He was just about to tell Lu Qinglian about this discovery when he noticed that she was also staring at the hospital window.
"The fifth window. There's the hat you mentioned," she said softly, promptly withdrawing her gaze.
"I see it." Zhang Shutong lowered his eyes as well. "If we charge straight up there, what are the chances of catching him?"
"Very slim," Lu Qinglian said. "He has been observing us for a long time. The moment we show any abnormality, he will be alerted."
"Let's go into the hospital first," Zhang Shutong made the call.
It was true that they were constantly being watched by the man, but not long ago in the dormitory, he had also memorized the counterpart's features. The man likely hadn't realized yet that his tailing had been "discovered." By utilizing this information asymmetry, they could accomplish a great deal.
The pressing matter at hand was to avoid showing any abnormality.
"Be careful not to show your face," Zhang Shutong reminded her.
He kept using the corner of his eye to pay attention to that hat by the window.
Then, the two of them stepped forward as if nothing were amiss, walking at an unhurried pace, and quickly entered a blind spot of vision.
To get to the front entrance from the back of the hospital, they needed to pass through a narrow alley. One side of the alley was the hospital's side wall. Zhang Shutong knew there were windows on that side wall, and looking down from them would allow someone to observe the situation in the alley, so he maintained his original speed.
Three minutes later, the two of them stepped into the hospital's main entrance.
Lu Qinglian still walked ahead. In the bustling lobby where people came and went, she leaned against one side of the main doors.
"I didn't see him in the lobby. What about outside?"
"Not there either," Zhang Shutong answered in a low voice.
Since the man was tailing them, the instant he lost sight of them, he should have turned around and come downstairs. However, the anticipated encounter at the entrance did not happen.
His gaze shifted to the parking lot in front of the hospital, but there were too many sedans there, making it completely impossible to confirm which one it was.
Zhang Shutong furrowed his brows. "Let's go upstairs."
He was incredibly familiar with the layout of the second floor.
Zhang Shutong walked quickly up the stairs and first looked toward the corridor windows—
More people flooded into his line of sight.
The corridor was packed shoulder-to-shoulder. He pushed past two shoulders and finally saw the situation by the window. Quite a few men were leaning there, but there was not a single brown hat.
The man had already left the window.
But where on earth was he?
A patient ward? The restroom? Or a certain consultation room?
A pair of eyes was hiding in the vast sea of people, feeling like thorns on his back. He had no choice but to heighten his vigilance. As Zhang Shutong was quietly observing his surroundings without showing it, a familiar voice suddenly rang out from behind him:
"Little brother, back for another injection?"
It was the young nurse.
She was wearing a down jacket and stepping out from the observation room, looking as though she was preparing to get off work. She waved her hand with familiar ease, nearly getting jostled sideways by a passing person.
The young nurse painstakingly parted the flow of people:
"Is it a fever or a cold this time... Wait, no," she noticed Lu Qinglian behind him. "Why do you like bringing girls to the hospital so much... Hey, wait, wait, wait, wait?"
Her mouth fell open:
"How did it switch to a different person again?"
Perhaps the walls had ears.
Therefore, Zhang Shutong did not deny it. He covered his head, saying that he had accidentally bumped it while playing just now and came to the hospital to check it out for fear of scraping the skin.
"Can you help take a look for me?" Zhang Shutong pointed at the observation room behind her.
The young nurse let out a sigh. "You've got me figured out, haven't you? For the sake of an acquaintance, I won't charge you a registration fee. Come inside and talk..."
Zhang Shutong led Lu Qinglian as they squeezed into the observation room.
"Where is it?" The young nurse picked up a flashlight.
Zhang Shutong, however, immediately released his hand. He leaned against the observation window of the room door:
"Did you see a man wearing a brown hat?"
"What man in a brown hat? What on earth are you talking about?" The young nurse was bewildered. "Didn't you bump your head?"
"Downstairs," Lu Qinglian said softly at that moment.
After entering the observation room, she had walked straight to the window.
The window was on the same side as the main entrance. Zhang Shutong turned his head abruptly. In the supermarket diagonally across from the hospital, a brown hat appeared in his field of vision.
When did he run over there...
But now was not the time to ponder this. Zhang Shutong's heart sank. The man had clearly captured their presence, yet he consistently maintained a distance from them that was neither too close nor too far.
The reason Zhang Shutong had Lu Qinglian disguise herself as Ruoping was precisely to prevent the man from launching a sudden attack. If his own side lacked sufficient combat capability, it would conversely invite danger.
In the Vega route, he had always thought that the man delayed taking action because he hadn't discovered Ruoping's whereabouts, but the current situation was exactly the opposite.
That man had been waiting all along.
But what exactly was he waiting for?
Zhang Shutong once again recalled the description of Ruoping being attacked back then. Perhaps the altar wasn't the focus, and "Ruoping" wasn't the focus either—
The fox in Ruoping's arms was.
So, the man had been constantly enduring without acting because he was waiting for that fox statue?
"Actually, I'm looking for someone," Zhang Shutong said apologetically to the young nurse, adding that he was truly sorry for delaying her from getting off work. After speaking, he and Lu Qinglian exited the room.
The two of them passed through the crowded corridor. As they walked down the stairs, Lu Qinglian said in a low voice:
"He keeps hiding. It will be very troublesome."
Zhang Shutong realized this point as well. Every single time, the man chose to observe them from the exact right distance. They could certainly discover the counterpart's presence, but if they wanted to turn back and charge at him, the opponent would have more than enough time to retreat.
They had to make the opponent actively break this distance.
Therefore, Zhang Shutong needed to add a bit more leverage.
He dialed Qing Yi's number:
"He took the bait, but the opponent won't make a move. Help me out—go to the base and bring that fox over here."
"Are you sure?" Qing Yi blanked out for a second. "That's a bit risky."
If it were only Zhang Shutong himself, he absolutely wouldn't dare to do this, but this time he had Lu Qinglian.
"Sure. Remember to stay with Du Kang, and be careful."
Zhang Shutong instructed. He then agreed on a location with Qing Yi and recounted his arrangement to Lu Qinglian.
"Why not go straight over?" Lu Qinglian asked with a frown.
"The base is in the suburbs, and he has a car."
"Please switch to a word I can understand," she sighed softly.
The two exited the hospital, and Zhang Shutong pushed his bicycle out. The two of them got onto the bike as usual. The bicycle slowly passed through the bustling downtown area. To anyone looking, the two riding on it were just a pair of students out for a stroll; the boy rode the bike while the girl sat on the back seat, their heads close together as they whispered to one another.
"Can't see him anymore," Lu Qinglian withdrew her gaze.
"Then don't look. This is a good chance to confirm whether he is actually tailing you or observing that old house."
"Where to?"
"The shopping mall."
Zhang Shutong parked the bicycle in front of the mall entrance.
He raised his head, and the first thing that caught his eye was a massive Christmas tree. Boss Gu was indeed wealthy and powerful; though this Christmas tree was fake, it was nearly two stories tall, requiring one to tilt their neck back to see the top.
The Christmas tree was wrapped with glowing ribbons, and large banners hung from the branches—not for Christmas, but rather a promotional event for New Year's Day. Even the vendor selling balloons at the entrance had swapped his goods for Christmas hats. Countless variations were all heralding the arrival of the holiday.
The sky had turned completely dark, and the massive Christmas tree glowed with multi-colored lights, illuminating the night like a dream. When the cold wind blew, it made people instinctively tighten their coats. Just standing outside, one could feel the liveliness inside the mall. Zhang Shutong couldn't help but think: who could have guessed that a crisis lay hidden beneath the festivity?
He turned his head and saw Lu Qinglian also staring at that Christmas tree.
The moment they walked indoors, Zhang Shutong let out a breath.
Even when wearing very thick clothes, a long bike ride would still be cold. Rather, the climate on the island was just like that; it was fine when the sun rose, but once night fell, the cold wind would seep bit by bit into the gaps of a person's bones.
He breathed a puff of warm air into his palms. Food stalls were set up on both sides, selling tea eggs, grilled sausages, and candied haws. Only now did Zhang Shutong remember they hadn't eaten dinner yet.
"Want to eat?" He pointed at the tea eggs and asked Lu Qinglian.
"First explain the reason." Lu Qinglian was also gently rubbing her hands together.
"I remember they go on discount after six o'clock—three yuan for two."
Lu Qinglian cast a gaze that was colder than the winter wind.
Zhang Shutong stopped joking and said seriously:
"I specially chose this place because of the crowds. If we ran to a sparsely populated area, I'm conversely afraid he wouldn't follow. So, are you eating or not?"
"You'd better have a sense of urgency."
That meant she was eating.
Zhang Shutong held up two fingers, then explained:
"Qing Yi is still on the way, and that person doesn't plan to make a move. Since that's the case, we might as well treat it as a casual stroll."
Lu Qinglian let out a sigh and turned to walk over to a grilled sausage stall. Stalls like this were set up by the mall staff. The salesgirl asked her which kind of sausage she wanted—Taiwanese style or volcanic stone grilled. Zhang Shutong highly doubted whether she could understand. Sure enough, Lu Qinglian pointed to a pure meat sausage that had already split from grilling:
"This one."
Perhaps because it was a "treat," she chose the one that looked the most expensive.
"Five yuan."
"Just give it directly to him."
Lu Qinglian asked for another starch sausage.
Zhang Shutong said helplessly:
"That... do you want to swap? Actually, there's no need to do this."
"I'm used to it."
"Used to what?"
"It's about the same as me feeding the foxes," she said casually. "Those are ham sausages too."
Zhang Shutong didn't catch the drift for a moment. Is she saying I'm being fed like a fox?
The two of them exchanged the grilled sausage and tea egg and walked toward the supermarket.
"First time here?" Zhang Shutong pushed a small cart.
"First time."
Come to think of it, this mall had only been open for five or six years. Zhang Shutong thought again that even when feeding ham sausages to the foxes, Lu Qinglian bought them one by one.
"Have you been saving money all along?" Zhang Shutong asked, promptly realizing he had asked a useless question. Of course, given Lu Qinglian's character, she might say my relationship with you hasn't reached the point of inquiring about this kind of matter.
To his surprise, she nodded her chin, not denying it.
"Looking at it this way, I can't treat you often," Zhang Shutong muttered. "Every time I treat you, you return the favor. Before long, that little bit of allowance of yours will be gone."
"Then don't treat me," she said cleanly and decisively.
Zhang Shutong shrugged, and the two pushed the cart around aimlessly in the supermarket. He had nothing to buy himself, so he asked Lu Qinglian if she wanted to buy some daily necessities, and the answer was naturally that she didn't need any.
Moreover, she had given her word beforehand, so it wasn't easy for Zhang Shutong to take it upon himself to act arbitrarily. They quickly walked past the toiletries section, the wheels of the shopping cart rattling loudly against the floor. He pointed to a plate of sliced oil pancakes again and asked:
"Want to eat?"
Before Lu Qinglian could speak, Zhang Shutong added:
"It's a sample, free of charge. This doesn't count as my treat."
Just now, he had relied on his memory to find the deli section. He remembered that during events, there would always be a dedicated sampling area here—braised meat, scallion oil pancakes, smoked sausages, roast chicken, and so on, sliced up and placed on a plate. If no one ate them, they would eventually be thrown away anyway.
He extended the toothpick in front of Lu Qinglian. After a two-second stalemate, Lu Qinglian finally took it, saying with a headache:
"Don't forget the proper business."
Just then, a salesgirl came running over in a hurry, saying, "Handsome guy, beautiful girl, do you want to buy some?"
"Uh oh," Zhang Shutong looked at Lu Qinglian.
"What?"
"Actually, I told a lie just now," Zhang Shutong explained in a low voice. "Although it's a sample, you have to buy it after sampling. This is an unwritten rule of the mall. Of course, if you aren't noticed by anyone, you can slip away, but look—in a situation like this, we've been spotted."
With that, Zhang Shutong turned his face:
"Give me ten yuan's worth."
Zhang Shutong carried the oil pancakes and walked a few steps, then turned his head back with delayed realization:
"My mom isn't home, and I can't finish it all by myself. It won't taste good if kept until the next day. Help me share some of the burden?"
Lu Qinglian looked at him helplessly.
The two of them ate the oil pancakes as they stepped onto the escalator leading to the second floor. Dinner was more or less settled.
Zhang Shutong lowered his gaze, and a familiar brown hat entered his line of sight.
He glanced at his phone again. Qing Yi had already retrieved the statue and was currently rushing toward the mall.
Just then, the phone rang, but it belonged to Ruoping.
Zhang Shutong blanked out for a moment and hurriedly answered the call.
"Is it convenient to talk?" the young girl asked in a small voice.
"What's wrong?"
"What exactly did you and Qinglian go do?" Ruoping's eyes could be felt twitching right through the screen. "My friend just called me and asked if the two of us are dating..."