62 Lin Gaoyuan

After Lin Gaoyuan received a brief vacation, Duan Nanzhou fulfilled her promise by inviting him to Switzerland for a few days.

She was also generous enough to cover his flights, accommodation, and various other travel expenses. While this pricked Lin Gaoyuan's tiny bit of pride and made him feel slightly embarrassed, it mostly inspired him to play better, earn more money, and treat Nanzhou back in the future.

After all, compared to the overwhelming desire to see Duan Nanzhou, no difficulty could possibly defeat him—even if it meant being treated so lavishly by the girl he liked.

However, he had miscalculated one thing.

At the airport,

Duan Nanzhou arrived to pick up Lin Gaoyuan right on the dot. Since she had booked his flights and everything else, she knew his schedule down to the minute and timed her arrival at the airport to perfection.

"Hahahahaha..."

Duan Nanzhou lost it the moment she laid eyes on Lin Gaoyuan. What kind of haircut was this kid sporting? It was way too funny, and his exposed high hairline was simply too conspicuous.

The trendy young man of Duan Nanzhou's memory was gone for good. She had almost forgotten that Lin Gaoyuan could look like this, and facing it directly now, it was undeniably a bit of a shock.

Lin Gaoyuan had emerged happily, searching for Duan Nanzhou. In his eyes, Duan Nanzhou was always shining, so he spotted her instantly.

Yet when he saw her giggling away, he didn't understand why at first. Then he noticed that Duan Nanzhou's gaze kept lingering on his face—no, on his head!

By this time, Lin Gaoyuan knew what she was laughing at. He had miscalculated; he should have at least worn a hat.

Lin Gaoyuan was well aware of his somewhat receding hairline. This particular haircut was definitely not his intention; he had that hateful hairdresser to blame. At that moment, Lin Gaoyuan wished he could just grab his suitcase and turn around to run.

However, Duan Nanzhou didn't give him the chance. Having laughed her fill, she quickly called out to Lin Gaoyuan, though the smile on her face never diminished in the slightest. Lin Gaoyuan felt like retreating into his shell.

Perhaps because he had been "exploited" too much by Duan Nanzhou during their childhoods—where commands, slaps to the back of the head, and similar treatments were an everyday occurrence—Lin Gaoyuan could never quite act tough around her. In a way he hadn't even realized, he had simply grown accustomed to obeying her every word.

Faced with Duan Nanzhou's mockery this time, his very first reaction was also that he was doomed, no longer handsome, and had been caught by Nanzhou. There was not a shred of shame, resentment, or anger in him.

This was probably the lifelong effect of Duan Nanzhou's childhood pua. Poor Lin Gaoyuan had already been thoroughly wrapped around her finger.

"Gaoyuan, over here."

Duan Nanzhou led Lin Gaoyuan toward her car—an ordinary, common domestic car she had bought in Switzerland after coming of age, used mostly for convenience in getting around.

Once inside, Duan Nanzhou still couldn't hold it in.

"Gaoyuan, that haircut of yours, hahaha... Who cut it for you? So talented!" Duan Nanzhou said while driving.

Lin Gaoyuan fell silent. Lin Gaoyuan did not want to speak.

Receiving no response, Duan Nanzhou glanced sideways at Lin Gaoyuan during a red light. True to form, just like when they were kids, he was puffing out his cheeks in silence because he was mad, looking as if someone owed him a million bucks.

"All right, all right, actually it looks okay, hahaha..." Duan Nanzhou tried to make up for her earlier ridicule.

"Nanzhou, you'd better not say another word!" Lin Gaoyuan was genuinely on the verge of shutting down completely. Every word Duan Nanzhou spoke was like a dagger twisting in his heart. He swore that he would immediately, right this instant, buy a hat!

He also swore that in the future, he would definitely get a handsome haircut, become a trendy guy, and make Duan Nanzhou admit he looked handsome!

"Fine, fine. Let's go to the hotel to drop off your luggage first, and then I'll take you around."

Duan Nanzhou had already roughly mapped out the itinerary for the next few days. Specific details could be adjusted at any time, and if Lin Gaoyuan took an interest in any particular place, they would simply stay and play there a bit longer.

"Mhm."

...

"Nanzhou, are you learning how to ski now?"

"Yeah. Do you want to try?"

"Mhm, mhm."

Lin Gaoyuan had previously heard Li Er mention that Duan Nanzhou was learning to ski in Switzerland and doing quite well at it. Could it be that she wanted to compete in the Winter Olympics in the future?

Regarding Duan Nanzhou's decision to quit the provincial team back then, Lin Gaoyuan had felt a bit distressed yet deeply understanding. After all, from the perspective of himself and the general public, Duan Nanzhou possessed insufficient talent but an abundance of hard work; in the provincial team, she was at best an intermediate-level athlete. Retiring early perhaps allowed her to go off and try other things sooner.

Still, as a former athlete, Lin Gaoyuan figured everyone must share a hidden desire to win glory for their country. Hearing this time that Duan Nanzhou was good at skiing, he strongly suspected she might want to switch tracks and continue competing for the nation—perhaps a shared consensus among domestic athletes?

During the period when Lin Gaoyuan lost touch with Duan Nanzhou, much of the news he received about her came from Li Er. And the reasons Li Er was so generous in sharing it were threefold:

First, as Duan Nanzhou's openly acknowledged "first love" and ex-boyfriend, the better Duan Nanzhou lived after their breakup, the more it would sting him.

Second, the timing of Lin Gaoyuan joining the provincial team and Duan Nanzhou leaving it occurred back-to-back, leaving behind a flurry of rumors within the team. As Duan Nanzhou's good friend, Li Er had lost count of how many times she tried to debunk those rumors, yet nobody believed her, leading to even wilder gossip instead.

Li Er had been furious back then, but Duan Nanzhou advised her not to listen or care about such things, noting that those people would probably spend their whole lives stuck in the provincial team anyway. It had to be said that Duan Nanzhou's remarks remained piercingly accurate and sharp-tongued.

Although Li Er eventually followed her friend's advice and ignored the talk, she attributed all of it to this ex-boyfriend, finding him thoroughly obnoxious no matter what.

When Lin Gaoyuan first contacted her, she hung up on him directly. Later, having seen somewhere that the best way to infuriate an ex was to show how wonderfully one was currently living, she began exaggerating Duan Nanzhou's current situation and feeding it to Lin Gaoyuan.

Realizing shortly afterward that this behavior wasn't quite right, Li Er immediately went to her friend to confess and apologize. By that time, Duan Nanzhou and Lin Gaoyuan had already reconnected, and that was how she learned her pal Muzi had been spilling all these details.

Yet she didn't hold it against her. Just as she had always told Li Er, she and Lin Gaoyuan were simply friends now, not the kind of exes her friend imagined. But since her companion refused to believe it—and God knows what wild scenarios she was making up in her head—she ended up looking at her with eyes full of profound pity.

Duan Nanzhou: ...

Regarding the fact that her personal information had been passed on to Lin Gaoyuan, Duan Nanzhou didn't mind at all. If it had been anyone else she wasn't close with, Duan Nanzhou might have actually given this Muzi a proper "scolding."

Duan Nanzhou brought Lin Gaoyuan to a ski resort she frequented. The slope gradient here was relatively gentle, making it ideal for beginners.

Duan Nanzhou had her own regular ski suit—a fully customized one tailored to fit her perfectly, purchased at great expense. Since it was Lin Gaoyuan's first time playing and he would likely only ever do it once, Duan Nanzhou simply rented a set for him at the resort, to be returned after they finished.

Once they changed into their gear, Duan Nanzhou led Lin Gaoyuan onto the ski trail. Because skis with dual boards were better suited for beginners, Duan Nanzhou intended to personally teach this little Lin fellow this time, so she also switched to dual boards. Primarily, as far as she knew, Little Lin's English wasn't very good, let alone German; moreover, most instructors at this resort were foreigners—local residents, to be exact—while Lin Gaoyuan was a foreigner.

Therefore, leaving them to teach him would probably result in a conversation between a duck and a chicken.

"Nanzhou, are you going to teach me?"

"Of course."

Having received an affirmative answer, Lin Gaoyuan secretly rejoiced. Personal instruction naturally meant some physical contact—that would be simply wonderful!

Yet before he could revel in his joy for long, he was knocked dizzy by falls. Down a single ski slope, he tumbled at least a dozen times. For Lin Gaoyuan, an athlete by trade, this was the first time he ever doubted his own athletic talent.

What made it even more outrageous was that Duan Nanzhou stood off to the side laughing at him instead of giving him a helping hand, merely instructing him on how to get back up, take off his skis, and put them on again. What a truly ruthless woman!

Indeed, Duan Nanzhou was having the time of her life nearby. When she first learned to ski, she had grasped her balance early on and barely fallen at all. Thus, watching a beginner crash onto his backside time and time again before even making it down a single slope was utterly hilarious.

At that moment, Duan Nanzhou completely understood the excited expressions of the classmates who had brought her skiing for the first time and eagerly wanted to watch her take a tumble. Turns out, this really was a source of pure joy!

Under Duan Nanzhou's guidance, Lin Gaoyuan finally fell less and less during his subsequent attempts, though he still managed to take a spill or two on every run down.

Still, nobody had warned him that skiing could be this exhausting. Having just slid down, Lin Gaoyuan no longer had any desire to move and simply let himself sit directly in the snow.

"Gaoyuan, come over here for a photo."

Duan Nanzhou, who had just gone to retrieve her camera and skied back down, spotted the sprawled-out Lin Gaoyuan. She had used her camera to document quite a bit of Lin Gaoyuan's trip abroad.

The camera was something Duan Nanzhou had bought right after arriving in Switzerland. She quite liked capturing everyday life, but since mobile phone cameras had mediocre performance back then, she bought a dedicated camera, followed by several more in succession, effectively dipping a toe into photography.

"Okay!"

Thrilled at the prospect of taking a photo with Duan Nanzhou, Lin Gaoyuan scrambled right back up to strike a pose.

After finishing the photo, figuring they had been skiing for quite a while and Lin Gaoyuan must have had enough of the experience, Duan Nanzhou contemplated wrapping things up and heading off for a meal. Just at that moment,

"Oh, my Zhou, why are you at the beginner's slope today? And on dual boards?"