Once inside the amusement park, the stubborn girl and her loyal followers quickly realized the harsh reality of not upgrading.
Their first stop was the Nightingale Roller Coaster, with the display showing a wait time of ninety minutes.
Shen Xingruo was skeptical. She walked and talked with Lu Xingyan, presenting a logical analysis, and concluded that “ninety minutes is a conservative estimate by the park” and speculated that the actual wait time should be halved.
Lu Xingyan, having no say in the matter, simply nodded along.
Approaching the queue entrance for the Nightingale Roller Coaster, the displayed wait time had already been updated to a hundred minutes.
Lu Xingyan glanced at Shen Xingruo and couldn’t help but ask, “Are you sure?”
Shen Xingruo gave him a quick once-over.
Before she could respond, Lu Xingyan quickly relented, making an OK gesture.
He understood. Someone who couldn’t even score 400 in exams had no right to question the top student.
Ironically, Lu Xingyan had never been so eager for school to start. It was only by returning to school that he could receive his final exam results and wash away the humiliation of scoring below 400.
Passing through alleyways and courtyards, they finally reached the queue point for the roller coaster. Still divided by zigzag barriers, but this time, there were only three short lines, and the crowd wasn’t as dense.
In less than twenty minutes, Lu Xingyan and Shen Xingruo made it to the first line.
Ahead was a dim door with a Gothic wooden sign hanging above it, bearing six words—”The King’s Little Garden.”
Lu Xingyan casually remarked, “Why so fast? Aren’t we going to continue queuing after entering here?”
Shen Xingruo remained silent.
Five minutes later, Lu Xingyan’s prophecy came true.
They stepped through the door and entered the King’s Little Garden.
The garden was beautifully decorated, with fake flowers and grass around, walls projecting floral scenes, and a starry sky projected overhead.
It was a beautiful sight, but what good was it if they still had to wait in line?
The so-called King’s Little Garden was just a beautiful, air-conditioned waiting area. It was much cooler inside than outside, but also much more crowded.
Forty minutes later, with only two lines left in front of them, Lu Xingyan spoke up again:
“Shen Xingruo, do you think there will be a King’s Big Garden ahead?”
Before Shen Xingruo could glare at him, the people queuing with them all turned their gazes towards him, particularly a man who had just appeased his girlfriend, his eyes the sharpest.
In the instant Lu Xingyan met his gaze, he decoded the deeper meaning behind his eyes: “Bro shut up already.”
Fifteen minutes later, Lu Xingyan’s ominous prediction came true once again.
At the end of the line was another dim door, with a wooden sign above the entrance—The King’s Grand Garden.
The Grand Garden was even more beautiful than the Little Garden, resembling daytime garden scenery. It was also larger, with approximately double the number of people queuing compared to the Little Garden and the area outside.
They were stuck in a very awkward position.
Ahead, there was a sea of people, and behind, there was another. It would be quite a feat to leave, requiring them to navigate through numerous obstacles. Moreover, Lu Xingyan dared not suggest anything like “let’s not queue anymore” or “let’s leave” to avoid another lecture about how giving up halfway would never lead to success.
But at this moment, Shen Xingruo truly didn’t want to queue anymore.
However, since the decision had been hers, and she had never done anything that would embarrass herself, she waited silently for Lu Xingyan to speak, allowing him to give her a way out.
For this opportunity, she occasionally hinted, “Lu Xingyan, I’m feeling a bit tired.”
“Lu Xingyan, the air doesn’t seem to be circulating well.”
Lu Xingyan: “I feel the same.”
Shen Xingruo: “…”
She gave up and refused to engage in any further communication with Lu Xingyan.
Lu Xingyan didn’t mind. He leaned against the wall and played with his phone casually.
When he glanced up again, he happened to see Shen Xingruo biting her lip, her head drooping, occasionally lifting her leg to stretch.
Her fluffy ponytail, tied up earlier, had already come undone quite a bit in the endless queue. A strand of hair fell onto her slender cheek, making her look somewhat aggrieved.
Lu Xingyan felt a bit stunned. Suddenly, he put away his phone, stood up straight, and gently pulled Shen Xingruo’s arm.
Shen Xingruo’s feet were sore, from toe to heel, stiff and painful. Suddenly being pulled back, she stumbled backward.
After regaining her balance, she turned and asked, “What are you doing?”
Lu Xingyan lowered his gaze and gestured, “Step on my shoes.”
Shen Xingruo didn’t understand.
Lu Xingyan explained, “Your feet hurt, right? Step on my shoes and take it easy.”
Would that work?
Shen Xingruo hesitantly lifted one foot and placed the tip on his shoe, then did the same with the other.
It seemed to ease the discomfort a bit.
Seeing Shen Xingruo struggling to maintain her balance, Lu Xingyan reached out and gently pressed her head against his chest. “Lean on me,” he said softly.
Shen Xingruo: “…”
It felt strange.
Through the thin layer of the T-shirt, she could feel Lu Xingyan’s warmth and catch a faint scent that belonged to him.
The faint scent of shower gel, mixed with a hint of tobacco, lingered in the air. She wondered when he started sneaking cigarettes again.
Slowly, Shen Xingruo tried to relax a bit, leaning her body weight onto Lu Xingyan’s chest. She couldn’t help but feel a sense of protection. It was reminiscent of the feeling she used to have when Shen Guangyao was still around.
Lu Xingyan had lost feeling in his legs a while ago, but the moment Shen Xingruo leaned on him, he suddenly felt all fatigue dissipate. Standing for another eight hours wouldn’t be a problem!
Finally, they reached the Nightingale Roller Coaster after a solid hundred minutes.
They sat in the same row, with the cable car above their heads and nothing but emptiness below, as the safety lock clicked into place, restricting their movements. Looking down, it was somewhat terrifying.
Lu Xingyan ruffled Shen Xingruo’s hair. “Hey, Shen Xingruo, don’t be afraid. If you are, just grab onto my arm, squeeze as hard as you want.”
Shen Xingruo: “…”
She wasn’t scared. Right now, she just wanted to finish and find a place to rest. But Lu Xingyan thought she was so scared that she lost all facial expression, so he continued to reassure her. “Relax a bit. It’s not that scary. Just scream if you need to. I won’t laugh at you.”
Shen Xingruo gave him a cold look. “Scream? How childish.”
She didn’t scream. She maintained a poker face.
Unbeknownst to others, they might have mistaken her for a professional tester who had ridden the coaster a hundred times and felt nothing anymore.
Shen Xingruo wasn’t afraid, but she wasn’t completely unaffected either. When the roller coaster reached the highest point of its vertical descent, she closed her eyes.
Amidst the scorching sun and the roaring wind, at the moment of acceleration, the intense feeling of weightlessness made her heart skip a beat.
At the same time, her left hand was suddenly held, and warmth flowed into her body through the palm.
Amidst the deafening high-pitched screams coming from all directions, she heard a voice saying, “Shen Xingruo, don’t be afraid. I’m here.”
His voice was as lazy and carefree as ever, yet it carried a soothing tone.
Shen Xingruo suddenly opened her eyes.
As the entire world presented itself vertically before her, she turned her head slightly and saw Lu Xingyan squinting, his lips curling upwards, embracing the wind and the sunlight with abandon.
For many years to come, when she would fall asleep in Lu Xingyan’s arms every night, she would still recall that moment.
On a sunny summer day, the wind caressed his profile.
At that moment, Shen Xingruo’s heart raced, partly due to the exhilarating experience of the vertical drop, and partly due to the boy beside her, who was doing his best to make her feel safe.
Shen Xingruo felt as if the whole world should love him just as she did when she was seventeen.
When they came down from the Nightingale Roller Coaster, it was already half past one in the afternoon, and the sunlight was intense. They had left home at around eight in the morning, and surprisingly, it took them until half past one in the afternoon to finish the first ride.
Shen Xingruo was so tired that she couldn’t speak. She sat on a bench outside the roller coaster exit, trying to catch her breath.
Lu Xingyan, on the other hand, had plenty of energy left and was leisurely browsing in the souvenir shop.
After resting for five minutes, Shen Xingruo was about to get up and find Lu Xingyan when he happened to come out of the shop with a cup of ice-cold cola in his hand. He handed the cola to Shen Xingruo.
Shen Xingruo asked, “Did you only buy one cup?”
Lu Xingyan absentmindedly nodded and admitted, “I ran out of money.”
Shen Xingruo: “?”
Had he reached this level of poverty?
Lu Xingyan: “This amusement park is outrageous. Everything is so expensive. This cup of cola with ice cubes from KFC only costs eight yuan there, but here it’s sold for twenty-five.”
Shen Xingruo: “…”
The young master had encountered the concept of “expensive” in his life.
She put down the cola and took out her wallet, handing it to Lu Xingyan. “I still have money. You go buy it.”
Lu Xingyan glanced at her but didn’t take it. Absentmindedly, he said, “It’s okay, you drink. Xu Chengzhou will transfer money over later.”
Then he sat down beside her, his arm resting on the back of her seat.
Shen Xingruo looked at the cola that had cost Lu Xingyan all his money and found it hard to swallow. After a moment’s hesitation, she opened the lid, drank it all herself, then changed sides and handed it to Lu Xingyan. “Here, I haven’t drunk from this side. You have it.”
Lu Xingyan lowered his eyelids and suddenly took the cola from her hand.
Seeing that he had taken it, Shen Xingruo didn’t stare at him anymore. Instead, she looked at the map of the park.
Just as she looked away, Lu Xingyan quietly turned the cola around and took two sips along the side Shen Xingruo had drunk from.
Then he concluded: Twenty-five yuan cola is indeed different! Refreshing and delicious, it can relieve fatigue! A must-have for traveling!
However, Lu Xingyan hadn’t reached the point where he had only twenty-five yuan left in his entire bank account. He still had around three hundred yuan in his phone. However, he had just bought a stack of candid photos at the store for thirty-five yuan each, which was an exorbitant price.
Originally, he only wanted to buy one as a keepsake, but every single candid photo of him and Shen Xingruo turned out exceptionally good!
There was one capturing their intertwined hands, one with Shen Xingruo looking at him, one with Shen Xingruo smiling…
He had to buy them all! Otherwise, he wouldn’t be a true Chinese person!
Shen Xingruo looked so good in those photos, and he had to own them all!!!
After buying a stack of photos, he messaged Xu Chengzhou to hurry up and transfer money over. Today, he was determined to buy all of Shen Xingruo’s merchandise!