Winter Returns

Chapter 183 Retracing the Winds of the Past (Part 2)
"Are you dreaming again?"

Zhang Shutong's Adam's apple bobbed.

This sentence can be interpreted in two ways: one is daydreaming, and the other is...

It was just an excuse I used to cover up my past mistakes.

But she only exchanged a few words with her after meeting her? Even Ruoping didn't notice, so how did she figure it out?

Zhang Shutong was a little hesitant, and after a long pause, he only replied with a single "Yes." Lu Qinglian calmly repeated:

Are you daydreaming?

"Uh……"

Zhang Shutong was a little confused about what she meant.

“What do you want to ask? Time is limited,” Lu Qinglian said.

Her tone was like a still, stagnant pool of water.

"A fox." Zhang Shutong didn't bother to guess her thoughts. "Do you remember when we went to the tunnel on the fourth day of the Lunar New Year and put that smiling fox into the altar?"

“I remember,” she said after a long pause. “Nothing happened after that.”

"What about the other foxes? While I was away..."

"No."

"What about the clues regarding the person in the basement, including the clay figure?"

"nor."

Lu Qinglian lowered her eyes after speaking.

Zhang Shutong also fell silent.

There's nothing there.

"So, everything has come to a standstill?"

he asked quietly.

But Lu Qinglian seemed not to have heard those words.

She looked up:

"Is there anything else you'd like to ask?"

"That's it... Oh, only Du Kang and Ruoping are left." Zhang Shutong quickly added, "Although you probably don't care, has something happened to them?"

Lu Qinglian simply shook her head.

The two didn't seem like they were reunited after a long separation. Zhang Shutong looked at the flickering candlelight in front of his knees and remained silent for a moment.

Frustration?
Or is it the feeling of finally being able to breathe a sigh of relief since nothing happened?
He didn't know either.

He only knew that the candlesticks in the temple seemed to be of poor quality and suddenly went out. Zhang Shutong then looked up and realized that Lu Qinglian had blown out the candles.

The entire side hall fell dark, leaving only her clear, melodious voice:
"Go."

Is this an order to leave?
"Would you like to go for a meal?" Zhang Shutong invited again. "Are you almost done with things at the temple?"

But Lu Qinglian didn't say anything.

In the darkness, Zhang Shutong couldn't see her expression, only that she was sitting on the ground, the hem of her green robe spread out on the ground, her posture as upright as it had been in the past.

After a rustling sound, Lu Qinglian stood up.

Zhang Shutong had no choice but to stand up as well, secretly lamenting how Xiao Lu had become even more aloof than before; if this continued, she would truly become an ethereal fairy untouched by worldly affairs.

The two of them went out of the temple and stood side by side in front of the door frame. The worshippers in the courtyard had dispersed at some point, and only two or three people were standing in front of the wishing rack, including Ruoping.

The sunlight shone on their faces.

"Zhang Shutong," a voice softly asked, "what is the outside world like?"

Zhang Shutong glanced at Lu Qinglian, thinking to himself, "What? So you still have some curiosity after all."

But he didn't know what to say, so he started talking about his memories from the original timeline. Lu Qinglian didn't interrupt; she looked at her mouth as if listening quietly. Zhang Shutong was a little confused, but continued talking.

Unfortunately, most of it was artistic embellishment. For example, when he saw chili peppers in the yard, he would say that there was also a row of chili peppers planted in front of the dormitory building. When he saw butterflies, he would say that there were butterfly specimens in the laboratory building. When he heard cicadas chirping, he would tell her that the campus was a place that was many times larger than this, so the chirping of cicadas was many times louder... Anyway, Lu Qinglian didn't know what his university was like, and Zhang Shutong himself had almost forgotten. When he recalled his experiences back then, there was actually nothing to talk about. When he went to university, because of his ability to rewind, he had to grit his teeth and not embrace his youth.

The two of them took turns talking and listening. Lu Qinglian was a really good listener, and Zhang Shutong's mood gradually relaxed. He then mentioned that the dormitory was actually about the same size as this side hall. Because the building was very old, there were always power outages in the summer, and everyone would go to the playground to cool off. But as he was talking, he stopped and realized that no one seemed to have asked him how his college life was.

She was asking:

What is the outside world like?

"Wait a minute," Zhang Shutong said, somewhat taken aback. He instinctively looked ahead. "You haven't been staying in the temple all these years, have you?"

After saying that, I looked at Lu Qinglian again, but she had already taken a step forward:
"very funny."

"What's interesting?" Zhang Shutong was stunned for a moment. Just a moment ago, I was talking about how the water was cut off and I couldn't take a shower. I was clearly in a very embarrassing situation. He knew that Lu Qinglian was a woman with a bit of a bad heart. That "interesting" might just be a joke, but it didn't sound like a joke at all, and this was not the occasion for sarcasm.

Zhang Shutong took the initiative to break the ice:
"What's wrong with you?"

He pressed Lu Qinglian's retreating figure for an answer.

But Lu Qinglian still ignored him. She walked up to Ruoping, and the two went to a quiet place. They were talking about something, and their relationship seemed much closer. When Ruoping spoke, she would lean close to Lu Qinglian's ear and whisper in it like a little girl.

Zhang Shutong suddenly felt a sense of unfamiliarity.

"We'll be leaving soon," Ruoping said, poking her head out. "Go and have some fun by yourself."

Zhang Shutong frowned. The person who made that phone call at noon was acting differently. Although Lu Qinglian was a little helpless, she couldn't just ignore her.

He took out his phone again to look through their chat history. If they had been in contact for so many years, it shouldn't be like this... Zhang Shutong looked at the screen but found nothing to trace.

Their chat history only contained phone calls, not a single text message, but even those calls were from a very long time ago, back in August 2016, last summer.

Going back further, it's 2015, 2014, 2013… They only make one phone call on this day each year, and today's call was made at noon. Can WeChat records be stored for that long? Or did he miss something during the phone change process? He clearly remembered Lu Qinglian saying back then:
"I already told you I was very busy today..."

Perhaps there are other channels of communication?
Short message?

could not find it.

Call logs?

No, not either.

QQ?

It was clearly uninstalled. Could it be that I was trying to cover something up?
Zhang Shutong quickly downloaded another QQ app.

The internet speed on the mountain was incredibly slow. While waiting, he let out a breath and glanced at Lu Qinglian again. She and Ruoping were completely different from how they talked to him. The two were very close, and she didn't turn her face to the side, nor did she react slowly as if she was thinking about something.

That's normal. At least Ruoping was really good to Lu Qinglian. Even after moving, she still thought of her and brought a lot of daily necessities up the mountain.

Some things cannot be thought about step by step. What things were like five years ago does not represent what they will be like five years from now. We can only dig out clues from the existing clues. For example, I came empty-handed with only a mobile phone, an ID card and a set of keys. These things are not what you would expect when you come to visit someone. Do you really think I am so heartless?
Zhang Shutong emptied his jeans pockets but found nothing else, not even a piece of chewing gum. The sun was directly overhead, not yet setting, casting a long shadow at his feet.

Finally, he sighed, holding a bunch of keys. What use were these things anyway? Before he knew it, he walked to the wishing rack. Zhang Shutong looked up and saw four deep scratches carved on a wooden strip.

Oh, maybe it'll be useful for vandalizing public property.

Zhang Shutong casually used a key to carve a line on it, making it the fifth line.

QQ was installed by then, and he logged into his old QQ account. But to his disappointment, there were no chat records, only contacts for Lu Qinglian and the four-person group.

There was no message roaming either.

someone said:
"Young man, you must be sincere."

Zhang Shutong turned around and saw an unfamiliar middle-aged man, one of the pilgrims who hadn't left yet.

The middle-aged man, wearing a floral striped shirt, was tying a wooden plaque to the wishing rack as he spoke. The other person, with a protruding belly, shook it devoutly before glancing at him.
"If the girl doesn't want to talk to you, just go back."

Zhang Shutong felt a little embarrassed, thinking to himself, "You were paying attention to me and Lu Qinglian when you made your wish. It seems your intentions weren't very sincere." He nodded in agreement, and the uncle muttered again:

"Why bother? At first I thought you were really obsessed, but you didn't burn incense or make any vows. It turns out you're just here to chat people up. You've come to the wrong place."

"..."

"But why can't I be invited to sit in the hall for a while?" the uncle asked suspiciously. "Why are you the exception? Did you donate money?"

“…We are classmates,” Zhang Shutong said helplessly.

"Stop talking nonsense." But the uncle didn't believe her at all. "As far as I know, that girl has been in the temple for at least four or five years. Where would she have classmates, kindergarten kids?"

He laughed:
"How come I didn't know there was a kindergarten on this island?"

He spoke with an accent that Zhang Shutong couldn't quite understand, so he probably wasn't from the island.

"You mean she's here every year?" Zhang Shutong asked hurriedly. "What about the rest of the time, besides summer vacation, is she also at the temple?"

"Stop pretending, don't you know perfectly well what's going on? Sigh, these young people nowadays..." The middle-aged man shook his head, "Guess how long I've been observing you?"

"How long?" Zhang Shutong asked subconsciously.

"Four years." He said smugly. "You may not recognize me, but I know you. Didn't I just say that I come here to burn incense every year? Guess if I've seen you every year when you come?"

The middle-aged man said to himself:
"Don't think I'm bluffing you. This temple hardly gets any visitors anymore. It's only on this day each year that it gets a bit lively, and there are even fewer young people. You're the strangest one. Around 3 PM, when most people have left, you came up the mountain without burning incense or making any wishes. You just wanted to meet a girl, and then leave. If you two had something going on, I wouldn't say anything. But the problem is, it doesn't seem like it to me. Otherwise, why would you come out and vandalize public property?"

The man pointed to the five scratches on the wishing rack:

"You're the one who drew these lines, why are you so picky about a piece of wood? Alright, stop standing there like an idiot, the temple is about to close, are you planning to stay here?"

"close the door?"

"It's almost four o'clock," the uncle said. "Hey, I didn't bring a watch today. Could you tell me what time it is?"

"3:50," Zhang Shutong read out the number on his phone.

"It's so late? I'll be going now. Uncle's advice to you is not to come next year." The uncle shook his head and left.

He was the last pilgrim.

The cicadas quieted down, and when Zhang Shutong looked at Lu Qinglian again, she had already finished talking to Ruoping and turned to walk towards the main hall.

It seems that the "go ahead" I just said was my farewell to him.

Zhang Shutong's mind was a bit confused. He was about to chase after her when Ruoping tugged at his sleeve:

"I'm leaving, I'm closing up shop soon."

Zhang Shutong remained motionless.

"We can talk about it next year," Ruoping whispered, turning around and pushing him even harder.

But he still didn't understand why they had to wait until next year. This was clearly an era of advanced information technology; even if they couldn't talk about it face-to-face, they could have explained it clearly on their phones. It wasn't like Lu Qinglian didn't have a phone...

The woman in the green robe walked towards the main hall without turning her head.

It was a summer afternoon, the sun was high in the sky, and every ray of sunlight cast a bright glow. The cicadas had stopped chirping, and the leaves trembled slightly, but the main hall was dark, as if even the strongest light could not illuminate it.

Zhang Shutong stared into the dimly lit room, a sudden chill running down his spine.

He couldn't explain why, but he felt that the farewell shouldn't have come so suddenly. However, the courtyard was really small, so in the time it took to catch his breath, she had already stepped one foot into the palace gate.

This small courtyard became Lu Qinglian's world. Zhang Shutong's intuition was always accurate. He looked at the figure that was about to disappear and had an ominous premonition, as if Ruoping's words were a prophecy. When she really went in, her words came true and the next time they met would be next year.

"Lu Qinglian—"

Zhang Shutong couldn't help but shout:

"you……"

At the same time, a soft footstep sounded in the main hall. Zhang Shutong felt a chill run down his spine. Through the half-open wooden door, he could vaguely see a hunched figure, but before he could see clearly, Ruoping blocked his way.

"Leave! You're hurting her!"

Ruoping said urgently.

Something was about to explode in her mind, and Zhang Shutong subconsciously fell silent, but she still didn't want to turn around. Wasn't she secretly investigating the reason for her mother's death and why the temple keeper couldn't leave the island? But why did it turn out like this?
Zhang Shutong didn't know what he was waiting for. Maybe she only needed to turn around and look, at least he could know her thoughts just by looking at her eyes. But even as the wooden door slowly closed and the sunlight shone on the mottled wood, Lu Qinglian didn't turn around once, and the figure in the main hall still didn't come out.

The cicadas' chirping suddenly intensified, making his eardrums buzz. By the time Zhang Shutong came to his senses, Ruoping had already pulled him out of the courtyard.

Ruoping closed the courtyard gate, her lips pursed as she seemed lost in thought, only to mutter a complaint:

What did you just shout?

"I..." Zhang Shutong opened his mouth. He knew it was inappropriate, but he asked her how she was as soon as they met. She replied that she was fine. When he realized something was wrong, she didn't even bother to respond.

But it's too late.

Zhang Shutong knew that even if they contacted each other via WeChat, it couldn't be now. He should have shouted louder behind her earlier. If he had followed her around and kept asking questions, even if it annoyed her, she would have at least gotten a response.

Zhang Shutong's mind was in a daze.

He was the only one left in front of the courtyard gate.

Ruoping had already turned around and was walking down the mountain road. On the way there, they were carrying a large box, but when they left, it was empty.

(End of this chapter)