Zhang Shutong put away his phone. He'd set aside the matter with his mother for now—the most pressing issue at hand was the conflict between the two girls.
—Ruoping could be temperantal at tis, but she always had a clear sense of priorities when it mattered. All he needed to do was explain the situation with the Gu family and everything would be fine. What worried him instead was Gu Qiumian. He couldn't even guess what she might say. This was a genuine young lady of ans—expecting her to take the initiative to reconcile was impossible. More likely, she'd say sothing imperious like:
"Why shouldn't I be here?"
Or even more bluntly:
"The shopping center belongs to my family. Shouldn't you be the one leaving?"
Zhang Shutong was certain Ruoping would turn on her heel and walk away, and that would truly sour things between them.
He had to snuff out the fuse before it ignited. But just as Zhang Shutong stepped forward, the two girls spoke in unison:
"Don't say anything!"
Then they shifted their gazes away, locking eyes with each other.
What Zhang Shutong saw next was Gu Qiumian walking up to him. Her pink lips parted slightly, but what erged wasn't so imperious declaration—instead, it was...
"I'll take it."
Just four light words, and they were directed at Zhang Shutong.
Only then did Zhang Shutong's gaze shift to his own hands.
He was holding a handbag—the one she'd forcibly handed him before going to the restroom. Zhang Shutong had completely forgotten about it.
Gu Qiumian took the bag from his hands with casual ease and looped it back over her arm.
Then she brushed back her hair in a composed manner—though her hair wasn't even ssy—yet her entire bearing suddenly radiated an air of confidence.
There was no other exchange besides this.
But those four words alone seed to decide the victor, as if that handbag were so crucially important prop—whoever could claim it would win.
Ruoping's gaze remained fixed on that handbag. She hadn't noticed it earlier either. The girl blinked, then looked at Zhang Shutong in shock, silently mouthing words:
That fast?
Judging from the shape of her lips, that's what she must have said.
Then Ruoping sighed. She'd always been the boss among them, her word was law.
But this ti, it was like one of her underlings suddenly insisting on marrying so girl, and even though her gang and that girl's family had been feuding for ages, the two had already made their relationship a done deal—what could she do but tear them apart by force?
She had no choice but to swallow her grievance and accept defeat:
"Welco."
Ruoping forced the word through gritted teeth.
—This was the battlefield between won.
Zhang Shutong was in awe.
But he knew Gu Qiumian had cheated—that bag wasn't proof of any relationship at all; she'd just had her hands full when using the restroom.
But Ruoping had no idea about the context. In her eyes, it probably ant their relationship had reached the point where he'd help carry her bag, and she'd imagined all sorts of things.
Zhang Shutong really wanted to say he'd help carry bags when she went to the restroom too, but in a way, this solution wasn't bad. So he willingly let Gu Qiumian tie him to her chariot, pretending not to notice.
What impressive tactics.
Who said Gu Qiumian was dumb? Zhang Shutong silently criticized Old Song's terrible judgnt—this girl wasn't dumb at all. But what he didn't expect next was for Gu Qiumian to walk over to Ruoping's side. He thought she was about to deliver so victor's declaration, but instead, the young Miss Gu pressed the chocolate her mother had given her into Ruoping's hands and said softly:
"What happened before was my fault. Let's share this."
Only then did Zhang Shutong rember that their feud had started over a bag of chocolate—
They must have been thirteen or fourteen at the ti, in first or second year of junior high. Ruoping had taken the initiative to share a bag of gold coin chocolates with Gu Qiumian, but unfortunately, Gu Qiumian hadn't thought much of them and declined coolly.
Of course, it wasn't that she looked down on people—she just didn't care for chocolate made with cocoa butter substitutes. In fact, the next day she'd proactively brought over a bunch of high-end chocolates, perhaps even with the idea of making friends. She just couldn't tell the difference between types of chocolate but couldn't guess what was in others' hearts. Her well-intentioned gesture backfired instead, leaving Ruoping deeply hurt.
The result, naturally, was that the group treated Gu Qiumian like she was invisible.
She felt awful about it too, but how could a young lady tolerate such treatnt? After school, she'd run to the back of the classroom with red-rimd eyes and thrown away that entire bag of chocolates.
Her cold war with Ruoping had continued all these years.
But now, why had Gu Qiumian suddenly changed? Setting aside who was right or wrong, Zhang Shutong didn't think she would take the initiative to lower her head and apologize to soone. Yet in fact, he didn't hear the slightest reluctance in her tone—if anything, it sounded like she genuinely wanted to make peace.
Ruoping was a bit surprised too. She responded well to softness but not hardness. After holding it in for a while with a slightly flushed face, she quietly apologized as well and took the initiative to unwrap the chocolate, breaking it in half.
Zhang Shutong watched the two girls reconcile with relief, but then Ruoping glared at him:
"Why are you acting like this has nothing to do with you? You think you're not involved in this?"
"How am I involved?" Zhang Shutong was puzzled.
"It was clearly a conflict between Qiumian and . Who told you to show off back then? When she offered you that chocolate, you should have just eaten it. Did I tell you not to eat it or sothing?"
Now that she ntioned it, Zhang Shutong rembered. That day after school, it had been his turn to clean the classroom. Gu Qiumian hadn't thrown the chocolate away directly—she'd asked him first if he wanted any. He felt he couldn't "abandon his friends for romance," so he'd shaken his head and refused.
Zhang Shutong knew she wasn't really blaming him. She was just saving face while sticking up for her new friend. Hadn't she already switched to calling her "Qiumian"? The boss naturally takes it out on her underlings first.
Zhang Shutong was happy to be the scapegoat. Besides, he did think his younger self had been a bit socially clueless—he'd actually escalated the conflict. So he smiled, nodded an apology, and gave Ruoping a way to gracefully back down.
The atmosphere beca relaxed.
The four of them agreed to go to the supermarket inside the shopping center next.
Ruoping was quite considerate—after finishing the chocolate, she went to chat with Qingyi. Before leaving, she glanced at him. Zhang Shutong understood: things were fine between her and Gu Qiumian now, but there were still so matters between her and him that needed "discussion."
Those two walked ahead.
Zhang Shutong and Gu Qiumian walked behind. Zhang Shutong gave Autumn Rain Lingering an admiring thumbs up, but Miss Gu rolled her eyes at him:
"You think I wanted to apologize?"
"Then why did you?"
But there was no follow-up.
Gu Qiumian said irritably that she still had an account to settle with him—why hadn't he accepted her chocolate back then?
Zhang Shutong could only apologize. But she seed to just be venting—she didn't really take it to heart. Soon she had a new focus:
"Your mother is so young."
"I guess so."
"Was my attitude toward Auntie just now not very good?"
"It's fine. She's pretty easygoing." Zhang Shutong said casually.
"Jeez, you really..." She stomped her foot, then humd, "But your mother told all about you when you were little."
"What did she tell you?" Zhang Shutong froze.
"That you can't cook."
"That's fine. What else?"
"Crybaby."
"That's not true." Zhang Shutong said with a dark expression. "She didn't say anything else, did she?"
He was really worried his mother had let one thing slip—borrowing Qingyi's words, the secret that every man must guard with his life—his childhood nickna.
Even his close friends didn't know about this. After starting junior high, he'd reached an agreent with his mother: either call him son or call him by his na. It wasn't that he was particularly ashad of the nickna "Tongtong"—it was that they'd really dare to call him Tongtong if they knew, especially Ruoping.
He suddenly understood how the original Mianmian must have felt.
Zhang Shutong really wanted to know this, so he asked what else they'd talked about. But Gu Qiumian mimicked his usual manner, deliberately putting on a straight face:
"It's a secret."
"What's there to keep secret about that?"
"Who told you to always say that when I ask you things?"
Zhang Shutong thought to himself: how is that the sa? I keep secrets to find the culprit—what are you keeping secrets for?
They quickly reached the supermarket entrance. Zhang Shutong casually grabbed a shopping cart and pushed it.
The cart wheels rolled bumpily over the small tiles. With so many people today, Qingyi and Ruoping had disappeared in the blink of an eye.
"What did you guys co to buy today?" Gu Qiumian asked curiously.
"Just picking out so snacks as gifts, mainly seeing what Du Kang likes."
Looking around, the first things that caught his eye were promotional items—laundry detergent, milk, and so on. Speaking of which, Zhang Shutong had thought his mother ca to buy things, but he hadn't seen her carrying anything.
Co to think of it, his mother had another clever move—
She'd taken the snack from Ruoping's hands, not because she was really hungry, but because she'd noticed there were three of those items while there were four people on their side, which would be awkward to divide.
He felt his mother truly had a discerning eye. He wondered if all won beca this shrewd—like Gu Qiumian's performance just now, which had also shown impressive tactics... Zhang Shutong quickly shook his head, realizing he'd been too poisoned by Old Song's influence lately. Why was he also going around talking about "won" all the ti?
Better just focus on shopping at the supermarket.
Zhang Shutong didn't shop at big supermarkets much. Even when he did, he only pushed the cart. Before, it had been his mother in front, now it was Ruoping, but today it was another woman.
Gu Qiumian pulled the cart in one direction. If Zhang Shutong went too slowly, she'd get annoyed, so he simply pushed the cart with one hand while typing on his phone with the other—ssaging Qingyi. Apparently he was a bit bored too.
They were still discussing the housekeeper issue.
"I just explained to Ruoping. She said she just feels inexplicably annoyed with you, but you know Ruoping can always distinguish what's important. She said if there's anything, she'll definitely help."
"That's good. Just be ntally prepared anyway."
"Got it, got it. That's why we deliberately gave you two so alone ti."
"That's not the kind of ntal preparation I ant. I'm talking about the case."
"You're still planning to investigate?"
"Maybe. I might be busy today too."
"You could ask Gu Qiumian whether her family's housekeeper is from off the island or local."
"I heard her accent." Zhang Shutong replied. "She's not local. But that line of thinking is a bit wrong."
"What do you an?"
"Analyzing her motive is too difficult—whether she's from the island or not, who she has grudges with, what caused it—we'd never finish investigating. All we can do is be on guard, or use process of elimination."
He was about to launch into a long discourse when Autumn Rain Lingering kept asking if he'd eat this or that... Her voice in his ear really was like drizzling rain. Zhang Shutong looked up and realized they'd already reached the snack section.
Now one of them pushed the cart while the other walked beside it. From Zhang Shutong's limited understanding of won, they were always stimulated by dazzling shelves to develop a desire to buy things.
Gu Qiumian held a bucket of chips and turned around to ask:
"Want these?"
It was actually Kebik brand.
He felt like he hadn't seen that in many years. Zhang Shutong just shook his head. "Du Kang doesn't like the bucket kind."
"Who's asking about him?" Gu Qiumian wrinkled her nose. "I'm asking you."
"Whatever works for ."
"Why is everything 'whatever' with you?" Gu Qiumian tossed the chips into the shopping cart, then grabbed a bag of milk crackers. "What about these?"
"Not good."
"But you just said you like sweet things." She said with dissatisfaction, putting the crackers back on the shelf. Apparently it wasn't because she wanted to eat them herself but felt embarrassed to take them directly, so she was using it as an excuse to ask others.
Zhang Shutong was trying to rember when he'd said he liked sweet things.
Oh, he really had said that.
It was the day they first beca deskmates. He'd borrowed her test paper to look at and been given a bag of salty cheese crackers. Then he'd asked if he could have sweet ones instead, and she'd said she didn't have any.
He hadn't expected her to rember that comnt all this ti.
Zhang Shutong said stop asking him and just see if there was anything she liked. But the young Miss Gu said she had plenty at ho—this was just enjoying the pleasure of shopping. Then she pulled out a card from her bag:
"I even brought my card. You can't very well not let spend money, right?"
Zhang Shutong said she was really strange—why did she have to buy things?
Gu Qiumian said he was the strange one—why wouldn't he accept when soone wanted to buy him things?
"Wait, how did this beco buying things for ?"
"I told you I don't like owing people favors. You have to accept whether you want to or not. Otherwise I'll take you to the third floor—I think there's a n's clothing store there?"
"...Let's just buy so food."
Today's script was strange enough. They'd clearly invited her out because she was ho alone, so how had it turned into the young lady taking him shopping?
He lowered his head to continue typing with Qingyi.
But Gu Qiumian widened her eyes and said, "Jeez, why are you so busy?" When she said "jeez," it was quite amusing—her tone was both displeased and soft, and if you didn't know better, you'd think she was acting cute.
Zhang Shutong couldn't handle that kind of thing. He closed his phone and followed her forward to shop. After she'd asked a few tis, Gu Qiumian gave up on him and promptly changed strategies. So most of the ti, she just asked one word:
"Eat?"
And Zhang Shutong could only nod or shake his head. Then she'd either put it back on the shelf or toss it in the cart.
Soon the shopping cart began to fill up. Gu Qiumian also quickly encountered the first thing she wanted to eat. She actually stood in front of a bag of spicy strips and blinked. It seed the young lady had never been exposed to this commoner's delicacy.
"If you want it, just take it."
"I can't eat spicy food these few days."
"Oh." Zhang Shutong understood.
While she was still deliberating, Zhang Shutong took out his phone again to reply to ssages.
"I think we can just tell her father directly about the housekeeper. Do you have her father's contact information?" This was from Qingyi.
"If we can't rule it out in the end, I'll find a chance to say sothing."
"What do you an?"
"She has a very good relationship with the housekeeper." Zhang Shutong knew her mother had passed away, so perhaps that auntie was one of the few people who could give her a bit of a motherly feeling. "But once you tell her father, whether or not the housekeeper is suspicious, she definitely won't be allowed to stay by Gu Qiumian's side anymore. So I want to try ruling it out using my own thod first."
"You're starting to get a bit soft-hearted."
Am I?
Zhang Shutong looked up just in ti to hear Gu Qiumian ask very seriously, "Are there non-spicy strips?"
"Are you dumb?" He said helplessly.
"You're dumb." She glared. "Can't you tell when I'm joking?"
Sorry for having no sense of humor.
"Don't let your guard down." Zhang Shutong continued typing. "What I'm most worried about now isn't the housekeeper—it's soone else."
"Who?"
"I keep feeling there's soone else."
"Isn't that a bit exaggerated?"
While typing, Zhang Shutong walked to the prepared foods section and saw Gu Qiumian putting a very large piece of braised pig liver into the shopping cart. He also reflexively parroted:
"Isn't that a bit exaggerated?"
Why was she buying such a big piece of pig liver?
"I want to eat it. I'll share so with you."
Zhang Shutong imagined that scene—the two of them each holding a chunk of pig liver and gnawing on it. The image was really quite sothing.
"But you can't cook." Gu Qiumian explained reluctantly.
Having said that, regardless of whether Zhang Shutong understood, she headed toward the next section.
She walked with her hands behind her back, occasionally rising on her tiptoes. Her skirt hem fluttered, and her feet seed to be beating out a cheerful rhythm. Zhang Shutong hurried to catch up with the cart. Miss Gu pointed at so cocktails:
"Want to drink this?"
"You can't drink anyway."
"Tch."
Just then his phone vibrated:
"Besides setting fires, can she kill people too?" Qingyi teased.
You're actually right about that.
Zhang Shutong replied:
"That's why I'm waiting for a phone call right now."
"Who?"
"From the police station. The written statent should be done soon. I'll take different actions based on the follow-up results."
"I suddenly have an idea then."
Qingyi's idea seed pretty long. Zhang Shutong waited forever without getting a reply. If Gu Qiumian saw him on his phone again, she'd get unhappy, so Zhang Shutong quickly put it away.
Sotis even he felt that his current experience was unreal. You're wandering around a supermarket with a beautiful girl who's grabbing snacks left and right like they're an invading army, and just thinking about how to carry everything back later gives you a headache... But you can't refuse, because she's buying them for you.
Maybe this would be a scene he'd rember years later: you're sixteen, pushing a shopping cart through every section of the supermarket with this genuine young lady of ans. She has a super VIP card that could max out the store's POS machine, then she's conflicted about whether she can eat spicy strips... Though the supermarket isn't that big—nothing like the comrcial districts in big cities—and it's noisy with people coming and going, the cart wheels are a bit sticky, one of the overhead lights keeps flickering, sotis you forget that outside it's a cold winter without flowers or trees, but as long as she smiles, this place overflows with youthful energy.
Yet at the sa ti, danger lurks everywhere. Viewed from the side, the girl's delicate nose is upturned, her eyelashes flutter—she must be in quite a good mood. But you know that her young life will end within these next few days.
At that mont, he rembered Old Song's words again, sothing about how last night this beautiful girl had drawn a silly face on the car window, showing she was in a good mood.
Just a few days ago when the castle got knocked over, she'd still had that cold, indifferent look. A group of people deliberately teasing her couldn't even make her smile.
But now she was darting cheerfully between the shelves, occasionally glancing back—monitoring whether you were chatting with soone else. If you were, then she'd start with all her "jeez, jeez" complaints... really giving you a hard ti. If you weren't, she'd co over to this little lackey's side. Zhang Shutong watched her run from in front of him to behind, from his left to his right, holding various foods, busy with who knows what.
But that girl who'd stood in front of the stead bun shop, saying with a calm yet stubborn expression "that would an being defeated," seed to have gone far away now.
Though there was no glass around for her to vandalize at the mont, Zhang Shutong felt she must be in quite a good mood. And he was willing to indulge her.
Protecting the young lady was the duty of lackeys. Ti would keep flowing. Once they got through this weekend, he, this lackey, should be able to retire and return ho.
But until the final mont, one could never let their guard down.
Zhang Shutong finally received Song Nanshan's call.
He answered the phone and spoke quickly for a few sentences, his brow furrowing bit by bit.
Sure enough, just as he'd thought.
The culprit was soone else.
His phone buzzed again. Qingyi's idea had finally arrived:
"We could kidnap Gu Qiumian and test her housekeeper's reaction."
"..."
Zhang Shutong, in the midst of everything, sent a string of ellipses.
He finally hung up the phone—just before Gu Qiumian turned around.
Zhang Shutong sighed.
He leaned on the shopping cart, propping his face with one hand, watching the pendant swaying from the girl's hair:
"There's been a change of plans."
He sent this ssage to the group of four at the sa ti.
"What plan?"
Du Kang suddenly popped up.
A plan is a plan—sothing really aweso. I can't really explain it either.
That's what Zhang Shutong thought, but he didn't know how to answer. Just monts ago, a girl had said he had no sense of humor, but he certainly didn't lack chunibyo tendencies:
"Operation Goddess Who Controls the Future?"
"I think 'Operation Pursuing the Young Lady' would be more accurate," Ruoping said sarcastically.
"That works too. Nas are just whatever."
"How about 'Operation Fate Goddess Who Controls the Young Lady's Future,'" Qingyi combined the two.
"Let's go with that." His nine-key pad flew across the screen. "Sorry everyone, but I'll have to take up so of your rest ti from here on out."
"What's going on?" Only the birthday boy still couldn't figure it out.
"The situation is—"
He was about to type sothing really cool, but unfortunately, Gu Qiumian was also asking:
"What do you an? Weren't you guys buying gifts for your classmate?"
She was the one being protected the best.
"I an that I also don't like owing people favors." Zhang Shutong pointed at the shopping cart overflowing with items.
So.
No matter what, this weekend—
You're not allowed to die—
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