Winter Time Rendering

10:13 AM.

The morning sun shone on faces brimming with youthful energy.

A tune chattered endlessly from the broadcast speakers, its melody bright and cheerful.

From an aerial view, the faces on the winter field were just as cheerful. Yet, amid this joyful atmosphere, some were leaving, walking away quickly.

Their class was Ninth Grade, Class One. The good thing about being in Class One was that they were always the first to go downstairs for calisthenics. The bad thing was that they were always squeezed in at the very back by the other classes.

So when three figures cut through the neat, long lines—from the ninth grade to the sixth, from Class One to Class Six—moving against the human tide without a backward glance, they began to draw attention.

"Two, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight—"

Amid the rhythmic counting, quite a few people lost their rhythm, twisting their waists when they should have been kicking their legs, and kicking their legs when they should have been twisting their waists.

Legend has it that on a small island in the Eastern Indian Ocean, more than 300 kilometers south of Java Island, lives a special species of red crab. Every year, when the rainy season returns in October or November, they begin a legendary mass migration.

The island’s 80-kilometer coastline is surrounded by cliffs, so they sweep toward the land like a red tide, breaking through all obstacles with astonishing force—roads, cars, houses, tunnels... even the cliffs themselves.

The person who provided this piece of trivia was walking right behind Du Kang. He was an edgy teenager named Qingyi. Du Kang didn’t know if the others felt the same sense of déjà vu, but he certainly felt that the three of them were like three stray red crabs.

They weaved through the army of crabs, human figures blurring past them. They were nimble but stubborn, pushing through one obstacle after another. Amid the cheerful music, Du Kang wasn’t annoyed at all. He just grinned and waved, sometimes running into acquaintances from other classes, and sometimes inevitably shouting at the people around them:

"Excuse me, coming through..."

"Hey, kid, don’t kick me! Kick the guy in front of you!"

"Let us through, man! It’s an emergency!"

"Of course it’s an emergency! What kind of emergency, you ask? ...I don’t know either! I was in the middle of warm-ups when he dragged me over here!"

The "he," of course, referred to the person leading the trio.

Zhang Shutong was that lead crab.

The music at his ears gradually faded. He stepped into the school building’s main hall, where cool air washed over him. He deliberately waited for a moment.

Sure enough, Du Kang came jogging up and asked dramatically:

"What in the world is going on?"

"I told you. We’re catching someone."

"I know we’re catching someone... The question isn’t about catching someone. The question is, how did you suddenly figure out who it is?"

The three of them fell into a line, their feet never stopping.

"I don’t."

Du Kang choked.

"If you don’t know, then who are we going to catch...?"

"But I know where he is right now."

"Aren’t all the kids from our class outside doing calisthenics?"

"It’s not someone from our class." Zhang Shutong shook his head. "I spent all afternoon listening over at Song’s place yesterday. I’ve basically ruled everyone out."

"If it’s someone outside our class, doesn’t that make the search even bigger?" Du Kang’s eyes widened.

Zhang Shutong simply said:

"Actually, it makes it smaller."

The ninth grade was, of course, on the fourth floor. They stepped onto the first stair. It was made of marble, and their footsteps echoed crisply.

"How did you figure it out? Walk me through your thinking. I’ve been holding back from asking." Qingyi leaned in.

"The key is the castle."

"The castle?"

"Right."

"I don’t see the point in getting hung up on that. It’s not like Gu Qiuyan had much of a reaction, did she?" Du Kang asked, confused.

"It’s not about Gu Qiuyan’s reaction. It’s about why the person smashed her castle."

Zhang Shutong explained:

"Compared to that, the person’s motive, their identity, even the name on the desk divider—those are all distractions. Instead of thinking about those details, we just need to focus on what the castle represents—"

He concluded:

"What kind of revenge did he want to get on Gu Qiuyan."

"I think I get it," Qingyi said, as if he’d had an epiphany.

"What are you two talking about? I don’t get it at all!"

"Then just listen to Shutong and don’t interrupt," Qingyi shot a glare at Du Kang.

The three of them turned and started up to the second floor.

"I’ve been thinking about a few questions since yesterday afternoon. Let’s start with the first one." Zhang Shutong’s fingers tapped lightly on the metal handrail. "Tell me, if you were this person, how would you get revenge on Gu Qiuyan?"

"Tear up her homework?" Du Kang said instinctively.

"No, tearing up homework or books isn’t satisfying enough," Qingyi immediately disagreed. "Think about it. Forget the fact that her family is rich—even for a normal student, you could just buy a new copy, right?"

"Curse her out?"

"Are you stupid? You’d get caught immediately..."

"No, I mean like, write a note and leave it on her desk. Didn’t the A4 paper also have the words ’drop dead’ written on it?"

"That wouldn’t work either." Zhang Shutong shook his head. "Like I said, the key is the method of revenge. That’s not even revenge; it’s just impotent rage."

"Then, what about smashing her phone or watch or something? My cousin goes to school in the city, and I heard some girl there got bullied, and it was something like that..."

"That would be a much bigger problem," Zhang Shutong said instead. "Don’t forget who her dad is. Something like that would escalate beyond the school, and it would be very hard to clean up the mess."

"So, the person had to inflict enough damage on her, but couldn’t risk making too big of a scene and getting caught?" Qingyi summarized.

"Exactly. That narrows down the possibilities a lot."

"Oh, so that’s why it was the castle?"

"Yep. That’s why it was the castle."

"What are you two on about again? Did the person leave a clue when they smashed it? I thought they couldn’t find any handwriting."

Du Kang asked curiously.

But Zhang Shutong didn’t answer directly, instead asking a question of his own:

"Second question: what do you think the castle means to Gu Qiuyan?"

"It must be a very precious... toy? Didn’t she bring it from home specially? Every time I go to the bookshelf to get a book, I’m scared I’ll bump into it and get blamed."