Winter Returns

Chapter 64 "Faceless"

came back!
It was Thursday, December 6, 2012. Last night, they caught poachers with Lu Qinglian, and to celebrate, they had lunch at "Jiananhu Fish Restaurant" on the commercial street.

They must have just ordered their food; from the dining area, you could hear the whooshing sound of the stoves coming from the kitchen.

The air was filled with a lingering, faint smell of cooking oil.

Zhang Shutong opened his eyes wide.

He had never felt so excited before.

Only those who have lost something and then regained it truly understand its value.

Perhaps he should find a quiet corner to sit quietly for a while and calm himself down; perhaps he should take the opportunity to have a drink with his best friends to cover up his unusual state… But Zhang Shutong couldn't do that. His nerves relaxed slightly, then quickly tensed up again—

Who is the murderer?

Before the memory of that fleeting glimpse faded, he closed his eyes and tried to recall more of what the other person looked like.

First of all, the person is shorter than me, and by more than a little bit, but you can't tell if they're fat or thin because it's winter and they're wearing very thick clothes.

Next came the killer's face. It was too dark, and the phone's flashlight wasn't very effective. In the blink of an eye, his eyes adjusted to the light and focused again. The whole process took no more than two or three seconds, and he was killed by his attacker.

At first glance, he thought he had encountered a "faceless person," but then he realized that it wasn't that the person had no facial features, but rather that the other person's face was covered by something. However, Zhang Shutong couldn't quite put his finger on what it was. It was not quite the same as the face mask he had imagined, such as the one Zhou Ziheng's father had, which still allowed him to see his eyebrows and eyes.
The killer's entire face was covered by something that made it look "rough" and dark red.

Zhang Shutong was thinking of a suitable description... It was probably like the curtains in the classroom, where some mischievous students liked to hide behind them, covering their faces with the curtains, only revealing a blurry outline of their facial features.

Then came the part that shocked him the most—

Can he still be called a "person"?

The normal human body is composed of the following:
The head, neck, and shoulders follow a structure that is wide at first, then narrow, and then wide again. However, the murderer seems to have no neck, or rather, the neck is thicker than the head. Zhang Shutong knows that some martial arts practitioners fit this pattern, which can effectively protect the cervical spine. Judging from the murderer's skills, this is consistent.

So the final answer is a short guy with superb skills?
Is the characteristic that the neck is about the same thickness as the head?

Zhang Shutong didn't know if these characteristics existed eight years ago, but based on the clues so far, since Lu Qinglian died and he was killed, and then returned to the present eight years ago when Gu Qiumian was murdered, did the three people die because of the same person?

This problem is impossible to determine. The most urgent task is to find the clues brought back from the "cold-blooded" line and the three tattoos on his arm.

With that thought in mind, Zhang Shutong no longer hesitated. He put down his glass, and under the confused gazes of his best friends, ran to the front desk, tore off a page of the bill from the proprietress's paper, and drew the three tattoos on it:
Snakes, little people, and strange circular patterns.

He had already memorized these three patterns before the time travel, and now he could replicate them effortlessly. At that moment, a head popped onto his shoulder from behind:
What are you drawing without saying a word?

He turned around and saw Ruoping. She had short hair, wore a petal-shaped headband, and her bangs were neatly trimmed. She was a pretty but energetic girl. They had just come in from outside, and the girl's face was still flushed from the wind. She was about to pull herself open and stare at the paper with wide eyes.

This reminded Zhang Shutong of the aloof and elegant woman with red eyes who was sobbing softly eight years later. Of the three best friends, only Ruoping was a girl, so Zhang Shutong treated her differently from Qingyi and Dukang, always feeling like she was looking at a younger sister. At this moment, a sense of guilt arose for no reason.

In fact, Ruoping never gave up on herself. Although she loathed her past self, she still rushed to the island after receiving his call, asked him to wait in her car in front of the funeral home, and always remembered her promise.

Just as Du Kang said, their attitude towards themselves must have been complicated. Every time they were disappointed, a glimmer of hope would arise after the disappointment, only to be disappointed again in the end.

So Zhang Shutong didn't want to hide it from them. Instead, she stepped aside and pointed to the pattern on the bill:
Have I seen you before?

"What do you mean?"

"Just asking. Let me know if you see me in the future."

"You're being mysterious again." Ruoping rolled her eyes. "I thought you had some clues about the person who smashed the castle."

Zhang Shutong then remembered that Gu Qiumian's castle had just been smashed during the long break between classes, and not long ago they had been discussing Zhou Ziheng's crush on her while riding their bikes to the shopping street.

"So why did you suddenly draw them?" Ruoping asked again.

I had a dream last night.

Upon hearing this, Ruoping burst out laughing:
"I think you've become a sage these past few days. Yesterday, you wrote the names of Qinglian, Gu Qiumian, and the other two on that piece of scrap paper and told Du Kang that you dreamed about it. How come you dreamed about it again today?"

It was another nightmare.

At this moment, Qingyi and Dukang also came over. Zhang Shutong then recalled, "I dreamed that eight years later, the four of us went to a class reunion. We hadn't seen each other for a long time. As soon as we met, I made Ruoping cry. Dukang was going to beat me up, but luckily I ran away quickly."

Ruoping laughed even more happily, saying, "Why would I need Du Kang to do this? If you dare to bully me, I can make you pay for it myself."

"And what about me?" Qingyi pointed to himself, puzzled as to why the real man hadn't made a move.

"You didn't even come."

"Wow, so Qingyi is the most heartless of all," Du Kang exclaimed dramatically.

Qingyi shook her head and said, "How could that be? Here's a little-known fact for you: dreams are always the opposite of reality. I should be the one who makes a dazzling appearance."

It really feels like I'm back to when I was fifteen or sixteen.

They took a casually made-up dream so seriously, laughing and arguing as they returned to the table. No one paid attention to what he meant by "long time no see." They figured the four of them wouldn't separate and would get together often even after entering the workforce. This "long time" was probably just a few weeks at most.

Then they asked what everyone in the dream was like. Zhang Shutong said that Du Kang had taken over the family restaurant, and Qingyi was working overtime at the company every day. Both of them were depressed when they heard this. Du Kang held his head and said something like, "What's going on? I've always wanted to go out and explore, why am I stuck on the island?" Qingyi sighed and said that working overtime was not manly in his opinion.

Ruoping was the most satisfied, since she was the only one with a car. Zhang Shutong, remembering her appearance, simply flattered her, saying, "You are the most successful among us. You started your own business and are already a true businesswoman."

Only then did the three of them remember to ask Shutong how she was.
Zhang Shutong was silent for a moment, then said that he died after attending the party. Ruoping kicked him, disgusted that he had said something unlucky at the celebration banquet.

Zhang Shutong changed the subject, waving the contents of the bill in front of them, and half-jokingly said, "Make sure you remember this, and let me know if you see it anywhere."

"I know, I know……"

“Wait, I’ve seen the first one before,” Du Kang suddenly said.

"where?"

"That's just an earthworm. We even dug one up while fishing the other day."

Zhang Shutong said helplessly, "This is a snake, this is a villain, and there's another one..." He got stuck at this point.

“Earthworm, little man, turtle. Hmm, that makes sense now. I think you've been fishing too much.” Ruoping laughed again.

As they talked, the four of them raised their glasses of Nutritional Express and toasted. Zhang Shutong listened to their casual conversation, but his mind was elsewhere.

He had been focused on the killer's identity, but now he remembered the photo his senior had sent him.

The surveillance camera had poor image quality and was positioned at an angle from above, so it only captured the person's long hair.

Zhang Shutong shouldn't have thought much of it, but on Saturday night, on his way home, he happened to run into Lu Qinglian leaving the house. She said she was going for a walk, but actually walked very fast;
She was heading south, which is the direction of the Gu family villa. Assuming she did go to the villa, what did she do?
Moreover, the timing is wrong. I met her around 8 p.m., and it would take at most an hour to walk to the villa. But the photos were taken in the early hours of Sunday morning. There were several hours in between. Where did she go during that time?

In addition, she said she had something to say to me and told me to go to the temple the next day. On the "cold-blooded" line, what exactly did she say?
Was my hanging out with Lu Qinglian during the second semester of my fourth year of junior high school related to these words?
In conclusion, the failure of the "cold-blooded" storyline, besides identifying the wrong murderer, was also partly due to the fact that Zhang Shutong paid less attention to Lu Qinglian.

Previously, I thought she was murdered eight years later, so I didn't pay much attention. But now, all the clues, whether it's the snake tattoo, the photos of the temple on her phone, or the photos sent by her senior at the last moment, all point to Lu Qinglian.

While it's too early to say there's a clear direction, Zhang Shutong has set a course of action for himself:
Besides keeping an eye on Gu Qiumian, Lu Qinglian also needs to investigate.
Then, as my senior mentioned, the reason given in the original statement was that Gu Qiu Mian was killed to stop her father from developing the island.

Judging from the results in the original timeline and the Cold-Blooded Line, the other party did indeed achieve their goal.

Killing Gu Qiu Mian would stop Gu's father from developing the island, but why not just target Gu's father directly...?

As he was pondering this question, he noticed Du Kang suddenly looking at his back with obvious displeasure.

Looking back, he saw a boy enter the lake fish restaurant, raise an eyebrow at Du Kang, and the two hit it off.

It's him.

Zhang Shutong remembers that this younger boy was his "colleague," one of his henchmen. Today, he was scouting the way for the large group of people who came to have dinner together, and then, for some reason, he got into a fight with Du Kang.

These two are really destined for each other.

When it came time to pay the bill, Zhang Shutong ran into the boy. The boy was like a fighting cock, determined to win against her, so she was quite impressed with him.

Since this boy still came, it means—

The next moment, the other person lifted the curtain, and a small boot stepped in first.

The boots belonged to a girl who was still wearing the red scarf and wiping the water from her hair. Her expression was somewhat indifferent, but Zhang Shutong knew this time it was because she was in a bad mood. When he saw Gu Qiumian walk in, even though he knew she was definitely alive, he couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.

It's strange. Just a moment ago I was racking my brains trying to figure out the killer's clues, not even listening to what my best friends were talking about, but now I'm suddenly a little relaxed.

If I could, I'd really like to bring her over and ask her about her nanny and bodyguard.

But Zhang Shutong knew that things were different now. Many things hadn't happened yet, and his relationship with Gu Qiumian was in a rather bad phase... well, he was a traitor, and because he had spoken a few words to Ruoping that morning, she had ignored him afterward.

So Zhang Shutong turned around, poured himself a glass of nutritional drink, and watched as a group of henchmen surrounded the young lady in the hall, ordering food and chattering away, probably discussing what to eat. Zhang Shutong thought to himself that few of these henchmen were competent. Steamed fish or braised fish didn't matter. They should order the sweet and sour pork first, because that's what she loves to eat. She even has to eat rice with sweet and sour sauce.

Fortunately, someone remembered. It was a girl standing next to Gu Qiu Mian. Zhang Shutong used to call her his little secretary. Now the little secretary had arranged everything. She told everyone to put the tables together, who would order food and who would buy drinks, and she even scolded the boy, saying something like, "Keep your little thoughts to yourself."

As a result, the other person looked at their table with even more displeasure.

Zhang Shutong thought to himself that he was not a lackey yet, and even if he sought refuge with the young lady, she would not accept him. There was no conflict of interest between them, so why were they unhappy with him?
Of course, it's not worth paying attention to a little boy. Their dishes have already been served, which is braised pork ribs. This time, Zhang Shutong put two pieces on each of the three of them's plates, saying that he doesn't actually like braised pork ribs and just ordered them casually. He added that if any of them were to treat others in the future, they wouldn't need to be so deliberate.

Ruoping got angry when she heard this and said, "If you don't like it, why did you order anything?" Zhang Shutong wanted to say that he thought the three of you wanted to eat, but he remembered Lao Song's words: "Sometimes you can't think too much, even if you mean well."

Du Kang then said, "Come to my house for dinner next time. I'll have my dad cook for us. I bet there's nothing you like, Shutong."

Zhang Shutong then realized that Du Kang's birthday hadn't passed yet.

So let's set the goal as follows:
They rescued Gu Qiumian.

Find the murderer.

Then I had a happy birthday celebration with my best friends.

This winter of 2012 was destined to be anything but peaceful, but without clearing away these obstacles, he would not be able to start a new life.

The pork ribs in front of him were steaming hot, and only then did Zhang Shutong feel that everything was real, except that Qingyi's focus was quite different:

"Shutong, you're acting strange today."

His observation skills were always sharp, and he lowered his voice to say:
Why are you always looking over at Gu Qiu Mian?

“There’s definitely something going on between them,” Du Kang chimed in, adding to the commotion.

Ruoping just rolled her eyes.

Zhang Shutong suddenly realized there was another headache: the conflict between Ruoping and Gu Qiumian hadn't been resolved yet.

He said he just felt that Gu Qiumian looked familiar, so he took a few more glances at her.

Ruoping, who was still sneering, couldn't help but burst into laughter. "Don't make up such a lame excuse. Besides, you two are deskmates. You can still glance at each other whenever you want after you go back this afternoon."

Zhang Shutong said helplessly that it did look familiar, but he couldn't remember what it was.

Perhaps he had been staring at Gu Qiu Mian too much, or perhaps the young lady had discovered the four of them whispering to each other. At this moment, the girl wearing the red scarf turned around and glanced at Zhang Shutong.

The two looked at each other, then Gu Qiu Mian casually looked away, her hair ornaments swinging rapidly.

"You said you were fine, but look at the two of you... haha."

Zhang Shutong thought to himself that this was just how the autumn rain was. He used to glare at him all the time, and he didn't know why. Just like he couldn't figure out why the other person suddenly brought up pizza, fruit-flavored pizza, at the villa that night. It was a really strange question.

After that, things were pretty much the same as before. Their dishes were served one by one. The owner of the restaurant had something to hide, so he deliberately delayed serving Gu Qiu Mian's dishes a little later.

Gu Qiumian pushed the tables together, and a group of people sat down. The young lady naturally sat at the head of the table. She was now diagonally opposite Zhang Shutong. Zhang Shutong could see her take off her scarf and casually tell the henchmen that she wanted to drink yogurt.

Zhang Shutong's chopsticks suddenly fell.

"He's hopeless..."

"Hey, Shutong, are you going to go crazy from staring at girls?"

"That's just how men are... I haven't figured out the rest yet, but that's definitely how men are."

My best friends are all teasing me.

Only Zhang Shutong suddenly felt a chill run down his spine.

He suddenly realized why he always felt that Gu Qiumian looked familiar.

The girl took off her scarf, and her neck appeared much thinner—she had been wearing the scarf since she entered the store, with her chin tucked inside.

When Zhang Shutong arrested Li Yipeng, he stuffed this scarf into his pocket, so he roughly knew its length.

So, what would it look like if someone covered their face with one end of a scarf and draped the other end around their neck?

(End of this chapter)