Chapter Text
00.
The mountains are calling and I must go.
01. We are destined to meet again
Swoosh.
Zhou Zishu braked sharply with a hockey stop in front of the bushes, which was already off the named ski trails. He was a little hesitant about which direction to go next. Of course, he can ski on all kinds of terrain, but after the lunch break he was going to hold an adult group lesson in Chinese and had to be back at the gondola meeting place by 12:30, so if he took a wrong turn, it would be a problem.
Shouldn't have gotten too excited just because the snow was good today.
He was looking at the trail map on his phone for the most convenient way back to the gondola station, when he heard someone speaking behind him: "Hey. Do you need any help?"
Zhou Zishu turned around and saw a man and a woman on a snowboard parked beside him. The guy was slightly taller than him, wearing a white jacket and pants; the girl was in dark purple. The two did not even wear helmets, only beanies. The guy pushed his goggles up to his forehead, showing a pair of smiling eyes looking at him, looking Asian.
Zhou Zishu explained briefly in English that he wanted to return to the gondola station. The guy nodded, indicating that he could lead the way: "Are you okay with the tree runs?"
"No problem."
The boy gave a thumbs up and looked back at the girl in purple: "Ah Xiang, you can follow us."
Ah Xiang? The words were quite clear in Mandarin. Zhou Zishu muttered in his heart, these two are probably CBC. There are very many Chinese in Vancouver, and it's not surprising that more people are into skiing and snowboarding these days. He was wearing ski school uniforms, helmet, snow goggles, and mask to cover himself tightly, so he didn't bother to speak Chinese to identify himself.
Although they were in the woods, the boy actually led a very good path, with no accidental moments like riding halfway to rush out to jump off the cliff. Zhou Zishu followed the guy on snowboard, and the girl in purple at the end, separated by about five meters. It snowed in Whistler the day before, so snow conditions in the woods were very unpredictable. It would be extremely dangerous once trapped in the tree wells or by hidden rocks, so they had to ride on the traces left by previous people. Zhou Zishu felt pretty relaxed without the concerns to explore the way himself. He quietly thought before he knew all the runs very well, he would ride off-piste with a colleague instead of by himself.
The three of them returned to the named runs soon. Zhou Zishu had now recognized the way, but the two strange friends still followed him all the way to the meeting area. Zhou Zishu turned around and thanked both of them, then went to the staff room to get prepare for the afternoon class.
The guy watched him enter the door, smiling, as if talking to himself or to Ah Xiang: "This coach has a beautiful posture and a good voice, I wonder if there is a chance to meet him again."
*
Zhou Zishu did not expect that two hours later, he met the two people he saw at noon by the woods again.
He gave a course summary to the five students first, after saying goodbye he found the white and the purple were standing aside. They already took off the snowboards, goggles pushed on the beanie, masks pulled under the chin. Although Zhou Zishu could not see their full faces and the goggles and mask left some red marks on their faces, he could tell that they were good-looking persons. The guy in white greeted him in Chinese, smiling: "What a coincidence, we meet again. Do you want to ride together?"
Zhou Zishu was obviously a bit surprised and didn't even answer for a while. In his opinion, this should be a couple who came for snowboarding together, and their skills were quite good. He couldn't figure out why they would come to greet him specifically.
The white clothes saw that he did not say anything, then added: "My name is Vexen. this is Gu Xiang."
That day Zhou Zishu was on his own, drove here for teaching ski lessons. He could see these two people are very familiar with the mountain terrains. Skiing with companions is always better, so he agreed: "Sounds good, the resort will close soon. We can have like two runs together, then all the way down the mountain. You can call me Joe."
They were on the same lift chair. Zhou Zishu and the other two were seated with some distance, listening to them discussing in English about which way to take down the mountain. Seemingly talking about something funny from the past, Gu Xiang laughed happily.
Vexen suddenly turned around and asked him, "Joe, are you new to Whistler as an instructor, seeing as you're not too familiar with off-piste trails?"
"Hmm." Zhou Zishu was not used to talking too much to strangers, "I got my CSIA Level 2 and CSCF Level 1 last season, and I work part-time at the snow school this year."
"Part-time? So you come every Saturday. What do you do during the week?"
"I'm a graduate student."
"Getting level 2 as a full-time student is very impressive. I don't go skiing much, only ride on the snowboard. Ah Xiang just follows me."
"What about you guys, are you going to school or working?" Zhou Zishu threw out the first question since we met.
"I just graduated, and Ah Xiang is still in college."
Zhou Zishu nodded and began to lead the conversation, making it a little less uncomfortable to talk to strangers, "So do you guys come here often. You're super familiar with runs not on the map."
Vexen spread a smile: "Yeah, I'm kind of a Whistler local, I'm from Squamish, and I've been skiing here since I was in elementary school. I know everywhere on the two mountains as long as it's skiable. Ah Xiang and I were in the same junior high school."
"So you were both born here? You speak Chinese very well, much better than any CBC I've ever seen."
"I'm not." The first time Gu Xiang spoke to Zhou Zishu, her tone was very lively, very different from the shy little girl Zhou expected, "I came here with my parents when I was in junior high school. Vexen actually isn't either, but he's been here since he was very young."
"Well, I basically am."
A light and fluffy sentence. The slope under the cable car suddenly steepened, with large jagged rocks exposed. Near the top of the mountain, the wind howled into the seams of their clothes, swallowing the sound of human voices. All three of them pulled up their masks and put on their snow goggles. This not-so-popular topic just disappeared into the wind.
After this steep cliff was the end of the chairlift. Zhou Zishu followed Vexen and Ah Xiang to stop at the top of the slope. Vexen pointed a very narrow path along the ridge and said, "I'll take you this way. Have you ever been this way off the groomed runs? Ah Xiang is fine with it."
Zhou Zishu shook his head. Vexen smiled again: "You have no problem. Skis are better going downhill. In this way there are a few small cliffs about one meter high to jump off. It doesn't matter if you don't jump, you can go around. It's lots of fun. Let's go with me."
Well, we've been here already. Zhou Zishu shrugged his shoulders and grabbed his snow poles with both hands: "All right, you guys get on the board. It doesn't matter if I've never been there. Maybe you guys need a hand from skier sometime. As for cliff jumping, we'll see when we get there."
Vexen seems to be tickled by this long sentence to the palm of the hand, laughing more happily. Ah Xiang was tightening her binding on the side. She couldn't help but give him a blank look, then turned her gaze to Zhou Zishu, as if she had something to say. However, she pressed it down again, just shook her head.
"Let's go." Vexen took the lead and stood up, "Joe you have to follow closely. If you run lost I still have to chase you back."
Ah Xiang also stood up at this time, rolled her eyes behind the goggles when she heard this, and slid out first.
Now Vexen laughed out loud and then left. Zhou Zishu was left with question marks all over himself. He made several small skates forward, bypassing the passers-by and chasing him up.
They skied the very first part of the cat track and veered directly off the track. By the afternoon, the powder had largely been pushed out of the area. The skiers are usually slightly faster than the snowboarders, but Vexen was familiar with the environment and alternated with Zhou Zishu at the front. Later into the woods, there was still a lot of powder left. Vexen rode on an all-mountain snowboard, rushing with vigor. From time to time, he made strange sounds like "Woo~hoo~". Zhou Zishu was a little awkward. To deliver class today, he brought a pair of on-piste skis. The waist was less than 80 cm, and the buoyancy was not enough. His boots were half-buried in the snow, so it was very hard to make turns. He could only barely keep up. In a short time, even Ah Xiang passed him. Zhou Zishu was a little unconvinced in his heart, and let go of a little more speed. Other time on a way he never took, he would never be so careless.
He chased after him for a while. Vexen and Axiang, whom Zhou Zishu almost didn't pay attention to when skiing out of the woods, were waiting for him. Not far from Vexen was obviously a small cliff. He raised his chin defiantly: "How about this one?"
Zhou Zishu looked down in the direction of his finger. The cliff was about two meters high, which looked okay, but he had no idea of the condition of the landing point. Momentum at landing would be very large. Landing on the non-groomed terrain requires a certain thickness of snow to cushion, and also a long enough distance to slide out to slow down.
Vexen saw his new friend hesitate and casually balled up a snowball: "Hey watch, jump to where this snowball flies." Then tossed the snowball gently. "It will be fine. I'll jump first, and you can take about the same route." He bent down and brushed the snow off the board, "You can also go a little more ahead. The jump is smaller there, but still need to jump."
"I'll go when you guys go!" Xiang did not need to be taken care of, immediately saying.
Cannot lose to a little girl. Zhou Zishu did not hesitate. The snow condition was perfect for some bold adventure such as jumping off a cliff. He watched Vexen swiftly popping at the edge of the cliff, fell, sliding out a dozen meters, coming to a stop to wait for them. Zhou Zishu then also followed the same route forward and down. The drop was really small, and the moment he landed he bent his knees to release his strength and rushed forward to meet Vexen's waiting position, stopping sharply in front of him. They stood at a distance of about one meter, waiting for Xiang to join them. Zhou Zishu was thinking that maybe he could practice more park skills this snow season.
He was also thinking that maybe it would be a good idea to try snowboarding.
And Vexen beside him was wondering what it's like for Joe to snowboard.
There were no more twists and turns, and the three of them skied to the bottom of the mountain in one go. Zhou Zishu took off his skis, stuck it in his hand, and thanked Vexen and Xiang, "Great having you locals to take me out today. I had a good time. Thanks a lot."
Xiang quickly waved her hand: "It has nothing to do with me. Just thank him."
Vexen still smiled. he took his snow goggles and beanie off and held them in his hand. His hair was messy, making people want to press it down. "It means we are destined," he picked up the snowboard with his other hand, "see you next time."
Zhou Zishu waved goodbye to the two of them and walked towards the parking lot, walking and suddenly pondering over - where I can see you next time?