Winter Time Rendering

Du Kang hurriedly lowered his voice.

"You mean..."

Zhang Shutong nodded nonchalantly.

"Yeah. We have exercises today."

...

"Yeah. We have exercises today."

It was as if a switch flipped in Du Kang’s mind. He finally understood everything. He cursed under his breath, "So that bastard is going for the scarf! Shouldn’t we hurry up there?"

But Zhang Shutong simply tilted his head to listen, then shook it slightly.

"We have to wait a little longer."

Du Kang had no choice but to wait patiently. He glanced at his watch. The second hand ticked along crisply, but time itself seemed to have frozen. The thirty-minute long break between classes was nearly over. It usually flew by, but now it felt unbearably slow. He asked again in an anxious whisper:

"Shutong, are you really sure he’d dare to show up today?"

"The second-to-last question," Zhang Shutong said, holding up two fingers. But after saying it, he shook his head and chuckled. "Actually, it’s not really a question. What day is it today?"

"Friday..."

"So if he’s going to make a move, today is his only chance. Tomorrow and the day after are the weekend. By the time Monday rolls around, all the clues will be gone. Where would we even start looking then...?"

Just as he said that, Zhang Shutong suddenly paused and whipped his head around. Du Kang followed his gaze. The hallway was still empty, but then a RRRIP echoed in their ears—the sound of fabric being torn apart.

Zhang Shutong instantly gave a sharp wave of his hand and bolted into the hallway. Du Kang reacted at once.

’That bastard made his move!’

A single look was all it took to convey their intent. Du Kang stopped talking, channeling all his frantic energy into his legs. He bounded up the stairs in a few leaps and broke into a full sprint.

He was actually much faster than the other two. By the time Zhang Shutong and Meng Qingyi had just reached the classroom door, Du Kang had already dashed inside. His eyes immediately locked onto the seat by the window. Sure enough, a boy was furtively doing something in front of Gu Qiuyan’s desk.

One end of the red scarf, which the girl was never seen without, was pinned under the boy’s foot. He had looped it around from behind her chair and was yanking hard on the other end.

Everyone knew that the girl, Gu Qiuyan, was a rich man’s daughter who owned countless expensive things. Yet that scarf was an ordinary object. Du Kang remembered Ruoping saying it wasn’t even a brand name—it looked hand-knit—but it was the girl’s most treasured possession.

Of course, the ordinary wool scarf couldn’t withstand the abuse. It was stretched and pulled until it snapped. Threads unraveled and broke apart with a tragic RIPPING sound until it was completely ruined.

But the boy didn’t seem satisfied. His expression was a twisted mask that was neither a smile nor a scowl, but something closer to the glee of long-awaited vengeance. He stomped on it a few more times for good measure, even cleared his throat, and opened his mouth—

Then, startled by the sound of footsteps, he instinctively turned his head. In a flash, three boys appeared at the classroom door.

"You..."

The twisted expression froze on his face.

’They... When did they get here?’

’Why do they know I’m here?’

’Did they see me?’

’What if they saw me?’

Shock, panic, fear... But before he could say anything, the boy in the lead darted toward him, while one of the other two pulled out a phone and waved it.

"Got it all on camera."

Then he turned to the boy next to him, feigning confusion.

"Who’s this clown? Qingyi, you know him?"

"Oh, that’s the dirty joke guy. The one who transferred classes because of Gu Qiuyan. But Shutong, you seriously didn’t guess? I figured it out back on the stairs..."

’What do you mean, dirty joke guy?!’

That was the last thought that flashed through his mind as he instinctively turned to run. Unfortunately, the lead boy’s foot was faster.

"So it really was you, you disgusting bastard!"

The next moment, the boy went down, tangled up with the scarf. Du Kang had been ready to cuss him out some more, but the kick seemed to have knocked the wind out of him. He just stared blankly from the floor before scrambling to get away.

"Du Kang, grab him! Don’t let him get away."

"You got it."

Just as the culprit had stepped on the scarf, Du Kang stepped on the boy’s jacket. The guy seemed scared stiff, having lost all will to resist. He just sat there on the floor, motionless, with a vacant look in his eyes.

Du Kang let out a satisfied sigh.

It wasn’t that he had a particularly good impression of the rich girl, but what this bastard had done was so repulsive that even he felt a sense of catharsis, and a little thrill of excitement.

’The three of us buddies have undoubtedly acted as heroes once again,’ he thought. ’We may not have saved the world, but at least we saved the girl one of our buddies likes. A rare feat, truly rare.’

His thoughts always jumped around quickly. ’What if I have to give a speech at the flag-raising ceremony again tomorrow? Wouldn’t that be too often? What if Gu Qiuyan’s dad gives us a reward? It’s not that I don’t want it, but what if Ruoping won’t let us accept it?’

’And Gu Qiuyan, the person at the center of all this, will be back soon. I wonder what she’ll think.’

Lost in thought, he spaced out and forgot all about interrogating the boy. He was just about to ask if they should drag this clown to the office.

But then Qingyi suddenly spoke up.

"Move your foot and take a look. Is the scarf completely ruined?"

Du Kang froze for a second, then dragged the boy further away before looking at the scarf pinned to the floor. It was, indeed, ruined beyond repair. Unlike last time, when it just had a footprint and a few loose threads on one end, this time it was completely misshapen and almost torn in half... ’There’s no way this can be fixed, right?’

While he was still stunned, Zhang Shutong walked over, squatted down, and picked up the scarf. He dangled it in front of his eyes as if examining a corpse, then tossed it back on the ground in disgust and sighed.

"Such a tragic fate. What a pity."

’It’s over!’

’We’re really done for this time!’

At that moment, Du Kang couldn’t think about anything else; only that single thought remained in his mind.

’Last time it was just slightly damaged and Gu Qiuyan threw such a fit. Isn’t she going to raise hell this time?’

He didn’t care how much of a scene Gu Qiuyan made, but the problem was—

This time, the three of them had deliberately used the scarf as bait!

Their intentions were good, and they’d caught the "culprit," but the outcome couldn’t have been worse!

Putting himself in Gu Qiuyan’s shoes, if he had to choose between the scarf and finding out the truth, Du Kang was sure she would choose the former.

They say you can’t blame someone for what they don’t know... but the three of them obviously knew.

They had even waited for the guy to make his move before rushing out, just to record the evidence.

’So what on earth are we going to say?’

’Tell the truth and beg for Gu Qiuyan’s forgiveness?’

’We caught the guy who transferred classes, but what if we three brothers have to transfer classes next?’

’Or should we lie? Say we had diarrhea and came back to use the restroom, and just happened to stumble upon him. If the head teacher asks if the three of us shared one stomach for our diarrhea, we’d have to nod and say of course... not! That’s insane.’ Du Kang didn’t even believe it himself.

"S-So, Shutong, what do we do now?"

"Nothing to be done. Blame the scarf for its own bad luck," Zhang Shutong said with a shrug.

"But the problem is, what do we say when Gu Qiuyan gets back?"

"Hmm, make that kid pay his respects at the scarf’s grave?"

"No, how can you joke at a time like this!"

"What else can we say?" Zhang Shutong said helplessly. "We were just trying to help her. We can only hope Gu Qiuyan will be understanding."

"Dude, aren’t you a little too calm about this?"

Du Kang was trembling as he spoke.

"Did you forget she cried last time? Even I could tell that scarf means something special to her, right?"

"Her..." Zhang Shutong recalled their conversation after school yesterday and the girl’s indifferent expression. Although he couldn’t quite figure Gu Qiuyan out, he was sure his assessment was correct. "It’s actually fine. It’s just a cheap scarf. She won’t care that much."

"Alright, stop worrying. It can’t be helped. Those who do great things can’t sweat the small stuff," Qingyi said with a sigh. He patted Du Kang’s shoulder sagely, a sharp glint in his eyes. "This is what it means to be a man. To protect one thing, you must sacrifice another."

"Stop it, man!"

Who would have thought that upon hearing such profound words of wisdom, the boy who had been so calm just a moment ago would instantly roll his eyes?

"Am I wrong?" Qingyi asked, confused.

"Uh, you’re right, but I have a different take on it now..."

As he spoke, he reached into his pocket and pulled. Before the stunned gazes of the other two, a flash of bright red flew out from his bulging pocket.

Zhang Shutong smoothed out the scarf—which was clearly a bit old and even had some pilling—draped it over the back of Gu Qiuyan’s chair, and stroked his chin.

"Somehow, I think what it *really* means to be a man is to plan for every contingency."

Ignoring the looks of astonishment frozen on his two buddies’ faces, he looked up, a happy smile gracing his usually cold features. He held up one finger.

"And now for the final question. Tell me—"

"What time does the clothing and accessories shop on the commercial street close?"