Shan Chong sat on the steps, patiently finishing his cigarette. The phone call remained connected, and he could faintly hear a familiar female crying and the sound of things being thrown…
Then came the middle-aged man’s “Aiya” as he started to console her. Soon after, the young girl’s voice could be heard.
Shan Shan was probably making empty promises. Most of it was unclear, but “Brother said he knows he was wrong” and “He said he’ll never touch the 8-meter jump again” were particularly distinct—
Likely said on purpose for him to hear.
Biting the cigarette butt, the man narrowed his eyes slightly, letting out a cold and helpless chuckle. With slightly frozen hands, he opened the big air jump edit he had posted on the short video app…
120,000 likes, 35,000 comments.
Scrolling through, there were various praises and doubts. His gaze, calm and unwavering, swept over them all, lingering for several seconds on the comment: “It’s such a shame not to participate in next year’s Winter Olympics when you jump so well. A competition on home turf is as important to the snow sports circle as the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics.”
His hand moved, exiting this video and going to his work. He hovered over the “Delete” button for a while, but after some hesitation, he didn’t press it.
Exiting the app, he was about to hang up when Shan Shan called out again: “Why aren’t you saying anything? You’re not crying too, are you? Oh god, please no, Mom just stopped—”
“Stop talking nonsense,” the man’s voice was a bit hoarse. “If there’s nothing else, I’m hanging up.”
“Did you hear me apologize to you just now?” Shan Shan asked. “I hope I wasn’t talking nonsense, or I won’t be able to cover for you next time.”
“You’re lecturing me?”
“Don’t try to scare me. It wasn’t me who made Mom cry tonight.”
Shan Chong stretched out his legs, resting them on the edge of the stairs. His tone became slightly less oppressive: “You’re so capable, I won’t transfer your money the day after tomorrow this month. I’ll send it to Dad’s card instead.”
“Why are you suddenly changing the subject?” Shan Shan said. “Winter’s coming, doesn’t your lovely sister deserve a warm cashmere coat? That MaxMara one looks warm—”
Shan Chong directly opened Taobao and searched phonetically. It was quite a famous brand; the full spelling appeared in the auto-suggestions.
He clicked in to check the price—five digits, for one coat?
“If you dare buy it, I’ll break your hands too,” the man said expressionlessly as he exited Taobao. “All four limbs prosthetic, uniform style.”
“Don’t be so generous. Wouldn’t it be better to keep those millions to buy a house and get married? Why dream of replacing all your sister’s limbs with luxury items costing hundreds of thousands each… At least for arms, I think the originals work just fine.”
The voice on the phone mumbled, then suddenly paused. “A wheelchair for a few thousand is quite comfortable, don’t—”
She thought for a moment, searching for the right word.
“Don’t work too hard.”
Shan Chong let out an “Oh.” “Shan Shan, how old are you this year?”
Shan Shan: “Nineteen? Just turned nineteen, so maybe twenty— Wait, you don’t even remember how old I am?!”
Shan Chong: “Indeed, you’ve come of age. You can say one or two sensible things now.”
Shan Shan: “…”
Shan Chong: “Sometimes I wonder if Dai Duo is your brother.”
Shan Shan: “…”
The man finished speaking, feeling satisfied. His cigarette was also finished, so he extinguished it in the snow nearby. In a deep voice, he said, “Send my regards to Mom and Dad. Hanging up now,” but was stopped again.
“Mom says you should smoke less,” Shan Shan said cautiously. “I think so too.”
“Oh.”
“Don’t just say ‘oh.’ I saw in the video a few days ago that your hand was injured, right? How can you still jump around with an injured hand? You haven’t been drinking, have you—”
“Smoke less, don’t drink, wait for the injury to heal.”
Shan Chong was about to say something when the restaurant door behind him was pushed open slightly. A young girl, not much older than Shan Shan, peeked out from behind the door, looking left and right before her gaze met that of the man sitting on the steps, talking on the phone.
“…There’s no need for you to worry. Someone here is keeping an eye on me, very strictly.”
He finished lazily.
The voice on the other end fell silent for three seconds before asking “What do you mean, are you dating?” and then screaming to report to their parents outside the phone “Mom, brother’s in love,” the man said helplessly, “No, don’t make things up. I’m hanging up,” and then directly ended the call.
Meanwhile, the person who had emerged from the restaurant, still carrying the warmth from inside, had already pattered to stand behind him.
If her legs were two seconds longer, she would have heard Shan Shan’s scream…
Fortunately, her legs were short.
Wei Zhi leaned on the railing, looking down at the man. Her gaze circled his face a few times before settling on the hand holding his phone… She wanted to ask if he was cold without gloves, but seeing his demeanor, he didn’t look like he was about to freeze to death. So when she spoke, it came out as: “Who were you talking to on the phone?”
“What did you come out for?” The man put away his phone and stood up. “You’re quite nosy.”
“Came out to see what you were doing out here for so long. Worried you might have been secretly crying from those lunatics’ insults,” Wei Zhi answered casually. “I was just asking. Never seen you on the phone for so long.”
“…”
“…”
He looked at her.
In the moonlight, her black eyes were bright and shiny, looking at him with a mix of nervousness and fear, as if worried he might give an answer she didn’t want to hear.
The man paused for a moment. After a while, under her direct gaze, he pursed his lips: “My sister.”
Alert canceled.
Wei Zhi breathed a sigh of relief, not bothering to hide the light that instantly revived in her eyes. As he turned to climb the steps, she followed behind him like a little tail: “Your sister? Do you have a sister? Real sister? How old?”
“Yes, real. About your age.”
“About my age?”
“Mm.”
“Twenty?”
“Nineteen.”
She bounced up the steps, using both hands to open the heavy restaurant door, gesturing for him to enter first due to his injured hand. She held the door with half her body, “Oh, I’m almost twenty-three, not really the same as her—”
“Doesn’t change the fact that in my eyes, you’re the same age,” the man said. “In my eyes, you and her are both just kids.”
As soon as he said this, he saw the girl holding the door stiffen. She looked up at him, clearly unable to accept this sudden “sister card.”
The two stood at the restaurant entrance, staring at each other for a long time until her vision darkened. The man raised his arm, casting a shadow over her small face… The pressure behind her lessened as the person standing in front of her effortlessly supported the door she had been struggling to hold open, widening the gap—
“I’m kidding,” he said expressionlessly. “Go in.”
…
At the evening gathering, some people still got drunk. Shan Chong, even with one injured hand, had to be responsible for sending these heavily intoxicated men back to their rooms.
As he dragged Lao Yan into the elevator, only Wei Zhi and Bei Ci were left in the car. The girl reached out to poke the person in the front passenger seat, leaning in conspiratorially to ask: “Did you know Chong-ge has a sister?”
Bei Ci hadn’t been drinking, just feeling a bit sleepy. Half-dazed, he responded to her probing, “Ah… Yes, he does… Did he tell you?”
Wei Zhi shook her head, then nodded.
“His sister is called Shan Shan, the ‘shan’ for kindness. Cute name, isn’t it? Shan Shan used to do figure skating. You know figure skating, right? You should, it’s at least more popular than skiing. Comparing the two is like skiing trying to piggyback on figure skating’s popularity,” Bei Ci said. “I met her once in 2019. Damn, this family’s genes seem designed to put plastic surgery clinics out of business… She’s really beautiful, but it’s a shame.”
In the darkness, Wei Zhi leaned on the front seat: “What happened? What’s a shame?”
Bei Ci turned to look at her: “You don’t know?”
Wei Zhi: “Huh?”
Bei Ci: “You think Chong-god charges 6,000 yuan per lesson, teaches endlessly every day and is still so poor because…?”
Wei Zhi: “Isn’t he just stingy?”
“…He is indeed stingy,” Bei Ci said. “But it’s mainly to save money for Shan Shan’s prosthetic limbs— You didn’t know? Shan Shan used to be amazing, skating beautifully and skillfully— Come to think of it, I’ve noticed figure skaters all seem to be very pretty— Anyway, when she was about in eighth grade, there was a major accident during training. She was initially just paralyzed, but then somehow the wound got infected and necrotized, leading to amputation. She lost both legs and has been in a wheelchair for years.”
Thankfully it was dark, as Wei Zhi’s hand gripping the seat back stiffened—
It was just an instinctive reaction.
But she felt it was very impolite.
So she quickly adjusted her surprise, and after calming down, fell into deep thought.
…She tried to imagine what she was doing at fourteen. Arguing with her parents every day to avoid piano lessons, rushing to the canteen after class to get the first scoop of food while the auntie was in a good mood, planning how to convince her family to let her travel with Jiang Nanfeng during summer vacation, possibly secretly harboring a crush on the small forward of the school basketball team, wanting to date but never succeeding.
But Shan Chong’s sister had experienced these terrible things.
Having had a couple of drinks in the evening, she wasn’t drunk but was emotional. The young girl’s fingertips picked at the seat back: “Then what?”
“Then what? Do you know how expensive prosthetic limbs are? Those slightly better, more realistic, and flexible ones from abroad seem to cost over 600,000 yuan per leg—”
Bei Ci paused, “Think about our Northeast. Except for the provincial capital, how much are house prices there? For 1 million yuan, how many years would an ordinary salaried worker have to save without eating or drinking?”
“With so many sponsorships, they don’t give money?”
“Sponsorships don’t give money,” Bei Ci said. “They just provide products. At most, you don’t have to buy your ski equipment.”
“…”
Wei Zhi recalled in Chongli, how the man had leaned with one hand on the dirty car door that hadn’t been washed all winter, discussing with the gas station staff about the few cents increase in 92 octane gasoline prices for half a day, and then reducing his fuel purchase by 100 yuan because of it.
At the “engagement party” in South City sometime later, her parents and elders spoke of a 10-million-yuan villa and a 1.6 to 1.7 million yuan entry-level Porsche supercar with a tone lighter than discussing a 100-yuan fuel expense. This made her stomach churn.
It wasn’t about moral coercion; she genuinely felt that “the world is unfair.” This bothered her a bit.
“Hey, isn’t this why God Chong doesn’t fly the big jump? You saw today, he can still fly and fly so well. Why? It’s because he’s been practicing secretly. Damn, did he think he was a genius who could do a 2160-degree internal rotation on his first try?” Bei Ci said slowly as if recounting a long-past story, with a sigh. “Even if he wanted to go back, he wouldn’t dare let his family know… They already have one child who’s not well. As parents, how strong must their hearts be to snatch a second child back from the King of Hell and still nod in agreement to let him take risks again?”
Wei Zhi already knew the answer without Bei Ci explaining.
A complete family, originally intact, with a handsome son and a beautiful daughter, both prodigies in winter sports… One in figure skating, the other in snowboard big air. Who would have thought the sister would have an accident first, with irreversible consequences? Isn’t this a huge tragedy for any family?
Later, when Shan Chong fell, to outsiders it was probably just “He fell, oh how terrible, oh the surgery was successful, that’s great” in a few words.
But outsiders would never know how devastating it is for family members to stand in front of the operating room again, forced to accept the fear that tragedy might repeat itself.
Wei Zhi didn’t dare to imagine that scene. She used to avoid walking past operating rooms and ICU doors in hospitals, not because she feared death or thought it unlucky, but because the silence on the faces of patients’ families waiting there made her uneasy.
She closed her eyes briefly, feeling pain throughout her body.
Sitting in front, Bei Ci heard her go quiet. He looked back, saw her curled up, and remained silent.
After a pause, he chuckled lightly and jokingly asked, “What’s wrong? Scared? … Ah, can’t blame you. Most girls would be scared off by the mess in Shan Chong’s family. Otherwise, there’d probably be a reinforced company chasing after him by now—”
“I’m not just any girl,” she said hoarsely.
“That’s right,” Bei Ci agreed. “What ordinary girl would still insist on liking Shan Chong after getting to know him deeply and communicating with him?”
“Yeah, I—”
Her voice and heartbeat stopped simultaneously.
“…Who told you I like him?!!!!”
The girl’s scream suddenly filled the entire car, almost lifting the roof of the Jeep!
“Who told me doesn’t matter. After all, I have eyes. When you look at Shan Chong, your eyes light up. You either laugh or cry within three sentences. What does it matter to you whether he’s on the big jump or if Dai Duo buries him? Crying so genuinely—Shakespeare said, only blind love can turn people into lunatics.”
“Shakespeare never said that!”
“It doesn’t matter,” Bei Ci said. “What matters is if you keep shouting at me like this, it’ll be Shakespeare telling the whole world about your little secret crush.”
“…”
“Calm down.”
“Is he still saving money now?” Wei Zhi wisely changed the subject. “Let me ask you something. I still have 300,000 in my card. Do you think he’d take it if I gave it to him directly?”
“…”
This time, it was Bei Ci who was truly shocked. As he fell into stunned silence, the girl behind him continued to mutter, “I think he definitely won’t take it. Should I find an excuse? Tuition fees? A Christmas gift from Santa Claus? Or New Year’s red envelope money—”
“Wei Zhi.”
The muttering stopped.
“What?”
“Do you southerners from the city usually give away money when you’re drunk?” Bei Ci asked sincerely. “And even to the point of losing everything? Tell me, my alcohol tolerance is pretty good. If that’s the case, I’ll risk my life to develop my career in the south—”
“What do you mean?” Wei Zhi asked, bewildered.
“I mean,” Bei Ci replied expressionlessly, “you’re drunk. Go to sleep.”
Wei Zhi loosened her grip on the passenger seat, mumbled an “Oh,” and fell back into her seat. After a moment, she emphasized, “You can’t tell anyone!”
Bei Ci: “Tell what? The mentor-student romance is such an overused, boring cliché. It’s not creative, not interesting, not worth mentioning.”
Wei Zhi, half-closing her eyes and drowsy in her tipsy state: “You’ve had quite a few disciples too. Why don’t you have any?”
Bei Ci: “…”
Wei Zhi: “See, it still depends on the person.”
The senior disciple wanted to say something more, but at that moment, Shan Chong walked out of the hotel, and he closed his mouth.
The man walked straight to the car, opened the back door, and placed one hand on the door frame. The faint smell of alcohol mixed with the girl’s usual sweet fragrance became more intense in the warm air…
He frowned imperceptibly, then quickly relaxed his brow.
Seeing the person sitting in the seat shiver from the cold wind blowing in, he asked, “Can you walk on your own?”
The man’s breath, carried by the snowy wind, brushed against her face. Wei Zhi stared at him.
Shan Chong: “?”
Wei Zhi, her eyes full of affection: “Can I hug you?”
Shan Chong: “?”
Shan Chong: “You hug me or I hug you?”
Wei Zhi: “Huh?”
Shan Chong: “What kind of drunk nonsense is this? Get up by yourself.”
Wei Zhi obediently struggled to get up.
The man glanced at her feet: “Shoes.”
She followed the command, her legs dropping with a “thud” as she wobbled to put on her shoes.
Bei Ci, sitting in front, watched the scene unfold: “You don’t need to wear them. She’s tough enough. Walking back barefoot would be stimulating. I guarantee she’ll be sober by the time she reaches the lobby… Didn’t she do that last time?”
As soon as he finished speaking, he felt two people, one sitting in the back seat and one standing outside the back door, turn their heads to look at him simultaneously.
The girl’s face was full of doubt, while the man’s expression was blank.
Bei Ci: “…”
Bei Ci: “Alright, I guess not.”
Bei Ci: “Can either of you ever tell the truth?”
:).jpg.
…
After finally sending the last little disciple back to her room, Shan Chong sat down in his room, feeling sore and tired—
Tonight, everyone had drunk chaotically in their anger, while he, as the central figure of the event, hadn’t touched a drop of alcohol. In the end, he had to clean up after these people.
He was done.
If there were any negative emotions brought about by this incident, they had now dissipated due to exhaustion. He leaned against the headboard of the bed, not wanting to move…
His surgery had been quite successful; fortunately, his back wasn’t broken.
But that doesn’t mean a back with steel pins is stronger than the original. After carrying so many drunk men back to their rooms, he now felt as if he’d been beaten up.
“If you guys were trying to keep me from overthinking by exhausting me to death, then I’d say you’ve succeeded,” the man said to Bei Ci, who was slowly undressing to wash up nearby. “Thanks a lot.”
Bei Ci stripped down to his underwear, ignored the sarcasm, and nodded, saying, “You’re welcome.”
The man leaning against the bed raised an eyebrow, about to say something when his phone suddenly vibrated. He picked it up and looked at it. The caller was his little disciple whom he had personally escorted back to her room just ten minutes ago.
He paused for a moment.
Nearby, Bei Ci noticed he hadn’t answered for a while and asked curiously, “Who is it?”
Shan Chong said, “Your little junior sister.”
Bei Ci made an “Oh” sound, not surprised at all: “That bad habit of calling people when drunk is back again.”
Then, amidst his provocative voice saying “Guess whether you’re before or after the SF Express delivery,” the man picked up the phone, put it to his ear, and made an “Mm” sound: “Something wrong?”
There was silence on the other end of the phone, then a giggle: “I suddenly remembered that last time I told you my bank card password, I might have missed three digits.”
“…” Shan Chong looked at his phone screen, confirming that the incoming call number didn’t belong to any mental hospital’s restroom. “You didn’t drink much tonight, did you? I was watching.”
“You saw?”
“Mm.”
“Good, that’s progress,” she hiccupped on the other end, saying lazily, “At least last time, in the same restaurant with the same seating arrangement, you didn’t even look at me once… I didn’t drink much tonight, but if you asked me for my bank card password, I might tell you. I have a lot of money in my account. Even if you took it all, I wouldn’t report it to the police. If I did report it, you could just tell the police it was for my tuition.”
Shan Chong was a bit confused. He pressed his lips into a straight line and thought for a long time. He seemed to have guessed something.
Lifting his eyelids to glance at Bei Ci nearby, he smiled, though his tone became a bit cold: “What did Bei Ci tell you, hm?”
“Quite a lot,” rustling sounds came from her end, probably her crawling into bed. She said honestly, “He said you need money not just because you’re stingy, but because you have reasons you have to spend money.”
Tsk.
“What’s wrong,” the man lowered his eyes, chuckling with little mirth, his voice low and deep through the phone’s magnetic waves, “Feeling sorry for your teacher?”
Even as he said this, he wasn’t sure what kind of answer he wanted to hear.
He was vaguely on the edge of some thin anger.
Then he heard her fall silent on the other end of the phone, then ask strangely, “Feel sorry for you about what? Tonight you dominated the scene, winning universal respect.”
Shan Chong was taken aback.
“You just might have more things to do compared to ordinary people, but that doesn’t make you pitiful. Why should I feel sorry for you? Only those who are truly pitiful deserve sympathy.”
…
Oh.
This answer.
It was quite pleasing to the ear.
Leaning against the bed, the man lowered his eyes. His pitch-black pupils, which had remained undisturbed all evening, finally showed a hint of vulnerability… As if someone had forcefully cracked open a fissure with an ice pick, revealing that beneath the frozen surface, there were indeed ripples.
Tonight, he had heard all sorts of comments until his ears were calloused. Those who knew the inside story probably thought he was quite miserable, various gazes binding him—
Yet he found release in her casual statement, “You just might have more things to do compared to ordinary people.”
He recalled the moment in the car when he opened the door, her dark eyes staring at him, asking if he wanted a hug. Those eyes, like her words now, were direct, showing pure and unguarded sincerity.
In front of him, she always seemed… completely unreserved.
His heart stirred slightly. He sat up a bit, swallowing, his Adam’s apple bobbing.
He gave a low “Mm,” patiently not hanging up on her, and continued to toss out a loaded question, playing along with her nonsense: “Then why do you still want to give me money?”
“Mm,” Wei Zhi didn’t find this question difficult at all and said, “If you asked me for it, I wouldn’t want to give it anymore. But since you’re not asking, I want to give you everything.”
“You won’t give if I ask?”
“Aren’t people who actively ask for money usually scammers?”
“And those who actively give aren’t scammers?”
“I don’t have to transfer it to your account,” she said in a know-it-all tone. “The medical conditions in South City are quite advanced. I know someone at the central hospital’s surgical department. They have some cooperation with the Ottobock brand. You know, doctors, they might be able to get some insider discounts…”
She had even researched the brand, blurting it out without stumbling over her words.
He didn’t bother with these details, but noticed the keyword she mentioned—
Doctor?
“Is that the neighbor’s older brother you mentioned last time?”
“Did I mention that?”
“You did.”
However, it was also when she was drunk. At the time, he had just casually asked, listened to her answer, and then forgot about it afterward, not pondering on it further.
However, whether it was because too many things had happened today and he was truly exhausted, or because the quiet atmosphere of the room was just right, the man who rarely engaged in such idle phone chats suddenly felt that bringing up this person now was quite mood-killing.
And a discount?
What discount?
Was he short of those few thousand yuan from a 5% discount?
“Oh, well, I guess I did mention it then. It’s not important,” the carefree girl on the other end of the phone said. “Someone I’ve known for so many years, it’s quite an effort to even send a ‘Happy New Year, brother’ every year. Might as well let him be of some use—”
“You call him ‘brother’?”
“He’s older than me,” There was a pause on the other end of the phone as if she was curious about the sudden question. “What else should I call him if not ‘brother’?”
“Last time you said ‘big brother’.”
“Is there a difference?”
The difference is huge.
Shan Chong changed his sitting position, also feeling that he might be asking too much, but he couldn’t help it. After hesitating, he said, “If it’s just a relationship where you wish each other well during New Year’s, don’t bother others. Is it that hard to return a favor for just ten or twenty thousand yuan?”
There was silence on the other end of the phone, clearly shocked that such words would come out of the man’s mouth, even in her slightly tipsy state.
After a long pause, she cautiously asked, “Have you been poisoned?”
The man laughed: “No.”
Wei Zhi said decisively: “Then you must be crazy.”
“…”
Well.
Let’s just say he’s gone mad.
As if it were the bewitching hour, everything seemed to have gone haywire tonight.
For instance, at this very moment, he wanted to say, “After you hang up my call, just go straight to sleep. If you call that ‘brother’ of yours in the middle of the night to ask about prosthetic prices, I’ll break your legs.”
…
Half an hour later, in a room several floors below, Wei Zhi hung up the phone and also successfully lost sleep.
Unable to give out her bank card password, she was in low spirits the next day, feeling unwell all over since morning. When she opened the window, she was almost frozen to death by the icy air outside, and promptly called Shan Chong to ask for a day off—the other side was particularly surprised that the little disciple knew to ask for leave when absent, and the man even fell into a three-second silence.
“What’s wrong? Where are you now? It doesn’t sound like you’re staying obediently in your room,” he asked.
“Out for breakfast,” Wei Zhi had already left, wrapped in layers but still shivering from the cold. Her mind was full of thoughts of eating some hot breakfast to comfort herself. Hearing his question, she sounded dejected, “I’m not in a good mood.”
The person on the other end of the phone laughed heartlessly: “One might think you were the one surrounded by people yesterday.”
Hearing this, the little girl stopped in her tracks, biting her lip in the cold wind: “That’s not funny.”
Seeing that she was getting upset, he stopped teasing her and ended the conversation with a light chuckle before hanging up… After this interruption, Wei Zhi didn’t want to walk any further. A little further ahead would be the ski resort, and the breakfast shop would probably be getting more and more crowded.
She turned to a nearby shop and ordered a basket of steamed buns and a bowl of milk. The milk was steaming hot, and she added a spoonful of sugar.
As she lifted the hot milk to take a sip, someone sat down opposite her.
She raised her eyes to look. It was Lu Xin.
“I saw someone outside who looked a bit like you, so I came in,” Lu Xin said, looking Wei Zhi up and down, seeing her wrapped up like a zongzi today. “You’re not skiing today?”
Wei Zhi adjusted her waist and sitting position, very friendly pushing the basket of buns towards Lu Xin: “Taking a day off today… Want some?”
Lu Xin ordered something else, sharing the basket of buns with Wei Zhi.
Wei Zhi had just picked up a bun and taken a bite, carefully blowing on the soup inside the beef bun, when she heard the person sitting opposite say: “I saw the video God Chong posted last night too, the one on the big jump.”
Her bun-blowing action paused, and the little girl raised her eyes slightly to glance at him, making an “Mm” sound, not very enthusiastic but not indicating she wanted to change the subject either.
“He jumped well. I thought he couldn’t do it anymore.”
“Is that so,” Wei Zhi took a bite of her bun, her mouth full of fragrant flavor, speaking a bit unclearly, “Haven’t you seen him jump on the small and medium jumps? His legs are quite nimble, where did you get that misconception?”
“He hasn’t jumped on the big jump since he retired,” Lu Xin said. “So I thought he couldn’t do it anymore. There’s a difference between the 8-meter jump and the other two.”
“Never jumped but casually does an internal 2160?” Wei Zhi, now having Bei Ci’s confirmation as solid proof, was quite righteous, “If he had that kind of talent and ability, retired? The sports bureau would carry him to the Winter Olympics competition platform even if they had to lift him there.”
“…Well, no. Yesterday I heard people from the club saying that it’s not that he can’t jump, but his family doesn’t allow it or something, so he hasn’t posted many videos of the big jump since then—Ah, it’s a bit sad.”
Wei Zhi frowned slightly.
There was nothing shameful about this, but having outsiders gossip about it with a relish made her dislike hearing it.
Regardless of the outsiders’ tone—
Whether it was regret.
Or sighing.
Sympathy was even more unnecessary.
What business was it of theirs?
Whether Shan Chong jumped the 8-meter platform or not, how well he jumped, why he didn’t jump, what did it have to do with them? Why did they have to dig into it?
Had he promised to split half of his retirement teaching fees with them, or to break his medals in half if he didn’t retire and went to compete?
What were these people trying to empathize with?
Were they qualified?
She was all fired up today, cold at first, now feeling irritable.
Seeing her not speaking, Lu Xin continued: “I guess God Chong must have been pushed hard by Dai Duo yesterday, getting desperate… You don’t know, but after Dai Duo’s external 2160 video, many people were @ing God Chong, and the atmosphere was very tense. I guess he was forced to come out and jump, just to prove himself.”
He paused, then commented: “He jumped quite well, but maybe he didn’t expect that so many people who saw it would be even more dissatisfied, feeling that he was wasting his talent—”
“However, the talent is his own. What does it matter to the onlookers whether he wastes it or not? With this time, wouldn’t it be more practical to worry about whether you’ve managed to land your bs360 on flat ground?”
The little girl’s voice interrupted him. At this point, Lu Xin finally noticed something off about her voice. His heart skipped a beat as he looked up across the table—
He saw her wiping her mouth with a napkin, crumpling it into a ball, and tossing it back onto the table.
“There are only two reasons he came out to jump in that video.”
She held up two fingers.
“One, to promote products.”
She said.
“Two, I wanted to see it.”
After a pause, under Lu Xin’s shocked gaze, she continued to make things up with a straight face: “What’s all this about proving himself to everyone? Stop trying to make yourself look important. If he wanted to prove himself, he would have done it long ago. Why would he wait until after so many rumors and gossip about him not being good enough before proving himself—Yesterday was simply because I wanted to see it—I wanted to see it!”
Lu Xin had a blank expression.
Wei Zhi kept a straight face, getting more and more worked up as she spoke. By the end, she almost believed it herself: “I got inspired by Dai Duo, threw a tantrum on the ground wanting to see my master fly on the 8-meter platform. He had no choice because of my fuss, so he went and flew—Oh yes, I didn’t know this was such a big deal that you all had to spread the news—It’s just flying off a platform, tsk tsk.”
Lu Xin: “…”
Wei Zhi: “My master is so good to me!”
She let off a string of words like firecrackers, holding her breath as she finished her long string of girlish fantasies. As her words fell, the whole breakfast shop seemed to go quiet for three seconds.
Then, in the reflection of Lu Xin’s earthquake-like pupils, Wei Zhi discovered someone standing behind her.
She narrowed her eyes slightly.
Then she heard the lazy voice of the man behind her: “My little disciple suddenly knows how to appreciate things, how can the master not be moved?”
Wei Zhi: “…”
Wei Zhi turned her head.
Meeting the smiling eyes of the person behind her: “What other props do you want to see your master use? You say it, I’ll consider it a loss if I blink.”