CH 19.1

The enthusiasm of the residents in the small town towards the carnival was much higher than Jiang Wang expected.

This type of small celebration with a foreign name, food, drinks, and games, then the time and venue set just right. It made it very interesting for locals who had a somewhat boring life.

Jiang Wang originally allocated a budget for publicity in advance, but after only spending half of it, he found that there were already people rushing to grab their leaflets, and the hotline constantly rang for the whole 24 hours.

Also, to avoid stampedes and other incidents, he remembered to hire more security guards to watch out for pickpockets and human traffickers.

For the first time, the eldest brother felt the pain of making easy money, so he also ordered factories he was familiar with to print tickets temporarily. 

Relatives and friends were the first to be issued a batch of tickets, then each cooperating school had to distribute tickets to their teaching staff. His bookstores also gave away tickets to customers for free for a limited time and there were only a few left.

Jiang Wang rushed his assistant to buy more ticket scanners. Once the number of people in the venue reached the limit, it was absolutely not allowed to let people in anymore.

“Brother Jiang, is that okay?”

“Absolutely,” Jiang Wang took a deep drag of his cigarette. “I’d rather make less money.”

The set up of the venue began three days in advance, tables, chairs, and electrical circuits were placed carefully. Many teachers from various schools came to check the situation in advance.

Jiang Wang was honest in doing things, thinking about a win-win situation for all parties, and specifically informed the schools during the planning period.

Anyone who intended to purchase tutoring books, set up an admissions consultation booth, or arrange for students to come and volunteer, would be personally received and served by his staff.

As Jiang Wang was busy, he seemed to sense something and looked up towards the side amidst the noisy surroundings.

Ji Linqiu wore a loose black T-shirt with a silver chain hanging near his collarbone, and a lazy smile on his face.

“Teacher Ji?” The big-tailed wolf caught a whiff of it, and swayed over like a human, “Are you also here to inspect the work?”

“I volunteered.” Ji Linqiu said in a good mood, letting him lead him around. “It’s so lively, there are even magicians and live bands.”

Jiang Wang looked toward the musician who was still tuning their guitars and discovered an interesting detail.

“Teacher Ji likes bands?”

“Well, It’s very enjoyable to listen to live performances, But I only have cassette tapes and CDs, I haven’t seen one in person yet.” Ji Linqiu took a sip of ice-cold cola and said half-jokingly, “If it weren’t for my identity as a teacher, I might have taken the initiative to ask if I could go up and sing a couple of songs.”

Jiang Wang looked sideways: “Do you want to go up and try it now?”

“Not today,” Ji Linqiu said with regret. “I have colleagues here today, and there will be students in the future. It’s not appropriate.”

Jiang Wang found that Ji Linqiu’s personality and identity were too contradictory.

He was a good teacher with full marks on everything.

He spoke softly to the students, he was patient in his actions and gentle in his speech no one could pick out any problems with him in the school.

But the closer you got to him, the more you can see Ji Linqiu’s rebelliousness and uninhibitedness.

It’s like something inside him was fiercely struggling out, even living in self-denial and double contradiction.

The former was not a hypocritical performance, and the latter is not an attempt to be on trend.

Both were incredibly real, but couldn’t seem to match.

Ji Linqiu knew that Jiang Wang was observing him, but strangely, he did not avoid it, as if he was happy to be seen by the other person.

Even if it could be misunderstood.

“I have a suggestion.” Ji Linqiu walked to the open space next to the fountain and leaned over to look at the area marked with black tape. “What did you want to put here?”

“A performance area or boards for educational displays.” Jiang Wang thought for a moment, “The amusement projects are already saturated, putting too much of it will distract them.”

“We could set up an abacus mental arithmetic competition, as well as a word spelling and memory contest with prizes.” Teacher Ji said casually. “Put three rows of tables and chairs, with one host and one speaker, then give out stationery and tutoring books as rewards.”

Jiang Wang hissed, “Wow, you’re even more ruthless than me.”

“In this kind of thing, children will try to hide away, but the parents will compete with each other. If they can’t compare with the others, they will come to you to buy books and sign up for classes,” Ji Linqiu sighed, “I want to help the business of my friend, her phonetic class hasn’t been filled up yet.”

Jiang Yuwen nodded, instructed the secretary to handle the matter, and continued to walk with Ji Linqiu.

“So, is there a situation? Are you dating?”

“What nonsense.” Ji Linqiu shook the blue soda can absentmindedly, “It’s just a junior sister who has helped me a lot before. She’s getting married next year.”

Although Jiang Wang strongly disagreed with the old-fashioned practice of pressuring people into marriage, he was secretly anxious for Ji Linqiu.

He had no idea how such a good person in his previous life could end up alone, but it was best not to let it happen in this life.

“By the way, you are already 26, have you ever dated anyone?” The man tried to make his tone sound casual, and joked, “Don’t tell me you’re holding yourself pure for someone, like a character from a youth magazine.”

Jiang Wang’s expected answer in his mind was either yes or no.

If it was yes, he felt responsible to accompany the teacher out of the emotional injury and embrace the sunshine. Although it sounded straight out of a youth magazine, he would definitely do it.

If not, then there must be another story behind it.

But Ji Linqiu didn’t answer, his emotions seemingly pulled away.

His gaze became empty as if Jiang Wang had unintentionally opened a room that had never existed before. There were no walls and floors in it, both existing and non-existent.

It took a long time before he lowered his gaze and spoke.

“I don’t know.”

Jiang Wang was younger than Ji Linqiu, but he rarely showed such a confused expression.

“I don’t know what will happen to me.”

“Maybe I will have nothing to do with anyone for the rest of my life.”

Jiang Wang realized that the atmosphere was not right and was about to speak to ease the tension when Ji Linqiu smiled self-deprecatingly.

“I guess I’m an alien.”[1]

“Maybe I won’t fall in love and get married for the rest of my life, who cares.”

Jiang Wang was stunned in place, his brain blank for a few seconds, then quickly changed the subject, planning to take him out for a good meal.

“How about you?”

“As for me,” the man rubbed his chin, “To tell you the truth, I’ve been a soldier for many years, and you know that there’s no room to love in that environment.”

“After I came out, I had to settle my life first and now I’m too busy with work.” He laughed, “Our progress bars are about the same, they’re both at zero.”

Ji Linqiu blinked, “I didn’t expect that.”

“What didn’t you expect?” Jiang Wang turned around to look at him. “Don’t make fun of me, I might blush.”

“No, I just thought… you seem to have a lot of experience.”

But he’d never been in a relationship.

They reached a surprising agreement in some ways and seemed more relaxed when they went to eat skewers that night.

No one gets a full score in life, so you shouldn’t laugh at anyone.

On August 5th, the first Unforgettable Carnival[2] was officially held at Jinyue Square.

People of all ages in the whole city waited eagerly for two weeks, and as soon as the day came, the crowd came in droves. The 1,000 balloons that could be collected at the entrance were fully distributed by 10 a.m. In the afternoon, they had to hire three more people to inflate and deliver balloons on the spot.

In this day and age, there was no Double 11[3] and Disneyland yet. Even if each family made money, they don’t have much desire to spend. It was rare to have a carnival so, naturally, they would be happy to eat and play more.

The fast food stalls selling various international flavors were in high demand, and freshly squeezed fruit juices and cream smoothies were almost in everyone’s hands.

Some adults have never played many of the games there, pretending that they were helping their children to try the games, they stayed by the amusement booths to chat.

Jiang Wang smelled the chaotic smell of barbecue and fruit juice in the air, holding Peng Xingwang’s hand, they strolled around for a short while.

The venue was larger than he expected, and with the artificial trail looping around the function zones, it was no problem to stroll around all day.

Peng Xingwang greeted new friends and old friends along the way as if all the children in the old town knew him.

Even a few junior high school students deliberately stopped to chat with him, then waved goodbye.

The child also loved such a lively place. He couldn’t help but look around, and even took a photo with Jiang Wang in front of the tulip flower wall.

Then he turned around and saw the abacus competition.

A group of children was struggling to calculate four-digit numbers multiplied by four-digit numbers, and the other group was painfully memorizing words on the spot.

At the same time, they are accompanied by their spiritual parents behind them.

There was also a host next to them who was shouting so enthusiastically as if he had drunk ten cans of Red Bull.

“Come on! The first place will receive a super invincible luxury spree-all-inclusive lifetime supply of tutoring books! Half-price discount for advanced classes of phonetics, speed calculation, and entrance examination review!!”

Peng Xingwang shuddered.

“I don’t remember this event being available!”

“Your Teacher Ji said,” Jiang Wang said leisurely, “It can be done.”

Peng Xingwang took a long breath and tried to shrink back as he received the resentful eyes of his classmates.

“Brother,” he said with difficulty, “This means… I’m getting in trouble with you.”

Jiang Wang stretched out his hand and flicked his forehead three consecutive times: “Wrong! Indiscriminate use! of idioms!”

“Ouch, ouch, ouch!”

He only played with Peng Xingwang for less than 20 minutes, letting the children go crazy with their friends and play together. While he dealt with various on-site problems 11: the venue.

Like one stall taking another’s spot, parents wandering around and suddenly finding their child on a date with someone, or a child getting lost and crying loudly.

Amid the busy chaos, he still remembered to check Peng Jiahui’s stall.

——Business was indeed exceptionally good.

Although cotton candy may be common, it remained to flourish twenty years later.

“Come and taste it! Eat slowly!” Peng Jiahui is much more cheerful than before. “Luckily I practiced for over a week in advance, otherwise I wouldn’t be able to keep up now.”

Jiang Wang accepted his gift naturally, and took a big bite, then looked at the queue behind him.

A child next to him protested unhappily, “Why is he cutting in line? You clearly said that we are not allowed to cut in line!”

The parents hurriedly pulled the boy back, “What are you yelling about? He is the boss, the whole square belongs to him.”

In an instant, more than a dozen children all looked at Jiang Wang as if he were an idol.

Peng Jiahui was busy with his hands, but he could still chat with Jiang Wang.

“Well, brother, can I take a leave of absence this afternoon or tomorrow afternoon?”

Jiang Wang pretended to dislike the sweet treat, but actually finished almost half of it in two or three bites, and said casually, “Sure, take a day off, as long as you want.”

“I finally made some money, and I want to take Xingwang to the carnival and have more fun with him.” Peng Jiahui said with a hesitant expression, “You know, I used to be really wicked to this kid…”

“No need to explain.” Jiang Wang said seriously, “This booth is yours, and the machine is yours. You can play as long as you want. I’ve been too busy these days. You can take the child back home to sleep for a couple of days.”

Peng Jiahui nodded repeatedly, smiling happily.

He still had cravings for alcohol from time to time, after all, it was a physiological response that couldn’t be removed instantly.

But once he tastes the sweetness of being sober and alive, people would never look back.

The carnival lasted until 9 p.m. that day, the security guards urged people to disperse reluctantly.

Cleaners swarmed to clean up the place, and small trucks drove over one after another to replenish the flowers and potted plants.

Jiang Wang stayed in the square and didn’t leave yet, making do with half a box of fried rice for dinner.

He didn’t take away the bulk of the profit, he only charged a symbolic booth fee.

Compared to endless money-grabbing and hoarding, it seems that seeing the city so lively and cheerful was even more comfortable than he had imagined.

It was rare for everyone to be happy together, and it felt good.