Chapter 462: Chapter 462: Wasted Her Ambition
The guests, following the instructions laid out by the show crew, wound their way through the theme park along its wide paths and finally arrived at today’s activity location.
A neat pile of ice blocks in various shapes and sizes stood before them, next to a striking red signboard bearing the bold words: "Ice Sculpture Experience Hall."
Besides the ice blocks and the signboard, a variety of tools were also neatly arranged nearby.
The PD walked over to the signboard, which was taller than him by half a head, pointed to the ice pile and tools nearby, and said to the guests, "Hello everyone, welcome to the Ice Sculpture Experience Hall. Today’s main task is ice sculpting. Materials and tools have been fully prepared for you. Before officially starting, a professional master will guide you. Feel free to unleash your creativity and craft unique ice sculpture pieces."
After the PD finished his announcement, everyone found the activity refreshing and couldn’t wait to get started.
Even Li Haidong and Wei Lan, frequent travelers of the world, showed visible excitement in their eyes.
Li Haidong leaned toward Wei Lan’s ear and whispered, "This activity is great. Even though we’ve visited so many ice and snow cities, we’ve never seriously tried ice sculpting. The show’s arrangement really makes up for that regret."
Before the official guidance began, the show invited a seasoned ice sculpting master to demonstrate the technique briefly.
The master prepared a roughly pre-cut block of ice—not perfectly shaped but already resembling a cylindrical form. He picked up a small chisel and started carving directly on the ice’s surface.
The chisel collided with the ice block, producing a crisp sound with each strike. Shards of ice flew in graceful arcs to the ground. Under the master’s hands, the raw cylindrical ice block seemed almost magical as it slimmed down, ultimately taking on the form of a "small soda bottle."
When the master finished, everyone was stunned. Qin Feng looked at his own hands, then at the master’s hands, and shook his head as if overwhelmed, saying, "No way, I’m totally useless. I definitely don’t have the skill to sculpt ice bare-handed."
The master, as though fully expecting this reaction, chuckled knowingly. "I already have a good idea of your skill levels. Don’t worry; that was just a demonstration. For beginners, we provide scaled templates. You can carve based on the design shown on the template. Of course, if you have a background in carving, you can skip the template and work freely too."
After speaking, the show staff presented the pre-prepared templates for the guests to choose from.
The master also demonstrated the steps for carving using the templates, explaining how to smooth and attach the template to the ice block’s polished surface, then use the tools to cut away excess ice by following the lines on the template. The principle was much like copying a drawing, but instead of pencils and paper, they’d use electric saws and chisels.
The templates provided by the show came in many styles, ranging from flowers, animals, and everyday objects to cartoon characters. Some designs had simple lines, while others were more intricate. Each guest tried to select a design that appealed to them while remaining feasible to execute.
Except for Lu Yujing, who stood quietly aside as the others chose their templates. Once everyone had selected, she still made no move to step forward.
The ice sculpting master glanced at her. "What’s wrong, young lady? None of the templates appeal to you?"
Lu Yujing curled her lips slightly into a confident smile, saying, "I don’t need one. Everything I want to sculpt is already in my mind."
Her words made the ice sculpting master look at her in a different light. "Ah, so you have a foundation in sculpting. Seems like you’ve been exposed to this before."
Receiving the professional master’s approval, Lu Yujing subtly straightened her posture. "This is actually my first time working with ice, but I’ve done wood sculpting for a while, so I do have some basic skills."
But ice sculpting and wood sculpting—isn’t that completely different? The materials themselves aren’t even remotely the same.
The master thought this silently to himself but didn’t voice it. Instead, his eyes dimmed slightly, as if in anticipation of seeing what kind of distinctive ice sculpture this overly confident young lady could create.
Once all preparations were complete, the guests picked up their templates and received their raw ice blocks.
Sang Ning selected a block of ice about the size of two palms, placed her template on it, and started cutting the ice with a handheld mini saw without even waiting for the master’s guidance.
She was the first to take action, surprising the master, who quickly shuffled over with small quick steps. "Young lady, I haven’t even gone over the safety precautions with you yet. What if you accidentally hurt yourself?"
Sang Ning figured she wasn’t foolish enough to deliberately stick her hand under the blade, after all.
But since she was facing a seasoned master, she maintained a respectful tone. "Don’t worry, master. The piece I’m working on doesn’t require any precise mechanical operations. There’s nothing too technical to it, so I won’t injure myself."
After hearing her response, the master’s gaze drifted toward the ice block she was working on. One glance, and he fell silent.
This was just too simplistic...
The template Sang Ning had placed on her ice was of a house—a house with extremely minimalistic lines. To be exact, it could hardly be called a house; it was just two common shapes combined—a triangle on top of a square. This design was so simple that even kindergarten children, as long as they used the tools safely, could finish it with ease. Yet Sang Ning, a full-grown adult, had chosen such a basic template—it was, well, hard to comment on...
For some reason, the master suddenly felt a sense of insult. He couldn’t help but point to the template and ask the PD, "Didn’t the show crew screen these templates before preparing them? Designs like this—you could finish them with just a cutting machine. Where’s the joy of ice sculpting in that?"
The PD, visibly embarrassed, pulled at the corners of his lips awkwardly. "Master, I apologize. This particular template was classified under ’brain-dead mode’ when we first prepared them. We just wanted to offer a complete range of difficulty levels, but we didn’t expect that any guest would actually pick..."
Realizing his words were inappropriate, the PD immediately halted mid-sentence. He honestly hadn’t anticipated Sang Ning opting for the simplest and most rudimentary template.
The guests glanced at Sang Ning’s template, and after recalling what the PD had just said, couldn’t hold back their laughter.
Lu Yujing, originally brimming with confidence and eager to showcase her talent, lost most of her motivation upon seeing Sang Ning’s half-hearted approach. Even if she sculpted something utterly ridiculous, like a lump of ice resembling feces, she would still easily surpass Sang Ning.
"What’s wrong with brain-dead mode? It’s not like they said we couldn’t choose it," Sang Ning remarked nonchalantly, gazing at her ice block with the same reverence one might give to a prized artwork.
It was just a small interlude; after a good laugh, everyone immersed themselves in creating their ice sculptures.
Once the guests had settled into their tasks, the PD called out again, "I forgot to remind you all earlier—your ice sculptures will be up for sale tonight when the park officially opens. The ticket revenue for today’s event will depend entirely on the ice sculptures you produce!"
