Winter Returns

Chapter 228 Chain Reaction (Part Two)

"morning."

Zhang Shutong greeted his deskmate in a friendly manner, but his deskmate's reaction was even more enthusiastic—

Lu Qinglian stood up from her seat, causing the chair beneath her to creak.

His seat was on the inside, and the space in front and behind wasn't very spacious, so Lu Qinglian always had to make room for him whenever he went in. But usually, she would just casually move her chair forward; she would never make such a big fuss.

"Actually, I could have gotten in; it wouldn't have been this complicated."

"morning."

Lu Qinglian simply nodded her chin slightly, and then, to Zhang Shutong's puzzled look, the girl brushed past him and went straight out of the classroom.

Looking at her back, Zhang Shutong couldn't help but think seriously, "Has her mysophobia become this severe?"

Okay, these are just jokes. Looking at the students walking around the classroom, maybe they just bumped into her going to the restroom.

Zhang Shutong stopped paying attention. The sound of scattered reading aloud rose up. He took out New Concept English, randomly flipped to a text, and started memorizing it. It was the book that Old Song had strongly recommended back then.

After reciting a text, Lu Qinglian still hadn't returned.

Until the school bell rang, the Chinese teacher walked into the classroom as the bell rang, slammed the textbook on the podium, and didn't give the students a chance to catch their breath. Zhang Shutong looked at the seat next to her, which was empty.

Does it really take that long to go to the toilet?

When the first class ended, Lu Qinglian still hadn't arrived.

Zhang Shutong's first thought was that she had been called away by her homeroom teacher.

Does this mean that what happened yesterday is not over yet?

He glanced at the office door, and Teacher Xu turned around sharply, but she wasn't there.

Zhang Shutong was somewhat puzzled.

During the second period, he propped his chin on his hand and listened to the math teacher's animated explanation of the problem, occasionally glancing at the person next to him out of the corner of his eye; he was the only one there today.

But Lu Qinglian's schoolbag was still there, so it was unlikely that she had left the school—who would leave right after arriving at school?

Zhang Shutong had originally wanted to discuss his teacher's wife with her, but now he had no one else to chat with.

"Zhang Shutong, where was I?"

The math teacher caught the student who was daydreaming.

Zhang Shutong stood up and answered fluently.

Soon it was time for the long break. Instead of lining up to go downstairs, he walked against the flow of people to the other side of the corridor. He pushed open the door to the rooftop, but still couldn't find the figure with the high ponytail.

But Zhang Shutong was even more puzzled. Where else could she go? Not long after he stepped out of the stairwell, someone patted him on the back.

Du Kang crept over furtively:

"Shutong, it seems like the school is haunted."

Zhang Shutong's heart skipped a beat.

"My two cartons of student milk in my desk drawer are gone!"

"...Perhaps someone took it secretly?"

Du Kang was furious:

"Who's so spineless? Damn, they even stole two cartons of student milk?"

Zhang Shutong was a little embarrassed and was about to explain to him when Du Kang whispered again:

"Oh right, do you know where Lu Qinglian went?"

This sentence seems to mean that Du Kang knew Lu Qinglian was not there:
"You saw her?"

"I think I saw someone leave from the school gate, but the fog was too thick and I couldn't see clearly. I'm not sure if it was her."

"When?"

"I was just reading aloud in the morning, but I was spacing out at the time."

Zhang Shutong was taken aback. So, Lu Qinglian had left school in the morning?
The situation suddenly seemed to become unpredictable, and he took out his phone:
"Wait, let me ask..."

Zhang Shutong's phone didn't ring until the end of the long break.

He frowned and went straight to his office.

“Xiao Lu said she had some things to do at the temple and came to ask me for leave this morning,” Teacher Xu said without looking up.

Is something wrong at the temple?

Zhang Shutong subconsciously wondered why she hadn't heard her mention it. If she had something to do early in the morning, why would she come to school?
Zhang Shutong left the office with a lot of questions.

So what does "things in the temple" refer to?
He pondered for a long time, then sighed and gave up, because there was simply no way to deduce it.

Zhang Shutong then realized that he didn't know her as much as he had imagined. Recently, they had been working together frequently, from the dark room under Lao Song's dormitory to the basement, from the fox's altar to finding Gu Qiumian's driver, and then investigating that photo from eight years ago. But when she suddenly disappeared, he realized that his knowledge of her was mostly blank.

Zhang Shutong glanced at the white mist outside the window. When the temperature drops to the dew point, the water vapor in the air condenses, creating a white haze that you can see but can't grasp. And when the temperature rises and the water vapor evaporates, you can't even feel its presence anymore.

At noon, he went to the restaurant near the school gate, where three of his best friends sat with him.

"It's the 27th." Ruoping sighed softly. "Do you know what the 27th means?"

"Does that mean people born today are Capricorns?" Du Kang added.

"Wrong, it means there are only four days left until the New Year's Eve party."

The school's New Year's Day party is on December 31st.

"Oh, is there anything planned for that day?" Qingyi asked. "Just playing around, all you do is play," Ruoping scratched her head. "The party's about to start, what about our performance? We've only rehearsed once!"

The three boys suddenly realized.

"It's alright, I feel like I can go straight on without any problems," Zhang Shutong said.

This statement was met with unanimous contempt from the three of them.

“Of course it’s fine if you go up there and go to sleep,” Ruoping sighed. “I mean, don’t be so enthusiastic for only three minutes. You only went over the script once before Christmas with great enthusiasm. Oh, and not everyone was here that time. If you don’t hurry up, are you going to embarrass yourselves on the day of the party?”

Ruoping has always been a very responsible girl.

Since she brought up this topic, it meant she had an idea in mind, so the leader made the decision:
"Let's do it tonight, and leave a little later. By the way, have you memorized the script?"

“We’re all fine,” Qingyi said. “The question is whether your best friend is coming or not. We can’t exactly drag Lu Qinglian over to rehearse with her again, can we?”

Ruoping gave a reassuring gesture, then cupped her face and said, "Should we add a role for Qinglian? I thought her impromptu performance last time was quite interesting. Oh, I forgot she wasn't coming that day..."

Zhang Shutong thought to herself, "Not only did she not come to the party that day, she didn't come today either."

"Could something have happened?" Someone brought up the topic first, and Du Kang said worriedly, "I remember that even when she took leave before, it was only on the 31st. This morning the fog is so thick, what could it be..."

"Don't underestimate Qinglian, you lot." Ruoping pouted. "Forgot about the poachers? The four of us combined are no match for her. How could anything have happened to us?"

But as she said this, she also took out her phone and typed a message, analyzing as she went:

“Think about it, since he came to school early in the morning before asking for leave, it means it wasn’t an unexpected accident.”

“I think it was more of an unexpected incident,” Qingyi interjected. He wasn’t too concerned about what Lu Qinglian was doing, but he was interested in the details of the deduction. “It’s more like she received urgent intelligence and had to leave.”

To be honest, Zhang Shutong agrees more with Qingyi's point of view.

“You don’t understand.” Ruoping lazily scooped up a spoonful of rice. “Girls aren’t like that, especially girls like Qinglian. She’s someone who plans everything in advance and is confident. She would never panic at the last minute.”

Qingyi was speechless; he was discussing the details, while Ruoping was talking about the girls.
"What did Shutong say?"

Zhang Shutong wanted to say that both of you were right and wrong at the same time; it seemed like she only left after seeing him...

Ruoping is a restless person; as she was talking, she picked up her phone and circled back to the topic of rehearsing the show—

Gu Qiu Mian is a very busy person and needs to make appointments by phone. Ruo Ping is really popular; now she can even joke around with her.

"You're the investor, and I'm just a small-time director working for you. Please take this seriously, boss."

“Great idea!” Gu Qiumian laughed. “We’ll throw a celebration party for the big director after filming wraps up.”

"Then I'll wait with anticipation. Shall we meet at the library after school? By the way, Qiu Mian, have you memorized the script?"

"I've almost memorized it."

"That's good. I was just afraid that if you, my princess, didn't come soon, the prince would run off with someone else."

Do you have a library key?

The continuous autumn rain activated its skill: I can't hear you!
Zhang Shutong pretended not to hear and waved helplessly in front of Ruoping, signaling her to stop teasing him.

Ruoping smiled and gently pushed his hand away:
"Alright, see you there."

After lunch, the fog had finally dissipated. Zhang Shutong walked into the campus with her thoughts in her mind. She subconsciously looked towards the rooftop of the teaching building. In the past, someone would have been sitting on the edge of the rooftop, slowly eating with their head tilted back.

He suddenly had a strange idea: maybe Lu Qinglian went to the library?

She had been going there to charge her phone for the past few days. He strode into the library and saw four large plastic bags piled up behind the door.

It was one of the cheapest black garbage bags, given away with every purchase. Even the stingiest vendors wouldn't bother to calculate the cost. The bag contained candles, straw rope, and yellow paper. For some reason, he had a feeling that these things were brought by Lu Qinglian.

For an entire day, this was almost the closest he had ever been to Lu Qinglian. Zhang Shutong didn't bother to continue searching. He walked into the library hall, past rows of solid wood bookshelves, but still couldn't find Lu Qinglian. He only saw a few girls talking quietly.

One of them was the student sitting in front of him, named Wei Chenchen.

Have you seen Lu Qinglian?

“It’s Lu,” the other person said. “She just went out not long ago, she put her things down and left.”

"She didn't say anything?" Zhang Shutong pressed.

"I don't dare to talk to her either," Wei Chenchen sighed. "In fact, how many people in our class dare to talk to her? Besides the class monitor, you're probably the most. By the way, are you preparing for New Year's Day?"

"what?"

"I'm just guessing. I feel like these are all things used for sacrifices? It seems like the temple will be busy that day?" Wei Chenchen said uncertainly. "But I didn't go on New Year's Day either."

"But she only takes leave on the 31st."

"Then I don't know. I used to be in Class 2, so I don't really know much about Lu. But you, who are my deskmate and classmate, how come you know less than me?"

Zhang Shutong was speechless. He didn't even know what Lu Qinglian had gone to do. The only thing she got was a few plastic bags. Before leaving, he tied the bags up, but who would steal the straw rope?

The afternoon passed quickly.

This was the quietest day Zhang Shutong had ever had. Sometimes he would listen attentively to what the teacher was saying, sometimes he would find a few difficult problems to practice, and sometimes he would turn his head to look out the window at the quiet school gate.

The school bell rang, and he quietly packed his schoolbag. Today's student milk was also strawberry flavored. Lu Qinglian was not there, so her milk had been sitting on the table. Zhang Shutong thought for a moment and then casually stuffed it into his pocket.

Gu Qiumian and a few close friends had some things to do, and Class One started rehearsing their poetry recitation again. Zhang Shutong found it noisy, so he left the classroom amidst the bustling crowd and headed towards the library.

The first thing Zhang Shutong noticed was the plastic bags behind the door. Since Lu Qinglian had left the things there, he had a premonition that she would come. But this time, Zhang Shutong's intuition was wrong. Just like when they left at noon, they stood quietly behind the door, untouched.

Zhang Shutong shook his head. He bent down and pressed the student milk from his pocket onto the plastic bag. Just then, a cold voice drifted from behind him:

"Zhang Shutong, what are you doing?"

(End of this chapter)