Translated by Eve
Edited by Kara
A week passed by quickly. On the morning of the eighth day of the new year, Song Xuanhe drove up to White Mountain.
Zhou Nan’s place was a hot spring villa constructed on the top of a slightly shorter mountain next to White Mountain. There were cable cars that connected the two mountains. Therefore, when Song Xuanhe had arrived at the room that had been prepared for him, he gave his car keys to the butler. He then changed clothes and headed to the cable cars to et up with his friends.
“Xuanhe gege!” Xiao Ranyun was leaning out of the window of the cliff-side tea pavilion. Her smile was radiant. It looked like she was much happier than she had been the last ti they had t. She wore puffy, purple skiing clothes, and her ponytail swayed in the wind as she shouted, “Over here, over here! Xuanhe gege, we’re over here!”
Song Xuanhe waved back. Because of the heavy snow, the shuttle bus could not pass through the mountain road. Under a villa employee’s guidance, he took another path. It took him ten minutes to reach the top of the twenty-or-so-tre-tall arched cliff. That was also where the tea pavilion and cable cars were located.
“Xuanhe gege, we’ve been waiting for you!” Xiao Ranyun giggled as she ran over to tug on Song Xuanhe’s arm. She dragged him over to the cable cars. “The last ti I went skiing was last month. I can’t wait to have fun! Hurry up!”
Song Xuanhe laughed in spite of himself. It seed like not having to participate in Xiao Baicong’s coming-of-age banquet had made Xiao Ranyun ecstatic. Although she had always been lively and easy-mannered, she hadn’t been cheerful to this degree before.
“Miss, do you have to be this excited?” Zhou Nan was sitting inside the pavilion, playing poker. He placed his cards down when he saw the two of them enter. In a lazy tone, he said, “Don’t ask us to tow you while skiing if you end up using up all your energy now.”
“Then, I’ll play with a sled.” Xiao Ranyun’s head bobbed as she put on her gloves. She rushed them to move faster. “Hurry up!”
Zhou Nan clicked his tongue, but there was helplessness in his voice. He turned to an employee, who had been waiting for instructions, and said, “Everyone’s here.”
The employee opened up a cable car. When everyone had entered, he carefully closed the door and indicated for the person in the control room to start it.
Song Xuanhe had driven for a very long ti and so early in the morning. So, he rested his tired eyes as soon as he had entered the cable car. Seeing this, Xiao Ranyun lowered her voice as she chatted with Xiao Shenglin. You could tell that she was excited and happy from her tone. Zhou Nan took a sip of wine and laughed. “Are you really that happy about not having to go to Xiao Baicong’s birthday party?”
“Of course!” Xiao Ranyun turned around to look at him. “You know, every ti I have to go to the Xiao Family’s main residence, I end up feeling depressed for a whole month.”
Xiao Shenglin corrected her. “Ranran, you can’t use ‘depressed’ like that.”
When she had heard this, Xiao Ranyun paid him no mind as she waved a hand. “I end up feeling annoyed and lancholic for a month. Whenever that happens, even my assistant says that I have to take care of myself. Besides, there are already so many rules that I have to follow at ho, and yet, there are sohow even more at the main residence. Just staying there is enough to make you feel stifled. I don’t want to go there at all.”
Xiao Shenglin glanced at her. When he thought about how they were in a cable car right now and thus away from any prying ears, he didn’t say anything else.
Not hearing Xiao Shenglin’s reply, Xiao Ranyun’s eyes curved into a smile. “Gege, you also dislike the main residence. Although you’ve only gone there once, I rember that you had co back with a fever. Didn’t that fever last half a month? It was probably a physical manifestation of your loathing!”
“Xiao Ranyun!”
Xiao Shenglin startled Xiao Ranyun when he had suddenly raised his voice. Even Song Xuanhe, who had been resting his eyes, and Zhou Nan, who had been playing gas on his phone, looked up. They saw Xiao Ranyun’s eyes redden.
“Sorry.” Xiao Shenglin had also been taken aback by his abrupt loss of control. When he saw Xiao Ranyun’s red eyes, he imdiately apologized. “Gege shouldn’t have raised his voice. Sorry.”
Xiao Ranyun shook her head. She pursed her lips, sothing on her mind. In the end, she lowered her gaze and remained silent.
Silence befell the cable car. Although this cable car was a ans of transportation, its other important function was to let you see the scenery outside. Therefore, it moved really slowly. Furthermore, the distance between the two mountains wasn’t short. The cable car hadn’t even travelled a fourth of the way yet. If this silence were to continue until their destination, it might last longer than twenty minutes.
It was just that, no one knew what to say.
Song Xuanhe simply didn’t know how to coax girls. Furthermore, although his relationship with Xiao Shenglin was good, he couldn’t speak without knowing why the other was angry.
Xiao Shenglin felt guilty over this. He doted on Xiao Ranyun like a little sister since they had been young. Usually, unless the circumstances called for it, he would never say anything harsh. At most, he’d just warn her a bit. But now, he had exploded and scared her. He didn’t know how to coax her. Moreover, Xiao Ranyun’s words had aroused mories from long ago, mories he didn’t want to think about. He needed so ti to regulate his emotions.
As such, the task of easing the atmosphere fell onto Zhou Nan. He was the sa as Song Xuanhe. Although he didn’t know why his friend had suddenly blown up, after being friends for so many years, he knew what kind of person Xiao Shenglin was, and he trusted him very much. Therefore, even though he didn’t know the reason why, he would never ask his friend about sothing that he clearly didn’t want to talk about.
It was just that he had really been startled just now. His brain blanked out, and he couldn’t figure out what to say for a mont.
So, the silence continued. Xiao Ranyun leaned against the cable car, her gaze lowered as she took in the scenery outside. Her slightly trembling eyelashes seed to relay her unease.
Song Xuanhe looked away and gave Zhou Nan a signal with his eyes. Zhou Nan got what he ant but shrugged his shoulders helplessly. But midway through the action, he seed to suddenly think of sothing. He squinted his eyes and coughed once before asking Song Xuanhe, “Didn’t you say that you’d spend New Year’s Day with Lin zi and ? Why did you only co today?”
Xiao Ranyun shifted. Her ear turned towards their direction.
Song Xuanhe instantly knew that Zhou Nan was planning on using him to ease the atmosphere. He raised his leg in a lazy manner and casually kicked Zhou Nan’s foot. He then crossed his legs and answered, “I was grounded.”
“You’re this old and still getting grounded? And, on New Year’s Day too. Why?” Zhou Nan looked surprised but also like he was getting a kick out of this. He stared at him, passionately waiting to hear so new gossip. It was obvious that, even if it hadn’t been for what had happened just now, he would have asked about this anyway.
“Are you that happy hearing that I got grounded?”
“Of course.” Zhou Nan shoved a glass of champagne into Song Xuanhe’s hands. He then picked up his own glass to toast him. “Brother, how about entertaining us all with your pain?”
Zhou Nan’s words made him laugh. He said, “I beat up Song Jiabao and sent him to the hospital. Grandpa grounded for a week.”
Zhou Nan was genuinely surprised. He widened his eyes slightly and placed his champagne glass back onto the table. He turned his head to the side and pricked his ears, fully ready to listen to the whole story. “I did hear that Song Jiabao had been admitted to the hospital. But, they had said that it was because he had broken his arm again after falling down the stairs at night. I just knew it was a lie. But, Song Er, what did Song Jiabao, that idiot, do to offend you?”
When she saw how much Zhou Nan wanted to know, Xiao Ranyun also unwittingly turned to look at Song Xuanhe, a curious look on her face. Song Xuanhe shut his eyes and said, “Guess.”
“How could I possibly guess it?!” Only getting half of the gossip was just the worst. Zhou Nan felt extrely unwell. He stuck his head close to Song Xuanhe and said, “Don’t leave hanging. Song Jiabao has provoked you so many tis before. Even when he provoked Xiao Yuanmu, you’d never gotten angry for real. Just what did he do this ti?”
When he saw Song Xuanhe’s eyelashes tremble, Zhou Nan recoiled back, a shocked look on his face. “No way, is it because of Xiao Yuanmu? Didn’t you guys break up already?”
Song Xuanhe opened his eyes. “Who said I did it for Xiao Yuanmu?”
Xiao Ranyun blinked. Her voice was silvery and lodious. “Xuanhe gege, when Zhou Nan gege had ntioned Yuanmu gege just now, your eyelashes trembled.”
“That’s right. Even Ranran saw it. Micro-expressions, you know.” Zhou Nan observed Song Xuanhe’s expression and tactfully left it at that. He then changed the topic and started discussing what they should do during the next few days.
Song Xuanhe smiled slightly as he listened to Zhou Nan speak. Xiao Ranyun also occasionally chid in. The atmosphere once again beca lively.
The cable car slowly continued to move forward. Before they knew it, they were already two-thirds of the way there. Zhou Nan had yet to finish drawing up their itinerary, because Xiao Ranyun had rejected the spa, afternoon tea, and hot spring activities Zhou Nan had arranged for her. She insisted on being with them. She even wanted to mountain-climb with them.
“The things we n will be doing will be pretty dangerous. You’re a girl, why insist on coming with us?” Zhou Nan didn’t understand. “The snowy mountain’s cold. You were already shivering this morning when we first ca out. If you co along, you’ll have to spend the night on the mountain. Are you going to be able to handle that?”
“I can handle it,” Xiao Ranyun said, “I was a mber of the mountain climbing club in high school. Although I’ve never done rock climbing before, a snowy mountain like this should be easy for . Moreover, I was just cold ‘cause I had just flown in from a tropical country! I’ll have acclimatized by the ti we start climbing!”
When Xiao Shenglin heard this, he backed her up in a gentle voice. “Ranran was indeed in her high school’s mountain climbing club. Her school’s club has a bit of a reputation. They’ve gone on many international trips. It’ll be fine for her to co along.”
“But, what about rock climbing….?”
“Zhou Nan gege!” Xiao Ranyun puffed out her cheeks and seriously said, “Although I’m a girl, and my physical strength isn’t as good as yours, my willpower is stronger than anyone else’s! I always make sure to think over my decisions carefully before making them. If you keep on questioning , I’ll start wondering whether you’re just sexist.”
Zhou Nan was taken aback by her serious tone. He then shook his head. “I only arranged those activities for you, because a lot of girls I know don’t like doing the stuff we’re going to do. I don’t hold any prejudiced ideas against won. If you really want to go with us, you’re absolutely welco.”
Xiao Ranyun turned to look at Song Xuanhe. Song Xuanhe nodded. “Co if you want.”
With everyone’s acknowledgent, Xiao Ranyun smiled. A second later, her smile fell, and she suddenly beca dejected. “It would have been good if Dad could have co too.”
Xiao Shenglin ruffled her hair but didn’t say anything. Song Xuanhe and Zhou Nan also knew about what was happening with Xiao Nan. Therefore, they also remained silent.
Xiao Ranyun mumbled, “But, it’s fine like this. The main residence might be thrown into chaos this year….”
Song Xuanhe’s eyelashes quivered again. He turned to look at Xiao Ranyun, but she didn’t expand on what she had said. Instead, she once again looked out the window with keen interest.
……
The four of them had just spent an hour skiing and were about to have lunch. As they passed by a racing course, they heard a cry of alarm. The other guests also turned to look towards the source of the voice. Song Xuanhe and Xiao Shenglin exchanged glances before walking over.
After climbing up a steep incline, they saw a man lying by the trees, his eyes shut. Next to him was a panicked middle-aged lady, hollering for help. She had been the one who had cried out earlier.
When she saw them, she promptly asked, “Are either of you doctors? My husband has asthma. He suddenly fainted just now. Can you save him?”
Song Xuanhe looked around them and asked, “Where’s the instructor?”
“The instructor went to call for a doctor!” The lady hugged the man, seemingly afraid that he’d be too cold. Her tone also gradually turned calm. “If you can, could you please help go ask them to make an announcent asking if there are any doctors amongst the guests here? It might take a long ti before the instructor is able to bring back a doctor from the first-aid area.”
Song Xuanhe and Xiao Shenglin exchanged glances upon hearing this. Even Zhou Nan and Xiao Ranyun looked perplexed. This was a high-class ski resort. The guests were all rich and influential people. There were instructors situated everywhere to help prevent accidents from occurring, and the dical team was amply staffed. Even if a doctor hadn’t co over yet, they shouldn’t take very long to arrive.
Moreover, an ordinary person would prefer the ski resort’s dical team over a stranger.
Although they were confused, they didn’t say anything about it as soone else’s life was currently on the line. Zhou Nan furrowed his brows and pondered for a few seconds before saying, “I think I saw soone I know just now. He’s a doctor. If I haven’t mistaken him for soone else, I’ll be back soon.”
Zhou Nan quickly skied away. Song Xuanhe and Xiao Shenglin also stepped forward to help. anwhile, Xiao Ranyun comforted the trembling lady with a gentle voice and calm expression. Other guests had also rushed over. When they saw what was happening, they all offered their help. There were so questioning murmurs about why the dical team was being so slow.
About five or six minutes later, the doctor still had yet to co. An instructor who had co over had made a call but was only told that the team was still on the way. The middle-aged woman, who was holding onto Xiao Ranyun, paled more and more. Song Xuanhe furrowed his brows. Although the unconscious person was dressed in thick clothes, he was lying down, motionless. There was no way to really protect him from the snowy mountain’s frigid winds.
“A doctor’s here!”
Zhou Nan had quickly skied back over. Next to him was a man wearing goggles. Everyone’s gazes turned towards Zhou Nan. The man beside him took off his goggles and walked over to the unconscious man. He squatted down and started to examine him.
Song Xuanhe raised a brow when he saw the other person’s face. Zhou Nan followed after the man and asked, “Yu Yan, can you help him?”
Yu Yan avoided Zhou Nan. In a flat voice, he simply said, “The patient has asthma. Everyone, give him space. Don’t surround him. Hello. Have you brought his inhaler with you?”
When the lady had seen Yu Yan’s seemingly professional examination, she sighed in relief. But upon hearing his question, she gritted her teeth and shook her head. “No.”
Yu Yan frowned. “Is it on him?”
The lady pursed her lips tightly. “No.”
Song Xuanhe had been backing up when he heard this. He paused. Zhou Nan whispered, “He has asthma but didn’t bring his inhaler? Does he want to die?”
Xiao Shenglin shot him a look to shut him up. Xiao Ranyun blinked at Zhou Nan. Everyone waited for Yu Yan’s diagnosis.
By the ti Yu Yan had made his diagnosis, the instructor had finally brought the dical team over. The dical team was huge, and they had also brought a stretcher with them. They ca over and thanked Yu Yan for his “enthusiastic help.” They then lifted the guest up with intentions of taking him back to the infirmary.
The lady was holding onto the end of the stretcher, her face pale but calm. “This doctor is my husband’s presiding physician’s friend. He understands my husband’s condition well. I want him to be involved in the treatnt.”
The dical team was taken aback. The lady looked at Yu Yan, a pleading look in her eyes.
Yu Yan furrowed his brows slightly. Song Xuanhe and the others also just so happened to notice her expression. They couldn’t help but look at each other.
“Madam, saving your husband’s life is our greatest priority right now. Please trust us. We are professionals. We will do our best to save your husband. Although this doctor may be your husband’s presiding physician’s friend, he is not the presiding physician. Our team has a tacit understanding. Adding a mber will ss up our rhythm. I hope that you will put your husband’s life first.”
As soon as that person had said that, everyone turned to look at the lady. However, she was insistent. “My husband’s illness is special. It is not a typical case. I will be more reassured if there was soone who understood his condition by his side. I hope that you will understand the caution that a wife has for her husband’s life and safety.”
One had ntioned “life” while the other had ntioned “life and safety.” It had only been two additional words, but the aning had completely changed.
At this mont, Song Xuanhe and co. had realized that sothing was fishy. Even the guests who had arrived later had realized that there was sothing abnormal about this.
“Alright,” Zhou Nan said, “I hold so shares in this ski resort—my family’s ski resort. That ans I have the right to get involved. A guest’s safety is extrely important. A guest’s requests and concerns are also very important. It’s fine if your team isn’t used to working with outsiders. Just let Yu Yan be present. After all, he’s a specialist in respiratory dicine. I’ll be more reassured if he were to be there.”
The shareholder had spoken. The dical team would naturally not refuse. Several people lifted the stretcher up, and Yu Yan got onto the bus after them. Only the instructor’s—who had brought the dical team over— expression changed.
Zhou Nan ruffled his own hair, feeling agitated, as he watched the people leave. He clicked his tongue. “What’s going on now? Let’s go. It’s none of our business. Let’s eat.”
Song Xuanhe and the rest of them didn’t discuss what had happened just now. Although they had realized that sothing fishy was going on, it wasn’t like they could resolve it. First of all, they had no proof. Second of all, they weren’t righteous warriors. Furthermore, it was obvious from the way the lady had been purposefully hiding sothing that this wasn’t sothing outsiders could ddle in.
Zhou Nan’s exclusive private room had already had White Mountain’s local delicacies prepared. Song Xuanhe wiped his hands clean with a wet towel and then handed it over to the waiter. He then paused and turned to Zhou Nan. “Did you say that Yu Yan specialized in respiratory dicine?”
“You know him?” Zhou Nan raised a brow in astonishnt.
“Not really.” Song Xuanhe recalled the first ti he had t Yu Yan, and his lips twitched. “He was the doctor who had treated a while back. I had always thought that he was a surgeon.”
“He sotis dabbles in surgery. Well, to be more precise, he covers his friends’ shifts.” Zhou Nan smiled. “His dical knowledge is ample and comprehensive. Don’t worry.”
“I believe that.” Song Xuanhe looked at the flat, wooden design of his chopsticks. In a flat voice, he said, “When I had beaten up Song Jiabao last ti, he had been covering for our usual doctor, so he had been the one to co to my place.”
“On Lunar New Year’s Day?” Zhou Nan’s eyes widened slightly in surprise.
Song Xuanhe nodded. Zhou Nan seed to have suddenly recalled sothing and burst out into laughter. “No wonder he was busy that day. He went to deal with your family.”
When he had heard Zhou Nan’s ambiguous words, Song Xuanhe seed to sense sothing. “You’re close?”
“I guess,” Zhou Nan said casually, “My first love. Would you consider that close?”
Song Xuanhe paused, his expression turning a bit enigmatic. “Were you guys on and off? Did you guys go to the sa high school?”
Zhou Nan looked shocked. “How did you know?”
Song Xuanhe’s expression turned even more strange. He had had his suspicions, but he had now confird Yu Yan’s identity: he was one of Xiao Yuanmu’s seven pursuers. He was the future Xiao Family physician.
When he had seen the other’s na at the hospital in the past, although Song Xuanhe had wondered about it, it had only lasted a mont. After all, there were many people who had the sa na in this world. He had thought that he probably wouldn’t bump into one of Xiao Yuanmu’s future pursuers so easily.
Moreover, Yu Yan was supposed to appear in the later half of the story. The place he would appear at wasn’t supposed to be China, either. It was supposed to be Arica.
Furthermore, the only thing Song Xuanhe had known about Yu Yan—aside from the fact that he would be Xiao Yuanmu’s family doctor in the future—was that he had used to work at a large hospital in China and had ended up leaving his native country for so reason. One of the speculated reasons he had left the country had been the ex-boyfriend with whom he had been on and off.
The reason why this speculation existed was because, in the later half of the book, Xiao Yuanmu had been injured because of a rival company’s trap. At that ti, Xiao Yuanmu had been suspicious that soone in the Xiao Family had also been involved. Therefore, he had been in a dark mood. At that ti, Yu Yan had vaguely talked about his ex-boyfriend to comfort Xiao Yuanmu. He had said, “Even I am still able to believe that there are genuinely good people out there, despite having such a heartless ex. Don’t start to doubt everyone in this world because of sothing as small as this.”
When Song Xuanhe had first read that, he hadn’t known if Yu Yan’s words had been true, because the author hadn’t written about it in detail. The way it had been written had been dry. Furthermore, it had been Yu Yan, who had always been quiet and taciturn, that had said this. No matter how you looked at it, it seed like he had made it up to console Xiao Yuanmu.
——After all, the book’s protagonist, Xiao Yuanmu, hadn’t believed it either.
Song Xuanhe had never expected that the Doctor Yu who he had t a long ti ago was actually one of Xiao Yuanmu’s pursuers, Yu Yan. Furthermore, Yu Yan had been telling the truth. What was even more surprising was that Yu Yan’s “heartless ex” was actually Zhou Nan.
The author has sothing to say:
Zhou Nan: Destiny, too wonderful for words.
Eve: *side eyes Zhou Nan* Looks like you’re going to need a wingman of your own my dude.
Kara: (；๏д๏) Zhou Nan…my dude, what did you do that was bad enough for you to be labeled as the “heartless ex?” You better not hurt Yu Yan in this life, otherwise you’ll be eting my good friends: right fist and left fist. (งಠ_ಠ)ง
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