"Your question is quite interesting," Qingyi caught the key phrase, "whether she should have seen it, not whether she could?"
"I am a bit suspicious."
"That's true when you put it that way. The housekeeper clearly said she didn't notice anything unusual, but from her position in the kitchen, shouldn't she have been able to see that dog?"
"Mm." Zhang Shutong nodded. "But there are two things we can't be certain of. First, she very likely really didn't see it. It was so dark outside, and that was a black dog. Plus, when cooking or washing dishes, few people deliberately look out the window."
"Second, even if the housekeeper really did see it," Zhang Shutong frowned as he continued, "what would be her motive for concealing it?"
Qingyi also fell into thought. "If she was in league with the arsonist, they should have worked together from inside and outside to just open the door directly."
"That's why I said this is a discovery that isn't really a discovery."
"How long has that live-in housekeeper been working there?" Qingyi asked again.
"Since Gu Qiumian was in seventh grade."
"Then there's even less motive. If she wanted to make a move, why not do it long ago? Unless... something happened recently?"
"Can't rule it out." Zhang Shutong sighed. The threads were only getting more tangled the more he tried to sort them out.
"Your mission today is pretty arduous then. It's not just simple fun anymore. You have to accompany Gu Qiumian while also hurrying to sort out the clues," Qingyi joked, a rare occurrence.
"That's not all." Zhang Shutong held up a third finger. "I also have to guard against Ruoping."
Thinking of her attitude at school—the matching outfits, the eagerness to meet her new desk mate—she was practically like a little demon who feared the world wasn't chaotic enough. He didn't know why, but people always liked to speculate about him and Gu Qiumian in romantic terms. Just thinking about it gave him a headache.
Old Song was like this, Ruoping was like this... But it was only a headache; he could still handle it.
"Why isn't she back yet? Gu Qiumian too."
"That's just how girls are." Zhang Shutong thought to himself that he hadn't even told him about this morning's clothes-changing incident.
"I'm quite looking forward to seeing how you handle this." Qingyi was being a bit mischievous.
Zhang Shutong ignored him and looked toward the restroom.
The toy store and the bathroom weren't too far apart, positioned diagonally from each other, so he hadn't moved from his spot. He just stood outside the display window chatting idly with Qingyi, able to admire Optimus Prime and, when he turned his head, take in the entrance in his field of vision.
—Unless something happened to Gu Qiumian inside the women's restroom.
But the probability of such a thing was really too small. Zhang Shutong needed to be fully prepared, but that didn't mean he was truly worrying about every little thing. Otherwise, he might as well say that Miss Gu could choke even drinking plain water.
Besides, with such heavy foot traffic in the mall, who would dare make a move here?
The entrance was easy to find, but with so many people today, trying to pick out a specific person through the crowd was somewhat difficult.
Zhang Shutong just glanced casually, not seeing the figure of the girl in the blue-green dress, then withdrew his gaze and continued analyzing: "I estimate by noon, the police station should have the investigation clear. We'll see what happens then."
"Yeah, so don't stress too much. Just treat it like an intellectual puzzle," Qingyi consoled. "Besides, her family will be back tomorrow, and we're not going anywhere isolated. It shouldn't be that something happens today of all days."
"Let's hope not..." But before he could finish his sentence, the phone in his pocket suddenly vibrated. Zhang Shutong opened it to see a new message.
It was a picture from Ruoping.
In her hand, she was holding a plastic bag containing three... very thick, small patties, somewhat resembling door-nail meat pies.
"Egg burgers, one for each of us three. Try them."
Zhang Shutong had never heard of this thing. When he asked Qingyi, the other's focus wasn't on that at all: "How do you divide three?"
"Whatever, I'm not eating. Oh, and help me explain something later."
"Explain what?"
"About Gu Qiumian. Ruoping is too nosy, and so are you and Du Kang. Don't make wild guesses."
Zhang Shutong answered casually, feeling it was necessary to hurry Autumn Rain Lingering along. He'd heard that some girls even touch up their makeup in the bathroom. Truly terrifying.
But just as he sent the message, vibrations came from the bag in his hand. Only then did Zhang Shutong remember she hadn't taken her phone.
At this moment, Qingyi's eyes lit up as he said: "Whoa, look at this. Isn't that a Blue-Eyes White Dragon?"
Zhang Shutong knew he was talking about a rare card from Yu-Gi-Oh. He glanced over. "It's fake, right?"
"Of course I know it's fake, but the replica's workmanship is pretty good. Look at that holographic film, and the three-dimensional quality of the pattern..."
The two simply walked into the toy store. Qingyi had him hold the card against the glass, preparing to take a commemorative photo. Zhang Shutong asked him why, since it was a pirated copy and not expensive, he didn't just buy it to look at home. But Qingyi said this was a man's faith—fake was fake, couldn't be taken as real, and couldn't be trampled upon.
Zhang Shutong couldn't understand his thought process, but still nodded and did as he said.
So with one hand holding the bag and the other using his fingernail to pinch the top edge of the card deck, pinning it to the glass, his gaze naturally looked forward.
"A little to the left, it's a bit off..."
Meng Qingyi was giving directions when he saw Zhang Shutong's hand suddenly release, the card fluttering lightly downward.
Then for the first time he saw such rich emotional fluctuations on his best friend's face—the two of them were similar in a certain sense, one with a deadpan expression and one with a cold face. Even when surprised or angry, it rarely showed on their faces.
But this time was different.
Meng Qingyi looked at Zhang Shutong's face, watching as he slowly widened his eyes, complex expressions appearing on his face. Horror? Not quite. Panic? A bit. But it was more like something had completely exceeded his control. Meng Qingyi knew that what troubled people like them most was exactly this.
The young man wasn't stupid. He immediately looked over reflexively, through the glass toward the bathroom entrance: "What's wrong?"
"This is bad!"
Before the word "bad" even left his mouth, Zhang Shutong had already rushed out of the store. The scene in the distance had completely exceeded his expectations. Even the worst-case scenario he'd imagined wasn't this bad—no, it should be said it was worse than the worst!
Right now he only wished he could teleport there.
However, it was already too late—
...
Rewind time a few minutes.
A subtle sound came from behind. The girl named Gu Qiumian instinctively turned her head. Of course people were coming and going in the mall, so normally she shouldn't have heard the sound behind her, but a faint fragrance drifting from behind gave away the other person.
It was a woman wearing sunglasses and a face mask, fashionably dressed with a slim waist and long legs. She had chestnut-colored wavy hair cascading down, wore tall boots, and seemed to be taking something out of her bag.
Gu Qiumian stepped back, everything happening in an instant, causing the woman's outstretched hand to miss.
However, the woman didn't give up. She came closer again and asked: "Girl, I saw you were shopping with a classmate just now?"
Although you couldn't make out the woman's features or judge her specific age, judging by her voice, she should be smiling at this moment.
"Don't panic, don't panic. Auntie isn't a bad person." As she spoke, the woman lifted her sunglasses with one finger and winked playfully. "What's your name?"
From her eyes, she was a beautiful woman. Before Gu Qiumian could speak, the woman's hand reached into her bag again, fumbling around for quite a while. When it reappeared, her fingers painted with red nail polish already held a piece of chocolate between them:
"Take it and eat it."
The woman's fingers were white and slender, but somewhat rough. You could see calluses on the side. She just waved the chocolate in front of Gu Qiumian's eyes, then added in a cheerful tone: "Don't worry, I'm not kidnapping kids. I just think you're a particularly warm girl. Sometimes people just have fate between them. Auntie forgot to bring her phone, so could you lend me your phone to make a call?"
Apart from dressing a bit strangely, she actually had quite an affable presence overall, though her temperament would remind one of a big demon who feared the world wasn't chaotic enough.
"I didn't bring my phone either," Gu Qiumian didn't take the chocolate, only replied coldly and warily.
"Oh no, that's terrible. My child is still at home waiting for me right now. Let me tell you, he's only this big."
Originally the woman was gesturing toward her leg with distress, but when talking about her own child, she seemed to become excited again:
"He's so adorable. Pinch his face and he won't say anything, just rolls his eyes and glares at you. But he can't even cook a meal. If I don't hurry and call back, he'll definitely cry."
Gu Qiumian thought for a moment: "How about I take you to the service desk, Auntie?"
"No need, no need. How could I trouble you like that?"
"But my phone is with my classmate. You can also come with me to get it."
"That's not good, troubling you two like that..." As she spoke, the woman looked around, seemingly afraid of being discovered by others, yet asked familiarly: "But is your classmate male or female? What's your relationship? Do you need Auntie to help you check him out?"
She seemed to easily control the rhythm of the conversation.
Gu Qiumian instinctively glanced in a certain direction, then shook her head in refusal.
What was strange was that she didn't feel any aversion to this woman. Although the other party's attitude was a bit too... enthusiastic, if she hadn't covered herself up so thoroughly, there might actually have been a desire to chat with her for a bit.
So Gu Qiumian just repeated the matter about the phone again.
"You really didn't bring it?"
Gu Qiumian nodded.
Seeing this, disappointment instantly filled the woman's beautiful eyes, like a child who couldn't get a beloved toy. Even her tone became somewhat dejected.
Perhaps she wasn't lying, and that child really would be alone at home missing his mother very much.
Just when she thought the woman would give up, she again pulled something from her bag. This time what she took out was a small notebook. The other party held the notebook in both hands with a serious attitude:
"Then girl, could you write down my phone number, and when you meet your classmate later, help me send a text?"
This wasn't a particularly difficult request. Gu Qiumian was just about to nod in agreement when she saw a figure running from the opposite direction at high speed. In the blink of an eye, he'd rushed to in front of the two of them.
Gu Qiumian blinked, looking at "New Peach for Old Charm" in confusion. Before she could react to what was happening, she saw the young man had already taken a quick step to shield her behind him.
He was panting, his scalp was tingling, and he blurted out—
Of course, to the big demon wearing sunglasses: "Mom, what are you doing here?"