Winter Time Rendering

"What do you want to drink?"

Zhang Shutong asked Gu Qiuyan.

"They actually have yuanyang milk tea?"

She peeked her head out from behind the line and saw the menu on the wall, looking as if it were her first time here.

"They do, but I wouldn’t get your hopes up."

Zhang Shutong knew yuanyang milk tea was a mix of milk tea and coffee, a concoction popularized by Hong Kong-style cafes. A more discerning place might add some condensed milk, but that was out of the question for a small shop like this.

Their so-called "yuanyang" was probably just yuanyang-flavored milk tea powder mixed with hot water. Upon hearing this, Gu Qiuyan lost interest. She told him to just order whatever, as long as it wasn’t strawberry-flavored; she couldn’t stand the taste.

Zhang Shutong nodded, telling her to go wander around the street but not to go too far. He got in line by himself—he had a few questions to ask, and it was best she didn’t overhear.

There were six people in front of him, so it would probably be a few minutes’ wait. He recalled the intel Ruoping had provided.

This "Let’s Have a Cup" milk tea shop wasn’t a family-run business, but strangely, both the husband and wife had taken turns helping out here.

According to Ruoping, the wife had always been the one working. But then one day, about a week ago, her husband had taken over. When they came to eat at the Lake Fish Restaurant that one time, it was the husband who made their milk tea.

And today, it was the wife again.

Zhang Shutong immediately came to three conclusions:

’First, the husband and wife taking turns is definitely not their normal routine. Either the shop supports the whole family, in which case both would work here, or one of them has another job.’

’Therefore, that "one week" switch-off probably means something happened at home.’

’Second, based on the woman’s age—she looks to be in her forties, about the same age as the Gu family’s housekeeper—her kid is probably my age and in middle school, which is when expenses start piling up.’

He also observed her clothes: two dirty oversleeves, an apron washed so much it had faded to white, and the phone on her workstation—a flip phone. All this supported his guess that their financial situation was average at best.

’As for the third point, it’s less of a conclusion and more of a question.’

In his mind, the "murderer’s" family business must have been on the brink of collapse for them to resort to such desperate measures. But this milk tea shop seemed to be doing well; it was one of the few places on the street with a line.

But whether they were guesses or questions, the answers would soon be revealed. He just had to wait patiently.

Besides waiting for the milk tea, he was also waiting for a message back from Du Kang.

A short while ago, Du Kang had messaged him saying he could see the silhouette of the Gu Family Villa in the distance. He should have arrived by now.

Sure enough, a notification popped up on his phone the very next second. Du Kang reported that he had safely arrived at the "castle" and even sent a photo.

The scene in the photo was much like what he had seen that morning—a patch of wild land, though the mist had thinned a bit.

Zhang Shutong glanced at the time. It was just past eleven o’clock, the perfect time to be making lunch.

"Good." He followed up with more instructions. "...But you have to be careful. If anything seems wrong, get on your bike and run."

Du Kang replied with an "OK" emoji, saying to just wait for his good news.

There were still five people ahead of him in line.

’I spent about three minutes texting with Du Kang, and this shop’s milk tea is made from instant powder—just add hot water. Even being generous, one minute per cup should be more than enough.’

Zhang Shutong observed the woman’s workflow and overturned his previous assumption—

The line wasn’t there because business was booming.

It was because the woman was clumsy at her job. Even with the simplest milk tea powders, she often couldn’t find the right flavor and would spend ages rummaging for it.

When it was finally Zhang Shutong’s turn, he ordered the two most complicated drinks, loaded with everything—pudding, pearls, and Oreo. He used the time it took her to make them to strike up a conversation.

Zhang Shutong started with, "Ma’am, I haven’t seen you in a while."

The woman was quite friendly. She beamed when she heard this and said, "What a coincidence! Today’s my first day back. My husband was the one here before."

She opened a canister and complained, "Look, he’s just made things worse. He was only here for a few days, but he’s made a total mess of my things. I can’t find anything anymore."

After a bit more small talk, Zhang Shutong learned that she had sprained her ankle a few days ago and couldn’t stand for long periods, so she’d had her husband fill in for her.

"So he can finally get a few days off," Zhang Shutong said, deliberately fishing for information.

"Are you kidding? He went back to his own work the second I came in today."

"To his job?"

"It’s not what you’d call a real job," the woman said, pursing her lips in disdain. "Nn, it’s over at that mall."

"That mall," of course, was the one belonging to Gu Qiuyan’s family.

Zhang Shutong latched onto the keyword:

"Is that right? I just came from there."

"You students all love going there now. You just flock to wherever the crowds are."

"Not always. I mean, I made a special detour just to buy your milk tea," Zhang Shutong said, forcing a smile while fighting back a shudder. "Your milk tea is still the best, Ma’am. You can’t get anything like it in the mall."

He just kept laying on the flattery, and the woman chimed in, "Exactly, exactly! What’s so great about that mall? I’m telling you, the stuff they sell is the exact same as what we have on our street. Take the clothes—they come from the same supplier, but the second they’re on a rack in there, the price jumps by dozens of bucks. It’s a shameless way to do business."

As soon as the mall came up, her smile vanished, and the warmth left her voice.

Zhang Shutong knew his opportunity had arrived. He casually asked if she’d heard about what happened last night—it wasn’t something that could be kept secret for long, anyway.

The woman sighed at his question, her tone complicated. "Word of that spread fast, huh? But what you might not know is, the people who did it were from this very business street. The police arrested them. It’s true none of us are fond of Boss Gu’s family, but to do something like that... that’s crossing a line."