Zhang Shutong discovered something terrifying.
Ever since the Rewind, his luck seemed to have completely vanished. He used to be a seasoned fisherman, but now he hadn't caught a single fish.
What was reassuring was that Qiu Yu Mian Mian's luck was equally terrible.
He checked his phone and the signal was still bad. He also looked at the time. It was already past two in the afternoon.
Wait... it was past two?
How did time pass so quickly?
He subconsciously looked at Gu Qiumian and found the girl sitting on the small stool, her head drooping little by little. She was yawning lightly, and her thick eyelashes were overlapping as she dozed off.
"Uh, are you sleepy?"
"I will absolutely, absolutely... never go fishing with you again..." Gu Qiumian said weakly, without even the strength to glare at him.
"Then why didn't you say you were bored?"
"I thought you came here to do something important..." Her voice was soft, but she looked like she was about to cry. "Why did you really come here to fish?"
"There was nothing else to do anyway."
Gu Qiumian's eyes widened when she heard this. "Who said there was nothing to do? There are many things I want to do."
"Then let's go." Zhang Shutong picked up his stool.
Gu Qiumian finally recovered a bit of her energy and stretched vigorously. "Where are we going?"
Zhang Shutong said it was up to her, but they couldn't go home or leave the island.
Gu Qiumian then asked if his operation was completed.
Zhang Shutong was surprised. "How did you know?"
She pouted, "I'm not stupid. We were supposed to go shopping for a gift, but all your friends ran off. There must have been another incident. Oh, and you also smashed my flower pot. So what happened now?"
"Let's talk as we walk."
The two got on the bicycle. It seemed she was really tired, as she even rested her face on his back. When he rode slowly, he could hear her shallow breathing. Zhang Shutong then asked, "Are you curious or not?"
She said, "If you want to explain, I'll listen. If you don't, I won't."
Zhang Shutong didn't know what she meant, but he felt that it was better for her not to hear some things, so he just rode without saying a word.
After a while, Gu Qiumian said angrily, "It's all your fault for making me eat compressed biscuits. I'm so full now and feel terrible."
Zhang Shutong suggested, "Why don't you get off and move around? I'll ride the bike, and you can run?"
Of course, this was a joke. He felt that he had some sense of humor. Gu Qiumian took it seriously and was so angry that she ignored him.
The two of them finally found a nail salon.
There really wasn't anything fun to do on the island.
Gu Qiumian didn't want to get her nails done. She just wanted to find a place to sleep.
He didn't know if it had anything to do with her low blood sugar.
Of course, maybe she didn't get enough rest last night.
This was when the young man had to step up. Zhang Shutong paid the staff and said not to mind the two of them, just to provide two sofa chairs, preferably in a quiet corner.
The staff was a young girl who probably had never seen such a strange request in her life. Luckily, there weren't many people now, and there were still empty spots.
Not just a corner, but she even found a private room with only two sofas. Of course, the private room didn't have a door, only a curtain hanging down.
Walking into the small room felt like entering another world.
The lights overhead were not on. The light from outside slipped into the room from the floor tiles. The tiles were white, smooth but uneven. The light shimmered on them like shallow waves.
There were still a few customers outside. The sounds of women laughing echoed from time to time. The curtain couldn't block anything, but it gave a sense of security.
Gu Qiumian put her coat on the sofa chair and set an alarm on her phone. She was really tired, but she still stressed that he had to wake her up before dinner.
Zhang Shutong nodded repeatedly, and the girl closed her eyes with peace of mind.
Maybe she was worried about sleeping until it was dark?
Zhang Shutong thought as he looked at her serene sleeping face.
He had similar thoughts before. Sundays during school were the last bit of leisure time. If you woke up and found the sunset outside the window had dyed your pillow yellow, it would be very frustrating.
But today was only Saturday, so Zhang Shutong felt that her worry was unnecessary.
When Gu Qiumian slept, she was used to lying on her side with her hands cupped in front of her. Zhang Shutong had forgotten which amateur expert had said that this sleeping position was a sign of a lack of a sense of security.
One side of her face was slightly distorted because of it. Zhang Shutong wasn't hungry now. If he were, he might think of a wobbly milk pudding.
He was going to charge his phone. He tiptoed out, lifted the curtain, and asked the staff girl for a charger. She said they didn't have an Apple data cable.
That was a shame.
He felt that going in and out would wake Gu Qiumian, so he found a stool in the store and sat down. He couldn't play on his phone, so he just stared blankly at the pedestrians outside the window.
At this time, the staff girl asked, "Handsome, what kind of novel date is this?"
Zhang Shutong said it wasn't a date, and Gu Qiumian wasn't his girlfriend.
She just laughed secretly and said, "If you're not a couple, why would you find a store to sleep in?"
Zhang Shutong said in a strange tone, "It's because we're not a couple that we're doing this. If we were a couple, we'd be wandering around the streets. Who would spend time sleeping?"
The staff said, "You're so naive, little brother. A girl wouldn't just sleep in front of anyone. When I sleep in front of my best friend, I'm even worried that I'll drool and she'll make fun of me."
"Then why?"
"Trust." The staff said confidently. "Even if you're not a couple, you must have known each other for a long time."
"But I've only known her for..." Zhang Shutong counted on his fingers. From Wednesday after the Rewind to today, "exactly three days."
The staff was also stunned.
"You can't guess what she's thinking with a normal girl's mindset," Zhang Shutong said, summarizing from his experience. "Although I also don't know what she's thinking."
"Mr. Song, you've betrayed me." Du Kang held his head in pain.
When they arrived at the warehouse, they found out there weren't just a dozen desks but dozens of them. And that also included chairs, which doubled the number.
At first, he showed off and insisted on moving a whole set at once. Later, Qingyi tugged on him, and he realized that he didn't own the school, so why was he working so hard?
So from a little past one in the afternoon until five o'clock, in four hours, there was still a third of the chairs left to be moved.
Mr. Song probably saw that they were slacking off and didn't rush them. He seemed to have something on his mind today, as he often frowned and looked at his phone from time to time.
But no matter what was on his mind, Du Kang felt it wasn't a reason to make students do manual labor.
Of course, the homeroom teacher still had a little conscience left. He had said he would call for more people to help, and he actually brought back a classmate during his afternoon trip.
Everyone knew each other and could see the worry in each other's eyes. Although they hadn't talked in class and had even had some conflicts before, since they were comrades today, they let bygones be bygones.
Du Kang was an easygoing person and took the initiative to ask his buddy why he was here too. The other person sighed and shrugged, saying that the teacher looked for a while, but everyone else was busy, and he was the only one who was free, so he was dragged here. Anyway, they were all miserable.
Du Kang didn't have the heart to tell him that the three of them at least got a meal, but he didn't even get that meal, which was a huge loss.
He, Ruoping, Qingyi, and Shutong were also somewhat famous in the entire ninth grade. The students in their class knew that the few of them were always together, so the other person joked, "Why is it just the three of you today?"
Du Kang glanced at him and didn't know how to explain, so he just said with a strange expression:
"He went on a date with a girl."
"Who?"
Du Kang didn't say anything more, so as not to cause more trouble for his friend.
The five of them worked until a little past five o'clock. Mr. Song wiped the sweat from his head, rolled up his sleeves, and said wearily:
"That's enough for today. We'll stop now."
Saying that, the man clapped his hands, gathered everyone, and said with a hearty laugh:
"What do you all want to eat? We're having a feast tonight."
"What about the chairs? There are still ten left," Qingyi reminded him in a timely manner. Ruoping almost stepped on his foot. This kind of behavior was like a student raising his hand after school and shouting, "Teacher, you forgot to assign today's homework!"
"That's enough," Song Nanshan repeated. "It's almost 5:30. We've been working all afternoon. This isn't how I treat you guys. Let's go, let's go. Why are you guys so eager to work?"
"Are you serious?" Qingyi said in confusion. "We're leaving just like that?"
Even Du Kang wanted to kick him. He thought to himself, "Even if you've solved the case of the bathroom stalls, you don't have to be so enthusiastic, do you?"
"I mean," the young man said, dodging to the side, "Teacher, you're not going to call us back tomorrow, are you? In that case, it's better to finish it all in one go."
The other three all breathed a sigh of relief. To be honest, they were also afraid of this.
"How is that possible?" Song Nanshan laughed. "I found some people. You don't have to worry about it. They'll come and do it tonight."
"Who?"
"Shutong and Qiumian."
"Are you serious?" Ruoping was the first to speak. "His phone's dead, isn't it? He hasn't replied to my messages from this afternoon yet."
The girl then made a face at Du Kang next to her. She just felt that Mr. Song was very strange today.
"Why would I lie to you?" Song Nanshan spread his hands. "I called him this afternoon when I went out to pick someone up. They were still out playing, but the call didn't go through. It must have been because there was no signal in the wild."
Song Nanshan also laughed:
"Just now, I wasn't at the bathroom, was I? He happened to call me back and said that he just finished fishing with Qiumian and caught a whole basket full and was worried about how to carry it back.
"So I said, 'You're living the good life, kid, fishing and playing with a girl. Do you know how miserable your teacher and friends are?' I asked him what he was planning to do tonight. He said he hadn't thought about it. So I said, 'I'll arrange it for you. Hurry up and come back to work!'
"Then he reluctantly said he would come after dinner, around seven o'clock, and come with Qiumian to move the chairs."
Ruoping was still a bit unconvinced:
"I don't think Shutong would ever come back, knowing his personality."
Song Nanshan raised his eyebrows:
"You don't get it. I gave that kid some advice. I said, 'You two are just going to play around tonight anyway, and there are no movie theaters on the island. Why don't you come to the classroom and watch a movie on the projector? It's better than just wandering around. It's so much more romantic.'"
"And he agreed?" Ruoping was stunned.
"He agreed, and then he told me his phone was about to die and would shut down soon. I don't know what he's thinking," Mr. Song laughed angrily. "Isn't he just afraid that we'll be third wheels? Alright, why are you guys so concerned about them? Let's go, let's go. I'll go buy some water at the school gate. Ruoping, come with me."
"As for you guys, go to the bathroom. Don't waste any time. We'll get in the car when you get back."
Song Nanshan made the arrangements with a wave of his hand. As he pushed Ruoping, he said:
"I just found a farmhouse restaurant. We'll eat there tonight..."
"But isn't that on the far west side? It would take 20 minutes to drive there."
"Why do you care how far it is? You're not paying for the meal. It's just good food..."
"But..."
"No buts."
Ruoping finally glanced at Qingyi and found the three of them gossiping, not noticing that anything was wrong.
December 8, 2012, Saturday, 5:55 PM.
Zhang Shutong walked into the room on time and woke Gu Qiumian up.
She was still a bit groggy and didn't want to get up from the sofa chair. Zhang Shutong waited patiently next to her.
After a short while, Gu Qiumian was finally fully recovered. She stretched and the first thing she did was check her makeup on her phone.
"It's not smeared," Zhang Shutong reminded her.
"What do you mean it's not smeared? Look, is the corner of my mouth a little red?"
She gently wiped it with a tissue, very self-conscious.
Zhang Shutong didn't know whether to say that her makeup was smeared or that she was sleeping on it, so he just went outside to wait.
There weren't many customers in the store at this time. Even the staff had gone out to eat, and only the young girl was left.
When Gu Qiumian walked out, the other person handed her two bottles of water, which were even taken out of an insulated box:
"This handsome guy bought them beforehand," the young girl said with a sly smile.
Zhang Shutong was stunned. He had never bought water. After Gu Qiumian fell asleep, all he had done was sit in the store for more than an hour. He didn't know what the other person was doing, but he saw that the young miss had already taken the water and was in a good mood, humming:
"So you have this much emotional intelligence."
Zhang Shutong didn't know what to say. The staff girl winked at him and said, "You ordered the most expensive package. This is an additional service. You'd be losing out if you don't drink a bottle of water."
She also pointed to the price list on the wall:
"See? It says drinks are included."
Zhang Shutong bit the soft part of his cheek. First, mineral water was not a drink. Second, could she please not credit this to him? Third, Gu Qiumian was also dumb. If she had looked at the price list a little more, she would have easily seen through this lie.
Unfortunately, the young miss was often only concerned with the "price" and not the content of the list.
When they pushed open the glass door, the sky had already darkened. It got dark very early in the winter. The streetlights lit up, dyeing the night a warm yellow. The two of them hadn't decided where to go next, so they stayed at the door for a while, shrinking their necks from the cold wind at the same time.
Zhang Shutong once again noticed that Gu Qiumian wasn't wearing the scarf today. That thing was left to her by her mother. He didn't know what kind of emotions the girl had poured into it. In a way, it should be a talisman.
"It's so cold..." Gu Qiumian hugged the mineral water in her hand and told him to just start walking.
Zhang Shutong then looked back at the nail salon one last time. The staff girl was sitting at the front desk, giving him a gesture of encouragement.
Zhang Shutong nodded, indicating that he had received her encouragement. She smiled, and he also smiled, thinking to himself that she had misunderstood him. The encouragement they were talking about was not the same thing at all.
He asked Gu Qiumian what she wanted to eat, and she said, "Whatever."
He then said, "But you hate 'whatever' the most." The girl said, "Just pick something and treat me."
"I'll treat?"
"Of course," she said, taking a sip of water. "I already bought so many things at noon."
Zhang Shutong recalled if there were any good restaurants on the island and came to a very disappointing conclusion.
"I can't think of any good places."
"Who said I wanted a feast? Just take me to a place you think is good."
"How about a rice bowl with toppings?" Their current location was very close to the school.
Gu Qiumian nodded and said, "Okay," and that she would make him pay a lot.
But the most expensive thing at that store was the potato and beef rice bowl, which was a whopping 15 yuan, which was far from being a "feast."
But he couldn't think of anything else that was good to eat, so the two of them walked towards the rice bowl store under the dim streetlights, looking like they were heading to a three-star Michelin restaurant.
On the way, Zhang Shutong took out his phone and looked at it again. This poor little guy was almost at the end of its life—
It only had three percent battery left.