Winter Returns

Chapter 61 "Tattoo"

Zhang Shutong finally realized the problem—

Why has this island not developed much at all?

Not only is the commercial street still there, but the layout of the island hasn't changed much as he's walked along it. There are ferries without cabins, only buses, desolate suburbs, and urban areas that look like tofu blocks... According to the business plan that Gu Qiumian's father originally planned, wasn't the goal to turn this place into a tourist attraction?

Where is the shopping mall? Where is the resort? And where is the five-star hotel?

Why did Gu Jianhong stop developing the island?
Zhang Shutong hurriedly turned around, but Ruoping and Dukang had already gone inside.

The two of them ordered food in the lobby. The place was exactly the same as it had been eight years ago, with no renovations. The white walls were covered with a thick layer of grease, and the wooden tables and chairs were patinaed. A floral cloth was placed on the table, and a layer of tempered glass was placed on top of it. Even the glass was covered with grease stains that could not be wiped off. The proprietress was still the same plump woman, chatting and laughing with Ruoping.

She said, "Girl, it's been so long since you've been back! You've grown up so much, becoming more and more beautiful." Ruoping smiled and said, "Auntie is getting younger and younger too. I feel like you're even more energetic than before." The proprietress then said, "Oh, you still have such a sweet tongue. Auntie will add an extra dish for you later..."

Zhang Shutong wanted to go directly to ask about the commercial street, but he couldn't get a word in edgewise, so he had to stand aside and wait for a while.

He remembered that when they ate at this restaurant, the four of them first occupied a table. Then Du Kang went to the front desk to get a menu, and the four of them agreed that each of them would order a dish they liked. Ruoping ordered candied sweet potatoes, Du Kang ordered stir-fried shrimp, and Qingyi ordered shredded mandarin fish. When it was his turn, he was always casual about food and suggested that he order hot and sour shredded potatoes, but Ruoping said that he was stingy. So he ordered a dish that all three of them liked, braised pork ribs.

But these days, the "split the bill" system isn't popular anymore. Ruoping stood in front of the menu with her arms crossed and casually named a few dishes. Only then did Zhang Shutong realize that she was wearing high heels today, giving her a very strong businesswoman vibe.

Du Kang leaned closer to her and whispered, "This won't work. Listen to me, you should choose another one..." But she glanced at him and retorted, "Are you going to treat me or me? Stop arguing and go find a table to sit at by yourself."

The two must have a good relationship, otherwise they wouldn't have spoken so casually. Zhang Shutong wanted to take this opportunity to catch up with Du Kang, but Du Kang glanced at him, then pouted and headed towards the toilet.

Zhang Shutong knew he had no room to interrupt Ruoping, and he was about to find a table to sit down when the proprietress recognized him and said with a smile, "Young man, Auntie still remembers you! You've gotten more and more handsome after all these years! Do you remember that time you didn't have enough money to pay the bill, and you couldn't get through to your friend on the phone, and then..."

Zhang Shutong certainly remembered. The proprietress had a really good memory; she remembered his only embarrassing moment. It was really not worth it to be short by just twenty yuan.

But then she thought, maybe it wasn't me who impressed her, but rather when Gu Qiu Mian said she would treat everyone, that young lady stretched out a hand from behind her, and even though it was just a simple meal with only four dishes, a stack of red banknotes floated lightly from between her fingers, calm and bold, stunning the henchmen next to her and also the proprietress. I was just the one who was remembered incidentally.

Zhang Shutong could only nod and greet the other party.

When he pulled out a chair and sat down, he realized that he had unconsciously chosen the exact same spot—the same spot they had sat in the day after the poacher incident when they came here for a "victory celebration."

Of course, only he remembered such a small thing. Soon after, Ruoping pulled out a chair and sat opposite him. Du Kang also came back from the toilet. The two of them sat on one side, while Zhang Shutong sat on the other side. Their relationship was obvious at a glance.

Du Kang turned around and called the proprietress to bring some beer. After calling her, he asked Ruoping if she could drink today. Ruoping replied, "Who are you looking down on? How about we switch to baijiu? You can't go back until you're passed out."
Du Kang shrank back and said, "Forget it, I can't outdrink you." This time, the "white" they were talking about really meant liquor. They were no longer the laughing and joking teenagers of fifteen or sixteen. One of them shouted for some white liquor, while another, like a female knight-errant, slammed her hand on the table and said, "I'll take responsibility if anything happens." Then she turned around and ordered four bottles of nutritional drinks.

Zhang Shutong poured himself a glass of water and drank it silently. He had just glanced subconsciously into the hall; several square tables were neatly arranged there, this time not pushed together. Just like there was no "Nutritional Express" drink here, nor was there the girl drinking yogurt.

He finally got his chance to gather information. Zhang Shutong got up and poured them both a glass of water. He looked around nostalgically and asked why the commercial street was still there.

It was already dark outside, and wisps of steam rose from the hot water in the white porcelain cup. Zhang Shutong looked at their expressions through the steam, hoping that the conversation would go smoothly.

The two exchanged a glance and fell silent. Finally, Ruoping broke the silence first, staring at the tablecloth on the table:

"What else could it be? The big boss doesn't want to invest anymore."

"What's the reason?" Zhang Shutong pressed.

Ruoping didn't answer. At this moment, Du Kang frowned and looked at him:
"What exactly did you come here for today?"

Zhang Shutong himself didn't know either.

He thought he must have come to the island to attend Lu Qinglian's funeral, but he couldn't figure out who had notified him. He had thought it was Ruoping because he had her call on his phone, but later Zhang Shutong looked through his phone and found that he had actually called her.

Why did he come back to the island?
Who informed Lu Qinglian of her death?

These two questions were completely unanswerable, and there was no one to ask them; it was clear that the two people sitting opposite were also unaware of the situation.

Du Kang sneered:
"What's the point of you pretending to be stupid now...?"

But before he could finish speaking, Ruoping slapped him, and he stopped talking.

Zhang Shutong could only bury his head in his water, wondering how he had become such an unpleasant sight. Soon, the dish was served—stir-fried shrimp. Ruoping spoke up then, picking up her chopsticks and nudging Du Kang with her elbow:
"Your favorite, don't just stand there."

Du Kang muttered to himself:

"I told you this restaurant's stir-fried shrimp isn't as good as it used to be, it's seriously deteriorated. Besides, if I like it, can't I just cook it myself? Why waste this money..."

"Can't I do it?" Ruoping slammed her chopsticks down.

"Fine, fine, if you want to, you want to. You're the eldest sister, who dares to disobey you..."

He picked up a shrimp, chewed it twice listlessly, and then...

"It's definitely different from before, you should try it."

"Really? They look exactly the same to me, is it really that hard to believe?" Ruoping took a bite, still skeptical, and after a while sighed, "Consider it a mistake, I'll definitely avoid it next time..."

She swallowed her words again, and Zhang Shutong understood what she meant—there would be no next time.

He also picked up a little, but couldn't taste anything different. Of course, it's also possible that his taste buds were a bit dull. The three of them ate the shrimp in silence. The restaurant wasn't busy today, with only a few tables of customers. Soon, the second dish was served: candied sweet potatoes.

Ruoping took one bite and then stopped eating.

“I knew I should have listened to you,” she said to Du Kang.

"I told you so. I've been here before, and I know exactly what's good and what's bad."

The beer had already been brought out, and the proprietress kindly helped open three bottles, but they remained untouched on the corner of the table.

Ruoping thought the food was unpalatable, so she poured herself a glass of wine and poured some for Dukang as well. Seeing this, Zhang Shutong poured himself a little. The three of them held their wine glasses, and when the bottom of the glass was just a centimeter away from the table, they put it down in unison.

Today is not the right time to say "cheers".

All I can do is drink alone in silence.

Having not seen each other for many years, classmates naturally had plenty to talk about. Soon, Ruoping's face turned rosy. She started by talking to Du Kang about Qingyi, saying that heartless guy always said he was working overtime, and wondered why he wasn't working himself to death. Du Kang chuckled and said that's how men are, naturally prioritizing work... But he fell silent at this point. The guy who always talked about men was absent today. Although his understanding of men was quite flawed, when it came to those two words, no one seemed to be as convincing as him.

Du Kang also said that Qingyi is no longer a chuunibyou (a person with delusions of grandeur). He is now a white-collar worker in an office building, an elite STEM guy. Once when he came back to visit his grandmother, I invited him to go fishing, but he said he was too busy and had to catch a flight that night. He came and left on the same day.

They started talking about other classmates, deliberately omitting Lu Qinglian's name. Zhang Shutong recognized some of the names, but didn't remember others. Du Kang suddenly said, "Do you remember Li Yipeng? That bastard just got out a while ago."

Ruoping asked, "What's wrong?"
He said he had a college girl as his girlfriend, and she got pregnant. Her parents smashed up his family's shop, and he ended up fighting with his future in-laws. I was stunned when I found out... Ruoping had just raised her cup to her lips when she heard this and laughed so hard she almost dropped it, smudging her lipstick.

Du Kang then asked you how things have been all these years, whether you've been in a relationship, and if you'll bring your boyfriend home so everyone can see him and give you their opinion.

Ruoping kicked him and said, "Get lost, what right do you have to oversee things?"

Du Kang then asked with a grin whether he actually had it or not, and if he was embarrassed...

The atmosphere at the dinner table gradually became harmonious. Just as Ruoping was about to scold him with a smile, a voice suddenly came from across the table:
Where is Gu Qiumian?

Zhang Shutong finally asked.

He had been paying attention to this issue ever since the two of them started talking about their classmates. Logically speaking, since people who couldn't remember each other's names had appeared, there was no reason why Gu Qiu Mian's name would be missing. That young lady was never short of topics of discussion. Besides, her conflict with Ruo Ping had been resolved, so it was not like she would shut up about it.

Unexpectedly, this question caused both of them to put down their glasses, and the smiles on their faces gradually faded.

"What exactly are you trying to say?" Ruoping remained silent for a while.

Zhang Shutong forced a smile and said it was nothing, he just suddenly thought of her and asked how she was doing.
While saying this, she was wondering to herself if the two of them had fallen out again and become a taboo subject.
Not so much...

Ruoping frowned slightly:

"Zhang Shutong, you start acting crazy after a few drinks?"

He subconsciously looked at Du Kang, who was also frowning. Zhang Shutong had no choice but to apologize, saying that he had encountered some problems recently and started to forget things after drinking. He added that his words were incoherent and that he was just curious about what was wrong with her.

"I'm starting to have trouble telling you whether you're being sarcastic or if you're genuinely out of your mind," Ruoping frowned even deeper. "What do you mean?"

"what?"

“We didn’t talk about her before to be considerate of your feelings. If you don’t care about her at all, then I have nothing more to say.” She slammed down her wine glass. “By the way, I was just about to ask you, if you care about her so much, why haven’t you visited her grave even once in the past eight years?”

At the tomb?

Eight years?

"She's dead?" he asked instinctively, no longer caring about his composure, his words tumbling out incoherently, "I... I really can't remember now, my mind is a mess, I'm not deliberately going crazy... When exactly did it happen?"

Ruoping stared intently at his face:

"What happened to you back in our fourth year of junior high?"

Zhang Shutong was completely stunned.

It's not just because of Gu Qiumian's death.

But if Gu Qiumian died in the fourth year of junior high school, then who did he see in the graduation photo?

Zhang Shutong hurriedly pulled out a photo from his pocket, thinking, "Look, isn't this girl with the red scarf Gu Qiumian? Surely nothing supernatural has happened, right?"

He had noticed the red scarf when he was looking at the graduation photos in the car. The girl in the photo had her chin tucked into the scarf, only revealing most of her face. Because he subconsciously thought that Gu Qiumian had been rescued, he didn't look at it much, spending more time figuring out his own situation. But now, when he took out the yellowed and blurry old photo again, he discovered that the face wearing the red scarf in the third row...

It's not Gu Qiu Mian at all!
Instead, it was a completely unfamiliar girl!

Wait, what the hell are you talking about... Zhang Shutong's brain completely shut down, or rather, in an instant, countless possibilities flashed through his mind, various thoughts even slowing down his thinking. Could it be that Gu Qiumian in this timeline has completely disappeared? Replaced by someone else? He was shuddering, but then he remembered that Ruoping had clearly mentioned Gu Qiumian's name just now, so why was that?
He clutched the photo and asked urgently:
"Who is she?"

"A transfer student, huh?" Ruoping's expression became even stranger. "How come you're almost like that amnesiac?"

"Transfer student?"

"It was transferred here shortly after Gu Qiumian passed away."

Zhang Shutong stared at the photo again, only to belatedly realize a problem: the graduation photo was taken in the summer, so why would a normal person be wearing a wool scarf in the summer? He looked closely and realized that it wasn't a scarf at all, but a gauze scarf.

"Then...when exactly did she pass away?"

"That was the day! How could you forget that?"

What day was that?

“December 9th, early Sunday morning,” Du Kang suddenly said, “that’s the day we caught Zhou Ziheng and his son.”

Zhang Shutong suddenly stood up, knocking over the cup beside him. Scalding hot water splashed onto his arm, causing his muscles to shudder for a moment, but he seemed to lose all feeling in pain, only raising his voice:
"Sunday morning, are you sure it's Sunday morning?"

He felt a momentarily dizzy. The lights in the hall weren't bright, but at that moment they made him feel nauseous. He checked again to make sure he hadn't misheard; yes, it was early Sunday morning, not early Monday morning.

But this means that Gu Qiu Mian's death occurred on the night of December 8th or 9th, precisely at the moment the time travel was triggered. But that shouldn't be the case... Didn't she go home?

Two bodyguards from her home came to pick her up. After she finished showering, she called herself in her room and said that she had arranged to have dinner with them on Sunday. So how could she have been murdered at night?
Zhang Shutong suddenly felt a churning in his stomach. He threw himself back onto the stool, the sound drawing the attention of those around him.

He forced out two words through gritted teeth, because he would never be able to forgive himself if he did:
"nanny?"

Ruoping shook her head.

"Who is that?"

“Nobody knows,” she said softly after a long silence.

These four words drained all of Zhang Shutong's strength. He reached into his pocket, wanting to find the pack of cigarettes and light it... but the burning pain in his arm reminded him that he had other things to deal with. Zhang Shutong numbly took off his trench coat. Ruoping handed him a napkin from the side. He knew he should say thank you, but he couldn't say a word.

Underneath his trench coat was a navy blue sweater, and under that was a thermal undershirt. He rolled up the sleeves of his sweater and the undershirt, and subconsciously grabbed a napkin to press against his arm, but then suddenly stopped.

My own arm isn't even my own anymore... No, I should say my arm is different from before, and completely different.

Zhang Shutong was stunned again. His forearm had more obvious muscle lines, and there was a tattoo on the inside. When did he get this tattoo? In this timeline, he not only lived a terrible life, but also became degenerate.
But too many things had surprised him today. Zhang Shutong glanced at the tattoo in silence. He didn't want Ruoping and Dukang to notice its existence. Although the two of them had undoubtedly seen it, it was still better to cover it up. He wiped the water off his clothes and was about to put his sleeve down when Dukang suddenly pushed his hand away.

His eyes were fixed on the tattoo on his arm, and he spoke with a complicated expression:

"So you haven't given up on finding that person all these years..."

"The murderer who killed Gu Qiumian."

(End of this chapter)