Winter Returns

Chapter 186 Gathering and Scattering (Part 2)

How come there's a fox here?!

Zhang Shutong opened his eyes wide in disbelief.

But he had just confirmed with Lu Qinglian that the two of them had not found the whereabouts of the second fox in the past few years.

But now it's hiding in the doghouse?
It was actually hidden here by... Du Kang?
Two faint lights shone in the darkness before him. Zhang Shutong knew that they were the eyes of a dog staring intently at him. This hound named Zorro seemed to have only one duty for many years: to guard the fox statue and not allow anyone to approach.

Zhang Shutong took a step back and dialed Du Kang's number. After a short wait, he heard a busy tone on the other end of the line.

He glanced at the screen in silence, not too surprised by the missed call. Zhang Shutong had always felt that Du Kang and Ruoping were hiding something, but he never expected it to be a fox.

So what to do?
The laughing fox took him back five years. What about this one?

Should we take it to the tunnel immediately and place it on the altar?

Zhang Shutong immediately rejected the idea.

He didn't know what the fox was hiding. What if another time travel was triggered? How far back would it go? Could they even go back?

He dared not gamble on any of these.

Zhang Shutong glanced around again. He had arrived here on his bicycle, and it wouldn't be good to carry the fox with him even if he took it with him. Besides, dealing with that ferocious dog would be a bit tricky.

A few seconds later, he sorted out his thoughts.

Five years from now, it doesn't matter where the fox is; what matters is what happened five years ago and figuring out why it was there.

The answer lies with Ruoping and Dukang.

Zhang Shutong no longer hesitated. He sent another message to Du Kang. In fact, Zhang Shutong did not expect Du Kang to take the initiative to reply. The closest person to him was Ruoping.

But after picking up his phone and thinking about it, he put it down again.

Zhang Shutong didn't want to cause any unnecessary trouble. Since she was still unaware that she had discovered something unusual, it was best not to alert her before Ruoping returned home.

This matter is related to Lu Qinglian's ears, Du Kang feels guilty towards Lu Qinglian, and Ruoping has helped Du Kang hide something... So what happened back then? He thought of countless possibilities, good or bad, and he didn't want to think about the worst, but the answer was right there in front of him.

By the time Zhang Shutong came to his senses, the sausage casing had already been crumpled into a ball.

He suddenly felt a little unsure how to face Ruoping. They say girls change a lot as they grow up, and in the blink of an eye, Ruoping had become more mature and beautiful. She would wear elegant dresses and fashionable makeup, no longer as impulsive as before.

She and Du Kang are similar types; they can't hide their feelings, and their joys and sorrows are all written on their faces. One second they're about to cry, and the next second you whisper a joke in their ear, and they burst out laughing, but tears are still welling up in their eyes. They can't decide whether to cry or laugh, and in the end, they can only chase after you in frustration.

But she had become so familiar yet so strange. Everyone still remembered each other's hobbies and could joke around like before, but there was always some distance between them.

Now Zhang Shutong understands where the rift lies. It is precisely because of this that they kept something a secret for five whole years. He didn't know that Qingyi didn't know that Lu Qinglian didn't know either.

Zhang Shutong seemed to understand why their four-person QQ group had been disbanded; it would have been strange if it had even been maintained.

He quickly rode his bike to Ruoping's building and immediately went to look for the SUV. It wasn't there, which meant Ruoping hadn't returned yet.

Zhang Shutong hurriedly entered the room.

"Shutong, you're back just in time. I was just about to call Ping'er to ask..."

Before he was seen, his voice was heard. Feng's mother was cleaning the living room when she heard him return and began to complain:

"I don't know what's wrong with that girl, she's been taking so long to buy a head of garlic! It's always like this, I'm out of scallions when I'm cooking, so I ask her to go buy some things, and she doesn't come back for ages. When I call her, she's out having fun with you guys!"

As she spoke, Mrs. Feng laughed, and Zhang Shutong could only force a smile. Just as he was about to head upstairs to find his earphones, he heard the woman call out again:
"Shutong, Auntie needs to trouble you with something else..."

"Auntie, please wait a moment, I'm going to get something!"

He ran quickly up the stairs to Ruoping's room, opened the desk drawer, and found a tangled headphone wire. He didn't bother to untangle it, so the end was very short. He only plugged it into one ear, but when he pressed the power button on the MP3 player, he found that it wouldn't respond no matter how he pressed it.

The battery is out.

Zhang Shutong slammed his fist on the table.

He cursed under his breath, thinking that this thing definitely couldn't have been sent to him by himself. There was no reason for it to go through so many roundabout ways. Fortunately, he saw a data cable on his desk. While waiting for the MP3 to charge, Zhang Shutong sighed and turned to go downstairs.

This is what's inconvenient in someone else's home.

"Excuse me, I forgot something when I went out. Could you tell me, Auntie?"

"Oh, it's alright, it's alright. You're too kind, child. Could you help Auntie take that birdcage down? I can't reach the hook on top, and your uncle went to the recycling station again."

Zhang Shutong glanced at it and saw it was the parrot he kept on the balcony. He quickly and decisively lifted the cage down, but perhaps his movements weren't gentle enough, as the parrot was startled and fluttered around in the cage, its feathers flying everywhere. Ruoping's mother came over to help him pat his clothes.

"Shutong, I've seen you running around all day, you haven't had a moment to rest. Is there something else going on?"

"It's nothing serious," Zhang Shutong said. "I visited a friend and then went home to get some things."

"Auntie always thought you were very busy, how come you're still like this now?" Ruoping's mother joked. "In the blink of an eye, you've all grown up so much. Do you remember when you said you would go to a high school and a university? Only a few years have passed, and you're the only one who came back. It's true that you can't take what you said when you were little seriously."

Mrs. Feng couldn't help but feel a little emotional.

"...Do you and your uncle also know what happened between her and Du Kang?" Zhang Shutong asked, seizing the opportunity. He couldn't get an answer from Qingyi, but as parents, they might be able to offer a different perspective.

“I’m puzzled too. He was eating fine the day before. My son and I were going to have dinner on the shopping street that night, and Du Kang insisted on coming with us.” Du Kang was a child she had watched grow up, so she didn’t need to be too careful with her words. The woman laughed and scolded, “That rascal was so carefree back then, but now he knows how to be shy.”

Zhang Shutong was taken aback; he hadn't expected it to be from Feng's mother's perspective.
"You know Lu Qinglian, right?"

"Oh, that girl who was the temple keeper, right? Ping'er admired her so much back then, what a pity."

"Did something happen that involved her back then?" Zhang Shutong probed. "I mean, between Ruoping and Du Kang, especially Du Kang?"

"No... Oh, it seems there really was," the woman said suddenly, "You guys went out together that day, and that girl was in there too."

"and then?"

“Then,” the woman hesitated, “I really don’t remember how I got involved with her. If you say she has hearing problems, this aunt knows that. Ping’er cried about it several times… It was from that time that the two of them suddenly became estranged.”

The woman thought for a moment:
"Well, I wouldn't say we've grown distant. Ping used to idolize her like a fangirl. She told me about a classmate who was beautiful, mature, academically excellent, and very independent. Most importantly, she was a great fighter. She praised her to the skies. I told her to go and befriend her and learn from her. But one day, Ping suddenly stopped mentioning her. Then I asked her a few more questions and found out that the girl had injured her ear."

"Now that you think about it, it's actually quite strange."

The woman asked, puzzled:
“Ping’er is quite caring. Your uncle was transferred to teach at the county high school, and she even asked her dad about tuition waivers, and if it wasn’t enough, could our family help to raise the money? I think this is a good thing, but Ping’er seemed to be carrying some huge burden on her mind. She couldn’t sleep or eat well during that time. You know, I’m not praising her, but she’s always been a kind child. But it’s not that she would let her classmate’s ear injury cause her so much suffering… Shutong, do you know what happened?”

"I don't know either." Zhang Shutong said something he didn't mean. He couldn't explain his feelings. It was the result he least wanted to guess, but it was almost certainly true.

The answer is actually quite obvious.

Du Kang did something that caused Lu Qinglian to lose her hearing. It was probably unintentional, and Lu Qinglian was unaware of it, as was Qingyi. However, Ruoping found out.

Perhaps she was soft-hearted and didn't want to expose Du Kang, or perhaps she was worried that if she told him, they wouldn't be able to be friends anymore, so she kept helping him a secret. But in the end, they still broke up.

Why does Ruoping always seem to avoid mentioning Du Kang? Why does she visit Lu Qinglian every year? Why did she and Du Kang suddenly "break off their friendship"? Why doesn't Du Kang return to the island or answer her phone calls? It turns out it's because of this.

The air conditioning was cool, but Zhang Shutong felt a fire burning in his heart. He suddenly couldn't stand it anymore and wanted to find Ruoping and get some answers right now.

"Sigh, well, so many years have passed." Ruoping's mother shook her head. "I just feel it's a real pity. You guys were such good friends back then, the four of you were like glue, eating together, fishing together, going everywhere together, and then you just broke up for no apparent reason. Especially with Du Kang, I remember they even had a fight at home later. When I walked in, I was shocked, I almost thought Du Kang was bullying her..."

"We can't stay together forever."

Zhang Shutong managed to squeeze out this sentence after a long pause.

"Yes." These words made Feng's mother feel a little melancholy. "You two will get together less and less often in the future."

"Why don't you try to persuade Ping'er later?"

Ruoping inherited the woman's fiery and impulsive personality. One moment, Feng's mother was frowning, and the next she was laughing:

"She's a bit of a stickler for rules. I could tell she really wanted to have a meal with you old friends. Otherwise, why would she go out to buy green peppers so late at night? I asked her if she absolutely had to have these green peppers, and she said she absolutely had to. You're usually so easygoing, but when you finally find a dish you like, you have to go out and buy it."

These trivial words reached Zhang Shutong's ears, causing him to hesitate for a moment and turn his gaze away from the window.

He was distracted while talking to Feng's mother, waiting for the SUV to arrive from the balcony. One moment he wanted to rush to the car and get to the bottom of things, but the next he thought it wouldn't be that easy. As soon as Ruoping came back, she would be urged to eat. At the dinner table? That would be even more inappropriate.

Inside the kitchen, neatly arranged dumplings were stacked on the cutting board. Zhang Shutong even saw a metal basin filled with marinated shredded meat, just waiting for the green peppers to arrive before cooking.

He seemed to understand the angry and sad expressions on everyone's faces on the Cold-Blooded Line.

Zhang Shutong took out her phone, but Du Kang still hadn't replied to her message; he seemed to have vanished into thin air.

As soon as the door opened, Zhang Shutong turned around and saw that it was Mr. Feng who had returned.

"Why aren't you taking Shutong to sit down? What are you chatting about on the balcony?" The man looked around. "Where's Ping'er?"

"I was so busy chatting with Shutong... Oh dear, how come it's so late?" Feng's mother glanced at the time and immediately raised her eyebrows, just like Ruoping. "I think this girl is about to rebel. Why is she still wandering around outside? What could be more important than having dinner together? No, I'm going to make a call right now..."

Yes, what could be bigger than getting together for a meal?

Zhang Shutong thought silently.

He suddenly didn't want to wait on the balcony anymore. What he wanted was the result, not the answer. He just wanted to find out the truth and not repeat the same mistakes, not to question or vent.

Zhang Shutong told himself this.

He suddenly felt a little uncomfortable, preferring to tell him it was the fox's fault. Zhang Shutong preferred to believe that the fox, like a sage, could possess people and bewitch them, which was why Ruoping and Dukang chose to do this.

Zhang Shutong planned to go back upstairs and stay for a while.

As she was leaving, Feng's mother called out:
"Shutong, could you please carry the birdcage upstairs again? It's too cold downstairs with the air conditioning on, so just put it in that storeroom."

Zhang Shutong nodded and carried the parrot upstairs.

"Shutong! Shutong!"

There was a noisy chattering sound in my ear.

He sighed and looked at the parrot. It was the first time he had ever been so annoyed by an animal. Zhang Shutong had no mood to take care of a bird, so he went straight back to Ruoping's room and put the parrot at his feet.

The MP3 player was less than a bar charged, but now he wasn't so eager for the truth. Instead, he didn't know how to face them, whether it was five years later or five years ago.

Zhang Shutong laid everything out on the table one by one. He first looked at the wooden plaque that read, "Hope Qinglian's ear will recover soon," and another question was answered.

No wonder they didn't hang the wooden sign up.

How could it possibly be hung up?

Zhang Shutong glanced at the group photo on his desk. It was probably one of the few group photos from his fourth year of junior high. The boy and girl in the photo had expressionless faces, and the two who were usually the most cheerful had their eyes downcast.

He then looked at Ruoping's small bed. From what Feng's mother said, she had cried many times, and she must have been tossing and turning in bed with all sorts of feelings. And Du Kang, since he wrote "sorry, sorry"... why bother?

Perhaps they've lived with guilt all these years. Everyone has their own secrets. Zhang Shutong is not to blame, but secrets are different. Some are like a shadow, gradually eating away at your heart, growing bigger and bigger until they engulf you.

Zhang Shutong pulled out a photo from his phone. It was taken on a boat during a trip to the city. He had kept it all these years ago. In the photo, Ruoping, Dukang, and Qingyi were standing together. Ruoping was between the two boys. When the photo was taken, she made a rabbit ear on their heads and smiled brightly. The two boys were angry but dared not say anything. Qingyi turned his head away with a bitter face, while Dukang grinned and wanted to fight back.

Why did it turn out like this? Zhang Shutong pondered absently. He still didn't want to believe it. Perhaps there was some hidden story behind it that he hadn't discovered. But where were the clues?

At this moment, the MP3 player finally showed one bar of battery, and he put on his headphones.

There was only one file inside, perhaps a recording or something similar. He had anticipated this, so he could listen quietly no matter how cruel the words were.

Zhang Shutong pressed the play button. After a burst of static, the first note reached his ears, and he was stunned for a moment.

It was a woman singing a cappella.

"I searched and searched for a friend, and finally found a good friend..."

Looking for friends?
Why find friends?
Zhang Shutong was taken aback at first, then a chill ran down his spine. He didn’t know the other party’s intentions or recognize the other party’s voice, but didn’t all of this seem too coincidental?

At just the right time, the MP3 player was delivered to him, and at just the right time, a children's song about finding friends was played.

"Give me a salute and shake my hand, we're good friends..."

Zhang Shutong snapped out of his daze. To the familiar melody, he didn't know whether to laugh or curse. The thing he considered a crucial clue was actually a children's song—what was it trying to express? Should he hurry and find his friends?
But of his only three friends, one didn't show up, one kept something very important from everyone, and the other was no different from a coward.

Yes, they were my best friends, yet best friends chose to deceive each other. I remember our little group chat had a really cringeworthy name: "We are clearly The Four, how could I not see through your lies?"
In fact, from the very first moment Zhang Shutong met Ruoping, he felt that something was off about her.

So why didn't I see it back then?

Zhang Shutong suddenly thought of something.

He seemed to have finally grasped the key, the most important clue on this timeline... Why didn't he see that Du Kang and Ruoping were wrong back then? Were they hiding it so well and were they so cunning?

Logically speaking, this level of concealment should have been discovered long ago!

Where exactly did the problem occur?
Do you remember what Qingyi said?
The two broke off their friendship on the night Ruoping met him while they were cleaning up debris in the tunnel. Nothing had actually happened yet.

What did Ruoping's mother say?
Du Kang ate a meal with Ruoping's family!
Zhang Shutong subconsciously took Ruoping's mother's account as just another ordinary day. The two had just had a meal together, and then inexplicably parted ways the next day.

But he kept overlooking one thing: if we consider the day Qingyi and Ruoping's mother said they "broke off their friendship" as the same day—

In my memory, Ruoping's house should have had its lights on that night, but there was no one there!
Du Kang and Qing Yi clearly went to her building to look for her, and she even spoke to Du Kang. How did it become that the other party went to Ruoping's house for a free meal?
Zhang Shutong finally realized that something was wrong.

At this moment, the music in the headphones suddenly changed to a strange tune:

"I searched and searched for the fox, and found a little fox. I saluted and shook hands, and it looked at me sadly..."

"One pair of ears, one leg, change lies hidden in the past."

(End of this chapter)