Winter Time Rendering

Chapter 166: Chapter 71: Lu Qinglian Is a Dashing Woman

’It can’t be me,’

Zhang Shutong thought to himself.

Most of the time, he didn’t stoop to Gu Qiuyan’s level, so he just kept his mouth shut.

As the saying goes, a happy occasion lifts the spirits. Gu Qiuyan was currently very... well, at any rate, her spirits were higher than before.

Zhang Shutong held the lollipop in his mouth, feeling that by pulling in Song, Gu Qiuyan, and his three best friends, this whole act hadn’t been for nothing after all.

It turned out he had overestimated Zhou Ziheng’s mental fortitude, but it was always better to be safe than sorry.

The rest was out of Zhang Shutong’s hands—

Without a second thought, Song called the police, not the school administration.

Things were strange like that. In this situation, the school administration’s stance was the exact opposite of theirs. Zhang Shutong’s side wanted to blow the matter up, while the administration wanted to downplay it and keep the impact contained within the school.

Once the other party arrived, it would be hard to say which direction things would go. And as a member of that group, Song was, of course, supposed to "follow the rules."

But if Song followed the rules, he wouldn’t be Song Nanshan.

As expected, he chose to call the police. But Zhang Shutong didn’t want to make things difficult for Song—he still wanted to see the man get promoted, and what if someone made his life difficult over this? So, he handed over his own phone, having already dialed Officer Xiong’s number. This way, even if the school administration tried to hold someone accountable later, they could just say it was an impulsive student who didn’t know any better.

Song, who had been looking grim, was quite moved by Zhang Shutong’s sudden gesture. But men don’t need flowery words to express their gratitude; a pat on the shoulder is enough.

Zhang Shutong seized the opportunity to ask, "Any chance I could practice with your beloved car? I want to learn to drive." Song Nanshan choked for a moment. "Kid, do you not see what’s happening right now?"

Fine, back to business.

The call connected quickly. Song identified himself and immediately applied pressure by invoking Boss Gu’s name, saying they had already spoken on the phone. "I have a student here whose family is suspected of being involved in the retaliation against the Gu family. The evidence is irrefutable, and there’s a recording..."

The police on the other end were cooperative. A short while later, Song Nanshan hung up, gave Zhang Shutong an "OK" sign, and then dragged Zhou Ziheng off to report to the grade level director.

Gu Qiuyan went with them this time. In a sense, her words carried more weight with the school administration than Song Nanshan’s.

Only then did Zhang Shutong breathe a sigh of relief and find a place to sit down.

Zhou Ziheng’s composure was only relative to his peers. Zhang Shutong figured that once he was in a police car, he would obediently spill everything.

All that was left was to wait.

Zhang Shutong decided to report back to his support group. Lost in thought, he walked into the classroom, and the noisy room instantly fell silent. He froze for a second, then realized things were different now.

’I’m the "big bad villain" now, after all.’

Countless eyes were fixed on him, everyone holding their breath. Sucking on his lollipop, he said calmly, "It’s been handled. Stop staring at me and look at your textbooks."

A surprising number of people subconsciously lowered their heads. The class monitor shot him a grateful look, which Zhang Shutong found completely baffling.

There was still a little time before the long break ended. Technically, there was no need to continue the silent study, but Song, who was supposed to come and lift the "martial law," had forgotten.

Zhang Shutong wasn’t one to meddle, so he just went back to his seat.

The small meeting of four convened once again, this time with the venue changed to the area around him.

Zhang Shutong scooted inward and sat in Gu Qiuyan’s seat, leaving his own stool for Du Kang. Qingyi sat behind them, while Ruoping negotiated with the person in front to swap seats.

He felt it was necessary to reveal a bit more information to his three best friends. Otherwise, he’d have to explain himself every time he did something. This business of acting first and explaining later—when would it ever end?

Zhang Shutong turned sideways, leaning his back against the radiator, and properly experienced the "young lady’s throne." Then, he began addressing them left and right—what else could he do when his three friends were in three different directions? He explained the whole sequence of events from beginning to end. Du Kang said admiringly:

"No wonder! So that’s why Gu Qiuyan suddenly went to the library. It was all part of your plan! You’ve thought of everything!"

"That’s the one thing that wasn’t," Zhang Shutong said, embarrassed.

"Then how did you come to suspect Zhou Ziheng?" Ruoping asked.

"Well, it’s because he’s so tan," Zhang Shutong couldn’t help but laugh. "When he passed the note to Li Yipeng, someone saw his hand. I asked for a description, and Li Yipeng could only remember that the hand was very dark. What a coincidence, huh?"

—Of course, he was making it all up, but the excuse was strangely plausible. Hearing it, Ruoping bent over laughing.

Qingyi was still lost in a state of indescribable shock—after all, he was the only one among them who bothered to use his brain.

In situations like this, when the mystery was being unveiled, Du Kang and Ruoping were used to treating Zhang Shutong as their external brain. So regardless of whether the reasoning was simple or complex, reliable or completely bizarre, it was all the same to them. Their job was just to be the hype squad.

Only Qingyi understood the real difficulty involved. As he saw it, the incident had only just happened that morning, yet Shutong had found the culprit by the afternoon—with unexpected gains, no less. It was just too incredible.

His best friends were never stingy with their flattery. Amidst the chorus of praise, Zhang Shutong was starting to look embarrassed and was about to say a few modest words when a voice suddenly cut in:

"How impressive."

The four of them subconsciously shut their mouths, looking back and forth at each other, their eyes all saying, ’It wasn’t me.’ But there were only the four of them there. Could it be a paranormal event?

Just as the atmosphere grew tense, the girl beside Ruoping slowly turned around, her expression perfectly composed.

So, she was the one who had spoken.

But Zhang Shutong couldn’t tell if Lu Qinglian’s words counted as praise. It was what you might call, to use a more modern term, a "deadpan delivery." She said, "How impressive," but her tone and expression remained completely unchanged.

"Oh, sorry, Qinglian! Did we disturb your studying...?" Ruoping quickly apologized in a hushed voice, thinking that they had gotten carried away and bothered her.

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