My sister, whom I raised, has turned evil after faking her death for three years.

Cheng Xiaoyu's frozen state lasted for about five seconds.

In those five seconds, his brain was racing. Cotton candy was one of his three biggest dreams for coming to the amusement park; the other two were roller coasters and bumper cars.

Losing cotton candy because of offending one's own brother would be too much of a price to pay.

So he made a quick decision, slapped his two chubby hands on his knees, lowered his head, and said in a tone of forbearance, "Brother, I was just joking. You are my own brother, and I love you the most."

The program stared at him expressionlessly, his eyes above the mask not even blinking.

Cheng Xiaoyu waited a few seconds without receiving a response. He peeked at his brother through his eyelids and, realizing that this tactic wasn't working, immediately switched strategies. He pounced on Cheng Yan's leg, tilted his round head back, and used all his acting skills to squeeze out a pitiful expression: "Brother... I was wrong... I was really wrong... Cotton Candy..."

Cheng Xuyan looked down at the round, human-shaped pendant hanging on his leg, remained silent for a moment, then pulled his leg out of his arms, turned and walked towards the door, leaving behind two words: "We'll see how you do."

Upon hearing this, Cheng Xiaoyu scrambled to his feet, his face still bearing traces of his fake crying, but his smile stretched from ear to ear. He gave Su Qing a victory sign and then happily chased after her.

Su Qing rubbed the little fat boy's head, watching the two brothers, one walking fast ahead and the other chasing after him with his short legs, and smiled helplessly.

She will probably never understand the way these two brothers get along.

The amusement park is much busier on weekends than on weekdays.

The balloon archway at the entrance was puffed up by the wind, the Ferris wheel turned slowly in the distance, screams came from the roller coaster tracks, and the air was filled with the sweet caramel smell of popcorn and the strawberry scent of cotton candy.

There was a long queue at the ticket gate. The little girl in the queue was wearing a cat ear headband that could light up, and the little boy was holding a toy water gun and shooting it into the air.

Su Qing stood outside the ticket gate, looking up at the huge Ferris wheel above her. Her eyes widened slightly, and she unconsciously let out a very soft "Wow".

Jiang Ran stood to her right, holding the lop-eared rabbit she had decided to bring before leaving the house, looking up in the same direction, and making the same "Wow" sound.

Cheng Xiaoyu stood to her left, tugging at her clothes, his mouth forming a round "O" as he let out a loud, clear "Wow!"

Cheng Xuyan stood behind the three of them, watching them line up outside the ticket gate, their necks craned and their mouths almost agape. A twitch appeared at the corner of his mouth beneath his mask.

He suddenly realized that he seemed to have misunderstood something.

When he suggested going to the amusement park, his mental scenario was this: the two little ones would run around wildly in front, while he and Su Qing would follow behind, chatting occasionally and naturally spending more time together.

But now, Su Qing is standing in line with the two little ones, and her angle looking up at the Ferris wheel is even higher than Jiang Ran's. It's also her first time at an amusement park.

This realization made Cheng Xuyan stand still for several seconds before he finally took a step forward and caught up with the three people who were already almost at the ticket gate.

The first project was the carousel.

Su Qing sat sideways on a white wooden horse, Jiang Ran sat on a pink pony next to her, and Cheng Xiaoyu rode a brown wooden horse that looked like a unicorn but whose horn had lost its paint, shouting "Giddy up" while kicking the horse's belly with his heel.

The program didn't go up; it just stood outside the fence with its hands in its pockets, its hat pulled low, and its mask worn tightly. It looked like a cold-faced bodyguard who had been temporarily brought in as a guardian and had no interest in the children's play equipment.

As the carousel went around for the third time, Su Qing passed in front of him, her ponytail billowing in the wind. She held onto the pole on the horse's neck with one hand and was taking pictures of Jiang Ran in front of her with her phone in the other.

Her eyes narrowed into two curved lines in the sunlight, and her smile was no different from that of the two little ones beside her.

Cheng Xuyan's hands tightened slightly in his pockets.

He watched her turn away from him again, and the little thoughts he had been hiding suddenly became a bit heavy. She was there to play with the children, but he was thinking about how to take this opportunity to say a few more words to her.

This realization caused him to purse his lips into a thin line beneath his mask.

  

After getting off the carousel, Cheng Xiaoyu took them to queue for bumper cars, a pirate ship, and something called "Crazy Spinning ...

Su Qing's performance on every ride was highly consistent with the two little ones. She crashed into the bumper cars even harder than Cheng Xiaoyu. When the pirate ship swung to its highest point, she closed her eyes and screamed along with Jiang Ran. When they got off the "Crazy Spinning ...

The program stood to the side and handed over three bottles of mineral water.

Su Qing took it, unscrewed the cap, and poured half a bottle.

Jiang Ran peeked out from behind the lop-eared rabbit, and Su Qing had already opened another bottle of water and handed it to her lips.

Cheng Xiaoyu said he wanted one too, and Su Qing opened a bottle for him as well.

Watching how skillfully she took care of the two little ones, Cheng Xuyan put the unopened bottle of water back in his hand.

Around noon, Cheng Xiaoyu finally ran out of energy and slumped down on a bench under the shade of a tree.

Su Qing went to the snack kiosk next door and bought four cotton candies. When she came back, she had a piece of pink sugar flakes torn off her tongue in her mouth.

She gave the marshmallows to the two little ones, then sat down on the bench and handed the last one to Chengxuyan, who was standing next to her.

So this scene unfolded on the bench: from left to right, Jiang Ran, Su Qing, and Cheng Xiaoyu, each holding a cotton candy of the same size, eating it in almost perfect unison—tearing off a piece, stuffing it in their mouths, chewing it a couple of times, then tearing off another piece.

Three pairs of eyes watched the carriages speeding past on the roller coaster track in the distance, their expressions synchronized. They slightly opened their mouths, their eyes following the carriages from left to right, and then they all exclaimed "Wow!" as the roller coaster plunged down the steep slope.

As Cheng Xuyan leaned against the tree trunk next to the bench, watching the three people holding cotton candy and making identical movements, the corners of his mouth under his mask involuntarily twitched up, but he forcefully suppressed it.

He brought them to the amusement park today with a bit of ulterior motive.

Su Qing was the only girl he didn't reject, and this fact meant something to him that was different from what his mother said about "it's for your own good" or "what will happen in the future."

He simply wanted to get closer to her.

But looking at Su Qing's expression as she looked up at the roller coaster, that pure, carefree joy that was exactly the same as that of the two seven-year-old children beside her, he suddenly felt that his own selfishness was a bit unreasonable.

She acted like an adult when she slapped the homeroom teacher in the office, she acted like an adult when she took care of Jiang Ran, and she acted like an adult when she went to work on time every day, picked up her child on time, and wrote down all the household expenses in her phone's memo.

But now, as she holds up a pink cotton candy, with a bit of sugar residue on the corner of her mouth, and looks up at the roller coaster, she clearly looks like a child who hasn't been pampered much.

He shifted his gaze to the Ferris wheel slowly turning in the distance, switched the bottle of mineral water in his hand to his left, and slightly tightened his right hand in his pocket.

The cotton candy was sweet, and her smile was beautiful.

But his feelings were a bit complicated.