"Since you're already here, there's no rush to leave! The tickets have been paid for, so why not just let them relax here for a bit? I can tell they've been wanting to visit the amusement park for a long time."
"The tickets have been paid for?" The woman looked at the expressionless, intellectually impaired man. "Brother? Where did you get the money?"
"Picking... trash... I... saved it." The man stammered, seeming a little frightened of the woman standing before him.
"Have I ever mistreated you? The reason I don't bring you out is because I'm afraid you'll get hurt!" The woman seemed somewhat embarrassed — perhaps, in her eyes, her brother had always been someone she couldn't hold her head up around.
"Tickets are bought, that's that. I'm going to be late for work. You two could easily get into trouble here. Come home with me, now." The woman's voice turned stern.
The middle-aged man hesitated at his sister's words, but when he caught his daughter's gaze, he showed a rare moment of firmness and shook his head.
"Just let them walk around the park. I'll stay with them the whole time, keep an eye on them, and make sure nothing happens. When they've finished looking around, I'll personally see them home safe and sound."
His service attitude was beyond reproach. The woman saw that Chen Ge seemed like a warm, trustworthy person, and she began to waver.
"Rest assured — every ride and attraction in our park has passed safety inspections. For anything genuinely dangerous, even if they wanted to try it, we wouldn't let them." Chen Ge spent a long time trying to persuade her, but the woman still refused. She seemed to have something she couldn't easily bring up.
"It's not that I won't let them visit. You don't understand the reason." The woman waved Chen Ge over a few steps. The two walked about ten meters away, and once she was sure the father and daughter couldn't hear, she finally voiced the worry buried deep in her heart: "My brother and Wenwen both have problems with their minds. My brother is a little better off, but Wenwen's condition hasn't stabilized — she could have an episode at any moment."
"An episode?"
The woman sighed softly. "It's a hereditary illness in our family. Low intelligence, and the episodes look a lot like seizures. It's a nightmare to deal with."
"Have you taken them to see a doctor? What did the doctors say? Is there any chance of a cure for their condition?" Chen Ge felt the little girl's situation probably wasn't just a simple hereditary illness. For the Black Phone to flag her as a special visitor, there had to be some unknown secret hidden about her.
The girl's father was intellectually impaired and couldn't communicate normally, so the woman standing before him became Chen Ge's way in.
"Hereditary illnesses can't be cured — at best, you can manage the symptoms…" The woman glanced over at the middle-aged man and the little girl in the distance. "People in our family tend to have very short lives. I don't know what kind of sin our ancestors committed to make their descendants suffer like this. They live in pain when they're sick, and it isn't easy for me either, the healthy one. I broke up with my boyfriend of several years because of the two of them. I couldn't leave them behind, but he refused to carry the burden of two extra people."
"You've been taking care of them this whole time? What about your brother's wife?"
"That woman was just after our money!" The woman's face twisted at the mention of someone. Her hatred was palpable. "If it weren't for her, we wouldn't be living so frugally. At first I actually thought she'd take care of my brother, but it turned out she was only after the money. After Wenwen was born, she ran off."
"I don't know how much longer I can keep this up either. I'm already thirty-four this year." The woman's voice rose as she reached the painful part of her story. It took her a while to realize it and she pulled back. "Sorry, I'm losing my composure."
She turned to look at the father and daughter, her expression complicated. "Fine. I should respect what they want. If they want to stay and play, let them stay. But you have to promise me you'll keep them safe."
"Don't worry — I'll be with them the whole time." Chen Ge hadn't gone out last night and had no need to catch up on sleep.
"Oh, one more thing — you absolutely have to watch out for this." The woman seemed to suddenly remember something important. "Don't let Wenwen go on any water rides. Better yet, don't let her get near water at all — not even walking up to the edge of a pool."