Chapter 31: Childhood Sweethearts (Part 2)

Zhang Shutong sat in the back, seeing everything quite clearly. Several times, he reached out to roll down the window, only to withdraw his hand from the crank.

"Why have you two gone quiet?"

Old Song asked with curious enthusiasm while passing another vehicle. Unfortunately, on this small island, cars were rare; he was usually just passing bicycles, though he did it with a certain flair.

No one answered him.

"Do you two want to go somewhere fun? How about I take you both to the city tomorrow to catch a movie? We can see '2012,' that new American blockbuster. My treat—all the popcorn and drinks you can handle." The man spoke with grand generosity, his eyes fixed on the road ahead as he rambled. "But we have to watch the original English version. It’ll be perfect for practicing your listening skills. You two will have to write me a review in English when we get back."

Still, no one answered him.

Zhang Shutong, for one, could not fathom how he had leaped from the topic of elopement to movies, and then to English listening practice.

"Or how about the amusement park? The bumper cars are a great deal, ten yuan for unlimited time. Shutong, you and Qiumian can take one, and I'll take one, and we'll see who can bump into whom." They say every man keeps a bit of childlike wonder in his heart, and that was certainly true here; he grew quite animated himself. "The Ferris wheel is nice too, though it’s best at night. But if we go at night, there won't be any boats back, so it has to be during the day. I tell you, I've never actually been on it. I even bought tickets once, but it ended up raining..."

Even if Zhang Shutong were slow on the uptake, he could hear the subtext in Old Song’s words. Was he trying to play matchmaker? He wanted to ask where his integrity as a teacher had gone, but Song Nanshan was only gathering steam:

"After we’re done, we can go to KFC for lunch. You know those Beef Twisters? I hear they’re about to be taken off the menu. If we don’t go now, we might never get to eat them again..."

He had been resting one hand lazily on the steering wheel, but as he said this, he straightened up with genuine excitement. It seemed the Beef Twister really was a matter of great importance to him.

Zhang Shutong reconsidered. Perhaps his judgment was off; maybe this man, pushing thirty, just wanted to go play but felt it would be embarrassing, so he had to drag two students along as cover.

Song Nanshan didn't stand on ceremony outside of school. After talking for a long time without a response, he complained:

"I'm offering to treat you, and you won't even give me the time of day? Shutong, how about we talk about your thoughts on being a knight in shining armor? And Qiumian, you can tell me later about being..."

At that moment, the song on the radio neared its end. The vocalist’s voice was filled with intense emotion, the line "Take you and elope" repeating over and over. *Elope, elope, elope, elope...* The word filled their heads until Zhang Shutong and Gu Qiumian finally couldn't take it anymore, crying out in unison:

"Can you please turn off the music!"

"Oh, oh, you find it noisy? You should have said so earlier! I thought you were both just listening to the song instead of talking..."

"Who would listen to such a terrible song?" Gu Qiumian retorted sharply. Miss Gu certainly had unique taste. Zhang Shutong just thought it didn't fit the mood, but he didn't think it was terrible.

"Hey, hey, Qiumian, you’re hurting my feelings. Your teacher actually quite likes this song. Look, the first line is about dedicating one's youth to that glorious city behind us. Though our island isn't glorious, I really have dedicated my youth to this place..."

"Teacher, why would you go on a Ferris wheel by yourself?" Gu Qiumian would surely be a sharp businessperson in the future; she simply ignored whatever she didn't want to hear.

"Who said anything about being by myself? How can you go on a Ferris wheel alone? Of course, you go with a girlfriend," Song Nanshan said dismissively. "That’s why I say you kids don’t understand anything."

"Then where is your girlfriend?" Gu Qiumian asked curiously. It seemed that as long as they weren't talking about eloping, she didn't mind chatting a bit more.

"Uh, we broke up."

This was the first time Zhang Shutong had heard that Old Song had an ex-girlfriend. But that ex-girlfriend must have been a long time ago; at the very least, Old Song had been single for the four years of middle school. Otherwise, how would a man with a girlfriend have the time to drive around fooling about?

Song Nanshan didn't seem keen on pursuing the topic:

"Go on, go on, how did the interrogation turn on me? Give me a straight answer: are we going to the city tomorrow or not? If you are, I’ll drive you."

"No," Miss Gu said with disdain. "The one in the city is too small. The Ferris wheel finishes a full rotation in ten minutes. How can you even call that a Ferris wheel?"

Old Song laughed bitterly and said, "Yes, yes, I know, you’re a young lady of high standards. The city’s Ferris wheel certainly can't compare to Disney or places like that. But for my generation, we thought it was pretty impressive back then. It was a holy site for young couples dating. The tickets were very expensive—costing a whole day’s food money—and even then, you had to wait in line for an hour."

Gu Qiumian seemed annoyed at being called "young lady" to her face. She rolled her eyes and said, "Teacher, can you be serious? And when did I compare it to Disney? I’m talking about the one in the provincial capital. If you don't believe me, ask him."

"Him" naturally referred to Zhang Shutong.

Zhang Shutong’s family was originally from the provincial capital; they had only moved to the island due to his parents' job transfers.

Prompted by Gu Qiumian, he recalled visiting a Happy Valley park once. It truly was a grand place, built in the suburbs with an entire street of hotels surrounding it. If compared to that, the one in the city was, at best, a children’s playground.

A proper amusement park, of course, had proper staff—people in fuzzy mascot suits, holding balloons, and clowns selling ice cream, making the children roar with laughter.

However, he hadn't been interested in the Ferris wheel when he was a child. How could one waste precious time on such a thing? Zhang Shutong had always made a beeline for the roller coaster, only to be scooped up by a mascot because he was too young, his legs kicking in the air.

Later, as he got older, he didn't go many times. His parents were always busy. Other children might spend their weekends watching movies, eating big dinners, or going to amusement parks, but he could only choose one of the three each week. Even then, his parents could rarely manage it together; it was either his mother taking him or his father. They were rarely there at the same time.

So, when he was with his father, they would go fishing or have barbecues in the wild; with his mother, he would sit in a beauty salon reading books, often surrounded by aunts or older sisters pinching his cheeks. He’d often return home to see lipstick marks on his face, which drove him crazy.

In short, he was cut off from the amusement park life. But the Ferris wheel Gu Qiumian mentioned—as a landmark—was still in his memory.

Every night, it would light up with colorful neon strips, its massive silhouette visible against the night sky from far away on the viaduct.

Zhang Shutong nodded in agreement, proving Miss Gu wasn't lying, and added a specific memory: he remembered a stall under the Ferris wheel that sold rainbow cotton candy. He hadn't ridden the wheel, but he had eaten the candy. He expected Gu Qiumian to nod and say she had eaten it too, but to his surprise, she said she hadn't—that her trip to the amusement park was a long time ago.

Zhang Shutong wondered just how long ago that was. He had been in elementary school when he ate that cotton candy. But before he could dwell on it, Song Nanshan interrupted.

Old Song ground his teeth and said, "Now I remember—you two are both big-city kids. If it were Ruoping and the others, they would have been cheering with excitement already. Taking you two out is no fun at all."

"But there is one thing I’ve been curious about for a long time. Can I ask you today?"

"What is it?" Zhang Shutong wondered if he wanted to eat cotton candy too.

Song Nanshan blurted out:

"Actually, I’ve been wondering for a long time. Since you’re both from the provincial capital and transferred on the same day, did you two know each other before?"