Lin Gaoyuan

Within the Chinese national table tennis team, behind Lin Gaoyuan's back, everyone was engaged in lively gossip. Naturally, the object of their gossip was none other than Lin Gaoyuan himself.

Xu Xin: "Why is this kid beaming with joy every day? Especially ever since he took that half-day leave last time, the blissful look on his face hasn't stopped for a single second!"

Wang Chuqin: "I can vouch for that. Every time we play a sparring match, he just starts laughing right in the middle of a rally!"

Wang Chuqin had a lot to say on this matter. Having no idea what his brother Yuan was up to, he would be practicing with full concentration when Lin Gaoyuan suddenly burst into laughter, leaving Wang Chuqin completely unsure whether he should continue hitting the ball. Hence, Big Head Wang had come to lodge a complaint.

Ma Long: "Huh? Has Gaoyuan really been like that?"

The group of people standing nearby nodded in unison.

"Could this kid be falling in love?" Xu Xin rubbed his chin in suspicion, finding the theory more and more plausible the more he thought about it.

"I remember now!" Fan Zhendong shouted out loud, instantly catching the attention of Lin Gaoyuan, who was doing warm-up exercises further ahead and turned back to glance at them.

The next second, little Fatty received a slap on the arm from his beloved Brother Long, along with a warning: "Keep it down!"

The obedient Fan Zhendong lowered his voice accordingly, and then shared the monumental discovery he had almost forgotten:

"I remember now! Last time, I accidentally caught a glimpse of Gaoyuan's phone wallpaper, and it was a girl!"

It was like a bolt from the blue. While everyone scolded little Fatty for not sharing such a major discovery sooner, they immediately plunged into a fierce, whispered discussion, ultimately concluding that Lin Gaoyuan was definitely dating someone.

Fan Zhendong felt deeply wronged. He had only caught a glimpse of it by accident that one time, and assuming it was just some female celebrity that Lin Gaoyuan liked, he hadn't paid much attention to it.

Usually, Lin Gaoyuan guarded his phone like a precious treasure and never let anyone look at it. It was only because Fan Zhendong seemed so inexperienced and oblivious in matters of the heart that Lin Gaoyuan hadn't been on his guard against him, never expecting that he would end up getting caught.

Fan Zhendong: *Are you even being polite?*

When Lin Gaoyuan finished his warm-up and walked toward them, the group scattered in an instant, pretending as if nothing had just happened. Yet, the guilty expressions on their faces gave them away at a single glance.

Lin Gaoyuan: *Do these people take me for a blind man? It was obvious at a glance that they were talking about me just now.*

***

However, the current Lin Gaoyuan didn't care about any of that at all. Every day, his only thought was whether he could go find Duan Nanzhou as soon as training ended.

Consequently, the rest of the national table tennis team soon noticed that the moment Lin Gaoyuan finished his training every day, he would completely vanish without a trace, making it impossible to figure out where he had gone.

This soon attracted the attention of the coaches as well. However, seeing that he had been training with great dedication lately, that his skills had improved significantly, and given that there were not many competitions scheduled in the near future—with the focus primarily on daily training—they decided to turn a blind eye. Still, if he crossed the line, they wouldn't hesitate to step in!

The mysteriously disappearing Lin Gaoyuan had naturally gone to find Duan Nanzhou, bringing her a small surprise every single day. Sometimes it was a small bouquet of flowers, sometimes it was a snack that Duan Nanzhou had been craving but was too far away to get, and other times it was a delicate little piece of jewelry.

Every time Duan Nanzhou opened her hotel room door, she would be greeted by Lin Gaoyuan shouting "Tada!", followed by him pulling a surprise from behind his back. Without fail, she was genuinely surprised and delighted every single time.

Since Lin Gaoyuan basically finished training late in the evening, whenever he went to see Duan Nanzhou, the two of them would take a nocturnal stroll around Beijing, wandering everywhere and taking in the city's night views.

At times, Duan Nanzhou felt that it might be too troublesome for Lin Gaoyuan to come see her every single day. The moment the words left her mouth, however, they were promptly refuted by the young man, who would retort:

"This is just making up for the days when you were abroad and I couldn't see you!"

Duan Nanzhou had to admit that this remark genuinely made her heart skip a beat, and in the end, she tacitly allowed Lin Gaoyuan to keep coming over to hang out with her. It also helped that she happened to be quite free and not all that busy at the moment.

Seeing that Duan Nanzhou had given up the idea of telling him not to come, Lin Gaoyuan, who was determined to slowly win her over like boiling a frog in warm water, finally breathed a sigh of relief. Happily, he resumed scouring everywhere for various things that might interest Duan Nanzhou, striving to give her a different surprise every single day!

Lin Gaoyuan felt that right now was the best time. Duan Nanzhou was so close to him, didn't have a boyfriend, and on top of that, he was currently her closest friend. Therefore, Lin Gaoyuan felt that his hopes would definitely blossom tomorrow!

***

Ever since returning to China, Duan Nanzhou had hardly done any skiing. When Luca learned about this, he sent a long, scathing message, the main gist of which was to "reprimand" Duan Nanzhou for abandoning skiing despite possessing such immense talent.

Duan Nanzhou got a headache just looking at that chunk of text. After skimming through it in ten lines a time, she hurriedly replied that she hadn't given it up and would continue skiing soon.

Only after receiving Duan Nanzhou's guarantee did the person on the other end feel reassured and drop the cross-examination.

With that, Duan Nanzhou breathed a sigh of relief. This coach, who had been training her ever since she first took up skiing, was also a close friend of hers. Even though he was no longer her coach, he still kept a close eye on her ski training. In Luca's own words, he simply couldn't allow someone with such extraordinary skiing talent to quit the sport; the thought alone would keep him up at night.

Previously, right after Duan Nanzhou returned home, Guangzhou's geographical location meant there were completely no outdoor ski resorts to speak of. Since she had no interest in indoor ones either, the matter had been continuously shelved.

Now that she was in Beijing, things were much more convenient. Coupled with the gradually cooling weather, Duan Nanzhou decided it was time to find a decent ski resort and get back into practice.

***

In the end, Duan Nanzhou finally found a ski resort that she was relatively satisfied with. Aside from the rather long drive, it had virtually no other flaws. Because it was located in the suburbs, every time Duan Nanzhou drove there, it took a considerable amount of time.

Therefore, Duan Nanzhou figured that once she needed to ramp up her training significantly, she would still have to look for other options—either heading out to Xinjiang or training abroad, as professional ski resorts were ultimately much more suitable.

Upon arriving at this ski resort for the first time, Duan Nanzhou didn't bother hiring a coach. Firstly, she wasn't very familiar with the place, and secondly, it wasn't necessary. Without meaning to boast, given her current skiing proficiency, an average coach wouldn't have anything to teach her anyway, so there was no point in wasting the money.

However, Duan Nanzhou did pay to hire a regular accompanying filmer named Xiao Zhang, a quite lovely young woman. Her main job was to record video footage of Duan Nanzhou's skiing process and ensure that if any accidents really did happen, someone would notice.

After all, skiing was a high-risk sport, and Duan Nanzhou couldn't guarantee that she would never fall or get bruised. Those high-difficulty maneuvers all required repeated, relentless training; no matter how high one's talent was, hard practice was indispensable.

After finalizing the arrangements, Duan Nanzhou took Xiao Zhang out to build a rapport, making sure the latter wouldn't fall too far behind her, fail to film properly, or capture blurry footage. They needed to find their rhythm, and only once they grew familiar with each other could they produce better results.

Initially, Xiao Zhang had assumed this was just the case of some pretty girl coming to ski, casually recording the process to snap a few gorgeous photos. But once Duan Nanzhou finished briefing her on a series of precautions, Xiao Zhang began to feel that something was not quite right.

Sure enough, the first time she followed Duan Nanzhou down the slope, she was left in the dust and completely failed to keep up. When she caught a glimpse of the other girl's high-difficulty stunts, Xiao Zhang's jaw dropped open in shock. She had to admit that she had been too shallow—this was a bona fide master!

Over the course of their subsequent practice sessions, Xiao Zhang gradually caught up to Duan Nanzhou's pace, doing her best to capture high-definition videos. Little by little, the initial shock gave way to numbness. *Oh my god, I've discovered a genius!*

After Duan Nanzhou left, Xiao Zhang would start her own extra practice sessions. She couldn't afford to fall behind her client's speed! Back in the day, she was considered a pretty good skier herself; it must have been the recent days of comfort that had caused her skills to regress.

Ah, another day of being passively roped into the rat race!

Duan Nanzhou planned to upload the skiing videos she had filmed onto short-video platforms. She had registered an account earlier, but because it wasn't very convenient while she was abroad, she had only occasionally posted a few clips. Nevertheless, her superb skiing technique had still attracted a lot of followers, though everyone complained that the blogger's update speed was far too slow, putting out a new video only once every few months.

Now that she was back in China, Duan Nanzhou could pick up the posting frequency. She intended to share more of her daily training routines as a way of documenting her life, which seemed rather meaningful.

When Lin Gaoyuan found out about this, he secretly registered a burner account with a follower count of just 1, using it exclusively to watch Duan Nanzhou's videos. The more he watched, the more he thought to himself that his Nanzhou looked truly dashing and cool!

Then, looking at the endless stream of simpering comments in the comment section, a wave of secret satisfaction washed over him: *Luckily, Nanzhou's best friend right now is none other than me!*