Winter Time Rendering

The so-called "base" was a large drainage pipe.

It was impossible to tell how long it had been abandoned. The other end was blocked, and the silt that had settled at the bottom was long since dry and hard. A few stubborn weeds poked through, shivering in the winter air.

The concrete pipe was covered in cracks, and the worst spots had crumbled away, exposing rusty, orange-colored rebar.

Gu Qiuyan followed Zhang Shutong into the drainage pipe, curiously examining the graffiti on both sides of the inner wall.

The boy, meanwhile, crouched in front of a safe and fumbled with it for a while.

"You guys have a safe?" she asked, surprised.

"Du Kang found it."

"Then how do you know the combination?"

"The combination lock has been broken for ages. How else would we have found it?" Zhang Shutong chuckled, finally pulling a key from a crack in the wall. "It’s just a shell."

Only then did Gu Qiuyan notice that an extra padlock had been put on the safe.

The lock was stiff, and Zhang Shutong had to wrestle with it for a bit before it opened. He pulled the door open and took out two motorcycle helmets.

These helmets hadn’t been acquired through proper channels either. Qingyi had contributed one, and the other was a hand-me-down from his dad. He rapped his knuckles against the surface of a helmet, the sound echoing in the drainage pipe. It suddenly occurred to him, ’So many of my precious childhood treasures were just other people’s trash.’

’So this is what childhood is: not having seen the wider world, you build a beautiful eggshell for yourself, one that shatters at the slightest touch.’

’Who ended up taking all this stuff home?’

’Probably nobody wanted it. It wasn’t even worth the effort to haul away.’ He had completely forgotten about their secret base in the eight years since. The safe must have remained in this pitch-black cavern all this time. It seemed that if you didn’t dismiss it as junk, it would silently wait for you.

Inside the safe were many other odds and ends: a military shovel, a combat knife, a broken digital watch, a few hair ties, a phone charging cable... Some of it was useless, but some might come in handy later. In any case, this was their treasure chest.

Just then, Gu Qiuyan asked what they were having for lunch. Should she call Aunt Wu? Maybe they could go back to her place to eat?

Zhang Shutong shook his head. He didn’t really want to head in the direction of the villa. Besides, they had just drunk Grand Slam milk teas, and those things were really filling.

When he asked, it turned out Gu Qiuyan wasn’t hungry either. So Zhang Shutong suggested they go fishing, to let the young lady experience the kind of fun that regular students like them had.

He pulled two spare fishing sets from the safe—a secret base could be missing anything but fishing rods. As he spoke, he started threading the line and tying the hook.

Gu Qiuyan was eager to try too, but with a difference: she just bent over and watched from the side, with no intention of getting her own hands dirty, waiting for Zhang Shutong to get it ready for her.

"What about bait?"

Gu Qiuyan immediately pointed out the key issue, showing she had a real talent for fishing.

Zhang Shutong said they had bait readily available. He took the military shovel; the damp soil by the water was a perfect place for hibernating earthworms. It didn’t take long for him to dig up a few. Zhang Shutong held one up for her to see, but Gu Qiuyan yelped and jumped back a step, glaring at him to get it away from her.

’So she’s scared of worms. How timid.’

’What would she think if she knew Du Kang dared to catch frogs with his bare hands?’

Zhang Shutong glanced around. They were out in the wild. The daylight had turned a deathly pale, and the wind blew in fits and starts, gusting into the drainage pipe with a WHOOSHING sound.

Honestly, it was a little creepy. But Gu Qiuyan didn’t say she wanted to go back. ’Looks like I underestimated her when I called her timid just now.’

Seeing no one else around, Zhang Shutong lowered his head again and continued to fiddle with the bait.

They brought out a couple of stools and sat down on the bank next to the drainage pipe. He had also found two packs of compressed biscuits, a pleasant surprise. He tossed one to Gu Qiuyan, then began fishing, alternating between sips of milk tea and bites of biscuit.

The wind was a bit cold, the water a bit shallow, and the fish were few and far between, but Zhang Shutong felt this was all incredibly cool. He couldn’t resist taking a picture to show off to Qingyi.

Who would have thought his phone would act up at the crucial moment? The picture he sent was stuck on the spinning loading icon, and only the text message "gone fishing" went through. ’This crappy signal.’

...

"Wait, in the middle of the day, he actually took Gu Qiuyan fishing?" Ruoping asked in astonishment.

"It’s fine. I left some compressed biscuits there before. They won’t starve," Qingyi said reassuringly. He turned sideways, showed her the chat history, then turned back and settled into the passenger seat.

"I’m not talking about the compressed biscuits, I’m talking about the fishing..."

"Isn’t eating compressed biscuits while fishing, like, a whole vibe? What do you want them to eat, Oreos?"

"What does it have to do with what they’re eating?" Ruoping exclaimed, exasperated. She was starting to feel sorry for Gu Qiuyan. "I’m saying, there are so many places to go! Who takes a girl fishing in the middle of nowhere on a weekend? Forget Gu Qiuyan, even I think it’s creepy!"

"Shutong said Gu Qiuyan is pretty brave and wasn’t scared."

’Is that really because she’s brave?’

Ruoping was about to blow up at these two blockheads when the man in the driver’s seat suddenly spoke up.

"Alright, you guys quiet down. You’re giving me a headache. What do you want for lunch?"

"Hot pot?" Ruoping’s attention was immediately diverted.

"I just had some," Du Kang said with a burp. "But I could eat some more."

"Why don’t we go find Shutong? I’ve still got compressed biscuits," Qingyi offered.

The three of them were now sitting in the little Fox car. Meng Qingyi and Ruoping had just been picked up from the mall by their homeroom teacher. He had said on the phone that it was an emergency, but after they got in the car, he was suddenly in no hurry, asking if the three of them were hungry and wanted to wander around for a bit first.

"Hot pot’s no good, we don’t have enough time," Song Nanshan said, glancing at his watch and shaking his head. He pretended not to hear what the two boys had said. "Let’s get some rice bowls by the school gate. My treat."