Chapter 39: Amusement Park

"Xia Zunsheng! Can you please stop sticking to me like a dog-skin plaster?"

"I'm your aunt, not your mother!"

The afternoon Xia Cun disappeared, the weather was gloomy and threatened to rain. She came across a stray dog ​​and thought she might be one of its kind.

She followed the yellow dog through the streets and alleys, ran around in a vegetable market, and when she came out, it started raining.

At first, it was just a drizzle, and the dog kept running, so Xia Cun continued to follow it. It ran into the park and met a white dog on the way. They sniffed each other's butts, and then, probably getting bored, they soon parted ways and went their separate ways.

Why does the dog keep running?

What are they going to do?

The rain got heavier, dark clouds gathered, and the sky became increasingly gloomy.

The yellow dog disappeared after turning a corner. Where could it go? Xia Cun lost his goal and finally lost his way in the city.

She left home with nothing, not the old phone Xiao Lan had given her, nor the money for the subway ride. She hadn't found the police yet, but she had found a new game. She followed a figure with a red umbrella. The figure eventually walked into an apartment building in an old residential complex, turned around and folded the umbrella. Just then, the figure noticed her, opened the umbrella again, and came towards her. She suddenly turned and ran away like a frightened dog.

Then she passed an abandoned, old-fashioned playground. Concept drawings for a new development had been put up outside, awaiting construction. She went inside, reached the top of the slide, and peered under the canopy.

She remembered that she and Xiaolan had passed by a similar playground, but she was not sure if it was the same one. Xiaolan said that this kind of playground was her childhood memory, with a painted pirate ship, slides, seesaws...

Her mind began to wander, she felt a little hungry and sleepy, so she fell asleep under the canopy of the slide.

When I woke up, it was dark and the rain had stopped.

The wet slide was shining coldly. Xia Cun returned to the ground from under the awning and looked up at the sky. There were only a few lingering gray clouds in the clear night sky, and a cold white full moon hung in the sky.

There were no lights in the amusement park, and Xia Cun walked around relying on the moonlight or the city's light pollution. She saw a lake, and a little yellow duck tour boat by the lake was smiling at her in the moonlight.

The shipwrecked little rubber ducks drifted to different seas in groups, and more than ten years later, a group of duck fleets drifted to England. She jumped onto the duck boat, and ripples appeared on the water. She floated and swayed with the little rubber ducks. Will she drift to where she wants to go?

I miss my mom so much.

The little yellow duck boat was blown by the wind. When it reached the center of the pond, the wind stopped.

Xia Cun squatted beside the yellow duck boat, staring at the windless lake. The moon's reflection rippled the surface with every breeze. She watched intently for a long time, then a flash of white light suddenly flashed across the water. She blinked, then looked again. A luminous horse appeared in the water, seemingly galloping.

She opened her eyes wide in disbelief and lowered her head, but the boat shook and she heard Xiaolan's anxious call, but there was no time to look up because she seemed to have fallen into the lake.

Gulp gulp...

It seems to melt.

When Xia Cun woke up from her coma, she was already sleeping in her room. There was bright light outside the window, and Xia Lan was sleeping soundly beside her bed.

She touched Xia Lan's witch-like messy hair. Xia Lan hummed vaguely and raised her head.

Xia Cun's expression was calm, and he showed no remorse for running away from home. Xia Lan, perhaps aware of her guilt, remained silent. But in reality, during those silent moments, Xia Cun was simply wondering, was what happened yesterday a dream?

She said to Xia Lan, "I saw a flying horse."

Xia Lan said, "What a coincidence! I saw a monkey that could catch the moon."

Xia Cun didn't understand because she didn't remember falling into the lake. She only remembered a horse swimming under the water.

She was thinking about the horse as if it was the most unpredictable and dreamy thing in the world. It was not until a few days later when she saw a cartoon drawn by Little Blue and saw the little black cat approaching the puddle to look at the moon and Pegasus that she realized it was not a dream.

She wanted to find the horse.

So, Xia Lan took her back to the abandoned amusement park again, and then walked to the carousel by the lake. She pointed at one of the horses and asked her, "Is this the one?"

The painted carousel, with its roses and vines and blue glass eyes, was so pretty, but also so lonely.

"I want it."

"Wait, I'll steal it back home for you."

Three days later, a carousel with its poles sawed off was loaded onto a pickup truck. The truck drove away from the abandoned amusement park and finally arrived at the downstairs of the old public housing estate.

The no longer rotating carousel is quietly placed by the window of the girl's bedroom, like a prop left here by a magician, like a dream that has stopped.

She loved sitting on the wooden horse, as if the horse would carry her into the air. She loved it so much that she would keep it forever.

"What about you, Xia Cun? What are you planning to give him?" Zhuo Manyi asked her.

She wanted to answer that she didn't know, but a sudden resistance stood in the air, perhaps something like water pressure, preventing her from saying the answer.

What finally broke through the resistance was another answer. She stated it firmly, in her usual tone: "I will give him a horse."

She wanted to give Jiang Song her horse.

-

Jiang Song stayed up almost all night, taking photos of the carousel, posing face-to-face with it, sitting on it, slouching on it, and even circling it to take pictures from all angles...

After finally stopping, I opened the full album and compared them over and over again for a while. Finally, I picked out the photos to share, but in the end I did nothing.

He wanted to post it on Instagram, VOOM, and Moments, but he didn't want anyone else to see it because it was his gift. Jiang Song finally calmed down from his joy and thought he should say thank you to Xia Cun, so he sent her a message.

Ah, it turns out it’s already 03:28 in the morning. Will she be angry that he didn’t wait for her to say thank you?

Jiang Song thought about it and sent her the few photos he had carefully selected, including the one with Mu Ma face to face, and then edited the text: "So happy, I like it so much, it feels like a dream."

I hesitated before sending it out, so I deleted it and edited it in Japanese with the same words: "うれしい,好きだ...梦でも见てるみたい."

He finally had time to shower. Afterward, he checked his phone. No reply. He lay down on the bed. Still no reply. It was normal. She would have been asleep by this time.

There was no reply at 05:15, no reply at 06:07... At one point, he suddenly woke up and saw that it was already 9:30 in the morning. Oops, he overslept. In a panic, he hurriedly unlocked his phone, but still received no reply.

“…”

Sadness.

He buried himself in the bed and typed another message: "Can I come to your house to play today?"

It didn't seem right to just say I was going to her house.

So I changed the question: "Can you play with me today?"

I just don't think it's right.

Got it! He reworded: "Can I play with you today?"

When the message was delivered, he jumped out of bed and touched the wooden horse a few more times on the way to the bathroom.うれしいうれしいうれしい…

After coming out of the bathroom, the whole person leaned on the wooden horse again, leaning against the pillar. 悲しい悲しい悲しい悲しい……

Finally, around ten o'clock, Xia Cun's message came.

Xia Zang Zang Zang: "I just woke up."

Xia Zun Zun Zun: "Although I really want to agree to Jiang Song, I already have an appointment today."

Hayate: "Are you mad at me?"

Why did he ask that? Xia Cun was puzzled and asked him why.

Hayate: "Because I was so overwhelmed with the gift I received, I didn't even say thank you."

It seems that Jiang Song is really good at using idioms.

Xia Zunxing Zunxing: "You said it."

I mentioned it last night after he said the gift was so heavy, but he probably didn’t realize it himself.

Xia Cun saved those photos and took out the photo album he had hidden under the bed before leaving yesterday. Well, these photos can also be printed out and pasted inside, かわいい.

After chatting with Jiang Song for a few more words, she washed, changed her clothes, and went out to keep her appointment with Ren Yi and Miao Wen.

On the other side, someone knocked on Jiang Song's door, and a female voice rang out from outside: "Get up? Sa-chan?" (Are you up? Xiao Sa-chan?)

"はい."

He jumped down from the wooden horse and went to open the door.

-

Jiang Song probably has two names: Jiang Song in Chinese and Tanaka Sa in Japanese. The Japanese kanji "撒" (Sā) is pronounced as はやて (Hayate) in kunyomi and as そう (Sō) in yonyomi. When used as a name, it's usually pronounced as そう, which sounds pretty much the same as his Chinese name, "Song."

But Xia Cun believes that there is another Japanese kanji that sounds very similar to "Song", even more similar than "Sa", and that is the character "Cun", which is pronounced as ソン (Son) in Japanese, so why is classmate Jiang Song not called Tanaka Cun?

Xia Cun had this silly thought while sitting on the subway, and he couldn't help but curl up the corners of his mouth, but then he suppressed it again. Maybe this was the completely unrelated thing Xiao Lan was talking about.

Ms. Tanaka calls Jiang Song "Xiao Song" or "Sa-chan". When Xia Cun heard the latter name, he couldn't help but think of the way Jiang Song called her, Sonzai-chan, which sounded only with the word "在" added to his name.

So interesting.

Is Xiao Lan right? She can learn Japanese, but what can she do with it? Xia Cun thought about this and finally walked to the entrance of the mall. Ren Yi and Miao Wen were already waiting for her at the door.

Ren Yi had a stern face, and when Xia Cun approached, she asked, "What were you thinking about on the road today?" Because this guy had not replied to her messages, and he didn't say a word when she asked him where he was going.

He should be thinking about Jiang Song, but that's not the right answer. Xia Cun said frankly, "I'm thinking about studying."

"No one would believe that."

"real."

“…”

Even though I didn't believe it, it was hard to continue to doubt it.

Ren Yi was discouraged and took the lead to walk into the mall. The three of them bought milk tea and lined up for lunch outside a barbecue restaurant, while talking about Jiang Song’s birthday party yesterday.

This was clearly the highlight. After Ren Yi learned from Miao Wen that Xia Cun had disappeared since they entered the banquet hall, she sent him several messages, but didn't hear back from him until bedtime. It was obvious she'd been with Jiang Song the entire time, and what they'd been doing together was exactly what she and Miao Wen, the two judges, were going to do today.

Xia Cun omitted the part where they held hands, and also omitted the part where she made Jiang Song cry, and only talked about the jellyfish wall.

The black-faced judge said, "You inhumane Celestial Dragons! Jellyfish are so cute, yet they're locked up."

The white-faced judge said, "Wow, how dreamy."

Xia Cun skipped their conversation about gifts and the minivan and went straight to talking about Jiang Song coming home.

The black-faced judge gritted his teeth and said, "What? Take him home now?"

The white-faced judge smiled broadly: "Woo, woo, how heartwarming."

Ren Yi turned to look at Miao Wen. This guy is simply shipping their couple!

Miao Wen received the girl's glare and immediately sipped her milk tea, pretending nothing had happened. She thought to herself, she is indeed a cool sister!

Then the two continued to question her, and Xia Cun omitted the fact that Jiang Song had entered her bedroom, and of course omitted the fact that they had exchanged gifts. She didn't want Ren Yi to know about this for the time being, because she might get angry with her again.

The stern-faced judge's expression softened a bit at this point: "After all this trouble, I just want to send you home."

The white-faced judge then asked thoughtfully, "The time doesn't match, does it?"

The banquet started at 7 o'clock and ended at 10:30, but the main character of the banquet did not show up to see the guests off until the end, which means that Jiang Song was not at home at that time. And the things she said did not sound like they would take so long, right?

Xia Cun: “…”

Miao Wen can become a detective.

Fortunately, the waiter called their numbers at this time. Ren Yi didn't realize the information gap at all and was the first to enter the store.

At the dinner table, Miao Wen happily exclaimed when she talked about her new anime, "Speaking of which, it's all thanks to Jiang Song. After Mr. Mizuno said that to my dad, I've been having such a great time lately." Then she talked about her plans for the rest of the holiday and asked the two of them, "What about you guys? How are you planning?"

"I'll finish the study tasks my mom assigned to me first, so she won't have anything to say when we go to the new base to play."

"Wow, when can I see our sister Ren playing drums?"

"I'll call you another day." Ren Yi said, then turned to Xia Cun. "What about you?" He paused. "Are you going to be stuck with your classmate Jiang Song for the entire summer vacation?"

Xia Cun was flipping chicken wings when he turned his head and asked the girl, "Is that okay?"

Ren Yi: “…”

Never mind, she is a ninja, she endures it.

Xia Cun was still looking at her, and suddenly said in a non-seriously way, "I'll do something before the end of summer."

"Hmm? Do something?"

"I haven't decided yet."

“…”

"But I'll do something."

Okay, I'm talking nonsense again, but what's with this inexplicable drive!

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The author has something to say: Please imagine the very motivated paralyzed face kiddo [pat head][pat head][pat head]

What should I do?! My friend, after reading the previous chapter, expressed his concern for this gift and said, "Don't give it to me." (She really does give away good things [poorly] (speaker) Please ask Jiang Song to return Xia to Xiao Ma!

* Encyclopedia of the Little Rubber Duck Story: In 1992, a Chinese cargo ship carrying nearly 30,000 rubber ducks from Chenghai (China's toy capital) was bound for Washington State, USA, when it encountered a severe storm in the Pacific. The ducks scattered from the damaged container formed a "Duck Fleet" and began their "imaginary journey," with the farthest reaching over 30,000 kilometers.

Very cute old news, Xia Qing’s mother will tell it to the baby (>_<)