Winter Returns

Chapter 161 Pokémon's Journey Off the Island (Part 1)

In Gu Qiu Mian's own words, this was a special operation to thank her best friends for their hard work last week.

Of course, the term "special operations" was added by Zhang Shutong himself.

Gu Qiumian is a person who always repays kindness. She felt that the people who helped her find the murderer had worked very hard, so she treated them to a meal to repay them. She is also a person who can distinguish between different things. For example, on Wednesday, although the four of them had just gone out for a free meal, she felt that it was a meal for the classmates and should not be confused with that.

It was probably last night, around seven or eight o'clock, when she asked me what we wanted to eat.

Zhang Shutong earnestly suggested KFC, but was given a disapproving look through the microphone. She then suggested Quanjude, but Zhang Shutong thought it was too expensive. Even 12 years ago, Quanjude was not considered a particularly high-end restaurant, but a meal for several people would cost at least a thousand yuan. Gu Qiumian asked curiously if it was expensive. I don't think it's expensive.
Zhang Shutong had to go to great lengths to explain that they felt bad about the expense, and that since the other party treated them to dinner, they would treat them to a movie; this reciprocal arrangement would encourage future interactions.

After thinking it over carefully, Gu Qiumian pouted and said, "Okay, okay, then what do you want to eat?"
Zhang Shutong said KFC.

Gu Qiu Mian went completely mad:

Why are you so fixated on KFC?!

Zhang Shutong had just finished showering and was drying his hair with a towel when he heard this, and said embarrassedly:
"Actually, I want to eat the tender beef wrap..."

This is something that will be discontinued after 2012; once it's gone, it's gone forever. Zhang Shutong now likes to collect foods that he won't be able to eat in the future, like the Wrigley's gum from that day.

Gu Qiumian said angrily:
I want to eat roast duck!

Zhang Shutong tried hard to promote KFC, a "people's food," to the young lady. Gu Qiumian had certainly eaten KFC before, but she only ate the egg tarts.

Zhang Shutong said that there is actually another type of Old Beijing chicken roll, which tastes very similar to Quanjude's duck meat roll.

"Really?"

"Yes, it really tastes similar."

To be precise, it's the sweet bean sauce, cucumber, and scallions inside that taste very similar.

Gu Qiumian remained silent for a moment.

It's unclear what she did during that time, but after a long pause, she calmly said:

"Okay, let's go take a look first."

And so he and the young lady reached an agreement.

He put away his phone and glanced at the time; it was a little past eight in the evening. His hair was still slightly damp. He draped a towel over the chair, pulled the covers up while he was still sleepy, and turned off the lights to go to sleep.

It's not that he's living a particularly healthy lifestyle, but rather that his sleep schedule has been completely disrupted lately. Ever since he developed what appears to be anxiety disorder, he's been waking up frequently these past few days. It's not from nightmares or waking up in a fright, but rather from suddenly opening his eyes. When he closes his eyes again, he feels like something is urging him forward, causing him a lot of anxiety and unease.

He woke up again at 10 p.m., yawned, pulled back the covers, went to the living room to get a glass of water, and then ran to his room to write a test paper. He wrote until about 1 a.m., when he was so sleepy that he could barely hold the pen. He lay back down on the bed and gradually fell asleep. He thought he would sleep until dawn, but when he checked his phone, it was 4 a.m.

He read for a while, and around six o'clock, when it was just getting light, he went downstairs, rode his bike to buy breakfast, ate, and then slept until ten o'clock.

I've had a fair amount of sleep, but the quality is terrible; I'm always in a drowsy state.

Just like now, as he walks up the stairs, he can't help but yawn again.

They quickly exited the stairwell.

The air humidity is very high today, and a thin layer of mist covers the outside. There are a few green belts not far away, mostly with holly-like plants, whose leaves are green in winter as the name suggests.

From above, it looks like a few mint leaves floating in a puddle of milk.

Today is such a cool and refreshing day.

It was quiet all around, but when he looked around, there was no sign of a car.

It seems he's been fooled by Gu Qiu Mian again. Or rather, the girl's "almost there" is completely unreliable. When the boy says that, they're just one step away from a door, but the girl might be lazily applying lip gloss in front of the vanity mirror.

Zhang Shutong walked towards the entrance of the residential area, thinking that Gu Qiumian wouldn't go that far.

Sure enough, after walking a few steps, I saw a black sedan with its turn signal on, about to drive into the community gate.

With the rear window rolled down, someone said:

"You sit in front."

A few minutes later, the car was on the road. There were only three people in the car, including the driver. Actually, he didn't want Gu Qiumian to pick him up, but she insisted on giving him a bunch of reasons. She said that even after the fracture healed, he still couldn't do strenuous exercise. Zhang Shutong thought that riding a bike didn't count, but she insisted that the bike was going on a bumpy road and the vibration would be transmitted to the handlebars and then to his arms. In short, it was very strenuous.

Zhang Shutong was taken aback. Now he was sitting in an expensive car with a high-end suspension that could smooth out any wrinkles on the road. It was so quiet that the only sound was the whirring of the air conditioner. With nothing to do, Zhang Shutong searched on his phone whether a fractured bone could be ridden in a bicycle. Baidu said no. It turned out that she had also searched online.

He glanced at Gu Qiumian in the rearview mirror. She had tied her long hair up today and wasn't wearing a coat in the car. She wore a black stand-up collar shirt with a few strands of gold thread on the collar and a beige pencil skirt. Gu Qiumian was dressed like President Gu Qiumian today, so she didn't talk much. She rested her chin on her hand and looked out the car window, as if she was planning a big business deal.

Zhang Shutong recently learned some new information.

For some reason, it seemed like she was being given special attention by her father. He even asked the nanny, Aunt Wu, about it. After learning that she was the son of an employee of his company, nothing more happened.

Even Gu Qiu Mian was asked about it, seemingly intentionally or unintentionally, during dinner.

This is something we talked about last night.

Gu Qiumian's attitude was hot and cold, and Zhang Shutong's sleepiness came and went. They didn't say a word the whole way, and the driver also stared ahead and focused on driving.

We arrived at the dock a dozen minutes later.

The driver opened the car door for the young lady, Gu Qiu Mian nodded and got out of the car. She said a few words casually, but the driver said that President Gu had instructed that she could not leave until everyone had arrived and boarded the ship.

As soon as Gu Qiumian raised her chin, Zhang Shutong knew what she was going to say. He picked up his phone and waved it, saying that they had arrived and were waiting on the ship. The driver looked in the direction he was pointing and saw several figures leaning against the deck railing, including men and women. The driver apologized to his mistress but did not move.

“Let’s go. He wants to wait for the ship to leave before he goes,” Gu Qiumian said.

She turned around, her skirt swirling with her. Zhang Shutong yawned and followed, only then noticing that she was carrying a small leather bag that looked very expensive.

The two boarded the ship one after the other. Zhang Shutong belatedly realized that she hadn't let her own car follow. In this freezing weather, she could have taken a car to the city, but instead she stopped at the port.

It can only be summarized as a young lady's quirk.

Zhang Shutong waved to his best friends from afar. The three of them were playing games by the railing. They looked up when they heard him and greeted each other.

Du Kang took Ruoping's phone and asked him if he wanted to play Fruit Ninja. Zhang Shutong suddenly realized that Ruoping quite liked playing games; the last one was Angry Birds.

Data is so expensive these days. If you want to play or watch something, you have to download it in advance. Ruoping spun around on her phone. Zhang Shutong had just tapped "start" when he asked Gu Qiumian if she wanted to play next. "This game is perfect for someone like you who can play with just one finger."

As soon as he finished speaking, the ship's horn sounded, the ship started moving, and the driver standing on the shore waved and then left.

Zhang Shutong looked away, thinking that the other person was really responsible. He had just cut a watermelon when someone stretched out a clean, white finger and pressed the pause button for him.

Zhang Shutong looked up, and Gu Qiumian looked at him with her arms crossed.

People need to recognize their own identity.

This sentence means that—

He's a henchman today, not a ninja. Zhang Shutong regretfully returned the phone to Du Kang, ending his ninja dream. Gu Qiumian chuckled and snorted. She stretched, removed the hair clip from the back of her head, and tossed her long hair, letting it fall loose. A strand clung to her lips, transforming from the young CEO Gu into a little girl. She cupped her hand to her mouth and shouted towards the lake:
"Finally gone!"

The ferry slowly pulled away from the shore, and then Gu Qiumian waved to him:

"Come quick, come quick, I want to take a picture!"

He said this, but showed no intention of taking out his phone.

That's really going too far.

Zhang Shutong thought to himself, "Do I have to use my own phone to take pictures for you?"
Even henchmen can't do that; you have to keep your personal and professional life separate. He took out his phone and said, "Your hair is a mess. Fix it quickly. And you're acting crazy right now."

"You're the crazy one!"

The moment she glared, Zhang Shutong quickly pressed the shutter, capturing her wrinkled nose on the screen.

Then she became unhappy:

"You used my phone to take this picture! Also, delete the one from before!"

Zhang Shutong took her phone and snapped a dozen photos. From bow to stern, he sighed inwardly, realizing that being a secretary was no easy task.

Fortunately, Gu Qiumian was very pretty and didn't need any extra photo editing. He returned the phone to Gu Qiumian, genuinely thinking that every picture was photogenic, but she wasn't satisfied and insisted on looking at each one carefully.

Zhang Shutong leaned against the railing, yawning. The fog in the city had dissipated here, and the lake was a rare deep blue today. The entire sky was reflected on the lake, and the wind blew, causing the clouds on the lake to ripple.

Gu Qiumian was intently looking at the photos. Zhang Shutong didn't understand why girls had to take photos and check in wherever they went, and the young lady was no exception. But the weather was really nice today, and even just taking a landscape photo would be beautiful.

"Help me get this first..."

Gu Qiumian lowered her head and held out her handbag. She covered her forehead with one hand and was using her phone with the other, so it seemed inconvenient to carry the bag. But before she could finish speaking, Gu Qiumian suddenly leaned closer:

"Your dark circles are really bad today."

"I didn't sleep well last night." Zhang Shutong thought to himself, "You've finally noticed that something's wrong with me."

"Why are you so excited?" She blinked and chuckled. "Oh dear, who said yesterday 'I don't care what I play' and ended up so excited that I couldn't sleep well?"

“Uh…” Zhang Shutong didn’t know what to say. He nodded and said, “I get excited just thinking about the Tender Beef Wrap.”

"Tch." She turned her face away. Gu Qiumian also leaned on the railing, cupping her face in her hands, and said:

"You should have said you didn't sleep well earlier."

"Actually, it's not too bad." Zhang Shutong looked up the illness, and the medical conclusion was that it would take a period of time to make a diagnosis. This "period" was measured in months. Not to mention that he didn't want to tell his family, even if he did tell them and went to the hospital, the doctor would only tell him to rest.

Of course, he didn't say it himself, but in other people's eyes he was just too playful, and Zhang Shutong felt that it was fine as it was.

So the dark circles under his eyes were just a minor incident. However, Gu Qiu Mian didn't ask him to carry her bag. Instead, she tapped her phone a few times and handed it to him. He looked closely and saw that the screen was the Apple App Store, with a fruit icon spinning in a circle.
"Here you go, play with it."

How could a mere data traffic fee scare Gu Qiu Mian?

Zhang Shutong shook his head and said he wasn't playing; he was just joining in the fun. Gu Qiumian pouted and said, "Why do you like joining in the fun so much?"

Zhang Shutong paused for a moment to think about how to answer that question, then pointed to a duck on the lake and said:

"Look, what is that?"

"Seabirds."

"This is the first time I've ever seen the sea from an island... What?" Qiu Yumian was stunned. "Where did these seabirds come from on the lake?"

"Sheep will even appear on the glass."

Zhang Shutong suppressed a laugh.

He suddenly seemed much more energetic.

Gu Qiumian rolled her eyes at him and quickly took a picture of the colorful duck on the lake.

Then she asked:
"Would you all like to take a group photo?"

Zhang Shutong didn't care:
"Go ask them."

"Go ask."

Aren't you the class monitor? Where did that imposing aura go...?

With that thought in mind, Zhang Shutong went to call three close friends:

"What are you doing?"

He leaned his head over.

All three of them were staring at their phones, looking very busy.

"Don't cause trouble," Ruoping said.
"The battle is at a stalemate," Qingyi said.

"Why aren't you playing with Gu Qiumian anymore?" Du Kang raised his eyes and asked curiously.

Zhang Shutong felt isolated by the small group. He mentioned taking photos, and everyone nodded in agreement.

The five people lined up on the railing and asked a staff member to take a picture for them. Zhang Shutong used his phone, and he will be responsible for sending the photo to them later.

Yanlong Island is one of the city's scenic spots, but winter is the off-season with few tourists. The peak season is during the National Day and May Day holidays, when you have to wait for several hours to board the boat.

Therefore, taking photos for people is commonplace for the staff.

"I say three, two, one, everyone smile..."

As the countdown ended, everyone shouted the old-fashioned "cheese" in unison. Zhang Shutong had just shown a slight smile when he felt a tickle on his face.

Turning her head, she realized that it was the lake breeze that had blown Gu Qiu Mian's hair onto her face.

……

Upon reaching the port, the road splits into two, one leading to the county town and the other to the city.

This time we went to the city, which is a bit far.

When they arrived at the mall entrance by taxi, the group got out and Gu Qiumian paid the fare.

It's already midnight.

"What do you want to eat?" Everyone already knew that Gu Qiumian was going to treat them, so there was no need for feigned politeness now, since they were going to treat her back in the afternoon anyway.

Zhang Shutong told his best friends how he negotiated with Gu Qiumian last night and how he managed to win over KFC, just like a lion on the African savanna trying to integrate into a pride and hoping to gain their acceptance.

The lion king slapped his head with his paw:
"it is good."

As soon as she spoke, Qingyi and Dukang nodded in agreement, signaling with their eyes that they had been threatened.

Now that things have come to this, Zhang Shutong feels that his identity is a bit complicated.

He led the way towards the north side of the shopping plaza, saying he was showing the way, but actually some memories were surfacing in his mind. Looking back, this was the first time he had been to this area since then, but he used to wander around here quite often when he was in high school.

This place also holds many of his memories, though most of them are not good ones.

It's the weekend, and there's some kind of event going on at the mall. Banners and balloons are floating in the sky, and there's a singer playing guitar in the square, surrounded by a crowd.

Walking through the crowd, I encountered several furry people in leather hoods handing out flyers about charity work. It turned out they were students from the No. 1 Middle School of the city doing volunteer work.

Out of consideration for their past alumni, Zhang Shutong accepted a flyer featuring a bear costume.

"Thank you, classmate." A soft, somewhat muffled female voice came from inside.

Zhang Shutong waved his hand to indicate that everything was alright.

KFC was located on the far north side of the mall. He walked a few steps before realizing he was moving too fast. Once the group had arrived, everyone found seats.

Gu Qiu Mian was only treating, but didn't want to queue. In the end, she arranged for three boys to order food, while she and Ruo Ping waited at their seats.

The three of them joined the group.

"Ah, a five-square-foot beef sandwich," Du Kang suddenly said, startling the two of them.

"Sorry, sorry," he said apologetically. "We've been talking about eating tender beef wraps ever since we caught the poachers. Do you remember? We've been talking about it for so long."

Zhang Shutong wholeheartedly agreed.

"Are you really going to take it off the shelves?" Qingyi said. "I remember there used to be a TV commercial where Original Recipe Chicken and some Golden Chicken were going to have a showdown. Whoever lost would be taken off the shelves, but it never came to fruition."

"Trust me, it's definitely worth it."

This thing sells for 18 yuan each.

Although their families were all relatively well-off, it wasn't a time for them to eat whatever they wanted while they were still in school. Keep in mind that a movie ticket cost only 40 yuan back then, roughly equivalent to two slices of tender beef.

"I'm benefiting from Gu Qiumian's connections," Du Kang remarked. "Shutong, could you order a few more?"

Zhang Shutong said it shouldn't be a problem. He knew the two of them were a little embarrassed, so they discussed it and decided to take care of ordering the food.

A few minutes later.

He received the darkest news of the day—

"I'm sorry," the cashier at the counter said with a cruel yet polite smile, "the Beef Wrap is no longer available."

"It's...it's been taken off the shelves?"

The three of them muttered to themselves.

"Yes, you can search for it on your phone; it really has been removed from shelves nationwide."

The shop assistant added:
"The order was placed the day before yesterday, and it was almost done on December 12th."

Zhang Shutong turned around in disbelief.

Passing over a few tables, in front of the floor-to-ceiling window, Gu Qiumian turned around from her swivel stool, arms crossed, a victorious smile on her face.

It seems to be saying:

"How was the viewing?"

A few minutes later, the three of them silently followed the two girls out of the store.

"Sigh, you three," Ruoping said, rubbing her forehead, "isn't this a bit of an exaggeration? It really can't be that bad, right? Let's listen to Qiu Mian. Hmm, Qiu Mian, what should we eat?"

Miss Gu seemed to have anticipated this answer.

She was holding up her phone's navigation app, pointing to the back street of the mall, where there were dark green buildings that looked like villas, with pretty little gardens in front of them, and even the shop names were in English.

Gu Qiumian raised her chin:
Let's go get some pizza!

(End of this chapter)