Chapter 53: Roman Holiday (2) |
Zhang Shutong discovered something terrifying.
Ever since his regression, his luck seemed to have completely disappeared. He used to be a fairly skilled fisherman, but now he hadn't caught a single fish.
What was comforting though, was that Autumn Rain Lingering's luck was equally terrible.
He pulled out his phone to check—the signal was still poor. Looking at the time, it was already past two in the afternoon.
Wait... past two already?
How did time pass so quickly?
He instinctively glanced at Gu Qiumian, only to discover the girl sitting on her little stool, head gradually drooping, letting out small yawns, her thick eyelashes overlapping as she dozed off drowsily.
"Uh, sleepy?"
"Next time I absolutely, absolutely... won't come fishing with you again..." Gu Qiumian didn't even have the energy to glare, saying weakly.
"I thought you came here to do something important..." Her voice was soft, almost tearful. "How could you actually be here just to fish?"
"There's nothing else to do anyway."
Hearing this, Gu Qiumian's eyes immediately widened. "Who says there's nothing to do? There are plenty of things I want to do."
"Then let's go." Zhang Shutong picked up his stool.
Gu Qiumian finally recovered a bit of spirit, stretching vigorously. "Where to?"
Zhang Shutong said wherever she wanted, but first, they couldn't go home, and second, they couldn't leave the island.
Gu Qiumian asked if his "operation" was complete.
Zhang Shutong asked in surprise how she knew.
She pursed her lips. "I'm not stupid. We had plans to buy gifts, then all your friends ran off—there must have been something unexpected. Oh, and my flowerpot got smashed too. So how did things turn out?"
"I'll tell you as we walk."
The two got on their bicycles. She must have been truly tired, as she even pressed her face against his back. Riding slowly, he could hear her shallow breathing. Zhang Shutong asked again—were you curious or not?
She said if you want to explain, I'll listen. If you don't explain, I won't.
Zhang Shutong didn't know what she meant, but felt some things were better left unheard, so he shut his mouth and just rode.
After a while, Gu Qiumian complained angrily that it was all his fault for feeding her those compressed biscuits—her stomach felt uncomfortably bloated now.
Zhang Shutong suggested, how about you get off and move around? I'll ride, you run alongside?
This was obviously teasing—he thought he had some comedic talent. But Gu Qiumian took it seriously and got angry, refusing to talk to him.
They eventually found a nail salon.
There really wasn't much to do on the island.
Gu Qiumian didn't want a manicure—she just wanted somewhere to sleep.
He didn't know if it was related to her low blood sugar.
Though perhaps she just hadn't slept well last night.
This was when a proper sidekick should step up. Zhang Shutong paid the clerk, saying not to worry about them, just provide two reclining chairs, preferably in a quiet corner.
The clerk was a young girl who had probably never encountered such an odd request in her life. Fortunately, there weren't many customers now and there were empty seats available.
Not only was it in a corner, she found them a private room with just two sofas. Of course, the room had no door, only hanging curtains.
Walking into the small compartment felt like entering another world.
The overhead lights were off. External light sources slipped into the room across the floor tiles, which were white, smooth but uneven, causing the light to ripple across them like shallow waves.
There were still a few customers outside, women's laughter occasionally rising up. The curtain couldn't really block anything, yet it provided a sense of security.
Gu Qiumian placed her jacket on the reclining chair as a cushion and set an alarm on her phone. She really was tired, but still repeatedly emphasized that he must wake her before dinner.
Zhang Shutong nodded continuously, and only then did the girl feel reassured enough to close her eyes.
Perhaps she was worried about sleeping until it got completely dark?
Zhang Shutong watched her peaceful sleeping face and thought.
He'd had similar thoughts before. Back when he was in school, Sundays were the last bit of leisure time. If he woke up to find the evening sun had dyed his pillow yellow, it would be quite depressing.
Though today was only Saturday, Zhang Shutong felt her worry was unnecessary.
When Gu Qiumian slept, she habitually curled on her side with her hands clasped in front of her. Zhang Shutong recalled some wildlife expert saying this sleeping position indicated a lack of security.
One side of her face was thus slightly squished and deformed. Zhang Shutong wasn't hungry now, but if he were, he might think of wobbly milk pudding.
He was about to charge his phone, tiptoeing to lift the curtain. He asked the clerk for a charger, but she said they didn't have an Apple cable.
Just his luck.
He felt going in and out repeatedly would wake Gu Qiumian, so he found a stool in the shop to sit on. Unable to use his phone, he stared blankly at pedestrians outside.
Then the clerk asked, "Handsome guy, is this some novel dating method?"
Zhang Shutong said it wasn't a date, and Gu Qiumian wasn't his girlfriend.
But the other person giggled and said, if you're not a couple, who finds a shop to sleep in?
Zhang Shutong replied strangely, "It's precisely because we're not a couple that we're doing this. If we were really dating, we'd be wandering all over the streets. Who would waste time sleeping?"
The clerk said, "Little brother, you're so clueless. Girls don't just sleep in front of anyone. I worry about drooling in front of my best friend and looking stupid."
"Then why is it?"
"Trust," the clerk said with conviction. "Even if you're not a couple, you must have known each other for a long time."
"But she and I have only known each other for..." Zhang Shutong counted on his fingers, from Wednesday after the regression to today, "exactly three days."
The clerk was stunned.
"Don't try to understand her using normal girl logic," Zhang Shutong concluded from experience. "Though I don't know what she's thinking either."
...
"Old Song has wronged me." Du Kang clutched his head in pain.
When they arrived at the warehouse, they discovered it wasn't a dozen desks, but dozens of desks. And that included chairs, doubling the quantity again.
At first he'd been eager to show off, insisting on carrying a complete set at once. Later, Qingyi pulled him aside, making him realize—it's not like the school belonged to his family, why work so hard?
So from just past one in the afternoon until now at five o'clock, four hours later, a third of the chairs remained.
Old Song must have noticed they were slacking off, but didn't rush them. He seemed preoccupied today, frequently frowning and checking his phone.
But regardless of what was bothering him, Du Kang felt it was no reason to exploit students for manual labor.
Of course, the homeroom teacher still had some conscience—he'd mentioned getting help earlier, and during his afternoon outing, he actually brought back another student.
They all knew each other, could see the suffering in each other's eyes. Though they normally didn't talk in class, and had even had some conflicts before, since they were comrades-in-arms today, they let bygones be bygones with a smile.
Du Kang had a carefree personality and took the initiative to ask how the guy ended up here. The other person also sighed and shrugged, saying the teacher called around and everyone else was busy, only he was free, so he got dragged here. Everyone was pretty miserable.
Du Kang didn't have the heart to tell him that at least the three of them had gotten a meal out of it, while he didn't even get that—a total loss.
He, Ruoping, Qingyi, and Shutong had some reputation in the entire ninth grade. Classmates knew the four of them often stuck together, so the other person joked, "How come it's just you three today?"
Du Kang glanced at him, not knowing how to explain, so he said with a strange expression:
"Went on a date with a girl."
"Who?"
Du Kang didn't say more, to avoid attracting more hatred for his buddy.
The five of them worked until past five. Old Song wiped sweat from his forehead, rolled up his sleeves, and said wearily:
"Let's call it a day. Stop for now."
The man clapped his hands, called everyone together, and laughed heartily:
"What does everyone want to eat? Let's have a big meal tonight."
"But what about the chairs? There are still ten left." Qingyi reminded him promptly, nearly getting stepped on by Ruoping. This attitude was like raising your hand after class shouting: Teacher, you forgot to assign today's homework!
"Let's just leave it." Song Nanshan repeated. "It's almost five-thirty. You've worked all afternoon. I didn't drag you here to work like this. Let's go, let's go. Why are you fighting to work more?"
"Really?" Qingyi asked puzzled. "We're just leaving like this?"
Even Du Kang wanted to kick him, thinking even if you wanted to solve the bathroom partition case, you didn't need to be this eager, right?
"I mean," the boy said while dodging aside, "Teacher, you're not going to call us back tomorrow, right? In that case, we might as well finish it all at once."
The other three all breathed a sigh of relief—honestly, they were worried about this too.
"How could that be?" Song Nanshan laughed. "I found people. You don't need to worry about it. They're coming tonight."
"Who?"
"Shutong and Qiumian."
"Really?" Ruoping was the first to speak. "Wasn't his phone dead? He hasn't replied to the messages I sent this afternoon."
The girl tried to signal Du Kang with her eyes—she felt Old Song was very strange today.
"Why would I lie to you?" Song Nanshan spread his hands. "When I went out to pick someone up this afternoon, I called him. They were still out playing then, but the call didn't go through—probably no signal in the wilderness."
Song Nanshan continued with a smile:
"Just now, when I went to the bathroom, he called me back, saying he'd just finished fishing with Qiumian and caught a whole basket—he was worried about how to carry it all back.
"So I said, kid, you're having quite a comfortable day, fishing and hanging out with a girl. Do you know how miserable your teacher and friends are? I asked what he was planning for tonight. He said he hadn't decided. I said then I'll arrange it for you—get your ass back here and work!
"Then he reluctantly said, after dinner, probably around seven, he'd come move chairs with Qiumian."
Ruoping still didn't quite believe it:
"I feel like given Shutong's personality, he definitely wouldn't come back."
Song Nanshan raised his eyebrows:
"That's where you don't understand. I gave the kid a suggestion. I said you two would just be hanging out tonight anyway, and the island doesn't have a movie theater, so why not come to the classroom and watch a movie on the projector? Wouldn't that be way better than wandering around aimlessly? So atmospheric."
"And he agreed?" Ruoping was shocked.
"He agreed, then told me his phone was dying and about to shut off. I know exactly what he's thinking," Old Song laughed in exasperation. "Doesn't he just not want us to be third wheels? Fine, it's their business—why are you all worrying so much? Let's go, let's go. I'll buy some water at the school gate. Ruoping, come with me."
"As for you guys, use the bathroom if you need to, don't dawdle. When we get back, we'll get in the car."
Song Nanshan waved his hand, arrangements made. Pushing Ruoping along, he said:
"I just discovered a farmhouse restaurant. Let's eat there tonight..."
"But that's on the far west side. It's a 20-minute drive, right?"
"Why do you care how far it is? I'm not making you pay. Just enjoy the food..."
"But..."
"No buts."
Ruoping gave Qingyi one last look, but found the three of them gossiping away, completely oblivious to anything wrong.
...
December 8, 2012, Saturday, 5:55 PM.
Zhang Shutong walked into the compartment right on time to wake Gu Qiumian.
She still looked a bit dazed, lying on the reclining chair unwilling to get up. Zhang Shutong waited patiently beside her.
After a short while, Gu Qiumian finally revived to full health. She stretched, and the first thing she did was use her phone to check if her makeup had smudged.
"It didn't smudge," Zhang Shutong reminded her.
"It did smudge. Look, isn't the corner of my mouth a bit red?"
She gently wiped it with a tissue, quite vain about her appearance.
Zhang Shutong couldn't really say whether her makeup had actually smudged or if it was just from sleeping on it, so he went outside to wait.
At this hour, there weren't many customers in the shop. Even the staff had gone to eat, leaving only that young girl minding the store.
When Gu Qiumian came out, the girl promptly handed over two bottles of water, actually taken from a cooler box:
"This handsome guy bought them in advance." The little girl smiled cunningly.
Zhang Shutong was stunned. He'd never bought any water. Since Gu Qiumian fell asleep, all he'd done was sit in the shop for over an hour. He didn't know what the clerk was pulling, but saw that Miss Gu had already accepted them, seeming quite pleased as she hummed:
"So you do have some emotional intelligence."
Zhang Shutong didn't know what to say. The clerk girl winked at him conspiratorially, coming over to say, "You ordered the most expensive package. This counts as a bonus service. If you don't drink the water, you'll really be losing out."
She even pointed at the price list on the wall:
"See, doesn't it say beverages are included?"
Zhang Shutong bit the soft flesh inside his mouth. First, mineral water didn't count as a beverage. Second, could she please not pin this on him? Third, Gu Qiumian was gullible enough—if she'd just glanced at the price list, she could easily expose this lie.
Unfortunately, the young lady only cared about the "price" when going out, not the actual contents of the list.
When they pushed open the glass door, the sky had already darkened. Winter evenings got dark early. The streetlights came on, dyeing the night a warm yellow. The two hadn't decided where to go next, so they stood at the door for a moment, simultaneously hunching their necks against the cold wind.
Zhang Shutong once again noticed that Gu Qiumian wasn't wearing her scarf today. That item was left to her by her mother. He didn't know what emotions the girl invested in it, but in a sense, it should be something like a protective charm.
"So cold..." Gu Qiumian held the mineral water in her hands, telling him to start walking first.
Zhang Shutong took one last look back at the nail salon. The clerk girl was sitting at the front desk, making an encouraging gesture to him.
Zhang Shutong nodded, indicating he'd received her encouragement. She smiled, and he smiled back, thinking—you've misunderstood my meaning. The encouragement we're talking about isn't the same thing at all.
He asked Gu Qiumian what she wanted to eat. She said whatever.
He said again that she hated "whatever" most. The girl said just take her somewhere you think is good.
"I'm treating?"
"Otherwise?" She took a sip of water. "I already bought so much stuff at lunch."
Zhang Shutong tried to recall if there were any good restaurants on the island. The answer was quite disappointing.
"I can't think of anywhere particularly good."
"Who said anything about a fancy meal? Just take me wherever you usually think is good."
"How about rice bowls?" Their current location was very close to the school.
Gu Qiumian nodded and said sure, she was going to really make him pay.
But the most expensive thing at that shop was just the potato and beef rice bowl at a whopping fifteen yuan per serving—hardly what you'd call "making someone pay."
But he couldn't think of anything else good to eat. So under the dim streetlights, the two set off toward the rice bowl shop with great momentum, as if heading to some three-Michelin-star restaurant.
On the way, Zhang Shutong pulled out his phone for another look. This poor little thing was reaching the end of its life—
Only three percent battery remaining.