The carnival would be held every few years, and it would make a stop in S city for only a few days. That carnival happened to fall on the New Year’s Day, and it was crowded with people. Therefore, the organizer had limited the number of visitors; only 500 people would be allowed to enter every day.
A black Hummer pulled over, and the people waiting in line at the door turned to have a look. They saw a tall man getting off from the driver’s seat, wearing red-checkered casual cotton-padded clothes, handsome and indifferent.
He opened the door, and a woman in the same red-checkered cotton-padded clothes jumped out of the car and turned to lift a little girl off the car. The little girl was also wearing a little red-checkered cotton-padded clothes, with the same furry bunny-shaped hat as her mom on her head.
Whispers broke out among the crowd.
“The man is so handsome!”
“How cute the little girl is! She is so adorable!”
“Humph… But her mom looks ordinary.”
“Come on. You are jealous of her, and she’s much more beautiful than you!”
Jiang Rui picked up Tuan Zi, and Chen Chen looked around. “I told you that we should have come earlier. Look, there are so many people now, and we don’t even have tickets. How can we get in?”
“By foot.” Jiang Rui went straight toward the entrance. There were too many people crowding the road. Chen Chen avoided the people while trying to keep up with Jiang Rui. Suddenly, the man in front of her stopped.
“Hand.” Chen Chen seemed confounded for a moment, and Tuan Zi said sweetly, “Mom, Dad is afraid that you will be lost, so he wants to hold your hand!”
Jiang Rui saw that she was still in a daze, holding her hand impatiently and immediately. Chen Chen followed him, and every time someone was about to knock into her, a force would lead her to avoid it. Chen Chen’s eyes fell on their intertwined hands unconsciously.
Gradually, Jiang Rui crossed his fingers with hers tightly. Her hand was grasped firmly by the man, and her heart was also warmed up. Just like a tiny moss growing in that cold winter, it had become the only color.
“Don’t be in a daze while walking.”
In the next second, she recovered from the distraction, and the man was looking at her with disdain. Chen Chen swallowed her saliva. “What happened?”
“Hold Tuan Zi.” Jiang Rui handed Tuan Zi to Chen Chen and took out a card from his pocket.
Then Chen Chen saw the guard at the gate letting them in respectfully…
“Hey! Why?” Someone queueing up complained. “They skipped the queue, why are you letting them in?”
In such a cold day, they had been waiting in line for a long time and therefore were in bad temper. Soon, the fact that Jiang Rui’s family was allowed to enter caused a stir among the crowd. The armed police on duty immediately ran over to maintain order. One of them seemed to be the captain, who gave a salute to Jiang Rui.
“Let’s go.” Jiang Rui saw that Chen Chen was still in a daze, taking Tuan Zi in his arms and then looking at her. “I guess you will return home with nothing in your hands today.”
What? Chen Chen did not get it.
After she entered, she understood Jiang Rui’s meaning.
There were many recreation facilities in the carnival, but the games were the most frequent ones. If you won, you could get dolls. Because Tuan Zi was too young to go on the roller coaster and other thrill rides, so Chen Chen ran to experience those thrill rides alone, and when she came back, she saw a big plush rabbit in Tuan Zi’s arms.
“How did you get it?”
“Dad got it by hitting the ducks with a basketball!” Tuan Zi happily ran circles around Chen Chen. Chen Chen clenched her fist and said, “I will play it, too!”
She ran to a booth with two rows of wood boards moving back and forth on it. There were a few small animal dolls on the boards. When they were knocked over, the player could get a doll.
“How much!?” When Chen Chen was about to take out her wallet, she saw Tuan Zi wave the card that Jiang Rui had showed to her at the gate, and then the staff next to them said, “Free!”
Wow… She sneaked a look at Jiang Rui, considering that he could definitely be used as a credit card because his face was money!
Chen Chen used up the ten bullets but missed the target. Anyway, it was free. She decided to play the game again, but still failed to hit any doll…
“Mom, it’s not your fault.” Tuan Zi comforted her, “It’s okay as long as dad can make it.”
Chen Chen was frustrated and threw the gun to Jiang Rui. “Okay, you are so great that you’ll hit all the dolls.”
Then Jiang Rui did as she said. Tuan Zi happily took a big dog doll from the staff. The staff thought she was so adorable and gave her an extra duck doll. Tuan Zi thought for a moment and handed the duck doll to Chen Chen.
“Mom, take this, or others will know that you didn’t hit any dolls.”
Chen Chen thought that since Tuan Zi was staying with her father, the way she spoke had been more and more like Jiang Rui’s way of speaking.
At noon, they had a break in a restaurant at the carnival. Chen Chen had thought it was very simple, finding it a formal Western restaurant. After reading the menu, she whispered, “Don’t you think it is too expensive? How can ordinary people afford to eat here?”
“You didn’t read the news online, did you?” Jiang Rui handed Chen Chen’s doll to the waiter and wrote him a note.
Chen Chen despised him. “Of course, otherwise how could I know there was a carnival?”
“Then why didn’t you see that in the first three days of this carnival? It was restrictedly open to people with special tickets, wasn’t it so?”
“Why didn’t I know?” Chen Chen took out her mobile phone and visited the official website. Sure enough, she saw a note that according to the requirements of the organizer, this carnival was not open to the public for the first three days and only those with tickets could be allowed in.
“Who gets the tickets?” Chen Chen asked curiously.
“The rich,” Jiang Rui said, “and…”
“And the officials like you!” Chen Chen interrupted him. “But, if gangsters break in, they will gain a lot, right?”
“Yes,” Jiang Rui answered, with something flashing through his eyes.
“If I were a gangster, I would come to rob you today. It’s a great opportunity!” Chen Chen clenched her fist. Tuan Zi looked at her, warning, “Mom, we are here too. If there are bad guys, we are also in danger.”
Chen Chen looked at Jiang Rui and smiled. “We have your father. He is the G.o.d of War and he will protect us!”
After the meal, Tuan Zi was eager to play in the Candy House which was a house covered with various candy-shaped decorations, and many children were playing inside. Chen Chen and Jiang Rui waited at the door. After a while, they heard a woman scream suddenly.
“Oh! My child…”
Before Chen Chen reacted, Jiang Rui next to her had already rushed out. Among the crowd, dozens of people in black were running; each of them was holding a child.
“Tuan Zi!” Chen Chen also screamed. A man was choking Tuan Zi; he stood facing Jiang Rui.
A lot of people around them suddenly began to take off their clothes, and then readied themselves quickly. Chen Chen saw there were at least dozens of people in camouflage, with guns in their hands. Those armed men were crowding around the people in black.
“Stay there.” Jiang Rui looked at her coldly.
Chen Chen looked at the man not far away. At that time, he unfolded his momentum that she had never experienced before; it was as if he had an army behind him. His murderous look was so sharp that even ordinary people could feel it.
After some time, maybe in just a few seconds, the children in the grasp of the men in black were rescued, but Tuan Zi and a little boy were still in their control.
A soldier wearing a hat and in camouflage walked up behind Jiang Rui, and Chen Chen recognized him as Bear.
“Boss, all of them were killed, except for the five persons opposite you.”
Chen Chen wanted to walk up to him but someone stopped her.
“Mrs. Jiang, it’s dangerous.” Scar and Xiao Si stood on both sides of her with guns.
“Let me go,” Chen Chen said with her eyes open widely, “I am going to save Tuan Zi.”
Scar stopped her. “Boss will bring Tuan Zi back. Mrs. Jiang, you can’t help even if we let you go.”
Chen Chen did not move, standing there and staring at Jiang Rui. Xiao Si turned around by chance, immediately shocked to see the tears running down her face. He did not know that Chen Chen wanted to kill Jiang Rui with a gun right away.
No wonder he followed them to the carnival. No wonder he agreed to wear the parent-child clothing. It turned out that what he had done was to disguise himself. He had known that someone would go to kidnap the visitors that day, but he still asked Tuan Zi and her to enter the carnival.
“Let them go, or you can’t leave.” Jiang Rui said coldly, and the gangsters opposite him pointed a gun at Tuan Zi’s head ferociously. “I will kill her if you dare to hurt us.”
Bear raised the gun. “Then let’s see who can shoot faster!”
“Clack… Clack…” All of them raised their guns to aim at the five gangsters in the middle. One of the gangsters took something and was about to lift his arm when a shot rang out, leaving a hole in his forehead; the object was a bomb that fell to the ground.
“So?” Bear turned his head sideways and asked, “Can you shoot faster than me?”
The gangster who was holding Tuan Zi clenched his teeth and shouted, “Don’t drop the gun. Even if we surrender now, they will kill us!” After finishing the words, he pulled the trigger. In less than a second, Jiang Rui moved.
No one saw clearly that how he got close to the gangster. When everyone realized what happened, Tuan Zi was already in Jiang Rui’s arms, and that gangster was lying on the ground. The gangster who was holding the little boy panicked. Before he moved, he was kicked by Bear and the little boy was grabbed by him.
Scar and Xiao Si led others to rush up and subdued the remaining three men. Soon, there was someone beginning to clean up the scene. The visitors had been evacuated long ago, and at that time, no one, except for them, stood in the square of the vast amus.e.m.e.nt park.
Jiang Rui walked over with Tuan Zi in his arms and Tuan Zi reached out to Chen Chen. “Mom!”
Chen Chen took her over and Jiang Rui found that she was trembling all over.
“Don’t cry. It’s okay…”
“Clap!” The sound of a loud slap shocked everyone. Bear, Xiao Si and Scar were stunned, and everyone just stood still.
Chen Chen turned around and left. Tuan Zi was scared and whispered to her, “Mom, Dad…”
“Do you want him, or me?” Chen Chen’s voice still trembled. Seeing Tuan Zi look back, she directly put her on the ground, turning to leave.
Tuan Zi also cried, and she caught up with Chen Chen while crying. “Mom, don’t you want Tuan Zi? You don’t want Tuan Zi…?”
Chen Chen picked her up and left quickly.
“Why are you standing here?” Jiang Rui said coldly and everyone shivered. Xiao Si and Scar lowered their heads and ran away. Bear wanted to leave, but he did not dare to go and walked up to Jiang Rui slowly.
“Boss… Boss…”
“Tomorrow morning, I have to know who is behind them. If you can’t get them to confess everything, you will lose everything.” Jiang Rui looked at him coldly and turned away. Bear wiped the sweat on his forehead.
“Oh my goodness, I thought I would be killed! Mr. Jiang is too imposing.”