The crowd parted like the Red Sea for Moses, creating a path through the previously packed corridor connecting Weizhi to the VIPs.
Weizhi shuffled forward slowly, coming to a stop before him. She kept her head down, fixating on the long, straight leg in front of her. He still wore those Nitro snow boots, though they were relaxed, with the front laces hanging loose.
She stared.
And stared.
Until the gaze from above nearly burned a hole in her head. Unable to bear the pressure, she quickly glanced up at the man.
Then.
Unexpectedly, he had been patiently looking down at her the whole time. Caught off guard by his dark eyes, she froze for a second. Under his calm gaze, she looked away, utterly flustered.
The man narrowed his eyes slightly.
Only Weizhi, standing close to him, heard a soft snort from behind his mask.
The hand outstretched before her lifted slightly as if urging her on. The young girl bit her lower lip and reluctantly placed her soft, pale hand in his.
He grasped it, naturally intertwining their fingers.
Turning his head, the man met the bewildered gaze of the event organizer. The latter clearly couldn’t comprehend how, after a brief exchange on and off stage, they were now holding hands as soon as the meeting dispersed—a scene that could fill two episodes of a TV dating show.
Shan Chong, unfazed by being the center of attention, calmly stated, “This is my wife.”
The organizer: “Huh?”
The organizer: “Ah…”
The organizer: “What a coincidence?”
“Mm,” Shan Chong said, “Coincidence.”
As he spoke, he looked back at the young girl walking silently ahead with her head down. He paused, squeezing her soft hand in his… When her face turned red from his grip, he bent down and leaned close to her: “Isn’t it a coincidence?”
That handsome face was mere inches away.
So close she could see his eyelashes trembling.
The setting sun shone through the window, creating a small halo on his eyelashes.
Momentarily dazed, the young girl raised her hand and pushed his face away with a look of disgust. She heard the man chuckle as he straightened up, continuing to lead her forward…
He was still in the mood to tease her.
Weizhi didn’t know if this was a good thing or a bad thing. She couldn’t help but secretly glance at him. The man’s black pupils were as deep as water, his emotions perfectly concealed. She could hardly guess what he was thinking at that moment—
It was as if earlier when the inconsiderate reporter mentioned Shan Shan, his emotions had momentarily slipped out of control, but that was just a brief lapse.
He didn’t initiate any conversation.
She didn’t dare to ask.
Silently, under everyone’s gaze, he led her to the dinner venue. Shan Chong casually chose a table towards the back and sat down. Soon, two or three other VIPs who had seen him joined the table.
Some of them had been chatting with him since entering the conference hall earlier.
From their conversation, it seemed a few were freestyle double-board skiers, one of whom also competed in big air, so they had common ground with Shan Chong.
After sitting down, the man didn’t release Weizhi’s hand. He played with his phone while casually chatting with those around him, the thumb of the hand holding the young girl’s gently caressing her thin, delicate tiger’s mouth, turning that fair skin a rosy red—
Multitasking skillfully.
Weizhi listened to their conversation for a while but couldn’t understand much.
Meanwhile, she was on her phone. Hua Yan and Beici had created a small group chat to ask Weizhi about the afternoon’s events. Hua Yan had just learned that Shan Chong and Weizhi had been invited to the same event by different people—since their sponsors were mostly the same, news of what happened at the meeting spread quickly.
[Sakura Yan: So, the question is, what were you so secretive about drawing earlier?]
[Little Chirp: …]
[Little Chirp: @CK, Beici]
[CK, Beici: Why are you tagging me? Drowning yourself and dragging someone down with you!]
[CK, Beici: Well, you know, the kind of stuff I like?]
Having known each other for so many years, Hua Yan clearly understood Beici’s tastes.
[Sakura Yan: ?]
[Sakura Yan: @Little Chirp Is that true?]
[Sakura Yan: … That’s impressive, little junior. I’d be secretive about that too. Ah, you can’t judge a book by its cover—]
But this wasn’t their main focus. The key point was that they had heard the interview ended on a somewhat unpleasant note. Weizhi briefly recapped the main points for them, mentioning questions about why Shan Chong retired and when he would return to competition.
—All of this was normal.
Weizhi kept her head down, dutifully typing to report the situation to her seniors when she felt someone kick her foot under the table… She paused, looking up at the person beside her. The man was still tilted towards the freestyle double-boarder, chatting. Thinking he had accidentally bumped her, she ignored it.
She moved her foot to the side.
Lowering her head, she continued typing.
[Little Chirp: What wasn’t normal was a reporter mentioning Shan Shan at the end, so Shifu’s mood is very low now—]
Weizhi felt something rough brush against her leg. She moved further to the side, but the sensation immediately followed.
It was ticklish.
After a while, it even started to hurt a bit.
She looked up from her phone, bewildered.
In the chat, Hua Yan and Beici were cursing in various dialects, upset that their Shifu was being bullied by nobodies. They speculated he must be feeling terrible, probably wanting to cry but too embarrassed to do so.
Outside the phone, the young girl carefully lifted the tablecloth to see that at this very moment, the “probably wanting to cry but too embarrassed” Shifu had his snow boot resting on her leg…
He had his leg crossed, and the snow boot, designed for skiing and thus harder than usual, was repeatedly brushing against the exposed skin between her skirt hem and tall boots.
Weizhi: “…”
Weizhi looked up, turning to face the man beside her. He was still talking to the person next to him, not even glancing at her.
Just entangling her leg.
The young girl’s face flushed red. She coughed lightly and tugged at his sleeve, signaling him to behave—the man paused his conversation when she pulled him, turning his head towards her. He made a questioning “Mm” sound deep in his throat.
Before Weizhi could speak, as he leaned towards her, the man swiped his phone screen and showed her what he was looking at—
The phone screen displayed a pink manga interface.
The one she had drawn.
The content showed the female lead’s first glimpse of the male supporting character’s devastatingly beautiful face before his death as a dog-loyal guard. In one scene, she invites him to sit down for a meal… After the male supporting character sat down, she entangled his leg under the table, forcefully making the pure-hearted guard blush furiously, unable to act out of turn.
Nothing was done.
Yet it felt like everything had been done.
Otaku artists are the best at these sneaky situations.
He had been glancing at this while holding his phone earlier.
With a serious face, discussing the differences in takeoff force between double cork jumps in snowboarding and skiing with his peers, all while looking at this kind of content in public.
Weizhi caught just a glimpse, but it was enough to make her choke on her saliva. Her face turned bright red as she struggled to breathe, pounding her chest and coughing violently. Even her usually bright black eyes were covered with a layer of mist—
The young girl’s fair cheeks were flushed, like a freshly picked peach in the sunlight.
“What’s wrong?” The man’s voice was low and gentle. “How did you manage to choke on nothing?”
To outsiders, it seemed Shan Chong had squeezed out all the tenderness he could muster in this lifetime for the person in front of him.
When had they ever seen Shan Chong willingly lower his head to talk to someone?
Hearing her cough once, he immediately reached for her tea, one hand gently patting her back, his movements so gentle they could wring water, all while softly asking if she felt better.
“Chong God, it’s something to see an iron tree bloom!”
“Last snow season, we were still laughing at how cold and emotionless you were, like a skiing machine. Girls couldn’t even get close if they wanted to. Well, look at you now!”
“Hahahahaha, now he’s the one clinging on.”
The people around them teased.
Shan Chong chuckled, letting them say what they wanted.
As Weizhi beside him snatched the water glass from his hand and gulped it down, he discreetly locked his phone screen with a “click” and casually tossed it aside, saying with a smile, “Drink slowly, no one’s fighting you for it.”
Weizhi’s flush spread from her neck to her ears.
Even the back of her hand holding the glass was turning red.
She tried to keep a straight face as she reached out under the table and slapped his offending foot hard. The “pah” sound was loud, but his shoe was so hard he didn’t even feel the pain. Her hand went numb instead.
She heard the man laugh softly next to her ear, audible only to them.
Her leg had been rubbed red.
“Move it,” she said in a hoarse voice, “It’s rough, I’m getting a rash.”
Hearing this, the man’s laughter subsided.
He casually knocked over a lighter someone had placed on the table, apologized, and bent down to lift the tablecloth as if to pick it up. Taking his time, he used the light to look at her leg, which was indeed slightly red.
She was delicate.
The man straightened up, replaced the lighter, and discreetly placed his hand under the table, gently rubbing the reddened area of her skin a couple of times. He heard her hiss and draw in a sharp breath—
He looked down at her.
Her nose was bright red, too embarrassed to lift her head.
His large hand moved from her leg to her hair, lightly ruffling it before pulling her closer to him—
This time, in full view of everyone, as the waiters were busy serving dishes, they saw the man lower his head and place a light, chaste kiss on the tip of the young girl’s nose.
With a smile on his lips, he leaned close to her ear and said lazily, “What are you embarrassed about? You drew it yourself.”
Weizhi: “…”
Weizhi let out an “Ah” and, overwhelmed, pushed the man’s face away with one hand.
The usually aloof Chong God, who rarely even smiled at others, now had his handsome face roughly pushed and distorted by her, yet he didn’t mind at all. He released her, ladled some soup, and placed it in front of her, attending to her needs.
He almost seemed ready to pick up the spoon and feed her himself.
Everyone at the table began to suspect they were ill for choosing to sit there, as every dish tasted of dog food.
Not just them.
Weizhi had no idea what she was putting in her mouth throughout the entire meal.
She barely looked up the whole time, eating whatever he put in her bowl. By the time she realized it, she was almost stuffed to death, yet he was still unhurriedly tearing apart a custard bun, offering a small piece to her lips.
She turned her head slightly, indicating she was full.
The man paused his conversation with the person next to him, glanced at her, then finished the bun himself.
As Weizhi covered her mouth and let out small hiccups, the banquet finally seemed ready to end. Like a soulless puppet, she was led by the man out of the restaurant, to the parking lot, and his old car.
As the door opened and she had one foot on the step, about to climb in, she heard the man ask from behind, “Want me to lift you?”
Weizhi whipped her head around and glared at him.
Shan Chong stood there, looking perfectly natural: “What’s wrong?”
She clambered into the passenger seat, settled in, and after a moment’s thought, kicked the dashboard in frustration: “You’re not allowed to look at my drawings anymore!”
Shan Chong was silent for a moment, then let out an “Oh” as he closed her door.
The sound startled her so much she nearly jumped out of her seat, anxiously clutching her seatbelt and wondering if the man was angry, why his temper was so bad… Meanwhile, he swung his long legs into the car, started the engine, and said in a flat voice, “If you have the guts, gouge my eyeballs out.”
Weizhi: “…”
Shan Chong: “You want to control heaven and earth, and now a nearly 30-year-old man reading manga?”
Weizhi: “…”
She was so angry.
But she couldn’t refute him.
Damn it.
…
At the apartment, Weizhi washed up first, then it was Shan Chong’s turn.
While the man was in the shower, the young girl, now in her pajamas, quickly grabbed his phone from his pocket. Mischievously, she used all the money in his account to buy “Gym Diary,” spending it all.
Then she logged out and deleted the app.
Just as she finished this series of operations, the man came out of the bathroom.
Seeing the young girl lying on his bed, legs swinging as she watched a Korean drama, he casually tossed aside the towel he’d been using to dry his hair. Bending down, his long fingers grasped her chin, turning her face towards him, and he planted a kiss on her soft lips.
A drop of water from his hair fell onto her face.
“Did you delete the app?” he asked.
She paused, her face asking “How did you know?” as she looked at him.
The man snorted, not bothering to respond to her exaggerated reaction to something so obvious. He patted her bottom, signaling her to move over, then lifted the covers and squeezed into the small single bed with her.
Weizhi kicked him, but he didn’t budge.
Left with no choice, she grumbled and reluctantly lay on his chest like a game of Jenga, still wanting to watch her drama. But with her ear pressed against his chest, listening to his steady heartbeat, she couldn’t focus on whatever was playing on her phone…
After pondering for a while, she lifted her head and stared at the man’s chin.
“If you want to ask something, just ask,” the man said, scrolling through WeChat with his eyes lowered. “In this position, I can’t hit you anyway.”
As he spoke, he felt her hand reach out and stroke his ear in a rather ingratiating manner.
After hesitating, she asked, “You’re not in a bad mood, are you?”
“…” Shan Chong paused his scrolling. “Do I look like I’m in a bad mood?”
Weizhi blinked, saying sincerely, “I can’t tell, otherwise why would I ask you?”
Neither of them had explicitly mentioned the afternoon’s events, but if he was in a bad mood, it could only be about that one thing. At this point, they both knew what was on each other’s minds.
“When I agreed to this event, I was prepared to answer these questions. Do you think there aren’t countless people asking me these things in private messages on various platforms every day?”
With a slightly sarcastic chuckle, the man put down his phone and pulled the person in his arms up a bit, lowering his head to bite her lip—
“I’ve rehearsed the answers in my head millions of times.”
She was wearing only that white spaghetti strap nightgown, now softly pressed against him. As his hand caressed her, his palm against her smooth, delicate back, her body heat transferred to his.
The rustling of bedding and clothing filled the air.
She was pressed into the soft bedding beneath him.
His kisses made her whimper softly.
Soon, she felt his embrace tightening, his body growing hotter… She wriggled free from his arms, nuzzling and biting his lip corner, quietly telling him that was enough.
What did she mean by enough?
Holding her in his arms, the man was not about to let go easily. He took out his phone, ready to order ten or eight boxes of safety products for delivery, but Weizhi, red-faced, frantically slapped the back of his hand—
The back of his hand was reddened by her slaps.
“What’s wrong?”
“Can you even get those delivered?!”
“Of course,” he said. “Check the delivery app, within a ten-mile radius, there are only stores selling these, each with monthly sales in the thousands. Business is booming.”
Weizhi grabbed his phone and threw it far away as if it were a bomb.
The man had no choice but to pull her closer, suggestively pressing the tender spot on her thigh that he had rubbed red earlier under the table against himself, letting her feel him.
Half-sitting, half-embraced in the man’s arms, she felt her thighs burning up.
The man kissed her bright red earlobe and said, “Otaku master, want to show off your skills?”
The young girl made a sound of protest and raised both hands to cover her ears. However, as she inadvertently glanced up at the man, in the dim light, his gaze was deep, his dark pupils focused solely on her when he looked at her.
Her heart skipped a beat.
She lowered her hands, bit her lower lip, and whispered so softly it was like a mosquito’s hum.
“…I’ll try?”
Shan Chong looked at her: “Try what?”
She thought for a moment, feeling it was a bit difficult to express, so she closed her eyes, face flushed, and leaned in to gently touch his lips—
A brief touch, then she pulled away, silently gazing at him.
Her almond-shaped eyes sparkled.
Shan Chong: “…”
This happiness came a bit too suddenly, even Shan Chong had moments of not knowing how to react.
Shan Chong: “What do you mean?”
He fell silent for a moment.
Shan Chong: “Is it what I think it means?”
She neither nodded nor shook her head, just looked at him. After a while, she lifted the covers slightly and, like a rabbit diving into its burrow, snuggled deeper into the blanket, a little bunny searching for its carrot.
Cute.
Without her doing anything more, a fire ignited in his lower abdomen. He sat up a bit, feeling this happiness was as sudden as being told he’d won five million yuan.
He still wanted to be moral: “Are you doing this because you think I’m in a bad mood today, so you’re sympathizing with me—”
Halfway through his sentence, he suddenly realized what he was doing.
So he abruptly stopped and lay back: “Never mind, it’s okay. You can sympathize with me, being bullied by so many reporters…”
Her hand rested on the edge of his belt.
Her soft fingertips brushed against his toned abdomen, and the man instinctively held his breath, the contours of his abs fully exposed.
He let out a soft sigh, his tone very sincere: “I am pitiful.”
…
Thousands of miles away, at the Shan family home.
It was originally a quiet evening.
Shan Shan had finished washing up and was lying on her bed, absent-mindedly scrolling through a short video platform—
Her recommended content, based on big data, was mostly about skiing and figure skating, featuring familiar faces.
She carefully watched a short documentary about figure skating for the upcoming Beijing Winter Olympics, made by a former teammate. In the few minutes of selected footage, music played as young girls danced gracefully on the ice, jumping and spinning.
Lying on the bed, the girl of the same age propped her chin with one hand, occasionally pausing to study the breakdown of movements, savoring each detail.
After watching, she liked the video and swiped to the next one.
This time, it was the official account of the DK ski equipment store.
She wasn’t particularly interested in the content from this ski equipment store, but she knew it was one of her brother’s main sponsors, which by extension made it her sponsor too, so she had casually followed the account earlier.
The sponsor was a rather young second-generation rich guy with a buzz cut and tattoos, looking like a typical northeastern “social brother.” He was sitting on what appeared to be the floor of a store warehouse. The video began with him speaking in a gruff voice, his face gloomy—
“I’ll say this for the last time, to certain unscrupulous media, please stop morally blackmailing anyone.”
Shan Shan raised an eyebrow, and her finger, which was about to swipe away from this video, paused.
Then she saw everything that had happened that afternoon, all the things she shouldn’t have known about.
True to his “social brother” image, who knows where he got these audio clips from? The video showed, from a corner angle, a reporter’s relentless questioning of a retired athlete—
Asking if he felt resentful about his disappointing elimination in two Winter Olympics.
Asking if he knew how high people’s expectations for him were.
Asking if he knew how many people were disappointed by his departure.
Asking why he retired.
Asking if he had lost confidence in himself, which led to him leaving the national team.
In the video, the retired athlete’s face remained calm, only falling silent when asked if he had considered making a comeback.
When he spoke again, he didn’t evade the question but gave an ambiguous answer, calmly expressing the desire that any athlete would have for that competition stage.
After a long silence, Shan Shan raised her hand and rubbed her face.
Her long eyelashes lowered as she watched the video, where the persistent reporter continued to ask, “I heard your retirement was unavoidable, because of your family, your sister…”
When the camera panned to the interviewee’s face, showing his coldness and resistance, Shan Shan swiped to exit the short video app.
The room suddenly fell silent. The girl on the bed maintained her initial lying position, not knowing how long she had been in that pose…
At that moment, her phone vibrated again. She raised her hand and rubbed her eyes hard, stretching her neck to look. It was a WeChat call from Dai Duo.
Without thinking, she immediately hung up.
The other side, probably shocked by her hanging up, remained silent for two seconds before frantically typing—
[Dai Duo: ?]
[Dai Duo: Are you sick? Hanging up on me?]
[Dai Duo: What are you doing?]
[Dai Duo: Is someone else there?]
[Dai Duo: Answer the phone.]
[Dai Duo: Where are your manners, I’ll count to three—]
Then he didn’t count at all.
The second call came through directly.
With the attitude that if she dared not to answer, he would keep calling all night.
Shan Shan’s ears hurt from his nose. This time she answered his call but didn’t speak. The other side said “Hello,” but before he could say anything else, he was met with silence, sensing the atmosphere wasn’t right.
So he held back what he was going to say, his arrogant and acerbic voice softening a bit, the young man’s voice slightly hoarse: “What are you doing, not answering the phone?”
Getting no response, he heard a small sniffling sound through the phone.
Dai Duo: “…”
Dai Duo: “What’s going on?”
Dai Duo: “Are you crying?”
Dai Duo: “Damn it, did you watch some nonsense again?”
Without waiting for her to speak, he angrily hung up the phone.
…
In Chongli.
In the apartment.
The man leaned against the bed, looking at the lump under the covers.
His Adam’s apple bobbed, his dark eyes as thick as undilutable ink.
The breath from his nostrils grew increasingly hot. Suddenly, he narrowed his eyes slightly, the veins on the back of his hand just beginning to bulge—
Not far away, his phone began to ring frantically.
It startled him.
Shan Chong sat up a bit, intending to grab the phone and turn it off. Glancing at the caller ID, he saw it was Dai Duo.
He hung up immediately.
However, this neurotic guy hadn’t called him in ages, and now that he decided to call, it was one after another, hang up one, call again—
Shan Chong had never wanted to block him more than at this moment.
But after hesitating, he still answered, his voice hoarse as he said “Hello,” his tone very impatient: “You’d better have some earth-shattering news.”
“What are you doing?”
The voice on the other end sounded particularly unfriendly.
The young girl heard the commotion and poked her head out from under the covers, staring at Shan Chong’s phone. At this moment, the young girl’s lips were glistening, with a small spot of different color at the corner of her mouth… The man stared at it for a while, completely ignoring what was being said on the phone.
Seeing her completely unaware, she hesitantly reached out her hand, trying to grab the phone to scold the caller or something…
This Dai Duo, couldn’t he ever do something good?
The man did not react to the harsh tone from the other end of the phone. He casually raised his hand to pat away the girl’s reaching paw, then caught it in his hand, rubbing it as he said lazily, “Hugging my wife, what’s up?”
She desperately tried to pull her hand back.
But his grip was too strong, and she couldn’t retrieve it. As she struggled, she inadvertently let out a muffled “mm” from deep in her throat. The other end of the phone suddenly went quiet, and Shan Chong lifted his eyelids to glance at her.
Weizhi froze instantly.
The man’s lips curled up lazily.
After a few seconds of silence, they heard Dai Duo shout from the other end of the phone: “Damn it, Shan Chong! Can’t you be serious for once? The interview video from today has been leaked, your neurotic sister is crying at home. Why don’t you call and ask her if she knows her brother is a heartless bastard while she’s crying so sincerely?!”