As evening approached, the light from his phone screen reflected on his face.
Zhang Shutong silently opened and closed his mouth—this news was truly a bit shocking.
Why had she come?
That blue robe was far too distinctive; it would be hard to mistake her for anyone else. The girl's posture was quite earnest too. The folding stool beneath her was very low—most people would have to hunch over sitting on it, but she sat perfectly straight, much like she did in class. There was still some unmelted snow around her, giving off a strong sense of "fishing alone in the cold river snow."
However, Zhang Shutong tried hard to recall—many things from his student days were long forgotten, but he could guarantee that Lu Qinglian had definitely never come fishing with them before.
So which butterfly had flapped its wings this time?
It couldn't possibly be him, could it?
Zhang Shutong really wasn't the self-absorbed type. True, Lu Qinglian had approached him after school to say a few words, but the problem was, he felt he'd already cleared that matter up at the time.
He didn't think the girl was the type to dwell on things either. Besides, it wasn't like he was universally beloved—just because of one little misunderstanding, she'd become fixated on him? That seemed unrealistic.
Still, it wasn't a big deal. After spending so long in that godforsaken Forbidden Zone, his nerves were a bit on edge—actually, the Forbidden Zone wasn't far from where they fished. During the day, you could almost see the opposite shore across the lake.
So just now, Zhang Shutong had thought Ruoping and the others had run into the killer and met with disaster, which had genuinely startled him.
By comparison, it was just Lu Qinglian showing up—she seemed far more harmless. He could leave Du Kang to deal with her.
Less than ten minutes by bike, he quickly reached the agreed meeting spot.
Moonlight poured down, filtering through dense clouds, leaving only a faint glimmer of light.
Zhang Shutong parked his bike in the dark and looked down. Through the thick reeds, he could see Ruoping idly scrolling through her phone.
This place wasn't like the Forbidden Zone—you couldn't walk directly from the road to the shore. The lake surface was much lower; you had to descend a dirt slope to get down. For this reason, the water nearby was shallow, making it a good spot for winter fishing.
The only thing was, you couldn't park your bike on the road—you had to carry it down and stuff it into the reeds. That way, you didn't have to worry about being caught by patrolling police. With a few people sitting behind the reeds, it was like a natural screen. Combined with the darkness, it was quite private—no one would discover them.
Strangely, when Zhang Shutong looked around, he only saw two people. The nearest one was the short-haired girl playing with her phone.
The girl had a pretty face, with a petal-decorated headband on her short hair. Her bangs were trimmed neat and tidy. When she wasn't talking, she really did have the air of a refined young lady.
But on that gentle face was a somewhat large mouth. Not that Zhang Shutong could call it a flaw—there were several famous actresses with big mouths. Criticizing it would just expose his lack of aesthetic sense.
He remembered from a couple years ago, the girl had dragged them to see a movie—what was it called? "If You Are the One"? An artsy romance film. After watching it, she'd pressed them for their thoughts. Zhang Shutong and the others hadn't understood it at all, or rather, even if they had understood, it wouldn't have helped—their answers were nowhere near what she wanted to hear. As soon as they left the theater, she'd pouted and stamped her foot, pointing at Shu Qi on the poster with an "why can't steel be forged from iron" expression, saying, "Who says big mouths can't be beautiful?"
Of course they'd all quickly nodded in agreement, piling on the flattery until she smiled like a flower.
This was Feng Ruoping—spirited and boisterous. Zhang Shutong had always felt she had the bearing of a female knight-errant.
She seemed gentle on the surface, but actually had the worst temper of anyone. All three boys were afraid of her. She was a professional at both bullying people and protecting her own—though the targets of both her bullying and protection were often the same three of them.
At the moment, the girl was unconsciously biting her thumb, her other hand swiping across the screen—who knew what she was doing.
He'd expected that once she heard him, she'd immediately come over to demand answers, but after he walked right up beside her, she still didn't look up. Just as he was about to speak, Ruoping waved him off with a furrowed brow:
"Shoo, shoo, talk in a minute..."
Zhang Shutong glanced at the screen. Under her finger was a fat red chicken... or rather, a little bird. The bird was glaring as it sat in a slingshot. As Ruoping finished speaking, the bird shot out with a bang, tragically colliding with a concrete barrier, leaving only the green pig head inside cackling gleefully.
Mission Failed.
—These four characters appeared on screen.
"ZHANG! SHU! TONG!" The girl immediately looked up, grinding her teeth just like the angry bird.
Zhang Shutong innocently raised his hands.
"Shutong, ignore her. She's been stuck on this level for days." A calm voice came from ahead.
The voice belonged to a boy.
The boy was wrapped in a khaki wool coat with furry earmuffs on his head, black bangs hanging over his forehead as a result. He sat by the water holding a fishing rod with one hand while actually reading a book with the other. Combined with his deadpan expression, the look was perfect.
Out of ten points, Zhang Shutong could give this outfit an eight.
"It's because you came over wearing those earmuffs and won't talk! What else am I supposed to do besides play on my phone? Go down there and catch turtles?" Ruoping immediately redirected her fire, shrieking, "And why are you even wearing earmuffs in this weather? Is it that cold?"
The boy turned his head away and said nothing.
"What does he mean?" Ruoping whipped around.
"He can't hear you," Zhang Shutong helpfully translated.
"Huh?"
"To be more precise, he's cultivating his persona. He feels that with his current outfit, he shouldn't be able to hear."
Qingyi was severely afflicted with chunibyo, with a side of moderate literary youth syndrome.
He never let go of his books—you could see him with trendy magazines, old manga volumes, or hardcover books. He usually kept that deadpan face and didn't like to talk, but actually, he was just immersed in his own world.
Zhang Shutong had always felt that with him as the standard-bearer, the label "aloof" could never possibly apply to himself.
Eight years later, judging from his social media, he seemed to be a department head at some large company—a proper elite engineering type.
Sometimes he'd post photos, though they could hardly be called scenic shots—rather, he'd stand in an office building dozens of stories high and snap pictures through the floor-to-ceiling windows. The big city nights were lively, pedestrians like ants, the shuttling vehicles like flowing ribbons of light.
Occasionally you'd see him post group photos from company dinners, with young women always crowding around him, but under the neon lights, it was still the same unsmiling face.
He also kept a golden retriever. Once in a while he'd take a selfie holding the dog, and only then would that eternally frozen face crack into a rare smile.
More often, he'd excerpt some profound, philosophical quotes and add "Recently reading this book, highly recommend it." Zhang Shutong never took his recommendations, just gave them a like each time. He'd reply with a smile—that WeChat emoji that looked especially passive-aggressive.
Their contact had continued like this for years without breaking off, though they'd never actually chatted—just interacted through social media. Their exchanges were like sparring between masters, stopping at just the right point. There was a kind of understanding between them.
In a sense, eight years ago was the same way.
"What are you reading today?" Zhang Shutong walked over beside his buddy, looking at the book in his hand.
"The Decagon House Murders, published just last year. Honkaku mystery."
Actually, there was no need to explain so much—he'd never heard of it anyway. The only mystery works he knew were Conan and Sherlock Holmes.
But that didn't stop Zhang Shutong from giving a thumbs up:
"Cool."
In the darkness, the other returned the thumbs up.
"But can you actually see the words in this light?"
"...To be honest, no."
"I give up." Ruoping covered her face and sighed. "Typical chunibyo."
Qingyi immediately turned to glare, no longer reading.
See, that was chunibyo for you—the biggest weakness was those three words themselves.
Four stools were already set up by the water. Zhang Shutong sat down first, watching the two of them bicker:
Ruoping couldn't stand it and yanked off his earmuffs. Qingyi had no choice but to negotiate with her. Ruoping laughed like a demon lord, saying fine, then help me beat five levels of Angry Birds... It was a while before they settled down.
The two sat on either side of Zhang Shutong. Qingyi handed him a fishing rod, having him fish first while he battled the green pig.
Zhang Shutong was about to ask if there was water to drink when Ruoping suddenly leaned over, saying if it weren't for you just now I'd have beaten that level, don't forget you also owe me five levels.
He encouraged her, saying if you confronted people in class like this tomorrow, you wouldn't have to beat a single level—you could just uninstall the game as soon as you got your phone back.
Then Ruoping got angry and extended her evil clutches. Zhang Shutong couldn't dodge—she messed up his hair.
She loved messing up their hair most of all, and he felt men's hairstyles were important, so she had him completely figured out.
She didn't like fishing either—she'd just prop her face on her hands and watch the boys fish, serving as referee on the side. Sometimes Zhang Shutong felt bad for her, spending all her time running around with a bunch of boys.
But Ruoping was boy-crazy. Once when he'd asked her about this, she'd covered her mouth and smiled, saying she did it to look at how handsome he and Qingyi were. At times like that, he could only shrug, not knowing how to respond.
Then he heard her ask:
"What were you doing just now?"
There was no way to answer this. Zhang Shutong thought for a moment. "My mom asked me to deliver something for her. I rode over."
"You rode pretty fast then. Haven't eaten yet? I brought cookies, want some?"
"Sure."
"Water?"
"If you have some, perfect."
Zhang Shutong found it hard to describe their relationship with Ruoping. They were all only children, but if anyone had an older or younger sister at home, it probably wasn't much different from this.
Sometimes she felt like the eldest sister—she nagged a bit, but she also worried about everyone. She managed each of them, always chattering away with questions. No one minded, and they all followed her arrangements.
Sometimes she was like a little sister too. Once, a student from a higher grade made her cry. She came back with red eyes, startling them all. She wiped her tears for ages, annoyed that no one was comforting her. When she finally looked up, all three boys were stone-faced and ready to grab weapons. Startled, she quickly said, "What are you planning to do?"
Back then they were at "the base"—in an abandoned drainage pipe, they kept a treasure chest that was truly well-equipped. The three of them each put on motorcycle helmets, looking fierce, ready to hop on their bikes and settle accounts. But Ruoping couldn't help herself and burst out laughing through her tears, saying the other person had already been scolded to tears by her.
She'd actually won, but on the way back, she'd felt she hadn't scolded hard enough—she should have said this or that, which would have been truly devastating. The more she thought about it, the angrier she got, until she made herself cry...
What could you even say to that?
Later he lost contact with Ruoping too. He didn't know if that spirited girl was doing well.
These were the kinds of stories that happened among them on the small island. Eight years later, living alone in a rented room, when he recalled the past, it always occupied an important place in his heart.
The bobber moved. Zhang Shutong lifted the rod—a small fish leaped from the water.
The fish was only about the length of a finger, hardly even counting as a "catch." He tossed it back into the water, thinking, I'll spare you this time, and when you grow up, don't forget to come back and repay the favor.
Actually, fish that had been hooked once were hard to catch again—just like people gradually grow up. The process of growing up was like fish in the water; each time you took the bait, you learned a lesson.
Later you became a dull, cunning old fish, looking out for yourself, the biggest in size, able to swagger through the entire body of water. But where had those few small fish that used to swim beside you gone? There was no helping it—you could only slow down the process as much as possible.
Without reason, he sighed:
"It would be nice if things could stay like this forever."
This careless remark made both Qingyi and Ruoping nod. Someone started discussing future plans—high school if looking further ahead, or just summer and winter breaks if looking at the near term. This was Wednesday—what activities were planned for this weekend? Should they leave the island to play? A vacation trip? The outside world was always alluring.
"But this is pretty good too," Zhang Shutong said.
"Yeah."
"Just us," Ruoping smiled too.
The three of them fell silent, quietly staring at the water surface. Sometimes ripples would spread across it. You could hear the little bird squawking as it crashed into the pig.
After a long silence, Zhang Shutong suddenly asked:
"Say... aren't we missing someone?"
Ruoping also snapped to attention:
"Hey, right! Where's Du Kang?"
...
Ruoping immediately felt a bit embarrassed—after all, she was the one who'd said "just us is pretty good."
Only then did Zhang Shutong remember this issue. He hurriedly asked why it was just the two of them.
"Don't change the subject. I still want to ask you what was up with you today—why'd you suddenly go sit by the young miss? And that piece of scratch paper..."
"Didn't Du Kang tell you?"
"You think I'd believe that?"
Qingyi also got interested. "You like Gu Qiumian? We saw her after school today. Want us to call her over this weekend?"
Zhang Shutong rolled his eyes at them.
"Hurry up and tell us!" Ruoping's future boyfriend was definitely going to have it rough.
Just as he was thinking of how to change the subject, Qingyi suddenly spoke, his tone mysterious:
"You'd better not ask. The reason a man is a man is because he forever has a forbidden zone in his heart that others cannot reach."
Zhang Shutong thought, Where the hell did you dig up that chunibyo quote? But at this moment he grasped the lifeline tightly:
"Agreed."
"Fine, don't tell us then."
Ruoping already didn't get along with Gu Qiumian anyway.
Zhang Shutong breathed a sigh of relief:
"So what's Du Kang doing? I saw his bike is still here?"
"Him?" Ruoping smiled mysteriously. "He's probably grinning like an idiot right now. Oh right, did you see the photo I sent you?"
"Lu Qinglian? Right, what's she doing here?"
"I was about to ask you."
"Me?"
"Who else? You're the one who randomly wrote her name. Otherwise I can't think of any other reason."
Zhang Shutong pretended not to hear and asked again:
"What happened?"
"Well, after school, we were originally going to eat without waiting for you, but Du Kang forgot something and went back. When he came out again, he was dawdling like crazy. I said, why are you acting like a girl? Guess what?"
Ruoping laughed at this point:
"Then I saw him step aside, and there really was a girl behind him—Lu Qinglian had come down after him too. Du Kang told us that when he went back to the classroom, Lu Qinglian asked him if she could come fishing with us."
Zhang Shutong raised an eyebrow, asking curiously:
"Are those two finally getting somewhere?"
Ruoping responded with a heh heh expression, ignoring that question and continuing:
"I originally thought Lu Qinglian was the type with zero worldly concerns, but I didn't expect her to be interested in fishing. So bringing her along was fine—we told her where to go, the few of us ate and came here first. After waiting a bit, she arrived."
Zhang Shutong looked around:
"Then she fished for a while and went home? Du Kang walked her back?"
"Not quite. He'd just finished teaching her how to cast when I took that photo for you. Then she said she suddenly remembered something she had to do, and she'd come back after handling it. She didn't say where she was going—just put down the rod and left. Du Kang was still sitting here like an idiot..."
At this point, Qingyi picked up the rest:
"We told him, it's so late, aren't you going to follow and check on her? Only then did he think to chase after her. Not long after he left, Shutong, you arrived."
Zhang Shutong pieced the whole thing together but couldn't draw any conclusions.
So after all that, they still didn't know what Lu Qinglian had come for.
She couldn't really have come to fish, could she?
Actually, he felt the girl's behavior was somewhat familiar—quite like his own back in the day. Sometimes he'd be doing something else around friends or family when a regression triggered. He wasn't good at making up excuses, so he'd randomly find some pretext about having something to do and suddenly run off.
Other times, to intervene in some matter, even though people barely knew him, he'd force his way in. Others would look at him strangely, but he'd still feel like a superhero making his entrance.
He was about to ask more when Ruoping waved toward the back:
"Over here, over here... they're back. If you want to know something, just ask them directly."