Sheng Jiaoyang cheerfully put on her ice skates and almost fell down when she abruptly stood up. Fortunately, Shen Zhining, who was next to her, supported her in time.

“So, this is how it feels to walk with ice skates on,” she sighed with delight.

In the past, because of her health, she couldn"t play this kind of active sport and could only watch from the sidelines while her cla.s.smates learned to skate at school. She couldn"t help but feel envious back then.

However, now she could try any sport she wanted.

She grew increasingly excited the more she thought about it.

“Country b.u.mpkin!” someone suddenly jeered from the side.

Sheng Jiaoyang didn"t even need to look around to know that the two words "country b.u.mpkin" were directed at her. But, she didn"t care about it. They can say whatever they want, it"s none of their business. That"s what freedom of speech is!

“Zhining, can you skate?” Sheng Jiaoyang turned to look at Shen Zhining, who was holding her steadily.

“I"ve skated before,” he humbly replied.

I"ve skated before~ Hearing this, Sheng Jiaoyang immediately understood. Shen Zhining must"ve said that because he could skate, otherwise, he"d say that he wasn"t familiar with it or directly tell her that he couldn"t.

“Then, please teach me.”

“Learn to stand and walk first.”

Nearby, the girl who was ignored snorted and disdainfully remarked to her friends, “What"s she doing here if she can"t skate? Haha, be careful of falling to your death later.”

“Whether she falls to her death or not, let"s go in and skate!” The young lad standing closest to her pushed her into the ice rink and the others followed suit.

Even though Sheng Jiaoyang had heard those words and knew that they were looking down on her, she paid no heed to them and concentrated on learning some basic techniques from Shen Zhining.

Before entering the ice rink, Shen Zhining instructed, “No matter how much I say, it"s just theory. Let"s enter the ice rink and practice. Remember, lean forward as much as possible. If you fall, you must protect your head with your hands, and don"t leave your hands laying on the ground to avoid getting hurt. After you fall, just sit there and wait for me to pull you up.”

“Mhmm, mhmm.” Sheng Jiaoyang repeatedly nodded. She couldn"t wait to step into the ice rink. However, because she was too eager to enter the rink and overestimated her strength, she fell as soon as the skates came into contact with the ice and ended up sitting on the ground. Fortunately, she was wearing a lot of clothes, so it didn"t hurt that much.

“Ahahaha, she really fell!” The girl, who was trailing behind them, couldn"t help but gloat when she saw Sheng Jiaoyang on the ground.

Many people looked over and saw the overdressed Sheng Jiaoyang sitting on the ground with her head lowered. Shen Zhining was standing behind her, bending down to help her up. Tripping and falling was a common sight. The onlookers cast a few glances at the handsome young man before continuing their business.

After the first fall, Sheng Jiaoyang didn"t dare to be careless. Once she was helped up by Shen Zhining, she used the handrail as a support and slowly walked forwards.

“You have to let go and slide forwards, not move like that.” Shen Zhining swirled around her effortlessly.

“I want to let go too, but my feet aren"t listening to me!” Her voice sounded a little stuffy.

“It"s not that your feet aren"t listening to you. You haven"t let go of your subconscious fear.” He held out his hand to her. “Don"t be afraid, I"m here. Come, release the handrail and slide towards me.”

Sheng Jiaoyang looked up at him and then stared at his hand. Afterwards, she slowly lifted her foot and moved towards him.

“The more you walk on the ice, the more likely you"ll fall. You should use your strength to glide.” Shen Zhining had just finished speaking when Sheng Jiaoyang fell again.

The corners of his lips curled upwards slightly.

After Sheng Jiaoyang was helped up, she retreated to the fence and waved at Shen Zhining. “Go skate by yourself. I"ll practice here first.”

“I"m here to accompany you and watch you skate.” Shen Zhining glided to her side and leaned against the fence to watch her.

For a sport like skating, even if newcomers knew how to skate and what to do, it was totally different when standing on the ice with skates. Only then would they understand that all their knowledge was useless. No matter how many theories they knew, they"d still lose control when they moved.

“Hey, handsome~” The girl who"d mocked Sheng Jiaoyang earlier slid towards Shen Zhining. “You"re very good at skating, why don"t you join us to play "driving the train"?”

Sheng Jiaoyang turned around and saw a girl with reddish brown hair staring at Shen Zhining. However, Shen Zhining didn"t look at the girl as his eyes were fixated on Sheng Jiaoyang.

“I"m not interested,” Shen Zhining indifferently uttered.

The girl"s expression changed, and she turned to see Sheng Jiaoyang looking at her with a playful smile as if she was looking at a bustling scene. She angrily pointed at Sheng Jiaoyang and asked, “But, you"re interested in watching a rookie courting death?”

Shen Zhining smiled. His handsome features making the girl stare at him in a daze.

“I"m more than happy to.”

The girl was dumbfounded.

“Orange, he doesn"t want to join us, so just let him be. Let"s go skate by ourselves!” The girl"s friend came over and dragged her away.

The so-called "rookie" looked down at her feet. Her shoes were very heavy. The way she"d lifted her feet just now made her lose a lot of physical strength. However, it was rare to encounter a fun sport that she wasn"t good at. She became stronger with every setback. She held onto the handrail and practised her posture by gliding back and forth. After practising this movement for a long while, she tried letting go.

“Come here.” Shen Zhining moved in front of her.

Sheng Jiaoyang took a deep breath. She suppressed the impulse to lift her feet and slowly slid towards him.

She was like a toddler who"d just learned to walk, wobbling on her way. However, she determinedly moved forwards.

Suddenly, a shadow approached and haughtily glided past her. She was so frightened that she abruptly stopped, but her movements were too excessive and she fell to her knees with a plop.

Sheng Jiaoyang bared her teeth as this fall hurt a lot.

A slender hand appeared in front of her, and she looked up and saw Shen Zhining. She raised her hand and took his outstretched palm, standing up with his help.

“I retreat, you move forward.” Shen Zhining didn"t let go of her hand. He slowly slid backwards and let her glide with him.

With an experienced person guiding her, she managed to grasp the techniques much quicker.

She slowly mastered the rhythm of sliding and followed Shen Zhining, sometimes gliding at a slow pace, and sometimes at a faster pace. They gradually slid all the way to the centre of the ice rink.

From time to time, one or two people skating around them would deliberately block the way. But, because Shen Zhining was leading her, she wasn"t afraid at all and felt extremely secure as if nothing could move her.

As they tried to move away from the people circling around them, they moved as if they were dancing on the ice in the eyes of the onlookers standing on the high platform outside the rink. Their movements were spry and lively as they glided and spun. Moreover, their heights matched perfectly, attracting the attention of many people.

“Zhining, shall we get into mischief as well?” Sheng Jiaoyang still remembered how that girl had deliberately made her fall. She didn"t take revenge before because it wasn"t the right time yet.

Shen Zhining smiled knowingly.

As a result, the situation completely reversed. The group of people that were deliberately intercepting them earlier was now experiencing their own medicine.

By the time the group realised that they"d been messed with, they were already dizzy from their fall.

“How satisfying!” Sheng Jiaoyang beamed with joy, but since she was wearing gla.s.ses and a mask, no one could make out her expression.

“Are you hungry? You didn"t eat much at lunch.”

Hearing this, Sheng Jiaoyang started feeling hungry.

They"d skated for a long time and she"d already taken her revenge, so they skated out of the ice rink, hand in hand.

“They"re gone.”

“No, they made us fall and just left? We can"t let them off so easily!”

“Let"s go, go, go! Let"s get even with them!”

The group of youngsters angrily left the ice rink.

Sheng Jiaoyang and Shen Zhining had just taken off their skates and hadn"t put on their own shoes yet, when the group gathered around them.

“You"re not planning on apologising to us before you leave?”

“That"s right! You"re planning to leave after messing with us? You"re being too optimistic.”

The others in the group cast them a haughty look and nodded in agreement.

“Weren"t you the ones who messed with us first?” Sheng Jiaoyang sneered.

“Are you hiding your face because you can"t be seen by people? Don"t tell me it"s because of an infectious disease.” The girl named Orange targeted Sheng Jiaoyang.

“I know right?!”

“Hey, is your girlfriend too ugly to be seen by others?”

Listening to the group babbling non-stop, Sheng Jiaoyang and Shen Zhining merely looked at each other before ignoring them and calmly putting on their shoes.

“Hey, how can you treat us with such contempt? You are not leaving today without an apology!” The leader of the group began to crack his fingers as if he was getting ready to fight it out with them.

“Let me see what you look like first.” Orange reached towards Sheng Jiaoyang"s face and tried to take away her mask.

A tall figure suddenly flashed in front of Sheng Jiaoyang, and the girl"s outstretched hand b.u.mped into that person"s abs instead.

“Who"re you? Mind your own business!” Orange was furious and glared at the man who"d appeared out of nowhere.

Sheng Jiaoyang had already put on her shoes, so she stood up from the chair. She cast a glance at the man standing in front of her. It was Man Jun, Shen Zhining"s bodyguard and driver.

“Let"s go home.” Sheng Jiaoyang looked at Shen Zhining.

Shen Zhining remained silent and just held out his hand.

Sheng Jiaoyang placed her hand on his palm, and he stuffed their linked hands into the pocket of his warm overcoat.

The pair completely ignored the group of youngsters, which made them feel so indignant that the boy couldn"t help himself and started shoving.

Man Jun stood in front of the group like a towering mountain, his movements faster than theirs. Anyone who reached out was quickly restrained. His hand was so strong that anyone who"d been caught by him understood his strength.

The few youngsters who"d been caught bared their teeth and felt that their wrists were about to snap. They looked at the expressionless Man Jun in awe and thought that he was like Ironman. They didn"t dare attack again.

Afterwards, the group trailed behind the three and saw them leaving in a car.

“Dang, it"s a luxury car!”

“Is that strong man their bodyguard?”

“He"s sitting in the driver"s seat, so he must be the driver.”

“Just look at the moves he showed earlier, I"m sure that he"s been in the army before.”

“It looks like that handsome man is rich. Why is his girlfriend covering her face? From her voice, she sounds very young. Don"t tell me she"s his mistress? Otherwise, why was she dressed like that?”

“Who cares? Let"s go back and continue skating!” Orange snorted. She was the first to turn around and go back inside.