"Really?"
"Of course it's real." Zhang Shutong said with a smile, hanging the towel on a rack nearby.
He seemed to see Gu Qiumian coming out.
He wasn't sure if the other person saw him.
But he remembered the last time they met at the mall, her and Ruoping's gazes met, as if an invisible magnetic field was at work. This time there was no such feeling.
He just suddenly shivered.
Zhang Shutong had always believed in his intuition, but this time his intuition seemed to be wrong.
How could it be cold in a warm room?
He just remembered that he had forgotten to take off his jacket.
Last night, after entering the door, it was Gu Qiumian who was the first to tell him to change his shoes, take off his jacket, and put down his schoolbag.
This shows that he is actually a person who is not very careful.
The villa has floor heating, and the marble floor is an elegant gray, like a carefully selected mineral from nature. Even though so many people visited today, it still looks spotless. The area of each rock slab is surprisingly large, almost four times the size of an ordinary person's home, making it look grand and spacious.
The crystal chandelier on the ceiling casts a palace-like brilliant light on the room. It is freezing and snowing outside, but it is warm and fragrant inside—this is a metaphor, as the living room is filled with their chattering voices.
And when the chattering suddenly stopped, he knew that Gu Qiumian had arrived in the living room.
Sure enough, as soon as he came out of the bathroom, Zhang Shutong saw Gu Qiumian sitting on the sofa.
There was a separate set of seats on the sofa, and no one went to sit there. It seemed to be reserved for her. Zhang Shutong walked closer and found that Gu Qiumian was dressed like a princess today. In the morning, she was still wearing that black sweater that made her look very fair, but at noon she changed into a plain white French blouse.
The collar of the shirt was printed with exquisite lace, and there was a crystal-inlaid button on the cuff, which wrapped her whole person in a classical and romantic atmosphere. The girl's chest was like a full fruit, with a subtle youthful charm, and the hem of the shirt was tucked into the cyan suede long skirt, which narrowed along the beautiful body curve, making her waist look surprisingly thin.
She had her dark hair coiled behind her head today, like a flower bud, held by a silver hairpin.
Zhang Shutong's thought was that she was very beautiful.
Of course, this time no one asked.
She folded her hands on her abdomen, and nodded her chin lightly as if she was seeing her courtiers, accepting everyone's greetings.
"Qiumian is here." Old Song said first.
"Student Gu..." There was an awkward laugh, "Well, good afternoon." It was Du Kang.
"Hello." Qingyi was very calm.
"Sorry to bother you." Lu Qinglian also said.
Gu Qiumian greeted them one by one, with a dignified and elegant temperament. Ruoping was following behind her, so it seemed that the two of them were still not on good terms. At this time, being able to nod and show a smile was the limit, and Gu Qiumian also returned a faint smile.
Zhang Shutong liked occasions where everyone was gathered together. He also nodded to greet the young lady... or rather, the princess.
And then he was ignored.
Wait.
Why was he the only one ignored?
Zhang Shutong thought that it was too noisy around, and she didn't hear him, so he greeted her again. This time the girl's smile disappeared directly. She glanced at him expressionlessly, and then turned her head to talk to Old Song.
Zhang Shutong blinked.
For the time being, he didn't understand what was going on.
He thought he needed to introduce them to each other, but Gu Qiumian had already started chatting with them on her own.
What was this feeling of being left out?
He looked at the sofa again, and it was already full.
After all, it was just a sofa, not the legendary Noah's Ark that could hold all eight people in the living room.
However, there was still an empty seat on the sofa where Gu Qiumian was. Although it was a separate set, the sofa was wide and she occupied a small space, leaving one-third of the seat empty. He thought he could squeeze in.
Zhang Shutong certainly couldn't squeeze in. He looked back and forth and wanted to move a chair, but at this time Old Song stood up on his own:
"Okay, you guys chat. You don't have a chance to do so at school, so take this opportunity to make some friends and get along well. I'm going outside to have a cigarette." With that, the man stood up. "Shutong, you too, don't just stand there. You've run the most today, come and sit here."
Zhang Shutong was very grateful to Old Song for giving up a seat for him. He was about to sit down, "Wait a moment."
But he heard Gu Qiumian stop him faintly:
"Who told you to sit?"
The sound of conversation around them also quieted down for a moment. The few close friends subconsciously shut up, not understanding what happened between the two of them.
Zhang Shutong's movements stopped. He realized that the problem was more serious than he thought. Not only was he ignored, but he didn't even have a seat.
This was a bit frustrating.
Since that was the case, he was ready to go to the dining room to stay by himself, but he heard Gu Qiumian say again:
"There's snow on your jacket, take it off before you sit down, don't get the sofa wet."
Zhang Shutong looked down and saw that his denim jacket was indeed stained with some snow.
Okay.
So she wasn't disliking him, but was afraid of getting her sofa dirty.
Zhang Shutong didn't need her to remind him where to put his jacket. He ran to the shoe cabinet in the entryway and hung his clothes, muttering to himself that his movements were becoming more and more skilled, and then returned to the sofa.
At this time, they started chatting and laughing again.
Gu Qiumian should have inherited her father's talent. She spoke freely and was not shy at all. To be honest, sometimes after spending a lot of time with her, he often forgot that she was a genuine young lady with countless subordinates, and not that girl who would occasionally glare.
This time Zhang Shutong sat next to Qingyi. Originally, he was sitting next to Lu Qinglian, but that seat had already been taken by Ruoping. Now the positions of the few people were as follows:
Gu Qiumian.
Zhang Shutong, Qingyi, Du Kang, Ruoping, Lu Qinglian.
Zhang Shutong was in front of Gu young lady's left. They were not too far apart, but even so, she would deliberately bypass him when chatting.
Occasionally, her eyes would linger for a moment, but it was only for a moment, and then she would look away and start the next topic.
Zhang Shutong didn't know how he had offended her again.
"Is the snow on the mountain that thick?" He heard Gu Qiumian ask. She had a faint curiosity. "Can you dig a hole that deep?"
"Yes." Du Kang replied. He was like this with everyone, a social butterfly. He was the one who talked the most on this occasion. The boy made an exaggerated gesture: "Let alone a hole, I don't know if you've seen those snow caves abroad. If we have enough time, we can even build a house."
"That sounds amazing." Gu Qiumian praised her lightly. "I've never been to the mountain."
"Then Student Gu, come with us next time. We're all friends now."
Gu Qiumian didn't respond. Zhang Shutong couldn't help but interrupt:
"That's a bit exaggerated. There's no place that deep."
"What do you mean there isn't? You forgot about four years ago... Oh, Shutong, you hadn't transferred here yet, so you wouldn't know. Qingyi, do you remember?"
The four of them became close friends after being in the same class in junior high school. Although the three of them grew up on the island, according to them, they only knew each other before and were not this close.
"I know. The teacher said someone went to the mountain and got lost, and almost couldn't come back. That was you." Qingyi also recalled the past.
"Uh, I didn't get lost. Didn't I find my way to the temple in the dark..."
"You still have the nerve to say it. I remember this was even written in the winter vacation handbook by the teacher, saying not to go up the mountain alone, so as not to be in danger," Ruoping revealed mercilessly, and then asked curiously, "Oh, by the way, I forgot to ask you back then, since you went to the temple, did you see Qinglian?"
"I did see her..."
Du Kang was actually a little shy when he heard this.
"That's when it happened," Qingyi whispered in his ear at this time. "It was love at first sight."
"Really? This is the first time I've heard about it." Zhang Shutong said with interest.
"According to him, he got lost and was about to cry from anxiety. Then he followed the light and went up to the temple gate. Then he saw Lu Qinglian sweeping snow in the courtyard at that time and she even gave him a meal." Qingyi said slowly, "It's probably that classic scene, breaking into a 'forbidden place,' and meeting a mysterious girl, who is also a classmate. You know Du Kang loves to watch shonen manga."
"Really? Qinglian, I've never heard him mention it." Ruoping was surprised.
"I think so." Lu Qinglian recalled for a moment.
"What do you mean 'I think so'?"
"I've met quite a few people who got lost."
"And then?"
"And then my dad came to the mountain to find me." Du Kang was depressed. From his tone, he seemed to have really wanted to stay overnight.
After he finished speaking, he realized that he had been a bit neglectful of Gu Qiumian, who had initiated the topic. He quickly changed the subject, "Hey, let's not talk about this. Why do you guys always reveal my shortcomings in front of others? Now that everyone is here, I say we go skiing on the mountain tomorrow, and bring that old tire of Old Song's with us when we leave."
"I'm fine with it." Qingyi said. "But I have something to do tomorrow."
"What's wrong?"
"How about I modify that tire and give it to you as a gift?" Qingyi had a sudden idea.
"Uh, let's forget it."
"I think it's a good idea." Ruoping laughed. "The finder's keepers. Let's say the three of us give it to you together. It'll save us the trouble."
"Don't do that." Du Kang wailed.
Ruoping said again:
"Actually, I'm tired of playing today. It's all snow. Why don't we go to the city tomorrow instead? How about you, Shutong?"
"I'm fine with whatever, I'll listen to your plan, as long as I'm free."
This kind of thing was never up to Zhang Shutong to decide. He just replied casually as he usually did, but his intuition seemed to be wrong again.
He turned his head, and this time the coldness came from Gu Qiumian's direction.
Zhang Shutong understood. It was because the four of them had been chatting for too long and had neglected her.
From Gu Qiumian's perspective, she was the outsider.
There was no need to say much about his relationship with his close friends.
Although Lu Qinglian didn't seem to be very close to them, Ruoping called her "Qinglian" all the time, so their relationship must not be bad.
Among the people present, the only person she really had a connection with was him.
But since the two of them weren't talking, it seemed like she couldn't fit in.
The problem was, she was the one who ignored him.
Zhang Shutong took the initiative to ask:
"What are your plans for the afternoon?"
"After we eat later, do you guys want to go downstairs to watch a movie?" Gu Qiumian asked almost at the same time.
Okay, it seemed he had overthought things.
How could a young lady be neglected?
"Downstairs, you can still watch movies?" Du Kang was surprised.
"A home theater? Can we play discs?" Qingyi was also interested.
"Yes." Gu Qiumian nodded her chin. "What do you want to watch?"
"I'm fine with whatever. I'll listen to Student Gu's plan..."
Zhang Shutong wanted to ask if Lu Qinglian had any other places to go in the afternoon, but they were too far apart, so he decided to listen to Gu Qiumian's arrangements first.
Gu young lady once again brought the topic back. She liked movies, so she could chat about foreign action blockbusters that Du Kang liked, or the mystery movies that Qingyi liked.
She either didn't speak, but once she did, she would always become the center of the topic.
As they were chatting, Gu Qiumian stood up on her own to pour water for them. She was dressed like a princess today, but she wasn't the kind of girl who put on airs. Although Zhang Shutong had never seen her pour water for her group of subordinates, on the other hand, her close friends were not her subordinates either.
She bent her upper body slightly, and a pendant hung from her long, snow-white neck. Zhang Shutong looked at it for a long time and recognized it as a four-leaf clover. Some vague past memories surfaced in his mind, but he couldn't remember them clearly. He was left with a faint feeling of emotion.
He shook his head, feeling that he had underestimated Gu Qiumian. This was not a fragile girl. If it weren't for this murder case, she could have lived a very good life. She would probably leave the island after graduating from junior high school, and after a few years, she might take over the family business, and then she would be a young lady in every sense of the word.
She probably rarely did this kind of thing. Her movements were a bit clumsy, but her posture was very standard.
A few close friends quickly said thank you and put their cups on the coffee table. Gu Qiumian didn't deliberately avoid Ruoping, but Zhang Shutong felt that she would avoid him.
But in reality, this did not happen.
Because there was one cup missing on the coffee table.
Only then did Zhang Shutong remember that his cup had been taken to the dining room when he was washing vegetables.
Now he didn't have to worry about whether he could get a cup of water.
Gu Qiumian's cup had not been used yet. She had just come down not long ago. She gently pushed her cup to the corner of the table, filled it up, and then sat back nonchalantly and continued chatting with her close friends.
Zhang Shutong saw her pinch her fingers, but he didn't know what that meant.
Soon the nanny called them to eat.
The few of them then lined up like kindergarten children to wash their hands in the bathroom. This time, Zhang Shutong didn't need to remind them, because Gu Qiumian had already introduced the layout of the rooms.
Zhang Shutong was at the end. He turned on the faucet. Since he had just washed his hands, he just rinsed them casually. When he was squeezing the soap, a girl in a French shirt appeared in the mirror.
Gu Qiumian stood next to Zhang Shutong.
She didn't say anything and just focused on washing her hands.
Zhang Shutong watched her unbutton the crystal button on her cuff and carefully roll up her sleeves, revealing her slender wrists. It was a beautiful but troublesome piece of clothing, but she was also a girl who loved beauty. Zhang Shutong was used to this.
Then he noticed that there was a small blister on Gu Qiumian's finger.
"Did you get burned just now?"
It seemed so. She didn't do this often. When she was pouring water, she touched the lid of the teapot directly instead of the handle and was scalded. Her skin was very tender, which Zhang Shutong had known for a long time, but he didn't expect a blister to form directly.
"Yes." She said, looking down.
"You should rinse it with cold water."
He picked up the towel on the rack and reminded her while wiping his hands.