Chapter 44: Amusement Park

Su Mi returned to Prime City ahead of Shen Han and incidentally noticed that the antagonist’s blackening value had dropped by two points again.

Was a seaside vacation also quite effective for the antagonist?

Once back in Prime City, the gifts Shen Han had sent also arrived at the Su Residence.

Su Mi unpacked the package and put everything away in her dressing room. She continued to study how to increase favorability and add a bit of an ambiguous atmosphere between the two of them.

Since Shen Han’s preferences were still a complete mystery, she could only start from Xu Nanqiao’s side.

In the original plot, the male lead had taken the female lead to an amusement park once, and their relationship had taken a big step forward from there.

Xu Nanqiao came from a single-parent family, and her father had been an absent presence in her life.

Her last memory of her father was from her sixth birthday, when the man had appeared like a birthday gift, hugged her, helped her blow out the candles, and promised to take her to an amusement park.

The next day, her father disappeared again and never showed up after that.

Her memories after that became blurry. She only remembered that her mother had fallen seriously ill and started working nonstop. They had also moved to an even smaller place.

Therefore, the amusement park held very special meaning for Xu Nanqiao.

It was like the fatherly love missing from her childhood—a promise that had been absent for many years.

The male lead took her to the amusement park and accompanied her on project after project until sunset, when the two of them sat in the Ferris wheel. Xu Nanqiao burst into tears, as if some shackles had been thrown off behind her, and she felt much lighter overall.

Her tears were kissed away. When she lifted her eyes, she saw the male lead’s exceptionally affectionate gaze. He confessed to her right there in the Ferris wheel.

When Su Mi reviewed this part of the plot, she immediately marked it as the most important point.

She had to shift this segment to Shen Han.

Come to think of it, in her previous life, the first time she went to an amusement park, she had gone by herself.

At that time, after graduating, she had landed an offer from her dream company through a ton of hard work and received her first official paycheck for living expenses. After hesitating for half the night, she bought tickets for the amusement park that weekend.

It was also July or August then, and because of summer vacation, the amusement park was packed. Su Mi hadn’t splurged on VIP tickets either, so she had to queue for a long time for every project. Some lines had shade, some didn’t. She got so hot and dizzy, but there was an indescribable joy.

Su Mi felt she could remember that joy for a lifetime, as if it marked the complete start of a new chapter in her life. She could cast off everything from before and truly begin striving for her own existence.

Amid the cheerful BGM filling the air all around, she even imitated the little kids brought by their parents, greeting and saying goodbye to the guides at every project—trying out every experience she’d never had, ones she’d only glimpsed in other people’s lives.

She believed that the voids from her past were irreparable, so they weren’t important. It was like an empty wound: if you tried to fill it, you’d rip off the Band-Aid covering it, and filling it would tug at the old injuries inside.

So Su Mi’s approach to it was to slap on the Band-Aid and keep moving forward.

But Xu Nanqiao was different from her. Xu Nanqiao was the female lead. According to the system, a large part of the Small World’s luck was on her. With the male lead, the antagonist, and various potential supporting characters around, she would be healed very well.

That was an amusement park!

Su Mi secretly thought that if someone had taken her like that back then, she would have cried too—though probably not as prettily as Xu Nanqiao, since she wasn’t the female lead.

How nice.

The more she thought about it, the more she felt that since Xu Nanqiao was definitely going to have this healing experience, why couldn’t it be with Shen Han?

In the original plot, the male lead and female lead worked together, and thanks to the beautiful and kind-hearted female lead’s help, he got a bonus. That was the opportunity he used to invite her to the amusement park.

If she wanted to replace it with Shen Han…

It seemed a bit tricky.

Who knew an opportunity would actually come.

Ren Yue said her family had opened a new amusement park and invited Su Mi to go play.

After the family banquet last time, Ren Yue had vanished for a while, and her replies on Guangxun had been sporadic, as if she’d been busy.

Su Mi searched and found that the amusement park newly opened by Ren Yue’s parents had been hyped up big time, with ads plastered all over Prime City.

She took the chance to ask Ren Yue for a few extra tickets and sent them to Xu Nanqiao and Shen Han.

Xu Nanqiao replied quickly. She had been doing tutoring jobs all summer, and Su Mi had specially asked her parents to introduce more wealthy families’ kids for tutoring so Xu Nanqiao wouldn’t have to run around taking odd jobs in the summer heat.

Xu Nanqiao asked where the tickets were from.

Su Mi told her they were from the new amusement park opened by Ren Yue’s family—special tickets.

Hearing it was from someone she knew, Xu Nanqiao didn’t refuse and just sighed a little: As expected of a Lolan Academy student.

Su Mi then went to invite Shen Han.

After Shen Han returned to Prime City, she seemed pretty busy too. She had apparently gone to Haicheng and had a pile of work backed up. Su Mi had even seen Secretary Zhuang post on Moments about working overtime into the early morning hours.

Su Mi sent the e-tickets over. A while later, Shen Han replied with a question mark.

Su Mi: Sister, wanna go to the amusement park? ^^

Shen Han: You’re still in touch with Ren Yue?

Su Mi sent a looking-to-the-sky emoji.

How did she know this amusement park was opened by the Ren family?

Su Mi hadn’t figured out how to reply yet.

Shen Han seemed to proactively gloss over it and asked instead: Why the sudden idea to go to the amusement park?

Su Mi rummaged through her memories. Right, the original host hadn’t gone to amusement parks much either.

Part of the reason was that Prime City didn’t have many amusement park projects before, and the original host had gone a few times on school trips as a kid, found it boring, and never went alone again.

Su Mi replied obediently: Haven’t been in forever. This is a perfect chance, hehe.

A while later, Shen Han asked: What date?

Su Mi’s eyes lit up. She immediately sent the time she had decided on and asked Shen Han to pick up Xu Nanqiao too.

Her excuse was that she would drive to pick them up, but it would take a slight detour.

She also had a little scheme. The time she set with Ren Yue was right when the park opened, while the time she told Shen Han and Xu Nanqiao was an hour later.

That way, by the time Xu Nanqiao and the others arrived, she and Ren Yue would already be inside queuing or playing projects. She could just say, you two play first, we’ll meet up at noon at XXX…

Leaving the two of them space for a date without a trace.

Plan executed perfectly!

The day of the amusement park arrived in a flash.

Su Mi dressed in her usual summer style: a simple tank top and short skirt, with her long hair tied up on both sides. She didn’t fuss much with her makeup and happily headed out.

In her mind, amusement parks had projects flying everywhere, so comfortable clothes were best.

Just before leaving, Wen Zisu grabbed her and sprayed her down with sunscreen.

She arrived right on time at the amusement park entrance and found Ren Yue dressed especially elaborately.

She wore a fairy-tale-style dress, a fluffy cartoon headband, and had sparkly rhinestones stuck on her face. She looked like she could be in a photoshoot at any moment.

She had even brought an old-style camera. When she saw Su Mi walking toward her, she grinned and snapped a photo.

Caught off guard, Su Mi felt a bit awkward. She pursed her lips and smiled at the lens, then walked over to look: How is it?

Ren Yue didn’t comment and just held it up for her to see, then handed her the camera: Take a couple of me in front?

She was clearly much better at posing than Su Mi. She struck several cute poses right away, and Su Mi snapped a bunch, praising her: You look so pretty today.

Ren Yue curved her eyes in a smile: It’s an amusement park trip. Didn’t expect you not to dress up much.

Su Mi chuckled.

Ren Yue asked her: Didn’t you get two extra tickets? Are other friends coming?

Su Mi didn’t go into detail: They’ll play together. Let’s head in first?

Ren Yue didn’t pry and said okay.

The two entered the amusement park. Contrary to what Su Mi had imagined, there were no queues—after all, the girl beside her was the daughter of the park’s owner. They took the optimal VIP channel straight in.

After two projects, her light brain vibrated twice.

It was Xu Nanqiao, saying she and Shen Han had arrived and asking where Su Mi was.

Su Mi snapped a photo of the project: I’m already inside. You two come in and play for a bit? We’ll meet up later.

Xu Nanqiao didn’t think much: Okay, where later?

Su Mi set the central plaza as the spot.

Before they finished chatting, her cheek itched.

She looked up and saw Ren Yue leaning in very close, brushing her hand and smiling a bit embarrassedly: Ah, sorry to interrupt. You had a hair on your face.

Su Mi smiled: No problem, thanks.

She put away her light brain.

Ren Yue walked beside her and asked: Your friends arrived?

Su Mi nodded: Yeah, I told them to play first. We’ll see at noon if we eat together.

The amusement park had tons of projects of all kinds. Ren Yue couldn’t handle ones with too much freefall, so even after picking, they realized they couldn’t finish them all in a morning.

Ren Yue stuck out her tongue: If you want to do freefall ones, you can ditch me and go with your friends.

Even though she said that, she used the word “ditch.”

She was a bit shorter than Su Mi and looked up at her, blinking her lively eyes, which made her face look small and pretty.

Su Mi’s heart melted, and she shook her head immediately: Of course I won’t ditch you. Come on, next one.

To show her eagerness, she casually grabbed Ren Yue’s wrist like holding hands and led her forward.

Ren Yue paused for a second, then followed with small steps.

The next project was a small roller coaster where they sat side by side—not very thrilling.

Ren Yue seemed scared of even this. At the next slow incline, she let out a little yelp and scooted close to Su Mi, carefully grabbing her wrist.

Su Mi’s ideas about secondary genders were fuzzy every day. Having lived more than twenty years in a world without them, she didn’t think anything was wrong with girls cuddling up. Seeing Ren Yue cling to her was delightful, so she let her grab her wrist boldly: Don’t be scared!

After the little roller coaster, she sisterly held Ren Yue’s wrist and headed to the next project.

Passing an ice cream stand, Ren Yue tugged her and patted her chest, asking softly: Can I get an ice cream to calm down?

Su Mi had no objection.

They bought two ice creams and sat on a bench by the path to eat. They were already deep in a quiet corner of the park, so Su Mi figured Xu Nanqiao and the others wouldn’t get there so fast. She glanced and saw Ren Yue nibbling absently.

Casually, she asked: Ren Yue, which university are you planning to apply to?

Ren Yue said: Prime City University.

Su Mi was mildly surprised. Prime City too.

She had asked because most Lolan Academy students’ top choice wasn’t usually St. Cross Academy?

Ren Yue smiled: It’s my mother’s decision. Lately, she’s been helping me learn about various universities and finally settled on Prime City University.

Remembering Ren Yue’s mother—who was… hard to describe—Su Mi wisely didn’t pry into family matters.

Though maybe it was her bias, but seeing Madam Zhang’s demeanor, she had thought she would definitely pick St. Cross Academy for Ren Yue.

Su Mi took a big bite of ice cream, the icy sweetness melting in her mouth, and changed the subject: No wonder you didn’t contact me much lately. You were busy.

Ren Yue glanced at her and said softly: I thought you were ignoring me.

Su Mi’s eyes widened dramatically: Wronged!

Ren Yue slowly crunched the cone’s crispy edge: Then where did you go?

Su Mi: Me? I went to Haicheng for graduation trip. Brought back some souvenirs too. Give me your address later, and I’ll mail them.

Ren Yue seemed a bit surprised: Sure.

Su Mi grinned and nudged her with her elbow: Next time you miss me, just say so.

Ren Yue paused, her face reddening a little: …That’s not what I meant.