Winter Time Rendering

Zhang Shutong, sitting in the back, had a clear view. He kept wanting to crack open a window, but his hand would always freeze over the switch before he did.

"Why’d you two stop talking?"

Song, while overtaking another car, still had the energy to ask curiously. It was a shame this was a small island with very few cars; he was usually just passing bicycles, a move that only looked impressive.

No one answered him.

"Want to go have some fun? How about tomorrow I take you two into the city to see a movie? We’ll watch *2012*—it’s that new blockbuster from the United States. My treat. Popcorn and drinks on me, as much as you want." The man spoke grandly, staring straight ahead and spouting nonsense. "But we have to watch it in the original English. It’ll be good listening practice. And when you get back, you both have to write me a movie review in English."

Still, no one answered him.

’How did he jump from eloping to movies, and then to listening practice?’ Zhang Shutong simply couldn’t follow his logic.

"Then how about the amusement park? The bumper cars are a great deal—ten yuan for unlimited time. Shutong, you and Qiumian can share one, and I’ll get my own. We’ll see who’s the better driver!" It’s true what they say about every man having a child’s heart; his own face was lighting up with excitement. "The Ferris wheel is great too, but the best time to go is at night. The thing is, if we stay that late, we’ll miss the last boat back, so we’d have to go during the day. I’ll let you in on a secret: I’ve never actually been on one. I bought a ticket once, but then it started to rain..."

Even someone as dense as Zhang Shutong could pick up on Song’s hidden agenda. ’Is he trying to play matchmaker?’ He was about to ask what happened to his professional ethics as a teacher, but Song Nanshan was just getting more and more animated.

"After we’re done, we’ll go to KFC for lunch. You guys know the Tender Beef Wrap, right? I heard they’re taking it off the menu soon, so we won’t be able to get it anymore. If we go now, we can catch it before it’s gone..."

He had been lazily holding the steering wheel with one hand, but when he said this, he sat up straighter with excitement. It seemed the Tender Beef Wrap was really important to him.

’Then again, maybe I’m wrong,’ Zhang Shutong thought. ’Maybe this guy who’s pushing thirty just wants to go have fun himself but is too embarrassed to go alone, so he’s dragging two students along for cover.’

Outside of school, Song Nanshan wasn’t formal at all. After talking to himself for a while, he finally complained,

"I’m offering to treat you both, and you can’t even give me the time of day? Hey, Shutong, why don’t we talk about what it feels like to be her guardian? And Qiumian, in a bit, you can talk about being..."

Just then, the song on the radio reached its finale, the vocals swelling with emotion. The line "elope with you" repeated over and over. Elope, elope, elope, elope... The word echoed in their heads. Zhang Shutong and Gu Qiuyan finally snapped, shouting in unison:

"Can you just turn off the music already!"

"Oh! You think it’s noisy? You should’ve said so earlier! I thought you two were just quietly enjoying the music..."

"Who would listen to such a terrible song?" Gu Qiuyan retorted. Miss Gu certainly had her own taste. Zhang Shutong just thought the song didn’t fit the mood; he didn’t actually find it unpleasant.

"Hey now, Qiumian, that hurts. Your teacher happens to like this song. See, the first line is ’dedicate your youth to the glorious city you leave behind.’ Our island may not be glorious, but I’ve certainly dedicated my youth to it..."

"Mr. Song, why would you ride a Ferris wheel by yourself?" Gu Qiuyan was clearly destined for the business world, adept at completely ignoring things she didn’t want to hear.

"What do you mean, by myself? How can you ride a Ferris wheel alone? Of course it was with my girlfriend," Song Nanshan said dismissively. "This is why I say you kids don’t know anything."

"Then where’s your girlfriend?" Gu Qiuyan asked curiously. It seemed that as long as she didn’t have to hear about eloping, she didn’t mind talking a bit more.

"Er, we broke up."

This was the first time Zhang Shutong had ever heard that Song had an ex-girlfriend. ’She must be an ex from way back,’ he figured. For at least the four years of middle school, Song had been single. Otherwise, how would a guy with a girlfriend have the free time to just drive around aimlessly?

Song Nanshan didn’t really want to talk about this topic.

"Whoa, whoa, how did this turn into you two interrogating me? Just give me a straight answer. Are you going into the city tomorrow or not? If you are, I’ll come pick you both up."

"No," Miss Gu said disdainfully. "The one in the city is too small. A full rotation only takes ten minutes. It’s an embarrassment to even call it a Ferris wheel."

Song gave a wry smile. "Right, right, I know, Qiumian, you’re a young lady of privilege. The city’s Ferris wheel can’t compare to Disneyland or whatever. But back when your teacher’s generation was young, we thought it was the coolest thing ever. It was a holy grail for young couples on dates. Tickets were crazy expensive back then—cost as much as a full day’s meals—and you’d still have to wait in line for an hour just for that."

Gu Qiuyan didn’t seem to appreciate being called a "young lady of privilege" to her face. She rolled her eyes. "Mr. Song, can you be serious for a second? First of all, the Disneylands in our country don’t have Ferris wheels. Second, when did I ever compare it to Disneyland? I was talking about the one in the provincial capital. Ask him if you don’t believe me."

"Him," of course, referred to Zhang Shutong.

Zhang Shutong’s family was originally from the provincial capital. They only came to the island because of his parents’ job transfers.

Now that Gu Qiuyan mentioned it, he actually remembered going to a Happy Valley before. It really was a grand place, built on the outskirts of the city, with a whole street of hotels around it. Compared to that, the one in this city could at best be called a children’s playground.

A proper amusement park naturally had proper employees: people in various furry mascot costumes holding balloons, and clowns selling ice cream, making all the little kids roar with laughter.

But when he was a child, he wasn’t interested in the Ferris wheel. Why waste precious time on that thing? Zhang Shutong always made a beeline for the roller coasters, only to be carried away by a person in a furry costume for not being old enough, his feet kicking wildly in mid-air.

He didn’t go many times after he was old enough, either. Zhang Shutong’s parents were always busy. While other kids might get to watch movies, eat at nice restaurants, or go to amusement parks on the weekend, he could only pick one of the three each week. Even then, his parents were rarely available at the same time. It was either his mom who took him or his dad; the two of them were hardly ever together.

So when he was with his dad, they’d go fishing and have barbecues in the wild. When he was with his mom, he’d sit in a beauty salon reading a book. A bunch of "aunties" or "big sisters" would often pinch his cheeks, and he’d come home to find lipstick marks on his face in the mirror, which annoyed Zhang Shutong to no end.

In short, amusement parks were just not a part of his life. However, he did have a vague memory of the Ferris wheel Gu Qiuyan mentioned, since it was such a landmark—

Every night, its multicolored light strips would light up, and you could see its giant silhouette against the night sky from far away on the overpass.

Zhang Shutong nodded, confirming that Miss Gu wasn’t lying. He even added a memory of his own, recalling a stand that sold rainbow cotton candy at the base of the Ferris wheel. He’d never been on the ride, but he’d had the cotton candy. He thought Gu Qiuyan would nod in agreement and say she’d had it too, but instead, she said she hadn’t. It had been a long time since she’d been to an amusement park.

’How long is "a long time"?’ Zhang Shutong wondered. ’I was probably only in elementary school when I had that cotton candy.’ But his thoughts were cut short by Song Nanshan.

Song said through clenched teeth, "Right, I almost forgot you two are city kids. If this were Ruoping and the others, they’d be cheering their heads off by now. There’s just no sense of accomplishment in taking you two out."

"But there’s something I’ve been curious about for a long time. Can I take this chance to ask?"

"What is it?" ’Don’t tell me you want cotton candy too,’ Zhang Shutong thought.

But Song Nanshan blurted out:

"Actually, I’ve been wondering for a long time... Since you both came from the provincial capital, and you transferred on the same day... Shutong and Qiumian, did you two know each other before?"