Chapter 35.1 - Can You Understand My Rainy Days? (1)
The moment she received the message, she didn’t reply to Sheng Huainan. Instead, she swiftly and calmly packed her sneakers into her backpack, grabbed a plastic bag, opened her umbrella, and dashed out of the dormitory recklessly. She rolled up her pant legs, wore slippers, and waded through the floodwaters to a small café near the dorm. From a distance, she saw many people sheltering from the rain at the main entrance, so she quietly slipped in through a side door. She ran to the restroom to dry off her legs and feet, then put the umbrella and slippers into the plastic bag and stuffed it into her backpack. Finally, she put on her sneakers and let down her pant legs.
Good, no one could tell she had run through the rain.
All those detective novels she had read suddenly turned into decisiveness, prompting her to take action so quickly.
She had to seize this chance.
Then she checked her phone — Sheng Huainan sent another message: “Where are you?”
She replied, “One-way street café, doomed. I already put a plastic bag over my head, ready to dash out.”
Sent.
Lo Zhi knew that although she didn’t seem as calm and collected as others thought, she had never done anything this reckless before.
Her heart was anxious, with a constant feeling that this was the last chance. “Reply quickly, reply quickly,” she kept pacing around humbly.
She was very afraid he would just respond, “Then run slowly, you little drenched rat.”
Unintentionally, she glanced sideways at the mirror on the wall and saw her pale face, unable to hide the anxiety and affectation. She froze on the spot and slowly hardened, then gave a bitter smile to the reflection.
She was really just like this.
When his message arrived, Lo Zhi had already regained a normal expression.
“Wait for me, I’m coming right now.”
Lo Zhi’s cold smile gradually turned a little bleak. Because she had been so fearful and hopeful before, the joy that should have been there was diluted. Maybe this was her greatest sorrow.
She sat on a chair waiting. Everyone else watched the rain, but she stared at her palm.
At the moment she looked up, she saw Sheng Huainan standing beside her, staring blankly at her.
Lo Zhi stood and smiled. He was holding a big umbrella, the tip dripping water. Without expression, Sheng Huainan nodded at her, slowly opened his backpack, and took out a raincoat — a pink one with Hello Kitty printed on it.
She froze for a moment, looked up, and vaguely saw a slight smile on Sheng Huainan’s face, one she couldn’t understand.
Lo Zhi had always hated that cat. She didn’t like cats without spirit, dumb and soulless.
Of course, there was an even more important reason — she had seen this raincoat before.
“The rain is too heavy, an umbrella isn’t enough. Wear the raincoat for double protection. Does the shopkeeper have plastic bags? Give me two. You can wear them on your feet to keep water out of your shoes. I won’t use any — I’m already soaked.”
She didn’t ask where he had come from or say thank you. She just listened to his instructions and followed him as he pulled her along. Wearing the hood of the raincoat, the sound of the rain outside felt different, as if she were isolated in her own world. Her feelings were complicated and hard to describe. From the moment she received his message until now, it wasn’t unhappiness — but the raincoat made her skin burn.
They waded through water together. Lo Zhi hid inside the raincoat and found it hard to turn her head; the hood kept blocking her view.
“Sorry, your shoes must be soaked through.”
Sheng Huainan glanced down at his feet but said nothing.
“Is your cold better?”
His expression softened a bit, nodded — or at least Lo Zhi saw a faint nod through the translucent pink.
“Why don’t you say anything?” Lo Zhi frowned, suppressing the unhappy feelings swirling inside.
“There’s nothing to say.” He smiled for a moment — that light, carefree smile again.
At the dormitory entrance, Sheng Huainan said, “Go in quickly.”
Lo Zhi was at a loss for words and only said, “Thank you, really.”
