The atmosphere was eerie. At first, no one spoke. The scene was as serious as if the Sports Bureau had given Weizhi a spot to compete in next year’s Winter Olympics, while her current progress was just learning to push uphill… As for Shan Chong, it was as if Weizhi was ready to wear his name on a sign around her neck and demonstrate uphill pushing to the whole world at the Olympics.
“Teacher… Master,” Weizhi called out to him.
The moment her voice sounded, she felt the grip on her wrist loosen slightly. It seemed he wanted to let go and run away.
So she swallowed the words, “Human society has reached new cultural heights, don’t be so innocent, it was just a cover.”
“Don’t be nervous,” Weizhi heard her voice change tone, “Relax.”
It sounded very caring.
Then…
If looks could kill, she would have been dead by now.
Learning to ski from scratch in ten days, being pulled along to practice uphill pushing – Weizhi was probably the only one in the entire skiing circle to experience this. But she didn’t find it embarrassing. After all, life was more important than face – this was Awen Avenue.
Of course, her master wasn’t doubting her learning progress right now.
Shan Chong wasn’t just pushing her uphill.
He was guiding her to twist the board, straighten it, shift her center of gravity, and then change edges.
At first, Weizhi felt uncomfortable and a bit nervous. After four or five tries, as the slope gradually became less steep, she began to attempt small talk with Shan Chong. It wasn’t that she wanted to chat, but the awkward silence…
She felt uncomfortable too, okay?
“Do you have classes tomorrow?” she asked.
“In the afternoon.”
“Then you can teach me more in the morning. I should master the C-turn by this afternoon.”
“…Mm.”
“Don’t just ‘mm,’ say something else. I won’t eat you.”
“Weizhi.”
In her memory, the man had never called her by her full name before – he had never seriously asked her name either, probably having glimpsed it when she was getting her ski pass…
Regardless, as Weizhi grew up, people rarely called her that. Elders called her “Xiaozhi,” and friends called her “Jiji.” Being called by her full name usually meant either an argument was brewing or she was about to be scolded.
With her wrist still in his grip, Weizhi nervously let out an “Ah” and looked up, meeting his emotionless black eyes that seemed as lifeless as a corpse’s. “Whatever you want to say, now, shut up.”
And then, the world fell silent.
Just then, they reached the gentler slope near the end of the run, where Weizhi could control her speed. The person who had been holding her hand let go without hesitation, allowing her to practice on her own. She was to practice front and back edge C-turns – straightening the board, braking with the front edge, and braking with the back edge.
Weizhi obediently responded with an “Oh,” trying to remember what Shan Chong had told her earlier. Lift the left foot, step with the right – straighten the board – then slowly lift the right foot. When both feet are raised, the weight is on the back edge, and the snowboard will naturally turn, and brake, completing a back-edge C-turn.
“Don’t lift your left foot too early.”
“Twist the board with your right foot… center of gravity.”
“You’re leaning back too much. I’ve said it before, the more you lean back, the more power is on the tail of the board, and you’ll go faster forward.”
“I’m tired of saying it. Aren’t you tired of hearing it?”
“Are your ears growing fur?”
“What’s your left foot doing?”
“Left foot.”
“You must be left-foot forward. Otherwise, why is it moving so actively as the back foot that shouldn’t be initiating movement?”
“Left foot.”
“Left foot.”
“I’m about to hit someone.”
The voice from behind was cold and flat. Weizhi occasionally looked back to see the man with his arms crossed, riding on his back edge, expressionless as he followed not far behind her –
It was miraculous how fast the expert could go while riding on his back edge.
“Why are you looking at me?” he asked, “Eyes forward.”
The young girl hurriedly turned her gaze back, continuing to practice her C-turns diligently. She was in front, trying hard to practice, mumbling to herself, “Lift left foot, step with right, twist board, look ahead, center of gravity, good job Weizhi,” when she suddenly realized the nagging from behind had disappeared at some point –
She hesitated.
Before she could turn around, she heard a low, hurried “Fuck,” followed by two muffled sounds of “Thud” and “Whoosh.” She looked back to see Shan Chong lying face down on the ground.
Weizhi: “?”
Weizhi: “…”
Unless the man deliberately sat or knelt, this was the first time she had seen his body make such extensive contact with the ground.
Perhaps due to the shock of the moment, or perhaps because a woman’s natural curiosity for gossip overcame her instincts, in her confusion she hurried to turn her body from facing downhill on her back edge. So she straightened her board –
Gradually lifting her right foot towards the toes, then flattening her left foot that was originally on the heel, and gradually lifting the left foot towards the toes…
After a perfect arc, she turned around, caught on her front edge, looking at Shan Chong lying on the ground.
Before she could ask “What happened,” Beici, who had been carving his way down from behind, arrived. He stopped smoothly beside his master and asked anxiously, “What’s wrong? What’s wrong? What happened!”
Getting no answer from Shan Chong, Beici turned to look at Weizhi.
Weizhi: “I didn’t see it either. He was behind me just now, cursing one microsecond ago, and suddenly there was no sound—”
At this moment, Shan Chong got up, brushing off the snow covering his body. He lifted his eyelids and said very calmly, “I was pushing uphill behind her, watching her.”
Beici: “?”
Shan Chong paused, then added, “I got distracted, then caught a front edge and fell.”
His tone was very matter-of-fact, showing no embarrassment. His face remained expressionless as if falling while pushing uphill was a completely normal thing. He didn’t seem to notice the complex expression on Beici’s face upon hearing that he had fallen while pushing uphill…
Shan Chong bent down to rub his knee: “I happened not to wear protective gear today.”
Beici: “…”
Shan Chong: “How can one fall while pushing uphill?”
Weizhi: “…”
Shan Chong: “It hurts a bit.”
For a moment, the master’s disciple and favorite student looked at each other, unsure how to comfort him. The only thing they were certain of now was that neither of them dared to offer to rub anything for him—
Weizhi was fine; she had no concept of falling, after all, she fell in various ways every day.
Beici was different.
This was evident when the ski resort closed that afternoon, and even skiers as far away as Chongli knew that Shan Chong had fallen in Xinjiang today…
How did he fall?
While pushing uphill.
That evening at the dinner table, the beautiful Miss Huayan rested her chin on one hand and lazily summarized the incident: “My goodness, our master, the emotionless skiing machine, who’s as steady as an old dog on an eight-meter platform, can fall while pushing uphill… How adorable.”
Everyone burst into laughter.
The man being mocked tapped his chopsticks warningly on the edge of his bowl and said coldly, “No one will think you’re mute if you don’t speak… Haven’t you heard of ‘No talking while eating, no talking while resting’?”
It didn’t help.
Everyone was still laughing happily.
……
It snowed that night, so Weizhi didn’t have the chance to fulfill her promise of treating everyone to dinner. They made do with the hotel restaurant, and everyone returned to their rooms afterward.
The single-page update from noon had already garnered thousands of comments. Weizhi first checked the backend revenue, then opened the comments—
As long as there was a substantial income in RMB as a cushion, usually, even being scolded made the author smile.
Fan 1: Ahhh, you evil author, stopping here! If this were a different book, A’Mo would be the male lead, a loyal expert male lead forever!!
Fan 2: I can’t even remember the male lead’s surname anymore. Damn, he just took off his mask, is this what women are like!!
Fan 3: If the author gives him six-pack abs, I’m done…
Fan 4: Strip him!!!!!!!!
Fan 5: Update more!!!!!!!!
Fan 6: That mole on the bridge of his nose, tsk tsk, you can tell he’s a man with a story.
……
Hundreds more fickle women’s declarations of betrayal were omitted.
Weizhi rested her chin on one hand as she read the comments, while also pondering what kind of physique she should give A’Mo… He needed to be well-endowed and skilled in bed. As a shadow guard and loyal expert, he should have scars from years of accumulated injuries.
Hmm.
Where would scars be the sexiest?
Her fingertips danced on her chin as she narrowed her eyes slightly.
The stylus tapped unconsciously on the graphics tablet, making a mess on the screen. As she was pondering, suddenly, the phone placed beside her vibrated, startling her!
Weizhi dropped the pen and stretched to look at it. Seeing the caller ID “Nanfeng,” she relaxed… letting out a sigh of relief, she answered the phone.
“Hello,” the young girl sitting at the computer said lazily, “What’s up?”
“Nothing, I’m on my way to the airport now, just letting you know,” Jiang Nanfeng’s voice sounded calm. “After you left, they all went crazy. My brother knocked on my door yesterday, asking if I had considered Han Yiming, saying you could stay as my sister-in-law.”
“Huh?”
“The rest of them—my parents, your parents—all came to have heart-to-hearts with me. Except for my crazy brother, everyone seems to have assumed that you went to Xinjiang to elope with me… So I decided to confirm this rumor and rush to Xinjiang as if I couldn’t bear to be apart from you for a moment.”
“Ah!”
“Let them have their fun in Nancheng.”
“…”
Ignoring Jiang Nanfeng’s sarcastic remarks, Weizhi held her phone and glanced at the time on her computer. It was almost 5:30 PM…
There was only one direct flight from Nancheng to Urumqi, departing at 7 PM and arriving just after midnight.
Now she could empathize with how speechless Shan Chong must have felt when he received her notification that she was already on her way to the airport.
Runaway princess +1.
“Your flight won’t arrive until the middle of the night,” Weizhi said. “It’s not safe for you to take a cab alone. I’ll get a car to pick you up. They’ve rented a Jeep here.”
“You’re coming?”
“Who else?” Weizhi retorted. “Should I send Lao Yan? Are you planning to embrace him passionately at the airport and casually add him back on WeChat like nothing happened?” She added, “It’s not that you have to add him, but if you don’t, how will you transfer the gas money?”
There was a three-second silence on the other end of the line.
While the puppy-like coach was all talk, Ms. Jiang Nanfeng hadn’t given up either. She had long forgotten about the puppy coach amidst the glitz and glamour of the southern city…
But unlike the smooth-talking scumbag, she still had some pride.
So when she spoke again a few seconds later, her voice sounded unusually stubborn: “Isn’t the delete friend function on WeChat meant for deleting friends? If deleting someone was such a heinous crime punishable by death, how could this function legally exist—”
As if she believed that adding him back upon meeting wouldn’t be awkward and would be as simple as drinking water or eating.
Weizhi mocked her: “Yeah, right.”
Jiang Nanfeng: “It is.”
Weizhi: “If you knew then what you know now, why did you do it in the first place?”
Jiang Nanfeng: “If you weren’t coming to pick me up later, I’d delete you too right now and let you experience the justice this function brings.”
Weizhi: “Bah!”
After hanging up, Weizhi put down the stylus she had been playing with and switched to WeChat. She found the Crayon Shin-chan avatar and explained that Jiang Nanfeng was coming tonight, asking to borrow his car to pick her up from the airport.
After about ten minutes, he replied with a simple “Okay,” leaving her unsure of what to say next…
As she was hesitating whether to say “thank you,” he sent two more messages—
[Chong: 1103, come up and get the car keys yourself.]
[Chong: Remember to bring your turtle cushion when you go down to drive.]
Weizhi didn’t understand what he meant and wasn’t ashamed to ask.
[Girl Jiji: What’s wrong, is the road bumpy? It’s fine, just a little. I don’t have hemorrhoids.]
Not only was she unashamed to ask, but she also had the mood to joke around.
Watching as the other side displayed “typing,” after a few seconds, the Crayon Shin-chan avatar owner wasn’t amused by her joke and replied matter-of-factly—
[Chong: It’s not that.]
[Chong: The car is high. I’m afraid you won’t be able to reach the pedals without a cushion.]
Weizhi: “…”
You son of a…
[Girl Jiji: One question, are you blaming me for your widely known fall while pushing uphill today?]
[Chong: ?]
[Chong: I was watching you at the time.]
If not you, who else?
[Girl Jiji: …]
[Girl Jiji: Change your avatar. Why use Crayon Shin-chan? Old man Grandet would suit you better, stingy and mean.]
Then the other side stopped responding, who knows what he went off to do.
Weizhi made a face at her phone and put it down. As a responsible writer, she hadn’t forgotten her mission. She picked up her stylus and diligently started working on her update.
Time flew by as she worked.
After coloring a few rough sketches, she looked up and was surprised to find that three hours had passed without her noticing. It was now about 8:30 PM.
The young girl rubbed her sore neck and stretched. Suddenly remembering something, she quickly grabbed her phone with an “Oh no” and looked at it—
WeChat was quiet as a mouse.
The man was as cold as ever, showing no curiosity about why the person who said they’d come to get the car keys hadn’t shown up after more than three hours.
……
Outside, the snow was falling heavier. With thick snow, the roads would be difficult to navigate, and driving would be slow. If she didn’t leave soon, it would be too late.
Weizhi put on a camel-colored turtleneck sweater and a matching gray wool long skirt, hopped into her warm and fluffy pink snow boots, casually ran her fingers through her hair in front of the mirror, tucked her room card into her pocket, and hurriedly left the room.
She took the elevator up, following the room numbers until she found 1103. In the dim hallway, the room door was slightly ajar, and the sound of a TV could be heard from inside…
Weizhi hesitated for a moment, not pushing the door open directly. Instead, she stood outside and politely knocked on the door.
No one answered.
Only then did she reach out to push the door open?
As orange light spilled out from the room, the door gap widened. The young girl, who had just lifted her foot to step inside, sneezed as the strong smell of mugwort wafted out—
Wrinkling her nose, she opened the door fully.
The room was empty, with the sound of running water coming from the bathroom.
Weizhi stood outside the bathroom door for a moment. “Brother Chong,” she called out like a cat, “Are you in there?”
The person inside probably didn’t hear her.
The TV was on, showing a recording of a snowboarding competition from a previous Winter Olympics. The commentator’s voice came from the TV:
[Next up on the starting platform is our country’s athlete, Shan Chong.
He’s 22 years old this year, born in Liaoning Province. He officially joined the national team at 19, which isn’t considered young for snowboarding…
But compared to him finally standing on the Winter Olympic stage today, he has long been famous in the domestic snow sports industry. Today, he stands here carrying the hopes of many people.]
Hearing the familiar name, Weizhi’s attention was drawn to the TV screen.
[As far as I know, he’s currently the only athlete who has entered the preliminaries for the men’s snowboarding event… After all, snowboarding is a relatively new sport in our country, not a traditional strength.
Okay, he’s starting now, with a regular stance. A frontside 1620, followed by— oh, followed by a method grab— he’s landed! He’s stable! We can hear the enthusiastic applause from the audience because this is a signature board-bottom move that everyone loves in snowboard jumping!]
Weizhi: “…”
This footage was quite familiar to her. When she was all worked up about Shan Chong’s first love and soulmate, he played this video for her in the car to calm her down.
Setting aside how narcissistic it was for him to be watching his competition video in his room, Weizhi realized today that the video she had seen before seemed to be a censored version—
She hadn’t noticed anything wrong before.
Today, she realized that in the competition videos she had saved on her phone, regardless of which competition it was, there was usually no introduction of Shan Chong’s name and age by the commentator at the beginning.
Thinking about it now, this was highly unlikely.
Any professional commentator, upon seeing a home country athlete take the stage, would give a detailed introduction… especially since this commentator later even briefly introduced athletes from other countries.
In the video she had downloaded, the part where the commentator mentioned Shan Chong’s name had been cut out.
Otherwise, she should have been able to connect the dots between the coach and the glasses-cloth guy based on the name much earlier.
…Why?
Standing in the middle of the room, enveloped by the smell of mugwort, the young girl wore a puzzled expression. As she pondered, her eyes swept across everything in the room—
There were two beds in the room. One was as messy as a dog’s bed, with the covers thrown back and a set of snow clothes that Beici had worn in the morning tossed on top. The quick-dry shirt was crumpled, and the inner protective gear was carelessly thrown about, with snow boots lying askew.
The other bed was as neat as if its owner had OCD. There was only a white short-sleeved T-shirt on the bed, next to a first-aid kit. The kit was open, containing bandages and Yunnan Baiyao. In the trash can beside the bed were several used-up moxibustion sticks…
It was obvious who the latter belonged to.
— This person was quite health-conscious. After falling in the morning, he came back in the evening and immediately started moxibustion.
As Weizhi was lost in thought, the sound of water in the bathroom stopped.
The TV was loud, and she was still pondering about the censored video and moxibustion, so she didn’t notice at first…
When the bathroom door opened, she heard the sound and instinctively turned around.
Milky white steam billowed out.
In the steam, a man with a bare upper body slowly walked out wearing slippers. Seeing the wide-open door, he paused.
Without the loose snow clothes, the man’s figure was lean, with a prominent Adam’s apple, broad shoulders, and a narrow waist. The muscles on those arms that could easily pick up Weizhi like a chick were taut and well-defined…
Her gaze moved downward.
He was casually wearing a pair of jeans on his lower half, with the belt unbuckled and the zipper undone, revealing black fabric underneath.
He held a white towel draped over his head, standing by the door. Water was still dripping from his hair.
As the steam dissipated slightly, his gaze returned from the doorway. The man turned slightly to the side, revealing a gruesome scar running from his buttocks up along half of his spine to his waist, exposed to the other person in the room—
It was as if a perfect painting had been brutally and violently slashed by a vicious villain.
It was still a work of art, perhaps even more visually striking due to its imperfection.
When a drop of water slid along that centipede-like scar, silently falling and disappearing into the shadow cast by the man’s slightly concave back and the waistband of his jeans…
Weizhi’s breath caught.
Her heart stopped.
She reached out and gripped the armrest of the nearby chair tightly.
This slight sound somehow overpowered the TV’s noise and caught the man’s attention. He paused in drying his hair and turned around completely, unexpectedly locking eyes with the young girl standing by his bed—
Shan Chong’s gaze lingered on Weizhi’s face for a few seconds.
As his eyebrow slightly raised and his eyes slowly narrowed, Weizhi felt as if vines had grown from the ground and entangled her feet.
In the suffocating silent gaze, the man suddenly seemed to remember something strange. He turned back, looked at the bathroom behind him, and then…
As if possessed, he reached out and wiped the steam off the mirror that had fogged up outside the bathroom.
Weizhi: “…”
If at first Weizhi didn’t know what he was thinking about, now, seeing the long drag mark of his palm on the wiped steam—
She understood.
Weizhi: “I just came to get the car keys.”
Hearing this, Shan Chong looked up, glanced at her, and nodded: “Oh.”
Under Weizhi’s increasingly stiff expression, the man tossed away the towel, raised his hand, meticulously fastened his jeans’ belt, and zipped up the fly.
Weizhi: “…”
What’s the deal, zipping up so tightly? Would looking once make it shrink a centimeter?
Weizhi: “…”
Despair.
This “Gym Diary” meme was not going away.
Damn it.