Winter's Return Chapter 98: "Childhood Friend Loses to the Girl Who Falls fr

"Really?"

"Of course it's real." Zhang Shutong smiled, draping the towel over the rack beside him.

He seed to have seen Gu Qiumian co out.

He wasn't sure if she had seen him.

But thinking back to their encounter at the shopping center last ti, when her gaze t Ruoping's, it was as if an invisible magnetic field was operating between them. This ti there was no such feeling.

Just a sudden shiver.

Zhang Shutong had always trusted his instincts, but this ti his intuition seed to be malfunctioning.

How could he feel cold in a room filled with warm heating?

Only then did he realize he had forgotten to even take off his coat.

Last night after entering, it had been Gu Qiumian who first reminded him to change his shoes, take off his coat, and put down his schoolbag.

From this, it was clear he wasn't really a detail-oriented person.

The villa had underfloor heating. The marble floor was an elegant shade of gray, like carefully selected ore from nature itself. Even with so many visitors today, it still appeared spotlessly clean. Each slab was astonishingly large—nearly four tis the size of those in an ordinary household—making the space feel both grand and bright.

The crystal chandelier overhead cast palace-like brilliant light throughout the room. Outside was a world of ice and snow, but inside was like birds singing and flowers blooming—figuratively speaking, of course. What actually filled the living room was their chattering voices.

And when the talking suddenly stopped, he knew Gu Qiumian had entered the living room.

Sure enough, as soon as Zhang Shutong ca out of the bathroom, he saw Gu Qiumian sitting on the sofa.

There was a separate seat on the sofa that no one had taken, as if it had been specially reserved for her. As Zhang Shutong moved closer, he noticed that Gu Qiumian was dressed like a princess today. This morning when she left, she had been wearing that black sweater that made her look so fair, but by noon she had changed into a plain white French-style blouse.

The collar of the shirt was trimd with delicate lace, and a crystal-set button adorned the cuff, enveloping her entire being in an atmosphere of classical romance. The girl's chest was like plump fruit, exuding a subtle youthful aura, while the hem of the blouse was tucked into that blue suede long skirt, following the graceful curves of her body as it tapered, making her waist appear astonishingly slender.

Today she had gathered her jet-black hair into a bun at the back of her head, like a flower bud, held in place with a silver hair clip.

Zhang Shutong's thought was that she looked very beautiful.

Of course, no one had asked him this ti.

Her hands were clasped together over her abdon, and like an empress receiving her ministers, she lightly nodded her chin, accepting everyone's greetings.

"Qiumian's co down." Teacher Song spoke first.

"Classmate Gu..." An awkward laugh. "Um, good afternoon." That was Du Kang.

"Hello." Qingyi was quite composed.

"Sorry to intrude." Lu Qinglian was equally so.

Gu Qiumian greeted each of them in turn, her bearing dignified and elegant. Ruoping followed right behind her. It seed those two still weren't getting along—being able to nod and show a smile was the limit right now. Gu Qiumian returned a faint smile.

Zhang Shutong really liked occasions when everyone gathered together like this. He also nodded to greet the young miss... actually, the princess.

Then he was ignored.

Wait.

Why was only he being ignored?

Zhang Shutong thought it was too noisy around them and she hadn't heard, so he greeted her again. This ti the girl's smile disappeared completely. She glanced at him expressionlessly, then turned her head to speak with Teacher Song.

Zhang Shutong blinked.

He didn't understand what was going on for the mont.

He had thought he would need to introduce everyone, but Gu Qiumian had already taken the initiative to chat with them.

What was with this feeling of being left out?

Looking at the sofa again, it was already full.

After all, it was just a sofa, not the legendary Noah's Ark that could fit all eight people from the living room.

However, there was still space on the sofa where Gu Qiumian sat. Though it was a separate set, the sofa was spacious, and she occupied such little room that a third of the seat remained empty. It seed like squeezing in would be possible.

Zhang Shutong certainly couldn't just squeeze in. He looked around, thinking to fetch a chair, when Teacher Song voluntarily stood up:

"Alright, you young people chat. Usually there's no opportunity at school—take advantage of today to make friends and get along well. I'm going outside for a smoke." With that, the man stood up. "Shutong too, don't keep standing. You've been running around the most today—co sit."

Zhang Shutong was grateful to Teacher Song for offering him a seat. He was about to sit down when—"Wait."

He heard Gu Qiumian stop him with an indifferent voice:

"Who said you could sit?"

The surrounding chatter quieted for a mont. The friends all instinctively fell silent, not understanding what had happened between the two of them.

Zhang Shutong paused mid-motion, realizing the problem was more serious than he'd thought. Not only was he being ignored, he didn't even have a seat.

This was getting a bit frustrating.

Since that was the case, he prepared to go wait alone in the dining room, when he heard Gu Qiumian speak again:

"Your coat has snow on it. Take it off before you sit, don't get the sofa wet."

Zhang Shutong looked down and saw his denim jacket really did have so snow on it.

Alright then.

So she wasn't disgusted with him—she just didn't want him to dirty her sofa.

Zhang Shutong didn't need her to remind him where to put his coat. He went to the closet in the entryway to hang it up, muttering to himself about how his movents were becoming increasingly practiced, then returned to the sofa.

By this ti they had resud their lively conversation.

Gu Qiumian must have inherited her father's talent—her conversation flowed naturally without any stage fright. Honestly, sotis when you spent ti with her, it was easy to forget she was a genuine young miss with countless subordinates at her beck and call, and not just that girl who occasionally glared with wide eyes.

This ti Zhang Shutong sat next to Qingyi. Originally he had been sitting next to Lu Qinglian, but that spot had already been taken by Ruoping. Now everyone's positions were as follows:

Gu Qiumian.

Zhang Shutong, Qingyi, Du Kang, Ruoping, Lu Qinglian.

Zhang Shutong's left front was where Miss Gu sat, neither too far nor too close. Even so, when she chatted, she would deliberately bypass him.

Occasionally her gaze would linger for a mont inadvertently, but only for a mont before she calmly moved her eyes away and brought up the next topic.

Zhang Shutong didn't know how he had offended her again.

"Is the snow on the mountain really that deep?" He heard Gu Qiumian ask with gentle curiosity. "Deep enough to dig such a deep pit?"

"Sure is." Du Kang replied. He was like this with everyone—a natural socializer. In this kind of situation, he talked the most. The boy made an exaggerated gesture: "Never mind pits—I don't know if you've seen those snow caves from foreign countries online. Given enough ti, we could even build a house."

"Sounds amazing." Gu Qiumian gently encouraged. "I've never been up the mountain."

"Then Classmate Gu should co with us next ti. We're all friends now."

Gu Qiumian didn't respond. Zhang Shutong couldn't help but interject:

"That's a bit exaggerated. Where would we find such a deep place?"

"What do you an there's no such place? Have you forgotten four years ago... oh, Shutong, you hadn't transferred here yet, so you wouldn't know. Qingyi, do you rember?"

The four of them had beco close friends after ending up in the sa class in junior high. Though all three had grown up on the island as children, according to them, they had just known each other before—they weren't this tight.

"I know. The teacher said soone got lost playing on the mountain and almost couldn't get back. That was you." Qingyi also recalled the past.

"Uh, I didn't get lost. Didn't I make my way to the temple in the dark by myself..."

"You still have the nerve to say that. I rember this incident was even written in the winter break handbook by the teacher, saying never to go up the mountain alone or risk danger," Ruoping rcilessly exposed him, then asked curiously, "Hey, by the way, I forgot to ask you at the ti—since you went to the temple, did you see Qinglian then?"

"I did see her..."

Du Kang actually seed a bit shy when this was ntioned.

"That's when it happened," Qingyi whispered in his ear at this point. "Love at first sight."

"Is that so? This is the first I've heard of it." Zhang Shutong said with interest.

"According to him, he got lost and was almost crying, then followed the lights all the way up until he reached the temple entrance, where he ran into Lu Qinglian, who was sweeping snow in the courtyard at the ti. She even gave him a al," Qingyi said slowly. "It's probably one of those classic scenarios—stumbling into so 'forbidden place,' encountering a mysterious girl who also happens to be a classmate. You know Du Kang really likes hot-blooded manga."

"Really? Qinglian, he never told this." Ruoping was surprised.

"It seems like that happened." Lu Qinglian thought for a mont.

"What do you an 'seems like'?"

"I've encountered quite a few people who got lost."

"And then?"

"Then my dad ca up the mountain to find ." Du Kang said glumly. It sounded like he had wanted to stay the night.

Only after finishing did he realize he had sowhat neglected Gu Qiumian. After all, she had brought up the topic first. He quickly changed the subject: "Hey, let's not talk about that. Stop exposing my embarrassing monts in front of others, will you? Since everyone's here today, I say let's go skiing on the mountain tomorrow and bring Teacher Song's old tire when we go."

"I'm fine with anything." Qingyi said. "But there's still sothing tomorrow."

"What?"

"How about I modify that tire and give it to you as a gift?" Qingyi suddenly had an idea.

"Uh, never mind."

"I think that works." Ruoping laughed. "Those who see it get a share—it'll count as a gift from the three of us, which saves us trouble."

"Please don't." Du Kang wailed.

Ruoping spoke again:

"Actually, I'm tired of playing today too. It's all just snow. How about we go to the city tomorrow instead? What about you, Shutong?"

"I'm flexible, whatever you arrange—assuming I'm free."

Zhang Shutong never got to make decisions about this kind of thing. He just casually replied as usual, but his intuition seed to be malfunctioning again.

He turned his head. This ti the chill ca from Gu Qiumian's direction.

Zhang Shutong understood—the four of them had been chatting too long and had left her out.

From Gu Qiumian's perspective, she was actually the outsider here.

His relationship with his close friends went without saying.

Though Lu Qinglian didn't show much closeness with them, Ruoping kept calling her "Qinglian," suggesting they got along well.

Among everyone present, the only one she really had any rapport with was him.

But if the two of them didn't talk, she'd seem unable to fit in.

The problem was, she was the one ignoring him.

Zhang Shutong took the initiative to ask:

"What are your plans for this afternoon?"

"After we finish eating, do you all want to go downstairs and watch a movie?" Gu Qiumian asked almost simultaneously.

Alright, seed like he was overthinking it.

How could a young miss be left out?

"There's a downstairs? And we can watch movies?" Du Kang was astonished.

"A ho theater? Can we play discs?" Qingyi was also interested.

"Mm." Gu Qiumian nodded lightly. "What would you like to watch?"

"I'm good with anything, whatever Classmate Gu arranges..."

Zhang Shutong had wanted to ask Lu Qinglian if she had anywhere else to go this afternoon, but they were sitting too far apart, so he'd listen to Gu Qiumian's arrangents first.

Miss Gu once again pulled the conversation back to her. She liked movies, so whether it was Du Kang's favorite foreign action blockbusters or Qingyi's preferred mystery films, she could chat about them all.

She either didn't speak, but once she did, she always beca the center of the conversation.

As they chatted, Gu Qiumian voluntarily stood up to pour water for them. Though she was dressed like a princess today, she wasn't the type of girl who deliberately put on airs. While Zhang Shutong had never seen her pour water for her group of subordinates, then again, his close friends weren't subordinates either.

She bent her upper body slightly, and a pendant hung down from her slender, snow-white neck. Zhang Shutong looked at it for a while and recognized it as a four-leaf clover. So vague mories surfaced in his heart, though he couldn't quite recall them clearly—only a faint sense of nostalgia remained.

He shook his head, feeling he had underestimated Gu Qiumian. This wasn't a fragile girl. If there had been no murder case, she could have lived very well. She would probably leave the small island after graduating from junior high, and in so years perhaps take over the family business. Then she'd truly be a proper young miss.

She probably rarely did this sort of thing—her movents were sowhat clumsy, but her posture was quite proper.

The friends hastily thanked her, placing their cups on the coffee table. Gu Qiumian didn't deliberately avoid Ruoping either, though Zhang Shutong thought she would avoid him.

But actually, that didn't happen.

Because there was one cup missing from the coffee table.

Only then did Zhang Shutong rember that his cup had been taken to the dining room when he washed vegetables.

Now he didn't need to worry about whether he could mooch a cup of water.

Gu Qiumian's cup hadn't been used yet—she had just co down not long ago. She gently pushed her own cup toward the edge of the table, filled it, then sat back down with an indifferent air and continued chatting with his friends.

Zhang Shutong watched her pinch her fingers, not knowing what it ant.

Soon the housekeeper called them to eat.

Everyone proceeded like kindergarten children, lining up to go to the bathroom and wash their hands. This ti Zhang Shutong didn't need to remind them, because Gu Qiumian had already introduced the layout of the rooms earlier.

Zhang Shutong followed at the back. He turned on the faucet, and since he had just washed, a quick rinse would do. As he squeezed out soap foam, a girl wearing a French blouse appeared in the mirror.

Gu Qiumian stood beside Zhang Shutong.

She didn't say anything, just focused on washing her hands.

Zhang Shutong watched her undo the crystal button at her cuff, then carefully roll up her sleeve, revealing her slender wrist. It was a beautiful but troubleso garnt, but she was also a girl who loved beauty—this was sothing Zhang Shutong had long since grown accustod to.

Then he noticed Gu Qiumian had a small blister on her finger.

"Did you just get scalded?"

It seed so. She didn't do this sort of thing often—when pouring water, she had grabbed the teapot lid directly instead of the handle above it and got burned. Her skin was very delicate, which Zhang Shutong had known all along, but he hadn't expected a blister to form imdiately.

"Mm." She said, looking down.

"You need to rinse it with cold water."

He picked up the towel from the rack and reminded her while drying his hands.