Wei Zhi ate breakfast with great focus. Having only eaten some lamb from Hua Yan Shang the night before, she woke up early, ravenous—otherwise, the beautiful girl would surely sleep for eight hours. But she had genuinely woken up hungry.
Lacking carbohydrates was unacceptable; it would make her age and become dull-witted. So throughout breakfast, except for occasionally looking up to speak, she ate quickly and discreetly, completely silent. From the moment she sat down, she didn’t stop, consuming two baos, one egg, a bowl of porridge, a plate of scrambled eggs with Buddha’s hand melon, a piece of sweet potato, and half an ear of corn…
Of course, she hadn’t counted herself. It was Shan Chong, sitting across from her, who kept track.
As if watching a free mukbang video of a big eater, Shan Chong observed her cheeks puffing up as she chewed quickly and quietly while earnestly nibbling on corn. He thought of long-haired dwarf lop rabbits.
Without even touching the pickles, the man finished a bowl of porridge just staring at her.
After he put down his bowl, Yan Yan beside him found it quite remarkable: “Looks like yesterday wore you out. I remember you don’t usually eat breakfast.”
The man’s eyelashes fluttered slightly as he gave a noncommittal “Mm,” not explain.
At this moment, the young woman across from him at the last kernel of her corn cob and contentedly picked up her cup, downing the milk in one gulp—
Shan Chong fell silent, genuinely concerned she might throw up the second she put down her cup.
But she didn’t. Beautiful girls’ stomachs are bottomless pits.
Wei Zhi patted her belly in satisfaction, planning to return to her room for a nap before getting up to update, sketch a few pages, and then go out to rent a snowboard… By now, everyone at the table had started to stand up. Lao Yan and Bei Ci left first to smoke, while Shan Chong was among the last to rise.
After walking a couple of steps away from his chair, the man retreated and said coolly to the person looking up at him with her chin raised: “Either the magic carpet area or the hotel bed. Don’t let me catch you on an advanced slope by yourself.”
Wei Zhi’s lips curled, about to protest.
Seeing she was ready to argue, Shan Chong was somewhat surprised at how well he understood her. So before she could speak, he continued: “The difference between humans and animals is that humans have brains and learn from their mistakes… I haven’t even found where to rent wheelchairs at this ski resort yet, don’t give me trouble.”
His tone was quite harsh and cold.
Wei Zhi: “…”
Caught off guard by the reminder of those embarrassing incidents she’d caused on the mountainside ski slopes years ago, Wei Zhi’s face went blank for three seconds—
The damage was high, and the insult severe.
“I’m not going anywhere,” she huffed, turning her head away. “At most, I’ll go to a nearby ski shop to rent a board.”
Hearing this, Shan Chong thought it wasn’t a bad idea.
He was about to ask if she knew how to choose a snowboard—camber vs. rocker, stiffness requirements, suitability for beginners… For instance, due to Xinjiang’s unique geography, the ski shops here also had many backcountry boards that would be disastrous for newcomers—
However, as the flood of questions reached his lips, he found he already knew the answers.
So he didn’t bother wasting words with her.
“Just stay in the room, don’t wander off and get snatched by wolves,” he said casually. “I’ll bring you a board back at lunchtime.”
“Huh? Oh, alright. Um, make sure it’s a nice-looking one.”
She made a futile attempt at resistance.
To her request, he gave a noncommittal “Mm” as he turned to leave—the kind that even a toe could guess meant he hadn’t taken in a single word of what she’d said.
…
Four hours later, lunchtime arrived faster than expected.
The well-fed otaku wife worked efficiently, not only sketching several pages but also coloring a previously drawn page—
She had just finished drawing the female lead lying on the bed, disheveled and on the verge of fainting after fleeing back to her chambers with severe injuries…
At this moment, a dark shadow descended from the rafters. It was A Mo, the masked guard who had only appeared briefly in a few panels earlier in the story. He stood silently by the bed of the disheveled female lead for a long time before removing his mask…
Revealing an incomparably handsome face.
End of page.
Sitting at her computer, Wei Zhi stared at the incredibly handsome A Mo for a while… Her gaze couldn’t move away from the light-colored mole on his nose bridge. She couldn’t figure out how that mole had ended up there, seemingly by some mischievous spirit. After hesitating for at least three minutes, she couldn’t bring herself to erase it.
After finishing, she immediately uploaded this single-page update.
Successfully blowing up the peaceful pond of her readers.
Fan 1: Long live the loyal dog, give me more! You’re stopping here?!!!
Fan 2: I’ve never seen an artist dare to upload just one page as an update!!
Fan 3: Stopping here?!!! You might as well not update at all!
Fan 4: Ahhhhh I knew this guard would have a big role, baby don’t just look, strip, and go for it! Male lead step aside—no wait, you’re also the male lead!!!
Fan 5: That mole, it looks so sexy, awww!
…
Hundreds more comments demanding updates followed.
Wei Zhi, timid in real life but a provocative keyboard warrior in the virtual world enjoyed teasing her readers… Amidst the chaos of new update comments, she posted her location in the “Reception Room” with the caption: It’s snowing in Xinjiang.
The fans’ reactions were swift—
Fan 1: Nice, yesterday you were posting autumn scenes from the southern city, today it’s winter snow in northern Xinjiang… You’d better have brought your eating utensils when you went out.
Fan 2: Not sure if SF Express delivers razor blades to Xinjiang, I heard security checks are strict there.
Fan 3: I’m in Urumqi, I’ll kill you if you stop updating.
Fan 4: I’m in Urumqi, I’ll kill you if you stop updating.
Fan 5: I’m on my way to Urumqi, I’ll kill you if you stop updating.
…
Dozens more unfriendly comments followed.
The otaku wife, seemingly suffering from Stockholm syndrome, smiled with her eyes curved into rainbows, chuckling happily. She had just picked up her pen, ready to color a few more pages—
When there was a knock at the door.
She paused, reflexively exiting the Reception Room and returning to the website’s homepage. Minimizing the window, she answered “Coming!” and slowly stood up, shuffling in her slippers to open the door.
“Back so soon, have you all eaten yet—”
As the door opened, a gust of cold air carrying the humid scent of snow and ice rushed in. She stopped her casual chatter, her gaze fixed on the man standing outside still wearing his snow gear—
The black and white snowsuit was unfamiliar to her, the logo reads “The North Face,” a relatively well-known light luxury brand compared to professional ski brands.
It looked quite good.
He had good taste in clothes.
Outside the door, Shan Chong handed the board he was carrying to Wei Zhi.
“Ah, my board, thank you for your trouble!”
Wei Zhi accepted it with both hands.
It must have been snowing lightly outside; unmelted snowflakes still clung to the snowboard, making it wet…
When she took it, she only saw the side with the bindings, which was pure black. Not bad.
She had barely breathed a sigh of relief that he had listened to her request when she flipped it over and nearly fainted at the sight of the bottom—
A bizarre gradient from white to light grass green to black, with several water droplet lilies that looked like they belonged in a mother’s WeChat profile picture… As if this wasn’t ugly enough, next to the lilies were some orange outlined musical staff and notes, beside which were written in the same color font: Rainbow School Supplies Store.
“If the shop owner has no aesthetic sense, they could at least consider making the board all white or all black, instead of slapping on some random mother’s WeChat avatar as a snowboard design…”
Wei Zhi desperately asked the man standing by the door, “Couldn’t you have chosen a slightly more normal one for me?”
“I did choose,” Shan Chong said. “All the boards suitable for beginners look like this.”
Chose my foot.
Wei Zhi didn’t want to hear his nonsense at all. If this was specially chosen, the only criterion must have been—to instantly infuriate anyone who saw it the moment it was pulled out.
Holding the board, no longer wanting to look at it, she disdainfully shoved it into the wardrobe. Turning back, she found the man who had delivered the snowboard still leaning against the doorframe with his arms crossed. Their eyes met for a few seconds, and he said, “No classes this afternoon.”
A subtle way of saying that she could put this hideous snowboard to use this afternoon.
Wei Zhi realized for the first time that she wasn’t as enthusiastic about skiing as she thought (…).
“Then this afternoon—”
“We’ll start with the chairlift.”
The man straightened up and walked directly into the room, glancing at the laptop on the table before looking back at her: “My phone’s out of battery… Can I use this? Getting off the chairlift is very simple, I’ll search for a tutorial video someone made, and you’ll learn it just by watching.”
Looking at the man standing next to her computer, Wei Zhi, still unable to get over how ugly the snowboard was, nodded blankly.
Then she watched as he bent down and grabbed her mouse.
As he moved the mouse toward the browser icon, she suddenly snapped to attention, but it was already too late. She could only watch helplessly as the man clicked on the webpage she had just minimized—
The featured comic on the site was called “Gym Diary,” with a cover showing a gym shower room full of steam and two blurry, intertwined figures inside…
The person behind supported the waist of the one in front.
The figure in front was bent over, with only a faint shadow of a basketball-sized outline visible.
The only clear image was the woman’s hand, half-clenched, pressing against the bathroom glass. For some indescribable reason, her hand had dragged across the glass, leaving a long streak in the steam.
Shan Chong: “…”
Wei Zhi: “…”
In that second, it was as if the sea had reversed its flow, heaven, and earth merged, all returned to chaos, the primordial world restarted back to the Ice Age, and ten thousand mammoths stampeded through Wei Zhi’s consciousness…
She weakly grasped at the air with one hand, reaching towards the computer.
However, the man’s composure was truly remarkable. All he did was stare at the image for a few seconds, then turn his head to give Wei Zhi a deep look—
In that eternal glance, Wei Zhi was contemplating buying a ticket back to Nancheng to get married, figuring it couldn’t be more desperate than this…
Then he simply looked away.
His expression hadn’t even changed. He directly clicked the mouse to create a new bookmark in the browser, his long, agile fingers typed in a web address, searched for a video site, and found a video about getting off a cable car.
He released the mouse.
Then he turned the computer towards her and said, “This is it.”
His voice was as calm as if he hadn’t seen anything earlier, and as if he didn’t notice the young woman’s face now flushed red to the roots of her neck, steam almost coming out of her ears.
Moving with stiff steps, Wei Zhi slowly shuffled over and crouched in front of the computer, ignoring the familiar scent of ice and snow that enveloped her…
She forcefully composed herself, maintaining a blank expression as she clicked to play the video.
Getting off the cable car was very simple—
Just before the cable car arrives, shift your bottom to sit at an angle. When your legs can touch the ground, place your back foot (the one without the binding) against the edge of the back binding and stand up.
Then let the cable car push you to the edge of the slope, and let go.
Slide straight down on one foot for a short distance, and you’ll reach level ground.
It wasn’t difficult.
Wei Zhi watched attentively, finally managing to distract herself a little. She was just wondering if she could manage the straight slide down on one foot when she heard the man’s voice from above: “Save the website address. This site has many basic tutorials you can watch when you have time.”
Wei Zhi responded with an “Oh” and had just grabbed the mouse to save the address when she heard him casually add: “Watch less of that useless stuff. You don’t want the cyber police knocking on your door.”
Wei Zhi, still holding the mouse: “………………………”
Silently releasing the mouse and turning to face the man, Wei Zhi met his dark eyes: “…………………This is for work.”
As the man silently raised an eyebrow at her, Wei Zhi, completely giving up, said: “………………………Forget it, I can’t explain it to you.”
It was work, though.
She stopped arguing only because she suddenly realized that compared to opening a webpage to watch others’ NSFW content, actually becoming an NSFW content creator…
Didn’t seem much more honorable.
…
In the afternoon, after lunch, Wei Zhi hugged her ugly snowboard and followed Shan Chong and the others to the ski resort.
From getting the lift tickets to putting on their gear and preparing to set out, Wei Zhi and Shan Chong maintained a tacit silence, so much so that Lao Yan found it strange: “Did you two fight?”
Glancing at the man slowly putting on his helmet not far away, Wei Zhi looked back and said diplomatically, “No, not at all.”
She familiarized herself with sliding on one foot on flat ground after putting on the board, then clumsily got on the cable car. She positioned herself at the loading area, waiting for the chair to come around and sitting down…
Being inexperienced, she almost fell off when she sat down, not quite steady.
Fortunately, the man beside her was quick to grab her, half-lifting, half-steadying her into the seat next to him… Still, without a word, he just gave her a warning look, then averted his gaze and silently pulled down the safety bar.
Wei Zhi suspected that look was warning her that she had seen too much of what she shouldn’t have, making her legs weak and unable to get on the cable car properly.
As she was still reeling from this, feeling like jumping into the Yellow River couldn’t clear her name, Lao Yan, who had witnessed everything, declared decisively: “You two fought.”
Wei Zhi weakly waved her hand: “We didn’t…”
After a moment’s thought, she added in resignation: “I wish we had fought.”
The person beside them kept looking straight ahead, not even sparing them a glance.
Then the cable car reached the top of the mountain, where it became more crowded. Wei Zhi’s vanity kicked in, and she managed to get off the cable car steadily without falling. She just couldn’t turn on one foot, so she went straight down until she reached flat ground and came to a natural stop.
Unfortunately, no one applauded her newly acquired skill.
Not far away was the legendary Aiwen Trail.
There weren’t many people in front of the Aiwen Trail, just Bei Ci, Lao Yan, and Shan Chong, who had skillfully dismounted from the cable car with their boards on, standing there waiting.
Panting, she dragged her board over on one foot. Before she could catch her breath, she had just stretched her neck to see what this pilgrimage site for skiers looked like when the hood of her ski jacket was yanked from behind—
“Seen enough? Let’s go.”
The voice was icy cold and cruel.
Next to Aiwen, there were other advanced trails more suitable for beginners to practice, which was Wei Zhi’s actual destination for the afternoon. However, she… of course, hadn’t seen enough of the legendary Aiwen.
Standing in front of this slope, rumored to be one of the top three steepest in the country, she felt like she had become a little bit more awesome just by being there…
At that moment, as far as she could see, there weren’t many people. The trail was wide, and from her perspective, it didn’t look nearly as steep as she had imagined. It seemed about as steep as the first half of the advanced C trail at the top of Chongli ski resort.
Wei Zhi suddenly felt brave.
She swatted away the large hand holding her hood and looked at the trail: “I think I can go down. It’s not that steep.”
Shan Chong: “You can’t go down.”
His voice was flat, refusing without hesitation.
Wei Zhi became anxious and wanted to stamp her foot—realizing she was still dragging the dead-weight snowboard—so instead, she weakly tapped her snowboard: “Why can’t I go down? I can just push my way down!”
Shan Chong: “Even pushing, you can’t go down.”
Wei Zhi whirled around, stubbornly staring at the man behind her for three seconds. The atmosphere between them was about to turn into a duel—
At this point, Bei Ci stepped in as a peacemaker: “It’s alright, we’ve come all this way. Aiwen isn’t a place you can just visit anytime. It’s a popular spot for internet celebrities. Let her push around for a bit… If it doesn’t work out, we’ve got enough people here, we can even carry her down if necessary.”
Hearing this, Wei Zhi immediately sidled towards her senior brother.
The division of camps became instantly clear.
Shan Chong raised an eyelid, silently sweeping a glance at Bei Ci. The latter, successfully subdued by that invisible pressure, immediately turned to the little junior sister who was almost clinging to him and said: “…Of course, I’m just suggesting. You should still listen to your master.”
Wei Zhi: “…”
This spineless turncoat.
To demonstrate her firm resolve, Wei Zhi stopped talking. She adjusted her safety harness, then her helmet, and under Shan Chong’s watchful eye, she bent down, sat, and started putting on her board.
Fortunately, the man didn’t stop her again.
Nor did he turn and leave her behind.
He just silently watched her put on her board, and when she was flailing about trying to get up, he unhurriedly moved to put on his board…
By the time he straightened up, she had just managed to scramble to her feet.
The man jerked his chin towards the slope, the corner of his mouth lifting to reveal a flash of white teeth: “Let’s go then.”
…………………………Wei Zhi suspected he had left his face mask unzipped at the chin purely so she could see his expression.
She shifted her gaze from the face of the King of Hell, turned her head to stretch her neck for another look at the slope, and once again confirmed that with this gradient, she could handle a back-edge falling leaf—
Mustering up her courage, she stepped onto her snowboard and headed down.
After nearly half a month, stepping onto a snowboard again, perhaps because the rented board was indeed better or because the snow in Xinjiang was softer, she felt much more adept than when she was in Chongli…
She even had the spare attention to look back.
She saw the King of Hell with his hands behind his back, steadily following not far behind her, his eyes fixed on her—looking exactly like an old father closely following his one-year-old daughter learning to walk, almost wanting to use a dog leash to guide her.
Although his gaze wasn’t particularly kind.
But seeing him following behind somehow made Wei Zhi feel more at ease. Her fear of the “top three steepest slopes in the country” inexplicably diminished, that feeling of tension receded a bit, and the young woman tilted her head back: “See, I’m coming down just fine, aren’t I?”
Shan Chong, hands still behind his back, let out a cold laugh.
At this point, Wei Zhi still didn’t know what this person was being sarcastic about.
As she continued pushing down for about a hundred meters, she suddenly realized that the landscape of the slope was starting to look a bit off—the angle between her snowboard’s back edge and the slope was getting smaller and smaller, she was beginning to have trouble holding an edge, and her whole body was involuntarily wanting to lunge forward…
Looking down at her feet, she realized that without her noticing, the slope’s gradient had changed, becoming so steep that she couldn’t even see the bottom of the mountain.
At the same time, along both sides of the slope, crowds of people who weren’t visible at the top suddenly appeared—
Some people were screaming as they slid down on their backsides.
The rest were sitting by the side of the trail, laughing and chatting as if no one was embarrassed…
Don’t ask, they’d all encountered the same problem as Wei Zhi, starting confidently as the wind, then discovering the latter half of the slope was completely different and impossible to descend.
At this moment, she didn’t yet know that the spot under her feet was the famous “Life Contemplation Point” of the Aiwen Trail—
You could say that from here down for about two to three hundred meters was where the real Aiwen Trail began.
………………………However, Wei Zhi was already finished.
Faced with the uncontrollable urge to tumble forward, she unhesitatingly plopped down on her bottom on the slope—
How steep was this slope?
She sat down, but she felt like she hadn’t fully sat down, more like half-standing leaning against the snow slope, where a casual push with her hand might make her stand right up.
As soon as she sat down, the man who had been following behind her silently came to her side and stopped… Compared to the scattered people around who were at a loss facing the steep slope, his board control seemed as simple and casual as drinking water or eating.
At this point, Shan Chong glanced down the remaining slope, realizing there was still quite a long way to go, and after a moment of silence, he suggested: “Try pushing down, no need for falling leaf… Just go as far as you can.”
That “go as far as you can” was quite tactful, not putting pressure on her.
Grateful that he didn’t give her the cold shoulder or say harsh words at this critical moment, Wei Zhi responded with an “Oh.” After all, she was a veteran who had pushed her way down the advanced slopes of both Chongli ski resorts countless times. She tried to stand up, ready to push—
Then as she stood up, she realized in horror that she didn’t dare change any aspect of her snowboard’s current state…
The slightest movement made her feel like she was going to plunge headfirst down the slope.
Gritting her teeth, she shakily pushed down about two meters, when suddenly a guy next to her yelled “Aaaaah, F*ck!” and tumbled down in a spectacular fall, kicking up a two-meter high cloud of snow!
That sudden slip, like a snow rat, startled her!
In an instant, her heart leaped to her throat. All thoughts of sight lines, crouching to lower her center of gravity, and snowboard angles vanished. Her instinct was to fall backward!
Just as she prepared to tumble down with a string of “Ahhhhh!” and curses, she heard the sound of a snowboard’s edge cutting through the snow behind her. Suddenly, a pair of large hands firmly grasped her waist, steadying her and halting her descent.
Thump-thump.
Her heart raced wildly, then abruptly stopped—an earth-shattering moment.
On the snow-covered slope, the young woman half-fell into the man’s arms. She blinked in confusion and turned her head, only managing to glimpse those large hands tightly gripping her waist.
A familiar, magnetic male voice sounded in her ear, slightly breathless from the exertion of catching her. He asked in a low, husky tone, “Have you learned your lesson?”
“…”
“Next time you disobey, I won’t help you.”
“…Yes, I’ve learned! I won’t dare do it again!”
When it’s time to be submissive—
Before Wei Zhi could finish her thought, she felt the large hands on her waist tighten. The sound of breathing behind her ceased.
After a moment of eerie silence, the man who had been supporting her from behind suddenly released his grip. He placed one hand on her shoulder and, before she could react, swiftly changed his footing. With a straight board and C-curve, he carved the front edge, smoothly moving from behind her to her front.
His hands shifted from supporting her waist to grasping her wrists.
The man’s face remained expressionless as he raised his eyes slightly and said coolly, “Let’s change positions. I’ll pull you down.”
Wei Zhi: “?”
What happened? What’s the difference?
As the question formed on her lips, the phantom sensation of the restraint on her waist inexplicably returned. Through her clothes, she vividly recalled the feeling of his hands against her waist, tightening his grip—hot and burning.
Wei Zhi: “…”
She understood now.
It was like “Gym Diary”—
🙂