Winter Time Rendering

Chapter 36: Chapter 11: "Wang Wang Breakfast Sausage

’Or are these fish just dissing me?’

He shone his flashlight on the water. Looked like they really weren’t.

Frustrated, he picked up his fishing rod and sat back down on the stool. Beside him, Ruoping and Lu Qinglian were deep in conversation—or more accurately, Ruoping was the only one talking.

"I’m so sorry about what happened before. It wasn’t entirely Du Kang’s fault, I was the one who egged him on. Please don’t be mad..."

She was really acting like a big sister to everyone, even making excuses for Du Kang and taking all the blame herself.

Lu Qinglian just shook her head and said it was nothing. Ruoping asked a few more times just to be sure, and only relaxed once she saw Lu Qinglian wasn’t giving her the cold shoulder. Then she smiled and started chatting about other things.

’Friendships between girls are weird sometimes. After just a few minutes of talking, it was like Ruoping was ready to call her a best friend. And of course, best friends have to share their Oreos.’ —That last part was his own guess. Lu Qinglian hadn’t taken any, though. ’Maybe she’s just shy.’

Zhang Shutong stared at his motionless bobber and thought, ’Ruoping is the type to respond to kindness, not force. That’s probably why she never got along with Gu Qiuyan. If those two ever came face to face and had a stare-down... now that would be a sight to see.’

Then he heard Ruoping say:

"...Well, let’s head out in a bit. From now on, you can just come over whenever you want. Let’s see, it’s already 7:27. I’ll go round them up."

Then she stood up, shedding her gentle tone in an instant. With hands on her hips, she yelled:

"Let’s go, let’s go! Are you all planning to move in here? Qingyi, if you pretend you can’t hear me one more time, I’m throwing your earmuffs in the water." Then she turned her intimidating gaze on him. "You too, Shutong! What are you still sitting there for?"

"I haven’t caught a single fish all day," Zhang Shutong sighed.

"Then I’m giving you three more minutes. If you don’t catch anything, too bad." After saying that, she yelled over at Du Kang. "And especially you! What did I just tell you? Don’t you have something to say to Qinglian? Get over here, now!"

’Wait, when did she start calling her ’Qinglian’?’

Then he saw Du Kang mutter an "oh" and shuffle over, head down. Zhang Shutong listened for a moment and realized he was there to apologize. ’Du Kang wouldn’t think of something like this on his own. Ruoping must have orchestrated it to smooth things over.’

Zhang Shutong’s attention was now solely on his bobber in the water.

’Three minutes left. I refuse to believe I can’t catch a single fish.’

He stared at the rippling surface of the water, the voices of his friends buzzing in his ears.

"I’ll definitely be more careful from now on..." That was Du Kang, his tone sincere.

"I already said, you guys don’t have to do this." A hint of resignation had crept into Lu Qinglian’s voice.

"Then we’ll consider this matter settled. See? Qinglian isn’t unreasonable, got it?" This was Ruoping, hinting heavily.

Suddenly, Zhang Shutong saw his bobber twitch.

"Got it, got it. Oh, right, Miss Lu, do you like frogs? I saw one just now. You could take it home as a pet. You just need to find a warm spot for it..."

Hearing this, Zhang Shutong wanted to facepalm, but right now, his job was to stare intently at the water, hold his breath, count to three, and then yank his rod up with all his might.

"Get lost!"

’One.’

"No, what’s wrong now?"

"I swear... why don’t you just offer her a toad while you’re at it?"

’Two.’

"You know, I actually did hear a toad croaking. Just now, when I went back to get the chairs..."

"You really heard a toad? Where would a toad even come from in this weather?" Qingyi joined the fray.

’Three!’

Zhang Shutong yanked hard. Water splashed everywhere. He immediately looked toward the end of his line, but what came into view was... a wrapper?

His face instantly darkened. They say the only thing more depressing for a fisherman than getting skunked is catching trash, and that perfectly described how he felt right now.

’How did I end up catching a wrapper of all things?’

To be honest, this was rarer than a fish. His group never littered, and this stretch of water was very clean. ’It must have floated over from the other side,’ he figured.

’Some people have no public decency... Still, I have to get it off the hook.’

Sighing, he shone his flashlight on it and blinked.

It looked like a snack wrapper. The top and bottom were red, the middle was transparent, and it had the words "Wang Wang Breakfast Sausage" on it. Looking closer, he could even see chili oil floating inside the clear part.

At this point, Zhang Shutong didn’t know what kind of expression to make.

’Should I call it a coincidence?’

’I wonder if it’s the same kind Lu Qinglian bought.’ He was tempted to show it to her, just to see if she could remain composed or if she’d frown and let loose. But the conversation over there wasn’t finished yet. ’Better not.’

"It was definitely a toad, I heard it clearly..."

"What is all this nonsense?" Ruoping was losing her mind. "How did you go from apologizing to talking about frogs and then toads? If you want to go so badly, then go now! Go on, catch them all night and don’t come back! If Qinglian doesn’t want them, I’ll take them!"

Zhang Shutong really wanted to ask, ’Besides frogs and toads, do you guys want to see a breakfast sausage wrapper? I’ve actually got one right here...’ But for the sake of his hairstyle, he decided it was best not to poke the bear.

So he packed up his things, stretched, and stood to the side to wait for them to finish talking.

’I have to remember to ask Ruoping for a trash bag later.’ Zhang Shutong wasn’t a neat freak, but holding this sausage wrapper was kind of disgusting. ’Who knows if the person ate it straight from the bag? Plus, my hand is all greasy now...’

He frowned and raised his right hand, realizing the chili oil from inside had leaked out.

Chili oil...

Leaked...

His movements suddenly froze.

"I’m telling the truth! It’s right next to here. You just go up and follow the dirt path for five minutes. If you don’t believe me, I’ll take you there to see..."

"Who’s going with you to catch toads!"

Zhang Shutong moved the flashlight beam directly over the plastic wrapper.

"I was actually about to go, but just as I was heading over, I saw someone coming. I thought it was the police, so it scared the crap out of me and I ran right back..."

"The police? Why didn’t you say so earlier?"

Directly on it was a string of numbers—

"..."

"Because it wasn’t the police! I hid and watched for a bit. It was just some guy. He headed west. I was wondering what he was doing wandering around so late at night. Didn’t smell any alcohol on him. Seemed like something was wrong with him..."

Zhang Shutong’s head snapped up.

"Where did you say he went?"

"Uh..."

Before he could finish, the sound of footsteps echoed from the distance.

It was the sound of soles scraping against the dirt and gravel path.

The group instinctively turned their heads.

At the edge of their vision, a white beam from a flashlight pierced the length of the dirt path.