“Hahahaha——” Yu Hao was about to go crazy from laughing. He saw Cen Yongchang and Fu Liqun get off the ferris wheel. Fu Liqun held a ticket and said, “Uncle, what ride should we take next? Let’s not waste the money spent on the ticket.”
Cen Yongchang said, “I’m not here to play with you, Liqun. I know you’ve already thought it through clearly. Is there any meaning in wasting time here?”
Fu Liqun said, “Take one more ride with me, and I’ll tell you what’s on my mind.”
Cen Yongchang looked at his watch. He said, “I can only give you another half an hour.”
Fu Liqun, “I just need three minutes!”
The roller coaster flew by with a loud rumble. Fu Liqun even chose the first row for the two of them. He hugged the bumper, Cen Yongchang had both his eyes shut tight, Fu Liqun shouted loudly with ‘wahahaha’, and while they took the roller coaster, he said, “Uncle! What do you want to say?!”
“Uncle! Is it fun?!”
Cen Yongchang, “……”
“I can’t anymore.” Yu Hao said, “I’m going to laugh myself to death because of Gege hahahahaha——”
“Uncle! Don’t go!” Fu Liqun quickly said, “We won’t ride anymore! Let’s go drink a cup of coffee ba! I’m done playing.”
Cen Yongchang was evidently infuriated, but he still tried to maintain a restrained demeanour on the surface and didn’t explode in the end. Fu Liqun exhausted all means to persuade him to enter a cafe, during which he glanced at his phone and chose a booth seat with a high backrest.
Cen Shan, Yu Hao, and Chen Yekai sat behind Fu Liqun. Zhou Sheng and Ou Qihang had left to play paintball. Cen Shan looked helplessly at Yu Hao. Her lips moved to mouth the question, ‘Who thought of this prank?’
Yu Hao shrugged to indicate ‘it wasn’t me’. He showed Cen Shan his camera. When they were on the roller coaster, he had been waiting at a spot that they had to pass by; he adjusted his camera’s aperture and quickly took several shots in succession, with stills of the moment where Fu Liqun was shouting madly while Cen Yongchang had his eyes shut tight.
Cen Shan laughed so hard she sprawled on the table, and her shoulders kept convulsing.
“Talk ba.” Cen Yongchang said, “I heard your business venture failed, and you’re in quite a bit of debt?”
“Borrowed from a friend.” Fu Liqun answered, “I’ll be able to pay it back, please don’t worry about it.”
Cen Yongchang remained silent for a long time. Fu Liqun looked at him expectantly.
“Cen Shan went back yesterday and told me a lot about you.” Cen Yongchan restrained his excessively obvious anger and said, “I already knew you four years ago. I even know that you play basketball very well…thank you.”
A waiter passed Cen Yongchang a cup of water, but Cen Yongchang didn’t drink and just stared at the cup.
Fu Liqun asked, “I know you don’t want to marry your daughter to a boy who’s good at nothing but basketball.”
“Being good at basketball means that you have athletic genes, which is really good too.” Cen Yongchang politely answered, “Since ancient times, men who were excellent at sports could also obtain respect. Just think about it, if you were an Olympic champion, who would oppose you two?”
“Yes.” Fu Liqun said, “Saying that I play well is only in comparison to people my age. There will always be someone better; with my talent, I’m not at that level yet, and I will never get to that level.”
“Being able to understand yourself with such clarity,” Cen Yongchang said, “means you’re already much better than Shanshan and also your peers. You’re a handsome lad, I’m sure you’ll become an outstanding person in the future.”
Fu Liqun didn’t answer and just looked into Cen Yongchang’s eyes.
Cen Yongchang said calmly, “I’m not here to break the two of you up. I’ve always believed that because of the difference in worldviews, values, and outlook on life, sooner or later, the two of you would start walking further and further apart until you’re completely separated. Your relationship with her is like companions who got acquainted while travelling on the same path; after walking through this path, she has her own wide rivers to cross, while you have your own steep mountains to climb, so why don’t the two of you bid farewell peacefully at the intersection?”
Yu Hao had to admit that Cen Yongchang’s words had directly hit home.
“You followed her to the river, and you want to cross the river with her.” Cen Yongchang said, “But that place isn’t your destination.”
Fu Liqun said, “Where do you think her destination is?”
Cen Yongchang said, “You’ll have to ask her that. Do you think you understand her well?”
Fu Liqun kept silent and didn’t reply. Behind him, Cen Shan stared calmly at her cup of latte. The shop assistant had made a flower-shaped latte art for her —— from the foam, two hearts with an arrow pierced through them emerged.
Zhou Sheng and Ou Qihang came back from their paintball match and sat behind Cen Yongchang to eavesdrop.
“Do you think you understand her well?” Fu Liqun asked in return.
Cen Yongchang answered, “Let’s put it this way: if you had a daughter, would you choose to marry her to a young man like you?”
Wooow —— everyone muttered in their hearts when they heard this. Yu Hao thought that if he had a daughter, it would be great if she could marry a guy like Fu Liqun.
“I would ah.” Fu Liqun smiled. At this moment, the afternoon sun streamed through the glass windows and spilled onto his head. “When she’s young, I would accompany her to the amusement park; after she grows up, I would hand her over to a guy who would accompany her for the rest of her life. By the way, have you ever been to an amusement park with her?”
Cen Yongchang looked at Fu Liqun quietly. Fu Liqun said, “When we just got acquainted with each other, Shanshan didn’t know how to take the bus or subway, and she had never eaten at a roadside stall, and neither had she ever taken a roller coaster. I know you don’t spend a lot of time with her, only a fixed hour to spend together every day — in the morning before leaving, from 6.30am to 7am, and at night before sleeping, from 9.30pm to 10pm. Right? You would take her abroad once in awhile, then you’d go to meetings by yourself and get your assistant to take her out to play. You had arranged everything for her. But you don’t play with her, and you’ve never asked her about what she wanted to do.”
“Her studies are very tough on her.” Fu Liqun studied Cen Yongchang and said politely, “But you would think, how could that be considered tough? How could it be considered tiring? Your daughter was destined to be excellent from birth, so it doesn’t matter whether she complains about it being tough or tiring. She just wanted you to understand her a little more, to listen to what she really thinks and to value her opinions. But you’re a cold-hearted man, uncle.”
Yu Hao could sense that Cen Shan’s thoughts and attitude were indeed as Fu Liqun had described. She never really cared much about what other people were thinking — she didn’t care about other people’s evaluations of herself and didn’t care about other people’s emotions. Because her father was like that, after Cen Shan had straightened things out with her father, the very next day, Cen Yongchang had completely ignored her and come to Ying City by himself to personally resolve this problem.
“If we can’t be together in the future,” Fu Liqun said earnestly, “and you plan to ignore her opinions again and choose a husband for her who would suit her status,”
“then, please choose a man who would really value what she wants to say and would value her feelings, who wouldn’t regard her as a vase or mere decoration. She has a lot that she wants to say; even if it’s very childish and even if she will always be a little girl in your eyes, but even the most childish person would have things they want to say. Please, uncle, let’s just leave it at this today?”
Cen Yongchang took something out of his suit pocket. Fu Liqun continued, “There’s no need for you to take your cheque out. I don’t want any money, no matter how much you offer.”
But what Cen Yongchang retrieved from his pocket was a pair of sunglasses. He put them on, stood up, and didn’t bother to talk to Fu Liqun any longer as he left straight away.
Everyone wanted to laugh, but because Cen Shan was here, it wouldn’t be appropriate for them to burst out laughing right in front of her. Zhou Sheng peeked out and tossed Yu Hao a glance from behind the booth. Yu Hao got up and left with Zhou Sheng.
Soon afterward, Ou Qihang and Chen Yekai left as well. Only Fu Liqun remained sitting in the cafe. He saw a group of ants form a group as they came over and carried away a piece of sugar by the window. Under the sunlight, Fu Liqun and Cen Shan sat on two seats with their backs to each other.
“How long do you intend to sit here for?” Cen Shan’s voice suddenly rang out.
Fu Liqun was stunned. He looked up abruptly, and Cen Shan turned her head sideways and greeted him from behind her booth seat. With bloodshot eyes, she smiled, “Hi.”
“Hi.” Fu Liqun said with a smile, “Here to see ants?”
“Are there any?” Cen Shan sat beside Fu Liqun. The two of them looked at the group of ants.
Fu Liqun continued, “Wanna take the roller coaster?”
Cen Shan said, “Let’s go. We can talk after we take enough rides to get our money’s worth before the amusement park closes.”
Fu Liqun held Cen Shan’s hand as they quickly made their way downstairs to take the roller coaster.
Zhou Sheng and Yu Hao sat in the ferris wheel. Yu Hao looked out of the carriage and said, “Time flies by so quickly. It’s almost been three years within the blink of an eye.”
Zhou Sheng had one foot on the opposite seat as he looked out lazily. He studied Yu Hao absent-mindedly. Yu Hao said, “Look at the scenery ah, why are you looking at me?”
Zhou Sheng said, “Look at you now; when we just got together, you’d look at me with worshipful little eyes yo. Now that we’re sitting on the ferris wheel again, you don’t even pay any attention to Laozi, and all you do is look outside. Sigh.”
Yu Hao had a hint of a smile in his eyes. He glanced at Zhou Sheng, and Zhou Sheng got a shock. Yu Hao smiled as he said, “What kind of eyes? This kind?”
Zhou Sheng put his leg down and said, “Fuck, I’m hard.” As he spoke, he adjusted his belt.
Yu Hao, “……”
The ferris wheel slowly revolved past the apex. Zhou Sheng’s face was actually a little red. He gently bumped against Yu Hao with one foot and said, “Hey, say something?”
“Excuse me.” Yu Hao looked intoxicated as he smiled and he didn’t want to look at Zhou Sheng.
“We’ve already been married for so long.” Zhou Sheng said, “And you’d still get shy?”
Yu Hao laughed until he leaned against the window. Zhou Sheng reached out to pull his hand. Yu Hao wanted to block and turned his head sideways, yet Zhou Sheng leaned in close to look at him and pursed his lips to kiss him. For a moment, both of them remembered the day of the confession. Yu Hao’s face flushed red, and for some reason, in this same exact environment, the confession of three years ago seemed like it had just happened yesterday, and he couldn’t stop his heart from rippling.
“Let’s kiss.” Zhou Sheng said, “Quick, the ferris wheel will reach the bottom soon.”
“If you want to kiss we can do it at home…” Yu Hao’s face turned red.
But Zhou Sheng didn’t mind him. He pressed down on his nape and moved in to seriously and gently kiss him. Yu Hao’s hands were propped against the seat at first, but he couldn’t help but lift his arms and loop them around Zhou Sheng’s neck.
“We’re about to reach……”
“It’s still early……”
A phone rang. Zhou Sheng glanced at it. “Fuck.” He rejected it and wanted to kiss Yu Hao again. His phone rang again, Zhou Sheng hung up again, but his phone refused to give up as the other side kept calling.
“Who is it?”
“The bastard.”
“……”
Yu Hao was afraid that it was something important. He looked at Zhou Sheng’s phone — Old White-eyed Wolf.
“Pick up ba, it’s the New Year.” Yu Hao said.
“It definitely won’t be anything good.” Zhou Sheng answered, but still picked up.
“Ai, Director Zhou, Happy New Year ah.” Zhou Sheng put his phone on loudspeaker mode. The ferris wheel arrived at the station, then Zhou Sheng held Yu Hao’s hand to get out. He held his phone with an irritated expression on his face.
Zhou Laichun’s voice rang out, “Let’s eat dinner together ba. Is Yu Hao around?”
Zhou Sheng said, “Another family dinner? Don’t ba? The last time Yu Hao personally witnessed how you were dragged by my Mum to perform a ‘Smashing Rock on Chest’ act. He hasn’t recovered from that trauma yet.”
Zhou Laichun calmly said, “It’ll just be me. There’s nothing urgent, it’ll really just be a chat. The car is on standby at the entrance of the amusement park, you can come over at any time. I’ll wait for the two of you until 10 PM.”
Zhou Sheng hung up and stood with Yu Hao under the ferris wheel. Yu Hao looked down at his WeChat and said, “Qihang bumped into his high school classmates, so he’ll be eating dinner with them. Chen Laoshi is going to visit Liang Laoshi, so he won’t be waiting for us.”
Zhou Sheng pondered for a bit and said, “Okay, don’t worry, we can meet up again in Beijing.”
“Are we going?” Yu Hao asked.
“What do you say?” Zhou Sheng held his phone and spun it a few rounds. With an arm draped around Yu Hao, they arrived at the entrance of the amusement park. The chauffeur was waiting.
Yu Hao said, “Has he given in?”
Zhou Sheng shrugged.
“If he has, will we still return?” Yu Hao said.
“What do you think?” Zhou Sheng asked instead. Yu Hao didn’t say anything, yet Zhou Sheng smiled and embraced him, then faced sideways to kiss him.
Yu Hao went to buy two cups of hot beverages. Zhou Sheng looked up at his family’s car. The two of them didn’t go over. The chauffeur appeared slightly melancholic as he looked at them across the parking lot.
—
