“Had enough fun?” The stingy one remained merciless even after confiscating the cola. “You can forget about ever joining my group chat.”
Ugh. Listen to that. So much for the saying about gifts softening people’s hearts. It doesn’t apply to cold-blooded creatures. One second they accept a favor, the next they turn their back on you.
Hidden behind her mask, Wei Zhi pouted and twisted open the cola bottle she had buried overnight. As she took a sip of the icy cola slush in the freezing weather, her whole body shivered from the cold that shot through her skull.
“Cold?” asked Shan Chong.
“Yeah, it’s cold,” Wei Zhi replied casually.
“Not as cold as my heart,” Shan Chong said expressionlessly, stomping on his snowboard.
Wei Zhi: “…”
By now, they had reached the middle of the ski slope. As one of the three most popular advanced runs, the latter half of the Advanced C Run was not too steep, making it ideal for practicing new basic techniques. Having had her fill of fun, Wei Zhi sat down on a small incline. Under Shan Chong’s gaze that seemed to say “Let’s see how long you’ll drag this out,” she huffed and puffed as she strapped on her board. Looking up, she found the man standing about four or five meters away.
Scooting over on her butt to have him help her up didn’t seem very dignified.
Wei Zhi placed her hands on the ground, slightly curled the tops of her feet inside her snow boots, and pressed her heels, boots, and board firmly against the snow. With a small push, she managed to wobble to her feet on her own—
Lao Yan and Jiang Nanfeng, watching from behind, both let out an impressed “Yo!”
“Ah,” even Wei Zhi herself was stunned as she stood on the snow, “I managed to stand up!”
She hadn’t used any of the techniques Shan Chong had previously mentioned, like tightening her core, lifting her buttocks, or engaging her leg muscles. Somehow, she had inexplicably managed to catch the back edge of her board in the snow and push herself up with just a slight effort.
Wei Zhi: “Look!”
Shan Chong: “I’m not blind.”
Wei Zhi: “I stood up by myself!!!!”
“Mm,” Shan Chong adjusted his goggles, appearing very calm. “Your board control has improved. Every time you brake with the back edge, you’re unknowingly practicing how to more firmly embed the edge into the snow, controlling your speed. Once you’ve mastered this, you naturally know how to step on the back edge to support yourself without sliding forward… That’s why I didn’t rush to force you to learn how to stand up earlier. Many things come naturally when you reach a certain stage—”
Wei Zhi: “…”
Jiang Nanfeng: “…”
“Boss,” Lao Yan, unable to bear it any longer, said, “At times like this, just saying ‘well done’ or ‘you’re great’ would suffice.”
“…” Shan Chong moved his hand away from his goggles and looked at Lao Yan. “What’s so great about it?”
Lao Yan silently closed his mouth.
Wei Zhi pushed herself over to Shan Chong, flailing a bit. She reflexively grabbed the sleeve of the man standing there, then said, “Excuse me, you’re in the way.”
Once again accused of being in the way, Shan Chong swatted her hand away. “Stop pushing yourself along. Let’s practice C-turns.”
With this, Wei Zhi finally graduated from being a pushing-along novice.
“First, practice C-turns on the back edge. It’s simple. Start with a normal falling leaf, then gradually press down on your front foot. You’ll notice that as you press more, the nose of the board will gradually point downhill until it’s in a straight position…”
Shan Chong demonstrated as he explained.
Originally facing uphill with his front edge engaged, he straightened his board and did a nollie 180. After turning to face downhill, he raised his hand and, without looking back, casually beckoned to Wei Zhi with his index and middle fingers, signaling her to watch carefully—
Straight board, shoulders leaning forward, the snowboard gaining speed.
After moving forward about a meter or two, he first lifted the toes of his front foot, then the toes of his back foot. Lowering his center of gravity, the back edge of his snowboard naturally responded to the force of his movement, turning in the direction of the back edge.
The board’s edge carved a clear arc in the snow, a clean, crisp line.
Finally, he came to a stop.
Shan Chong looked back and found the young girl standing motionless on the slope.
He hopped around to face her, switching back to his front edge, and waved at her again: “Come on.”
Wei Zhi stared at the line on the ground.
Lost in thought.
“That line is from carving, which you’re not ready for yet. At your current stage, you haven’t learned about body folding and downward force application. You don’t have enough power to dig the edge that deep into the snow,” Shan Chong said. “Just sweep the snow to turn. As long as you get the foot movements right, you can turn— Watch your line of sight, mind your center of gravity— Line of sight, center of gravity— Come on.”
… Come on, my foot.
“What if I roll down?”
“You won’t,” his voice was calm, “I’ll catch you.”
Wei Zhi cleared her throat, tugged at her clothes, and carefully, tentatively began to press down her curled right foot—
Her movement was small, but the snowboard’s response was quick.
The direction of the snowboard changed rapidly. The nose, originally perpendicular to the slope, gradually turned downhill. It began to slide forward slowly, with Wei Zhi’s body following suit. Her stance was much narrower than in the falling leaf, gradually aligning at a 90-degree angle with the slope.
“Ahhh!”
The young girl flailed, shooting forward like a bomb in a straight line—
Fortunately, she wasn’t far from the man to begin with, and her straight-line speed couldn’t build up much. Though her posture wasn’t pretty, resembling a headless fly, she solidly crashed into the man’s arms within three seconds.
There was a “ping” sound as the edges of their snowboards collided.
There was a “poof” sound as Wei Zhi crashed into what felt like a wall.
She reflexively wrapped her arms around his waist. Unable to stand steadily, her face pressed against his chest and slid down a bit…
Three seconds of silence.