Chapter 99: A Fish's Memory |
The home remedy Zhang Shutong knew was to apply toothpaste.
But this method belonged to the category of "whether it actually works is hard to say." It was fine to use it himself, but he really couldn't bring himself to suggest it in front of Gu Qiumian.
Her family definitely had a first aid kit.
He swallowed these words back down and told her that she could... Wait, how exactly were you supposed to deal with this kind of blister anyway?
Should he directly pierce it with a needle, or put on a band-aid?
He watched as Gu Qiumian turned on the cold water and rinsed her finger, then held it to her lips and blew on it.
She didn't even shake her hand dry—water droplets slid down her finger, and soon her sleeve cuff was slightly soaked.
Zhang Shutong passed her the towel. Only then did she wipe her hand, without saying a word of thanks.
"You still remember where the towel is?" she asked instead.
"Oh," she said coldly. "Then your memory really is too good. I thought you were a fish with only seven seconds of memory."
It seemed like he shouldn't have said that—saying it only made her angrier.
Zhang the Fish could only put the towel back on the rack and head to the dining table.
The several-meter-long dining table finally fulfilled its purpose. Eight people sat around it, packed tight. The housekeeper auntie didn't want to join them at first seeing there were so many people, but they all insisted against it and persuaded her to sit down.
Gu Qiumian sat at the head of the table.
This time Zhang Shutong sat next to Lu Qinglian.
He asked in a low voice:
"After we finish eating, I'm planning to stay a while. Do you have any other plans?"
Lu Qinglian was taking small bites of a vegetable stalk, habitually squinting slightly.
She swallowed the food in her mouth before frowning and saying:
"Not at the moment, but why haven't you told her about the footprints yet?"
"I haven't found a chance to talk to her."
"What about other clues?"
"Nothing."
"Do you think she'll come again?"
"It's possible. Counting this morning, it's the second time. I'm not sure if there'll be a third."
"Then we'll wait a bit longer." Lu Qinglian picked up another helping of scrambled eggs with her chopsticks. "That movie theater you mentioned earlier—it's underground?"
Zhang Shutong wanted to say it wasn't a movie theater, but he was too lazy to correct her terminology. Who knew what Lu Qinglian had imagined it to be.
"Yes, the first basement level."
"I'll wait for you upstairs." She thought for a moment. "That way if someone comes, I can notice immediately."
"I'll stay upstairs too."
"That's not necessary." She shook her head lightly. "To be frank, that stretch of road just now proved that even if you do discover something, you won't be able to catch up. Besides, I want to be alone for a while."
It was a bit embarrassing, but Zhang Shutong knew she was volunteering to be the lookout. "Thank you for the trouble."
"By eating this meal, I've accepted a favor, so it's only proper." She said casually, "And you don't need to feel like you owe me anything. I'm not helping you—I'm helping myself. It just happens that our goals coincide. But this premise is built on you actually having seen that figure."
Zhang Shutong nodded. He thought the conversation was over, but then Lu Qinglian asked:
"What is this?"
She picked up a slice of king oyster mushroom and placed it on her plate.
Her tone was calm, but she was asking a very basic question.
Kind of amusing.
"King oyster mushroom, a type of fungus."
He thought this was quite a common ingredient, but then realized that for ingredients not produced on the island, she might not have seen any of them before.
"Have you ever had hot pot?" Zhang Shutong couldn't help asking.
"Don't treat me like I'm stupid." Lu Qinglian looked at him expressionlessly.
Having said this, Zhang Shutong noticed that she picked up king oyster mushrooms noticeably more frequently after that.
Or rather, she tried every dish once, but wasn't greedy—just tasted them and stopped. In the end, she still quietly ate rice with a serving of stir-fried vegetables.
"Not to your taste?"
"Just trying them is enough."
She felt like some kind of ascetic.
He wondered if it had anything to do with being a so-called "temple keeper."
Zhang Shutong felt that she actually quite enjoyed eating—there was a sense of novelty when she tried each dish. After all, someone who could eat salted apples with relish, but she was deliberately restraining herself.
Zhang Shutong didn't feel it was his place to say anything. Everyone had their own principles for how they conducted themselves.
Besides, he wasn't the host here, so it would be strange to urge her to eat more.
The meal ended quickly.
Everyone helped clean up the dishes, and for a moment the entire dining room was bustling. According to the earlier arrangement, several of them went downstairs to watch a movie.
Zhang Shutong actually wanted to stay upstairs, but remembering last night's movie incident, if he remained aloof again, Gu Qiumian would probably have a big problem with it. Better to go down.
They took the elevator down to the first basement level. Along the way, Du Kang and Qingyi were overwhelmed with excitement, especially Du Kang—even his voice unconsciously grew quieter.
Gu Qiumian asked again what everyone wanted to watch. They all deferred to each other, and after a long time reached no conclusion. Finally Zhang Shutong suggested:
"Why don't we watch Stephen Chow? Something lively. I recommend Tricky Brains." He knew Gu Qiumian wanted to watch this.
But Miss Gu chose A Chinese Odyssey instead.
He'd been to the audio-visual room downstairs once before. This time Zhang Shutong observed more carefully—calling it a small movie theater really wasn't an exaggeration. The walls were fitted with special sound-absorbing materials, beside the screen were two large speakers, and the ceiling had colored spotlights that could create atmosphere, the kind used for singing.
Opposite the screen was a long sofa. Gu Qiumian sat on the far left. No one volunteered to sit next to her, so that position fell to Zhang Shutong. He sat beside the girl, with Qingyi on his other side. The movie started and the lights went out.
In the pitch darkness, Zhang Shutong caught that familiar fragrance again.
It was just a scent because the sofa was very long—sitting together absolutely wouldn't result in physical contact.
"What's wrong with you today?" Zhang Shutong lowered his voice.
But there was no response. He suspected the movie was too loud and Gu Qiumian hadn't heard what he said, so he scooted a bit closer to her.
Zhang Shutong asked again, and this time she heard clearly.
"What's wrong with what?" Gu Qiumian looked at the screen.
"Weren't you fine on the phone?"
"Who said I was fine with you?"
"Fine" was a colloquial expression meaning her attitude on the phone had been relatively normal.
But now it wasn't normal.
Not that she had been fine with him on the phone but wasn't fine with him now.
Zhang Shutong felt she'd misunderstood his meaning.
"I have two accounts to settle with you now."
Zhang Shutong was all ears.
"First, what did you promise me last night?"
"I won't hide things from you anymore, things related to your personal safety."
"Then what did you do?"
"Ran off to the mountain by yourself."
"You think I didn't find out later? Teacher Song alone called me several times, telling me to stay safe upstairs." She'd probably been holding it in for a while—she said a long string of words in one breath.
Zhang Shutong wanted to say that at the time, he still hadn't figured out Lu Qinglian's attitude, so he hadn't dared bring her to the Green Snake Temple.
"So what's the second one?"
"Isn't the first one enough?"
"Enough, enough, enough," he sighed. "My bad."
"Why didn't you answer when I called you?"
Really?
Zhang Shutong was startled.
"I was probably on the mountain then, maybe there was no signal?"
She clicked her tongue and resumed her aloof demeanor.
"So what's the second account?"
Zhang Shutong had a rough idea about the first one, but he really couldn't figure out what the second one was.
"Don't want to tell you. You're interrupting my movie watching."
Zhang Shutong was startled again.
"Shh." She put her hand to her lips, adopting an attitude of ignoring him.
Zhang Shutong had nothing to say.
Watch the movie then.
A Chinese Odyssey—one of the most familiar films, probably. The line that left the deepest impression was:
"Once you put on this golden circlet, you'll no longer be an ordinary person. You cannot touch even half a worldly desire. If your heart is moved, this circlet will tighten around your head, tighter and tighter, until the pain is unbearable."
Zhang Shutong had watched it during his leave from high school and found it quite touching. Even now, he was too embarrassed to say how much he'd empathized back then, how his eyes had grown moist. The past was like smoke—once gone, it was gone.
Some movies left deep impressions. Not that they weren't good, but after watching them once, you absolutely didn't want to watch them a second time, because they stirred up things buried deepest in your heart.
He stared vacantly at the screen as many jumbled memories flashed through his mind. He couldn't remember when they'd happened, but they had definitely occurred.
Zhang Shutong lowered his eyes. His memories from high school to university were actually incomplete—not that any piece was missing, but rather fragmented. Yes, fragments. These fragments drifted in the ocean of memory, forever floating there. At first glance, not one was missing, but they could never be pieced together into a complete shape.
His memory had always been good, but only this period of time—he just remembered that things had happened, but couldn't recall which year, which month, which day.
If possible, he thought he should watch a comedy instead. Did A Chinese Odyssey count as a comedy? He didn't know. The first half was pretty cheerful anyway.
Zhang Shutong would rather watch Roman Holiday again.
He was a bit preoccupied now and wanted to zone out for a while, but someone didn't seem inclined to let him zone out. This time Gu Qiumian leaned closer to him:
"Now what's wrong with you?"
"What's wrong with what?"
"I say a few words to you and you get unhappy. How can you be so petty?" Gu Qiumian pouted.
"I'm not unhappy at all." He didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
"Really?"
"Really."
"Then move closer, I have something to say." She patted the spot beside her.
Zhang Shutong leaned his head over.
"Trai. Tor."
A moist warmth reached his ear.
It was the breath she gently exhaled while speaking.
But Zhang Shutong didn't understand how he'd betrayed her again.
Last time with Ruoping and the chocolate?
"What exactly is this second account you're talking about?"
"I just told you."
"That's it?" Zhang Shutong couldn't help turning his head, meeting her eyes sparkling brightly in the darkness.
"Isn't that enough?" Those eyes glared at him, then looked past him toward his back. Gu Qiumian put on a stern face again. "Don't get so close to me, it's hot. If your friend sees, they'll think you and I are on good terms."
Zhang Shutong returned to Qingyi's side.
"Back already?" Qingyi was also staring at the screen.
"Ah, I'm back." Zhang Shutong said helplessly.
"How'd it go?"
"No idea."
"That's normal. Girls' thoughts are always hard to guess."
"I think so too."
"That's why I don't bother guessing. It's still more comfortable hanging out with guys."
Zhang Shutong agreed. When he was little, he basically didn't play with girls either. Of course, he hadn't made many friends back then. It wasn't until junior high that he met three close buddies. Over all these years, the only female friend he was closest to was Ruoping.
Halfway through the movie, he quietly yawned. He'd wanted to take out his phone to ask Old Song if there was anything unusual upstairs. Speaking of which, Lu Qinglian didn't even have a phone—really inconvenient. Actually, Zhang Shutong wanted to ask her directly.
Though he knew that if the other party didn't proactively contact Song Nanshan or himself, it meant nothing had happened, he still wanted to confirm.
He dimmed his phone screen to the lowest setting and had just opened the chat box to type when suddenly there came a loud thud. Zhang Shutong's movements froze, and he immediately grabbed Gu Qiumian's arm.
"Don't go anywhere."
His movement was a bit forceful, almost pulling the girl into his embrace. Before Gu Qiumian could speak, Zhang Shutong lowered his head again and quickly dialed Old Song's number.
The sound had come from upstairs.
Everyone was startled.
"What's happening..."
"Could it be..."
In the time they were stunned, Zhang Shutong had already turned on the lights and said calmly:
"You all wait down here, I'll go up first."
He exchanged a glance with Qingyi, who nodded. But before he could get on the elevator, the call connected.
"It's fine, it's fine," Old Song's voice also sounded startled. "Just a photo that fell down."
"What photo makes such a loud noise?" Zhang Shutong unconsciously asked.
"Seems like a family portrait... it just suddenly fell..."
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