Hailing down a cab took quite the while. Gu Yan took Shen Jiayu to the amusement park that was located in the heart of the city.
The atmosphere of the amusement park was very much bustling with activity. Although the entertainment facilities inside the park were not as advanced as back in the day, it was still fairly safe and fully constructed.
Inside the amusement park, there were parents seen holding their kids’ hands and bringing them along the amusement park, and couples standing here and there in the park.
As they walked, Gu Yan saw that there were all sorts of shapes and sizes of balloons that were being sold or rewarded to the customers at the stalls nearby.
There were countless balloons lined up in rows, huddled together as they hung on the white wall. It made for a beautiful and eye-catching sight.
On one stall’s side, there was a sign put up that read 10 yuan for 30 shots.
Stalls like these weren’t allowed back then as it was more looked down upon. The rewards that hung above the stall all looked too good to be true. Gu Yan’s eyes fell on the biggest toy stuffed cat and from then on she couldn’t tear her gaze away from the toy.
At some point of time, she had unconsciously stopped walking.
A couple stood in front of the stall. The boy had a black toy gun in his hand, and the girl was looking at the boy expectantly.
The first few shots were shot out of line and pretty outrageous. I didn’t even hit the side of the balloon. The girl got angry and said, "Can’t you shoot? If you can’t, then let me play!"
Maybe the boy got a sudden stroke of luck under the pressure, but he finally shot the target after many failed attempts. Out of all the thirty rounds, perhaps only fifteen had hit the target.
The girl was a little dissatisfied and pouted a bit.
With 15 points, they could only get a small plush toy.
If they wanted the big stuffed toy, they’d have to win all 30 rounds.
She spent a while picking, and in the end, she settled on a small butterfly plush toy.
Shen Jiayu saw that the Fortune Cat plush toy had caught Gu Yan’s eye. Although she didn’t say anything, he knew that she wanted it.
Shen Jiayu went forward, handed 10 yuan to the boss. He looked up at him, and said, “I want to give it a try."
The boss saw that he wasn’t even as tall as the plush toy that was hanging on the wall and smiled as he said, "Little friend, do you want to try?"
Shen Jiayu nodded his head and asked, "Can you give me three more bullets?"
When the boss saw that he was cute and serious, he smiled and said, “Sure."
The couple didn’t leave, instead stopping to watch Shen Jiayu.
The girl grabbed the boy's ear and said, "See, you’re not as active as the other kids. If I didn’t take the initiative to push you, you would’ve never shot properly.”
The boy buried his grievances inside his heart and said, "This child may not even be able to shoot a single shot.”
The girl got even angrier and rolled her eyes. Gu Yan did not react. She kept her eyes on Shen Jiayu.
He carried a long black gun and aimed it at a row of balloons in front of him.
Shen Jiayu shot once but none of the balloons were hit.
The boss seemed as if he’d known the result long ago and he smiled as he said, "it's okay, little friend. Try again."
Shen Jiayu ignored him. He took the gun, and shot again.
None of the balloons were hit.
The boy said to the girl, “See! I told you it was hard, but you didn’t believe me."
The girl coldly said, "You can’t be serious. Are you a child?"
Shen Jiayu weighed the gun in his hand, and then carried it again to the opposite row of colored balloons.
He squinted his eyes and pressed the trigger.
Then, there was a ”bang!", following which a pink balloon burst.
Shen Jiayu did not stop. He turned the gun slightly to the side, and pulled the trigger once more.
In the blink of an eye, the orange balloon, that was next to the pink balloon, also burst like fireworks.
For the next ten seconds, people heard the sound, “Bang! Bang! Bang!” ringing one after another in quick succession. There was no pause till all the rows of balloons were burst, leaving no balloon behind.
The onlookers stood there staring.
In the end, there was still a bullet left.
Shen Jiayu played with the last bullet as he asked the boss, "Thirty balloons, can I pick now?"
The smile on the boss's face had long faded, replaced by shock.
The boss asked, "Child, you...are you a member of the national junior shooting team?"
Shen Jiayu didn’t hesitate or take any breaks while shooting all those balloons. He had never seen such a technique before. Some people did shoot 30 balloons, but they always paused in-between shooting.
Shen Jiayu did not answer him and went ahead to grab the giant Lucky Cat Doll.
Then he walked calmly towards Gu Yan in the crowd, while carrying the Lucky Cat Doll that was about his height.
He handed the Lucky Cat to Gu Yan as he approached her. Gu Yan picked it up, touching the soft head of the Lucky Cat Doll speechlessly.
Shen Jiayu looked at Gu Yan.
“Say, is there anything else you want?” Gu Yan did not react and stared at Shen Jiayu. This time the boss said, " No! it’s enough. let me do business!"
Gu Yan：……
The couple that had been watching stood there in shock.
What the fuck just happened!
Was this how children were these days?
The girl yelled angrily, "Let’s break up! You can't even compare to a fucking kid?!”
Finally, Gu Yan snapped out of her trance. She grabbed the doll, and said it was time to leave.
On the way, Gu Yan couldn’t help but ask Shen Jiayu, "How did you shoot so many?"
Shen Jiayu looked at the bullet in the palm of his hand and said, “The pipe of the gun was crooked. The first two shots straightened it.”
Gu Yan was still a little shocked. She already knew that Shen Jiayu was very smart.
But she didn't expect his observation and learning ability to be so strong.
After Gu Yan and Shen Jiayu went around for a while, they decided to play on rides.
Gu Yan was a little afraid to get on those exciting rides so she decided to take Shen Jiayu on the mild, child-friendly rides.
But when they saw the small train in the garden filled with children whining, crying, shouting and vomiting, Gu Yan silently stepped back and asked Shen Jiayu, “If I don't want to go on the ride, can we sit down somewhere else?"
Shen Jiayu agreed without hesitation.
So Gu Yan set her eyes on the carousel next door.
There was a small line in front, but it wouldn’t take long till it was their turn, so Gu Yan took Shen Jiayu to line up.
In front of them there was a boy in a sweater. Seeing Gu Yan's bright eyes, he took the initiative to come forward to talk. "Is this your brother? He’s so cute!”
As Gu Yan listened to him praise Shen Jiayu, her heart floated with joy and pride.
She smiled and said, “He’s super cute, isn't he?"
The boy smiled and continued, "I also brought my sister here to play. She went to the bathroom just now, but she’ll be back soon."
Gu Yan was a little surprised. What a coincidence!
The boy smiled. Then, he squatted down with a very friendly smile on his face as he asked Shen Jiayu, "How old are you?"
Shen Jiayu looked faintly at the boy in the sweatshirt squatting in front of him and ignored him. Instead, he turned around and grabbed Gu Yan's clothes pendulum and said softly, “Sister, I don't want to line up. Let's go on the garden train."
Gu Yan said with some doubt, “Huh? But I thought you said you didn't want to...”
Shen Jiayu said expressionlessly, “Well, I think I do now."
Gu Yan was a little baffled, but she still turned to the sweater boy and said, "Sorry, we may have to go first."
It happened to be that at this time, a little girl with a double ponytail ran towards them.
"Brother!”
The sweater boy said to Gu Yan, "My sister just came back and she says that she wants to ride the garden train too. Why not go together?"
When the girl with the double ponytail saw Gu Yan and Shen Jiayu from afar, she hid shyly behind her big brother, leaning out slightly to look at them.
Gu Yan smiled kindly at the little girl and said,“Okay. Let's go together."
As soon as Gu Yan spoke, Shen Jiayu grabbed her clothes pendulum tightly. He didn’t say anything, but the pressure around her body was getting lower and lower, and it was difficult to ignore.
Gu Yan bent down slightly and asked Shen Jiayu, “What's wrong? Are you feeling uncomfortable?”
Shen Jiayu remained silent.
Gu Yan blinked, feeling a little confused.
The sweatshirt boy said with some doubt, "Is the child hungry? Do you want to get something to eat first?”
Gu Yan nodded, "Probably."
So Gu Yan decided to go to the store in the park to buy some bread and snacks.
Who knew that the store would be so full? The sweater boy explained, “The amusement park restaurant is very expensive, so people generally come to the store to buy something to eat."
Gu Yan nodded and said to Shen Jiayu, "You and your friend stay outside. I'll go in and buy something real quick."
Then she went toward the bread rack, squeezing in along the flow of people.
Just when she successfully got the bread, and was about to head to the counter, a man passed by her and fiercely shoved her from the side. Gu Yan wasn’t paying attention and ended up knocked down onto the ground, along with the whole shelf of bread.
The ground was a mess, and the people in the supermarket looked over in her direction.