It was very strange. As soon as Teacher Song left, they became like the blacked-out TV, and the atmosphere became awkward.
After a long while, Gu Qiumian asked if he wanted her to give him a tour of the house. Zhang Shutong nodded and agreed.
So he followed behind the girl. Both of them were wrapped in robes, one white and one red, which felt very strange.
It would be normal for a host to give a guest a tour of their house, but what about a host in a robe giving a tour to a guest in a robe?
He walked the paths she usually walked, his steps light, his mood calm. He saw the huge color TV in the living room, the artworks in the cabinets, and the dried flowers in the vases. All these things made Zhang Shutong feel very far from his own life.
He sometimes wondered what the groupies would say if Miss Gu were to give them a tour. They would probably flatter her crazily, so Zhang Shutong also followed suit, saying only nice things.
But to his surprise, Gu Qiumian became unhappy: "Can you stop copying what other people say?"
"Am I copying you?" Zhang Shutong was also confused.
"I didn't say you were copying me, I said don't deliberately copy other people. I didn't give you a tour to hear you flatter me." The girl pouted angrily.
"You're not happy even when I praise you?"
"I'd rather you just talk like you normally do."
"I remember you said I was pretty annoying when I talked normally."
"You're even more annoying now!"
At this moment, Zhang Shutong happened to see a set of twelve zodiac animal figurines. He pointed to the sheep and nodded, "Oh, baa baa."
"What did you just say?" Mianmian herself said in disbelief, her eyes wide.
"Isn't that a sheep? Baa baa." Zhang Shutong teased her.
So the sheep turned into a tiger, grinding its teeth and wanting to swallow Zhang Shutong whole.
Gu Qiumian glared at him twice, then simply ignored him and walked straight ahead.
There was an elevator in the center of the villa. They went down to the basement first. There was only one floor in the basement, and it was the audio-visual room.
There was a row of large sofas, and a huge screen opposite them. Speakers were placed on both sides, and in the middle was a coffee table with an ashtray and a few microphones on it. It seemed that this was where Gu Qiumian and her friends sang.
"Do you like to sing?"
"It's alright. It's just sometimes boring to stay on the island."
"It is sometimes pretty boring." Seeing as they were both from the provincial capital, Zhang Shutong decided to share a few words with her, "You can't even get KFC."
"You're talking about food? That's fine."
"You have a nanny?"
"No. I have my dad's driver go buy it."
Zhang Shutong thought to himself that she was truly a rich girl and said that KFC probably wasn't even worth the round-trip fare. But Gu Qiumian said, "Who said I'm buying KFC? Why are you always so stuck on KFC?"
"Then is it McDonald's?"
"At least Pizza Hut." Miss Gu sighed, holding her forehead.
She also said that if it weren't for the fact that there wasn't even a proper Western restaurant in the city, she wouldn't even order Pizza Hut, but it was convenient. Sometimes when there were a lot of people singing, a few boxes of pizza and a few bottles of soda could be enough for a meal.
Zhang Shutong couldn't explain that he thought Pizza Hut was almost a big meal, but Gu Qiumian only considered it fast food.
"What kind of pizza do you like to eat?" Gu Qiumian suddenly asked a strange question.
"The one with sausage and tomato sauce." Zhang Shutong had forgotten what it was called. "I think it's American Supreme?"
"Then what about me?" she asked again.
It took Zhang Shutong a second to be sure he hadn't misheard. But how was he supposed to know what she liked to eat? He had never been to any restaurant with her. If Du Kang were here, he would have said with a smile, "If you treat me to a meal, I'll know," but Zhang Shutong couldn't say such witty words: "What do you mean?"
"It doesn't mean anything." Gu Qiumian pursed her lips, put her hands behind her back, and stopped talking.
Her face nestled in the soft collar of her robe. Zhang Shutong looked at her back and thought of the girl singing in the audio-visual room, the tunes sometimes slow and sometimes lively, and the pendant she always wore in her hair also bouncing around.
Of course, Gu Qiumian was bare-faced now—Zhang Shutong had never seen her with makeup—and she wasn't wearing a scarf or hair accessories. She had also tied up the hair she usually wore down.
They just went to the basement to look around, not to sing. And Gu Qiumian inexplicably lost her desire to talk. Zhang Shutong looked around for a few seconds and then followed Gu Qiumian upstairs.
The whole way was very fragrant. They took the elevator directly to the second floor.
This floor was extremely quiet. The entire floor was covered with a wool rug. There were flower stands in the hallway. When the elevator door closed behind them, even small noises were amplified. At this moment, Gu Qiumian whispered: "I thought you were here tonight because..."
She stopped there.
"What did you just say?"
"Nothing." Gu Qiumian changed the subject. "Where are you going tomorrow?"
"I'm going to hang out with my friends outside. My best friend is having a birthday."
The girl said "oh" again and led him to the guest room. The bed had already been made by the nanny. The style inside was like a hotel. Gu Qiumian said that if he needed anything, he should tell her now, as she was going to sleep soon.
Zhang Shutong said with certainty that he didn't need anything. He was the kind of person who could spend the night with just a pillow and a blanket. Although he had trouble sleeping in new beds, this was Gu Qiumian's house, so it was fine.
Gu Qiumian nodded and said goodnight to him. Zhang Shutong saw her to the door. As the gap in the door was about to close, she suddenly said with her back to him: "Remember, it's the one with fruit."
Zhang Shutong was stunned, then realized she was talking about pizza. He laughed: "Are you really preparing for me to treat you?"
"Who's just thinking about eating like you?" Gu Qiumian said angrily. "You don't need to treat me. I'm telling you to remember it."
Zhang Shutong nodded. This was actually pretty easy to remember. The one with fruit was probably the Hawaiian pizza with pineapple slices. He had recently found out that Gu Qiumian liked to eat things that were a little sweet, like sweet and sour pork ribs and buns from a street vendor.
But what did it mean to remember a fruit pizza? Besides treating her, Zhang Shutong couldn't think of anything else.
So what's next?
There was no next.
"You'd better really remember." After leaving another ambiguous sentence, Gu Qiumian took the initiative to close the door. Zhang Shutong was left alone in the room.
He habitually analyzed the girl's meaning. Maybe she was saying that if they had a chance to go out to eat together one day, he should be perceptive when ordering, just like Miss Gu's little secretary, and know her tastes clearly. Was she training him to be a secretary? But Zhang Shutong only planned to be a temporary underling. When the time was up, he would voluntarily resign, ask for no compensation, and never cling to her.
Anyway, he could never figure out Gu Qiumian's mind. It wasn't too much trouble for her to ask him to remember it, so he did, whether it would be useful or not.
Now he was in front of the window of the bedroom. He couldn't see any stars tonight. He looked for a long time and found that this room was directly facing the backyard. When he had stood outside the fence and looked up, this was the guest room he had seen.
The rain was gradually stopping.
After looking for a while longer, he pulled the three-layer curtains closed and fell onto the bed. He stared blankly at the ceiling, thinking about how much he had to do tomorrow. He was truly a little tired.
It was a great pity that the magic Teacher Song spoke of had no effect on him at all. He hadn't felt anything when he was talking to Gu Qiumian, but as soon as he got into bed, his eyelids couldn't help but fight. He turned off the light, covered himself with the blanket, and habitually sorted through the events of the day before going to sleep.
A moment later, he closed his eyes, hoping for a peaceful night.
It was late on December 7th. Maybe when he opened his eyes again, it would be the morning of the 8th. There were only three days left until the date of Gu Qiumian's original death.
...
When the girl in the wine-red pajamas returned to her room, the bedroom window was open. Not long ago, she had seen the small Ford Focus in front of the gate from here and had rushed downstairs.
She didn't turn on the light, just quietly closed the window, walked to her desk, and turned on the night light.
There were no stars tonight. The dust of the world seemed to have been washed clean by this cold rain. The night light in front of her was like a motionless firefly, its warm glow outlining the entire room.
The girl rested her face in this faint light, not knowing what she was thinking.
She had always liked this atmosphere. The light was faint, but she didn't lose her sense of security. She just stayed in this small, misty, and quiet space, daydreaming a little.
The place her beautiful, bright eyes were looking at was a picture frame on the desk. The picture frame held a group photo. The photo was a little faded. Time had left irreversible marks on it.
Finally, she reached out a finger and flicked the face of a cold-looking boy in the photo.
The picture frame fell over in response, and the girl named Gu Qiumian muttered: "Traitor..."