Chapter 324 - 140: The World’s Last Lackey

Chapter 324: Chapter 140: The World’s Last Lackey

Qingyi offered a kind reminder.

Zhang Shutong fell silent.

He couldn’t remember if Qingyi had been there back then. Besides, if it was really as Qingyi said, the incident itself wasn’t interesting enough to be gossip. ’If Ruoping and Gu Qiuyan never had a falling out, what was there to talk about?’

Zhang Shutong asked Qingyi to confirm what had happened on the commercial street and how people around them had reacted. Qingyi recalled:

"I don’t think it matters much whether Gu Qiuyan was popular or not. Li Yipeng was transferred to another class because he told dirty jokes. Before Zhou Ziheng was exposed, everyone thought he liked Gu Qiuyan. Even if some people secretly hated her, she’s so popular and her family is so powerful—who would dare to openly challenge her?"

Qingyi frowned.

"Shutong, I’ve been meaning to ask you since this morning... Ever since you got out of the hospital, it feels like your memory’s a bit jumbled. You keep trying to confirm things."

"Maybe... My head’s a little messy..." Zhang Shutong replied vaguely. "I’m going to get some water. Let’s talk later."

As he turned away, he frowned again. ’My memory can’t be wrong, but things have definitely changed.’

It was like that heavy snow during the Cold-Blooded Line—it had come out of nowhere, leaving him completely baffled.

The only reassuring part was that this time, the alteration was a positive one.

Other than Gu Qiuyan’s social circle, nothing else had changed.

A sudden pain in his finger jolted Zhang Shutong back to his senses. He realized the hot water had overflowed at some point. Shaking his hand, he walked out of the water dispenser room. ’Honestly, it’s hard to describe how I feel right now. Sure, I was caught off guard, but as for some urgent matter that needs to be dealt with...’

’...there doesn’t seem to be one.’

’To put it dramatically, this is clearly a good change. Even if I found a way to correct it back to how it was, why would I want to?’

Zhang Shutong had observed Gu Qiuyan’s so-called "friends" before. He hadn’t just been joking when he called them her lackeys. Aside from a true best friend like Xu Zhiruo, many of the others were only there for Gu Qiuyan’s money. They were naturally subservient in her presence, mooching food, drinks, and entertainment off her. It was hard to say if a relationship like that could even be called a friendship.

But things were different now. Judging from lunch today, Gu Qiuyan had clearly opened up a lot more. People around her called her "Class President" or "Qiumian." And while they still enjoyed plenty of benefits by following her around, many of them had also offered, "Let’s save up and treat you next time." It was obviously much better than before.

’Perhaps the so-called "lackeys" are a thing of the past now.’

’The great Miss Gu has made a group of decent friends.’

Zhang Shutong genuinely felt this change was for the better.

He had more or less figured out the sequence of events:

Gu Qiuyan hadn’t been murdered in the early hours of Sunday morning, which had led to a large-scale class reassignment for the ninth grade. And because of the social connections she had built up before, she was still popular even after the classes were shuffled, leading to today’s large lunch gathering.

As for how the rooftop key went missing, that turned out to be a simple mix-up:

Just like the new class president who had a crush on Lu Qinglian and only dared to make a move after being put in the same class, there were plenty of boys with similar ideas—not to mention those with crushes on Gu Qiuyan. So a boy named Kong Yihui, who found the rooftop key by accident while cleaning, brought it to the lunch table, thinking it would be a fun anecdote to show off.

Thinking of this, Zhang Shutong pulled the key from his pocket, feeling rather emotional.

He suddenly felt the urge to go spend some time on the rooftop.

Zhang Shutong climbed the stairs step by step. ’This whole thing has been such a strange coincidence,’ he thought. ’Just one small action was enough to change so much, including me. If it weren’t for this, I wouldn’t have even thought about taking a look at the rooftop.’

Zhang Shutong skillfully turned the key. The lock was a little stiff. He pushed the door open from the dim stairwell, and a wave of warm sunlight and cold wind washed over him.

This was his territory. It had been before, and it was now. Zhang Shutong sat on the edge of the roof. The academic building was four stories tall; this was the closest place to the sky.

He could see many things from up here. He saw a grayish-white building in the distance. Zhang Shutong knew it was the hospital. He’d never paid attention to it before, but since he had just spent three days there, the first thing he noticed was that aged old building.

The hospital wasn’t far, but it wasn’t close either.

He shifted his gaze and saw a two-story dormitory building.

Zhang Shutong knew that was Song’s dorm.

He was at the school, and the school wasn’t very far from the staff dormitories.

This reminded him of something interesting. Though Song was a car owner, he never actually drove to work. His home and workplace were so close that it was only a few minutes’ walk. So, he parked his car at the school every night to take advantage of the free parking—a very calculating man.

Song Nanshan was a reliable adult, and his car was, of course, meant for important business.

Now the man was gone. Zhang Shutong stared blankly at the roof of the dormitory building. He had already digested this latest change—the class shuffle, the hospitalization, the little chocolate incident. There wasn’t much tension, because there was no sense of urgency.

He just felt a bit... lost.

The world he was in kept spinning, day and night. He had changed some things, but that only welcomed more and more changes—some good, some bad, and some that were hard to distinguish.

The door behind him creaked. Zhang Shutong jumped. He spun around by reflex as a young woman in a cyan robe slowly emerged from the shadows.

Lu Qinglian was holding a lunch box.

He let out a helpless sigh of relief and turned back around to ask:

"You haven’t eaten yet?"

"I had to go to the office. I saw you heading this way, so I came to check on you."

Lu Qinglian sat down a short distance away from him.

"How did you find the key?"

"It was just an accident. A student picked it up."

Lu Qinglian grunted in acknowledgment and began to eat in small bites.

Zhang Shutong glanced at the time. Their lunch gathering had been long, and there were only twenty minutes left before class. He had passed by the classroom earlier, and many students were napping at their desks.

They definitely didn’t have time now. He remembered they had agreed to go to the dorms after school this afternoon to find Song’s notebook. But they couldn’t be sure if there were any clues in it; it was just a shot in the dark.

Zhang Shutong said:

"Do you ever feel like we’re caught in a giant spiderweb? We’re trapped inside, unable to move, with no way to escape, and we have no idea where the spider will crawl out from."

"Student Zhang Shutong, you should just say what you mean." Lu Qinglian hugged her knees. She chewed her food quietly, squinting as the sunlight hit her eyes. "Powerless?"

"Powerless. I hope we find something this afternoon." Zhang Shutong rubbed his face and pulled out his phone. "Now that you mention it, I just remembered I need to call my mom and give her a heads-up. But you have to help me out, tell her you’re tutoring me or something..."

But Lu Qinglian stood up.

"Hey, I’m not kidding, don’t go yet..."

"Ten o’clock."

Lu Qinglian’s brows furrowed deeply.

At her words, Zhang Shutong turned his head and followed her pointing finger. His eyes slowly widened—

Wednesday, December 12, 2012, 1:10 PM.

A stroke of serendipity had brought them to the rooftop.

From the edge of the rooftop, they could see the top floor of the teachers’ dormitory.

A figure was standing on the roof.

Arms spread, falling backward.