"Let me ask you something, are compact digital cameras expensive?"
"What made you suddenly think to ask about that?"
This time, he and Ruoping were walking at the very back.
"Today I ran into an older sister who was wearing a compact camera. She took a photo of me, and by the time I reacted, she was already done taking it. She said it was street snapshot photography, and of course she needed my permission to keep the photo. I don't really understand it, but I thought it looked quite pretty, so I just let her keep it."
Ruoping had recovered a bit of her vitality.
For real?
Zhang Shutong thought to himself that he could probably guess who the older sister Ruoping mentioned was, but how come all of you ran into her while I didn't?
But it made sense. The port was in the north, and the residential area was also in the north. It was estimated that the time they met happened to be when Ruoping was heading out.
However, when he learned this news, he was underground again. Zhang Shutong glanced at the ceiling once more:
"And then?"
"And then I thought it was quite interesting, much clearer than a phone. If it's not expensive, I want to buy one too."
"Then buying a secondhand one is more suitable," Zhang Shutong said. "When you have time, you can go wander around the city. I remember there's a street that specifically sells small items."
"I do have time today, plenty of it, so I'd like to ask why am I here?" Ruoping said fiercely.
Zhang Shutong had no choice but to pretend he didn't hear.
By the time they returned to the tunnel, it was already 11:00 AM. This time, everyone's spirits were noticeably much lower. Exploring was one thing, but clearing debris was another. Ruoping said that they would actually get a better experience going to a construction site to do manual labor for a day since at least it came with meals, and Zhang Shutong actually found it made a lot of sense.
Zhang Shutong also felt they were asking for trouble, but this was the last day of the week. Regarding the things missed by the Wild Dog Line, he couldn't guarantee it was that basement, but right now there were no other clues. Thinking it over, they would only feel at ease once the tunnel was cleared out.
Zhang Shutong simply thought that if they cleared this tunnel out, he would give himself a half-day off in the afternoon as a reward, riding his bike around the streets. Of course, talking about all this now was premature; it was just drawing a pie in the sky.
Midway through, they came up two more times.
The speed of clearing had noticeably slowed down. Firstly, because their physical strength was declining, and secondly, as more debris was cleared out, it often had to be moved very far away to free up space for movement beneath their feet.
Zhang Shutong was still unable to judge whether what was blocking the lower part of the tunnel was a wall or a platform. The top surface had already been cleared by twenty centimeters, but the end was still nowhere in sight.
In the end, because space to sit down had been cleared on the platform, even Ruoping joined the fray. She could only move lighter wooden strips and brick pieces. Every time she went to work, she had to change into Zhang Shutong's down jacket first, and when she got out of breath from working, she would retreat to the back, change back into her clothes, and hold the flashlight. Zhang Shutong thought it was truly hard on her—
The young girl was really on the verge of crying from the work. Of course, he wasn't doing much better himself. Zhang Shutong didn't quite dare to use force with his newly recovered left arm, so he could only use his right hand, and soon felt his muscles twitching slightly.
This time, Zhang Shutong was swapped out again. Wearing Ruoping's white down jacket, he stood in the back helping to provide light for Ruoping and Lu Qinglian.
"How about we go eat first?" Zhang Shutong asked as he took a wooden strip handed over by Qingyi.
But before his voice could fade, Ruoping suddenly let out a sharp shriek. She hurriedly covered the back of her neck and jerked her head up sharply. With a "thud," she slammed into the stone wall above her head. This hit was not light. By the time Zhang Shutong reacted, her gaze was already darting back and forth between him and Qingyi. Ultimately, Ruoping stared at him in panic, forgetting her words as tears pooled in her large eyes.
Zhang Shutong's heart gave a sudden leap, and he hurriedly asked how she was. Qingyi also flusteredly leaned over:
"What's wrong, what's wrong?"
"Something fell down the back of my neck," Ruoping said with a crying tone.
Zhang Shutong shone his flashlight upward, and his heart instantly grew startled. Those were clearly the maggots that had just hatched on the cave walls. Who knew why they had made their way above their heads—or rather, it wasn't that they had made their way above their heads, but previously those pieces of debris had blocked them, so the insect eggs naturally got pushed to the highest point and made a home on the cave walls. Now that the debris had been cleared out, they finally fell down.
But how could Zhang Shutong dare to tell Ruoping? If she found out, it definitely wouldn't be as simple as crying. He could only coax her first, saying, "It's fine, it's fine, I looked and it's just mud, don't cry, I'll wipe it off for you right away..."
As he spoke, Zhang Shutong gave a look. Qingyi shone the flashlight over, and looking closely, there indeed was a small clump of tangled maggots on the girl's neck. Zhang Shutong grabbed the bugs, his speed so fast he almost squished them burst. He couldn't care less about wiping his hand, using his other hand to pat her head:
"It's okay, it's okay. How's your head? Where did it hit?"
Ruoping didn't say whether it hurt or not; she just turned her mouth down and said:
"I'm not doing this anymore..."
Qingyi also hurriedly chimed in that they were absolutely not doing this anymore, whoever did it was a puppy, they were going back to eat right now.
In the end, Lu Qinglian supported Ruoping, while the two boys walked in front to clear the way. Zhang Shutong and Qingyi looked at each other, both able to see the helplessness in each other's eyes:
"It was my carelessness this time, didn't look above our heads..."
"Actually, blame me, I was closest to her..."
"Forget it." Zhang Shutong sighed. "Let's not talk about this first. Think about what to eat later, I'll go out and buy bubble tea for her."
"Eat at Du Kang's place?"
"That works too. Maybe Du Kang can make her laugh."
When they finally returned to the surface, Zhang Shutong hopped on his bike to bolt—across from the hospital was a small convenience store that sold drinks. Qingyi also asked her in a gentle voice what she wanted to eat, but Ruoping said she wasn't going anywhere and wanted to go home to take a shower.
Zhang Shutong stopped his steps, originally intending to wait until she calmed down before speaking further, but Ruoping was set on going home. Zhang Shutong didn't know how the injury on her head was either; it probably hadn't broken the skin, but a large bump might have formed. It had been too dark down below just now and he wanted to take a careful look, but Ruoping hid behind Lu Qinglian.
She was also a girl with very strong self-esteem.
Zhang Shutong had no choice. Finally, Lu Qinglian spoke a few words softly, and when she turned around again, she had already made the decision:
"Send her home."
She spoke in a certain tone.
Zhang Shutong and Qingyi looked at each other again. Don't look at how Ruoping usually had the most energetic and bustling personality; once she cried, she was very hard to coax. Even if she were easy to coax, Zhang Shutong wouldn't know how to coax girls. Both of them were a bit at a loss. In the end, Lu Qinglian rode the bicycle carrying her, and the three of them went back to the residential compound where Ruoping's home was. The one who opened the door was Ruoping's mother, and Ruoping went into the house with red eyes.
"Sigh, you child..." Ruoping's mother only realized something was amiss after speaking.
Zhang Shutong explained the matter once through. "Then I'll go take a look, you three come in quickly and sit..."
But how could they have the nerve to go in? The three of them didn't want to cause any more trouble, so they took their leave.
"Go eat?" Zhang Shutong asked. To be honest, the number of times they had gone "exploring" together wasn't small, but this was the first time such a mishap had occurred. Usually, the ones getting hurt were the three boys, who would just suck in a breath of cold air and get through it.
"Actually, I have to eat at home for lunch." Qingyi looked a bit worried. "My mom has been complaining lately that I'm never home."
"What about the afternoon?"
"Let's not come out for now." Qingyi felt a bit disheartened. "I reflected a bit just now. It really was the two of us being too impatient. She said several times that she wanted to go back, but I brushed it off."
"Let's call and apologize together in a bit." Zhang Shutong patted his shoulder.
"Leaving first." Qingyi hopped on his bike. "Be careful on the road."
Zhang Shutong watched him recede into the distance.
Looking at the time, it was actually already past 12:00 PM.
"Thanks for just now." Zhang Shutong thought back and forth, not knowing what else to say.
"It's fine." Lu Qinglian had already turned her head. "You should have been prepared for this kind of thing early on."
Zhang Shutong nodded to indicate he knew he was in the wrong.
Nobody wanted to run off to do manual labor on the weekend. Qingyi was sustained by curiosity—out of the four of them, his curiosity was the most robust. Ruoping was even more innocently dragged along to serve as cheap labor; it was more out of friend loyalty than interest. But fundamentally, they didn't have any reason where they absolutely had to do it, unlike himself and Lu Qinglian.
"It really was my oversight." This time they didn't ride the bikes; Zhang Shutong pushed the bike along and said, "In the end, it's still different."
"At least no major mistake was made."
"Don't let them go anymore." Zhang Shutong glanced at the sun in the sky. "Go eat first?"
"Okay."
The one thing nearby residential areas did not lack was small diners.
Zhang Shutong picked and chose before finding a rice bowl diner. In truth, it hadn't been easy for Lu Qinglian either. He specifically added three extra chicken drumsticks. When it came time to settle the bill, Zhang Shutong was just about to pull out loose change when Lu Qinglian handed a fifty-yuan bill to the boss instead.
Of course, she wasn't as grand as Gu Mianmian to the point where she could say keep the change.
Lu Qinglian put the returned change back into a small cloth pouch, which should be a wallet she sewed herself.
"You actually don't need to be so polite," Zhang Shutong said.
"The medical expenses, the phone, and the phone bill have already been paid by you. I've said it before, this isn't good."
Zhang Shutong understood she was talking about spending his money.
"The phone doesn't count as me gifting it to you, it's a prize from the police station, it was originally yours. As for the phone bill, it was my mom wanting to express a little gratitude; I actually feel it's very negligible. As for the medical expenses, I think it can only be counted as a coincidence."
"Whatever." Lu Qinglian was noncommittal.
Zhang Shutong thought about it; a meal was over thirty yuan, there was no need to scramble to pay the bill with her. He was just a bit curious where Lu Qinglian got so much money, including calling the ambulance last time. Logically speaking, if she had living expenses, she wouldn't go as far as eating cold rice every day.
Maybe it was the money she had originally brought out prepared to top up her phone bill?
Thinking of this, Zhang Shutong asked a question and received Lu Qinglian's confirmation.
Soon the rice bowls were served. The two of them ate their food silently. Lu Qinglian almost never spoke while eating; she ordered a portion of fish-flavored eggplant rice and would savor the taste of the food carefully.
Zhang Shutong was also in no mood to speak, but at this moment his phone rang again with the ringtone of a QQ call. Zhang Shutong's heart gave a leap, and he hurriedly picked up the phone, before rolling his eyes.
It was a video call from Du Kang.
Du Kang's face appeared in the frame:
"Shutong, how come I called Ruoping but she didn't answer?"
Zhang Shutong thought to himself that speaking of Cao Cao and Cao Cao arrives, he recounted the events of midday once through, but Du Kang shook his head and sighed:
"Sigh, should've said so earlier, wouldn't it have been fine if I swapped her over? I'm about to die of boredom in the restaurant. Alright, leave it to me, I'll run over to her house to find her in a bit."
"Why are you looking for her?" Only now did Zhang Shutong think to ask.
"Oh, she told me this morning that she met an older sister and even left contact info, saying something about her taking a photo of her. Didn't a table of customers just arrive? I want to find her to identify them. Look—"
As he spoke, Du Kang flipped the camera. It could be seen that he was currently crouching inside his family's counter, carefully exposing a section of his phone. In fact, without waiting to see the content on the screen clearly, Zhang Shutong's heart gave another leap.
Sitting at a dining table not far away were several young men and girls who looked like high school students, a party of six people in total, with both guys and girls, currently clinking their glasses filled with juice. The group was full of high spirits, and among them, a young girl was surrounded in the center like the moon encircled by stars. She wore a white floral dress and had a gentle smile.
Zhang Shutong took one look and withdrew his gaze, just about to tell Du Kang to stop filming and be careful not to get noticed, but before he could speak—
The young girl, as if by some strange twist of fate, turned her head. Zhang Shutong saw her looking at him through the camera.
And smiled gently.