CH 4

The experience of a longboard traveling 50 yards could not be replicated by a car traveling 150 yards. The longboard is composed of the board, wheels, bridge, and bearings. By stepping on it, the body is in direct contact with the air, and the rider will feel the wind rush past them.

In the early morning, on the vacant and quiet coiled road of Mount Wenxi, Yu Nian faced the wind. On the curves and slopes, he experienced the unspeakable excitement of oversteering and acceleration, then felt calm and solid when returning to the long and slow slope. His mind was empty and the road in front of him had his full, undivided attention. It was a great feeling.

By the time the longboard stopped at the foot of the hill, seven or eight minutes had passed. He put away the longboard and headed for the cable car.

When Yu Nian got back on the cable car, it was already bright outside. The sun had already finished peeking out from behind the mountain, illuminating the mountainside. The petals of the Crepe Myrtle trees were carried away by the wind. When you look down from inside the cable car, the petals look like red butterflies, one by one, flying in the sky.

Deng Jingwei waited for him at the cable car stop at the top of the mountain and was relieved to see that Yu Nian had returned safely. He helped Yu Nian get down from the cable car, then carefully looked over Yu Nian for any injuries and asked, “Did you fall?”

Yu Nian shook his head. The purpose of this trip just now, was letting his body familiarize itself with the new longboard, speed-wise and skill-wise. After completing one-third of the training hours in the System Space, he could already complete the more difficult curved drifts and sharp downhill slides on the lofty mountain simulated by the System.

Although the skills that were polished in the System Space, for the time being, could not be fully replicated in the real world, the lack of difficulty let Yu Nian’s mentality relax. He was eager to challenge higher mountains, steeper slopes, and more appalling curves in reality.

Pressing down this surging though, Yu Nian planned to practice two more times before there were more tourists. On that trip just now, he had established trust and connection with the longboard under his feet.

After going down the mountain three or four more times, Yu Nian noticed that there were more vehicles and pedestrians coming up the mountain. He decided to put away his longboard and went down the mountain with Deng Jingwei. Today happened to be a weekend and there were more visitors than usual. The purpose of getting familiar with the longboard had been achieved, so Yu Nian planned to stop here for today. He planned to wait to come back during the weekday, when there were not as many people, to do a full day’s worth of training.

“What are we going to do next?” After witnessing Yu Nian’s longboard skills with his own eyes, Deng Jingwei looked at him with awe, with an almost worshipping gaze.

“Go and make money.” Yu Nian replied.

Deng Jingwei: “?”

Yu Nian’s gaze fell on the portable drawing board that he had instructed Deng Jingwei to hold.

The longboard set had emptied his wallet, and it wasn’t even a one-time purchase.

This was not like in the System, in which the board and protective gear never wore down no matter how intensive the training was. Not to mention the board and bridge, the wheels and glove guards alone will wear out at a very fast rate, needing to be replaced once every few days. Moreso if he was training his speed, the degree of wear and tear will be even greater.

Next, in order to complete the task issued by the System, to participate in the Tianmen Mountain Longboarding Open, I’m afraid that the past travel reimbursements were not enough. These were all issues.

Now that Yu Nian was in a cold war with the company, he could only find a way to make some money first to survive. It just so happened that as a reward for changing the plot, the System had unshackled his drawing skills.

The pair returned to the bottom of the mountain, and by now there were more tourists. At the foot of the mountain, there were numerous stalls setting up their wares. These stalls sold breakfast foods, ice cream and herbal tea.

Yu Nian found a place to change out of his leather clothes and protective gear. He then put on some sunglasses and a hat. He found a spot next to a pancake vendor’s stall, unfolded his portable drawing board, and set it up. He then took out the paper and pens from the drawing board’s compartment drawer.

Yu Nian was ready to write on the paper, then he thought of his still crooked and unattractive handwriting. He put away the pen and looked at Deng Jingwei: “Help me write a sign.”

Deng Jingwei took the pen and asked, “What do you want to write?”

“A -” Yu Nian pondered for a moment and continued, “Write ‘For a portrait sketch, 100 yuan.”

Deng Jingwei dutifully wrote down what Yu Nian requested. His handwriting was not very beautiful, but it was quite neat. Yu Nian expressed his satisfaction and clipped this paper to the back of the easel.

He came from a family of artists and was extremely talented, but did not have those lofty ambitions. Once upon a time, his paintings were extremely sought after and so expensive, that a hundred other pieces of artwork were used to measure the value of his paintings; it was like a big joke. But at this time, like a down on his luck artist, selling drawings for a living, Yu Nian did not feel embarrassed at all.

Deng Jingwei glanced at him a few times and asked, “You know how to draw?”

If Yu Nian was confident enough to draw and sell them for money, the skill level should be okay……

It was just that no one ever said that Yu Nian had this talent.

If it was true, why didn’t Liu Chuan try promoting it before?

Deng Jingwei had some doubts about the authenticity of Yu Nian’s skill level.

“A little bit.” Yu Nian said.

“So what time do you plan to draw until?” Deng Jingwei asked.

“I’ll close the stall when I run out of paper.”

Deng Jingwei touched Yu Nian’s stack of drawing paper. It wasn’t a thick stack, about twenty or thirty sheets. He thought ‘100 yuan per sheet, so this stack will be worth 2000 to 3000 yuan. Was making money really that easy? Will you even be able to sell a single drawing??’

The uncle at the pancake stall at the next stall, glanced at Yu Nian and said, “I haven’t seen you before, is this your first time setting up a stall?”

Setting up a stall. No, no, it’s just a temporary thing, forced by life’s circumstances.

Deng Jingwei held back and didn’t say anything in the end.

Yu Nian nodded slightly toward the uncle.

The uncle happily taught the business basics to Yu Nian: “There are many people who come to Mount Wenxi on the weekends. There are usually more people who come at this time in the morning and in the evening.”

He looked at Yu Nian for a moment before he exclaimed, “The young man is really handsome.”

With his hat and sunglasses, one could not quite see his face clearly; but when he looked up and spoke, the youth’s superior bone structure unceremoniously exuded a certain type of charm.

He was not difficult to get along with, and anyone who came over to talk to him would get a friendly response. But when you want to go further, you can detect the aloofness and vague indifference in his temperament.

The uncle pulled Yu Nian to talk for a while, until the stall’s business began picking up before slowing down again.

Shaking his head, Deng Jingwei noticed that it was starting to get hotter, and told Yu Nian: “I’ll go buy you a bottle of water.”

Just when he was buying some water, someone noticed Yu Nian’s sign. A young couple holding hands looked over at Yu Nian. The girl’s eyes showed a curious look, the boy beside her looked at her, and walked over to Yu Nian.

“Can you draw a picture for me and my girlfriend?” He asked.

The girl tugged on his sleeve and whispered, “No need. I’m an artist myself, so why waste money on something like a drawing?” She was a student at the nearby university’s School of Fine Arts. She usually makes extra money by drawing some headshots and the like.

Portrait sketches were usually drawn quickly and were not too difficult. Thus, the girl felt that the price was not worth it.

The boy laughed, stroked her head, and said, “You always draw for others. How about letting someone draw for you for a change?”

The eyes fell on the piece of paper, “Is it 200 yuan to draw two people?”

The boy looked at Yu Nian a little nervously, and his fingers unconsciously touched his pocket.

Yu Nian looked at them, “No, 100 yuan is enough.”

He picked up the pen, “If you’re satisfied with the drawing, you can pay. If you are not, I’ll give you the drawing for free.”

Seeing that Yu Nian was about to start drawing, the couple held hands and leaned together. Yu Nian glanced at them, withdrew his gaze, picked up a pen, and drew directly on the paper. Afterwards, he never once looked back at them, as if there was already a scene in his mind that he wanted to draw.

The girl’s eyelids jumped, her heart lifted when she heard the scratching sound of the paper and pencil touching. This was not even a good observation of the object, just directly drawing, it was a little too confusing!

Seeing his girlfriend’s expression that was not quite pleased, the boy whispered to her, “He said that he would not charge if we are not satisfied.” The girl then looked relieved.

When Deng Jingwei came back, he was a little surprised to see that someone had requested Yu Nian to draw something for them. He walked over, placed a bottle of water next to Yu Nian. Then he also grabbed his own bottle, unscrewed the cap and tilted his head back to drink some water.

Curious about Yu Nian’s drawing skills, using the corner of his eye, Deng Jingwei peeked at the drawing. He immediately choked on his water. He coughed violently, his teary eyes blurred as he looked at Yu Nian, who was not at all affected.

The pancake stand uncle glanced over, he let out an “ooh” sound. A few customers waiting for pancakes at the stall, couldn’t help but come over to watch the fun. They had a look of surprise and eagerness in their eyes.

“This drawing……”

“This little brother is so handsome, my God!”

“I’ll try having him draw for me when he’s done.”

Yu Nian quickly finished the drawing, quickly looked at Deng Jingwei, who just coughed, then removed the pegs attached to the drawing paper and asked, “Is everything okay?”

Deng Jingwei: “……No.”

Yu Nian nodded, looked at the couple, and handed them the drawing, “It’s done.”

“So quick……” The girl muttered, taking the drawing and froze when she saw the figures on it.

The lines on the paper seemed to have come to life.

The drawing was not the cuddling pose the two were in, but depicted the scene of when they walked toward Yu Nian. She pulled on her boyfriend’s sleeve disapprovingly and said not to waste money, he stroked her head to comfort her.

The girl was in a daze, thinking of her teacher’s comment when she was training in the studio, that her drawings lacked tension. At that time, she thought about what tension was, observing the object more and more carefully. She carefully drew from the photo, little by little filling in the exact details, but the sketches always lacked some meaning.

Now she knew what the difference was.

It’s fresh.

She thought of what the Drawing Teacher said when she took them out for a picnic: “The world outside is constantly moving. Children are crying and running in the streets, adults are carrying spittoons out to wash. It’s going to rain soon, hurrying to collect quilts and clothes hanging outside to dry…… They can’t stay still and quiet like the marble statues in the studio, letting you take a few hours to draw them.”

It’s all moving.

So what exactly was the tension that was to be expressed?

It’s fresh.

There is the word “speed” in speed writing. It was different from sketching, in that there was no time to use enough lines and shadows to portray the texture and details of different objects.

What can be captured, what has to be expressed, was the vividness of that moment.

The mysterious artist drew quickly, imprinting the dynamics of the moment he saw in his mind.

Do not draw the poses that the model deliberately chose, and do not repeatedly look at it. His lines were coarse, bold, and unobtrusive. The people in the drawing were moving, and there was a young couple’s love in the rough picture.

The girl’s gaze fluctuated. The boy did not know whether the drawing was good or bad, he just felt that he liked the drawing. But this drawing seemed to be a bit simple? He didn’t know whether the 100 yuan was a loss or not in the eyes of his girlfriend.

The boy opened the payment software, scanned Yu Nian’s code, and entered 100 yuan in the amount column. The girl glanced at it and took out her phone to send 100 red packets to the boy. 200 yuan in total.

The girl looked at the boy’s questioning gaze and said with a smile, “Let’s split the cost.”

After hearing the successful payment prompt, the girl carefully held the drawing, waving at both Yu Nian and Deng Jingwei before leaving.

After they left, people who had just gathered around to watch Yu Nian draw, immediately lined up.

Deng Jingwei was dumbfounded: “One drawing for five minutes, one drawing for 200 yuan…” This money was too easy to earn.

Before he could figure out the income, he yelled and whispered to himself, “We can’t be so depressed. Yu Nian needs to become popular all over the country, and endorsements will come pouring in!” Deng Jingwei clenched his fist and cheered himself up.

Looking at the side, Yu Nian began to draw again. Thinking of his artist, who was reduced to selling drawings in order to earn money, Deng Jingwei began to feel ashamed of his incompetence once more.

No, there really is no easy, straightforward job……

*

On Thursday morning, members of the S Mayor’s Board Speedway Association boarded a minibus, slowly and leisurely driving to the top of Mount Wenxi.

“This time it’s the President’s treat. We’ll be relaxing in the Mount Wenxi resort for three days. We eat well and drink well ah!”

“Hey, don’t you think that the Mount Wenxi slope is suitable for doing a few speed runs? Why don’t we go down the slope after dinner, and see who’s faster?”

“Bibi! You really can’t go a day without going down the slopes.”

A group of people were happily chatting. Sitting in the passenger seat, the Association President, Wu Qian, looked out the window at the ground full of violet flowers, and felt a headache forming.

“Everyone, let’s take a few days off to relax and have some fun. Then it’s time to devote yourself to the tournament preparation.”

When he said this, the people in the car suddenly sighed. The tournament, of course, was the Tianmen Mountain Longboarding Open. The highest level competition in the field of domestic longboarding.

Tianmian Mountain, the Tongtian Road. It could be described as a real curved path to the sky. The total length was 10.77 kilometers, but there were 99 bends, and on average, every 100 meters there was a curve. 180 degrees of sharp bends were endless. The elevation rose sharply from 200 meters to 1,300 meters, and the Tongtian Road rose along the elevation of the mountain; just like a giant dragon soaring, which was the first highway wonder in the world.

Rumor has it that by climbing up this Tongtian Road, you will be able to go up the Heavenly Staircase, getting a glimpse of the spectacular and wondrous heavenly scene.

–But they were longboard athletes. All they had to do was go down the Tongtian Road, chasing the limits on that treacherous and dangerous pathway.

This will be a more difficult challenge than climbing the stairway to Heaven.

Wu Qian spoke: “For so many years, in our country’s home field and on our country’s mountain, we have been losing to foreigners. Which is outrageous.”

“It’s not just our city, S. It’s a shame for Longboard Associations all over the country.”

Although no one wanted to admit it, the development of Extreme Sports was indeed much more advanced abroad than in their home country. Coupled with the natural advantages in physique of different ethnicities, it was difficult for their countrymen to stand out in such events. Often the top three events held in their own country, were taken over by foreign longboard athletes. This was something that happened all the time.

Wu Qian said, “I’m not trying to put too much pressure on everyone, and I just ask that everyone tries their best. If someone could break through the ranks and get a Bronze medal, that would be satisfying!”

It’s hard to get a Bronze medal too. The people inside the car sighed.

Wu Qian clapped his hands, “Okay, okay, let’s not talk about these matters anymore. Instead, everyone, let’s think about what to eat in a while.”

The atmosphere, which had been somewhat dull earlier, came alive again. The joking and laughing started again in the minibus.

Suddenly, a young man in the back seat stared wide-eyed out the window and pointed ahead, “Oh shit!”

The others followed his gaze, curious to see what the commotion was about.

They saw a figure on the far side of the mountain highway, quickly going down the mountain on a longboard. The figure turned a corner, not even slowing down his speed. Inertia caused the longboard to drift on the curve, followed by the speed of the appallingly sharp downhill.

In the next instant, the figure appeared quickly, and passed by the minibus without any hesitation.

The strong wind swept in all directions. The crowd in the minibus turned around, unable to keep their eyes off the person, their mouths still wide open in shock.

“This dude is going too fast……”

“Shit, who is this, this is not from our association!”

Wu Qian had extremely good eyes and saw that the mysterious figure had a tear mole under his eye at the moment when he passed the minibus. He decisively said to the driver, “Speed up and quickly go up the mountain.”

This trail does not allow for a midway turnaround; you must go up the mountain before turning around and going back down.

The people inside the car also hurried to urge the driver.

“Hurry up, don’t let them get away!!!”

The driver wiped his sweat and stepped on the gas pedal at the urging of a group of longboard athletes, who dealt with speed. The slow-moving minibus slowly sped up.

When they got up the mountain, the receptionist was already waiting outside with a smile on his face, immediately welcoming the minibus that was coming up the mountain. Who would have known that the bus would immediately turn around and go back down the hill.

Receptionist: “????”

Wu Qian and the others went down the mountain, but could not find the figure in the leather protective gear. At first glance, there were only vendors selling ice cream and water, then after looking to the side, there was a drawing easel on the side.

Anyway, the figure on the longboard was nowhere to be seen!

The crowd looked at each other.

“President…… that person is gone.” Someone sighed.

Wu Qian gritted his teeth and said, “We still have to stay in Mount Wenxi for the next three days. Today that person must have left, let’s check back again tomorrow. We must make him join the Association!”

Someone beside him echoed: “Yes! He came to Mount Wenxi to ride the longboard. Even if we missed him today, let’s squat again tomorrow, and the day after. There’s no way we’ll miss him if we squat everyday!”

On the side, Yu Nian had finished training and changed his clothes. Just after setting up his easel, business came to him.

“Hey, young man. Yesterday we were in line, but you ran out of paper and had to close the stall.”

An auntie greeted Yu Nian, “I’ve been waiting for you since early this morning, can you draw a picture for me and my grandson?”

Yu Nian nodded. He took out the drawing paper, used the pegs to pin it down, and was about to start drawing when the phone rang.

He said “sorry” to the auntie and picked up the phone.

It was the long-lost Liu Chuan’s voice: “Yu Nian, come over to the company tomorrow.”

I am so so late on updating this novel but i am back on track and it won’t be dead! stay tuned! if you like my translation please consider sending Ko-Fis to Foxaholic including my name~