Zhang Shutong was truly bewildered.
Did he look like a bad guy?
In this kind of situation, a person usually sees something they shouldn't in a girl's room. Although he hadn't experienced it himself, he knew that some girls looked glamorous on the outside but had messy private spaces, with makeup, lingerie, and even takeout bags all thrown about.
But the young miss's room was very tidy and didn't fall into this category. Zhang Shutong even glanced behind him. Could it be that Qiuyu Mianmian saw something he couldn't see?
He knocked on the door and asked, "Are you okay?"
There was no response.
There was only a dull thud of something falling on the desk. The door then opened, and he saw Gu Qiumian glaring at him:
"What did you just see?" the young miss asked accusatorily.
"The window, the terrace, the desk."
"That's all?"
"What did you want me to see?"
Gu Qiumian gave him another dirty look:
"You're up to no good!"
Zhang Shutong was genuinely wronged. He subconsciously looked at the desk, wanting to know what she had hidden. However, he hadn't paid attention to it just now. After thinking for a moment, it seemed that something was missing... a photo frame?
Oh, a very "mysterious" photo frame.
Zhang Shutong no longer cared about it.
He got to the point and asked if her room's terrace had a lock. Gu Qiumian, however, puffed out her cheeks and said, "Why aren't you asking me what I hid?"
"What?"
"I'm not telling you!" she hummed.
See? If he didn't ask, she would be unhappy. If he did, she wouldn't tell him.
After her little tantrum, she answered his previous question:
"Of course, it's locked. The wind has been strong these past few days, so it would rattle if it wasn't locked."
"Do you lock your door when you sleep?"
"No, I'm the only one on this floor. Why are you asking this?"
Zhang Shutong just wanted to confirm the culprit's route.
Gu Qiumian had suddenly closed the door just now, but she didn't lock it. This meant she didn't have this habit.
He had walked all the way from the side door in the backyard to the elevator and from the elevator to Gu Qiumian's bedroom. He could draw one conclusion:
If the side door wasn't locked on Sunday morning, it would indeed be possible to sneak into her villa.
He put himself in the shoes of the culprit and simulated the route in his mind:
In the middle of the night, a person enters the villa from the backyard. The whole house is dark. The bodyguards and nanny are sleeping in their rooms. Maybe they took off their shoes and walked to the elevator without anyone noticing. Then he would take the elevator to the second floor and abduct a sleeping Gu Qiumian...
That was probably how it went.
Now there were two problems:
Why was the body found in the Forbidden Zone?
And how did the culprit get inside the fence in the first place?
Both of these questions left him baffled.
Especially the latter. The fence itself was more than two meters high and had an electric grid all around it. Even if the culprit was a master, climbing over it with a ladder, how would he get Gu Qiumian out?
It couldn't be that Gu Qiumian ran out herself. Who would wander around in the middle of the night?
And this was something he couldn't even investigate. He couldn't ask Gu Qiumian on Thursday, "Why did you run out on Sunday?"
Perhaps if he figured out these two problems, the entire case would be solved.
He subconsciously furrowed his brows. There was nothing else to investigate here. He wanted to go to the Forbidden Zone next.
He couldn't stay here forever. He wasn't planning on spending the night here. He was about to tell Gu Qiumian, but the girl just said, "Tsk," and turned and walked away. It turned out that he had been thinking for so long that he had ignored the young miss, and she was a bit sullen.
The two of them took the elevator down. Mr. Song was lazily sprawled on the sofa, watching TV:
"All done?"
Zhang Shutong nodded. The other person stretched and held up the mug in his hand:
"Wait for me to finish this. They've already made it for me."
He then looked at Gu Qiumian:
"By the way, Qiumian, is it okay if I come around six-forty tomorrow morning? Do you want to eat at home or go out?"
While they were talking, Zhang Shutong walked to the entrance, put on his coat, changed his shoes, and took an umbrella. He took this time to run out and take another look.
As soon as he stepped outside, he shivered. He looked up, and the sky was completely dark. There were no stars in the night sky. Only the light from inside the house illuminated the flying snowflakes.
The dark night covered everything.
This made him feel especially lost and insignificant.
Coming out in this weather was truly suffering. If he could, he also wanted to curl up on the sofa and watch TV, but he couldn't. What else could he do?
The villa was built in the wilderness. Outside the fence was open land. There was a thin layer of mist even in the morning, let alone at night.
He couldn't see anything around him. Luckily, Zhang Shutong was no stranger to this scene. He crunched on the snow and came to the main gate again.
Zhang Shutong stood still under his umbrella. This heavy snow, which shouldn't have happened, was truly rare, and it didn't look like it was going to stop anytime soon. He watched the snowflakes fall in front of him and had a sudden thought. He remembered that in the northeast of the country, in the places with the harshest climates, the snow would sometimes bury houses.
If the location was this villa, and there was a snowfall this heavy, a two-meter fence would only be covered up to a certain point, and it might be easy to climb over.
But how was that possible?
It didn't snow that night.
Zhang Shutong breathed into his hands and rubbed his frozen hands together. He hadn't felt that cold when he came from the school, but after staying indoors for a while and getting used to the warm air, he felt much more vulnerable when he came back outside.
He studied the main gate for a while again. There was an electronic eye, but it wasn't a surveillance camera. It didn't record anything and could only show who was at the door in real-time.
Zhang Shutong wasn't going to go back in, but the villa door creaked open. He turned around, and Gu Qiumian was standing at the door.
"Aren't you cold?" Zhang Shutong asked.
"Of course I'm cold." As expected, when she was in a cold place, the young miss seemed to be suppressed. She talked less, and her tone wasn't very lively. "Why are you running around in such cold weather?"
"Just looking around."
"Then why can't you just stay in the living room..." she muttered.
The girl stood in the doorway without a coat or shoes. The place where she stood was like a dividing line between light and dark.
The wind and snow brushed against her face and entered the house, making her hair fly.
"You should go inside," Zhang Shutong said. "I should be leaving soon too."
She didn't listen to him. Instead, she found her coat from the cabinet and then bent down to put on her boots.
Zhang Shutong said helplessly:
"Why are you coming out in this cold weather?"
"To see you off," she said awkwardly in a low voice. It sounded like the sound of her boots crunching on the snow.
"I said you don't need to see me off..." Zhang Shutong knew he couldn't stay outside anymore. He had finished his research on the main gate. There was no point in the two of them standing in the snow. As he spoke, he turned around and walked toward the house, planning to go inside for a while and then leave with Mr. Song.
He subconsciously quickened his pace but suddenly tripped. The snow was soft, and his body instantly lost its balance. Zhang Shutong reacted quickly, putting one hand on the ground and just managing to stabilize himself without falling completely.
But that move was even worse. It seemed he had sprained his hand. Gu Qiumian had stopped walking but now ran out. Zhang Shutong waved his hand to signal that he was fine:
"I just tripped. There was something on the ground."
As he said this, he also muttered to himself, "It's strange that I could trip just by walking. I'm really getting old. The 'Tongtong' from before wouldn't have done something so embarrassing."
"Then how's your hand?"
"It's fine too," Zhang Shutong said, shaking his wrist in front of her face. It actually hurt a little, but in Qingyi's words, a man shouldn't gasp in pain at a time like this. It was better not to even change his expression.
When he said this, Gu Qiumian's eyes widened, and she started nagging endlessly:
"You have to be more careful. I told you you're stupid. You can even trip while walking. If you had listened to me and stayed indoors, you wouldn't have fallen..."
Zhang Shutong said, "You're the stupid one. You ran out without even putting on your boots properly."
Gu Qiumian then put on a cold face, gently kicked him with her improperly worn boot, and picked up the umbrella that had fallen to the side:
"What was it?"
"A branch, I guess?" Zhang Shutong also looked at the spot in confusion. He reached behind him and felt a long, frozen object that made his hand hurt. He was about to throw it away, but the light from the house revealed its true appearance to both of them. Gu Qiumian gasped, and Zhang Shutong also suddenly let go of it—
It was not a branch at all.
It was a frozen snake.
A snake?
He was stunned for a moment and almost reflexively thought of something. His face became a bit serious. Gu Qiumian, however, breathed a sigh of relief and couldn't help but rub her cheek with her finger:
"You're so timid. You're afraid of dogs and snakes. Besides, it's not even moving. Shame on you."
This didn't sound like something a girl who was even afraid of earthworms would say.
And who was the one who screamed first?
"You're not afraid?"
Zhang Shutong asked while standing up.
"Hmm, I used to be afraid," Gu Qiumian admitted reluctantly. "But there are a lot of these things around here. My house is a bit remote. At first, there weren't just snakes, but other animals too. Later, my dad found someone to ask how to get rid of snakes, and it got a little better."
She then laughed:
"Otherwise, what do you think we have a dog for? Let me tell you, that Doberman can catch snakes."
Zhang Shutong picked up the snake again and looked at it. He couldn't tell what kind of snake it was or if it was venomous. Gu Qiumian was now unwilling to let him. She pushed him, wanting him to go inside, and said, "Hurry up and throw that snake away. I'm not afraid of it because it's not moving. If you wake it up, you'll be in big trouble. You'll owe me two cups..."
Zhang Shutong returned to the house. Mr. Song had just put on his coat:
"What were you two whispering about outside?"
"A fool fell down," the young miss said, putting away her smile and changing to a disdainful tone, as if to say, "Don't ever say you're my sidekick if you're so stupid."
Mr. Song saw that they were fine and also made a joke:
"Qiumian, let me tell you something. This kid is very cunning. Maybe he tripped on purpose so you would run over and care about him."
"Who cared about him..." Gu Qiumian immediately pouted.
"How do you believe everything he says?" Zhang Shutong thought.
Zhang Shutong felt it was necessary to give his teacher a heads-up:
"Teacher, can you not take me home first?"
"What? Do you want to stay here?" Mr. Song said, spewing nonsense.
He shook his head and said, "I want to go to a place. We'll take a detour."
"Where?"
"Forbid..." Zhang Shutong almost said it but then thought for a moment and translated it into a place Mr. Song would understand.
"I've suffered a lot with you, kid. I wondered why you were so proactive today. It turns out you've been setting me up." Mr. Song sighed. "Fine. It's not too far. We'll go."
Then Zhang Shutong looked at Gu Qiumian and invited her:
"Want to come with us?"