Chapter 97: Gu Qiumian Picked the Wrong Opponent |
Zhang Shutong knew that showing up with such a large group for a visit wasn't quite appropriate.
Fortunately, the young miss gave him face, though her tone wasn't particularly friendly:
"Didn't you go mountain climbing?" she asked coldly.
"I came back now."
"Oh, didn't eat on the mountain?"
"There was nothing to eat on the mountain, so I came back..."
Next, she said with a very troubled and disgusted tone:
"You're such a pain... where are you now?"
"We're right downstairs at your place, been standing here for quite a while."
"I'm in the basement."
No wonder.
He could hear some scattered background noise on the phone.
Soon those background sounds disappeared, and Gu Qiumian's voice turned neither cold nor warm:
"How could you bring people over without saying something in advance? Well, just wait... I'll come up right now."
He could hear the slap-slap sound of slippers, which suddenly stopped:
"I'll have Auntie Wu... no, she's cooking right now. I'll just give you the passcode. You guys come in first. Hanging up."
Gu Qiumian rattled off a string of numbers. Zhang Shutong walked to the gate—this gate he'd studied countless times before. He entered the passcode, and the iron door opened in response.
However, while Gu Qiumian's side was settled, internal disagreement arose within the group.
The only dissenting vote came from Ruoping.
"We're still going in?" The girl was rather unwilling. Though she'd told her dad they were coming as guests.
"Let's go in and stay for a bit. Otherwise we'd have to keep walking, and besides, Teacher Song is here too—it's not like there are outsiders." Du Kang was quite at ease.
"Who says there aren't outsiders?" Ruoping glared at him. "Just let Shutong go in. She didn't actively invite us. Let's just go back."
Zhang Shutong knew she and Gu Qiumian still had some unresolved tension, so this time he grew an extra mind and persuaded her with a few words, saying the few of them were here to do serious business—no need to weaken their stance. It wasn't like they were actively bowing their heads to make nice with her, right?
Only then did the girl reluctantly agree.
Du Kang and Qingyi didn't care either way. The two of them had long heard about the young miss's villa—rather than calling it a visit, it was more like they were coming with an attitude of sightseeing.
Lu Qinglian was always an invisible person in crowded situations like this, listening to whatever was said unless it concerned serious matters.
So Zhang Shutong led the four of them marching grandly into the villa.
Teacher Song opened the door.
The teacher and students stared at each other for a while. Finally, Ruoping was the first to sigh:
"Are we even actually on break from school? We're running into everyone. Is this any different from usual?"
Teacher Song's expression was also awkward. Running into other students at another student's home, and a whole nest of them at once—the key issue was that he couldn't take charge in this villa, couldn't arrange anything, so he could only say:
"Come in, come in. Didn't you just say you were on that road? If you'd said earlier you'd already arrived, I would have come out to meet you."
"No, we went to search that wasteland behind for someone. Didn't think to call you, Teacher."
The housekeeper also hurried over upon hearing the news.
"This is Qiumian's family's auntie. You all can call her Auntie Wu." Teacher Song introduced.
Several people greeted her. After some pleasantries between adults and children, the housekeeper went to pour water for them.
Teacher Song finally had time to pull Zhang Shutong aside.
"What the hell are you up to, kid?" The man lowered his voice. "Didn't you tell me on the phone how dangerous it all was? How come you dragged them all here?"
"It's a long story." Zhang Shutong also had a headache. "I feel like I'm a tour guide now. Many hands make light work, so I just brought them all along. I came in Ruoping's family car."
"Did you find her?"
"No." Zhang Shutong sighed. "She probably went back, but the problem now is I don't know who she is."
"It'd be weird if you knew."
Teacher Song also sighed:
"Shutong, count up how many things you've done recently—since yesterday, Zhou Ziheng, the police station, then last night, making me drive you around randomly, and then this morning, insisting on running down the mountain, then coming back after just a bit, and what's going on with Qinglian? She didn't explain clearly on the phone either... The teacher isn't scolding you, it just feels like a dream—wake up and the whole world has changed. What the hell is going on?"
Zhang Shutong repeated verbatim to Teacher Song what he'd said in the car.
"Something this big and you didn't tell Qiumian?"
"I was just about to tell her. Where is she?"
"When you left this morning, didn't she go upstairs? Maybe she caught up on some sleep. After a while she told me she was going downstairs to watch movies.
"Oh right, didn't you say it wasn't safe for her to stay upstairs alone? I told her that too, but I figured when she went to the basement she'd be safe at least. That killer can climb walls but can't dig tunnels, right? Plus you said you'd be here soon, so I didn't call her down. Just now—right before I opened the door for you—she went to the second floor again. I was about to call her when you knocked..."
At this point, Teacher Song slapped his forehead:
"Oh, my brain's all scrambled too. You called her, right? That's how I figured you guys got in. I'm guessing she thought with so many people coming, she should change clothes and tidy up a bit.
"So when you get a chance, tell her about this. I'll go seat these few first..."
After speaking, Teacher Song turned back to invite everyone to sit on the sofa, putting on his teacher persona from school, maintaining order in a proper manner, asking each of them individually if they were cold, what they'd done all morning...
The three friends felt somewhat constrained upon entering—probably thinking the villa was quite impressive, much like Zhang Shutong's initial reaction. But seeing that Gu Qiumian wasn't there, and with Teacher Song consciously guiding the conversation, they relaxed again.
The housekeeper came again to ask what they wanted to eat:
"Qiumian just called. She's a bit tied up right now but will come down soon. You all just sit and wait. If you want to watch TV, watch TV. Feel free to look around—don't be shy at all. Tell me if there's anything you can't eat."
"You just prepare whatever you think is good. Sorry to trouble you again. Really no need to make too many dishes..." This time Teacher Song answered for them directly.
Finally settling everyone down.
The villa's sofa was really big enough—seating the six of them didn't seem crowded at all.
"She disappeared under these circumstances?" Lu Qinglian was also surveying the villa.
"Mm." Zhang Shutong nodded.
The two were now sitting in a corner of the sofa, whispering while Teacher Song was asking questions.
"Besides the passcode, what else can open that iron gate?" Lu Qinglian asked again.
"Face recognition and fingerprint, I think." Zhang Shutong explained the working principle to her in a few sentences. Hearing this, she nodded and fell silent.
Zhang Shutong held his hot water and enjoyed a rare moment of peaceful time.
At this point, everyone was in the know.
He could relax a bit, not having to act like a lunatic constantly saying things others couldn't understand.
He called Gu Qiumian again:
"We're in the living room now."
"I heard."
"Should I come up to find you?" Zhang Shutong wanted to find a place with fewer people to explain to her what had happened.
"Don't." She immediately refused. "What do you want with me?"
"There's something I want to tell you."
"Then later."
"Why?"
"There are too many people now. With this many people, don't come up to find me. Like we're that close or something."
Zhang Shutong had already been told similar words by two females today.
"Plus I'm busy. I don't have time to listen to you talk right now."
Zhang Shutong guessed she was either trying on clothes or applying lip gloss.
Saying this, Gu Qiumian didn't hang up though:
"Whatever you guys want to eat, go tell Auntie Wu."
"Auntie just came to ask. Really, anything is fine."
"I haven't even asked you why you suddenly brought people over. Why didn't you guys eat outside?"
"It just happened to be mealtime."
"Tch."
"Oh right, there's something I need to ask you." Zhang Shutong glanced at Ruoping—she was the most uncomfortable of all. He left the sofa to find a quiet spot.
"What?"
"You know I have a friend, Feng Ruoping..."
Before he could finish, Gu Qiumian interrupted:
"Oh, what about her?"
"She..." Zhang Shutong thought carefully. If he actively brought up that old matter, saying something like "you two shouldn't have conflicts," it would seem too low in emotional intelligence and rather presumptuous.
He thought again—if he said "Ruoping came because of what I told you about last night, she came to help," although it was the truth, it seemed like he was using righteousness to pressure people, kind of bullying Gu Qiumian.
That also wouldn't be good.
Actually, when he wasn't dealing with murder cases and didn't have urgent matters around him, he was still quite human.
He simply said briefly:
"She came to visit too, along with Qingyi, Du Kang, and Lu Qinglian. You can probably guess, but I thought I should still tell you."
Zhang Shutong felt this statement couldn't be wrong.
Gu Qiumian was the host—reporting to her was proper.
"Oh."
"What do you mean 'oh'?"
"Aren't you just worried I'll throw a fit?"
"No, I'm saying..."
"What are you saying?" Cold beauty mode Autumn Rain Lingering made her entrance.
Zhang Shutong froze for a moment at the receiver, not knowing what she'd misunderstood.
His thinking was simple—he just felt what if Gu Qiumian came down and saw Ruoping, and the two of them got into a conflict like before? In a situation where he knew full well, if he still pretended not to see it, he'd seem really pathetic.
That's why he proactively mentioned it.
And this kind of thing only he could say—otherwise who would be appropriate? The other friends or Teacher Song?
Just now outside the villa, hadn't he done this same work with Ruoping, and it went quite smoothly? How come when it got to Gu Qiumian's side it didn't work?
"I'm saying..."
Zhang Shutong considered carefully again and again:
"I'm just worried about making you angry."
Silence for a moment on the other end.
Autumn Rain Lingering said without warmth:
"Who's angry? Is that how petty you think I am?"
"No, I'm just worried. Haven't you been feeling unwell these past few days?"
"Hmph." Her nasal sound was very light. "Anything else?"
"No."
"Then just wait. I'll be down soon." She hung up.
Zhang Shutong didn't know if she was angry or not. In any case, he himself breathed a sigh of relief.
This time at least he hadn't said the wrong thing.
Zhang Shutong knew he had to maintain neutrality, couldn't stand on Ruoping's side and actively demand Gu Qiumian do something.
He continued drinking water, sitting on the sofa waiting for Gu Qiumian, when suddenly Ruoping stood up:
"You three, come here for a second."
"What's up, Ruoping?" Teacher Song asked first.
"It's nothing, Teacher. You and Qinglian keep chatting. I need them for something."
The three stood up and came to the floor-to-ceiling window.
"You three just know how to sit there stupidly chatting, huh?"
"What else?" Du Kang was confused.
"You want to watch TV?" Qingyi was also confused.
Zhang Shutong thought, Oh no. Couldn't be that Gu Qiumian's side was fine, but now Ruoping had a problem—thinking that since the other party hadn't come down for so long, it was a sign of disrespecting them, so she really couldn't stand it and was preparing to go home?
Who knew Ruoping would say:
"Really treating yourselves as guests, huh? The four of us doing nothing, watching that auntie busy herself alone? Don't you think about how many dishes she has to cook?"
The three boys roughly understood her meaning now and belatedly nodded:
"Although my family runs a restaurant, the problem is my cooking skills aren't good. Shutong, can you cook?"
"I can only boil eggs. Qingyi, can you?"
"When I boil eggs, I can add instant noodles."
"Who's asking you to be the chef?" Ruoping almost couldn't find words. "I'm saying go help out. If you can't cook, you can at least wash vegetables, right? Don't tell me none of you three have done this kind of work at home?"
"Oh oh, you're right." The three realized it really wasn't quite proper.
They obediently followed Ruoping to the kitchen.
"When did she become so helpful?" Du Kang muttered quietly.
"Actually, it's not purely about being helpful." Zhang Shutong got it now. "She probably feels that eating at Gu Qiumian's house already makes her uncomfortable—if we just sit on the sofa waiting, it'll be hard to hold our heads up later?"
"Agreed." Qingyi analyzed. "Actually, it's because Ruoping has pretty strong self-respect. She doesn't want the few of us to be called freeloaders. Though most likely she's the only one thinking this way."
But as Ruoping was the only girl among the close friends, and she herself wanted to help, they still needed to protect her self-respect. The three boys agreed to do some work together. But when they got to the kitchen, they discovered it really didn't need this many people.
Auntie was very touched but absolutely wouldn't let them help, saying she was the housekeeper—this was originally her job.
But today there really were too many people eating, and the housekeeper was truly a bit overwhelmed. After declining for quite a while, she finally nodded in agreement.
But in reality, the work assigned to them was just a tiny bit.
—Sort out a few vegetables and peel several garlic cloves while they were at it.
They divided the work. They all had strong practical skills—this little bit of work really wasn't difficult.
Du Kang and Qingyi washed vegetables. Zhang Shutong and Ruoping peeled garlic.
Soon they finished smoothly. Ruoping let out a refreshed sigh.
Looked like she'd finally gotten past that hurdle in her heart.
Seeing this, Zhang Shutong smiled, thinking she was quite cute.
But then Ruoping put her hand under her nose and wrinkled her brow:
"It just smells a bit. I shouldn't have cut my nails the other day."
"No problem."
Zhang Shutong could handle this.
Having come to the villa three times already, he was quite familiar with the route. He led Ruoping to the bathroom, turned on that brass faucet, stepped aside, and told her which side was hot water and which was cold, and that bottle was hand soap—taking care of every detail.
The sink was wide enough to accommodate two people at once. The two of them stood side by side in front of the glass. While Ruoping carefully scrubbed her hands, she was in the mood to ask:
"Yo, you seem pretty familiar with this place. How many times have you been here?"
"Her bathroom is this big—I saw it when I walked in." Zhang Shutong didn't want to lie but could redirect the conversation.
"Hehe." Ruoping neither confirmed nor denied belief.
"By the way, I told Gu Qiumian."
"Told her what?"
"I said the few of us came over. I specifically mentioned to her that you came too." Zhang Shutong was also slowly washing his hands, much more relaxed talking to Ruoping.
"And then? She wasn't angry?" Ruoping asked with a sideways glance.
"She said she's not that petty."
"Screw off, you're calling me out, saying I'm petty?"
"Where did I say that? I just feel this is an appropriate opportunity. You two didn't have much of a grudge to begin with, so don't..."
"Your elbow's already turning outward, huh?"
Zhang Shutong felt this phrasing was weird.
Was he some girl about to get married or something?
He simply acted like he didn't hear it. To shut her up, Zhang Shutong proactively went to get a towel. He still remembered which towel was for guests and took it down for her.
But Ruoping wasn't done washing yet, so he held the towel waiting beside her.
Zhang Shutong thought for a moment:
"Are you jealous?"
"Get lost. Who likes you?"
"That's not what I meant. Qingyi told me while washing vegetables earlier that you might feel I've been getting too close to Gu Qiumian lately, a bit... put out?"
"He's so smart, is he?" Ruoping glared. "I'll twist his ear when I get back."
Zhang Shutong explained:
"Don't blame him. If he hadn't said anything, I really wouldn't have thought of it. After all, you're the only girl, so I've been a bit neglectful of your feelings. I can't think of a good example right now, but like, if I suddenly got really close with some guy and became best buddies, they wouldn't be happy either, right?"
"Okay, okay, I get it." Ruoping sighed. She shook her hands. "You're a busy person now too, saving the world all day long. How would this humble woman dare to trouble you? You don't need to worry about it. I'm not unreasonable."
Zhang Shutong smiled and handed over the towel.
Ruoping rolled her eyes at him. "At least you have some conscience."
Zhang Shutong also breathed a sigh of relief, feeling he'd taken a big step toward being more human.
Finally making the minor tension between the two people... maybe not resolved, but at least improved a little.
"Don't worry. I'm not really the type who's good at comforting people either. Anyway, it's just... the four of us are definitely the best. You get it, right?"
"Really?" Ruoping muttered. "You said it."
"Mm."
Zhang Shutong took the towel and hung it back on the rack. He looked at Ruoping's face in the mirror—it was a bit red. He wanted to laugh and almost got stepped on.
Some people's faces turned slightly red.
Some people breathed sighs of relief.
And some people had just finished getting ready and came down.
The bathroom and elevator door faced each other at an angle.
What happened next was predictable.
Someone—