Chapter 58: Dumped Lu Qinglian? |
The woman's name was about to be revealed.
It was still Lu Qinglian.
But how could it still be her?
Zhang Shutong stood frozen in place. The shock of this moment made him forget to notice who was behind him. Since returning to 2020, there were countless things he couldn't understand, but what puzzled him most was—
Why would Lu Qinglian still die?
His mind rapidly recalled information from before. The twenty-four-year-old Du Kang had told him that all these years, Lu Qinglian had stayed on this small island, guarding that Divine Temple. The night before her death, she had called him, and afterward her body was discovered in the waters known as the "Forbidden Zone." The investigation concluded it was an accidental drowning...
But Du Kang refused to believe any of it. He insisted that someone had killed Lu Qinglian, because on December 10th eight years ago, Gu Qiumian's body had also been found in the Forbidden Zone.
Both of them had died in the same location, on the same day, eight years apart.
Therefore, that phone call was also assumed to be a distress signal.
Zhang Shutong didn't mean she had to commit suicide by jumping into the lake—he meant that if he had relived these eight years from the beginning, even if he couldn't solve everything perfectly, shouldn't he at least have given her a necessary warning?
Just like that disappeared missed call on his phone—if it had existed, it would indicate a problem. He couldn't possibly have known something would happen and done nothing about it.
But Lu Qinglian still died.
Why?
And in the original timeline, she had called him, which meant she definitely had something she needed to find him for.
But he had checked through all his current call records—the two of them seemed to have lost contact long ago.
Zhang Shutong then realized that since the funeral was still being held on December 12th, according to the island's customs, didn't that mean even her date of death hadn't changed?
He suddenly felt somewhat powerless, because things that should have changed in this timeline hadn't changed at all.
At this moment, the person behind him sighed again:
"Let's go, Shutong. Come outside and keep me company while I smoke."
Only then did Zhang Shutong remember to look at him. Anyone who called him "Shutong" must be someone he knew, but the person was a middle-aged man in a white shirt and black suit, his hair combed meticulously.
He wore glasses, and if it weren't for the unshaven stubble on his chin, he'd look quite like an intellectual.
Most striking was his height of over 1.8 meters—in heeled leather shoes, he was almost slightly taller than Zhang Shutong. Hook nose, square jaw... Wait, Zhang Shutong suddenly recognized who he was:
"Teacher Song?"
He exclaimed in astonishment.
This man wearing glasses and a suit with a refined bearing was actually Song Nanshan? Their rough-and-tumble homeroom teacher?
Song Nanshan managed a smile at his words:
"We haven't seen each other in so many years, but it's not worth being this shocked about. Come on, let's go outside and talk, just the two of us."
When he said this, it did carry some of that old feeling. Zhang Shutong instinctively followed his steps, noticing his neatly pressed suit pants, and thought that in the original timeline, Old Song should have resigned over Gu Qiumian's incident, but now he seemed in good spirits—this must be the butterfly effect from that change.
He felt slightly comforted.
The two left the funeral home and walked forward a few steps, leaning against the railing of the lakeside road.
Old Song handed him a cigarette. He lit it and took a drag—no coughing, no discomfort, not even a rush of clarity. This wasn't a good sign; it meant he had a heavy nicotine addiction.
For a moment, he didn't know what to say. He watched Old Song take several deep drags, finishing off half the cigarette before saying:
"No one could have predicted what happened to Qinglian. Don't blame yourself too much."
Zhang Shutong had originally wanted to ask what exactly had happened to Lu Qinglian, but he suddenly caught the problem in the other's words:
Wait, "blame himself"?
What did he mean by "blame himself"?
It wasn't that he had no reaction to Lu Qinglian's death, but at this moment, bewilderment overwhelmed grief. As someone who knew what had happened, the word "blame" would be appropriate coming from him, but why would Song Nanshan say it?
This reminded him of the first thing the other had said upon seeing him:
My condolences.
What did he mean by condolences?
Back when he had attended the funeral originally, no one had said these two words to him.
Though the fact that Lu Qinglian had called him did get spread around, and quite a few busybodies said her boyfriend had broken up with her, making him the "heartless man" everyone condemned.
But now that missed call had disappeared, so what did "condolences" mean?
Or was he overthinking it, and Song Nanshan, as their homeroom teacher, was just habitually offering comfort?
"She and I..." The words were on his lips, but Zhang Shutong didn't know how to ask.
But Old Song didn't explain much, just patted his shoulder:
"I'll go help out first. When you see the other classmates later... sit down and chat. After all, you haven't seen them in eight years, and there's nothing that can't be talked through after all this time.
"Oh right, Ruoping just called to say she's almost here. You can wait if you want."
Song Nanshan waved his hand and left. Zhang Shutong stubbed out his cigarette. He was thinking about what Old Song meant by "talked through."
And he had caught another piece of new information:
—Eight years without seeing each other.
So he hadn't come back even once during these eight years?
He'd have to ask Ruoping—she was the only one whose contact with him hadn't been broken during these eight years.
Though it was cold outside, he didn't really want to go in. Seeing Lu Qinglian's portrait made his chest feel tight, so he waited there.
Soon after, a white SUV pulled up next to the funeral home. A young woman with delicate features got out. She had short hair, her once-neat bangs now styled into wispy air bangs, giving her a capable air.
Probably because of today's special occasion, the woman wore a slim-fitting black down jacket. Compared to her old impetuous nature, she now had a somewhat cool and striking presence. That girl named Feng Ruoping had grown up too.
Even so, seeing her still brought a sense of reassurance. Zhang Shutong was about to force a smile and greet her when the woman frowned upon seeing him, her attitude lukewarm, her tone complicated:
"You really came."
Zhang Shutong's smile froze on his face.
He didn't quite understand this distant tone. He'd prepared himself to be teased a bit, but she seemed... not very pleased to see him?
He heard Ruoping continue:
"Since you're here, don't just stand around outside. Du Kang is here today too—when you two see each other, try not to... ah."
She sighed, seeming unwilling to say more.
"What about Qingyi?"
"He's too far away, can't make it back."
Zhang Shutong nodded. Qingyi was the most stable one—he hadn't come back last time either.
He wanted to ask more, but Ruoping wasn't prepared to say more and had already gone into the funeral home with her bag. Only then did Zhang Shutong realize their forms of address weren't quite right either.
When he addressed them, like just now, he habitually said "Qingyi," "Ruoping." By all accounts, Ruoping should also habitually call him "Shutong," but this time she had directly switched to "you."
What was going on? Just the day before, hadn't they all come down from the rooftop, teasing him about how "you two went to watch a movie and left us to freeze in the wind—come on, how are you going to make it up to us?" and then discussing whether to get a late-night snack? Why had they suddenly become like strangers?
Right—to him, that was the day before, but to them, it had been eight whole years.
But back then, Ruoping hadn't been like this either. She'd even been in the mood to joke around, using that rumor to tease him, saying:
"Well, well, little boyfriend, long time no see."
Now she said nothing. Zhang Shutong watched her press her lips together, walking quickly until she stopped in front of the memorial hall. She bowed deeply three times to the portrait, and when she straightened up, her eyes had reddened.
Zhang Shutong suddenly understood—it wasn't just his relationship with Lu Qinglian that had changed. They were different too.
Because of that night's incident with catching poachers, Ruoping had started calling her "Qinglian, Qinglian." If they hadn't necessarily become close friends, their relationship had definitely taken a big step forward from before.
In that light, grieving for Lu Qinglian wasn't strange at all.
So he also said softly to Ruoping:
"My condolences."
But Ruoping fell silent for a moment, just glanced at him, and didn't respond.
"Anyone can say those words, except you!"
At that moment, a male voice suddenly sounded behind them. The man seemed to be forcefully suppressing his anger. Zhang Shutong turned around—the newcomer was a young man with a buzz cut and a baby face. Who else could it be but Du Kang?
Zhang Shutong froze for a moment before confirming the words were directed at him. He heard Du Kang continue angrily:
"This is how you protected her? Zhang Shutong, I don't think you feel anything at all! Still saying 'condolences,' you..."
Many eyes turned their way. Ruoping stepped between the two, her voice also rising:
"Enough! What are you two fighting about now? If you all love playing the hero so much, where were you before?"
She grew more agitated as she spoke:
"Starting to lose your temper at Qinglian's funeral now—if you've got the guts, go outside and have it out. Don't stand here being an eyesore, giving people something to gossip about. If you don't think it's shameful, I do!"
Du Kang fell silent. He slowly exhaled a breath of stale air, turned, and left.
Zhang Shutong sensed something was very wrong. No, it wasn't just that the atmosphere was off—his relationship with the two of them had completely broken down. He asked Ruoping in a low voice:
"What's wrong with Du Kang?"
But Ruoping's look was even stranger, with an indescribable disappointment:
"Are you sure you're asking me?"
"I'm just a bit... a bit confused."
"Zhang Shutong, you're still as cold-blooded as ever." Ruoping's words were like a sharp blade.
"...Sorry." Zhang Shutong was taken aback.
This apology seemed to soften Ruoping's attitude somewhat. She no longer looked at him but lowered her gaze, staring silently at Lu Qinglian's portrait. After a long while, she said:
"What's the point of apologizing to me? After all these years, I know what kind of person you are. I have no expectations of you, but back then... you shouldn't have treated Qinglian that way."
Zhang Shutong was completely confused. When had he treated Lu Qinglian in what way?
"Let's talk outside." Ruoping dropped this line.
His mind was even more chaotic. He'd just gone outside with Old Song, come back in not long after, and now was turning around and going out again. The two arrived at the road railing. Zhang Shutong was about to ask what had happened when Ruoping directly changed the subject:
"Are you still dating that high school girlfriend of yours?"
"Who?"
"That senior girl—or are there others?" Ruoping sneered.
It was the first time Zhang Shutong learned he had a girlfriend, but he heard Ruoping continue unprompted:
"You shouldn't have forgotten, right? First year of high school, first semester. We went to the city to visit you without telling you—wanted to give you a surprise. But we happened to run into you shopping with that senior of yours. We bumped into each other, and Du Kang just froze right there..."
Zhang Shutong was also stunned at these words. The deviation was too great. He simply stopped passively gathering information and asked directly—so many years have passed that I've forgotten everything, what exactly happened back then?
Ruoping's eyes showed even more disappointment:
"It hadn't even been half a year since you dumped Qinglian, and you turned around and got together with someone else. Turning your back on her is one thing, but now you have the nerve to ask me what happened?
"Oh, of course, you can say you two never officially confirmed your relationship from the start, so it doesn't count as dumping. But we—especially Du Kang—took it seriously!"
Zhang Shutong's mouth simply fell open.
Wait, what did she mean by "dumped Lu Qinglian"?!