Dai Duo noticed Weizhi’s serious expression and felt he might be bullying a child. He wasn’t, really; he was just trying to annoy Shan Chong. So he reached out and hooked her snow goggles again, saying to her tense face that looked ready to bolt at any second, “Why so nervous? These goggles suit you well. I’m just giving you a casual compliment.”
He hadn’t said anything particularly flattering, but as soon as the words left his mouth, he felt two sharp gazes from the black-faced guardian standing behind the little one, as if some demon had just passed by the door…
That look was lofty, aloof, and cold.
Others might fear him, but Dai Duo didn’t care. He knew Shan Chong was that kind of person—
All pretense.
Slowly retracting his fingers from the snow goggles, Dai Duo straightened up and smiled at Weizhi, “I have a few matching sets of goggles at home. I won’t be using them anymore anyway. Want me to bundle them up and sell them to you if you need them?”
Weizhi looked Dai Duo up and down, trying to discern his intentions from his expression…
Then she failed.
This person was just an unpredictable, two-faced individual, completely different from ordinary humans—yes, compared to him, even Backstab and Lao Yan could be considered normal humans.
Last night he barely wanted to say a word to her, so why was he suddenly so talkative at the break of dawn?
It was unsettling.
She looked back at Shan Chong, who lowered his eyes and calmly looked back at her: “Why are you looking at me? You’re the one who found him.”
Weizhi: “…”
Did this mean he wasn’t going to help her?
Didn’t you also say “I’ll give you someone” when you jumped in to stir things up?!
When you do something like that, you should see it through to the end!
Weizhi: “… Do the goggles come with a discount? You’re not using them anyway.”
Dai Duo took out his phone and held it out to Weizhi: “Sure, want to add me on WeChat?”
Before she could respond, he said “Oh” and put his phone away, saying: “Never mind, your master still has my WeChat. Just have him send you my contact card.”
He was still hung up on the time at the top of Chongli Mountain ski resort when Shan Chong had snubbed him. They were WeChat friends, yet he didn’t message him, acting like a jilted lover…
Now he was throwing those words back at him.
Seeing the man’s increasingly gloomy face, Dai Duo felt refreshed.
When Weizhi turned her head to look at Shan Chong again, the man didn’t even bother to pretend, speaking coldly: “If you’re not skiing indoors or night skiing, that one lens you have is enough.”
Expecting him to send a contact card? Maybe in the next life.
Weizhi was also sensible. Even a fool could tell these two had been sniping at each other non-stop since they met. How could she expect her master to give her a ride after she had “defected” to the enemy?
He’d be more likely to send her on her final journey.
She put on the helmet she was carrying and naturally tugged on the man’s sleeve: “Shall we go?”
Without hesitation, Shan Chong bent down, casually picked up the snowboard next to him, and hung it on his elbow.
The long, wide snowboard caught Weizhi’s attention, and she couldn’t help but stare at it for a while, then look back at the same model in Dai Duo’s hands… After Shan Chong had turned and walked a few meters away, she started to follow, trotting behind him like a chick following its mother. As she jogged, she glanced at the man’s cold profile, hesitating to speak at least three times.
“If you have something to say, say it,” said the person walking in front without turning his head.
“You told me to say it,” Weizhi finally couldn’t help but ask, “Did you two buy your snowboards together?”
She had secretly looked up the name “Mach board” when she first heard it from Huayan’s mouth. “Mach,” translated into Chinese as “Ma He,” was a brand from Gary, positioned as a top-tier carving board. Compared to other ordinary snowboards, the Mach board’s price of nearly 10,000 yuan in the secondary market was twice that of regular snowboards…
For someone like Shan Chong, who would cut his gas budget if prices rose by 30 cents, he might pinch his nose and share a delivery address with an enemy if it meant “buy two of the same snowboard for 20% off” to save money.
Weizhi was just curious and wanted to ask.
The person walking in front fell silent upon hearing this—he had already felt quite unlucky seeing Dai Duo come in with the same board today, and now being asked this question, his unluckiness instantly maxed out.
The man turned around without warning, startling the person closely following behind him.
Pressing her lips tightly, Weizhi raised her hand to make a zipping motion across her lips, indicating she would shut her dog mouth…
However, Shan Chong just paused for a moment and said expressionlessly, “No, this board was given by a sponsor.”
“Which sponsor?”
“Gary.”
“… You’re a sponsored rider for Gary?”
“Kid, your eyes are so wide it’s offending me.”
“But it’s Gary!”
For people in the circle—especially those around Shan Chong—getting sponsorship from one or two big brands wasn’t particularly difficult. Besides Gary, Shan Chong also had collaborations with Nitro, DC, and even Burton, which was harder for ordinary riders to get…
Others like Lao Yan also had Gary’s sponsorship, Backstab had Nitro and Roxy, and even Huayan and the other girls had some collaborations with brands specializing in snow gear…
Everyone was used to this.
But now, to Weizhi, this seemed like an incredibly big deal. Shan Chong’s eyelashes fluttered lightly; his claim of feeling “offended” wasn’t genuine. Instead, he thought…
It was quite cute.
How long had it been since he met someone who could be so shocked to hear he had gotten some sponsorship?
To shock old hands like Backstab, he’d probably need to stick a Red Bull logo on his helmet (a tacit rule in extreme sports circles: riders sponsored by Red Bull are universally acknowledged as true *extreme *fearless *top-tier masters).
“You’re quite curious,” Shan Chong hefted the board in his hand. “Learn for a year or two, and you’ll have a chance too… The key is in your hands, it just depends on whether you know how to use it.”
“What key?”
The man picked up the snowboard and turned to walk ahead, “Me.”
“…”
Weizhi was dumbfounded.
How did this person manage to be praised by everyone as cold, noble, low-key, yet powerful, when in reality his confidence was as boundless as the wind…
And he had no shame.
…
Shan Chong’s gloves were left in the locker. He sent Weizhi to get the ski pass while he went back for his gloves.
As soon as the two parted ways, Dai Duo had already casually picked up Jiang Nanfeng’s board. Holding a board in each hand, he raised his eyes to scan Jiang Nanfeng, formally appraising today’s unexpected student—
Young, somewhat thin, of medium height, quite suitable for skiing.
Dressed properly in ski gear, even the snow pants were obediently covering the ski boots.
The ski boots were her own.
No turtle shell protector.
Looked slightly more reliable than the one wearing the turtle shell protector.
Without small talk or unnecessary pleasantries, he went straight to the point: “Tell me about your progress.”
Away from Shan Chong’s line of sight, the young man before him became a normal person, speaking without sarcasm, though his appearance made him seem not easily approachable…
Too exquisitely handsome, making it hard for people to get close.
According to Jiang Nanfeng’s incomplete statistics while idly standing by, from the moment he entered the ski resort until he stood with Shan Chong, the number of girls secretly looking at him was no less than those looking at Shan Chong—
Occasionally, there were brave ones who dared to approach Shan Chong under the pretext of booking lessons to ask for his WeChat.
Dai Duo seemed to have a poisonous aura wherever he went, automatically clearing the surroundings of people and things.
Now that he had taken the initiative to speak, Jiang Nanfeng was a bit caught off guard. She glanced at her board that he was casually holding and said, “C-turn.”
Dai Duo rarely taught people, so expecting a loving education from him was impossible. Hearing the response from the person in front of him, his light-colored eyebrows immediately raised—
“Lao Yan was teaching you before, right? The last time I saw you on the Chongli slope, you were learning front-edge falling leaf to practice C-turns. How long has it been since then?” Dai Duo said, “A million years have passed, and you’re still learning C-turns?”
“…”
“How many days of lessons have you had in total?”
“Ten days, but it’s usually one or two runs in the morning, one in the afternoon, and sometimes I take a day off, so the actual time on snow is quite limited—”
“Ten days to learn a C-turn from zero basis?” Dai Duo directly ignored her self-criticism in the latter half of her sentence and repeated, “Did he charge you?”
Jiang Nanfeng, rarely confused by his aggressive questioning, nodded and then shook her head. After a while, she heard him snort a laugh and evaluate without hesitation: “Garbage.”
He looked back at Jiang Nanfeng: “I suggest you report him to the police for fraud.”
Jiang Nanfeng struggled to keep up with his caustic rhythm. She started following behind him and hesitantly said, “I brought my board…”
Dai Duo, as if he had eyes in the back of his head, shifted slightly to prevent her from touching the board. His phoenix eyes glanced back at her lazily, “Were you staring at me earlier just for this? I’m not so poor that I need to steal your board.”
“No,” faced with this acerbic brat, Jiang Nanfeng began to feel at a loss for how to handle him. She could only say helplessly, “It’s quite heavy. You don’t need to carry it for me.”
Dai Duo looked at her, about to say something like “As a beginner, don’t tell me you carry your board up and down the cable car every day,” but before he could speak, he looked up and saw two familiar faces—
Walking from the ticket area, talking as they approached, were Lao Yan, who had just been labeled a “fraud,” and Huhu, who had successfully booked a lesson with him at yesterday’s dinner table…
The two were chatting and laughing.
Coming this way.
At this moment, Lao Yan casually looked up and first saw Jiang Nanfeng standing there in her ski suit. He was taken aback—she hadn’t put on her helmet and face guard yet, just had her hair tied up in a small bun, standing there expressionlessly with no makeup…
She was truly beautiful, able to attract people’s gaze just by standing there without saying a word.
That natural black hair somehow suddenly made Huhu, with her vibrantly dyed hair, pale in comparison.
However, it was just a momentary exchange of glances. After Jiang Nanfeng saw him, the anger, questioning, or even cold words he had expected didn’t happen—
She just glanced at him casually, then casually looked away.
Then she turned her head and spoke to the person beside her.
Lao Yan, who had initially been dismissive of the person carrying two boards, thinking it was someone Jiang Nanfeng had found to teach her… After all, how good could a last-minute instructor be?
His gaze swept over lightly until he saw the small tree on the black snowboard the person was carrying. He was stunned, his gaze returning.
He confirmed it was a Gray Mach board, something ordinary, mediocre people couldn’t use or afford.
At the same time, that person hooked his finger on his face guard, revealing his entire fox-like face, expressionless, cold, and acerbic—
Lao Yan’s steps came to an abrupt halt.
Shocked and somewhat bewildered, he looked at Jiang Nanfeng, then at the suddenly appeared Dai Duo. His youthful face gradually showed signs of disbelief.
Dai Duo didn’t even glance at him. As if to make sure Lao Yan could see the seriousness on his face, he bent down slightly, leaning closer to Jiang Nanfeng—using a voice neither too loud nor too soft, just enough for Lao Yan to hear from not too far away, he said calmly to his student for today: “Let me give you a theoretical lesson first: Those who can’t ski definitely can’t teach, and even those who can ski might not be able to teach… In the future, if you encounter someone who can’t teach, change instructors early. Otherwise, it’s just a waste of time.”
His student for today was very cooperative. Staring at the instructor whose looks could be described as exquisite but not quite her type, she blinked, nodded, and smiled at him: “Lesson learned.”
…
By the storage lockers.
Just as Shan Chong had retrieved his gloves, the open locker was suddenly slammed shut by someone with a “bang.”
He was momentarily stunned, his dark eyes deepening, but showing no signs of anger. He calmly looked along the hand that had closed his locker to the side—
There stood Lao Yan with a gloomy face.
His gaze flickered. The man imperceptibly pulled back the low pressure that had been spreading around, giving him a light glance: “Aren’t you teaching? Why are you so late too?”
Without answering his question, Lao Yan asked, “Why is Dai Duo here?”
“Mm.”
Shan Chong wasn’t very interested in this topic. Why ask him about Dai Duo’s whereabouts?
“You saw him?”
Then he must have also seen who he was here to teach today.
He kept the latter half of the sentence to himself, not saying it out loud, because, at this moment, the young man’s face was already quite unsightly.
Being questioned like this, his face turned ashen with unstable emotions… Being publicly slapped in the face probably couldn’t be much worse than this.
Not wanting to make himself look so miserable, he simply pressed his lips together, his expression tense as he bent down to open his storage locker—
But his movements were forceful, making the metal locker clang loudly.
Taking out his helmet, he straightened up: “Did you know he’s teaching Jiang Nanfeng? Since when does Dai Duo teach anyone?”
His tone was full of disbelief.
“Yesterday, in the cold, Weizhi squatted on the steps pestering him for half an hour,” Shan Chong said, “That’s how it happened.”
Lao Yan was stunned. After a moment, he looked at Shan Chong reproachfully.
The man received this reproach and responded with an even deeper level of reproach in his gaze, saying calmly, “What’s with all this banging and anger now? It’s not like you took her as a disciple or had any other kind of relationship. It’s her freedom to choose who teaches her…”
Lao Yan, with a black face, slammed the locker shut with a “bang,” even louder than before.
“You stood her up first,” Shan Chong had no intention of comforting him, “What are you throwing a tantrum about now?”
Standing in front of the locker, the young man’s lips moved, looking like he wanted to refute, but as he turned and met his master’s calm, unruffled eyes, he swallowed all his words back…
Because he knew his master was right.
Seeing him silent with a gloomy face, Shan Chong slowly put on his gloves, raised his hand to pat his shoulder, and said nothing, yet seemed to have said everything.
Lao Yan put on his helmet.
Shan Chong leaned towards him slightly, wanting to say something, but then fell silent.
Lao Yan walked away from the storage locker area. In the center of the ski equipment hall, Huhu was already waiting for him, waving and smiling at him from afar as she saw him approach… He squeezed the gloves in his hand, walking over expressionlessly.
His phone vibrated. He took it out and glanced at it—
[Chong: Attend your lesson. Don’t cause trouble.]
It was a warning from his master.