Lu Qinglian had never eaten an Oreo, but she could tell that Zhang Shutong was messing with her.
She frowned: "I actually wanted to ask why they use white stuff to stick together. Do you have to separate them when you eat them?"
Zhang Shutong was miraculously able to understand what she meant.
"They" probably referred to the two black chocolate cookies on the sides;
And the white stuff... she must have meant the cream filling in the middle.
But how could a cream sandwich cookie be stuck together without cream? By love?
Zhang Shutong also noticed something. Every time Lu Qinglian frowned, it was a prelude to her "transformation."
But could she please not use such a mature and dignified tone to ask a question that had no common sense?
Zhang Shutong could only patiently explain:
"You can eat it however you like."
Lu Qinglian, however, said seriously:
"I've bought the same thing before, but there were only black cookies inside."
"Uh... what do you mean?"
"The literal meaning. There was no white stuff."
"Are you sure you bought Oreos?"
"Yes, blue packaging."
"Where did you buy it?"
"The small convenience store down the mountain."
"Ah, that place," Zhang Shutong nodded with a sudden realization. "Then it's not surprising. You probably bought Yue Li Yue (Fake Oreo)."
That small convenience store down the mountain was a place that ripped off tourists. A bottle of Ice Dew was three yuan. Besides being expensive, they also sold counterfeit goods;
One time, his dad asked him to buy cigarettes. He happened to be playing nearby, so he bought a pack. His dad took one puff and spat it out.
Since then, Zhang Shutong had blacklisted that place.
But how did a local like you get ripped off too? Isn't the foot of the mountain your territory?
"Are you saying what I bought before was fake?" Lu Qinglian was not stupid and immediately reacted.
"Yes. Don't go there again."
"So this white stuff is also edible?"
"Of course. It's cream." Zhang Shutong didn't know if he needed to explain what cream was, and this question was too strange. "Why did you have the illusion... I mean, why did you think it wasn't edible?"
"I also bought a kind of sausage from there. It had chili smeared on it, but it was actually smeared on a layer of plastic on the outside." She seemed to be holding a grudge. "Can you understand what I'm describing?"
"I understand. I fell for that too." Zhang Shutong suddenly didn't know what to say. "So you thought the cream in the middle of the cookie was the same as the plastic?"
"Yes. I only bought snacks twice from there."
So in her mind, snacks were something that needed to be taken apart before they could be eaten.
"You should go to a bigger supermarket next time."
"It's fine. That was a long time ago."
As she said this, Lu Qinglian was taking small bites of the cookie. Although she still had no expression, it seemed that the cookie was very delicious, so her frown relaxed. She didn't forget to comment:
"It's too sweet."
"I told you to twist it open before you eat it."
"Twist means this?"
"What else?"
Zhang Shutong suddenly remembered a cheesy old joke. It was about a country bumpkin who, for the first time, ate an Oreo. He ate the cookie while wiggling his butt according to the commercial...
"You must have seen that TV commercial. It's a classic."
Lu Qinglian just nodded without saying anything, as if she was completely immersed in the taste of the cookie.
No wonder she could be so focused on drinking a simple carton of strawberry milk. Although Zhang Shutong used to love it too, from his current perspective, the artificial flavor was so strong it would make you gag.
But for Lu Qinglian, she had only eaten snacks a few times, and the two times she did, she was ripped off badly. No wonder she was holding a grudge;
And strawberries don't grow on the small island. There were no fresh fruit shops at the time either. When they talked about eating fruit, they would go to the supermarket and buy a few apples and oranges. Even the not-so-tasty snake fruit would only be brought out during holidays. Maybe she always thought that strawberries tasted like student milk.
Zhang Shutong was a person of few words, but he knew when to open his mouth:
"Wait a minute. I'll get you some more from Ruoping."
Just as he was about to get up, Lu Qinglian shook her head. She was easily satisfied:
"No need. One is enough."
Zhang Shutong then nodded and didn't say anything else.
But his silence had nothing to do with Du Kang or Lu Qinglian. He was just this kind of person. He would easily create an awkward silence with anyone he talked to;
It's not that he was slow. For example, he knew that if he said, "Are you on a diet?" at this time, he could make a girl laugh. There was also a special version for Lu Qinglian, "Oh, I forgot you are an immortal." These words were all interesting, but in his eyes, there was no need to say them.
In the silence, Lu Qinglian, however, answered the question from before:
"There's no TV in the temple. I don't know what commercial you're talking about."
"Do you usually live in the temple?"
"Yes."
"..."
Okay, he felt that he should say something more:
"The few of us have played in the mountains... Is there a big tree behind the temple?"
"A fringe tree. It won't blossom until March next year. Many people come to see the flowers." The girl explained.
Actually, Zhang Shutong didn't know much about the temple itself. His family was from out of town. Both his parents were probably researchers and not very superstitious. They didn't have the habit of burning incense. He just had an extra fried dough stick during his high school entrance exam;
He himself had never visited the temple. He wanted to talk about climbing the wall during the festival and then falling down the mountain, but that happened after graduation.
"I heard there's a shelf where you can hang wish cards?"
"There wasn't one in the early years. It was originally a rack for drying clothes. One morning, a few cards appeared, and then more and more came."
Zhang Shutong nodded:
"It's probably a trend from the internet. They're all young people and students, or tourists."
"Yes. Most of them write that so-and-so and so-and-so should be together forever. It's a bit boring."
Lu Qinglian also nodded her chin. She rarely showed expression when she agreed.
Zhang Shutong looked at her strangely: "You read other people's wish cards?"
To his surprise, she didn't change her expression: "I'm the temple priestess."
She didn't blush, her ears didn't turn red, and her eyes didn't move.
You're really something. Zhang Shutong thought.
But that wasn't the main point. The main point was that he remembered Du Kang had hung a wish card at the temple. Thinking of this, Zhang Shutong felt embarrassed for the other party.
After a while, he asked again:
"What does the inside of the temple look like?"
"One main hall and three side halls."
"What's it like?"
"There's nothing to see. There are no lights. It's very dark."
"Oh."
Their way of communicating was really strange. Both of them were staring at the water in front of them. Zhang Shutong was looking at the ripples on the water, and Lu Qinglian was looking at the fish under the ripples;
When he thought of something, he would just ask casually. They would mostly answer his questions, and sometimes the sentences weren't even complete. It was just a few words, but they could understand each other; and sometimes, the conversation would just stop with no follow-up. It was a nonchalant way of talking.
Zhang Shutong didn't feel uncomfortable:
"What about the god you worship... I mean, who is the god you revere?" Since Lu Qinglian didn't care, he could be more casual.
"Let me correct you. It's not my god," she frowned. "He takes care of everything from birth to death, marriage and childbirth. Everything you can see on the lunar calendar, he takes care of."
"Is he effective?"
"Even outside the temple, I can't answer that question."
Right. You're quite dedicated.
"One last question. Are there any legends about the mountain behind the temple, or are there things buried there?"
"There are none behind the temple, but I know one about the whole mountain." Lu Qinglian paused, but her voice was still indifferent: "It is said that a long, long time ago..." There was an indescribable sense of awkwardness and familiarity in her tone.
Zhang Shutong's eyelid twitched:
"Wait, is being a temple priestess part-time being a tour guide?"
"Sometimes. Do you want to listen?"
Zhang Shutong gestured for her to continue.
He listened for a long time, automatically filtering out the words that were meant to set a mood. In the end, he got a very common myth.
It was about the origin of the green snake in the temple, why it was called Green Snake Mountain, and why there was a Green Snake Temple. It was a story about how it protected the small island... It was just a legend that every place has. Anyway, this snake was indeed very powerful. Lu Qinglian told the story very seriously, and Zhang Shutong was too embarrassed to say anything.
At this point, he had said everything he wanted to say. He habitually fell silent. But then he heard Lu Qinglian ask if they had gone fishing yesterday. Zhang Shutong asked, "How did you know?"
The girl said, "Don't ask. I just know. Not only do I know you went fishing, but I also know that you came back empty-handed because you lent me your gloves." Of course, "empty-handed" was Zhang Shutong's own translation.
It seems that the temple priestess did have some tricks up her sleeve.
Zhang Shutong asked in a puzzled voice, "So what do you want to say?"
Lu Qinglian said, "Since you didn't catch a single one yesterday, I'll help you catch a few today as compensation. This is the important thing I wanted to talk about after school. What do you think?" As she said that, she elegantly cast her line again.
"...That's not the version you said earlier."
"You can temporarily understand it that way."
Zhang Shutong really wanted to ask how long "temporarily" would last, but he saw Lu Qinglian point to the bucket, where five big fish were swimming happily. She asked him if that was enough. If not, she would catch more.
Zhang Shutong pouted his lips and said, "Then you can fish. I'll see how many you can catch today." But as soon as he said that, the fishing float moved again;
This time, when Lu Qinglian lifted the rod, she couldn't lift it. It seemed that the fish on the hook was much bigger than before. The rod was pulled into an arc. The splashing and noise attracted the others.
Zhang Shutong immediately reacted and was about to go and help, but he heard Lu Qinglian suddenly ask:
"Will your fishing rod break?"
"It's carbon fiber. It'll be fine," But now was not the time to worry about the fishing rod. Girls usually have less strength. "I mean, be careful. Don't cut your hand..."
"It's fine as long as it doesn't break." The girl frowned and interrupted him.
After she said that, she held the fishing rod with both hands, took a step back, raised her shoulder, and twisted her waist. It was a fluid motion, as if all the strength in her body suddenly burst out. A big fish as long as a head drew a beautiful arc in the air and landed with a loud thud on the grass behind her.
"Is this one enough to compensate you?" Lu Qinglian picked up the big fish, but she didn't even look at the fish. She asked casually.
"Yes..."
Zhang Shutong came back to his senses and felt a bit helpless.
He touched the water that had splashed onto his cheek. At that moment, let alone himself, even his best friends on the side were shocked;
And who fishes like this? You usually reel it in first. She probably got lucky and used some special technique. Otherwise, the fishing rod would have broken long ago. Her luck was really good.
Zhang Shutong felt bad for the fishing rod and just wanted her to stop:
"I was just kidding. Don't take it seriously..."
But before he could finish, he heard Qingyi's surprised voice from behind him:
"Oh, it's a silver carp."
"What?"
The two of them turned their heads at the same time.
Qingyi ignored them. He shone his flashlight on the fish:
"This should be a silver carp. It's the first time I've ever seen one. How did you catch it? And do we even have this kind of fish here? Or is it a bighead carp? Hold it for a bit. I'll look it up..."
Zhang Shutong also leaned in for a closer look. "It does look like a silver carp. The body is long and slender, the mouth is forward-pointing, and the tail is short. Bighead carp are fatter..."
But catching a silver carp in winter was indeed strange. This kind of fish should not be active when the weather gets cold. The two of them were about to study it again when Lu Qinglian suddenly took the fish away.
"A silver carp?" she asked concisely.
"It should be..."
Then her actions were even more concise. The girl deftly took the hook off, cast it forward, and the fish happily flipped its tail in the water. As the water became calm again, her indifferent voice rang out:
"I can't compensate you with a silver carp."
Qingyi looked at Zhang Shutong in a puzzled way. Zhang Shutong just shrugged.
Lu Qinglian didn't fish anymore. She handed the fishing rod back to Zhang Shutong and sat there by herself, as if she was cultivating.
Zhang Shutong also had a hard time getting in the mood for fishing. He casually cast his line, put the end of the rod under the stool, and stood up to walk around.
He was originally going to comfort Du Kang. Ruoping had just pulled him to the side and told him to reflect on himself, but this kid was happily digging for frogs by the shore.
Right. He had a strong psychological resilience. It wasn't like he was hitting a wall for the first or second time. What would he do without it? Or maybe he always had a big heart. The old saying was right: "What can relieve sorrow?" He can do it himself.
Besides, he was rejected when he confessed after graduation, but that didn't stop him from liking Lu Qinglian for another eight years.
Zhang Shutong simply ignored him, so he wouldn't come over and ask this and that.
He looked at his phone. The time was 7:15 p.m. An hour had passed without him noticing.
He looked around. Qingyi was focused on fishing. Ruoping had moved to Lu Qinglian's side at some point, and the two of them were chatting quietly.
"Let's go at 7:30. Don't drag it on too long."
Zhang Shutong shouted to them, not caring if they responded.
It was completely dark now. The moonlight was dim, and the night was thick.
There were no streetlights in this place. If it weren't for the flashlight, you wouldn't be able to see your own hand. It made Zhang Shutong think of the zombie movies he watched as a child. Maybe an old zombie would suddenly jump out of the reeds.
Soon, the wind picked up. Faint ripples appeared on the lake. The beam of the flashlight shone on it, and little dust particles danced in the light;
It was pitch black all around. Only the water was lit up in a ghostly white circle. In the circle, he could see some grass stems floating in the wind. Thankfully, it was just grass stems. If it were a dead fish, it would have been pretty scary with the dark atmosphere.
He just walked around leisurely by the lake. When he was idle, his mind would get a little messy. He plucked a reed and waved it around. Sometimes he would look at the ground, and sometimes he would look at the other side of the lake—
The location of this place and the "Forbidden Zone" were probably like 1 and 3 on a clock. Unfortunately, it was too dark to see anything.
He also wondered how his "trap" was doing. He also thought that if he successfully caught the killer, the course of history on the small island might also change.
—He forgot to mention one thing. Ever since Gu Qiumian died, all construction on the island had stopped. Since his daughter was murdered, it was likely that Mr. Gu didn't care about the profit or loss and just left this sad place.
When he returned to the island eight years later, he saw a large unfinished building on the bus. It was probably the mall that was currently under construction.
This was also why he had transferred after junior high graduation—if Mr. Gu's project had continued, his parents would have stayed on the island. He would have probably gone to high school in the city outside the island with his best friends instead of returning to the neighboring provincial capital.
His family was originally from the provincial capital.
Thinking about it this way, even his own life might be changed because of this.
But thinking about these things was a bit far-fetched. It was better to confirm the killer's whereabouts first—Zhang Shutong planned to ride his bike and go check it out before school tomorrow morning.
When he came back to his senses, the reed in his hand was almost bald.
After a few more minutes, Zhang Shutong walked back to his fishing rod. He thought that with the frequency of Lu Qinglian catching fish earlier, there should be some movement by now.
Or were these fish not giving him face?
He shone his flashlight on it, and it seemed they really weren't.
He picked up his fishing rod in a depressed mood and sat down on the stool. Ruoping and Lu Qinglian were chatting lively—to be more precise, only Ruoping was doing the chatting.
"I'm really sorry about before. It wasn't all Du Kang's fault. It was me who instigated him. Please don't be angry..."
At this time, she was truly acting like everyone's older sister. She didn't forget to explain for Du Kang and took all the blame herself.
Lu Qinglian just shook her head and said it was nothing. Ruoping asked a few more times to make sure she wasn't putting on a cold face, and then she felt relieved and laughed as she talked about other things.
Sometimes, a girl's friendship is so strange. After only a few minutes of talking, Ruoping seemed to have already considered her a good friend. And good friends, of course, share Oreos—this last part was his own guess, but Lu Qinglian didn't take any. He wondered if she was just too shy.
Zhang Shutong looked at the quiet fishing float. He also thought that Ruoping was a person who couldn't be pushed around. Otherwise, she wouldn't have always disliked Gu Qiumian. If the two of them ever met face to face and glared at each other, the thought was quite exciting.
Then he heard Ruoping say:
"...Let's go in a bit. You can just come whenever you want in the future. I'll check the time. It's already 7:27. I'll call out to them."
Then she stood up, shedding her gentle demeanor from before. She put her hands on her hips and shouted:
"Let's go, let's go. Are you all planning to live here? Qingyi, if you pretend you can't hear me, I'm going to throw your earmuffs in the water." Then she looked at him aggressively. "Shutong, what are you still sitting there for?"
"I didn't catch a single one again today," Zhang Shutong sighed.
"Then you have three minutes. If you don't catch one, then forget it." After she said that, she shouted at Du Kang, "Especially you. What did I just tell you? Didn't you have something to say to Qinglian? Hurry up and come over!"
Wait a minute, how did it become "Qinglian" already?
Then he saw Du Kang say "oh" and walk over with his head down. Zhang Shutong listened to a few sentences. It turned out he was going to apologize, but Du Kang couldn't think of something like this himself. It was probably Ruoping who helped him out.
Zhang Shutong was only focused on the fishing float in the water.
He had three minutes. He didn't believe he couldn't catch a single fish.
He stared at the rippling water. The voices of the others were in his ears.
"I'll definitely be more careful in the future..." Du Kang said, his attitude sincere.
"I told you, you guys don't have to be like this." Lu Qinglian's voice had a hint of helplessness.
"So that's settled. You see, Qinglian isn't hard to talk to, right? Understand?" This was Ruoping's crazy hinting.
Zhang Shutong suddenly saw the fishing float in the water bob.
"Understand, understood. Oh, right, Student Lu, do you like frogs? I saw one just now. You can take it home and raise it. Just find a warm place..."
Zhang Shutong felt like covering his face, but he should be staring at the water now, holding his breath, counting to three, and then pulling up the fishing rod.
"Get lost!"
One.
"What's wrong now?"
"I swear... why don't you say you'll give her a toad instead?"
Two.
"No, I really heard a toad croak. When I went back to get the stool just now..."
"You really heard a toad croak? Where would a toad come from in this weather?" Qingyi joined the fight.
Three!
Zhang Shutong pulled hard. Water splashed everywhere. He looked at the end of the fishing rod, but what appeared in his sight was... a wrapper?
His face instantly darkened. They say that what's more frustrating than not catching a single fish is catching garbage. This perfectly described his current mood.
Why did he have to catch a wrapper?
To be honest, this was even rarer than a fish because the few of them never littered. This body of water was very clean. Thinking about it, it must have floated over from the opposite shore.
"Have some public awareness..." But he still had to take it off the hook.
While he was sighing, he shone the flashlight on it and blinked.
It looked like a snack wrapper. It was red on the top and bottom, and transparent in the middle. The words "Wangwang Breakfast Sausage" were written on it. A closer look showed that there was still some spicy oil floating in the transparent part.
At this moment, Zhang Shutong didn't know what expression he should have.
Was it too much of a coincidence?
He didn't know if it was the same kind as the one Lu Qinglian bought. He really wanted to show it to her to see if she could still remain calm, or if she would frown and unleash her full power. But the conversation over there was not over yet, so he decided against it.
"It was definitely a toad. I heard it clearly..."
"What is all this about?" Ruoping was also going crazy. "How did you get from apologizing to frogs to toads? If you want to go, then go now! If you're so good, then catch them all night and don't come back! Qinglian doesn't want them, but I do!"
Zhang Shutong really wanted to ask, "Besides frogs and toads, do you also want to see a breakfast sausage wrapper?" "I really have one here..." But for the sake of his hair, it was better not to touch this subject.
He packed up his things, stretched, and stood by the side, waiting for them to finish talking;
He had to remember to ask Ruoping for a garbage bag. Zhang Shutong wasn't a clean freak, but holding a breakfast sausage wrapper was a bit disgusting. He also wondered if the other party had eaten it with her mouth. And his hands were all greasy...
He frowned and raised his right hand. He saw that the spicy oil had dripped out of it.
Spicy oil...
Dripping...
His movements suddenly froze.
"I'm telling the truth. It was right next to here. You just have to go up and walk along the dirt road for five minutes. If you don't believe me, I'll take you to see it later..."
"Who's going to catch a toad with you!"
Zhang Shutong moved the flashlight to the area directly above the plastic wrapper.
"I was really going to go. But as I was about to, I saw someone coming. I thought it was the police. It scared me. I quickly ran back..."
"The police? Why didn't you say so earlier?"
Directly above it was a string of numbers—
20121129
1129
"..."
"Because it wasn't the police. I even hid and watched for a while. It was just a man. He went west. I was wondering what he was doing wandering around in the middle of the night. I didn't smell any alcohol. He was like he had a problem..."
Zhang Shutong's head shot up:
"Where did you say he went?"
"Uh..."
Before he could finish, footsteps sounded in the distance.
It was the sound of shoes scuffing on a dirt and stone road.
The few of them subconsciously turned their heads.
On the edge of their vision, a white beam of flashlight light pierced through the entire dirt road.