In Gu Qiumian's own words, this was a special operation to thank her best friends for their efforts over the past week.
Of course, "special operation" was an addition by Zhang Shutong himself.
Gu Qiumian was a person who believed in returning favors. She felt that the others had worked very hard to help her find the culprit, so she should treat them to show her gratitude. She was also someone who kept things clearly sorted out. For instance, even though the four of them had just scrounged a meal on Wednesday, she felt that was a dinner for the entire class and shouldn't be conflated with this.
It was probably last night around seven or eight o'clock when she approached him to discuss what they should eat.
Zhang Shutong earnestly suggested KFC, only to receive a roll of the eyes from the other end of the receiver. She suggested Quanjude, but Zhang Shutong felt it was too expensive. In the year 2012, while Quanjude might not be considered an exceptionally high-end restaurant, a meal for a few people would easily run over a thousand yuan. Gu Qiumian asked in confusion, "Is it expensive? I don't think it's expensive."
Zhang Shutong had to put in a lot of effort to explain clearly. If it's too extravagant, we'll feel bad about it. You treat us to a meal, and we'll treat you to a movie. A mutual give-and-take is how you ensure there's a next time.
Gu Qiumian gave it some careful thought, pouted, and said, "Fine, fine. Then what do you suggest?"
Zhang Shutong said, "KFC."
Gu Qiumian instantly went crazy:
"Why are you so obsessed with KFC, ah ah ah!"
At that time, Zhang Shutong had just finished his shower and was drying his hair with a towel. Hearing her reaction, he said rather sheepishly:
"Actually, I really want to eat the Grilled Beef Twister..."
This was something that would become permanently discontinued after 2012. Once you missed this chance, it would be gone forever. Zhang Shutong currently liked to collect certain foods that wouldn't be available to eat in the future, like the Wrigley's Juicy Fruit chewing gum from the other day.
Gu Qiumian said crossly:
"I want to eat roast duck!"
Zhang Shutong tried his best to market KFC, this kind of "commoner's delicacy," to the young miss. Gu Qiumian had naturally eaten KFC before, but she only ate the egg tarts.
Zhang Shutong mentioned that there was actually also an Old Beijing Chicken Twister, and its flavor was very close to Quanjude's duck rolls.
"Really?"
"Yeah, it tastes really similar."
To be precise, the sweet bean sauce, cucumbers, and scallions inside tasted very similar.
Gu Qiumian went quiet for a moment.
There was no telling what she was doing during this period, but after a long while, she said calmly, "Okay, let's go check it out first."
Just like that, he and the young miss reached a consensus.
He put away his phone and checked the time. It was just past eight in the evening, and his hair still felt slightly damp. He draped the towel over a chair, pulled up the blanket as drowsiness hit him, turned off the light, and went to sleep.
It wasn't that he lived a highly health-conscious lifestyle, but rather his sleep schedule had been completely disrupted lately. Ever since the onset of that illness that resembled anxiety, he would always wake up during the night these past few days. It wasn't because of nightmares or being startled awake; he would just suddenly open his eyes. When he closed them again, he would feel as if things were rushing him forward, leaving him restless and anxious.
When he woke up again, it was ten o'clock at night. Yawning, he pulled back the blanket, went to the living room to pour a glass of water, and then dashed back to his room to work on test papers. He worked until roughly one in the morning, becoming so sleepy that he couldn't even hold his pen, before lying back on the bed and gradually drifting off. He thought he would finally sleep until dawn, but when he checked his phone, it was four in the morning.
This time, he read a book for a while. Around six o'clock, when the sky was just beginning to brighten, he went downstairs on his bike to buy breakfast. After eating, he went back to sleep until ten o'clock.
Added up, his total sleep time wasn't low, but the quality was terrible, leaving him in a constant state of drowsiness.
Just like now, as he walked down the stairs, he couldn't control himself from letting out another yawn.
Very soon, he exited the stairwell.
The humidity in the air was very high today, and a thin layer of mist shrouded the outside. Not far away, a few landscaping belts punctuated the view, mostly filled with Chinese holly and similar plants. True to its name, the leaves remained green even in winter.
When viewed from above, it looked like a few mint leaves floating in a puddle of milk.
Today was just that kind of crisp, cool day.
The surroundings were serene, but he looked left and right—where was there any sign of a car?
It seemed he had been tricked by Gu Qiumian again. Or rather, a girl's claim of "almost there" simply couldn't be trusted. When a guy said those words, he was only one step away from a door, but they might just be lazily applying lip gloss in front of a vanity mirror.
Zhang Shutong walked toward the entrance of the residential compound, thinking that Gu Qiumian wouldn't be quite that outrageous.
Sure enough, after walking a few steps, he saw a black sedan flashing its turn signal, about to drive through the main gate of the compound.
The rear window rolled down, and someone said:
"You sit in the front."
A few minutes later, the car was traveling on the road. Including the driver, there were only three people in the vehicle. In truth, he hadn't wanted Gu Qiumian to pick him up, but she insisted on spouting a bunch of grand logic. The gist of it was that even though his bone fracture had healed, he still shouldn't engage in strenuous exercise. Zhang Shutong didn't think riding a bike counted, but she insisted that when a car traveled over a bumpy road, the vibrations would transfer to the handlebars and then up his arms—in short, it was very strenuous.
Zhang Shutong was hoodwinked. Now he sat in an expensive sedan, its high-grade suspension sufficient to smooth out all the wrinkles on the road surface, leaving it so quiet that only the whirring of the air conditioner could be heard. Finding himself with nothing to do, Zhang Shutong searched on his phone to see if one could ride a bike after a bone fracture. Baidu said no. It turned out she had looked it up online as well.
He glanced at Gu Qiumian through the rearview mirror. Today she had tied her long hair up. She wasn't wearing her coat inside the car, just a black shirt with a standing collar, the collar traced with a few strands of gold thread. On her lower body was a beige pencil skirt. Gu Qiumian was dressed like President Gu today, so she naturally didn't talk much, propping her chin up as she looked out the car window, appearing as though she were calculating a massive business deal in her head.
Zhang Shutong had also learned a piece of new information recently.
For some reason, he seemed to have become a primary focus of her father's attention. He had even specifically questioned the nanny, Auntie Wu, and upon learning that Zhang Shutong was the son of an employee in his conglomerate, there was no further follow-up.
Even Gu Qiumian had been questioned about him, seemingly intentionally or otherwise, during dinner.
This matter was also chatted about last night.
Gu Qiumian's attitude blew hot and cold, and Zhang Shutong's drowsiness came and went. Throughout the entire journey, they didn't speak a single word, and the driver focused intently on the road ahead.
After a dozen or so minutes, they arrived at the pier.
The driver opened the car door for the young miss. Gu Qiumian nodded and stepped out of the vehicle, speaking a few words carelessly. However, the driver said that President Gu had instructed him that he had to see everyone arrive and board the boat before he could leave.
Gu Qiumian tilted her chin, and Zhang Shutong knew exactly what she was about to say. He held up his phone and waved it, saying they had arrived and were waiting on the boat. The driver looked along his finger and spotted a few silhouettes leaning against the deck railings—both guys and girls. The driver offered an apology to his young miss but didn't budge.
"Let's go. He wants to wait until the boat leaves before departing," Gu Qiumian said.
She turned around, her skirt swirling with her movement. Zhang Shutong followed behind while yawning, only now noticing that she was carrying a small leather bag today that looked very expensive.
The two of them boarded the boat one after the other. Belatedly, Zhang Shutong wondered why she hadn't let her family's car come along. On such a cold day, they could have easily ridden in the car all the way to the city, yet she chose to stop at the harbor.
It could only be written off as a little quirk of the young miss.
From a distance, Zhang Shutong extended his hand to greet his best friends. The three of them were currently leaning against the railing playing games on a phone. Hearing his voice, they raised their heads and exchanged greetings.
Du Kang held Ruoping's phone and asked if he wanted to play Fruit Ninja. Zhang Shutong suddenly discovered that Ruoping actually quite liked playing games; last time it was Angry Birds.
Mobile data was too expensive nowadays, so whatever one wanted to play or watch had to be downloaded in advance. Ruoping's phone made a full round among them. Zhang Shutong had just tapped start when he asked Gu Qiumian if she wanted to play next—this game was perfect for someone like her who used the one-finger technique.
Just as his words fell, the whistle blew, the ferry started up, and the driver standing on the shore waved his hand before leaving.
Zhang Shutong withdrew his gaze, thinking that the man really was dutiful. He had just sliced a watermelon when a clean, white finger reached out and pressed the pause button for him.
Zhang Shutong looked up. Gu Qiumian was staring at him with her arms crossed.
A person needed to recognize their own status.
The meaning of this phrase was—he was a lackey today, not a ninja. Zhang Shutong regretfully returned the phone to Du Kang, ending his dream of being a ninja. Gu Qiumian let out a chuckle and a huff. She stretched, removed the hairclip from the back of her head, and tossed her head to let her long hair cascade down. Shifting from Little President Gu back to a little girl, she cupped her hands around her mouth and shouted toward the lake:
"Finally left!"
The ferry slowly moved away from the shore, and then Gu Qiumian waved her hand at him:
"Hurry, hurry! I want to take photos!"
She said this, yet she made absolutely no move to pull out her own phone.
This really was a bit much.
Zhang Shutong thought to himself, Do I have to use my own phone to help you take photos?
Even a lackey shouldn't do that; business and personal matters had to be kept strictly separate. He pulled out his phone and said, "Your hair is messy, hurry up and smooth it out. Also, you're acting crazy right now."
"You're the crazy one!"
Just as her eyes glared, Zhang Shutong quickly snapped the shutter, freezing her wrinkled nose on the screen.
And then she was displeased:
"Use my phone to shoot! Also, delete that one from just now!"
Zhang Shutong took her phone and snapped a dozen or so photos in quick succession. From the bow of the boat to the stern, he secretly lamented that the job of a secretary truly wasn't easy.
Fortunately, Gu Qiumian was very beautiful and didn't require extra editing. He returned the phone to her, sincerely feeling that every single shot was very photogenic, yet she was unsatisfied, insisting on inspecting each one carefully.
Zhang Shutong leaned against the railing by himself and yawned. The mist in the urban district dissipated completely upon reaching this area. Today's lake surface was a rare azure blue, with the entire sky reflected on the water. As the wind blew over, the floating clouds on the lake danced along with it.
Beside him, Gu Qiumian was focusing entirely on looking at the photos. Zhang Shutong didn't understand why girls had to take photos and check into every single place they went—the young miss was no exception to this rule—but today's weather truly was excellent, so even a simple landscape photo would be very beautiful.
"Help me hold..."
Gu Qiumian kept her head down, extending the shoulder bag on her arm toward him. She blocked the forehead with one hand while scrolling through her phone with the other, presumably finding it inconvenient to carry the bag. But before she could finish her sentence, she suddenly leaned closer:
"Your dark circles are so heavy today."
"I didn't sleep well yesterday." Zhang Shutong thought to himself, You finally noticed that your humble servant is out of sorts.
"Why are you... so excited?" She blinked and burst into laughter. "My goodness, who was the one who said 'whatever we play is fine' yesterday, only to get so excited that he couldn't even sleep well?"
"Uh..." Zhang Shutong didn't know what else to say. He nodded and said, "The thought of the Grilled Beef Twister makes me very excited."
"Tch." She turned her face away.
Gu Qiumian also leaned over the railing, cradling her face as she said:
"You should have said earlier that you didn't sleep well."
"It's actually alright." Zhang Shutong had looked up that illness; the medical consensus was that it took a continuous period of time to be officially diagnosed, and this "period" was measured in months. Never mind that he didn't want to tell his family; even if he did tell them and went to the hospital, the doctor would only tell him to focus on resting.
Of course, since he didn't say anything himself, in the eyes of others it just looked like he was playing too hard. Zhang Shutong felt it was fine to leave it at that.
So the dark circles were just a minor episode. However, Gu Qiumian didn't make him carry the bag either, instead tapping her phone a few times and handing it over. He focused his gaze and saw that the screen showed the App Store, with a fruit icon spinning around:
"Here, play."
How could a mere data roaming fee scare Gu Qiumian.
Zhang... Shutong shook his head and said he wouldn't play; he had just been joining in on the fun earlier. Gu Qiumian curled her lips and said, "Why do you like to join in on the fun so much?"
Zhang Shutong rarely spent time pondering how to answer this sentence, but she pointed at a duck on the lake surface and said:
"Look quickly, what is that?"
"A seabird."
"It's my first time seeing a sea... what on the island?" Continuous Autumn Rain went blank for a moment. "Where would a seabird come from on a lake?"
"Sheep can even appear on glass." Zhang Shutong suppressed a smile. He suddenly felt a lot more energetic.
Gu Qiumian rolled her eyes at him and quickly snapped a photo of that colorful duck on the lake.
Then she asked again, "Should everyone take a group photo?"
Zhang Shutong didn't care either way. "Go ask them."
"You go ask."
Aren't you the class monitor? Where did that very majestic aura from before go...
Thinking this way, Zhang Shutong went to call his three best friends:
"What are you guys doing?" He poked his head over.
All three were staring at a phone, looking exceptionally busy.
"Don't cause trouble," Ruoping said.
"The battle is critical," Qingyi said.
"Why aren't you playing with Gu Qiumian anymore?" Du Kang raised his eyes, asking in surprise.
Zhang Shutong felt a sense of being isolated by the small clique. He mentioned the matter of taking a photo, and the few of them nodded.
The five of them lined up along the guardrail, finding a staff member to help them take a photo. They used Zhang Shutong's phone; he would be responsible for sending the photo to everyone later.
Yanlong Island was inherently one of the tourist attractions in the city. It was just that winter was the off-season, so there were very few tourists. The most bustling periods were the National Day and Labor Day holidays, where queuing to board the boat would require waiting for several hours.
Therefore, helping people take photos was second nature to the staff.
"I'll count three, two, one. Everyone smile..."
As the countdown ended, everyone shouted the old-fashioned "Eggplant" in unison. Zhang Shutong had just let out a trace of a smile when he felt his face itch a bit.
Turning his face to look, it turned out that the lake breeze had blown Gu Qiumian's hair onto his face.
...
Upon reaching the harbor, the path split into two directions—one toward the county town, and one toward the city proper.
This time they were heading to the city proper, which was slightly further away.
Once they took a taxi to the entrance of the shopping mall, the group got out, and Gu Qiumian paid the fare.
The time had already reached twelve o'clock.
"What are we eating?" Everyone already knew Gu Qiumian was treating, so they didn't engage in hypocritical politeness at this point; anyway, they would treat her back this afternoon.
Zhang Shutong recounted to his best friends how he had negotiated with Gu Qiumian last night and how he had colorfully secured the victory of KFC, like a lion on the African savannah integrating into the pride, hoping to gain their acceptance.
The lion king slapped his head with her paw:
"Okay."
The moment she opened her mouth, Qingyi and Du Kang followed suit and nodded in agreement, signaling with their eyes that they had just been threatened.
As things stood now, Zhang Shutong felt his identity was a bit complicated.
He took the lead in walking toward the northern side of the shopping plaza. While he claimed to be leading the way, it was actually because some past events were resurfacing in his mind. This was his first time coming to this vicinity since the time loop, but back when he was in high school, he had hung around here a lot.
This place also carried many of his memories, though most of them were of the less pleasant variety.
Today was the weekend, and it just happened to coincide with some promotional event organized by the mall. Banners and balloons floated in the sky, and a singer strumming a guitar performed on the plaza, with a circle of people gathered around him.
Cutting through the crowd, they also ran into a few furry mascots in full suits handing out flyers related to public welfare. It turned out to be students from the City First High School doing volunteer work.
In consideration of the fact that they used to be alumni, Zhang Shutong accepted a flyer from a bear mascot suit.
"Thank you, classmate," a thin, somewhat muffled female voice came from inside.
Zhang Shutong waved his hand to signify it was nothing.
KFC was situated at the northernmost edge of the mall. After walking a few steps, he realized his pace was too fast. Once the main group caught up, everyone found a place to sit down.
Gu Qiumian was only treating and didn't want to go stand in line. In the end, they agreed that the three boys would go order the food while she and Ruoping waited at the seats.
The three came to the back of the queue.
"Ah, the Grilled Beef Twister," Du Kang suddenly said a sentence, startling the two of them.
"Sorry, sorry," he said sheepishly. "We've been talking about eating the Grilled Beef Twister ever since that time we caught the poachers. Do you remember? How long have we been nagging about this?"
Zhang Shutong deeply agreed.
"Is it really getting discontinued?" Qingyi said. "I remember in the past there were TV commercials of the Original Recipe Chicken dueling with some Golden Chicken. Whichever one lost would be discontinued, but it ended up amounting to nothing in the end."
"Trust me, it's absolutely getting discontinued."
This item sold for 18 yuan each.
Although the family conditions of the few of them were all decent, for them back when they were still attending school, it really wasn't something they could just open up their stomachs to eat without restraint. One had to realize that a movie ticket at this time was only 40 yuan, roughly equal to two Grilled Beef Twisters.
"We're basking in Gu Qiumian's light," Du Kang lamented. "Shutong, can we order a few more?"
Zhang Shutong said it shouldn't be a problem. He knew the two felt a bit embarrassed, so he discussed it with them and took the task of ordering upon himself.
A few minutes later.
He received the bleakest news of the day—
"I'm so sorry, ah," the front counter clerk lady revealed a cruel yet polite smile. "The Grilled Beef Twister has already been discontinued."
"Dis... discontinued?" The three muttered to themselves.
"Yes, you can look it up on your phones. It really has been discontinued nationwide." The clerk added a finishing blow: "It was discontinued the day before yesterday, December 12. You missed it by just a tiny bit."
Zhang Shutong turned his head around in disbelief.
Across several tables, in front of the floor-to-ceiling window, Gu Qiumian also just happened to spin around from her swivel stool. Crossing her arms, she revealed a victorious smile.
She seemed to be saying:
"How does it look?"
A few minutes later, the three of them walked out of the store entrance behind the two girls in silence.
"Sigh, I say, you three," Ruoping held her forehead and said, "aren't you being a bit dramatic? It's really not to that extent, right? Let's just listen to Qiumian instead. Hmm, Qiumian, what are we eating?"
Young Miss Gu looked as though she had long anticipated this outcome.
She was currently holding her phone's navigation, extending her hand to point toward the back street of the mall. Situated there was a dark green building resembling a western house, with a beautiful little garden at the entrance, and even the store name was in English.
Gu Qiumian tilted her chin up:
"Let's go eat pizza!"