Winter Time Rendering

"Exactly." Zhang Shutong nodded. "The perpetrator thought the castle would be precious to Gu Qiuyan, but in reality, she couldn’t have cared less."

He recalled his conversation with the girl after school yesterday.

"Forget the perpetrator; even I didn’t think of it at first. His understanding of Gu Qiuyan is about the same as ours. No deeper, and no shallower."

"That bastard must be pissed as hell. He thought his plan was flawless, but it turns out Gu Qiuyan couldn’t have cared less."

Du Kang scoffed. Only then did he realize something.

"But after all that, how are you sure where the guy is? The castle’s already been smashed, hasn’t it?"

"Which brings us to the third question—"

They had just reached the third-floor landing. Zhang Shutong stopped tapping the railing and began to walk more quietly.

"Why did this happen during the long break?"

This time, before Zhang Shutong could speak, Qingyi provided the answer.

"First off, before or after school was out of the question. Too many people, too many eyes; he could’ve easily been spotted. He had to pick a time when no one was around. That leaves gym class and the two breaks, and the first one to rule out is gym class."

"Why’s that?" Du Kang had given up on trying to think. He wasn’t cut out for this stuff and decided to just enjoy watching the mystery get unraveled.

"The two of us already ruled out anyone from our own class with Song, so that only leaves students from other classes," Qingyi was happy to explain. "So how could it have been during gym class? Was he supposed to just charge over here while our class was in session? This is why Shutong just said the number of suspects has actually narrowed."

"What about the long break in the afternoon?" Du Kang asked hurriedly.

The other two shot him a speechless look.

"It’s been snowing the last few days, so the field is frozen over. We can’t go out to run."

"Oh, oh, I get it," Du Kang said, realization dawning. "So you’re saying that son of a bitch ruled out those other two times and realized the only chance he had was the long break this morning. So he went straight for Gu Qiuyan’s castle, smashed it, and ran?"

"Wrong," Zhang Shutong interrupted. "He wasn’t after the castle to begin with."

Du Kang was baffled.

"I’m pretty sure you two just said all cryptically, ’So, it was the castle.’ How can you say it wasn’t now?"

Zhang Shutong said, amused,

"But don’t forget, when I asked for your opinion on the castle earlier, you yourself said it ’should’ be precious to Gu Qiuyan."

At this, he lowered his voice.

"But don’t forget, there’s something else that is *definitely* precious to her."

Du Kang froze for a second, then subconsciously blurted out,

"The scarf!"

They stepped onto the fourth floor.

"Right! I just remembered the scarf. Shutong, you made her cry because of it last time. A lot of people know about that, right? Even I thought of it. So he could’ve just snatched Gu Qiuyan’s scarf, couldn’t he?"

"Which means he was going for the scarf from the very beginning."

The hallway ahead was empty. Zhang Shutong stopped walking and motioned for the other two to lower their voices.

He leaned against the corner of the wall, his expression thoughtful. He was actually recalling the person he’d locked eyes with at the flag-raising platform yesterday.

"But there was one thing he didn’t expect."

"What?"

"You idiot," Qingyi facepalmed. "What were you doing during the long break yesterday? Have you forgotten so quickly?"

"I know the few of us were talking, but what does that have to do with anything?"

"Were you cold yesterday?"

"A little, yeah. It was pretty windy at the time."

"Then do you think Gu Qiuyan was cold, standing in the wind and listening to us talk?"

"I guess she was pretty cold, too?"

"And there you have it. We didn’t do our exercises yesterday, so of course it was cold," Qingyi said, throwing up his hands. "So when the perpetrator ran to the classroom, he discovered that Gu Qiuyan had worn her scarf out. Now, think back to what we were just saying about how to get revenge on her. Doesn’t it make sense now?"

Du Kang suddenly slapped his thigh.

"Holy shit, I really get it this time! He was originally going for the scarf, but couldn’t find it. Tearing up her homework would be pointless, so that’s when he remembered she had a castle?"

"Exactly. The castle was smashed under those exact circumstances," Zhang Shutong continued. "Which naturally gives rise to the fourth question: Was his revenge a success?"

"I... don’t think so?" Du Kang replied after thinking it over. "Didn’t we see Gu Qiuyan going out to eat at lunch? Besides that, the story of her reaction has spread everywhere. That bastard must have heard about it, too."

"So what do you think he’s thinking?"

"He must be frustrated as hell. He wrote ’Go die’ on a piece of A4 paper, and Gu Qiuyan just brushed it off. If I were him, I think I’d feel even worse than she supposedly does... Actually, I’m getting frustrated just thinking about it."

The music for the morning exercises had completely faded. They leaned against a window in the stairwell, looking out. Down below, classes were leaving the field in orderly lines, the students a bustling, noisy crowd.

The exercises were just enough of a workout to make one break a light sweat, but not so much as to leave them out of breath.

Despite the cold, some students exhaled big puffs of white breath, while others unbuttoned their collars. Some were even warm enough to take off their jackets and swing them around.

The long break was almost over. Soon, they would see streams of students pouring into the academic building.

Du Kang hadn’t done the exercises, but he was starting to sweat with anxiety anyway. He was dying to just burst into the classroom and get to the bottom of things.

"Everyone’s about to head back. We’ve talked all this time and figured out the guy’s thought process, but what was the point of coming up here now? What other trouble could he possibly cause? Gu Qiuyan’s castle is smashed, she has her scarf with her... Wait a minute."

As he spoke, Du Kang’s mouth fell open. He glanced out the window at the students who had taken off their jackets, then his eyes shot back to Zhang Shutong.

At some point, Zhang Shutong had silently moved to the landing. He leaned against the railing, glanced at the time, then lowered his gaze to look back at Du Kang and Qingyi.