Winter Returns

Chapter 229 Chain Reaction (Part 3)

"Zhang Shutong, why did I see you here as soon as I got back...?"

The voice paused for a moment, clearly unsure how to describe his actions.

Zhang Shutong glanced down at the milk in his hand, then put it back in his pocket, saying casually:

"What did you do today?"

As Lu Qinglian entered the library, she was unzipping her down jacket. She casually tossed her hair, a hint of weariness in her eyes.

"Busy with some temple affairs."

"Nothing went wrong?"

"of course not."

Zhang Shutong wanted to say that his absence for a day was a bit worrying, but he remembered what Ruoping had said at noon: what Lu Qinglian couldn't handle, Zhang Shutong was equally helpless with, so he didn't dare to say it.

Lu Qinglian had already bent down and picked up the plastic bag at the door.

"What is this?" Zhang Shutong asked, seeing that she didn't seem to be in any trouble. "Something used for the New Year's Day sacrificial ceremony?"

"Not much."

Lu Qinglian looked at the tightly tied bag opening and frowned habitually. Zhang Shutong explained:
"It's in my department, so no one should have touched it. But buying these things doesn't require taking a day off, right?"

"I also had to take care of some other things." She sighed softly. "Zhang Shutong, even if you have a lot of problems, you should let me rest first."

Zhang Shutong shrugged.

A moment later they sat down in the library. Lu Qinglian put the carton of strawberry milk in the tub, and Zhang Shutong sighed.
"You should at least reply to the message."

"You contacted me?" To everyone's surprise, Lu Qinglian's lips slightly parted from the straw. "My phone seems to be broken."

Now it was Zhang Shutong's turn to be surprised:

"When did this happen?"

“I tried to use it at noon, but it didn’t respond,” Lu Qinglian said, her brows furrowing slightly, seemingly genuinely troubled. “But I charged it yesterday afternoon. One battery should last for three days. Maybe I bumped it this morning, so…”

At this moment, she seemed to have transformed into a mobile phone expert, troubleshooting and eliminating problems one by one. Zhang Shutong listened for a while and couldn't help but interrupt:
Is it that nothing is happening after I try to operate it, or is the screen black?

"Black screen".

"Let me see."

"Take it to be repaired."

Zhang Shutong was startled again, thinking to himself, "You said you 'went to handle some other things,' so you meant getting your phone repaired?"
"so?"

"Still under repair."

Zhang Shutong was completely confused again. What did it mean that it was still under repair?
"The boss didn't say what was wrong?"

“No.” Lu Qinglian shook her head. “He said he needs to do a thorough check and told me to pick it up tomorrow.”

"What kind of talk is this? Minor problems are usually fixed on the spot. Even if it's more complicated, like a part being out of stock and needing to be ordered, you should be told. Your situation seems more like..."

Actually, his judgment was that the battery voltage was low due to the cold weather. Zhang Shutong tried hard to keep a straight face.
"I've been scammed."

“It means the phone itself isn’t broken, but the boss thinks you don’t know much about phones, so he deliberately makes you wait a day to pick it up so he can charge you more,” Zhang Shutong said thoughtfully. “Of course, I might be thinking too badly of people, but honestly, I’ve never heard of the idea of ​​thoroughly checking it.”

Lu Qinglian nodded expressionlessly:
"I will go again tomorrow."

"It's best to find out the details before taking any action..."

"it is good."

While Lu Qinglian was talking, she didn't stop. Zhang Shutong saw her lift a plastic bag to her side, take out a straw rope, and then skillfully braid it into a small snake-like object.

"This is?"

"The offerings on New Year's Day." Lu Qinglian lowered her eyes, her hands still moving. "Alright, now it's my turn to ask why you came to the library."

"That's a long story."

Zhang Shutong thought this woman was completely oblivious. Why was she in the library? Of course, it was because her sudden disappearance had made people suspicious.
"It was Ruoping who made a bet with Qingyi. Qingyi said that you left in the morning because of an emergency, but Ruoping said no."

"I see. That's both right and wrong. I didn't expect the fog to be this thick."

"What's wrong?"

"Don't overthink it, it's just bad weather, but it has caused some trouble. Some shops are opening later than usual, do you understand?"

"But you left in a hurry this morning?"

Lu Qinglian said with a slight headache:

What time does morning reading begin?

Around 7:30?

"The morning market starts at eight o'clock." She held up the straw rope in her hand. "Things like this are only sold at the morning market, or do you not know there's a morning market on the island?"

Only then did Zhang Shutong remember that he used to be a middle school student, and he had to be at school by 7 a.m. every day, so things like morning markets were really out of his reach.
"It was just a coincidence this morning?"

"Why don't I ask myself why I got up so late?" Well, Zhang Shutong thought helplessly. No wonder she only said hello during morning reading and left. She had timed it perfectly to buy the things and then go back to school for class.

Unfortunately, things didn't go as planned. A rather thick fog rolled in today, the items I wanted to buy weren't available on time, and then my phone broke down unexpectedly, so I just disappeared for the whole day without any explanation.

"You're really unlucky," Zhang Shutong said sincerely.

Lu Qinglian remained noncommittal. The grass snake was finally finished. Her hands were skillful; the snake she wove was incredibly lifelike. However, the process was far more complicated than she had imagined. Even for Lu Qinglian, it took ten minutes to complete. Zhang Shutong was about to pick it up and examine it closely when…
"Don't cause trouble, it will easily fall apart."

"Oh……"

"Now I think I understand." She stopped what she was doing, lost in thought. "Zhang Shutong, you've been wondering where I went all day?"

"Just a little curious."

“Now that’s all explained,” she said coldly. “It’s best not to bother me for a while.”

Zhang Shutong stopped rummaging through the plastic bags; there were at least dozens of pieces of straw rope in the four plastic bags.
How long will it take to finish?

“I’ve calculated it, five hours.” Clearly, this wasn’t the first time she’d done something like this.

"Do you mean there's something I need to do?"

“It means I don’t have time to chat with people.” Lu Qinglian didn’t even look up. “Let me make it clear in advance, what you see is only part of the preparation. I will be very busy these next few days.”

Zhang Shutong could only offer friendly advice:

You should have prepared earlier.

Why do you think I started preparing so late this year?

Lu Qinglian finally raised her eyes, a hint of regret hidden there:
"Zhang Shutong, you'd better think about what we've been doing these past few days before you say that."

It turns out that Lu Qinglian also has to rush to meet deadlines.

They've been busy with a lot of things together these past few days, almost making Zhang Shutong feel like she has a lot of free time, that they can just hop on their bikes and go whenever something happens, speeding along like the wind. But that's not actually the case.

In the past, she would start preparing for New Year's Day many days in advance, carrying plastic bags of all sizes back to the temple. Every day after school, she would go back to the mountain and weave a few bags. It was neither tiring nor a big burden. As she wove, New Year's Day would come just in time.

This year's situation is different. Zhang Shutong didn't ask why the library was chosen. He felt that Lu Qinglian had her own little scheme. The library is certainly warmer than the temple. He remembered that the side hall had no heating or air conditioning. If she worked late into the night, her hands might freeze and slow down. See, she even thought of that.

……

"The script has been revised a lot?"

After leaving the classroom, Gu Qiumian asked Ruoping.

She was at the very front. If her father's men saw her, they would say that the young lady already had some of President Gu's air about her. President Gu also had a habit of walking at the front, casually flipping through a document, glancing at it, and then handing it to the person next to him. The person next to him could be anyone—his secretary, his driver, a high-ranking official, or even his nanny. It all depended on what President Gu was doing.

Ruoping didn't mind this too much. She understood that there could only be one person making the final decision. If everyone had their own opinion, nothing could be accomplished. She had used the Sad Fox to change Gu Qiumian's interpersonal relationships, and although the result was good, she still felt a little guilty.

Perhaps as a form of compensation, this time, as long as Gu Qiu Mian was present, he would let her make the arrangements.

“Oh, the rehearsal that day was changed at the last minute…” Ruoping said, then suddenly realized how Gu Qiumian knew the script had been changed, since she hadn’t come that day.

Looking again at the script in her hand, I noticed colorful slips of paper tucked inside, clearly a screenwriter's special edition. One of the slips read:

"The gaze here needs to be a little more intense."

Ruoping was shocked. She thought to herself, "Why is Shutong, a prince who falls asleep as soon as he appears, sticking to me like that? Is his eyelid so sticky he can't open it? Besides, if anyone's going to stick to someone, it should be a princess, not a witch."
Looking back, I saw Qingyi listening to music with his hands in his pockets.

"How did your script end up with her?" Ruoping winked in acknowledgment.

"She just asked me for it." Qingyi blinked innocently, meaning that both of them were in Class Two.

"Why is there a gesture of lifting the chin?" Young Master Gu tapped a note and fell into deep thought.

"Oh, this? Haha, Shutong couldn't act out the original effect, so she used actions instead of lines," Ruoping glared at Qingyi, then turned back to ask, "Actually, the effect wasn't very good, so shall we change it back?"

"I'm fine with anything," Gu Qiumian cleared her throat. "You mean this version isn't very good?"

Ruoping said that was it.

"He can't act it out?"

Ruoping complained that Shutong's acting was terrible, and there was nothing I, as the director, could do about it.

"It is a bit troublesome." Gu Qiumian also seemed a little worried. "Then I'll rewrite a version today."

Just as Ruoping was about to applaud, Gu Qiumian casually mentioned a few classic scenes from the screen. Some she had seen, some were famous but she hadn't seen, and some she had never even heard of. Ruoping was somewhat impressed. She put away her playful mood and seriously discussed how to adapt those scenes into their own stage play—

After all, it was her best friend who was going to perform at the party.

Gu Qiu Mian talked about movies and silent films, plays and operas, leaving Ruo Ping somewhat conflicted. Finally, she made the final decision:
"Pull the sword into your heart. I'll prepare the props with the blood plasma."

Wait, wait, wait, Ruoping was stunned. She thought to herself, "Weren't we just discussing how to make the lines more melodramatic? We've even dug up some melodramatic Korean dramas."

“Although this part is about the priestess revealing her true colors,” Ruoping said thoughtfully, “the first version could have just used a magic wand to tap her, right? Isn’t all that blood and sword stuff a bit exaggerated?”

“Exaggeration is the core of drama,” Gu Qiumian said in an unquestionable tone. “I find it strange to lift the chin. How can betrayal involve lifting the chin? It should be a sword thrust into the heart.”

"Isn't this too cruel?" Director Ruoping trembled.

Gu Qiumian revealed an elegant smile befitting a young lady:
"You can understand it that way."

(End of this chapter)