Winter's Return Chapter 64: Mianmian's Energy

He suddenly thought of the killer's dark red, rough face—could the other person have been wearing a scarf at the ti?

Going even further, could that scarf be the very one belonging to Gu Qiumian?

After her murder, where had that scarf gone these past eight years?

If the sa person truly killed both of them, then the killer would have had the opportunity to co into contact with this scarf.

But if we're only considering it from the angle of concealing facial features, why choose this particular one?

Zhang Shutong recalled the transfer student in the graduation photo, who also wore a red gauze scarf. But at the ti, he'd been preoccupied with thinking about Gu Qiumian's death and the tattoo, overlooking this "variable."

The tiline of the Cold Blood Route was more complicated than he'd imagined.

Zhang Shutong still didn't understand why his past self had wiped all the information clean.

Based on his understanding of himself, the only reason would be if he'd considered the possibility of being unable to regress after death—worried that information on his phone might leak out? Be discovered by the killer?

But Gu Qiumian and Lu Qinglian were both dead—who was he trying to protect?

He finally let out a sigh.

Picking up his chopsticks to continue eating, his friends were looking at him strangely. They all felt he'd been acting weird today, each asking if he'd been scared by yesterday's poacher encounter. Zhang Shutong nodded along, saying he needed to drink so Nutri-Express to calm his nerves.

But the al had to be eaten. While mulling over these matters, he chatted idly with his friends. Everyone discussed the vandalized castle incident. Zhang Shutong casually suggested Li Yipeng as a possibility—after all, he was from another class, making it convenient to act, and he'd had a grudge against Gu Qiumian before.

"That's actually possible. Problem is, there's no surveillance. What if he doesn't admit it?" Du Kang asked.

Zhang Shutong said it was simple—they just needed to first go buy a scarf on Comrcial Street, then pull a switcheroo and wait for the rabbit. He laid out his plan, earning admiring looks from Qingyi, who nodded repeatedly.

But whether it was Li Yipeng, the arsonist, or the Zhou father and son, these were all things he could resolve easily now. He had better thods:

Like telling Li Yipeng that the person who wrote his na on the bathroom stall had ratted him out—the other party would definitely be scared into confessing on the spot.

Or telling Zhou Ziheng that Li Yipeng had ratted him out—he'd surely be dumbstruck too... It was a bit underhanded, but quite practical.

Of course, to ensure they could smoothly catch the arsonist, he'd better control the timing.

Speaking of which, Teacher Song was probably in his office right now, smoking in frustration.

Zhang Shutong really wanted to scout out the Gu family villa. He hadn't properly walked the route yet—from the villa to the Forbidden Zone, what exactly happened along the way was also an important point of doubt.

He sighed again, feeling his scalp tingle from all these matters.

"Wait, since when did you and Gu Qiumian get so close?" Ruoping asked suspiciously. Won's intuition was truly terrifying.

"So-so."

"Then why are you suddenly so concerned?"

"Deskmates."

But it seed they'd already set a trap, just waiting for him to fall in. Ruoping said, "See, I got him to admit it. I already said his sitting next to Gu Qiumian had ulterior motives."

Zhang Shutong didn't want to explain anymore. He was a bit tired. Just then, the owner's wife brought out the last dish. He planned to finish eating and leave quickly. This ti he didn't plan to stubbornly insist on treating either, since he hadn't brought enough money. Next ti for sure.

Thinking this, he sped up his chopstick movents. A male student at Gu Qiumian's table suddenly stood up:

"Boss, why haven't you served us yet? How long have we been waiting? They're just a few people!"

He shot a very provocative glance at their table.

Look, the familiar script was back.

It seed this male student had a bit of a crush on Gu Qiumian, wanting to beco the young lady's flower guardian. He felt that since his table consisted of Gu Qiumian's classmates, they needed to blow off so steam. Sothing like that.

Zhang Shutong calmly thought these lackeys' professional standards were truly subpar—they'd be fired sooner or later. No wonder Gu Qiumian didn't want to bring them along to the mall on Saturday.

And what happened next...

He rembered Du Kang throwing down his chopsticks about to retort, then being held back by Ruoping.

"Hey now, who the hell are you, acting all high and mighty over a al?" Du Kang imdiately stood up.

Zhang Shutong froze. Wait—he clearly rembered Du Kang had been held back by Ruoping. What was happening now?

But Ruoping had only just reacted, hurriedly tugging at Du Kang's shirt to make him sit down.

Zhang Shutong was thoughtful. He'd still underestimated the influence of this "butterfly."

Last ti, everyone at the table hadn't discussed anything particularly important—mostly idle chatter—so Ruoping had the attention to spare watching Du Kang.

But now he'd drawn the tattoo, talked about the class reunion, and most importantly, had casually explained the whole story behind the "castle incident." Ruoping had been listening intently the whole ti. In a mont of carelessness, she hadn't held Du Kang back.

Sure enough, the male student wasn't backing down either:

"You're from Gu-jie's class, right? Let tell you, I've had my eye on you for a while. What about it?"

"What the fuck? Who are you?" Du Kang was shocked. "Still going on about 'Gu-jie' this and that—you really think following Gu Qiumian around every day makes you sobody?"

At this age, everyone was competitive and strong-willed. As soon as Du Kang finished speaking, the boys and girls at Gu Qiumian's table stood up en masse with a clatter.

Then Qingyi stood up, Ruoping stood up too, and Zhang Shutong was stunned watching it all.

He usually used "lackeys" as shorthand for convenience, but why did this now feel like an actual gang confrontation?

The little secretary also stood up to diate, saying everyone sit down, sit down, we're eating here. She watched Gu Qiumian's expression, neither stopping nor inciting.

Anyway, everyone had stood up. For a mont, the hall was filled with the sound of chair legs scraping across the floor. Only two people hadn't stood—Zhang Shutong and Gu Qiumian.

Zhang Shutong was thinking how just a few days ago he'd been a lackey, and now they were enemies. The vicissitudes of life were truly lantable.

Gu Qiumian put down her yogurt:

"Sit down."

She coolly uttered those two words, and everyone around sat down in unison.

It made it hard for Zhang Shutong to connect her with the girl who talked to Talking Tom Cat. But it was nice to see the young lady occasionally return to her aloof persona.

Gu Qiumian continued drinking her yogurt with a cold expression, the cup rim level with her eyes, looking at no one. At this point, the little secretary understood her position and started lecturing, beginning with that male student.

The owner's wife had been rushing out to break up the fight but froze when she saw this scene.

Du Kang sat down unhappily, muttering that the bastard needed to be taught a lesson. Ruoping scolded him, saying why are you arguing with these kids? Besides, there are over ten of them—if a real fight broke out, wouldn't we be the ones at a disadvantage?

Qingyi said very casually that a fight wouldn't happen—didn't they see Shutong was here?

Zhang Shutong felt he really couldn't take on over ten people. This situation would be hard to control.

Qingyi added that Shutong had helped her pick up the building blocks during break, hadn't he? That favor still counted for sothing.

Zhang Shutong had almost forgotten about that himself.

It seed there was still so "old affection" between them. And based on his understanding of Gu Qiumian, she didn't like owing people favors. Saturday when she'd bought him two big bags of snacks was a perfect example.

They could eat in peace now. He waited until the plates were nearly clean, then checked the ti. He rembered that last ti, right around now, he'd gone to the bathroom and overheard the conversation between the boss and his wife, learning about the Comrcial Street conflict.

Zhang Shutong was wondering whether to eavesdrop again and record it this ti. Though not recording wouldn't affect the outco, he now wanted to intentionally speed up this process. Maybe it could co in handy—at the very least, sending it to the police would draw enough attention.

Besides, it wouldn't take much ti.

With this in mind, Zhang Shutong told his friends to give him the money—his stomach was a bit uncomfortable, so they should go out and browse around for a bit while he settled the bill after—

Doing it this way had another benefit. After recording the couple's conversation, he could pretend to have "accidentally" stumbled upon the Comrcial Street dispute while in the bathroom.

Then he could play the recording for his friends, and without needing another excuse, make them realize the severity of the situation. It would only help with their upcoming actions.

The three of them didn't suspect anything, just saying they'd find a shop to wait in and contact him later.

Zhang Shutong took the money and went to the bathroom, quietly turning on his phone's recorder. Sure enough, he heard the owner's wife walk into the kitchen and start urging him along. The conversation was much the sa as before.

But he also rembered—not long after, he'd heard that male student calling out to settle the bill, and then the owner's wife had rushed out.

But this ti, he didn't hear it.

What was going on?

He imdiately realized that perhaps because of the earlier small conflict, Gu Qiumian's table had eaten more slowly, which also delayed when they'd pay.

There were too many changes in these small details.

The boss and his wife couldn't keep arguing forever, especially with Gu Qiumian eating right outside. They started chatting about daily life matters. Zhang Shutong had heard enough and was about to turn off his phone when soone tugged at the stall door. This was a simple bathroom enclosed with pressed boards. He'd locked the door, of course, but was still startled by this sudden movent.

He called out that it was occupied. The stall door was tugged again. The person outside didn't say anything, as if tugging the door was so kind of signal. Zhang Shutong helplessly thought how could his butterfly effect even influence other people's bathroom habits? That would be far too miraculous.

He had nothing else to do waiting anyway, so he opened the door and went out, only to freeze again.

Standing outside the door was none other than Gu Qiumian.

The girl was clutching her lower abdon, brow slightly furrowed, biting her lip. A trace of pain flashed across her face. She'd originally looked sowhat weak, but seeing him, she instinctively put on a strong face, as if not wanting him to see her current state.

"Uh..."

Zhang Shutong really didn't know what to say. The girl was indeed thin-skinned, let alone about this kind of thing. Putting himself in her shoes, even he would find it awkward. He'd originally wanted to point at the "Urination Only" sign on the wall as a subtle reminder, but then he saw what Gu Qiumian was clutching in her hand and suddenly understood.

He quickly left to clear the space. He saw Gu Qiumian hurry inside, barely having the strength left to close the door.

So she'd known it was him inside, but was too embarrassed to say it outright, so she'd tugged the door to get him to co out.

Zhang Shutong recalled that day at the supermarket when she'd deliberated in front of the spicy snacks for ages.

He'd told her if she wanted to eat them, just buy them, but Gu Qiumian had said she couldn't eat spicy food these few days.

Of course Zhang Shutong wasn't oblivious to the euphemistic way girls referred to their periods. He was just wondering why even this had co early—or maybe not early, since today was only Thursday and that day had been Saturday, just a few days' difference. Rather, he was wondering... why it suddenly manifested right now?

So girls had severe reactions, so had mild ones. Gu Qiumian was clearly the forr, in severe pain, her lips bitten pale. Indeed, no matter how aloof she seed on the surface, she was actually still a soft person.

Zhang Shutong really wanted to say that if she knew the pain would be severe, why did she chug cold yogurt on such a freezing day? But the point wasn't the yogurt—it was why even this kind of thing would change.

He couldn't figure it out, so he simply went to the counter to pay. While settling the bill, he coincidentally ran into that male student, who was slapping several hundred-yuan bills on the counter.

He'd thought that since he'd brought enough money this ti, the other party wouldn't have an excuse to start trouble. But this ti he only had small change, and so did his friends. For students this age, casually pulling out whole bills like Gu Qiumian was actually quite rare.

As Zhang Shutong counted out coins, the male student sidled over:

"Bro, don't have enough money? How much short are you? I'll help you out."

Zhang Shutong sighed, feeling this guy's presence was really too strong. Everything was changing, except him—he stayed the sa, like a fighting cock.

Without looking up, he replied "It's enough," making his attitude clear. But perhaps because of this new conflict, the male student's words carried even more provocation:

"I noticed you were the only one who didn't stand up earlier. Were you scared? But you don't need to be afraid—we were just trying to scare you. We weren't planning to actually fight. So can we just let this go?"

Zhang Shutong just didn't want to cause trouble, but that didn't an he had no temper when so rooster-like guy was chattering in his ear. For the first ti, he shot the other party a cold glance:

"Shut up."

But before he finished speaking, another icy female voice rang out simultaneously. Their "shut up"s were almost perfectly synchronized.

Zhang Shutong turned his head to find Gu Qiumian had approached at so point. The male student imdiately choked up, seemingly unable to believe those words were directed at him. Zhang Shutong glanced at Gu Qiumian, noticing her face was still sowhat pale, but no matter how the tilines changed, she always seed to show up to bail him out.

Of course, after bailing him out each ti, she'd turn and leave again, swishing the ornants on her hair.

The male student forced out a smile, still wanting to call out to her, but Gu Qiumian completely ignored him. She'd already returned to her seat, pointing over here without the mood to say much—or perhaps without the energy. That little secretary imdiately ran over and dragged the male student away.

"I..."

"That's enough. Don't co around anymore. Qiumian just said that. She doesn't want to deal with people right now. I'm telling you for her."

"No, I just..."

"Cut the crap. Didn't I tell you? He's Qiumian's deskmate. You better hide those little thoughts of yours. You really think everyone can't tell?"

The male student looked pleadingly at the people at the table, but the boys and girls who'd just been united with him in righteous indignation had now shifted their positions. So even started criticizing him directly, saying it was already cold today, Qiumian wasn't feeling well, are you annoying or what? They'd told him not to cause trouble, not to cause trouble, and now what good does acting ek do...

Zhang Shutong wasn't interested in what happened next. He simply felt Gu Qiumian's words carried quite a bit of weight. Just monts ago she'd seed frail and weak, but now she was decisive and commanding—her imposing aura was impressive when she put on that stern face.

Speaking of which, did this count as her repaying the favor for picking up the blocks?

Zhang Shutong didn't know why she was so obsessed with repaying favors. He'd originally wanted to resolve things once and for all, but Gu Qiumian had forcibly interrupted.

But she'd ant well.

He still had things to do—he needed to find soone on the rooftop—so he hurriedly left the shop, imdiately sneezing.

Leaving the warm restaurant, cold air hit his face. His nasal passages stung, and dust-like snow drifted down from the sky. The outside world was almost entirely white. The scene on Comrcial Street was even more desolate. Passing pedestrians walked hurriedly. Zhang Shutong therefore froze on the steps, his eyes gradually widening.

He suddenly rembered a small gesture Gu Qiumian had made when entering the shop—she'd been wiping moisture from her hair.

He also suddenly understood why she wasn't feeling well today, why her period had co early.

These were all details that hadn't happened before. Now everything seed to have an answer.

But this still couldn't explain—

Why...

Why was it snowing today on this tiline?