Chapter 108: Slowly, Slowly (3) |
After dinner.
In the second-floor bedroom of the villa, Gu Qiumian quietly flipped through a book.
The desk was neat and tidy. On her left sat a picture frame, which she had gently turned face-down on the table.
The room's color scheme was predominantly dark red—hand-woven carpets, velvet curtains, and even the canopy draped over the bed like something from a fairy tale was dark red, appearing luxurious and magnificent under the warm lighting.
Though called a bedroom, the furnishings here were complete with everything one could need: a walk-in closet, vanity table, balcony, bathtub, and private bathroom. There was even a mini refrigerator that always contained chocolate and yogurt.
She had just taken a long bath, and water vapor still lingered in her hair.
The girl occasionally lifted the cup beside her to moisten her lips. She turned the pages of her book slowly, yet she wasn't reading carefully at all—she would often turn to a new page only to flip back and reread the previous one.
Until someone knocked gently on the door.
Gu Qiumian set down her book, knowing it was Auntie Wu. Only she knocked like that.
"Why did you lock the door today?" Outside stood a woman with a kind face.
"I locked it by accident," Gu Qiumian said offhandedly.
But Auntie Wu chuckled softly:
"Let me guess—did that classmate of yours tell you to be careful, to lock your door at night when you sleep, and you listened to him?"
Gu Qiumian fell silent. She took a few steps back to her desk and sat there propping up her face, staring blankly at the curtains.
The woman sat gently on the edge of the bed, watching the girl like a mother watching her daughter.
"Chairman Gu asked me to come check on you. He felt you were in a bad mood today," Auntie Wu smiled, then continued speaking to herself. "I thought you'd leave with him this afternoon. I was even worrying about how to explain things to Chairman Gu. But you two—did you have a fight?"
"No." She blinked her thick lashes and said calmly, "If we'd fought, I would have gone out. Staying home obviously means home is safer."
"Really?"
"Really. On such a cold day, who wants to run around outside? Besides, he won't tell the truth. I've asked several times, and he'll eventually lose patience."
"Even if he loses patience, that's no reason to suddenly distance yourself."
"I'm not distancing myself from him."
"Is he distancing himself from you?"
"Not that either."
"Then why?"
Gu Qiumian fell silent again.
"All right, all right, let's not talk about that." The woman coaxed gently, "What do you want for breakfast tomorrow morning?"
"Same as usual."
"So that's one fried egg, one piece of bacon, and a chicory salad?"
"I don't want chicory."
"You can't skip vegetables." Auntie Wu smiled again. "You'll gain weight."
"I won't get fat," Gu Qiumian mumbled.
"Should I warm up a glass of milk for you?"
Gu Qiumian shook her head.
The woman changed the subject:
"Chairman Gu also said that for the next couple of days, you should just stay comfortably at home. Don't go anywhere, whether it's the city or the island—wait until he's handled everything. If you get bored being alone, invite those younger friends of yours over as guests. Have the driver pick them up."
"I understand," Gu Qiumian said absentmindedly. "I'll contact them tomorrow. Depends on my mood."
"It's already ten o'clock. Aren't you going to sleep?"
"I want to read for a while. Can't fall asleep." Even as she said this, Gu Qiumian covered her mouth and let out a small yawn.
"You can't stay up late these days," the woman reminded her.
Gu Qiumian nodded, finally closing the book in her hands and slowly lying down on the bed.
Almost the moment her head touched the pillow, her eyes began to close.
"Silly girl," Auntie Wu stroked her smooth forehead and pulled the covers over her. "Why do you always like to keep everything bottled up inside?"
"I don't have anything on my mind."
"Your hair isn't dry yet. You'll have a headache when you wake up tomorrow. And you can't take baths these days—haven't I told you many times? Every time your stomach hurts, you regret it." The woman helped pin up her hair. "What happened between you and that little friend of yours?"
"Nothing happened." Gu Qiumian shook her hair. "I'm not fighting with him."
"Didn't he ask if you wanted to go off the island together to have fun? You wanted to go originally, so why didn't you?"
"He keeps running around taking care of everything, always worrying endlessly. It shouldn't continue like this."
The woman flicked her nose:
"You silly girl, then why were you playing so wildly with him before, even wanting to run out late at night? And you weren't telling the truth just now. It's not really about him losing patience, is it? You clearly asked Chairman Gu to bring lots of people back so he could relax and rest properly at home."
"Mm, actually I was wrong before. I took it all too much for granted."
"Took it for granted?"
"Mm."
"How so?" The woman didn't understand.
But Gu Qiumian didn't answer that question. She only said:
"All right, Auntie Wu, I'm fine. You should go to sleep too."
"Then I'll tell the people downstairs to keep the noise down tonight."
With that, the woman stood up. She knew the girl wasn't used to a completely dark room when sleeping, so she adjusted the bedside lamp to its lowest setting. The lampshade cast a faint halo of light, like a firefly floating in the air.
Gu Qiumian instinctively reached out, trying to grasp something, but caught only empty air.
The night was quiet. The velvet curtains were pulled tightly together. Gu Qiumian placed her phone under her pillow and finally closed her eyes.
She only hoped she could have a good dream tonight.
...
December 8, 2012, Saturday.
When he saw the calendar, Zhang Shutong realized this day had truly arrived.
Friday was already past.
The time was exactly seven o'clock. He still habitually woke early, and the first thing he did was take out his phone to look at their chat history.
Now his only connection with Gu Qiumian existed on this small screen, not through phone calls.
Since she hung up last night, it was generally him asking "how are you" and her taking time to reply "I'm fine." Sometimes she would proactively say "I'm fine, don't worry anymore," and he would reply "stay safe."
That was about it.
Since adding her as a friend, he could count their exchanged messages on one hand.
Zhang Shutong knew she woke later than him, so he sent another message: "Reply when you wake up." Then he got up to wash, but unexpectedly, just as he got out of bed, his phone showed a new notification.
Opening it, he saw it was from Gu Qiumian, only two words:
"I'm fine."
He didn't understand why she got up so early today.
Theoretically speaking, if something happened on her end, he would very likely return to eight years later. But theory was just theory—it was better to ask just to be safe.
He stretched out long and hard, pulled open the curtains. Dawn light shone on the snowy ground below, making his eyes sting.
Another quiet morning.
Zhang Shutong walked through the spacious living room, holding his toothbrush as he went to the kitchen to boil water, then cook eggs. He put three steamed buns in the microwave. Balanced nutrition.
This was Saturday morning. He slapped his face hard, changed into a thick hooded shirt, tidied up briefly, then went downstairs to get his bike. When opening the door, he suddenly remembered something.
Zhang Shutong went back to the sofa to pack up that black down jacket. Maybe he could find time to return it today, maybe not. Either way, he'd bring it. After doing all this, he went down the stairs. His foot wobbled, and a strong wave of dizziness struck.
Zhang Shutong frowned and felt his forehead.
It did seem a bit hot.
He really had caught a cold after all.
Hopefully it wasn't a fever.
He had overestimated his physical condition. He went back upstairs helplessly to dig out cold medicine from home. Human laziness works against oneself—right now he actually wanted to take a nap, but today was Saturday. No matter what, he had to pull himself together.
After all that fussing, he finally managed to get on his bike. The key turned, the engine roared, and accumulated snow on the morning tree branches rustled down. He and Lu Qinglian had agreed to meet at eight o'clock.
She didn't even have a phone—there was no way to notify her if he stood her up.
And it was already seven-thirty.
The motorcycle left a long trail behind it. He breathed in the morning air, and the dizziness finally lessened somewhat. As he rode, he thought about what he had accomplished this time, and what he had overlooked.
The Commercial Street matter was resolved.
For this, he had contacted Gu Qiumian's father in advance, getting him to rush back. This was the biggest change, and the reason he could breathe easier.
After sleeping on it, Zhang Shutong realized he really had worried excessively.
Actually, at this point, Gu Qiumian's situation was already resolved—not that he was being careless, but if a full eight grown men were helpless against something, he couldn't do anything about it either.
Besides, yesterday's encounter had allowed him to judge the opponent's strength. They could fight, but only within the human range. They didn't have any bone-shrinking techniques or flying abilities. Now the villa was surrounded so tightly not even water could leak through. Her actual dad was quite reliable, knowing to proactively bring back so many people.
The suspicious point now had actually become that fake Lu Qinglian. Once he figured that out, things would pretty much be over. Maybe he could even solve Lu Qinglian's death eight years later at the same time.
Zhang Shutong rode his bike to the foot of the mountain.