As soon as Zhang Shutong closed the car door, without a moment to react, the car started.
It felt like getting into an illegal taxi.
The illegal taxi driver was even in the mood to add fuel to the fire:
"Shutong, why do you look like you want to get out? Are you afraid of me or afraid of Qiumian?"
Of course, I'm afraid of both of you.
Gu Qiumian also couldn't sit still when she heard that and glared at him:
"Teacher, didn't you say you were going to buy something to eat? Why did you bring him along?"
"Ahem, I really do have something to talk to Shutong about, but shouldn't a teacher drive you home first? It would be too late to go back and find him, so I just brought him along."
Zhang Shutong finally understood where that unhappy glare came from earlier.
But the rich girl remained calm. She just lowered her head and didn't speak. One hand reached under the seat and fumbled around for a while.
After the car drove for a bit, Zhang Shutong finally understood what she was doing:
She was really looking at the chair, or rather, how to adjust the seat. But she didn't ask and just fiddled with it by herself. After a long time, the car suddenly accelerated sharply. With a surprised gasp from the girl, she must have accidentally touched something, and she and the chair directly fell backward.
This was a hatchback. The seat couldn't be very high, so her scarf and hair flew up. When Gu Qiumian fell back, she ended up on Zhang Shutong's lap with the scarf covering her face, and only her beautiful eyes were exposed.
The girl's hair was a little messy, with a strand of hair hanging in front of her eyes. They looked at each other, eye to eye and face to face, from a very close distance for two seconds. Gu Qiumian's eyes suddenly widened. Zhang Shutong moved his gaze away. From the corner of his eye, he saw her push herself up with both hands, trying to sit up with a fierce look on her face.
When she finally got back to her seat, she held it in for a while before mumbling:
"How do you adjust this seat forward? I've never seen a manual one before."
"Oh, it's under the seat. There's a lever. Just pull it up." Teacher Song's smile was about to spill over.
Gu Qiumian then pulled the seat forward with all her might. The space for Zhang Shutong's knees was finally freed up a bit—but he still had to sit sideways, still pressing against Gu Qiumian's seat back.
Zhang Shutong then realized that she wanted to move forward a little but somehow adjusted the backrest. He thanked the rich girl, Gu, but heard her say, "I'm just annoyed that you're taking up so much space."
But before she could finish, the girl and the seat suddenly slid backward along the track again. The space that was finally a little wider became crowded again. Zhang Shutong didn't know what she meant, but he heard Gu Qiumian also sound a little embarrassed:
"I pulled it too far just now. Oh, why do you take up so much space..."
It was as if he was some kind of cargo sitting behind her. As she said that, she huffed and moved forward a tiny bit, then slid back again. She adjusted it back and forth several times before she was done.
The car finally quieted down.
Zhang Shutong roughly understood what Teacher Song meant. He probably saw that he was so "proactive" in solving the case and decided to bring him along when he drove Gu Qiumian home.
Speaking of which, it turned out that since Gu's father wasn't home, Teacher Song had been driving Gu Qiumian to and from school.
Speaking of Gu's father, Zhang Shutong asked Song Nanshan:
"Did you tell her dad about what happened this afternoon?"
Teacher Song laughed:
"See, Qiumian, this kid is more anxious than you are..."
Zhang Shutong was speechless. He had thought that the rich girl, Gu, wouldn't have a good face, but she turned her face and silently looked out the window. It seemed that every time her father was mentioned, she would be like this.
As a result, neither of them answered his question.
Teacher Song had to mediate:
"I told him. Just let the adults handle it. Don't worry. I've had contact with Li Yipeng's mom before. That person... well, when she gets emotional, she'll say anything. If Qiumian's dad weren't on a business trip these days, I wouldn't have even told him, to save him from a bad mood."
But as he said that, Zhang Shutong saw him wink at him in the rearview mirror.
Zhang Shutong suddenly realized that the "important matter" Teacher Song mentioned might not have been just driving Gu Qiumian home. There might be something else, so he shut up and didn't ask any more questions.
Teacher Song then smiled and said, "Since you're out of school, just be happy. Have a good weekend. I, your teacher, have specifically approved that you two don't have to do any homework this week."
After he said that, he turned on the radio, and a song started playing.
Zhang Shutong had nothing to say. He stared out the window. There were many people walking and stopping outside. The car's sound insulation wasn't good, but it felt like he was isolated from the outside world.
The heat from the air conditioner made him tired. The warm air was mixed with a faint fragrance. This smell, of course, couldn't be from Teacher Song's car. It must have come from Gu Qiumian.
Zhang Shutong couldn't tell if the smell was from her clothes, her hair, or somewhere else. He was very insensitive to smells. The smell of perfume was a fragrance, the smell of laundry detergent was a fragrance, and shower gel was, of course, also a fragrance.
He only now realized that he was very close to Gu Qiumian. He had been her deskmate for two days, but he had never felt this way during that time. Maybe the narrow car magnified this feeling.
The red Ford Focus slowly drove down the road. The trees and pedestrians on both sides also slowly moved backward.
There was a constant flow of people within a few miles of the school gate. Song Nanshan was clearly an expert. He shifted gears, stepped on the gas, and braked. He had a short temper and honked his horn every now and then. The car in his hands was like an oiled fish, weaving through the dense crowd.
The high-pitched hum of the naturally aspirated engine wasn't pleasant, but it wasn't unpleasant either.
For a time, the car was silent. They had a lot to say outside the car, but they were speechless once they got in.
The faint smell of smoke and fragrance mixed in his nose. The Teacher song playing in his ears was probably "Elopement" by Zheng Jun:
Give my love to the most sincere girl by my side;
You sing with me, you wander with me, you lose with me;
It was only now that I suddenly understood;
What I dream of is true love and freedom;
I want to take you and elope...
Teacher Song's fingers lightly tapped on the steering wheel, humming along to the melody. He looked as if he was going to take his little car and elope with the girl he loved. He was very calm and didn't care whether the other two were willing or not.
But this song was really not suitable for the occasion. What song would have been better than "Elopement"? Didn't he say he was driving Gu Qiumian home? How did it become an elopement? Besides, an elopement should be for two people, but there were three people squeezed into the small car. It was truly a strange combination:
The adult was sitting in the driver's seat, the girl was in the passenger seat, and the boy was leaning sideways in the back because his legs were too long.
Today was Friday, December 7. Zhang Shutong had checked the calendar many times and would not forget. Three days from now, on Monday, the girl named Gu Qiumian would go missing. Her body would be found in the body of water called "Forbidden Zone." What she encountered that weekend was now unknown.
And now the girl was sitting in front of Zhang Shutong. Sometimes she looked out the window, and sometimes she looked at the radio. The car's speakers were a little broken. When Zheng Jun loudly shouted, "Then I'll take you and elope," she was the first to be affected and would always frown.
The weather was really cold. Even with the windows closed, her ears were red from the cold.