They left separately at a 20-minute interval and then returned together. The group at the table, now full of food and drink, watched them enter one after another in a harmonious atmosphere. At first, no one spoke, until Bei Ci laughed and said meaningfully, “What a coincidence, little shimei. We thought you were lost.”
Wei Zhi pulled out her chair at her original spot. The seat next to her had been vacated, its previous occupant having left early. Shan Chong followed behind her and naturally sat down right next to her.
As soon as she was settled, Wei Zhi reached out to Jiang Nanfeng for a power bank. Jiang Nanfeng took one out of her bag and handed it over, glancing at Shan Chong beside her during the pause…
She finally couldn’t help but say, “Don’t tell me you two ran into each other at the restroom door.”
Plugging in her phone to charge, Wei Zhi hiccupped and said nonchalantly, “The world is so big, yet we can meet. What’s so special about meeting at the restroom door—ugh.”
Jiang Nanfeng: “What’s wrong?”
Wei Zhi: “I feel like throwing up.”
Jiang Nanfeng’s face darkened. She didn’t bother about whether their meeting was special or not and reached out to brush some snow off Wei Zhi’s shoulder. “Drinking and then going out in the wind, you’ll make yourself sick.”
Wei Zhi squirmed, ignoring her.
She took out her phone and placed it on the table, continuing to scroll. With the phone recharged, she was enthusiastically preparing to pick out two more lucky recipients to call… At this moment, the table opposite became lively, with everyone standing up and raising their glasses.
Someone called her name.
She lifted her head from her contact list in a daze, only then realizing that they were preparing to wrap up the gathering. Everyone was getting ready for a final toast, finishing off the remaining alcohol.
Little Bear, sitting directly across from Wei Zhi, now had rosy cheeks from drinking. She raised her glass towards Wei Zhi with a bright smile: “Come on, little sister, thank you for tonight’s roast lamb. I specially saved this glass to toast you.”
Her toast, apart from being a sincere invitation to drink, wasn’t problematic at all.
Hearing this, everyone immediately chimed in, raising their glasses. Wei Zhi let out an “ugh,” feeling somewhat trapped.
She mumbled in a tiny voice that only she could hear, “More drinking?” But she didn’t want to dampen everyone’s spirits. She lowered her eyes to look at the table, her gaze locking onto a certain glass. She reached out and picked up a glass still half-full of baijiu.
She was about to say something to make an excuse and get by with just this half-glass—
A hand with distinct knuckles rested on her wrist.
She was startled.
Looking up at that hand, she saw the man beside her hadn’t even glanced at her. He discreetly applied pressure to lower her hand, then smoothly took the wine glass from her.
The next second, a cup of tea appeared in Wei Zhi’s hand.
“This will do,” he said calmly.
The table suddenly fell silent, everyone looking at each other in surprise.
“Oh my,” said Bei Ci, “What’s this situation?”
“Oh wow,” said Hua Yan, “This goes beyond just doting on the youngest.”
“Oh dear,” said Yan Yan, “We must have been inconsiderate!”
Little Bear was at a loss for words, her hand holding the wine glass frozen in mid-air.
Wei Zhi also sat there holding the tea that had been forcibly given to her, staring blankly at Shan Chong. Her usually fair face was already flushed from drinking… Now, amidst the teasing comments from everyone, that flush visibly spread rapidly, from the tip of her nose to her ears.
She slowly widened her eyes, the man’s profile becoming increasingly clear in her pupils.
“Thump thump!”
It was the sound of her heartbeat. Fortunately, the restaurant was noisy, with the neighboring room playing drinking games, the sound deafening—
No one could hear her heart’s passionate drumming, nearly bursting out of her chest.
“Drink and throw up in my car?” Shan Chong calmly looked at Bei Ci and said, “Or is she riding in your car later? In that case, I’ll pay for another case of baijiu for you all.”
Bei Ci: “…”
Wei Zhi: “…”
The fiery red on her face receded at light speed.
Her heartbeat returned to normal levels.
She still felt like throwing up.
All the heart palpitations were just a momentary illusion.
Illusion.
Illusion.
Damn it, just an illusion.
Wei Zhi raised her tea cup high: “Cheers!”
Alert canceled, nothing happened. Everyone recovered from their two or three seconds of stupor and laughingly raised their glasses.
After the final drink, it was already 11:30 PM. People began to leave in small groups.
Outside the hotel, everyone was saying their goodbyes.
Unfortunately, people tend to be most talkative after drinking, and once gathered, they chattered endlessly. For instance, Lao Yan and Bei Ci had their arms around each other’s shoulders, saying “goodnight” at least eight times…
Shan Chong, the only one who hadn’t drunk, was busy allocating people to cars and restraining drunk drivers who were already buckled up in the driver’s seat ready to take off—
He directly pulled out their car keys, while the drunk drivers were still stepping on the gas, mumbling “Why aren’t we moving?”
Shan Chong’s car was still parked in the outer parking lot, not yet brought over. While waiting for him, Wei Zhi wore a frog hat, most of her face hidden under the brim with only her small pointed chin visible…
She was quietly curled up next to Jiang Nanfeng, her head resting on her shoulder, drowsy from the alcohol, but her hand was still diligently working on her phone.
Jiang Nanfeng casually asked, “What’s keeping you so busy on your phone this late?”
Looking down, she saw Wei Zhi dialing STO Express.
Jiang Nanfeng: “…”
Jiang Nanfeng reached out to grab her phone, but Wei Zhi dodged nimbly as if she had eyes on top of her head. She turned her back, looking serious: “Don’t bother me, I have something to tell him—”
“What the hell do you have to say to a delivery guy!”
Jiang Nanfeng chased after her, surprised by how quickly she ran despite her drunken state. She circled a tree twice, leaving Jiang Nanfeng exhausted.
Finally giving up the pursuit, Jiang Nanfeng planted her hands on her hips, panting like a dog. She decided to call for backup.
“Chongshen, come and deal with this lunatic!”
Nearby, Shan Chong had just dragged Beici from the driver’s seat, preparing to make room for a designated driver. He had one hand on the rear door, about to push him in when he heard Jiang Nanfeng’s voice and turned to look.
He saw Wei Zhi clutching her phone, hiding behind a nearby car, eyeing Jiang Nanfeng warily. Just then, a call came through on Wei Zhi’s phone. Without checking the caller ID, she answered provocatively, raising the phone high like the Statue of Liberty, and shouted gleefully, “Hello! Hello! Who’s this?”
Jiang Nanfeng had no chance of snatching the phone away.
Shan Chong, having watched enough of this scene, tossed Beici onto the back seat without expression. He walked over to Wei Zhi, effortlessly plucking the phone from her raised hand.
Wei Zhi was dumbfounded.
Shan Chong glanced at the caller ID: Han Yiming. Simultaneously, a mature, husky male voice with a hint of fatigue came through the phone: “Xiaozhi? Did you call your brother earlier? I just finished a surgery…”
Hearing this voice, Wei Zhi froze. She sobered up instantly.
The man holding the phone showed little reaction, though his dark eyes grew darker. Skilled at recognizing voices, he easily identified this as the one he’d heard a few nights ago when he’d drunkenly called Wei Zhi to invite her to Xinjiang after losing a game. She explained it was her neighbor’s older brother.
Whether that was true or not, who knew? A neighbor’s older brother who’d just finished surgery and immediately called back after seeing her missed call?
Without giving her a chance to react, he hung up and pocketed her phone while she stared at him, stunned.
Wei Zhi: “…”
Her hand, previously holding the phone, now reached helplessly towards the man, grasping at empty air.
Wei Zhi: “It was an accident.”
Wei Zhi: “I usually don’t answer his calls.”
As she spoke, she eyed the man’s unguarded pocket but didn’t dare reach for it. After a moment of intense internal struggle, she whirled around to glare at Jiang Nanfeng, her dark, moist eyes full of accusation.
Peace restored.
“If I’d known this would work, I’d have called him to deal with you when you had your first drink,” Jiang Nanfeng said calmly and coldly in response to Wei Zhi’s silent reproach. “How marvelous.”
Wei Zhi: “…”
Pulling the drawstring of her hat, she covered her entire face with the brim adorned with frog eyes, then crouched down to sulk.
…
By the time Wei Zhi finally climbed into Shan Chong’s car, it was nearly dawn. The alcohol had fully hit her now, making her world spin when she opened her eyes, so she kept them closed.
At the hotel, Jiang Nanfeng got out first with a look of disgust, saying she’d ask the restaurant for a sobering soup.
Shan Chong turned off the engine and parked. He looked over to see his passenger shoeless, legs curled up on the seat, hugging a unicorn tissue box plushie that Huayan had left in his car earlier. She was sound asleep.
Narrowing his eyes slightly, he called her name. Her only response was to hug the tissue box tighter and nuzzle her face contentedly against the unicorn’s back fur.
Shan Chong: “…”
He unbuckled his seatbelt, got out, and shut the door with a “thud.” He walked around to the passenger side and opened the door.
The girl, who had been leaning against the door, nearly fell out. He quickly caught her, finding her dead weight in his arms. Shan Chong began to suspect Jiang Nanfeng had run so fast on purpose to trick him…
“Wake up.”
Without much kindness, he raised his hand and pinched her sleeping face.
“Wei Zhi.”
He called her name sternly. Normally, this would have frightened her into a ball, but now she barely lifted her eyelids, mumbled a few incoherent words, and closed her eyes again.
Without a phone to call, she was quite docile when drunk – no tantrums or crying, just curling up to sleep wherever she could.
And impossible to wake.
The open passenger door let in gusts of cold wind, but the person curled up inside wasn’t roused. She only curled up tighter, looking pitiful.
As Wei Zhi practically sank into the passenger seat, the man standing outside moved. He put one foot on the passenger-side footboard.
At the same time, the girl murmured in her sleep: “Cold.”
Outside the car, the man’s handsome face almost froze. His thin lips pressed together, showing a rare expression of helplessness… He stepped onto the passenger seat and reached in with his long arm to unbuckle her seatbelt.
She immediately slid from the seat. With half his body leaning into the car, he lifted her into his arms.
Leaving the now-cooled passenger seat, the sleeping Wei Zhi’s cheek rested against the man’s chest. Seeming to sense the heat source immediately, she clung to him without hesitation, like a koala.
Shan Chong: “…”
One hand supported her back, the other hooked under her knees. The person in his arms exuded a mix of sweet fragrance and alcohol, disrupting the man’s breathing.
She felt heavy in his arms, yet incredibly soft.
Shan Chong had taught many female students and was used to normal assistance or lifting, but usually, such physical contact meant nothing to him-
But this was different.
The girl was not thin, a soft bundle curled up in his arms…
And not very still. As if unconsciously seeking warmth in her sleep, her hands had somehow found their way to the front of his shirt, clutching a small piece of fabric-
A bit cautiously, with unconscious restraint even in sleep.
Her warm breath fanned against his chin.
It tickled a bit.
Goosebumps rose on his chin and her breath warmed it.
He instinctively moved back, but this action caused his fingers to sink deeper into the soft flesh under her arms. The unexpected softness made him freeze again, stiff.
Standing in front of the hotel entrance, enduring the cool breeze for a good ten seconds, Shan Chong’s gaze finally regained its usual coldness. He used his shoulder to push open the hotel’s main door.
Carrying her into the hotel, he approached the elevator and used his elbow to press the button.
By now, the hotel lobby’s warmth had quickly restored their temperatures. As if waking from hibernation, the white frog in Shan Chong’s arms blearily opened her eyes.
“Shifu?”
A small call, she stared dazedly at the man’s chin, mesmerized by its taut lines.
“Mm.” His voice was low.
She yawned, gripping his clothes tighter: “Elevator?”
“Mm. Hotel, elevator, taking you back to your room,” he said, his voice seemingly emotionless. “Can you walk on your own?”
A normal person hearing this would force themselves to manage even if they couldn’t, obediently getting down from his arms.
But Wei Zhi didn’t. She sincerely shook her head, yawned again, and asked in a soft, weak voice, “Is the elevator spinning? Like a merry-go-round, is that normal?”
She was very serious as if the elevator truly wasn’t functioning properly, and speaking loudly might frighten it, making it even more abnormal.
Shan Chong immediately abandoned the idea of putting her down.
After all, setting her down only to have to pick her up again would be pointless.
The elevator arrived at Wei Zhi’s floor. The man carried her out and set her down at her door… As soon as she touched the ground, her knees buckled, and she nearly fell. He immediately acted as a support or flagpole of sorts, holding her up, and letting her lean firmly against his shoulder.
In this position, her soft lips pressed against his cold neck, warm and tender. As she breathed heavily, she even took a deep breath, sniffing his scent like a small animal…
Then she giggled.
She seemed quite happy.
Only Shan Chong felt a warm patch on his neck, which then seemed to burn. A thousand thoughts raced through his mind, yet that small patch of skin remained unusually noticeable.
A vein throbbed at his temple.
“Room key,” he said through gritted teeth. “Do you have it?”
He planned to drop her in her room and leave. This wasn’t a place to linger.
Hearing this, Wei Zhi mumbled an “Oh,” lifting her face from the crook of his neck. She clumsily reached into her pocket with one hand—but after fumbling for a while, she came up empty. Shan Chong had to keep one arm around her waist, swat away her unhelpful hands, and reach in to find her room key himself…
As he searched, he felt a pair of soft arms wrap around his neck.
The man paused, turning his head slightly, unexpectedly meeting a pair of dark eyes.
Her eyes were moist, bright even in the dim hallway, looking surprisingly clear with no hint of drunkenness…
Yet that warm body was pressed tightly against him;
Her slightly messy hair framed her face as she looked up at him at a small angle.
“…Wei Zhi.”
“Hm?”
She tilted her head.
Their noses nearly touched.
He could see her pale lips just beneath his eyes, suddenly remembering how she had stood in the hallway that day, biting her lower lip until it turned a deeper rose color—
The hallway was so quiet that not talking about something would be a disservice to the atmosphere.
After several seconds of silence, as if possessed, he suddenly asked out of nowhere: “That older brother from your neighbor’s family, who is he to you?”
“…” Wei Zhi blinked, looking a bit slow, and thought hard about what “neighbor’s older brother” meant. After a while, she finally remembered and said, “Just the neighbor’s older brother?”
Shan Chong didn’t believe her. He lowered his eyes and said flatly, “Just now, on your phone, he referred to himself as ‘brother.'”
“What’s the difference?”
Wei Zhi didn’t understand.
The difference is that a “big brother” could be a 40-year-old guy picking his toes, while a “brother” could be anywhere from 25 to 50, with no upper or lower limit.
Having said this, Shan Chong felt somewhat instinctively annoyed at explaining so clearly and discussing these things with a drunk person seemed like a waste of time… So he said rather coldly, “Never mind,” and pulled her hands from his neck, saying, “Stand up straight.”
The next second, he swiftly retrieved a room key from her pocket, swiped it, and tossed her into the room.
Just as he was about to turn and leave, the person who had been lying on the bed quickly got up and grabbed the hem of his clothes with one hand.
The girl tumbled off the bed, still holding onto his clothes, and looked at him earnestly: “He is just the neighbor’s older brother, a doctor. We grew up together, then… then he went abroad, and now he’s back.”
She spoke with some difficulty.
But because her animal-like instincts had sensed something amiss in the air, she struggled to explain a long string of words.
It worked.
Instead of tossing her aside and leaving, he turned and asked, “You usually call your neighbor when you’re drunk?”
“…” Wei Zhi looked even more confused. In her current state of mental fog, she clearly didn’t understand why he was asking so many questions. “I also called SF Express, YTO Express, and STO Express. If you hadn’t taken my phone away—”
ZTO Express wouldn’t have been left out either, as she was being fair to all.
“…”
Shan Chong felt that he had probably been led astray by this drunk person tonight.
He raised his hand and pried her fingers from his clothes one by one, saying with relative patience, “Alright, go to sleep.”
Forced to let go of his clothes, Wei Zhi’s fingers were a bit red from his prying. She pitifully rubbed them herself, not forgetting to peek at him from the corner of her eye.
…It wasn’t entirely sneaky.
“What?”
“Are you upset?”
“No.”
“Then I’ll call you next time,” she wasn’t listening to what he was saying, “Only you.”
As her words fell, the room immediately sank into a deathly silence.
Seconds later, the man raised his hand, and his warm palm rested on her head.
She shrank her neck and instinctively closed her eyes.
The next moment, pushed by a force, she fell backward and landed on the bed with her limbs in the air. As she struggled to turn over, flailing with weak arms and legs, she heard the person standing by the bed asking, “What’s your screen unlock password?”
“110110,” she answered reflexively, “Do you want my bank card PIN too? I might as well tell you, it’s 168—”
Before she could finish, a phone landed on the bed in front of her…
Her phone.
After a moment’s hesitation, as Wei Zhi reached for her beloved phone, the man’s voice came from the doorway: “Ten o’clock tomorrow.”
Then there was a loud “bang.”
The door closed.
He left cleanly and swiftly.
Lying on the bed, Wei Zhi deflated. In her drunken dizziness, she let her face fall heavily into the soft bedding.
…
The next morning, just as dawn broke, the alarm rang loud enough to wake the dead.
Crawling out from under the covers, hair messy and face haggard from the hangover, the girl struggled to grab her phone and looked at it: 9 AM.
…………………………. No matter how hard she wracked her hungover brain, she couldn’t remember when she had set this alarm—
Then, after a long and painful time, she difficultly recalled that for an hour or two last night, her phone had been confiscated.
Before it was returned to her, that person had asked for her screen unlock password.
Wei Zhi: “…”
She could no longer remember what mischief she had gotten up to last night. The only consolation was that she hadn’t gone crazy enough to use his photo as her phone wallpaper.
Sitting cross-legged on the bed, she cautiously opened her call history and looked at it. Seeing the string of numbers, both saved and unsaved, she finally saw the large character “Han Yiming”…
Wei Zhi put down her phone with a serene expression.
Solemnly placing the phone back under her pillow, not wanting to touch it again for now, she roused herself to take a shower. With heavy dark circles under her eyes, not even bothering with concealer, she dragged Jiang Nanfeng out of bed.
She pulled her straight to the ski slopes—
At first, Jiang Nanfeng was reluctant, constantly asking if she was crazy, going skiing early in the morning with a hangover.
“Don’t be ungrateful, I found you a new instructor,” Wei Zhi tugged at her friend like pulling a stubborn cow, “Better than Lao Yan.”
“…” Jiang Nanfeng strongly resisted, “Where did this new instructor come from? Are you still drunk?”
The two pulled and tugged to the entrance of the ski slopes, where they first saw Shan Chong. The man was still in all-black ski wear, with a long, wide snowboard beside him.
Wei Zhi stood on tiptoe and waved, rushing over to him, coming to a sudden stop in front of him—
Just as she was about to greet him, he looked up unhurriedly.
…The moment their eyes met, memories of last night suddenly flooded back.
The hugging.
The opportunistic clinging.
The drunken kiss.
The sneaky sniffing.
Tugging at his clothes and saying cheesy, flowery words.
She had done it all.
Her previously bright face came to a screeching halt, followed by the aftermath of a failed brake—a car crash of expressions. Alternating between red and white, Wei Zhi grunted, her gaze involuntarily glancing at his neck—
…………………………. There, where she had hugged and nibbled last night.
Damn.
She had done it.
Wei Zhi was in awe of herself, vowing never to touch alcohol again in her regret, with a hint of disappointment because she remembered doing something so bold last night, but had completely forgotten the sensation of doing it…
It felt like such a waste.
She stood before Shan Chong, stammering, trying to figure out how to break this awkwardness, when she felt the man’s gaze pass over her head, emotionless, towards something behind her.
Wei Zhi blinked, temporarily setting aside her shame, and turned around to see the newcomer—
White ski wear, with perpetually dark circles under his eyes and an effeminate face, green ski goggles hanging from his elbow, a 160w Mach snowboard (160cm long, extra wide), and Nitro ski boots.
…It was the new instructor she had forcefully acquired through money (no, that’s not right) and fate last night.
Dai Duo walked up to the three of them, not sparing a glance at the gloomy-faced man beside them. He stopped in front of Wei Zhi, his eyes moving slightly, and asked lazily, “Where’s my student?”
Wei Zhi looked at Jiang Nanfeng.
Jiang Nanfeng stared at the newly appeared figure, looking at him, then at Wei Zhi, and finally at Shan Chong… Her gaze flickered, wanting to speak but hesitating, obviously recognizing something and wanting to ask Wei Zhi just how much trouble she had gotten into last night when she wasn’t looking.
Wei Zhi hadn’t reacted yet.
Until she felt the ski goggles in her hand being touched by the perpetually sleepy-faced big shot in front of her, she looked up at him, and he smiled at her without much warmth: “Nice goggles.”
Wei Zhi was about to speak.
From behind her, a magnetic male voice sounded, “I gave them to her. What about it?”
Wei Zhi turned back in confusion, looking at the man standing behind her in all-black ski wear. Between the black and white contrast, the board beside him was particularly eye-catching—
Yes, the same Mach model, 160w.
The meeting of two top-tier snowboards.
The dangerous factor floating in the air was so thick it was choking as if someone speaking loudly at this moment could set off an explosion centered on the Silk Road Ski Resort that would take out the entire Pacific Rim.
Wei Zhi: “?”
Wei Zhi was confused.
Wei Zhi looked at Jiang Nanfeng.
Wei Zhi used her eyes to signal Jiang Nanfeng for a hint.
Jiang Nanfeng mouthed: Large-scale tourism promotional video for the summit ski resort.
Wei Zhi: “…”
In her sudden realization, Wei Zhi remembered.
Wasn’t it just that parallel giant slalom competition video set at the summit ski resort that had made her cry and wail?
Now she finally understood why the white-clad big shot had looked familiar last night—
So he was the other male lead in that large-scale skiing-themed forbidden love film.
According to the general trend of forbidden love stories, if the male lead gives something (a token) he won from the second male lead to an insignificant female passerby, what would happen to that female passerby?
At best, she’d fade into obscurity as cannon fodder; at worst, she’d die a dramatic death.
…………………………. The goggles in her hand suddenly felt a bit hot.
Wei Zhi: “…”
Wei Zhi nodded, looking at the displeased Dai Duo, and spoke carefully: “Yes, he gave them to me.”
Emphasizing the key point of the event, and sincerely hoping everyone would focus on the abusive attacker—
As for the female supporting character.
The female supporting character was just picking up a bargain.
Innocent.
Passive.
…And, of course, not wanting to return it.