When Shan Chong dragged his snowboard back to the top of the mountain, his group of disciples was already waiting at the starting point. Among them was a young woman wearing a baseball cap, her hair dyed in various colors, dressed in a very hip-hop style. She looked at Shan Chong, covering her mouth, her eyes red, with an expression that screamed, “Son, Mom is about to cry.”
Shan Chong remarked, “No wonder Dai Duo is always so sarcastic with me. You guys do resemble a bunch of clowns.”
The disciples: “…”
Backstab: “Hua Hua, he’s talking about you.”
“Ugh,” the girl, whose group name was Sakura Banquet, put down her hand and stood with her hands on her hips, full of energy. “Master, I beg you to get serious in the second round. Don’t look like you’re half-asleep as usual! A 0.5-second difference is something only non-humans can achieve. If you’re too fast, it’s a foul; if you’re too slow, we lose big time—”
“Why are you so nervous?” Shan Chong asked.
“What do you think?!” the girl shouted.
The man slowly threw his board down, slowly put it on, and slowly straightened up. “Why panic? That was just a warm-up. You guys don’t know how long it’s been since I used a parallel stance?”
His voice sounded incredibly calm.
“The board isn’t good,” Lao Yan interjected.
Shan Chong snorted, not denying it.
Lao Yan also put his hands on his hips. “I told you to change the board, but Backstab insisted that Dai Duo was also using his regular board. How can an all-mountain board and a park board have the same stiffness?”
Backstab: “There’s not much difference!”
Lao Yan: “There’s a huge difference!”
Backstab: “I use whatever. If you’re skilled, it doesn’t matter. Why be so particular?”
Lao Yan: “That’s because you’re not particular. Didn’t you see that Chong almost broke his board just now? If skill alone mattered, why were racing boards invented? For midnight snacks? Forget it, I’m not talking to you. You illiterate!”
“Kids shouldn’t use foul language,” Shan Chong patted the snow off his jacket, lifted his eyelids to stop the two disciples from bickering, and lazily said, “I’ll beat him with any board.”
So everyone fell silent, not daring to speak.
These days, anyone else saying this in front of Dai Duo would be considered boasting.
Except for Shan Chong.
…
While everyone was so nervous that they could barely breathe, Shan Chong hid to the side and sat down.
Not only did he sit down, but the man who never looked at his phone took it out.
He turned on the screen and thought for a moment before opening WeChat, seeing a few unread messages—
[Girl Ji: Tomorrow my ass!!!!]
[Girl Ji: You won’t see me tomorrow!!!!]
[Girl Ji: Who can’t ghost? Ghost ghost ghost!!!]
…So many exclamation marks.
The flashing made Shan Chong’s eyes hurt.
He sighed, somehow imagining the little brat jumping around him, imitating a pigeon, which made his ears hurt too. He raised his hand, took off his gloves, and silently pinched his earlobe.
[Chong: I’ll apologize to you tomorrow.]
The other side must have been looking at their phone because the reply came quickly—
[Girl Ji: How will you apologize? Kneel and kowtow?]
[Chong: …]
Her courage lasted only a second.
[Girl Ji: Sorry.]
[Chong: I’m apologizing to you.]
[Girl Ji: Apologize with what? Your head? No way, I’d have to enshrine it and buy fruit offerings on the first and fifteenth of every month. You’re so picky, you’d probably only eat imported fruit…]
She was still typing, and who knew where her thoughts were wandering? She was rambling enthusiastically.
Shan Chong looked up and saw Dai Duo dragging his snowboard up slowly. He decisively interrupted her nonsense and ended the conversation—
[Chong: The enemy’s head.]
[Chong: No need to enshrine it. Just fertilize the weeds at the grave on the first and fifteenth.]
[Chong: That’s it.]
[Chong: I’m busy. Tomorrow at 9:30.]
…
After Dai Duo climbed up, Shan Chong nonchalantly put away his phone.
After a brief rest of ten minutes, the referee announced the start of the second round.
The first whistle blew, and the two competitors slightly lowered their bodies at the starting platform, while the spectators raised their phones.
At the second whistle, the white figure started first!
Before they could even calculate what “0.5 seconds” meant, Shan Chong was calmer—