ng Qingyi's days weren't going much better either.
He was currently accompanying Ruoping to buy ice cream.
Why would anyone eat ice cream on such a freezing day?
This was a question n could not answer.
"Where should we go next?" Ruoping asked, licking her ice cream.
"Don't ask . Whatever I say doesn't matter anyway—we'll end up doing what you want in the end."
"If only you'd actually listen to ," Ruoping said, dissatisfied. "You're just waiting for a ssage from Shutong. The mont he texts, you'll run off."
"It's a matter of life and death," ng Qingyi said, hands behind his head. "I think finding that person as soon as possible is the real priority."
"What were you two chatting about just now? You already have a lead, don't you? Stop being mysterious."
"Not really. Think about it—'six minus one,' who knows which person that one is? Right now we can only narrow down a range. At least we know it's soone on Comrcial Street."
"So should we go to Comrcial Street?"
"Let's wait for his ssage."
"Don't you think Shutong's been acting strange lately?"
"Ah, yeah, a bit," the boy answered lazily. "But a man's growth happens overnight..."
Before he could finish, Ruoping stepped on his foot.
"Be serious."
"What do you want to ask? About his relationship with Gu Qiumian?"
Ruoping pursed her lips and said nothing.
"I think it's fine. He doesn't seem that into Gu Qiumian. Don't be jealous."
"Who's jealous? It's just that I feel a bit..."
Ruoping thought for a long ti, then finally said with so dejection:
"I just feel like the few of us used to be the closest, but now soone has a new love interest. You know, I have a cousin who used to be really close to . She went to our junior high, about seven or eight years older than . When I was little I'd always follow her around—I was wilder than the boys. Then she got a boyfriend, and once when she took into the city to hang out, my cousin was still as caring as before, and her boyfriend was nice too, but it was just... just couldn't recapture that feeling from before."
"Worried?"
"Sothing like that," Ruoping mumbled. She really wanted to kick a pebble, but this was inside the mall—there were no pebbles for her to kick. Even the ice cream in her hand had lted.
ng Qingyi stopped joking around and spoke seriously:
"You're caught up in the situation while observers see clearly. Or maybe you girls just don't understand boys... Hey, don't touch my hair! I'm seriously giving you an example. Have you played computer gas? It doesn't matter if you haven't—I'll make up a storyline for you. You're a warrior sent by the king to rescue a princess kidnapped by an evil dragon. So you put on your best equipnt and set out, killing your way through rivers of blood until you finally cut off the dragon's head. Isn't that a lot like what we're doing right now?"
"Oh, so by your logic, we're just companions the hero ets along the way. He defeats the dragon, and then we're not needed anymore, right? And at the end we have to celebrate for the hero, celebrate him finally winning the princess?"
Ruoping looked at him sideways, feeling a bit uncomfortable.
"Wrong. What I really want to say cos next," Qingyi shook his head. "On the surface, this is a ga about a hero rescuing a princess, but if you think carefully—this hero has been cutting down monsters all along the way. Is he really enjoying the fun of fighting monsters and leveling up, or is he doing it to rescue the princess?"
"You're saying Shutong is that hero, and Gu Qiumian is that princess?" Ruoping was startled.
"Pretty much. The feeling Shutong gives is like he ca here with so kind of mission, that he must complete a certain task, and the person at the center of this event just happens to be Gu Qiumian." Qingyi analyzed. "Actually, even my example isn't quite right, because this isn't a ga about fighting monsters and leveling up. Do you think Shutong really enjoys solving cases every day?"
"I guess not..."
"Exactly. So his final behavior cos across as awkward. Actually, you and I are different. I can treat catching criminals and solving cases as a hobby, but he can't. He doesn't like Gu Qiumian as a person, and he's not that interested in detective work either. He's doing it to complete a mission. Let give you another example. If his situation with Gu Qiumian is about a hero rescuing a beauty..."
"You guys are so full of yourselves," Ruoping couldn't help but laugh.
"Don't interrupt. Let's just say this is the story. After the hero rescues the beauty, what should he do? Shouldn't his relationship with the beauty progress further? Today he catches the criminal, tomorrow they go on a date... let's go with this script. But what do you think Shutong would want to do the next day if this were about him?"
"Sleep soundly, then wake up without even washing his face and go fishing. He's always been like that," Ruoping giggled.
"But that day he barely even fished," Qingyi said unexpectedly.
"...Are you worried sothing's wrong with him?"
"Pretty much. Look, each of us has sothing we want. For example, right now I want to catch the culprit as soon as possible and I'm desperately trying to figure out who that person might be. Du Kang is waiting for his Monday birthday and can't even sleep well. And you're desperately licking your ice cream right now... Don't poke my side! What I an is, at least for this recent period, I haven't seen what it is that Shutong wants."
"So what should we do?" Ruoping started worrying too.
"Who knows?"
Qingyi shrugged his shoulders:
"Right now, that dragon is in front of him, and the princess is behind the dragon. He has no other thoughts except to cut down that dragon. He probably doesn't have ti to think about anything else.
"Even though you won't let use the man analogy anymore, I really think every man will encounter a dragon that needs to be defeated. Before you defeat this dragon, you don't even know why you need to defeat it. Because the dragon is blocking your path, soone happened to shove a sword into your hands, it roars at you, you strike at it with your sword—it's a fight to the death. If you lose, you really lose. If you win, maybe you can cross a threshold. You might not necessarily know what you want, but at least you'll have the peace of mind to think about it."
Ruoping was silent for a long while:
"So we need to help him?"
Qingyi nodded vigorously:
"So we need to help him."
Just then, his phone buzzed.
The boy who'd just been like a philosopher suddenly raised an eyebrow excitedly:
"Oh, finally got a ssage."
"What does he say?"
"He wants us to help hide sothing," he answered in a mysterious tone.
That's how chunibyo works—
Sotis they're life ntors, sotis they're childish idiots. They can switch seamlessly between the two.
...
"What thing?" Gu Qiumian asked, chasing after him from behind.
Zhang Shutong had just used the photos as leverage to take back control of the operation, at the cost of nearly going down together with Autumn Rain Lingering.
In the end, Zhang Shutong still deleted the photos.
Now Gu Qiumian was asking him what he was going to get. The thing that controls the young miss's... what was it called again? The only flaw with this operation was that its na was too long to rember. Anyway, it couldn't be exposed to Gu Qiumian, so he kept it mysterious out of habit:
"An important prop."
"Tch."
"Tch what?"
"Tch tch tch!"
Even as she said this, Miss Gu actually nodded and believed him, following him with a curious gaze all the way until Zhang Shutong walked to the storage lockers by the supermarket:
"Third row, fifth one..."
He muttered to himself, following Qingyi's instructions to fish out a slip of paper from the crack of the locker.
Then he scanned the paper under the infrared light, and a locker popped open.
Zhang Shutong pulled out a key from inside.
Gu Qiumian asked again what it was for, and Zhang Shutong said it was to unlock an important vehicle.
"How important?" The young miss beca serious too.
"Actually, it's a bicycle lock key."
"..."
Gu Qiumian realized she'd been played, grinding her teeth. Soon Autumn Rain Lingering would turn into winter's rainstorm.
He had to admit, teasing her was sotis quite fun, but he couldn't overdo it. Zhang Shutong explained:
"Next we need to go do sothing. Do you want bubble tea?"
"Bubble tea? Where?"
"On Comrcial Street."
"You bought the hat and mask for this?"
"Mm." He handed both items to Gu Qiumian. The only regrettable part was that after choosing for so long earlier, he'd discovered that shop wasn't a proper accessories store—it had mostly children's items. Having escaped Mickey Mouse, he'd jumped into the Strawberry Bear pit instead.
But whatever, he wasn't the one wearing it.
"I know going there again now might be a bit..." Zhang Shutong searched for words, trying to make the young miss believe that he, her lackey, wasn't trying to backstab her.
But Gu Qiumian said nothing and simply nodded decisively:
"Let's go."
She put on the mask and hat. Her oval face was already small, and now only those bright, beautiful eyes were visible outside. The Strawberry Bear on top of her head wore a mischievous smile. The girl blinked—she seed to have said nothing yet said everything.
Zhang Shutong had nothing more to say.
The two left the mall. The noise around them instantly diminished as cold air hit their faces. He took a deep breath. The background color of the world suddenly seed to turn gray-black. People walked the streets in down jackets, the withered branches of street trees, plastic bags drifting on the road... On such a cold day, wearing masks and hats wasn't particularly conspicuous.
Zhang Shutong had originally chosen a cloth mask. He asked Gu Qiumian if she wanted to eat anything—she shook her head. He asked if she wanted to buy a balloon—she glared at him with her exposed eyes.
Following Qingyi's directions, he found his bicycle by the mall entrance—Zhang Shutong's own was at school, and it had a box on the back seat, so he couldn't give a girl a ride.
He'd have to borrow his best friend's for now.
Operation Goddess of Destiny Who Controls the Young Miss's Future—he'd finally rembered it—had a grand na but shabby props to match. Never mind a sports car, it should at least be a motorcycle, but now there was only a bicycle.
Sure enough, Gu Qiumian was reluctant, dawdling beside it. She'd grown up riding in executive sedans. She'd never even seen the manual seat adjustnt in Teacher Song's Focus. Now this was really making her suffer—such a fine young miss, instead of being one, she could only sit on a bicycle's rear rack, which would surely make her butt sore.
So Zhang Shutong said don't be picky, there's no other choice right now, and besides, I can't drive anyway.
But Gu Qiumian glared at him again—ever since putting on the mask, she seed to prefer communicating only with her eyes. As a lackey, he had no choice either.
"So what do we do?" Zhang Shutong asked, puzzled. "Should we walk?"
She glared again, but this ti finally gave a hint, lifting the hem of her green dress with her hand.
Only then did Zhang Shutong understand—she wasn't disdaining the bicycle, but wearing a dress made it difficult to sit on it.
But this was easy to solve.
Zhang Shutong had already straddled the bike and patted the rear seat:
"Just sit sideways."
But she still dawdled. Zhang Shutong suggested again, "How about I ride slowly and wait for you?" Only then did the girl make so kind of decision. She glared at him in exasperation, sat sideways on the bike, and then Zhang Shutong seed to understand what she'd been hesitating about—
A pair of sowhat stiff arms gently wrapped around his waist, making Zhang Shutong's body stiffen as well. He supposed that sitting normally on a bike, you could hold the rack behind you to keep from falling, or grab the clothes of the person in front on both sides.
But sitting sideways, none of these thods worked—you could only circle the other person's waist.
Only now did Zhang Shutong understand what she ant. If only she'd said sothing earlier.
He opened his mouth, wanting to say sothing, but in the end closed it.
So words, once spoken, might be wrong.
This was the urban area in winter. They were on a small island. The road beneath the wheels varied—so was newly paved asphalt, so was cent laid long ago that already had cracks. The two types of road connected together, piecing together the traces of ti.
The bicycle inevitably jolted a bit.
The ti was exactly 11:00 AM. His phone battery was still at thirty percent. Fresh cold air rushed into his nostrils. The view ahead was wide open, with few people on either side.
He took a small path, so he could see the lakeside scenery.
Today the lake surface was azure blue, similar in color to the sky.
Reed clusters grew tenaciously. Occasionally there was still unlted snow. The lake wind carried a faint fishy sll. In the quiet ti, a girl wearing a Strawberry Bear hat sat behind him.
Zhang Shutong only knew that bear's na—he didn't even know if it was from a movie or an animated series—but for so reason he felt it matched Gu Qiumian's temperant quite well.
The arm around his waist gradually beca softer. Zhang Shutong asked her if there was anywhere else she wanted to go after visiting Comrcial Street. Though it might not happen, at least they'd have a direction.
Who knew she'd pull out that Talking Tom Cat again. No matter what Zhang Shutong said, what he heard in the end was his own words.
Zhang Shutong was speechless at first. He'd heard of "releasing the hounds," but never "releasing the cat while riding." But later he got used to it and started talking to himself.
He introduced the areas he and his friends had divided up on the island in the past—where the Divine Temple was, where the Base was, where the Forbidden Zone was... all boring, aningless talk anyway. Being replayed by Talking Tom Cat added a bit of novel color.
Soon the two rode to Comrcial Street. He locked up the bike and sent another ssage to Du Kang on his phone, thinking the ride had gone by really fast.
There were a few more people on Comrcial Street now, quite a few boys and girls holding hands wandering around.
Gu Qiumian finally spoke up once, asking what next? Zhang Shutong said just play with your Talking Tom Cat, and got glared at again. Only then did he explain: you can browse in peace, just leave everything to .
So she didn't ask further, and Zhang Shutong didn't answer more.
He accompanied Gu Qiumian into Comrcial Street, a not particularly rare combination. Zhang Shutong was already prepared to carry bags.
But Ruoping had gotten one thing wrong. His mission today was much heavier than they'd imagined. Not only did he bear the responsibility of being a companion, he also had to conduct an investigation.
Today was Saturday, students were all on break.
The so-called "culprit" was still like finding a needle in a haystack, but as he'd told Qingyi earlier, trying to deduce his motive was impossible—they could only use the process of elimination.
There weren't even any reliable clues. He'd considered whether to ask Teacher Song to inquire with Gu Qiumian's father about any past enemies on the island, but then realized that if they had leads, they'd have already sent police to investigate.
Zhang Shutong specifically picked shops with fewer people.
Looking at them one by one, sotis going into shops with Gu Qiumian to browse, but without much success.
In the original tiline, the girl's disappearance could be simply divided into three days: Friday, Saturday, Sunday.
But now many things had changed, and referring to previous information wasn't very useful.
So he was prepared to make a bold inference—presumption of guilt. Assu the culprit would definitely act today.
Friday's opportunity had already passed. On Sunday, Gu family mbers would return.
Although the culprit might not know this, thinking from their perspective, the arsonist had already been caught, so Gu's father would definitely react. His family mbers might arrive tomorrow, the day after, or even tonight. So for an unpredictable future, the only option was to strike today.
And the earlier the better.
If they were going to act, they couldn't be staying in their shop. Never mind preparations before the cri—at minimum they needed to know where Gu Qiumian was. They couldn't wait until getting to her villa to discover the person wasn't even there.
Zhang Shutong didn't think they'd be that stupid.
Of course, if they really were that stupid, there was no helping it—
Because Du Kang had gone over there.
So Zhang Shutong's next focus was on shops without n present.
Most shops on this street were run by couples. Of course there were also ones supported by one person, like that hat shop. So if he could find which shop had fewer people than usual, he could narrow down the range.
This direction was theoretically sound, but difficult to implent. As soone who'd just returned from the future, he hadn't even sorted out his classmates yet—how could he distinguish the rchants on Comrcial Street?
—But there was one person who really could.
Among their group of four, there was a chattering girl who loved coming here to browse and knew it inside out. Even the news that Comrcial Street would be demolished was first learned from her.
This operation's purpose was—everyone could use their strengths, and no one was replaceable.
So Zhang Shutong texted Ruoping, saying he urgently needed help, heroine please co quickly.
The heroine was summoned imdiately.
"Speak," she replied with a voice ssage, not in a good mood, but she'd never throw tantrums when it ca to serious matters.
Zhang Shutong photographed each storefront and sent them to her—who was in this shop, roughly what the situation was. The girl would recall briefly and could answer.
Of course, even for those she couldn't answer, Ruoping had her own close friends—she'd always had a wide circle. A few questions and there'd be a reply.
The two went back and forth like this, checking shop by shop. By the ti they reached the middle of the street, they'd finally found a small shop that fit the criteria.
It was a bubble tea shop with a long queue.
He rembered not long ago when they'd co here to eat, Ruoping had treated them to pearl milk tea.
Zhang Shutong put down his phone and glanced at the "Co Get One" bubble tea shop.
His phone had taken many photos just now, and the battery had already dropped below thirty percent.
He texted Qingyi again:
"What was that plan called again? I forgot."
"Operation Goddess of Destiny Who Controls the Young Miss's Future," the other imdiately replied.
"Alright then, giving you advance notice."
Zhang Shutong typed out the last two lines with one hand:
"Get ready."
"'Operation Goddess of Destiny Who Controls the Young Miss's Future' may be entering its second phase."
Reviews
All reviews (0)