Winter Time Rendering

Did he agree?

Qiumian resorted to pestering!

Zhang Shutong skipped this round!

"Are you sure you want all this stuff?" Zhang Shutong eyed the pile of snacks, feeling like this would really hold the Goddess back.

"Then we’ll just leave it at the service counter for now." The young miss had no idea about their multi-person operation, and even if she did, she wouldn’t care. Right now, she was conducting her own operation: a wild shopping spree.

"Yes, yes. As you command."

All he could do was sigh.

He glanced down at his phone. He hadn’t finished typing out the third objective, but someone had already completed it for him:

"What’s there to be shy about? He’s just playing bodyguard for Gu Qiumian. What else could it be?" Ruoping said with disdain. "Why else would he say to follow his lead? He can’t get away, so of course he can only give orders from his phone."

"So *that’s* the change in plans!" Du Kang finally understood, his enthusiasm for this sort of thing second to none. "So our mission now is to find that person?"

Zhang Shutong sent a thumbs-up emoji, then tagged Du Kang:

"Are you free right now, birthday boy?"

"Just give the order," Du Kang replied readily.

"I need to ask you to go out for a bit."

"Figured as much."

"It’s cold outside."

"I’ll wear something thick."

"It’s also a long way."

"Like that’s gonna stop me?"

"Then first, ride your bike over to Gu Qiumian’s house."

"Er..."

It was 10:33. Zhang Shutong glanced at the time and offered some encouragement:

"Pedal fast!"

After that, Du Kang went silent, probably off to change his clothes.

Qingyi immediately followed up:

"What about Ruoping and me?"

"Stand by for now. Wait for my signal."

"Roger."

"I really can’t with you guys. If you haven’t thought it through, just say so. Can you please not make those three words, ’just browsing around,’ sound so mission-critical?"

...She’d hit the nail on the head.

In the time it took to exchange a few messages, his phone battery had dropped by one percent. Zhang Shutong put his phone away.

The snacks were packed into two large bags. He carried one and Gu Qiumian carried the other. The two of them stored their things and took the escalator to the third floor.

Zhang Shutong held the handrail as they slowly ascended. A huge vertical banner hung down from the ceiling, probably announcing the upcoming opening of some store.

Balloons floated in mid-air in front of the banner, looking like a celebration for the success of their current operation. Amid the lively, cheerful atmosphere, Zhang Shutong asked Gu Qiumian why her dad didn’t open a movie theater.

She thought for a moment, then said she’d heard her dad mention it once. One would be built next year, but there wouldn’t be much point in going since it would be very small.

"If we’re going, we should go to the one in the city." The girl took out her phone again, swiping the screen with a slender finger. She tapped around and only looked up when they reached the entrance to the third floor, nearly losing her footing. "Hmm, let’s see... I already checked for this week. Nothing good is playing."

’You were actually planning on going?’

Zhang Shutong thought worriedly. It was the first time he was grateful for the island’s underdeveloped commercial facilities. Otherwise, his schedule for the day would have been absolutely packed—

—shopping in the morning while carrying tons of bags, lunch at a high-end restaurant worthy of the young miss’s standards, then a movie at night with a giant tub of popcorn... But that wouldn’t be all. After the movie, they’d probably have to find a park with a view of the moon and sit on a bench for a while.

Just imagining the scene gave Zhang Shutong a headache. He said it was a good thing no good movies were playing, so they could just wander around the island. But Gu Qiumian was thinking about something else. She was walking ahead of Zhang Shutong when she suddenly turned back and said:

"Let’s wait for next week..."

She always liked to plan things out, whether it was going off-island with her lackeys or this occasion. The terrifying part was that the more she talked, the more her plans started to overlap with what Zhang Shutong had just imagined: which street had the most new clothes and bags, which places had good restaurants, which KTV had a nice atmosphere, which theater had the softest seats... Before she could even finish, Zhang Shutong was already at a loss for how to respond.

He wondered if, in the original timeline, she’d had the same idea at this very moment. Perhaps she had, since she’d just said that morning that she wanted to watch a movie at home.

Zhang Shutong had once asked if she played games. She was a total luddite, so how could she possibly know about such things? Forget Angry Birds—even the talking Tom Cat was a novelty to her. While they were just in the supermarket, Zhang Shutong had helped her download it. Now she was holding her phone, talking to the goofy-looking cat and laughing her head off. She even insisted on making Zhang Shutong listen to the playback. Sometimes he’d make a deadpan comment, which would just give the cat new material, and the three of them—two people and one cat—would be caught in a loop of silly fun.

This proved she was a total amateur when it came to games. Gu Qiumian said she usually liked watching movies. And although her house had a dedicated media wall, it was ultimately no match for a real movie theater screen. Even the richest families couldn’t outrun time—meaning, no matter how rich she was, her home theater would always be playing old movies, repeated countless times before her very eyes.

Zhang Shutong had already been to that media room. It was no longer the mysterious place he and his buddies used to call "the castle." He had spent the previous night in that very castle, an eye-opening experience to say the least. But it was only when he was actually there that he realized no matter how luxurious or spacious the so-called underground media room was, it was just an empty space built from concrete and steel.

So he could imagine it: on countless days past, in that dim space, as images flickered across the screen and the progress bar reached the halfway point, a girl in a burgundy robe would be curled up on the sofa. Her head would droop as she watched, and she’d tap at her phone, making plans with her friends to go to the city for the weekend.

That was a weekend she would never reach. Zhang Shutong didn’t know what she had been thinking back then, what wish she had made... He looked up and saw Gu Qiumian holding up her phone again, talking to that Tom Cat.

In her crisp, clear voice, she asked, "How about we go to the movies next week?" And the silly cat dumbly repeated, "How about we go to the movies next week..."

’What’s the point of asking.’

Zhang Shutong suddenly thought with irritation, ’Why plan for something so far away? So far away that you never even reached it.’

But the things right in front of them weren’t much to look at either. The clothing styles were dated. The shopping plazas in the city had already started selling spring clothes, while this place was still clearing out its winter stock. Gu Qiumian put away her phone. She would sometimes ask him if a certain hat looked good or if a scarf was fashionable. In Zhang Shutong’s opinion, they all looked old-fashioned, but she seemed to be having the time of her life.

Finally, they stopped at a shop selling small accessories.

Zhang Shutong shook his head. ’Thanks to Mom for the inspiration,’ he thought. For the next phase of his plan, he was going to buy a face mask and a hat here.

"This one’s so ugly. Try it on," Gu Qiumian said, handing him a pink Mickey Mouse baseball cap.

A sense of déjà vu.

And thanks to Mickey Mouse, his mood suddenly lightened a little. Gu Qiumian didn’t know, but Zhang Shutong was all too familiar with this thing. ’It’s this damn baseball cap again,’ he thought. ’I heard Disney’s legal team is ruthlessly aggressive. Why haven’t they sued this shop into oblivion yet?’

"If it’s ugly, why should I try it on?" Zhang Shutong was reluctant.

"Because I want to see it." As it turned out, Gu Qiumian was even more aggressive than Disney’s legal department. She laughed as she pulled out her phone, getting ready to take a picture.

"Put the phone down."

"Put it on, and I won’t take a picture," she threatened.

With no other choice, Zhang Shutong put on the hat, feeling like he was reliving the terrifying years under his mom’s rule... ’Wait, why did I put it on?’ he wondered. ’I never even agreed to it.’

He quickly took the hat off, but Gu Qiumian had already gotten her fill. She tapped her chin, satisfied.

"It really is the same."

"What do you mean?"

"Look at the Mickey Mouse on the hat. Even though it’s a knock-off, doesn’t it look just like the real one? And you look so silly wearing it..." This girl really had a low bar for what she found funny.

Zhang Shutong reflected for a moment. He decided that even a lackey had a duty to steer the young miss back from her errant ways. He couldn’t just keep indulging her.

He had already whipped out his phone. Unlike Gu Qiumian, the luddite, Zhang Shutong knew where the iPhone’s camera shortcut was. He quickly plopped the hat onto Gu Qiumian’s head and pressed the shutter button.

CLICK. Her stunned expression was frozen in the frame.

"You do look silly," Zhang Shutong said, looking at the screen and pursing his lips.

Gu Qiumian immediately went ballistic.

Zhang Shutong paid and made a run for it. He had long legs and walked quickly, but he could feel daggers in his back the entire way.

Time for the next step.

Zhang Shutong took out his phone and sent the second message to the group chat.