Winter Returns

Chapter 241 Koji
The moment I saw Lu Qinglian.

Zhang Shutong felt a chill run through his body.

This is because this Lu Qinglian is not the Lu Qinglian he remembers, but someone else...

A little girl who looks remarkably like Lu Qinglian.

The other person was only as tall as Lu Qinglian's lower abdomen, without those long, slender legs or those long, flowing hair. She was carrying a pink backpack, holding the straps with both hands, and slowly walked out of the crowd.

Zhang Shutong looked at her again and again. The little girl's delicate face still had a touch of childishness, but her eyes revealed a kind of aloofness. Only Lu Qinglian's biological daughter could look so much like her.

That said, eight years later Lu Qinglian will be twenty-four years old, and if we consider this little girl to be six, then that means when she's eighteen...

Would you like some fried noodles?

Someone behind me asked.

Zhang Shutong was about to answer that he wouldn't eat it, but then he realized something:
"Can you see me?"

He turned around abruptly and realized that the other person was talking to someone else.

He was standing in front of a restaurant.

Disappointed, Zhang Shutong turned her face away, but then realized something was wrong. When did such a shop appear at the school gate? Looking around at the street scene, it was completely different from what she remembered... and the owner who had just been soliciting customers looked strangely familiar to Zhang Shutong.

Then he remembered that it was someone who had said this to him before—no, it should be said that someday in the future:

"Your school's main gate used to face north, not south..."

Zhang Shutong hurriedly tiptoed and looked inside the campus, but there was no trace of the red plastic playground.

He finally understood that he was now in the "past," no wonder he saw a little girl who looked just like Lu Qinglian, because that was Lu Qinglian, the real "Little Lu".

But what exactly is going on, and how far back in time am I?

He couldn't make a judgment based on the information he had, so he wanted to find a place to check the time. But when he looked up again, the petite figure had disappeared from his sight. Zhang Shutong hurriedly ran a few steps before he saw that Lu Qinglian had already left the school gate.

The majority of students were heading to the right, but she turned left on her own.

Zhang Shutong knew that was the direction back to the mountain.

Another little girl ran straight out of the school gate, spreading her arms wide in an exaggerated gesture to block Lu Qinglian's path.
"Hey, Lu Qinglian, you didn't hand in your art homework today!"

"Mmm." Lu Qinglian nodded her little head.

"I'm going to tell the teacher!"

"it is good."

Lu Qinglian said again.

Her voice was soft, completely lacking the indifference that comes with adulthood.

"Aren't you afraid of being punished by standing in the corner?!"

"I have something to do today." She said this seriously, then turned around. But the little girl wouldn't let her go, grabbing her arm and pulling something out of her pocket:
"Look what this is?"

Zhang Shutong had already seen it; it was a bag of torn beef jerky.

For some reason, even though they weren't that close, Zhang Shutong could smell the aroma of dried meat. This was even stranger. Even if it was a dream, why couldn't he smell the fried noodles just now?
Zhang Shutong couldn't figure it out for the time being, and Lu Qinglian tilted her head in confusion as well.

"These are beef jerky sticks my dad brought back from the city. They're the ones I ate last week. You can't buy them on the island," the little girl added. "If you do your homework well, I'll share them with you."

"Oh." Lu Qinglian glanced at the beef stick for only a moment before looking away. She said, "I'm going back now, don't stop me."

What a cool elementary school student!

After she finished speaking and started walking, the girl behind her called out in dissatisfaction:
"Then what were you peeking at when I was eating? You can't even afford snacks normally, so just say you want some, ugh!"

Zhang Shutong didn't know if this counted as doing good deeds in a bad way. He only knew that this dream was really chaotic, because the next second, the beef stick in the girl's hand was snatched away by a tall boy. The girl rushed to grab it back, and the boy smugly dodged backward.

Lu Qinglian turned around:

"Give it back to her."

"What does it have to do with you?"

Surprisingly, she has a chivalrous personality. Then, to Zhang Shutong's astonishment, Lu Qinglian walked closer step by step. Hey, hey, are we really going to fight? Zhang Shutong knew she was good at fighting, but the Lu Qinglian he knew seemed too lazy to argue with anyone, so he rarely saw her take action. So, back then, Lu Qinglian was actually a woman who would rather fight than talk.
But the boy suddenly threw the beef jerky on the ground, stomped on it twice, and then turned and ran away. Lu Qinglian stopped and was stunned for a moment.

Zhang Shutong was also taken aback; to be honest, he hadn't expected such a method.

So the girl pouted, tears welling up in her eyes. Lu Qinglian picked up the beef jerky and placed it in her hand, but the girl didn't take it.
"You just answered it, why are you pretending!"

The beef jerky fell to the ground again, and the other person ran away.

Lu Qinglian stared at it silently for a moment, then picked it up from the ground.

Zhang Shutong looked at the beef stick, which was now covered in dust, so he could no longer smell its aroma. Instead, he felt a tightness in his chest. At this moment, Lu Qinglian started walking again, just as she had said, she had important business to attend to today.

Zhang Shutong quickly followed.

In her memory, Lu Qinglian walked very fast, just like when she was a child. Zhang Shutong followed her for a while and seemed to understand where this habit came from. It wasn't just because she had long legs, but because she walked to and from school every day and had to be fast if she didn't want to waste time.

But no matter how fast she walked, her height made it easy for Zhang Shutong to keep up. He walked side by side with Lu Qinglian, gradually leaving the crowd behind.

There's no need to worry about losing track of him for now; it's time to figure out what happened. The chill still lingers on his body. Zhang Shutong reviews what happened underwater. There's nothing to guess; it must have been that fox's doing. He uses a process of elimination and finds that only the frightened fox fits the bill.

"Cover your eyes and your mouth, don't tell it the secret..."

What exactly does it mean?

Also, if both of them were dragged into a dream, then where did Lu Qinglian go in reality?
I can't possibly end up like Lu Qinglian, the little girl next to me.
Zhang Shutong waved his hand in front of her:

"Don't pretend you can't see it..."

Xiao Lu Qinglian walked forward without looking up.

“Lu Qinglian, if we don’t wake up soon, we’re afraid we’ll both be doomed on the ship.”

Koji Seiryou then passed her hand through his. Sure enough.

No one in this world can see themselves.

He instinctively hugged his arms; it was so cold. Zhang Shutong glanced at Lu Qinglian's direction and ran back towards a clothing store. He grabbed a coat, but his hands felt empty... Zhang Shutong sighed and had no choice but to run back.

Her route seemed to be the best among countless possibilities, even surpassing navigation. She knew the least populated areas and the shortest paths like the back of her hand. Some of the places she passed were familiar to Zhang Shutong, while others were completely unknown. Unable to think of a solution for the moment, he simply followed her.

As they walked, Zhang Shutong noticed that she was still holding the beef jerky in her hand. He thought she would find a trash can to throw it away, but wasn't she a germaphobe?
As darkness fell, they entered a suburban area. The surroundings looked somewhat familiar. Zhang Shutong looked around for a moment, then slapped his forehead.

It turned out to be my own home.

But Boss Gu hasn't come to the island yet, and there's not even a trace of the employee housing area. Of course, even if there were, he wouldn't be able to go home given his current situation.

As darkness fell, Zhang Shutong suddenly realized that if he didn't continue following Lu Qinglian, he wouldn't even be able to find a place to spend the night.

They soon reached the foot of the mountain. Not much had changed here: the dark mountainside, the bare trees, the sparse weeds, and... a small shop.

Zhang Shutong thought to himself that this little shop had been around for a long time; no wonder it dared to sell a bottle of Ice Dew for three yuan.

A dim light bulb hung outside the small shop, like a firefly in the night.

Zhang Shutong immediately thought, since others can't see him, wouldn't it be a good opportunity to find out what's going on in the temple?

Thinking of this, he perked up and was about to head towards the entrance to the mountain when Lu Qinglian suddenly turned in his direction.

Zhang Shutong blinked and watched her walk towards the convenience store.

So you buy snacks after school too...

Zhang Shutong followed them inside. He knew there was air conditioning, but the chill in his body still didn't improve.

Lu Qinglian approached the counter—she wasn't even as tall as the counter itself—so she had to stand on tiptoe and ask, very deliberately:
Do you have beef sticks?

The woman behind the counter didn't even lift her eyelids:
"Beef jerky? Fifteen."

Zhang Shutong thought to himself, "Is she going to buy me a beef jerky to make up for it? But it's not your fault..." As he was thinking this, Lu Qinglian said again:
"It's not beef jerky, it's like sausage, but thinner."

"never seen it."

Lu Qinglian put her foot back down.

She thought for a moment, then pointed to the shelf by the back door and said:

"I want that."

The woman took down a bag of breakfast sausages.

Lu Qinglian first took off her schoolbag, then took out a cloth bag from the inner pocket. Zhang Shutong was stunned. He had seen this cloth bag before. It was the one she used to carry her phone. He didn't expect it to have been there for so long. Then Lu Qinglian counted out the change. She handed over the money and the goods with one hand. She then carefully wrapped the money bag.

Then Lu Qinglian walked out the door.

Then, to Zhang Shutong's stunned gaze, she deftly tore open the packaging of the breakfast sausage.

So it was you who wanted to eat it!

Okay, okay, Zhang Shutong chuckled for a moment. Why couldn't it be that she was just craving it? She was just a little girl who wasn't even as tall as the counter. She couldn't afford the beef jerky in the city, but she could satisfy her craving with sausages from the corner store.

and many more……

this thing.

It's a breakfast sausage, right?

Zhang Shutong remembered hearing her mention that she had bought snacks twice at a corner store when she was very young, once with Yue Li Yue snacks and once with breakfast sausages, and each time left a deep impression on her.

The former goes without saying, but the latter... Lu Qinglian peeled off the wrapper, carefully picked up a breakfast sausage, and before even putting it in her mouth, she had already squinted her eyes slightly, and then she bit into the sausage.

Lu Qinglian frowned.

I took another bite.

The frown deepened.

A row of tiny teeth marks remained on the intestine, yet it never broke.

Zhang Shutong covered his face, thinking to himself that the thing had a layer of plastic on the outside. He wondered which damned manufacturer came up with this design. The starch sausage was wrapped in a layer of plastic, and the plastic was coated with chili oil.

Lu Qinglian wasn't stupid. She studied it for a while, then slightly opened her eyes. Zhang Shutong found some familiar feelings in her. Her eyes turned cold, and her delicate face remained expressionless.

Lu Qinglian carried her schoolbag and walked towards the entrance to the mountain.

Zhang Shutong followed, feeling both amused and exasperated.

Halfway through their journey, darkness fell completely. Zhang Shutong was slightly out of breath, surprised that his dream had carried over into his real-life physical condition. He supported his knees, wanting to rest, but the figure ahead kept moving, making it impossible for him to even stop. Zhang Shutong was about to hurry and catch up—

Lu Qinglian suddenly turned around.

He was stunned for a moment. The girl's cool eyes were scrutinizing him. Could it be that she was pretending not to see him before...? Then several foxes ran happily past Zhang Shutong's feet.

Oh, I almost forgot about these foxes.

This was the first time Zhang Shutong had seen them, because by 2012, when he and Lu Qinglian had become acquainted, there was only one fox left.

Lu Qinglian gave the dirty beef sticks to the foxes, thinking she would squat down and pet them, but Lu Qinglian hurriedly continued on her way.

Zhang Shutong withdrew his gaze and quickened his pace. After walking for another ten minutes or so, they finally saw a light in the distance. It must be a lantern hanging on the outer wall of the temple. He breathed a sigh of relief and arrived at the temple gate ahead of time, just waiting for her to open it.

Suddenly, the gate to the Green Snake Temple opened, as if it were moving on its own without any wind. It certainly wasn't unlocked. Zhang Shutong was startled, but the next moment—

A figure he knew all too well, dressed in a blue robe, appeared from behind the door.

Just as Zhang Shutong's heart skipped a beat, Lu Qinglian, who was still a little girl, ran past him.

"Mother--"

(End of this chapter)