Winter Time Rendering

Chapter 163: Chapter 68: A Few Things about Tongtong and Mianmian (2)

’But when it came to me, she ran to the library all by herself in the snow, then just kept staring at me with red-rimmed eyes.’

"Then I’ll believe you," she said icily.

Zhang Shutong was stunned. ’That can’t be right. How could it be this simple?’

’Shouldn’t this have been a whole ordeal? You pointing out loopholes, me trying to patch them. A mentally exhausting back-and-forth where we argued in this air-conditioned room until we were hoarse and utterly spent, before finally shaking hands and letting bygones be bygones?’

’And that was the best-case scenario. Honestly, I would’ve been happy if she were just half-convinced.’

And yet, Gu Qiuyan believed him.

"You just believe me, like that?" he asked in disbelief.

"What else?" Gu Qiuyan now had the energy to roll her eyes.

Zhang Shutong suddenly felt a familiar sensation return as he heard Gu Qiuyan murmur:

"I just got carried away. I accused you without getting all the facts straight..."

Zhang Shutong shook his head and said, "It’s fine. It’s my fault, not yours."

’She really was a sensitive girl. Her emotions flared up and died down just as quickly. No matter how cold or indifferent she was to others, it seemed she was always like this with me.’

’I remembered the scarf incident. She had been just as worked up back then, but she got over it.’

He finally breathed a sigh of relief. He grabbed a paper towel to dry his hair and said, "Don’t worry about what comes next. Just watch me drag all of them out." But he didn’t expect Gu Qiuyan to sniffle, her eyes glistening with tears again.

Zhang Shutong didn’t know why she was about to cry again. He sat across from her, completely at a loss. ’What did I say wrong?’

"My stomach hurts so much..." Gu Qiuyan slumped back onto the table, her thick eyelashes drooped dejectedly.

At that moment, even someone as dense as Zhang Shutong knew what to do. He was thankful he’d brought the thermos, and thankful the library had a water dispenser.

A moment later, amidst a faint wisp of white steam, the two of them were once again sitting opposite each other in silence.

Gu Qiuyan lowered her eyes, taking small sips of water. Zhang Shutong watched her, really wanting to say, ’Next time, try not to be so emotional. Even if I really had done it, couldn’t you just report me to a teacher? Why do you have to make yourself miserable?’

He still felt a bit apologetic, so he asked her, "How about I treat you to a meal this weekend, after this is all sorted out?"

"What are we eating?"

"Um... Chinese or Western? Which do you prefer?"

"You decide. It’s not like you can afford what I like to eat anyway," she mumbled.

Zhang Shutong thought with a sense of resignation, ’She’s probably right.’

’To him, a 200-yuan meal was already a huge splurge, one that would require dipping into the pocket money he’d saved up from the New Year. He tried to think of what Gu Qiuyan liked to eat—something other than a sweet and sour pork rice bowl, of course.’

’Unfortunately, the only thing I could remember was pizza.’

Just as Zhang Shutong was about to ask, Gu Qiuyan turned her face away. "Forget it. How about I treat you instead? You help me find out who did this, and I’ll treat you to a meal. As it happens..."

Zhang Shutong knew what she was going to say next:

’As it happens, I don’t like being indebted to anyone.’

"In that case, I’ll need your cooperation."

"Cooperation for what?"

Zhang Shutong told her his plan. He hadn’t intended to do it this way, but given this unexpected turn of events, things would actually be much easier if Gu Qiuyan was involved.

After listening for a while, she finally broke into a teary smile.

"You’re so devious."

Zhang Shutong felt like the two of them really did have the potential to make some mischief together.

It was time to head back to class. Twenty minutes had passed without them noticing, which meant the period was already half over.

The leaves of the devil’s ivy were no longer swaying. They turned off the air conditioner and left.

As they stepped out of the warm room, a blizzard of wind and snow obscured their vision. On the way back, Zhang Shutong took off his jacket and offered it to her. Gu Qiuyan refused and told him to put it back on. "Just wear it," he said. "So the pain doesn’t get worse."

Snowflakes drifted lightly onto their shoulders.

Two sets of footprints were left behind on the pristine white campus.

In this timeline, through an unexpected misunderstanding, the two of them had suddenly grown close.

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