Winter Time Rendering

Zhang Shutong discovered something terrifying.

Ever since the regression, his luck seemed to have completely vanished. He used to be a decent fisherman, but now he hadn’t caught a single thing.

The one consolation was that Gu Qiuyan’s luck was just as terrible.

He checked his phone. The signal was still bad. He then checked the time—it was already past two in the afternoon.

’Wait... past two already?’

’How did it get so late so fast?’

He subconsciously glanced over at Gu Qiuyan and found her sitting on a small stool. Her head was slowly drooping as she let out a small yawn, her thick eyelashes overlapping as she drifted off to sleep.

"Uh, sleepy?"

"Next time, I’m absolutely, definitely... not coming fishing with you again..." Gu Qiuyan didn’t even have the energy to glare at him, her voice weak and listless.

"Why didn’t you say you were bored then?"

"I thought you were here to do something important..." Her voice was soft, but she sounded on the verge of tears. "Why did you *actually* come here just to fish?"

"Well, it’s not like we had anything else to do."

Hearing this, Gu Qiuyan’s eyes widened. "Who said there’s nothing to do? There are plenty of things I want to do."

"Then let’s go." Zhang Shutong picked up his stool.

Gu Qiuyan finally regained some of her energy and stretched languidly. "Where are we going?"

Zhang Shutong said it was up to her, with two conditions: one, they couldn’t go home, and two, they couldn’t leave the island.

Gu Qiuyan then asked, "So is your... operation... over?"

Zhang Shutong asked, surprised, "How did you know?"

She pouted. "I’m not an idiot. We were supposed to go buy a gift, but then all your friends took off. Something unexpected must have happened. Oh, and you broke my flowerpot. So, how did things turn out?"

"Let’s talk as we go."

The two of them got on the bicycle. She must have been truly exhausted, as she even rested her cheek against his back. Riding slowly, he could hear her shallow breathing. Zhang Shutong asked again, "So, are you curious or not?"

She said, "If you want to explain, I’ll listen. If not, I won’t."

Zhang Shutong didn’t know what she meant by that. He just felt it was better for her not to hear some things, so he kept his mouth shut and continued to pedal.

After riding for a while, Gu Qiuyan said irritably, "It’s all your fault for making me eat those compressed biscuits. I feel so uncomfortably full now."

Zhang Shutong suggested, "Why don’t you get off and stretch your legs? I can ride while you jog alongside?"

Of course, he was just teasing. He thought he had a bit of a sense of humor, but Gu Qiuyan took him seriously and angrily ignored him.

In the end, the two of them found a nail salon.

There really wasn’t much to do on the island.

Gu Qiuyan didn’t want to get her nails done; she just wanted to find a place to sleep.

He wasn’t sure if it was related to low blood sugar.

Of course, maybe she just hadn’t slept well last night.

This was where the "errand boy" was supposed to step up. Zhang Shutong paid the clerk and told her they didn’t need any service. They just needed two sofa chairs, preferably in a quiet corner.

The clerk was a young girl who had probably never heard such a strange request in her life. Luckily, the salon wasn’t crowded, so there were empty seats available.

She didn’t just find them a corner, but a private booth with only two sofa chairs. Of course, the booth didn’t have a door, just a curtain hanging down.

Stepping into the small booth felt like entering another world.

The overhead light was off. Light from outside snuck into the booth, reflecting off the floor tiles. The tiles were white, smooth but uneven, and the light rippled across them like shallow waves.

There were still a few customers outside, and the sound of women laughing and chatting occasionally drifted in. The curtain didn’t block much, but it provided a sense of security.

Gu Qiuyan placed her jacket on the sofa chair as a cushion and set an alarm on her phone. She was genuinely drowsy, but she repeatedly emphasized that he absolutely had to wake her before dinner.

Zhang Shutong nodded again and again, and only then did the girl close her eyes in relief.

’Maybe she’s worried she’ll sleep until it’s dark out?’

Zhang Shutong thought, watching her peaceful, sleeping face.

He’d had similar thoughts himself. Back in his school days, Sunday was the last bit of free time. Waking from a nap to find the evening sun dyeing his pillow yellow was always a depressing feeling.

But today was only Saturday. Zhang Shutong felt her worry was unnecessary.

When Gu Qiuyan slept, she had a habit of curling up on her side, her hands held together in front of her. Zhang Shutong recalled hearing some self-proclaimed expert say that this sleeping position was a sign of insecurity.

Because of this, one of her cheeks was slightly squished. Zhang Shutong wasn’t hungry right now, but if he were, it might have reminded him of a wobbly milk pudding.

He decided to go charge his phone. He tiptoed out, lifted the curtain, and asked the clerk for a charger, but she said she didn’t have an Apple cable.

What bad luck. He figured that going in and out would wake Gu Qiuyan, so he found a stool in the main area of the salon and sat down. Since he couldn’t use his phone, he just stared blankly at the pedestrians on the street outside.

Just then, the clerk asked, "Hey, handsome, what kind of newfangled date is this?"

Zhang Shutong said it wasn’t a date, and Gu Qiuyan wasn’t his girlfriend.

But she just giggled and said, "If you’re not a couple, why would you find a shop just to sleep?"

Zhang Shutong found that strange. "It’s precisely because we’re not a couple that we’re doing this. If we were actually dating, we’d be wandering all over the streets. Who would waste their time sleeping?"

The clerk replied, "Oh, kiddo, you’re so dense. Girls don’t just sleep in front of anyone. I worry about drooling and getting laughed at even when I’m sleeping in front of my best friend."

"Then why is she?"

"Trust," the clerk said with conviction. "Even if you’re not a couple, you must have known each other for a long time."

"But I’ve only known her for..." Zhang Shutong counted on his fingers—from the Wednesday after the regression to today, it had been... "Exactly three days."

That left the clerk stunned.

"You can’t judge her by how a typical girl thinks," Zhang Shutong concluded, speaking from experience. "Although, I have no idea what she’s thinking either."