From the back, Zhang Shutong could see it very clearly. Every time he considered rolling the window down a bit, his hand would touch the lever, then stop.
"Why aren't you two talking?" Teacher Song, with time to spare, asked curiously while driving. Unfortunately, since they were on a small island, there were very few cars. He was usually passing bicycles, but he still looked very suave.
No one paid him any attention.
"Where do you guys want to go to have fun? How about I take you two to the city to watch a movie tomorrow? We can watch 2012, the new American blockbuster. My treat. Plenty of popcorn and drinks." Staring ahead, he said frivolous things. "But we have to watch the original English version, so you can practice your listening skills. When you get back, you have to write me a review in English."
Still, no one responded.
For example, Zhang Shutong couldn't understand how he went from elopement to movies to listening practice.
"Or how about we go to the amusement park? The bumper cars are a great deal. Ten yuan for unlimited time. Shutong, you and Qiumian can be in one car, and I'll be in another. We'll see who can win," they say every man has a childish heart, and this was certainly true for him. He himself became animated. "The Ferris wheel is also pretty good, but the best time to go is at night. But if we play at night, there won't be any boats to get back. We can only go during the day. Let me tell you, I've never been on one. One time I bought the tickets, but it started to rain..."
Even Zhang Shutong, who was slow, could hear the other meaning in Teacher Song's words. Was he trying to play matchmaker? He was about to ask where his integrity as a teacher was when he heard Song Nanshan get even more excited:
"After we're done playing, we'll go to KFC for lunch. You guys know about the Crispy Beef Five-sided Sandwich, right? I heard it's going to be taken off the menu soon, and we won't be able to eat it anymore. We can still catch the last train if we go now..."
He had been lazily holding the steering wheel with one hand, but when he said this, he excitedly sat up straight. It seemed that the Crispy Beef Five-sided Sandwich was very important to him.
Zhang Shutong thought that perhaps his judgment was wrong. This old man who was almost thirty just wanted to go and have fun, but he was too embarrassed, so he had to bring two students along.
Song Nanshan didn't have much of an ego outside of school. After talking for a long time with no one paying attention, he complained:
"I'm treating you, and you two still won't give me some face? Shutong, how about we talk about how it felt to be a knight in shining armor? Qiumian, you can also talk about how it felt to be..."
At this time, the song on the radio was nearing its end. The singer's voice was full of emotion. "Take you and elope" was repeated over and over again. Elope, elope, elope, elope... The word was all that was in their minds. Zhang Shutong and Gu Qiumian finally couldn't hold back and said in unison:
"Can you please turn off the song!"
"Oh, oh, it's annoying. You should have said so earlier. I thought you two were just listening to the song and not talking..."
"Who listens to such an awful song?" Gu Qiumian replied testily. The rich girl's taste was indeed different. Zhang Shutong just thought it was out of place, but he didn't think it was awful.
"Hey, Qiumian, what you said hurt me. I actually like this song. The first line is 'I dedicated my youth to the glorious city behind me.' Although our island isn't glorious, I really did dedicate my youth here..."
"Teacher, why would you ride the Ferris wheel alone?" Gu Qiumian would definitely be a good businesswoman in the future. She would just pretend not to hear things she didn't want to hear.
"What do you mean alone? You can't ride a Ferris wheel alone!" Song Nanshan said disdainfully. "That's why I'm saying you two kids don't know anything."
"Then where's your girlfriend?" Gu Qiumian asked curiously. It seemed that as long as she wasn't listening to "Elopement," she didn't mind talking more.
"Uh, we broke up."
This was the first time Zhang Shutong had ever heard that Teacher Song had a girlfriend. But the ex-girlfriend was probably from a long time ago. At least during his four years of middle school, Teacher Song was single. Otherwise, how would a person with a girlfriend have time to drive around and fool around?
Song Nanshan didn't really want to talk about this topic: "Get out of here. Why are you two interrogating me now? Just give me a definite answer. Are you going to go to the city to play tomorrow? If you are, I'll come and pick you two up."
"No," the rich girl, Gu, said with disdain. "The one in the city is too small. The Ferris wheel turns once in ten minutes. How can they even call it a Ferris wheel?"
Teacher Song smiled bitterly and said, "Yes, yes, I know you're a rich girl, Qiumian. The Ferris wheel in the city can't compare to the one at Disneyland or something, but when I was young, I thought it was awesome. It was the sacred place for young people to go on dates. The tickets were very expensive, worth a day's food, and you still had to wait in line for an hour."
Gu Qiumian seemed to dislike people calling her a rich girl to her face. She rolled her eyes and said, "Teacher, can you be a little more serious? First of all, there are no Ferris wheels in the Disneylands in China. Second, when did I ever compare it to Disneyland? I was talking about the one in the provincial capital. If you don't believe me, ask him."
"Him" of course referred to Zhang Shutong.
Zhang Shutong's family was originally from the provincial capital. They only came to the island because his parents' jobs were transferred.
After Gu Qiumian said that, he actually remembered going to a Happy Valley. It was indeed a magnificent place. It was built in the suburbs of the city and was surrounded by a street full of hotels. If you were to compare it to the one in the city, the one in the city was at most a children's park.
In a proper amusement park, there were, of course, proper staff members, wearing various fluffy costumes and holding balloons. There were also clowns selling ice cream, making a group of children laugh.
But when he was a child, he wasn't interested in the Ferris wheel. How could he waste such a good time on this thing? Zhang Shutong always went straight for the roller coaster. Then, because he was not tall enough, he would be picked up by the fluffy costume person, and his feet would dangle in midair.
Later, as he got older, he didn't go many times. Zhang Shutong's parents were always busy. While other children could watch movies, eat big meals, and go to amusement parks on weekends, he could only choose one of the three every week, and even then, his parents often couldn't go together. It was either his mom or his dad who would take him. It was rare for them to go together.
So when he was with his dad, he would go fishing and have a barbecue in the wilderness. When he was with his mom, he would sit in a beauty salon and read a book. A bunch of aunts or older sisters would often pinch his face, and when he looked in the mirror, he would often have a few more lipstick marks, which annoyed Zhang Shutong a lot.
In short, he was isolated from amusement parks, but he still had an impression of the Ferris wheel that Gu Qiumian mentioned as a landmark. At night, it would always light up with colorful lights. From the overpass, you could see its huge silhouette in the night sky from a distance.
Zhang Shutong nodded in agreement, proving that the rich girl, Gu, wasn't lying, and added an extra memory. He remembered that there was a shop selling rainbow cotton candy under the Ferris wheel. He had never been on the Ferris wheel, but he had eaten the cotton candy. He had thought that it would be Gu Qiumian's turn to nod and say she had eaten it too, but she said she hadn't and that going to the amusement park was a long time ago.
Zhang Shutong thought to himself, "How long ago is a long time ago? I was only in elementary school when I ate that cotton candy." But then he was interrupted by Song Nanshan.
Teacher Song gritted his teeth and said, "I just remembered that you two are kids from the big city. If it were Ruoping and the others, they would have been cheering excitedly. It's really not an accomplishment to take you two out to play."
"But I've been curious about something for a long time. Can I ask you today?"
"What is it?" Zhang Shutong thought, "Are you also craving cotton candy?"
Song Nanshan, however, blurted out:
"Actually, I've been thinking for a long time. Since you two are both from the provincial capital and transferred on the same day, were you two already acquainted before, Shutong and Qiumian?"