Winter Returns

Chapter 226 "Early Love"

The senior student thought for a moment:
"Oh, by the way, what other clues did you mention on the phone earlier?"

"The person who was with my teacher's wife back then wasn't just one person, but a group of people, maybe even members of a club. Perhaps some of those alumni know about the fox?"

Zhang Shutong habitually covered the microphone:

"Of course, I'm still trying to find out who took the photo. Although the outfits from seven or eight years ago are different from now, it can still narrow down the possibilities."

"Okay, I'll ask my cousin to contact her again. I'll wait for your good news. That's great!"

Zhang Shutong was still struggling to cope:
"I'm the one who should be troubling you. Are you on your way to the police station?"

"He skipped evening self-study."

"Thank you very much."

"Hmm... let me think," the senior said. "If you feel bad about it, how about I treat you to a meal next time we go to the island?"

Zhang Shutong naturally agreed.

He hung up the phone, sorted out his thoughts, and realized that the whole thing could be divided into three time periods: Yun's encounter with the fox during her university years, the car accident, and Teacher Song seeing Yun as a "mud doll." On the surface, these events didn't seem to be very related.

In other words, he couldn't find any more clues about the latter two cases, so he focused his energy on the first one. Zhang Shutong was starting to get a feel for it. When he returned to his office, he picked up his water glass again, thinking he could finally have some peace and quiet. But he underestimated the children these days. The little girl had her hands behind her back:
"...I recommend that you go home and watch Conan, it might inspire you. Once, my classmate lost his pencil case, and I was the one who helped him find it."

Lu Qinglian was holding a book and reading, multitasking, sometimes nodding, sometimes shaking her head, and sometimes uttering a single word.

"Is your older sister ranked first in the grade?"

"Yes."

"Is your sister a temple keeper?"

"Yes."

"Is your sister dating that older brother?"

"No."

Zhang Shutong thought to himself, "How much have you guys actually talked while I was gone?"

"I don't think so either. My brother is having a puppy love with Sister Sheep."

Zhang Shutong almost spat out his water.

Where did this sheep sister come from, and where did you get so much information from?
“Zhang Shutong.” Lu Qinglian looked up.

Zhang Shutong waved his hand, but he was choked and couldn't speak for the time being.

"Please look after the children instead of coming back and just sitting there drinking water and watching the fun."

"Hmm..." Zhang Shutong thought helplessly, he couldn't handle kids these days.

Fortunately, Teacher Xu returned quickly.

"I asked, it's a group of people, not the one you're talking about."

"group?"

“Yes.” Teacher Xu handed a glass of water to his granddaughter as he said, “Xiao Yun went to him for the key. He hesitated because he was afraid of something going wrong, but Xiao Yun said they were from the photography club and wanted to take pictures on the rooftop. The school janitor saw that they were college students and finally changed his mind, so he remembers it very clearly.”

Zhang Shutong became serious. If it were a group of people, the nature of the matter would be completely different from that of an individual. If it were an individual, the other party could have kept the secret of the statue to themselves with Yun. But since it was a group, it represented a possibility—

Seven or eight years ago, some people, and indeed a group of people, already knew about the fox.

"I understand." He took out his phone and told the information to his senior, then looked up and said, "Thank you so much for your help today."

"Grandma, I asked them for you, and they're not dating!" The little girl hugged her homeroom teacher's leg.

The homeroom teacher's eyes narrowed.

"Don't worry, I didn't say anything I shouldn't have," Zhang Shutong quickly clarified.

Teacher Xu stared at him intently for a while:
“I misunderstood you all today. What I just said wasn’t just for Xiaolu’s ears; you should also be aware of it.”

Zhang Shutong thought carefully about which sentence it was:
"You misunderstood."

"If there are faults, correct them; if there are none, strive to improve."

After saying that, Teacher Xu took her granddaughter's hand and went downstairs. The little girl made a face at him, and Zhang Shutong stared straight at her, which startled her so much that she quickly turned her face away.

Zhang Shutong smiled. The day was almost over. As he walked out of the teaching building, in the quiet night, he clearly felt the hunger in his stomach.

The two bags of fried noodles in the basket were already cold. He turned around and asked:
"Shall we find somewhere to eat?"

Lu Qinglian shook her head, perfectly inheriting the way she dealt with the little girl.

Have you ever eaten at that rice bowl stall near the school gate?

"I've heard enough today." Lu Qinglian's unspoken message was, you'd better be quiet.

So instead of rushing away on their bikes, they carried the fried noodles back to the teaching building—even though dinner was cold, they wanted to eat somewhere warmer. Zhang Shutong turned on the classroom light, and in the bright light, he sat down in the classroom, which was heated 24 hours a day.

People with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) are used to sitting in their usual seats even when eating, so they returned to Class 1, Grade 9.

Next came the test of his practical skills and imagination. He sneaked into Class 3's classroom and pulled out two pieces of cardstock from Ruoping's desk—they were leftovers from Christmas. He then went to Dukang's seat and took out two boxes of student milk—he was still a milk carrier.

As for Qingyi... Zhang Shutong thought for a moment and decided to let him off the hook for the time being.

Zhang Shutong returned to his seat with a full bag of goodies, only to realize that the student milk was strawberry, his favorite flavor—a small stroke of luck.

Zhang Shutong folded the cardstock again, but after pondering for a long time, he still couldn't make a move.

“Zhang Shutong, if you have a hobby of handicrafts, you should show it as soon as possible. Maybe you will have something in common with that child.”

"It's a folding cup for serving fried noodles; if you leave it spread out on the table, the oil will seep out." Zhang Shutong thought to himself that this person had clearly never watched Detective Conan, and their imagination was so lacking.

"...Lu Qinglian?"

"what?"

"By the way, how do you fold a paper tube?"

Zhang Shutong turned his head, and Lu Qinglian took the card from his hand.

Soon the fried noodles were placed in red and green paper cones, which could be held in one hand. There was no need to worry about tableware. When they packed the food, they didn't forget to pack two pairs of chopsticks. Zhang Shutong inserted a student milk, and dinner was taken care of.

The night wind blew against the glass, making the classroom bright and warm.

“It’s basically confirmed,” Zhang Shutong said vaguely, taking a bite of fried noodles. “Something definitely happened that winter. The remaining question is where to start the investigation.”

"If anyone knew about the statue's anomaly back then, and given the legend of the fox that has been circulating outside the island, why didn't anyone search for it?" Lu Qinglian asked.

“Speaking of this, I’m reminded of that basement man. Where did he get those foxes? Are they related to the winter of 2004?” Zhang Shutong immediately rejected the guess. “But he clearly doesn’t know anything about my teacher’s wife. We can only wait for information from my senior.”

Lu Qinglian nodded her chin.

Zhang Shutong then asked:
Does this count as having a complete dinner?

Lu Qinglian was too lazy to even nod her chin:
"As a boy, it's best not to be so petty."

"It should be a case of making amends for past mistakes."

Zhang Shutong finished the fried noodles in a few bites. He looked at the paper cup in his hand and realized that this was the first time he had eaten like this. Usually, he would just make do at home, either eating steamed buns or boiling noodles.

Lu Qinglian was still eating in small bites. Zhang Shutong noticed for the first time that she ate so slowly, and waited idly by her side.
"Although it's cold, the cooking is quite good."

"Ah."

"We were really grateful to that boss back then. He would take Ruoping and the others to patronize his business whenever he had time."

"Ah."

"The green peppers and shredded meat in the fried noodles are delicious."

This is what Zhang Shutong most wanted to say.

No wonder he's the master who makes his favorite green pepper and shredded pork rice bowl.

"Actually, there's something I've wanted to say for a long time."

Lu Qinglian sighed softly:
"Why would anyone like to eat green peppers?"

That was a bit hurtful.

"You seem suddenly very excited."

"There's finally progress, it's hard not to be excited."

Zhang Shutong looked at the glass, where the two figures were reflected. Lu Qinglian's reflection in the glass wasn't very clear, but Zhang Shutong could clearly see her every move. She finally cleaned up the food and neatly tied and put away the plastic bag, unlike Zhang Shutong who just crumpled up the trash.

“So,” Zhang Shutong suddenly realized a problem, “how did you distinguish between these two bags of fried noodles just now?”

Lu Qinglian paused for a moment, then turned her face away, as if even the heating wasn't enough to counteract the drop in temperature around her.

“Wait, wait, wait,” Zhang Shutong’s goosebumps went off again, “I hadn’t even had a chance to eat yet, the worst outcome would have been that I ended up eating your portion.”

The temperature in Lu Qinglian's eyes remained unchanged.

Zhang Shutong quickly changed the subject:
"Anyway, we've already finished eating..."

But before they could finish speaking, a sudden ringing of a bell interrupted their conversation.

Zhang Shutong pointed to his phone, indicating that business was more important. He answered the call and turned on speakerphone, and his senior's voice came through:
"I'm out now, is it convenient to talk?"

"Convenient, how about that photo?"

"Good news and bad news, let me tell you the bad news first, since you probably want to hear this first," the senior student said, the wind howling on her end as well. She paused, "You might be disappointed. It's not a very important photo, or rather, it's as ordinary as can be. It's just a photo taken before departure, with no fox or anything unusual. But if you narrow it down to the winter of 2004, this is the only photo I could find."

"As for the good news, it's all thanks to your information. If your teacher's wife and the students from the photography club came to the island back then, the only group photo I saw was the one they left behind."

The senior student's voice also showed a slight hint of excitement:
"Although we can't find any clues, at least we can recognize those people's faces, which will make the investigation much easier."

"Didn't they say we couldn't take pictures?" Zhang Shutong asked.

"I've already memorized it." She seemed to be pointing to her head with a smug look in her voice, but unfortunately, she couldn't see her little gesture through the phone. However, Zhang Shutong already knew that her senior's memory was better than her own.

"I will dictate the rest."

Her tone became serious:

"That group photo was probably taken before they set off. The background is the city's dock. There were nine people in the group, four men and five women. It was during their first year of university winter break. The professor's wife was the third one in the first row. However, there is another problem, although it is a very small one. Her clothes in the group photo are not quite the same as those in the statue photo."

"Are you worried about the timing not matching?" Zhang Shutong asked.

"Well, considering it's winter, they wore custom-made jackets from the club before they set off, probably to look good in photos. They'll probably put their own clothes on later."

"Next, I will try to explain in more detail. There is a banner above the photo, which commemorates a photography club activity. Everyone is wearing a blue uniform."

Zhang Shutong's mind went blank for a moment:
"Blue uniform?"

"Hmm, you can take another look at the photos you have to confirm whether the clothes under her down jacket are blue."

Zhang Shutong suddenly thought of something. He didn't rush to look at the photos because the focus wasn't on the wrong color of the clothes.

He suddenly remembered the group photo he had found in the basement on the Weaver Girl's thread—

In an instant, it seemed as if countless clues were connected in his mind. After five years, he finally found the origin of the group photo in the basement, which spanned a full thirteen years!
(End of this chapter)