Because Zhao Qingyu and the other two women were simply too “eye-catching,” everyone else who had wanted to ride the roller coaster stopped in their tracks to watch.
This created quite the amusing scene: the entire queue for this round of the roller coaster consisted of just these six people.
Each car on the roller coaster seated four—two up front and two in back.
Hmm, six people would only require a car and a half, which made for a perfectly reasonable allocation.
But given the current situation, it somehow didn’t feel like there was quite enough to go around.
The staff member stood nearby, guiding them to take their seats first.
Qi Taili and Yu Wen exchanged a glance and, without the slightest hesitation, promptly chose the third row.
That left Shen An, Zhao Qingyu, Wang Yuqiong, and Song Rui.
Here it came—the age-old dilemma.
Shen An raised an eyebrow. He first turned to Zhao Qingyu and saw her face completely expressionless. Then he looked at Wang Yuqiong.
Oh ho, Wang Yuqiong wore the exact same blank expression.
Song Rui kept her head lowered, not daring to speak up first.
Control of the situation—or rather, the deciding vote—quietly fell into Shen An’s hands.
“Senior Sister, is this your first time?”
Shen An didn’t rush things. Instead, he changed the subject to chat casually.
Zhao Qingyu nodded slightly. “Mm. I’ve never ridden one before.”
“I remember you haven’t either, right, Yuqiong?”
“Mm~” Wang Yuqiong replied with a soft hum through her nose.
“Have you two prepared yourselves mentally? Be careful not to do anything embarrassing in a bit.” Shen An hemmed and hawed, doing his best to stall.
In a situation like this, even though the decision was technically his, actually making it would be the height of stupidity.
With three women standing right in front of him, no matter who he picked, he’d end up offending the other two.
The safest approach was to drag things out and let the women sort it among themselves.
Just like they’d done choosing seats on the way here.
Meanwhile, the staff member—mindful of Zhao Qingyu’s presence—didn’t dare press too hard and simply offered another polite reminder.
Under the watchful eyes of the crowd, Zhao Qingyu shot Shen An a glance. She saw the smile tugging at his lips, but he showed no sign of assigning seats.
Annoyance flickered in her heart. She knew exactly what game he was playing.
But she couldn’t very well let the standoff drag on forever—that would be the real embarrassment.
After a moment’s thought, she turned to Wang Yuqiong.
By sheer coincidence, Wang Yuqiong turned to her at the same time.
The corners of Zhao Qingyu’s lips curved up slightly as she inwardly praised Wang Yuqiong’s quick wits.
This girl might be insufferable, but in some ways, they were uncannily alike.
“You and me?”
Zhao Qingyu murmured softly to Wang Yuqiong.
Wang Yuqiong gave a light smile. “Sure. But Senior Sister, you’ll have to take good care of me later, okay?”
“No problem at all. I’ll take excellent care of you.”
Hiss.
Shen An listened silently to the two women’s barely veiled barbs, unable to stop himself from shrinking back a little.
Was this what a covert war looked like?
“Then it’s you and me.” He turned his gaze to Song Rui. “No objections?”
How could Song Rui possibly object? She nodded vigorously. “Mm!”
The staff member let out a quiet sigh of relief, afraid the deadlock would drag on.
Just like that, the seats were quickly assigned.
Shen An and Song Rui took the first row, acting as the vanguard.
Zhao Qingyu and Wang Yuqiong sat together in the second row.
Yu Wen and Qi Taili claimed the third.
There was no one behind them—this round had only these six “riders.”
Of the six people present, Shen An was the only one who wasn’t a first-timer. The other five girls were all new to it.
As such, he was quite familiar with the procedures.
They sat down and buckled their safety harnesses. Then, on his own initiative, he reached over to secure Song Rui’s as well.
“Thanks,” Song Rui whispered.
The harness instantly cinched tight around her upper body. Unaccustomed to the sensation, she shifted uncomfortably from side to side, inadvertently revealing the impressive scale of her figure.
Shen An took one glance before looking away. Not to be underestimated, he thought.
Meanwhile, in the second row…
From the moment they sat down, Zhao Qingyu and Wang Yuqiong had been smiling at each other, completely ignoring the staff member’s reminders.
The air gradually grew thick with the scent of gunpowder.
Beneath Wang Yuqiong’s smile lurked a roar of utter loathing: Stinky Fox!
Beneath Zhao Qingyu’s smile was a sneer of disdain: Little girl!
If glares could kill, the two of them would have slain each other thousands of times over by now.
For Wang Yuqiong, there was already bad blood between her and Zhao Qingyu—not to mention this new grudge. Today, no matter what, she wouldn’t let Zhao Qingyu have her way.
She’d rather let Song Rui sit next to Shen An than give Zhao Qingyu a chance to mess with him.
Zhao Qingyu’s thinking was even simpler: You’ve ruined my plans more than once, little girl. If I can’t have him, neither can you.
Precisely because each posed such a dire threat to the other, Zhao Qingyu and Wang Yuqiong had tacitly agreed to let Song Rui sit beside Shen An.
And barring any surprises, this pairing would likely stick for the rest of the day.
The two women had locked horns completely.
At that moment, Shen An glanced back, a wry smile on his face.
The nearby staff member hurriedly shot him a meaningful look, silently pleading for help.
Tsk.
“Stop spacing out and get your safety gear on.”
Shen An directed this at Wang Yuqiong, directly interrupting her staring contest with Zhao Qingyu.
He first loosened his own harness a bit, then leaned back to buckle hers for her. Finally, he gently lowered the safety bar.
The harness instantly pulled tight around Wang Yuqiong’s upper body. Unfortunately, a certain area wasn’t particularly impressive—even cinched tight, it didn’t show much.
There’s a gap, Shen An noted silently to himself.
Zhao Qingyu let out a light cough, staring at him with an ambiguous smile.
Shen An blinked. “Senior Sister, are you feeling unwell?”
Zhao Qingyu: ?
You’re asking to die!
Her eyes narrowed, her gaze practically aflame.
Shen An blinked again, signaling his helplessness.
Wang Yuqiong was right behind him, after all—easy enough to reach back.
But Zhao Qingyu was behind Song Rui. His arms weren’t that long.
Hmph.
Zhao Qingyu quickly realized his reach was too short, but she couldn’t help resenting his obvious favoritism.
If he couldn’t help her, then he shouldn’t have helped Wang Yuqiong either!
The guy was doing it on purpose.
Left with no choice, Zhao Qingyu buckled her own harness. Shen An offered verbal reassurance: “Make sure it’s secure. Safety first.”
Hearing this, the staff member hurriedly double-checked everything before moving on to inspect the third row.
The harness cinched tight around Zhao Qingyu’s torso, clearly outlining her full, perky curves.
Shen An was utterly shocked. He’d always assumed Zhao Qingyu was flat as a board.
Who would have thought? The real surprise was that she had the most impressive figure of them all.
Women’s bras were like women’s words—completely untrustworthy.
Next, Shen An casually glanced down at Wang Yuqiong’s skirt and frowned.
Truth be told, although she’d been eager to try the roller coaster and full of confidence on the way here…
The moment the harness locked into place, with her body held so tightly, a wave of tension began to creep over her.
Wang Yuqiong had no attention to spare for the little interaction between Shen An and Zhao Qingyu. She was busy swallowing hard.
Unable to move, she felt a faint sense of suffocation rising in her chest. She could only focus on maintaining her nerves.
Thanks to the harness, she felt like a naked lamb, utterly exposed to Shen An’s roaming gaze.
Shen An stared at the hem of her skirt for a moment before leaning in close to her ear and murmuring something.
Wang Yuqiong’s eyes widened. She turned her head away, flushed with annoyance. “None of your business!”
Shen An chuckled lightly and raised his hand. “Looks like you’re not wearing any.”
“Hey!” Infuriated and embarrassed, Wang Yuqiong reached out with her small hand and pinched him hard. “Are you some kind of pervert?”
As his hand drew near her skirt hem, she struggled fiercely.
“Don’t move!” Shen An told her not to panic. He pressed the fabric to one side, bunching up the excess into a little wad and tucking it beneath her legs.
“It’s a bit rude, but I don’t want you to end up embarrassed later.”
“There are parts where the roller coaster hangs free. You need to clamp your legs tight and not move. If you get scared, just scream it out—don’t hold back, and definitely don’t squirm.”
With that done, Shen An patted the top of Wang Yuqiong’s head before turning back around.
Wang Yuqiong looked down at her skirt hem and wrinkled her dainty nose. It was probably going to end up all wrinkled.
But…
Gazing at his back, she bit her lip, her heart a tumult of conflicting emotions.
Even if he wasn’t sitting next to her, he would still take good care of her.
It might seem a bit superfluous, but his original intention was for her own good.
Hmph, it was all that stinky fox’s fault~
Otherwise, she could have sat right next to him…
Wang Yuqiong pouted, her hatred for Zhao Qingyu deepening involuntarily.
As for Zhao Qingyu…
She had already decided to make Shen An walk back alone.
This jerk, ignoring me just like that???
She had seen every bit of his interaction with Wang Yuqiong just now.
And yet, he hadn’t spared her so much as a glance.
How was she supposed to accept that?
“You’d better not move around too much.”
Wang Yuqiong was staring at his back, lost in thought, when his reminder snapped her out of it.
She watched as Shen An patted Song Rui’s silky hair and whispered something softly into her ear.
From where Wang Yuqiong sat behind them, she could clearly see a flush instantly spreading across Song Rui’s little face.
?
It had to be the same thing, right?
Yeah, definitely the exact same thing!!!
Wang Yuqiong’s good mood, which had just started to lift, plummeted right back to rock bottom.
He could be really annoying sometimes, but she had to admit, he really knew how to take care of girls.
It was just a shame that he seemed to treat every girl he was close to the same way.
Wang Yuqiong didn’t like that side of him.
She wanted him to be like that only with her, not with every girl around.
As she gazed at his back, her eyes grew even more complicated.
But~
She suddenly turned her head to look at Zhao Qingyu, who had a blank expression on her face.
Heh~
For some reason, Wang Yuqiong felt a spark of delight.
As the saying goes, no comparison, no harm.
Meeting Wang Yuqiong’s deliberately smug and provocative gaze, Zhao Qingyu ignored her and turned her head away to look elsewhere.
But her little hand clenched tight—she itched to give Shen An a good kick right then and there.
Even if she couldn’t kick him now, she had to curse him out in her mind: Shen An, you bastard!
In the third row.
Qi Taili gripped the safety bar in extreme tension, muttering nonstop under her breath: “It’s okay… it’s okay, it’ll be over in the blink of an eye…”
It was clear she was genuinely panicked.
Yu Wen, by contrast, was much calmer.
It wasn’t that she wasn’t afraid of the roller coaster; it was just that the “drama” unfolding in the rows ahead was way too entertaining.
The gossip-loving Yu Wen was fully immersed in the spectacle, temporarily immune to her fear.
At the same time, though, a hint of surprise toward Shen An rose in her heart.
She had reminded him over and over to be careful, worried he’d piss off Zhao Qingyu.
But she hadn’t expected him to be so fearless…
Daring to play favorites right in front of the Troupe Leader… even deliberately snubbing her.
This guy…
He was pretty confident, wasn’t he?
