The Little Duck 54p2

Chapter 54 p2

After a lot of fuss, they finally got on the plane back to Nanjiang.

Yan Lu still liked Nanjiang.

The Capital was too big, and being in it, she would always have an indescribable feeling of being out of place.

But Jian Xin seemed to like the Capital very much, and even had the idea of staying in the Capital to work after graduation.

If possible, she selfishly hoped that this was just a temporary idea of Jian Xin’s.

In any case, they were home.

That afternoon, Huang He made her signature sweet and sour fish. Jian Xin ate happily and talked about the band all through dinner.

After dinner, Yan Lu hurried back to her bedroom to write today’s update.

Jian Xin stood at the door and looked in. She wanted to say something, but suddenly felt that it was boring. She turned and walked to the sofa in the living room and sat down, eating fruit while watching the melodramatic eight o’clock drama on TV.

Her daughter was rarely sitting in the living room watching TV. Huang He, as if afraid that she wouldn’t understand for a while, very proactively explained some of the backstory.

Jian Xin listened and watched, and it was quite interesting.

After the melodramatic eight o’clock drama was over, there was a funny variety show.

As she watched, the variety show also ended.

Huang He yawned and walked towards the bedroom. “You go to bed early, remember to turn off the TV.”

Jian Xin turned her head to look at the clock in the house and only then did she realize that it was already twelve at night.

She got up and turned off the TV, gently pushed open the door of her bedroom, and poked her little head in.

“Yan Xiaolu, are you done writing?” Jian Xin asked softly.

“Almost!” Yan Lu replied, busy.

Jian Xin pouted, squeezed through the crack in the door, and closed the door behind her.

She went into the bathroom to wash up, and when she came out, she plopped down on the bed, and as she stretched, she said stickily, “I’m all clean, waiting for you!”

“Ah…” Yan Lu replied, not in the mood.

Jian Xin rolled over, hugged the thin summer quilt, and fell into an anxious wait.

The sound of the keyboard was pattering, which made her a little annoyed.

She seemed to have waited for a very, very long time. She scrolled through Weibo’s hot search to Bilibili’s homepage with her phone, and it wasn’t until sleepiness came to her eyebrows that she kicked a corner of the summer quilt and went to sleep with a heart full of resentment.

She didn’t know when the lights in the study were turned off.

She only knew that in a daze, Yan Lu lay down beside her, as if she wanted to hug her.

But she just turned her back to her in a fit of pique, without any further response.

A boring night passed just like that.

Some people are just very big-hearted. Their tempers come quickly and go quickly.

When she woke up, the displeasure in her heart had already dissipated.

The morning sunlight was very good. Her parents had gone to work. Jian Xin stood on the balcony in the living room, breathing in the fresh air, and in a good mood, she started to practice her vocal scales from low to high.

Ever since she had gone to university, she had become a person who couldn’t stay at home. Just after she had finished practicing her vocals, she took a small fan and went downstairs for a walk.

When she was about to go home, Jian Xin glanced at the time on her phone and estimated that Yan Lu should be awake by now. She walked into a KFC she happened to pass by, bought two strawberry sundaes, and hopped back home.

As Jian Xin had expected, Yan Lu was indeed awake and was currently in the bathroom brushing her teeth and washing her face.

The air conditioning in the bedroom was on, which made her cool down instantly. At this moment, she was fanning herself with one hand and holding up the two cups of sundaes in the bag with the other. “Yan Xiaolu, look, I bought you a sundae!”

Yan Lu, with toothpaste in her mouth, replied vaguely, and after quickly washing up, she ran out of the bathroom.

“Why did you suddenly go out and buy this?”

“I was just wandering around and passed by, so I bought it,” Jian Xin said, taking the sundae out of the bag and handing it to Yan Lu with a grin. “I haven’t had it in a long time, and I suddenly had a craving for it.”

“Me too,” Yan Lu said, taking it and, like Jian Xin, sitting on the bed to eat it.

As she ate, she suddenly said softly, “I finished the last chapter of the extra story yesterday.”

Jian Xin: “Mmm?”

Yan Lu lowered her eyes, the corners of her mouth unable to stop lifting slightly. “I said, I’m on vacation.”

Jian Xin took a moment to process with her spoon, then suddenly shouted, “Wow!!!”

Yan Lu was startled by her shout. When she came back to her senses, she had already been pulled into a tight hug by Jian Xin.

“Congratulations!” Jian Xin was so excited that it took her a long time to let go of Yan Lu. She tilted her head and asked, “Then how long are you resting this time?”

“I’ll write an outline first and slowly save up chapters. Anyway, there’s no fixed task every day, so I can do whatever I want when I have time,” Yan Lu said, looking at Jian Xin and saying seriously, “As for the new book, let’s talk about it after school starts. I’ll spend your birthday with you first!”

“Yan Xiaolu, you’re finally willing to give yourself a break!” Jian Xin said, giving Yan Lu a peck on the cheek, her face full of happiness.

She had just eaten ice, and her lips were cold. Yan Lu reached out and touched her cheek, and smiled with her eyebrows arched.

They sat on the bed, shoulder to shoulder, eating the sundaes in their hands.

As they ate, Yan Lu couldn’t help but say, “Were you angry at me yesterday?”

“I was!” Jian Xin replied without a second thought. “Sigh, but it was just for a moment. I was fine when I woke up!”

“…”

“I just feel that you’ve been writing until very late recently. We’re clearly living together, but we can’t do anything.”

“…”

“It’s fine, you’re earning money. This is a very important thing, I can understand!” Jian Xin said, and as if she had suddenly remembered something, she widened her eyes and turned to look at Yan Lu. “Hey, since you’re done, do you want to go to the old park to play?”

The old park Jian Xin was talking about was the one they had gone to when they had run away from home.

In the past, that was the only place in Nanjiang with large amusement facilities. The whole street outside was very lively, with all sorts of snacks and restaurants, and also many small stalls that could be pushed around.

Selling braided ropes, turning sugar paintings, and also cotton candy, and stirred sugar…

But in recent years, Nanjiang had changed a lot. There were two more dedicated amusement parks, and the old park was naturally much quieter.

But despite this, Jian Xin still wanted to take Yan Lu to play there again.

Last time, they didn’t have much money on them, so they didn’t have enough fun. Now it was different. They could afford to play whatever they wanted!

Hearing that she had the idea of going to the old park, Yan Lu also happily nodded.

They said in their WeChat group to their family, and with their wallets and two small fans, they ran out of the community hand in hand, hailed an empty taxi, and rushed to the old park.

The old park was still the same as in her memory, but the outside was much quieter.

There were fewer snack shops, and the street vendors were all gone. Even the place where they could play with sand painting, clay, and building blocks was gone.

But it didn’t matter, at least the park was still there!

Jian Xin was the first to run to the ticket office to buy two tickets, then turned and pulled Yan Lu in with a hop.

Just as they entered the park, on the right was the little train she had loved to ride as a child.

Jian Xin told Yan Lu that this little train was originally in the shape of a green-skinned train. Later, it was probably during the summer vacation of her second year of junior high, a good friend of hers had a birthday and had brought several friends here to play. The moment she came in, she found that this little train had become a green cartoon big bug!

“Although this bug is quite cute and probably more popular with children, I still prefer the green-skinned train.”

Jian Xin said this, but her body was very honest and bought a ticket to ride this green cartoon big bug.

Because it was summer vacation, there were a lot of children in the park. She couldn’t get her favorite front seat and could only randomly choose a seat.

The bug train slowly started to move, at a speed that was just a little faster than a carousel, and slowly ran a circle along the track.

In the middle, it passed through a small tunnel made of a fake mountain. Jian Xin was even shouting “hoo-hoo” inside, as if imitating a child who was afraid of going through a train tunnel, which was very childish.

Finally, she pulled Yan Lu off the little train and walked into the park.

There were a lot of things to eat and drink in the park. They walked all the way, and their mouths never stopped.

First, they went on a carousel, then they played on the swing ride twice, then they drove bumper cars a few times. They passed by a pigeon park, bought some pigeon feed, and went in to feed the pigeons for a while.

She and Yan Lu had originally wanted to rest here for a while, but then they saw a child with a pile of pigeon poop on them, and they immediately got up and scurried out, and continued to wander around the park.

Passing by the pirate ship and the drop tower, they wanted to ride them but didn’t dare, so they just stood on the side and watched for a couple of rounds.

Continuing forward, Jian Xin heard the screams from the roller coaster and suddenly felt a little tempted for some reason. She talked to Yan Lu for a long time and finally sat on it with great joy.

The final result was that Yan Lu was just a little dazed, while Jian Xin found a trash can and threw up everything she had just eaten.

“I’m not riding it anymore, I’m never riding it again…” she said, her face full of tears, as she threw up.

Yan Lu didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. She patted her back while handing her a tissue. “Is this your first time riding it?”

Jian Xin: “I’ve ridden it before, it was like this back then…”

Yan Lu: “How long ago was that?”

Jian Xin: “Elementary… elementary school, I guess?”

Yan Lu laughed. “It’s been so long.”

Jian Xin glanced at Yan Lu. “Is this your first time?”

“Mmm.”

“Hey, I lost…” Jian Xin sighed, her gaze unconsciously looking at the pirate ship in the distance.

A strange competitive spirit suddenly appeared at this moment.

“Let’s go and play on the pirate ship—” she said, pulling Yan Lu towards the ticket office.

The final result was naturally her complete defeat.

Yan Lu didn’t have much of a reaction the whole time, while she screamed like a strangled chicken the whole time.

The sky quietly turned a purplish-red.

They walked along the small path lined with various flowers on both sides and walked out of the park where they had not had enough fun before, satisfied.

Jian Xin held Yan Lu’s hand and slowly walked on the way home.

She said, Yan Lu, it was wrong of me to get angry at you before.

I brought you here today because I wanted to apologize to you…

If there’s something you don’t like, just tell me, and I’ll keep it in mind. I won’t take you to that kind of place in the future.

Yan Lu looked up at the purple sunset in the sky and just smiled, not saying a word.

She thought, today was very different, and even the sunset was different from usual.

Actually, Jian Xin didn’t need to apologize. There was nothing wrong with the intention of wanting to take someone to a better place. The reason she couldn’t blend into the small world that Jian Xin genuinely liked was because her adaptability was not good enough…

If she could adapt to that kind of liveliness, or if on that day she could have hidden her unhappiness well enough, then Jian Xin would not have been unhappy.

But in any case, Jian Xin had apologized to her, and she was still very happy.

The road ahead is so long.

There will be a day when she will become the best version of herself.

At that time, she will be able to blend into the real Jian Xin’s world, right?