Winter Time Rendering

Chapter 11: Chapter 3: The Young Lady on the Island and the Penguin (3)

Zhang Shutong bit the inside of his cheek and turned to leave.

’I should really drag Du Kang over here to see what real aloofness looks like.’

...

However, what he didn’t expect was that shortly after he left, Lu Qinglian also entered the classroom.

The girl first gathered the homework from the desks. Then, she walked over to the seat of her classmate, Zhang Shutong, and glanced around.

"What’s going on? What’s going on?"

A boy with a baby face who was always smiling suddenly popped out eagerly.

It was none other than Du Kang.

"Just get back from shoveling snow?" he asked, trying to make small talk.

"Yeah."

"Is it cold outside?"

"A little."

"Want me to help you next time?"

"That’s okay."

No matter what he said, the girl’s tone remained flat, almost dismissive.

She had planned to wait for Zhang Shutong to return. But since he and Du Kang were best friends, talking to Du Kang was almost the same as talking to Zhang Shutong himself. So, she explained:

"He’s the one who didn’t turn in yesterday’s English homework."

’I remember his grades have always been great, especially in English. He’s the type of guy who has his act together, so it’s rare for him to not turn in his homework.’

"Oh, that..." Du Kang looked awkward.

"He didn’t do it?"

"Uh..."

’So I guessed right.’

"Well, I’ll take this stack over, then. Teacher Song wants them for next class."

To Du Kang’s ears, the girl’s crisp voice sounded like a death sentence. He quickly said:

"Don’t report him! Don’t! I’m sure he did it. Let me find it for you."

The names of anyone who didn’t do their homework were written on a slip of paper and given to the homeroom teacher. He’d been written up once himself.

While other class reps might be swayed by a little pleading, Lu Qinglian never cut anyone any slack.

And the homeroom teacher had a rule: anyone who didn’t turn in their homework was on cleaning duty for a week. The punishment wasn’t severe, but he and his friends had plans after school today, and he couldn’t let cleaning duty get in the way.

’This is what being bros is all about. You save a friend when you can.’

"He did half of it last night, and I remember him saying he would finish it during study hall today. He should be done by now."

Lu Qinglian just found it strange.

’If he didn’t do it, I could just not tell the teacher. Why is he making this so complicated?’

But explaining that would just cause more trouble, so she decided to wait and let him look.

As for Du Kang, his best friend’s backpack was right there on the desk. The two of them weren’t formal with each other—besides, he’d often swiped it to copy homework himself.

He searched for the homework while also scrambling for something to say. It wasn’t every day he got a chance to talk to the girl he had a crush on.

"Guess what my friends and I got up to yesterday?"

"Fishing?"

"Exactly right."

Du Kang snapped his fingers.

"Just in that vacant field south of here, you know the one? I caught five fish, Qingyi caught four. Shutong forgot his gloves, and when he finally hooked a big one, his hand slipped and the fish took off with the rod..."

He was about to stop there, knowing that few girls were interested in fishing, especially someone as quiet as Lu Qinglian. He was already racking his brain for a new topic.

But to his surprise, her voice held a trace of curiosity.

"And then what?"

Du Kang perked up.

"We just went home when it got dark. Oh, right! Do you like crucian carp? I could bring you one sometime."

"That’s okay. I was asking what happened after his hand slipped."

"Oh, that part’s pretty funny too. Shutong got all worked up about it and insisted on going back to get a tent. We couldn’t talk him out of it. If it hadn’t been snowing so much and getting so cold at night, he wouldn’t have even finished half his homework..."

Lu Qinglian nodded and fell silent.

’So that’s what happened.’

She lowered her gaze, looking at the crack on the palm of her hand.

That must have been on Monday.

She and the boy named Zhang Shutong had been assigned to move books.

The textbooks were in stacks, tied with plastic straps.

As she lifted a stack, the plastic strap cut her hand. She lost her grip, and it fell to the floor.

The boy glanced back.

"What happened?"

"The cold."

"Don’t you have any gloves at home?"

"They’re wool. They’re too much trouble when I’m shoveling snow."

"Oh."

He picked up the stack of books from the floor, and the conversation ended there.

When school let out that afternoon, someone walked up to her desk.

It was the same boy. He didn’t look at her, his tone feigning nonchalance as he stared out the window.

"Here. Take these."

A pair of flashy-looking gloves was handed to her.

Then the boy added seriously:

"But don’t forget to give them back in a couple of days. I need them for fishing."

From the beginning of the school year until now, their conversations had only ever consisted of a few sparse sentences like these.

Lu Qinglian snapped out of her memories just in time to hear Du Kang wondering aloud:

"Wait, where’s his homework? Doesn’t he usually keep it in the inner pocket of his backpack? Oh, right! I saw him take a pile of stuff to the bookshelf after class. Hang on, I’ll go check there."

Naturally, he found it without a problem. Du Kang carefully pulled out a blue workbook—mainly because he was afraid of knocking over the building-block castle on top of the bookshelf.

Then, with a smile of relief, the boy handed the workbook to Lu Qinglian.

"Sorry for the trouble."

"No problem," Du Kang said, grinning foolishly as he watched her walk away.

’He’d saved his best friend from cleaning duty and gotten to talk to Lu Qinglian. It was a classic win-win.’

Besides, there was an even more exciting event to look forward to—

They were changing seats next class, and according to what he and Shutong had planned...

At that thought, Du Kang left the classroom and spotted his best friend by the restroom door.

Flushed with his success, he couldn’t resist clapping his friend firmly on the shoulder.

"Bro, no need to thank me!"