Chapter 52: Roman Holiday (1) |
The so-called "Base" was a large drainage pipe.
No one knew how long it had been abandoned. One end was blocked off, and the silt that had accumulated at the bottom had long since dried and hardened. A few wild grasses stubbornly sprouted from it, shivering in the winter chill.
The concrete pipe was covered in cracks, and in the most severely damaged areas, chunks had fallen away, exposing rusted orange-yellow rebar.
Gu Qiumian followed Zhang Shutong into the drainage pipe, curiously examining the graffiti on both interior walls.
The young man crouched down in front of a safe, fumbling around for quite a while.
"You guys even have a safe?" she asked in surprise.
"Du Kang found it."
"Then how do you know the password?"
"The combination lock broke a long time ago—why else would we have found it?" Zhang Shutong smiled, finally fishing a key out of a crack. "It's just a shell."
The lock mechanism was a bit stiff. Zhang Shutong had to twist it for a while before it opened. He pulled open the door and lifted out two motorcycle helmets.
These helmets weren't exactly legitimately acquired either—one was contributed by Qingyi, the other was one his own dad had discarded. Tapping his knuckles against the helmet surface, the sound echoed through the drainage pipe. He suddenly realized that many of the precious things from his childhood were "trash" they'd scavenged.
So-called childhood was really just a beautiful eggshell you constructed for yourself when you hadn't seen the wider world yet. One touch and it would shatter.
Who ended up taking all this stuff home in the end?
Probably no one wanted it. It wasn't even worth the effort to haul it away. Over eight years, he had long since completely forgotten about their secret base. The safe must have remained in this pitch-black cave all along. As long as you didn't mind that it was garbage, it would silently wait here for you.
The safe still contained all sorts of miscellaneous little items—an entrenching tool, a military knife, a broken digital watch, several hair ties, phone charging cables... Some were useless, some might come in handy later. In any case, this was their treasure chest.
At this point, Gu Qiumian asked what they were eating for lunch. Should she call Auntie Wu and have them go back to eat?
Zhang Shutong shook his head. He didn't really want to walk in the direction of the villa, and besides, they'd just had the Grand Slam milk tea. That stuff was really filling.
When he asked, he found out Gu Qiumian wasn't hungry either, so Zhang Shutong suggested they go fishing—give the young lady a taste of the kind of fun ordinary students like them enjoyed.
He rummaged through the safe for two sets of backup fishing gear—the Base could lack anything except fishing rods. As he spoke, he began threading line and tying hooks.
Gu Qiumian was also eager to try, but the difference was that she just bent down to watch from beside him without actually getting her hands dirty, waiting for Zhang Shutong to finish and hand it to her.
"What about bait?"
Gu Qiumian immediately pointed out the key problem. She clearly had fishing talent.
Zhang Shutong said they had ready-made bait. He took the entrenching tool—the moist soil by the water was a good place for earthworms to hibernate. After just a short while, he dug up several. Zhang Shutong held them up to show her, but Gu Qiumian let out a startled "Ah!" and jumped back a step, eyes wide as she told him to take them away quickly.
So she was afraid of earthworms. What a small-hearted person.
What would she think if she knew Du Kang dared to catch frogs with his bare hands?
Zhang Shutong looked around. They were in the wilderness. The daylight had turned pale and bleak. The wind gusted intermittently, whistling as it rushed into the drainage pipe.
Honestly, it was a bit creepy, but Gu Qiumian hadn't said she wanted to go back. It seemed that calling her small-hearted just now had really underestimated her.
Since there was no sign of anyone around, Zhang Shutong lowered his head again and continued fiddling with the bait.
The two of them moved out stools and finally sat down on the shore next to the drainage pipe. He'd also managed to find two bags of compressed biscuits—an unexpected windfall. He tossed one bag to Gu Qiumian, then started fishing while taking alternating bites of milk tea and biscuit.
Although the wind was a bit cold, although the water was a bit shallow, although there weren't many fish, Zhang Shutong felt this was really living freely. He couldn't resist taking a photo to show off to Qingyi.
But once again his phone dropped the ball at the critical moment. The picture he sent out just kept spinning, leaving only a message saying "going fishing." This crappy signal.
...
"Wait, in the middle of the day, he really took Gu Qiumian fishing?" Ruoping asked in surprise.
"It's fine. I left some compressed biscuits there before. They won't go hungry." Qingyi reassured her. He turned to the side, waved his chat log around, then turned back to sit properly in the passenger seat.
"I'm not talking about compressed biscuits. I'm talking about fishing..."
"Isn't fishing while eating compressed biscuits very atmospheric? You want them to eat Oreos instead?"
"What does this have to do with what they're eating?" Ruoping clutched her head in exasperation. Now even she was starting to feel sorry for Gu Qiumian. "I'm saying that with so many places they could go, who takes a girl fishing in the wilderness on a weekend? Forget Gu Qiumian—even I'd find it creepy!"
"Shutong said Gu Qiumian's quite brave, not scared at all."
Is that because she's brave?
Ruoping was about to angrily blast these two blockheads when the man in the driver's seat suddenly spoke:
"Alright, you guys settle down. You're giving me a headache with all this noise. What do you want for lunch?"
"Hot pot?" Ruoping's attention was immediately diverted.
"I just ate." Du Kang burped. "But I could eat some more."
"How about we go find Shutong? I still have compressed biscuits." This was Qingyi.
The three of them were currently sitting in the Ford. Meng Qingyi and Ruoping had just been picked up by their homeroom teacher from the shopping center. On the phone he'd said there was urgent business, but after they got in the car, he didn't seem rushed anymore. Instead, he asked if the three were hungry and suggested going for a drive first.
"Hot pot won't work, we won't have time." Song Nanshan glanced at his watch and shook his head in refusal. As for what the two boys said, he acted like he hadn't heard. "Let's get rice bowls at the school gate. My treat."
"So what's this really about, Teacher?" Du Kang asked, gripping the seat. He and Ruoping were both sitting in the back.
"Moving some desks from the warehouse to the first-year classrooms." Song Nanshan said casually. "I originally wanted to have you guys do it Friday, but that day we happened to run into that business with Li Yipeng, and I forgot."
"You're really something, Teacher, forgetting about that." Du Kang gave a thumbs up. "No wonder you suddenly want to treat us—turns out you're calling us over to do manual labor?"
"What do you mean 'no wonder'? Do I not treat you ungrateful brats enough normally?" Song Nanshan laughed and cursed. "Did you think those meals were free? Who else am I going to call on at critical moments if not you guys?"
But Ruoping rolled her eyes: "Then why are you only calling the three of us and not your favorite disciple? That's still playing favorites."
The favorite disciple naturally referred to Zhang Shutong.
"Him?" Song Nanshan paused, glancing at the young man in the passenger seat. "Isn't Shutong fishing with Qiumian? I figured I shouldn't disturb their alone time together."
The girl made an exaggerated gesture of holding her head and sighing, though she didn't really mind that much. She just couldn't help being sharp-tongued.
In any case, today's plans had long since devolved into chaos. When they were at the shopping center earlier, Shutong had sent them a message saying his and Gu Qiumian's task was complete, and from here on out they could do whatever they wanted—don't worry about him and Gu Qiumian.
She'd hastily asked what exactly was going on. Shutong said there was a "big surprise" today. Did she want to know right now, or wait for the final moment to unveil the mystery and spend an unforgettable Saturday?
The girl thought about it and chose the latter.
She'd also urged him to be extra careful and not get carried away and lose control.
He'd briefly replied with "Don't worry" and told her to enjoy the process ahead.
But no one had said the "process" would be moving desks at school!
What kind of unforgettable Saturday was this?
Well, in a certain sense it really was unforgettable. Feng Ruoping was already numb to it. Let them do whatever they wanted.
So the girl simply said nothing and propped her chin on her hand to look out the window.
Du Kang couldn't sit still and asked Song Nanshan how many desks they'd be moving and whether they could finish in the afternoon. Song Nanshan thought about it and said about ten or so, not many.
"That's still 'not many'?" Du Kang's eyes widened. "It takes at least five minutes to run from the warehouse to the teaching building, doesn't it?"
"I didn't just call you three," Song Nanshan corrected. "There are other students I called to help too."
"Teacher, you could've said so earlier." Du Kang breathed a sigh of relief.
"If I'd said so earlier, what if you guys got lazy and didn't want to come?" Song Nanshan steered with one hand while ruffling Qingyi's hair with the other. "You too, stop playing on your phone. You'll get carsick. Why do you act like an adult all the time?"
Qingyi irritably pushed away the man's large hand. "I'm chatting with Shutong."
"Oh, how's his situation?"
"He hasn't replied. I was going to tell him we're heading to school." Qingyi was puzzled. "Did his battery die? Shouldn't be. Then is the signal bad over there?"
"Probably just didn't see it. That kid's probably busy flirting." Song Nanshan reassured him.
But before he finished speaking, his phone suddenly vibrated. It was sitting on the car's center armrest. Du Kang was about to hand it over, but Song Nanshan snatched it first, looked at it, typed two words, then stuffed it back in his pocket and continued driving.
Soon the small car pulled up to the school entrance. It was almost noon.
The four of them had a quick lunch.
Since they were helping with manual labor, naturally they had to thoroughly exploit their homeroom teacher for a meal. But the most extravagant thing about rice bowls was just braised beef rice. Du Kang very pathetically drank two bottles of soda and felt miserably stuffed.
At this point, Song Nanshan said to let them go rest in the classroom first. He was going out to take care of something and would come back to start moving desks in a bit.
The group nodded and watched the small car drive out the school gate again.
Du Kang boredly asked what they should do next, and how was Shutong's situation?
"He still hasn't replied." Qingyi shrugged. "Anyway, we discussed the plan beforehand. As long as we execute it step by step, nothing will go wrong."
"Don't you think Old Song's been acting a bit strange today?" Ruoping suddenly asked.
"How so... burp." Du Kang clutched his stomach.
"On the phone he told me there was urgent business and to hurry out of the shopping center to wait for him. But now he's not in a hurry anymore and even ran off somewhere?"
"Old Song told me the same thing at the time," Du Kang recalled. "I was still at Gu Qiumian's place when he suddenly showed up at the villa entrance and told me to get in the car quickly."
"There's another thing that's off," Ruoping continued. "How did he know Shutong and Gu Qiumian were together? Did you tell him?"
"I didn't say anything either." Du Kang was confused. "I thought you two told him?"
"Then how did he find out?" Ruoping was getting serious too.
Unfortunately, after she reasoned this out for so long and was expecting someone to back her up, a certain mystery fanatic had gone quiet.
Ruoping poked Qingyi. Only then did the young man snap back to attention. "I was just thinking about something else. What were you saying?"
Ruoping repeated it all.
"Stupid." Qingyi sighed. "Couldn't Old Song just call Shutong himself?"
"But doesn't Shutong have no signal over there?"
"Shutong hadn't reached the Base yet at that time. It's just a timing difference." He felt this question was too dumb to explain. "Alright, stop focusing on this. Let me show you something more interesting."
With that, Meng Qingyi headed to the bathroom first. Only then did the other two remember about the bathroom stall names.
Ruoping was still hesitating awkwardly at the entrance. Du Kang teased cheerfully, "There's no one here on Saturday. What are you afraid of? Besides, you're a tough woman yourself. Even if there were people, you wouldn't be scared..."
And so Du Kang's other ear got twisted too.
The three of them noisily arrived at the stall. With no lights on in the school on Saturday, and light only filtering in through the small square windows, the bathroom was somewhat dim.
Qingyi turned on his phone's flashlight and shone it around:
"The person who did this still hasn't been found."
Ruoping pinched her nose. This was her first time in the boys' bathroom and she was a bit nervous. "So do you have any leads?"
Qingyi just smiled. "Have you noticed that this incident is actually very similar to the arson case?"
"What do you mean?"
"They both have a supposed mastermind."
Ruoping thought he had some important discovery and said helplessly:
"How are these two incidents comparable? One is revenge at school, the other nearly burned down someone's house. To put it harshly, one is minor mischief, the other involves human lives. How can you connect them?"
"But what if these two incidents are closely related, or even indispensable to each other?" Qingyi raised an eyebrow.
"How are they related?"
But Qingyi changed the subject:
"Now you two think about a question—consider it this afternoon's brain teaser. The question is: why did that liver-man suddenly not show up on Friday?"
"Something came up at home?" Du Kang didn't even think about it.
"Wrong."
"Suddenly got scared?" Ruoping chimed in.
"Still wrong."
"Then why?"
"Because that liver-man never intended to go from the start." Qingyi said with certainty. "If he really wanted to go, he wouldn't have recruited people on Commercial Street using a method that didn't reveal his identity."
"Wait, what kind of motive is that?" Du Kang was somewhat disappointed.
"Don't underestimate this motive. He wanted to keep himself completely clean from the beginning."
Qingyi spread his hands:
"Here's another hint. Shutong told me at noon that according to those five arsonists, the six of them originally agreed to act Saturday night. Since they didn't know each other's identities and were afraid of being betrayed by their companions, they agreed that all six had to be there."
"I get it now," Ruoping was still a bit smarter than Du Kang. "You're saying that the liver-man never wanted to go from the start, but if he didn't participate, his companions wouldn't be willing either. Is that what you mean?"
"Exactly. Here's the question: why did those five arsonists go ahead even though everyone wasn't there?"
"I know this one!" Du Kang answered quickly. "Because Li Yipeng's mother let it slip! They were afraid of alerting their target and having Gu Qiumian's father called back early. Once they missed this opportunity, who knows when the next one would come. Plus Commercial Street was about to be demolished, so regardless of whether everyone was there, they gritted their teeth and went."
"Correct answer." Qingyi snapped his fingers. "That's exactly what happened. The mastermind—the liver-man—used this method to keep himself completely clean."
"But that's not right." Du Kang was puzzled. "You just said the liver-man never intended to go from the start, but if he hadn't had the dumb luck of running into Li Yipeng, come Saturday wouldn't he still have to bite the bullet and go?"
"That's exactly why I said this is the most brilliant part of this case." Qingyi said excitedly. "It's almost exactly like what I've read in books. That's right—on the surface, it was Li Yipeng taking revenge on Gu Qiumian first, which led to his mother being called in and accidentally revealing that someone was planning revenge, which then made the arsonists act early. It seems like a chain reaction of stacked coincidences. But what if you don't treat Li Yipeng's revenge as a sudden incident, but work backwards from the result and treat it as something premeditated all along?"
Ruoping froze:
"You're saying that even Li Yipeng's mother was part of the liver-man's arrangement?"
Qingyi didn't answer that question. Instead, he inhaled with some intoxication, suddenly started coughing, but still forced out each word:
"Everyone, this culprit is far smarter and more calculating than you or I imagine. Far, far more."