Winter Returns

Chapter 249 The Vanished Train

"Hey, it's time to go."

Zhang Shutong looked at the rising sun and called out.

It was early morning, and the golden rays of dawn bathed the entire mountain peak, turning the clouds and mist golden as they flowed slowly across the world before them. Winter was utterly silent, so the only sound in the small courtyard was his voice.

"We'll be late if we don't leave now."

Zhang Shutong urged the main hall behind him again.

As soon as she finished speaking, in the ancient temple, the girl stood up from in front of the statue, tossed her long hair, and inserted an incense stick into the burner.

A spark lit up, illuminating the snake statue's pupils. The red agate was as red as blood. Zhang Shutong could look at it without restraint, but as the temple keeper, she had another rule: she could not look directly into its eyes. Lu Qinglian kept her face down.

She didn't know how long she had been kneeling before the statue; perhaps she had walked out of the side hall fully clothed before dawn, when the air hadn't even formed the first drop of dew.

After that, she knelt there quietly, like a clay sculpture, until she offered incense to the gods every day.

This is now Lu Qinglian's daily routine, replacing her usual morning exercise.

After she came out of the temple, Zhang Shutong gave her another instruction:

"It's getting colder today, wear something warmer."

Lu Qinglian walked past him without saying a word, and Zhang Shutong shrugged and followed a few steps.

They left the temple and didn't linger for the magnificent sunrise. Lu Qinglian quickly descended the mountain, no longer wasting any time on the road, making it difficult for Zhang Shutong to keep up.

Only when she reached the halfway point of the mountain did a group of small, fiery red creatures run out, causing her to pause briefly.

"It seems like Ada has gained a little weight, don't you think?"

Zhang Shutong leaned against the tree, tilting his head to observe the foxes. The fox named "Ada" was the smallest and thinnest among them, but also the most agile. He wasn't sure if it would be the fox with the missing ear later on, since there had been a full eight years in between. Even if it was, it would be an old fox by then.

Lu Qinglian didn't speak or squat down. She simply let the fox rub its fluffy head against her trouser leg, then walked away without looking back, as if coming here to meet them was a daily routine.

"You're leaving so fast again..." Zhang Shutong could only wave to the foxes, "See you tonight, everyone."

He patted Ada's head, then remembered he had a bar of chocolate in his pocket. But foxes are canines, and chocolate seemed to be highly poisonous, so he didn't dare feed it to him.

The path down the mountain became increasingly familiar to me.

The snow on the mountainside had completely melted, revealing the majestic rocks beneath. The rocks were jet black, a stark contrast to the pristine white landscape that had been there not long ago. For a moment, Zhang Shutong felt a sense of disorientation, as if the snow had never existed.

It's hard to leave a trace in this world. The woman named "Lu Qinglan" just disappeared from this world.

Zhang Shutong walked to Lu Qinglian's side and asked in a low voice:
"How's the rehearsal going for New Year's Day? The teacher said we have to wear matching white shirts on stage, did you get one?"

But Lu Qinglian ignored him and just kept walking forward.

Now she no longer carries that pink schoolbag, because she finishes her homework at school. In the time she used to spend reading Harry Potter, she has many things to do every day. At night, Zhang Shutong watched her weaving grass ropes under the lamp, and the ugly grass snakes of the past have become beautiful.

They quickly arrived at the school gate, but Zhang Shutong wasn't planning to go to school today:
"I'll wander around and have some fun at school... Oh, and remember to put your lunchbox on the radiator." His words drifted away in the cold wind, and Lu Qinglian's small figure disappeared into the crowd. Zhang Shutong stood there for a moment until she entered the teaching building before turning away.

In fact, she couldn't hear herself speaking at all.

Lu Qinglian is a person with a strong sense of time. Even if no one urges her to go to school, she will stand up on time when the sun rises from the mountain peak and the first rays of dawn shine into the temple.

However, the fox's name, Ada, was chosen by Zhang Shutong himself.

He still couldn't escape this dream.

No one could see him, no one could hear his voice. Zhang Shutong seemed to be trapped in this dream forever, yet he still didn't know what the real secret of this world was.

So he rarely stayed in the classroom to accompany Lu Qinglian to class anymore, and instead got into the habit of going out for a walk alone.

Standing silently in front of the bustling school gate, Zhang Shutong shivered as he watched the crowd. Since that night, his body temperature had returned to the temperature at the moment he fell asleep, no, it was even colder than before. Now he could go to a clothing store and grab a coat, but he was too lazy to try it on, because whether he was cold or not didn't really depend on himself; it was just a futile effort.

He walked out of the school gate. A few days ago, Zhang Shutong would have headed in the direction of the "broken bridge." In his dream, the bridge was replaced by a train station, but after that same night, the train disappeared.

The platform was still there, the tracks were still there, but that train, always billowing black smoke and slowly approaching, had simply vanished. Zhang Shutong could probably guess why.

The person she was waiting for never arrived, so there was no point in waiting any longer, and she assumed that the person would never come back.

Zhang Shutong strolled along the street. Today was a special day, December 30th, the day before the New Year's Eve party. Red celebratory banners had already been put up at the school gate. This habit hadn't changed in eight years. Life on the island was slow, and even the school staff had become lazy. The banners would only be put up the day before the party.

Zhang Shutong glanced at it, wrapped his coat tighter, and headed towards the city center.

He hadn't walked far when he bumped into an acquaintance, who was also the only new person he met in this dream. It was Lu Qinglian's classmate, a little girl who had been brought there by her mother on a bicycle, carrying bread and milk.

New Year's Day is almost here, and even casual conversations have become related to it. There were many people ahead, so the car slowed down. Zhang Shutong heard the girl ask:
"...Will Dad come that day?"

“Come on, he’s already asked for leave from work. As soon as the party is over, we’ll take a boat off the island and have a whole day of fun,” the woman said. “Your dad has even bought a video camera, he’s just waiting for tomorrow night.”

The girl pouted and said:

"I still remember how ugly he made me look last year."

"That's because he doesn't know how to use it," the woman chuckled. "He won't this year; he'll definitely record you looking beautiful..."

They rode away on their bikes, and all that remained in Zhang Shutong's ears were those few words.

But these few words reminded him of when he participated in a TV show as a child. Perhaps every mother is similar; although his mother didn't go so far as to record the entire show, she would take photos like crazy, showing them off to the parents she had just met.

"Look, look, that handsome young man is my son..."

Looking at the figure in the audience who seemed to want to stand up from his chair, Zhang Shutong couldn't help but twitch his lips. Within three days, the "cute" photos of his face twitching on stage would spread to his grandparents and even some distant relatives. Zhang Shutong used to find this extremely annoying, but now he realized that many things that seem ordinary are actually quite luxurious for some people.

As luck would have it, there was a photo studio on the street opposite the school, and he instinctively stopped there.

(End of this chapter)