Chapter 357 - 157: The Lonely Watcher (Part 1)

Chapter 357: Chapter 157: The Lonely Watcher (Part 1)

Upon hearing this, Xu Aiping forced down her anger. She knew it was the truth. Song Nanshan had mentioned this girl quite a bit that morning, and she had taken a liking to the quiet and well-behaved student, so she couldn’t help but pay more attention to her.

Zhang Shutong said,

"Don’t worry, we’re not in a relationship. We weren’t before, and we won’t be in the future."

"Who said you were in a relationship?"

Xu Aiping suddenly calmed down.

"Teacher Song already warned me," Zhang Shutong added. "Yesterday was my fault for being inconsiderate. It might have given you the wrong idea about us. I just want to say, no matter how you look at it, if we were dating, we wouldn’t be so blatant about it. There are no evening study sessions at school, so there’d be no need to pick school hours specifically, don’t you think?"

"Was this your plan from the moment you walked in?"

"Yes," the boy admitted. "But I wasn’t trying to be crafty. I was just worried that if I led with this, I’d make you angry."

Xu Aiping fell silent again.

She studied the boy before her. He was quite tall, with somewhat messy black hair, dark brows, and a straight nose. He was quiet and reserved.

Despite his young age, his face held a kind of weariness she couldn’t comprehend. In short, with his looks, he was the type of student every teacher would have to keep a close eye on.

’Maybe putting the two of them together was a mistake.’

’But now wasn’t the time to be thinking about that.’

Xu Aiping reviewed everything he had said since he walked in. She had given ground bit by bit until she’d finally nodded in agreement, thinking she’d just let it go this time. But then, the kid had pulled a fast one on her. First, he brought up that Lu Qinglian was the student Song Nanshan was most worried about, and then he directly addressed the unspoken suspicion that they were dating.

His various reasons left her speechless. From both a professional and personal standpoint, she had nothing more to say. And he had even thoughtfully given her an out.

Finally, the graying teacher sighed.

She realized she had never understood this student at all.

’He isn’t just stubborn as a mule. Even if he is a mule, he’s a cunning little one!’

...

When he got back to the classroom, Lu Qinglian was at her seat, reading a book.

Zhang Shutong walked over to her side. There was no exchange of phrases like, "Excuse me," or, "Let me through."

Lu Qinglian simply looked up and gently folded the corner of a page.

"Now?"

Zhang Shutong knew she was asking because he’d promised that morning to tell her something important, and they had planned to meet on the rooftop.

"We’re not going anymore." He shook his head. "Change of plans. We’re going somewhere else."

"Zhang Shutong," Lu Qinglian said as she stood up, "when you say there’s been a change of plans, you should probably start by explaining the original plan."

"We’re going to the hospital now. There’s a house behind it with the entrance to that basement."

They were the only two in the classroom, so they didn’t have to be particularly careful about what they said.

"That far?"

"It’s probably an air-raid shelter. By the way, did you know there were air-raid shelters on the island?"

"I’ve heard of them."

The two of them left the classroom. They walked fairly quickly, and as they passed the few scattered figures on campus, Zhang Shutong quietly told her about his discoveries and theories.

Lu Qinglian’s brow furrowed deeper and deeper, until he mentioned the photo of the "fake Lu Qinglian." At that point, she finally asked:

"Where’s the photo?"

"It’s still there. The other three were there at the time, so I took it down beforehand, but later I decided to leave things as they were and stuck it back up."

As he spoke, he unlocked his phone and handed it to Lu Qinglian.

"But I found a chance to take a picture of it. If you had a phone, I could have sent it to you last night, or just contacted you directly... See anything?"

"No." Lu Qinglian only glanced at it before handing the phone back to him.

"I thought so." Zhang Shutong looked at the screen. It showed a dark, shadowy figure. The only discernible features were long hair and a green robe. "It was too dark in there. The photo is either overexposed or completely blurry. The original picture had much more detail."

"At least it proves you really saw that thing."

"As long as you’re willing to believe me, that’s enough."

"Zhang Shutong, if I didn’t believe you, do you really think I’d be skipping class with you for a second day in a row?"

Lu Qinglian said in a cold tone.

’Zhang Shutong didn’t know what was up with her. It seemed her mood had soured since their hot pot meal.’

He turned and said:

"I asked for leave for both of us. We’re not skipping class, so don’t worry."

"You... asked for leave?"

For a rare moment, a strange look appeared in Lu Qinglian’s eyes.

"I used the excuse that we were seeing Song off the island. The head teacher reluctantly agreed. But it’s true that Song is leaving this afternoon."

Zhang Shutong said casually.

Lu Qinglian was indeed very sharp. She made the connection almost instantly:

"You went out just now to find a chance to tell Teacher Song?"

But this time, she was wrong.

"No. Or rather, I only told him half of it. It was mostly just me beating around the bush, asking if he’d noticed anything else over the years—sounds, figures, that sort of thing."

"And what was the result?"

"Actually, I basically asked him all this in the dorm yesterday, so you already know the answer. The dorms are on the second floor, with a whole other floor between them and the basement, so it’s hard to hear anything. And since the tunnel entrance is at the hospital, there’s no chance he would have seen figures coming and going either. As a teacher, his daily routine is very fixed. Even if I told him the basement existed, he wouldn’t have any leads."

"What about the ’clay figure’ theory?" Lu Qinglian asked.

"I didn’t even mention it."

’Zhang Shutong knew what would happen if he told Song right now that his ex-girlfriend’s body had likely been stolen long ago.’

"Are you saying you spent half an hour without even getting to the main point, and now you want to go to the basement?" Lu Qinglian frowned, a hint of sternness in her voice. "What the hell are you dawdling for?"