Chapter 227 - 101: Retreat (Part 1)

Chapter 227: Chapter 101: Retreat (Part 1)

「A few minutes earlier.」

「In the basement.」

The movie was paused on the screen.

It was hard to make out what was happening upstairs.

They exchanged glances.

"Why hasn’t Shutong called back? Could that person he mentioned have come again?" Ruoping whispered to Qingyi.

"I doubt it." Qingyi thought for a moment. "I was standing close to him, so I overheard a little of the call. It sounded like Song said something about a picture frame falling."

"There’s a picture frame that big in the living room?" Ruoping asked instinctively.

"Must be in another room."

"Then why won’t he let us go up?"

"Maybe he’s just on edge?"

"I agree. He’s been super jumpy lately."

"It can’t be helped. We’ve only heard about most of this from Shutong. We haven’t experienced it ourselves, so we can’t truly understand how he feels."

The two whispered back and forth.

"Should we tell her?" Ruoping gestured discreetly toward Gu Qiuyan. "She looks pretty anxious, too. She must be worried something’s wrong."

"You tell her, then." Qingyi gave her a sidelong glance. "What are you so hesitant for? It’s a good chance to break the ice."

"Fine, I’ll do it." Ruoping gritted her teeth, her expression resolute. When she finally spoke, however, she hesitated. "Um, Gu Qiuyan..."

Gu Qiuyan froze for a second, as if not expecting Ruoping to approach her, and quickly turned her head.

"Don’t worry too much," Ruoping said, looking away uncomfortably and pointing at Qingyi. "I just heard from him. It sounds like a picture frame fell, that’s all."

"...Thank you." Gu Qiuyan replied, also hesitant. She seemed to relax at first and began to explain, "Then it should be fine. You don’t need to worry, either. It’s the one in my family’s study, the fam..."

But she trailed off. Something seemed to occur to her, and she gently bit her lip.

And so, as Ruoping watched, the girl named Gu Qiuyan, far from relaxing at the news, seemed to grow even more worried.

No, that wasn’t quite right. Before, she had been worried; now, she was tense.

Gu Qiuyan instinctively took a step, the hem of her long dress becoming disheveled. Her finger had clearly pressed the elevator button, but she lowered her head and stood there blankly for a moment before returning to the sofa and sitting down.

She was a beautiful, elegant girl, dressed like a princess today in a delicate French-style blouse. But even a princess can suddenly lose her composure. She kept biting her lip, staring at the tips of her toes, lost in thought and looking utterly helpless.

Her fluffy slippers shifted restlessly. She was twisting her long, cyan skirt, creasing the fabric like the petals of a flower bud.

Ruoping noticed that the usual lively sparkle in the girl’s beautiful eyes was being replaced by a look of inner conflict.

"What’s with her now? Didn’t she just say not to worry? Quick, analyze this," Ruoping whispered to Qingyi, completely baffled.

"Is that photo really important to her?" Qingyi had barely spoken the words before he dismissed his own theory. "No, if it were that important, she should have rushed upstairs right away. Why did she sit back down? It’s like she has this... ’what’s done is done, it’s too late’ kind of feeling. You’re a girl, you might understand this better?"

"I don’t know either." Ruoping shook her head. "If I had to guess, it’s like she’s trying to avoid a certain reality, but at the same time, she’s still holding out hope?"

"Why do you make it sound like she’s waiting for her monthly exam scores to be posted?"

"What a terrible analogy," Ruoping snapped. "She’s a pampered young lady. When have you ever seen her this conflicted over anything? I bet she wasn’t even this conflicted about her high school entrance exams. This is probably something way, way more important."

"Then what is it?" For once, Qingyi was stumped. "What could happen so suddenly and be related to a photo?"

"Shh, be quiet," Ruoping said, tugging on his sleeve. "Just listen..."

Then, Gu Qiuyan took a couple of deep breaths. After some deliberation, she finally dialed a number.

As the other two watched with a mixture of confusion and curiosity, the call connected quickly.

"How are things over there?"

Even though she had a good idea of what had happened, Gu Qiuyan still asked instinctively, her voice filled with worry.

Of course, perhaps it was just a preamble to what she really wanted to say.

She hadn’t even noticed it herself, but she was speaking much faster than usual. She was in a complete panic.

...

Zhang Shutong answered the call.

"How are things over there?"

Her voice was anxious.

’I probably freaked her out,’ he thought, and quickly said, "It’s nothing, nothing. Just a photo fell."

"The family portrait from the study?" Gu Qiuyan immediately asked for confirmation.

"Yeah. Don’t worry, it didn’t break. I just leaned it against the wall for now." Since it was something that belonged to her mother, Zhang Shutong felt he ought to be clear with her.

Gu Qiuyan didn’t reply.

Zhang Shutong could even hear her short, sharp breaths.

He had no choice but to continue explaining:

"I went out to check. The wall is just getting old, that’s all. Teacher Song wanted to hang it back up, but Aunt Wu said we should wait for your dad to get back to handle it, so we listened to her..."

Zhang Shutong remembered her precious scarf—a memento left by her mother. Although a photograph wasn’t quite the same as a personal belonging, he figured it was just as important to Gu Qiuyan.

So he stressed again:

"Really, don’t worry, it didn’t break. Do you want to come up and see for yourself?"

"It couldn’t have broken..."

Her reply was just four words.

Her tone was as faint as her voice—quiet and complex.

After a moment, Gu Qiuyan explained in a low voice:

"It’s just a canvas print. And it’s fallen down several times before. It doesn’t even have a glass frame..."

"Oh... Okay, then."

An awkward silence seemed to fall between them.

Zhang Shutong thought for a moment. He was about to ask if they should continue the movie, or what her plans were for the evening, but before he could speak, breaking the long silence, Gu Qiuyan suddenly asked:

"You... saw everything?"

Zhang Shutong instinctively hummed in affirmation.

He regretted it the moment the sound left his lips.

He realized what Gu Qiuyan had been so hesitant about.

’Damn it...’ He tapped his forehead with his knuckles, cursing himself. ’Right, in this timeline, my friends don’t know her mother passed away. But I’m not supposed to know, either. I only know because Song told me in the car last time.’

’So that’s what she was worried I’d find out.’

’I should have just pretended I didn’t see anything.’ He had no desire to pry into her family affairs. Perhaps now Gu Qiuyan was waiting for him to ask:

"Why have I never heard you mention your mom? Where is she? Why isn’t she at home? Is she busy with work, or is she away on a business trip, too...?"

At that thought, Zhang Shutong couldn’t help but glance back at the study. The door was shut tight, but it was as if he could once again see that beautiful woman clad in white. But Zhang Shutong knew she wasn’t away on business or busy with work; she had simply left this world forever. Death. A word both light and heavy. Some things were irreversible, and this was destined to be a topic that brought conversation to a halt.

An even longer silence came from the other end of the line.

"So?" Gu Qiuyan finally said after a long pause.

’So what?’

’Is she waiting for me to ask her something?’

Just as he thought that, the question came.

"Don’t you want to ask me something?"

"Nope." Zhang Shutong didn’t want to dredge up painful memories, so he changed the subject. "Like I said, it was nothing. I was just on edge and I scared you. You guys go on and watch the movie. I’ll be down in a minute..."

In a rare show of consideration, Zhang Shutong even asked:

"Do you want some juice? Or something to eat?" He remembered where Gu Qiuyan had found the juice yesterday. "What do you want? I can bring it down with me..."

’That should smooth things over,’ he thought. They had just eaten, but from what little Zhang Shutong knew of her, she was the type to have a separate stomach just for snacks. He remembered the last time they watched a movie; after finishing a bowl of rice with toppings, she had pulled a huge bag of snacks out of the library. A vivacious girl like her had to be a carnivore.

But before he could finish, Gu Qiuyan cut him off.

"Don’t bother."

Zhang Shutong couldn’t discern the emotion behind her words. She sounded like a frost-bitten flower.

Zhang Shutong instinctively glanced out the window. The yard was indeed covered in a blanket of white snow, but it was perfectly warm inside. He couldn’t figure out what was wrong with her now.

"So, I’ll head down to join you?"

"Don’t come down..."

The line went quiet for a moment, as if she had muffled the phone to ask someone a question. Then Gu Qiuyan’s voice returned, and she spoke quickly:

"Your friends got spooked, too. They said they’re not in the mood for a movie anymore, and besides, it’s getting late..."

It was as if she was afraid something else might slip out if she didn’t say something, anything, else.

"Alright, then."

Zhang Shutong replied.

’That makes sense,’ he thought. ’From Qingyi and the others’ perspective, I was acting so tense they probably thought I’d found a new clue. Even though it turned out to be a false alarm, the little interruption probably ruined the mood for the movie.’

In that case, he’d just wait for everyone to come upstairs so they could figure out what to do for the rest of the night. He was about to say as much, but the line was already dead.