Chapter 17: The Romance of Arctic Yao (Part 1)

“Jin Yuanbao!”

“My surname is Huang!”

“Sister Huang...” Jiang Beibei needed a favor, so she immediately changed her tone.

Huang Yuanbao looked at her curiously. “Hey, Jiang Beibei, you’re looking all flushed and glowing... What did you get up to last night?”

“Pervert! Saw right through me at a glance.” Jiang Beibei chuckled sheepishly and rubbed her hands. “Ran into a bit of a situation and wanted your advice.”

“I, an expert in relationship matters, am at your service! Ask away—fees depend on the complexity.”

“I kissed Chu Yao yesterday.”

Huang Yuanbao: “…You kissed him?! Did he confess to you yesterday or something? I knew it! You got too excited? Lost control and kissed him?! Are you two together now? You must be! I deserve some credit in this—I’m charging double for today’s session. I want all-you-can-eat lobster!”

Jiang Beibei’s heartfelt confession was instantly derailed. Her brain hit pause. “Yuanbao… what are you even talking about? A confession? What confession?”

“What? He didn’t confess? No way. I practically handed it to you on a silver platter yesterday...”

“Uh...” Jiang Beibei grabbed her hand. “Come on, let’s sit down and sort this out. What do you mean by confession?”

Huang Yuanbao looked like she wanted to crack open Jiang Beibei’s head to see how her brain worked. “My ancestor… Did you read the message I sent you yesterday?”

“I… glanced at it.” Jiang Beibei pulled out her phone and found the message, her brain rapidly analyzing its meaning.

“I was with the filming crew at his workplace yesterday. I met him and even interviewed him,” Huang Yuanbao explained. “I asked if he liked anyone, and he said yes.”

“...And then?” Jiang Beibei swallowed nervously.

“I thought he was talking about you, so I asked him outright if he meant you. He didn’t deny it. Then I told him that, in your eyes, he’s the most special person.”

“What did Yao-ge say?”

“He said, ‘Thanks for letting me know.’ He didn’t smile, but his eyes looked happy.” Huang Yuanbao spread her hands. “Jiang Beibei… turns out you like that cold, unattainable type.”

“...Wait a minute, now I’m feeling a bit overwhelmed.” Jiang Beibei echoed the same words Chu Yao had said earlier.

Her heart was racing, uneasy and confused.

Could it be that Yao-ge actually had… feelings for her too?

She quickly scolded herself in her mind for using such suggestive wording.

Huang Yuanbao asked, “So… he didn’t confess?”

Jiang Beibei pouted. “Nope. Maybe you misunderstood? Maybe he wasn’t talking about me.”

Huang Yuanbao looked incredulous. “Does he have an ex? Doesn’t seem like the type!”

“I don’t know… Probably not?”

“You don’t even know your own brother?!”

“There’s a big age gap… I don’t really know any of them that well. If they don’t bring girlfriends home, how would I know what they’re doing outside? We were never in the same schools either. Even though they always say they’ve never dated and have no experience, I think… everyone’s had a secret crush at some point, right? Maybe we’re just being self-indulgent thinking this is about us...”

Huang Yuanbao got caught up in Jiang Beibei’s overthinking, and after mulling it over, thought it might actually make sense. She asked, “Anyway, what was it you were saying earlier?”

“I kissed him,” Jiang Beibei said. “And I think he knows.”

“What what what? Tell me everything, I’ll help you analyze.”

“My heater broke last night, so I slept at his place. In his bed.”

“He slept on the couch?”

“Originally he said he had night duty and wouldn’t come home...”

Huang Yuanbao nodded. “Right, our film crew stayed late too, shooting night scenes.”

“I got up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom and saw him sleeping on the couch,” Jiang Beibei said, covering her face in regret. “You know… there he was, lying there in front of me, fast asleep, so handsome… Such a good opportunity… Do you think I could hold myself back?”

Huang Yuanbao gasped, “So you went for it?!”

“At first I didn’t plan to kiss him… I just wanted to check if he was asleep. But then… yeah...”

Huang Yuanbao waved her hand in mock disgust. “Ugh, perv.”

“The key thing is,” Jiang Beibei continued, “when I woke up this morning, I found he had gone downstairs to sleep. Do you think he realized I kissed him and wanted to avoid me, so he moved downstairs?”

“...I don’t know. You two are too complicated. Sorry, my brain cells can’t handle this.”

Jiang Beibei: “Then what use are you?!”

“But seriously, Jiang Beibei,” Huang Yuanbao said, “if you like him, why don’t you just tell him? Is it gonna kill you? Or end the world?”

“Pretty much… you wouldn’t understand…” Jiang Beibei dropped her chin onto the table and mumbled. “He’s the big brother who’s always been good to me since we were kids… If I confess and he rejects me, it’ll be so awkward. It’d be just like with my third brother. I’ve been avoiding him lately. He probably feels awkward too—he hardly comes home now.”

“Your third brother? The flirty hotshot lawyer? Jiang Beibei! What the hell happened there? Why didn’t you tell me?!”

“...” Jiang Beibei rolled her eyes hard enough for Huang Yuanbao to see and sighed. “What do I do about Yao-ge… I’ve lost all dignity. Yuanbao, let me crash at your place tonight!”

“It’s really not that serious,” Yuanbao said. “Just pretend nothing happened. Playing dumb is easy, right?”

Jiang Beibei grinned awkwardly. “Well… the thing is, I told him. I told him before I came here. I said, ‘Yao-ge, I kissed you last night’… And then I ran away.”

Huang Yuanbao was stunned.

“Jiang Beibei, I give up on you… Don’t you think before you speak?!”

Jiang Beibei pounded the table with her little fists, crying about her uncontrollable brain: “What else can I do!! I want to know if he knows, but I’m too scared to tell him I like him. I want him to know I like him, but I don’t dare say it out loud! Sometimes my mouth is just faster than my brain — it’s not my fault! I just wanted to be cheeky, you don’t get it! I’m tangled up every day, it’s killing me. I really admire people who can date multiple people at once! I only have one in my heart and I can’t even handle that. I really want to cry!”

At the same time, Chu Yao was also doing a love consultation — his consultation partner was Song Lang, who had no romantic experience at all.

Song Lang: “...I think I must have heard wrong. What did you just say? Can you say it again?”

Chu Yao slightly raised his brow. For the sake of his romantic cause, he had no choice but to shamelessly repeat: “Jiang Beibei likes me, her colleague said so. Last night, she apparently kissed me, maybe it’s true, if my feelings aren’t mistaken. Then this morning she told me that her kiss was just a joke, that’s all. What do you think this means?”

“...” Song Lang made the same expression as Song Da Miao (a cat). He said, “Wait, I’m a bit confused too, let me think it through again.”

Chu Yao closed his eyes wearily. Song Lang used his fingers to count things out.

He muttered to himself, then exclaimed, “Yao’er, this must be a hallucination of yours, right?”

Chu Yao: “I was wrong. I shouldn’t have asked you.”

Song Lang hurried to stop him: “No no no, I’m just really surprised… So what do you plan to do now?”

“...Pick her up from work,” Chu Yao said, “and be honest with her.”

“...Like Yuan’er? Then Beibei cries and goes to talk to her second brother?” Song Lang scratched his head, “Yao’er, Beibei just graduated, but you’re not a kid anymore. I’m worried you two aren’t on the same emotional level, do you get what I mean?”

He clumsily gestured: “A young girl’s romantic fantasies and your grown man’s feelings… if they don’t match, and you misunderstand things, then you’ll be like Yuan’er — both older brothers tearing each other apart overnight, fighting over a young girl. How do you expect anyone to sleep at night?”

It was this fear that made Chu Yao keep quiet.

After Song Lang emphasized this again, Chu Yao fell silent.

“Besides, your mom said it first,” Song Lang said. “Either you behave like a responsible brother and have the right attitude, or you honestly pursue her. But the premise is not to let the girl be troubled by us. Beibei has no parents, a lonely little girl. If she’s wronged, there’s really no one backing her up.”

Before Jiang Beibei graduated from college, Chu’s mother gathered the boys in their building to talk. The gist was that once Beibei stepped out of school, she was a grown woman. If any of the brothers had feelings, it was normal and the adults approved. But one rule: if you don’t have feelings, be a good brother and support Beibei. If you do have feelings and things don’t work out, don’t force it and return to being a brother. Otherwise, bear the consequences yourself.

Song Lang said, “I think Yuan’er didn’t understand this, so a few days ago she just blurted it out. Then she clung on for a few days pretending nothing happened and still wanted the girl to call her ‘third brother.’ Learn from the past to avoid the future… that’s how the saying goes, right? If you’re thinking about it, be decisive. But if it turns out you’re just imagining things, don’t be like Qin Yuan — shamelessly wanting Beibei to still call you ‘brother.’”

Chu Yao suddenly laughed, light but enough to startle Song Lang.

“What are you doing? Scaring me? Tell me what’s funny about what I just said! What’s so funny?”

“Laughing because you’re better than Song Da Miao.” Chu Yao stood up, drank the rest of his tea, put on his coat, and slowly adjusted his black leather gloves.

“Where are you going?”

Chu Yao: “Going to be honest with Beibei.”

“...You’ve decided? What if it doesn’t work?”

Chu Yao smiled faintly and said, “…Then I’ll be working overtime at the funeral home until next year.”

Snow was falling.

Coming out of the studio building, Jiang Beibei stopped and looked toward Chu Yao standing under a tree by the road.

He was wearing a black trench coat, the belt undone and hanging behind him, snowflakes gently falling and melting.

“Yao ge…” (Brother Yao)

Jiang Beibei steadied herself and hurried over, struggling to pull down the furry gloves from in front of her mouth, then called again, “Yao ge!”

Chu Yao slowly took off his gloves, took her hand, and said, “Want to go to the amusement park night session? There will be fireworks tonight.”

“Huh?” Jiang Beibei blinked, not quite registering it at first. Then she nodded instinctively and asked, “Who else is going?”

“Just you and me.”

After saying that, Chu Yao looked toward the Ferris wheel lit with colorful lights.

Tonight there was no wind, just light snow, and the street lamps had turned on.

Jiang Beibei looked up at Chu Yao.

Her warm breath softened the scene before her eyes, and perhaps because of that, today Chu Yao looked gentler than usual in her eyes.

“…Go play? Why did you suddenly think of going to the amusement park?”

“To sit there for a while.”

Jiang Beibei followed his gaze and saw the Ferris wheel.

She withdrew her gaze and noticed Chu Yao smiling at her — unlike usual, it was gentle, like spring water melting ice, making her tremble uncontrollably.

“Yao ge…” Had he lost his memory? Why didn’t he ask about this morning’s ‘joke’?

“Beibei.”

“Hey, Yao ge, do you want to say something?”

“…Let’s go.” He held Jiang Beibei’s hand tightly, warmth flickering in his eyes. “I have so many things to say to you. I hope you’ll allow me to borrow your time to tell you everything.”

He turned his head slightly, tugged at the corner of his mouth, eyes smiling.

Jiang Beibei’s heart skipped a beat.