At the hotel room downstairs.
Wei Zhi sighed as she sat hugging her knees by the radiator. She wanted to eat some toasted bread slices with condensed milk.
She sneezed.
“If I knew you’d come back so early just to sigh here, I wouldn’t have let you in,” said Jiang Nanfeng, sitting on the bed with her feet on a mat, painting her toenails.
“The cable car closed, so I had no choice,” Wei Zhi said. “Couldn’t do a second run.”
Hearing this, Jiang Nanfeng temporarily put down her work and glanced out the window—her bed was by the window, in the so-called mountain view room, where one could see the ski slopes outside. The cable car was still slowly operating, and there were still many people skiing down the slopes.
“The cable car is still running.”
Jiang Nanfeng caught a glimpse of the person who had been sprawled on the floor suddenly jumping up and rushing to the window, standing on tiptoes with her nose pressed against the glass, looking out…
“You’re so gullible, it’s hard for me to feel comfortable leaving you alone with a man,” she said, lowering her head to continue painting her nails without looking up. “But never mind, the afternoon lesson was free anyway, right?”
Wei Zhi pulled her face away from the window, her eyes wide, clearly not understanding this logic: “So he can trick me because it’s free?”
Jiang Nanfeng: “Then curse at him.”
Wei Zhi said “Oh,” climbed back onto her bed, and reached for her phone. She opened WeChat and found the Crayon Shin-chan avatar—
[Little Girl Chirp: The cable car is still running!!!!!!!!]
[Little Girl Chirp: I’m going to make a fuss!!!!! How dare you lie!!!!!!]
[Little Girl Chirp: If you didn’t want to teach me, you should have said so. Why trick me into going there and then chase me away!!!!!]
…
Up on the mountain, in the middle section of the advanced B trail park.
People’s gazes frantically darted between Dai Duo and Shan Chong, finally settling on Dai Duo, their minds racing—
Dai Duo wasn’t just some random nobody; it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to call him the current top snowboarder in China’s park scene.
Born in China in 1999, his family emigrated to Canada that same year. Dai Duo grew up in that ice and snow kingdom where children learned to ski before they could walk.
Before 2014, as a high school student, Dai Duo had participated in various local youth competitions, but this was commonplace in a country where skiing was a major sport.
In 2015, at 16, he returned to China alone.
At that time, he was just one of the most ordinary among thousands of snow sports enthusiasts.
…
No one knows what happened in between.
Until the end of the 2018 snow season, Dai Duo became the first athlete in China to complete line 2160 on the snowboard big air jump (*line: one of the big air snowboard moves, grabbing the edge of the board between both feet with the front hand, called a melon; adding a frontside rotation to the melon is called a line), making his mark in China’s snow sports circle.
People suddenly learned the name “Dai Duo.”
Until this year, he had been busy participating in various competitions both domestically and internationally. Because the Winter Olympics competitions differ slightly from summer sports, the Winter Olympics use a points system. To participate in the Winter Olympics, athletes must accumulate enough points before the competition to qualify.
People in China’s snow sports circle did not doubt that after Shan Chong’s retirement, Dai Duo should be the top choice for next year’s Winter Olympics—
Yet such a person had now encountered the previous generation’s big air snowboarding star, and they had clashed.
The two showed no intention of warmly embracing or exchanging techniques but instead seemed like enemies at first sight…
What’s going on?
Did they know each other before?
Except for Bei Ci and other disciples who had been following Shan Chong for years, everyone present was utterly confused.
The atmosphere on-site was frozen, like a tightly stretched string, as if a slightly heavier breath could snap it, ready to explode at any moment.
At this moment.
“Buzz—”
A soft sound broke the silence.
It was Shan Chong’s phone ringing in his pocket.
And it kept “buzzing” incessantly, thoroughly disrupting the serious atmosphere.
Fortunately, the man had never been good at reading the room, so in front of everyone, he took off his gloves and casually tossed them onto his nearby snowboard, unzipped his jacket, took out his phone, and calmly looked at it under everyone’s intense gaze.
In the sunlight, the man slightly squinted his eyes, his long and thick eyelashes fluttering lightly as he read the messages.
After a while, he let out a light snort, the corner of his lips curling up slightly before quickly flattening again.
[Chong: Something came up suddenly.]
[Chong: What’s there to make a fuss about.]
[Chong: Tomorrow.]
The other party had roared three messages, and he politely replied with three.
After slowly finishing sending the WeChat messages, he looked up to find everyone in the entire park staring at him—
Standing closest to him was Dai Duo in his light-colored snow gear, his eyes so dark they could distill venom, gloomily staring at him;
Behind Dai Duo was Bei Ci, and behind Bei Ci was Lao Yan, holding him back to prevent him from suddenly “woof” and pouncing on Dai Duo to bite him;
The remaining random onlookers included a few of his disciples, but not the close ones.
More people were gradually entering the park from behind, mostly Shan Chong’s friends or disciples who had rushed over after hearing the news.
Zhangjiakou was Shan Chong’s territory.
There was no room for argument, even for those who disagreed.
As more and more people gathered, Dai Duo had no interest in playing the fool. He cleared the gloom from his eyes and jerked his chin at Shan Chong, suddenly smiling: “Looks like you’re doing quite well here. It’s barely started, and already a crowd rushes to your defense… What, afraid I’ll eat you up?”
Shan Chong had never understood how someone could say so many words, such long sentences in one go as if writing an essay.
So he didn’t respond, fearing that if he spoke, the other would launch into another long-winded speech—
It didn’t matter what was said.
He just couldn’t be bothered to listen.
The two had known each other for many years, and Dai Duo was long accustomed to his aloof, daydreaming demeanor. He stood his snowboard upright, resting one hand on the binding: “The snow sports circle is so small. Have they heard your story?”
Shan Chong barely lifted his eyelids.
“Do these people know that the god in their eyes is a stray dog who doesn’t dare to return to Changbai Mountain?”
Shan Chong still maintained his appearance of being long dead, his soul not at home.
Behind them, Bei Ci was directly touched in his heart (?).
He cursed under his breath, “F**k you,” and was about to jump up. Lao Yan was caught off guard, and couldn’t hold back this bull. Bei Ci’s sudden charge dragged him to the ground!
Bei Ci swung the snowboard in his hand, clearly aiming to strike the back of Dai Duo’s head when suddenly, a cold, deep voice slowly sounded from not far away: “If we have a round of competition, will you shut up and scurry back to Changbai Mountain?”
Bei Ci’s movement froze in place.
The small park fell silent, with only the distant rumble of the snow-making machines. The snowflakes they produced seemed to make a sound as they fell to the ground.
In the dead silence, Shan Chong pulled out a cigarette and put it between his lips.
His slender fingers flipped open the lighter cover, with a soft “click,” and in the milky white smoke, the man’s features became blurred. The onlookers couldn’t discern his current emotions.
“Parallel slalom, halfpipe… big air,” his voice paused imperceptibly, “You choose.”
…
Three minutes later.
Everyone in the Zhangjiakou snow sports circle knew there was a battle of kings happening at the top of the mountain.
Zhangjiakou vs. Changbai Mountain, a cross-server king’s match.
Countless people who had been practicing tricks in various ski resorts at the foot of the mountain threw down their snowboards and rushed up the mountain. In no time, the parking lot at the top was full!
The ticket-selling girl at the ski resort, who had been resting her head on her hand and dozing off, thinking her shift was almost over, suddenly looked up to see hundreds of people rushing towards her like zombies—
Ski resort ticket girl: “…”
Ski resort ticket girl: “?”
Huh? Ah? What happened?
…
Surprisingly, Dai Duo chose a parallel giant slalom.
Parallel giant slalom is one of the snowboarding events in the Winter Olympics. It’s an evolution of the alpine skiing giant slalom (a traditional two-ski event). Athletes start from a certain height on the slope, navigate around a set number of gates, and reach the finish line.
This event differs from traditional park events like big air and halfpipe, focusing on the most fundamental aspects of skiing—speed and technique in gliding.
People were speechless about Dai Duo’s choice:
…Why would two park pros compete in parallel giant slalom?!!
Even a fistfight would be more interesting to watch!!
Are they crazy!!!!
However, the two pros acted as if nothing was amiss. While the ski resort staff were preparing to clear the slope and set up gates for them, they separated to warm up.
Shan Chong was stretching in a corner when Bei Ci sneaked over, looking furtive.
“Grandpa Chong, can I ask you a question?”
“Go ahead.”
“Why are you so angry?”
To initiate a competition…
Initiate!
This Dai Duo, since… well, you know, it wasn’t the first time he had provoked Shan Chong. When had Grandpa Chong ever not just ignored him with a look of benevolent indifference?
What’s different today?
He was curious.
When asked this question, Shan Chong momentarily revealed a bewildered expression but quickly regained focus. He nodded towards the other person surrounded by the crowd not far away.
“Go ask him what he did up on the mountain earlier.”
“What did he do?”
“Kept his board flat, sprayed a snow wall,” the man paused, putting on his black gloves with an expressionless face, “Scared my beloved disciple.”
He pulled the gloves on completely, flexing his fingers, while a murderous aura spread around him.
Bei Ci was stunned, not immediately realizing which “beloved disciple” he was referring to…
A few seconds later, it dawned on him.
Bei Ci: “…”
He was talking about the round-eyed, somewhat awkward but cute current owner of the little turtle butt cushion.
Oh, so he’s getting revenge for the little girl.
…
Getting revenge for the little girl????
Good heavens!!!!!?
Grandpa Chong is in love!!!!??
Just as Bei Ci was sinking into shock, unable to extricate himself, and Shan Chong turned his back, an informed person came over and whispered: “Additional information, that final snow wall completely covered Chong.”
Bei Ci: “…”
Oh.
So there’s no romance after all.
He’s just angry because he got covered in snow himself 🙂