Chapter 127: "Stray Dog" Route (2) |
"Why are you suddenly asking about that night?" Ruoping was startled.
"It's been eight years by now, right? Don't tell me you've forgotten everything from those eight years?" Du Kang said as well.
Zhang Shutong nodded weakly.
"Where do you want me to start?" Du Kang asked again.
"What do you mean?"
"The thing is, that night was way too long. Remember? We seemed to have eaten lunch, then Teacher Song got into a car accident. We both went to the city one after another, and then Shutong, you went back to the hospital for an injection..."
"I still remember all that. I'm talking about after we parted ways downstairs at the hospital."
"Oh, then you'll need Ruoping to tell you. I was in the city that night."
Ruoping cupped her face in her hands and recalled:
Sure enough.
It was Lu Qinglian who discovered him.
Then he frowned. But if it was Ruoping's father who saved him, what about that long-haired woman? Wasn't she buried right next to him?
Could it be they didn't successfully catch her?
"Was it just me and Lu Qinglian at the scene?"
Zhang Shutong pressed.
"To be precise, it was just you."
"Just me?"
"Yeah. Didn't my dad take us to the villa before? Luckily he remembered the way. Then when he got to the scene, he found you lying alone in the snow. He couldn't worry about finding where Qinglian was, so he rushed you to the hospital."
I see. Zhang Shutong seemed to guess why Lu Qinglian wasn't at the scene.
She probably went to deal with that long-haired woman.
"And then?"
"Then... where should I start," Ruoping sighed. "Things got complicated after that. Do you know when you finally woke up from your coma?"
Before Zhang Shutong could answer, Ruoping said:
"The following Monday."
"A whole two days?"
"It really was Monday. Wasn't that Du Kang's birthday? Everyone was definitely not in the mood to celebrate, so we all went to the hospital to keep you company. That's why I remember it so clearly. Qingyi and I were there. Qingyi said we should contact your parents first, so your uncle and aunt rushed back from the city early the next morning. They took you to transfer hospitals, and several of us followed. Do you still remember our junior high homeroom teacher, Teacher Song? You two were hospital roommates in the city for a week."
Zhang Shutong found it strangely dramatic—he and Teacher Song became hospital roommates?
Ruoping continued:
"Oh right, since you brought up Gu Qiumian, let me tell you about her too. You secretly brought her out, right? You were supposed to bring her back before dawn so her family wouldn't find out. But when she woke up and saw you were being resuscitated, she was so worried about you that she stayed at the hospital without leaving. I remember... it seemed like around morning, she called her dad directly. A whole bunch of people came—her family's bodyguards and housekeepers—discussing whether to transfer you to another hospital. Her dad scolded her pretty badly, he was quite angry. Anyway, it was total chaos at the time, like a pot of porridge boiling over. We knew you were out of danger so we went to sleep. When we woke up, you'd already left the island."
Zhang Shutong could imagine how chaotic the scene must have been, with all parties mixed together.
He reviewed Ruoping's words—there didn't seem to be any discrepancies. If there was one unresolved issue, it was that he didn't send Gu Qiumian back in advance? Which then made her father unhappy? That made sense—any father would be angry if his daughter ran off with some punk kid in the middle of the night.
"She didn't have any other problems after that, did she?" Zhang Shutong confirmed again.
"No, why would she? What could have happened?" Ruoping asked strangely. "Why are you suddenly asking about this?"
"Exactly," Du Kang took over, raising an eyebrow. "When Shutong woke up, his first words were to ask me if Gu Qiumian was dead. I thought, you two never had any grudge before—nearly confused the hell out of me. Bro, next time could you phrase it a bit more tactfully?"
Zhang Shutong ignored Du Kang's teasing. He simply felt relieved that Gu Qiumian was okay.
Thinking about how this girl's life was no longer frozen at sixteen but continued with a new chapter—a new chapter much longer than before. Sixteen years, twenty-six years, thirty-six years... Of course, it was too early to talk about all that now. Only eight years had passed since the early morning of the 9th.
But since it was eight years, that meant Gu Qiumian was now 24. Zhang Shutong suddenly wanted to see what she looked like at 24.
"Have you been in contact with Gu Qiumian again?" Ruoping unexpectedly asked.
"What do you mean?"
"You haven't mentioned her to us in a long time."
Zhang Shutong belatedly nodded. He didn't understand what Ruoping was trying to say.
Had the two of them had some unpleasantness? That shouldn't be—he couldn't think of how he could have upset Gu Qiumian again, unless it was running out during the avalanche and making a mess of himself. In her eyes, that would be equivalent to breaking his promise, and on top of that, causing her father to discover she'd run out at night. The more Zhang Shutong thought about it, the more his head hurt.
"Then why did you even bother back then?" Seeing his silence, Ruoping took it as confirmation. "You should have just agreed when she asked you in our second year."
"Agreed to what?" Zhang Shutong was startled.
"You've forgotten everything..." Ruoping lowered her eyes. "She suddenly transferred away in the second semester of our second year—going to the provincial capital. She wanted you to go with her, to help you get treatment. But you refused no matter what. In the end, we don't know what happened between you two—you never told us. We just know that her whole family moved to the provincial capital."
Zhang Shutong nearly doubted his own ears:
"Help me get treatment? Treatment for what?"
"For all the illnesses you have now, of course."
Wasn't it just a fever? What other illnesses?
But just as he was about to ask, he started coughing violently again. This time even his left ribs were aching faintly. Ruoping said quietly:
"Your current cough is a leftover from the avalanche. The doctor told you to stay warm and not run around. You didn't listen. After just one week, you ran out again and developed chronic complications."
Zhang Shutong was about to say he really was quite wild, not following medical advice and leaving himself with such troublesome aftereffects. No wonder he'd been coughing since the boat. But Ruoping kept going:
"Then there's your left hand—also from the avalanche that year. Bone fracture. Even after all this time, it still hurts on rainy days.
"Your lower left ribs—fractured during winter break of our second year.
"Also during that winter break—tendon rupture.
"Mental fatigue, motion sickness, seasickness—these can all be considered minor ailments.
"And then there's the most troublesome condition." Ruoping frowned. "Don't think I'm nagging, but did you take your medicine today or not?"
"What medicine?" Zhang Shutong asked reflexively.
"Medicine for anxiety disorder. Qingyi had someone get it for you from abroad. Did you take it or not?"
Anxiety disorder...
When did he get this kind of illness? Wasn't this a mental disorder?
Just as this thought crossed his mind, cold sweat suddenly broke out all over his body. His heart seemed to skip a beat, even his breathing became difficult. Zhang Shutong bent over, nearly suffocating. Everything before his eyes was spinning, even the sounds around him became distorted. Then came a bang—Ruoping knocked over a water glass as she stood up. She said anxiously:
"Why is it acting up again? You were fine when we talked on the phone this morning... Du Kang, quick, check if he has medicine in his pockets!"
"Oh, oh, okay..."
Ruoping shouted again:
"Waiter, bring a plastic bag, quickly!"
Then the woman directly hugged his head, softly comforting him:
"Deep breaths, deep breaths. Don't be anxious, there's nothing to worry about."
She took the plastic bag the waiter handed her and placed it over his mouth. Zhang Shutong could only focus on the bag deflating and inflating, inflating and deflating. After several repetitions, he finally recovered.
How could this be...
He lay back in his chair, thinking listlessly.
"When did this happen? Is it also... an aftereffect of the avalanche?"
"You went to the temple once by yourself. You became like this after you came back," Du Kang explained.
The Green Snake Temple?
"Was it also during summer vacation?" he quickly asked, not bothering to hide the gap in his knowledge.
"No, it was during the first semester of our second year, right before winter break. From then on, your health became very poor. We asked you but you wouldn't say..."
Winter?
Setting aside why he would go to the temple again, shouldn't the ability to regress be obtained at the summer festival at the temple during junior high?
Zhang Shutong was about to ask for more details when Ruoping deliberately changed the subject:
"Okay, okay, let's not talk about this. Let's chat about recent things. I'm begging you, okay? Stop dwelling on those worries all the time, will you?"
Zhang Shutong could only nod.
Ruoping kicked Du Kang:
"How's your business been lately?"
Du Kang finally reacted:
"Oh, me? Same as usual. One less table won't starve me, one more won't make me rich. Just waiting for you guys to come support me."
Zhang Shutong then asked why they weren't eating at his family's restaurant today. Ruoping explained:
"You've forgotten this too, right? Du Kang opened a barbecue place in the city. He rented a small building outside the second ring road—two floors total. At the time we all thought the location was a bit remote, but he valued having a rooftop where we could drink beer and hang out in the summer. Can you remember any of this?"
Zhang Shutong shook his head.
"Then let me tell you," Ruoping smiled. "Actually, this is also related to Gu Qiumian. Remember when we visited her home? When Du Kang came back, he said that really opened his eyes—no matter what, he couldn't stay on the island his whole life. So he went out to make it on his own. Things got pretty tense with his family at the time, but over these years he finally carved out his own path. Isn't he about to open a second place now? It's a bar—with some renovation it can also sell barbecue."
"Hey, I was young and didn't know better back then. Why bring it up?" Du Kang said awkwardly.
"I see. That's really impressive."
Zhang Shutong forced out a smile, though he was genuinely happy for Du Kang inside.
"What about you?" he asked Ruoping.
"Me? Same old, same old. Sigh, going to work, getting off work. I got a parrot, and then every week my mom drags me home for blind dates. It's so annoying. My parrot has almost learned to repeat what my mom says. I don't even want to keep it anymore."
"You don't know this, Shutong—Ruoping's a dentist now. I've been to her private clinic. High-end membership system. Pulling one tooth costs an arm and a leg."
"Expensive is expensive, but I'm just a worker. It doesn't go into my pocket anyway." She pressed one side of her face on the table, kicking her high heels, finally showing a bit of her girlish nature. "What I'm most worried about now is how to hurry up and find a boyfriend. I didn't even dare tell my mom I was coming back this time. If she found out, she'd definitely kill her way over here."
"Me too," Du Kang nodded repeatedly. "My mom keeps nagging about holding a grandchild, saying she'll just close down the restaurant on the island and come take care of my kid. Qingyi's not much better off either. We talked on the phone last week—his boss wants to set him up with his own daughter. She's a returnee from overseas, a total rich beauty. But guess what?"
"There's more? Tell us quick," Ruoping urged.
"Qingyi said that woman actually couldn't tell the difference between Ultraman and Kamen Rider. Absolutely not happening." Du Kang burst out laughing after saying this.
Zhang Shutong also wanted to laugh. This guy was still suffering from chunibyo.
"What about your girlfriend? Why didn't you bring her back to meet us?" Ruoping asked Du Kang again.
"It's not time yet. When the time comes, I'll have you guys check her out for me."
"Forget it, I don't want to make her jealous again."
"Let her be jealous. How many years have we known each other? From junior high to high school. How many years has she known me?"
The two chatted and laughed, but Zhang Shutong realized something wasn't right.
When did this guy Du Kang get a girlfriend?
Wasn't he always secretly in love with Lu Qinglian?
But now wasn't the time to talk about girlfriends. He'd almost let them lead him astray. He felt his body was feeling somewhat better and remembered his earlier question.
Why did going to the temple once give him anxiety disorder instead?
Perhaps this was the key point of this timeline.
But Du Kang said he went alone, and they didn't know what happened. That meant the only person who might know was "her."
"Do either of you still have Lu Qinglian's contact information?"
He interjected.
But the previously cheerful atmosphere suddenly froze.
Both of them turned around at the same time.
After a long silence, Ruoping's tone became complicated:
"Shutong, we... we came back today to attend her funeral."
Zhang Shutong suddenly covered his mouth.
Damn it, here it comes again.
The familiar heart palpitations returned, followed by the intense burning sensation of stomach acid surging into his esophagus. This time Zhang Shutong finally couldn't hold it in. He quickly vomited into the trash can, but all that came out was acid. Du Kang stood up and patted his back. Zhang Shutong gasped violently, still unable to believe this news.
Lu Qinglian was dead again?
Why would she still die?
Hadn't that long-haired woman been dealt with?
And why did she still die on the same day, eight years later?
The trash can was a mess. A moment ago the restaurant was peaceful, playing elegant guzheng music, with the faint aroma of food lingering. But now only the sour smell of vomit remained. Several tables of customers turned their heads simultaneously, and waiters also came running over.
Zhang Shutong had no time to pay attention to them. He only felt his heart was also a complete mess.
Because his first thought wasn't about Lu Qinglian's cause of death.
But rather—
He couldn't go back anymore!
This meant her death had become an established fact.
So what the hell had he been doing all these years?
If on the Cold-Blooded Route leaving Lu Qinglian on the island was to go back to the past, what about this time?
He slumped back into his chair powerlessly. Just then Ruoping spoke:
"You've even forgotten this? Then what have you been doing all these years?"
Zhang Shutong didn't know what he'd been doing either.
Last time it was to find clues about the killer, which led to three tattoos.
But this time?
Gu Qiumian had clearly already been saved.
What was he still searching for?
Could it be a way to save Lu Qinglian?
But he hadn't been able to accomplish anything.
Zhang Shutong heard Ruoping's voice suddenly become somewhat choked up. He felt a bit at a loss. Had he done something terrible again like last time and hurt someone?
But before Zhang Shutong could speak, he realized what showed in Ruoping's eyes wasn't anger, but reluctance to bear it:
"Then... then what have you been struggling for all these years, turning yourself into this half-dead state? You never told us, and that's fine. But if even you yourself don't remember anymore, then these years, these years..."
As she spoke, her voice took on a nasal quality. Du Kang pulled out a tissue and handed it over, quickly comforting her:
"This is good news, isn't it? Since he's forgotten everything, doesn't that mean starting over? Listen to me, Shutong. Tomorrow you move in with me. I'll take you to see a doctor first. After you're better, we'll talk about other things."
Zhang Shutong opened his mouth, then closed it again.
The waiter had already brought the dishes.
Du Kang quickly smoothed things over:
"Okay, okay, let's eat first. We'll talk after we eat..."
But no one was the first to pick up their chopsticks.
...
After eating, it was already one in the afternoon.
Ruoping hailed a taxi, and the three of them went to the funeral together.
Zhang Shutong sat silently in the back seat. He finally understood why they'd eaten at the mall today—because he'd arrived on the island two hours earlier than before.
Du Kang helped him out of the taxi. Zhang Shutong could now confirm just how poor his physical condition had become.
"Weak as a willow in the wind" wasn't an exaggerated metaphor.
Now he looked up at the sky in confusion, suddenly unsure of where to go from here.
Go to Lu Qinglian's portrait and leave a white envelope, then try his luck at the Forbidden Zone tonight?
Best case scenario, he could go back eight years. But what if he couldn't?
He didn't even have the physical strength to walk to the Forbidden Zone alone anymore.
Zhang Shutong discovered a laughable fact—he couldn't even lean against the railing on the lakeside road by himself like before, because the wind outside was too strong and would make his head hurt.
Zhang Shutong finally entered the funeral hall step by step. The disturbing funeral music was like fragmented whispers. Once again he saw from before the memorial hall that woman sealed in a black-and-white photograph.
With Du Kang and Ruoping's support, he bowed three times. He wanted to say something but didn't know what to say.
In the end, Zhang Shutong's gaze fell on a small stone tablet.
"It seems to be her tombstone. The islanders pooled money to buy it. Technically it shouldn't be placed here, but there's nowhere else to put it, so they're making do for now."
A tombstone, huh.
Zhang Shutong stared at that tombstone, not coming back to himself for a long time.
This was her tombstone.
So where was his own tombstone?
Or did that saying really apply—just keep running until you rot?
"I'm going to wait in the outer hall," Zhang Shutong said quietly.
"Then find a chair and sit down first. Ruoping and I will come find you after paying our respects, then we'll go back..."
Behind him was Du Kang's voice. Zhang Shutong passed through the crowd of mourners and sat down in a corner.
He took out his phone again and looked at it, opening the hidden album, hoping to find some clue like before. But this time there was nothing.
Zhang Shutong remembered Teacher Song's words again—saying that after staying on the island for four years, he had to leave something behind. So applied to himself, what had these eight years left behind?
Could it be that archway at the port?
Not a bad joke.
He ran his fingers through his hair, finally figuring out what was wrong.
Where was Teacher Song?
Wasn't he always at funerals before?
Zhang Shutong was about to find Ruoping to ask clearly when a fragrant breeze suddenly drifted past:
"Zhang Shutong? You're Zhang Shutong, right? Wow, senior, how did you get so thin?"
"Why is it you?"
Zhang Shutong looked up in shock.
It was actually that Little Secretary, Gu Qiumian's best friend. She seemed to be called something like Zhiruo...
But why was she at Lu Qinglian's funeral? Wasn't she a year below them?
The Little Secretary was now wearing a small business suit, flashing her canine teeth in a smile:
"Chairman Gu has been looking for you for years and couldn't find you. You've finally appeared."
Chairman Gu...
That was a lot of information.
Setting aside how she was connected to Gu Qiumian's father, why was he looking for him? What did she mean by "all these years" he hadn't shown up?
"Why is he looking for me?"
The Little Secretary continued:
"Who knows? Maybe there are some things he wants to say to you. She didn't know where you went either, so she had people come back to look for you. Sometimes she drove here herself, but it seems like you haven't come back once since graduating from junior high."
"I haven't come back once in these eight years?"
Zhang Shutong was shocked again.
He'd thought that on this timeline, although he was barely scraping by, he would at least return to the island to visit.
"I think so. Chairman Gu even looked for your old homeroom teacher, but you seemed to have vanished into thin air these years. She also contacted those classmates, but they didn't know where you went either." She muttered, "I didn't expect to have a surprise harvest coming back this time. I was originally just here to help leave a white envelope. I'll call back now..."
Wait. Zhang Shutong had thought his relationship with his close friends was good and that everyone had been together all these years. But from what she was saying, he'd actually disappeared for a period of time, and no one knew his whereabouts?
Zhang Shutong didn't know why Gu Qiumian's father was looking for him, or why he'd looked so many times.
But none of that mattered anymore.
Because he suddenly realized a terrifying fact.
The senior had told him that killing Gu Qiumian was to prevent the island's development.
Since this regression, he'd been focused on whether Gu Qiumian died or not. But now he realized that although the girl's fate had changed, the island's development process had still been interrupted!
The island's so-called transformation was nothing more than the ferry getting an extra cabin, the port getting an archway, and the mall getting an extra floor for a cinema. But these things might have been planned long ago anyway.
What about the resort he'd seen in the blueprint his mom sent him? The five-star hotel? The commercial plaza?
All gone.
An unintentional remark from Du Kang replayed in his mind.
"They're all just for show, nothing worth seeing..."
Right, these changes were all just for show. The island's development had still been interrupted. Lu Qinglian still died eight years later.
At this moment, an urgent thought arose in his heart.
Zhang Shutong wanted to find Ruoping and ask clearly—what exactly had he been doing all these years? What had he brought back? Why hadn't he returned to the island once in eight years? And why did Gu Qiumian's father move his whole family to the provincial capital? But just as he tried to stand up with effort, he fell back into the chair powerlessly.
Not because his body was too weak and he didn't even have the strength to walk.
But because—
Regression!
It had triggered!
The world before his eyes began to tremble, turning black and white like a film negative. In the final moment, all he could see was the Little Secretary's hand holding the phone, surprise still lingering in her eyes. The next second his consciousness went blank, leaving only a familiar voice in his ears:
"Hey, wake up, Shutong, wake up..."
Zhang Shutong's eyelids felt as heavy as a thousand pounds. His consciousness seemed shrouded in thick fog. He wanted to say he was truly so tired, so tired. Whether it was the avalanche or everything he'd just experienced, it all made him want to fall into a deep sleep. But a voice in his heart told him to wake up quickly. He didn't know if this still counted as "running," but if he fell asleep he would miss something very important and then welcome rot... Sure enough, he still had to keep running. He thought self-deprecatingly, then used his last bit of strength to break through the thick fog.
Zhang Shutong's eyes flew open.
But before he could see his surroundings clearly, he was then wrapped in deep fatigue.
His chest hurt, his arms hurt, his whole body hurt...
Where was this again?
Zhang Shutong lifted his head with difficulty.
He saw a calendar hanging on the mottled white wall.
December 9th, Sunday.
Four o'clock sharp.
"You're finally awake, Shutong! Someone come quick, Shutong's awake!"
The winter night was pitch black. Ruoping, still a young girl, shouted with swollen eyes.