He didn't know if this counted as being missing in some sense. Although the timing didn't match, he still asked the homeroom teacher.
Teacher Song wasn't in the mood to talk. He just sat in the office with a sullen face, saying that he saw her at the library with a bunch of friends.
Zhang Shutong thought for a moment and understood. If the abandoned drainage tunnel was the secret base for his group of close friends, then the library had a similar meaning to Gu Qiumian. After all, it was built by her family.
The art classroom on the top floor of the two-story building, which had been vacant for a long time, was the activity center for Gu Qiumian and her group of followers.
Sometimes, after finishing lunch and returning to the classroom, he would see Gu Qiumian coming down from upstairs. She would smooth her hair behind her ear, followed by a large group of people, marching grandly through the campus.
Zhang Shutong was still pondering the matter from the big break. There were still no clues. What he found strange was Gu Qiumian's attitude. She was the one who had red eyes and had a big argument with him over the scarf; but she was also the one who was indifferent when the castle blocks were smashed.
It was hard to tell which was Gu Qiumian's true side, or perhaps both were.
Zhang Shutong was still unsure how to classify this matter. Was it a continuation of the scarf incident? If so, that would be fine. Although it sounded a bit cold-blooded, it had no connection to the murder case, which meant he could pay less attention to it.
But what if Gu Qiumian's death was really due to a student's revenge...
Zhang Shutong pinched the bridge of his nose.
That's not right either.
That would be too childish.
At this time, Ruoping and a few others ran over and called him out to eat. Their school was too small, and the more official explanation was that to increase employment opportunities for the island's residents, they simply let students go out to eat, which could also help the business of the surrounding restaurants.
There was no need to worry about food safety issues. Even the small stalls on the side of the road, people on the island see each other all the time. Even if they don't know each other, they would have a general impression of someone if their name was mentioned. If someone lost their conscience for a little money, they would be looked down upon for the rest of their lives.
Ruoping called for a celebration feast, and the four of them prepared to go to the next restaurant. For what happened last night, they originally wanted to call Lu Qinglian, but when they looked back, the girl was already gone, floating to who-knows-where.
Zhang Shutong was thinking about something, and his movements were a bit slow. Ruoping glared at him and said, "Are you still thinking about your deskmate? You're not even eating. Why don't you go find her and ask if the rich girl will pay for your lunch?" She had the look of a friend ready to cut ties.
Zhang Shutong was pulled up by her, feeling a bit helpless, but on second thought, he had to eat anyway. Since he had no clues now, he might as well go out for a walk.
As they walked, Du Kang took the initiative to talk about Zhou Ziheng. Half of it was curiosity about his guilt, and the other half was that he thought the guy was too shady.
Ruoping listened for a while and then laughed:
"Can't you guys tell that Zhou Ziheng likes Gu Qiumian? I think the reason he didn't want to tell Shutong was quite simple. Isn't he just jealous?"
Every girl is an expert on matters of the heart:
"Think about it. If it were you, you'd find out that the girl you like is in danger and would rush to tell her, but she'd completely ignore you. A little while later, her deskmate would come over and ask questions. Oh, and Zhou Ziheng used to be her deskmate, so the comparison is even more stark. If it were you, that's what you'd be thinking, and you definitely wouldn't be willing."
Zhang Shutong had been puzzled by Zhou Ziheng's attitude, but with this explanation, many things made sense. He nodded thoughtfully:
"In that case, it'll be easier to handle..."
"What do you mean?" Ruoping asked curiously. "Do you know who did it?"
"No."
"Then don't talk so big."
"It just means Zhou Ziheng can be ruled out. That narrows down the scope."
"Shouldn't ruling him out make you have even less of a clue?"
Ruoping was half-convinced and simply asked Qingyi:
"What about you, Qingyi?"
"I really have nothing this time. But there's a suspicious point. Is the toilet partition really related to this? Why would someone take revenge and also write their name on the partition, as if they're afraid of not being exposed?"
"Then, Shutong, hurry up and tell me who the culprit is?"
"I also can't figure out what Qingyi said." Zhang Shutong spread his hands. "So I really can't be sure who it is right now. I just have a rough idea, and it's very sloppy. It'll be tomorrow at the earliest."
Ruoping pouted and ignored him.
The few of them continued to talk about eating. Their destination was the island's only commercial street, which was located in the central part.
The reason it was a commercial street was that for a celebratory feast, eating rice bowls at the school gate was just not grand enough;
But there were no sacred places for teenagers to gather, like KFC or McDonald's, on the island, so they settled for the next best thing and went to the most prosperous place on the island.
But this "prosperous" also needed to be in quotation marks. It was just a long street full of shops, with a supermarket, milk tea shops, and various restaurants, as well as a bookstore and two-yuan stores that sold small trinkets;
It's said that a sparrow is small but has all its internal organs. There were even fried chicken and hamburgers there. Zhang Shutong remembered it being called "Kendeji"? To be fair, it was quite creative.
It only took about ten minutes to ride from the school to the commercial street. Coming back to this place again, Zhang Shutong felt a little nostalgic.
The entire road was about ten meters wide, which was roughly equivalent to four lanes. On both sides were uneven storefronts, but the highest was only two stories. The top floor was often for living, and the bottom floor was for the shop.
There were also other students riding their bikes here to hang out, mostly girls. Maybe they were going to eat, or maybe they were buying hair ties and hair clips as decorations. Ruoping's backpack was full of these things.
But even with the students and passersby, there were still not many people on the entire street, and it was poorly cleaned:
There was still black and gray snow piled up on both sides of the curb. Every few steps, he could see some snack wrappers thrown on the ground. When the cold wind blew, the plastic paper on the straws also tumbled along. It was a bleak sight.
When he attended the funeral eight years later, Zhang Shutong took the only bus that passed by. At that time, he thought the commercial street was long gone, but he didn't expect it to still be there. When he compared it to now, there wasn't much difference between eight years ago and now.
"It's still the same."
Unlike Ruoping and the others, who just rode straight to the restaurant, he looked around every few steps.
"Then you should look a few more times."
Unexpectedly, Ruoping also stopped her bike and looked around, as if she was trying to remember the surroundings. She said with emotion:
"It's going to be gone soon. Who knows where we'll go to eat in the future... But by then, we'll be in high school in the city anyway, probably in a real commercial street."
"That's perfect. I've wanted to try Pizza Hut for a long time. I heard they just opened one in the city." Du Kang came over. "We've never had a proper Western meal. The pizza, steak, and the third one is...?"
Zhang Shutong wanted to tell him that Pizza Hut wasn't really a proper Western meal, but seeing how interested they suddenly became, he felt that the process itself was also beautiful, discovering the world outside of the small island little by little;
It was like a child strolling on the beach, treating every shell they saw as a treasure... But the problem wasn't here. Zhang Shutong was more concerned about what Ruoping said:
"What do you mean by 'going to be gone soon'?"
It was clearly still there eight years later. He didn't know if that Kendeji had opened a chain store outside.
"And you have the nerve to say you're a child from the island." Ruoping said with disdain. "You're really just an ignorant city person."
What was with this inexplicable regional discrimination?
Ruoping was in a good mood after making a joke:
"Even though we're about to graduate, Shutong, you should really care about what's happening on the island. Why don't you go ask your deskmate? This matter is actually related to her."
"What does it have to do with Gu Qiumian?"
"To be precise, it has to do with her dad." Du Kang interrupted. "First, look over there—"
Zhang Shutong followed the direction of his finger and saw a three-story building in the distance—on the small island, three stories was really considered a high-rise:
"Isn't that the Beiyi Shopping Mall?"
Zhang Shutong knew that it was the largest building on the small island, a department store, which was actually similar to a large supermarket. It couldn't be compared to a real shopping plaza;
The first floor was a supermarket, the second floor sold clothes, and the third floor was a bit of a mix, with home appliances, sports and culture, toys... all sorts of things.
The total area of the mall wasn't large. He called it a mall because it was a habit from the past. From his current perspective, it was actually a medium-sized supermarket.
"Don't tell me you don't know that Gu Qiumian's dad built it?" Ruoping said in surprise.
With that, Zhang Shutong remembered. When the mall opened, his parents even got a stored-value card and went in and bought a bunch of stuff.
"So what does this have to do with the commercial street going away..." At this point, Zhang Shutong also realized. "Are you serious? Why have I never heard of this before?"
"You were only thinking about fish."
Ruoping slowed down a bit to ride side by side with him, and simply explained the whole story:
"It would be fine if it was close to this street, it could bring in some business. But it's too far now, and people are all drawn to the mall. The things on this street are basically all in the mall, and they have more styles. Sometimes they have events and the prices are even lower. How can we compete? My mom also likes to go there now and always rushes to buy eggs. Oh, Du Kang has the most to say about this."
Du Kang took over, with a lingering look of fear:
"You said it. My dad also told me that it's a good thing our restaurant is far from here and not nearby, or business would be tough. I also heard what Ruoping said before, it seems like... Gu Qiumian's dad initially liked the land on this commercial street and wanted to build a mall. The demolition was almost negotiated, but some people tried to raise the price, and in the end, it fell through.
"Then Gu Qiumian's dad was also tough. He just chose another place to build the mall and forced this side out of business. It seems they're talking about demolition again recently, but I'm not clear about that..."
"No wonder..." Zhang Shutong said thoughtfully.
"No wonder what?"
"No wonder Gu Qiumian's backpack has so many snacks. Her family runs a supermarket." As soon as he said that, Ruoping gave him a glare.
He actually wanted to say no wonder this commercial street was still there eight years later. Gu Qiumian died a few days later, so it was likely that the demolition Du Kang mentioned didn't go through.
As they were talking, they arrived at the restaurant. It was a local specialty restaurant called "Jianan Lake Fish House." It was considered the largest on this street and even had private rooms;
It was delicious, cheap, and the portions were large. If they were to have a gathering on the island, this fish house would be their first choice.
The few of them were regulars. As soon as they entered the store, they first saw a plump woman. Ruoping's sweet talk, calling her "Auntie," made the owner's wife smile so much that the wrinkles on her face bunched up;
The store had a sense of history—
There were a few boxes of beer and a beverage cooler at the entrance, the white walls were stained with a light layer of oil, the wooden tables and chairs were polished from use, and the tables were covered with a floral cloth with a layer of tempered glass on top. It did fit the bleak scene of the street. The hall was empty, and they were the first table of customers;
Du Kang went directly to the counter to get the menu. The menu was laminated and had been used for who knows how long, and it was sticky. The few of them sat down, and four heads huddled together, studying what to eat.
Du Kang, with his family background, wanted to show off his cooking skills. He immediately started talking about which dish was the best. Ruoping patted him on the head to make him stop, and in the end, he unwillingly ordered a stir-fried shrimp dish;
Ruoping liked sweet things, so she ordered candied sweet potatoes; Qingyi's taste was always consistent, and he only ate stir-fried fish with pickled vegetables here;
Finally, the three of them looked at Zhang Shutong. He really couldn't think of anything to eat. He wanted to say "whatever," but Ruoping hated "whatever." So after thinking for a long time, he suggested, "How about a hot and sour shredded potato dish?"
Ruoping patted him and said, "Don't you have any ambition? We're here for a get-together, a get-together, understand?" So he had to change it to braised pork ribs, which was a dish that all three of them loved.
While waiting for the food, Du Kang clamored that they had to drink some liquor today. Qingyi hesitated and said, "Don't we have class this afternoon? Isn't that a bit much?" At this moment, Ruoping acted like a hero, patting the table and saying, "What are you afraid of? I'll take the blame. Auntie, give us four bottles first, and we'll add more if it's not enough—"
So the owner's wife brought over four bottles of Nutrition Express.
The few of them were quite ceremonial. They couldn't drink from the bottle. They had to pour it into a glass cup. Du Kang was best at this kind of occasion. He blurted out a toast, saying that Qingyi, Ruoping, and Comrade Shutong had successfully suppressed the bandits last night, and on behalf of all the residents of the small island, he would like to express his gratitude to them;
Zhang Shutong laughed and thought, "What is this?" At this moment, the three of them had already stood up and were waiting for him, so Zhang Shutong also stood up. The four cups clinked together, and the faces of the teenagers and girl simultaneously broke into smiles:
"Cheers!"
The crisp sound of the glass cups rang out. Before the four heroes could drink the Nutrition Express in one go, a male student suddenly pushed open the door, which was a complete mood killer;
Du Kang looked over unhappily, as if to say, "Hey, kid, take a good look at who we four are. Didn't we just see each other at the flag-raising ceremony during the big break?"
The boy wasn't timid at all. Instead, he raised his eyebrows in a provocative manner and shouted into the store:
"Boss, do you still have seats?"
The owner's wife smiled and said, "Of course. How many of you are there? Come in and sit anywhere you like. I even have private rooms."
The boy, however, was disdainful and said, "There are a lot of us." As he said this, he gestured towards them, as if the four of them were an eyesore, worried that their store wasn't big enough;
Du Kang was amused and angry when he heard that. He said, "Look at how arrogant this guy is. How many can there be? Are they booking the place? I'll count them."
Then the boy jogged out again. From outside the door, they could hear him saying, "There's only one table in the store, and they're all students. It's not too much of a bother. How about we eat here?"
A moment later, the other person ran back, but didn't come directly in. Instead, he pulled the door open and waited, as if there were really a lot of people;
Du Kang pouted and started to count. One, two, three, four... he counted all the way to thirteen, and his eyes got wider and wider:
"No, are there really that many people?" He had a white milk mustache on his lips and was a little stunned. "Is this a student lunch or a gang meeting?"
But it wasn't over yet. The students who entered the store didn't rush to sit down. Instead, they all looked behind them and automatically parted to make a path. Zhang Shutong also looked back at the welcoming aisle and suddenly had a premonition;
Then his premonition came true;
He saw that at the door of the fish house, the boy who was standing there smiled at them with disdain;
Then, the leader of this group, or rather, a small boot, stepped in first—