Winter Returns

Chapter 76 Revisiting the Villa
"They left long ago, we can't catch up."

Zhang Shutong deliberately told a lie.

In fact, Lu Qinglian had only just left the school gate.

He didn't perceive the girl as an "enemy."

But in fact, whether it's the tattoo, the photos sent by her senior, or the island's development plan, they are all inextricably linked to her.

It wasn't that Zhang Shutong didn't want to ask, but that she wouldn't tell him even if he did. If they exchanged information, they would be back to the original question: should they exchange information or expose themselves?
Pay attention, but keep your distance.

This is Zhang Shutong's current attitude towards Lu Qinglian.

"She left early? Sigh, it's my fault. I forgot to tell Qinglian to wait," Old Song sighed, feeling quite guilty. "Her family doesn't even have a phone, so I couldn't even ask if she got home safely... How are you getting there? I can give you a ride?"

Zhang Shutong nodded and said, "I'm not in a hurry. Let's go to Gu Qiumian's house first."

Song Nanshan also had things to pack, so Zhang Shutong went to his office with him and asked why he had taken so long.
"Oh, I forgot to mention, Qiu Mian's dad called back. I told him about what happened today, and he said he was on his way back. Then I handed the phone to Qiu Mian, and the father and daughter started chatting. I figured I had nothing to do standing there, so I came down first."

Gu's father acted a day earlier than originally planned.

That's good news.

Recent news has been a mixed bag, so Zhang Shutong relaxed a little, slung his backpack over his shoulder, and watched as Old Song pulled an umbrella out of the drawer.

"Only one?"

There's only one.

The two looked each other over:
"You'll hit me?"

"You hit."

"Let's hold it for Qiu Mian later." Old Song placed the umbrella in his hand.

This reminded Zhang Shutong of the story of the father and son riding a donkey.

—Excuse me, he then realized that the analogy was terrible and he really didn't mean to say that Gu Qiumian was a donkey.

The teaching building is shaped like a capital L, with classrooms on the longer side and offices, the teaching affairs office, toilets, etc. on the shorter side.

The master and apprentice returned to the classroom. Old Song hadn't left anyone to do chores today, so he told the students to hurry up and leave.

But not leaving anyone to do the cleaning duty doesn't mean there's no cleaning duty. Song Nanshan asked him to lend a hand, and the two of them wiped the blackboard and changed the trash bags.

Being a homeroom teacher isn't easy. In this kind of weather, Lao Song has to wait until the very last one.

Soon, the students in the class left at his urging. Song Nanshan helped Gu Qiumian pack her schoolbag, hoisted it onto his shoulder, and wondered:
"Why is it so heavy?"

Zhang Shutong said she had snacks in her bag, and besides, she didn't need to carry a schoolbag to and from school every day, and she took the bus every day, so it didn't matter if it was light or heavy.

Then again, it would have been better not to help her tidy up; she probably wasn't even thinking about doing her homework.

Gu Qiumian returned quickly.

Today, unlike previous Thursdays, she didn't go to the school gate with a cold face to buy steamed buns.

The girl was in a good mood. She returned the phone to Lao Song and said, "Thank you for your trouble, teacher." She was going to ride home in Song Nanshan's car today.

But with Zhang Shutong, the two only exchanged glances.

She looked at Zhang Shutong.

Zhang Shutong blinked.

Gu Qiumian stared wide-eyed.

Zhang Shutong didn't understand.

Wait, I think I understand now.

Maybe she cried in front of herself earlier, and now that she's come to her senses, she feels ashamed.

The corridor was now empty; the entire floor was deserted. Looking back, the sky had darkened, and only the howling wind could be heard through the glass.

The LED tubes overhead, which normally emit a glaring white light, appeared dim at this moment.

The three of them turned off the lights. From the outside, on the four-story building, among countless small squares, the last light source was extinguished.

Footsteps echoed in the stairwell.

This was the first time Zhang Shutong had ever gone home with someone on her own initiative.

As he left the teaching building, he handed the umbrella to Gu Qiumian, then, with his backpack over his head, he intended to rush out like Lao Song, but as soon as he took a step, someone shouted from behind.

"Wait a minute," Miss Gu finally spoke, opening her umbrella and saying irritably, "Are you stupid?"

She reluctantly shook the umbrella in her hand, tilted it slightly outward, and said, "Come here quickly."

Zhang Shutong said no.

He thought Gu Qiumian was walking too slowly and that he might as well just run over.

Gu Qiu Mian glared and said:
"My stomach hurts today."

"so?"

What does this have to do with your stomachache?
"I only asked you to hold the umbrella because my stomach hurts," Zhang Shutong thought to himself.

"So you're not allowed to make me angry!"

Zhang Shutong slowly retreated.

Girls are troublesome creatures.

Girls during their periods are more troublesome than troublesome creatures.

The two of them walked out of the building side by side, and Gu Qiumian said with dissatisfaction, "Oh, you're so tall, my arms are sore from holding you up."

Zhang Shutong felt helpless, thinking to himself, "Can you blame me for being tall?"

The girl was only about 1.65 meters tall, even when she was wearing boots. At that time, she was wearing slippers at home, and her height only reached Zhang Shutong's collarbone.

Zhang Shutong had never paid attention to her height before, always thinking that Gu Qiumian should be 1.7 meters tall. After all, Qiumian was a girl with a slim waist and long legs, with good proportions, making her look taller.

But now that she's standing on my shoulder, I realize she's not that tall, especially now that the two of them are covered by the umbrella, she looks even smaller.

He felt increasingly awkward as he walked, so he simply took the umbrella back and held it for Gu Qiumian. To be honest, it was a difficult task. Half of his shoulder was exposed, and he had to accommodate Gu Qiumian's pace, walking forward step by step. It would have been better to just run over.

Fortunately, Gu Qiumian had no objections. He glanced at the girl, whose face was tucked into the red scarf, staring at her toes without saying a word, taking one step at a time.

Under the gray-black sky, the swirling snowflakes blurred the view. Zhang Shutong noticed that her skin was incredibly delicate. She was fine just now in the teaching building, but now, with the cold wind blowing on her cheeks, a blush rose on her snow-white skin.

Old Song was already waiting in the car.

The car was started while stationary, the engine vibrated slightly, the exhaust fumes blackened the snow behind the car, and the headlights cast a dim yellow halo.

Fine snowflakes danced in the beam of light.

The two walked to the back seat, and Zhang Shutong held an umbrella for her. He watched as the young lady opened the car door, got into the car, and then moved to the other side without saying a word or looking at anyone.

Zhang Shutong sat down next to her, shaking the snow water off the umbrella while wondering how he had become a lackey again.

This is a bad habit, and it seems that once you get into it, you can't break the habit.

Old Song then turned around with a smile and said, "I think you two should walk home. It'll save me the trouble."

Gu Qiu Mian ignored him.

Zhang Shutong, however, made a new discovery:

He suddenly realized that he and Lao Song were indeed the silly father and son in the story of "Father and Son Riding a Donkey"—not that Gu Qiu Mian was a donkey—but that Lao Song could have gone to drive the car with an umbrella and then backed it to the entrance of the teaching building to wait for them, so that neither of them would get wet in the snow.

Wait, is he trying to play matchmaker again?

He raised this question, but Old Song slapped his forehead in frustration:
"You're right, how come I didn't think of that?"

……

The car slowly drove out of the school.

Back in the car, with the girl sitting next to me again, my feelings were different.

Now that there's no "Elopement" or "Like Smoke" to listen to, and it's cold outside, Lao Song always behaves very gentlemanly when the girls are around. He doesn't smoke, he just hums songs casually.

Their mood changed, and so did their conversation.

Old Song spoke first:

"Send Qiu Mian first, then Shu Tong. Any objections? If not, we'll be leaving."

Zhang Shutong naturally had no objections.

Gu Qiumian asked:
"Teacher, what would you like to eat?"

"Qiu Mian is going to treat us, but it's too cold today, let's wait until the weekend."

“What?” she rolled her eyes. “We’re going to eat at my house. I told my aunt to add two more dishes.”

"This isn't a good idea?"

"What's wrong with that? Do you expect me to drop you off and then go out to eat in the snow?" Gu Qiumian wrinkled her nose.

"Then I'll have to trouble you, teacher." Old Song was quite happy to accept, and after a little hesitation, he agreed. "I can eat anything, I can get full just from noodles, so don't trouble your housekeeper."

"And you?" Gu Qiumian asked again.

"I'm easygoing, noodles are fine with me." Zhang Shutong thought that Lao Song hadn't eaten lunch and had just grabbed a few grilled sausages to fill his stomach. He could eat anywhere, but he should at least consider other people's feelings.

"Why are you all so casual? Besides noodles, is there anything else?"

"Duck soup noodles?"

"You wish! There's no such thing as a duck."

It's true, today is Thursday, the duck won't be stewed until Friday. Zhang Shutong was disappointed that he wouldn't be able to have duck soup noodles.
Old Song then asked how many dishes were served now.
"Four paths."

Old Song was also stunned. "I think four dishes are enough for the four of us?"

"Forget it, I'll tell Aunt Wu to figure it out herself." Gu Qiumian gave up.

It was snowing today, and Lao Song was driving very slowly. Zhang Shutong was pressed against the window, afraid of seeing another van.

Of course this is impossible.

Old Song is a restless person:

"Speaking of which, how about the teacher takes you out to play on Saturday?"

Zhang Shutong saw him frantically giving her meaningful glances in the rearview mirror.

He said it was no problem.

The two looked at Gu Qiu Mian again, but the girl asked slowly:

"Where?"

"Anywhere is fine, movie theater, amusement park, or you can suggest a place and I'll be the driver?"

"Amusement parks aren't fun."

"There are bumper cars and a Ferris wheel!"

"A Ferris wheel that takes ten minutes to complete a loop has the nerve to call itself a Ferris wheel?" Zhang Shutong interjected, amused.

"Not Shutong..." Old Song felt betrayed and asked in surprise, "You've researched this?"

Zhang Shutong hadn't researched this before; he just remembered that Gu Qiumian had said something similar, so he used it.

Zhang Shutong thought that Qiu Mianmian would agree with this view, so he said, "Teacher, if you don't believe me, ask her." But Gu Qiu Mianmian pretended not to hear him.

Old Song, however, got excited:

"Tell me honestly, which girl did you sit with before?"

"I've never ridden in one before."

"Then how do you know how long one lap takes?"

"I heard it from someone." Zhang Shutong stopped imitating people's speech.

"No fun," Old Song said, pouting. "If the amusement park isn't good, let's go see a movie."

It was only then that Qiu Yumian spoke. She tapped her phone with one finger and said after a long pause that there were no good movies to watch.

"Are you still going?"

Gu Qiu Mian fell into deep thought, seemingly considering it seriously. Only after the car had driven several hundred meters did she nod reservedly.

"it is good."

Zhang Shutong breathed a sigh of relief; he had almost thought he wouldn't be able to shout it out.

Fortunately, the city still held some appeal for Gu Qiu Mian.

Zhang Shutong also relaxed, and when people are idle, the first thing they notice is the smell.

This time, Gu Qiumian sat even closer, and the fragrance on her body was even stronger. It mixed with the smell of smoke in the car, making Zhang Shutong feel a little dizzy.

He lowered the window slightly, then remembered that Gu Qiu Mian couldn't catch a cold, so he raised it back up and sighed.

Even more trouble is yet to come:

My thermos broke.

Gu Qiumian suddenly launched an attack.

A girl's mood during her period is like the weather today, unpredictable.

"Uh, how much?" Zhang Shutong asked.

"It's not about the money," she said sternly.

Zhang Shutong had no choice but to apologize.

“No way,” Gu Qiumian turned her head away, “That’s a limited edition, you can’t buy it anymore, and I just like that style.”

"What should I do?"

"You can give me something similar."

Zhang Shutong said, "Okay, what brand is it? Let me search it up."

"I forgot." Gu Qiumian crossed her arms, her face as cold as ice.

Zhang Shutong was speechless.

So how exactly should compensation be provided?
After a long pause, she finally said, "Never mind, I'll take a picture of the cup and send it to you. You can search for it yourself... By the way, do I not have your QQ number? What's your QQ number?"

She always likes to use interjections when she speaks; sometimes she's arrogant, and sometimes she's soft and gentle.

Zhang Shutong then realized that he didn't have that sheep and cloud-like avatar in his friend list yet, even though he had been calling him "Autumn Rain" for so long.

After they became friends, he suddenly remembered that he should ask for her phone number so that they could stay in touch. Thus, "New Peach Charm" and "Autumn Rain" successfully established a friendship.

Zhang Shutong waited for a long time:
Where are the pictures?

“We didn’t take any pictures,” Gu Qiumian chuckled. “Silly girl, we’ll take them tomorrow.”

Zhang Shutong thought she was very naive; it turned out that all that talk about the cup was to get her QQ number.

Why not just say it directly?

The journey was filled with a relaxed and cheerful atmosphere. Soon they were about to drive onto the mountain road leading to the villa when the car suddenly jolted, as if it had run over something, which startled all three of them.

Old Song instinctively slammed on the brakes, and the rear of the car swung wildly on the snow, almost losing control. He cursed and quickly gripped the steering wheel to revive the car, which narrowly managed to stop on the side of the road.

Zhang Shutong got out of the car. The two men went closer and saw that it was a fairly large pothole. It was covered by snow and they hadn't seen it until the wheels got stuck and the car jolted.

"You scared me half to death," Song Nanshan said, still shaken. "We were almost there, and something almost happened..."

Zhang Shutong squatted down to take a look and confirmed that the pit was not a trap dug by a person, but a pit that had appeared due to years of disrepair.

He looked around. The area was a wasteland. He vaguely remembered that the road here was indeed bad. He had come here by car three times before. At that time, he was only focused on talking to Lao Song and did not pay attention to the road conditions. The ride was very bumpy.

"Shutong's gone, what are you standing there for?"

Old Song was already waving at him, and Zhang Shutong quickly returned to the car.

Song Nanshan drove more cautiously on the road ahead, and the journey that should have taken about seven or eight minutes took twice as long.

The brightly lit villa was surrounded by an iron fence, like a palace deep in the mountains. By the time the car arrived at the gate, it was almost dark.

After Lao Song parked the car, Gu Qiu Mian made a phone call, and the nanny, Aunt Wu, came out with several umbrellas.

Zhang Shutong stopped beside the gate, holding an umbrella. It was an electric gate with a camera. As for the height... he measured it and it was over two meters high, with a wire mesh wrapped around it, which he guessed was electrified. It would be quite difficult to climb over.

Gu Qiumian urged him to go inside quickly, but Zhang Shutong casually said, "You guys go first, I'll take a walk in the yard."

Gu Qiumian was displeased and said, "You're so annoying. You have to wander around when it's snowing." As she said this, she said in a bad mood, "Come with me, I'll show you around."

The two of them then went to the backyard with their umbrellas. The backyard was an artificial turf. He turned on his phone's flashlight and went to the backyard fence in the snow.

Zhang Shutong took a closer look and found that the entire circle was like that.

Gu Qiumian couldn't help but ask, "Why are you only studying fences?"
Zhang Shutong couldn't answer, thinking to himself that he wanted to study the door of his house.

He checked it several times, at least confirming that the villa's "security system" had no loopholes. He then squatted down and saw that the flowerpots by the fence were also intact. At this point, Gu Qiu Mian couldn't wait any longer and stamped her feet, saying, "Hurry up, I'm so cold..."

Zhang Shutong didn't actually need her to accompany him, but he was worried that she would get cold, so he nodded and prepared to go back.

He had just stood up and taken a step forward when a dog suddenly barked, startling Zhang Shutong so much that his hand trembled. A large black dog darted out, its back arched in an attack posture. Gu Qiumian was already blocking his way, saying to the dog, "What are you doing out here? Go back, go back!"

Then he turned to comfort her:

"Don't be afraid, it's tied with a rope, I forgot to tell you..."

Zhang Shutong breathed a sigh of relief, his muscles gradually relaxing.

He's actually quite afraid of dogs; he was bitten when he was a child, so it wouldn't be an exaggeration to call it a childhood trauma.

Now the young lady has saved me again. Although the dog belongs to her, she's quite understanding, isn't she?

The Doberman was obedient; it stopped growling and instead circled around the two of them.

It is wary of strangers.

However, the stranger was standing right next to its owner, who was blocking it, and for a moment it couldn't figure out what was going on.

The Doberman tilted its head and looked at Zhang Shutong.

Zhang Shutong also tilted his head to look at it.

I thought to myself, "I've managed to save you this time."

It was a small, pleasant surprise.

The two then returned to the villa, which was indeed quite large—large enough for two people to stand side by side at the entrance.

As soon as you open the door, warmth and light greet you.

As soon as the door was closed, the cold, snowy night seemed to vanish.

It seemed that as soon as she returned to a warm and bright place, it became her domain. Gu Qiu Mian kicked off her little boots and shouted:

"Aunt Wu, we're back—"

(End of this chapter)