Chapter 318 - 138: Gu Qiuyan with Long Hair

Chapter 318: Chapter 138: Gu Qiuyan with Long Hair

Long hair...

Zhang Shutong’s knowledge of Gu Qiuyan wasn’t particularly deep, but it wasn’t shallow either. At the very least, he could tell her hair had grown by several centimeters.

Several centimeters? What did that even mean?

He had just seen Gu Qiuyan in the hospital room three days ago. There was absolutely no way her hair could have grown this much in three days—it would be difficult even in a month. No wonder so many things felt off.

’But why is this happening?’

’Calm down, calm down. When exactly did her hairstyle change?’

Zhang Shutong recalled seeing Gu Qiuyan during the break that morning. But she had been surrounded by a group of girls, and he couldn’t get a clear look at her hair.

The laughter and chatter around him only made him feel more out of place. As Zhang Shutong looked at the faces, some familiar and some not, a chill and a sense of confusion washed over him.

He wasn’t even sure about the reason for this dinner anymore.

He remembered her asking on QQ back on Monday when he’d be discharged from the hospital. He’d said Wednesday, and she had replied, "Okay, I’ll treat you to a meal when you get out."

Zhang Shutong pulled out his phone and quickly scrolled to their chat history from a few days ago, but the records hadn’t changed. He checked Sunday’s messages: that evening, she’d had someone deliver a bag of snacks and some nutritional supplements, telling him not to forget to pick them up. Before that were their conversations from before Sunday, when she was at the villa. He had asked if she was okay, and she had said she was fine, followed by the usual "be safe" and so on...

’What exactly has changed?’

"Senior, the food is here. You were completely spaced out..."

In the end, it was his little secretary who nudged him. Zhang Shutong looked down and saw that a waiter had already pushed a serving cart into the private room. It turned out the dishes had been prepared long ago, just waiting for everyone to arrive before being served.

He didn’t even know where to begin asking questions. The most significant change he’d noticed was that Gu Qiuyan’s hair was a few centimeters longer, but how could he possibly investigate something like that?

Looking at Gu Qiuyan again, he saw she was wearing a gray woolen overcoat today, with a Korean-style wide lapel. The gray color gave her a sharp, cool look, like a fashionista strolling through the city streets.

But when she hung the coat on the rack by the door, revealing the small, white wool vest she wore underneath, she suddenly looked bright and cheerful.

With the cold temperature outside, her fluffy outfit looked warm just at a glance.

The crowd’s reaction wasn’t as exaggerated as he might have imagined—no one suddenly popped up to say, "Let me hang your coat for you." Everyone just waited for her to take a seat, talking and laughing amongst themselves.

"Let’s switch seats."

Zhang Shutong said quietly, taking Xu Zhiruo’s spot before she had a chance to sit down.

Now he was right next to Gu Qiuyan, with her on his left and Xu Zhiruo on his right. It was so noisy and chaotic that no one noticed his small maneuver.

"Hey, you..."

The little secretary was dumbfounded.

Zhang Shutong had no time to explain. He had a stomach full of questions, and after thinking it over, he decided it was best to ask the person in question directly. He just had to wait for Gu Qiuyan to finish hanging her coat and walk over. She was about seven or eight steps away, but those seven or eight steps felt agonizingly long, as if time itself had stood still.

So, Zhang Shutong put on an impassive expression, waiting only for Gu Qiuyan to approach, sit down, and then—

"Hey, everyone, let’s all scoot over this way a bit, make some room..."

A boy suddenly spoke up:

"Zhang Shutong’s arm is injured. Let’s have the class president move one seat to the right so she doesn’t bump into him."

The implication was that since his left arm had a fracture and Gu Qiuyan happened to be on his left, it would be inconvenient for them to get food if they sat too close—especially since Gu Qiuyan was also a lefty.

Gu Qiuyan stopped in her tracks, seeming to find the suggestion quite reasonable.

"Alright."

She lifted her delicate chin and waved for everyone to shift one seat to the right.

Then she pulled out a chair and sat down.

The girl who had been within arm’s reach was now a full seat away from Zhang Shutong, making it seem as if he had a cold and needed to be quarantined from a distance.

He had waited for nothing.

Zhang Shutong almost choked with anger. ’Buddy, what are you doing meddling at a critical moment like this? That’s not how you show you’re helpful!’ He shot a murderous glare at the other guy, only to be dumbfounded himself.

He didn’t recognize him at all.

But it made sense that he didn’t. He then remembered he wasn’t familiar with this group of followers at all. The only one he recalled was that guy who looked like a fighting cock, from that time they paid the bill at the commercial street restaurant.

"Senior, you have to be more reserved! Reserved!" his little secretary quickly advised.

"Who’s that?" Zhang Shutong turned his head and asked. It was the first time he’d ever felt compelled to remember a guy’s name. ’Could that be this Zhao Yang guy?’ he wondered.

"I don’t know him."

"You... don’t know him?" Zhang Shutong was taken aback.

’What kind of secretary are you? You don’t even know all her followers?’

"I really don’t. He’s probably a senior from the fourth year of junior high, too. I was waiting for you to introduce me," the little secretary said innocently, not looking like she was joking.

Zhang Shutong suddenly latched onto something in that sentence.

He remembered that Gu Qiuyan’s followers all called her "Sister Gu," while "Qiumian" was a name reserved for her close female friends. But what had that guy just called her?

Class President!

’Gu Qiuyan is the class president now?’

Zhang Shutong finally understood the root of the problem:

"Are all these people from the fourth year of junior high?"

"Yeah. I was wondering how you didn’t even recognize your own classmates, Senior."

’So this wasn’t a dinner for her followers at all!’

No wonder some people in the group looked vaguely familiar yet also new to him. No wonder Du Kang was laughing and joking around, greeting people, and someone had asked, "Ruoping, why didn’t you say you were coming?" They were clearly all classmates from the same grade.

’But I’ve only been back for a week—who would I know?’

He reached past Xu Zhiruo and poked Qingyi.

"Why is everyone from our grade?" Zhang Shutong asked deliberately.

Qingyi leaned back with his hands behind his head.

"Maybe she only invited our classmates this time. She’s the exception," Qingyi said, gesturing with his eyes toward Xu Zhiruo, who was sitting between them.