Why would there be a fox here?!
Zhang Shutong widened his eyes in absolute disbelief.
But he had just confirmed with Lu Qinglian that they hadn't found the whereabouts of a second fox over these past few years.
Yet now, it was actually hidden inside a doghouse?
Hidden right here... with Du Kang?
Two glints of faint light shone in the darkness before him. Zhang Shutong knew those were the dog's eyes staring dead at him. This hound named Zorro seemed to have held only a single duty all these years, which was to guard this fox statue well, not allowing anyone to draw close.
Zhang Shutong took a step back. He dialed Du Kang's number, but after a brief ring, a busy signal came through the receiver.
He looked at the screen in silence, entirely unsurprised by this missed call. Zhang Shutong had always felt that Du Kang and Ruoping were hiding something, but he hadn't expected it to be a fox.
So what should he do?
That smiling fox had caused him to regress five years into the future; what about this one?
Should he carry it straight to the tunnel right now and place it on the altar?
Zhang Shutong immediately dismissed this idea.
He didn't know what lay hidden within this fox. What if it triggered another regression? What point in time would he regress to? Would he still be able to return?
He didn't dare to gamble on any of this.
Zhang Shutong cast another glance around. He had come here riding a scooter, so even if he took the fox, it wouldn't be easy to carry on his person. Furthermore, dealing with that fierce, large dog would also be a bit tricky.
A few seconds later, he sorted out his train of thought.
At this exact moment "five years later," where this fox was didn't matter. What mattered was five years ago—figuring out why it was here in the first place.
The answer lay with Ruoping and Du Kang.
Zhang Shutong hesitated no longer, sending another message to Du Kang. In truth, Zhang Shutong didn't harbor expectations that he would actively reply; the closest person was Ruoping.
But he held up his phone, thought it over, and ultimately put it back down.
Zhang Shutong didn't plan to complicate matters. Since she wasn't yet aware that he had detected an anomaly, it was best not to alert the enemy before Ruoping returned home.
This matter was related to Lu Qinglian's ears; Du Kang harbored guilt toward Lu Qinglian, and Ruoping had hidden something for Du Kang... So what exactly happened back then? He had thought of countless possibilities, both good and bad, and though he was unwilling to dwell on the worst ones, the answer lay right on the surface.
By the time Zhang Shutong snapped back to reality, the wrapper of the ham sausage had been clenched into a crumpled ball in his hand.
He suddenly grew a bit unclear on what attitude he should assume when facing Ruoping. They say a girl changes eighteen times as she grows up; in the blink of an eye, Ruoping had become more mature and beautiful, wearing very graceful dresses and sporting highly fashionable makeup, no longer bustling about like in the past.
She belonged to a similar type as Du Kang—unable to hide things in her heart, with all her joys and sorrows displayed right on her face. She was the kind of person who would be on the verge of crying one moment, and in the next second, if you whispered a joke by her ear, she would burst into a laugh even while tears were still pooling in her eyes, caught between crying and laughing, left with no choice but to chase after you in anger.
Yet she had become so familiar yet so strange. Everyone still remembered each other's hobbies and could crack jokes just like before, but there was always a certain rift inside.
Now, Zhang Shutong understood where the rift lay. It was exactly like this that the two of them had kept a matter hidden for five whole years, unbeknownst to him, unbeknownst to Qingyi, and unbeknownst to Lu Qinglian.
Zhang Shutong seemed to understand why the QQ group chat of the four of them had disbanded; on the contrary, it would be a miracle if it had held together.
He quickly rode his scooter beneath Ruoping's building, first searching for that SUV. It wasn't there, indicating Ruoping hadn't returned yet.
Zhang Shutong entered the door hurriedly.
"Shutong, you're back just in time. I was just about to give Ping'er a call to check..."
Before he could see her, her voice reached him first. Ruoping's mother was cleaning the living room, and hearing him return, she complained again:
"That girl, I don't know what's wrong with her, taking this long just to buy garlic! She was exactly like this in the past—I'd be cooking here and run out of scallions, have her go out to buy some, and she wouldn't return for ages. When I called, she'd be running wild outside with you guys!"
As she spoke, Ruoping's mother laughed. Zhang Shutong could only offer a forced smile. Just as he was about to move his legs upstairs to look for headphones, he heard the woman call out again:
"Shutong, Auntie has to trouble you with another matter..."
"Auntie, please wait a moment, I'm going to grab something!"
He ran up the stairs swiftly, returning to Ruoping's room. Pulling open the desk drawer, Zhang Shutong fished out a tangled mess of headphone cord. He couldn't care less about untangling the cord, leaving the line very short, and plugged it into only a single ear. But when Zhang Shutong pressed the power button of the MP3 player, he found that no matter how he pressed it, there was no reaction.
Dead battery.
Zhang Shutong struck the desk with a heavy fist.
He cursed inwardly. This thing certainly wouldn't have been mailed to him by himself; there was absolutely no reason to jump through so many hoops. Fortunately, he spotted a data cable on the desk. While waiting for the MP3 player to charge, Zhang Shutong let out a sigh, turned around, and went back downstairs.
This was exactly what was inconvenient about staying at someone else's house.
"Sorry about that, I forgot something when I went out just now. What was it, Auntie?"
"Oh, it's nothing, it's nothing, you child are too polite. Could you help Auntie take down that birdcage? I can't reach the hook above, and your uncle went to the scrap yard again."
Zhang Shutong cast a glance; it was exactly that parrot kept on the balcony. Cutting the knot cleanly, he lifted the birdcage down. Perhaps because his movements weren't gentle enough, the parrot was startled by him, fluttering inside the cage as bird feathers drifted along. Ruoping's mother approached to help brush off his clothes:
"Shutong, I see you running back and forth all day today, never taking a break. Do you have other business?"
"Nothing major," Zhang Shutong could only say. "Visited a friend, and went home to grab a few items."
"Auntie used to feel that you were exceptionally busy, how come you're still like this now?" Ruoping's mother cracked a joke. "In the blink of an eye, you guys have grown this tall. Do you still remember back then when you said you'd attend the same high school and the same college? Yet only a few years have passed, and you're the only one who returned. True enough, the words spoken in childhood cannot be taken seriously."
Ruoping's mother couldn't help but feel somewhat sentimental.
"...Do you and Uncle not know what happened between her and Du Kang either?" Zhang Shutong seized the opportunity to ask. He couldn't extract an answer from Qingyi, but as parents, perhaps they could provide a different perspective.
"I'm baffled too. They were having a perfectly fine dinner the day before. The two of us were going to the commercial street for dinner that night, and Du Kang insisted on coming along with us." Du Kang was a child she had watched grow up, so she didn't need to overthink her phrasing. The woman laughed and scolded, "This mixed-up kid used to be completely mindless, but now he knows how to be shy too."
Zhang Shutong froze. He hadn't expected that from her mother's perspective, it looked like this:
"Do you know Lu Qinglian?"
"Oh, that girl who serves as a shrine maiden, right? Ping'er used to look up to her so much back then. What a pity."
"Did something happen back then that was related to her? I mean between Ruoping and Du Kang, especially Du Kang?"
"Probably not... Oh, wait, it seems there really was," the woman realized suddenly. "That day, you guys went out to play together, and that girl was among you too."
"And then?"
"And then," the woman hesitated too, "I genuinely don't remember how it could be connected to her. If you mean her ears being bad, Auntie does know about that. Ping'er cried several times over it... It was also from that time onward that the two of them suddenly grew distant."
The woman thought about it:
"Mm, actually, I can't really say distant either. Previously, Ping'er acted toward her like a fan chasing a celebrity, telling me there was a classmate in her class who was beautiful, mature, kept up great grades, and was highly independent—most importantly, she was very good at fighting. She praised her up and down like a flower. So I told her to go make friends with her and learn more from her. Then, out of nowhere one day, Ping'er stopped bringing her up. When I asked a few more questions, only then did I find out that the girl's ears had been injured."
"Speaking of which, thinking about it now makes it feel quite strange too."
The woman said in confusion:
"Ping'er was quite concerned about her. Didn't your uncle get transferred to teach at the high school in the county back then? He even asked her dad about how to get a tuition waiver, and if it wasn't enough, whether our family could help pool some money... I thought this was a good thing, but Ping'er acted as if she was harboring some massive secret, unable to sleep or eat well during that period. You know too—not that Auntie is bragging about her—she's been a kind child since she was little, but it shouldn't go so far as to cause herself this much torment over a classmate's ears getting injured... Shutong, do you know what's going on?"
"I don't know either." Zhang Shutong spoke words that didn't reflect his true thoughts. He couldn't describe what his mood was like; it was the outcome he was least willing to guess, yet it was practically a near-certain match.
In fact, the answer lay right on the surface.
Du Kang had done a certain thing that caused Lu Qinglian's ears to go deaf, likely unintentionally. It just so happened that Lu Qinglian was in the dark, he was in the dark, and Qingyi was in the dark, yet it had been found out by Ruoping alone.
Perhaps she was soft-hearted and didn't want to expose Du Kang, or perhaps she worried that speaking out would mean everyone could no longer be friends in the future, so she had continuously helped keep it hidden for the counterpart. But they had ultimately broken up in the end anyway.
Why did Ruoping always appear a bit evasive whenever Du Kang was brought up? Why did she visit Lu Qinglian every year? Why did she and Du Kang suddenly "cut ties"? Why did Du Kang refuse to return to the island or answer phone calls?
So it was because of this.
The air conditioning was very cold, yet Zhang Shutong felt a strand of flame burning in his heart. He suddenly felt a bit unable to stay here, wanting to find Ruoping right now to clear things up.
"Sigh, forget it, so many years have passed already." Ruoping's mother shook her head. "I just feel it's quite a pity. You guys played so well together back then, the four of you practically glued together—you had to eat together, fish together, and go everywhere together, yet you drifted apart without any clear explanation. Especially with Du Kang; I remember the two of them even had a big argument at home later. I stepped inside the door and was startled, almost thinking Du Kang was bullying her..."
"It's impossible to stay gathered together forever."
Zhang Shutong managed to squeeze out this single sentence after a long pause.
"True." These words left Ruoping's mother somewhat melancholy. "Gatherings and partings; in the future, the two of you will gather less and less too."
"How about you help persuade Ping'er in a bit?"
Ruoping had inherited the woman's bustling personality. A moment ago, her mother had been frowning, but in the next second, she smiled and said:
"She has an awkward disposition too. In fact, I can tell she really wants to have a meal with you old friends; otherwise, why run out in the dead of night to buy green peppers? I asked her back then if she absolutely had to eat these green peppers, and she said she absolutely had to. You're usually such an easygoing person, but when you finally have a favorite dish, of course she has to go out to buy it."
These trivial words entered Zhang Shutong's ears, causing him to hesitate for a moment and withdraw his gaze from the window.
When speaking with her mother, he had been distracted all along, waiting from the balcony for the arrival of that SUV. A moment ago, he wanted to rush straight into the car to ask about everything clearly, but in the next second, he thought about how it couldn't be that easy. Once Ruoping returned, she would definitely be urged to go eat. At the dining table? Even more inappropriate.
Inside the kitchen, the wrapped dumplings were neatly arranged on the cutting board. Zhang Shutong even saw a steel basin containing marinated shredded pork, just waiting for the green peppers to arrive before it could hit the pan.
He seemed to understand that expression of anger and grief on everyone's faces on the Cold-Blooded Line.
Zhang Shutong pulled out his phone; Du Kang still hadn't replied to his message, as if he had vanished from the face of the earth.
Following the sound of a door opening, Zhang Shutong turned his head instantly, but it was Ruoping's father who had returned.
"Instead of bringing Shutong to sit on a chair, what are you standing on the balcony chatting about?" The man looked left and right. "Where's Ping'er?"
"I got so caught up in chatting with Shutong... Ah, how did it get this late?" Her mother looked at the time, her eyebrows instantly arching up exactly like Ruoping's. "I see this girl is trying to rebel. Why is she still wandering around outside? In this wide world, what matter can be greater than eating a meal together? No way, I'm going to call her right now..."
Yes, what matter can be greater than gathering together to eat a meal?
Zhang Shutong thought silently to himself.
He suddenly didn't want to wait on the balcony anymore. What he wanted was an outcome, not an answer. As long as he cleared up the truth and avoided repeating the same mistakes, that would be enough, rather than interrogation and venting.
Zhang Shutong told himself this in his heart.
He suddenly felt a bit uncomfortable, preferring to be told that it was the fault of that fox. Zhang Shutong would rather believe that the fox was like a demonic spirit capable of possessing people, clouding human minds, which was why Ruoping and Du Kang had chosen to act this way.
Zhang Shutong prepared to go back upstairs to stay for a while.
As he was leaving, her mother called out:
"Shutong, trouble you to carry the birdcage up too? The air conditioning down here is running too cold, just place it inside that utility room."
Zhang Shutong nodded, lifting the parrot as he went upstairs.
"Shutong! Shutong!"
Such a chattering, noisy sound echoed by his ear.
He let out a sigh and looked at the parrot, finding himself annoyed by an animal for the very first time. Zhang Shutong was in no mood to tend to a bird either; he returned straight to Ruoping's room, placing the parrot right by his feet.
The MP3 player had charged to less than one bar of battery, but now his urgency regarding the truth wasn't that pressing anymore. On the contrary, he didn't know what kind of attitude he should adopt when facing them, whether five years later or five years ago.
Zhang Shutong laid everything out on the table piece by piece. He first looked at that wooden plaque carved with "Hope Qinglian's ears get better soon," and another doubt was readily resolved.
No wonder the two of them hadn't hung the wooden plaque up.
And how could they possibly hang it up?
Zhang Shutong looked at that group photo on the desk, perhaps one of the few photos from their fourth year of middle school. The young boys and girls in the photo were expressionless, and the two usually most optimistic people both had their eyes lowered.
He then looked at Ruoping's small bed. Hearing her mother's words, she had cried many times; what kind of mood did she harbor as she tossed and turned? And what about Du Kang? Since he wrote "sorry, sorry"... why bother in the first place?
Perhaps they had lived in guilt all these years. Everyone had their own secrets in their hearts, and Zhang Shutong had no right to judge anything, but secrets were different too. Some were like a shadow, gradually eating away at your inner heart, growing larger and larger until they swallowed you whole.
Zhang Shutong fished a photo out from his phone. It was taken on the ferry when they went to the city to play. He had kept it after all these years. In the photo, Ruoping, Du Kang, and Qingyi stood together. She was between the two boys, holding up rabbit ears over their heads while laughing radiantly. The two boys didn't dare to voice their anger; Qingyi turned his face away with a bitter expression, while Du Kang bared his teeth, looking ready to retaliate.
Why did things turn out like this? Zhang Shutong thought abstractedly. He was still unwilling to believe it. Perhaps some hidden truth lay behind this that he hadn't discovered, but where was the clue?
At this moment, the MP3 player finally lit up with one bar of battery. He put on his headphones.
There was only a single file inside, perhaps a recording or something similar. He had made a prediction beforehand; no matter how cruel the words were, he could listen to them quietly.
Zhang Shutong pressed the play button. Following a burst of static, the first musical note drifted into his ear, and he froze for a moment.
It was a woman singing a cappella.
"Look, look, look for a friend, find a good friend..."
Looking for a friend?
Why was it "Looking for a Friend"?
Zhang Shutong was startled at first, and then a wave of chill rose in his heart. He didn't know the sender's intent, nor did he recognize the sender's voice, but didn't all of this feel too coincidental?
Delivering the MP3 player into his hands at the exact right moment, and playing a children's song like "Looking for a Friend" at the exact right moment.
"Bow and shake hands, we are all good friends..."
Zhang Shutong snapped back to reality. Amidst the familiar melody, he didn't know whether to laugh or curse. The object regarded as a critical clue turned out to be a children's song; what was it trying to express? Go find his friends quickly?
But out of his only three friends, one hadn't shown his face, one had hidden a highly important matter from everyone, and the remaining one was no different from a turtle hiding in its shell.
Yes, they were his best friends, yet they chose deception among best friends. He remembered that the small group chat of the four of them had a very eighth-grader name; we were clearly The Four, so how could I fail to see through it when you lied?
In reality, from the very first moment Zhang Shutong met Ruoping, he had felt that something was a bit off about her.
In that case, why hadn't the past version of himself seen through it back then?
Zhang Shutong thought suddenly.
He seemed to have finally caught onto that key point, the most important clue on this timeline... Why hadn't the past version of himself seen through the anomaly in Du Kang and Ruoping? Was it because the two of them hid it so well and possessed such deep calculation?
Logically speaking, this level of concealment should have been seen through long ago!
Where exactly did the problem lie? Where exactly was it?
Do you remember what Qingyi said?
At the point in time when the two cut ties, absolutely nothing had happened; it was exactly the night they went to the tunnel to clear debris and Ruoping met up with them.
But what did Ruoping's mother say?
Du Kang had hitched a meal with Ruoping's family!
Zhang Shutong had instinctively treated her mother's account as just another ordinary day—the two had just shared a meal, and the next day, they split up for no apparent reason.
But he had continuously overlooked one thing. If the day of "cutting ties" mentioned by Qingyi and her mother were treated as the exact same day—
In his own memory, there should have been lights on at Ruoping's house that night, but no one home!
Du Kang and Qingyi had clearly gone beneath her building to find her, and he had even spoken with Du Kang. How did it turn into the counterpart looking for Ruoping's family to hitch a meal?
Zhang... Shutong finally realized that something was wrong.
At this moment, the singing in his headphones shifted, turning into an eerie tune:
"Look, look, look for a fox, find a small fox. Bow and shake hands, it gazes at you sorrowfully..."
"A pair of ears, a single leg. The change is hidden within the past~"