Chapter 11: Amusement Park

　　Cherry Adams was awakened in the middle of the night.

It was Pascal Lee tugging at her blanket.

"It's really you!" Cherry Adams touched her face, "You scared me. What are you doing up in the middle of the night?"

"I had to go to the bathroom," Pascal Lee blushed, "Can you turn on the bathroom light for me?"

　　"You don't know where the bathroom light is?" Cherry Adams was surprised and amused, "Then how did you go to the bathroom during the day? In the dark?"

"I... I don't know... I looked for it for a long time during the day, but I couldn't find it. Pascal Lee was particularly upset, "I just... didn't close the door... I'm afraid of the dark..."

Sigh, he's going to get on my nerves.

Cherry Adams frowned and said the light switch was behind the bathroom door where the mop was hanging.

　　"I'm afraid of the dark..." Pascal Lee took her hand, "Will you come with me? I'm afraid to go alone."

Cherry Adams took three seconds to convince herself to get up. It was really painful to leave the warm bed in the middle of winter.

Keep your jacket on or you'll catch cold again," Cherry Adams told him, but she didn't put any clothes on herself.

Pascal Lee asked, "Don't you have a jacket on?"

"Aren't you tired of this? Cherry Adams asked him in return.

　　Walking through the dim living room, Cherry Adams turned on the bathroom light for him and just stood outside waiting for him to finish.

"Sister..." Pascal Lee called weakly, "can I leave the door open...?"

"Nonsense! Leave the door open and let me smell your urine?"

Pascal Lee blushed and bit his lip as he looked at her.

　　"Eh, you can close it if you want!" Cherry Adams, no matter how hardhearted she was, couldn't stand being stared at by such a cute thing. She put a hand to her forehead and said, "I don't care about you anymore!

"Did you get up in the night again last night? Cherry asked Adams.

"Well...twice. I drank too much water."

"You know you drank too much water, but you drank some more!"

　　Cherry Adams found something to scold him about and yelled at him from outside.

"I get thirsty easily at night before I go to bed."

Kids will be kids, and they really do have a lot on their minds.

"Then who made you pee last night?"

"It was my brother. I went into the living room in the middle of the night to look for him."

"Hmph," Cherry Adams said with a hand on her hip and a cold smile. "So he didn't say anything to you?"

Pascal Lee was washing his hands and couldn't hear the answer.

　　After opening the door, he repeated, "My brother said...to let my sister have a bite of whatever I eat."

Speechless, Cherry Adams grabbed his shoulders and carried him back to bed. Pascal Lee didn't get up for the second half of the night, and Cherry Adams finally fell asleep, sleeping until dawn.

"I'm going to work," Cherry Adams said as she put on her coat in front of the mirror and tidied up her appearance. "You can get lunch and dinner on your own, and I'll leave some money on the table for you."

　　Pascal Lee was still in bed, not having slept well last night and holding his urine until dawn, but he was afraid of disturbing Cherry Adams. So he let go once at daybreak. Cherry Adams didn't care about him; she was not Lee's mother, and she supervised the boy's morning reading, evening reading, and piano practice every day.

Pascal Lee answered vaguely.

Cherry Adams asked again, "Will you buy food? You are ten years old, can't you do that?"

　　"Yes," said Pascal Lee, "but Mom won't let me eat out because she says it's all industrial food.

"Okay, okay, industrial food... Cherry Adams snorted, "I left the keys on the table for you. Remember to take them with you when you go out, or no one will open the door for you."

Cherry Adams left the house and went downstairs for breakfast as usual. The three-flavor tofu skin for five yuan that she carried to the car was eaten while she took orders.

　　She worked from sunrise to sunset. Today, one of the orders was too far away and she was idle for half an hour. Coach Gao called and asked if she was in Wuhan and said he wanted to open a driving school in Wuhan.

Cherry Adams asked him why he suddenly wanted to come to Wuhan and if the market in Beijing was not good. Coach Gao said that the market in Beijing had stabilized and that the market in Wuhan needed to be developed.

　　"How did you choose Wuhan? What a coincidence?" Cherry Adams said, "If you come, let me know and I'll buy you dinner.

"Yes, yes, it's for next year. First, come over and see where it would be appropriate to open. You should pay more attention to it."

"I will."

Busy until late at night, Cherry Adams went home after taking the last delivery back to town. Pascal Lee opened the door to greet her. She asked as usual, "Where's your brother? He's not back yet.

　　He's not back. He's not back.

Cherry Adams said he would never come back.

Pascal Lee wasn't sure either, so he just whispered,

"He won't."

He was just fooling himself.

"What's that?" Cherry Adams noticed a flyer on the table. Pascal Lee said it was a coupon for Happy Valley, and someone had given it to him when they went out to eat.

　　"Since you're a child," Cherry Adams smiled, "do you remember when we went to Happy Valley last year..."

"I remember," Pascal Lee nodded, "it was always my brother and I having fun, you didn't do much."

　　"I talked to your mother about your past. She said you were in poor health and your father went to the mountains to get a prescription for you, bought a lot of medicinal herbs to make you a Chinese medicine. But you refused to drink it." Cherry Adams paused, "Was your poor health congenital or..."

"Mom said I had a very bad cold and that was it. Because of that, Mom and Dad had a big fight, and then Mom quit her job and concentrated on taking care of me and my brother at home."

　　So that was the reason, Cherry Adams nodded.

Sleepiness came over her, and she said, "Let's go to bed, it's not that early.

It was late, and Pascal Lee had to get up.

Cherry Adams yawned tiredly and stood up.

"I just had a dream," he said, "I dreamed that we went back to Happy Valley."

"Who?" she asked quietly, leaning against the wall.

　　"You, me, my brother... the three of us."

The three of us.

Cherry Adams chuckled.

"Really? What happened?"

"We played a lot and did the thing I was most afraid of: the monkey bars."

"You were afraid of the monkey bars? You're afraid of heights." Cherry Adams tilted her head. "I don't remember you doing the ropes course.

"I was really scared of it. Pascal Lee emerged from the bathroom. "It's not safe up there."

　　Some people are afraid of it, but Cherry Adams thought of the news about the plane crash that killed Lee's parents.

"Let's go to Happy Valley tomorrow."

she said, rubbing his head.

Pascal Lee didn't react at first, but when he came to his senses, Cherry Adams had already gone to the bedroom on her own. Pascal Lee quickly followed her.

　　"Really? Really? Tomorrow morning?"

"Yes, so get a good night's sleep."

Pascal Lee fell asleep with a smile on his face.

The next day, Pascal Lee woke up even earlier than Cherry Adams.

Cherry Adams took the ten-year-old to Happy Valley.

They ate brown sugar haircakes for breakfast on the way. Cherry Adams drove, and Pascal Lee broke off pieces to feed her.

　　"I'm not handicapped," Cherry Adams said, feeling childish but opening her mouth helplessly.

"You're the one driving, and you have to concentrate," said Pascal Lee earnestly, as if he meant it, "and you can't take your hands off the wheel."

"Who told you that?" asked Cherry Adams. "What about shifting gears and taking off your seat belt?"

Pascal Lee stammered, "Anyway, the chauffeur at my house doesn't stop for food halfway through the trip."

　　"Haha, that's your hired help making 30,000 a month." Cherry Adams took control of the steering wheel with one hand and said, "If you pay me 30,000 to 50,000 a month, not to mention eating in the car, I'll write a self-reflection before I even get in the car, even if it means picking my nose. Unfortunately, you're not a young master and I'm not your driver.

Pascal Lee then asked Cherry Adams how much she made in a month.

"Is that your concern?"

　　Pascal Lee said, "If you can't afford to support me, I can go to work. My brother can, and so can I."

"You can go to hell!" Cherry Adams shoved him in the face. "Your present task is to get through junior high."

"I can go to work! Trust me!"

Forget it, Cherry Adams wasn't going to argue with him.

It was the last day, after all.

　　Since it wasn't the weekend, there weren't many people in Happy Valley. Cherry Adams asked Pascal Lee what rides he liked, and Pascal Lee said anything that wasn't in the air was fine. They rode the merry-go-round, the ice world, the 3D movie, the stone forest maze, and a few other things.

Pascal Lee wanted ice cream, so Cherry Adams bought him some.

　　"You're so nice, my brother won't even let me eat it."

"Why?" Cherry Adams asked.

"Because I cough if I eat too much."

As soon as he finished speaking, Cherry Adams suddenly grabbed the ice cream out of his hand: "Give it to me! If you hadn't told me, I wouldn't have bought it for you."

Pascal Lee pouted, but said nothing.

He kicked the stones at the side of the road and lowered his eyebrows.

　　"Miss your brother?" Cherry Adams sneered, "It's been three days, if I wanted to find you, I would have done it by now. If he hasn't come for three days, it means he really left you."

Pascal Lee bit his lip, "But in the beginning, in the van, when we were so miserable, he didn't abandon me..."

People never question sincerity.

But sincerity always changes.

She pursed her lips, she had many things to tell him that were true, but at that moment it was hard to say them.

　　Making up a beautiful dream for a child? Why should Cherry Adams be treated so gently by Xie Xue, she thought to herself.

But when she looked at Pascal Lee with tear-filled eyes, Cherry Adams gave a complicated frown and finally turned her head away.

"Then maybe he'll come back for you."

Say it, do what makes the child happy.

Do it, do what makes the child happy.

This is the meaning of a lie.

　　Build a superficial dream for him.

"Go play on the monkey bars," Cherry Adams held out her hand, "I'll go with you so you won't be afraid, okay?"

Pascal Lee hesitated for a moment, but finally took her hand. They tied the ropes together and climbed up the ladder frame.

Pascal Lee and Cherry Adams did not walk in the same line. When they reached the jump, Cherry Adams stood on the opposite platform and said to him,

　　"Jump over, I'll catch you.

Pascal Lee was afraid of heights and tears welled up in his eyes. He was bundled up in the cold wind and looked like a little panda. He fidgeted in place, stamping his feet and shaking his head, saying no, no, and then telling Cherry Adams to jump over to him and then telling her to catch him in place.

"Hurry up, Pascal Lee!" Cherry Adams was so happy that tears came to her eyes and she took out her phone to take a picture of him.

　　"Coward! Coward!"

Cherry Adams teased him, and he became even more nervous, sulking and grunting. Cherry Adams saw that he was dawdling, so she opened her arms wide and said to him seriously,

"Pascal Lee, if you don't try something new, you'll never know how brave you are.

"If you keep saying no, no, no, no one can help you."

"Jump over here, jump..."

　　Cherry Adams was thrown into an embrace.

She did not expect Pascal Lee to really jump with courage. He gritted his teeth, took big steps, and came at her with all his might. He lunged, threw himself at her, and brought her down. They landed on the trampoline net and Cherry Adams protected him.

Pascal Lee climbed off her.

"Sorry... I..."

　　Cherry Adams took him back into her arms.

"No fear, right?" she said. "Pascal Lee, there will be many more moments like this in the future. But if you keep crying and avoiding it, it will grow into something more and more terrifying, and it will eventually crush you. But if you face it and have the courage to overcome it, you will discover that it is nothing."

Cherry Adams set him down.

The two of them walked hand in hand toward the exit.

　　"Sister..." Pascal Lee asked softly in the setting sun, "will you suddenly stop needing me?"

Weaving dreams can make you doubt yourself.

Cherry Adams stopped and looked at him intently.

A month later, Jasper Lee showed up at Friendship Crossing.

He wore a thick down jacket and carried a satchel behind his back.

The bag contained 4,000 yuan in tuition fees.

　　The old neighborhood, the old house, everything was old.

He stood in front of Cherry Adams' house again.

He took out the heavy envelope from his school bag and put it in front of the door.

He was about to leave when he suddenly felt his neck being choked.

Cherry Adams was holding Pascal Lee, her teeth clenched:

"Jasper Lee, how dare you come back?"