Zhang Shutong sat in the back seat and could see everything clearly, which is why every time he thought about rolling down the window a bit, his hand would reach the control switch only to stop.
"Why aren't you two talking anymore?"
Old Song asked curiously while overtaking cars, though on this small island there weren't many cars—he was mostly overtaking bicycles, which only looked cool.
No one paid him any attention.
"Want to go out and have some fun? How about tomorrow I take you two to the city to see a movie—let's watch 2012, it's a newly released American blockbuster. My treat, unlimited popcorn and drinks." The man spoke grandly, staring ahead as he rattled off these random suggestions. "But we have to watch the original English version, okay? Good chance to practice your listening comprehension. When you get back, you'll both need to write me an English review."
Still, no one paid him any attention.
Zhang Shutong, for instance, couldn't understand at all how he'd jumped from elopement to movies to listening practice.
"How about we go to the amusement park instead? Bumper cars are pretty affordable—10 yuan for unlimited time. Shutong, you and Qiumian can share one car, I'll take another, and we'll see who can bump who." They say every man has a childlike heart, and this proved absolutely true. He himself got increasingly animated. "The Ferris wheel is nice too, though the best time to go is at night. But if we play at night, there won't be any boats back, so it'll have to be during the day. Let me tell you, I've never even ridden it. There was this one time I'd already bought the tickets, but then it started raining..."
Even Zhang Shutong, dense as he was, could pick up on the underlying meaning in Old Song's words. Was he trying to play matchmaker? He was about to ask, "Where's your integrity as a people's teacher?" when he heard Song Nanshan getting more and more into it:
"After we're done playing, we'll go to KFC for lunch. You guys know about the Tender Beef Wrapper, right? I heard it's about to be discontinued, won't be available anymore after that. If we go now we can still catch the last batch..."
He'd originally been lazily steering with one hand, but as he said this, he straightened up excitedly. Clearly the Tender Beef Wrapper was truly important to him.
Zhang Shutong then thought that maybe his judgment was off—this old guy approaching thirty just wanted to go have fun himself but felt embarrassed about it, so he needed to bring two students along as cover.
Song Nanshan didn't put on any airs outside of school. After talking for ages without anyone responding, he complained:
"I'm offering to pay and you two still won't give me any face? Shutong, how about we chat about your experience as a Flower Guardian, and Qiumian can also talk about being..."
At that moment, the song on the radio was approaching its end, the vocals full of emotion, repeating the phrase "Take you and elope" over and over—elope, elope, elope, elope... The word filled their heads completely. Zhang Shutong and Gu Qiumian finally couldn't hold back, saying in unison:
"Can you please turn off the song first!"
"Oh, oh, too noisy? If you thought it was noisy you should've said so earlier. I thought you two were staying quiet because you were listening to the song..."
"Who would listen to such an awful song?" Gu Qiumian replied irritably. Miss Gu's taste really was different—Zhang Shutong just felt it was inappropriate for the moment, but he didn't think it was awful.
"Hey, hey, Qiumian, you hurt my feelings saying that. Teacher actually quite likes this song. Look at the first line of lyrics: 'Dedicate youth to the glorious city behind.' Though our island isn't glorious, I really have dedicated my youth here..."
"Teacher, why would you ride the Ferris wheel alone?" Gu Qiumian would definitely make a great businesswoman in the future—she simply ignored whatever she didn't want to hear.
"What do you mean alone? How could anyone ride the Ferris wheel alone? Of course it was with my girlfriend." Song Nanshan said disdainfully. "This is exactly why I say you kids don't understand anything."
"So where's your girlfriend?" Gu Qiumian asked curiously. Apparently as long as she didn't have to listen to "elopement," she didn't mind having a conversation.
"Uh, we broke up."
This was the first time Zhang Shutong learned that Old Song had an ex-girlfriend. But this ex must have been pretty far in the "ex" category—at least during these four years of middle school, Old Song had been single. Otherwise, how would a guy with a girlfriend have time to drive around everywhere fooling around?
Song Nanshan didn't really want to discuss this topic:
"Come on, how did this turn into you two interrogating me? Just give me a straight answer—are you going to the city tomorrow or not? If you are, I'll come pick you both up."
"Not going." Miss Gu said with distaste. "The one in the city is too small—the Ferris wheel completes a rotation in ten minutes. How can it even call itself a Ferris wheel?"
Old Song could only laugh bitterly and say yes, yes, I know you're a rich young lady, Qiumian. The Ferris wheel in the city definitely can't compare to Disneyland or whatever. But for people of my generation when we were young, we already thought it was badass enough. It was the go-to dating spot for all the young folks. Back then tickets were super expensive, cost as much as a day's meals, and even then you'd still have to queue for an hour.
Gu Qiumian seemed quite unhappy about being called a rich young lady to her face. She rolled her eyes and said, "Teacher, can you be a bit more serious? First of all, Disney parks in China don't even have Ferris wheels. Second, when did I compare it to Disneyland? I was talking about the provincial capital. If you don't believe me, ask him."
"Him" naturally referred to Zhang Shutong.
Zhang Shutong's family were originally from the provincial capital; they only came to the island because his parents' work transferred them here.
Now that Gu Qiumian mentioned it, he did remember visiting a theme park called Happy Valley before. It really was an impressive place, built in the suburbs with an entire street of hotels around it. Compared to that, the one in the city could at most be called a children's playground.
A proper amusement park naturally had proper staff members wearing all kinds of fluffy mascot costumes, holding balloons, and there were clowns selling ice cream, making crowds of children laugh.
But when he was little, he wasn't interested in Ferris wheels. How could he waste precious time on something like that? Zhang Shutong always headed straight for the roller coasters, only to be carried away by the fluffy mascot people because he was too young, his feet kicking in midair.
Later, even when he was old enough, he rarely went. Zhang Shutong's parents were always busy. While other kids might get to watch movies, have fancy meals, AND go to amusement parks on weekends, he could only pick one of the three each week. And even then, his parents often couldn't both make it—either his mom would take him or his dad would, rarely both together.
So when he went with his dad, they'd go fishing and have barbecues outdoors. When he went with his mom, he'd sit in beauty salons holding a book, and there'd always be a bunch of aunties or older sisters pinching his cheeks. When he got home and looked in the mirror, he'd often find several lipstick marks, which annoyed Zhang Shutong to no end.
In any case, he just had no connection with amusement parks. But the Ferris wheel that Gu Qiumian mentioned—as a landmark structure, he did have an impression of it—
Every night it would light up with colorful LED strips, and you could see its massive silhouette against the night sky from far away on the elevated highway.
Zhang Shutong nodded to confirm that Miss Gu wasn't lying, and added an extra memory: he remembered there was a shop selling rainbow cotton candy under the Ferris wheel. He'd never ridden the Ferris wheel, but he had eaten the cotton candy. He thought Gu Qiumian would nod and say she'd eaten it too, but instead she said she hadn't—going to the amusement park was something from a long time ago.
Zhang Shutong thought to himself how long ago this "long time" must have been. When he ate the cotton candy he was only in elementary school. But he was immediately interrupted by Song Nanshan.
Old Song ground his teeth and said this reminded him that you two are both big city kids. If it were Ruoping and the others, they'd be cheering excitedly already. Taking you two out to play really gives no sense of accomplishment.
"But there's something I've been curious about for a long time. Can I ask about it today?"
"What is it?" Zhang Shutong thought, do you also want cotton candy?
But Song Nanshan blurted out:
"Actually, I've been wondering for a long time—since you're both from the provincial capital, and you both transferred schools on the same day, Shutong and Qiumian, did you two know each other before?"