Winter Returns

Chapter 16 Fate Cannot Be Defied

"because of you……"

Being gazed at by those peach-blossom-like eyes, Zhang Shutong felt her breath slow down.

Then, the girl suddenly tilted her head and finished the sentence, puzzled:

"Because you said that everything must be done according to your command, and that no matter what happens, we must hide well."

Her tone was so earnest, like a penguin struggling to swim ashore only to find a giant white bear passing by in bewilderment.

"Or have I misunderstood?"

Zhang Shutong choked. He seemed to have said something similar, but nobody knew you were such a good fighter?
He bit down on the soft flesh in his mouth:

"That wasn't the case back then..."

Before she could finish speaking, Zhang Shutong was surprised to find that Lu Qinglian's perpetually expressionless face suddenly became a little more lively; but it really was just a little bit.

Her small lips curved slightly, forming a subtle arc that vanished in an instant.

Looking again, the girl had regained her indifferent expression, turned around and left straight away, as if the scene just now was just an illusion caused by fatigue.

Zhang Shutong watched her back. She walked with her back straight, but unlike ordinary girls, she didn't walk with her hands behind her back, taking the most romantic steps in the prime of her youth.
Girls who walk like that often wear pretty dresses and tight jeans, radiating an energetic and positive aura.

But Lu Qinglian didn't have any of these; Zhang Shutong had only ever seen her in her school uniform and green robe.

She always seemed to hover between those two extremes.

But Zhang Shutong also thought of strawberry-flavored milk, Oreo cookies with fillings, and fish swimming happily in a bucket. These images pieced together to outline the shape of an iceberg hidden beneath the sea surface.

They soon reached the foot of the mountain.

The mountain was majestic, and every few steps one could see withered trees. A light mist lingered around people. Zhang Shutong escorted Lu Qinglian to the entrance of the mountain.

The snow at the entrance had not yet melted, reflecting a cold, silvery light under the moonlight. The cold light faintly illuminated the mountain path, which was winding and rugged, with pitch-black sections that made it impossible to see the way ahead.

In the darkness of night, it seemed like an entrance to another world.

In the stillness, Zhang Shutong handed her the flashlight, but the girl shook her head and refused.

So they said goodbye;

Leave.

……

I got home around nine o'clock.

I called a few close friends to let them know I was safe.

He locked his car and looked at the gray walls of the dormitory road, which still looked the same as he remembered.

Zhang Shutong is familiar with his house. While others are at most familiar with their beds, he also needs to be familiar with the house itself. Only in this way can he know where he is when he opens his eyes every day.

The hallway has motion-activated lights that turn on when you cough. Zhang Shutong thought that Gu Qiumian's father must be a bit of a romantic, otherwise why would he install warm yellow light bulbs?

The handrail of the cement staircase had been freshly painted, and a faint smell of iron and paint wafted into Zhang Shutong's nostrils. He used to find this smell annoying, but now he took a few more breaths.
From a scientific perspective, it probably releases an aromatic hydrocarbon, which some people like and some people hate, but he just feels that there is no reason for it.

It's more accurate to say that a part of a person's memory is sealed away by smell. You may have long forgotten what happened in a certain year, month, and place, but one day you smell a certain scent, and it suddenly connects to your nerves, becoming so clear.

The feeling of home is somewhat cold and distant.

He pushed open the door and turned on the light. Of course, no one was inside. His parents were usually too busy to be home, so they certainly wouldn't have guessed what had happened to their son, but Zhang Shutong was already used to it.

He casually turned on the small color TV at home, held the remote control for a while before pointing it at the receiver, and the characters on the screen immediately started shouting their lines. He didn't watch TV, but just felt that the living room was a little more lively.

My phone buzzed. I opened the group chat and saw it was Ruoping. She sent me a picture of a bowl on the dining table with sweet porridge made with red dates and white fungus. She said she didn't mean anything by it, she just wanted to show you my mom's cooking skills and make you all drool.

Qingyi said she was reading in her room, but her dad was watching TV outside, watching a notoriously bad movie that was incredibly noisy.

Du Kang's parents own a restaurant and they never lack food. His father packed a can of fish porridge to take home, along with stir-fried snails and braised beef. Ruoping's attempt to post a picture of the food backfired, and she ended up posting about Du Kang's food online, resulting in him being banned from posting.

Zhang Shutong was also tempted, so he went to the kitchen to rummage around. His refrigerator always smelled very fresh, and he never kept any leftovers. But Zhang Shutong was eager to have some leftovers to eat. After searching for a long time, he finally found half a broken steamed bun in the dim light. He also boiled an egg and added a few drops of vinegar to the pot.

When he was in the first year of junior high school, he figured out a trick to make boiled eggs not taste like chicken droppings. He was very proud of this trick, but later he found that his classmates did not eat boiled eggs at all. They ate fried eggs, scrambled eggs and braised eggs made by their mothers.

Zhang Shutong knew nothing about the latter three. Over the years, he still ate boiled eggs, which were simple and convenient. His skill in boiling eggs had reached perfection.

The water hadn't boiled yet, so he took the opportunity to go back inside and change his clothes;
His room was quite small and sparsely furnished, consisting of only a bed, a wardrobe, and a desk.

There's no particular style or color scheme to speak of, and he doesn't have the habit of putting up posters on the walls like other boys his age. Rather, whatever color the bed sheets are this week, that's the color of his room.

The house has heating, and one thermal undershirt is enough. His face, which was freezing cold, felt a slight burning sensation. He then took his toothbrush and the undershirt to the balcony.

In winter, you need to wring your clothes out thoroughly. By then, the eggs are almost cooked. When you lift the lid, the steam rises and puts you in a pleasant mood.
He swallowed the egg in a few bites, then took a bite of the cold steamed bun and went to the sofa. He actually quite liked the taste of cold steamed buns, and ate while watching TV.

I've actually stopped watching TV a long time ago, but I don't have a computer at home, and the screens on my phone are so small these days, browsing information on that 3.5-inch glass screen is just torture.

I just realized they were showing cartoons on TV.

A bespectacled child crouched behind the sofa, furtively raising the voice changer with a bow tie on his chest.

The plot is already predictable: a primary school student originally named Shinichi Kudo went to play somewhere with his friends, encountered some danger, people died, and then an idiot appeared and presented three suspects to choose from.

Then, the great detective had a flash of inspiration, and the truth came to light.

It was a cliché, but Zhang Shutong watched it with great interest.

Although he started watching from the middle and didn't understand the ins and outs of this episode at all, that wasn't what he cared about. What Zhang Shutong was that he suddenly found that he could understand the anime.

It's not that the work is so obscure that he couldn't understand it back then, but rather that staring at the television at this moment gives him a strong sense of déjà vu.

Why does this situation sound so similar to my own?
One of them was drugged and knocked unconscious by some black organization, causing his body to shrink. In order to investigate the truth, he began to get involved in one incident after another.

One of them was suddenly stabbed at a classmate's funeral, and in a sense, his body shrunk back to eight years ago. He also got involved in a series of events in order to find the murderer.

Conan Edogawa has three friends, two men and one woman, and they are solving a case on the TV.

Zhang Shutong also has three close friends, two men and one woman, and they have already solved the case tonight.

This feeling was really strange—but Zhang Shutong actually saw a documentary-like quality in an animated film.

However, as Zhang Shutong looked around, he noticed something different:
A girl with a cold face and short brown hair pulled the boy aside by the ear. Among a group of children and idiots, the two whispered to each other, saying things that were inappropriate for their age, tacitly out of place with their peers.

This kid actually has a comrade-in-arms who shares the same boat.

Of course, female confidantes and pretty girls aren't important... well, actually they are quite important too;

But the most important thing is that there is someone he can stick with and find comfort in.

It's so important to stick together and support each other. Just like how a cookie sandwiched with cream filling is called an Oreo, otherwise it's just an ordinary chocolate cookie. Can you name a chocolate cookie in ten seconds?

In any case, Zhang Shutong couldn't do it.

This shows that a lonely cookie can only create sparks when it is with another lonely cookie. Before that, they are nothing, thrown on the ground and trampled into pieces, and even treated as dirt on the soles of shoes.

Zhang Shutong found the theory increasingly philosophical and decided to name it the "cookie theory," intending to share it with the other person when he encountered another cookie.

But in reality, it's impossible.

He felt like a chocolate chip cookie, able to meet cheese cookies, soda crackers, or shortbread cookies, becoming best friends with everyone in the cookie army, but you can never become an Oreo... just like Ruoping, Qingyi, and Dukang;
You won't be lonely with your best friends, and you just fought side by side tonight, but are you going to tell them what happened to you?

Perhaps it was because his adrenaline had subsided on the way home, but now he was slumped on the sofa, the light and shadow of the TV screen reflecting on his face. The background music started, and the male lead made a dashing entrance, delivering his lines. He could tell that it was a misheard version of "There is only one truth," but finding out the truth was never like playing house.
The man with the gun, the situation spiraling out of control, still shaken—if two poachers are in this state, who is the real culprit? Will things get even more dangerous in the future? Nobody knows.

Zhang Shutong didn't want to involve the three of them. Since there was nothing more to say, he would have to bear the consequences himself.

Zhang Shutong shook his head, realizing he was being a bit obsessed. Why was he so fixated on being like an Oreo?
Just then, Conan finished his episode, turned off the TV, and the living room returned to its quiet, deserted state.
People in the group were discussing Lu Qinglian. They probably only thought the girl was very good at fighting at the time, but after calming down at home, they realized that she was not just good at fighting, and became even more curious.

Qingyi also did a lot of research and found out that the Green Snake Temple had existed since before the liberation and had a long history. Lu Qinglian's grandmother was also a temple keeper when she was young. After chatting for a while, the three of them belatedly started talking about a question: why did Lu Qinglian come here tonight?

Zhang Shutong has lost interest in this issue.

This reminded him of something else. On the way back, the two of them had a conversation. At that time, Lu Qinglian suddenly said that she had one last question to ask.

"I borrowed your history notes last week, haven't I? I need to use them when I get back."

But he had no recollection of it at all, after all, eight years had passed;

And unlike lending her gloves to shovel snow, although I forgot, a reminder helped me vaguely remember;

But since I couldn't show that I didn't remember, I could only nod and say that I would look for it when I got home tonight.

This incident taught him a lesson—

He didn't think his relationship with Lu Qinglian was good enough to borrow her notes, but the fact that it actually happened showed that people's memories are not necessarily reliable.

Now that I'm back, I shouldn't always interact with people based on my past impressions; otherwise, I'll only restrict myself. Today is December 5th, the first day after my regression. Before going to sleep, I came across a golden quote. Zhang Shutong said goodnight to everyone in the group chat, turned off the lights, and went to sleep.

He was asleep, while the other three were still chatting enthusiastically.

Zhang Shutong: Goodnight
Du Kang: Are you going to sleep already?
Du Kang: Are you really asleep? Are you there?

Qingyi: You forgot that he always silences his phone when he sleeps.
Ruoping: It's not like we won't see each other again when I go back to school tomorrow.
Ruoping: @Qingyi So what do you think of my suggestion? Should we take the initiative to talk to Qinglian tomorrow?
Qingyi: As you wish
Ruoping: How should I put it?
Qingyi: Let's exchange and learn together. Anyway, she's number one. I can ask her about a question I got wrong and borrow her notes.
Du Kang: I advise you two to give up as soon as possible. I've already tried this method.
Ruoping: Why?
Du Kang: She doesn't take notes.

……

The road up the mountain was difficult to walk.

It was pitch black all around; you couldn't see your hand in front of your face.

The road was icy, the rocks were steep, and the dry shrubs were intertwined. The lonely figure walking on the mountain road did not look at his feet.

She walked briskly, as if she knew the way well.

There were no stars in the night sky tonight, only the cool moonlight filtering down little by little, completely blocked by the clouds. Occasionally, a few rays would fall on her fair face, and her eyes would be like the only stars, shining brightly in the darkness.

However, the girl's face remained expressionless.

The temperature is getting lower and lower.

As you walk up the mountainside, you can see lights shining in a courtyard in the distance; that is a temple called Green Snake Temple.

Suddenly, a dark figure darted out—

The shadowy figure was short; it turned out to be a fox. The fox wasn't afraid of people. It came to the girl's legs, gently rubbed its head against her robe, and made a soft whimpering sound.

The arrival of the fox was like a small pebble thrown into an ancient well, causing ripples on the surface.
A mysterious and beautiful sixteen-year-old girl, like a fairy descended from heaven, squatted on a mountain path in winter. The snow beneath her feet was like solidified clouds, and she gently stroked the head of a fox.

The fox just whimpered.

In the past, there were five of these furry creatures. They always frolicked in the mountains and fields in groups, liked to follow the girl's legs, their paws treading across the mountain paths, their noses sniffing the fragrance of grass and trees, carefree and seemingly without any fear.

Now only one remains.

The fox's ear was torn in half, and the dried blood from the wound quickly smeared onto the girl's robe.

"I'm sorry," she whispered after a long pause.

The fox seemed to understand her meaning, and then ran away whimpering.

The girl stood up and waited until the fox's figure disappeared before continuing on her way.

The temple drew closer, until the lanterns hanging on the courtyard wall went out;
Finally, she pushed open the heavy courtyard gate.

The temple is not large; it's only a few dozen steps from the courtyard gate to the temple entrance.

She walked step by step, untying the ponytail that was tied behind her head, her long black hair flowing freely, and her demeanor changed accordingly.

Some of the unique qualities of a young girl have vanished. Her figure remains unchanged, still wearing that long robe, but in just a few dozen steps, she seems to have shed all her disguise. Now, with her long hair cascading down her shoulders, she looks like a mature woman.

Everything seemed to submit to her arrival—

The howling night wind whispered secrets around her;
Wild weeds bowed their heads at her feet;
Even the faint moonlight was completely extinguished;
She gently tossed her long hair, revealing a face devoid of any emotion; in the complete darkness, her eyes were impossible to see.

When she reached the temple again and pushed open the peeling wooden door, the faint candlelight illuminated her face. The already pitifully faint emotions in her eyes had faded, leaving them calm and still, as if she were encased in an old black and white photograph.

Lu Qinglian looked at the altar in front of her.

Eight candlesticks were lit on the altar, but half of them had gone out, barely illuminating the statue of the deity enshrined above.
The statue was a huge green snake sculpture, about two meters tall, but only the body of the snake, carved from camphor wood, could be seen, while the head and tail were hidden in the darkness.

"I'm back," Lu Qinglian said calmly to the empty hall.

A woman's voice suddenly rang out from the side hall next to the statue:
What did you do last night?

The voice sounded like an old woman's; it was hoarse and sounded like a blade slicing through glass or a scorpion's stinger trembling.

"I played with a few children for a while."

Lu Qinglian's voice was no longer as clear and crisp as before; it was as still as water, and not a single movement could be detected.

"What child?"

"Students at the school."

"Is he a child or a friend?" The voice suddenly laughed, sharp and piercing, making no attempt to hide its mockery. "Someone like you has friends?"

"Just a child, not..."

"Lu Qinglian!" the old woman shouted.

"……Yes."

"You're really starting to think of yourself as a student! Don't forget your place!" The old woman's gloomy voice slowly emerged from her throat. "You are a temple keeper!"

"Yes."

"...Your entire life! Besides this mountain, besides serving God! Have no other thoughts, do nothing superfluous! Nothing!"

"Yes."

The old woman wanted to say something more, but she became angry and started coughing violently. When her breathing calmed down, her voice became weak, like a poisonous thorn lurking in the darkness.

Lu Qinglian simply lowered her gaze:
"It's time for you to rest."

The voices in the side hall finally disappeared.

Lu Qinglian relit the extinguished candlesticks, instantly brightening the temple. The green snake's head and tail appeared in the candlelight; it had a flat head that gleamed with a dark golden luster in the candlelight.

The entire body of the green snake was carved from camphor wood, except for the head, which was cast in brass. Over time, even the metal itself has faded a bit.

The green snake had a ferocious expression, with its upper and lower jaws slightly open, revealing fine, sharp fangs;
On either side of the flat snake's head are two eyes inlaid with agate.

It is said that adding the finishing touch to a painting is the best way to describe it, and this applies equally to this green snake. The two agate eyes bring the green snake to life.

However, upon closer inspection, the two agates are not the same color; the one on the right is slightly duller.

If you get closer, you'll see that the snake's right eye was coated with a thin layer of wax.

Lu Qinglian picked off the solidified wax from the snake's eyes with her fingernails, without any surprise.

Because that's what she applied.

As the wax evaporated, tiny specks fell onto the altar, and upon closer inspection of the snake statue's right eye, the agate had cracked.

The wax was used to cover up the cracked snake eyes.

However, the agate cracked not because it had been neglected for a long time, nor was it a defect that was intentionally left in the first place.

It was an accident that happened suddenly this afternoon while she was shoveling snow.

The right eye of the green snake statue, which had existed for over a hundred years, suddenly cracked without warning.

So she went out and did something in the afternoon.

They only came back now.

Lu Qinglian stared at the cracked agate and stood in front of the altar for a long time.

She reached into the lit candlestick without even flinching, and with one finger stained a light red, she lightly applied the snake's eyes before the wax solidified.

Her grandmother stayed in the side hall and wouldn't come out. Even if she did, her old eyesight was failing, and she wouldn't be able to see the wax on the agate.

Only she knows about this for now.

Finally, Lu Qinglian took one last deep look at the green snake's right eye before turning and leaving.

The night wind rushed into the temple gate, and the candlelight in front of the altar flickered precariously.

A sentence my grandmother once said echoed in my mind.

Her hair wasn't gray yet at that time;
She knelt solemnly before the statue and said to herself:

If one day the Green Serpent God's right eye splits open;

That means...

Someone has returned from the future.

(End of this chapter)