Chapter 148: Extra (An Le)
“Sir?”
An Le stood at the school gate, looking in confusion at the line of cars. He had just called Lu Heng, but he hadn’t answered, so now he had no idea which car was his.
He pouted and started checking the cars he vaguely recognized, one by one. By the third one, he finally spotted a grim-faced Lu Heng.
An Le quickly pulled open the door and climbed in, chirping obediently, “Sir~”
Lu Heng was speechless.
Over the past two years, An Le had been in school, learning a lot. He was no longer the near-illiterate boy he once was. But the more he learned, the more things he knew how to do, and the more things he knew how to play.
So, in addition to studying, he had also learned how to play video games.
Because his eyesight wasn’t great, Lu Heng never let him play games at home, so he played more at school. But he never expected that playing too many games would cause his vision to decline, making everything look more and more blurry.
Once he noticed the change in his eyes, An Le didn’t dare to play on his phone anymore. Other than making calls and messaging Lu Heng, he would only check the time on his watch, never daring to take it out for fun. But even though he had stopped playing games, his failing eyesight wasn’t coming back.
So, An Le was scared. He had never dared to tell Lu Heng about it.
Lu Heng was very unhappy right now. “Why were you standing in front of someone else’s car just now?”
“That car looked a lot like yours, Sir,” An Le explained. “And you didn’t answer when I called, so I went to see if it was you.”
“You can’t even recognize my car?” Lu Heng was a little confused. He pursed his lips. “Those two cars you were looking at weren’t similar to mine at all, other than the color.”
An Le was speechless.
He’d seen it all wrong. Besides the black shell, he could only make out a rough shape. Maybe because his eyes were bad to begin with, his vision had deteriorated severely. Other students had been playing on their phones since he’d known them, for over two years, and none of them had needed glasses. He had only played for less than three months—with Lu Heng monitoring him at home and with classes at school, he didn’t even have that much time to play—and this was the result.
An Le didn’t dare to say anything. He just resorted to pleading. “Sir, let’s go get something to eat. I’m hungry.”
Although Lu Heng was annoyed that An Le had been loitering by someone else’s car, the moment he heard he was hungry, he pushed his anger aside. Feeding him came first. He had no choice but to start the car and drive away.
Seeing that Lu Heng had dropped the subject, An Le secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
Lu Heng took him to a Chinese restaurant that served traditional dishes, all of An Le’s favorites. After they finished eating, An Le asked, “Sir, I have a holiday tomorrow. Can we go out and play?”
“How long is the holiday?”
An Le held up three pale, slender fingers. “Three days.”
Lu Heng nodded. He understood. There was a public holiday coming up; even the employees at his company had time off. He thought for a moment. “Where do you want to go?”
“I want to go to the amusement park with Xiao Xiao!” He had been so busy with school lately and hadn’t hung out with Xiao Xiao in a long time.
Lu Heng nodded. “Alright, I’ll go with you.” His employees were on holiday anyway, so he could take a break too.
Lu Heng was going to play with him! An Le was thrilled. Even though they were together every day, with him at school and Lu Heng at work, they didn’t have much time to go out for fun. Now that Lu Heng had said he would go to the amusement park with him, he was so excited he immediately pulled out his phone to call Xiao Xiao.
Gu Qian’s company was also on holiday for the next two days, so Xiao Xiao was free as well. He had just finished making dinner when An Le’s call came through. “Lele?”
An Le beamed. “Xiao Xiao, want to go to the amusement park tomorrow?”
Xiao Xiao glanced at Gu Qian, who was still dishing out soup. “It’ll probably be crowded tomorrow,” he said with a smile. “If you’re not scared, then let’s go.”
“I’m not scared anymore.” An Le said proudly, “I’ve been in school for two years. I’m not afraid of crowds anymore.”
“Alright,” Xiao Xiao said. “Let’s go to the biggest one on the south side of the city. Meet at the entrance tomorrow at eight in the morning.”
“Okay.”
Xiao Xiao hung up. Gu Qian came out with the soup. “Who were you talking to?” he asked in a low voice.
“Lele. He asked me to go to the amusement park with him tomorrow.”
Gu Qian paused. “And you said yes?”
Xiao Xiao nodded. “I did. Why wouldn’t I? It’s a holiday, and we have nothing else to do.”
Gu Qian was speechless.
“I’m going too.”
Xiao Xiao looked up. “What are you going for?”
“I don’t care. It’s a rare holiday, and you’re going to ditch me to go play with someone else. No way. I’m going too.” Gu Qian was acting like a spoiled brat, as if his attendance was non-negotiable.
Xiao Xiao sighed helplessly. “Fine, I’ll call Lele and ask him.”
An Le and Lu Heng had just gotten into the car when his phone rang again. He looked at it. “It’s Xiao Xiao… Hello? Xiao Xiao, what’s up?”
“Tomorrow… Gu Qian insists on coming too. Is that okay?”
“Of course,” An Le said. “Sir said he’s going too.”
“…Okay, I get it. See you tomorrow.” So Lu Heng was going too. It was a good thing Gu Qian had thrown a fit and insisted on coming, otherwise he’d be the awkward third wheel tomorrow. The thought made his gaze toward Gu Qian soften considerably.
“…Why are you looking at me like that?” Gu Qian asked.
Xiao Xiao didn’t say anything, just smiled and served Gu Qian a bowl of soup.
Gu Qian was speechless. Why did he suddenly feel so creeped out?
After hanging up, An Le excitedly started telling Lu Heng which rides he wanted to try tomorrow, which ones he liked, which ones he didn’t, and which ones he wanted to try but was too scared to.
Lu Heng’s head was starting to spin. “Lele, be quiet.”
An Le pouted, immediately sat up straight, and said obediently, “Oh.”
He waited a moment, then asked, “Well then, Sir, can you ride the pirate ship for me tomorrow?”
Lu Heng was speechless.
There were several rides An Le was too scared to go on. The pirate ship was number one, followed by the roller coaster. He had never been on either of them, and neither had Xiao Xiao, so he wanted to ask Lu Heng to ride them for him.
For someone like Lu Heng, who had never been on these things in his entire life, he was a little resistant. In his eyes, even the scariest rides seemed childish. He didn’t want to agree. But An Le just kept staring at him, his gaze both pitiful and attention-grabbing, making him want to tease him until he looked even more pathetic.
Lu Heng swallowed hard. “I’m still driving,” he said in a low voice. “Lele, be good and turn your head.”
“No. I’m not talking a lot, and I’m not grabbing you or keeping you from driving properly. You won’t even let me look at you?” An Le pouted unhappily, a little hurt.
Lu Heng was speechless. He took a deep breath. In the interest of safe driving, he gritted his teeth. “You sit properly and stop looking at me, and I’ll ride the pirate ship tomorrow.”
Hearing that, An Le’s eyes lit up, and he immediately sat up perfectly straight.
When they got home, to make sure he was ready for a fun day, An Le washed up and went to bed early.
The next morning at 8 AM, he arrived at the amusement park entrance right on time. Less than two minutes later, Xiao Xiao and Gu Qian arrived.
It was a holiday, and even though the park had just opened, there was already a long line at the entrance. The four of them waited in line, bought their tickets, and then An Le and Xiao Xiao dashed inside, running all over the place. Lu Heng and Gu Qian followed behind side-by-side, watching them play from a distance.
After some time, the park grew more and more crowded. An Le came running down the rainbow slide, rushing straight for him.
Lu Heng sensed something was wrong and turned to leave.
“What are you running for?” Gu Qian asked.
“He’s going to make me ride the pirate ship.”
Gu Qian laughed. “Then just go ride it. You’re not scared of that thing, are you?”
Lu Heng was speechless.
In the time it took them to talk, An Le had already arrived. He grabbed Lu Heng’s arm, his flushed little face beaded with sweat. “Sir, the pirate ship over there is about to finish its run. You should hurry up and get in line. I’ll take pictures for you.”
Lu Heng was speechless.
Gu Qian couldn’t stop laughing. He threw an arm over Lu Heng’s shoulder. “Come on,” he grinned. “I’ll go with you.”
Xiao Xiao had come over too. Hearing that the two of them were going on the pirate ship, he said happily, “Go on, go on! Lele and I will take pictures for you.”
Lu Heng was speechless.
The four of them squeezed their way to the pirate ship line. The previous ride was about to end, and a lot of people were already queuing for the next one. So, Gu Qian dragged Lu Heng into the crowd, while An Le and Xiao Xiao stayed outside.
Xiao Xiao had good eyesight and could easily spot Gu Qian’s position. He held up his phone, snapping away.
An Le stared blankly at the sea of similar-looking faces in the distance, completely stunned.
Oh no, I can’t see. Where did Sir go?
Finally, An Le locked onto a target in the crowd. He pulled out his phone and started snapping picture after picture of the man. The man turned and saw what An Le was doing. He looked curious and confused, but since he was on the ride, he couldn’t get off to talk to him.
An Le took a ton of pictures. The pirate ship started to move, and he took several short videos, keeping the camera focused on the man’s face the entire time. It wasn’t until Xiao Xiao looked over that he asked, bewildered, “Who are you taking pictures of?”
“I’m taking pictures of… of course I’m taking pictures of Si—”
An Le froze. He’d been so focused on taking the pictures that he hadn’t looked at them on his phone. Now, reminded by Xiao Xiao, he looked. The man’s profile was a little like Lu Heng’s, but it wasn’t him. He didn’t even know him!
An Le was dumbfounded. “That’s not Sir. So where is he?”
Xiao Xiao didn’t know why An Le had photographed the wrong person, but he was about to point him in the right direction when the pirate ship came to a stop. An Le couldn’t see their faces clearly; he just saw a man in a black suit jump straight off the ship.
An Le’s little mouth formed a perfect ‘O’. “I… I… I think I see Sir.”
Lu Heng had watched the whole time as the omega who was supposed to be taking his picture took shot after shot of a complete stranger, not giving him a single glance. He suppressed his anger. The moment the pirate ship stopped, before the gate had even opened, he braced a hand on the side and vaulted over, running straight for An Le.
Watching Lu Heng get closer and closer, An Le was dumbfounded. “What do I do, what do I do? Sir saw, he’s definitely going to be angry. I have to delete the pictures…”
He lowered his head, about to delete the photos, but Lu Heng snatched the phone from his hand. He opened it, looked at the pictures, and asked, “Who is this you’ve been filming?”
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