Chapter 237 - 108: Slow, Slow Tune (Part 2)

Chapter 237: Chapter 108: Slow, Slow Tune (Part 2)

After dinner.

In a bedroom on the second floor of the villa, Gu Qiuyan was quietly reading a book.

Her desk was tidy. To her left sat a photo frame, which she had now gently placed face down on the desk.

The room was decorated mostly in shades of dark red. The hand-woven carpet, the velvet curtains, and even the fairytale-like canopy over the bed were all dark red, appearing stately and luxurious under the warm lighting.

Though it was called a bedroom, it was fully furnished with everything one could need: a walk-in closet, a vanity, a balcony, a bathtub, and a private bathroom. There was even a mini fridge that was always stocked with chocolate and yogurt.

She had just taken a long bath, and steam still lingered in her hair.

The girl would occasionally lift the cup beside her to moisten her lips. She turned the pages of her book very slowly, but not because she was reading carefully; she would often turn to a new page only to flip back and reread the previous one.

Until someone knocked softly on her door.

Gu Qiuyan put down her book. She knew it was Aunt Wu; only she knocked that way.

She called out a soft reply, but then remembered the door was locked. She padded barefoot across the bedroom to open it.

"Why is the door locked today?" A woman with a kind face stood outside.

"I locked it by accident," Gu Qiuyan said casually.

But Aunt Wu chuckled.

"Let me guess. Was it that classmate of yours who told you to be careful and lock your door when you sleep at night? You locked it because you listened to him, didn’t you?"

Gu Qiuyan fell silent. She walked a few steps back to her desk, propped her face in her hands, and stared blankly at the curtains.

The woman sat down gently on the edge of the bed, watching her like a mother watching her daughter.

"President Gu asked me to come up and check on you. He thought you were in a bad mood today," Aunt Wu said with a smile, then continued as if to herself, "I thought you were going to leave with him this afternoon. I was even worrying about how I’d explain it to President Gu. But in the end, you two had a fight?"

"No." She blinked her thick lashes and said calmly, "If I were angry, I would have left. I stayed home because it’s safer here, of course."

"Really?"

"Really. Who wants to run around outside in this cold weather? Besides, he won’t tell me the truth. I’ve asked him several times, and I’m bound to run out of patience eventually."

"Even if you lost your patience, that’s no reason to suddenly grow distant."

"I’m not the one pushing him away."

"He’s pushing you away?"

"Not that either."

"Then what is it?"

Gu Qiuyan fell silent again.

"Alright, alright, we won’t talk about it," the woman said in a gentle, coaxing tone. "What do you want for breakfast tomorrow?"

"The usual is fine."

"So, one fried egg, a slice of bacon, and a serving of endive salad?"

"I don’t want endives."

"You have to eat your vegetables," Aunt Wu said, smiling again. "You’ll get fat."

"I’m not fat," Gu Qiuyan mumbled.

"Would you like some milk? I can go warm up a glass."

Gu Qiuyan shook her head.

The woman changed the subject again.

"President Gu also said that you should just stay home and rest for the next couple of days. Don’t go anywhere, not to the city or anywhere else on the island, until he’s taken care of everything. If you get bored being by yourself, you can invite those younger friends of yours over. He said to have the driver pick them up."

"I know," Gu Qiuyan said distractedly. "I’ll contact them tomorrow. It depends on how I feel."

"It’s already ten o’clock. Aren’t you going to sleep?"

"I want to read for a bit. I can’t sleep." As she said this, Gu Qiuyan covered her mouth and let out a small yawn.

"You can’t be staying up late these next few days," the woman added, reminding her.

Gu Qiuyan nodded, finally closed the book in her hands, and slowly lay down in bed.

The moment her head touched the pillow, her eyes began to droop.

"Silly girl," Aunt Wu said, stroking her smooth forehead and pulling the covers up for her. "Why do you always like to keep everything bottled up inside?"

"I don’t have anything on my mind."

"Your hair isn’t dry yet. You’ll wake up with a headache tomorrow. And you’re not supposed to take long baths these few days. Haven’t I told you that many times? You always regret it when your stomach starts hurting." The woman helped pin up her hair. "What happened between you and that young friend of yours?"

"Nothing happened." Gu Qiuyan shook her head. "I’m not fighting with him."

"Didn’t he ask if you wanted to go off-island with him? You wanted to go, right? Why did you change your mind?"

"He’s always running around, worrying endlessly. It shouldn’t go on like this."

The woman flicked her on the nose.

"You silly girl. Then why were you having so much fun with him before, even running out late at night? And you weren’t telling the truth earlier. It’s not that you ran out of patience, is it? You’re the one who told President Gu to bring back a lot of people so that he could finally breathe a sigh of relief and go home to rest."

"Yes. Actually, it was my fault before. I took it all for granted."

"Took it for granted?"

"Yes."

"How so?" the woman asked, confused.

But Gu Qiuyan didn’t answer the question. She only said:

"It’s okay, Aunt Wu. I’m fine. You should get some sleep too."

"Then I’ll go tell the men downstairs to keep it down tonight."

With that, the woman stood up. She knew the girl didn’t like sleeping in a completely dark room, so she dimmed the bedside lamp to its lowest setting. The lampshade cast a faint halo of light, like a firefly floating in the air.

Gu Qiuyan subconsciously reached out, as if to grab something, but her hand closed on empty air.

The night was quiet. The velvet curtains were drawn tightly shut. Gu Qiuyan placed her phone under her pillow and finally closed her eyes.

’I just hope I have a good dream tonight.’

...

「December 8, 2012. Saturday.」

It was only when he saw the calendar that Zhang Shutong realized the day had well and truly arrived.

Friday was over.

It was seven o’clock sharp. He had woken up early out of habit, and the first thing he did was grab his phone to check his chat history.

Now, his contact with Gu Qiuyan was confined to this small screen, rather than phone calls.

Ever since she hung up on him last night, their exchanges had been formulaic. He would ask how she was, and she would find a moment to reply that she was fine. Or sometimes, she would take the initiative and message him, "I’m fine, don’t worry anymore," and he would reply, "Stay safe."

That was about it.

Since adding her as a friend, you could count the number of messages they’d exchanged on one hand.

Zhang Shutong knew she usually woke up later than him, so he sent another message: "Text me when you’re up." Then he got out of bed to wash up. To his surprise, he had barely set foot on the floor when his phone chimed with a new notification.

He opened it. It was from Gu Qiuyan, with just two words:

"I’m fine."

’I don’t get why she’s up so early today.’

’Theoretically, if anything happened to her, I’d most likely be sent back to eight years in the future. But theory is just theory. It’s better to ask just to be safe.’

He stretched long and hard, then pulled open the curtains. The morning light reflecting off the snow below was so bright it made his eyes ache.

Another quiet morning.

Zhang Shutong walked through the empty living room, toothbrush in his mouth, and went to the kitchen to boil water. Then he boiled an egg and put three steamed buns in the microwave—a balanced diet.

It was Saturday morning. He slapped his cheeks hard, changed into a thick, hooded jacket, and tidied up a bit. As he was heading downstairs to get his motorcycle, he suddenly remembered something at the door.

Zhang Shutong went back to the sofa and packed the black down jacket. Maybe he’d have time to drop it off today, maybe not. Either way, he’d bring it along just in case. After doing all that, he started down the stairs, but his feet wavered and a powerful wave of dizziness washed over him.

Zhang Shutong frowned and touched his forehead.

’It actually feels a little hot.’

’Looks like I’ve caught a cold after all.’

’I hope it’s not a fever.’

He had overestimated his own constitution. He trudged helplessly back upstairs and rummaged around for some cold medicine. A person’s own laziness can work against them; he really wanted to go back to bed for a little more sleep, but it was Saturday. He had to pull himself together, no matter what.

After a good deal of fuss, he finally managed to get on his motorcycle. He turned the key, the engine roared to life, and the snow on the morning tree branches rustled down. He was supposed to meet Lu Qinglian at eight o’clock.

She didn’t even have a cell phone, so he had no way of letting her know if he needed to stand her up.

And it was already seven-thirty.

The motorcycle left a long track in its wake. He breathed in the morning air, and the dizziness finally began to subside a little. As he rode, he thought about what he had accomplished this time around, and what he had missed.

’The business street incident is resolved.’

’To that end, I contacted Father Gu ahead of time and had him rush back. That was the biggest change, and the reason I can finally breathe a bit easier.’

After a night’s sleep, Zhang Shutong realized he had indeed been worrying too much.

In fact, at this point, Gu Qiuyan’s situation could be considered resolved. It wasn’t that he was being careless; it was that if a full eight grown men were helpless against something, then there was nothing he could do by going there either.

Besides, yesterday’s fight had given him a measure of his opponent’s strength. They were skilled fighters, but only within the limits of human ability; they didn’t have any bone-shrinking techniques or the power of flight. The villa was now surrounded so tightly that not even a drop of water could get through. Her dad was pretty reliable after all, knowing to bring so many people back on his own initiative.

The suspicious point now was the fake Lu Qinglian. Once he figured that out, this whole affair should be more or less over. Maybe he could even solve the mystery of Lu Qinglian’s death eight years from now at the same time.

Zhang Shutong rode his motorcycle to the foot of the mountain.