Winter Returns

Chapter 219 Important Things in Life (Part 1)
Tickets for bumper cars cost 20 yuan each.

It was much more expensive than usual, but there were still long queues.

They had ridden bumper cars before, but there were only four of them. It was usually him and Ruoping or Dukang in a group—never Qingyi, because the two of them were too laid-back. Once they got on the car, they would just want to find a corner to stay quietly and be detached from the world.

But today is different.

Today is Christmas.

Today, Zhang Shutong opened the car door, got in first, and watched Gu Qiumian sit in the driver's seat.

Qingyi and Dukang rode in one car, while Ruoping brought along her best friend, the one who played the witch in the play.

As Gu Qiumian stepped on the gas, Zhang Shutong wondered if this counted as drunk driving.

The three vehicles slowly started and drove into the temporary area set up with barbed wire.

The venue was incredibly noisy, with over a dozen cars racing around, filled with screams and the scraping sounds of rubber bodies colliding.

"How about we drive around the area first and get familiar with it?" Zhang Shutong suggested, turning around to find Qiu Yumian eyeing their car menacingly.

Zhang Shutong was startled and advised her to stop.

"Alright alright."

Gu Qiu Mian pouted in disbelief and pointed to a red button:

"what is this?"

She hadn't even figured out the car's functions yet, but she couldn't wait to run someone over.

"Could it be a loudspeaker?" Zhang Shutong said uncertainly.

But why do bumper cars have horns?

"Drip-"

Then, a violent shaking came from the rear of the car.

Du Kang released his hand from pressing the horn, scratched his head, and said:

"Oops, oops, it's been too long since I've practiced, I'm a bit rusty."

Zhang Shutong nodded with some doubt, then said to Gu Qiumian:

"It seems so..."

Zhang Shutong suddenly swayed, and Ruoping drove over with a smile:

"Oops, I'm out of practice too, sorry, sorry."

"you……"

Before he could finish speaking, there was another bang, which made Zhang Shutong stumble.

Qingyi said:

"Oh, it's Shutong and you guys. It was too dark to see you clearly."

Zhang Shutong glanced at the LED lights above his head but said nothing.

Fortunately, they were best friends, and Ruoping stepped in to uphold justice:
"We must not fight amongst ourselves; we must unite against external threats!"

Qingyi nodded in agreement, and Dukang patted his chest and said that was of course true.

Tongtong and Mianmian looked at each other.

"I want revenge."

She pouted and said coquettishly.

Zhang Shutong thought to himself, "You're even having trouble turning around now."

"It's never too late, even after ten years."

Gu Qiumian let out a breath, meaning she would endure it for the time being.

Then they walked along the side of the traffic. Gu Qiu Mian probably hadn't ridden in bumper cars much before, let alone driven one. At first, she even needed both hands to turn around.

As they gradually became more familiar with each other, just as Qiu Yu Mianmian was about to launch her revenge plan, the Gu Qiu Mian-Zhang Shutong was damaged again.

Ruoping ran away gleefully.

Gu Qiumian narrowed her eyes and took out the bag from her arms without saying a word. Zhang Shutong also narrowed her eyes, took the bag and hugged it. This was truly intolerable.

"Chase."

The bumper cars suddenly accelerated.

The two men traversed most of the field, and just as they were about to avenge their great grudge, there was another loud bang.

Gu Qiumian laughed so hard she almost fell over.

Zhang Shutong quickly turned around.

"Drip."

Du Kang honked the horn with a wicked grin.

"Sit down."

The young lady tossed her hair and took a deep breath.

She understood the principle that one should not give up halfway, so she completely ignored Qingyi's provocation and continued chasing after Ruoping. The bumper car sped forward with all its might, and with a bang, Ruoping was caught off guard.

"Qiu Mian, I give up, I give up, ah..."

With a scream from the girls, the two cars and four people were thrown around in a daze.

"I concede defeat." Ruoping clasped her hands in a fist salute to Gu Qiumian.

Although Gu Qiu Mian's hair was messed up, her temperament remained intact. Just as she was about to wave to signal for another car to come, Zhang Shutong had a bad feeling. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw another car coming towards them, but it was too late to warn them. The rear of the car shook, and the car was attacked from both sides.

"hello."

Qingyi smiled and waved.

At this moment, Ruoping also turned her car around gracefully, and the two cars sped away.

Gu Qiumian felt a little dizzy. She held her forehead and sat for a while before slowly asking:
"Are they in cahoots?"

“I think so,” Zhang Shutong said slowly.

"You think we're easy to bully?"

"I think it is."

How many minutes are left?

Bumper cars also have a timer.

"Four minutes."

Gu Qiumian drove the car directly towards the entrance.

Do you remember when Teacher Song taught us how to drive?

"of course I remember."

Old Song said he was very talented at driving, but Zhang Shutong still wanted to remind him that this was a bumper car.

Just like Pokémon tournaments are divided into Grand Contests and League Contests, each has its own specialty.

"Four minutes, one collision each?"

Gu Qiu Mian never doubted his driving skills, even when it was bumper cars.

"Any four times is fine."

The two deftly opened the car door and switched places.

Zhang Shutong stepped on the gas.

Thirty seconds later, with a scream from Ruoping, the horn of counterattack was officially sounded. One minute later, Du Kang was stunned when he hit the horn with his hand on it. Two minutes later, Qingyi's smile froze on his face. Three minutes later, Ruoping's best friend was so frightened when she saw the two of them that she told Ruoping to run away immediately.

The round bumper cars were a breeze in his hands. Every time he bumped into someone, he would gracefully escape, like a shark swimming in the deep sea. When hunting, it rarely kills with one strike, always preferring to nimbly turn around and wait for the next opportunity to strike. Zhang Shutong was very perceptive. Every time Gu Qiumian pointed in a certain direction, he would turn his car in that direction. Every time Gu Qiumian waved to him, he would honk his horn in a mocking manner. After four minutes, Zhang Shutong drove the car back to the entrance, and Gu Qiumian paid for his best friend to extend the time by ten minutes.

At this moment, they were truly in sync. Normally, one of them disdained to argue with anyone and didn't care about most things; the other, when he had free time, just wanted to be alone and daydream, appearing quite aloof. But when they were together, one laughed heartily and screamed repeatedly, while the other pursed his lips and looked cold and stern. It was so easy for them to bully anyone they wanted to.

Zhang Shutong saw a short-haired figure from afar at the entrance. Bullying Ruoping was much more fun than bullying the two boys, so he laughed and stepped on the gas, bang!
"Whoaaah!"

Zhang Shutong then realized that he had mistaken the person for someone else.

He and Gu Qiumian exchanged a glance, not intending to run away, but rather—

That voice sounded so familiar.

Xu Zhiruo, who had just driven her car in, rubbed her eyes in disbelief:
"Qiu Mian, what are you doing here?"

Gu Qiumian first straightened her long, disheveled hair, then cleared her throat with a reserved air:
"He asked me to play."

"Hey, hey," Zhang Shutong looked at her helplessly. "Who was acting so crazy just now?"

"No, no, no," Xu Zhiruo said in surprise, "I mean, how did you two get together?"

Gu Qiumian snorted:

"It's a long story."

Zhang Shutong was somewhat puzzled. He looked at Xu Zhiruo carefully and found that the surprise on her face did not seem fake. Although he had not asked her in detail, Zhang Shutong had long assumed that she was also one of the participants in the plan. As Gu Qiumian's best friend, how could she not know her whereabouts? The note at the school gate was most likely posted by her.

Although it was a bit embarrassing to be lied to by her junior, Zhang Shutong didn't press the matter. But now it seems she really didn't know.

So, in Xu Zhiruo's eyes, what was Gu Qiumian doing tonight?

Before Zhang Shutong could figure it out, Gu Qiumian had already nudged him:
"I'll stay with Zhiruo for a while, you can play first, okay?"

There was only one person in Xu Zhiruo's car.

It turned out that they had just finished eating at the mall and come down from there. It was an odd number of people, and the secretary, considering the bigger picture, was all alone.

"it is good."

Zhang Shutong nodded casually, and while the two of them were talking, they drove back to the venue.

He was driving around aimlessly, suddenly unsure of who to bump into. If Zhang Shutong were alone, he wouldn't actually know how to ride bumper cars.

Is it Qingyi, Dukang, or Ruoping? Zhang Shutong's gaze shifted back and forth between these people.

Then, the car jolted violently.

Gu Qiumian's body suddenly lurched forward. She raised her head and blinked innocently.

Zhang Shutong looked at her in disbelief, thinking to himself, "Miss, I just led you to victory, and you've already discarded me like a used tool?"

One more person begged for mercy.

They played in the bumper car area for a full twenty minutes, laughing and screaming. When they got off, everyone's voice was a little hoarse.

It was almost nine o'clock when everyone waved goodbye in front of the mall.

They came on bicycles and left on them. Zhang Shutong looked at his bicycle; he hadn't ridden it for several days and it felt somewhat unfamiliar.

Generally speaking, it's normal for one person to ride a bike, but it's not so normal for someone else to ride in the car.

He turned to Gu Qiumian and asked:
How do I get there?

Zhang Shutong thought Gu Qiumian would call the family driver to pick her up, and she was preparing to wait until Gu Qiumian left before leaving herself. However, Gu Qiumian did not mention going home at all. Instead, she bought a bottle of water from a car outside the market and drank it slowly with her round chin tilted back, not in a hurry at all.

"I'll go back later," she said. "Are you free tonight?"

Zhang Shutong couldn't very well say that he still had homework to do at home. Just as he was about to straighten his bike, Gu Qiumian said:

Let's go for a bike ride.

It turns out I didn't want to go shopping.

But it was too late now, and it was dark all around, so there was really nothing to see. By the time Zhang Shutong realized this, he had already ridden his bike away from the mall. They passed through the commercial street, turned into a few alleys, and completely escaped that colorful scene.

Gu Qiumian wanted to go north to take a look.

But she wouldn't say where she was going, only how to get there, such as which intersection to turn left at and which side road to take. From these few words, Zhang Shutong deduced that she wanted to go north.

But her home was in the south, and there wasn't much to do on the north side of the island except for the port, but it was so late that there were no more boats leaving the island.

Zhang Shutong felt the cold night wind blowing on his face. He realized his problem was that he overthought things, because Gu Qiumian then said:

"This is my first time spending Christmas on the island."

Her voice was soft, as if she had many unspoken words. Zhang Shutong nodded, then, thinking that Gu Qiumian might not see his movements, he hummed in agreement and asked:
"Did you have fun?"

He certainly remembered that this was Gu Qiu Mian's first Christmas on the island, regardless of the timeline, so Zhang Shutong intended to buy her a gift, not just as a return gift his mother had requested. But things didn't go as planned; his gift didn't make her happy at all, and instead, she celebrated the holiday for herself.

However, Zhang Shutong immediately realized that this was nonsense. She should be happy, otherwise why would she be sitting in the car wandering around? He still used his old impression of Gu Qiu Mian to think of her as a lonely person, like someone made of glass, or like the sugar painting at the market tonight, which would shatter if dropped lightly on the ground.

But she is not like that anymore.

Gu Qiumian was gazing at the moon with her chin in her hands. Zhang Shutong wanted to say that she looked very beautiful, but as everyone knows, holding your chin always requires using your hands—she lazily rested her elbows on Zhang Shutong's back. She was beautiful, but Zhang Shutong's back felt a little uncomfortable.

"Stop being so vain. You were acting like a little madman just now." Zhang Shutong had intended to say that, but when he turned around, he was both amused and exasperated, and then he was taken aback.

Gu Qiumian stared blankly at the horizon. Zhang Shutong sensed that familiar loneliness in her again. This loneliness had nothing to do with when or where she was, and it wouldn't change in the slightest because it was a desolate night. It was just like when she was surrounded by a bunch of henchmen, a grand procession. But when she was alone, it was no different from being surrounded by a group of people.

Zhang Shutong belatedly wondered if his silence was a prelude to settling scores because he had bumped into her too hard while playing bumper cars.

Not long ago, she and Xu Zhiruo rode in the same car. True to their roles as a young lady and her secretary, when she bumped into someone, Xu Zhiruo cheered her on; when she was bumped, Xu Zhiruo comforted her. Before leaving, Xu Zhiruo even came over to give her some instructions:

"Qiu Mian, go home early."

But to her surprise, Gu Qiumian not only didn't go home early, but instead rode her bicycle to the suburbs.

"Want to go back?"

Seeing that she wasn't in a very high mood, Zhang Shutong made a suggestion.

She shook her head and finally removed her arm from behind her back:

"Just a little further ahead, we'll be there soon."

"Why do you like to keep people in suspense now?" Zhang Shutong teased her.

"You're so annoying," she said in a tone that wasn't quite so disdainful. "Silly girl, do you know why I don't spend Christmas on the island?"

"Because it's too boring on the island?"

"wrong."

"Because your dad is taking you on vacation."

"wrong."

"Because you didn't have many friends before?"

"Still wrong."

"Why is that?" Zhang Shutong asked, puzzled.

Actually, it was a question that had been weighing on his mind. Before—referring to the time before Ruoping used the Sad Fox to change Gu Qiumian's interpersonal relationships—Zhang Shutong always thought that she was isolated and had no friends on the island, so she simply went to play outside the island. But in this timeline, even though the chocolate incident clearly did not exist, it was still the same.

Despite having changed many things, Gu Qiu Mian still goes on vacation off the island every year between Christmas and New Year's Day, like an unshakable foundation that time cannot erode.

Besides, Gu Qiumian is a person who likes lively gatherings, as can be seen from the Christmas decorations this year. A vacation is certainly great, but she is all alone, so it's hard to say which place would be more fun.

"Don't you think about it? Who goes on vacation for Christmas? I'm not abroad."

Zhang Shutong thought that's how rich people are.

"So you're not going on vacation?"

Zhang Shutong seemed to understand.

"It's just a vacation."

Zhang Shutong was completely baffled.

(End of this chapter)