On the way back to the hotel, Wei Zhi sat in the bumpy Beijing BJ30, continuously questioning her life choices.
She leaned listlessly against the door, trying to distance herself as much as possible from the driver’s seat. It was as if an alien species sat there, ready to reach out and end her life at any moment of displeasure.
Life truly had its ups and downs.
Just this morning, she had felt a twinge of envy for the pink-haired girl who had occupied this very seat.
Now, in the afternoon, every cell and pore in her body screamed: Run, Freaking run!
She curled up into a ball, picking at a slightly peeling spot on the door as if utterly fascinated by it.
While driving, Shan Chong glanced at her. Watching the imperfection on the door become increasingly noticeable under her relentless scratching, he felt a pang of distress. Unable to contain himself, he spoke up: “Bei Ci said you’re flying back tomorrow?”
The sudden low male voice startled Wei Zhi.
She looked up bewilderedly, reflexively scanning the driver’s seat. Her eyes met the man’s devastatingly handsome profile, his perfectly chiseled jawline, and his high, straight nose…
His thin lips were slightly pursed.
He was just as handsome as she remembered from the videos.
But.
Wei Zhi’s scalp tingled as she averted her gaze, squeaking out a timid “Mm-hmm”—
She braced herself.
If he dared to say anything like “You couldn’t even learn an edge change in ten days,” she was ready to jump up, spill blood, and fight him to the death.
She had even tensed her core, prepared to spring into action at any moment.
“That foot injury of yours looks deep. You probably can’t practice this afternoon,” Shan Chong said casually. “Huahua heard about your failed backflip attempt and asked me to invite you to the park this afternoon. You can hang out with them… watch them practice.”
Wei Zhi’s mind conjured an image of a pretty girl with a bright smile and a high ponytail.
Who wouldn’t like a pretty girl?
“How did she know about my backflip accident?” Wei Zhi asked.
“Bei Ci mentioned it in the group chat.”
“…”
So everyone knew about it now.
Wei Zhi had given up on asking how many people were in that damn group chat—
Once men decide to gossip, they can outdo most women. It would take a landlady with sunflower seeds, slippers, and a retro perm to compete.
“I didn’t fall,” Wei Zhi insisted, still avoiding his face and staring straight ahead. “My shoes just rubbed my feet.”
“Oh.”
“…”
“So, are you coming?”
Wei Zhi considered it. Lying around in the hotel would be boring, and chatting with the pretty girl could be fun. She was leaving soon, so why not have some enjoyment?
“Isn’t the mountain-top snow park halfway up the advanced B trail?” Wei Zhi asked. “I can’t ski there. How am I supposed to get there? Walk on two legs?”
“Don’t worry,” Shan Chong said. “I’ll take you.”
“…”
Wei Zhi let out a slow “Oh”—reflexively assuming he meant to take her down the mountain like Bei Ci had earlier, with her standing between the bindings as they glided down like a scene from Titanic.
She glanced at the man in the driver’s seat from the corner of her eye.
Inwardly, she clicked her tongue, silently grumbling: How dare he not ask if I’m willing to be carried by him? What if I don’t want to cling to a fraudster?
She was still holding a grudge about him making her watch his competition videos—
How narcissistic and cruel does one have to be to do something like that?
Making an innocent, naive girl waver between her ideal love and her soulmate, hiding the fact that they were the same person.
Taking a step back opens up new horizons, but holding it in only fuels the anger.
Wei Zhi silently puffed out her cheeks, and after a long while, she said, “Okay.”
…
At this moment, Wei Zhi had no idea that all of life’s gifts come with a price tag.
Her fellow disciples and snow buddies weren’t as pure and kind as she imagined, including the pretty girl.
An hour earlier, when Bei Ci announced that their master’s beloved push-turn disciple had been tricked by the Wantong Hall club members into attempting a backflip at the mid-mountain snow park, resulting in tears, the group chat erupted in curses.
[Horizon of Marrakech: Let me tell you, I’m not generalizing, but there are few sane people in Wantong Hall. I know several who can barely ski themselves but dare to charge 1,200 yuan for a day of private lessons.]
[Lao Yan: I saw it too. Teaching someone to change edges, they just do this—watch me ski, just do it like this, hey, push your back leg and you’ll switch over! Just like this!]
[Yanyan: @Lao Yan Wild private instructor? Report them! The snow resorts are cracking down hard this year!]
[Lao Yan: I’m not that free.]
[Yanyan: By the way, who from Wantong Hall tricked our little junior sister this time? Let’s get them.]
[Bei Ci: Don’t know them.]
[Yanyan: What a mess.]
[Ashen: Their freestyle teaching is a mess too. I’ve seen them a few times on the beginner slope, can’t even do a proper backside turn but teaching people to do 180s… Even if you land it, can you stay upright?]
[Bei Ci: In response to the national call, more and more people are skiing and snowboarding this year. The scene is getting chaotic.]
As everyone was heatedly discussing and criticizing the rival club, a voice of reason appeared.
[sakura Yan: I think you’re all missing the point.]
[sakura Yan: @ck, Master Chong, you’re gleefully eating melon seeds (gossiping) without addressing the issue? She hasn’t even learned to change edges properly and already attempted a backflip. Won’t the little girl be traumatized by the park in the future?]
[sakura Yan: After you’ve taught her push-turns and basic sliding hand-in-hand, and are ready to take her to the park for her first 50-50 (a basic park move, sliding across a rail), she might say, “Master, I want to learn freestyle.”]
[ck, Chong: …]
[sakura Yan: Shouldn’t you try to salvage this? Coax her to come this afternoon, and we’ll show her how cool it is for girls to hit the features.]
[Bei Ci: @sakura Yan Your confidence is blinding. One might think you’ve already landed a double 720.]
[ck, Chong: I see you’re calling @sakura Yan]
[sakura Yan: Fine, but it’ll cost extra.]
And so, the matter was settled.
…
In the afternoon, while Jiang Nanfeng slept, Wei Zhi changed into soft, loose snow boots and headed to the snow park.
From a distance, she saw the all-black-clad expert standing there, holding his board and waiting. The board was black too… Above his face mask, those eyes gazed at her impassively.
Ah.
This was her real master.
Who was that handsome guy from this morning?
As her soul reconnected with her body a bit, the intense sense of dissonance in Wei Zhi’s heart finally subsided. She bought a sightseeing cable car ticket and followed him up the mountain. The familiar cable car and its terminus gave her a sense of security.
The mountaintop resort was indeed better.
Treading on the thick snow, she slowly made her way toward the advanced B trail. She watched Shan Chong put on his board and shuffle forward a bit on the B trail slope. He turned to her and said, “Come.”
Wei Zhi walked over, familiar with the routine. She was about to stand on his snowboard, considering whether to symbolically grip his clothes with two fingers, when she heard the man say, “Sit.”
…This single word left Wei Zhi dumbfounded.
Ten minutes later.
Shan Chong stood at the entrance of the advanced B trail, on his snowboard, his gaze calm.
Between his legs, in the middle of the two bindings, sat a young girl. She hugged his front leg with both arms, her legs curled up and resting on the snowboard in front of his front binding.
Like the children riding snow sleds in the snow play area below.
Fortunately, no one around was looking at her. Everyone seemed accustomed to this posture—
Then Shan Chong set off.
This time, there was no hesitant person in front slowing them down. His gliding speed was fast, and his edge angle was high. Wei Zhi only felt her bottom alternately brushing the ground, first the left side, then the right…
It was like those coin-operated toy airplanes outside the small shops selling oil, salt, and sauces in the market downstairs.
Ignoring that the posture might not look too graceful.
It was quite fun.
When they reached the park, under everyone’s gaze, Wei Zhi slowly crawled out from between the man’s legs, patted the snow off her bottom, adjusted her hair, and maintained a completely natural expression. After this morning’s lesson, she had deeply understood one thing: in such situations, as long as you’re not embarrassed, it’s others who will feel awkward.
She limped to a small bench near one of the features and sat down.
Because Shan Chong had come today, the park was still crowded. Hua Yan had arrived early and waved a greeting to Wei Zhi before bouncing over to the box closest to the young girl and starting to practice—
Doing a backside boardslide on the box and then dismounting is a common, attractive, and entry-level move in the park. In various board sports, this move is colloquially known as “heng ci” (side slide) in Chinese.
The tall, slender girl approached the feature with her board straight. She smoothly mounted the obstacle, and then jumped on it, keeping her core stable. Her back foot, aided by her hips, pushed outward. Her colorful braids, tied in a high ponytail, traced a beautiful arc in the air as her board slid steadily across the box in a sideways position—
At the end of the box, she gracefully tucked her legs, her back foot touching down first as she slid off the feature.
Applause erupted from the surrounding crowd, with Wei Zhi clapping especially enthusiastically.
This was just the warm-up. Hua Yan then moved to the real high platform, an especially steep slope. Though not as massive as an eight-meter jump, it was more than sufficient for some non-high-difficulty spins.
Hua Yan gained speed as she approached the platform. At the highest point, she pulled her legs up. Then, following the momentum of the jump, she grabbed between her bindings, performed a side flip with one and a half rotations, smoothly turned in the air, extended her body, and landed her board—
A double 540.
Wei Zhi only caught a glimpse of her fluorescent pink hoodie and the five-colored braids tucked under her black helmet, particularly eye-catching.
Right after her, another black figure approached the feature.
The man’s tall frame made his approach even cleaner and more decisive. His entire body was like a well-tuned bow. He jumped, achieving a noticeable hang time, then tucked and side-flipped. His blackboard spun like a helicopter rotor, the base facing Wei Zhi as it rapidly rotated three times before landing solidly!
A double 1080.
The applause and whistles that erupted in the park were even louder than before.
Wei Zhi clutched her gloves, staring in awe—
It was like experiencing someone stepping out of a TV screen.
“You hesitated during the rotation,” Shan Chong said to Hua Yan, removing his face mask. “After mounting the platform, whether to use axis rotation or counter-rotation, I shouldn’t need to tell you… You should know that for double rotations, axis rotation is more suitable. Don’t shy away from your center of gravity, don’t let your legs lead. If you push with your legs, your core scatters, and you’re likely to drop.”
Hua Yan: “I can’t help wanting to push. The more I want to flip, the more I push.”
Shan Chong: “Go practice single-side flips on the airbag. I’ll watch. Once you’ve got the movement right, then you can return to the high platform.”
Hearing this, Hua Yan didn’t argue. She obediently took her board and left.
As time passed, the atmosphere in the park became increasingly lively. People were grinding rails and jumping barrels, and later, some experts arrived who seemed capable of flying on their snowboards. However, none of their jumps were as impressive as Shan Chong’s initial demonstration—
Most people came to seek his advice.
But he rarely went on the high platform. Apart from his initial double series side flip with three rotations in the air to demonstrate for Hua Yan, he stood on the sidelines, guiding Hua Yan on the techniques of single side flips.
The man removed his board, casually tossing it aside.
He placed one hand lightly on Hua Yan’s waist, letting her rotate with his hand as the axis point—
He stood right next to the airbag.
Facing people approaching at high speed from afar to hit the airbag, he didn’t flinch at all.
Each time, he made sure Hua Yan’s waist pressed against his hand as she passed.
Of course, she often failed to complete the rotation.
When she fell sideways, sometimes Shan Chong’s hand was too slow to catch her, resulting in a loud “thud”.
“Your core scattered, again.”
“What are your legs doing? Don’t push.”
“Not as good as last time, once more.”
“Core, axis, rotate.”
The park’s atmosphere was lively.
This was the first time Wei Zhi saw how Shan Chong conducted lessons. He was just as cold and merciless as when he taught her. Making people analyze why they fell after a crash seemed to be his favorite thing to do, bar none.
…
At 3 PM, everyone was still practicing on various features.
Shan Chong received a phone call and needed to go down the mountain. After hanging up, he looked back to see the young girl sitting on a small bench beside the park, her face in her hands, watching Hua Yan jump on the high platform repeatedly. She looked utterly fascinated and full of longing.
He glanced at Hua Yan, silently applauding her successful plan.
He walked over, picked up his board, and prepared to take the little girl down the mountain.
The park was halfway up the mountain.
As they left the park, a fiery sunset hung on the mountaintop, about to set.
Just as they exited the park, Wei Zhi caught a glimpse of a white figure rapidly approaching from the now-empty slope behind them—
It was reminiscent of a scene from her memory, yet different.
The person was sliding at high speed but had no intention of heading towards them.
They were riding regular stances, and when on the front edge, the entire snowboard was angled so high that people at the bottom of the mountain could almost see the entire base of the board…
Then they switched edges quickly.
With a nimble undulation, their board transitioned from front-edge carving to back-edge!
The high edge angle left clear, deep marks on the afternoon snow, which was no longer in great condition and full of scratches. It looked incredibly dominating!
The rider’s form was graceful. With each edge change, their hands alternated, lightly brushing the snow surface.
When they reached a gentler slope, they maintained their high-speed carving without slowing down. At a certain point on the back edge, they began to rotate their body, jumped, spun several times in the air, and landed solidly on the front edge—
The snowboard and rider landed heavily on the slope, spraying snow. Still facing uphill, they continued to slide backward recklessly for dozens of meters!
High-speed carving!
The white figure, like a bolt of lightning, passed by Wei Zhi and Shan Chong.
The snowboard cutting through the snow produced a pleasant, muffled sound. Wei Zhi’s eyes couldn’t help but follow the person’s silhouette, while Shan Chong merely raised an eyebrow, glancing at the new goggles worn by the passing “white-clad rider”.
He didn’t seem to pay much attention to that person at all.
Shan Chong bent down to put on his board, speaking slowly: “What are your thoughts after watching the park all afternoon? Once you learn to change edges, carve, and master basic sliding, you can start to specialize in the direction you want to play… Generally, people end up knowing a bit of everything, but focusing on one area at the beginning gives you a direction for buying a board and helps you progress faster.”
As he spoke, he was already considering telling her that beginners don’t need to buy top-quality boards at first, especially for the park where boards often get damaged.
Beginners sometimes have improper posture when getting on and off features, and broken boards are common.
He thought about having Hua Yan or Yan Yan sell her their old entry-level boards at a bargain price to start with…
Before he could express this, he saw the little girl in front of him slowly turn her gaze away from following that person down the mountain. Her round eyes sparkled with starlight, and with a face full of expectation, she said, “I want to learn carving.”
Shan Chong: “…”
Shan Chong: “?”
This disciple can’t be kept.
Shan Chong: “You can walk down by yourself.”
Wei Zhi: “?”