Two men in suits suddenly appeared at a corner of the park after the first two had left.
“Master, will it be alright for the young lady to be with that kind of man?”
“When have you ever seen Xin’er this happy? If that man can make her happy in her final moments, then as a father, there’s nothing I wouldn’t do.”
The silver-haired man walked straight towards the opposite direction, back to his stretched Lincoln limousine, as a wireless remote conference was about to begin.
Meanwhile, Ren Yuanhao and Wang Xin took a ride to Xiaodong Street, and then rented a tandem bicycle by the roadside.
“Brother Hao, I’m afraid I can’t pedal this thing. I…”
Wang Xin looked down at her frail and uncooperative legs beneath her Bohemian dress, her voice growing softer.
“Silly girl, I’m here. You just sit obediently.”
Ren Yuanhao carefully lifted her onto the seat, adjusted the handlebars, and then sat down himself. Only after Wang Xin had adjusted and settled herself did he start pedaling.
A summer breeze brushed past the tandem bike, carrying the scents of cotton candy and chocolate cream, and of course, the aroma of spicy hot pot and cold skewers.
“Ah, this is so exciting! I wonder if riding a horse would feel even better,” Wang Xin exclaimed as the world seemed to rush past her.
In the summer breeze, the shadows of trees, the street vendors, the gently rising steam from cooking pots were all frozen like snapshots. She longed to capture this scene in a painting, but her hands were trembling more and more violently. The monster called time was slowly devouring her life.
“There will be plenty of opportunities in the future. Sister, let’s go, I’ll take you to try some special ice cream first.”
Ren Yuanhao’s words seemed to be directed at himself as well. Seven years of lifespan, not long, not short. To have tasted all the joys and sorrows of the human world, even when death arrived, he believed he could face it with a smile.
“Yes, yes!”
Wang Xin’s face bloomed with a smile like a white rose, while cold sweat dripped like pear blossoms in the rain.
They pedaled about thirty to forty meters forward. Around a turn, they saw a crowd gathered around a vibrantly painted vehicle, with a rather low-quality speaker playing “Summer of Kikujiro.”
“This is the ice cream truck. I know, when I was a child, every time this truck passed by our building, our nanny would fiercely pull down the curtains and carry me back to my room. Once, I even secretly ate ice chips from the refrigerator, and the result…”
Wang Xin suddenly fell silent, but Ren Yuanhao immediately guessed.
Eating cold things would exacerbate the onset of cold energy for those with a congenital cold pulse, and if not controlled, the mortality rate was extremely high.
After parking their bicycle, Ren Yuanhao and Wang Xin squeezed into the crowd.
They saw the ice cream vendor place a strange device in the middle of the crowd. The device slowly whirred to life with a low hum. The vendor expertly pressed a heart-shaped metal ring firmly onto the center of the device. In just forty to fifty seconds, a pink, heart-shaped ice cream, resembling a cake, emerged from the ring!
“Wow, so that’s how ice cream is made! Amazing!” Wang Xin cheered, her smile brighter than the radiant sunlight.
“There’s something even more amazing. Pay attention, don’t blink,” Ren Yuanhao warned.
Wang Xin’s eyes widened as the vendor took out an extremely thin silver slice and, with lightning speed, shaved off a layer from the freshly made pink ice cream!
Wang Xin was murmuring to herself when she saw the thin sliver of ice cream that had been shaved off leap into the air like a balloon and drift away with the wind.
“Wow, there’s such a magical way to do this!”
Wang Xin cheered, but Ren Yuanhao put an arm around her shoulder and whispered, “Want to try it yourself?”
“Can I really?” Wang Xin’s eyes widened as she looked at the vendor. Her clean, fair face exuded a sickly delicacy.
“Uncle, could you do us a favor? My girlfriend admires your incredible ‘slashing’ technique very much, so…”
“Of course, but you must be fast and thin when slashing, otherwise the ice cream definitely won’t fly into the sky.”
The vendor was quite accommodating. Just as he was about to hand the silver slice to Wang Xin, a little girl who had been sitting nearby hobbled over, clutching her chest.
“What’s wrong, Xiaoni? Is your chest bothering you again?”
The girl called Xiaoni nodded, her face pale, and a fine sweat already beading on her forehead.
Seeing the little girl, Wang Xin felt an immediate sense of shared suffering.
“This little sister must have congenital heart disease. Uncle, take this and go to the address above. That’s the most authoritative hospital. I believe Xiaoni will be able to pull through.”
“But…” The vendor took a plain white card, bearing only the Wang Corporation logo and a single character, “Xin,” and looked hesitant.
“Don’t worry about the cost. Go. The little sister’s condition isn’t good and can’t be delayed any longer. We’ll watch things here.”
Wang Xin took the silver slice. The vendor paused for two or three seconds before suddenly realizing!
“You, you are the eldest daughter of the Wang Corporation! Miss Wang Xin?”
“Shh, Uncle, you must keep it a secret for me.”
Receiving the order, the vendor, holding his daughter, quickly got into a taxi and sped away.
“Oh no, I just remembered I don’t know how to make ice cream at all, and I already promised that uncle I’d help him watch the stall!”
Wang Xin looked around. There were at least twenty to thirty people waiting for their ice cream to be made!
“Beep beep, employer’s mood change detected. Ice Cream Master buff activated!”
Ren Yuanhao had been waiting for this effect. However, by the time he snapped back to reality, some people had already started to leave.
“Everyone, please wait! Since I promised that uncle, I must fulfill my duty. Please wait a moment, the ice cream will be ready soon!” Ren Yuanhao called out, then said to Wang Xin, “Sister, keeping the customers engaged is up to you.”
“Me?”
Ren Yuanhao pointed at the heart-shaped ice cream, then pointed at the sky. Wang Xin instantly understood his meaning. She immediately gripped the thin slice tightly, suppressed the tremor in her heart, and with a swift hand movement, the thin layer of ice cream floated into the air, soaring towards the clouds!
“What an amazing girl!”
“I want to try too.”
“Hey, hey, hey, shouldn’t your attention be on this girl’s beauty?”
Cheers erupted from the surroundings. Ren Yuanhao, like mixing cocktails, produced colorful ice creams one after another.
“Sister, come help.” Ren Yuanhao placed a bib and a hat on Wang Xin. The man and woman, transformed into heat-relief envoys, began to work busily.
The onlookers had never seen such colorful ice cream before. The crowd grew larger and larger, and with the attractiveness of the young man and woman, their business became so popular that it made other stalls envious.
Throughout the morning, the two of them stayed at the stall, busying themselves. Perhaps it was due to their joyful mood or a final burst of energy, but Wang Xin’s complexion actually carried a hint of rosy glow.