Winter Time Rendering

Perhaps because of the rain, some shops had closed early today.

The commercial street ran north to south, and they parked the car at the northern entrance.

The atmosphere on the drive had gone from the tension of finding the first clue to the intensity of deducing the van’s involvement, before gradually easing. The two made small talk, discussing school matters and sharing a few laughs, but they both knew it was just a way to relieve their anxiety.

So, when their car entered the city, the surrounding lights grew brighter, yet it felt as if they were driving into an even deeper darkness.

Song lit one cigarette after another. He rarely smoked them, just held them between his fingers. He didn’t care that the ash was falling on his legs; he would cough, then sigh in frustration.

Zhang Shutong would sometimes lower the window a crack, but the cold wind that rushed in would force him to raise it again. The air conditioner circulated the smoke throughout the car, blurring their vision. In the nearly stagnant air of the cabin, they both fell silent.

Occasionally, more details would come to mind, and he would discuss them briefly with Song Nanshan. But their conversations were brief, and the clues were too few to lead to any definitive conclusions.

They both knew the greatest challenge was yet to come.

They practically scrambled out of the car. Song told him to grab an umbrella before taking the lead and dashing into the rain.

Zhang Shutong opened his door, and his foot sent up a small splash as soon as it hit the ground.

He followed close behind the other man, not in the mood to open the umbrella in his hand. Strolling in the rain with an umbrella was a leisurely affair, but if you were running, the canopy would catch the wind and the shaft would wobble, making it nothing but a hindrance.

According to the plan they had just discussed, they would now split up. Song Nanshan would look for the van, while he would first head to the Nanhu Fish Restaurant—a two-pronged approach.

It was almost eight o’clock.

He ran past one shop after another, taking moments to glance at the vehicles on both sides. The rain blurred his vision and cast a filter over the lights along the street—

The streetlights cast a dim, yellow glow, and the shop signs flickered with multicolored lights. In the dead of winter, the dust in the air seemed to be frozen in place, making the air feel much cleaner than during a summer downpour.

The air, the light, and the rain all blended together, smudging the scene before him into a hazy watercolor.

Zhang Shutong cut through the fine drizzle.

His body, which had just warmed up in the car’s heated air, was instantly chilled. His shoes and pant cuffs were almost completely soaked. ’He sometimes thought of what Song had said: if you like someone enough to not even fear the cold, maybe that’s a good thing.’

On the way, Song Nanshan had repeatedly warned him not to be impulsive. They weren’t the police; they had no official reason to be here. All they could do was ask a few questions.

Even if they managed to find the van and trace it to the culprit, they could only resort to subtle tricks. It was no different from dancing in manacles.

For example, they could try to bluff the person. If the person confessed, that would be ideal; they could secretly record it on a phone and hand it over to the police.

But if the person staunchly denied it, their options were limited. They could do little more than issue a few warnings, memorize the person’s face and identity, and tell Gu Qiuyan to be extra careful.

Zhang Shutong had anticipated this. This was almost the most difficult situation he had encountered since he started rewinding—

It wasn’t like that time in the reed marsh, where the culprits’ intentions were clear and they had already committed their crime. He and the others could stop them on the spot, and even using forceful methods was justifiable.

Nor was it like catching the students who smashed the castle, where he had deduced the time and place in advance and just had to lie in wait.

Besides, there was likely more than one person involved in the dog poisoning.

Zhang Shutong recalled what Mrs. Li had said. The worst-case scenario he could imagine was following the van to a shop, finding a lit room on the second floor, and—whether by eavesdropping outside the door or bursting in to check—discovering four or five men sitting inside.

What followed wouldn’t be a battle of wits or a physical fight; it would just be helplessness.

’There’s a philosophical question: if a person is going to commit a crime in the future, is their past self innocent? Zhang Shutong found the question utterly pointless. The situation was urgent, so he could unhesitatingly choose "guilty," but the other party had better actually be guilty.’

’What I mean is, the dog poisoner and Gu Qiuyan’s killer had better be one and the same.’

But even if he confirmed it, the difficulty wasn’t in convicting someone, but in how to stop, restrain, or prevent the crime.

It was like a tangled ball of thorny thread—dangerous and messy.

There was no clear place to start.

For instance, the Nanhu Fish Restaurant in front of him was also closed.

The gray-white metal rolling door was streaked with water stains.

A large raindrop fell before his eyes and exploded on the ground, splashing onto his face.

Zhang Shutong sighed silently.

On the way over, he had considered calling first, though he knew it wouldn’t be as effective as talking in person. But there was no need to dwell on that now, as he had already tried and the call wouldn’t go through.

Now, his only remaining lead was a dead end.

His phone hadn’t vibrated, which meant Song hadn’t had any luck either.

He turned and ran back toward the clothing and hat shop. He had just gotten familiar with the owner last night; maybe he could get some information there.

The owner of the clothing and hat shop was an elderly woman. She was happy to see him, assuming he was back to give her more business. Yesterday, Zhang Shutong had bought a scarf at her shop. He had originally thought that a prop to use as bait didn’t need to be expensive, but the solid red scarves were all in the mid-to-high price range, so he had to pay for it out of his own pocket.

Now, he casually picked up two raincoats and asked the question that was foremost on his mind. He had to be a bit tactful, but it basically boiled down to this—

What was "that incident" the owner of the fish restaurant had mentioned?

And who else was involved in it?

The owner knew nothing.

But, seeing as he had given her business two days in a row, Zhang Shutong did get another piece of information from her.

A lot of people knew about the castle smashing incident.

He was surprised at first, but then he figured out why:

Li Yipeng and his mother had returned to the commercial street that afternoon.

Li’s father was usually off-island, so only Mrs. Li ran their supermarket on the street.

So after the two of them left the school at noon, Mrs. Li had dragged her son to the supermarket.

The woman had a brazen personality to begin with, and with Gu Qiuyan as the target, she didn’t see it as a scandal at all. Instead, she cursed and spread the story without reservation. On the commercial street, the shop owners were like neighbors, and when things were slow, many were happy to come watch the drama unfold. Mrs. Li had even achieved her goal: some people had started to share her animosity.

That was how the story of Li Yipeng getting revenge on Gu Qiuyan at school had spread.

The only clue Zhang Shutong gleaned from this was who among the crowd had been the most vicious with their insults.

The people on the commercial street could now be divided into three factions:

One faction was the clothing shop owner. She might resent Father Gu’s business dealings, but it was just resentment. She was older, her husband and son both had jobs, and taking a demolition compensation payout to retire wasn’t a bad option.

Another faction consisted of Li Yipeng’s family and the couple from the fish restaurant. They harbored a deep grudge against the Gu family, to the point where they were used to cursing them behind their backs. But for various reasons, they didn’t want to completely sever ties, stopping at the level of "enemies."

The last faction was the group of dog poisoners—or the culprits, as Song would call them. Their lives had been pushed to a dead end, so they had moved beyond being mere "enemies" and had taken action, crossing the line into "revenge," willing to risk mutual destruction.

The good news was that this last faction was, ultimately, a minority.

The bad news was that not even the other shopkeepers on the street knew who they were. They were hidden beneath the surface. This was the kind of thing where the slightest carelessness could let the secret out, so of course no one would go around telling people, "I’m going to get revenge on Gu Jianhong’s whole family." They would normally disguise themselves as part of the second faction.

Zhang Shutong said his thanks and turned back out into the rain.

The raincoat enveloped him, his nostrils filled with the smell of cheap plastic. He had thought wearing it would make him feel better, but in reality, he was already soaked through. The plastic sheet clung tightly to his body, and as the rain pelted it, the cold became even more intense.

Zhang Shutong wiped the water from his face, just as he was about to go find Song and regroup.

Just then, his phone suddenly rang.