Chapter 448: What Did You Eat while Growing up?
Su Li took out her handphone, chose a song, and then placed her phone on the rink floor. A soothing melody started to play, and it evoked beautiful images of the mountains and flowing streams, and with the acoustics of an empty skating rink, it was melodious immersive, and stirring.
As Su Li glanced at Xiao Luo, she glided gracefully on her skates, almost as if she was floating, and started to sway elegantly like a white b.u.t.terfly performing a dance. She placed her hands behind her back first, as she slid through the gates between the twenty cups like a dragon following the path of a winding river. Su Li moved with the elegance of a cla.s.sical nymph who had stepped out from a painting.
“This is interesting indeed, so she’s really doing figure-skating!”
The skating rink owner was very keen to observe her figure-skating and hid in an inconspicuous corner to watch quietly. He was quite familiar with figure-skating, and the movement he had just seen was a level-one technique—the forward snake, where you moved forward in a snake-like pattern while pa.s.sing through the markers.
“Next should be a forward-cut, followed by the backward-snake, and then the backward-cut, and double-S. These are movements that are of a level-one difficulty,” the rink owner muttered to himself as he rubbed his chin.
And the situation was as to how he had predicted it to be. After completing the forward snake movement, Su Li turned around immediately, and after weaving through the gates with her legs still facing forward the first time, she now switched to the backward-snake movement and slid through the course with her legs facing backward. Mid-way, she kept her feet together to form an S shape and weaved through the gates to complete the second lap.
She performed two different actions in one round trip, and they were executed in a smooth, natural, and aesthetically appealing style!
“It’s your turn,” Su Li said, as she skated back toward Xiao Luo. She refused to believe that he could do this as well.
“I’ve seen this kind of videos on the internet before, what are these kinds of movements called?” Xiao Luo asked.
“Figure skating, there are international compet.i.tions like this,” Su Li said.
“Oh, right, I got it.”
Xiao Luo nodded his head, and then pushed off, gradually increasing his speed, as he tried to recall all the movements that Su Li had just done. Xiao Luo weaved through in a serpentine pattern, hands behind his back as if he was taking a stroll in a garden.
Was this not enough to stop him as well?
Su Li refused to believe what she was seeing. She initially thought Xiao Luo would back out, knowing that this was way too tough for him, but she was quite taken aback when Xiao Luo actually started moving forward. On top of that, he weaved through the gates in what seemed like a well-practiced forward-snake movement. It was hard to believe that this was possible unless he was naturally born with this kind of skating ability?
“Wow, Daddy can perform this kind of ‘dance’ as well,” Su Xiaobei said, blinking her eyes and looking really surprised.
Luo Pingxiang, like-wise, was utterly shocked. It felt like she was looking at a legendary genius that only appeared once in a hundred years. It had only been ten minutes at most, and Xiao Luo had turned from a bungling novice to a ‘professional’ who could even perform figure-skating. His ability to learn was simply out of this world. It was as if he could just imitate another person’s movements.
After finis.h.i.+ng the forward-snake, Xiao Luo did all the other movements that Su Li had done earlier.
Not surprisingly, the twenty cups remained in exactly the same position. This could only mean that Xiao Luo pa.s.sed through the gates without touching a single one at all. Although they were all just level-one movements, it was enough to surprise everyone.
“Miss Su, my movements were all correct, right?”
Xiao Luo asked, and it was merely because he had developed a strong interest in figure-skating that he did. And since Su Li was a veteran when it came to figure-skating, she naturally became the someone he would ask questions and seek advice. His conscience was clear, and he was not doing this to provoke her on purpose.
But Su Li felt otherwise and believed that he was trying to show off. She turned around and was rather curt. “All the movements were executed perfectly, but all of them are just level-one movements, next I’ll increase the level of difficulty,” she said.
She wanted to see to what extent this man could follow her movements.
After looking at the twenty cups arranged in one straight line, Su Li took a deep breath and then skated towards them. After pa.s.sing the first one, she kept her heels closed together and weaved through the gates in an S-shape pattern as she leaned on one side.
“Pa.s.sing the gates using the crab-steps, the movements have reached level-two.”
The rink owner raised his eyebrows slightly and muttered the technique that Su Li had just performed.
Next, there were five more movements: pa.s.sing through the gates in criss-cross crab-steps, in a criss-cross horizontal-feet, with one-foot-forward, with the X-horizontal and X -shape, and with the one-foot-backward techniques.
As the level of difficulty increased, the viewing experience increased proportionally as well. Su Li’s figure skating was undoubtedly top notched. In her white s.h.i.+rt, she looked like a surreal dancer, and the performance that she had put on virtually defied the laws of physics.
“Mummy’s dancing is way too beautiful, Bei Bei really likes it!”
Elated, Su Xiaobei’s eyes were mere slits as she grinned broadly, clapping while cheering with gusto. She narrowed her eyes so much that they looked like a pair of cute crescent moons.
Next to Su Xiaobei, Luo Pingxiang clapped her hands excitedly and cheered for Su Li, “Sister, you’re way too impressive!”
Deep down, Luo Pingxiang knew that she could never perform something like this. While figure skating had its own unique charm, the most she could do was skate around on the rink. Of course, she had always wished to skate freely in the rink and perform various movements like a dancing b.u.t.terfly but knew that she could never do something like that. She was neither talented nor did she have the time to practice and learn.
“Hah!”
Su Li straightened up, turned her head, and stared at Xiao Luo. She had a blank expression on her face, but it was rather obvious why she reacted in this manner.
Xiao Luo didn’t say anything as well. He tried his best to recall Su Li’s movements and skated towards the twenty cups without much hesitation.
The first movement, pa.s.sing through the gates using the crab steps;
The second movement, pa.s.sing through the gates using the criss-cross horizontal-feet pattern;
The third movement, pa.s.sing through the gates; with the one-foot-forward pattern;
…
Like Su Li’s shadow, he performed all the different sets of movements that Su Li had done to perfection. Su Li’s technical execution highlighted her flexibility and showcased a soft beauty, while Xiao Luo brought forth a firmer and more masculine appeal, at the same time, evoking a similar beauty to the movements.
“Wow… that’s really so impressive…” Luo Pingxiang was stunned by the performance and muttered softly to herself.
Su Xiaobei had no idea what that meant but only knew that her father was very impressive, so she cheered for Xiao Luo.
Su Li could no longer maintain her composure as she had lost to Xiao Luo this time round. She refused to admit defeat and increased the difficulty level of the movements once again. With her white s.h.i.+rt fluttering in the wind, she fully expressed the beauty of figure skating through another inspired performance. Like a soulful dancer, she exuded an unparalleled charm that reached out and touched the soul.
“Pa.s.sing the gates using the ‘horizontal-bracket pattern’ and the ‘forward-windmill pattern.’ This is a level-three movement. The ‘horizontal-X shape jump’ and the ‘backward-feet criss-cross pattern’ is a level-four movement. Wait, the difficulty level increased again—pa.s.sing through the gates while squatting on one leg, and jumping with one leg while making a turn; that is a level-five move!”
The rink owner was stunned. He was convinced that this was a professional figure skater in his rink right now, and there was not just one, but two of them. To put on such a stunning performance, skaters had to control their balance and movements really well. This was very much like those figure skating videos one saw online. No, it was even more stunning, inspiring, and beautiful as compared to those online.
Luo Pingxiang was the one who was the most shocked. She clearly knew that Xiao Luo was a beginner, but from what she saw, Xiao Luo was performing figure skating just like her sister, Su Li. And all Su Li had to do was perform once, and he was able to repeat those moves to perfection. It was unbelievable; in fact, it was ridiculous.
Su Li was just as shocked as her. She was sure that Xiao Luo’s learning ability could match that of a devil. Who could believe that this guy was just a beginner who fell flat on the ground ten minutes ago?
“Just what did you eat while growing up?” Su Li couldn’t help but ask. It was almost as if she wanted to see through his entire body.
Xiao Luo did not know whether to laugh or cry and replied, “Rice, of course, what else could I have eaten?