Chapter 182: One vs. Several
The carousel felt steadier than a bus.
With two levels, it occupied a large space, with dozens of seats circling the central column at a leisurely pace. The roof shielded riders from the sun, while a gentle breeze made the atmosphere cool and comfortable.
It was a great spot to relax. There weren’t many visitors, and the rides weren’t run in limited sessions; you could stay on for as long as you wanted. Jiang He had already been sitting there for half an hour.
Considering how much the tickets cost, it seemed like she was determined to get her money’s worth—or at least, that’s what Xu Qing thought. Holding a bottle of orange juice he bought in the park, he sat on a different horse a short distance away, sipping his drink at a leisurely pace.
The juice was slightly cool and tangy—not bad.
Jiang He also held a bottle of orange juice. After a moment of pondering why Xu Qing didn’t use toilet paper after visiting the restroom, she sneakily pulled out her phone to search for answers. Her behavior, paired with the baseball cap on her head, looked so suspicious that Xu Qing almost choked on his drink. Unfortunately, seated on the carousel, he couldn’t lean over to see what she was looking up.
Other couples took photos together and then moved on to explore other rides, leaving behind just parents with children—and the two of them.
A "ding" sounded from Jiang He’s phone. She opened WeChat and saw a message from Xu Qing, who was seated behind her.
"Do you want to try something else?"Xu Qing’s soft voice came through her phone’s speaker.
Jiang He thought for a moment, then pressed the record button, bringing the microphone close to her lips to reply in an equally soft voice, "Let’s sit a little longer."
Releasing the button, the message was sent automatically. She played it back, pressing her phone to her ear, satisfied with how her voice sounded.
For some reason, the voice she heard when speaking always felt different from what was recorded. She figured the phone distorted it. Yet, Xu Qing’s voice sounded true to life, at least to her.
"You’ve been sitting there forever—kids don’t even stay on for this long," Xu Qing sent another voice message.
Jiang He sipped her orange juice and thought it over. This carousel was probably the closest thing to a proper amusement ride. The others felt more like punishments, designed to torment you while draining your wallet.
"Unless you strap yourself to that flying chair ride over there and let me watch from below," she said, pointing at the giant swing ride several hundred meters away.
This theme park area was all about spinning rides—flying chairs, carousels, spinning wheels…
The flying chair ride was the tallest, standing around thirty meters high. The spinning wheel didn’t fly but flipped and tumbled violently. Only the carousel felt calm and leisurely. ℟ÃＮo͍BĚṨ
"Why would I let myself get strapped up there?" Xu Qing asked, glancing at the flying chairs in the distance, having no intention of humoring her suggestion.
"Because I don’t want to go that high."
"I don’t either."
"Then why bother trying anything else? This is the best."
"There’s other fun stuff to do. We can’t just stay here all day."
Xu Qing had always tried to show Jiang He the most exciting places and experiences. But this time, his plans had failed miserably.
He’d come here full of enthusiasm, wanting to enjoy a full day of fun, only for the first ride to leave such a bad impression that they retreated to the safety of the carousel.
It wasn’t supposed to go this way. At the very least, they needed to try something else.
Ten minutes later.
Jiang He climbed off the carousel, her expression sour as she sipped her unfinished orange juice noisily. It wasn’t Xu Qing who convinced her to leave—it was the looping music from the carousel’s speakers.
"Some people drift apart as they walk~"
The melancholic song, paired with the carousel’s slow motion, drove away all the couples who had stayed.
"The person who picked this song is a genius," Xu Qing said, half-amused. With over a hundred attractions in the park, almost any other ride would’ve been more fitting for this tune.
Feeling the sun’s heat intensify, Jiang He adjusted the brim of her cap without speaking. She looked around, trying to find another relaxing activity.
"Was coming here a mistake?"
She thought about the ticket price again, her heart aching at how many buffet meals or pots of pork ribs it could’ve bought.
"You’ve got to try it at least once. Otherwise, you’d never know how scary some of these things are. And then, in six months, a year, or two, you’d feel compelled to test them out anyway," Xu Qing said with a grin, flashing his white teeth. He glanced up at the sun to orient himself, then gestured toward a nearby path. "Let’s go this way."
"What are we doing?"
"Let’s see. Over there’s the Egypt Zone. Egypt’s a foreign country with deserts, pyramids, and a thing for mummifying people. You can tell it’s Egypt from the golden color over there," Xu Qing explained casually.
Seeing Jiang He trailing behind, he paused to wait for her to catch up, then took her hand and continued walking.
"Did you ever imagine something like this before?"
"Like what?"
"This," Xu Qing replied, giving her hand a light squeeze. Then, with a mischievous grin, he grabbed the straw from her orange juice and took a big sip.
The cup was nearly empty, and his gulp drained it completely, leaving a loud slurping sound as the straw hit air.
Jiang He stared, dumbfounded, as her carefully rationed orange juice disappeared into Xu Qing’s mouth. She wasn’t sure whether to snatch the cup back or push his head away.
"If this were the old days, I’d…"
"Slap me to death?"
"…"
Jiang He glared at him, holding the empty cup in silence.
"Don’t look at me like that. I’ll take you to something fun."
"What kind of fun?"
"The kind you’re best at."
The two of them arrived at a storefront filled with game machines—claw machines, basketball hoops, shooting galleries, dart booths…
"Fifty yuan gets you twenty darts," the worker helpfully reminded.
"Ten will do."
Seeing Xu Qing’s casual attitude, the worker didn’t press further and pushed a plastic box toward them, precisely containing ten darts.
"All I have to do is pop all the balloons, right?" Jiang He asked, twirling a dart in her hand with a look of eager anticipation, confirming the rules again.
To her surprise, the task seemed absurdly simple.
"Exactly. Pop three balloons to win a keychain, six for one of these toys," the worker said, gesturing toward a shelf of small fist-sized figurines. Then he stepped aside and pointed to another shelf. "Nine gets you a belt or a lighter. Pop all ten, and you can choose anything, including the big plushies over there."
The belt and lighter looked rather fancy. Xu Qing examined them for a moment, impressed by the quality of the prizes—far better than what you’d find at a night market. If he still smoked, that lighter might have tempted him. Winning it through a game just felt different than ordering one online.
"Which one do you want?" Jiang He asked, her gaze lingering on the belt. It seemed far more practical than a plushie.
"The big bear. You can hug it while you sleep."
"You don’t want the belt?"
"Hmm… I’ll try for one at the shooting gallery later." Noticing Jiang He’s stance, as if she were about to throw all the darts at once in a flurry, Xu Qing quickly advised, "Throw them one at a time!"
The worker no longer found them amusing. Their focused demeanor made his hair stand on end. Were they professionals? Retired military?
But then he relaxed. Toy darts weren’t that accurate, and the game’s difficulty was real. Where did these two get such confidence?
Thunk!
Pop!
Thunk!
Pop!
…
"Can we claim the prize now?" Jiang He clapped her hands, turning toward the worker.
"Uh…"
"Is it done?"
"Uh, yes! Yes!" The worker nodded hastily. "You did it!"
"Impressive, huh?" Xu Qing chuckled. Sure, there might be others capable of popping all ten balloons, but few could do it with Jiang He’s ease and nonchalance, tossing them like it was second nature.
"Do you want the belt?" Jiang He asked, now holding a half-meter-tall white bear plushie. The belt on the shelf still caught her eye.
"Sir, ma’am… uh, we’re just a small business. If experts like you come here for fun, I get it. But please, just take a prize or two. Otherwise, it’s hard to explain to my boss," the worker said, already preparing to call his manager. If these two decided to clear the booth, he had no way to stop them.
"Didn’t we say we’d only play once?" Xu Qing’s response brought the worker some relief.
"Right, right," he nodded quickly.
"How about some bullets for the shooting game?" Xu Qing suggested.
"…"
The worker reluctantly handed over the bullets, realizing belatedly that they planned to try every game once.
"I’m not good at this," Jiang He said, shaking her head while hugging the bear, clearly tempted to throw more darts instead.
"That’s exactly why you should try it."
"Alright then."
Jiang He handed her prize to Xu Qing, picked up the toy rifle, and began studying it. Meanwhile, Xu Qing wandered over to the basketball hoop game, scanning the QR code to start.
"Have you practiced for this or something?" the worker asked warily.
"We’re part of the Jiang City Dart Enthusiasts’ Association," Xu Qing replied with a straight face.
"An association?" The worker’s stomach sank. That sounded like trouble, especially if more of them showed up later.
"Don’t overthink it. Just for fun."
Xu Qing’s basketball performance wasn’t as stellar as Jiang He’s darts. He scored decently but fell short of the best prizes, ending up with a selfie stick. He took a photo and sent it to Wang Zijun, who responded with a voice message almost instantly:
"Are you kidding me?! Last time I asked you to come, you said no. Now you sneak off to play?!"
"I’m with my girlfriend. And there’s no line now."
"This place is a scam. I spent over a thousand yuan for a lighter. I could’ve bought a whole box instead."
"Impulse purchases—they prey on people like you," Xu Qing teased, sending another photo of the big bear.
"Goodbye."
Meanwhile, Jiang He finished her turn at the shooting gallery, earning only a keychain. Compared to her dart performance, this felt lackluster, and she looked visibly dissatisfied.
"Was it fun?" Xu Qing asked, putting away his phone.
"Not as fun as darts."
After one more round of darts where Jiang He expertly popped every balloon, she exchanged the prize for a belt and a keychain. Xu Qing treated her to a couple of tries at the claw machine using tokens gifted by the worker. They left with their prizes in tow, drawing envious stares from a couple entering the booth.
"Can you win one for me too? I want the brown bear!" the girl said, pointing to a plushie.
"Maybe his girlfriend won it for him," the boy replied absentmindedly, glancing up to see the worker staring at him with a defeated expression.
"Wasn’t that fun?" Xu Qing asked as Jiang He hugged the giant white bear.
"Yeah. Just tossing darts and getting such a big bear—it’s worth a lot, right?"
"…Wouldn’t it be nice to sleep with it? Don’t girls like having plushies on their beds?"
"True."
"Good. Get used to it."
"Used to what?" Jiang He peeked out from behind the bear, curious.
"Nothing," Xu Qing said, looking skyward.
"…"
After storing the bear and their other prizes at the entrance, the two followed the map to find food.
Their conversation turned to martial arts. Xu Qing felt he was beginning to grasp the basics of boxing. Jiang He, however, gave him a sidelong glance and said flatly, "It’s just for fitness."
"So I have no chance of beating you?"
"You’re just practicing forms without real experience. How could you beat me?"
"Are you trying to trick me into sparring with you?" Xu Qing asked suspiciously.
"Martial arts are learned through combat," Jiang He replied, cracking her knuckles audibly.
Xu Qing flinched.
"You have no experience, no sense of distance or muscle awareness, and no resistance to blows…" Jiang He trailed off before concluding, "Against ordinary people, you could probably handle two or three."
"Only two or three?" Xu Qing looked disappointed, having imagined at least five or six.
"Like I told you last time—take out one as quickly as possible if there are three…"
"Stop, stop. I was just joking. I’m not taking anyone out."
Jiang He’s version of "taking someone out" often implied severe consequences, far beyond what a peaceful society would tolerate.
"And how many hits would it take for you to take me down?" Xu Qing asked.
"Hmm…"
Jiang He looked at her hands, flexing them a few times. Then she scrutinized Xu Qing and hesitated before saying, "Barehanded, I could probably handle dozens."
"Not one hit per person?"
Xu Qing realized Jiang He was silently staring at him.
"Right… you’re just sparing my feelings. Got it," he said, patting her head and smoothing her ponytail.
To avoid being completely overwhelmed, he thought to himself, I’d better outsmart her—strategic marriage, not brute force.
"What if you had a sword?" he asked jokingly.
"Then I’d lose count," Jiang He replied matter-of-factly.
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