As soon as the young girl left the café, she fell silent, as if her tongue had been cut out, all her previous vivacity vanishing. While queuing for the cable car, she remained as quiet as a mouse. Just as they were about to board, Shan Chong suddenly turned around. Before she could react, he raised his hand and removed the lens from her snow goggles.
Wei Zhi was startled. “What are you doing?” she asked, looking up at him with clear confusion in her eyes.
The man fiddled with her goggles for a few seconds, his gaze never leaving her eyes. After a moment, satisfied that she hadn’t been secretly crying, he snapped her “windows to the soul” shut again and said casually, “Nothing.”
When it was their board turn the cable car, seeing her awkwardly shuffling forward on one foot while dragging her snowboard, he reached out to steady her. As they boarded, concerned that her legs might be too short to reach, he lifted her onto the car.
Once seated in the cable car, however, she became uncooperative again, hastily freeing herself from his grip as soon as she was settled. He paused for a moment but said nothing, discreetly withdrawing his hand and using the motion to pull down the safety bar.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw her feet swinging back and forth beside him. She gazed straight ahead, seemingly engrossed in the snowy landscape. Just as Shan Chong thought she might remain mute for the day, granting him a rare moment of peace, she finally burst out, “Do they look down on me?”
Wei Zhi asked this question while staring at the people on the ski slopes below as if someone down there had performed an extraordinary feat.
Shan Chong wanted to ask if she wasn’t afraid of heights, staring down like that.
“What?” he responded absently.
“I feel like they all look down on me,” Wei Zhi repeated, her voice devoid of emotion, almost numb. “Everyone looked surprised when they heard you were teaching me how to push and carve. Some didn’t mean any harm, but others seemed to think I was wasting your time…”
She turned her head, looking at the man through her snow goggles. “Does teaching me to push and carve embarrass you?”
Her voice sounded forced and brave.
The meaning behind these words was clear – she might as well have had “Please comfort me” written on her face.
At this point, according to the script, the man should smile indulgently and tell her that everyone starts from zero. Skiing, except for a few exceptionally gifted individuals or those with prior experience in board sports, begins with stumbling and tumbling for everyone.
It doesn’t matter if learning is slow; take it step by step.
Those people aren’t that good either.
She’ll catch up to them eventually, maybe even surpass them…
Wei Zhi could think of countless unimaginative ways to placate her, so she looked at Shan Chong, hoping he’d say something original and inspiring—preferably moving her to tears.
Under her expectant gaze, the man remained silent for a moment, then said something indeed quite unexpected.
“Since when did you suddenly become so ambitious?”
“?”
“You know you’re not good, so why aren’t you practicing properly?” he said. “Skills are honed on the slopes. If you diligently practice every day, I guarantee that under my careful guidance, you’ll be able to mock others by the end of this ski season.”
“…”
Wei Zhi suspected she might be hallucinating from hunger, having skipped breakfast, to think this man could say anything uplifting.
“Let’s set aside whether you’ve been teaching me carefully—”
“How have I not been teaching you carefully?”
“I want to work hard,” she said, shaking off her previous self-pity. “Am I not trying hard enough?”
“How about making a symbolic effort by setting an alarm tomorrow?” Shan Chong said. “You dare to schedule 9 AM meetings with me relying on natural wake-ups? I suspect you’re asking for trouble.”
“…Aren’t you teaching others tomorrow?”
“Yes.”
Wei Zhi shrugged.
Shan Chong glanced at her, tempted to throw her off the cable car.
Before he could respond, she had a new idea: “You’re so busy. Why don’t you find someone else to teach me? I can pay. I’m tired of hearing people say ‘Anyone can teach carving’ these past few days…”
Wei Zhi wasn’t just being petulant. At a relatively unfamiliar ski resort, she felt somewhat dependent on others. Shan Chong was too busy to keep an eye on her constantly, so the best solution would be for him to find a reliable instructor for basic lessons—
“Find me a good teacher,” she said, determined.
She was genuinely motivated now. His comment about “diligent practice” made her realize that in a professional circle, you can’t win over a man at the top of his field by being incompetent—just as modern stories no longer feature “clumsy, foolish female subordinates winning the favor of domineering CEOs”…
To conquer the sun, you must at least be something that can stand shoulder-to-shoulder with it. Anything would do, even a star that shines by borrowing the sun’s light.
She looked serious.
Shan Chong thought for a moment and agreed without hesitation: “Alright, I’ll find someone for you.”
Then, sitting in the cable car, he began observing people on the slopes below.
Wei Zhi glanced at him, turned her head back, then realized something wasn’t right. She looked at him again and asked, “What are you doing?”
“Finding someone who can teach you.”
“Where?” Wei Zhi was confused. “From the cable car? Looking down? On the slopes?”
“What’s wrong with that?”
“… even garbage collectors aren’t this casual,” Wei Zhi tugged at his snow jacket, causing the lazily seated man to sway. “I’m serious. Either let Bei Ci teach me or that person in the white snowsuit from the other day!”
“…”
Bei Ci was out of the question.
Who was the one in the white snowsuit from the other day?
Shan Chong seriously tried to recall who “that person in the white snowsuit” might be. After a while, he finally associated the description with a certain effeminate-looking guy…
His casual demeanor instantly vanished.
He hadn’t forgotten how the young girl had stared at that person, reluctant to look away, before they left last time. Afterward, she had tugged at him saying, “Coach, I want to learn carved turns.”
Now he reasonably suspected that her long build-up, from sulking to suddenly seeking improvement, was premeditated—
So this was her plan all along?
Hmpf.
“You’re the one who wants to learn from any Tom, Dick, or Harry,” the man said expressionlessly, brushing off her small paw still clutching his clothes. “That person isn’t even in Xinjiang, how could they teach you—”
Before he could finish, a familiar figure appeared in the distance on the slope below the cable car.
Skilled skiers always stand out, and this white-clad figure was exceptionally eye-catching on the wide slope. With a tall, slender build and nimble freestyle techniques, their goggles reflected a greenish tint in the sunlight…
Speeding from the end of the slope, the person cut across diagonally, leaving deep tracks in the snow. Each jump and half-edge takeoff kicked up a spray of snow—
As they passed beneath them, the skier performed a nollie 360 followed by a tail press, then an ollie 360, landing steadily and creating a wall of white snow.
Amidst the white expanse, only the colorful cord decorations at their waist provided a splash of color.
Wei Zhi leaned over the cable car railing, her head lowered and neck stretched out like a turtle, watching intently.
Shan Chong: “…”
He grabbed the hood of her snow jacket, forcibly pulling her back against the cable car seat and holding her in place.
Shan Chong: “Sit properly.”
Wei Zhi still tried desperately to look back: “That person in the white snowsuit who just passed beneath us…”
It looked somewhat familiar.
Shan Chong: “Don’t know them.”
Wei Zhi: “…”
Wei Zhi: “Oh.”
Faced with the man’s cold denial, the young girl silently turned her body back around and sat listlessly in the cable car, sighing as if greatly disappointed.
…
When Shan Chong sent a message to his “hound” asking him to scout the mountain for any strange occurrences, his “hound” didn’t see the message.
Because Bei Ci was caught in a bizarre love triangle.
It started like this: After Shan Chong left with Wei Zhi, Little Bear soon departed as well. Bei Ci, seeing Lao Yan and Jiang Nanfeng alone, wondered if they had also arranged for lessons…
Just as he was about to greet Lao Yan and say he’d go up the mountain to play with Hua Hua and the others, Lao Yan leaned back in his seat. Then, right in front of Bei Ci and Jiang Nanfeng, he found Jiang Nanfeng’s WeChat profile picture and attempted to make a voice call—
Of course, the call didn’t go through. The system displayed a large red exclamation mark, prompting “The other party has enabled friend verification. They haven’t added you as a friend yet. You can tap here to add them as a friend first” and a long string of text.
Holding his phone in one hand, he waved it in front of the woman for three seconds, then tossed it onto the table.
The usually smiling puppy-like young man now had his lips tightly pressed together, his brows furrowed as if they had never relaxed… As the phone hit the table with a “thud,” he let out a cold laugh.
“Yesterday, Bei Ci asked me why Wei Zhi took the car keys from Shifu to pick you up at the airport. Why her, in the middle of the night? Shouldn’t a guy have gone to pick you up?” The young man’s voice was cold. “Guess whether I should have gone to pick you up?”
Bei Ci was completely shocked by this sudden turn of events.
He looked blankly at Lao Yan, realizing upon hearing his name that the anger wasn’t directed at him. His gaze immediately fell on the only other person present—
She was supposed to be the same age as Wei Zhi.
But compared to that seemingly easily startled and bullied little Shimei, the person before him had a completely different aura. Though also young, there was a maturity and steadiness in her eyes and demeanor…
Her every gesture exuded a completely different flavor.
Sister.
Big Sister.
Whatever you want to call her.
Faced with Lao Yan’s questioning, the “big sister” remained as steady as a mountain. She wasn’t frightened or guilty, but merely raised her eyes slowly and said to the agitated young man, “I deleted you a month ago, but you only noticed yesterday, didn’t you?”
Lao Yan raised an eyebrow, about to retort, but before he could speak, Jiang Nanfeng smiled and added, “Otherwise, you would have asked Wei Zhi about it earlier.”
“…”
The rebuttal that had reached his throat was forcibly swallowed back. Lao Yan’s expression nearly crumbled, leaving him speechless… His fair face, still bearing traces of childishness, turned from white to red as he held back his words.
Jiang Nanfeng didn’t give him a chance to speak.
“I didn’t mean anything by it. At the time, I thought we wouldn’t keep in contact after returning, so I didn’t see the point in keeping contact information… Who knew about this Xinjiang trip?”
Her tone was light as if it wasn’t a big deal.
As she spoke, Jiang Nanfeng picked up the phone he had angrily tossed on the table. Seeing it was unlocked for ten minutes without a password, she casually unlocked it and entered his WeChat interface—
Right under his nose, she boldly scanned his WeChat QR code and added him as a friend.
Then, using his phone, she approved her friend’s request.
She didn’t ask anyone’s permission for this series of actions.
She looked at her phone screen showing the successful friend addition, and satisfied, turned the phone over to show Lao Yan the added friend page. Then she grabbed his hand and placed his phone back into it.
“Isn’t it fine now that we’ve added each other back? Why throw a tantrum?”
Her tone was like soothing a child.
As if he was making a fuss over nothing.
Lao Yan stared at the phone in his palm.
Jiang Nanfeng casually took the barely-touched coffee cup from his other hand, took a sip, swirled the paper cup, and smiled at him, “I’m still tired today. I want to go back for a nap. Can we have lessons tomorrow instead?”
Lao Yan looked bewildered.
Then, under Bei Ci’s dumbfounded gaze, he reacted with a delay, managing only a single “Mm” syllable.
Jiang Nanfeng raised her hand and patted his head approvingly.
She then turned and smiled at Bei Ci, her expression seeming to say “Sorry you had to see that,” before walking away with Lao Yan’s coffee cup in hand.
A minute later, after she had disappeared from the café, Lao Yan received a WeChat transfer notification for 32 yuan, exactly the price of an iced Americano.
Staring at the transfer page on his phone, Lao Yan remained silent, unsure whether to accept or return it…
Deleting her as a friend again would make it seem like he was overreacting.
After sulking all morning and failing to vent his anger, only to be outmaneuvered, he was now truly at a loss.
He turned around and looked blankly at Bei Ci.
Bei Ci, astonished by this series of events, finally couldn’t help but express his most primal amazement at this scene of a “player meeting his match and being spectacularly outplayed”—
“Holy shit, that was impressive.”
…
In the afternoon, Jiang Nanfeng nestled in the hotel room, sleeping.
Shan Chong was giving lessons to Little Bear, while Wei Zhi, unfamiliar with the ski resort and strictly forbidden by Shan Chong from attempting advanced slopes, practiced C-turns on two gentle slopes below—
Shan Chong had selected and sent her instructional videos. She spent the entire afternoon rolling around on the intermediate slope at the bottom. Fortunately, it was early in the ski season, and there weren’t many people from Xinjiang, so no matter how badly she fell, it wasn’t too embarrassing.
Finally, after falling and getting bruised all over, she managed to somewhat master front-edge and back-edge C-turns.
Connecting front-edge and back-edge C-turns results in edge changing.
Around 4 PM, Shan Chong finished his lesson and came to the intermediate slope to find her. He assessed the results of her afternoon’s efforts, watching her wobble through snow-plowing C-turns. After giving a few pointers, he finally said something positive—
“Not bad.”
It was at least an acknowledgment of her efforts.
Then the two of them packed up their boards, preparing to leave the slopes.
Wei Zhi hugged her board, walking beside the man. As they walked, her head unconsciously turned towards him, complaining that the video he found spoke too fast, causing her initial confusion and many falls;
Also, there were surprisingly snowmobiles on the slopes here, and one nearly hit her, frightening her;
Furthermore, there seemed to be fewer skiers than snowboarders here in Xinjiang, unlike in Chongli…
The young girl fluttered her wings, chattering away.
Bei Ci, following behind, lazily commented: “It’s like a professor dad who just got off work from university picking up his daughter from kindergarten, and she’s telling him about all the interesting things that happened at school today.”
The two people walking in front both turned their heads simultaneously.
Bei Ci: “…”
Bei Ci: “What are we eating tonight?”
Wei Zhi: “Roast whole lamb.”
Bei Ci’s eyes widened: “Who said that?”
Wei Zhi: “I did.”
Shan Chong looked down at her, and she looked back: “Aren’t you coming? I’ve already made a reservation.”
Shan Chong thought for a moment and said: “Sure, let’s go.”
…
After returning to the hotel to change clothes, they gathered at the restaurant Wei Zhi had booked around 6:30 PM.
This restaurant was famous, and Wei Zhi had managed to secure the last private room with difficulty. When she pushed open the door, she found that almost everyone had arrived. The large table was surrounded by people, not just Shan Chong, Bei Ci, and their group, but also the internet celebrity Little Bear from the morning, as well as Hua Yan’s friend Hu Hu.
Hua Yan was frantically messaging Wei Zhi on WeChat—
[Sakura Yan: I ran into them downstairs!!! They asked if we were going to eat and insisted on coming along!!! Ah, I’m so sorry, I’ll pay for Hu Hu’s share!]
Wei Zhi didn’t even have time to reply.
Little Bear had already greeted Wei Zhi, smiling and saying: “Sorry, we ran into each other downstairs and talked about eating together… We only realized it was little sister treating us after getting in the car. We’ll pay for our share!”
Wei Zhi smiled, glancing around the table—Shan Chong was looking down, playing a game with Bei Ci and others, with two empty seats between him and the next person—she naturally walked over and pulled out a chair, then smiled faintly and said, “It’s fine, whether it’s a few people or more doesn’t matter. Why be so stingy?”
This response made Little Bear seem like she was being overly polite.
After all, there were several people at the table who weren’t close to Wei Zhi, and her words made them feel a bit awkward too.
Little Bear, having been subtly rebuffed, smiled and said nothing more.
Wei Zhi sat down and saw Jiang Nanfeng give her a thumbs up on WeChat—
[Jiang Zhi: Well done. Although being Shifu’s wife is still just a dream, you’ve quickly mastered the demeanor. Bravo.]
[Jiang Zhi: A whole table of people and she wants to go Dutch for herself? Is she sick? Are you supposed to divide 1000+ by the number of heads and charge her a per-person fee? Then do you collect from others or not?!]
[Girl Chirp: …]
[Girl Chirp: Stop teasing.]
[Girl Chirp: How are things with you and Lao Yan? With a whole table eating, I was worried about awkwardness. I specially left you an opportunity this morning, hope you made use of it.]
[Jiang Zhi: It’s all good now. We even scheduled a lesson for tomorrow.]
[Girl Chirp: ??? Things progressed so quickly? Added back as friends and scheduled a lesson?]
[Jiang Zhi: Otherwise, should I go to the ski resort and search for someone else to teach me? Too much trouble.]
[Girl Chirp: Impressive, as expected of you.]
[Girl Chirp: Bravo.]
The two chatted on WeChat for a while until the food was served.
One whole lamb, along with some other main dishes, was indeed enough for over a dozen people to eat together.
The atmosphere at the table was quite good. The ski community naturally fosters easy friendships, and everyone becomes familiar after eating and drinking for a while. The private room’s atmosphere became lively…
Ski friends from all over chatted about various topics, with no one looking down on others for just learning edge changes or acting superior for being an expert.
Through everyone’s conversations, Wei Zhi learned that Little Bear and Hu Hu were already friends, and this time Hu Hu came to Xinjiang and stayed at the same hotel as her…
Little Bear had originally wanted to book Shan Chong’s lessons through Hu Hu and Hua Yan, but for some reason, Hua Yan had refused. Later, it was Lao Yan who helped make the connection.
Regarding this, Hua Yan’s explanation was: “I brought in half of Chong God’s lessons this ski season, and he told me to take a break—right, Chong God?”
At the dinner table, Shan Chong spoke little, just ate some food, and maintained a low profile. Occasionally when someone like Hua Yan called out to him, he would respond with an “Mm” or a perfunctory smile.
While listening to their conversation, Wei Zhi could glimpse his every move from her position—
He didn’t touch a drop of alcohol all evening, saying he had to drive home when asked.
While Shan Chong abstained from alcohol, Wei Zhi caught up in the mood and drank quite a bit with her new friends. The local alcohol was quite potent, and the young girl’s fair face now had a faint pink flush.
However, when she got drunk, she didn’t become rowdy. Instead, she just took out her phone and started dialing numbers from her contact list, one by one.
When the other side answered, she would hang up.
She found this endlessly amusing.
Even SF Express delivery wasn’t spared.
While Wei Zhi was busy calling SF Express, Little Bear was still talking at the table. When it came to the topic of lessons, she teased Hu Hu: “Last time in Chongli, this person finally managed to book a lesson with Chong Ge and was bragging to me… Then not long after, she said her lesson was canceled, and she was going back to basics on gliding—you should have seen how she cried! Haha!”
Hu Hu blushed and tried to silence Little Bear with a drink.
Hu Hu glanced at Shan Chong: “I even said I’d pay the same price for Chong God to continue teaching me gliding, but he refused.”
The man who was mentioned looked up briefly without speaking, instead glancing at Wei Zhi.
The latter had her chin resting on the table, playing with her contact list while sneakily peeking at him. Caught off guard, she let out a confused “Ah,” looking at him with puppy eyes and flashing a bright smile.
The man withdrew his gaze with a headache, “Teaching basics is troublesome,” he said, “I don’t want to teach.”
Hu Hu had long since experienced his stubbornness and had given up.
Just then, Little Bear said from the side: “It’s okay, if Chong Ge doesn’t teach basics, everyone at this table is an expert… Lao Yan, what about you?”
She casually pointed to someone she was familiar with. Lao Yan was chatting with Bei Ci at the time and turned his head when he heard his name. Little Bear smiled at him: “Why don’t you give Hu Hu a few lessons tomorrow? Help her correct her basic gliding, and since she knows some freestyle, you could even help her advance a bit…”
Lao Yan didn’t say anything, just maintained his half-turned posture.
Hu Hu looked at Lao Yan up and down—when it came to the Chongli ski circle, Shan Chong was known for park riding, but for freestyle, Lao Yan’s reputation was indeed impressive—plus, he was quite good-looking, fair, and clean-cut. Usually, if he offered lessons, there would be plenty of people lining up to book.
Hu Hu was quite satisfied and smiled, raising her glass to him: “Start tomorrow morning?”
Wei Zhi looked at Jiang Nanfeng with a confused expression.
Before the other could respond, Lao Yan lazily answered: “Sure.”
Wei Zhi frowned and lifted her head from the table.
Just as she was about to speak out, someone kicked her foot under the table. She turned to look at Jiang Nanfeng, who smiled at her restrainedly and mouthed, “It’s fine.”
Wei Zhi nearly choked trying to hold back.
Jiang Nanfeng truly didn’t care about Lao Yan’s flaky behavior.
It was nothing more than him still being upset about the friend deletion and trying to get back at her.
She remained calm and natural, chatting and laughing with Hua Yan and the others. Apart from kicking Wei Zhi under the table, she acted as if nothing was wrong.
Wei Zhi couldn’t handle it.
She couldn’t stand such behavior, and although she was small and might not seem very useful when it came to matters of right and wrong, she was fiercely protective—
Lao Yan was getting on her nerves.
Under her direct gaze, the word “jerk” seemed to be branded on Lao Yan’s face…
Then, by association, she even began to resent Shan Chong, who was sitting nearby and should have been innocent.
Plus, she had been drinking, and her head was fuzzy. After a while, she stood up saying “I’m going to the restroom,” then pulled out her chair and walked out. She didn’t actually go to the restroom but was planning to find a place to text Shan Chong, scold his disciple, and then demand he find a normal person who could teach—
Just as she took out her phone outside.
Shivering from the cold wind, the young girl looked up and saw someone crouching by the steps outside the restaurant.
The person looked to be in his early twenties, a young man wearing white bib snow pants with a white hoodie underneath, all in white… On his feet were a pair of nitro’s current season carving boots in grass green and brown, with the laces undone.
He was crouching there, facing the street, smoking.
From the side and back view, his exquisitely delicate features made him look rather feminine and beautiful. He had heavy dark circles under his eyes, appearing as if he couldn’t wake up properly. Surrounded by smoke, he looked even paler—
This person looked quite familiar.
Wei Zhi stared at him for a while, unable to recall who he was, but as her gaze moved down to the colorful cord decorations hanging at his waist—the only splash of color in his white snow outfit—she at least recognized him as the expert from the slopes this morning.
She hesitated for three seconds.
An idea formed in her mind.
With a “click,” she locked her phone screen, which was displaying a conversation with Crayon Shin-chan, and shoved it into her pocket.
…
Dai Duo was crouching outside, slacking off and smoking.
Suddenly, among the scent of tobacco, an incongruous sweet fruity fragrance mixed with alcohol entered his nostrils. He was startled, and before he could react, a young girl “whoosh” crouched down beside him in the same posture.
The girl was wearing a light-colored sweater and a white down jacket. Half of her face was hidden behind the high-necked sweater. She hugged her knees and crouched next to him, shoulder to shoulder, a small bundle.
Like a plump little bird suddenly fluttering over to nestle against a white dove perched on a telephone pole.
“This morning at the ski resort, the one doing carving turns down the advanced slope, was that you?”
Her voice rang out, with a hint of drunken slowness.
“…”
Dai Duo raised an eyebrow, revealing a dismissive expression. He was about to say “No” when he heard the chubby bird say: “Want to give lessons? Any price is fine, I’m loaded.”
Dai Duo: “…”
Dai Duo: “?”
Holding a cigarette butt, Dai Duo was taken aback. He never expected that just squatting by the roadside to smoke would attract business. Is this girl out of her mind?