Winter Returns

Chapter 85 The Cold Beauty (Bonus Chapter, Please Vote!)
"The bad news is that Qiu Mian's father also called. He had booked a ticket to fly directly to the city, but the airline said there was a cold front nearby and all flights were canceled. He was supposed to arrive tonight, but now it will probably be delayed."

"This snow is heavier than we expected, especially in the city. They say it's hard to ride a bike. There aren't many cars on our island, so it's too difficult to ride a bike to school in this kind of weather. I'm worried about accidents. And today is Friday, which is like having an early holiday... Why didn't you react at all?"

"And what's the good news?" Zhang Shutong asked again.

"Didn't I say there's no need for classes?" Old Song asked in surprise, "Isn't that good enough?"

What kind of good news is this...?

Classes are suspended.

Gu's father was also unable to return early.

Zhang Shutong only had the feeling that things were getting increasingly out of control.

"What do you think, Qiu Mian?" Old Song simply ignored him.

"I don't care." Gu Qiumian put down her cup, maintaining her aloof and beautiful demeanor today.

"Are you in a bad mood? But don't worry, your dad just said that if the plane doesn't work, you can take the high-speed train. He'll be back eventually. He didn't contact you because he didn't want to disturb your sleep..."

"It's not because of that." Gu Qiumian looked at someone coldly. "It was him who harassed me this morning."

"Really? Shutong?" Old Song asked in surprise.

Zhang Shutong was also surprised:

"I just went over and knocked on the door, that's all."

"So, once I get there and open the door, will you run away again?"

I really don't know Zhang Shutong.

He came downstairs after knocking on the door.

Feeling bad for waking her up, Zhang Shutong apologized to her, but Gu Qiumian turned her face away.

"Alright, let's eat first," Old Song said, seeing that the two of them were alright, so he stopped asking questions. "I called the auto repair shop earlier, but they didn't answer. We'll discuss the arrangements after the tires are changed."

Zhang Shutong nodded, pondering the impact of these two events.

As for Gu's father... to be honest, he's a backup plan. It's a pity he can't come, but if he does, it might not be a good thing.

He's a father, so he must have his own plans. For example, what if he insists that Gu Qiu Mian stay at home for the weekend?
So Zhang Shutong subconsciously didn't see the other person as a lifeline simply because he had fewer options.

The suspension of classes actually gave them an extra day of free time to move around.

The impact of both is still manageable.

He had already made a plan in his mind:

I'll go home first, get dressed and equipped properly, and then head up the mountain.

The path up the mountain has been paved with stone steps, so even if the snow is heavy, you can still make it up by walking slowly, since it's still daytime.

Today's destination is the Green Snake Temple.

Old Song urged them to wash their hands quickly. Zhang Shutong got up and took out his phone to check it.

My best friends must have received the notice about the suspension of classes as well. The group chat was indeed very lively, with messages reaching 99+. They are all the kind of people who can't sit still, and they had a feeling of "great joy and celebration".

"I was halfway there when my mom told me there was no school today," Ruoping said resentfully, adding a comment about herself, "Why did you suddenly disappear yesterday?"

"So happy that he forgot about home." Qingyi became the riddle teller.

"So what are we going to do today?" Ruoping asked again.

"Let's go skiing, didn't we agree on that last night?"

But Ruoping changed her mind again, saying that they should not go out of the island to play. She had just checked the weather forecast and it was only snowing on the island, while the city was fine. So they might as well go out and play.

"I can't, I can't get away. I'll be free later. My parents rushed to buy supplies as soon as they saw the snow. I'm watching the shop." Du Kang posted a photo of his restaurant entrance, where he had built a small snowman and posed for a picture with it, grinning.

Zhang Shutong also wanted to take a picture, but found that no matter how she took it, it wouldn't be suitable, so she simply went underwater.

He turned to the side while staring at his phone, gesturing for Gu Qiumian to wash first.

The villa's sink was large enough for the two of them to wash side by side. Zhang Shutong put away her phone, looked at the girl's face in the mirror, and noticed that she seemed to have drawn her eyebrows. She casually remarked:

"You seem a little strange today?"

"Why is it weird?"

Zhang Shutong came up with a suitable analogy—

The continuous autumn rain suddenly turned into freezing rain.

"I shouldn't have woken you up this morning. Are you grumpy when you wake up?"

"How dare you say that?" Gu Qiumian frowned. "Who were you chatting with this time?"

“My best friends,” Zhang Shutong showed her on QQ, “They asked me to go out and play.”

At this moment, a message pop-up appeared at the top of the screen. The sender's profile picture was a very girly one, a cute little bunny. It turned out that Ruoping had sent a voice message.

Zhang Shutong clicked on the voice message:

"Shutong, I know you've been up for a while. Reply to me quickly when you see this. Three minutes left."

Ruoping's smiling voice came through the air.

But Zhang Shutong knew this was a sign of impending danger.

However, the message came quite promptly, so he took back his phone and replied, saying:

"See, I wasn't lying to you."

Gu Qiu Mian told her last night not to hide it from her, and although she didn't immediately agree, Zhang Shutong still brought it up herself:
"I need to go home this morning, and then go up the mountain."

However, Gu Qiumian reverted to her aloof beauty. She squeezed out a little hand sanitizer, applied it to her hands, and couldn't tell whether the foam or her skin was more delicate. After washing, she left.

Zhang Shutong glanced back, wondering what was wrong with her so early in the morning, that she suddenly turned cold.

Sitting down at the table, it was another delicious breakfast.

The seating arrangement was different this morning; Gu Qiumian sat with the nanny, while Zhang Shutong sat with Lao Song.

A crystal plate filled with five or six kinds of freshly cut fruit was placed in the center of the four people, which looked very appetizing.

On the island, winter fruits are not common. Zhang Shutong was about to insert the last cherry tomato when Gu Qiumian also made her move.

Seeing this, he withdrew his fork, not wanting to take it from her. But she also stopped, leaving the cherry tomatoes sitting there empty, which were eventually eaten by Old Song.

A rare quiet breakfast.

Then Gu Qiumian went to sit on the sofa and play on her phone.

Zhang Shutong was the last to finish eating and helped clear the dishes. At this moment, the nanny said:
Have you noticed that Mianmian has been a little quieter today?

Zhang Shutong nodded. Could it be that the nanny was also worried that he had offended her, and was she hinting at something?
But when he thought about it, he couldn't recall doing anything like that, and the misunderstanding from last night had been cleared up. "She's not in a bad mood," the woman chuckled. "She's always like this, just a very sentimental girl. Did she do something embarrassing at school yesterday? After sleeping it off and calming down, she felt it was too shameful, so she deliberately put on a serious face the next day."

Zhang Shutong seemed to understand.

A while later, they ran into Old Song smoking on the balcony. The man said:

"Have you noticed that Qiu Mian is very cold? Do you know what that means?"

Zhang Shutong listened attentively.

"It means I gave you too much of a friendly look yesterday, and you wouldn't even go to the movies when I invited you, so you're bound to change your attitude today. So you should think about what to do later."

This was somewhat expected.

Walking back to the living room, Gu Qiumian was watching TV with her legs crossed. This time, she sat on a separate sofa, seemingly intentionally avoiding others.

Zhang Shutong asked her what her plans were for the day.

She said she wanted to see a movie.

Zhang Shutong said again, "Don't keep a cold face. Didn't we talk things out last night?"

She also said, "Your friend wants to hang out with you, so just go and have fun. You don't need to ask me."

"I said this isn't a joke..."

"Oh, so it's another 'serious matter'?"

She emphasized the last two words.

"I'm going hiking, are you coming with me?"

"I'm not going," she said decisively.

So, who's right, Lao Song or the nanny?
However, Zhang Shutong really didn't plan to bring her this time. The last time they went to the mall, it was because he suspected the nanny and was worried about leaving her alone at home.
But since she's going to the temple this time, if possible, it would be best to have Lao Song take her around.

Just then, Old Song returned from outside. The man hung up the phone and sighed.

"Alright, here's some more bad news."

"What's wrong?" The two turned their heads at the same time.

"The tires can't be delivered. That guy just called me. He's right in front of that mountain road, but the heavy snow has completely blocked the road, so he can't get up there."

“How serious is a complete lockdown?” Zhang Shutong grasped the key point.

"It's not exactly a complete closure, it's just that most cars don't have high ground clearance, but the snow on that section of road was so thick that the cars would scrape the bottom." Old Song was also very troubled.

It seems the problem isn't the tires; even if they brought the tires up, it wouldn't help. The issue is that the car can't be driven.

Is it a kind of being trapped?

It hasn't gotten to that point yet.

Zhang Shutong quickly calculated the distance; walking along that winding mountain road would take about half an hour.

At this moment, Gu Qiumian curled the corners of her lips slightly, as if mocking, but her expression remained unchanged.

That's not wrong. The two had just said that one would go hiking and the other would go to the movies, and then Zhang Shutong was proven wrong. It seemed that nature was proving that Miss Gu's decision was right.

"You're going hiking again?" Gu Qiumian asked coldly, her fair face, red lips, and black sweater creating a stark contrast.

"Of course we have to climb."

"Are you crazy to walk up the mountain from here? It's so cold..." She stopped there, her tone turning stern, "Then do as you please."

Zhang Shutong was also having a headache. He dialed his mother's number to ask for help.

His family has a car, an SUV. Zhang Shutong definitely couldn't let his mother come up to pick him up, so he planned to walk down himself and have her wait at the intersection.

Fortunately, my mom didn't go to work.

He greeted his mother, who replied with only three words:

"Tongtong, play."

Zhang Shutong quickly covered the microphone and recounted the events in a fast-paced manner.

The person on the other end of the phone sounded lazy:

"Why don't you just stay where they are? Why are you running around and disturbing my beauty sleep?" His mother complained, annoyed by his constant worry. But then she heard him getting up. "Are you sure you're okay coming down from the road by yourself?"

"No, I checked, it took about ten minutes." Zhang Shutong deliberately shortened the time.

"An SUV should be able to drive up that road?" Mom didn't respond immediately, but after thinking for a moment, she added, "You didn't expect that, did you? She had the foresight to install snow chains yesterday."

She said this in a nonchalant tone.

Zhang Shutong was incredibly impressed; he hadn't expected her to have such a trump card. The mother and son were practically identical. The mother, on the other hand, proudly accepted her son's praise.

She was a science student, and women who studied science and wore white lab coats were cool. Women who knew how to install anti-skid chains were even cooler. In comparison, Zhang Shutong was a humanities student, which made her look a bit inferior.

But it wasn't worth taking the risk for her; Zhang Shutong only said that they would contact her later depending on the situation.

"Okay, then we'll wait." The woman yawned.

Zhang Shutong said, "Please don't wear makeup, and you'd better come quickly."

My mom said I was supposed to go to work, but my workplace was closed today, so I went to bed without even changing my clothes.

"I'm going downstairs." The sound of her shoes clicking on the stairs was crisp. While she was downstairs, the mother and son chatted for a while. As soon as the mother stepped out, she started complaining again, "Do you know how cold it is outside? My precious vacation is gone just like that. Oh, and the car is covered in snow. I have to shovel it. Just thinking about it is such a hassle..."

Zhang Shutong had a strange feeling, just like there was no clear dividing line between women and girls. His mother and Gu Qiumian were similar; sometimes he needed to coax them. However, the former was filial piety, while the latter was... he couldn't quite put his finger on what the latter was. When he talked to his mother, Zhang Shutong knew what she liked to hear, but his mother just smiled and said, "Don't give me that. Your mother is way past that age."

Actually, his tone was quite happy.

Zhang Shutong listened patiently as she shoveled snow. Although his parents rarely came home, they would always lend a helping hand whenever he needed it, both in the past and now. Strangely enough, he found a sense of security in the sound of the snow being shoveled.

But her usually reliable and reassuring mother suddenly exclaimed in surprise, startling Zhang Shutong, who was also startled and quickly asked her what was wrong.

After a moment, the woman said, still shaken:

"I just saw a tree branch on our car window. I was going to throw it away, but when I picked it up, I realized..."

She breathed a sigh of relief and was in the mood to keep everyone in suspense again:

"Son, guess what it is? If you guess right, Mom will bring it to you."

Zhang Shutong had a bad feeling. He opened his mouth, and the words welled up in his throat.

Could it be...?

"Fine, I'll tell you. It was a frozen snake! It scared me to death..."

(End of this chapter)