Chapter 43

An Ning soon realized that he was really naive; Qin Weihang didn’t need any protection at all. On the 15-meter artificial rock wall, he seemed to have violated gravity and easily got up half way. In order to make it easier for An Ning to master the movements of giving rope, he deliberately slowed down his speed.

But it was not without him teaching An Ning. When he reached the second quickdraw place, Qin Weihang stopped for a while, clasped his left hand on a pinch hold, stretched his right hand to pat the rock wall, and reminded An Ning: “There is a quickdraw here, so at this time you should give more rope.”

An Ning nodded and was about to give more, but then heard Qin Weihang continue to say:

“But it is not necessary now, because I won’t clip it.”

He skipped that quickdraw point after he finished speaking and continued advancing forward.

Yes, it was advancing forward. Only these two words matched him, because from head to toe, he did it so skillfully and easily. An Ning recalled Qin Weihang’s casual and calm tone when he said, “Because I won’t clip it,” and he was also able to hear the thumping sound coming from his chest. A boy like this, you either want to be him or fall in love with him…

Standing under the rock wall, An Ning kept his head up, waiting for Qin Weihang to signal him. He was ready to give the rope for the next two quickdraw places, but Qin Weihang did not stop. It wasn’t until halfway through that he bowed his head to him: “Give the rope.”

An Ning hurriedly loosened the rope for him a few times, and Qin Weihang clipped the rope on the quickdraw. This was meant for him to grasp the extent of how much rope to give when clipping. After a while, Qin Weihang directly went up to a 45-degree protruding slope. An Ning swallowed, quickly raised his left shoulder and pushed his glasses with his arm, fearing that he would miss Qin Weihang’s movements. Because Qin Weihang was an expert and will not fall, An Ning may become careless—this was the most dangerous.

On the slope, Qin Weihang lowered his head and said to him: “Give the rope.”

An Ning gave the rope while paying attention to the state of the rope when it fell. This was the second rope that Qin Weihang clipped. He then crossed the slope without any difficulties, and then reached the top in the blink of an eye.

It was possible to stand on the top of the climbing wall. An Ning watched Qin Weihang prop up his arms, pull back his waist, raised his legs, and climbed onto the top of the climbing wall. After removing the role of being a protector, he realized that this was the second time he had seen Qin Weihang’s rock climbing with his own eyes. Even though the artificial rock wall was just a bit shorter, he still wished to see more of the slow-moving Qin Weihang.

Not only was Qin Weihang’s climbing speed particularly slow this time, he also didn’t use dynamic movements, so An Ning had this rare chance to observe him. As a novice, the biggest difference between him and Qin Weihang was that once he gets on the wall, he will feel insecure if he doesn’t hold on to anything with his hands. The result of over-reliance of his hands was that his fingers would become weaker as he progressed. Qin Weihang’s fingers, on the other hand, will not stick to the rock wall all the time. He will alternate using his wrists, elbows, knees and other body parts to support himself. His trust in his other body parts was like the trust in ten fingers. Without doing any dynamic moves, Qin Weihang will also have moments when he can’t reach the hold, but he can get on his tiptoes and reach out for that hold again—not at all worried that he will fall as a result. On such a narrow pivot, he was confident in the strength and balance of his own toes.

Even without using dyno, Qin Weihang looked like he was ‘pushed’ up instead of being ‘pulled’ up, so his rock climbing moves were pleasing to the eyes. He can even kneel on one knee and rest on a pivot place.

That kneeling was really amazing… An Ning recalled.

Standing on the edge of the rock wall, Qin Weihang lowered his head and shouted, “How do you feel?”

An Ning regained his senses and nodded repeatedly: “I’m fine! Let’s do it again!”

Qin Weihang raised his voice, “Huh?” Standing on the edge, his upper body stuck out of the rock wall, An Ning was afraid that he would fall off, so he said, “Let’s talk after you come down first!”

Qin Weihang moved back. He seemed to be smiling, but he was standing too high, so An Ning couldn’t see his expression. He could only see him turning his back expertly to prepare for a quick descent.

The rope was thrown down. An Ning watched Qin Weihang at the top of the rope with his back turned and spreading his legs on the rock wall. It was really foul play for a person with long legs to do this.

After a while, Qin Weihang landed in front of him. He pulled the rope with one hand, looked back at him and asked: “What did you just say?”

An Ning first asked: “Just now, did I give the rope too slow?”

Qin Weihang recalled for a moment: “Not bad.” He glanced at An Ning’s right hand that was still grabbing on the protection device on the rope, and said, “You can let go now.”

It was only then that An Ning realized, so he let go and said: “Should we take a break and practice again? You can go up a little faster this time.”

Qin Weihang untied the rope: “Are you not planning to go up yourself today?”

An Ning originally wanted to practice being a protector today, after all, there were not a lot of opportunities for him to do this. He couldn’t always ask Qin Weihang to climb once or twice for him to practice his hands every time.

“I’ll do it next time.” He said, “And I find it useful to see you rock climbing. I can learn a lot.”

Qin Weihang silently put away the rope and walked to a bench to rest. After sitting down, he found that he didn’t need to rest, because he was not tired.

An Ning also came over and sat down. There was a little distance between the two.

Qin Weihang hunched forward and casually placed his elbows on his knees. He lowered his head and rubbed the chalk powder on both palms, then asked, “How many times are you going to let me climb?”

Does this mean he agrees? An Ning was flattered. Then he thought that Qin Weihang might think that climbing so slowly was too boring, so he said: “You have the final say, I’ll listen to you.”

Qin Weihang picked up the water bottle on the side and took a sip. When he lowered his head to drink from the bottle, he caught a glimpse of a red mark on An Ning’s palm, which was from being rubbed by the rope. Since it was the first time giving the rope, he probably still did not have a good grasp of the needed strength.

He put down his water bottle, then bent over and took out his watch from the side pocket of his backpack to look at it. He then said: “Until 9 a.m, then.”

“Okay!” An Ning couldn’t hide his excitement, “This time you can be faster and try things like dyno, but…”

“But what?”

“You have to wear a helmet.” An Ning said.

Qin Weihang: “…”

“You certainly don’t need to if you were climbing by yourself,” An Ning said, “But I am a novice protector, after all. If I give the rope too quickly and drag you down, then it would be dangerous. Last time I was afraid that I would drag you down, so I was holding the rope a bit loose, so the middle part was a little sagging. However, this is actually not safe, therefore, this time I want to make the rope less loose.”

Qin Weihang looked at An Ning who was explaining to him in a very serious manner, thinking, is it me teaching you or you teaching me?

When he went up for the second time, Qin Weihang wore a black hiking helmet.

He was really not used to it. He raised his head and glanced at the artificial rock wall. The wall was 15 meters and there were mats underneath, yet he needed to wear a helmet.

Before going up the rock wall, An Ning walked behind him. With one leg stepping on the rock wall, Qin Weihang turned his head to look at him.

An Ning was a little embarrassed: “According to the standard, I have to protect you like this first.” With both hands, he did a push-up motion. Qin Weihang’s back was within his reach, but he did not dare put his hands on it; he still lacked confidence.

Qin Weihang said: “According to the standard, it is necessary. In reality, it’s better not to. First, I will not fall off an artificial rock wall. Secondly, if I do fall, you may get injured. Third…” He looked down at their feet, “there are safety mats.”

“Oh, oh…” An Ning blushed while stepping back. Looks like what he learned wasn’t practical.

Qin Weihang thought for a while, then put his leg down from the rock wall, looked back at An Ning, and said, “You can give me a push on the back.”

An Ning stepped forward, confused. Qin Weihang turned around with his back facing An Ning, and said: “I’ll fall back, and you will support me so that you can feel my weight.”

An Ning faced the tall back at close range and took two deep breaths, raising both hands to get ready. This time he really has to put his hands on it.

Qin Weihang tilted his head, glanced at his feet, and said: “Stand back a little more.”

An Ning stood a little further away.

Qin Weihang turned his head, looked down at the shadows of the two people below his feet, and said, “Are you ready?”

“I’m ready.” An Ning stared at Qin Weihang’s back without blinking. He had walked behind Qin Weihang before. At that time, he already felt that Qin Weihang’s back was very tall. However, this time he didn’t just look at it, but had to hold this back with his own hands…

“Three…”

Qin Weihang did not count “two” and “one” at all and just fell back down!

An Ning was caught off guard when supporting Qin Weihang’s back shoulders. His whole body was almost supporting him, but his body was still overwhelmed and staggered back.

Qin Weihang was still standing on the ground…

When Qin Weihang fell towards him, he smelled the faint smell of shower gel on Qin Weihang’s body. The smell seemed to twist into a rushing wave. It was the same smell that was left behind every time Qin Weihang took a shower in the bathroom.

The weight of more than 70 kilograms lasted only a few seconds on his body, and Qin Weihang stood up straight.

Qin Weihang turned his head back. In fact, when he fell ahead of time, he was already prepared for the possibility of two people falling on the mat. He didn’t expect the person behind him to live up to the trust.

An Ning sighed, then looked at him and said: “I know it now.”

I also know it. Qin Weihang thought.

When the gym opened at 9 a.m, Tang Zi and Yu Ran came to the climbing gym together. After getting out of the car, from across the glass wall of the climbing gym, Tang Zi with her 1.5 binocular vision saw the figure on the artificial rock wall with one glance. In disbelief, she patted Yu Ran on the back: “Oh my god, am I seeing right? Qin Weihang actually let someone protect him?!”

Yu Ran’s eyes were not so good, but he can get a general idea: “Shouldn’t be. They’re even wearing a helmet, so this can’t be Qin Weihang.”

Tang Zi scolded him for being old and having bad eyesight. “That height and body type, and that dyno just now, if it’s not him then this old lady will eat the climbing wall!”

Yu Ran looked again, feeling disdain: “Impossible, Qin Weihang will definitely not wear a helmet on a 15-meter wall.”

“Why don’t we take a gamble? Bet 1000($155)?”

“Fine, let’s bet.” Yu Ran walked forward confidently, “You still don’t know much about Qin Weihang, little girl~”

Tang Zi’s eyes were full of a triumphant light, and she gloated behind Yu Ran: “You’re sure to lose, my mother’s brother!”