Chapter 66

The resort for the starting athletes were very large, and it was by mountains and rivers. However, it was winter now, so the surface of the lake was frozen and even the mountains were dull and grey. There was only a hint of green from the pines and the cypress. Thus, those who came to the resort in this season were generally there for the hot springs. Still, swimmers were almost soaking in water every day, so they were not that interested in the hot springs.

By the side of white lake expanse, only they were there grilling.

Oh, there was also an old man who was fishing. If a little snow was added to the scene at this time, then it would be a scene straight out of a poem — "A straw-caped man with hat in lone boat light;
Alone, angles cold river in snow white."

It was just a passing thought of Yun Duo, but unexpectedly, like magic, the gloomy grey skies suddenly began to snow.

She stretched out her hands to catch some of the snowflakes and could not help but scream inside: Is this even possible?!

If it was snowing, then they could not continue with their open-air barbecue. Luckily, the resort was fully-equipped and was able to provide them with beach umbrellas. Other than umbrellas, the grilling equipment were naturally also rented from the resort, along with some charcoal. In fact, the resort also supplied ingredients as well, such as marinated lamb skewers or ribs, but out of concerns for food safety, Qi Rui-Feng and the others decided to bring their own food.

Yun Duo saw them bring out piles and piles of things from the trunk — whether it was mutton or vegetables, the food was all skewered neatly and separated into neat categories, arranged in two layers of food-safe plastic bags. There was also a box of seasonings with a very complete set of seasonings inside.

Yun Duo was rather surprised. "You prepared all this yourselves?" It wasn't easy!

Xiang Yang-Yang shook her head, "No. The young cook from the cafeteria helped prepare this."

Yun Duo muttered, "Why does it seem like the young cook is getting a lot of screen time? It's like he's a hidden boss..."

Tang Yi-Bai laughed and flicked a finger against her forehead.

They set up under the beach umbrellas and began grilling. The snowfall was becoming heavier — the snowflakes were as big as fingernails, drifting down everywhere, like there was a fairy scattering white flowers down from the sky.

The fishing old man seemed uncomfortable that his poetic scene of being "a straw-caped man with hat in lone boat light" had been intruded upon by a bunch of foodies. He got up and packed up his things, about to leave. When he passed by the grill emitting thick smoke, the old man's face twitched and he asked, "Do you all want to buy some fish?"

"What fish?" Qi Rui-Feng peered towards his fishing basket and saw that there were about 10 small silver-white fish inside. They were very small, not even the size of the nail of his little finger. His lips twitched, "So small."

The old man explained, "These are smelt. They don't grow much bigger."

Ming Tian: "What a weird name!"

The old man: "..."

Yun Duo said, "Smelt are very tasty! And we won't have to clean its belly and insides. Its digestive system is very small, most of its belly is filled with fish eggs."

The old man nodded and gave Yun Duo an approving look, as if he had found a confidant.

After hearing what Yun Duo said, Xiang Yang-Yang brought a large clean plate over. "Is that so? Then just sell it all to us!"

Yun Duo sweatdropped. "Yang-Yang, don't rush. We haven't even discussed pricing..."

The old man raised up a palm. "All these fish, 50 dollars."

Out of the six people, 5 had zero bartering skills, while Yun Duo was too embarrassed to bargain. After all, the old man had braved the cold day to catch all these fish.

The old man saw them hesitating, so he added, "Besides that, I can also help you all start the fire."

This condition was too persuasive — they quickly nodded and backed away. The old man took out a flat green glass bottle from a pocket. Inside it was some high-concentrate alcohol. He took a large mouthful and then sprayed it towards the charcoal fire.

Whoosh — the flames rose.

Yun Duo: =.= That was simple.

The old man gave the remaining half bottle of alcohol to them. Qi Rui-Feng took interest in his fishing equipment as well and spent 300 dollars to buy them.

Now the fire was burning, Yun Duo stood by the grill cooking the food. Tang Yi-Bai helped fan the flames by the side while the others were responsible for drooling. After a while, Qi Rui-Feng became a little impatient and went off with Xiang Yang-Yang to go fishing by the river. Ming Tian and Zheng Ling-Ye each held onto a bottle of seasoning, waiting to sprinkle it over the food.

When the first batch of food was done, Tang Yi-Bai lifted a skewer of meat to Yun Duo's lips. "Have a taste?"

Yun Duo took a bite and chewed on it. Her eyes lit up. "Delicious! I'm truly a genius chef!"

Tang Yi-Bai chuckled and rubbed her head, and then he finished off the rest of the skewer. After he finished, he passed her a skewer of grilled mushrooms. He pushed her to one side. "You take a break. Let me take over."

Ming Tian had a lamb skewer in one hand and some crispy ribs in the other. As he ate, he said adoringly, "Big sis, you're so amazing! I want to marry you!"

Tang Yi-Bai swept a cool glance at him.

Ming Tian choked and quickly tried to make amends. "No, what I meant was, I want to marry big bro Yi-Bai to you!"

The corners of Tang Yi-Bai's lips lifted, and he glanced sideways at Yun Duo.

Yun Duo blushed and ignored them. She called out to the two at the river bank, "Yang-Yang, Qi Rui-Feng, come eat!"

Xiang Yang-Yang skipped over with the fish basket and transferred the smelt inside onto the large plate. During this period of time, she and Qi Rui-Feng had managed to catch another 5 or 6 fish, and they were feeling a great sense of achievement. She grabbed a couple of skewers of food, then turned to leave for the river bank again. From start to end, Qi Rui-Feng did not even turn his head — he was that focused. Yun Duo saw that he was already coated with a layer of snow. In just a while later, it would probably be hard to tell he was a person. Xiang Yang-Yang had clearly realised this as well. She walked over and used her scarf to slap away the snow on him. Qi Rui-Feng jumped at the sudden slaps, so much so that the fishing rod dropped from his hands.

Yun Duo: Suddenly feeling a little sorry for Qi Rui-Feng...

Ming Tian and Zheng Ling-Ye went back to the resort and brought back some alcohol. They had a wide range of taste — there was great variety in the drinks they brought back. There was wine, plum wine, beer, and even a bottle of Wuliangye{五粮液: Literally: 'Five Grains Liquid'. It is a Chinese baijiu liquor made from proso millet, maize, glutinous rice, long-grain rice and wheat.}. Aside from that, they did not forget Yi-Bai's instructions to bring Yun Duo a bottle of fruit juice.

But Yun Duo felt like drinking some alcohol.

Qi Rui-Feng finally came back and the group surrounded the grill to eat and drink, having lots of fun. The snowfall was gradually becoming lighter. Right now, the surface of the lake had already been covered by an even layer of snow. It was all a sheet of white as far as the eye could see, and the air was especially crisp and fresh.

Yun Duo marinated the smelt very simply with salt and some cooking wine, and then she placed them on the grill. The flesh of this type of fish was very tender, and they contained a lot of fish eggs. Their fresh sweetness could be enjoyed without needing much complicated preparation or handling. Thus, as soon as they were done on the grill, the poor 20 or so little fishes were all snatched up.

When they were finished eating, everyone still felt like they had not had enough.

However, they were also really already full. They all had very good appetites today — all the food they had brought along were finished, and they had eaten the additional fish as well. Rubbing their tummies, they cleaned up the area.

Perhaps because she had drunk some wine, Yun Duo felt her heartbeat was a little fast — thump, thump, like a white rabbit on stimulants.

Tang Yi-Bai saw her rubbing her chest with her red face, and he was worried that she wasn't feeling well, so he asked, "What's wrong?"

"Nothing, I'm just feeling... erm, a little excited."

He touched her forehead. "From the wine?"

"Yes, most likely."

"Go back to the resort to rest first then."

In fact, among the group, Yun Duo had drunk the least. Even Xiang Yang-Yang was buzzed, singing all the way back to the resort, while Qi Rui-Feng clapped to provide her with a beat.

They decided to rest for an hour before going off to ice-skate.

However, Yun Duo found herself unable to sleep when she laid down at the resort. She did not feel tired at all. Her heart was still beating rather fast, but not erratically, and her mind was clear. She even felt like her whole body was filled with energy, like there was a small universe burning quietly within her.

This was probably how Popeye felt after eating some spinach...

Ah-ah-ah, what in the world was going on? Why was the plum wine so powerful? Could it be that it was actually tonic wine?

Boohoohoo...

She could only get up and start surfing the news on her phone. After surfing for about an hour, Tang Yi-Bai came knocking on her door to ask if she was awake.

They were going to go ice-skating now.

The ice rink was a proper open-air ice-skating rink opened by the resort. It had gone through regular testing to ensure the ice layer met thickness standards before being opened up for use. Perhaps because it was in the suburbs, there weren't many people skating. It was a far cry from the Shichahai ice rink.

All swimmers had pretty decent physical coordination. Even if they had not skated before, just by trying things out on the ice-skates, they managed to figure it out and were soon zooming around the ice like little sailboats.

Only Yun Duo kept falling again and again.

Yun Duo: ...

She had clearly been enhanced with tonic! Why was it so useless now?!

Tang Yi-Bai could not bear to watch any further. He reached out towards her. "Let me teach you."

"No." Yun Duo stubbornly climbed up again, stumbling, and after skating just a few steps — crash! She fell again.

Tang Yi-Bai smothered a smile and went over to help her up. "Does it hurt?"

"No."

Yun Duo wanted to push him away, but Tang Yi-Bai held onto her hand and would not let go. "Follow me. Don't move."

She could only obey and be dragged along behind him like a wooden puppet. She moved very little and so had very little interference on him. The two of them moved forwards steadily and did not fall anymore.

Yun Duo looked at him. He was wearing a thin down jacket today, short and cinched at the waist, making him appear to have a narrow waist. On ice-skates, his legs looked impossibly long.

Even the thick apparel of the winter season could not hide his devilish figure.

His charm as a boyfriend was truly great...

Tang Yi-Bai slowed down and turned his head to glance at Yun Duo. He saw that her eyes were bright and sparkling, like embers, and he smiled. "What's with that look? It's like you want to strip me of my clothes right now."

"What?!" Yun Duo turned her face away. She pushed his hand away and continued to skate forward independently.

Crash —

Fine, she gave up in despair.

Tang Yi-Bai helped her up once again. This time, he supported her waist from behind, pushing her forwards and picking up speed. They gradually left the crowd behind.

The scenery before their eyes was changing swiftly. She was being forced to rush forwards without doing a thing, so she began screaming in fright, "Aaaaaaaaaaah! Stop!"

Tang Yi-Bai did not stop. He bowed his head, rubbing her soft, cool hair with his chin, and then he moved forwards to seek her white and delicate ears, dropping a light kiss on her small earlobe.

The sudden soft touch to her ear startled Yun Duo and she could not help but jerk. Tang Yi-Bai was distracted at the moment and so wasn't concentrating on maintaining their balance. Jostled by Yun Duo, the two of them tumbled down.

Crash, crash.

They fell sideways, Yun Duo falling on top of Tang Yi-Bai. She was just about to climb up when Tang Yi-Bai flipped over and pressed her against the ice.

She had no room to resist and so was securely restrained, and then a kiss was upon her.

Two hands ran through her hair at the same time, holding her head in place to keep her from moving.

Yun Duo's face heated up and her mind was a jumbled mess. She wanted to remind him that this was a public place, but as soon as she opened her mouth, his agile tongue slipped into her mouth. At first, he was aimless but he soon found a rhythm — his tongue brushed the insides of her mouth, hooking against her tongue and inviting her to play. The kiss went on for a while, and then his tongue retreated slightly before pushing forwards even more energetically. He felt the slight graze of her lips and teeth in the kiss, and repeated the motion again and again. This was almost instinctive, even though he might not have known how suggestive it was at the moment.

Yun Duo's soul was almost kissed out of her. He sucked on the tip of her tongue, and she felt her strength leaving her, being sucked away by him. He was like a demon who specialised in sucking people's spiritual energy away. However, she was a willing victim. She lifted her arms to embrace him, and her eyes were closed as she bore his increasingly desperate kiss. Her heart raced even faster, but the surging energy in her body had been stolen away by him. She was weak from being kissed, but it was indescribably comfortable.

Their breaths mingled. Tang Yi-Bai could not bear to release her, wishing dearly that they could melt together and merge into one pool of spring water. Yun Duo gradually could not take it anymore — her breathing became increasingly laboured, and then she pushed him away.

She panted heavily and looked at his bright eyes. She thought: Could it be that I was just thirsty...? So shameful! qaq

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Previous: Chapter 65
Next: Chapter 67

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