“Jiao Nian, I mean no offense, but perhaps it’s my imagination—you smell like you’re in a bad mood today.”
“Oh? Is it that pungent?”
“Hm?”
“Does it make you want to dig a hole in the snow and bury your head?”
“…Not really.”
Wei Zhi sat with her hands on her knees, posture perfect like a primary school student.
When Wei Zhi wanted to be well-behaved, she could be incredibly so—and this wasn’t an exaggeration. At her kindergarten graduation ceremony, she was the only child who sat on the teacher’s lap for the graduation photo.
Now, this well-behaved child tilted her head, rubbed her hands together, and pushed up her ski goggles, revealing sincere, caring, round animal-like eyes behind the lenses.
“Skiing should be fun. If you’re not in a good mood, I was wondering how I could cheer you up.”
How’s that? Behaved enough?
Praise me.
Right now.
Wei Zhi’s eyes sparkled, but the man sitting opposite didn’t immediately respond.
However, he wasn’t entirely silent. From behind his ski goggles, he lazily raised an eyelid and glanced at her.
“You want to make me happy?”
Before Wei Zhi could answer, he lifted his goggles and silently stared at the young girl.
His deep brown eyes showed no emotion.
…It was somewhat intimidating.
Wei Zhi instinctively shifted back a bit.
The man’s eyes held a calm expectation.
Yes, expectation.
This was the message Wei Zhi received—though not necessarily accurate—because she had no idea what he was waiting for…
If he was indeed waiting for her at all.
“Could I request a hint?” Wei Zhi’s back was now fully pressed against the chairlift seat. “You’re looking at me so eerily, it’s quite frightening.”
“Alright,” he agreed generously. “The hint is: look into my eyes.”
“?”
Wei Zhi’s lips parted slightly, bewildered. She didn’t understand how looking into his eyes would make him happy…
She gazed at him, her eyes full of confusion.
He gazed back, his eyes full of calm.
“Oh, your eyes are quite nice.”
“?”
“?”
The chairlift suddenly fell silent.
A stalemate.
Until a minute later.
Behind his face guard, the man’s thin lips parted, slowly exhaling.
“Never mind.”
“Huh?”
Before Wei Zhi could react, he had already unhesitatingly put his ski goggles back on. His previously upright posture relaxed as he leaned back, crossing his arms and settling in.
He turned his head to the side with noticeable emotion—
As if the unfortunate skiers tumbling about on the mushroom trail below the chairlift had suddenly become incredibly interesting.
This was a gesture refusing further communication.
He turned away, leaving Wei Zhi looking utterly confused and pitiful.
Wei Zhi’s fingertips, resting on her knees, twitched slightly. She wasn’t particularly surprised by this big shot’s sudden bout of tsundere behavior (*difficult to please, hard to communicate with, moody, causing headaches): today’s chairlift ride was, as expected, exceptionally long… and torturous.
She leaned forward slightly, her gaze fixed on the tip of the man’s nose, partially hidden by his face guard.
“If I may ask, does this mean your mood has worsened?”
After a few seconds of pause.
“Yes.”
Without even moving his eyes, the man answered concisely, “Whoever taught you how to comfort people, make sure they pay you back later.”
“…Well, I didn’t learn it from anyone in particular.”
Knowing full well she was poking the tiger…
She just couldn’t control her reckless mouth.
“Self-taught.”
“Oh.”
“…”
“I suggest suicide.”
“…”
…
The uncle watching the chairlift at the mountaintop welcomed yet another car where the internal passengers nearly pulled each other’s hair out in a fight.
Perhaps due to the unpleasant communication on the chairlift, Brother Jiao Nian seemed possessed after getting off. Originally heading towards the advanced A trail with two boards in his arms, he suddenly had a spark of inspiration, pivoted on his toes, and without warning, turned towards the advanced C trail.
Then, he looked back at Wei Zhi.
Wei Zhi, who had been following him like a duckling: “?”
…How should one describe the advanced C trail?
It’s the kind where, standing at the top of the mountain and looking down, you can’t quite see what the bottom of the first steep slope looks like—a truly advanced trail.
While Wei Zhi was staring at her instructor with a head full of question marks, several experts had already gracefully descended the C trail in various elegant postures… Wei Zhi caught a glimpse of a snowboarder’s jacket adorned with a dazzling five-star red flag as he stylishly departed.
People came and went around them.
Next to the wooden sign marking the advanced C trail stood a speaker, diligently working despite the sub-zero temperatures, repeatedly broadcasting a widely circulated voice message from a short video website—
[This is an advanced trail, this is an advanced trail. Know your limits, if you can ski or not. If you crash into someone, you can’t afford the compensation. If you fall, you can’t afford the injury.]
Wei Zhi: “What’s wrong?”
Shan Chong: “Your friend is ready to learn edge changes.”
Learning edge changes meant you’ve barely learned to ski—this was a famous slogan in the skiing circle to lure people in.
It’s like someone telling you “Japanese is an agglutinative language, it’s simple to piece together, come join the fun”—same principle.
They’re all lies.
So Wei Zhi wasn’t moved at all: “And then?”
Shan Chong: “You haven’t even mastered the back-edge falling leaf.”
Wei Zhi: “Well, don’t feel guilty. This is my good point—I’m not competitive and I don’t have much self-esteem…”
Shan Chong: “I do.”
Wei Zhi: “?”
What does your self-esteem have to do with me?
While she silently resisted, the man had already thrown his snowboard at the starting point of the advanced C trail. Then, he naturally knelt, and patted the space beside him, signaling Wei Zhi to stop talking nonsense and come over to put on her board.
He knelt there, his posture so natural yet determined.
Wei Zhi reluctantly shuffled over and sat down—since learning how to put on her board, Shan Chong rarely let her do it herself. He would always kneel at their destination, have her sit down, quickly put the board on for her, stand up himself, and then pull her up.
Wei Zhi had gone from initial trepidation to getting used to it now.
At this moment, she leaned back on her hands, lazily kicking open the bindings of the fixators with her feet, inserting her foot into the fixator while watching Shan Chong fasten it for her: “I just saw an expert, probably from the national team, go down this trail.”
“So what?”
He quickly fastened her left fixator, his voice sounding indifferent.
“Where did you get the confidence to think I can ski the same trail as a national-level athlete?”
Hearing this, Shan Chong finally looked up at her.
“What are you looking at!”
Wei Zhi stiffened her neck and asked.
“This trail isn’t that steep,” he said matter-of-factly.
At this moment, Wei Zhi didn’t know that there were three famous lies in the skiing world—the second and third being “See you at the top (let’s ski together)” and “I’ll wait for you.”
And “It’s not that steep” ranked first.
Wei Zhi stared skeptically at the stubborn cowlick on top of his head.
As they were talking, they happened to meet some acquaintances. Jiang Nanfeng and her puppy-like playboy instructor had also come up the mountain, and they exchanged warm greetings at the C trail starting point.
“Bro, weren’t you going to the A trail?” Lao Yan asked.
“This person lacks motivation,” Shan Chong casually nodded his chin in the direction of the young girl, his voice emotionless. “Let her see how her friend skis, to feel some pressure.”
“It’s useless, I have no self-esteem, I have no shame.”
“Shut up,” her foot received a light slap, “you talk too much.”
As Wei Zhi rolled her eyes at her overly competitive instructor behind her ski goggles, Jiang Nanfeng giggled, tossed her snowboard on the ground, and bent down to put on her boots.
As she was putting them on, she realized something was off. She turned her head and saw her friend leaning back on her hands, tilting her head innocently, watching her put on her board with rapt attention.
…
While her friend’s instructor.
Was arguing with her while dutifully helping her put on her board.
“Why aren’t you putting on your board?” Jiang Nanfeng asked.
“Why are you putting on your board?” Wei Zhi countered.
“Is this here to pressure you or me?” Jiang Nanfeng turned to Lao Yan, “Look at their instructor!”
Lao Yan smiled happily, his face guard pushed up to his chin, revealing a set of big white teeth: “Strict teachers produce outstanding students.”
Shan Chong, without looking up, was quick to respond: “Doting mothers raise useless children.”
After saying this, with a “click,” he finished fastening Wei Zhi’s board, stood up himself, then extended both hands towards her—
Wei Zhi was about to grab his hands to stand up as usual;
Beside her, Jiang Nanfeng had also just finished fastening her bindings and easily pushed herself up with her arms;
Wei Zhi caught this in her peripheral vision but didn’t think much of it, her fingertips just about to touch Shan Chong’s…
At this moment.
The man, as if struck by some unknown inspiration once again, had another flash of insight—
He withdrew his hands.
“Get up yourself.”
His voice was steady, coming from behind his face guard.
“?”
Wei Zhi sat on the snow with her board on, hands supporting her from behind—looking up, she saw the man standing before her, backlit by the sun, a halo of light outlining his figure, god-like.
God-like in his mercilessness.
“Get up yourself,” Shan Chong repeated cruelly, “When you’re skiing alone in the future, what will you do if you fall? Will there always be someone nearby to pull you up?”
During the past few days of learning, whenever Wei Zhi fell, Shan Chong would always calmly edge his board or simply kneel to pull her up from the snow.
Now he suddenly told her to get up by herself, and his attitude was firm, completely like an elementary school teacher telling the worst student, “If you don’t study, you’ll end up collecting garbage in the future.”
…Although it was ridiculous.
At this moment, Wei Zhi still felt a sense of abandonment by her instructor.
How could this be? Damn it, she was paying him (not).
“Are you taking out your bad mood on me?”
“It has nothing to do with that,” he said impassively. “Who still needs someone to pull them up after skiing for three days?”
Behind her face guard, the young girl’s cheeks puffed up, feeling a bit annoyed too.
She didn’t need him to pull her up anyway.
Thinking about how easily Jiang Nanfeng had gotten up, she tried to imitate her, attempting to push herself up with her hands. But as she exerted force from her waist, her feet naturally pressed down, and before she could stand up, the snowboard flattened and slid forward…
She couldn’t get up at all.
Feeling a bit hurt, she sat down on the snow, looking confused and helpless. “I don’t think I can get up.”
“Try again.”
Shan Chong crouched down and explained the principles of exerting force again, talking about catching the back edge, not pushing out the stomach, using leg strength, lifting the buttocks…
Wei Zhi tried several times but couldn’t understand how to exert force properly. Finally, Shan Chong grabbed the cross-section of her backpack straps, lifting her while emphasizing pushing the buttocks forward and upward, and not thrusting the hips forward…
They struggled for at least several dozen minutes.
Both were sweating profusely.
In the end, Wei Zhi still hadn’t learned how to do it.
Jiang Nanfeng had already gone down using her front edge. She had learned the front edge quickly and was starting to learn the front-edge falling leaf—a technique where the board’s front edge faces downhill while the person faces uphill, sliding left or right.
Wei Zhi was still wriggling on the snow surface like a caterpillar.
Was she not anxious?
How could she not be?
Originally, she truly didn’t care much, but when others could easily do the same thing that she couldn’t learn no matter how hard she tried…
Even with thick skin,
One would become anxious.
Falling back onto the snow surface time after time, even with the little turtle pad, her buttocks were sore from the falls. The seemingly simplest basic movement was stubbornly refusing to be learned.
Her breathing gradually became rapid and heavy. On about the twentieth-something attempt, just as she was about to get up, the snowboard flattened again and disobediently slid forward, causing her to fall heavily onto her back on the snow!
Seeing stars, she angrily slapped the snow surface!
…Her eyes were even starting to sting a bit.
Lying there, she calmed down for three seconds, her hands gradually closing around the snow, swallowing back the tears that had reached her eyes. The young girl was just about to slowly sit up like a chrysalis.
At this moment, a pair of large hands reached out from above, easily pushing away her ski goggles.
Wei Zhi squinted suddenly at the bright sunlight, not having time to react before the other’s shadow loomed over her.
She was able to open her eyes and, through the man’s ski goggles suspended above her, met his gaze.
They stared at each other for several seconds.
Through the light yellow lens of the ski goggles, she saw him slightly narrow his eyes.
The next second, the man exerted force, smoothly scooping her up from the ground.
After half an hour, Wei Zhi finally stood properly on the snow surface like a primate.
Wei Zhi: “?”
Shan Chong’s voice was steady as if nothing had happened: “The first slope of the C trail is a bit steep. I’ll hold your hand going down. Relax, don’t be afraid. Give me your hand.”
Wei Zhi: “?”
Shan Chong: “Hand.”
Wei Zhi: “What hand? Aren’t we learning how to get up anymore?”
“…” The man slightly raised his head, probably glancing at her, and grunted, “Mm. Forget it.”
Wei Zhi found that she didn’t want to hear this answer. Under his urging gaze, she instead reluctantly withdrew her hand: “What do you mean? Do you think I’m stupid? Giving up on me?”
“No, it doesn’t matter.”
“Huh?”
“I said,” he repeated slowly and clearly, “it doesn’t matter if you can’t get up.”
“It does matter. What about when I’m skiing alone in the future and I fall? Will there always be someone nearby to pull me up?”
“…”
“…”
“Using my own words against me, huh?”
The man clicked his tongue dismissively.
At the same time, he bent down, forcibly grabbed the young girl’s uncooperative paw from behind her back, and held it in his palm, slightly tightening his grip.
“If you fall, you fall. I’ll pull you up.”
His low voice sounded in her ear.
Wei Zhi blinked, and for some strange reason, her frustration dissipated, and her cheeks showed signs of warming up.
She instinctively moved her wrist but couldn’t free it from his palm, so she became a bit flustered.
Thus, she argued back.
“You won’t always be around.”
“Oh.”
“Huh?”
“Where else would I go if I’m not here?”
“Who knows, to the ends of the earth, teaching others all over the world, thousands of students, a garden full of successful disciples…”
“Bad temper.”
He interrupted her, his voice lazy but with a hint of strange seriousness—
“No one else wants to take my lessons, only you.”
…
Lunchtime break.
This was a day when everyone had rolled around in the snow without making much progress.
The two exhausted young women gathered near the storage lockers, chatting idly about things like “My instructor is so fierce” and “Your instructor carries your board and even puts it on for you, not even a boyfriend would be so considerate, what’s there to be fierce about” and “You can’t say it like that” and “Then how do you want to say it”…
Amidst their chatter.
Wei Zhi had just taken off her safety helmet when her phone, placed on top of the locker, buzzed. She picked it up to see a message from the considerate-beyond-boyfriend Crayon Shin-chan appear at the top of the screen.
But what he said was something no one would want to see.
[Chong: Where shall we meet later?]
[Little Girl Ji: …Later = tomorrow morning?]
[Chong: You fall and can’t even get up, and you’re talking about tomorrow?]
[Little Girl Ji: ???? Possessed? Amnesia? Parkinson’s? Who just said it doesn’t matter if I can’t get up?]
[Chong: Thinking about it now, it does matter a bit. I’ll have insomnia.]
[Little Girl Ji: ?]
[Chong: No charge.]
[Little Girl Ji: ???????]
[Chong: You must learn to get up by yourself before class ends today. I must see you learn to get up by yourself before I can sleep tonight.]
[Little Girl Ji: I can’t learn :'( ]
[Chong: …]
[Chong: You have to learn even if you can’t :'( ]