"You few, something's up—get out here quick!"
Zhang Shutong understood immediately. The news about catching poachers must have reached the school. If this were in the city, there'd be a buffer period of two or three days, but the island was so small, with only one junior high. The incident happened last night, and early this morning the police had already called.
Looking at Teacher Song's beaming expression, getting praised was a sure thing.
But why did he make something good sound like they'd been caught in a crime scene?
No matter what Zhang Shutong thought, the classroom suddenly fell silent, and most people's gazes focused on Lu Qinglian.
—Zhang Shutong and his close friends stuck together all the time, so whatever they did wasn't surprising. But what did Lu Qinglian have to do with this?
Many people had this thought.
Did Lu Qinglian have a good relationship with any of them?
Quite a few classmates knew Du Kang liked Lu Qinglian. After thinking it over, there was only one suffocating possibility:
Had the kid finally succeeded?
With such speculation, everyone shifted their gaze. They saw Du Kang had just set down his backpack and then smugly ran out of the classroom. Many boys' gazes turned fierce.
In any case, amid the surrounding curiosity and whispers, several people left the classroom one after another, following their homeroom teacher to the office.
Teacher Song had a trick called "all's fair in war"—he insisted on being mysterious. First, he leaned back in his office chair, and like interrogating a suspect, he said unhurriedly:
"Do you know why I called you here?"
Du Kang was first to curl his lip:
"Teacher Song, why are you acting like Qingyi? Just spit it out."
"Is 'Teacher Song' something you can call me so casually? No manners." Song Nanshan's thick eyebrows shot up. "Let me ask you, did you do yesterday's homework?"
"Uh..."
"One week of classroom duty," the homeroom teacher said with a terrifying smile.
"Come on!"
Zhang Shutong thought Du Kang was still too green. When dealing with Song Nanshan, you couldn't be direct. He proactively took the teacher's teacup, about to go to the water dispenser—the picture-perfect good student act.
Teacher Song told Du Kang that Shutong was the one who respected his teachers, that the kid should learn from him more often. Saying this cheerfully, he turned his head and suddenly saw Zhang Shutong's hand vigorously pressing the hot water button. Shocked:
"What the hell are you doing now, kid?"
Zhang Shutong stopped somewhat regretfully.
"Alright, alright, stop filling it. I can see now—every one of you is a heartless little bastard. Give the cup to Ruoping, let Ruoping fill it for me..."
Having said that, Song Nanshan had no mood to mess with the students anymore, and said irritably:
"I'm just telling you all—there's no morning exercises during break today. The principal wants you few to go to the flag platform and each say a few words. Go back and prepare well."
"No cash prize?" Du Kang was stunned.
"What daydreaming nonsense—a cash prize? At most they'll give you a banner." Song Nanshan laughed and scolded: "Take this seriously, all of you. Think carefully about what to write. It doesn't need to be too long. The principal takes this quite seriously, especially you boys—don't mess around on me... Feng Ruoping!"
Teacher Song gave another sharp shout, glaring as he asked if she also wanted to scald her teacher to death—did she think he didn't see? Ruoping stuck out her tongue embarrassedly, about to hand the cup to Qingyi, but Teacher Song wouldn't have it. His eyes widened:
"You're doing a relay here. Have Qinglian help me fill it!"
Lu Qinglian just nodded calmly upon hearing this and took the cup indifferently.
Teacher Song felt very gratified seeing this—finally, a good kid. He glanced at the four ungrateful wretches again, keeping a stern face:
"Praise aside, you should do less of this dangerous stuff in the future. Oh, and this time it wasn't just you four—you dragged Qinglian into it too. I didn't ask about the specifics, but what if you kids had an accident? Could your parents go on living? Stop trying to play hero all the time. Did you all hear me?"
Everyone nodded to show they understood. Only then did Teacher Song pull open his drawer. Clearly a rough man, but at this moment he was being fussy, not letting up verbally:
"I can tell you didn't listen at all. Sigh, forget it. Come here, all of you. You did well this time. Same as before—one each..."
Song Nanshan's drawer was always full of lollipops, prepared for quitting smoking, but in reality few ended up in his stomach—they all went to the students in his class: praise earned you one, heart-to-heart talks earned one, and if he made someone cry he'd give one to coax them...
In short, everyone got one lollipop each, even Lu Qinglian accepted one.
Song Nanshan then waved his hand, shooing the kids back to class like herding chickens. Watching the backs of the boys and girls laughing and playing, he felt both nostalgic and proud.
The man finally just shook his head with a smile, sighing inwardly that he really was getting old. He habitually pounded his lower back, straightening the somewhat hunched back beneath his white shirt, and picked up the freshly filled water.
He took a sip, then sprayed it on the floor, eyes wide:
"Wait, why is it still hot?"
...
As soon as they left the office, Ruoping went over to chat with Lu Qinglian.
Zhang Shutong thought to himself—if he'd known this would happen, why go through all that trouble earlier? If he'd known the homeroom teacher would call them out, there'd have been no need to take such a roundabout route, offending Gu Qiumian for nothing.
But whether they called Lu Qinglian out or not, remembering her behavior during morning reading, Zhang Shutong could only mourn for Ruoping in advance.
She'd probably get the cold shoulder.
But who knew the two would actually strike up a conversation smoothly? Chatting away, Lu Qinglian even unwrapped her lollipop under Ruoping's guidance and popped it in her mouth. One side of the girl's cheek bulged out. She seemed in a good mood, squinting those peach-blossom eyes.
He'd thought it was just Ruoping's good social skills, but then Du Kang and Qingyi went over and said a few things too. She'd nod sometimes when hearing them, shake her head other times, or respond faintly with a few words.
Though still expressionless, she was more animated than during morning reading.
Zhang Shutong also had a lollipop in his mouth, wondering why she'd frown and look somewhat intimidating only when talking to him.
Then he heard Ruoping ask:
"I originally wanted to have Shutong call you, don't know if he said anything..."
"Oh, he did? Good, as long as he said something. Wait, you said how did he call you..."
"What?"
Ruoping suddenly turned around and glared at Zhang Shutong:
"Ew, pervert!"
Zhang Shutong entered the classroom completely baffled. At this time, Gu Qiumian had also returned, and not alone—three little girls surrounded her, chatting animatedly.
Actually, that's not quite accurate. It should be that Gu Qiumian sat in her seat while those three little girls stood around her, chirping away about something.
Looking closer, Gu Qiumian was scrolling through her phone. Zhang Shutong recognized it as the latest iPhone model—he remembered you had to pay a premium to buy it, once scalped to ridiculous prices.
He saw Gu Qiumian staring at the screen, occasionally reaching into her backpack to pull out various snacks. The colorful wrappers were dazzling, all in foreign languages he didn't recognize. Definitely nothing low-end like Want Want breakfast sausages would appear—he didn't know if Oreos were qualified to make the table.
She just placed the snacks on Zhang Shutong's desk, not caring how they divided them up. The girls ate the food, mouths moving, trying hard to think of various gossip and interesting stories to liven the atmosphere, all to make the young lady smile. But Gu Qiumian just nodded absentmindedly, occasionally curving her lips. When the snacks on the desk ran low, she'd pull out another pile from her backpack.
One girl saw Gu Qiumian wasn't interested and tactfully changed the subject, praising her new phone.
Just bringing up the topic, someone quickly picked it up, exclaiming wow, wasn't this model only released in America in September? It's not available domestically yet—I saw online that anyone who can get one now grabbed it from Hong Kong, ridiculously expensive, hard to find.
Someone else said forget the new model, I've only seen the old one online, never seen anyone using it in person. If only I could afford to buy one someday.
There was also a girl who liked to act cute, pouting and saying Qiumian, Qiumian, let me see it, please...
But they actually weren't very knowledgeable. Zhang Shutong had noticed yesterday that the most expensive thing on Gu Qiumian was probably that ladies' wristwatch—maybe tens of thousands, maybe over a hundred thousand. He hadn't researched the specifics, but in any case, one phone probably wasn't worth as much as her wool coat.
Hearing this, Gu Qiumian set down her phone, just gave the Apple logo on the back a puzzled look, handed it over while casually saying if you want to see it then look, I'm not interested in these electronic products, an uncle gave it to me so I just used it. The girls were envious again.
But Zhang Shutong thought she probably wasn't lying or deliberately showing off. Look—she typed with one finger, a single fair finger poking at the screen poke poke poke, slow as hell...
As he approached his seat, they'd moved on to the next topic:
"So today are we still calling Zhao Yang..."
"No."
Gu Qiumian didn't even look up.
"He actually wanted me to apologize to you on his behalf. He's just not bright, said the wrong thing—he shouldn't have told others privately that he likes you. Qiumian, look..."
Gu Qiumian looked up at that girl. The girl immediately bit her lip and fell silent.
The other two girls also exchanged glances, quietly putting down the snacks in their hands and shutting their mouths too. It seemed that before Gu Qiumian clearly stated her position, no one dared speak.
The originally noisy little circle froze like this. Gu Qiumian was naturally the center of the circle. When they fell into awkward silence, Zhang Shutong had just returned to his seat.
But who could have imagined that the girl who'd been biting her lip suddenly exclaimed "wow," rapidly glancing at Zhang Shutong, her eyes lighting up like little stars:
"A handsome guy, a handsome guy! Qiumian, is this your deskmate? When did this happen?"
The two little girls behind her also joined in the commotion, immediately shifting topics:
"He looks kind of familiar. What's your name, upperclassman?"
"He's so much better than your previous deskmate, Qiumian..."
As they spoke, they consciously made way, as if the next second they'd come up to ask for an autograph, their attitude incredibly enthusiastic.
But Zhang Shutong could notice that the truly clever one was the girl biting her lip. Her words discussed him, but outside her words she constantly observed Gu Qiumian's expression. As for the remaining two, they were always a beat slower—they'd actually been led away somewhat.
He saw Gu Qiumian also glance at him faintly:
"Not familiar."
She crisply spat out two words, turning her phone face-down on the desk. The three girls' words were cut off mid-sentence. The atmosphere became somewhat awkward. They looked at each other, but no one spoke until Gu Qiumian waved her hand boredly:
"You all go back first. We'll talk about lunch later."
The three girls, as if granted amnesty, quickly said their goodbyes and jogged out of class.
Zhang Shutong returned to his seat. If you asked about his impressions, it was probably seeing Gu Qiumian's "young lady" side in the flesh for the first time. Before, only by staring at the building block castle on the bookshelf could he sense her specialness. Now it was much clearer.
He still had two matters on his mind. One was finding Zhou Ziheng—that was simple. But the urgent matter was writing a speech, which gave Zhang Shutong the biggest headache. He wasn't good at this kind of occasion to begin with.
He was pondering how to draft a document—heaven knows how he ended up using the word "draft"—when the Chinese teacher walked into class, clapping and saying they'd do a spot check on texts, brazenly connecting morning reading and first period together.
After class ended, Zhang Shutong had finally worked out a mental draft when the second period bell rang.
Then came the morning break after second period.
The breaks were generally divided into morning and afternoon. In the morning, they'd usually go downstairs to do exercises. His only impression of exercise routines was "Colorful Sunshine," though actually what they did now wasn't that—for students it was time to go wild.
In the afternoon they'd run laps around the field, which was a pain. Luckily the field had been iced over these past few days, so it was changed to free activity.
Now even the morning exercises were changed to listening to them speak. This had already been announced through the school's broadcast system. Zhang Shutong thought the students must be annoyed, but looking at people's reactions around him, everyone seemed eager to try—apparently as long as they could go out and get some air, it was fine.
As a result, right up until the break he hadn't found time to question Zhou Ziheng. Zhang Shutong also found it strange how he'd become so busy—he remembered being pretty idle before... He simply decided to cut through the mess quickly and deal with other matters after the speech.
The class was noisy. This time Zhang Shutong didn't have Gu Qiumian bang the desk. He went out early instead.
Du Kang was still bragging to those around him when Teacher Song grabbed him by the collar and dragged him away, simultaneously calling for the others to follow.
The group hurried downstairs to the flag platform, first forced by Song Nanshan to rehearse once. As expected, none of them were easy to deal with.
"Du Kang, isn't this exaggerated? That guy got scared and fell from one of your frogs—is that real?"
"Ruoping, yours is too long. Don't start from how you all began playing phone games..."
"Qingyi, tone down those chunibyo lines. This is sharing thoughts on being a good Samaritan—you don't need to explore a man's mission..."
"As for you, Shutong... forget it, just do it like that. Try to smile more."
"Finally, Qinglian, although I said writing one sentence is enough, you can't really just have one line. What do you mean by 'I'm very happy I subdued a criminal last night'?"
After all that busywork, Teacher Song looked up at the sky, exhausted.
Then came arranging the speaking order:
They all unanimously nominated Du Kang to go first—he could liven the atmosphere.
Then Ruoping and Qingyi.
Zhang Shutong really wanted to be last. Best if everyone below was bored by then, so he could say two sentences perfunctorily and get off stage. But one girl really had no tact. The three close friends had already lined up, yet Lu Qinglian still hadn't moved.
Zhang Shutong specifically left a space after Qingyi, but the girl just walked straight behind him. He looked back at Lu Qinglian for two seconds. She calmly returned his gaze. Should he squeeze in behind her again? He could only sigh.
Soon the students lined up below the flag platform. The morning sunlight pierced through the clouds into people's eyes. Melted snow water dripped down the flagpole. Looking up to find its source, the pale sky was so bright you couldn't open your eyes... It was a very clean scene.
Then came the leaders going up to speak. Du Kang had long since grown impatient, staring at the leader's pant legs with a twisted expression, really wanting to just yank him down.
Finally it was their turn. Du Kang rushed up in one leap. Ruoping took deep breaths below... Everyone reacted differently. Zhang Shutong's mind wandered:
Why did the applause below the flag platform have such a rhythmic feel?
First, seeing off the leaders was most enthusiastic.
By the time Du Kang got up there, it had weakened considerably.
When Ruoping went up, it grew more enthusiastic again.
The girl ran down blushing. When Qingyi went up with his blank face, the applause was even louder than before.
Next it was Zhang Shutong's turn to go on stage.
He was somewhat puzzled why the applause from below suddenly erupted, even more enthusiastic than seeing off the leaders. Shouldn't they be getting more bored?
Step by step walking up to the flag platform, he could even see people in the crowd waving at him. Looking closely, they were those little sisters from around Gu Qiumian this morning, bouncing excitedly like a fan club, whispering to those around them.
When he walked to the microphone, the applause still hadn't stopped—from his observation, actually the boys had already stopped clapping. Only the girls were whooping and hollering. He looked at a few—all unfamiliar faces.
Wait, no way...
Zhang Shutong's eyelid twitched. An absurd guess surfaced.
But if they wouldn't stop, perfect—he'd just finish talking while they clapped. He cleared his throat. Mixed with sharp feedback, the microphone also coughed. Damn if the applause didn't actually stop, and pairs of curious eyes looked toward him.
Zhang Shutong swept over the faces of peers and younger students, not really understanding what they were so excited about. But he wouldn't get stage fright. Not liking this kind of occasion didn't mean he couldn't handle it. He stood calmly on stage, casting his gaze downward.
No need to look at notes either. Just a few sentences—one glance and he could recite them fluently. He began in an appropriately calm tone. As he spoke, he spotted a familiar figure in the crowd.
Who told Gu Qiumian to be so conspicuous? Her upper body wore the school uniform jacket, but below was that light brown skirt, standing out awkwardly among a pile of students.
The girl had her hands behind her back, looking quite proud, just occasionally stomping her feet in place, which really damaged her bearing—clearly Miss Gu had chosen beauty over warmth.
That red scarf still never left her body. Usually when going down for exercises she'd take it off, but today's activity was clapping in the cold wind, so she wore it again.
Their eyes met for an instant, then Gu Qiumian looked away, unclear what she was thinking. At this time Zhang Shutong was about done speaking. In the renewed applause, he bowed and stepped down, passing by Lu Qinglian.
Then—
The crowd erupted.
The boys below weren't just clapping—they started howling like ghosts. Some boys even jumped up.
If Du Kang wasn't being watched by Teacher Song, he'd be howling too. The PE teacher had to yell into the microphone to restore order. But by the time he finished yelling, Lu Qinglian had already drifted down from the stage like a gust of wind. She didn't even bow before turning to leave.
So another round of ghostly howling arose—though this time not from excitement, but regret.
Better not to participate in this kind of activity again next time.
That was Zhang Shutong's only thought.
In the perfunctory music from the speakers, the PE teacher maintained order as everyone filed out in an orderly fashion—though it was actually close to complete chaos.
The several of them also hurried back to class.
Du Kang was muttering about which girl had looked at him an extra time.
Qingyi stared at his speech draft and sighed. He'd originally wanted to add an improvised line to shock everyone, but was suppressed by Teacher Song's gaze.
Ruoping discussed with Zhang Shutong whose applause was more enthusiastic when they appeared. The conclusion was that with the school's male-to-female ratio of 6:4, the temple keeper girl led him by a narrow margin.
But Zhang Shutong didn't want to discuss this topic with her at all. At such times she'd look at him sideways and say something like, "What, can't wait to go back and chat with your deskmate?"
Zhang Shutong could only be patient.
Qingyi then came over to discuss a man's mission with him. Zhang Shutong rolled his eyes, saying in any case it wasn't patience.
Everyone crowded together up the stairs. Those in front entered the classroom first, but for some reason, someone suddenly exclaimed and stopped.
The crowd shifted from moving to stationary. Some complained, some were curious... Then only surprise spread through the surroundings.
So much so that the chaotic voices suddenly quieted.
Zhang Shutong was listening to Ruoping talk and hadn't paid much attention. He bumped into the classmate in front, frowning as he squeezed in, casting his gaze toward where everyone's eyes gathered—
It turned out the building block castle on the bookshelf had been thrown to the floor, various pieces shattered everywhere. Buried inside was a white piece of paper with two large characters written in black marker:
Go die.