Ski Into Love (Hush, the king is hibernating) [Requested]

Chapter 2

Chapter 2: Coach Big Brother

After a long while, the focus finally returned to the young man's eyes. 

When he spoke, his voice was hoarse with sleep, slow.

"Is there no one outside anymore?" he asked.

 "It's rare for someone to come find me here."

"Nope, no one left! Everyone's into snowboarding these days. We're about to be out of a job!"

The ski instructor, hearing this question, glanced back at his idle colleagues in the break room. Suddenly, as if a floodgate had opened, he began to grumble, "Really now, haven't they heard that saying? 'In skiing, everyone eventually returns to two planks.' Have you ever seen someone jump out of a helicopter on a snowboard? Ah, these young kids just don't understand..."

Shan Chong listened to half of the rambling beside him, and once he confirmed it was just pointless complaining, he tuned it out.

He put on his jacket;

Slowly pulled up his face mask, covering most of his face except for a small section of his nose bridge and his eyes;

Got up, letting his legs dangle from the edge of the long bench;

When he stood, he placed a hand on his waist.

The person rambling beside him immediately stopped.

"What's wrong?" 

The ski instructor anxiously stared at the hand on Shan Chong's waist. "Back pain?"

Shan Chong followed his gaze, looked down, paused for a moment, then removed his hand from his waist.

 "The bench is too hard. Sleeping on it was tiring. Maybe we should get a cushion next time?"

"..." 

The ski instructor found this absurd. 

"Why don't we ask management to put a bed in here for you?"

Shan Chong hesitated, both doubtful and tempted: "Is that possible? Wouldn't that be too much?"

The ski instructor, wanting to curse, just said: "..."

At this point, Shan Chong bent down to put on his shoes. Once steady on his feet, he craned his neck to look past the storage boxes outside—

In the distance, he saw two young girls standing outside the instructors' break room.

 At a glance, neither seemed very tall.

...That's good.

Taller people have a higher center of gravity, making snowboarding more challenging. Even Shan Chong, at 178cm, had to work a bit harder than others.

"Two people," Shan Chong said concisely, turning back to look at the older instructor who had called him. "Beginners? Both for me? Two-to-one?"

His eyes flashed with an accusatory light that seemed to say, "Are you trying to work me to death?"

Seeing this, the ski instructor immediately felt guilty.

 "Of course not! Isn't Lao Yan also at our slope today? Why don't you call him over?"

"What if he won't come?"

"Is there anyone you can't persuade? Doesn't he still want to learn jumps?... Besides, it's almost 2 PM. The snow outside is all slushy. What good could he do messing around on his own? Wouldn't it be better to teach some beginners before heading home, earn some dinner money, and lift ticket cash?"