When Shan Chong dragged his snowboard back to the top of the mountain, his group of disciples was already waiting at the starting point. Among them was a young woman wearing a baseball cap, her hair dyed in various colors, dressed in a very hip-hop style. She looked at Shan Chong, covering her mouth, her eyes red, with an expression that screamed, “Son, Mom is about to cry.”
Shan Chong remarked, “No wonder Dai Duo is always so sarcastic with me. You guys do resemble a bunch of clowns.”
The disciples: “…”
Backstab: “Hua Hua, he’s talking about you.”
“Ugh,” the girl, whose group name was Sakura Banquet, put down her hand and stood with her hands on her hips, full of energy. “Master, I beg you to get serious in the second round. Don’t look like you’re half-asleep as usual! A 0.5-second difference is something only non-humans can achieve. If you’re too fast, it’s a foul; if you’re too slow, we lose big time—”
“Why are you so nervous?” Shan Chong asked.
“What do you think?!” the girl shouted.
The man slowly threw his board down, slowly put it on, and slowly straightened up. “Why panic? That was just a warm-up. You guys don’t know how long it’s been since I used a parallel stance?”
His voice sounded incredibly calm.
“The board isn’t good,” Lao Yan interjected.
Shan Chong snorted, not denying it.
Lao Yan also put his hands on his hips. “I told you to change the board, but Backstab insisted that Dai Duo was also using his regular board. How can an all-mountain board and a park board have the same stiffness?”
Backstab: “There’s not much difference!”
Lao Yan: “There’s a huge difference!”
Backstab: “I use whatever. If you’re skilled, it doesn’t matter. Why be so particular?”
Lao Yan: “That’s because you’re not particular. Didn’t you see that Chong almost broke his board just now? If skill alone mattered, why were racing boards invented? For midnight snacks? Forget it, I’m not talking to you. You illiterate!”
“Kids shouldn’t use foul language,” Shan Chong patted the snow off his jacket, lifted his eyelids to stop the two disciples from bickering, and lazily said, “I’ll beat him with any board.”
So everyone fell silent, not daring to speak.
These days, anyone else saying this in front of Dai Duo would be considered boasting.
Except for Shan Chong.
…
While everyone was so nervous that they could barely breathe, Shan Chong hid to the side and sat down.
Not only did he sit down, but the man who never looked at his phone took it out.
He turned on the screen and thought for a moment before opening WeChat, seeing a few unread messages—
[Girl Ji: Tomorrow my ass!!!!]
[Girl Ji: You won’t see me tomorrow!!!!]
[Girl Ji: Who can’t ghost? Ghost ghost ghost!!!]
…So many exclamation marks.
The flashing made Shan Chong’s eyes hurt.
He sighed, somehow imagining the little brat jumping around him, imitating a pigeon, which made his ears hurt too. He raised his hand, took off his gloves, and silently pinched his earlobe.
[Chong: I’ll apologize to you tomorrow.]
The other side must have been looking at their phone because the reply came quickly—
[Girl Ji: How will you apologize? Kneel and kowtow?]
[Chong: …]
Her courage lasted only a second.
[Girl Ji: Sorry.]
[Chong: I’m apologizing to you.]
[Girl Ji: Apologize with what? Your head? No way, I’d have to enshrine it and buy fruit offerings on the first and fifteenth of every month. You’re so picky, you’d probably only eat imported fruit…]
She was still typing, and who knew where her thoughts were wandering? She was rambling enthusiastically.
Shan Chong looked up and saw Dai Duo dragging his snowboard up slowly. He decisively interrupted her nonsense and ended the conversation—
[Chong: The enemy’s head.]
[Chong: No need to enshrine it. Just fertilize the weeds at the grave on the first and fifteenth.]
[Chong: That’s it.]
[Chong: I’m busy. Tomorrow at 9:30.]
…
After Dai Duo climbed up, Shan Chong nonchalantly put away his phone.
After a brief rest of ten minutes, the referee announced the start of the second round.
The first whistle blew, and the two competitors slightly lowered their bodies at the starting platform, while the spectators raised their phones.
At the second whistle, the white figure started first!
Before they could even calculate what “0.5 seconds” meant, Shan Chong was calmer—
0.5 seconds meant half a body length, half a board length.
As Dai Duo’s snowboard tilted 45 degrees and descended, Shan Chong also started!
Dai Duo, being a top competitor, could magnify even a small advantage. With the lead start, he was already two body lengths ahead of Shan Chong before the first gate!
Everyone held their breath.
However, this changed at the first gate. Perhaps to be cautious, Dai Duo, seeing his significant lead, made a wider turn—
His turning speed slowed slightly.
Shan Chong seized this opportunity.
His snowboard didn’t slow down at all during the turn. Using the board’s extreme edge, he completed the first turn with his body almost lying flat on the snow!
This was a highly risky move. Many would fall if they lost control or didn’t tighten their core—
But Shan Chong did it.
After the turn, the board bounced under his feet, and he straightened up, closing the gap with Dai Duo before the next turn!
From a significant initial gap, he caught up a bit at the first gate, then a bit more at the second gate…
By the fifth gate, they were neck and neck again!
The cheers from the crowd were deafening!
Losing his initial advantage, Dai Duo, unlike the emotionless skiing machine Shan Chong, had to reduce his turn radius and slow down less—
But such maneuvers require extreme calm.
In skiing, losing focus means a fall.
At the thirteenth gate, the crowd gasped as the white figure lost control and flew out, crashing into the netting beside the snow track, shaking the net and causing snow to fall from the trees!
Dai Duo was buried in the snow, motionless for a while.
The race ended abruptly, the winner clear.
Shan Chong, seeing the white figure fly out, braked sharply, causing a high snow wall to rise, and stopped steadily between the thirteenth and fourteenth gates.
The once noisy snow track fell silent.
He bent down, took off his board, and picked it up.
Under everyone’s gaze, he walked to the snow pile where Dai Duo lay, stopped, and observed.
Facing away from everyone, they couldn’t see his expression, only feeling the silent, immense pressure from his black-clad figure—
This powerful presence made no one dare to cheer or applaud, despite the clear outcome.
After a long time.
He raised his hand, lifted his goggles, and kicked the person buried in the snow.
At the same time, the oppressive atmosphere vanished.
“If you’re not dead, get up,” Shan Chong’s voice was calm. “Don’t just lie there.”
He said this without any intention of helping Dai Duo up—
Sportsmanship was out of the question.
Never in this lifetime.
Seeing Dai Duo lying there like a useless salted fish felt like coming home, filling him with warmth and joy.
When Dai Duo slowly brushed off the snow and climbed out, a few scattered cheers rang out, quickly merging into a thunderous applause, echoing across the mountain.
Dai Duo ignored the cheers.
He silently took off his board and sat by the snow track, looking up at the man beside him—
Standing still, his dark eyes were unfathomable, backlit by the setting sun, surrounded by a golden glow.
After a long time.
Shan Chong’s eyelashes fluttered, and his thin lips parted.
“Dai Duo.”
Dai Duo’s breath hitched, not remembering the last time he heard his name from this person.
His eyes, filled with resentment, brightened briefly, then dimmed. The young man in the white snowsuit showed a complex expression, about to say something…
When he heard the man’s slow voice from above: “Hand over the goggles.”
Dai Duo: “…”
Dai Duo: “?”
“A race needs stakes,” Shan Chong’s voice was deep and matter-of-fact. “A bet is a bet.”
Ignoring the stunned person in front of him.
He bent down, and pointed at the goggles still on Dai Duo’s face, indicating: What are you looking at? Hand them over.
From a distance, it was another indescribable scene: the young man in white sat in the snow, looking bewildered and disheveled, while the older man in black stood beside him, brushing his goggles and saying something.
In an instant.
Thoughts like “enemies turned friends,” “long-lost friends reunited,” “love and hate,” “if this isn’t love,” and “Shan Chong doesn’t have a girlfriend because of his sexual orientation” flashed through their minds.
In the dead silence.
Only Backstab, running towards them, truly heard what their god was saying—
“Losing the race and not giving up the stakes, why should I race with you? Do I look like I have nothing better to do?”