Only a family portrait?
Zhang Shutong originally wanted to confirm it like this.
But as the words reached his lips, he glanced at his best friends and swallowed the sentence back down.
Since it was a family portrait, it must be a photo of Gu Qiumian's family.
He then thought that Gu Qiumian's mother had passed away, but his best friends did not know this news. It might not be good to let them go up and see it without warning.
Because Gu Qiumian had no intention of telling anyone this news.
In a change of thought, he had already walked into the elevator, waving at a few people, signaling that there was nothing serious:
"Something fell. I'll go up and check first. I'll let you know if it's okay."
Gu Qiumian, however, walked forward out of step with the group. Zhang Shutong originally wanted to say, "Last night I promised you I wouldn't hide things from you anymore, but you also promised me to listen to me, so you have to keep your word..."
But those words were too mushy. It was a normal arrangement, but it sounded like a love confession. So Zhang Shutong controlled his facial expression, probably a little cold, and stopped her:
"Stay with them. Don't wander off."
As he said this, he pressed the button for the first floor.
He no longer looked at Gu Qiumian. Then the elevator doors slowly closed. He let go of the hand covering the microphone and heard Teacher Song say again:
"A very large family portrait, in a solid wood frame. It was originally nailed to the wall and suddenly fell..."
"There's a family portrait hanging in the living room?" he couldn't help but recall, "Why didn't I notice it?"
Zhang Shutong still didn't know what Boss Gu looked like.
"Not the living room, the study. Didn't you notice that there are three guest rooms on the second floor, but only two on the first? Actually, there were originally three, but one of them was used as a study."
"Which wall is the study near?" Zhang Shutong asked reflexively.
"You two are really..." Teacher Song laughed.
"What?"
"Qinglian just asked the same thing. When she heard the noise, she ran out the door, saying she was going out to have a look. I was just about to go find her when your call came in. Just come up first."
He vaguely heard Teacher Song's voice and hung up the phone.
"Here, Shutong." As soon as the elevator door opened, Zhang Shutong saw the other person waving to him in front of a room.
"Why don't you go in?"
"The door is locked. The nanny went to find the key."
"Wait," Zhang Shutong couldn't help but ask, "Since the door is locked, how do you know it's the photo?"
"Oh, the nanny said that the family portrait was too heavy and had also suddenly fallen before. It seems it was just last week. Before Qiumian's dad left, he even hired someone to reinforce the wall, but it fell again today. As for the key, it should be in his office. It's usually locked, and outsiders can't get in."
Zhang Shutong nodded, "I'll go out and have a look too."
He and Lu Qinglian were worried about similar things. It would be fine if it was just a loose fall, but he was afraid that someone had tampered with the outside of the wall. He rushed to the door, grabbed his coat and put on his boots, and left the villa.
Zhang Shutong walked around half of the villa. In the pristine white view, he found the figure in a cyan robe.
Lu Qinglian stood quietly in the snow. She lowered her eyes and was gently scratching the outer wall with a fingernail. The wall paint also peeled off like snowflakes.
"How is it?" Zhang Shutong looked back and forth. Crossing the fence, on the boundless wasteland, he saw neither a person nor extra footprints.
"I didn't see anyone," Lu Qinglian frowned and said, "What fell?"
"The family portrait photo. They said it wasn't hung securely on the wall." As he spoke, Zhang Shutong also reached out and pressed the wall. It was indeed in a somewhat damp, powdery state. He also frowned, "So much moisture?"
"What do you want to say?" Lu Qinglian asked.
"Nothing. You see, below is the lake. It's normal for the air to be a bit humid. The wall should have been eroded. I just think that the quality of the outer walls of this kind of villa shouldn't be so poor." Zhang Shutong didn't know about civil engineering, but Gu Qiumian's dad must. He himself was in real estate development. "Logically, there should be some moisture-proof measures, right?"
He said with uncertainty.
If it were such a heavy and large photo frame, it would probably be hung with several nails embedded in the wall. Zhang Shutong guessed that a certain nail had come loose, causing it to fall suddenly.
"I don't know about this," Lu Qinglian answered very decisively. "But according to what you said, it could be a natural fall. This wall happens to be the windward side."
Zhang Shutong nodded, turned his head, and took a look. It was also considered a semi-lake-view room. The study and the bathroom were on the same side. He had looked out from the window when he was taking a bath before and could see the lake below.
Speaking of which, did this kind of thing happen in the last timeline?
It was now Friday afternoon, but he came to the villa on a Friday night last time. At that time, who would have thought to ask about the family portrait?
Besides, this time it snowed heavily. Thermal expansion and contraction? Causing the newly reinforced wall to have problems again?
Zhang Shutong was also not sure if it was because of the sudden drop in temperature.
He and Lu Qinglian walked around the villa again, found no abnormalities, and the only damp wall was the windward side.
"Look here." Lu Qinglian suddenly squatted down.
Zhang Shutong followed her finger and found a small black tablet embedded in the wall below the main entrance, with the three characters "Shigan Dang" written on it. This is one of the traditional folk customs of this province. The carrier is mostly Tai Mountain stones. At the beginning of the construction of the house, a stone carved with these three characters is built into the wall. It seems to be called "house-warding and corner-mending," originating from the ancients' worship of spiritual stones.
But the point was not this. The point was that he saw a string of numbers carved under the stone tablet—
It served as a reminder to Zhang Shutong.
This was a palace-like luxurious villa, and because Gu Qiumian transferred to the island in the second half of her first year of middle school, the young lady naturally moved in with just her bags. He subconsciously thought this was a relatively new house.
But judging from this small tablet and the damp wall, it has actually been around for a long time.
That's right, Zhang Shutong nodded with a sudden realization. A villa naturally cannot be built in a day. Construction should have started long before Gu Qiumian transferred schools. Although he had never bought a villa, he knew how troublesome it was to decorate such a house. The time was almost several times that of a normal flat. Sometimes it might not be finished in two or three years.
Thinking about it this way, this villa has actually been around for a long time.
It is now 2012.
Another eight years.
No wonder the wall has aged. A house needs maintenance when it gets old.
He told Lu Qinglian about this discovery, and she nodded without saying anything.
In the middle of it, they met that Doberman.
Zhang Shutong stood in the distance, pointed at the dog, and said to her:
"Do you want to try to get closer and see if it reacts."
Lu Qinglian showed an expression as if she were looking at an idiot:
"Its reaction should not be as big as yours."
Zhang Shutong actually wanted to test whether her self-proclaimed affinity for animals was real.
But there was no need to test it, because Lu Qinglian walked over as if nothing had happened, and the dog pricked up its ears vigilantly, still in its old state.
Zhang Shutong quickly followed:
"Your affinity doesn't seem to work?"
"Classmate Zhang Shutong," Lu Qinglian said with a headache, "What do you think I mean by affinity? Disappearing directly in front of animals? The first time an animal meets you, it will have its normal reactions, just a little smaller."
Before the dog started barking, Zhang Shutong pulled her back to the villa.
Upon entering, they saw the nanny was opening the door.
With a creak, what came into view was an antique study. The furniture was all made of mahogany, a desk, a bookshelf, a computer, and even the floor was solid wood flooring. Some damp, musty smell emerged.
Zhang Shutong moved his gaze. A photo frame almost as big as the color TV in the living room was lying on the floor.
The TV was about eighty or ninety inches, and this photo frame was also solid wood, so it was no wonder the wall couldn't stand it.
He then looked at the bare wall, which was covered with wallpaper. The place where the photo frame was hung was obviously a little white, while other places were yellow. He guessed that Boss Gu smoked a lot.
The wallpaper was no longer so close-fitting. Some places were pushed up by the bulging wall, and there were faint mildew spots. It seemed that the previous guess was not wrong. It was just the aging of the building and the wall being too damp.
He, Teacher Song, and the nanny stood at the door. Lu Qinglian had already returned to the sofa. It seemed that as long as it wasn't "official business," she was indifferent to whatever happened.
"Should we hang it up again?" Teacher Song rolled up his sleeves.
"No need to trouble you. Just lean it against the wall for now. We'll talk about it when Boss Gu comes back. I'll tell Qiumian later."
"That's right." The photo frame was too heavy. Teacher Song also asked him to help lift it up. At this time, the nanny apologized and dissuaded them:
"I'll do it myself. Boss Gu told me it's best not to enter his study."
This was a tactful way of saying it.
To put it bluntly, he was very afraid of outsiders entering.
The master and apprentice nodded and watched the nanny lift the photo frame at the door.
"Any new discoveries?" Teacher Song asked in a low voice.
"The wall is just damp." While talking, Zhang Shutong saw the contents of the family portrait.
But he didn't see it completely because Aunt Wu's body was blocking half of it.
The scene seemed to be a certain auditorium. In a solemn and clean atmosphere, he only saw the woman on the right side of the picture.
The woman was beautiful, about thirty years old, wearing a pure white long dress and white satin sleeves on her arms, with a veil over the back of her head.
Perhaps it was left from a wedding anniversary?
Zhang Shutong looked and found that the woman's eyes were very similar to Gu Qiumian's.
However, the woman had a melon-shaped face, and the girl had an oval face.
The mother Gu had long hair. A very faint sunlight shone through the colored glass windows, and dust drifted. In the group photo, the woman had a gentle smile. She was bathed in light and dust, as if one glance could make people feel close to her.
He also saw a line of numbers under the photo. It turned out that this family portrait was taken in the summer of 2006.
Zhang Shutong did a simple calculation. At that time, he was in the fourth grade of elementary school, which means that Gu Qiumian's mother passed away after this.
Zhang Shutong suddenly felt a hint of regret.
Teacher Song watched for a long time and also patted him on the shoulder:
"Alright, let the aunt handle it."
"Mm."
He returned to the sofa. Just as he was about to text his best friends, Lu Qinglian faintly reminded him:
"What's the plan for tonight? It's best to decide early. Should she continue to live here?"
Of course, Zhang Shutong didn't want Gu Qiumian to live here anymore.
It wasn't a matter of who would accompany her, but that this villa couldn't be stayed in at all.
He thought for a moment. At this time, his phone rang. It was Gu Qiumian calling.
She must have been waiting downstairs for a while and was too impatient to wait.
Sure enough, as soon as the call was connected, her somewhat anxious voice came through:
"How are you doing there?"