Despite once having created an ice wall on the ski slopes of Chongli Mountain’s peak.
Perhaps Xinjiang’s environment does nurture people (or fools) especially well. At this moment, on the steps outside the restaurant, neither of them recognized each other.
Dai Duo, with a cigarette butt in his mouth, slightly squinted at the person next to him. His lips were pressed in a not-so-friendly manner, utterly perplexed — when it came to finding someone to teach skiing, some directly looked at the ski resort, those introduced by friends, those fished from certain short video apps, and even those who used WeChat’s “Shake” feature at the resort entrance…
He had never seen someone randomly approach a person in ski gear outside a restaurant while eating.
No wonder they all said that this year, anyone in the ski circle, be they human or ghost, could make a fortune as long as they had thick skin. It must be because there were so many fools.
Wei Zhi didn’t know that at this moment, she had been labeled a “fool” in others’ eyes. She persistently looked at the person in front of her, emphasizing: “You can carve and do freestyle, I saw you on the slopes today.”
She had drunk a bit too much. Now squatting down, the alcohol had all gone to her head, rushing straight to the top. She felt the sky was spinning above her. To speak clearly, she talked very slowly… It was a wonder the person beside her hadn’t stood up, dusted off his behind, and left, mainly because he still had an unfinished cigarette in his hand.
Dai Duo wanted to leave. He glanced at the person squatting beside him and unexpectedly found that her jacket hood had two frog eyes on it, looking silly.
Like an elementary school student.
Based on the principle of not bullying children, he lazily lifted the corner of his mouth and said in a slightly gentler tone: “Sorry, I don’t teach people.”
His lack of enthusiasm seemed to trouble her… Wei Zhi’s hands holding her knees tightened, and she turned her head to look at him: “Don’t you need money?”
Dai Duo: “…”
The young girl looked at him, her eyes very calm, without any intention of offending, just pure curiosity.
At this moment, the street light flickered, making the dark circles under Dai Duo’s eyes appear even heavier in the alternating light and shadow… His thin lips pressed lightly, and he slowly exhaled a cloud of milky white smoke. With a rare spark of kindness, he opened his mouth to educate this stranger: “Kid, finding someone to teach skiing isn’t about randomly picking up a person on the street and telling them you have money—”
As he spoke, he laughed self-deprecatingly, showing his snow-white teeth: “With your approach, no amount of money would be enough to avoid being scammed.”
“I’m not a kid, and I’m not randomly picking up someone from the street,” the person being educated persisted, “I’ve seen you ski, you’re really good.”
Dai Duo thought this was some kind of stubborn fool.
Three sentences off track, and he just wanted her to leave.
Before he could speak, he saw her hand, which was originally on her knee, raise, and then her fingers, as white and delicate as spring onion tips, pointed towards the restaurant door behind them: “Do you know Lao Yan?”
She had heard Lao Yan was quite famous, so she thought she’d ask and try.
Hearing this name, the young man was stunned for a moment, then he bit the cigarette butt, his black eyes looking at her.
He didn’t deny it, so he must know him.
Wei Zhi continued to ask: “Between you and him, who’s better?”
Based on her not-so-rich practical experience but abundant theoretical knowledge, men hated it most when asked “Who’s better between you and xx”.
Sure enough, Dai Duo was absurd by this question—
Lao Yan?
When I was messing around with 2340s on the jump, that guy was probably still figuring out how to land a backside 180 steadily off the kicker…
You’re comparing him to me?
He raised one eyebrow, feeling offended, but then thought about how she had been talking about “carving” and “freestyle” earlier, probably referring to those.
Lao Yan’s carving and freestyle were indeed a bit more presentable than his park skills…
After a moment of silence, his Adam’s apple bobbed, and he let out a muffled nasal sound from deep in his throat, very matter-of-factly saying: “About the same, I guess.”
After saying it, he found it amusing himself. In this freezing weather, he was squatting outside to finish a cigarette, chatting away with an unfamiliar young girl, and even comparing himself to someone else’s disciple.
He must be sick.
“That’s good enough then, you’re the person I’m looking for. Name your price?” He heard the young girl say leisurely beside him, with a hint of drunkenness, “I have a reason why I must find someone who’s about as good as Lao Yan or even better to take lessons from.”
This dialogue, as if she thought she was in a Japanese anime.
“Not interested.”
He said but didn’t urge her to leave. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to, but mainly because he realized he couldn’t make her move, so he didn’t want to waste more breath.
And Wei Zhi, having been rejected again and again, also felt a bit embarrassed, so she stopped talking… She silently squatted beside him, staring blankly at the empty street ahead, as if determined to keep him company until he finished his cigarette, and then…
Then discuss further.
As the cigarette burned to its end, the person beside him still showed no sign of moving.
Dai Duo looked down at her, the cigarette in his mouth neither in nor out. After a moment’s thought, he turned his head away, blowing the white smoke in the other direction. He mumbled, “Still not leaving?”
His voice was extremely cold and heartless.
Maybe all big shots have this kind of bad habit to some extent.
Fortunately, Wei Zhi was used to it.
She shook her head and honestly said: “My legs are numb, and my head is very dizzy. I can’t stand up.”
Dai Duo was speechless. He looked back at the bustling restaurant door behind them, thinking, whose precious cargo is this, letting her run around alone… Luckily the area has good security, otherwise, by the time they remember to look for her, there might not be a hair left.
“Since you mentioned Lao Yan, you should also know Shan Chong,” Dai Duo, forced into a corner, changed to a more persuasive tone, “If you find someone through him, you should be able to find one or two decent skiers who can teach among that bunch of riffraff.”
“…”
Ignoring his strange choice of words, Wei Zhi thought, forget it.
Let alone approaching someone from Shan Chong’s circle, even if she asked him personally to help find a backup, it would be like sitting on the cable car looking down for gophers—
What use would he be?
While mentally ranting, Wei Zhi tugged at her skirt hem. Since she couldn’t stand up for the time being anyway, she might as well chat with him based on what he said: “So you not only know Lao Yan, but also Shan Chong?”
“I don’t know him,” Dai Duo sarcastically lifted the corner of his mouth, “But I know his reputation is undeserved, he’s not as good as me.”
He was just saying it casually.
Unexpectedly, as soon as he finished speaking, the young girl who had been squatting beside him like an obedient fat bird suddenly whipped her head around. Her eyes were hazy with drunkenness, but she tried to open them as wide as possible as if coming to life.
She glared at him—
“Don’t say that! My teacher is invincible in the world!”
……
Inside the restaurant.
Twenty minutes earlier.
When Wei Zhi went out, she didn’t know that someone had noticed her leaving the table.
When she stood up, Shan Chong and the others had just started a round of PUBG. Beici and Lao Yan were arguing about where to jump. Shan Chong looked up, about to speak, and just happened to see her walking out, treading on flames of anger.
It wasn’t that he had guessed why she was angry—
It was just that her stiff shoulders and heavy steps made it hard to believe she was in a good mood at the moment.
“Jump to school, school! I love studying!”
“Wilderness! Wilderness! The bold eat, the timid starve!”
“Wilderness isn’t my style—”
“School isn’t my style either, I’m a pacifist, insisting on not offending others if they don’t offend me.”
“You’re talking nonsense, coward!”
Beici and Lao Yan were in chaos.
“So noisy.” The man withdrew his gaze, “Close your eyes and jump.”
Then, amidst his teammates’ screams, he casually pressed the drop key. While waiting, he sat up a bit and asked Jiang Nanfeng amid the clamor: “Where did this person go?”
Jiang Nanfeng glanced at the empty seat beside her and said: “Bathroom.”
“Why is she angry about going to the bathroom?”
“…How do you know she’s angry?”
“She gets angry with me eight hundred times a day,” Shan Chong said feeling like he must have committed some sin in a past life, expressionlessly saying, “I’m tired of seeing it.”
Hearing this, Jiang Nanfeng smiled, raising her glass to toast the person with such tolerance, then turned back to continue chatting with Hua Yan — Women’s topics were quite broad, regardless of how well they skied, it didn’t stop them from discussing this year’s most popular ski suits, the most difficult-to-buy goggles…
On this side, Shan Chong had asked about Wei Zhi’s whereabouts, received an ordinary answer, and didn’t think much of it. He sat back in his seat to continue his game.
After another seven or eight minutes, he looked up, about to ask Lao Yan to throw him some bandages in the game, when he noticed out of the corner of his eye that the seat two places away was still empty…
He instinctively looked outside, paused for a moment, then brought his gaze back.
“Give me two bandages… oh, wait.”
As he spoke, he raised his gun and neatly took down another enemy.
“Now it’s fine.”
As the number of people left in the current game dwindled and the game time approached twenty minutes, Lao Yan and Beici were eliminated one after another, leaving only Shan Chong.
He looked at the game time and incidentally noticed the empty seat next to him. Out of the corner of his eye, he accidentally saw Wei Zhi’s half-drunk glass on the table…
The glass contained about one-third of a clear liquid, and they hadn’t ordered plain water tonight.
Who gave her straight liquor?
Shan Chong only had one push-turn student, and if she were to break a leg, it should be on the ski slopes, not in the bathroom of a street-side shop after getting drunk… So, amidst Beici’s screams, he delivered a hot headshot to the enemy and switched out of the game on his phone—
“Ahhhhh Brother Chong, what are you doing!!!! Is today some kind of International Gaming Friendliness Day? Are you here to mess with our minds!!??”
With Beici’s background noise, Shan Chong, without looking up, opened WeChat and found a profile picture of a girl with a round belly holding a milk tea with one hand, opened it to find that she had sent a message twenty minutes ago—
[Girl Jiji: You must take responsibility!!!]
Shan Chong: “?”
Take responsibility for what?
[Chong: Take responsibility for what?]
[Chong: Where are you?]
[Chong: Did you fall into the toilet?]
No response.
Shan Chong pondered for a moment. As Backstab was calling him for another round, he put down his phone and stood up.
“Where are you going?” Backstab asked, puzzled.
“Bathroom.”
“You haven’t even had a drink. What do you need the bathroom for?”
“If you need to use the toilet tomorrow morning before eating, I’ll dismantle it for you.”
Leaving with that statement, the man decisively left his seat, hands in his pockets, and slowly walked towards the door.
Thus, twenty-three minutes after Yu Weizhi disappeared from her seat, in the first second Shan Chong pushed open the restaurant door, he heard a familiar soft voice entering his ears with unusual assertiveness—
“Don’t say that! My master is invincible in the world!”
Shan Chong: “…”
The man remained silent for a few seconds, then looked in the direction of the voice. At a glance, he saw two white figures squatting shoulder to shoulder on the steps not far away—
One had her hair down, long curls hanging behind her back, with the frog eyes on her hat looking bright and lively;
Next to her, a young man leaned against the railing, his fingers holding a cigarette that was about to burn out. He was tilting his head, with that effeminate face bearing a half-smile, looking down at her with lowered eyes.
That pale face had a perpetually sleepy, decadent look.
Dai Duo.
His gaze darkened, unable to understand how these two ended up together. The man’s lips pressed into a slightly stern straight line. With one hand in his pocket, he walked over and stood still.
Before either of the two squatting figures could react, he reached out and tugged on the little frog’s hat.
“Weren’t you going to the bathroom? What are you making a fuss about here?”
The deep, magnetic male voice broke the previously deadlocked and subtle atmosphere.
…
At this moment.
Weizhi had been glaring at Dai Duo when suddenly her hat was pulled down with considerable force. Following the momentum, her body tilted backward, and she heard the familiar voice behind her.
She blinked in confusion at first, turned her head, and met a pair of calm black eyes—
Her mind went blank for three seconds.
She came to her senses.
Supporting herself on the cold snow with her hands, she struggled to get up despite feeling dizzy. Turning to face the man—who was already tall and now standing on the steps—she had to crane her neck desperately to see his jawline, nervously asking, “Why did you come out?”
Because you’ve been in the bathroom for almost twenty minutes, not answering voice messages or WeChat.
Faced with this bewildered and innocent face before him, the man chuckled softly, suppressing his temper, and asked, “What’s wrong? Am I interfering with your chat?”
His laugh sent chills down her spine, and she could hear that his tone wasn’t quite right.
“No, that’s not it.” Weizhi took a sharp breath, feeling a bit nervous. “… Did you hear everything I just said?”
“Which part?”
“…”
“The last part? I heard it.”
Before Weizhi’s toes could dig out a three-bedroom apartment from embarrassment or something, he mercilessly added, “Otherwise, you’d be getting a spanking right now.”
Hearing the words “getting a spanking,” Weizhi’s brain unexpectedly exploded for another three seconds. His tone sounded so serious, not at all like he was joking…
Feeling a bit anxious, she reached out to grab him but forgot that she was currently craning her neck to look up at him from a difficult angle. As she moved, she lost her balance and was about to fall backward—
Both men reacted simultaneously.
The one sitting on the steps flicked away his cigarette and reached out to support her.
The one standing on the steps grabbed her collar with one hand, his hand’s veins bulging as he exerted force, forcefully pulling her back against the supporting force from behind—
She was like a boneless creature, following their force, swaying like a roly-poly toy into Shan Chong’s arms. Her forehead hit the zipper of his jacket with a “smack,” leaving a red mark on her brow.
“Ow,” she raised her hand to rub her forehead. “It hurts.”
Before her hand could touch her forehead, a large hand seized her wrist, forcibly pressing it to her side… With her upper body still leaning against the man’s chest, she pulled her head out of his embrace and looked up at him.
He looked down at her dazed expression, drawling out an “Mm,” and asked in a flat tone: “How much did you drink?”
Weizhi broke free from his hand, her paws clutching his sleeve, slowly crawling upward, then shaking his arm: “I drank it all right under your nose, didn’t you see?”
She paused, then sighed, unhappily recalling that according to her secret observation statistics for the entire evening, the number of times Shan Chong’s gaze had turned towards her probably didn’t exceed five—
No.
Three times.
Not more than three times.
Weizhi said gloomily: “You didn’t see, and yet you want to spank me.”
Shan Chong felt his pocket and realized he hadn’t brought his cigarettes out.
Sighing, he said: “Stand up straight, don’t act coy.”
Weizhi pouted.
When she reluctantly stood up straight, Shan Chong saw that the sky was heavy with signs of impending snow. He wanted to take her back into the warm interior, but the young girl was not cooperating…
She stood as if her feet had taken root, refusing to move.
The man raised an eyebrow, about to ask what trick she was up to now when he looked up and saw another figure sitting on the steps behind her. The man was smirking as he took out a pack of cigarettes from his pocket, leisurely pulling one out and placing it between his lips.
Their eyes met, and the latter sneered, looking at him lazily.
“Why are you looking at me,” Dai Duo said, “your disciple came over on her own.”
This tone could not be described as anything but provocative.
Hearing these words, which were true but seemed to have a hint of stirring up trouble, Weizhi quickly reached out to tug on her master’s sleeve.
Feeling his sleeve being pulled, Shan Chong held back his anger and looked down, grunting an “Mm” as both an inquiry and a signal that she could speak her mind.
Weizhi stood in front of him with her head lowered, muttering softly: “It’s like this, it’s about Lao Yan… He promised Nanfeng he’d teach her tomorrow, but just now he turned around and promised that Huhu girl. How could he do that?”
Shan Chong didn’t know why she suddenly brought this up.
But he didn’t think it was such an earth-shattering matter either.
Lao Yan as a person was certainly not bad, but because he was young and had some reputation in the skiing circle, he had been praised as “Smoke God” and “Brother Yan” for several snow seasons, which made him a bit frivolous and careless in his actions…
It was truly normal.
The title of Chongli’s number-one player wasn’t given for nothing—
This guy had at least eighty girls in his WeChat contacts if not a hundred.
Shan Chong had heard a bit about Lao Yan and Jiang Nanfeng’s situation from Backstab before. Expecting a nineteen or twenty-year-old kid to know what “honesty and trustworthiness” meant after being rejected was a bit much, especially considering his appearance which seemed to invite such promises.
Shan Chong didn’t know from which angle he should analyze this for her, so he simply kept quiet.
Weizhi didn’t need him to express an opinion, and calmly stated her solution: “So I want to find someone even better than Lao Yan to teach Nanfeng.”
Shan Chong was silent for three seconds, then understood.
It wasn’t her looking for someone to teach, it was her looking for someone to teach Jiang Nanfeng.
His expression relaxed slightly as he glanced at the person sitting there biting the cigarette butt without lighting it. He lazily raised his chin: “So you found this guy?”
Weizhi nodded, and opened her mouth, about to say that you saw how well he skied on the slope today…
The words were on the tip of her tongue when suddenly a cold wind blew.
Her feverish, swollen brain suddenly cleared up a penny’s worth, and she struggled to detect the not-quite-right atmosphere in the air—
For example, whether it was when the white-robed expert mentioned Shan Chong earlier, or when Shan Chong now mentioned the white-robed expert, both of their tones were equally impolite as if they didn’t take each other seriously.
… It seemed like there was some grudge between them.
As soon as she realized this, Weizhi was stunned: Holy snowboard, doesn’t that mean she’s now practically committed an act of betrayal?
Suddenly tense, she looked at Shan Chong, then turned back to look at the white-robed expert. After thinking for a while, her eyeballs rolled around in her moist eye sockets, and she cleverly turned the tables: “Don’t you have some responsibility in this matter?”
Shan Chong: “?”
Weizhi: “If you hadn’t refused that Huhu girl’s request for lessons, she wouldn’t have gone to find Lao Yan.”
This logic made Shan Chong’s chest heave, and he laughed angrily.
That laugh didn’t reach his eyes, looking cold and without a hint of warmth.
Weizhi barely managed to control herself from stepping back…
She saw the man’s lips curled coldly, his voice gloomy: “I’m exhausted enough teaching one basic lesson a day. If you’re so righteous, why don’t you give your time to Huhu? Then she wouldn’t need to go find Lao Yan. How about that?”
Weizhi: “…”
She never expected him to counter like this.
The multiple choice question suddenly became a choice between “sister” and “self,” and faced with such a despicable choice, she decisively chose—
…………………………
Forget it, Jiang Nanfeng, you’d better ski on your own.
She lowered her head, not saying a word.
Her paws, however, had a strong survival instinct, firmly grasping the man’s sleeve and not letting go. In a voice that sounded as if she had been hit with a stick, she said: “No. That won’t do. I was wrong, you’re not allowed to go.”
Shan Chong pulled his sleeve back.
She made an “Ah” sound, looking nervous and about to grab it again.
Before she could move, a piece of cloth was suddenly placed “pah” on her head. She tried hard to look up and found that it was her coat’s frog hood flipped up and placed on her head…
A large hand fell on her head, pressing it and pushing her towards the restaurant’s main door: “Go back and sit down.”
Seeing that he was no longer mentioning the matter of giving lessons, the little frog knew when to stop, obediently hopping up two steps.
After steadying herself, she paused, bit her lower lip, and couldn’t help but turn her head to glance at the white-robed expert.
The latter was slowly taking out a lighter from his pocket, lighting it, and raising an eyelid to meet the gaze of the little girl who had secretly turned her head on the steps…
He was stunned for a moment.
Then he smiled.
Looking at the man with a dark face beside the little girl, he suddenly changed his mind.
The corner of his lips curved into a larger arc as he asked the person looking at him expectantly: “Tomorrow at ten?”
Weizhi’s face instantly broke into a bright, sunny smile.
Just as her lips curled up, she felt the pressure emanating from the person beside her, so heavy it was hard to breathe. She quickly wiped the smile off her face, nodded, and said righteously: “Alright. My friend will contact you. Thank you, goodbye.”
After saying this, she turned and ran up the steps, standing in the doorway under the light. She pushed the heavy door open a crack with both hands but didn’t immediately enter. Instead, she obediently stood at the door, turned her head, and waited for the man walking behind her to come closer.
When he reached the door, one hand propped the door open at the crack she had made, while the other hand lifted the plastic door curtain. Only then did she let go of the door and step into the store first?
“Where’s your phone? Didn’t you hear me calling you on WeChat just now?”
“In my pocket… Oh, it’s out of battery.”
“How can a phone run out of battery?”
“Why can’t a phone run out of battery?”
…
“So when your phone is out of battery, you can squat outside and chat up strange people?”
“Who’s chatting up… That wasn’t chatting up!”
“If that’s not chatting up, what is it? Do you even know him? Aren’t you afraid he might sell you off?”
“Sell me off, what nonsense— Although he might not look like a good person at first glance, the fact is he’s not some human trafficker. He even agreed to teach!”
“Heh.”
…
“What are you sneering about?”
“If you could always trust your first instinct, you’d probably avoid half the detours in life.”
“…”
The voices gradually faded away.
The plastic door curtain fell, and the silhouettes of the two who had entered the room became blurred.
…
In the icy, snowy world, the young man standing on the steps slowly exhaled a puff of milky white smoke. In the dim light, only the spark of the tobacco glowed on and off.
He withdrew his gaze, leaning against the railing, maintaining his previous posture as he lazily smoked his cigarette as if no one had ever disturbed him.