"...From the moment he entered the school, everything was within our control. See how he's walking so slowly? That's because this man is a very cautious person. I'll bet you he's even wearing a mask."
The young man and the girl stood by the window in the middle of the hallway. The night seemed to have numbed their senses. They appeared oblivious to the man's arrival, whispering to each other as if they were meeting in secret at night, exchanging sweet nothings.
"Then why isn't he coming over faster?" Gu Qiumian whispered.
"He's afraid we'll call the police. The ideal scenario for him is that we're still watching the movie, and he suddenly comes in from the back of the classroom to make a move. As long as he controls one of us, the rest will be easy."
"And now?"
"Now the first variable has appeared. He's found that we're not in the classroom, so he's hesitating."
"What if he just turns around and runs? Wouldn't that be a disaster?"
To this question, Zhang Shutong simply answered softly:
"A gambler who's already at the table won't leave halfway through."
The time was right.
He hadn't closed the door when he left the classroom. "Roman Holiday" was still playing. He didn't know which part it was on. Class 4-1 was right next to the stairwell. From the corner of his eye, the faint light coming from the classroom door just outlined the silhouette of a man.
In reality, the man had two choices now: either rush up directly or continue to observe. Although it made little difference to Zhang Shutong which one he chose, he thought to himself that since the young miss wanted a happy version, he couldn't scare her.
So the young man turned around at this exact moment, and the beam from his flashlight shone on the man's face, making the man stop subconsciously;
The young man then asked loudly, "Who's there?"
The girl also grumbled with lingering fear, "Who would come here so late at night? Is it a teacher?"
The two of them huddled together and bravely walked a few steps toward the stairwell until—
"He's actually wearing a mask..." Gu Qiumian said in a low voice.
"Didn't I tell you? I can guess his every move."
So the young man and the girl stood frozen, asking several times, but the man didn't answer. He just squinted in the light, his brows tightly furrowed.
"Why isn't he saying anything?" Gu Qiumian's voice was hidden beneath the movie's dialogue.
"He's afraid of leaving evidence," Zhang Shutong said casually. "And isn't it just as I said? He's starting to hesitate because he's lost his absolute certainty. Even a gambler, going all-in is a process. It's the same for a desperado."
"Then what do we do?"
"Let's add some more chips for him."
The young man and the girl seemed not to be stupid. After a moment of stunned, the boy blurted out, "You're that arsonist?" He then urged the girl to call the police quickly.
But the girl said anxiously:
"My phone's dead too. Did you forget I was playing games all day?"
The two of them exchanged glances and then turned and ran.
"That's a terrible excuse," Zhang Shutong whispered.
"My phone really is dead."
"Tom Cat uses that much battery?"
"I forgot to quit the game and just locked the screen..."
"Dumb."
"You're the dumb one!" Gu Qiumian glared. "What's next?"
"The more you say, the more wrong you are. That's enough. Just maintain a subtle misunderstanding. It's enough to make him chase after us. You know about fishing, right?"
Zhang Shutong had just finished fishing today and wanted to share his experience:
"Sometimes, a cunning old fish won't rush to bite the bait in the water. You have to give the rod a slight tug, and they'll get hooked."
As they spoke, the young man and girl had run to the end of the hallway. There was another stairwell behind them that led to the school's rooftop. The man seemed to know this. He pursued them step by step, gradually quickening his pace.
"He's hooked now?"
"Yes, he's hooked. And he knows the school well. He knows the rooftop door is locked, so he wants to break our psychological defense and slowly force us into a dead end."
"Then what do we do?" The young miss was in a good mood and asked a very foolish question, as if she wanted him to show off.
"Just do what I said before. You know what to do," Zhang Shutong said, knowing that Gu Qiumian had a mischievous side.
His eyes had gotten used to the darkness, so he could see the girl's lips form the words:
"Did you forget what you promised me? Be humorous!"
Zhang Shutong bit the soft part of his cheek. This was the third time today. If he bit it again, he suspected he would get a canker sore. In reality, with his personality, he would be a pure man of action, but he had to be humorous today.
So he deliberately raised his voice and explained:
"Don't forget I have a trump card."
"What trump card?" Both of them turned back at the same time. The man was the one who asked the question.
This was the first time the other person had spoken. His voice had no special memorable qualities. And when he said that, the man had stopped moving.
Zhang Shutong and Gu Qiumian had already gone up the stairs, and the man was right below them.
"Of course, it's the key to the rooftop. You didn't think it was really locked, did you?"
Zhang Shutong tilted his head and asked strangely.
Theoretically, the rooftop door was locked, but in his second year of middle school, the school janitor was careless and forgot to take out the key. He was bold at the time and made a copy, thus gaining a secret hideout.
He didn't expect this hideout to remain hidden for so many years. It was like Batman's Batcave or Iron Man's home that was blown up. It was finally put to good use.
This was why Zhang Shutong chose the school as the final location.
As he spoke, he pulled Gu Qiumian's hand and rushed to the rooftop. The man reacted and immediately rushed up. Zhang Shutong took this time to lock the door behind them. The two of them took a step back and immediately heard a dull thud as the man's body slammed into the door.
"That was exciting."
They were finally safe. There was no need to deliberately lower their voices. The girl let out a breath of relief. The night wind messed up her hair, and she realized that her heart was pounding.
She said, not having had enough:
"Do you think this person is frustrated? He was so close to catching us, but he was separated by a door again?"
Although they were safe, the night wind on the rooftop was very cold. It was always a place that was cold in the winter and warm in the summer.
The young man nodded:
"Let's just stay here for a while. I think he'll leave soon."
"What if he doesn't leave?"
"Then we'll call the police and wait. I don't think he'd dare to stay at the school for long." The young man said, taking out his phone and pressing the power button a few times. A moment later, he said awkwardly, "Crap, I just remembered my phone's off... Then we'll just have to wait it out."
The safe situation suddenly became tense again. The man seemed to have heard their conversation, so instead of leaving, he pushed harder.
The door was just made of plywood. It was fine for stopping mischievous students, but with a grown man putting all his weight against it, it wouldn't last long.
The young man and girl obviously noticed this problem. After a moment of silence, Gu Qiumian asked:
"What if he breaks the door down later?"
As if her words had power, with a tearing sound, a crack appeared in the door.
Zhang Shutong whispered:
"Just like I said before, he won't give up easily. I just don't know how long the door can hold up..."
He was a jinx. As soon as he finished speaking, the door, unable to bear the weight, was finally broken down by the man.
"Where else can you two run?" The man gasped, finally squeezing out a cold laugh.
On the rooftop, in his line of sight, there were only the young man and the girl.
"What do we do, what do we do?"
They retreated little by little. Gu Qiumian urgently winked at Zhang Shutong.
Zhang Shutong knew why she was anxious—
So he forced himself to play along with a straight face:
"Don't be afraid. Who said I don't have a trump card?"
The girl, as expected, burst into laughter, and the young man at the same time shouted to the side:
"If you don't come out now, someone's going to get hurt!"
So, in the man's stunned gaze, from behind the small room in the stairwell, four figures suddenly appeared on the empty rooftop.
Zhang Shutong played four cards at once:
They were an adult and three students.
It was Zhang Shutong's homeroom teacher and his group of friends.
God knows how long they had been waiting in ambush here, all of them eager for a fight.
They were never afraid when it came to numbers. In an instant, the situation was reversed.
"You had me fooled, Shutong. Why did you only call us now?" This was Du Kang.
"Why were you two acting like idiots just now?" This was Ruoping.
"A man's gotta have a trump card. So cool!" This was Qingyi, who also gave a thumbs-up.
Zhang Shutong gave a thumbs-up in return and said to Gu Qiumian, "Did you hear that, idiot?"
"You're so bad..." Gu Qiumian's body shook with laughter.
Zhang Shutong reminded her that it wasn't time to let her guard down:
"See? This man is acting just like I said he would. He's hesitating again. If he reacted quickly now, he could still take a hostage."
Zhang Shutong pointed at Ruoping's position:
"Ruoping is the closest to him. If he rushed over, he could probably catch us off guard, although the possibility of him doing anything is close to zero."
"Why?"
"After all, he hasn't shown his face the entire time. Why would he fight to the death instead of just running? He can't even take you hostage. And his personality determines it. It's true that he likes to hide behind the scenes, but a nicer way to put it is that he waits for the right opportunity. A harsher way to put it is that he's too indecisive. I told you, I've figured out everything he's thinking. Don't believe me? Watch—"
The man indeed subconsciously touched the mask on his face, looked around vigilantly, and retreated step by step.
"Then if he runs, won't all our efforts be in vain?" Gu Qiumian was a great straight man. She bounced up and down like a little fan. "Oh, hurry up and think of something! Do you have any more trump cards?"
Zhang Shutong sighed helplessly:
"Can't you just let me be cool for the last time?"
"Play your card now!"
Zhang Shutong really regretted agreeing to her earlier.
Gu Qiumian's face was as beautiful as a flower. Zhang Shutong rolled his eyes and said to the man, "Hold on, mister culprit."
To be honest, he felt that playing cards was much harder than catching a culprit.
But he had just said so casually that pig liver and duck liver didn't matter, whether the culprit was smart or not didn't matter, and that he had already figured out the man's every move. So what was important? The half of "Roman Holiday" he had seen told him that what was important was to make the princess happy.
As the other person stopped, he grumbled:
"I'm sorry, I just can't seem to run out of trump cards... Du Kang, bring his son up."
"Got it!"
The young man pulled another dark figure from behind the stairwell.
Zhang Shutong helpfully shone his flashlight on them, allowing the father and son to recognize each other.
"Why are you here? Didn't you say you were eating with your teacher?" The man finally panicked.
"Dad, they knew everything all along. It was all a show for us to see..."
"How did they find out about you!" The man growled in disbelief and then subconsciously looked at Zhang Shutong.
And at this moment, the line he had been waiting for finally had a use.
But for some reason, it suddenly became uninteresting.
Zhang Shutong shrugged, his interest gone:
"You can blame the Oreos. I just happened to have a connection with them."
The time rewound to a few hours ago in the afternoon.
"Why hasn't Teacher Song come back from buying water yet?" Du Kang shook his head.
"Did you tell your family you were going out for dinner tonight?"
Qingyi suddenly asked.
"It's fine. My dad knows I won't be back."
"I have to tell my family."
"What do you mean?"
"It means my phone is dead, too." Qingyi innocently shook his phone and asked, "Can I borrow yours to make a call?"
But he didn't ask Du Kang. He asked the boy next to him, who had just come out of the bathroom.
"I... you... you can borrow your friend's..." The boy stammered and subconsciously protected his phone.
"As expected, Shutong was right. It really is you." Qingyi let out a breath. "Du Kang, go."
...
"Damn it, I knew you were shady, but I didn't expect you to be the one behind this. You're really something!"
Du Kang spat. The boy who had just been punched by him was rolling on the ground, unable to speak.
At this time, Du Kang remembered to ask his friend in shock, "What's going on?"
"He's the one who wrote the names on the bathroom stalls and instructed Li Yipeng to do it."
Qingyi then made a call. "Hello, Teacher? You can come back. The person has been caught."
"Wait, buddy, what's going on now?"
"Don't worry, I'll explain it one by one. Let's start with this person."
A relaxed smile finally appeared on Qingyi's face:
"Do you remember what I emphasized before? Li Yipeng's mom's matter was a time bomb that was planted beforehand, and the best place to plant this bomb was the school.
"So he gave a note to Li Yipeng to incite him to do it. Is that clear enough?"
Du Kang, however, immediately shook his head:
"No, no. I remember that the castle thing was something the three of us caught. What does he have to do with it? This isn't a time bomb. Without our bomb, how would it explode?"
Qingyi said:
"This is another miscalculation of the father and son. Li Yipeng was caught by Shutong, but did you notice that it didn't matter who caught him?
"Since he instructed this, in a way, he was the only one who knew who smashed the castle beforehand. Even without us, he would have taken the initiative to expose it. This person's style of doing things is exactly the same as his father's. He's used to hiding behind the scenes, leaving the mess for others, and exonerating himself.
"So not only did he write the name on the stall, but in order to completely clear his suspicion, he also took the initiative to tell Gu Qiumian. Do you remember? Shutong went to him before, and his behavior was very abnormal. He refused to say anything."
"Was that intentional too?" Du Kang was stunned.
Qingyi nodded:
"Yes, it was to solidify his image as a secret admirer. Since he was a secret admirer, it wouldn't make sense for him to seek revenge on Gu Qiumian. Since he warned her in advance, it wouldn't make sense for him to be the mastermind who instructed Li Yipeng. But if you think about it in reverse, he cleared his suspicion too perfectly. Countless coincidences piled up together mean it was inevitable."
At this point, Qingyi lowered his head:
"In reality, you didn't have a crush on her at all. Your whole family hates Gu Qiumian so much. Growing up in this environment, how could you like her? Whether it was being her deskmate, asking about her well-being, or anything else, it was all just a means of getting to know Gu Qiumian in this 'school' place."
"I'm not wrong, am I?"
Qingyi kicked the boy lying on the ground and spit out three words in disgust:
"Zhou Ziheng."
"So you, Shutong, and Teacher Song planned this all out beforehand? And the two of us were kept in the dark?"
The girl was dumbfounded.
She had just returned with her homeroom teacher, and a moment ago, her heart was still in her throat. Who would have known that as soon as Song Nanshan was out of the sight of the three boys, he would stop? It didn't look like he was going to buy water at all.
The man turned around, bent over, and supported his knees. He smiled wryly at her:
"Ruoping, I'm sorry to have worried you, but your teacher had no choice..."
She was about to ask what was going on, but she saw Teacher Song take a phone call. He nodded with a serious face. He didn't know what the other person said, but he waved his hand:
"Let's go. We'll talk when we get back!"
And he started running back in a hurry.
Then Ruoping saw the three boys who were just talking and laughing suddenly fall, even though they had just been acting like good friends gossiping together.
Teacher Song went directly to talk to Qingyi. She could only ask Du Kang. This guy was also a bit confused and took a long time to explain what was going on.
It turned out that only the two of them were kept in the dark.
At this time, Qingyi finally had a moment to spare:
"Yeah, Teacher Song was an outside helper that Shutong invited. Why else would he suddenly call the three of us and deliberately not bring Shutong and his girl?"
"Then why didn't you tell me?" Ruoping went to twist his ear.
"Wait, wait, wait. I was afraid you two would give it away. What if you let it slip? Besides, didn't Shutong ask you? Did you want to know the answer beforehand or wait for a surprise?"
"That was a real surprise!" Ruoping was so angry her teeth ached. "I almost suspected that there was something going on with Teacher Song. No wonder you were acting like an idiot all afternoon!"
Qingyi spread his hands:
"I couldn't help it. I didn't want to scare you on purpose. Think about it. On a weekend, we had to get Zhou Ziheng out without raising any suspicion. He was the only one who could rightfully call a student. We couldn't just go find Zhou Ziheng ourselves, could we?"
"Then what Teacher Song said about fishing, his phone dying, and watching a movie, was all made up? Was he deliberately saying that for Zhou Ziheng to hear, so he could report back to his dad?"
"Pretty much." Qingyi nodded. "But the movie part wasn't. Shutong suggested that himself. He said he wanted to put the final scene on the school rooftop. He happened to have the key, and the place was spacious. In case the culprit got desperate, there wouldn't be any accidental injuries. Although the possibility was very small, you know Shutong's personality. It's better to be safe than sorry."
Ruoping was convinced, although she was still a bit reluctant:
"So we're successful now?"
"Basically. His dad has taken the bait. Look." Qingyi shook Zhou Ziheng's phone, showing Ruoping the chat history between the father and son. "Although it's not set in stone, we're just one small step away from success."
"Now I can finally explain the whole case. It's not just you guys who are frustrated; I am too."
Qingyi said excitedly:
"I'll count how many events there are so far. Oh, there are five or six: the names on the bathroom stalls, the castle revenge incident, Li Yipeng getting his parents called in, the arson case, and the whole day's actions today, the nanny, fishing, moving desks... Let's not count these for now. Let's start with the first ones.
"The most crucial part, which is Li Yipeng's mom's incident, I won't repeat. Anyway, it's the key point that connects both ends.
"Before this incident, it was the son's preparations at school.
"After this incident, it was the father's revenge action outside of school. See? It's so much clearer now.
"The first point of doubt here is why Zhou Ziheng did this. After all, he completely cleared himself from the beginning and even 'secretly liked' Gu Qiumian and acted like a 'good person.' No one would ever suspect him of being the mastermind.
"When you try to deduce Zhou Ziheng's motive, you'll definitely get stuck on one point. If he wanted to get revenge on Gu Qiumian at school, why didn't he just do it directly? Why did he have to go through such a big detour? That's where Shutong got stuck.
"But what if you don't see the castle incident as an independent event? Instead, you connect it to all the subsequent events. You'll find that he never cared about small things like tearing a scarf or breaking a building block. Everything he did was to create an opportunity for his dad to get away with it."
"Are you saying?" Ruoping understood and suddenly felt a chill.
"Yes, exactly."
Qingyi also nodded seriously:
"Just as Shutong said, the culprit is not just one person. It was a conspiracy between two people. From beginning to end, this case was a series of meticulously planned actions from within the school to outside the school, ultimately revolving around getting revenge on the Gu family."
At this point, Qingyi laughed again:
"But what's the use of meticulous planning? We still messed it up. Especially Shutong. Look at him. Doesn't he seem like he was sent by God to stop the father and son?
"First, Zhou Ziheng wanted to be Gu Qiumian's deskmate, but Shutong took his spot. Later, he wanted to expose Li Yipeng to clear his own suspicion, but Shutong caught him first. Then, when his dad instructed the five people to burn down Gu Qiumian's villa, Shutong sent them away. And now, he wanted to report back to his dad, but Shutong saw through it again.
"So, isn't he a competent bodyguard?"
"I'm really impressed. If it were me, I probably wouldn't even have found Li Yipeng," Du Kang said emotionally. "Then there's only one question left—"
He was puzzled:
"How did Shutong even suspect Zhou Ziheng?"
"That," Qingyi smiled mysteriously. "In a way, it's a coincidence. I said before that Shutong discovered a huge secret in the milk tea shop."
"Stop being so mysterious!" Du Kang and Ruoping said in unison.
"It's simple. When he was buying milk tea, the crushed Oreos ran out, and the owner asked her son to get them. That's when Shutong figured everything out."
"He saw Zhou Ziheng then?"
"To be precise, no."
"What do you mean?"
"Hmm..." Qingyi thought for a moment, resting his chin on his hand. "In his own words, he feels that he might have a connection with Oreos."
"No, what does this have to do with Oreos?"
...
"What does this have to do with Oreos?"
On the rooftop, the man was also yelling in shock. The man who had just seemed to have a grasp on everything was now on the verge of a breakdown.
His son was in their hands, and he had confessed everything. There was no point in fighting to the death. He leaned against the wall of the stairwell and slowly slid to the ground.
The rooftop floor was, of course, very cold, just like his heart had completely turned cold.
"It actually has nothing to do with Oreos," Zhang Shutong glanced at the other person. His reaction was exactly as he had predicted. "Yueliyue would have been fine, too. I didn't even see his face at the time. Your store has a storage room, doesn't it? There's a curtain hanging there. When he handed the Oreos, he only extended his hand and didn't even show his body."
"Then why..."
"But—"
Their homeroom teacher once said that if a sentence has a "but" in the middle, it means that everything before it can be disregarded as nonsense.
Zhang Shutong had always remembered this vulgar saying. Teacher Song couldn't help but smile when he heard him draw out the word.
This was probably the unspoken understanding between the teacher and his student. Just like when he came back from the milk tea shop and explained the situation to Teacher Song. At that time, the other person hadn't eaten yet and had just come out of the police station. Without a word, he rushed to pick up Du Kang, choosing to trust his deduction.
Now that the dust had settled, Teacher Song and the others had already called the police. Zhang Shutong was in no hurry to deal with the man;
He habitually took out his phone to check the time but found that the little device had already reached the end of its life. It had been a long and hard day for it.
When the battery was at thirty-five percent, he officially proposed the day's action to his friends;
At thirty-four percent, Du Kang was already on his way to Gu Qiumian's villa.
At thirty percent, he had already arrived at the commercial street;
When it dropped below thirty percent, he located the milk tea shop with Ruoping's help;
And he didn't carefully calculate how much was left after that.
At around twenty-something percent, Qingyi told him that the culprit had been confirmed;
At less than twenty percent, he went to the "base" to fish to completely shake off the man;
At around ten percent, he called Teacher Song; when it was below ten percent, he received the news that Zhou Ziheng was hooked;
And when the battery was at three percent, he took Gu Qiumian to the final location.
At one percent—the big fish was officially hooked.
The man who had planned everything from behind the scenes was an arrogant person. He always thought that without his phone, he was like a fish on a chopping board, helpless and at a dead end.
But what Zhang Shutong didn't tell him was that to just deal with him, he didn't even need to turn on his phone.
So Zhang Shutong turned to look at the boy lying on the ground. It was night, so he couldn't see what he looked like.
He remembered the first time he saw him was on the day of the seating arrangement. He had somehow ended up sitting next to Gu Qiumian. Song Nanshan arranged the seats by rank, and the students entered the classroom one by one;
At that time, Zhang Shutong's first impression of him was:
"A boy with slightly dark skin. For some reason, he was stunned when he saw me."
His impression was so shallow at the time that he quickly forgot the other person's name when he saw him the next day.
Of course, there was also one more thing. The castle incident was something that didn't happen in the original timeline and was a variable caused by his Rewind—
Many seemingly flawless plans often fail because of a small flaw. The task that the young miss had given him was complete. At this time, he no longer had to play cards and could finally reveal the final secret:
"You want to know how I guessed all this from him handing over the Oreos? It's actually very simple."
In the disbelief of the father and son, Zhang Shutong said flatly:
"You can only blame your son for being so dark."
"—I could tell just by looking at his hand."