The owner's wife quickly smiled apologetically and said, "It's just my husband today. We're too busy. I'll go rush him again..."
Du Kang put down his chopsticks and was about to look over, but Ruoping stopped him:
"Eat your food. Why are you competing with this group of kids?"
Du Kang let out an annoyed breath:
"That kid can be in a hurry, but why does he have to involve us? He really thinks no one dares to say anything just because he's with Gu Qiumian. If I were at school... forget it," he mumbled while chewing on a piece of pork rib, "we're all classmates."
"Classmates?" Ruoping sneered, "We might see her as a classmate, but she might not see us that way."
Zhang Shutong couldn't tell if she was trying to calm things down or stir up trouble.
"I think you were a good person for nothing, Shutong. Look, she's completely fine and even has the mood to come out and eat."
Zhang Shutong roughly understood what she meant. Although Ruoping herself didn't greet Gu Qiumian when she saw her, he had helped her a little during the big break. Yet, Gu Qiumian still had this attitude, which made Ruoping a little angry.
Zhang Shutong wanted to say that his being a "good person" had nothing to do with Gu Qiumian herself.
If anything, it was about clearing the obstacles in his future life. He had to find the murderer, and it didn't interfere with their get-together.
But if he told them, they would ask what the "obstacles" were. He had heard enough about "a man's mission" and really didn't want to hear about "a man's obstacles." So he simply scooped a pork rib for each of the three of them:
"Eat it while it's hot. My treat today."
"You only act kind when you want something." Ruoping said that, but she was nibbling on the pork rib.
"No need. Let's do it like before," Qingyi also refused.
"Bro, you should have said so earlier! I would have ordered two more dishes!" Du Kang was the most shameless.
"Just give me a chance," Zhang Shutong said with a smile. "Anyway, the three of you still owe me a meal at KFC."
The reason he suddenly wanted to treat them was simple—
For him, this was the first time in eight years that the few of them had eaten together. And in those eight years, he was the first to lose contact, although there was a reason for it, he couldn't help but feel that he had let his friends down.
It must have been in the second year of high school. The few of them wanted to come to the provincial capital to visit him, but he wasn't going out much at that time and bluntly refused. He had forgotten the exact response.
He only remembered that after that, they seemed to talk less. The group chat with a very cringey name went from chatting tirelessly until midnight every day to no one making a sound for half a month. Finally, it was hidden at the bottom of the message list.
One day, Zhang Shutong suddenly wanted to see what they were talking about back then. It was a small group with only four people. What kind of interesting things were worth talking about for so long... But at that time, he had changed his phone, and even the chat history was lost.
Fortunately, they didn't listen to Qingyi and call it the "Dragon's Nest" or give themselves strange titles. Otherwise, one day the bodies of the four dragons would be buried underground with their little nest. It would be sad to remember that name one day.
Zhang Shutong added a few more spoonfuls of dishes. He was always a man of few words, so the others couldn't see his emotional changes. They ate very slowly, and in the end, they were bored, prying at the sugar chunks on the plate.
On the other hand, Gu Qiumian's table was still very lively. The boys and girls were laughing together. Someone deliberately made a fool of themselves, and the protagonist at the table was still typing with one finger, occasionally looking up.
Zhang Shutong found that the boys and girls acted a little differently. The girls were genuinely looking for topics, but the boys seemed to be deliberately trying to get her attention. Every time Gu Qiumian glanced their way, someone would look even more pleased.
It felt like being a Pokémon trainer was also an exhausting job.
No matter what the rich girl, Gu, and her followers were doing, it was time for them to leave.
Zhang Shutong told them he was going to the restroom.
As he passed Gu Qiumian's table, she was raising her cup. A little less than half of the yogurt was left. The glass rim was raised above her nose, level with her beautiful eyebrows. Their eyes met unintentionally again. Afterward, Gu Qiumian indifferently lowered her gaze, only looking at the yogurt in her cup.
Hmm, as expected, they weren't close.
Zhang Shutong thought to himself.
This was what Gu Qiumian had said herself—she had relayed it to her little secretary during morning reading. He didn't know if the little secretary had fully understood the message, but he certainly had.
Zhang Shutong couldn't find the restroom door at first and almost walked into a private room. So he walked around the restaurant in a circle.
He then noticed that there was only the owner's wife working in the front. The one cooking in the kitchen was probably the owner, but a restaurant of this size couldn't be a husband-and-wife team. Yet, he didn't see any waiters.
It could only be that business was too bad.
They only had two tables during lunch, and this restaurant was already considered famous on the street. It still couldn't escape the trend.
But then he thought, although they had fewer orders, they had a lot of customers.
Of course, not including the four of them. Gu Qiumian's consumption alone could catch up to several tables, not to mention that the private room had already been booked.
However, he had just noticed that it was already past lunchtime, and the people in the private room still hadn't arrived.
Zhang Shutong pushed open the restroom door. The restroom was surprisingly very close to the kitchen. He also remembered hearing Du Kang say that the shops on this street originally didn't have restrooms. If you needed to use one, you had to run to the public restroom on the street. Other businesses were fine, but it was very inconvenient for restaurants to not have a restroom.
So the owners had gradually renovated some of them. In this fish house, the kitchen was a rectangle, and a small area was sectioned off from one corner to serve as the restroom.
There were no separate men's and women's restrooms, and there wasn't even a proper wall. It was just an enclosure made of plywood. When it got busy, you could hear the sizzling sound of cooking next door...
Anyway, Zhang Shutong didn't really want to recall that anxious situation in detail. For example, right now, he could even hear the owner's wife rushing the kitchen:
"Is it not ready yet? That table is already asking for it!"
"Then tell them to wait," a man with a rough voice replied. The owner cursed, "What bad luck! I knew there would only be one table for lunch..."
"...You didn't even let them into the private room, and you're deliberately delaying cooking their food... Isn't it all business?"
What does he mean?
Zhang Shutong was about to wash his hands and stopped.
Is there a hidden story about the private room?
And for the dishes, he had thought the owner's wife was just taking extra care of them because they were regulars.
At this moment, his QQ suddenly vibrated. Zhang Shutong quickly silenced his phone. He looked down and saw that Ruoping had sent him a message, asking what flavor of milk tea he wanted. She was going to buy it. Zhang Shutong casually replied with "pearl."
He also told her to go ahead and walk around, that he had a stomachache and would pay the bill and find them later.
Ruoping said, "How can we really let you treat?"
Zhang Shutong thought to himself, "I wanted to treat you before, but now I can't let you come back."
He also wanted to take the opportunity to listen a little more. If Ruoping and the others came to pay the bill, the owner's wife would have to run out again.
So he sent a grinning emoji and said, "I'll get it all back from you guys at KFC on the weekend."
Ruoping heard that and didn't bother arguing with him, so she gave up.
He was still worried that it wouldn't be enough, so he sent a message to Qingyi. At this moment, Qingyi was the most reliable and didn't need much explanation.
Zhang Shutong told him to take the other two and leave first, as he had something to take care of.
The other person replied with an "ok" hand gesture and didn't ask any more questions.
After doing all this, Zhang Shutong quietly leaned against the partition and listened.
The owner's wife was nagging:
"Why are you so against money..."
The man, however, said angrily:
"That bastard is the one who's making me go against money!"
"...After I've buttered you up a little, you're getting all pumped up, huh? I'm telling you, Old Mo, just swear a little, and that's it. You absolutely cannot get involved in that matter..."
"I'm not involved..."
"It's good that you're not. We're just ordinary people..."
What "matter" is he referring to?
Demolition compensation?
Zhang Shutong was frowning, but then he heard someone outside the restroom shouting loudly—
"Bill!"
"Coming, coming!" The owner's wife quickly replied and ran out.
Zhang Shutong immediately hit the sink. He thought, "Why does what I'm afraid of happen?" He had convinced Ruoping, but he forgot about the other table.
Since he couldn't get more information, he walked out of the restroom and sighed.
When he returned to the table, he found that most of the stir-fried fish with pickled vegetables was left. He got a bag and packed it up. There shouldn't be any "clean plate campaign" yet. Zhang Shutong wasn't a particularly frugal person. He was taking it back purely for dinner.
At the front counter, the boy who had shouted for the bill finally arrived late. It turned out to be the same boy who had clashed with Du Kang. He was probably from a lower grade, otherwise, he wouldn't call Gu Qiumian "Sister Gu." He pondered this title and found it quite humorous.
Speaking of which, their dishes weren't all served yet, so why were they in a hurry to pay the bill? He saw that the boy was holding a stack of hundred-yuan bills and was waving them around carelessly. The only explanation was that the rich girl had her own style.
That boy also had a restless personality. He said to the owner's wife with a smile, "We'll pay our bill first. Now that you have the money, you can relax, right? Hurry up and serve our dishes."
"How can I, how can I? I'm really too busy..." The owner's wife explained.
On the surface, it looked like this group of people was causing trouble, but the actual situation was the opposite.
Zhang Shutong didn't know what to say. He patiently waited for the owner's wife to calculate the bill.
He took a quick glance. The meal cost more than a hundred yuan.
It really wasn't cheap. By the way, why was Nutrition Express still five yuan?
He was still thinking about the information he had just heard, and he was already distracted. The boy then started complaining about why she wasn't calculating his bill first, making a terrible racket next to him.
At this moment, Zhang Shutong just wanted to leave quickly. He subconsciously frowned, took out his phone, and casually asked:
"Where's the payment code?"
"What code?" The owner's wife was stunned.
"The QR code for payment"—he wanted to use a different word. He looked up, searching for the blue and green QR code. He looked around and couldn't find one. Then he looked at his phone screen, and there wasn't even Alipay installed, let alone any codes.
It was 2012.
Zhang Shutong wasn't sure if he had enough change with him.
It better be enough.
He searched through all the pockets he could. A fifty-yuan bill made him breathe a sigh of relief, followed by two ten-yuan bills and a twenty-yuan bill...
He was looking for change while holding the plastic bag with one hand. He didn't have enough hands.
At this moment, the owner's wife also noticed something was wrong. She forced a smile and said, "Don't worry, don't worry, take your time." The boy also came over, very familiarly, and asked:
"Yo, buddy, you're Sister Gu's classmate, huh?"
Zhang Shutong nodded absentmindedly.
By the way, he didn't seem to have enough change...
He even pulled out the coins he got from the pancake he ate this morning.
Ninety-five, ninety-six... one hundred and one. The number stopped there.
No way. The first time he was treating someone to a meal since he came back, he didn't have enough money. It was a little embarrassing.
Zhang Shutong bit the soft part of his mouth.
"Then how's your relationship?" the boy continued to ask.
"Just so-so..." Zhang Shutong looked up at the owner's wife. "Can you round it down?"
The smile on the owner's wife's face couldn't be maintained anymore:
"Kid, your total is one hundred and twenty-five. I can round down the five yuan for you, but you..."
Zhang Shutong was ready to embarrassingly make a phone call to someone.
At this moment, that boy patted him on the shoulder:
"So you're not close. No wonder I've never heard of you before. I was going to ask you for a favor, to help out if anything happens to her in class, but you're struggling with a meal like this. Oh well, forget it. I'll pay for it. After all, you're Sister Gu's classmate. It's the first time we've met, but we'll be brothers from now on."
As he said this, he generously pulled out a twenty-yuan bill and slapped it on the counter.
"No need." Zhang Shutong frowned and refused.
It wasn't about whether it was a lot or a little money, or about saving face. He could tell whether the other person genuinely wanted to help or if there was an ulterior motive. At worst, he could just have Du Kang ride back to deliver the money:
He said to the owner's wife:
"I'll call my friend. Please wait a moment."
"I told you, I'll just pay for it. What are you trying to prove, buddy? Are you really not going to let me help? Then I'm really not going to get involved?"
Zhang Shutong was truly a little annoyed.
This kid was acting like a bantam rooster, chirping and chirping, as if he had to get some kind of victory from him. He was too lazy to pay attention to the other person and found Du Kang's number to call, waiting for him to pick up.
"Alright, you go ahead and call. Auntie's not making it hard for you. It's a small business, otherwise, I'd really lose money..."
"Just ignore him. Calculate our bill first. Why are you eating in a restaurant if you can't even pay twenty yuan..."
With the noise around him, the boy was laughing, and the owner's wife was also laughing. But their smiles had different meanings. A sweet female voice came from the other end of the phone: "Sorry, the user you are calling is busy..."
Zhang Shutong turned around to move to a different spot.
But a fair hand reached out from the side of his shoulder. Its owner raised her fingers, and a few red bills floated lightly onto the counter, causing the laughter to stop for a moment.
"What twenty?"
The girl's flat voice sounded from behind him:
"I'll pay for his meal."