"So what time does it actually close?" Du Kang surprisingly played along with a supporting question—truly a loyal friend.
"Uh..." Zhang Shutong was caught off guard. He actually didn't know; he'd just thought the line sounded cool. "Anyway, the door was still open at eight-thirty."
At this point, Qingyi understood:
"So you went back last night and bought a new scarf, then swapped it for Gu Qiumian's?"
He nodded knowingly as he spoke:
"No wonder I saw you were the last one to come out when we were lining up during the break—you were waiting for her to leave, right?"
As he spoke, he picked up the scarf from the floor and examined it. Sure enough, it was different from the one draped over the chair back. The one in his hand was brand new, and looked even a bit more expensive than that one.
"Not bad, you even fooled the two of us." Du Kang punched Zhang Shutong's shoulder once, feeling both the excitement of witnessing the truth and a bit of resentment at being kept in the dark. "But I'm not criticizing you, bro—what you did here is kind of shady. I mean, we came all this way with you."
Zhang Shutong thought to himself that when guys do good deeds, they're not seeking fame, profit, or romance—all that's left is to look cool doing it. That's how he used to be. Otherwise, why would someone confront this guy lying on the ground alone—speaking of which, what was this guy's name again... an act, right?
Of course, these thoughts were mostly jokes. The most important thing was his worry about variables—that's why he'd called two more people along. He always played it safe in his actions.
He apologized with a smile, then adopted Qingyi's profound manner:
"Just male friendship."
Qingyi gave him a thumbs up, and Zhang Shutong returned the gesture. Only Du Kang habitually looked for Ruoping—she was the only one who could reign in these two chunibyo cases, but unfortunately the girl hadn't come today:
"Ah, whatever you two want. You really scared the hell out of me just now, but at least the result is good."
The sounds outside the window grew closer. Du Kang turned to look and saw that quite a few students had already entered the teaching building. He rarely took anything to heart, and though he'd been somewhat resentful just now, he suddenly grinned and raised his eyebrows at Zhang Shutong:
"Hey, since you put it that way, I just thought of an even better idea, guaranteed to be way more impressive than this act."
This kid had one scheme after another:
"Why don't we put away her scarf before Gu Qiumian gets back, then think about it—when she comes into the classroom and sees us here, she'll definitely ask what happened. We'll tell her first that we used the scarf as bait to catch someone. She definitely won't be happy about that. Then, just when she's about to cry from holding it in, Shutong, you pull out the real one and really blow her mind..."
"Stop right there. Just settle down, will you."
Zhang Shutong held his forehead, almost unable to listen anymore. He too found himself subconsciously looking for Ruoping, hoping the girl would give this guy a smack on the head, but unfortunately Ruoping wasn't here.
No wonder this kid still didn't have a girlfriend eight years later. Zhang Shutong had wanted to properly scorn him, but remembering he'd been single at that time too—well, pot calling the kettle black—he felt a bit melancholy and let it go.
"I'm serious," Du Kang was still going on and on. "I read online that if a man can stir up a woman's emotional fluctuations, over time she'll gradually leave traces of you in her heart... that's why they say women don't love men who aren't bad."
What ancient dating heresy was this? Zhang Shutong laughed. "Why don't you try it with Lu Qinglian?"
"Uh, forget about that..." This kid only had the guts to talk, not to act—pure keyboard warrior. "But seriously though, even if you don't deliberately scare Gu Qiumian, when you tell her the whole story later, won't she be deeply moved anyway?"
Zhang Shutong really hadn't thought about this. At the end of the day, he wasn't doing this to make Gu Qiumian feel grateful.
To put it frivolously: everyone agreed to be underlings together, and when you're in the game you follow the rules. How could this bastard go after the young miss herself? That's asking to get chopped up.
To put it seriously: her words yesterday had touched him somewhat, and he'd happened to have an idea, so he'd helped her catch the "culprit."
Therefore, Zhang Shutong said indifferently:
"Oh, speaking of which, I forgot to tell you two—don't embellish the story. Just say the three of us noticed something was off, that's enough."
"Being a good Samaritan without taking credit? What's the point then?"
"What's the point? How should I put it..."
He thought for a moment, then said a long string of words with rare seriousness:
"Let me give you an example. In the past, when you couldn't hold on anymore, no one came to help you. But now that you have a bit of strength, when you see someone in a similar situation, you remember your past self, so..."
As he spoke, Zhang Shutong asked Qingyi why he was taking out his phone to type. Qingyi said such cool lines naturally had to be written down immediately for later use.
Zhang Shutong wasn't sure whether to feel honored or ashamed at receiving his approval.
He changed his tune:
"So I really feel that actually, I didn't do much. If we should thank anyone, it's really her. Otherwise today's opportunity wouldn't have been created."
"That makes sense in a way," Qingyi nodded. "If she hadn't been so nonchalant about it, this person wouldn't have come back today. Without that link, there'd be no way to catch them."
At this point, Qingyi asked again:
"But I've had a question since we were on the stairs—we caught the person, sure, and most of the other doubts are basically cleared up, but how do you explain the name on the bathroom stall panel?"
As soon as these words came out, before Zhang Shutong could speak, the boy on the ground suddenly reacted as if grasping at a lifeline:
"It wasn't me!"
The three looked at him with the eyes one gives an idiot.
"Li Yipeng, I'm telling you this is all recorded. What's the point of denying it now?" Du Kang was amused by his anger.
Zhang Shutong also looked at him. Only after Qingyi's reminder did he realize this person looked somewhat familiar.
He seemed to be their former classmate, with average popularity in class and a personality somewhat like Du Kang's—a bit jumpy.
But Du Kang himself was good-tempered. Sometimes he'd irritate people, but others could irritate him back and he wouldn't take it personally, so everyone got used to it and didn't find him annoying.
This Li Yipeng, however, was lenient with himself but strict with others. His family ran a small business with a shop, so his situation was pretty good. He had all three major items—phone, watch, and mp3—and never stopped showing off.
But the kids on the island all knew each other, so nobody really bothered with him. Who knew he'd kick the iron plate that was Gu Qiumian?
Everyone knew Miss Gu had the habit of sharing snacks with her deskmate. The giver had no intention, but the receiver took it seriously. Later he got carried away, thinking Gu Qiumian was interested in him, believing their relationship could become more "intimate." He went and told Gu Qiumian a dirty joke, even making the protagonist of the joke the young miss herself.
Gu Qiumian threw his pencil case with a cold face. The guy still tried to save face and talked back, so he successfully got transferred to another class.
Thinking back on it, Zhang Shutong didn't know what to say. He thought, what deep hatred could there be? Besides, how long ago was that?
And if this kid really wanted to stick to his guns, that would be one thing. But he'd done something bad and didn't have the guts to admit it. Now sitting on the ground, probably traumatized by Gu-father's wrist lock, scared shitless.
"You're saying you didn't smash the castle?" Qingyi actually had the mood to chat with him.
"No..."
"Why waste words on him? The scarf alone is enough to convict him," Du Kang said with a sidelong glance, intimidating him. "Guess which Gu Qiumian cares more about—the castle or the scarf? If you lie again, the consequences will be worse."
"It was me..."
"There you go."
But the boy shouted out in breakdown:
"I'm saying it's not just me—there's someone else, really!"
"Then tell us who it is."
"I don't know..."
"You think the three of us are idiots? Oh, you get caught doing something bad, so you say you have an accomplice. I bet next you'll say you were forced to do it? Let's not even discuss whether this accomplice exists or not—you don't even know who it is. Even criminals get reduced sentences by providing useful information."
"I'm really not lying... the bathroom! Right, the bathroom!" The boy completely panicked. "Didn't you just say there was Gu Qiumian's name in the bathroom? It was this Monday when I had diarrhea and ran out during class. Just after I locked the door..."
"So you saw Gu Qiumian's name on the partition panel, and don't tell me that counts as an accomplice?"
"No, I wrote the name. Listen to me—there really is another person. I was in the bathroom then when suddenly a note was slipped under the door saying he and I both had grudges against Gu Qiumian, and if I wanted to get revenge on her..."
"This isn't the place to talk." Zhang Shutong interrupted their conversation. He could already hear footsteps of people coming upstairs, so he pulled the other person up. "You two go to the office first."
...
Having Du Kang and Qingyi take the boy to the office first, Zhang Shutong waited in the hallway for Song Nanshan to return.
The next class was English, but given the current situation, Old Song definitely wasn't in the mood to teach. He'd definitely deal with Li Yipeng's matter first.
According to the boy, there was actually a mastermind behind him. Though they'd only played an instigating role, suddenly having another person pop up made the whole thing a bit more complicated.
Zhang Shutong was thinking about a question—
What was really the cause of this incident?
If it was an important change caused by his regression, he carefully counted them: becoming deskmates with Gu Qiumian was one; having the three people's names written on scratch paper and projected was one; Lu Qinglian coming along to fish and catching poachers also counted as one.
In more detail:
Taking becoming deskmates as an example, Zhang Shutong hadn't failed to consider Zhou Ziheng's suspicions:
Like maybe he had a crush on Gu Qiumian, but because he didn't get to be her deskmate, love turned to hate... okay, that was a bit too ridiculous, but it was a possibility.
But the problem was, Li Yipeng said he was slipped the note on Monday, but they hadn't switched seats yet at that point, right?
It couldn't be that a boy named Zhou Ziheng had already laid the groundwork—if he continued to be Gu Qiumian's deskmate, he'd back off; if not, he'd carry out revenge... This could no longer be called reasoning, it couldn't even be called speculation.
And why wouldn't he take revenge on Gu Qiumian's new deskmate, but on her instead?
Taking it further, even if the other party really calculated to this extent, why would he proactively tell Gu Qiumian?
So in the end, Zhang Shutong still ruled out Zhou Ziheng's suspicions—he couldn't find any reasonable motive at all.
Who was this mastermind?
Was it related to the murder case?
And what exactly happened between Monday and Thursday that caused this bomb not to detonate in the past?
Zhang Shutong temporarily had no leads on all these questions.
Students began flooding into the hallway. He just leaned against a pillar, frowning as he watched people walk past, while a completely unrelated thought popped into his head: why had all these involved parties been Gu Qiumian's deskmates?
Of course, investigating this was useless. Zhang Shutong simply had a strange feeling, then thought with relief—what else could it be? They sat close to Miss Gu, that's all.
Without sitting close, there was no opportunity to be fed snacks, not even a chance to talk normally. Without contact, how could they get involved with Gu Qiumian?
He sincerely felt that Gu Qiumian would be better off finding a girl to be her deskmate—it would cause way less trouble.
But she didn't have any friends in class.
Zhang Shutong wasn't so presumptuous as to think about helping her make friends. He just thought about these past few days of interaction with her, each time overturning his original impression.
He used to think she was just a very proud rich young miss, generous with money. The only similarity was that both of them had transferred from the provincial capital. Though he didn't know why, she always treated him like a traitor.
Later, because of the scarf incident that upset her, he discovered her cold side.
Then through a series of coincidences they became deskmates, and perhaps she thought he'd taken the initiative to "make peace," so her attitude softened a bit.
This morning, being sent to school by her father who told her to be happy, he heard her nickname.
During morning reading, he witnessed her interaction mode with the young ladies around her—commanding, surrounded like the moon among stars.
Then the castle was smashed. On one hand she was in a bad mood, on the other hand indifferent. At the restaurant she had a cold face, yet helped him out of a tight spot.
Finally, there was yesterday's conversation after school, when he discovered her stubborn side.
If he had to add anything else, it was her making faces at the glass, amused by herself.
When she returned to the classroom and found the person had been caught by the three of them, what expression would she show?
Joy? Sweet revenge?
But what if she heard about the mastermind behind it?
Zhang Shutong didn't know. If he treated Gu Qiumian as a research subject, he probably wouldn't figure her out in a lifetime.
Just like now—he'd originally thought Miss Gu was usually a girl who rarely smiled and was rather lonely, but she once again overturned his impression:
Gu Qiumian was coming up the stairs with those three girls from morning reading, actually chatting and laughing all the way.
Though she wasn't laughing so hard she swayed like a flower branch, it was definitely a somewhat bright smile he'd never seen before.
The girl was breathing slightly hard, seemingly feeling hot, one hand lightly fanning by her face. She wore a dark-colored sweater that made her skin look even paler.
Gu Qiumian casually glanced over and met Zhang Shutong's eyes. Those beautiful, spirited eyes blinked reflexively, about to glare slightly. The corridor was noisy, people passing by her constantly, yet at this moment she was like a little deer bursting out from a deep tunnel, staring at you with round eyes.
Zhang Shutong also blinked.
This didn't seem quite right?
Yesterday you were casually scrolling through your phone—how come your humor threshold dropped so much today?
Before he could say anything, the little secretary beside Gu Qiumian bounced over and greeted him:
"Hey, handsome guy, look over here, look over here... Wow, he really looked over. Qiumian, look how fierce his eyes are!"
Zhang Shutong simply looked away, thinking—fierce what? I'm just wondering about the interaction mode between you three.
This place wasn't suitable for lingering.
Now that classmates had returned, he prepared to go find Old Song, but unexpectedly this time Gu Qiumian didn't pretend not to see him. Instead, she took the initiative to walk over.
"Zhang... Shutong?" The girl had intentionally straightened her face, yet traces of a smile could still be seen at the corners of her lips. The original Gu Qiumian hummed and said: "What are you standing here spacing out for?"
Zhang Shutong didn't know why she always liked calling him like that, but he could tell she was in a good mood:
"You already know?"
Zhang Shutong suspected Du Kang had leaked the good news.
"Know what?"
"There are too many people here, let's talk later."
"Tch."
But the little secretary chimed in from the side:
"What riddles are you two playing? So in sync? Are we three in the way?"
Gu Qiumian glared at her irritably. "He just likes acting aloof, always being all mysterious."
"But he's only mysterious toward you. Look, he won't even talk to us..."
This was absolutely untrue.
Zhang Shutong simply ignored these little girls and just said to Gu Qiumian:
"It's nothing, just yesterday I saw you..."
"Why do you keep bringing these things up?" Gu Qiumian wrinkled her nose, seemingly unwilling to have dark history mentioned. "Who can stay angry all the time? What if I get old?"
Zhang Shutong said he was just a bit surprised. Gu Qiumian pouted and ignored him, thought for a moment, then tossed out a line saying "then you just stand out here being surprised" before saying goodbye. The bright girl bid farewell to her little sisters and turned to enter the classroom.
Zhang Shutong thought to himself that we'll probably meet in the office in a few minutes—I look forward to your surprised expression.
He should go find the homeroom teacher now, but at that moment Qingyi came running over.
"We just finished questioning Li Yipeng. Finally figured out why this guy still wanted revenge after all this time. It really is more serious than we thought," Qingyi's face was rather grave. "It's not just his own beef with Gu Qiumian—there's also conflict with his family..."
"His family?" Zhang Shutong caught the key word.
"Right, you forgot—didn't his family open a shop right on the commercial street..."