Winter Time Rendering

Chapter 162: Chapter 68: A Thing or Two About Tongtong and Mianmian (Part 2)

The lights were off inside. Though few people came here year-round, and not even a teacher on duty could be seen now, the library still had the heat running 24/7.

The warmth didn’t rise from radiators, but from an air conditioner. An old, high-capacity floor unit was humming noisily, its manufactured breeze blowing all the way to Zhang Shutong’s eyelashes. The melted snow clinging to them felt even colder now, forcing him to blink hard.

Gu Qiuyan was sitting at a table near the entrance.

Her head was buried in her arms, her back turned silently toward him.

Zhang Shutong pulled up a chair and sat down across from her. "I have something to say," he said.

As he spoke, he had already taken out his phone, unlocked the screen, and was about to press play on the recorder app when he noticed Gu Qiuyan hadn’t even lifted her head.

This was his usual procedure for catching a culprit: cut the crap, throw down the evidence, and if one piece wasn’t enough, throw down another, until the other party surrendered.

But this tactic didn’t work on Gu Qiuyan, making him belatedly realize that she wasn’t a culprit, and real life wasn’t a Conan episode on TV.

This made him pause. Zhang Shutong saw the melted snow in Gu Qiuyan’s hair, which she hadn’t bothered to wipe away. Pea-sized droplets trickled down the strands, pooling on the table.

He cursed himself for being too impatient. ’I should have apologized first.’ Ultimately, it was his fault that they weren’t in class right now, but were instead trekking across a snow-covered campus in the freezing cold. He truly hadn’t wanted to see things turn out this way, but in truth, he was the one who had caused it.

"I’m sorry," Zhang Shutong said, testing the waters.

But Gu Qiuyan still didn’t look up.

Zhang Shutong was left speechless. He fundamentally couldn’t figure out what this girl was thinking. It was fine when she was happy—at worst, she’d just glare at him. But now, with her head buried and not saying a word, he had no idea what to do.

He then remembered the thermos still in his hand. He pushed it in front of Gu Qiuyan and said, "I took a look just now. There’s a small dent on the bottom. How about I buy you a new one?"

But this was clearly useless. Her family probably wasn’t short one thermos, he figured. Zhang Shutong then pulled a pack of tissues from his pocket. Influenced by his mom, he wasn’t a neat freak, but he always had a habit of carrying tissues with him.

"Do you want to dry your hair first?" Zhang Shutong asked. Gu Qiuyan still ignored him. He finally just pushed the pack of tissues next to her hand and left it at that.

This was all he could do. He then started to get to the point, regardless of whether Gu Qiuyan was listening or not. It had to be said.

He began to explain, "You misunderstood. I never meant to harm you. What actually happened was..." As he said this, he sighed internally, feeling like he was telling some absurd, unfunny joke.

Zhang Shutong started from the commercial street, mentioned her family’s department store, played the recording, and finally brought up Li Yipeng. "I figured out he was the one who smashed it, but I didn’t have any proof at the time. I was just about to trick him into confessing when you overheard..."

Okay.

As he spoke, he realized there was indeed a missing link in his story, an unexplainable one—

how he had connected the name on the bathroom stall to the castle building blocks.

He could say it was a guess. After all, those were the only two things that had happened today; anyone would have made the connection.

But what had he said at the time?

"I was the one who gave you that note. I planned the whole revenge scheme..."

That was the strange part. Unless you were there, you couldn’t have just made up something like a note.

Getting Gu Qiuyan to believe him completely was impossible now. The best outcome would be for her to be half-convinced.

He braced himself for the worst and waited patiently for Gu Qiuyan’s reaction. Fortunately, his long speech hadn’t been for nothing. Gu Qiuyan finally revealed her eyes.

Zhang Shutong assumed she had something to say and waited for her questions, but she remained silent, simply staring at him with those eyes. His impression of Gu Qiuyan had always been that she had a pair of beautiful, spirited eyes. But the spirit was gone now, and not much of the beauty was left either, because her eyes were red and puffy.

The two pairs of eyes met in silence. The hot air from the conditioner blew on their faces; the old floor unit surprisingly had an oscillating function.

In his peripheral vision, Zhang Shutong noticed the breeze blowing on his face one moment, lifting the ends of Gu Qiuyan’s hair the next, and then rustling the leaves of the devil’s ivy plant in the middle of the table.

The world was silent.

He couldn’t help but break the silence. "Is there something you didn’t understand? I can explain it again. Or if you have a question about any part of it, I’ll do my best to answer. If you still don’t believe me... you can go to the head teacher. He can vouch for a lot of it."

But Gu Qiuyan didn’t say whether she understood or not. She was silent for a moment, just staring into his eyes, as if all the answers were hidden there:

"You’re not lying to me?"

She had finally spoken. Zhang Shutong nodded instinctively, then wondered if his whole explanation had been for nothing. This was no longer a question of understanding; otherwise, she wouldn’t have asked something so strange.

"Then look me in the eye and answer," she said, her voice thick and nasal.

Zhang Shutong had no choice but to look into those beautiful, once-spirited eyes and repeat himself.

’What is this, some kind of kid’s game? Shouldn’t this be about evidence and logic? Since when did it become about looking into each other’s eyes?’

Gu Qiuyan fell silent again. Zhang Shutong blinked, thinking it would be better if she just threw a tantrum. Her anger would be easier to deal with than this. Like that time with Li Yipeng—he had just told her a dirty joke, and she had walked out of the classroom with a stony face, gone straight to Song Nanshan, and by the next class, Li Yipeng was being escorted away.

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