Married A Man I Hate - Chapter 10

Chapter 10: The Annoying Man · 0% “Is it worn like this?”

The morning light was faint. On the snow-capped mountain ridge where the wind and snow blew in gusts, a double chairlift slowly rolled past. Le Qingfei, wearing a white ski suit, sat beside Fu Li.

The sun climbed over the surrounding mountains, casting dark shadows from the distant houses and the tiny figures below their feet.

“They look like ants,” Le Qingfei said, dangling his feet. “If someone looked at us from an airplane, they would definitely think we look like ants too. What if someone looked from the universe?”

Le Qingfei hadn’t stopped since getting out of the car, talking continuously. Fu Li listened patiently, nodding in response from time to time.

“The cable car my dad, mom, and I took in Austria was red. It was very, very slow, like a snail.”

First ants, then snails; the metaphors were like those of a primary school student.

Fu Li smiled.

“When I’m happy, I just want to keep talking, and I’m very happy right now.” Le Qingfei held onto the safety bar of the chairlift in front of him and looked at Fu Li. “Thank you for bringing me skiing.”

The golden light spread up, lingering on Le Qingfei’s eyelashes, while the wind mixed with snowflakes blew them into slight flutters, looking like golden flowers in the snow.

Fu Li raised his hand and touched the tips of his hair that were blown up by the wind. “It is my honor.”

He was being overly formal and literary again.

Le Qingfei turned his head, leaned on the railing, and waved to the ski resort staff below his feet.

The two arrived at the intermediate slope, and Fu Li confirmed with him once more.

“Not going to the beginner slope to try it out?”

“No need,” Le Qingfei waved his hand, his large glove patting his chest. “I could ski the beginner slope when I was five years old.”

Having said that, Le Qingfei jumped right downward.

Fu Li reacted extremely fast. Swooping down, he executed a beautiful hard carving stop right in front of Le Qingfei. At the exact instant the snow spray exploded, he reached out his hand, firmly clamped Le Qingfei’s waist, and intercepted him.

Le Qingfei’s feet were suspended in the air, held in Fu Li’s embrace with a single arm. “What are you doing?”

“No equipment check, and no warm-up,” Fu Li raised an eyebrow. “Do you not want your bones anymore?”

Le Qingfei thought about it. “My butt is very crash-resistant.”

Fu Li wanted to laugh, but his gaze unconsciously dropped downward. Le Qingfei’s ski pants were also white. Because he was wearing butt protection, his backside was quite plump and rounded; it did indeed look very crash-resistant.

“Even wearing protective gear won’t do.”

“Protective gear? I didn’t wear any,” Le Qingfei said. “I sweat easily, I was afraid it would be hot.”

Fu Li was very well aware of this point.

When he knocked on the door last night, Le Qingfei was only wearing a short-sleeved shirt and grey cotton tight shorts. He had still sweated, the sweat trickling down his flushed cheeks and disappearing into his pure white collar.

It made one curious about how sweat drops would travel across that steaming body.

Le Qingfei was brought back to the changing room. Right now, Fu Li was his ski coach, and he was exceptionally obedient.

In the changing room, Fu Li arranged every piece of equipment on the bench according to the dressing order, introducing them one by one: “Ski socks must be worn flush against the skin so that you won’t feel uncomfortable when exerting force. Protective gear must…”

A pair of porcelain-white, slender calves appeared before his eyes.

Fu Li stopped talking. His gaze traveled upward, lingering briefly on the rounded knees, and looked at the person who was currently pulling the ski socks onto his feet.

“What’s wrong?”

Le Qingfei looked down at the letters on the ski socks. “Did I put them on backward, left and right?”

Fu Li didn’t know how to explain to Le Qingfei that putting on socks didn’t require taking off his pants—taking them off right in front of him.

He stood up, just preparing to leave, when he was called back by Le Qingfei again.

“Is it worn like this?”

Fu Li took a deep breath, walked back, and squatted down in front of Le Qingfei, helping him smooth the ski socks to be flatter. His fingers pinched the edge, pulling it up along the leg; it was a slender handful, his single hand gripping Le Qingfei’s entire calf.

Le Qingfei put on his down vest properly, looked down, and asked him: “Is it ready?”

Fu Li let go of his hand, gave a low “mm”, and said casually: “Very thin, eat more.”

“I’m not thin,” Le Qingfei waved his hand. “My thighs have a lot of meat, look.”

Fu Li instinctively complied. White, so white it dazzled his lenses. He turned his head away and went outside the room to wait for Le Qingfei.

After finishing the warm-up, Fu Li took Le Qingfei through a simple review of the basic movements for double boards (alpine skiing).

“If you want to turn left, then”

Le Qingfei lifted his right foot. “Pressure this one.”

“A right turn requires”

Le Qingfei lifted his left foot. “This one, oh.”

Fu Li looked at his face wrapped under the white helmet, the tip of his nose blown slightly red by the wind and snow. He reached out to put the face cover on him, pretending he didn’t want to kiss him. “Qingfei is so smart, you learn really fast.”

“Really?”

Le Qingfei’s exposed eyes were bright, laughing like a crescent moon, his tone joyful: “It’s been a long time since anyone praised me for being smart.”

“Qingfei was originally very smart. You are very smart even without other people praising you. I’ll go get the water bottle.”

Le Qingfei nodded, reviewing the movements and formulas Fu Li had taught him on the spot, like a poor student who suddenly received praise from the teacher, impatient to do even better.

“Hello, do you need help?”

A unfamiliar male voice came from behind him.

Hmm?

Le Qingfei turned around, and his ski pole tapped “smack” right onto the man’s face.

“Sorry, sorry…”

Le Qingfei hurriedly apologized, wanting to step forward, but he forgot he was wearing double boards and nearly fell down. It was the stranger who reached out a hand to support him.

The man smiled and said it didn’t matter. Looking into Le Qingfei’s eyes, it felt like falling into a beautiful dream. “I am a ski coach here. Seeing you practicing alone, I can help.”

Le Qingfei tilted his head up, thought about it. “It’s very expensive, right? I don’t have any money. And… you’re back.”

The man looked back. A man wearing a black ski suit, a full head taller than himself, wearing ski goggles, was walking toward them with a grim face.

A tall, pale, handsome, fierce ghost.

Inexplicably, the ski coach let go of the hand supporting Le Qingfei.

Fu Li slowly withdrew his gaze from the man’s face, handed the thermos flask in his hand to Le Qingfei, and spoke in a gentle tone: “Take small sips.”

Le Qingfei held the thermos flask through his thick gloves, nodded, and obediently took three sips.

Fu Li turned to the man standing awkwardly to the side, and smiled. “This is?”

The coach was preparing to explain to this man—who smiled like a spring breeze in February that was as sharp as scissors—that he didn’t know the other party had a boyfriend, but Le Qingfei spoke first.

“This is a warm-hearted ski coach, he said he wants to teach me to ski…”

Le Qingfei pursed his lips, stole a glance at the coach, held Fu Li’s arm, stood on his tiptoes, leaned into his ear, and whispered: “I don’t have money, help me reject him.”

The other party didn’t cause Le Qingfei any distress; he said “sorry to disturb” and hurriedly left.

Le Qingfei let out a sigh of relief. Recently, the stray base rescue station needed a lot of money to apply for some project, so he couldn’t spend money recklessly.

“Ready?” Le Qingfei raised two ski poles. “Can I ski now? Mhm…?”

Le Qingfei’s vision went completely pitch black.

Fu Li maliciously used the face cover to obscure Le Qingfei’s beautiful eyes. With a cold face, his jawline tightly clenched, he looked down at him with narrowed eyes. Only when Le Qingfei hindsightedly tugged down the face cover did Fu Li switch back to a gentle smile.

“There was snow, I flicked it off.”

The current Fu Li was the super powerful ski master Fu Li; Le Qingfei harbored no doubts and nodded. “Thank you.”

Fu Li adjusted the tightness of the helmet for him. Le Qingfei stood obediently on the spot without moving, allowing Fu Li to pinch his chin and tilt it left and right to adjust the angles, like a figurine: Fu Li’s figurine.

Finally, Fu Li pulled down the goggles, covering those big eyes that looked like black pearls.

“Don’t be afraid, I will always be behind you.”

Le Qingfei was poised and ready, his hands gripping the ski poles tightly, like an ambitious little white tiger. “I’m not afraid.”

Talent is a very mystical existence.

Le Qingfei charged diagonally toward a curved snow slope on the side. At the exact instant Fu Li was about to intercept him, he spun half a turn in the air, landed his board with a light posture, and continued skiing forward as if nothing had happened.

Fu Li froze, his gaze following Le Qingfei’s silhouette, and let out a light chuckle.

The afternoon on a snowboard did not go smoothly. Le Qingfei took several tumbles, patted himself down, patted his butt, and smiled while waving to Fu Li, saying “it’s fine.” He asked if Fu Li had captured it on video, and then continued practicing time and again, appearing as if he wouldn’t get tired.

“Qingfei?”

Fu Li stood bent over beside the open car door, looking at Le Qingfei, who just a second ago was refusing his help with the seatbelt, and this second had tilted his head back and fallen fast asleep.

Even a very energetic little tiger gets tired.

The car stopped. Fu Li lifted the soundly sleeping person vertically, took the overcoat from the driver’s hand to wrap him up, and turned to go upstairs.

Only after the person had gone did the driver dare to turn around and take a few more looks.

“How is it just like taking care of a child?”

In the middle of the night, the child woke up. Seeing the person sitting in the corner of the room, he was startled big time.

“What are you doing?”

“Awake?” Fu Li closed his laptop screen. “Does anywhere feel uncomfortable? The soles of your feet, your knees?”

Le Qingfei clutched the blanket and didn’t speak, staring at Fu Li huffily. “Get out!”

Fu Li froze for a moment, realized the situation, said “sorry”, and then got up to leave.

Le Qingfei got out of bed to lock the door. His feet touched the ground, cold and stinging.

Hmm?

Sterile dressings were stuck onto the soles of his feet. Peeling back a corner, he saw several blisters that had already been treated, with ointment being applied. Even on his knees, two heat patches were attached.

Le Qingfei sat by the edge of the bed, not moving for a long time.

“Knock knock”

A knocking sound came from the study.

The fountain pen in Fu Li’s hand paused, and the corners of his lips hooked up. “Come in.”

“It’s me,” the person outside the door seemed to be speaking with his face pressed against the door crack. “I am a child Le Qingfei, can I come in too?”

“It’s you. Child Le Qingfei, please come in.”