PNB Chapter 106 Anticipating Winter Snow
Chapter 106 Anticipating Winter Snow
Chapter 107 Anticipating Winter Snow
Song Che paused for a moment, then understood, took the phone case, and paid for it.
However, Song Che bought one more; he also bought the light purple one.
They put on phone cases, a couple's set, one with a white cat in a black case and the other with a black cat in a white case. It sounds like a black and white duo, but Xia Li was very satisfied with it. The two phone cases were symmetrical yet asymmetrical, and she felt that they were very meaningful.
Song Che carried the things home. He originally wanted to buy some Spring Festival couplets and such, which would save him trouble, but the two of them were carrying too much, each carrying a big bag of delicious food, and Xia Li didn't have any extra hands.
This is mainly her fault; she wanted to try everything she saw, and before she knew it, this had happened.
I exchanged a few polite words with the phone case vendor and headed into the alley.
Fortunately, it's not far from home, so I won't be exhausted on the way.
When I got home, Taoxiang came downstairs to greet me. She came over to help and brought me a lot of delicious food. With two gluttons in the house, I'm lucky to have such a good life.
Song Che is actually a glutton.
People always want to eat something delicious.
But Song Che thought he was at most a little foodie, while the other two were gluttons.
As soon as the four large bags of supplies arrived home, Tao Xiang and Xia Li started dividing the spoils. Tao Xiang, that silly girl, only picked out the tastiest things, while Xia Li was a little slower in choosing because she would look up and ask Song Che which ones he liked to eat.
The end result was that Xia Li was so angry she wanted to knock Tao Xiang's head off.
Tao Xiang had sharp eyes and immediately sensed something was wrong. She shared the items, keeping only one of each and giving the rest to Xia Li.
Song Che sat on the scratched sofa, turned on his computer. This was the most expensive thing in the house. There was no TV in the rented apartment, so Song Che wanted to watch some TV on the computer.
I should have bought some sunflower seeds.
Song Che was looking for videos, Xia Li was sitting on a small stool watching, and Tao Xiang also came over with something in her mouth. Bruce wasn't interested in watching TV; it just wanted to rub against people.
Several people gathered around to look at the small screen.
Tao Xiang lost interest after watching for a while and went to chat with Bruce. The two of them seemed to be getting along well now, as Bruce stopped biting her all the time.
Song Che had nothing to do, so he would eat and take a nap at lunchtime. Since there was still some time before noon, he would watch some videos to pass the time.
"Is this also a movie?" Xia Li asked. All of this was quite novel to her. She had always thought of the thing playing the video as a crystal ball and always believed that the things in the video were real.
Song Che had explained things like photo editing, but Xia Li clearly couldn't distinguish between them, because some videos were genuine, while others were acting and special effects.
"That's pretty much a no-go." Song Che swiped through the video. "The content is exaggerated, don't believe it."
These GG merchants package their products like gold, but once you open them up, they're just a waste of money. Today's GG products are nothing like the ones on TV back then. Song Che didn't even know those GG products were GG products before.
Now they just put a celebrity on the product endorsement page, blah blah blah, which is a waste of time.
Xia Li knew GG; last time she accidentally clicked on it, it was full of indecent content, and she didn't like clicking on it.
I always click on it by accident.
She continued watching Song Che scroll through videos. With the Lunar New Year approaching, the videos were all filled with the festive spirit. Many people started recording New Year vlogs and shooting New Year skits. In some places, after it snowed, there were videos of people going skiing together and making a ruckus.
Song Che really wanted to cause trouble with Xia Li, but judging from His Highness's personality, he probably wouldn't be able to.
Another video swiped past.
This time it's a skiing scene. Several people rush down the slope, kicking up high plumes of snow, and laughter comes from the laptop.
Song Che's finger remained on the touchpad, without immediately sliding down.
In the video, someone slipped and fell into a snowdrift, with only their legs sticking out. The people next to them were laughing so hard the camera was shaking.
"What are they doing?" Xia Li asked.
She remembered that it had snowed here last time, but people didn't want to go out because of the cold. The people in the video were all buried in the snow, so they must have been very cold.
"Skiing," Song Che said, "skiing down the snow slope."
"Slid down?" Xia Li watched as the person who had fallen into the snow was pulled out by their companion, their head and face covered in snow. "With a plank?"
"Yeah, he's strapped to a board." Song Che paused the video, the image freezing on the man's disheveled, laughing face. "He's using gravity to propel himself downhill and controlling his direction with his body—you have to learn that, or you'll end up like them."
Xia Li didn't say anything.
She stared at the still image for a while, then turned to look at Song Che.
"Would you like to give it a try?" she asked.
Song Che was stunned for a moment.
"I?"
"You watched for a long time just now," Xia Li said. "You watched three videos like this."
"Really?" Song Che himself hadn't even noticed.
"The first one is 24 seconds, the second one is 47 seconds, and the third one is 1 minute and 12 seconds." Xia Li glanced at the progress bar. "You can scroll through the other videos quickly."
"Just browsing."
"Oh." Xia Li turned back to look at the screen. "Then you don't want to try?"
"It's not that I don't want to," Song Che leaned back on the sofa, "it's just that I've never skied before. We don't get much snow here in winter, except this year when there's been more. Even when it snows, it's just a thin layer that doesn't accumulate. Besides, you have to go to a ski resort to ski, and you have to learn."
He said a string of things.
Xia Li listened quietly, and only asked after he finished speaking, "Was it difficult?"
"It depends on the person. Some people learn quickly, some fall more often." Song Che thought for a moment, "You need to have a good sense of balance and be brave. If the slope is steep and the speed is fast, your body will stiffen if you are afraid, and if you stiffen, you are more likely to fall."
"Are you scared?" Xia Li asked, looking at him.
"I don't know," Song Che said honestly. "I've never tried it, so I shouldn't be afraid."
Xia Li nodded.
She looked at the paused smiling face on the screen again, wondering why it was still smiling even after being thrown into the air. Was it fun to fly out of the air?
"Did it hurt if you fell?"
"It hurts. The snow looks soft, but if you fall hard, it's really tough," Song Che said. "Especially when you're going fast, it's almost like hitting a wall. But usually, people wear protective gear, like helmets, knee pads, and hip pads."
"Protect your buttocks." Xia Li repeated, her tone slightly confused. "Protect—there?"
Song Che nodded.
"—Yes. When I fall, I often land on my bottom, so I have to protect myself."
"Oh." Xia Li thought for a moment, "So if I wear protective gear, it won't hurt if I fall?"
"It will be better, but it won't be completely painless." Song Che felt that the conversation was going a bit strange. "Besides, there's a technique to falling. You can't just take it head-on. You have to roll around a bit to distribute the force."
"Like a recovery move in battle," Xia Li said.
"More or less."
Xia Li said, "A way to reduce the impact when falling is to land on your back or shoulder and roll."
"Yes, that's the idea," Song Che said. "But rolling around in the snow all over yourself is quite a mess."
Bruce strolled over, jumped onto the sofa, squeezed between Song Che and Xia Li, and found a comfortable spot to lie down. His cat belly rose and fell with his breathing.
Tao Xiang poked her head out from the kitchen: "What are you two talking about? Are you hungry? I opened a bag of beef jerky."
"I'm not hungry," Song Che said. "Let's talk about skiing."
"Skiing?" Tao Xiang walked over with a beef jerky in her mouth, leaning close to the screen. "This? I've seen it before. People used to do this in the mountains up north in winter. But they didn't use these kinds of boards; they used tree bark tied to their feet, much more rudimentary."
"You can?" Song Che asked.
"No, they didn't." Tao Xiang chewed on beef jerky. "I saw they fell pretty badly. There was an old man who rolled all the way down the hillside and got stuck on a tree branch. It took a lot of effort to get him down."
Song Che imagined the scene and felt a little amused.
"But it looks..." Momoka stared at the video, "quite interesting. It's fast, the wind is whistling."
"Do you want to try it too?" Song Che asked.
"I want to try—but my sister is afraid of this." Momoka shook her head. "If she stands on that board, she'll probably just roll all the way to the bottom."
After she finished speaking, she swaggered back to the kitchen with the beef jerky still in her mouth.
Song Che looked at Xia Li again.
She was still staring at the paused screen.
"If—" Xia Li suddenly spoke, "If you went to a ski resort, what would you learn first?"
"Hmm—maybe we'll start by learning how to stand and walk," Song Che said. "We'll get used to the board on flat ground, then go up the gentlest slope to learn how to brake and turn."
Brake.
"Yes, slow down by turning your toes inward." Song Che gestured with his feet. "Bring the noses of the board together and open the tails, like this. But it's easier said than done—"
Xia Li would look quite cute if she did an inward bend.
"Will you teach me?" Xia Li asked.
Song Che paused.
"Me?" he said. "I've never skated before, how can I teach?"
"You've seen the video," Xia Li said. "You know the theory. Besides, you learn things quickly."
Song Che didn't know how to respond to this, but Xia Li actually learned faster than him.
"But I have to learn how to do it myself first. Otherwise, if we both fall, who's going to catch whom?"
"I can pull you," Xia Li said. "I'm strong."
"It's not a matter of strength—" Song Che said, both amused and exasperated. Xia Li's strength was so little that if he really tried to pull her, she would definitely fall. "Forget it, if we really want to go, we'll definitely have to hire a coach. Let professionals do professional things."
"Coach," Xia Li repeated, "pay us and teach us."
"right."
Is it expensive?
"It should be alright." Song Che thought for a moment, "It's charged by the hour. And it's usually one to many; one-on-one is more expensive."
Xia Li was silent for a moment. "Then, what if I learn it myself?"
"Learn it yourself?" Song Che looked at her. "No one will be watching you. If you fall, no one will care. If you bump into something, no one will help you. Especially since you have no sense of propriety, you'll cause an accident if you act recklessly."
"I won't do anything reckless," Xia Li said. "I'll observe first. I'll see how others do it—can Jiang Shuo skate? We can learn from our friends."
She spoke eloquently and persuasively.
She has changed a lot from the previous prince. The previous Xia Li would never have used the word "friend".
Song Che recalled how she learned computers; it was indeed like that—observe, analyze, and then take action, quickly and accurately.
"I can consider it, but the ski resort probably won't allow it." Song Che paused. "The ski resort has rules that beginners can't go on intermediate or advanced slopes. Besides, many techniques can't be learned just by looking. We can ski for fun first—not against the professional skiers, but on a slope, sitting and skiing."
Xia Li suddenly pointed at the screen and asked.
Which one do you like?
"Which one do you like?" Song Che didn't understand. There was a big smiley face on the screen, smiling happily, but Song Che didn't like it.
She continued, "Speed, wind, and—the feeling of being out of control."
Song Che paused for a moment, then understood what he meant.
"Maybe both," he said. "My daily life is too routine. Sometimes I want to try to lose control a little, but I'm afraid I won't be able to stop once I really lose control."
"Controllable loss of control," Xia Li said.
"Yes." Song Che smiled. "That's exactly what I mean."
The video finished playing and automatically jumped to the next one. This time it was a food making video, with a close-up of kneading dough.
He kept scrolling, and saw a pretty young woman doing a suggestive dance. Song Che glanced at her for a second longer, then continued scrolling.
The next one is also a pretty young lady.
Song Che closed the page.
He turned his head and glanced at Xia Li.
The silver-haired girl looked at him. "Why aren't you looking anymore?"
"I'm tired of looking at it."
"Oh," Xia Li suddenly said, "If it snows, can we go?"
Song Che thought for a moment, "Okay, let's play together when it snows. What I just said is pretty standard. If we're just playing, we don't need to go through the hassle of finding an instructor or anything."
"Mm." Xia Li nodded.
"But if we want to have a lot of fun, we'll need to buy protective gear." Song Che started to plan. "A helmet is a must, as are knee pads, wrist guards, and hip pads—we'll also need to rent clothes. Ski suits are waterproof, because our own clothes get wet as soon as they get wet in the snow."
"Will it cost a lot of money?" Xia Li asked.
"It's not much," Song Che reassured Xia Li.
Xia Li turned her head and said, "I'll earn this money. I'll grind in the game; I should be able to earn enough for skiing."
O
Song Chele said, "Okay, do more knife drills."
Xia Li said seriously, "You said that once you're skilled, you can earn some money a day."
"Yes, you can give me the money you earn later, and I'll pay you back." Song Che was prepared to pay for it out of his own pocket. The main thing was to make Xia Li happy; the money was secondary.
"We can start with the gentlest slope," Xia Li said. "You've watched a lot of videos and know the theory. My observation and balance are pretty good. We can watch each other and try slowly."
Song Che could tell that she was genuinely considering this matter. This princess was actually quite a homebody, and now she was preparing to go out and see the world.
"Looking at each other—" Song Che imagined that scene.
He and Xia Li, two novices, wore bulky rented clothes and wobbled along the beginner slope on unruly boards. When one of them fell, the other would help him up; when the other fell, the other would support him. There were probably even kids gliding past them.
They're like little idiots.
It's a bit silly, but it seems—quite interesting.
"Okay," he finally said. "Let's figure it out together."
"Mmm," Xia Li replied.
She stopped mentioning it.
But Song Che knew that she had remembered it.
He should write that down too.
Tao Xiang came out of the kitchen again, this time carrying a small bowl containing washed fruit.
"Want some?" she asked, handing it to me.
Song Che took one.
Xia Li also took one and slowly peeled it.
"Were you just talking about skiing?" Momoka sat down on the small stool next to her. "I want to go too."
"Didn't you just say you have a poor sense of balance?" Song Che asked.
"That's my older sister," Momoka said matter-of-factly. "I'm not human anymore. How bad can a yokai's sense of balance be?"
Song Che thought about it and realized that it made sense; she wasn't human.
"Then what were you going to do?" he asked, "roll all the way down the mountain?"
"I can fly," Tao Xiang said. "If I really fall, I'll just turn back into my original form, flap around a few times, and get up again. Maybe I can even carry you guys for a while."
Song Che imagined the scene: on the ski slope, a chubby cat carrying two people in its mouth skimmed low over the ground, leaving the surrounding tourists dumbfounded.
Damn it, cats can't fly!
"Forget it," he said. "You'd better not go. I'm afraid you'll be arrested like a rare animal."
Tao Xiang called out and went to eat fruit while holding her bowl.
After Xia Li finished eating, she took out a tissue to wipe her hands.
She looked out the window.
Will it snow?
"The forecast said it might happen after the New Year," Song Che glanced at the forecast, "but I don't think it will be much; it'll melt as soon as it hits the ground."
.
"If I had magic—I could make it snow and play in it." Xia Li still misses the days when she had magic, making a blizzard for Nan Hui, and then playing in the snow!
Tao Xiang wandered back again, "Want some beef jerky? It's the last pack."
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