Lu Qinglian put on the wig very quickly.
It was just an ordinary wig, but she managed to bring a different kind of magic out of it.
"How is it?" she asked calmly.
"You still look better with long hair," Zhang Shutong said after thinking it over seriously.
Although beautiful people look beautiful in anything, Zhang Shutong felt that long hair matched her disposition better. Occasionally—like when she tilted her head while playing dumb, or when she closed her eyes in the hospital while injured—combined with her almond eyes, she would give off a vulnerable, pity-inducing vibe.
But with the short hair, Zhang Shutong took another look. The girl before him had bangs running even with her brows, and the ends of her hair were perfectly level with her earlobes, exposing her slender, swan-like neck, which was normally completely hidden from view.
Mature, sharp, and glamorous.
This definitely didn't look like a temple keeper.
The green robes were still too discordant. If she changed them for a more fashionable dress and stepped into a pair of high heels...
Before Zhang Shutong could figure out what that would look like, Lu Qinglian spoke.
"What are you thinking about again?" She shifted her gaze away from the mirror, her tone devoid of any ripples. "I was asking: do I look like her, or not?"
"If we don't look at your face, it's not bad."
He used to think the adult Ruoping was very mature, but now he realized it was completely a case of a small wizard meeting a great archmage.
Lu Qinglian nodded. Zhang Shutong knew this meant "let's leave it at that for now." Her task for this part was over, and it was Zhang Shutong's turn to step up—
To bargain.
Although he wasn't good at this kind of thing either, what choice did he have when he was with Lu Qinglian?
The purple-haired woman held up a single finger.
"One hundred?" Zhang Shutong prepared to pull out his wallet.
"If I can take a photo to keep in the shop for promotions, I'll lend it to you for free."
He said with difficulty:
"I'm afraid that won't..."
He was afraid there was no need to be afraid. Because the queen was watching him from right behind, and saying the wrong word would get him dragged out and beheaded. Zhang Shutong changed his tune:
"Let's just pay. Is eighty alright? I can help bring some students your way; my friend knows a lot of people."
"Whatever. Since you were recommended by a friend anyway, let's just create some good karma." The woman nodded with regret, then gave them some cautionary instructions.
When it came time to pay, before Zhang Shutong could even pull out his wallet, Lu Qinglian had already counted out the change.
"Let me do it. Asking for your help is already enough of a hassle."
"Didn't I say there's no need for that? Finding that person is just as important to me."
"Where did you get so much money?" Zhang Shutong helplessly put half of the change back.
"Saved it." At the same time, Lu Qinglian also counted out half and tucked it into the inner pocket of her green robes.
Zhang Shutong took the remaining money and handed it to the proprietress. Thinking about it carefully, except for medical visits, the two split the costs evenly on all other occasions involving money.
But Zhang Shutong's money was basically New Year's pocket money saved up to buy fishing rods. How did she save hers, and what did she save it for? He didn't seem to have seen her buy anything else either.
Zhang Shutong didn't plan to delve deeper into this question. Since they had rented it, the die was cast. The next step was how to make the disguise look a bit more convincing. Aside from the hairstyle, disposition was also very important, but that was the hardest thing to change. He couldn't exactly drag Lu Qinglian to get her nails done or drink milk tea; he was afraid that wouldn't be as simple as a regular execution.
He turned his head to study her for a moment, looking at Lu Qinglian's flawless profile. He was about to suggest that she try taking smaller steps, since Ruoping liked to skip and bounce when she walked, but the moment they stepped out of the shop door, Lu Qinglian took the wig off.
"Have you looked long enough?" She let out a soft sigh.
"The shop is too small. You'd better wear it and walk around outside for a bit."
But Lu Qinglian didn't seem willing to wear it for a single moment longer, let alone walk down the street with it.
Zhang Shutong noticed another detail: aside from when she was putting the wig on, Lu Qinglian hadn't looked into the mirror even once afterward.
"It might be a little uncomfortable, but how should I put it... since we've decided to do this, you'll have to get used to it sooner or later."
Zhang Shutong came just short of saying the words "don't be shy."
"Student Zhang Shutong, that fox's ability might not be predicting the future," Lu Qinglian interrupted.
By this time, they had exited the shop. Zhang Shutong had just closed the glass door behind them. The area in front of them was noisy with people, making it a good place to quietly discuss important topics.
"What do you mean?"
Lu Qinglian, however, jumped topics once again:
"I haven't changed my clothes. If other students see me, going out like this will only give the game away. Do you understand?"
"...That's true." Zhang Shutong's attention was successfully diverted as well. "Speaking of which, I originally wanted you to put the wig on before school, but that doesn't make much sense. If you change your hairstyle at school, word will spread very quickly."
There was no telling how many people kept their eyes on Lu Qinglian every day.
He thought for a moment:
"How about this instead? Put it on every day after school. That's exactly when Ruoping gets into the car to go home. You can find a place to change your clothes and wig; that way, no one will gossip about you, the risk of exposing a flaw is smaller, and the time you have to wear the wig will be shorter. Three birds with one stone."
Lu Qinglian let out an "mm," appearing to agree strongly with his proposal.
"So what were you trying to say just now? What does that have to do with the fox's ability?" Zhang Shutong asked in puzzle.
"I just feel that you actually only thought of something now that you should have thought of long ago."
She nonchalantly removed the hairnet, and her waterfall of black hair tumbled down. The queen vanished, and the fairy reappeared.
"Perhaps that fox's ability is to make anyone who touches it turn stupid. What do you think, Student Zhang Shutong?"
Only then did Student Zhang Shutong realize he had been insulted in a roundabout way.
"Uh, how should I put it... actually, you touched it too."
Lu Qinglian had already walked away without looking back.
...
They didn't eat out but headed straight back instead.
Their homes were on the way, both to the east, though Lu Qinglian lived further eastward.
Zhang Shutong dropped her off at the foot of the mountain and turned his bike around.
"I'm off, see you tomorrow."
"See you tomorrow." She gave a slight nod.
The sky had turned dark.
It wasn't even seven o'clock yet, but winter days just turned dark this quickly. Not long ago, he had received a call from Ruoping; she had already arrived home safely.
This Monday had been far more peaceful than he expected.
Zhang Shutong rode his bike home in a hurry.
His mom was home today and had already cooked dinner. She had mentioned last time that she wanted Lu Qinglian to come over for dinner again. Zhang Shutong just felt his mom was addicted to feeding people and said helplessly that he didn't have that much face. His mom said they should plan for the long term, but Zhang Shutong didn't know what there was to plan.
He went up the stairs, stomped his foot hard to turn on the voice-activated light in the hallway, and the instant he pushed open the door, the aroma of food rushed over him.
Zhang Shutong's eyes widened.
"Sorry, wrong door."
He greeted Gu Qiumian and turned around to leave.
It must be a hallucination.
"Get back here!" Gu Qiumian pulled him back without allowing any discussion. "Oh, hurry up and come in!"
"Why are you here?" Zhang Shutong asked in surprise.
"I ran into Auntie," Gu Qiumian said, lowering her voice. "She invited me to have dinner at your house."
Zhang Shutong was dazed:
"How did you two run into each other?"
"I went to buy a Christmas tree." His mom made her entrance with her hands on her hips. "And I happened to run into Qiumian at the mall."
Hey, hey, was your college major really geology and not some kind of girl-snatching major?
"You two go play first, I'll cook the food."
Only Tongtong and Mian Mian were left looking at each other.
"Why didn't you text me?" Zhang Shutong stared at her, his eyes wide with surprise.
"Am I not welcome?" Gu Qiumian stared back, her eyes wide with a hint of displeasure.
Zhang Shutong let out a sigh:
"What do you want to drink? Water or juice?"
He thought to himself that whenever the young mistress arrived, someone would always get busy, and who else could it be but the underling?
He instantly got busy. Putting back on the jacket he had just taken off and changing back into the shoes he had just removed, he grabbed the keys hanging by the entryway, preparing to head out.
"Where are you going?"
"To buy yogurt. There's a supermarket downstairs," Zhang Shutong explained.
"Who said anything about drinking yogurt!" She rolled her eyes. "Water is fine for me."
Zhang Shutong sat back down:
"Then there's only plain boiled water."
"And who told you I wanted to drink water!" She gave him a massive eye-roll.
Just as Zhang Shutong was about to say didn't you just say that, Gu Qiumian commanded:
"Then give me a tour around your place."
Zhang Shutong nodded.
This was the first time Zhang Shutong had ever given anyone a tour of his home, but honestly, there wasn't much to see. The living room could be seen in its entirety at a single glance, and his parents' room was off-limits, so only his own room was left.
Zhang Shutong pushed open the door:
"I sleep here."
Gu Qiumian burst out laughing:
"Who doesn't know you sleep here? Could you possibly sleep on the sofa?"
She looked around curiously:
"Why aren't there any photos? I wanted to see what you looked like when you were little."
"What's there to look at," Zhang Shutong said, speechless.
"Maybe you were super, super ugly when you were little?"
Zhang Shutong thought to himself that she didn't need to use two "super"s in a row. Even if he were a Pokémon, he wasn't a Feebas.
"I was worried it would scare you, alright?"
"Che."
"I thought you went straight home."
"No," the young mistress was very busy too, and she sighed. "The class discussed what items we're missing, and I was just preparing to go buy them."
"Where's your little secretary?"
"Who? Zhiruo? Oh, don't call her that." Gu Qiumian chided.
As if she couldn't sit still, she stood up again and walked around the room with her hands behind her back like she was inspecting her territory, looking at the bed, then the desk, and then the wardrobe.
Zhang Shutong asked helplessly what exactly she was looking for, but Gu Qiumian hummed and refused to explain.
"When you came to my house, I even took you around for a tour."
"It's mainly because my place is too small." In fact, my house was built by your dad. "So I am truly sorry about that."
"What about the fox matter?" She blinked her eyes again.
"If I told you those foxes have superpowers, would you believe me?"
Gu Qiumian clearly didn't believe it and glanced at him:
"Like what?"
"Predicting the future?"
Zhang Shutong hadn't expected her to believe it anyway, but Gu Qiumian became interested instead:
"Then tell me, what am I doing in the future?"
This question choked Zhang Shutong up. The truth was that in both regressions, he hadn't seen Gu Qiumian. This time she was on vacation, and last time, let alone Gu Qiumian herself, he had only seen her little secretary, who said her dad was looking for him.
Unable to answer, Zhang Shutong just muddled through with a random response.
Gu Qiumian curled her lip at him, her expression saying you got caught lying by me.
The two returned to the living room, and Gu Qiumian pointed at the tiny Christmas tree in the corner, saying:
"Auntie wants us to decorate it."
Zhang Shutong sighed again, thinking that his mom's romantic cells hadn't diminished from back in the day. She was always the one clamoring about liking lively festivities, which was a point where she was a bit similar to Gu Qiumian.
On the floor lay some cards made of colored construction paper, which could serve as gift boxes once folded.
The Christmas tree also needed to be assembled. There were four small branches with iron wires at the tips that needed to be twisted together manually.
"Are there pliers?"
"On the balcony."
And aside from those paper slips, he also spotted a "real" gift box.
His mom was quite thoughtful; she had bought not only the Christmas tree but even the Christmas gift. He picked up the rectangular box, only to find that its length was almost taller than the tree, making it look awkward no matter how it was hung. Zhang Shutong turned around to seek help from the young mistress, but the young mistress wouldn't even look at him.
"Can't hang it up?"
"Of course it can't hang up."
"Can you think of a way?"
"Think of it yourself." She pushed Zhang Shutong again and said, "Hurry up and go find the pliers on the balcony!"
Zhang Shutong hadn't been flustered like this in all his life.
He was a rather methodical person when it came to doing things, usually planning out what to do first and what to do next. But these plans had no room to exert themselves the moment they encountered Gu Qiumian. If Zhang Shutong was a hailstone, then Gu Qiumian was a cloud, but how could a cloud push a hailstone along?
They came out onto the balcony.
The balcony was too dark to see anything.
"It's right inside the utility closet, in a shoebox."
"You go find it," she said, but pushed open the utility closet door within a few steps anyway. "Is it this box?"
Zhang Shutong had just turned on the light when he saw Gu Qiumian pointing at a box on the shelf.
"That one is..." His eyelid twitched.
That belonged to Student Lu's shoes.
Zhang Shutong had originally wanted to say that, but then he felt it was a bit strange to have another student's—let alone another female student's—shoes at his house.
"No, forget it, I'll get it."
He found the pliers, and the two returned to the living room.
Zhang Shutong squatted down, first fitting the four branches into the base, and then twisting the iron wires at the top securely. Throughout this process, Gu Qiumian stood behind him and watched, saying one moment that this side was crooked, and the next that that side wasn't neat enough, looking full of joy despite it being his family's Christmas tree.
Zhang Shutong had long known her temperament, so he turned his head and asked her if this was good.
"Hmm..." Her tailing sound was very long. She held her chin in deep thought in the living room, surrounded by a familiar fragrance that left Zhang Shutong a bit dazed.
Without him realizing it, the cold and quiet home in his memory had changed its appearance.
Outside was a bleak and freezing winter, but inside the room was so lively. He raised his head to look at the ceiling; the ceiling light was still a warm yellow, not very bright. The living room was small, and the sound of cooking fumes from the kitchen was a bit loud, so they also needed to raise their voices to speak... This place absolutely couldn't compare to that palace-like villa, but Zhang Shutong felt there was nothing wrong with his home.
Gu Qiumian walked back and forth behind him excitedly in her slippers, circling to the left and then to the right, even pulling out her phone to take a photo, yet she flatly refused to come over and help. And he adjusted here and fixed there according to the girl's meaning. The Christmas tree seemed to become trivial at this moment, but what was non-trivial?
Zhang Shutong was just pondering this question when he felt an itch by his cheek.
It turned out Gu Qiumian had leaned down, causing the tips of her hair to drape beside his face. Finally, Gu Qiumian pressed a golden star onto the top of the iron wire. She let out a breath and clapped her hands, indicating the grand task was complete.
"You clearly didn't do anything," Zhang Shutong complained.
"What do you mean I didn't do anything? Directing you is exhausting."
She had the look of a grand contributor.
Zhang Shutong said then let me treat you to a meal, and just as he spoke, the kitchen door was pushed open. His mom was finished over there too. Shortly after, the few of them sat around the dining table. His mom brought out juice and red wine; the juice was for the two of them, and the wine was for herself.
"Welcome, Qiumian, to our home as a guest." His mom was all smiles.
These words caused Gu Qiumian's ears to turn red. Then his mom asked again:
"Shall we make a toast?"
"Sure," Zhang Shutong said casually. "She can drink a lot."
"Drink what?"
Saying this, Gu Qiumian made a move to step on him, but she was wearing slippers. Because she moved too quickly when extending her foot and the shoes were large, the slipper remained where it was, and Zhang Shutong felt a soft object step onto the top of his foot, separating the instant it touched.
"Ah, can Qiumian drink alcohol?" his mom asked in surprise.
"I don't normally drink alcohol, Auntie. I was just saying I happened to be thirsty." Gu Qiumian revealed a flawless smile befitting a young mistress, and after speaking, she gave Zhang Shutong a fierce glare with those sweeping eyes.
Zhang Shutong understood. Never mind that she went wild when she got drunk herself, she was very careful about her image in front of others.
The meal was eaten very quickly. Gu Qiumian didn't need to be escorted back either, because a driver came downstairs to pick her up.
Zhang Shutong saw her off in the cold wind, then went back upstairs. The moment he entered the house, he saw the Christmas tree in the corner.
His mom was studying it too, and after a short while, she let out a sigh:
"Son, you have a lot of things to gift this Christmas."
"What do you mean?"
"Look at this." His mom shook that long gift box. "Qiumian bought it for me. Figure out how to return the favor."
Only then did Zhang Shutong realize why, when he had asked Gu Qiumian how to hang it up earlier, she had turned her face away and refused to speak.
"And what do you mean by 'a lot'?"
"There's also that shoebox," his mom said, looking full of worry.