"Just a possibility, and the worst possibility at that." As he spoke, Zhang Shutong glanced at him.
Veins suddenly popped out on Teacher Song's face: "Damn it, what are we waiting for? Let's go now! Only Qiumian and her nanny are at home, who knows what those beasts can do!"
"The police will go."
"What do you believe those people say? They said on the phone that they would go on patrol tonight, but who the hell knows how late tonight is? By the time they get there, it'll be too late..."
"I mean, I've already called the police." Zhang Shutong said suddenly.
Song Nanshan was stunned. His hand, which was already on the steering wheel, was now put down. "What did you say, kid?" He suspected he was hearing things.
"I said, teacher, I've already called the police." Zhang Shutong glanced at his phone again and said lightly, "And they have already arrived."
Song Nanshan opened his mouth blankly, and countless questions flashed through his mind.
You knew this all along? Then why didn't you say anything? And when did you call the police?
The questions were so numerous that they made him lose his ability to think normally. With his mood fluctuating so much, he could only ask with a dull expression based on his intuition: "When did you figure it out?"
"Just now."
"Then how did you call the police..."
"Let's drive first."
Only after being reminded by him did Song Nanshan remember to step on the clutch. The small car almost stalled and lurched forward before moving smoothly.
Zhang Shutong fastened his seatbelt, adjusted the air conditioner, and then slowly began to answer Song Nanshan's questions: "It's true that they made two preparations, but I also made three in advance. The first one was to take you, teacher, to the commercial street to look for the minivan, because I didn't think it was a diversion at first."
"But if you didn't think of it, how did you call the police?" Teacher Song was baffled.
"This is the second preparation. Since they poisoned the dog, even if it wasn't discovered tonight, it would definitely be discovered tomorrow morning. So I couldn't rule out the possibility that they would act tonight. I didn't dare to bet on that probability."
"Good job!" Song Nanshan hit the steering wheel in excitement and finally breathed a sigh of relief. He didn't ask why he kept it from him and said impatiently: "Then what about the third one?"
But Zhang Shutong acted as if he didn't hear the question. He just turned his face and looked at the rapidly retreating scenery outside the window, not saying a word.
The girl who sat here a few hours ago was also so silent, and now it was Zhang Shutong himself.
But since Zhang Shutong didn't say anything, Song Nanshan was no longer in the mood to ask. He just wanted to drive back to Gu Qiumian's house as quickly as possible. Whether the police had arrived or not, he needed to confirm it with his own eyes to feel at ease.
He sped all the way, faster than on the way here.
And by the time the car finally drove onto the road in front of the villa, they could already see the red and blue police lights.
Song Nanshan slammed the car door and got up in a hurry, only to find that all three of the remaining police officers on the island had come.
It looked quite lively from a distance. Song Nanshan didn't know whether to be angry or relieved. He blinked hard, suspecting that the cold had caused him to hallucinate. Only then did he remember to ask Zhang Shutong: "Wait, didn't they say there was not enough police force? How did you get all of them to come?"
"I just caught two poachers the day before yesterday and got the police chief's phone number." Zhang Shutong shook his phone: "And I told him that someone was going to burn down Gu Qiumian's house, so he took my words seriously."
The police chief he was talking about was the Xiong police officer with the heavy accent. But having earned his goodwill was not enough to get him to take it seriously.
In a special period, he had to use special methods, so Zhang Shutong simply chose to file a false report. Unlike Song Nanshan, who only stated the facts, he told Police Officer Xiong directly that someone was carrying gasoline to burn down the Gu family's villa.
The reason the police immediately believed him was that when he went home, he had already implicitly mentioned it when he went to the police station on the first day after school. But the other party thought they were just fishing for information and trying to mislead them, so they didn't believe him. But then the "electrofishing guy" that Du Kang mentioned was really caught. Therefore, his credibility soared.
No matter what the final result was, Zhang Shutong chose to use this rare credibility here.
"When did you call the police? The time doesn't add up?" Teacher Song asked again.
"Before we left the villa." Zhang Shutong also showed him the QQ chat history: "Of course, to be precise, I didn't call the police. Du Kang helped me call."
"No wonder I kept seeing you glancing at your phone. I thought you were worried about not making it on time." Song Nanshan suddenly understood. Then he suddenly felt relieved, grinned, and patted Zhang Shutong's shoulder: "Alright, kid, you really calculated everything. But the reason you gave wasn't very good. When the police come and see there's no gasoline, they'll think you're playing tricks on them. But when that happens, just say I told you to say that, and I'll take the blame."
Zhang Shutong frowned and didn't say anything. Because... he really smelled a faint scent of gasoline.
On the other side, the police officer saw the car and jogged over in the rain. "Are you Teacher Song Nanshan?"
"That's right, I'm the one who called the police before. But this time, it's all thanks to my good student." Song Nanshan smiled and patted Zhang Shutong's shoulder.
The police officer, however, saluted Teacher Song with an apologetic look: "Teacher Song, I apologize. When you called the station before, we didn't take it seriously enough, and it almost led to a bad outcome..."
"It's okay, it's okay. At least you finally came." Teacher Song was also very open-minded: "But from what you're saying, comrade, you really caught them?"
"Five criminals have been subdued." The police officer also cracked a smile.
Teacher Song immediately went up to shake his hand, saying that they had worked hard, and couldn't help but ask with curiosity and lingering fear, so what were these five beasts here to do?
But the police officer looked at them strangely and said, of course, they were here to pour gasoline. Didn't your student tell us that when he called the police?
Teacher Song quickly said that the kid was young and didn't know any better, and that they just wanted to get their attention, but before he could finish, he suddenly reacted: "Wait, they were really here to pour gasoline?"
The police officer nodded even more strangely.
At this time, Zhang Shutong had already run to the police car. He had already asked the other two police officers about what he wanted to know, and he didn't know whether to be relieved or speechless—The false report he filed had become a reality.
The whole process was not dangerous, because both sides arrived at almost the same time. As soon as they stopped the car, the five criminals hadn't had a chance to act yet when they were subdued on the ground by the police who had rushed to the scene.
Afterward, more details were confirmed: These five people were indeed merchants on the commercial street.
He sighed about the wickedness of human hearts. He wasn't planning to ask for details tonight. It was just too cold. Zhang Shutong felt that if he stayed in the rain any longer, he would get a fever tomorrow.
Just as he was about to talk to Teacher Song about it, the villa's gate opened.
In the darkness, Zhang Shutong saw a pair of bright and beautiful eyes. Of course, they were now filled with anxiety.
Gu Qiumian ran out with an umbrella.
Zhang Shutong suddenly thought that maybe what Teacher Song said was true. This girl was not that smart. On such a cold day with rain on the ground, she actually ran out in a pair of slippers.
What happened next goes without saying. Because it was supposed to be a script where they did their deed and then walked away.
Zhang Shutong had made three preparations, and the only thing he didn't guard against was that Miss Gu actually didn't want them to leave.
Gu Qiumian strongly insisted that Zhang Shutong and Teacher Song stay tonight, take a hot shower first, then take cold medicine, and finally get into bed and get some sleep.
With three people voting, Gu Qiumian voted in favor, and so did Song Nanshan. There was no need to ask for Zhang Shutong's opinion. He was dragged into the villa by Teacher Song.
"If you don't want to stay, you still have to consider me, your teacher. I'm this old, and I have to go home all soaked with you. Do I not care about my life? Hurry up and wipe yourself off. Don't let Qiumian's good intentions go to waste..."
The nanny had already prepared two towels.
He wiped his hair hard. There was no mirror nearby, but he guessed it was a mess. The heater was on inside. He took off his jacket and put on a guest robe. He walked around in slippers, looking a bit like a big boss.
Gu Qiumian went to take a shower. She had been cold outside for a long time. But her bedroom was on the second floor of the four-story villa, with an independent bathroom, so he couldn't see her for now.
Zhang Shutong and Teacher Song were on the first floor. They didn't go to take a shower immediately, as a man's sense of propriety told them... it might not be very good to take off their clothes as soon as they entered someone else's house.
The two of them decided to endure it for a while longer. After learning that they hadn't eaten yet, the nanny went to prepare some supper.
Zhang Shutong walked alone to the villa's balcony. —He didn't know if this counted as a balcony. There was a huge floor-to-ceiling window, and under the floor-to-ceiling window was a raised platform made of solid wood that connected to both sides. There were a few cushions on it, a small coffee table, and a lounge chair. But even though a lot of things were placed there, the platform was still very spacious.
There were light strips embedded under the platform, emitting a warm light that reflected on the marble floor.
Zhang Shutong walked onto the platform and came to the floor-to-ceiling window, which faced the villa's backyard. Rainwater rushed down the glass, reflecting the colorful light from inside the room. Nothing could be seen clearly outside anymore.
There was also a small door on the side of the floor-to-ceiling window, which could be used to enter the backyard from here. Zhang Shutong opened the door and subconsciously looked up, finding that on the artificial turf, there was also a walkway along the floor-to-ceiling window. It seemed like a good place to read a good book when the weather was nice.
He quietly stayed in the walkway for a while. In front of him was a pitch-black space where he couldn't see his hand in front of his face; behind him was the warm interior. The nanny seemed to be boiling noodles. He could hear the gurgling sound of the water boiling through the sound of the rain.
He started to feel cold again. He pressed his other arm, feeling his muscles trembling uncontrollably. Zhang Shutong just held his phone, silent in the darkness in front of him.
At this time, Song Nanshan's voice came from behind him: "What are you trying to be so deep about, kid? Go take a shower."
He turned his head. Teacher Song was also wearing a robe, revealing only the hairiest part of his calves. He was holding a mug, which seemed to have coffee in it. He took a sip as he spoke, looking very leisurely.
"I want to wait a little longer."
"Long night, no sleep." Teacher Song said in a very literary way, and even translated it into English for himself, like he was reciting a Shakespearean poem.
"Still scared?" He patted Zhang Shutong's shoulder.
"Not really."
"I have to admit, you have a talent for being cool, kid. You did a good job tonight." Teacher Song took another sip of coffee and stood side by side with him in the walkway. The two of them looked at the fine rain in front of them. It was a long time before he said, "But, as a teacher, there's something I have to tell you."
Zhang Shutong nodded to indicate that he was listening.
Teacher Song suddenly became a little serious: "Although your mind is better than mine, you can calculate everything, and you've made a lot of plans and preparations, two or three of them, you're much better than me. I'm very proud of you, but Shutong..."
Zhang Shutong suddenly remembered a tip for solving problems that he had taught in class on the day of the regression. If a person adds "but," it means that what follows is what he really wants to say.
"I can understand that reasoning and solving cases can be very exciting, but have you ever heard the saying, 'He who schemes too much is not wise'? I'm not saying that you will definitely suffer losses in the future, but I'm saying that just because you have a good brain, you shouldn't only rely on calculations."
Teacher Song scratched his head awkwardly: "How should I put it? We are all living people, we can't live like a machine that can only calculate. If we calculate away all that human touch... You're so smart, you should understand what I mean."
Without waiting for Zhang Shutong to speak, Song Nanshan patted his shoulder again to stop him. The man's voice became a little deep: "Although the matter was a false alarm and was resolved very smoothly in the end, much better than me just driving around aimlessly, I still have to say, it was too risky. Why did you have to leave Qiumian at home? I know your reason is very legitimate, you wanted to catch the criminals in one go; you also calculated that the murderers would come tonight, and you even called the police in advance without telling me, but..."
Before he could finish, Zhang Shutong's phone suddenly rang.
He held his phone, as if he didn't hear it, and just said to Song Nanshan: "I'm sorry."
Teacher Song was stunned for a moment: "I'm not scolding you, what's the use of saying sorry to me? You can say it to Qiumian later. She's about to come down. Alright, you answer the phone first..."
With that, the man gave a big sneeze, no longer looking tough. He walked away with his shoulders hunched.
Zhang Shutong watched him walk away before closing the floor-to-ceiling window.
Then he pressed the answer button. It was a call he had been waiting for.
A young man's voice came from the other end of the phone: "Sorry, sorry, I was just reading. I was afraid of being disturbed so I put it on silent."
"That book, Headless Something?" Zhang Shutong was in the mood to chat with him.
"Right, I just finished it in one go. I'm telling you, the biggest trick is so brilliant. It's the man..."
"Stop, stop." Zhang Shutong pinched the bridge of his nose. "Did you find it?"
"Yeah, I searched for the photos from that year. It's not."
"Are you sure?"
"Sure. Gu Qiumian's dad's car is an A8L. The one you said hit and killed someone in the car accident was a Passat. They both look like black sedans, but they're actually very different. You could buy several of the Passats with the price of the A8L."
"Mm, I only found two photos of the scene at the time, and one of them didn't even show the car, but I don't know much about cars, so I specifically asked you."
"Of course. It took me a lot of effort to find it. I went over the wall to look for it, and it took me half a day to confirm it by comparing them." The sound from Qingyi's side was like he was holding a pen in his mouth. He asked in a muddled voice, "But why are you checking this? Isn't the car accident from '07 too long ago? It happened near the amusement park in the city. A car was driving drunk at night, let me see... Oh, it hit and killed a woman."
"To rule out some things." Zhang Shutong said after thinking for a while.
"What?"
"Mm, I was going to share it with you, but you're the one who saw my message so late."
"Ah, for once I'm the one being kept in suspense. It feels like you had a very eventful night, Shutong." Qingyi said with envy.
"More like a fright." Zhang Shutong shrugged.
That was just a thought that suddenly occurred to him after he saw the poisoned dog. In his previous life, before that murder case happened, after Gu's father left the island, a teacher named Song Nanshan was entrusted with a task, to take care of a girl in his class. He was a warm-hearted, responsible man who cared about his students. But he was completely unaware of what the girl went through on the weekend. He didn't even report it on Monday.
Zhang Shutong wasn't sure what happened during this period in the past.
But just as he was thinking of using the salami-slicing tactic to cut off Friday night, the reason being that if Gu Qiumian had gotten into trouble on Friday night, a person with a rough temper like Song Nanshan wouldn't have gone the entire weekend without making a single phone call, he suddenly realized a question.
Why did he have to make a phone call? Or rather, why assume his position?
Teacher Song Nanshan's girlfriend died in a car accident. Zhang Shutong had searched for photos of the scene in the car. The car that caused the accident was a black sedan, which looked a lot like the one that had taken Gu Qiumian home that morning.
So a few dozen minutes ago, he sent a photo to his best friend and asked him to compare them. A dozen minutes ago, he considered whether the person who poisoned the dog and the murderer were the same person. A few minutes ago, he was asked by someone why he was almost obsessively leaving Gu Qiumian at home. And a short while ago, when he was asked what the "third preparation" was, he chose to remain silent. And why he asked Du Kang to call the police, but never revealed it to the man in the driver's seat.
Zhang Shutong had never struggled so long internally. But now these questions could be solved easily—He said that the murderers, in order to make them let their guard down, made two preparations. And Zhang Shutong himself, although he had no idea about many things at the time, it didn't stop him from also making three in advance.
The first was to go to the commercial street. The second was to call the police. And the so-called third one—was to leave Gu Qiumian at the villa, completely separating her from the man.
This was Zhang Shutong's third preparation for the worst possibility he had in his mind.
Although it was not used in the end, and it turned out he was overthinking things, it didn't stop Zhang Shutong from smiling and saying to Qingyi: "I still have to blame you for this."
"How so?"
"If you had seen my message earlier, I wouldn't have gone through all this trouble."
"A man is occasionally late." Qingyi said lazily.
"Oh, and you made me wrongly accuse a good person."
"Who?"
"It's a secret."
While he said this, Zhang Shutong said that person's name in his heart.
—That was the teacher he respected the most throughout his school life.
So when the two of them were talking in the walkway, the other person was wrong about one thing. The "I'm sorry" he said just now was never meant for Gu Qiumian. It was specifically said for him to hear.
It's just that Teacher Song will probably never understand what it meant.
Zhang Shutong looked at the night scenery in front of him for a while longer. At this time, Qingyi reminded him on the phone: "Don't forget to meet up tomorrow morning. We have to prepare for the birthday party. Don't be late. By the way, I heard from Du Kang that you called the police again. What happened to Gu Qiumian this time?"
"Yes, yes, I'll be there, I promise." Zhang Shutong said with a smile. "Gu Qiumian is fine. We just finally caught those people who have a grudge against her family that we talked about today."
"Then you're pretty efficient."
"It's alright. I just looked like an idiot, doing so much work."
"It doesn't matter if a man is misunderstood sometimes. As long as the job gets done."
"It's also thanks to you guys."
"It sounds like you're outside?"
"Yeah."
"Wait, you're not at Gu Qiumian's house, are you..."
Zhang Shutong's smile froze, and he immediately hung up the phone.
The rain was still falling. The night scene remained unchanged. Everything became quiet.
It's really cold outside. A person with a normal brain wouldn't stay outside. So he stretched his back and rubbed his numb hands. Just as he was about to go inside, he heard a clear voice coming from above: "Idiot, what are you standing there for? Aren't you cold?"
Zhang Shutong was stunned. He looked up. He saw Gu Qiumian's bright and beautiful eyes. She seemed to have just come out of the shower. A few strands of hair were stuck to the side of her face. She was wrapped in a wine-red pajama.
In front of them was the fine drizzle. On this cold and clean rainy night, each of them leaned out halfway and met each other's gaze.