Volume 11: The Lingering Warmth of Melting Snow
Chapter 4: The Butterfly and the Moth (Part 1)
Zhu Xi discovered that Lu Li had a talent for making people angry. Every time she was with Lu Li, she was always in a rather foul mood. She said coldly, “Do I need to follow you? Your movements are as clear as the lines on my hand to me. I could guess with my knees that a philanderer like you came to Yuan Shuai Mountain to pick up women. You even have your eyes on a woman of Fu Li’s caliber. You’re really not picky!”
Zhu Xi always spoke very bluntly.
“What’s wrong with Fu Li?”
“A woman who hangs out in nightclubs and bars all day, so flattered by men that she thinks she can be compared to me. She even expects a response when she greets me. Heh.” Zhu Xi is the real villain, he thought. Fu Li couldn’t hold a candle to this arrogant attitude.
Lu Li felt that giving up on Fu Li was indeed a wise choice. Baili’s ideas were rarely reliable. He would have to “severely punish” her again when he got back tonight. He was also too soft-hearted. The moment Baili acted cute, he would pinch his nose and agree.
“Then if I don’t greet you, why do you always take the initiative to find me?” Lu Li said with malice. “The princess thinks quite highly of me.”
Zhu Xi huffed. “You might as well just fall to your death.”
Lu Li skied alongside Zhu Xi. “Your Royal Highness, are you sure you didn’t follow me here?”
Zhu Xi looked at him speechlessly. “Leader Lu, the world does not revolve around you. I have my own life. Do I need your permission to come skiing? As for you, aren’t you quite rich? Why did you come to Yuan Shuai Mountain with the ski club? With your relationship with Long Di, you could book this entire ski resort if you wanted.”
Lu Li didn’t say anything.
“I think you’re too nostalgic,” Zhu Xi said. “Not just nostalgic in your relationships, but nostalgic in your life as well. You’re so used to living an ordinary life that you don’t know how to live a rich person’s life anymore.”
Zhu Xi was right. Lu Li hadn’t lived extravagantly even after achieving financial freedom in his past life. Neither he nor Baili cared much for material things. Lu Li liked to keep everything simple, and for Baili, as long as she was with him, it was enough. Thinking of this, he began to miss An Baili.
Lu Li thought about finishing this run and then going back to the hotel to stay with An Baili until the event ended tomorrow.
“Watch the turn,” Zhu Xi suddenly reminded him, leaning into a turn herself. Lu Li followed suit, moving from the green slope to the blue.
“It seems I was born to be poor,” Lu Li said with a bitter smile.
“You wouldn’t starve to death just relying on women,” Zhu Xi said. It was unclear if this was a compliment or a criticism. “That counts as a talent too.”
Lu Li looked up and saw a forest of pine and fir trees at the foot of Yuan Shuai Mountain, with mist lingering and snow pressing down on the pine needles. This kind of beautiful scenery was not to be found in the coastal regions. Chuanhai was even stingy with its snow, and its mountains weren’t mountains, just low hills.
He had always loved quiet forests and vast seas, liked the feeling of time slowing down, of the years being cut into pieces.
But unfortunately, the path to the foot of the mountain was blocked by the ski resort. They said the forest was unsafe, with heavy moisture and wild animals.
He followed Zhu Xi into the most rugged black diamond slope. By this time, his control over his skis was becoming quite adept. “Your Royal Highness, how long do you plan to stay?”
“Same as you all. I’ll leave tomorrow. There’s a big wind tomorrow, and the ski resort will suspend its operations,” Zhu Xi said. “Have you ever seen the strong winds of Beijiang in winter? They blot out the sun and sky, vast and mighty. You wake up and even your car is buried in snow. Those stowaways from Erros can’t stand such severe cold. Every winter, that group of stowaways will flock to the police station, just for a blanket and a bowl of hot white porridge.”
Lu Li, a southerner born and bred, had indeed never seen such a ferocious wind. The strongest wind in his memory, at most, would just blow over an umbrella and send plastic bags flying all over the street.
“If you’re not afraid of dying, you can stay in the hotel. It’s just that supplies won’t be able to get through then, and water and electricity will be cut off. You might have a chance to see the extreme weather of Beijiang,” Zhu Xi teased him. She pushed off with her ski poles and skied toward the foot of the mountain at a faster speed. Lu Li’s competitive spirit was aroused, and he also sped up to catch up with Zhu Xi.
“Have you seen the horror movie The Shining?” Zhu Xi turned her head. “If you want to stay, it will be like that. Trapped in an empty hotel, going mad, and finally being frozen into an ice sculpture.”
“Thanks for the reminder, but I don’t want to go against nature.” Lu Li overtook Zhu Xi. This, in turn, aroused Zhu Xi’s competitive spirit. She leaned forward slightly and picked up speed in a racing posture. The sins on Zhu Xi’s chest had originally been wrapped in a thick down jacket and weren’t very noticeable, but after this move, the two large mounds completely blocked Lu Li’s line of sight. Lu Li had an ill-intentioned thought: The royal diet is indeed scientific.
“I thought a princess wouldn’t watch the same movies as us,” Lu Li said with a hint of ridicule.
“Then what do you think I watch?”
“Opera, theater, and listen to classical music.”
“You’re too cliché,” Zhu Xi laughed.
“Then do you play games?”
“No time.”
“Is that so?…” Lu Li was thoughtful. So that “Corgi” really wasn’t Zhu Xi? Then who was she? So close to Zhu Xi and so similar in appearance, and I’ve never heard of Zhu Xi having a sister.
Zhu Xi also realized she had let something slip and changed the subject. “Actually, I do play games.”
“What games?”
“What’s it called again… Something-logue…” It was rare to see Zhu Xi stammer.
Lu Li reminded her with amusement, “It’s Watermelon-logue.”
“Is it Watermelon-logue? It seems to be that one…”
Lu Li burst out laughing, and was caught off guard by a mouthful of cold wind, which immediately sobered him up. This was the retribution for teasing a princess.
“Was that you?” Zhu Xi suddenly asked.
“What?” The two of them didn’t slow down, and they were about to reach the end of the ski slope. “Are you talking about my laugh?”
“No, it’s that howling sound. Wasn’t that you?”
Lu Li looked up and saw the staff at the cable car station at the finish line, rushing back and forth. The sky was turning gloomy at a speed visible to the naked eye, as if it had suddenly been covered by a layer of gray gauze. The most rapid weather change Lu Li had seen was in Chuanhai. One minute it was clear skies, and the next minute it was pouring rain. Unlike the heavy rain that brewed for a day and a night, this kind of sudden downpour was fierce, full of killing intent, and came and went in a hurry.
“That’s the sound of the wind.” Lu Li called out to Zhu Xi. “Your Royal Highness, let’s hurry to the finish station. We might be able to catch the last cable car.”
The moment his words fell, a strong wind blew from the top of the mountain, like the roar of a giant beast, instantly drowning his voice in its howl. The slender trees on both sides of the ski slope were beaten by the strong wind, making a wailing sound, and sheets of snow fell suddenly, as if a sun-dried T-shirt were being beaten with a clothes hanger.
Lu Li hoped Baili wouldn’t be waiting for him on the ski slope in this weather.
When he and Zhu Xi landed at the finish station, the staff were still rushing back and forth between the stations, delivering tools such as wheels, wrenches, and copper wires. It seemed he and Zhu Xi were the last tourists to arrive at the finish station. In the vast rest area, there wasn’t a single soul.
“Put up the screen!”
“There are two more tourists over there!”
“There are still tourists? Can the cable car still run?”
“It can!”
“Get them on the cable car. Be quick!”
“Engineer Chen, the director is on the phone!”
“I’m busy as hell right now, where do I have time to take his call! Go check the doors and windows again. A blizzard is no joke!”
Lu Li heard the hurried, loud shouts between the staff and also realized that the situation was not right. He walked to the window and saw that the sun outside had also disappeared. The sky was covered with dark clouds, just like the scene in The Shining.
“Beijiang is the region with the worst climate in Shenzhou,” Zhu Xi’s voice came like a ghost. “Back when Shenzhou was at its strongest, it never even thought of sending troops to station in Beijiang. If not for Beijiang developing its tourism industry these years, it would have probably long since become a dead land.”
Lu Li called An Baili. The signal was bad, and the call couldn’t get through. She must be worried sick, Lu Li thought.
