If it weren’t for the guardrails on the highway, Wei Zhi might have driven straight onto the opposite lane with Jiang Nanfeng. Later, adhering to the traffic safety rule of “Please do not discuss dangerous topics with the driver,” she bit her lower lip tightly until they reached the hotel, refusing to speak to Jiang Nanfeng.

After getting out of the car, Jiang Nanfeng carried the luggage. Wei Zhi hesitated for a moment but still went upstairs to return the car keys.

It was almost 2 or 3 AM, and the door to room 1103 was still open, just as it had been when she left. Wei Zhi stood outside, carefully knocking twice on the door. As she wondered if the person inside had already fallen asleep, footsteps approached, and the door was pulled open from the inside.

The man looked tired, leaning against the doorframe as if boneless. He yawned, his pitch-black eyes hidden in the darkness, their emotions indiscernible. He looked down at her.

That handsome yet cold face showed little expression, but it was patient enough. His lowered eyelashes cast a small shadow beneath his eyes… The light behind him outlined his silhouette, bringing an inexplicable hint of warmth, and making him appear more docile than during the day.

“Just push the door and come in directly. Why are you peeking around like a thief?” The man’s voice was hoarse and slow.

[Wei Zhi, liking someone isn’t something to be ashamed of. You’re both single, so why are you acting like a thief?]

“…”

The car keys in her hand were almost bent. Wei Zhi didn’t have time to speak before she started regretting coming up tonight… Without trying, she didn’t know that she wasn’t mentally prepared to see this face.

It was as if the end of her mother’s dark age had arrived, all of humanity awakened, pores screaming to sense the atmosphere, opening the doors to a new world with fresh eyes—

She was breathless, pausing for a long time before gathering the courage to speak: “You’re still not asleep so late?”

Fortunately, her voice sounded normal.

“What else could we do besides waiting for you?”

“…”

She knew he just meant waiting for her to return the keys…

But.

Jiang Nanfeng might have been right—

Dark Age 1.0 version: Earth explodes.

She couldn’t pretend anymore.

She was going to die.

Damn Jiang Nanfeng, kicking over her Pandora’s box.

The young girl lowered her head, staring at her toes peeking out from under her skirt. Her gaze could almost burn a hole in the hotel corridor’s carpet, leaving only a stubborn crown for Shan Chong to see. The latter, naturally, was puzzled.

Thinking he had said something wrong to provoke her little temper again, the man wasn’t impatient. He just thought, “It’s Freaking 3 AM, if you have a temper, save it for tomorrow morning at the breakfast table when everyone’s refreshed and energetic to make a big scene, wouldn’t that be better?”

“Gone mute?” he urged, “Where are the keys?”

Wei Zhi quickly glanced up at him, carelessly tossing the car keys into his palm while mumbling, “I filled up the tank, so tomorrow you can directly…”

Due to nervousness, her movement was too fast, misjudging the distance.

As the keys landed in his palm, her soft fingertips unexpectedly grazed his palm—

Completely different from the touch of the keys.

Warm, soft.

With a bit of hardness from the tip of her nails, like a cat’s scratch.

Her mumbling voice abruptly stopped.

Wei Zhi reacted first, followed by a gasp as if a bomb had exploded in front of her. She was first stunned, speechless for two seconds, then sharply inhaled and suddenly retreated a big step!

“?”

Shan Chong silently raised an eyebrow.

Seeing her jump back as if touching a hedgehog, he felt a bit offended.

“What’s with all this startling in the middle of the night?” he calmly looked at the young girl who was almost pressed against the opposite room’s door, saying, “I taught you push turns and edge changes hands-on for over ten days without seeing you blush once. Did the Xinjiang climate suddenly make you aware or something?”

A young girl’s heart was fluttering, active, and jumping.

He just wanted to sleep, sarcastic and irritable.

Wei Zhi’s hand silently scratched the wall, her face flushing from his teasing—hearing his light tone, clearly just casual remarks without any malice, she still felt like she was set on fire, all the blood in her body seemed to reverse flow from her feet, converging at the top of her head…

Luckily, the corridor was dim, and he couldn’t see clearly.

“Shut, shut up!” she warned him with apparent panic, “Don’t talk nonsense! Before, it was always with gloves! And just now, that kind of touch wouldn’t do anything!”

It had always been Shan Chong telling others to shut up.

This was the first time someone had demanded it of him.

A touch indeed wouldn’t do anything, he stood there without moving an inch, it was she who automatically bounced two meters away… What did it have to do with him?

The man weighed the keys in his hand, still carrying the warmth from the young girl’s palm. He casually placed the keys on the tea table in the entryway, moved his lips, about to say something—

At this moment, Beici got up from the bed, hugging the blanket with sleepy eyes: “Are you two planning to chat here until dawn?”

Shan Chong: “…”

That made sense.

Glancing at the person clinging to the opposite door like a gecko, Shan Chong said, “Go back to sleep.”

Wei Zhi made an “Oh” sound, lifting her foot to walk. After two steps, she realized she was limping, awkwardly stopping, looking back… unsurprisingly finding that the man who had told her to scram quickly was still standing there in the same position, unmoved.

………………………He must have seen her limping, damn it, how embarrassing.

“I’m leaving,” Wei Zhi bit her lower lip, “See you tomorrow?”

She happened to be standing under a corridor light, so the man could see her fluffy, frizzy hair on top, and as she spoke, her light pink lips were bitten into a deeper rose color herself.

Under the dim light, there was a hint of lingering moisture on her lower lip.

Like a child.

……

But not entirely like one.

Reaching this contradictory conclusion, the man’s slightly dark gaze discreetly moved away from her lips, giving a good-natured “Mm” in response, watching her visibly sigh in relief, turn around and run away, get on the elevator, the elevator doors close…

Only then did he turn, closing the door.

Returning to the bedside, Beici sat cross-legged on the bed wrapped in a blanket, yawning: “What did you do to little junior sister, just returning keys, how come it’s like you took the chance to feel her up… you scared her to the opposite room.”

The man didn’t answer.

He just expressionlessly bent down to pick up the pillow.

Weighing it in his hand.

Then twisted his waist, turned back, and solidly smacked it on Beici’s face.

“Go to sleep.”

Turning off the lights, he lay back in bed.

……

When Wei Zhi got to the room, Jiang Nanfeng was removing her makeup.

With cleansing oil still smeared on her face, she saw the young girl rush in like a gust of wind, “Bang” the door shut, leaned her whole body against the door, and declared in a tone as if the world was ending: “You were right, I like him.”

Jiang Nanfeng didn’t even twitch an eyebrow, not even understanding what was worth solemnly declaring again about this matter.

“If you like him, go for it, charge ahead.” She continued rubbing her face, her voice cold and numb, “As long as his household registration isn’t complicated, like having kids already in kindergarten, being a stepmother still needs careful consideration—”

Unable to listen to her rambling nonsense.

“Can’t charge.” The person leaning on the door made a woeful face, slowly sliding down, finally sitting limply on the ground, “I don’t even dare to look at him now… And do you think someone like him is easy to approach, let alone by me? How many young ladies must he have taught over the years? Handsome, skilled, you think I’m the only one with eyes? Where have all those young ladies gone!”

“Be optimistic, you’re the only one he’s done push turns hand-in-hand with.”

“What’s hand-in-hand push turns, you haven’t seen it, he even had to support my waist for park jumps!”

“…”

“Did I save the Milky Way in my past life for such a person to be left for me to charge at?”

“Maybe?” Jiang Nanfeng said irresponsibly, “He is indeed single, after all.”

“Maybe he has emotional barriers.”

“Then you be his medicine.” Jiang Nanfeng said expressionlessly, emulsifying the cleansing oil, washing it clean, staring in the mirror to check for blackheads on her nose wings, while educating her without turning her head, “Why be timid, according to what you said, someone has to step up to be the master’s wife eventually, why can’t that person be you?”

“How can it be me?”

“…In those mangas of yours, the female leads capture thousands of men as easily as drinking water, amazing those little girl readers and grown men alike, and now you’re asking me how it can be you? So were you sleepwalking when you came up with those plots?”

“That’s erotica! How can it be the same!”

“Art imitates life.”

“Although this fart seems to make some sense,” Wei Zhi covered her face, “You’ve changed, last month you were as strict as a disciplinary teacher, and now you’re encouraging me…”

“That’s right.”

Jiang Nanfeng leisurely washed her hands, “When I saw the latest 1p update before boarding, the masked guard A’Mo had the face of a ski jumping champion… That’s when I felt, either the author had gone mad, or the author had fallen in love, in short, you were done for.”

Wei Zhi made an “Oh” sound—

Reminded of something.

Falling in love didn’t make her forget about her work, she propped herself up and opened her tablet, adding scars to the beautiful back of the male supporting character that was still blank: among the crisscrossing old scars, there was one most obvious along the spine…

Like a centipede.

It was indeed covered with a tattoo in the shape of a centipede.

Putting down the pressure-sensitive pen, Wei Zhi hesitated for a moment, then completely changed all the drafts of the male supporting character and female lead rolling in bed, changing them to flashback parts, where A’Mo’s centipede tattoo was done by the female lead.

Jiang Nanfeng climbed up and saw her lying in front of the computer scribbling and modifying, watched for a while, and asked in surprise: “What’s with this tattoo plot? Isn’t the male supporting character going to bed with the female lead anymore?”

“Not anymore,” Wei Zhi said, “Let the male supporting character focus on his career.”

…A devastatingly handsome male supporting character in an erotic manga used for career development?

Jiang Nanfeng was listening in confusion when she heard the author righteously declare: “Otherwise I’d be jealous.”

Jiang Nanfeng: “?”

Extremely speechless, Jiang Nanfeng lifted the blanket and crawled into bed, took out her phone and opened the familiar webpage, logged into her reader account, and left the latest comment among thousands waiting for the male supporting character and female lead to roll in bed—

[Everyone goes home, the crazy author has lost herself in male beauty, losing her original intention.]

……

The next day, Wei Zhi only opened her eyes at 10 AM, while Jiang Nanfeng turned over and was still sleeping soundly.

Groggily grabbing her phone to look, she saw that starting from 9 AM, Shan Chong had sent her a message every 20 minutes, respectively—

“At the entrance of the ski equipment hall.”

“Where are you.”

“Person.”

The last one was a missed voice message.

It was like having a bucket of ice water poured over her head, chilling to the bone. She had never been this panicked even when late for elementary school—Wei Zhi shook Jiang Nanfeng awake, and amidst the other’s complaints, she sprang up like a carp and started washing up.

Rushing to the ski equipment hall, buying the ski pass, and swiping in was almost 10:30 AM. She called the man without much hope, and surprisingly, the call was answered after just a few rings on the other end.

“Coffee shop.”

Before Wei Zhi could speak, the person on the other end was as concise as ever, hanging up immediately after speaking.

“…”

At least he didn’t scold her as soon as he answered the call. Her heart, which had been in her throat, settled a bit. Wei Zhi dragged Jiang Nanfeng around looking for the coffee shop… But the moment they arrived at the coffee shop before she could even catch her breath, her heart was back in her throat again—

Shan Chong wasn’t alone.

Besides Lao Yan and Beici, there was an unfamiliar girl with him. The girl was another pretty young lady (as if all the good-looking girls in the world knew how to ski), with a mature aura, great figure, obviously tall and slim…

Her makeup was flawless, the kind with an aggressive style.

She wore light pink overalls ski suit and held a coffee in her hand, currently chatting and laughing with them—

Wei Zhi was certain she hadn’t seen this girl before, but she looked familiar somehow.

On the table beside her was a safety helmet with a unicorn-shaped fluffy cover on it, white and soft, looking extremely cute.

As Wei Zhi approached, she overheard the girl saying: “This snow season, I don’t want anything else, I just want to learn the park decently. I’m tired of carving and freestyle, when I close my eyes at night all I see are barrels. I stand on one side of the barrel thinking about how to jump, I even want to jump when I see trash cans on the street!”

After she said this, Beici and Lao Yan started laughing, with Lao Yan saying: “Then it’s over, I was going to help you nail the drive spin 720 (*a freestyle move, balanced spinning)… You don’t want me anymore, huh!”

The girl laughed and said: “Right, I don’t want you anymore… I’ve finally caught Chong God in Xinjiang at the start of the snow season, with such a good teacher, shouldn’t I hurry and jump a whole season in the park?”

From the way she spoke, she seemed quite familiar with Lao Yan and the others… But when she said “want to jump a whole season in the park,” her eyes were smilingly fixed on Shan Chong.

Shan Chong didn’t speak, but Beici beside him exclaimed: “Oh my, you can’t just casually call him teacher! If you call him Chong God, he won’t feel right charging you money.”

The girl put down her coffee: “Oh, since you said that, I better hurry and call him! Teacher! Teacher!”

As she happily called out “teacher” repeatedly, Wei Zhi’s waist was pinched by Jiang Nanfeng.

She hissed, stumbling forward and bending to dodge while turning back to glare at her. The latter unflinchingly stared back, her face clearly saying: Did I give up sleep to come with you to pay respects to a potential new teacher’s wife candidate?

Wei Zhi understood.

So amidst the laughter in the coffee shop, before Shan Chong could respond to that girl, she quickened her pace, went up, and poked the man’s shoulder.

The laughter quieted down a bit.

As Shan Chong turned around, the other two sitting at the table also turned their heads. Beici said “Yo” and said “The real little junior sister is here,” while Lao Yan didn’t speak, his gaze lightly sweeping over Jiang Nanfeng beside Wei Zhi before looking away.

To be honest, this kid had always been quite polite, usually calling “Sister, Sister” with a smile, but today he suddenly went silent. Even a fool would know he had discovered something.

However, this was Jiang Nanfeng’s trouble. Wei Zhi couldn’t care about these expired melons at the moment. She stared at the face of the man who had turned to look at her silently, and said in a soft, obedient voice: “I overslept.”

Shan Chong: “…”

Shan Chong couldn’t remember when was the last time he heard her speak in this tone—

Maybe in a past life.

Or never…

After all, usually she was either arguing or with an impatient face saying “Aiya, my legs won’t listen, what can I do, don’t nag, they won’t listen to me either.”

Raising his eyebrows with interest, he was tolerant enough to give her face, not exposing that she only knew to act sweet after doing something wrong, and asked: “Have you had breakfast?”

Wei Zhi nodded, then shook her head, and finally said: “I’m not hungry, I’ll just have lunch later.”

While they were having their daily conversation, Jiang Nanfeng sat down next to Lao Yan, smiling and greeting him, as naturally as if nothing strange had happened.

Her psychological quality was first-class.

It confused Lao Yan, who didn’t respond to Jiang Nanfeng at the moment, just watching her sit down beside him and chat casually with everyone.

With Wei Zhi and Jiang Nanfeng joining, the table was suddenly full of people. The girl who was originally there was stunned for a moment, her gaze sweeping over the two newcomers—

Lingering on Wei Zhi for a while longer.

It wasn’t that she was unfamiliar with such situations or anything else. She had long known that skilled skiers like Shan Chong were always surrounded by many people, and talented female skiers would certainly not be few. But she never imagined that this could include someone carrying a little turtle…

And a patched little turtle at that.

Who is this?

Questions don’t last overnight.

After a pause, she took the initiative to ask: “Chong God, is this the young lady you refused my morning lesson for… Is this who you were waiting for earlier? I was wondering how I could run into you in a coffee shop so early in the morning.”

“Mm,” Shan Chong responded to her for the first time since earlier, “I was waiting for her.”

“Teaching jumps?”

It was somewhat inexplicable. The man glanced at the person sitting opposite who was smiling, thinking ‘Is your eyesight bad? Didn’t you see the green turtle hanging on her? How many people have you seen jumping with a turtle on their back?’

“No,” his thin lips parted slightly, “A carving and edge-changing athlete.”

“Ah? Isn’t that something you can learn just by skiing more?”

“She can barely get on the next cable car without me, let alone practice on her own.”

His tone was quite cold, with no other intention, just feeling she was a bit noisy…

And meddling too much.

“I never thought you’d teach this. Didn’t they say you don’t teach basics? Look at how well I ski before I dare to book a lesson with you, this isn’t fair!”

As the girl spoke, she playfully kicked Shan Chong lightly under the table.

He was stunned for a moment, looked up at her, but didn’t react.

He just politely pulled his foot back a bit.

Wei Zhi saw this scene, her eyes almost popping out, unable to take her gaze off this beautiful girl’s face — the more she looked, the more familiar she seemed, until the girl lifted her coffee for a sip, and she finally realized who she was.

It was that internet celebrity.

Her short video account was called “Caribbean Pirate Bear”, known as “Little Bear” in the skiing circle. This girl often hung around in Xinjiang. On social media, it was either the Silk Road Ski Resort in Urumqi or the Jiangjunshan Ski Resort in Altay– —

In winter, it was all sexy photos of sports bras and snowboards.

In summer, it was all bikini and surfing photos.

Interspersed with a few gym photos showing off her abs…

Previously, because of her revealing clothes and love for posting photos, she was mocked by people in the ski circle as a “ski circle socialite”. She directly responded that she could carve down Irwin without spilling a drop of coffee, which led to an even bigger wave of mockery.

Unexpectedly, she had known Lao Yan for a long time, and today she connected with Shan Chong through Lao Yan’s connections and booked a lesson.

From their conversation, it seemed she skied quite well, not as bad as those people online mocked.

— Women’s sixth sense is quite strong.

Unlike the atmosphere when they accidentally encountered Hua Yan at the ski equipment store and she grabbed Shan Chong to help look at equipment, Wei Zhi could feel that although Little Bear politely turned the topic to her and Jiang Nanfeng at first, it was just a fleeting gesture —

She quickly turned it back to herself.

For example, at this moment, when Little Bear smiled and said to Shan Chong “Can you give me a discount if we have a full-day lesson tomorrow”, Wei Zhi, who was inexplicably about to lose her full-day lesson opportunity, stood up as if her butt was on fire after sitting for just a few seconds, and asked the man sitting opposite her: “Shall we go?”

“…Hm?”

Shan Chong reflexively responded with a sound from his nose.

Of course, it wasn’t that he thought she was in a hurry — he was even wondering if she was planning to have lunch directly since she had sat down — now that she finally took the initiative to stand up, he was just a bit surprised: You still remember what you came here for??

He didn’t hesitate, looked at the time on his phone, and given that there were outsiders present, the man suppressed the urge to scold, nodded, and stood up as well.

He picked up his helmet and gloves, slowly putting on his gloves.

Their sudden departure also startled Little Bear.

Of course, she wouldn’t just let them leave —

“Leaving already? Chong God, don’t go yet. For the sake of our lesson this afternoon, can you first tell me about the key points of boardslide (*a basic park move: sliding sideways over a rail)? Since you’re not free this morning, I’ll just practice by myself, but I keep falling off before I finish…”

As she spoke, she took out her phone, opened a video, and was about to show it to Shan Chong.

He glanced at her, pausing the adjustment of his glove straps. Thinking that he should appropriately answer questions from a customer (especially one who had booked a lesson for the afternoon), he was about to lean over to take a look at her training situation…

At this moment, a small, subtle sigh came from behind him.

Stunned for a moment, the man’s movement towards Little Bear halted.

He reflexively turned his head and saw the girl a head shorter than him standing behind, wearing a safety helmet, currently struggling with the strap of the helmet, trying hard to fasten it…

She couldn’t buckle it.

As if sensing his gaze on her, she lifted her chin, exposing the strap she had been struggling with to his view. Her round eyes looked at him, and after a while, she said blankly: “Can’t buckle it.”

Shan Chong glanced at her strap.

It was all twisted.

Without thinking much, he said softly “Come here,” and the girl immediately shuffled towards him.

He didn’t hesitate to take off the gloves he had just put on. His long fingers casually hooked under her chin, indicating her to lift her head. The callused pads of his fingers brushed across her delicate jaw, bringing a slight tickle.

Wei Zhi narrowed her eyes slightly.

Like a cat asking its owner for a pet.

The next second, there was a soft “click” sound, the sound of the buckle locking in place.

Wei Zhi raised her hand to touch the strap of the safety helmet, while looking at him: “Done?”

“Done,” Shan Chong lowered his eyes, slowly putting his gloves back on while scolding, “Spoiled rotten, you can’t live without someone at all.”

“Hey.”

The two left the coffee shop one after another. Little Bear was still holding her phone screen up, the video of her practice had just finished playing on the screen.