A Young Woman's Heart

"You're still considered a kid in junior high," the ticket seller couldn't help but laugh. "Just started junior high, huh? Kids these days are so tall, have they already gone through puberty?"

Mo Xueyao was too embarrassed to admit that she was a high school student.

As if afraid of losing face, she grabbed Li Wanyan and dragged her towards the Youth Palace: "Wanyan, let's go, let's go..."

The bells on her ankles jingled crisply, and the shoes beneath her feet shimmered with various colors.

This thing is actually quite pretty. If it had been ten years earlier, Mo Xueyao might have really liked it.

On ordinary days, not many people play on the amusement facilities at the children's palace; most of them come to take classes.

Those small buildings painted in bright colors are educational institutions.

However, things are different during the National Day holiday.

Some of the amusement rides that are not usually open are now running.

At the entrance is a small train with tracks, and each carriage has a large water gun. The children are excitedly aiming at the artificial mountain in the middle.

The table was covered with cartoon characters, which have now become 'targets' to be attacked.

This is a small amusement ride, and it only costs two yuan per ride.

Of course, a big kid like Mo Xueyao wouldn't be interested.

"Where should we sit first?" She decided to ask Li Wanyan and Pan Jiexiang for their opinions.

Li Wanyan came to the Children's Palace this time because she wanted to take her mother out to play more.

After all, she is usually very busy. Even though she works at the convenience store across from the fruit shop, they only meet briefly and exchange greetings. They rarely have time to actually communicate and play together.

Everyone needs companionship, no matter who they are.

Of course, this is why Li Wanyan would notice it, while Mo Xueyao wouldn't care at all, probably because she had never lost it before.

Besides, even if she doesn't chat with her mother, her father still keeps her company!

"When you come to the Children's Palace, the first thing you have to do is ride the carousel, right?" Pan Jiexiang's mother's cloudy eyes were filled with anticipation. "I haven't been to a place like this in a long time."

"Did Aunt Pan play this when she was young?"

"Well, when I was young, the first...hehe...boyfriend I met was at an amusement park. We rode the carousel together. I was only sixteen years old that year."

"Did you break up later?"

"Well, later, for some reason, he suddenly disappeared, and I don't know where he went."

The elders also have many stories to tell.

However, Mo Xueyao did not ask further, because she felt that would be impolite.

—Unless the other party says it themselves.

There were quite a few adults and children at the carousel.

Adults go in only to hold the children so they don't fall off.

Carousels of this era didn't have safety belts as a safety measure.

Fortunately, this rocking horse for children rotates slowly, so even if you fall off, you don't have to worry about being thrown off or being crushed by the up-and-down motion of the 'rocking horse'.

"So many people..." Mo Xueyao looked at the long queue and immediately felt a headache coming on. Looking at the other places, the bumper cars next door were also full of people. Only the Ferris wheel, which was relatively large, was not too crowded.

"Let's line up, it'll be our turn soon." Pan Jiexiang smiled and patted her head.

Mo Xueyao suddenly realized that both the mother and daughter were taller than her...

She tilted her head and wiggled her ponytail: "I remember this was the thing I disliked playing with the most when I was a kid. I felt it was a waste of money."

"now what?"

"It doesn't matter now, um, I haven't played much of it, let's reminisce about my childhood!"

"Why didn't you like playing before?" Pan Jiexiang asked curiously.

"It's so slow and boring, I'd rather play a couple more rounds of bumper cars."

"Hehe, Xiaoyao must have been a tomboy when she was little."

"Uh, more or less." Mo Xueyao said, glancing at Li Wanyan as she spoke.

The latter slightly raised the corners of his mouth, moved behind her, and pinched the grayish-white pom-pom on her hair tie.

When queuing, everyone hopes that the person in front of them will go faster, but when it's your turn, you hope that it will go slower, otherwise you will feel like you've been cheated.

The carousel offers not only horses, but also cows, sheep, and even pumpkin carriages.

If you think about it carefully, this thing is probably an upgraded version of the rocking horse at the entrance of the supermarket.

"You two find seats, I want to ride in that pumpkin carriage." Pan Jiexiang was surprisingly childlike; she smiled, pointed ahead, and quickly walked over, as if afraid someone would snatch it away.

"Then I'll ride the horse! A carousel is more traditional when you sit on a horse!"

"Ah."

Li Wanyan nodded and easily straddled the other horse beside her.

This rocking horse for children isn't very high, so even Mo Xueyao could sit on it easily.

Staff members patrolled around to check the situation, and then a whistle blew, and the carousel started moving.

The gentle, chiming music made it feel as if time itself had slowed down.

Pan Jiexiang stared blankly at the empty seat next to her, lost in thought.

The children next to them were screaming and shouting. Even though it was so slow, they were still extremely excited and found it thrilling.

"If only we had a camera, we could take pictures!" Mo Xueyao shouted to Li Wanyan, her excitement no less than that of the children next to her.

As the carousel rose and fell and rotated, it gave her the illusion that she was actually riding a horse.

"When will we go to the grasslands and ride real horses sometime, Wanyan?"

"Okay." Li Wanyan raised her voice slightly, her gaze fixed on her, never looking away.

……

Chapter 40 Do you want to go back to your childhood?

(One)

Although it is autumn, the overcrowded amusement park still turns this place into 'summer'.

Everywhere you look, there are children running around, drenched in sweat, and parents calling out their children's nicknames.

The announcements about lost and found items and children being reunited were read over and over again, each time with a different name.

At the beverage machine, staff were quickly restocking it, but within half an hour, everything inside was sold out again.

There are always children in front of gashapon machines.

Mo Xueyao inserted two coins and bought the most expensive gashapon toy.

"Wanyan! Look what I got!" Mo Xueyao excitedly held up the yellow mouse she had gotten from the gashapon capsule.

Li Wanyan's answer seemed somewhat perfunctory: "Mm."

"Everyone else gets bouncing balls, but I got this. Hehe, I'm lucky, it's a pen cap, I can put it on my ballpoint pen."

"Good."

"Wanyan and Aunt Pan, would you like to buy one and try it out? I happen to have four yuan in change." Mo Xueyao asked excitedly, "It seems the grand prize inside hasn't been drawn yet!"

Just as Li Wanyan was about to refuse, Pan Jiexiang smiled gently and said, "Okay, why don't you give it a try?"

"What is the grand prize?" Li Wanyan asked in a calm tone, expressing her curiosity.

Mo Xueyao squatted down next to the gashapon machine and pointed to the pattern on it.

Those were several crystal dolls with the words "Limited Edition" written on them.

It's actually just a transparent anime figurine.

There are Pokémon series, Digimon series, and even Sailor Moon series.

These are all familiar cartoons to children, and of course they are quite popular.

It turns out that there are indeed quite a few wealthy people.

Even the two-yuan gashapon machines, which are quite expensive for children, were already packed with people.

Some people don't even buy anything; just looking at it seems satisfying enough.

A little boy, as thin as a monkey, kept taking coins out of his pocket and stuffing them into the coin slot.

Unfortunately, he didn't get what he wanted.

He casually gave the gashapon toys of the duplicate characters to the children next to him, then turned and hurriedly ran away.

The children around him all looked at him with envy.

Those kids who got free gashapon toys were beaming with joy.

After some of the children had left, Mo Xueyao pushed Li Wanyan and Pan Jiexiang to squeeze in.

"Come on, Wanyan, it's better to insert the coin yourself, hmm—that way it feels like you're drawing it yourself!"

Li Wanyan glanced at her helplessly, seemingly wanting to laugh.

She and Pan Jiexiang inserted coins one after the other, then both turned the handle and received two gashapon capsules.

Limited edition gashapon items are indeed not so easy to obtain.

The two of them received very ordinary toys.

Pan Jiexiang had the worst luck; when she opened the gashapon capsule, all she found inside was a bouncy ball.

Li Wanyan's, on the other hand, was a human-shaped toy that could stick to wherever it was thrown, judging from its appearance...

Well... let's just call it a poor imitation of Spider-Man.

"What a waste," Pan Jiexiang sighed with some regret.

"...Mom, you wanted to play with it yourself."