A few minutes ago.
The first basement floor.
The movie screen was frozen.
It was hard to hear what was happening upstairs.
The few people looked at each other.
"Why isn't Shutong calling back? Did that person he mentioned come again?" Ruoping whispered to Qingyi.
"Probably not," Qingyi thought for a moment. "I was close to him just now and heard a little bit of the phone conversation. Teacher Song seemed to be talking about a photo frame falling."
"Is there such a big photo frame in the living room?" Ruoping asked subconsciously.
"Must be in another room."
"Then why didn't he let us go up?"
"A little nervous?"
"I also feel that he's been jumpy lately."
"No choice. We hear about many things from Shutong, but we haven't experienced them ourselves, so we can't understand how he feels."
The two whispered to each other.
"Why don't we tell her first?" Ruoping secretly pointed at Gu Qiumian. "I see she's also quite anxious. She must be worried that something happened."
"You tell her," Qingyi gave her a sidelong glance. "Why are you being shy? It's a good chance to break the ice."
"Fine, I'll tell her," Ruoping gritted her teeth, looking determined, but when she spoke, she was a little hesitant, "Hey, classmate Gu Qiumian..."
Gu Qiumian was stunned for a moment, as if she didn't expect Ruoping to actively talk to her, and she quickly turned her head.
"Don't worry too much," Ruoping awkwardly turned her face away and pointed at Qingyi. "I also heard it from him. It should just be a photo frame that fell. Nothing else happened."
"...Thank you," Gu Qiumian also replied with hesitation. She was first relieved and explained, "Then there should be nothing wrong. You two don't have to worry too much. It's the whole... from my study..."
But as she said this, she didn't know what she thought of and gently bit her lip.
So in Ruoping's sight, the girl named Gu Qiumian not only didn't relax after hearing the news but became more worried.
No, that's not accurate. She was worried just now, but now she was slightly nervous.
Gu Qiumian subconsciously took a step, the hem of her long dress a little messy. Her finger clearly pressed the elevator button, but she lowered her head and stood there blankly for a while. After a moment, she returned to the sofa and sat down.
This was a beautiful and elegant girl. Today, she was wearing an exquisite French blouse and had dressed herself like a princess, but even a princess would suddenly panic. She still bit her lips, staring at her toes, not knowing what she was thinking, looking completely at a loss.
The fluffy slippers twisted uneasily. The cyan long dress was also crumpled by her, like a budding flower.
Ruoping noticed that the beautiful eyes of the girl, which were always full of spirit, were being replaced by a kind of entanglement.
"What's going on now? Didn't she say herself that we don't need to worry? Quick, analyze it." Ruoping was completely confused. She whispered to Qingyi.
"That photo is very important to her?" Qingyi just said it, and then immediately denied his judgment. "No, if it was something very important, she should have rushed up immediately. Why did she sit down again? It gives people a feeling of... what's done is done, and it's too late? You're a girl, you should understand this better?"
"I don't know either," Ruoping shook her head. "If I had to say, I feel like she's avoiding a certain fact, but at the same time, she has a feeling of anticipation?"
"Why does it sound like when the monthly exam results come out, the way you describe it?"
"What a bad analogy," Ruoping said irritably. "She's a young lady. When have you ever seen her get so tangled over grades? I guess she wouldn't even be tangled over the high school entrance exam. I guess it's something much more important than that."
"What is it?" Qingyi was rarely stunned. "What could be so sudden and also related to a photo?"
"Shhh, don't say anything," Ruoping tugged at his clothes. "Just listen..."
Then, Gu Qiumian took two deep breaths. She thought and thought, and finally made a phone call.
In the confused and curious eyes of the two, the call was quickly connected.
"How are you doing there?"
Although she had already confirmed what happened, Gu Qiumian still subconsciously and worriedly asked a question.
Of course, maybe it was to set the stage for what she really wanted to say next.
Because she herself hadn't realized that her speaking speed was much faster than usual, and she was completely flustered.
...
Zhang Shutong answered the phone.
"How are you doing there?"
The girl's voice was very anxious.
Zhang Shutong thought to himself that he was a little nervous just now and scared her, so he quickly said it's okay, it's just that a photo fell.
"The family portrait in the study?" Gu Qiumian immediately confirmed.
"Yeah, don't worry, it's not broken. We just propped it up against the wall for now." Since it was an item related to her mother, Zhang Shutong felt he should explain it clearly to her.
Gu Qiumian, however, did not reply.
Zhang Shutong could even hear her slightly hurried breathing.
He had to continue to explain:
"I went out to look just now. It's just that the wall is old. Nothing else. Teacher Song wanted to hang it up, but Aunt Wu said to wait until your dad comes back to deal with it, so we listened to her..."
Zhang Shutong remembered the scarf that she treasured so much, which was a relic left by her mother. Although the meaning of the photo was not exactly the same as a relic, for Gu Qiumian, it must be equally important.
So he emphasized again:
"Don't worry, it's not broken. Do you want to come up and see?"
"It won't break..."
This time, the only answer he got was a few words.
The tone was as vague as her voice, quiet and complex.
After a moment, Gu Qiumian explained in a low voice:
"It's just a photo canvas, and it's fallen several times. There's not even a glass cover..."
"Oh... that's good."
The two seemed to have fallen into a situation of finding something to talk about.
Zhang Shutong thought for a moment, and originally wanted to ask if they still wanted to watch the movie and what her plans were for tonight, but before he could speak, in the long silence, Gu Qiumian suddenly asked:
"You... saw everything?"
Zhang Shutong subconsciously hummed in affirmation.
But then he regretted it.
Because he understood what Gu Qiumian was hesitating about.
Damn it... He knocked on his forehead with his knuckles and cursed himself. It was true that his best friends in this timeline didn't know about her mother's death, but he shouldn't have known either. Teacher Song told him about it in the car last time.
It turned out she was worried that he had discovered this.
He should have acted like he didn't see it. He didn't want to meddle in other people's family affairs. Maybe Gu Qiumian would wait for him to ask:
"Why have you never mentioned your mother? Where did she go? Why isn't she at home? Is she busy with work, or is she also on a business trip..."
Thinking of this, Zhang Shutong couldn't help but look back at the study. The door was closed, but he seemed to see the beautiful woman in the white veil again. But Zhang Shutong knew that she was neither on a business trip nor busy with work; she had just left the world forever. Death. A light and heavy word. Some things are irreversible. This was destined to be a topic that made people silent.
A longer silence came from the other end of the phone.
"So?" It took a long time for Gu Qiumian to speak.
So what?
Is she waiting for me to ask something?
Thinking this, the sentence did come.
"Don't you want to ask me something?"
"No." Zhang Shutong didn't want to bring up the sad past in her heart, so he changed the subject. "I said there was nothing else. I was just nervous and scared you just now. You guys continue to watch the movie. I'll be down in a bit..."
Zhang Shutong even asked with rare consideration:
"Do you want some juice, or something to eat?" He remembered where Gu Qiumian found the juice yesterday. "What do you want to eat? I'll bring it down with me..."
He thought this should have passed the test. Although they had just eaten dinner, based on his limited understanding of her, just like the night they watched the movie last time, she ate a rice bowl and then took out a large bag of snacks in the library. A spirited girl like this should be a meat-eater, with a stomach specially for snacks.
But before he could finish, Gu Qiumian interrupted him:
"No need."
Zhang Shutong couldn't hear the emotion contained in her words. It was like a flower hit by frost.
Zhang Shutong subconsciously looked out the window. There was indeed a layer of white snow in the yard, but the room was clearly very warm. He didn't know what was wrong with her again.
"Then I'll come down and find you guys?"
"Don't come down..."
The other end of the phone was quiet for a moment. It seemed she was covering the microphone and asking about something. Then Gu Qiumian's voice came through. She said quickly:
"Your friends were also scared and said they were not in the mood to watch the movie, and it's getting late..."
It was as if something else would blurt out if she didn't say something at this moment.
"Okay then."
Zhang Shutong replied.
That's right. In Qingyi and the others' eyes, he was so nervous just now that they probably thought he had found new clues. Although it was a false alarm in the end, this little episode made everyone lose the mood to continue watching the movie.
If that's the case, then he'll wait for everyone to come up and discuss what to do tonight. He was about to say something, but the call had already ended.