Sun Rain Chapter 9

The amusement park closest to Heting Club was an hour and a half drive away. Fu Xuanliao, sitting in the passenger seat, started dozing off as soon as they got in the car. When he woke up, they were almost there, and the rain outside had stopped.

“Don’t say I didn’t warn you,” Fu Xuanliao said with a yawn. “Since it just rained, most of the rides at the amusement park are probably closed.”

Shi Meng was driving, his eyes fixed on the road ahead: “Mhm.”

Fu Xuanliao actually didn’t want to go. He knew without thinking that such a place would be packed on a weekend, mostly with children, which was quite dreadful.

He tried to stall for time: “It’s almost dinner time. Aren’t you hungry?”

Shi Meng freed one hand and picked up the paper bag from the center console, handing it to Fu Xuanliao.

Opening it, Fu Xuanliao saw a burger, fries, a drink, and half a cut dragon fruit.

He had been sleeping so soundly that he had no idea when Shi Meng had stopped to buy these. Fu Xuanliao’s mouth twitched: “Quite well prepared.”

He stuffed the last fry into his mouth just as they arrived. Wiping his hands with a wet wipe, Fu Xuanliao got out of the car and looked around, finding the place somewhat familiar.

The steeply sloped Roller Coaster, the Ferris Wheel with its extremely long radius… Fengcheng only had two large amusement parks, and only this one had barely been renovated or expanded, basically maintaining the scale it had when it was first built more than twenty years ago.

As a native of Fengcheng, Fu Xuanliao had naturally been brought here by his parents when he was little. Thinking carefully, he had also come once ten years ago, probably for a class or club activity.

It must not have been a pleasant experience, otherwise he wouldn’t have forgotten it so completely, unable to recall any details.

Shi Meng walked ahead, dutifully lining up at the end of the queue for the ticket booth. Fu Xuanliao stood beside him, pulling out his phone and swiping a few times, asking doubtfully, “Why didn’t you buy tickets online? You can just scan your ID to enter.”

“I need paper tickets,” Shi Meng said.

Fu Xuanliao was speechless: “What’s the point of that?”

Shi Meng ignored him, stood on his toes, and silently counted the people ahead, concluding that it would take about 15 minutes to queue.

Left with no choice, Fu Xuanliao had to wait with him.

After buying the tickets, Shi Meng still walked ahead, scanning both tickets together. Fu Xuanliao followed him into the park, feeling vaguely like a child being brought out by a parent.

It was already strange enough for two grown men to be at an amusement park. Fu Xuanliao was apprehensive, fearing Shi Meng would drag him onto something like the carousel. If that happened, with the flashing lights and music, his six-foot-two frame would likely become the most unsightly sight in the entire park.

Fortunately, Shi Meng only paused by the carousel for two seconds before walking past it.

He then stopped at a snack cart, ordered an ice cream, walked over to a nearby bench, sat down, and patted the empty spot beside him, signaling Fu Xuanliao to sit.

Fu Xuanliao thought, how interesting, is he making me watch him eat?

Just as he sat down, the ice cream suddenly appeared before him. A swirl of two-toned cream topped the cone, sprinkled with chocolate crunchies on the peak, and was made somewhat pleasing to the eye by the hand holding it.

After a long moment of stunned silence, Fu Xuanliao asked uncertainly, “For me?”

Shi Meng nodded: “Mhm.”

He took it instinctively, but then couldn’t bring himself to eat it. After all, a grown man eating ice cream in a place full of children…

He asked Shi Meng, “Where’s yours?”

Shi Meng seemed stumped by the question, blinking blankly.

Fu Xuanliao decided not to wait for an answer. He stood up, walked back to the cart, and bought another ice cream. On the way back, he passed a child whose parents were preventing him from eating sweets because of cavities. The child looked enviously at Fu Xuanliao, who held one ice cream in each hand.

Shi Meng was still a little confused when he took the ice cream, holding it carefully and staring at it intently.

Fu Xuanliao couldn’t stand his expression and said, “Thanks for lunch. Tit for tat.”

So the two of them sat in the amusement park, which was still lively after the rain, eating ice cream under the scrutiny of the children.

It was late autumn, cold and windy. Fu Xuanliao’s teeth chattered uncontrollably: “Of all things to eat, why did it have to be cold?”

Shi Meng was also very cold, his lips pale: “Didn’t you like eating it?”

Fu Xuanliao thought hard for a long time before vaguely recalling that the last time he came to this amusement park, the convenience store was out of bottled water, so he bought several ice creams to quench his thirst.

“That was summer, it was too hot, I had no choice,” Fu Xuanliao felt utterly exhausted. “In this weather, aren’t you afraid of messing up your stomach?”

As soon as the words left his mouth, Shi Meng turned and let out a loud sneeze. When he turned back, his nose and cheeks were red, whether from the cold or embarrassment, Fu Xuanliao couldn’t tell.

This amused Fu Xuanliao. He took a big bite of ice cream, chewing with shivers, and then, shaking, he belatedly remembered something.

“How did you know I like the ice cream here?”

How did he know? Shi Meng asked himself inwardly.

He hadn’t deliberately tried to remember, but everything about Fu Xuanliao was crystal clear in the otherwise unremarkable trajectory of his life.

Ten years ago, in the summer, cicadas buzzed noisily outside the classroom. Shi Meng, then in the eighth grade, stayed in the art room, which was steaming with afternoon heat, modifying a portrait’s facial outline many times, yet still unsatisfied.

It needed deep-set eyes, a sharp jawline, and lips that looked good when smiling… Shi Meng frowned slightly, thinking he would find a chance to look at him more closely the next time he came over.

Suddenly, he heard approaching footsteps. Shi Meng gathered his thoughts, almost instinctively wanting to duck under the table.

Perhaps finding the classroom stuffy, the two people outside stopped just around the corner of the hallway.

“So, are you going to the club activity this weekend?”

“The amusement park is for kids. I’m not going.”

“You’re an adult in high school? Wait until I skip another grade…”

“No, no, no. If you skip higher than me, my dad will complain again about me being useless.”

The boy’s hearty laughter captivated Shi Meng, who was separated by a wall.

“Are you going or not?”

“I’m a high schooler… Oh, fine, I’ll go.”

“It’s settled then. Sunday morning at ten, meet at the amusement park entrance.”

“Mhm, see you there.”

…

Later, when Shi Meng thought back on this incident, he always felt like he had benefited from a fortunate coincidence.

Because Shi Mu hadn’t realized anyone was in the art room then, nor had he anticipated that he would ultimately be the one to break the promise and be unable to go.

That weekend later became one of the important memories of Fu Xuanliao stored in Shi Meng’s heart.

He bought an admission ticket for himself and secretly followed behind the crowd, watching Fu Xuanliao’s dark expression after Shi Mu stood him up, standing under the sun and eating eight ice creams in one go.

Shi Meng liked sweets and guessed that the ice cream had somewhat helped regulate Fu Xuanliao’s mood. So, ten years later, he copied the experience, hoping it would cheer Fu Xuanliao up.

It seemed to have worked. Fu Xuanliao was much quieter after eating the ice cream, no longer nitpicking or criticizing Shi Meng’s various irrational behaviors. He even patiently sat with Shi Meng on another bench for nearly two hours.

The rain had stopped and the sky cleared. The sun peeked out listlessly. In front of them, surrounded by bushes, was the park’s Roller Coaster. Every few minutes, they could see the cars slowly climbing to the highest point, then plunging down with accelerating speed amidst screams, rising, and falling again, repeating the cycle until returning to the starting point.

Shi Meng liked processes that followed a pattern—numbers arranged in sequence, card towers decreasing layer by layer—all made him feel relaxed and subsequently happy.

But now he wasn’t alone. He was sitting next to Fu Xuanliao, the person who always made him break the rules.

“If you keep watching, the park will close,” Fu Xuanliao gestured toward the Roller Coaster with his chin. “Don’t you want to try it?”

Shi Meng turned his head to look at him, stunned.

His eyes were large, clear and moist as if holding two pools of water. The evening sunset and the park’s flashing lights reflected in his eyes, causing Fu Xuanliao’s heart to skip a beat uncontrollably.

“Since we’re already here,” Fu Xuanliao’s tone softened unconsciously. “Isn’t today your birthday?”

Half an hour later, the two of them lined up for the last run of the Roller Coaster, which had resumed operation after the rain.

As they got on, Shi Meng was jostled by the person behind him, stumbling and nearly falling. Fu Xuanliao quickly reached out and steadied him.

Seeing him timid and cautious in the crowd, unable to even relax his movements, Fu Xuanliao frowned and negotiated with the girl behind him to switch seats, allowing Shi Meng to sit in the same row as him.

The last time Fu Xuanliao rode a Roller Coaster was over ten years ago. As he fastened his seatbelt and the open-air car began its rattling ascent along the track, he felt a rare flicker of nervousness.

“Hey,” he nudged Shi Meng with his elbow. “Are you scared?”

Shi Meng stared straight ahead with the same focused expression he had while driving.

He didn’t seem to hear, so Fu Xuanliao shrugged.

A guy with the guts to steal someone else’s work—how could he possibly be scared of a Roller Coaster? Yet, as the car climbed to its highest point, Fu Xuanliao’s hand was suddenly grabbed by the person beside him.

Shi Meng’s hand was very cold, and also soft. Being held by such a hand didn’t feel bad.

In that moment of distraction, Fu Xuanliao turned his head to look, and Shi Meng happened to be looking at him too.

He heard Shi Meng say, “Fu Xuanliao, I…”

Just half a second later, the car plunged downward at a near-vertical angle. The rest of the sentence was lost in the wind and screams. Fu Xuanliao only saw the lips in front of him slowly opening and closing, saying words he couldn’t decipher.

On the way back, Fu Xuanliao drove. He adjusted the seat lower and the temperature higher, still feeling very unaccustomed to driving Shi Meng’s car.

“I should have driven my own car,” Fu Xuanliao said.

Shi Meng rested his elbow on the window frame, facing the amusement park that was receding further away. The spinning Ferris Wheel became a small, glittering disk: “Mhm, your car has more space.”

Fu Xuanliao chuckled softly: “If anyone else heard that, they’d probably think you wanted to…”

He didn’t finish the sentence because Shi Meng gave him a questioning look, his eyes clear and deep, making Fu Xuanliao feel like his own thoughts were dirty, like a crass straight man making inappropriate jokes.

But before, their relationship was one where they exchanged few words and went straight to bed. A thousand frivolous, casual remarks like that wouldn’t have mattered. It was just a joke, and if it stung the other person, all the better.

Now, it was too peaceful, unprecedentedly so.

The short-term change in their dynamic left a longer-lasting after-effect than expected. When they reached the entrance of Heting Club, Fu Xuanliao pulled the handbrake, and the first thing he subconsciously thought was—it’s so late, should I drive Shi Meng home?

Shi Meng had already gotten out of the car and walked around to the driver’s side door, waiting for Fu Xuanliao to get out.

Fu Xuanliao moved slowly, including getting out of the car and walking the short distance of ten meters to his own vehicle.

It must be because of today’s outing, Fu Xuanliao thought. He really shouldn’t have agreed to it.

Even so, after starting his own car, he unconsciously looked back in the direction they had come from.

Heting Club’s ground parking lot was spacious. He could see Shi Meng still standing by his open car door.

His figure was slender, yet he stood straight. He wasn’t wearing the formal attire Fu Xuanliao had seen at the banquet that day; his sweater and thick jacket looked comfortable and casual, reminding Fu Xuanliao of the many Saturdays he used to wait by the door.

He would clearly run down and still be catching his breath, but he insisted on pretending it was a chance encounter, dutifully saying, “You’re here,” as if he were very polite.

In reality, he was just a wild child with a volatile temper. Fu Xuanliao didn’t remember when he had changed like this, but he was nothing like Shi Mu.

But if it were Shi Mu here today, if it were Shi Mu’s birthday, Fu Xuanliao definitely wouldn’t just let him leave.

He would take him home.

Many thoughts flooded his mind, overlapping one after another, causing Fu Xuanliao to speak before he had fully thought it through.

“It’s late,” he asked. “Do you want to come to my place?”

Even the ants passing by would probably find the question redundant, because Shi Meng never needed to hesitate when it came to him.

Besides, the Fu family residence was near Heting Club.

And so, very quickly, Fu Xuanliao heard the sound of Shi Meng’s car door closing, followed by a very soft, yet clearly audible, “Sure.”