Winter Time Rendering

Chapter 8: Chapter 2: Winter Revisited (3)

And that was how the library got its name: "Jianhong Hall."

If they hadn’t had trouble recruiting enough students, there probably would have been a "Jianhong Building" as well.

And since his precious daughter was a student here, he probably didn’t want to be too flashy. It was a shame there wasn’t a "Jianhong Statue" at the school gate.

As for when he met Gu Qiuyan herself, that was on her first day at the new school.

That day, Zhang Shutong was riding his new bicycle, weaving past the students who were walking, when he saw a black sedan blocking the school gate.

The car door opened and a pair of small, round-toed leather boots peeked out. A girl got out, wearing a red-and-black plaid skirt. She tossed her hair proudly, and the charms hanging from the ends bounced and danced.

Back then, he didn’t know anything about cars. All he knew was that the sedan had a high-end paint job. Of course, he still didn’t know much now—a past experience had made him give up on ever getting a driver’s license—but at least he’d learned that the four rings meant Audi.

He followed Gu Qiuyan into the same classroom.

The girl first scanned her new classmates with a scrutinizing gaze, then turned to him and asked who the class monitor was.

He calmly replied that he didn’t know either. She probably thought he was disrespecting her, because she stopped pulling things out of her schoolbag and shot him a glare with her sharp, beautiful eyes.

It was only then that Zhang Shutong realized they were both transfer students, and that they had both transferred on the same day.

That day, the young miss Gu had brought an entire schoolbag full of chocolate, planning to use it to "catch" her "Pokémon."

That’s right. In her eyes, the entire class was just a bunch of Pokémon.

She did hand out the chocolates later, but unfortunately, it didn’t have much of an effect. In the end, she failed to fit into any social circle and was met with a cold shoulder.

And so Gu Qiuyan began her new school life, clearly very unhappy about it.

While Zhang Shutong, at most, missed the McDonald’s back in the city, the young miss was constantly having unpleasant interactions with her "Pokémon" friends.

In truth, no one was ostracizing her at first. It was mainly that the students on the small island had never met a girl so proud. They were a bit timid and had a bit of an inferiority complex, so they didn’t know how to interact with her.

But soon, things took a turn:

One day, a few girls finally worked up the courage to approach her, bringing a bag of gold coin chocolates to share.

But she just glanced at it, said "oh," and then replied flatly, "No, thanks. These are made with cocoa butter substitute. The texture is terrible. I never eat them. But if you want some, I can bring you something better."

The atmosphere froze. The girls were mortified, their pride shattered—not just because they had been rejected, but also because they had no idea what she meant by "cocoa butter substitute."

For girls that age, if they were craving a "sweet treat," gold coin chocolates were the most cost-effective option. You could get a huge bag for just over ten yuan at the little supermarket.

And their entire monthly allowance was only worth a few of those bags.

They thought it was just another case of a rich girl looking down on small-town folk. Who would have thought that the very next day, Gu Qiuyan would actually show up with a bag of Godiva? It was a Belgian brand. Zhang Shutong didn’t recognize it at the time, but he’d bought it once in high school while trying to woo an upperclassman. A single box cost several hundred yuan, and the memory still made his heart bleed.

Just as the island kids were used to compound chocolate,

the young miss, probably thinking it was stupid to carry a gift box to school, was used to carrying her hundreds-of-yuan chocolates in a plain white plastic bag.

She then smiled as if nothing had happened, as if yesterday’s awkwardness never existed, and said:

"You should all try some. This stuff is delicious. My dad buys it for me all the time."

But no one took any. They treated her like she was invisible, and her outstretched hand was left hanging in the air.

’Thinking back on it now, she was a bit spoiled and didn’t know how to get along with people, but mostly, she was just clumsy.’

But the story didn’t end there.

There was no way the young miss was going to take that insult lying down. That afternoon, it was Zhang Shutong’s turn for cleaning duty. Just as he was about to finish up, a girl burst through the front door, startling him.

The girl’s eyes were red. She stomped up to him, fists clenched, and thrust a white plastic bag at him, asking if he would eat the chocolate.

He hesitated for a moment—her question wasn’t about whether he *wanted* to eat it.

The problem was that the leader of the girls she’d had a falling out with was, unfortunately, named Feng Ruoping, and she was a member of their little group.

Zhang Shutong had never been the type to choose a girl over his friends, especially since Ruoping had just been ranting to them about it the night before. So, after a few seconds of hesitation, he flatly refused.

And so, the entire bag of chocolates was thrown into the trash can. Gu Qiuyan walked out without a backward glance. Zhang Shutong, of course, wouldn’t do something as pathetic as fishing them out to eat at home, but it felt like a waste to just leave them there. In the end, the matter was resolved by him handing them over to the head teacher.

But after that incident, they became enemies—on her side, at least.

Perhaps in Gu Qiuyan’s eyes, a "traitor" was more hateful than an "enemy."

Although Zhang Shutong never understood how he had become a traitor, or for that matter, why she had considered him to be on her side in the first place.

’Maybe it was because we both transferred from the city?’

’Thinking about it, she really did try to talk to me more than the other students.’

But his younger self had been completely oblivious. It wasn’t so much that he was slow, but rather that his mind was simply not on such things.

His favorite after-school activity was fishing. His favorite in-class activity was figuring out how to catch a bigger fish.

As a result, over the years, whenever he talked about his childhood self—he did have some social interactions, like chatting with Du Kang for a bit a few hours ago—he often learned that others saw him as cold and aloof, a perception that always surprised Zhang Shutong.

’Cold and aloof? Me?’

During his school days, aside from the two years when he was at his worst, he couldn’t remember ever giving anyone the cold shoulder. It was just that sometimes he wasn’t interested in the topic of conversation, felt there was nothing to say, and so he would deliberately keep quiet.

Anyway, that was how it was. Back then, he didn’t think he was being particularly cold or aloof, so he didn’t take it to heart when Gu Qiuyan labeled him a "traitor." But he also saw no reason to go out of his way to win her over.

Later on, however, another incident occurred that led to a much more serious conflict between them. He’d forgotten the specific reason, but whatever it was, it had made his younger self furious. They never spoke a word to each other after that.

And by the time he’d pretty much gotten over his anger,

she was murdered.

Gu Qiuyan never made any real friends, right up to the very end.

Just as Zhang Shutong was sighing at the thought, a girl with glasses walked up to the teacher’s podium.

She cleared her throat:

"Don’t forget we’re changing seats during the break. If you haven’t packed up your things, hurry up."