Chapter 48 – Wherever You Want to Go

Possibly to cheer up Bian Ji, Yan Ankuo took the initiative to propose continuing their previous skiing competition.

Bian Ji didn’t quite understand why Yan Ankuo, a beginner, would insist on challenging him in something he wasn’t good at, but he did need to get out and clear his head, so he accepted Yan Ankuo’s invitation.

With the shift to a romantic relationship, the dating venue naturally became more private than the last time. Yan Ankuo found a private ski resort, with few people and complete facilities.

Bian Ji asked, “Do you still need a lesson this time?”

Yan Ankuo, shameless, said, “A refresher wouldn’t hurt, I’ve forgotten most of it.”

Bian Ji tsked at him, “You forgot the moves and you still dare to compete with me?”

“I had no choice, seeing how happy you were after beating me last time,” Yan Ankuo said. “I want to see you happy.”

Bian Ji felt his heart tingle, secretly categorizing Yan Ankuo as a fox spirit who uses sweet talk to bewilder his opponent before the match: “Enough of that! I won’t go easy on you just because you can talk!”

“That’s right, fairness is important,” the big lawyer agreed.

Unfortunately, Bian Ji was far from a fair teacher. In fact, if his stretching tutorial video were posted online, it might trigger accusations of harassment.

However, the student seemed to enjoy it, even deliberately pulling the teacher’s hand down when it moved to his waist.

“Tighten your core.”

“The core, isn’t it lower down?”

Bian Ji laughed, “Seems like you know what you’re talking about, I don’t need to teach you then.”

“Not really,” Yan Ankuo let go of his hand. “Continue teaching.”

So Bian Ji continued guiding him, “The muscles on the outside of your legs need to work too.”

“And the waistband.”

“And the lower trapezius.”

His hand pressed firmly against the fabric, and Yan Ankuo was a quick learner, completing all the movements assigned by the teacher even in such a distracting environment.

He got close to Bian Ji and asked, “Now, can we start?”

Bian Ji said, “Start when you’re ready.”

Before he could finish speaking, the diligent student cheated, rushing towards the finish line ahead of Bian Ji.

Bian Ji quickly reacted and caught up in one stride.

The two remained close, neither holding back. Bian Ji skied with all his might, able to hear the wind whistling past his ears.

The adrenaline rush made the match incredibly intense. Finally, Bian Ji seized the opportunity during a turn, overtaking his student and reaching the finish line first.

“Not bad, Student Yan!” Bian Ji said half-teasingly, half-jokingly, “You’ve learned to cheat already.”

“Wanted to win,” Yan Ankuo admitted defeat. “Unfortunately, my opponent is too strong.”

Bian Ji was amused, it was alright when his attention was distracted earlier, but now that he relaxed, he felt a sharp pain in his leg.

“Hiss — ” Bian Ji bent over, rubbing his leg. “I think I pushed myself a little too hard, my leg is cramping.”

“I’ll help you.”

There was a small room in the ski resort, converted from a dressing room into a stretching room, probably because there were often members who cramped up after exercising, so they set up this room specifically for that purpose.

The room wasn’t large, only a dozen square meters, with a narrow bed in the middle. Bian Ji sat on it, grunting as he rubbed his calf.

“Relax,” Yan Ankuo squatted down, placing Bian Ji’s calf on his leg and gently massaging the hardened muscle. “Is this too hard?”

“It’s okay.” As soon as Bian Ji finished speaking, he felt someone suddenly press down on the cramping spot, his voice changing pitch, “Ow, ow, ow — “

“I’ll be gentler then.” Yan Ankuo, like a cold-faced judge, said one thing while applying firm pressure to the most painful area.

Bian Ji knew this was the fastest way to relax the muscles, but he couldn’t help it and almost bounced up from the bed.

“Shh,” Yan Ankuo started to distract him, softly singing the lullaby from the night before in his ear.

Bian Ji, like an experimental subject under Pavlov’s control, inevitably thought of last night’s embarrassing words, such as ‘Goodnight, baby.’

Perhaps due to the effective distraction, the rest of the time passed faster than expected. Bian Ji hardly felt any pain, and his calf returned to normal quickly.

“Done.” Bian Ji tried to withdraw his foot. “It doesn’t hurt anymore.”

But Yan Ankuo didn’t seem to intend to stop there. Instead, he held his calf and gently stroked upwards along the skin.

The lawyer’s fingertips, calloused from long hours of desk work, created a tingling sensation when they brushed against the skin.

Bian Ji couldn’t help but shudder.

Yan Ankuo continued upward, then returned to the ankle area, remarking, “So thin.”

“…” Bian Ji, helpless, said, “Yan Ankuo, are you seriously helping me relax?”

Although it was dark in the room and faces couldn’t be seen clearly, Bian Ji could hear Yan Ankuo laughing, “What’s wrong?”

“You keep circling around the ankle.”

“It looks nice.”

Yan Ankuo, considering they were at a ski resort, didn’t elaborate on the unspoken second half of his sentence – such beautiful lines were wasted here and should be put to better use.

Bian Ji, not understanding, pulled his foot back and joked, “You’re not grossed out?”

The two left the stretching room, and it was nearly dark outside, twilight enveloping the city.

Yan Ankuo checked the weather, estimating that it was about to rain. He took Bian Ji’s hand and got into the car, navigating to the nearest restaurant.

In the evening rush hour, coupled with the continuous drizzle in May, the roads were jammed solid. A short two-kilometer stretch took a full half-hour to navigate.

Today, Yan Ankuo surprisingly showed no sign of impatience. He didn’t even suggest switching to another restaurant or taking a different route, calmly chatting with Bian Ji about trivial matters.

“I’m going on a business trip tomorrow.”

“So am I. Where are you going?”

“Nanjing.”

Having known Yan Ankuo for neither a short nor particularly long time, Bian Ji had a rough idea of his travel patterns – basically circling around Beijing, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Shanghai, occasionally going to Yunnan, Guizhou, or the UK to expand his client base. Bian Ji assumed this was another new case, so he asked, “Have you acquired a new client?”

“Not exactly new. It’s a case that came to the firm before the New Year. The party involved hasn’t decided to sue until now, hence the delay until now.” As he spoke, the road ahead finally cleared, and Yan Ankuo hurriedly followed the traffic flow.

“Be careful, there’s a turn ahead.” After reminding him of the road conditions, Bian Ji asked, “How long will you be gone?”

“Three days, returning the day after the day after tomorrow afternoon.” Yan Ankuo said, “Are there any local specialties you’d like me to bring?”

Bian Ji spent some time in Nanjing when he was young and had already experienced all the local delicacies and attractions, so he had no special requests. He thought for a moment and said, “I don’t like duck, anything else is fine.”

Yan Ankuo looked at him, seemingly verifying the truthfulness of the statement.

Bian Ji added, “But don’t buy anything with a short shelf life. I’m flying out the day after tomorrow and won’t be back until next Friday.”

Yan Ankuo was puzzled, “Isn’t it next Wednesday?”

Bian Ji didn’t casually share his schedule, even with Yan Ankuo, who had only glimpsed it once on his phone a few days ago. Bian Ji didn’t expect him to remember so clearly: “Yes, but there’s something else at the base that I must attend.”

“The something else” was actually the management reform proposal that Bian Ji and Yang Tianru and others jointly submitted previously. Since it involved multiple departmental interests, upper management planned to hold a hearing.

“But I won’t be in Shanghai next Friday.” Yan Ankuo sighed. “The police station in Nanjing only has appointment times at the end of the month. I need to take advantage of this opportunity to help the party involved complete the procedures.”

Their schedules perfectly overlapped, and calculating fully, the two wouldn’t meet again until the first of next month at the earliest.

They encountered a red light again ahead, and the traffic slowly came to a halt. The two fell silent for a moment, and Bian Ji spoke first, “It’s okay, we can video call, it’s the same thing.”

This consolation obviously didn’t work.

All the way through dinner, Yan Ankuo didn’t seem very cheerful. Sometimes Bian Ji found it amusing; despite being a formidable lawyer in public, how could he also privately agonize over spending too little time with his boyfriend when in a relationship?

After dinner, they headed home past the peak hour, and the entrance to the elevated highway was finally less congested. Yan Ankuo looked at the rare green patch on the map and hesitated to start the engine to send Bian Ji home.

Bian Ji noticed his hesitation and asked, “What’s wrong?”

Yan Ankuo looked both guilty and sad, “After you leave today, can we only meet again next month?”

Bian Ji nodded, comfortingly stroking his chin.

“In other words,” Yan Ankuo drew an obvious conclusion, “we only have ten hours left together this month.”

Bian Ji was also a little saddened by his words, lowering his head and whispering, “Mm.”

“Bian Ji.” Yan Ankuo paused for two seconds, suddenly leaning over and resting his head on Bian Ji’s shoulder, asking in a pleading tone, “I don’t want to go home tonight.”

Bian Ji was taken aback at first, then looked down to see Yan Ankuo’s pitiful gaze and, thinking of those “ten hours,” his heart softened, stroking his hair and saying, “Okay. You can go wherever you want.”