CH 67.2

Chapter 67.2 – Carousel

It was also a coincidence that as soon as Shi Yuan returned to the control room, Lu Tinghan came out.

He asked, “Where have you been playing for so long?”

“I just wandered around and went to the theme restaurant.” Shi Yuan couldn’t help but bend his eyes and smile when he saw him. “I have prepared a surprise for you!”

“What surprise?”

“Secret. You’ll see.”

Lu Tinghan raised his eyebrows, didn’t ask any more questions, and said, “Come and sit here.”

They entered the control room.

The control panel lit up and the chair had just been cleaned up. Shi Yuan sat up, Lu Tinghan knelt down in front of him on one knee, took out a wet wipe, lowered his eyes, and carefully wiped the ash off between his fingers.

“How can you be so careless?” Lu Tinghan said, “It’s even on your face.”

—Lu Tinghan’s hands were beautiful, and he was elegant in everything he did, whether it was wearing white gloves, signing documents, pulling the trigger, or wiping Shi Yuan’s fingertips with a little patience.

When the mud and dust were gone, he frowned slightly: “You also have some scratches.”

On the index finger of Shi Yuan’s left hand and on the back of his hand, there were two small blood marks cut by the rubble.

This was all caused by Shi Yuan tossing the power supply.

Shi Yuan said, “Well… I went to dig the pile of rubble for a while. This injury doesn’t hurt, I didn’t even notice it just now. Fortunately, you brought out some tissues.”

“I usually don’t bring it.” Lu Tinghan checked the scratches and made sure that there was no more bleeding. He took a new wet wipe and wiped off the black marks on Shi Yuan’s face. “I just thought you might run crazy.”

After using several wet wipes, Lu Tinghan got another clean Shi Yuan.

Then, under Shi Yuan’s supervision, he threw the dirty wipes into the abandoned trash can.

“Okay,” Lu Tinghan said, “Now we just have to get on the carousel and wait for the wind to come – you can pick a horse you like.”

Shi Yuan went to the carousel.

The wooden horses held their heads high, wearing long colored manes on their heads, and their saddles had different patterns. The dark horse, the white horse, the maroon horse, the navy-blue horse, and even the two donkeys, made Shi Yuan dazzled. After turning around, he saw Lu Tinghan sitting safely in the pumpkin cart.

Lu Tinghan asked, “Have you picked one yet?”

“Not yet, it’s too difficult to decide. I’ll get on the horse when the wind comes.” Shi Yuan also got on the pumpkin cart and joined Lu Tinghan. “I quite like the story of the pumpkin cart.”

Lu Tinghan asked, “What’s the story of the pumpkin cart?”

Shi Yuan: “Don’t you know?”

“I don’t know. Tell me about it.”

Lu Tinghan didn’t understand fairy tales at first glance.

It was rare for Shi Yuan to explain popular science to Lu Tinghan, and said, “There is a fairy tale called “Cinderella”. Cinderella was not liked by her stepmother and sisters. The fairy turned the pumpkin into a carriage and the mouse into a horse, and asked her to go to the dinner party. As soon as she attended, the prince was fascinated by her and invited her to dance. But the fairy has a condition: Cinderella must be back before  midnight.”

Lu Tinghan: “Otherwise?”

“Otherwise, her skirt and pumpkin cart and the horse will change back to their original state,” Shi Yuan continued, “When it was almost 12 o’clock, Cinderella ran away, leaving only one crystal shoe. The prince sent someone to find a girl who could wear these shoes. Cinderella’s two sisters wanted to marry the prince, so they cut off their heels for the crystal shoes. But in the end, the prince found Cinderella and they lived a happy life.”

Lu Tinghan said, “Why did she avoid the prince? If the prince knew the truth and didn’t love her, it would be nothing more than seeing the true color, and they didn’t need to be together. If you ask me, she shouldn’t have run away from the dinner party.”

This question stumped Shi Yuan.

He thought for a while and said, “I guess, maybe because everything about her was a lie. She knew that those were all fake and never existed, so she didn’t want the person she liked to see them.”

—After saying this, he froze for a few seconds.

Shi Yuan was never good at concealing his emotions.

Lu Tinghan fell silent.

In the end, Lu Tinghan didn’t say anything.

He stretched out his arms around Shi Yuan so that he could lean in his arms, pointed to the big clock pointing to 5 o’clock not far away, and said, “…It’s far from 12 o’clock now, and the dinner party hasn’t started yet. Cinderella doesn’t have to worry about changing back. And didn’t you say that they had a good ending?”

“Yes, they did! I like that ending very much.” Shi Yuan immediately became happy. “The pumpkin cart we are sitting in is also very beautiful!” He looked around. “When will the wind come?”

“According to the weather forecast, the wind will not be light tonight,” Lu Tinghan said, “We can just wait.”

They waited in the pumpkin cart.

Every time there was a gust of wind, Shi Yuan asked Lu Tinghan, “Is this wind strong enough?”

“Not enough,” Lu Tinghan replied.

After a while, Shi Yuan asked again, “What about this time?”

“It’s not enough,” Lu Tinghan rubbed his head.

Shi Yuan: “Purr, purr, purr.”

They waited for a long time, until seven or eight o’clock.

Shi Yuan fell asleep on Lu Tinghan’s shoulder.

He was gently awakened by Lu Tinghan.

The lively music played, and when he opened his eyes, the world was full of colorful lights.

—The carousel was moving.

A gust of strong wind swept through the northern district, driving a huge windmill. The blades turned, and the current followed the line through the ruins, running happily all the way to paradise. Then the colorful lights shone, and the horses with their heads high galloped along with the music.

Shi Yuan: “Wow!”

As soon as he finished speaking, the world went dark and everything stopped moving.

Shi Yuan: ?

Lu Tinghan coughed twice: “The wind stopped.”

They waited in the dark for more than ten minutes, and the evening breeze came late.

This time it no longer stopped, and it lit up with colorful lights.

Lu Tinghan helped Shi Yuan onto a white horse. The white horse galloped, up and down, Shi Yuan was a little nervous, clinging to the pole on the back of the horse.

“Relax,” Lu Tinghan said, “You won’t fall down.”

“What if I really fall?” Shi Yuan still clung to the pole. “I’m not very smart, so I can’t fall anymore.”

Lu Tinghan smiled: “I will catch you.”

With Lu Tinghan’s promise, Shi Yuan was much more relieved.

The wooden horses rotated in circles. He saw that the entire area was lit up, the skull of the pirate ship was flashing with blue light, the headlights of the sightseeing train were also on, and the neon lights of the restaurant that were half broken flashed constantly, buzzing, and the colorful glow outlined the logo of the amusement park. Through the light, he saw the silhouette of the roller coaster, and the unmanned ferris wheel slowly rotated.

Looking far away, there were few scattered lights in the dead North District, and they were in the brightest place.

“It’s so beautiful,” Shi Yuan said.

Lu Tinghan: “Hmm.” His eyes were equally bright. “This is the first time I have seen it.”

On this day, Shi Yuan didn’t know how many rounds of carousel he had played. Cheerful tunes were played one after another, and the dark horse, the white horse, and the maroon horse carried him forward. He also sat on the pumpkin cart with Lu Tinghan and talked about fairy tales of other princesses.

In the end, the wind slowly died down.

Shi Yuan said, “By the way, I have a surprise for you.”

Lu Tinghan: “What is it?”

Shi Yuan looked at the two large vertical screens next to him, which were more than ten meters high and surrounded the small square. He knew that Alice could definitely see him and understand what he meant.

And she really did.

Three seconds later—

The screens lit up, and the fireworks flew up and exploded in bright colors.

They were so bright, flying and blooming one by one, azure blue, bright yellow, and pomegranate red, it was obviously silent but it was like a festival. With the flick of a finger, after 70 years, on this night, the amusement park came alive. The horses that had become black silhouettes continued to run, galloping in this gorgeous world.

“…” Lu Tinghan’s eyes widened slightly.

“This is my surprise!” Shi Yuan’s tail tip swayed. “I think you will like it!”

Lu Tinghan: “How did you…”

“This is a secret,” Shi Yuan said.

He got off the horse and Lu Tinghan caught him.

“I like this surprise,” Lu Tinghan whispered, “It’s really beautiful.”

He bowed his head slightly—

They kissed in the silent fireworks.

The wind stopped.

The light dissipated, and the dream of the amusement park sank in the darkness, waiting for the next wind to blow.

The two got into the car, the road home was very long, and Shi Yuan fell asleep against Lu Tinghan.

The clock pointed to 12 o’clock.

It was midnight, and it was time for the pumpkin cart and the beautiful skirt to disappear.

Lu Tinghan tilted his head and looked at Shi Yuan’s soft black hair and beautiful side face.

He thought to himself, still hasn’t changed, still good in his arms.

At least for tonight, the fairy tale was completed.

…

Half a month later, the battle situation became urgent.

Shi Yuan received a notice that the psychological counseling hotline was about to be suspended.

“Why?” He asked Lin Yeran, “I still have a lot of calls to answer every day.”

Lin Yeran said: “There is not enough manpower, and there is really no time to care about mental health. Anyway, if you can continue to work in the welfare center, you are not considered unemployed.”

“Where are you going?”

“Me?” Lin Yeran was taken aback for a moment. “I might go back to the data center, I originally came from there.”

Shi Yuan knew that Lin Yeran was a top student and a researcher in a data center before. After the fall of Iron City, he resigned and came to Tower 4.

“Okay,” He said, “Mr. Lin, I hope you have a good time at work.”

On the last day when the consultation center finally closed, there was only Shi Yuan left in the entire office. He had to work the last half of the night shift, answering the phone from the evening, and when he got off work at 2 o’clock in the evening, he turned off the lights and left.

However, Shi Yuan had already reached the tram stop when he remembered that he didn’t seem to have locked the door.

In fact, it really didn’t make a difference whether it was locked or not, but he still went back. The office was empty and silent, and there would be no more conversations in the future. He lowered his head and locked the door, and suddenly heard the phone ring.

“Rriiiiing—”

It just rang like this, echoing in the corridor.

At this time, Shi Yuan was off work, and Shi Yuan was not obliged to answer the phone again. Besides, who would call at this hour? If he hadn’t forgotten to lock the door, if he hadn’t made the extra effort to turn back, no one would ever hear this call.

The phone was still ringing.

Shi Yuan had a strong intuition: he wanted to answer this call.

No matter who was on the other side of the phone, he had to answer it.

He unlocked the door, rushed over, and picked up the phone at the last second: “Hi, this is the counseling hotline, how can I help you?”

Silence.

There was a very light breathing sound.

Shi Yuan: “Hello?”

Still silent.

The other party didn’t seem to expect that the call would be connected.

Shi Yuan: “Hello, do you have anything you need help with? I am willing to listen.”

This time, there was finally a sound on the other end of the phone.

Lin Yeran said in a low voice: “I want to… tell a boring old story.”

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**TN

Oh my god. It’s finally here. Lin Yeran’s story. Ugh. I don’t wanna read this part again. I can’t. We already know what happened to his boyfriend. My heart. Just thinking about it again… I need to calm down. Ahahaha! o(>0<)o