her.
To say Lao Yan went completely unnoticed would be impossible.
The street was full of office workers, haggard and dusty after a day’s work.
So the aggressively approaching milk dog was quite eye-catching.
He came before Jiang Nanfeng with fire in his eyes, stopping when she first noticed him, looking at him with some surprise.
He stood before her and the motorcycle guy.
… He wanted to grab her wrist, throw her over his shoulder, and stuff her onto a plane back to Chongli with him.
However, with everything laid out before him, he felt rooted to the spot. The young man raised his slightly sour eyelids and said from an arm’s length away, “Our flight back to Chongli is the day after tomorrow.”
His voice sounded pitiful to him.
Jiang Nanfeng stood motionless.
The young man sitting on the motorcycle let out an amused sound, shifting his posture.
Jiang Nanfeng shot him a warning glance, then weighed the helmet in her hand without speaking. A few seconds later, she made a move to put on the helmet…
What was she putting on the helmet for? Obviously to get on the motorcycle and leave.
Lao Yan panicked. His long arm shot out, knocking the helmet away. He grabbed her wrist and practically lifted her into his arms. As soon as the familiar scent entered his embrace, everything awakened in him.
It was unclear where this baby-faced kid got such strength from.
His strong arms wound around her waist, holding her firmly against him. At the same time, he buried his nose in the crook of her neck, sniffing.
Such stubborn and overbearing behavior rarely appeared in him.
Jiang Nanfeng was momentarily stunned.
She heard him lean close to her ear, ruffling her short hair, asking in a hoarse voice, “I apologize. I’m sorry. I was wrong.”
After a slight pause, he asked, “Will you come back with me?”
His tone was sincere.
Jiang Nanfeng was speechless, unsure how to respond.
The young man on the motorcycle whistled at the scene unfolding before him. He got off the bike and patted the sudden appeared kid who was hugging Jiang Nanfeng. “Hey, kid, can you let go of my wife?”
Jiang Nanfeng blinked.
She felt the person embracing her instantly stiffen like rebar.
After a suffocating silence, Lao Yan slowly released her, his fingertips lingering on the back of her head, the pads of his fingers making a rustling sound as they brushed through her hair.
Red-eyed, he ignored the smirking young man beside them and only asked her, “Did you miss me?”
His expression, desperately suppressing some emotion, made Jiang Nanfeng feel that if she shook her head, he might cease to exist.
But she glanced at him and still shook her head.
Lao Yan stared at her, watching her firmly shake her head.
After a moment, he pointed at the young man on the motorcycle beside them: “Just for him?”
The man beside them wasn’t pleased with this comment. He sneered, “What’s that supposed to mean, ‘just for him’? Brother can buy her a Lamborghini. You’d probably get her a bicycle and have to scan a QR code on the street to rent it.”
That was quite a stretch.
But it perfectly struck at the heart of the young man who hadn’t yet entered society.
This is why they say older men are cunning. In just a few sentences, he had dealt a blow to Lao Yan, who was already wavering. He knew exactly what men cared about and hit their weak spots.
What hurt Lao Yan the most was that throughout it all, Jiang Nanfeng hadn’t said a word.
…
Ten minutes later.
Lao Yan had left. Jiang Nanfeng stood silently for a while.
Beside her, the young man was gleeful. Unable to bear it any longer, she threw the helmet in her hand at him. “Jiang Chao, are you sick in the head?”
Jiang Chao cheerfully caught the helmet his sister threw. “Not bad, Jiang Nanfeng. You fool around with a college student, he comes looking for you, and I help you deal with it, yet you turn on me?”
He was inexplicably excited about something.
Noticing his sister’s unhappy expression, he bent down to look at her and exclaimed, “Oh? Are you a bit reluctant to let him go? Hmm, he did look pretty good. Then why did you send him away?”
Jiang Nanfeng couldn’t be bothered to respond to him.
As they were at an impasse, her phone rang. Wei Zhi’s soft voice came through: “Nothing else, but Shan Chong wants to know what you did to his son. If possible, please send back a warm, whole body—”
“I sent him away,” Jiang Nanfeng said in a low voice. “He was fine when he left. I’m not responsible for what condition he’s in when he gets to you.”
Wei Zhi: “Oh.”
Jiang Chao: “Who is it? Little Zhi? Ask her when she’s breaking up. It doesn’t matter if Han Ge is completely dead, I’m ready to queue up!”
As soon as he finished speaking, Jiang Nanfeng’s phone hit him squarely on his high bridge nose. As he yelped in pain and bent over, he heard his sister tell him unequivocally to get lost.