Chapter 72
Chapter 72
The next day, Qin Song and He Qian took the documents to the Housing Authority to complete the property transfer procedures.
Hu Heng called, and Qin Song told him to keep an eye on the company for him these two days-he wouldn’t be coming in for now.
Qin Song asked He Qian, “What would you like to do today?”
He Qian thought for a moment. “I really can’t think of anything.”
Qin Song: “Let’s go to the amusement park.”
He Qian: “Isn’t that a place for kids?”
Qin Song: “The kids don’t have time now-they’re all in school. Come on.”
At the entrance, Qin Song bought He Qian an ice cream.
He Qian took a bite and said, “I feel like we’ve been to this amusement park before.”
Qin Song: “Yeah, we came here not long after we first met, back when we were still dating. You said you wanted to ride the merry-go-round.”
He Qian: “And then?”
Qin Song: “Then as soon as you got off, you threw up.”
He Qian: “…”
Qin Song: “I was shocked. It was the first time I saw someone get dizzy from a merry-go-round.”
He Qian: “For me, maybe only the Ferris wheel doesn’t make me dizzy… So what else did we do that day?”
Qin Song laughed. “What else could we do? You almost passed out. The rest of the rides were each more intense than the last-roller coaster, pendulum ride, log flume… You waited below while I went on them by myself.”
He Qian: “Okay, so what shall we do today?”
Qin Song: “Let’s ride the Ferris wheel.”
The two boarded the Ferris wheel, chatting idly while gazing at the scenery outside.
He Qian said, “We’ve never actually taken a photo together, have we?”
Qin Song: “No… Let’s take a selfie!”
Saying that, he opened his phone’s stock camera and switched to selfie mode.
He Qian laughed. “The stock camera makes us look so ugly.”
Qin Song laughed too and scratched his head. “Hold on, let me download a beauty camera app. Let me search.”
As he looked down at his phone, He Qian seemed to suddenly spot someone through the glass of the cabin; her expression gradually froze.
Qin Song: “What’s wrong? Scared of heights?”
He Qian stretched out her hand and pointed ahead. “Look at the person in that cabin…”
Qin Song turned his head for a look. “Oh, I see. Looks like a woman.”
He Qian narrowed her eyes. “Look more closely. Isn’t that…”
Qin Song turned his head again and studied the person sitting in the cabin behind them. His brain instantly throbbed-it was Huang Yuanrui!
Huang Yuanrui’s cabin was about three or four away from Qin Song and He Qian. God only knew when she had gotten on!
Now she sat alone in her cabin, expressionless and silent, watching Qin Song and He Qian.
He Qian grabbed Qin Song’s arm. “What’s she going to do? This is so creepy.”
Qin Song patted He Qian’s hand. “Don’t be scared. She’s on the Ferris wheel too. She can’t do anything unless she gets out of her cabin and climbs over the framework to reach us.”
He Qian couldn’t help but laugh. “That’s so ridiculous. Who would do something that crazy?”
Qin Song: “She’s exactly that crazy. Do you believe that if I call her right now and say something to provoke her, she’d actually climb over here, even if it means falling to her death?”
He Qian: “Then her personality is really terrifying.”
Qin Song turned and locked eyes with Huang Yuanrui. “Right now I honestly wish she’d just fall and die.”
Huang Yuanrui remained expressionless, staring fixedly at Qin Song. Then she raised the phone in her hand and waved it.
He Qian: “She wants you to check your phone?”
Qin Song glanced down at his phone and, sure enough, there was a new text message.
It seemed that after Qin Song had blocked all of Huang Yuanrui’s contacts, she had gotten a new number.
Qin Song opened the text and read the message.
“I will follow you until death.”
He Qian leaned over to look and sucked in a sharp breath. “Does she mean… follow you… or me?”
Qin Song said nothing, and replied to Huang Yuanrui: “Then you can go die.”
After sending it, he turned around and stared at Huang Yuanrui provocatively.
Huang Yuanrui looked down at her phone, then raised her head and started cursing furiously, pounding the cabin wall with her fist.
Her hair was a mess, piled unkempt on her shoulders; she looked haggard and hysterical.
Qin Song and He Qian watched her in silence, seeing only her mouth open and close as she shrieked something, but through the cabins they couldn’t hear a single sound.
He Qian: “She looks so frightening.”
Qin Song sneered, “Psycho cavewoman.”
He Qian: “I’m kind of curious-how did you end up with a lover like that…”
Qin Song: “Go ahead, laugh at me. I didn’t know she was this disgusting back then. She’s like a pile of dog shit-step on it once and the whole pair of shoes is ruined.”
He Qian: “Let’s finish this round and get off!”
Qin Song: “Okay.”
After getting off the Ferris wheel, He Qian glanced back. Huang Yuanrui’s cabin was slowly descending too. She still sat motionless inside, staring fixedly at Qin Song.
He Qian shivered. “Where should we go now? Should we head home?”
Qin Song: “We already bought the tickets, and we’ve only been on one ride. Why would we go home? She’s nearly ruined my whole life; I’m not going to let her ruin two tickets too.”
He Qian: “Then let’s hurry to the next ride-run, she’s almost down!”
With that, He Qian grabbed Qin Song’s hand and jogged off.
After turning a corner, He Qian stopped and peered through a cluster of bushes toward the Ferris wheel.
Huang Yuanrui had just gotten off. She walked forward quickly while looking left and right-she was searching for Qin Song!
He Qian: “She’s still looking for us; she doesn’t seem to be heading back.”
Qin Song: “She’s crazy, ignore her. Let’s keep playing. These are my last two days with you, and I just want to make the most of our final time together.”
He Qian: “Then let’s keep going, take a bunch of turns to shake her off!”
Qin Song: “Okay.”
He Qian pulled Qin Song along as they ran. Qin Song looked at her hand and suddenly thought of a girl he liked in middle school.
Back then, Qin Song was experiencing his first crush.
He and a girl in his class named Sun Xiaoke liked each other, but the idea of ‘dating’ hadn’t occurred to them yet. They just chatted about movies and class gossip, explained exam problems to each other, and that was it.
Back then, their quaint ‘dates’ weren’t at restaurants or cinemas-they’d arrange bike rides out into the countryside, or sneak into school together on weekends for a walk.
Qin Song once asked Xiaoke why they had to walk at school when there were so many playgrounds and pedestrian streets.
Xiaoke grinned mischievously and said walking at school was more thrilling.
Their school was completely closed during summer break, no students allowed.
So Xiaoke led Qin Song over the railings after dark, sneaking onto campus like thieves, then swaggering through the school’s corridor.
Every school has a corridor like that, wrapped in lush green vines and clusters of tiny purple flowers-you know the kind.
Xiaoke and Qin Song would walk and laugh along such a corridor. They didn’t hold hands or hug, just chatted happily, keeping a little distance.
The security guard spotted them on the monitors, hopped on his bike with a flashlight, and came looking.
When the beam of the flashlight hit the corridor floor, Xiaoke jumped up nimbly and said to Qin Song, “Run!”
The two darted out of the corridor, one after the other, and sprinted behind the teaching building. The guard pedaled after them, shouting in the local dialect, “Who are you people?! Stop right there!”
Qin Song’s heart pounded wildly as he ran, glancing back over his shoulder.
Xiaoke giggled and whispered, “This is so thrilling-like being chased in a movie!”
Then, as if she thought Qin Song was too slow, she grabbed his hand and led him in a sprint.
Just as they reached the back of the teaching building, Xiaoke suddenly tugged Qin Song around a corner and ducked into the bicycle shed, crouching down beside some bikes.
The guard pedaled on past, not noticing the two hidden in the shed.
When the guard was far away, Xiaoke covered her mouth and laughed.
Qin Song tapped her on the forehead. “What are you laughing at? Was it really that fun?”
Xiaoke: “Don’t you feel like we’re in a movie? It’s so fun and thrilling!”
As she said that, Xiaoke stood up to walk, but because the shed floor was uneven, she took a bad fall.
Qin Song doubled over laughing.
That was a summer twenty years ago.
Qin Song thought, twenty years later, another girl is holding my hand and running, dodging a ‘pursuit’ from behind.
But she’s not my girlfriend.
She’s my ex-wife.