Winter Time Rendering

’Oh, right. I think I did say that.’

It was the first day we were desk-mates. I’d borrowed her test paper to look at, and she stuffed a pack of salty cheese crackers into my hand. I asked if I could swap them for something sweet, but she said she didn’t have anything else.

’I can’t believe she remembered that all this time.’

Zhang Shutong told her, "Stop asking me. Just see if there’s anything you like." But the young lady, Gu Qiuyan, said, "I have plenty of stuff at home. This is just for the fun of shopping." Then she pulled a card out of her purse.

"I brought my card and everything. You can’t just let me leave without spending anything, can you?"

Zhang Shutong said, "You’re so weird. Why do you have to buy something?"

Gu Qiuyan retorted, "You’re the weird one. Why won’t you let me buy you anything?"

"Wait, how did this turn into you buying stuff for me?"

"I told you, I don’t like being indebted to people. You have to take it, even if you don’t want it. Or how about I take you to the third floor? I think there’s a men’s clothing store there?"

"...Let’s just stick to snacks."

’Today’s script is really weird. I only asked her to come out because I saw she was home alone. How did it turn into the young lady taking me shopping?’

He lowered his head and continued texting Qingyi.

But Gu Qiuyan glared at him. "Jeez, you’re so busy!" The way she said "Jeez" was amusing—her tone was both displeased and soft, making it sound almost like she was pouting.

Zhang Shutong couldn’t stand that, so he put his phone away and followed her. After a few more failed attempts at asking his opinion, Gu Qiuyan gave up on him and quickly changed her strategy. From then on, most of the time she just asked a single word:

"Eat?"

And Zhang Shutong could only nod or shake his head. She would then either put the item back on the shelf or toss it into the cart.

Soon, the shopping cart started to fill up. Gu Qiuyan also quickly found the first thing she actually wanted to eat. She stood in front of a bag of spicy gluten strips, blinking. ’The young lady has probably never encountered such a commoner’s delicacy.’

"If you want it, just grab it."

"I can’t eat spicy food for the next few days."

"Oh." Zhang Shutong understood.

While she was still debating, Zhang Shutong took out his phone again to reply to his messages.

"I think we should just tell her dad about the nanny. Do you have his contact info?" This was from Qingyi.

"If I can’t rule her out by the end, I’ll find a chance to tell him."

"What do you mean?"

"She’s very close to her nanny." Zhang Shutong knew her mother had passed away; perhaps that woman was one of the few people who gave her a semblance of a mother’s love. "But once you tell her dad, regardless of whether the nanny is a suspect or not, she’ll never be allowed to stay by Gu Qiuyan’s side again. So I want to try and rule her out my own way first."

"You’re starting to go a little soft, aren’t you?"

’Am I?’

Zhang Shutong looked up just in time to hear Gu Qiuyan ask very seriously, "Are there any not-spicy spicy strips?"

"Are you silly or what?" he said, exasperated.

"You’re the silly one," she retorted with a glare. "Can’t you tell I’m joking?"

’My apologies for lacking a sense of humor.’

"Don’t let your guard down," Zhang Shutong continued typing. "The nanny isn’t my biggest worry right now. It’s other people."

"Who?"

"I just have a feeling there’s someone else."

"Isn’t that a bit of an exaggeration?"

While typing, Zhang Shutong walked over to the prepared foods section. He saw Gu Qiuyan lifting a huge piece of braised pork liver into the cart and subconsciously repeated the line:

"Isn’t that a bit of an exaggeration?"

’What’s she going to do with such a huge piece of liver?’

"I want to eat it. I can share some with you."

Zhang Shutong pictured the two of them, each holding and gnawing on a chunk of pork liver. ’What a beautiful scene.’

"You don’t know how to cook, do you?" Gu Qiuyan explained reluctantly.

Without waiting to see if Zhang Shutong understood, she moved on to the next section.

She walked with her hands behind her back, occasionally rising onto her tiptoes, her skirt swaying. It was as if her feet were tapping out a cheerful rhythm. Zhang Shutong hurriedly pushed the cart to keep up. The young lady pointed at some pre-mixed cocktails.

"Want some of this?"

"You can’t drink."

"Tch."

Just then, his phone vibrated.

"What else could they do? Besides arson, are they going to commit murder?" Qingyi teased.

’You actually hit the nail on the head.’

Zhang Shutong replied:

"That’s why I’m waiting for a call right now."

"Who?"

"The police station. The written statements should be ready soon. We’ll act based on the results."

"In that case, I just had an idea."

Qingyi’s idea seemed to be a long one. Zhang Shutong waited for a while, but no message came through. If Gu Qiuyan saw him on his phone again, she’d get upset, so he quickly put it away.

Sometimes, even he felt that this whole experience was surreal. You’re wandering around a supermarket with a beautiful girl as she triumphantly conquers an army of snacks, and the mere thought of how to carry it all back later is a headache... but you can’t refuse, because she’s buying it all for you.

Perhaps this was a scene he’d remember years from now. You’re 16, pushing a shopping cart with this bona fide young lady through every aisle of the supermarket. She holds a super VIP card that could max out the store’s POS terminal, yet she’s agonizing over whether she can eat spicy gluten strips... The supermarket isn’t huge, not like one in a big city’s commercial district. It’s noisy and crowded, the cart’s wheels are a bit stiff, and one of the lights overhead is flickering. For a moment, you could forget it’s a cold, stark winter outside, with no flowers or trees. But as long as she smiles, this place brims with the feeling of youth.

But at the same time, danger lurked everywhere. From the side, the girl’s small nose was perfectly shaped, and her eyelashes fluttered. She was clearly in a great mood. But you know that her young life is set to end within a few days.

He was reminded of what Song had said—that last night, this beautiful girl had drawn a silly face on the car window, a sign she was in a good mood.

Just a few days ago, when her castle was smashed, she had worn a cold, indifferent expression. A whole group of people tried to tease a smile out of her, but she wouldn’t crack.

But now, she was practically skipping in front of the shelves, glancing back every so often—to supervise you and make sure you weren’t chatting with someone else.

If you were, she’d start complaining with a stream of "Jeez, jeez"... which was a lot to handle. If you weren’t, she’d cozy up next to you, her little goon. Zhang Shutong watched her dart from in front of him to behind him, from his left to his right, holding all sorts of snacks, busy with who-knows-what.

But the girl who stood before the bun shop, the one who had said, "That’s how you get knocked down," with such a calm, stubborn look on her face, seemed to be long gone.

Even though there was no glass around for her to mess up, Zhang Shutong could tell she was in a great mood. And he was willing to go along with it.

’Protecting the young lady is the goons’ duty. Time will keep flowing. Once we get through this weekend, this goon can retire and go home.’

But until the very last moment, he couldn’t let his guard down.

Zhang Shutong finally got the call from Song Nanshan.

He picked up his phone and spoke a few quick words, his brow slowly furrowing.

’Just as I thought.’

The killer was someone else.

His phone pinged again. Qingyi’s idea had finally arrived:

"We could kidnap Gu Qiuyan to test her nanny’s reaction."

"..."

In the midst of everything, Zhang Shutong sent back a string of ellipses.

He finally hung up the phone—just before Gu Qiuyan could turn around.

Zhang Shutong sighed.

He leaned on the shopping cart, resting his chin in one hand, and watched the charm dangling from the end of her hair.

"The plan has changed."

At the same time, he sent this sentence to their four-person group chat.

"What plan?"

Du Kang suddenly popped up in the chat.

’A plan is a plan, some awesome, badass thing. I can’t really explain it.’

That’s what Zhang Shutong was thinking, but he didn’t know how to reply. A certain girl had just told him he had no sense of humor, but he certainly didn’t lack a flair for the dramatic.

"Operation: Goddess of the Future?"

"More like Operation: Pursue the Young Lady," Ruoping shot back sarcastically.

"That works too. The name doesn’t have to be perfect."

"How about we call it Operation: Goddess of Fate who Controls the Young Lady’s Future?" Qingyi suggested, combining the two.

"Let’s go with that." His thumbs flew across the T9 keyboard. "Sorry, everyone, but I’m going to have to intrude on your free time."

"What’s going on?" Only the birthday boy was still completely lost.

"The situation is—"

He was about to type out a really cool-sounding line, but unfortunately, Gu Qiuyan was also asking a question:

"What do you mean? Aren’t you guys buying a gift for a classmate?"

She, ironically, was the best-protected one of all.

"It means, I don’t like being indebted to people either," Zhang Shutong said, pointing at the overflowing shopping cart.

So.

No matter what, this weekend...

Don’t you even think about dying—