Winter Returns

Chapter 117 Self-deception
12 month 8 day.

Saturday evening at 7 pm.

Xu Zhiruo sat back on the sofa, drenched in sweat, her tongue lolling out like a puppy from the heat.

Singing is also physically demanding. They arrived at the villa at 1 p.m. and have been there for a full six hours now, without a moment's rest.

Singing requires jumping and hopping, so it's impossible to sing continuously. Let alone a group of fifteen or sixteen-year-old girls, even a tough guy couldn't withstand such high-intensity exercise.

After singing a few songs, everyone went downstairs to watch a movie. The projector was turned on, and the system still had "A Chinese Odyssey" playing halfway through.

Gu Qiumian turned off A Chinese Odyssey and asked them what they wanted to watch.

Xu Zhiruo was just a little surprised that her best friend would think of watching this movie. Her best friend was not an artsy girl who would sit alone on the sofa with a box of tissues, crying her eyes out. No matter how classic the melodrama was, she would not bother to watch it a second time after watching it once.

It can only be attributed to her being in a bad mood these past few days. When people are in a bad mood, they tend to look at sad things.

After watching the movie, they went to the piano room on the second floor. Gu Qiumian sat gracefully in front of the piano, and her friends sat in a row behind her, watching her play from Für Elise to Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. The melodies were sometimes cheerful and sometimes melodious. In fact, she played quite a few more, but they could only understand these two pieces. The ones after that were dizzying F major and D major, which they had never even heard of.

It's okay if you don't understand; a good audience will applaud enthusiastically. In the applause, you can see her swan-like, long, snow-white neck, and the young lady's slender fingers glide across the piano keys, exuding a dazzling and proud aura.

Besides the piano, the piano room is also filled with many building block models. One of Gu Qiu Mian's hobbies is building with building blocks. The one that was smashed at school was one of her countless collections. It was a European-style castle that was almost as big as a washbasin. It was exaggerated, but compared to the building blocks all over the room, it was just a drop in the ocean.

They started building with blocks again.

Four teenage girls, unconcerned about getting dirty or losing their composure, sat on the ground like little girls and pieced together a very long train track. Once they finished, they placed the battery-powered locomotive on it. They even lay down, intently watching the train start running, barely daring to breathe. When the locomotive circled several times and returned to the starting point, they cheered, clapped, and took out their phones to take pictures to commemorate their achievement.

At this point, Qiu Mian suggested that everyone continue singing, as she hadn't had enough of singing earlier.

Xu Zhiruo hummed in response, thinking to herself, "That's right, you wouldn't sing when I asked you to, and you were staring at your phone on the sofa."

Everyone went back downstairs. This time, Gu Qiumian found a silver hair clip and neatly tied up her hair into a luxurious hairstyle like a little princess. However, no princess would roll up her sleeves and eagerly try out the song request booth.

To everyone's surprise, she sang "Fireworks Fade Easily" first, and her voice became melancholic and lonely again. Xu Zhiruo thought to herself, "Oh no, does my inspirational speech have such a short shelf life that it can't even last one night?"
She was just about to rack her brains for a few more lines when, as Gu Qiumian finished singing the last line of the lyrics, the young lady let out a sigh of relief.

"I told you I'm fine." Gu Qiumian glared at her beautiful eyes. "Were you talking badly about me in your mind just now?"

Xu Zhiruo breathed a sigh of relief and jokingly said that she wouldn't dare. Sure enough, as if to confirm Gu Qiumian's words, as soon as she finished speaking, a new song appeared on the screen. Just by listening to the rhythm, she knew it was going to be intense. She tapped her heels to the beat and then went all out.

As the song ended, a playful strand of Gu Qiumian's neatly styled hair slipped down and clung to her rosy lips. Her chest heaving, she went to the coffee table to get a drink of water. Xu Zhiruo took over, asking again when requesting a song:
"I'll request 'Simple Love' for you, it's your favorite song to sing at karaoke."

"No." She deliberately wrinkled her nose. "I don't want to sing love songs today, and besides, the only one I have at home is Wu Bai's version. His love is too rough and not simple at all."

After drinking water, Gu Qiumian returned to the stage. She sang the best and could handle any genre, which finally livened up the atmosphere. They sang songs from Jay Chou to Wang Leehom, from Cyndi Wang to Leslie Cheung, and finally returned to Wu Bai.

Everyone was exhausted, but the excitement hadn't worn off yet, and no one really wanted to leave. However, it was getting late, and it was time to call it a night.

So, I don't know who said it first, but let's end tonight with Wu Bai's "The World's Number One".

The proposal passed unanimously, and everyone said "yes, yes!" After the intro ended, the girls deliberately strained their voices and imitated the accent of Hokkien in a funny way. The four of them sang until they were hoarse, and their clear voices were completely out of tune. They burst into laughter after singing only a few lines, the stereo hummed, and they all collapsed onto the sofa.

Demons dance wildly.

Gu Qiumian's voice was hoarse from laughing. She put on her slippers and saw her three best friends upstairs.

The driver was already waiting outside the villa.

"Are you really not staying for dinner?" Gu Qiumian asked.

"No, we don't want to stay. We have some things to do tonight, so we won't stay. Besides, there's always tomorrow."

"Well."

Actually, there was a little incident during the singing. Everyone thought Gu Qiu Mian was going to concentrate fully on singing, but instead, she picked up her phone to reply to messages while getting a drink of water. Xu Zhiruo, who was in front selecting songs, was startled when she saw this. She wondered what kind of magic this blockhead had that had managed to bewitch her young lady again.
She quickly called out, "Qiu Mian, Qiu Mian, it's your turn—"

Gu Qiumian hurriedly took the microphone, forgetting her phone in the crevice of the sofa.

Xu Zhiruo hesitated for a moment, unsure whether she should watch. Just then, Gu Qiumian appeared in front of her again, saying irritably, "If you want to watch, then watch," before continuing to sing.

Only then did she feel relieved enough to look at the chat history.

It was indeed that same guy.

However, this time their conversation took a different turn.

It was around 6:30 when Qiu Mian took the initiative to ask:
"Have you got a meal yet?"

The other party replied quickly, saying they had already eaten, and attached a picture of the restaurant's entrance.

Gu Qiumian then said:
"You ate so early."

"I didn't eat much at noon, and I'm hungry again."

"Didn't Teacher Song take you out for a big meal at noon?"

"I was so busy playing that I didn't eat much, thanks to your card."

"I should be thanking you; thanks to you all yesterday."

Be careful at night.

"Well, have a good rest."

The conversation ends here.

Compared to the previous question-and-answer style dialogue, there were a few more questions about whether or not they had eaten.

She now understood that Qiu Mian didn't want the other person to worry, and seeing that the boy was alright and having a good time, she stopped saying anything.

But it didn't seem like a normal chat; both of them seemed to have something on their minds.

She felt that Qiu Mian had been playing wildly downstairs, but she wasn't truly carefree; rather, she was venting all her worries.

Sure enough, her heart wasn't with her.

Xu Zhiruo blinked:

"Although you sing very well, beautiful lady, retreating and running away will not solve the problem."

Gu Qiu Mian didn't say anything, she just rolled her eyes.

"Don't think that playing until you're exhausted and your throat is hoarse will make you forget your troubles. That's just you backing down. Actually, you just wanted to go out today..."

"No, you're so annoying."

"I haven't even said what it is yet, and you're already denying it? You've been provoked, haven't you? You're just deceiving yourself, fooling yourself..."

Amidst the commotion, they arrived on the first floor. The four of them changed their shoes at the door. As soon as they opened the door, a cold wind rushed in, and Xu Zhiruo shrank her neck.

It's so cold. She wore a down jacket today, looking all vain. It was fine when she came in the afternoon, but the temperature dropped again in the evening. Plus, she was sweating a lot while singing, so now she feels cold all over.

So she asked:
"Qiu Mian, where's that black down jacket you don't wear anymore? I can borrow it for a bit, I'll return it to you tomorrow."

“I lent it to someone else yesterday, I’ll find you another one.”

"Who did you lend it to?"

Gu Qiumian didn't say anything, but instead stood on tiptoe and opened the wardrobe.

Xu Zhiruo watched her retreating figure and could see that Qiu Mian was hesitating and retreating, but she couldn't understand why.

Is it related to that boy?
What the hell is going on?

……

Aunt Wu gently knocked on the study door.

"Enter."

A man's deep, magnetic voice came from inside.

"Mr. Gu, dinner is ready."

The man nodded slightly, indicating that he understood.

This tycoon, who made his fortune in real estate, is not the nouveau riche or shrewd businessman that outsiders imagine. On the contrary, he is a refined and cultured man.

Despite being over forty years old, he is still very well-maintained, with a handsome appearance and fair skin. The girl's fair complexion is inherited from her father.

But don't underestimate someone just because of their appearance. The man casually gave instructions over the phone:
"Use whatever means you want, send that student to a juvenile detention center. As for his family, I don't want to see them on the island again..."

“I know it can be used as a bargaining chip. Once the most difficult ones are dealt with, it will be much easier to talk about demolition. But I don’t want to upset my daughter. An apology? No need. They’re just flies. Director Yu, it’s winter now. There shouldn’t be flies in winter… Hmm, I understand.”

"You guys eat first..." He hung up the phone, casually deciding the fate of several families with a few words. He then typed a text message on his phone, but suddenly sighed, "Never mind, Mianmian will complain about me again later. Let's go together."

He got up from his office chair and habitually tidied his desk.

Aunt Wu stood quietly at the door waiting; she knew that men never liked others interfering with their own things.

Gu Jianhong asked casually:

"Did Mianmian and the other kids leave?"

He could hear the commotion in the living room from his study, so he naturally couldn't go see them off in person.

"I'm leaving." Aunt Wu handed over a hot towel.

The man wiped his hands:

"How was your time? Did you have more fun than yesterday?"

"pretty good."

“She’s a silly girl too,” the man chuckled, his aura of authority fading away. He looked like an office worker, a financial elite, or even a writer, but no one would associate him with a big boss. He chatted casually with the nanny, “Why do you believe everything people say?”

“She was very rational,” Aunt Wu said with a smile. “I was worried that she would go out with her friends, but in the end she didn’t act on her emotions. She knew that staying at home was the safest option. She must still trust you, otherwise why would she call you on her own initiative?”

Do you think she would have gone out then?

"It's possible."

As they spoke, the two walked to the dining table. The nanny pulled out a chair for the man, while Gu Qiu Mian was already seated.

"Oh, I can see that. You're really happy, you little glutton," Mr. Gu said to the nanny with a smile.

"It's all because Aunt Wu's cooking is so delicious." Gu Qiumian lowered her eyes.

“You’ve really gone to great lengths this time. Your friends are doing this for your own good, but they’ve made a mountain out of a molehill… Don’t frown yet. I want to discuss something with you. Tonight, I’ll leave two people on patrol, and the rest of you can go back to the villa. I’ll have Old Wu make them a makeshift bed in the living room, but it might be a bit noisy at night.”

The man said in a gentle tone:
"Just hold on for a couple more days. Once things are settled, you can go to the city for fun or take a few days off if you want. But don't go anywhere tonight. Just stay in your room and go to sleep early. Trust Dad, okay?"

Upon hearing this, Gu Qiu Mian subconsciously glanced out the window. It was already dark. The weather was fine tonight; the moon had come out.

A lone moon hangs in the dark sky.

She gently touched her chin.

……

Zhang Shutong suppressed the dizziness and slowly sat down.

Being surrounded by people felt unpleasant, but he didn't have the energy to deal with the stares from all sides. When the staff came over and scolded him a few times, he ignored them. When they saw that he was unresponsive, they left.

On the boat, he explained Lao Song's situation to his parents, and the ferry docked at 6:20.

Twenty minutes can pass by so quickly.

In the blink of an eye, he was back on the island from the city.

But suddenly he didn't know where to go.

go home?
He eventually went to the hospital.

Of course, he felt he should eat something before arriving at the hospital.

He wasn't hungry, but he felt like a car that needed fuel to keep running.

However, the smell of cooking oil made him want to vomit. Finally, he found a steamed bun vendor near the hospital entrance, and, suppressing his nausea, he tore the bun apart little by little, put it in his mouth, and stood with his mouth closed for a while to stop the churning in his stomach.

Now he was back in his ward on the second floor of the hospital. It was noisy around, but there was an empty sofa. Zhang Shutong quickly went over and took the seat, thinking that he was quite lucky.

I had already greeted the nurse, and when she saw me, she just sighed, probably feeling quite helpless, since this was his third time coming to the hospital.

As the adrenaline subsided, his condition seemed to worsen slightly. Giving himself an explanation was the hardest thing. He hadn't understood the meaning of that sentence before, but now he had some insight.

His mind was a jumbled mess, and he didn't have time to think like a philosopher. All he knew was that, at least for tonight, from now until dawn, he didn't want to go looking for that "fake Lu Qinglian."

He seems to be nearing the end of his rope.

It wasn't just himself that couldn't be fixed, but also the motorcycle.

When he took over the car, it only had a quarter of its tank left. He had ridden to many places in the past two days, and the tank was almost empty. There were no gas stations on the island, and he hadn't had time to refuel on his only trip outside the island. He estimated the remaining mileage and figured that it would probably be the last bike he rode from here to the villa and back.

He decided to use the last remaining opportunity in the early morning.

(End of this chapter)