A few minutes later, he sat inside the heavily air-conditioned car, watching Ruoping drive the vehicle out of the high-speed railway station.
Zhang Shutong could never have imagined that the person coming to pick him up would be Ruoping.
"Seatbelt," Ruoping said.
"Right..." Zhang Shutong studied her for a moment. Sitting in the driver's seat, her temperament hung somewhere between a young girl and an adult woman.
She wore light makeup, with thick eyebrows, a perky nose bridge, and full lips featuring a defined lip line, exuding a crisp and refreshing beauty.
Zhang Shutong couldn't help but click his tongue.
He thought to himself that she had never been associated with gentleness; she had always possessed a bustling, energetic nature. How had she suddenly become so quiet and composed?
He was still a bit unaccustomed to it, like a female warrior he had befriended out in the martial world suddenly... Well, Zhang Shutong couldn't quite put his finger on it either.
Calculating the time, Ruoping was likewise a freshman in college, yet not only had she learned how to drive, but she had also matured a great deal compared to before.
"Why didn't you reply to my messages?" the woman asked.
Her tone didn't sound angry, carrying more of the casual vibe of idle chitchat.
"I accidentally put it on silent."
"Putting it on silent while sleeping is one thing, but how do you keep it on silent while riding the train? I can't stand you." Ruoping let out a mock sigh.
The moment she said this, Zhang Shutong finally found a trace of familiarity in her.
In comparison, Du Kang was a bit better, always sporting a mindless, carefree smile whenever they met.
"What do you want to eat? I can take you to buy something?"
Zhang Shutong said eating at home would be fine.
The woman gave him a sidelong glance across her sunglasses:
"If you want to smoke, go ahead."
Zhang Shutong shook his head and said he didn't smoke; he didn't even have cigarettes in his pocket.
"Then have some gum?" She pulled two pieces of bubblegum out of the armrest box.
"Sure." Zhang Shutong had been practicing blowing bubbles lately.
By the third time his bubble popped, he couldn't hold back from asking after all:
"Are we heading to..."
He only spoke the first few words, quietly waiting for her to fill in the rest.
"We're heading straight to the island right now," Ruoping said casually. "Or do you have other business?"
"No."
Zhang Shutong grew even more curious. He had originally assumed that Ruoping's family had moved to the city, but if they were still on the island, why travel all this way to pick him up?
Could it be...
"Is it a bit impolite for me to visit Uncle and Auntie empty-handed?"
"Oh, look who's suddenly seen the light." Ruoping let out a soft laugh. "Forget about it. You're helping out this time, just don't ask me to buy you a gift and we're even."
A brief review of his chat history a short while ago had confirmed that they were not in a relationship, just as he thought. Confirming it once more finally allowed Zhang Shutong to breathe a sigh of relief.
Yet he simply couldn't find what exactly he was returning to the island to do.
There had been a WeChat call on his phone a few days ago; it had likely been discussed over the phone.
Could it be a development like playing the fake boyfriend to deal with a blind date?
Zhang Shutong broke into another cold sweat.
He recalled that on the Wild Dog Line, Ruoping had mentioned her mother was pushing her very hard to get married.
But on second thought, Ruoping was only a freshman in college this year. No matter how anxious parents might be, they wouldn't go so far as to urge marriage at this age.
"Why didn't you ask Du Kang and Qingyi for help instead of always thinking to boss me around?" Zhang Shutong complained deliberately.
"Asking what you already know. Do you want to hear me praise you a bit? You're the most capable and the most reliable, alright?" Ruoping arched her eyebrows. "Who else but you happens to be free during summer break?"
Zhang Shutong let out a silent sigh, preparing to find a moment to ask Qingyi later.
In any case, as long as it wasn't a stranger who had suddenly popped out of nowhere, it was fine.
Meeting Ruoping had allowed Zhang Shutong to relax a bit. He thought it over, breaking his current problems down into three:
First, why did the regression occur?
Zhang Shutong's current hypothesis was that it had been triggered by that fox statue.
Second, why five years into the future?
Unknown.
Third, regarding his previous regressions, he had broadly summarized them as missing a critical piece of evidence, which then led to a less-than-ideal future. But what was the case this time?
From what he could see, everyone was doing quite well. Gu Qiumian was on vacation, Lu Qinglian was helping out at the temple and even using a smartphone, and his best buddies each had their own affairs.
At this moment, Ruoping turned on the radio. A rock song drifted out, its rapid drumbeats striking a rhythm. "Look over there."
She suddenly extended a finger.
Zhang Shutong turned his head. They had already merged onto an express road, likely newly constructed in recent years, offering an unobstructed path from the station to the port.
Traveling along the road, the vast expanse of the lake could be seen from afar.
The roadside trees receded rapidly before his eyes. Zhang Shutong lost himself in thought for a long while. He seemed to have stayed in winter for too too long, almost forgetting what summer looked like. At this moment, millions of leagues of brilliant sunlight shone high, the sky so blue it looked washed clean, as a lazy breeze nudged thin layers of clouds.
The sky hung high and distant, casting its reflection onto the lake below, staining the water a matching blue.
It felt as though they were driving through a space devoid of earth and sky.
Ruoping tossed him another bottle of chilled Coca-Cola. It had been bought before she picked him up, its surface covered in fine condensation. Zhang Shutong twisted the cap open.
The air conditioning was very cold, the car was moving very fast, and the sounds of popping bubblegum rose and fell one after another. The drumbeats of the rock music and the bubbles of the Coke surged together in his heart, making it a tender, lingering moment.
The car arrived at the port soon enough, and just like before, she hit the gas to drive onto the ferry.
"I'm going down to walk around." Ruoping engaged the handbrake, tossing the keys into his lap.
Zhang Shutong watched her walk to the guardrail. The woman extended her fists, letting out a massive stretch. As the wind blew past, her red dress resembled a ball of blazing fire.
Zhang Shutong drank his Coke while dialing Qingyi's number.
However, the call didn't go through.
He looked at the screen helplessly before dialing Du Kang's instead.
"What's up, man?" Du Kang now possessed a bit of a cracking voice. "Got off the train? Is it really hot in the city?"
"Just got on the ferry." Zhang Shutong thought to himself, how do you know my itinerary so clearly? "It is quite hot."
"You met up with Ruoping, right? How is she?"
"She's great."
"Then I can rest easy." Du Kang let out a sigh of relief.
"Uh..." Zhang Shutong paused. "What do you mean by that?"
"Nothing, just haven't seen her in a long time, so I wanted to ask how she's doing." Du Kang added, "When you have time, help me see how Zorro is doing, feed him a ham sausage."
Zhang Shutong had almost forgotten about that dog.
"Alright."
"Of course, finish busying yourself with Ruoping's family matters first. I remember her house has quite a lot of stuff, two whole floors. I estimate you'll be busy until evening. Thanks for the hard work, Shutong."
Zhang Shutong swallowed the excuse of "I bumped my head on the high-speed train so I have amnesia" back into his stomach.
His mind suddenly grew a bit chaotic.
So he had run back just to help Ruoping move houses?
"What are you doing right now?" Zhang Shutong felt like he had caught onto something. "Eating?"
"No, I just finished busying myself on my end..."
"When are you coming back?"
"Probably around September? Of course, if I'm too busy, I won't come back."
"Everyone hasn't met in a long time, this is a bit unfair," Zhang Shutong said. "For such an important matter like moving houses, you're not even coming. How about I give the phone to you so you can tell Ruoping yourself?"
Du Kang fell silent for a brief moment:
"Better forget it... You and Qingyi might still be able to chat with her, but I really can't right now. Hanging up first, got some things to handle here."
With a sharp beep, the line went dead. Zhang Shutong looked at the screen and knit his brows.
He knew—
The matter he wanted to ask about had finally surfaced.
"Aren't you hot inside the car?" Ruoping opened the car door, leaning down to ask.
"Just gave Du Kang a call." Zhang Shutong observed her expression.
"Oh."
Ruoping nodded, without saying anything further.
Zhang Shutong followed her out of the car, and the two came to stand by the guardrail. Zhang Shutong studied his own arms; his skin tone was darker than before.
Looking back at Ruoping, she had taken off her sunglasses, currently staring abstractedly at the lake surface in absolute silence.
The lake breeze blew her short hair into a messy tangle.
"Did you two have another fight?" Zhang Shutong also watched the lake surface.
"No, what is there to fight with him about?" Ruoping smiled. "He wouldn't dare talk back to me."
"I know you're the big boss." Zhang Shutong shrugged. "But what's in the past... well, I mean, what's past is past, don't take it too close to heart."
"Mm." Ruoping shifted the topic instead, "Do you still remember that time we left the island, the time Gu Qiumian lost her bag?"
"What about it?"
"It was right around here, wasn't it?" She pointed beneath her feet. "We took a group photo."
"What made you think to bring that up?"
"Is your copy still around?" Ruoping asked. "I lost the photo when I switched phones."
"I..." Zhang Shutong had originally wanted to show it to her, only to realize that he had likewise switched phones now. "I'll look for it in a bit."
"Forget it, if it's gone, it's gone." She tucked her short hair behind her ear, pursing her lips. "Let what's past remain in the past."
Zhang Shutong thought to himself that this was far too melancholy.
He hesitated for a moment:
"That kid Du Kang is a bit tactless..."
"I know, out of the four of us, he's the dumbest." Ruoping smiled, unclear what she had recalled. "He's dumb, you're a blockhead, and Qingyi is a deadpan."
"Don't cause friendly fire here," Zhang Shutong said helplessly. "What I mean is, don't lower yourself to his level. I mean, even if you can't be a couple, you can still be pure friends, right?"
Zhang Shutong simply chose to lay his cards on the table. No wonder QQ was gone; the small group chat of the four of them was likely no longer there either. He didn't know whether to feel melancholy or amused, but his mood was complicated to the extreme.
So this was where the problem lay.
As the saying goes, a rabbit doesn't eat the grass near its own burrow—how true that turned out to be.
But he lacked experience in comforting people, so he could only recall the words his mother had said in the past. As long as they felt reasonable, he would pour them in like chicken soup.
"Of course, it's impossible to immediately go back to how things were before. I'll give him another call in a bit, call Qingyi along, and the four of us can sit down together..."
"Zhang Shutong," before he could finish his sentence, Ruoping spoke in sheer astonishment, "has your brain been fried stupid by the sun? When did I ever date him?"
Zhang Shutong was equally astonished.
...
From that point on, Ruoping didn't give him a single good look. Zhang Shutong could only shut his mouth, quietly sitting inside the car. Before long, the ferry docked. The car navigated through familiar streets, and he studied the scenery along the way; it hadn't changed much compared to the past, looking even less prosperous than the Wild Dog Line. He faintly felt that the issue stemmed from the relationships among his best buddies, but why would that affect the development of the small island as well?
Before he could figure it out, the car arrived beneath Ruoping's building.
"Give me a hand." Ruoping said crossly.
Zhang Shutong helped haul a case of alcohol out of the trunk. It turned out she had already bought the items, but he recalled that Ruoping's father didn't like drinking in the past...
Then again, even in the original timeline, he hadn't kept in close touch with his buddies after middle school graduation. How each of them was doing wasn't particularly clear, let alone their parents.
Zhang Shutong followed Ruoping up the stairs.
It was a self-built house, rather than a residential compound. The walls were somewhat mottled, causing Zhang Shutong to inexplicably recall that old house.
In truth, he had visited once not long ago, and there weren't many major changes. The spring couplets on the door frame belonged to last year, already faded and gathering a thin layer of dust.
"Dad, Shutong and I are back..." Ruoping knocked on the door.
Shortly after, the door opened, and a man with stubble smiled:
"Come in, come in quickly. We can eat right away. Shutong, I'll have to trouble you today."