Winter Time Rendering

Chapter 18: Chapter 6: Excuse Me, Can We Go Back?

The classroom gradually filled up.

The room was abuzz with chatter.

In the monotony of school life, even something as simple as changing seats was a rare novelty.

They’d all been classmates for four years. A simple "hello" would have done, but some people insisted on shaking hands like they were establishing diplomatic ties.

By contrast, the scene over with Zhang Shutong and Gu Qiuyan was utterly frigid.

Both of them had their heads down, busy organizing their school bags.

Never mind what Gu Qiuyan was up to. Zhang Shutong was genuinely busy. Trying to organize materials from eight years ago was a real chore.

The next class was English. A quick glance around revealed that some students had their English tests out on their desks, which meant the teacher was probably going to review them.

He finally finished organizing his things and pulled out his English test. He felt he’d been dragging his feet, but when his gaze fell on his deskmate, he saw she was *still* tidying up.

Zhang Shutong gave a wry smile. He figured she didn’t want to make conversation with him, but felt it would look stupid to just sit there doing nothing. So, she found something to do to give the impression that she was busy.

While he could understand her logic, he couldn’t help but wonder,

’Aren’t your arms getting tired?’

During the break, he pulled out his test and glanced over it.

He had been worried he wouldn’t be able to keep up, having forgotten everything he’d ever learned.

But a closer look revealed it was quite simple. English was an exception, of course. He was done with geography, his most dreaded subject, since the final exam was already over. He wasn’t too worried about Chinese, since that was all about cumulative knowledge.

As for math... he still remembered the basics of geometry and algebra, but he’d forgotten the problem-solving strategies. Grinding through some practice problems might do the trick.

Politics and history were subjects that relied entirely on rote memorization. He had taken meticulous notes back in the day. The teachers always used to plead, "Memorize this diligently! You’ll definitely use it in the future." In reality, he hadn’t used it at all in the future. Instead, it was coming in handy now that he was back in the past.

Besides, he’d always had a pretty sharp mind, so rote memorization was a piece of cake. It would just mean sacrificing some of his free time. His main focus would still have to be math.

With a study plan now forming in his mind, Zhang Shutong sat quietly in his seat, taking in the sights and sounds of his school days.

As he listened to the chatter of his classmates, he belatedly realized what a strange coincidence it was that he’d chosen this particular seat.

Lu Qinglian was in front of him, Gu Qiuyan was beside him, and with him included, the whole set of victims was complete.

’This spot really has some terrible feng shui.’

He imagined a class reunion eight years from now. The class president would say, "Long time no see, everyone! There are three people who couldn’t make it today. Take a guess who they are, though there’s no prize for getting it right..." Okay, so maybe he didn’t have much of a funny bone.

Zhang Shutong had grown used to being alone over the years. If he didn’t have something to occupy his hands, his mind tended to wander. It occurred to him that if the class had study groups, theirs could easily win a banner for "Quietest Group."

They’d even take first place in a "no-talking challenge":

Lu Qinglian was never one for talking, and she wasn’t interacting with her new deskmate at all. He was much the same. Gu Qiuyan was normally more sociable, but what could she do when an enemy was sitting right next to her?

He never minded awkward silences. He thought it was rather nice for everyone to just prop their chins on their hands and watch the snow fall outside the classroom building. It might be a little silly, but it was pleasant. A big reason he liked fishing was that it let him zone out and get lost in his thoughts.

But while he didn’t mind, Gu Qiuyan clearly did.

Glancing over, he saw she was still frowning and busying herself with something.

’That bag of yours is going to fall apart from all your fiddling.’

As he was thinking this, a cracker from some unidentifiable brand was held out in front of him:

"Here. Let me borrow your English test."

Gu Qiuyan said, her expression stony.

’So she really *was* looking for something. And after searching for so long, she had embarrassingly failed to find it.’

Most people would have said, "Could I borrow your English test? I seem to have forgotten mine." A polite person would have added a "thank you," but not her.

Zhang Shutong thought her words had the distinct air of a spoiled rich girl—a straightforward transaction. He nodded, took the cracker, and pushed his English test toward the center of the desk.

"Shouldn’t the answer to this one be B?" Gu Qiuyan asked after a moment. She didn’t look at Zhang Shutong, keeping her eyes fixed on the paper as if just thinking aloud.

Zhang Shutong glanced over and tapped option A with his finger. He was eating the cracker, so his mouth was full.

’The cracker’s actually pretty good. Cheese-flavored.’

’But why is it salty?’

Once he’d mostly swallowed, he explained out of habit, "This question is testing the past progressive tense."

He’d actually tutored English before. Online.

One of Gu Qiuyan’s good qualities was that she wasn’t argumentative. Once you told her something, she would mull it over on her own and nod when she understood. She wasn’t like those students who’d put on an innocent face and ask, "But Teacher, why do I think it should be like this..."

’The teacher doesn’t know either.’

"Is there anything else you don’t understand?"

"No, that’s it."

She handed him another bag of crackers, saying she didn’t like to be indebted to anyone. Zhang Shutong asked if he could swap them for a sweet kind. "I’m not really into salty snacks."

"I don’t have any," she refused bluntly, then added, "Ask me again tomorrow."

"Then don’t worry about it."

"Isn’t eating crackers the whole reason you moved over here?" Gu Qiuyan’s tone was level, but her words dripped with sarcasm.

’How did we end up on this topic again?’

Zhang Shutong decided to change the subject with a compliment. "That doodle of yours is pretty good," he said, pointing to the glass. "You’ve got some artistic talent."

To his surprise, she snapped:

"It’s a sheep!"

’A sheep?’

Now it was Zhang Shutong’s turn to be dumbfounded.

"A goat or a sheep?"

’It doesn’t look like any cartoon sheep I’ve ever seen.’

Gu Qiuyan completely ignored his question. She hastily wiped the drawing off the glass, then shot him a vicious glare.

"What’s wrong with your eyes? My old deskmate could tell what it was right away."

"Right, right," he said placatingly. ’My sincerest apologies for splitting you two up.’ Then he added aloud, "You want me to switch with him?"

"Forget it. He’s too annoying." She rolled her eyes. "You’re annoying too, but at least you’re quieter."