Winter Time Rendering

It was strange. The moment Song left, the atmosphere turned awkward, as if a TV screen had just gone dark.

After a long silence, Gu Qiuyan finally asked if he wanted a tour of the house. Zhang Shutong nodded.

So he followed behind the girl. Both of them were wrapped in bathrobes—one white, one red—which made for a strange sight.

A host giving a guest a tour of their house was normal enough, but what about a host in a bathrobe giving a tour to a guest also in a bathrobe?

He walked the paths she usually walked, his steps light and his mood calm. The giant television in the living room, the art pieces in the cabinets, the dried flowers in the vase—all of it made Zhang Shutong feel a world away from his own life.

He sometimes wondered what Miss Gu’s lackeys would say if she were giving them a tour. They’d probably be sucking up like crazy. So, Zhang Shutong decided to chime in with a few choice compliments of his own.

To his surprise, Gu Qiuyan was not pleased.

"Can you not just copy what other people say?"

"Am I copying you?" Zhang Shutong was puzzled.

"I didn’t say me. I said stop deliberately copying other people. I’m not giving you a tour just to hear you flatter me," the girl said, her cheeks puffed out.

"So you don’t like being complimented?"

"I’d rather you just talk like you normally do."

"I seem to recall you saying that the way I normally talk is annoying."

"This is even more annoying!"

Just then, Zhang Shutong spotted a set of twelve Chinese zodiac figurines. He pointed at the sheep and nodded. "Oh, baa baa."

"What did you just say?" Mianmian herself asked in disbelief, her eyes wide.

"Isn’t that a sheep? Baa baa," Zhang Shutong teased.

And so, the little sheep turned into a tiger, gritting her teeth as if she wanted to swallow Zhang Shutong whole.

Gu Qiuyan shot him a glare, then decided to ignore him and walked straight ahead.

There was an elevator in the center of the villa.

They went down to the basement first.

The basement was just one level: the home theater.

A row of large sofas faced a huge screen, flanked by speakers. In the middle was a coffee table with an ashtray and a few microphones on it. It looked like this was where Gu Qiuyan and her friends sang karaoke.

"You like to sing?"

"It’s alright. It just gets boring on the island sometimes."

"It definitely can get boring sometimes." Seeing as they were both from the provincial capital, Zhang Shutong decided to commiserate with her a little. "You can’t even get any KFC."

"Oh, you mean food? That’s not really a problem."

"You have a maid?"

"Nope. I just have my dad’s driver go buy it."

’As expected of a rich girl,’ Zhang Shutong thought. ’The delivery fee for KFC probably costs more than the food itself.’

But Gu Qiuyan said, "Who said anything about KFC? Why are you so obsessed with KFC?"

"McDonald’s, then?"

"It’s gotta be Pizza Hut, at the very least," Miss Gu sighed, putting a hand to her forehead.

She added that if there were any decent Western restaurants in the city, she wouldn’t even order Pizza Hut. But it was convenient. Sometimes, when a lot of people were over to sing, a few boxes of pizza and some bottles of soda were enough to cover a meal.

Zhang Shutong couldn’t very well explain that he considered Pizza Hut a feast, while Gu Qiuyan just thought of it as fast food.

"What’s your favorite pizza?" Gu Qiuyan suddenly asked a strange question.

"The one with sausage and tomato sauce." Zhang Shutong had forgotten the name. "The American Supreme, I think?"

"What about me?" she asked again.

Zhang Shutong took a second to make sure he hadn’t misheard.

How was he supposed to know what she liked to eat? They had never been to a single restaurant together. If Du Kang were here, he’d have grinned and said, "Treat me once and I’ll find out," but Zhang Shutong couldn’t manage such a witty remark.

"What do you mean?"

"Nothing." Gu Qiuyan pouted, putting her hands behind her back and falling silent.

Her cheek was nestled against the soft collar of her robe. Zhang Shutong watched her back, imagining the girl singing in the home theater. Whether the songs were slow or upbeat, the pendant she always wore at the end of her hair would be bouncing along.

Of course, Gu Qiuyan was bare-faced right now—Zhang Shutong had never seen her with makeup on. He meant she wasn’t wearing a scarf or any hair accessories, and she had tied up the hair she usually wore down.

They were just looking around the basement, not about to start singing. Besides, Gu Qiuyan had inexplicably lost her enthusiasm for conversation. Zhang Shutong scanned the room a few more times, then followed her back up.

It smelled fragrant the whole way.

They took the elevator directly to the second floor.

This floor was extremely quiet. The entire level was covered in wool carpet, and flower stands lined the hallway. When the elevator doors slid shut behind them, the soft sound seemed amplified in the silence. It was then that Gu Qiuyan said softly:

"I thought tonight you were... because..."

She trailed off, stopping herself.

"What did you just say?"

"Nothing." Gu Qiuyan changed the subject. "Where are you going tomorrow?"

"I’m heading out to hang with some friends. It’s one of my best friend’s birthday."

The girl said "Oh" again and led him to a guest room.

The bed had already been made by the maid, and the room’s style was like a hotel. Gu Qiuyan told him to let her know now if he needed anything, as she was going to bed soon.

Zhang Shutong assured her he didn’t need anything. He was the kind of person who could sleep anywhere with a pillow and a blanket. He usually had trouble sleeping in unfamiliar beds, but then again, this was Gu Qiuyan’s house.

Gu Qiuyan nodded and said goodnight to him. Zhang Shutong saw her to the door. Just as the gap was about to close, she suddenly spoke again, her back still to him.

"Remember, it’s the one with fruit."

Zhang Shutong paused for a moment, then realized she was talking about the pizza. He said with an amused laugh:

"Are you really planning on having me treat you?"

"Who’s obsessed with food like you are?" Gu Qiuyan said irritably. "You don’t have to treat me. I’m just telling you to remember it."

Zhang Shutong nodded.

It was actually pretty easy to remember. The one with fruit was probably the Hawaiian pizza with pineapple slices, which was sweet and sour. He’d recently noticed that Gu Qiuyan seemed to like sweet and sour things, like sweet and sour pork, and even the buns from the street stalls.

But what was the point of remembering a fruit pizza, other than for treating her to a meal? Zhang Shutong couldn’t think of any other reason.

So, what came next?

Nothing came next.

"You’d better really remember it." With that one last ambiguous sentence, Gu Qiuyan closed the door herself.

Zhang Shutong was left alone in the room.

’Maybe she’s saying that if we ever have a chance to eat together, I should be a bit more perceptive when ordering, like Miss Gu’s little secretary, who knows her tastes inside and out.’

’Is she trying to groom me to be her secretary?’

But Zhang Shutong only planned on being a lackey, and a temporary one at that. When his time was up, he’d resign on his own initiative, no pay required, and he definitely wouldn’t be clingy.

’In any case, I can never figure out what Gu Qiuyan is thinking. She told me to remember it, and since it’s not much trouble, I will. Whether it’ll be useful or not is another story.’

Now he walked over to the bedroom window.

There were no stars tonight. After studying the view for a while, he realized it faced the backyard. This was the very guest room he had looked up at when he was standing outside the fence earlier.

The rain gradually stopped.

After looking around a bit more, he drew the triple-layered, floor-to-ceiling curtains and collapsed onto the bed.

He stared blankly at the ceiling. Thinking about all the things he had to do tomorrow, he felt truly exhausted.

It was a great shame that the Magic Power Song had mentioned seemed to have no effect on him at all.

He hadn’t felt it while talking with Gu Qiuyan, but the moment he hit the bed, he could barely keep his eyes open. He turned off the light, pulled up the covers, and followed his habit of mentally reviewing the day’s events before sleep.

A moment later, he closed his eyes, hoping for a peaceful night.

It was late on the night of December 7th. Perhaps when he opened his eyes again, it would be the morning of the 8th.

Only three days remained until Gu Qiuyan’s original date of death.

...

When the girl in the wine-red bathrobe returned to her room, the bedroom window was open.

A short while ago, she had seen the little Fox car in front of the main gate from this very window and had rushed downstairs.

She didn’t turn on the lights. She just silently closed the window, walked to her desk, and switched on the night light.

There were no stars tonight. The world’s dust seemed to have been washed clean by the cold rain. The night light before her was like a stationary firefly, its warm halo outlining the contours of the room.

The girl rested her face in her hands in the faint light, lost in thought.

She had always loved this kind of atmosphere—dim, yet not so dark as to feel unsafe. In this hazy, quiet little space, she sat in a little daze of her own.

Her beautiful, lively eyes were fixed on a picture frame on the desk. Inside the frame was a group photo.

The photo had already faded a little, time having left its irreversible mark upon it.

Finally, she reached out a finger and flicked it hard against the image of a stone-faced child in the photo.

The frame fell over with a soft THUD. The girl named Gu Qiuyan muttered:

"Traitor..."