Winter Returns

Chapter 18 A Few Things About Tongtong and Mianmian

It is said that large executive sedans are generally over five meters long, and Zhang Shutong suddenly had a piece of useless knowledge in his mind.

Therefore, it is evident that the gate of a school named "Yingcai Junior High School" would not be more than six meters wide.

In front of the gate, which was less than six meters away, a girl named Gu Qiumian got out of the car. Today she was wearing a very stylish light brown dress with gray leggings, but it couldn't hide the slender lines of her calves. Zhang Shutong didn't understand girls' dressing style, but she inexplicably felt a bit of retro vibe.

Like a fashionable girl strolling down the street, every corner of the city is ancient, yet her bright and cheerful aura shines through in every gesture; but this is an island, which should be awakening the vitality of the morning.

Then, the girl's little leather boots stood gracefully on the ground. Gu Qiumian leaned half her body out of the carriage. A cold wind blew by, and she first tightened her wool coat. It was short and khaki, and the collar of the coat clung tightly to her face, which was red from the cold, making her look even more petite.

At that moment, the driver's side window rolled down, and a man's voice drifted out:

"Be happy at school, and if something like that happens again, tell me..."

Gu Qiumian didn't look out the car window, but stared at the school gate, nodding absentmindedly.

Then the man said:

"Daddy's leaving now, Mianmian..."

The girl paused, her brow furrowing and her delicate nose wrinkling. "Oh dear! I told you not to call me that..."

She always liked to add some interjections when she spoke, but it didn't sound pretentious. On the contrary, when she was angry, her momentum weakened and her tone became soft. As she spoke, Gu Qiumian subconsciously turned her head and looked behind her, and her eyes met those of a boy pushing a bicycle.

"You!" the girl gritted her teeth.

"Good morning," the boy said calmly.

After saying that, Zhang Shutong blinked.

Did you just hear something you shouldn't have heard?

She seemed to be saying, "Why are you eavesdropping on me?" But Zhang Shutong really just happened to be passing by.

To be honest, he didn't really mind hearing other people's nicknames; his own nickname was Tongtong, and Tongtong's life went on just fine. But he figured Mianmian herself would mind this, and feel like she couldn't get through the morning like this.
Gu Qiu Mian glared at her beautiful eyes again, opened her mouth as if to say something, but white breath was already coming out of her mouth. In the end, she just stomped her foot hard, glared at someone, and simply ignored the two men, one big and one small, behind her.
She quickly turned her head, the pendant on her hair twirling as she strode away, the small pleats of her skirt fluttering, almost a beat too slow for her.

A man's wry smile came from inside the car window, and Zhang Shutong shrugged.

The Audi started up, leaving a trail of black exhaust fumes in the pristine morning air, seemingly foreshadowing a new school life filled with the smell of gunpowder from the very beginning.

Zhang Shutong then pushed the bike into the school gate. As he locked the bike, he pondered in his mind whether he should call her Mianmian or Meimei because he hadn't actually heard the father and daughter's conversation clearly.
But this matter couldn't be mentioned; if asked, it would be that Tongtong still wanted to live a peaceful life... Suddenly disgusted with himself, Zhang Shutong vowed never to use reduplicated words again.

But whether it's "Mian" or "Mei," it evokes images of sheep, and he presumptuously guessed that this was why Gu Qiu Mian liked to draw sheep.

Outside the teaching building, students on duty were sweeping the floor. The large brooms made of sorghum stalks might not be very suitable for sweeping, but they were perfect for using as weapons. Right now, two boys were slashing at each other, and one was using it as a big knife, rushing forward with shouts of "Wow!"

One of them, positioned under the armpit, fired rapidly. The guy on the other side took two steps, clutched his chest, and collapsed, acting as if it were real.

Every boy has a different image of a broom in his mind. Zhang Shutong was very interested in watching it and originally wanted to express his own opinion, but when he looked at the two students on duty, he suddenly remembered that he had to take on the duty next week because he did not hand in his homework the day before yesterday, and he immediately lost interest.

Speaking of homework, it seems like I didn't do yesterday's either...

Oops.

But then again, the four of them had done something good last night, so they were temporarily in a legitimate position.

So I won't make up for it for now. I hope Lao Song understands.

The pace that was about to quicken slowed down again.

Once you go up the stairs, you can hear the sounds of morning reading coming from the classrooms in the corridor;
He walked into the classroom and saw a boy standing next to his seat. The boy had slightly dark skin and seemed to be called... Zhou something. He only remembered that the boy was Gu Qiu Mian's former deskmate.

Zhang Shutong thought to himself that the two of them really had a good relationship. No wonder he was the man who could tell that Gu Qiumian was drawing a sheep... oh no, the boy. They were catching up so early in the morning, making him feel embarrassed to sit there.

Perhaps it deprives people of the privilege of being fed snacks;

Perhaps it separated the only kindred spirit who could appreciate Gu Qiu Mian;
Zhang Shutong felt he was deeply guilty.

But after watching the boy talk for a while, he showed no intention of sitting down, just standing there holding onto the edge of his desk, muttering something unintelligible. Zhang Shutong looked at him from a different angle and suddenly felt like laughing—

It turns out it wasn't that I didn't want to sit, but that I couldn't sit.

Gu Qiu Mian threw her schoolbag on her seat, creating a natural trench that separated the two of them.

The boy had no choice but to pretend he didn't see it and continue chatting.

Ignoring them, Zhang Shutong looked ahead and saw Lu Qinglian already sitting in her seat. She always arrived earlier than others. She had to walk a mountain road to school every day, and her home was far from the school, so she must have to get up very early.

Is six o'clock enough? By the way, how do we eat on the mountain? Do we cook for ourselves, or buy food on our way to school?

A series of questions popped up, and after thinking about it, he realized none of them were right; it should be a different model—

Lu Qinglian also has a grandmother, right? The old lady only has one precious granddaughter, and she must love her to death. Whether it's TV series, comics or other works, it's very common to see a grandmother and granddaughter who depend on each other for survival.

He guessed that her grandmother must have gotten up early to prepare the meal and then waited for Lu Qinglian to get up and eat. In the morning mist, the old lady and the girl sat under the eaves of the temple, watching the water vapor soaking the green tiles while taking small sips of porridge... It was a very heartwarming scene.

Thinking that Lu Qinglian would also have a very down-to-earth side in the temple, even Zhang Shutong smiled and thought that was quite nice.
Looking at the girl herself, she was sitting there quietly, wearing an ordinary school uniform jacket, with a high ponytail hanging down her back, but it couldn't hide her otherworldly temperament. She held a textbook in her hands, standing in front of her face, her lips slightly parted, as if nothing had happened last night.
It's like saying: Although I dealt with an armed robber with great power yesterday, it doesn't stop me from studying hard this morning... Zhang Shutong always felt that she exuded this kind of aura, and he felt that even magical girls couldn't compare.

He glanced at a few people, not in a hurry to go back. He had other things to do. He walked to the bookshelf and started flipping through his documents, but still couldn't find Lu Qinglian's history notes.

I felt inexplicably guilty. She loves learning so much, and I ended up losing her notes. That's really bad.

When she returned to her seat, just as she was about to remind the boy to move aside and ask if she could strike up a conversation with Miss Gu at another time, she overheard their conversation:

"I just wanted to tell you..."

"Don't take it lightly..."

"I really saw it..."

The boy lowered his voice, but Gu Qiu Mian didn't listen at all. At first, she was packing her schoolbag and would occasionally give a perfunctory "hmm." Later, she took out her textbooks and started reading aloud, and then she stopped doing even the last thing.

Finally, he put down his textbook, frowned, and said bluntly:
"Are you done?"

"I……"

"I need to study."

At this point, she stopped using any modal particles and spoke each sentence crisply and clearly, like a small, sharp silver knife cutting straight into a piece of butter.

Butter walked away awkwardly, not even as good as Du Kang, who at least knew to struggle.

Seeing this, Zhang Shutong thought to herself that the days ahead would be very peaceful. Her deskmate and the girl sitting to her left and right were both quiet girls, and nothing was better than being quiet.

He watched the boy leave, pulled out a chair, and knowing that Miss Gu was in a bad mood, he simply didn't bother to say hello. Just as he was about to sit down, he saw Gu Qiumian, who had just been saying "I need to study," suddenly put down her textbook and glared at Zhang Shutong again.

Zhang Shutong was a little puzzled, thinking to himself, "Why are you glaring at me instead of that Zhou guy?"

Could it be because of her nickname? It seems this matter has really hurt Mianmian a lot.

Zhang Shutong couldn't figure out what she was thinking, but it was always good to say hello:
"morning……"

Zhang Shutong was about to speak when Gu Qiumian interrupted him. At that moment, the small silver knife transformed into scissors, making a snip-snip sound.
"It's not early at all, why are you so slow!"

"slow?"

"Didn't I see you at the school gate just now?"

The girl, disgruntled, picked up her schoolbag to make room for him and demanded an explanation:

"If you had come earlier, I wouldn't have had to listen to his nagging!"

I've been working on the outline these past couple of days, so the word count for each chapter is a bit low. It will be back to normal tomorrow.

Thank you so much to reader "BookFriend20180504065659332" for the generous donation!
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(End of this chapter)