Chapter 5: The Maiden’s Blush Outshines All Else

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Zhang Shutang referred to "that incident" as the Scarf Incident.

It happened sometime after a PE class. When everyone returned to the classroom, Gu Qiumian discovered that her beloved scarf had been stepped on.

If there had been just one footprint, it might have been accidental. But one end of the scarf was nearly torn, and there were several black smudges on it. This clearly wasn’t a careless step.

It was obviously deliberate retaliation.

She first let out a distressed "Ah," looking around helplessly at her classmates, her eyes already reddening. Then anger flared across her face as she marched to the podium, threw the scarf down, and loudly demanded:

“Who did this? Come out now!”

The classroom suddenly fell silent.

At the same moment, someone hesitantly stood up.

“You?!” Gu Qiumian snapped.

“No, I was just going to the bathroom…”

Before he could finish, she shouted at him, and he slunk back to his seat.

The room was dead quiet. The reputation of the heiress was well-earned. Those who had been quietly chatting now sealed their lips.

“I didn’t see anything…”

“Me neither…”

This was the first time everyone had seen her lose her composure, and they were all a little shocked.

Back when she’d been angered by that boy, though the outcome was serious, she had only left with a cold expression.

No one dared to speak, but sometimes silence was a form of ignoring.

Besides some students who hadn’t yet processed it, others, who had disliked her for how she handled the earlier class transfer incident, thought this was an overreaction to such a small matter. They dared not speak but kept their heads down, silently protesting.

If it had been another girl, a few close friends would have surrounded her, comforting her and helping her get back at whoever did it.

But Gu Qiumian had no friends. She pressed her lips tightly together, standing alone at the podium, as if trying to burn a hole with her gaze into every face.

At that moment, Zhang Shutang and Du Kang were gathered nearby. They exchanged glances, and Ruoping first grabbed Du Kang's ear:

“Hey, why are you looking at me? Even if I had a grudge with her, would I really do something like this?”

“Ouch, ouch, ouch, I was wrong, sis, big sis, I really didn’t mean that…”

Ruoping withdrew her hand with a pout:

“The heiress is throwing a tantrum. Someone’s in for it now. Qingyi, guess who?”

“Can’t guess. Everyone just got back, no one’s absent. It probably happened before PE class.”

“What about Shutang? Hm? Daydreaming?”

Before he could answer, a boy suddenly stood up—the one who was one of Gu Qiumian’s secret admirers. He pointed at Zhang Shutang:

“It was Zhang Shutang who stepped on it. I saw him. He even picked up the scarf afterward.”

Zhang Shutang was stunned.

From the moment Gu Qiumian climbed the podium, he had been recalling one question:

Had he stepped on it or not?

He had been the last to leave that day. The homeroom teacher had asked him to write out the seating chart during the break—a task usually assigned to the class monitor, who was absent that day—so it fell to him.

After finishing, he hurried across the aisle and saw the scarf lying on the floor, only half the tassels visible.

He was sure he hadn’t stepped on it, just picked it up casually. But he had been in a rush, and now being accused, he wondered if his foot had grazed it slightly. Even he wasn’t sure anymore.

This was the most frustrating situation—seemingly unrelated, yet somehow relevant, impossible to explain clearly.

Gu Qiumian suddenly remembered this "traitor." Gritting her teeth, her voice rising with intense anger, she demanded:

“Did you do it?”

“I think I stepped on it… but I didn’t tear the scarf.”

“Then explain! Why did Zhou Ziheng say he saw it? Is he lying?”

The boy named Zhou Ziheng was her deskmate, who often showed concern for her. His words carried more weight than her own.

“It was definitely him! I just happened to go back for something and saw it,” Zhou Ziheng’s voice grew louder.

“Hey, you two, don’t falsely accuse! I was going to say your deskmate framed you!” Ruoping also stood up.

Gu Qiumian ignored her and strode over to Zhang Shutang, throwing the scarf onto his desk.

Only then did Zhang Shutang notice the scarf wasn’t just marked with footprints; it also bore a sticky substance, like mucus.

Gu Qiumian’s eyes locked onto him:

“Zhang Shutang, did you do it or not?”

“…It wasn’t me.”

“Then why did you say just now you might have stepped on it, but now you don’t admit it?”

“I said I might have stepped on it,” Zhang Shutang felt his scalp tingle, “but that stuff on the scarf definitely isn’t mine. Calm down first…”

But Gu Qiumian wasn’t listening anymore:

“Why would you do such a thing? This scarf belonged to my mother…”

“I didn’t do it.”

“I just want you to apologize! I won’t tell the teacher. I hate people who don’t admit their mistakes!”

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“…”

“Disgusting!”

“I told you, that’s the only thing—I didn’t do it.”

He repeated every word carefully.

That was how he was then: gentle with softness, unyielding to force, believing the innocent would be understood. He was not the type to comfort anyone.

At first, Gu Qiumian’s approach made him feel inferior, being half-involved. But when she started questioning him with a guilt-inducing attitude, he grew annoyed.

From that perspective, calling him “aloof” back then wasn’t wrong. Gu Qiumian’s face was icy, but Zhang Shutang’s was even colder.

As they argued, her eyes reddened again:

“I haven’t offended you, have I?”

“I haven’t provoked you either.”

“Then why…”

“Are you done yet?”

They both spoke at once, holding in their anger. Someone tried to mediate:

“Qiumian, why don’t you tell Teacher Song?”

“Yeah, class is about to start. Standing here won’t help…”

Some took the chance to vent their dissatisfaction:

“She thinks she’s so important. She’s not even the principal’s daughter…”

“What did you say?”

Gu Qiumian spun around sharply.

The person dared not speak. After a long pause, he muttered quietly:

“Your dad must’ve gotten you transferred anyway…”

That sentence was the spark that lit the powder keg.

But it exploded on himself:

“…Fine. If you won’t admit it, my parents work under your dad too. I’m telling him!”

She wiped her face and turned to leave.

As she left, a few friends and other classmates came to comfort her.

Ruoping angrily cursed after her.

Qingyi and Du Kang also stood up and complained to Zhou Ziheng:

“What were you saying just now? Acting like a hero is not like that. Shutang wouldn’t do such a thing…”

He didn’t remember what else was said, only recalled the embarrassment. He went to the rooftop and stayed there for a whole period.

Not because he was falsely accused, but because that comment about parents felt like an insult that burned his face red.

His parents had originally worked at the Geological Bureau. A few years ago, because Gu’s father wanted to develop the island, they co-founded a project with the city to set up a geological exploration office there.

From this angle, his transfer to the island school was closely related to Gu Qiumian’s family.

But to say he worked for her father was nonsense. That threat was the least painful, yet it lingered in his mind.

Perhaps some things deliberately blurred before had suddenly become starkly clear.

Still, he couldn’t help but worry—what if his family was implicated?

He tried subtly questioning his parents, but the expected “retaliation” never came. Instead, they looked at him strangely.

Those days at school felt heavy. Teenagers’ imaginations ran wild: being ambushed by Gu Qiumian’s followers at the school gate, or being knocked out and kidnapped by their driver.

He truly considered these possibilities.

Not being able to deal with his family didn’t mean he couldn’t be dealt with at school. Gu’s father had extensive connections. Considering what happened to the boy who told dirty jokes, transferring him or sending him home for a few days was possible.

But none of these things happened.

Honestly, Zhang Shutang never figured out why.

Gu Qiumian returned to school the next day, didn’t seek revenge, nor pressed for the truth. It was as if nothing had happened.

She was her usual self, always wearing the mended scarf, carrying lots of snacks and sometimes sharing them, drawing on the glass—if the drawings were ugly, she’d laugh at herself.

Only when they passed each other did she neither glare nor coldly face him. Sometimes they exchanged a few words, but mostly they completely ignored each other.

Zhang Shutang had been stubborn, hoping to find the real “culprit” and tell them the truth openly.

He never expected that would be the last time they spoke. The resentment in his chest dissipated in an unexpected way. That conflict became a sealed, buried memory.

Years later, recalling it no longer stirred anger. He felt there must have been a better way.

If he had to draw a conclusion, it was that scarf was very important to Gu Qiumian.

Some things you keep in your heart for years, never deliberately recalling. But once they appear in your mind, you exhaust yourself considering right and wrong, better solutions… all to no avail.

What you really want isn’t right or wrong, nor the outcome, but to mourn what’s irretrievably lost.

When Zhang Shutang was a teenager, he developed a system to categorize people—though he no longer used it.

He would match someone’s manner of speech to characters in novels or comics he had read. If he could get an eight or nine out of ten match, he’d classify them into a template and feel he understood them.

He once tried this with Gu Qiumian and concluded she was a cold heiress type.

But later he realized she was more indifferent to most things. Since she didn’t care, she didn’t bother expending effort, which made her seem aloof.

For example, right now, he felt she was glaring at him. When their eyes finally met, it turned out Zhang Shutang was overthinking.

Her face showed no surprise, no desire to question him—just expressionless, as if stating the most ordinary thing:

“Move your chair, let me in.”

Changing seats now would seem pretentious, so Zhang Shutang scooted his stool forward.

A fragrant breeze wafted past him.

Looking at Gu Qiumian, the heiress back in her old school, with a new deskmate who was an oblivious boy, and a bit of enmity between them, one could imagine she wasn’t in the best mood.

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She simply placed her backpack on the desk and silently began tidying her things.

She didn’t speak, and Zhang Shutang was glad to have some peace. Some girls he could read at a glance; others were inscrutable regardless of age. Gu Qiumian belonged to the latter. So he tried not to waste brainpower.

Besides, he had something more important on his mind—

He couldn’t fulfill the promise he made to Du Kang. The seats beside and in front of Lu Qinglian were already taken, but the seat in front of that one was still empty.

Fortunately, the top few students in class were all girls, so no one had claimed that spot yet.

Though it had started as a joke, he had made a promise.

And as long as that seat remained empty, Zhang Shutang had a plan.

He glanced toward the front door, where a boy who hadn’t been assigned a seat yet was shamelessly calling out to the homeroom teacher:

“Teacher, can you seat me next to Ding Xiaoxiao?”

Ding Xiaoxiao was the girl sitting in front of the seat in front of Lu Qinglian.

Song Nanshan lifted his eyes from the ranking list and glanced at him:

“Say what you want.”

“I’ve been having trouble seeing lately. I think I’m nearsighted and want to sit closer to the board.”

“Get lost. I know what you’re thinking. If you can’t see the board, sit by the wall. There are empty seats there. Or move a chair next to the podium if that doesn’t work.”

The boy sheepishly smiled and stayed silent.

Zhang Shutang couldn’t help but smile, thinking Lu Qinglian was like a cultivation treasure in a sect—the closer you were to her, the faster your experience points increased. The seat beside her had become a coveted spot for disciples.

Suddenly, Gu Qiumian squeezed out a sentence after a long pause:

“What are you doing here?”

She liked to add a particle at the end of her sentences. Her tone was light, but it always added a subtle ripple.

Why did girls always like to dig for details? Zhang Shutang thought.

But since he couldn’t figure her out, he answered casually:

“I’m afraid of the cold.”

“Cut the act.”

“Pure accident?”

“Tch.”

Gu Qiumian made a small "tch" sound, as if waiting specifically for him to ask what he was "tch"-ing about.

Zhang Shutang had no time to ask.

He was watching the front door. Although he didn’t want to use outside tactics, the homeroom teacher had just called out another name, another boy.

That boy’s eyes lit up and he quickly hurried to the empty seat.

Zhang Shutang raised his hand, knowing he couldn’t wait any longer. He had to speak up:

“Teacher Song, I have something to say.”

“It’s Shutang. Speak.” Old Song didn’t look up, like an emperor listening to his minister’s report.

Zhang Shutang rarely spoke so much:

“I’ve been tutoring Du Kang recently and wanted to reserve a seat closer for him to make it easier to explain problems.”

The homeroom teacher chuckled:

“You two tutoring? Might as well be fishing.”

Then he said casually:

“Go ahead, whatever you want. Just don’t toss paper notes around in class.”

Zhang Shutang rolled up his uniform jacket and tossed it forward. It arced perfectly onto the seat next to Ding Xiaoxiao, startling the girl.

The boy who had just been called froze a few steps from the seat, stuck in an awkward spot.

He didn’t want to give up, but if he sat there, the seat was already taken by a jacket, exposing his intentions.

In the end, he grudgingly found another seat.

Sorry, sorry.

Zhang Shutang pretended not to notice.

He could almost hear the supposedly nearsighted boy angrily asking:

“How could Du Kang do it? Teacher, look at Zhang Shutang!”

But Zhang Shutang imagined he was saying to the emperor:

“Your Majesty, these two are wolves in sheep’s clothing. They must not be spared and should be executed! I’m ready to cleanse the court.”

Old Song shrugged helplessly:

“They want tutoring. Maybe I should find someone to tutor you too. Don’t leave after school today.”

“Pretend I didn’t say that…” The other boy was left speechless.

Zhang Shutang silently mourned for him.

Although things hadn’t gone exactly as promised, Du Kang had originally planned to sit a few rows back and wouldn’t mind moving closer. Besides, there was still the next monthly exam.

Next time, definitely. Yes, really definitely.