Little Xun Yue stood like a transparent statue next to the terrain features, her hand held by her father, the god of her snowboard park. She watched the young man in biker gear, surrounded by admirers, disappear into the U-shaped pool, then soar, spin, and flip…
The crowd applauded like excited seals with starry eyes.
As the applause died down, the man landed with a “thud” at the top of the U-shaped pool. He stood firm, following the applause to look in their direction. He paused, then straightened up—
His slightly bent waist straightened, making him appear even taller.
Children have excellent eyesight, and Xun Yue, with her perfect vision, immediately noticed the man’s spiky black hair, black-fingered gloves, black face guard, white triangular cloth of unclear purpose on his shoulder, and the long biker-style coat…
Xun Yue hesitated, then tugged gently at Chong’s hand, whispering, “Daddy, that man looks like a thief.”
At just three years old, her vocabulary was rich but limited. Xun Yue only knew that someone who “doesn’t look like a good person” should be called a “thief”… She didn’t yet know that there were even more vivid descriptors for the young man before her, such as “bandit.”
Hearing this, Chong thought, “Oh no, how did the ‘handsome uncle’ turn into a ‘thief’ just by turning his face?”
Would his little tagalong still be willing to go with him now?
He quickly squatted down, racking his brain to praise his disciple, but all he could think was, “I’ve told him a thousand times to change his outfit, but he never listens…”
After struggling to say anything for a while, he saw the man on the U-shaped pool edge pull down his face guard, squat down on his snowboard, wave and smile in their direction, revealing a set of bright white teeth, and shout, “Master!”
At that time, Bei Ci was already a well-known U-shaped pool competitor in China—
He was ranked around fifth in the International Ski Federation points, just shy of qualifying for the Winter Olympics (the host country could send four competitors). But he was young and had three to five years to make up the difference.
At this moment, the crowd that had been excitedly watching the master perform now turned their heads as they saw him squat down like a big wolf-dog, wagging his tail and calling out “Master” in a certain direction…
Newcomers to the snow scene naturally didn’t know that Bei Ci had a master.
But the veterans in the snow circle all knew that Bei Ci had only one master, and that person was—
Chong.
The aura of a seasoned enthusiast and three-time Winter Olympian who consistently ranked first in the world in ski federation points was different.
When someone they usually only saw on TV appeared, the crowd naturally stirred. They turned their heads and saw a man in black snow gear holding a Stardust doll not far away. After a moment of silence, cries of “Brother Chong,” “God Chong,” and “Ah ah ah” erupted.
Don’t men have idols too?
Men have idols too.
Now their “star” was right in front of them.
As the crowd moved towards the man, it looked to Xun Yue like a dark cloud drifting over. Frightened, she broke free from her father’s hand and ran into Wei Zhi’s arms, who was standing not far behind—
Seeing the purple rabbit rushing towards her, Wei Zhi, dressed in a similar shade of purple-pink overalls, had already bent down with open arms, smiling, ready to catch her daughter flying into her embrace.
The latter plunged into her mother’s arms, hugging her waist to confirm safety, before sneakily turning her head to look behind…
Where she had been standing was now filled with people. The fog was thick, and soon the crowd engulfed her father. She could barely see his black helmet in the middle of the crowd, moving slightly as he conversed with others.
She tugged at Wei Zhi’s pants.
“Mommy, aren’t we going to save Daddy?”
Wei Zhi was about to say “No need” when Chong and Bei Ci finished talking and turned their heads in unison.
Wei Zhi had heard Xun Yue’s sincere “thief” comment earlier. Now, with marital telepathy in full effect, her eyes flickered as she tugged on the Stardust doll’s ear: “Go on, Daddy’s been captured by a thief. Go save him.”
“Aren’t you going?”
“I’m scared, I won’t go.”
“Then I’m scared too.”
“Aren’t you and Daddy the best of friends in the world?”
Little Xun Yue, in her short three years—thirty-six months—in this world, had not yet learned of society’s dangers, hadn’t encountered bad people, and didn’t know the cruelty of human nature. Her first lesson in moral blackmail came from her mother.
After hesitating for three seconds, considering that with so many people around, someone would surely call 110 for the police if anything went wrong, she left her mother with a “coward” and screamed “Daddy!” as she rushed towards the man she considered her best friend in the world—
The crowd parted like the Red Sea, making a small path.
Everyone watched as the cutest creature in the snow park (except for the squirrels in the trees) pounced on the coldest species in the snow park (except for the snow groomer)—
With a “poof,” she threw herself into his arms, hugging his legs. The Stardust hat fell a bit, covering half her face, revealing only her chin still plump with baby fat.
Xun Yue reached up, pushing away the Stardust hat covering her eyes. Just as her round, dark eyes, occupying most of her face, were revealed, she saw the “thief uncle” from earlier bend down, smiling and leaning close to her.
Xun Yue: “…”
The little hand clutching Chong’s pant leg tightened nervously.
A brief silence fell.
In Bei Ci’s self-perceived kind and ingratiating bright smile, he saw the little munchkin, barely reaching his knees, freeze her entire face…
“Xiao Man?” Bei Ci started with a squeaky voice, “Is that you, Xiao Man? I’m—”
Who he was didn’t get a chance to be said.
A “Wah!” of panicked screaming erupted.
The little munchkin who had just pounced over decisively let go of her father’s leg again, turned around, and fled!
As she ran towards Wei Zhi on her short legs, she wailed and cried, shouting “Mommy,” “I can’t do it,” “This thief called me Xiao Man, he wants to kidnap me,” “Help!”
…
Half an hour later.
At the top of the mountain ski resort, in the ski equipment hall.
Wei Zhi stood silently in the distance, watching about ten meters away at the STA coffee counter. A man in biker-style bad boy clothes held a Stardust doll, sitting on his bent arm, looking back every ten seconds.
Her eyes had turned into peach blossom eyes from a mix of real and fake crying.
Looking pitiful and wronged.
“Want to eat some cookies?” came the voice of the thief’s uncle.
Xun Yue sniffled and looked at the wafer biscuits on the counter, really wanted to have the backbone to refuse, but remembered that Mom usually doesn’t let her eat snacks at home…
After hesitating for three seconds, she said, “I want to eat.”
Then, feeling guilty like a thief, she looked back again. Her parents were now standing together—
Her father stood there motionless like a telephone pole.
Her mother bent slightly, leaning towards him like a boneless creature, then raised her arm and forcefully inserted it into the crook of the man’s elbow, hanging onto him.
They stood very close.
Both looked in her direction.
But neither looked like they were coming over to get her.
… Well, it’s okay if they don’t come over.
Xun Yue accepted the little cookie handed over by the thief’s uncle and said “Thank you” with a voice still tinged with crying, followed by a milk burp, her eyeballs rolling around in their sockets—
This also meant they had tacitly agreed that she could eat the little cookies.
“Uncle,” Xun Yue, softened by the food, removed the word “thief” and initiated the conversation, “How old are you?”
Bei Ci was now the most eye-catching presence in the entire snow park.
With his hard features and a child eating cookies sitting in his arms, he walked out of the ski equipment hall as she ate cookies and tried to talk at the same time—
“I’m twenty-four, your mom is my little junior, cool, right?”
“Oh, I’m three.”
“Then you’re cooler.”
“Is being three cooler?… No, are you just humoring me?”
“… How do you have such a rich vocabulary?”
Master, has your daughter become a prodigy?
“My mom often says this to my dad, either when he answers questions quickly like he already prepared the answers and is lying, or when he’s just humoring her.”
Master, does your married life sound like walking on thin ice?
Bei Ci patted the back of the little munchkin in his arms, took a deep breath, and was about to tell her “Be nice to your dad usually, he doesn’t have it easy,” but before he could open his mouth, he was called out to.
The woman responsible for making his master’s married life so difficult stood behind him with her hands on her hips.
Being stared at so intently by her made his spine tingle. He looked around trying to find Chong, who he knew couldn’t save him but could at least serve as a distraction…
He found that Chong wasn’t there.
“What’s wrong?” Big Senior Brother Bei Ci said very cautiously.
“Xiao Man just learned front edge slope pushing, later you teach her leaf floating, if she learns fast then teach her J-turn… Her food, drinks, and down jacket are all in her little backpack, and the safety harness is in there too, keep an eye on her, she’s learned how to take off her board now and if you don’t watch her she’ll take it off and try to crawl into the little forest outside the net—”
She rattled off a long list, making Bei Ci dizzy. He picked the last part to respond to— “So what if she crawls?”
“What do you mean ‘so what’! The snow in there is deep enough to bury her!!!”
“…”
And then he got scolded.
Using his hand that wasn’t holding the child to dig in his ear, he “Oh” -ed again, and said very seriously: “I got it, I taught my little niece how to ski from scratch too, don’t worry Big Senior Brother, I have experience… Zero-based speed course for children’s skiing if the country didn’t prohibit intense competition in early childhood education, my speed course would already be open.”
He closed his eyes and bluffed.
Wei Zhi listened to him babble on. She had known for a long time that Bei Ci could teach kids to ski, otherwise, even as a new generation of carefree parents, she wouldn’t casually hand over her daughter to someone else to teach skiing…
Now, hearing him boast halfway through, she suddenly reached out. Despite being ten to twenty centimeters shorter than Bei Ci, she was very imposing, one hand on her hip, the other finger pointing at the tip of his nose: “Don’t take Xiao Man into the park, okay!”
Bei Ci: “…”
Bei Ci: “Why would I take her into the park?”
Wei Zhi: “Yes, the park for kids means little flowers, little grass, little pandas, not U-shaped pools, big jumps, and boxes, I hope you understand.”
Bei Ci: “Understood.”
Wei Zhi: “Go then.”
Then she confiscated the little wafer biscuits that her daughter had been constantly stuffing into her mouth, small square ones just right for one bite at a time, non-stop…
“Give her some water when you get on the cable car!”
Standing at the entrance of the ski equipment hall, watching intently as Bei Ci carried away her daughter, “Let her go to the women’s restroom when she needs to use the bathroom, she can manage on her own, don’t go in with her!”
The last sentence made Bei Ci walk away without looking back.
Perched on his shoulder, Xun Yue neither cried nor fussed, pecked off the last bit of cookie crumbs stuck to her hand, and waved to her mom.
…
Wei Zhi waited for a while, and the man who had briefly disappeared earlier came back.
He had a pair of skis slung over his shoulder.
How to put it, Chong’s outfit, now considered standard for snow circle newbies—though it might also be the person—when worn by him, made him look like a snowboard specialist when he was carrying a snowboard, and a ski master when he had skis on his shoulder.
His aura was on point.
“Where did you get those?”
Chong had gotten them from the bear-shaped ski instructor—
After all these years, the diligent matchmaker uncle had successfully advanced to become the captain of the ski instructor team at the top of the mountain ski resort. He rarely taught classes anymore, mainly just enjoying the commission from his underlying instructors.
Usually, he just skied around the mountain for fun.
He also ran an officially approved stall selling milk tea and ginger tea at the entrance of the ski equipment hall, employing two assistants to help mind the stall, and business was booming.
“No wonder he could lend you his skis,” Wei Zhi said.
“What do you mean ‘no wonder’?” The man’s tone was flat. “If I want to borrow skis, who wouldn’t lend them to me?”
“These are skis,” Wei Zhi said. “And I’ve been skiing for three seasons now. Last week when I asked to borrow your Gray freestyle board to play with, do you remember what you said? You told me to go buy my own, saying you could get me a 20% discount.”
“…” Chong cleared his throat. “That board is 154cm, too long for you to use for freestyle.”
“I like long ones.”
“You’ll fall.”
“Bullshit, my Red Tree is 154cm.”
“How can you compare a carving board with a freestyle board? Stop being ridiculous.”
While the man’s words were firm, he naturally took his wife’s hand, with a strong sense of “if I don’t settle this now, there’ll be trouble.” He led her slowly towards the cable car, asking as they walked: “Have Xiao Man and the thief’s uncle left?”
The nickname “thief uncle” had spread throughout the snow circle within an hour, and Bei Ci had gained a new moniker for this new snow season, even before his new tricks.
Wei Zhi “Mm” -ed and said: “Just left.”
So the man carrying the skis paused, slowly “Ah” -ed and craned his neck to look at the cable car queue not far away. After looking for a while, he finally saw a Stardust doll currently perched on a biker, not wearing gloves properly, reaching out to scratch at the sponsor logo stickers on the biker’s safety helmet…
Chong’s face was expressionless: “Let’s go over a bit later then.”
Wei Zhi: “?”
Chong: “What if I go over and she wants her daddy again?… Let’s wait until they get on the cable car.”
Wei Zhi: “…”
Wei Zhi: “You are her father.”
Wei Zhi: “Your daughter was almost ready to duel with the thief uncle earlier to defend her reputation of being ‘best friends in the world with daddy’.”
Hearing this, Chong felt a bit touched, so after seriously pondering in silence for a dozen seconds, he said: “What, don’t try to morally blackmail me!”
Wei Zhi: “…”
Chong: “That trick doesn’t work on me.”
Wei Zhi: “Then what does work on you?”
Chong raised her hand and kissed it through his glove and face guard.
Wei Zhi: “What, don’t try to seduce me!”
Chong: “Does this trick work on you?”
Wei Zhi: “It works.”
Wei Zhi: “Wait a bit, they’re about to get on the cable car… Are you cold? If you’re cold, let Big Senior Brother cut in line to get on earlier, he has no manners anyway.”