As expected, something was wrong with that incident!
Wait a minute...
Zhang Shutong seemed to have found where the problem was.
He had subconsciously treated this as one incident, but in reality, it was clearly two!
Now, in his eyes, both Qingyi and Ruoping were a bit unreliable. Without realizing it, he had already walked to the back door of Class 3. Zhang Shutong knocked on the door frame and hurriedly called out:
"Du Kang, come out for a second!"
"What's up, what's up?" Du Kang was chatting with someone and jogged over.
"I want to ask you something. Think carefully." Zhang Shutong knew that in the first year of middle school, he and Ruoping were the closest. "Did Ruoping give Gu Qiumian a bag of chocolate, the coin-shaped ones?"
"I think... so?" Du Kang said, confused.
"Was it a 'yes' or a 'no'?" Zhang Shutong's voice became heavier. He subconsciously held his shoulder.
"Yes, yes, it was yes! I remember now!" Du Kang took a breath of cold air. "Why are you suddenly asking this?"
Zhang Shutong ignored the question. He quickly repeated:
"Did Gu Qiumian complain that the chocolate tasted too bad and said she wouldn't eat it? And did she say that if they liked it, she would bring over some good ones tomorrow? It was very low-EQ, and it made Ruoping very angry?"
"Yes, right?"
"And then?"
"I remember the next day, Gu Qiumian really did what she said. She brought a bag of imported chocolate. The super expensive kind. She asked Ruoping if she wanted some. And then what happened? Ugh, it was so long ago, I really can't remember..."
Du Kang was still scratching his head trying to remember. Zhang Shutong stared intently at his mouth. If he hadn't guessed wrong—
The next moment, Du Kang waved his fist:
"Oh, oh, I remember now. Then Ruoping took it. You don't know, I complimented her later for being so generous, and she pinched me for it..."
Exactly!
Zhang Shutong's heart sank.
The chocolate incident was never a single event. It had subsequent aftershocks.
The point of divergence in history began here.
Zhang Shutong remembered very clearly that the original course of events should have been that Ruoping treated Gu Qiumian like she was air, not even lifting her eyelids. The two had a rift from then on, which lasted for three years.
But this time, Ruoping actually took it?
Everything seemed to have changed very little, but in reality, it had changed a lot.
Zhang Shutong tried hard to sort out his chaotic thoughts. He now had a rough chain of logic:
Because the chocolate incident was missing a part, Gu Qiumian never fell out with anyone. Moreover, she had a very likable personality and was generous. She would often launch "snack offensives." So after four years of middle school, she slowly integrated into the circle of kids on the small island and made many friends. And judging from today's lunch, it wasn't as simple as just making one friend. She had completely become the most popular person in the entire ninth grade.
Thinking about it, the people at the dinner table also said that they had gone to Gu Qiumian's house to play, had gone off the island, and used the library as a base... But they were clearly from the same grade. These things shouldn't have happened.
But after his analysis, he was even more confused. First of all, this was the first time there was a change in the timeline that happened unconsciously, rather than him triggering a rollback.
And the so-called change was minor in a way, just because Ruoping had generously accepted Gu Qiumian's chocolate. But in another way, it was huge. This small butterfly had directly changed Gu Qiumian's interpersonal relationships at school.
And besides that, things like the scarf incident, the murder case, even Li Yipeng and Zhou Ziheng, and the avalanche and the clay figurine, none of these important nodes had changed.
A few seconds ago, Zhang Shutong had confirmed with Du Kang. For some reason, his relationship with Gu Qiumian was also the same as before.
He still remembered that he was a stubborn kid back then. That day, it happened to be his turn to be on duty. Gu Qiumian, with red circles around her eyes, ran into him and asked him if he wanted chocolate.
He felt that he couldn't put a girl before his friends, so he said he didn't want it. The other person threw the chocolate into the trash can and left without looking back. From then on, he had completely offended this young lady and earned the title of a traitor.
Since Ruoping had taken the chocolate, he shouldn't be a traitor. But according to Du Kang, after Ruoping took a piece, Gu Qiumian gave the chocolate to the person next to her. He happened to be walking by, and he still rejected it without any sense of romance:
"I don't like to eat it. You can keep it for yourself."
Everyone else took it, but he didn't. As a result, he was still regarded as a traitor in the class by Gu Qiumian, who would glare at him for years.
Zhang Shutong was shocked and came to a conclusion—
Because...
This was actually a positive change?
No one knew why it changed, and no one suffered any loss because of it. Thinking about it, Gu Qiumian actually gained a lot of friends.
Just then, Ruoping came out. Just in case, Zhang Shutong confirmed these things with her again. Ruoping nodded strangely:
"Did you eat too much sea cucumber?"
"Not really. I'm just curious..."
Zhang Shutong then went to find Qingyi.
He could still hear her asking Xu Zhiruo behind him:
"Why is he starting to go into deductive reasoning mode again?"
"Uh, I don't know either..."
Zhang Shutong found Qingyi and repeated the full story again. The other person nodded with a sudden realization:
"Oh, I think that did happen."
"You shouldn't have forgotten, right?" Zhang Shutong said, confused.
"I wasn't there at the time, so I don't have much of an impression of that chocolate coin thing. But when you said imported chocolate, I remembered. Did you forget? You were the one who told me about it later." Qingyi reminded him kindly. "You said Gu Qiumian gave you chocolate and you didn't take it. I said, 'Why didn't you just take it?' And you said you had something to do at the time and you were annoyed that they were in your way, and you just wanted to get out quickly. Yes, you really were annoyed that they were in your way..."
Zhang Shutong stopped talking.
He also couldn't remember if Qingyi was there at the scene. And if it was really as Qingyi said, the incident itself wasn't worth talking about. What was there to talk about if Ruoping and Gu Qiumian hadn't even had a falling out?
Zhang Shutong then asked Qingyi to confirm the incident on the commercial street and the reactions of the people around them at the time. Qingyi recalled:
"I don't think this has much to do with whether Gu Qiumian is popular or not. Li Yipeng was transferred because he was telling dirty jokes. Before Zhou Ziheng was caught, everyone thought he liked Gu Qiumian. Even if someone secretly hated her, she's so popular and her family is so powerful, who would dare to stand up to her?"
Qingyi frowned:
"Shutong, I wanted to ask this morning. Why do I feel like your memory is a bit messed up after you were discharged? You've been confirming things a lot."
"Maybe. My mind is a bit messy..." Zhang Shutong responded vaguely. "I'm going to get some water. Let's talk later."
As he turned around, he frowned again. His memory couldn't be wrong, but things had indeed changed.
This was just like the big snow in the last rollback. It came out of nowhere, leaving him with no clues.
The only thing that was a relief was that this change was indeed a positive one.
Besides Gu Qiumian's social circle, nothing else had changed.
Zhang Shutong's finger suddenly felt a sharp pain. He quickly came back to his senses. He didn't know when, but the hot water had overflowed. He shook his hand and walked out of the hot water room. To be honest, it was hard to describe his mood at the moment. Of course, he was caught off guard, but was there anything urgent to deal with...
It seemed there wasn't.
To put it in an exaggerated way, it was a good change, so even if he found a way to correct it, why would he want to correct it?
Zhang Shutong had observed Gu Qiumian's so-called "friends" before. The reason he called those people "followers" wasn't just a joke. Besides Xu Zhiruo, who was a good friend, many of the others were after Gu Qiumian's money. They were naturally a step lower than her, freeloading on food, drinks, and fun. It was hard to say whether this kind of relationship could be called friendship.
But now it was different. Judging from today's dinner, Gu Qiumian was clearly much more relaxed. The people around her all called her "class monitor" and "Qiumian." Although they followed her around and enjoyed many benefits, many of them also actively suggested, "Let's all chip in and treat you this time." Whether Gu Qiumian needed it or not, it was clearly much more sincere than before.
Maybe the so-called "followers" were a thing of the past.
Now, Young Lady Gu had a group of good friends.
Zhang Shutong sincerely felt that this change was a good thing.
He also more or less understood what had happened today:
Gu Qiumian was not killed on Sunday morning, which led to a large-scale class reshuffle in ninth grade. And because of the interpersonal relationships she had built up before, she was still very popular even after the class change, which led to this large lunch today.
As for how the rooftop key went missing, it was truly a misunderstanding:
Just like that new class monitor who had a crush on Lu Qinglian, he dared to take the initiative because they were in the same class. There were many boys with this kind of mindset, and there were also many who had a secret crush on Gu Qiumian. So a boy named Kong Yihui accidentally discovered the rooftop key while he was on cleaning duty and, with the thought of showing off an interesting anecdote, brought it to the lunch table.
Thinking about this, Zhang Shutong took out the key from his pocket and felt a bit sentimental.
He suddenly wanted to go to the rooftop and stay there for a while.
Zhang Shutong walked up the stairs step by step, thinking that this matter was a complete coincidence. Just a small action was enough to change so many things. It even included himself. If it weren't for this, he wouldn't have even thought about going to the rooftop.
Zhang Shutong skillfully turned the key. The lock was a bit rusty. He pushed open the door in the dim stairwell. The warm sun and the cold wind hit him at the same time.
This was his territory. It was so before, and it was so now. Zhang Shutong sat on the edge of the building. The teaching building was four stories high, and this was the place closest to the sky.
Many things came into his view. He saw a gray-white building in the distance. Zhang Shutong knew it was the hospital. He had never noticed it before, but this time he had stayed there for three days. The first thing he noticed was this old building.
The hospital was neither far nor close to him.
He moved his gaze and saw a two-story block apartment building.
Zhang Shutong knew that was Teacher Song's dorm.
He was at school now. The school was not far from the staff dorm.
This reminded him of an interesting thing. Even though Teacher Song had a car, he never drove it to and from work. This was because his home and workplace were so close. It only took a few minutes to walk there. So he parked his car at school every night to save on parking fees. He was a very meticulous man.
Song Nanshan was a reliable adult male. His car was, of course, used for important things.
Now the man was gone. Zhang Shutong stared blankly at the roof of the dorm. He had already digested this change, whether it was the class reshuffle or the hospitalization, and the side story of the chocolate incident. There wasn't much tension, because he couldn't get anxious.
He was just a bit... confused.
The world he was in was operating tirelessly. He had changed some things, but he had also welcomed more and more changes. Some were good, some were bad, and some were hard to distinguish.
The door behind him creaked. Zhang Shutong was startled. He instinctively turned his head. A girl in a green robe slowly appeared from the shadows.
Lu Qinglian was holding a lunch box.
He let out a helpless sigh and turned his head to ask:
"You haven't eaten yet?"
"I went to the office for a bit and saw you heading this way, so I came to take a look."
Lu Qinglian sat down not far from him:
"How did you find the key?"
"It was just an accident. A student picked it up."
Lu Qinglian said "Mhm" and began to eat her meal slowly.
Zhang Shutong glanced at the time. The lunch gathering was long enough. There were only twenty minutes left until class. When he passed by the classroom, many people were already napping at their desks.
There was definitely no time now, but he still remembered their plan to go to the dorm in the afternoon to look for Teacher Song's notebook. But they weren't sure if there were clues in that notebook. It was just a last resort.
Zhang Shutong said:
"Do you feel like you're in a huge spiderweb? You're trapped inside, unable to move, and you can't find a way out. You don't know where the spider will crawl out from?"
"Student Zhang Shutong, you might as well just be direct." Lu Qinglian hugged her knees. She chewed her food quietly. The sun shone on her, making her squint. "Helpless?"
"Yes, helpless. I hope we can find something this afternoon." Zhang Shutong rubbed his face and took out his phone. "Now that you've said that, I just remembered. I need to call my mom and let her know. But I need you to help me say something good. Just say that I'm making up for..."
But Lu Qinglian stood up.
"Hey, I'm not kidding. Don't go yet..."
"Look at ten o'clock."
Lu Qinglian frowned deeply.
Zhang Shutong turned his head at her words. He looked in the direction Lu Qinglian was pointing. His eyes slowly widened—
Wednesday, December 12, 2012, 1:10 PM.
They went to the rooftop because of a lucky coincidence.
From the edge of the rooftop, they could see the roof of the teachers' dorm.
A figure was standing on the roof.
They spread their arms and fell backward.