The girl with the high ponytail was looking down, standing behind Zhang Shutong.
Zhang Shutong felt a strange shiver.
When did she come over?
How did she walk without making a sound?
Zhang Shutong turned off the screen directly, moved sideways, and subconsciously put some distance between them.
If he hadn't known beforehand that it was a development plan, it would have taken him some time to figure out what it was.
Besides, he couldn't have been standing there for a long time without noticing someone behind him, which meant that Lu Qinglian only glanced at it, and she could even tell the location of her family's temple?
This was too unusual.
"I've seen this map." Lu Qinglian said directly without waiting for him to speak. It was as if she knew what he was thinking.
"What do you mean?"
"Gu Qiumian's father wants to tear down the temple and develop it into a scenic area. His people came to talk to my grandma, but grandma didn't agree."
"Then your family..."
Zhang Shutong couldn't quite figure out her intention.
"I don't agree either." The girl said calmly. "By the way, are you still investigating who has a grudge against Gu Qiumian's family?"
Zhang Shutong was choked.
"Are you suspecting me?" she asked again, her tone unchanged, but giving him no time to breathe.
"...How could that be?"
"Good, you better not."
After saying that, Lu Qinglian lost interest in the conversation.
She put her backpack on the table and took out a neatly folded long robe from it. She then put it on. Zhang Shutong knew that this was not for being unconventional, but to keep warm, using it as a warm coat.
Then Lu Qinglian shook her ponytail and walked to the cabinet in the office. She found an umbrella in the corner. The umbrella was a free gift from something. The red and white surface was folded together, and he could vaguely see that it was an advertisement for a certain beer. It was probably a public umbrella for the teachers.
"Where is Teacher Song? I want to borrow an umbrella," the girl asked at this time.
"He's a bit busy."
"Then please tell him for me when he comes back. Thank you."
After saying that, Lu Qinglian left.
Zhang Shutong sat in the chair until her figure disappeared from the office door. Her footsteps were indeed very light and were soon covered by the students coming and going.
Zhang Shutong picked up the water cup, but he didn't drink. After a while, he put it down.
As expected.
It was related to the Green Snake Temple.
The reason why he didn't continue the conversation with Lu Qinglian on the rooftop was that he couldn't figure out her stance.
He then thought of the tattoos on his arm again.
Snake, figure, eye.
The snake was the Green Snake Temple, the figure was the temple keeper...
This undoubtedly confirmed his guess.
He frowned, thinking about the three tattoos.
Wait, when did he discover these three tattoos?
Zhang Shutong remembered Du Kang's words in the Lake Fish Restaurant. At that time, he was only focused on asking what the circle represented, but the other person said:
"...I remember the police sealed off everything related to the case. You begged Officer Xiong, and you finally got a photo and drew this thing. We asked you what it meant, and you only said it was a clue to the murderer..."
Zhang Shutong then realized a detail he had overlooked.
The "circle" was a clue to the murderer, but it didn't mean that all three tattoos were.
These three tattoos must have some kind of connection, so he always felt that they were discovered at the same time.
But now he thought, that's not necessarily true.
He found this circle not long after Gu Qiumian was murdered, but Ruoping and Du Kang didn't react to the snake and the figure, which meant that he only told them about the circle, or in other words, he only found the circle.
The three tattoos were not discovered at the same time.
The snake and the figure were found later.
Zhang Shutong raised his left arm. He closed his eyes and visualized the positions of the three tattoos.
From left to right, they were:
Green snake, figure, eye.
The order of reading is also from left to right.
So his subconscious also understood the order of these three tattoos this way.
Another reason was that the green snake and the figure almost reflexively made people think of something, but the circle was clueless.
But Zhang Shutong suddenly thought, if the circle was the first thing discovered, then according to this order, does it mean that the green snake was the last?
Eye, figure, green snake.
But does the so-called chronological order really help in finding the murderer?
He stood up and walked to the window. He pushed it open a little, and the cold wind rushed onto his face. A chill also rose in his body.
Parents flocked into the playground, either holding umbrellas or wearing raincoats. On the other side, students were also running out quickly. For a moment, figures crossed paths. The spotless white snow from a while ago instantly turned a grayish-black, like a worn-out, bumpy quilt.
On this broken quilt, Zhang Shutong even saw Ruoping. Her dad had come. As a beloved daughter, he first took her backpack and then held up an umbrella. With his other hand, he quickly brushed the snowflakes from her hair.
Zhang Shutong then remembered to reply to his close friends' messages. It turned out that Ruoping asked if he wanted to go with her family's car. The latest message was from three minutes ago, saying, "My dad called me. I'm going down first. I'll wait for you for a while. Reply quickly."
Du Kang and Qingyi had agreed to go back together. The three friends all had cars at home, but Du Kang's parents were busy right now. Qingyi was also picked up by his dad, a refined man with glasses in his memory.
He looked for them and saw their figures from below the teaching building. Boys were not that particular. They generally didn't need their parents to run to the front of the building. The two of them just put their backpacks on their heads and charged out.
He quickly replied, telling them that he had plans today and would see them tomorrow.
The crowd was like a tide. The thick snow was washed away in the blink of an eye, leaving nothing behind. It was in this turbulent scene that Zhang Shutong found a figure that didn't fit in.
The owner of the figure was holding a red and white umbrella. The surface of the umbrella was wrinkled and printed with an advertisement for a certain beer. Under the umbrella, a girl in a green robe was hidden.
In the midst of the wind and snow, Lu Qinglian surged into the crowd.
The surrounding noise had nothing to do with her. Her footsteps were not hurried, but she walked quickly.
Zhang Shutong stared at the advertisement on the umbrella for a while, until the red umbrella left the crowd again. It went out of the school gate and disappeared at the corner. That was the direction back to the mountain.
He withdrew his gaze and saw that the national flag on the flag-raising platform had been forgotten. It was hanging limply against the flagpole, probably turning to ice tomorrow.
Zhang Shutong closed the window.
Now there were three plans: best, middle, and worst.
The best plan was to find some clues tonight, figure out what Gu Qiumian encountered in the early hours of Sunday, and then combine the forces around him to bring the murderer to justice.
The middle plan was to hide. It didn't matter where he hid, but leaving the island was the safest.
The worst plan was to wait for the rabbit, call Old Song, the police, and Gu Qiumian's family's bodyguards, and not leave the villa for a single step on Saturday. But the reason this was the worst plan was that it was not so easy to make a big fuss.
Zhang Shutong went back to the classroom to pack his backpack. When he went out, he happened to run into Old Song. He remembered the umbrella and told Old Song about it.
Song Nanshan slapped his forehead and said, "Damn it."
"I forgot to tell Qinglian to wait. I should have given her a ride home in this heavy snow... When did she leave?"
Zhang Shutong thought for a moment:
"She left a long time ago."