"She left ages ago, you won't catch up."
Zhang Shutong deliberately lied.
Actually, Lu Qinglian had only turned out of the school gate not long ago.
He didn't feel like the girl was an "enemy," not really.
But the truth was, whether it was the tattoo, the photos his school senior had sent, or the island's developnt plans—she was connected to all of it in ways too nurous to count.
It wasn't that Zhang Shutong didn't want to ask, but even if he did, she wouldn't tell him. And if they were to exchange information, that would circle back to the original problem: was it actually exchanging intelligence, or just exposing himself?
Observe, but keep your distance.
That was Zhang Shutong's current attitude toward Lu Qinglian.
"Already left? Ah, this is my fault, I forgot to ask Qinglian to wait," Old Song sighed, looking rather self-reproachful. "Her family doesn't even have a phone, so there's no way to check if she made it ho safely... How are you getting back? Want to give you a ride?"
Zhang Shutong nodded, saying he wasn't in a hurry—go to Gu Qiumian's house first.
Song Nanshan also had things to pack up, so Zhang Shutong followed him to the office, asking why it had taken so long.
"Oh, forgot to ntion—Qiumian's dad called back. I told him what happened today, and he said he'd head back right away. Then I gave the phone to Qiumian, and the father and daughter started chatting, so I figured there was nothing for to do standing there, and ca back down."
Gu Qiumian's father's return had been moved up by a day.
That counted as good news.
Lately all the news ca mixed—good and bad together. Zhang Shutong relaxed slightly, shouldered his backpack, and watched Old Song fish an umbrella out of a drawer:
"Only one?"
"Only one."
The two n sized each other up:
"You carry it?"
"You carry it."
"Let's just give it to Qiumian later." Old Song placed the umbrella in his hands.
It reminded Zhang Shutong of that story about the father and son riding a donkey.
—Sorry, he imdiately realized that was a terrible comparison. He really didn't an to call Gu Qiumian a donkey.
The teaching building was shaped like a capital L—the long side held the classrooms; the short side had offices, the teaching director's office, bathrooms, and so on.
Teacher and disciple returned to the classroom. Today Old Song hadn't kept anyone for cleaning duty, telling the students to leave quickly.
But not keeping anyone for duty didn't an no cleaning got done. Song Nanshan called him over to help, and the two of them wiped down the blackboard and changed the trash bag.
Being a horoom teacher wasn't easy either. In this kind of weather, Old Song had to stay until the very end.
Soon the students in his class left under his urging. Song Nanshan helped Gu Qiumian pack up her bag, shouldered it, and wondered aloud:
"Why is this so heavy?"
Zhang Shutong said she had snacks in her bag, and besides, she didn't have to carry her own bag to and from school every day—she always rode in a car, so whether it was light or heavy didn't matter.
Co to think of it, they might as well not have helped her pack. She probably hadn't planned on doing howork anyway.
Soon Gu Qiumian ca back.
At least today she wasn't like previous Thursdays, wearing a cold expression as she went to the school gate to buy stead buns.
The girl was in a good mood, returning the phone to Old Song and saying she'd troubled him—today she'd be riding in Song Nanshan's car ho.
But when it ca to Zhang Shutong, the two of them engaged in pure eye contact communication.
She looked at Zhang Shutong.
Zhang Shutong blinked.
Gu Qiumian glared.
Zhang Shutong didn't understand.
Wait, maybe he did understand.
She'd probably cried in front of him earlier, and now that she'd snapped out of it, felt embarrassed.
At this mont there was no one else in the hallway. The entire floor was empty. Looking back, the sky had darkened, and all they could hear through the glass was the howling cold wind.
The LED tube lights overhead normally emitted a harsh white light, but now even they seed weak.
The three of them turned off the lights. If soone had been looking from outside, they would have seen the last remaining light source go dark among countless little squares in the four-story building.
Footsteps echoed in the stairwell.
This was the first ti Zhang Shutong had actively followed soone ho.
As they left the teaching building, he passed the umbrella to Gu Qiumian, then held his backpack over his head, planning to learn from Old Song and just make a run for it. But the mont he took a step, soone called out from behind.
"Wait," the young Miss Gu finally spoke up. She opened the umbrella and said irritably, "Are you an idiot or what?"
She reluctantly waved the umbrella in her hand, tilting it outward, saying co over here quick.
Zhang Shutong said no need.
He found Gu Qiumian too slow—might as well just run over.
So Gu Qiumian glared and said:
"My stomach hurts today."
"So?"
What does that have to do with your stomachache?
It's precisely because your stomach hurts that I'm letting you hold the umbrella, Zhang Shutong thought to himself.
"So you're not allowed to annoy !"
Zhang Shutong slowly retreated.
Girls were troubleso creatures.
Girls on their period were creatures even more troubleso than troubleso.
The two of them walked out of the building side by side, and Gu Qiumian complained unhappily that geez, you're so tall, my arm's getting sore from holding this up.
Zhang Shutong was helpless. How was being tall his fault?
The girl's height was only about 165 centiters, and that was with her wearing little boots. That ti at her house when she'd been wearing slippers, she'd only co up to Zhang Shutong's collarbone.
Zhang Shutong had never paid attention to her height before, always feeling like Gu Qiumian should be about 170 cm. After all, Autumn Rain Lingering was a girl with a slim waist and long legs—good proportions made her look tall.
But now that she stood beside his shoulder, he realized she really wasn't that tall. Especially now with both of them under the umbrella, she seed even more petite.
The more he walked, the more awkward it felt. He simply took the umbrella back and held it over Gu Qiumian. Honestly, this was hard work—half his shoulder was exposed to the elents, and he had to accommodate Gu Qiumian's pace, walking step by step forward. Might as well have just run over.
At least Gu Qiumian had no more complaints. He glanced at the girl—her face was tucked into that red scarf, staring at her toes without speaking, taking one step at a ti.
Under the gray-black sky, drifting snow blurred their vision. Zhang Shutong noticed that her skin was incredibly delicate. Just a mont ago in the teaching building she'd been fine, but now with the cold wind blowing on her cheeks, a red flush rose on her snow-white skin.
Old Song was already waiting in the car.
The little car idled in place, the engine vibrating slightly, exhaust blackening the snow behind the car, while the candle-like headlights cast a dim yellow circle of light.
Fine snowflakes danced in the beam of light.
The two walked to the back seat. Zhang Shutong held the umbrella for her, watching the young miss pull open the car door and duck into the cabin, then shift her body to the other side, neither speaking nor looking at anyone.
Zhang Shutong sat down beside her, shaking snow water off the umbrella while thinking about how he'd beco a lackey again.
This was a bad habit. Once you picked it up, you apparently couldn't shake it.
Only then did Old Song turn around cheerfully, saying why don't you two just walk ho, save the trouble.
Gu Qiumian ignored him.
But Zhang Shutong made a new discovery:
He suddenly realized that he and Old Song really were like that foolish father and son riding a donkey—not that he was calling Gu Qiumian a donkey—but rather, Old Song could have held the umbrella to get to the car, then backed the car up to the teaching building entrance to wait for them, and no one would have needed to get snowed on.
Wait, was he trying to play matchmaker again?
He raised this question, and Old Song slapped his forehead in frustration:
"You're right, why didn't I think of that?"
...
The little car slowly drove out of the school.
Sitting in this little car again, sitting beside that girl again—but his state of mind was different.
Now there was no "Elopent" or "Like Smoke" to listen to. It was cold outside, and when a girl was present, Old Song always acted very gentlemanly. He didn't smoke, just humd a tune easily.
With his mood changed, their conversation changed too.
Old Song spoke first:
"We'll drop off Qiumian first, then Shutong. Any objections? If not, let's go?"
Zhang Shutong naturally had no objections.
But Gu Qiumian asked:
"Teacher, what do you want to eat?"
"Qiumian wants to treat us? But it's too cold today, let's wait until the weekend."
"What are you talking about," she rolled her eyes. "Co eat at my house. I'll tell Auntie to add two more dishes."
"That's not quite appropriate?"
"What's inappropriate about it? You want to drop off and then go eat in the snow?" Gu Qiumian wrinkled her nose.
"Then this teacher will impose on you." Old Song was quite willing—after a token protest, he agreed. "I can eat anything. I could fill up just drinking noodle soup. Don't let your auntie go to too much trouble."
"What about you?" Gu Qiumian asked.
"I'm easy too, noodle soup is fine." Zhang Shutong thought about how Old Song hadn't eaten lunch, just grabbed a few sausages to fill his stomach. He could eat anywhere, but he had to consider others' feelings.
"How can you both just say 'whatever'? Besides noodles, anything else?"
"Duck soup noodles?"
"In your dreams. Where would we get duck?"
True enough. Today was Thursday—they only stewed duck on Fridays.
Zhang Shutong felt regretful about not getting duck soup noodles.
Old Song asked how many dishes there were now.
"Four."
Even Old Song was shocked. "I think four dishes for four people is enough?"
"Fine, I'll tell Auntie Wu to just make what she thinks is best." Gu Qiumian gave up.
It was snowing today, so Old Song drove very slowly. Zhang Shutong pressed against the window, afraid he might see another van.
Of course, that was impossible.
Old Song was the type who couldn't stay idle:
"Speaking of which, how about Teacher takes you two out to have fun on Saturday?"
Zhang Shutong saw him frantically winking at him in the rearview mirror.
He said that was fine.
They both looked at Gu Qiumian, but the girl asked slowly:
"Where to?"
"Anywhere works—movie theater, amusent park, or you pick a place and I'll be the driver?"
"Amusent parks aren't fun."
"They have bumper cars and Ferris wheels!"
"You call a ten-minute Ferris wheel a Ferris wheel?" Zhang Shutong interjected with amusent.
"Co on, Shutong..." Old Song felt backstabbed and said in surprise, "You've actually researched this?"
Of course Zhang Shutong hadn't researched it. He just rembered Gu Qiumian saying sothing similar before, so he borrowed it.
He thought Autumn Rain Lingering would definitely agree with this viewpoint, so Zhang Shutong said Teacher, if you don't believe , ask her. Who knew Gu Qiumian would act like she hadn't heard anything.
But Old Song got excited:
"Confess honestly, which girl have you ridden it with before?"
"I haven't."
"Then how do you know how long one rotation takes?"
"Soone told ." Zhang Shutong decided he'd stop quoting people in the future.
"Boring." Old Song pursed his lips, then said if the amusent park doesn't work, let's go see a movie.
Only then did Autumn Rain Lingering speak up. She poked at her phone with one finger, and after a long while said there were no good movies.
"So are we going or not?"
Gu Qiumian fell into thought, as if seriously considering it. By the ti the little car had driven several hundred ters, she nodded reservedly:
"Okay."
Zhang Shutong breathed a sigh of relief. He'd almost thought she wouldn't agree.
Good thing the city still held so attraction for Gu Qiumian.
Zhang Shutong relaxed too. When a person had nothing to do, the first thing they noticed was slls.
This ti Gu Qiumian sat closer. The fragrance on her body was more intense, mixing with the cigarette sll in the car, making Zhang Shutong feel a bit dizzy.
He lowered the window a bit, then rembered Gu Qiumian couldn't catch cold, so he raised it again and sighed.
The more troubleso part ca next:
"My thermos broke."
Gu Qiumian suddenly attacked.
A girl on her period had moods like today's weather—unpredictable.
"Uh, how much was it?" Zhang Shutong asked.
"It's not about the money." She said with a straight face.
Zhang Shutong could only apologize.
"That won't work," Gu Qiumian turned her head away. "That was a limited edition, you can't buy it anymore, and I really liked that style."
"Then what should I do?"
"Get a similar replacent."
Zhang Shutong said fine, what brand is it? Let search for it.
"Forgot." Gu Qiumian folded her arms, her face frosty.
Zhang Shutong was speechless.
Then how exactly was he supposed to compensate her?
After quite a while she finally said, forget it, I'll take a picture of the thermos and send it to you, you can search for it yourself... Oh right, I don't have your QQ, do I? So what's your QQ number?
She always liked adding modal particles when she spoke, sotis very haughty, sotis soft and drawn out.
Only then did Zhang Shutong rember that his friends list still didn't have that sheep-and-cloud avatar, and he'd been calling her by the nickna "Autumn Rain Lingering" for so long.
The two added each other as friends. He suddenly thought he should get her phone number too, for easier contact in the future, so "New Peach for Old Charm" and "Autumn Rain Lingering" successfully established diplomatic relations just like that.
Zhang Shutong waited for ages:
"Where's the picture?"
"Haven't taken it," Gu Qiumian suddenly giggled. "Dummy, I'll take it tomorrow."
Zhang Shutong thought she was very childish. So all that talk about the thermos was just to get his QQ number.
She could have just asked directly.
They spent the journey in this relaxed and cheerful atmosphere. Soon they were about to turn onto that mountain road leading to the villa, when suddenly the little car jolted, as if it had run over sothing, startling all three of them.
Old Song instinctively hit the brakes. The car's rear end swung out on the snow, about to lose control. He cursed, quickly gripped the steering wheel tight to save the car, and the little car ca to a precarious stop by the roadside.
Zhang Shutong followed him out of the car. The two n took a closer look and discovered it was a pretty big pothole. Now covered by snow, they hadn't seen it, and the wheel had fallen in, causing that sudden jolt.
"Scared the hell out of ," Song Nanshan said with lingering fear. "We were almost there, nearly had an accident..."
Zhang Shutong crouched down to look, confirming this pothole wasn't a trap soone had dug, but rather one that had appeared from years of disrepair.
He looked around. Nearby was a stretch of wasteland. He vaguely rembered this road was indeed in poor condition. He'd ridden in the car here three tis before, but had been too busy talking with Old Song to watch the road conditions, though it had felt quite bumpy.
"Let's go, Shutong, what are you standing there for?"
Old Song was already waving at him. Zhang Shutong quickly returned to the car.
For the rest of the journey, Song Nanshan drove even more cautiously. What should have been a seven or eight minute drive took fully twice as long.
The villa with its brilliant lights was surrounded by iron railings, like a palace deep in the mountains. By the ti the car reached the main gate, the sky was almost completely dark.
Old Song parked the car. Gu Qiumian made a phone call, and the housekeeper Auntie Wu ca out with several umbrellas.
Zhang Shutong stood holding an umbrella by the main gate. It was an electric gate, also equipped with a cara. As for the height... he asured it—over two ters tall, with a coil of wire sh on top, probably electrified. It would be quite difficult to climb over.
Gu Qiumian urged him to hurry up and co inside. Zhang Shutong casually said you go ahead, I'll walk around the courtyard.
Gu Qiumian wasn't pleased, saying you're so annoying, insisting on wandering around in the snow. But despite her irritation, she said reluctantly, co with then, I'll show you around.
The two of them walked with umbrellas to the back yard. The back yard had that artificial lawn. He turned on his phone's flashlight and went to the railing in the back yard through the falling snow.
Zhang Shutong looked carefully several tis and found the entire periter was like this.
Gu Qiumian couldn't help asking why are you just studying the railing?
Zhang Shutong had no way to answer. He thought to himself, I also want to study your front door.
After examining it several tis, he at least confird that the villa's "security system" had no loopholes. He crouched down again—those few potted plants by the railing were also intact. At this point Gu Qiumian couldn't wait anymore and stamped her feet in place, saying hurry up, I'm so cold...
Actually Zhang Shutong didn't need her to accompany him, but he was also afraid she'd catch cold, so he nodded, preparing to go back.
He had just stood up and taken a step forward when suddenly a dog's bark rang out, startling Zhang Shutong and making him shake. A large black dog burst out, its hindquarters arched back in an attack posture. Gu Qiumian had already stepped in front of him, telling the dog what are you doing out here, go back, go back!
Then she turned to reassure him:
"Don't be scared, it's on a leash. I forgot to tell you..."
Zhang Shutong let out a breath, his muscles gradually relaxing.
He was actually quite afraid of dogs. He'd been bitten as a child—you could call it a childhood trauma.
And now he'd been saved by the young miss again. Although this dog belonged to her family, she was quite considerate, wasn't she?
The Doberman was quite obedient too. It stopped growling and just kept circling in front of the two of them.
It was wary of the stranger.
Yet this stranger stood right beside its owner, and the owner was even blocking it. For a mont, it couldn't figure out the situation.
The Doberman tilted its head looking at Zhang Shutong.
Zhang Shutong also tilted his head looking at it.
Thinking to himself, at least this ti I've managed to save you.
A small unexpected bonus, you could say.
Afterward, the two returned to the villa. The villa really was large enough—how large? The front door could accommodate two people side by side.
As soon as the door opened, warmth and light flooded out.
As soon as the door closed, that patch of cold, snowy night seed to vanish completely.
It was as if once she returned to a warm, bright place, it beca her ho turf. Zhang Shutong heard Gu Qiumian kick off her little boots and shout loudly:
"Auntie Wu, we're ho—"
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