Chapter 339 - 147: Autumn Rain

Chapter 339: Chapter 147: Autumn Rain

Zhang Shutong recalled sitting on the sofa for a bit. It must have slipped out then.

"I’m on the night shift for the next two days. How about I give the key to my coworker and let her know? I’ll just tell her to give it to the handsome kid with the cast."

"That’s too much trouble." Zhang Shutong pretended not to hear the second half of her sentence. He glanced at the fine rain outside. "I’ll just go tonight."

"That works. My shift doesn’t change until eight, so don’t be too late."

Zhang Shutong thanked her and hung up.

He pressed the lock button on his iPhone. The default lock sound was one he never got tired of hearing.

"Lu Qinglian, there’s actually a question I’ve been wanting to ask you for a long time."

Zhang Shutong said, looking at the password entry screen:

"During the avalanche, you used my phone to call Ruoping. How did you know my password?"

Phones back then didn’t have fingerprint unlock.

Lu Qinglian inserted the straw without a glance, the strawberry milk like a toy in her hand.

"The time we went fishing."

"When?" Zhang Shutong had expected her to name a different day; he never thought it would be from the very first day of the regression.

"That day, when we were hiding in the reeds, you unlocked your phone and typed in your notes app, telling everyone to hide. I just happened to be standing behind you," Lu Qinglian said, biting lightly on her straw.

Zhang Shutong was genuinely shocked. ’Just how much did she get done that day? She found the clay figurines, dealt with the poachers, and even caught a whole basket of fish.’ On second thought, though, he realized that if it hadn’t been for her, he would never have been rushed to the hospital in time. It was a blessing in disguise.

So, Zhang Shutong stopped himself from changing the password.

"What else did our homeroom teacher talk to you about?"

"I’ll tell you if it becomes necessary. If I don’t, don’t keep asking."

Back at school, Lu Qinglian had reverted to her usual unapproachable aura.

’It seemed their "cooperation" was limited to special circumstances; in their day-to-day lives, their paths wouldn’t cross much.’

She was still the same girl, the Temple Priestess who traveled up and down the mountain every day for school, quietly and competently handling every task—not necessarily out of interest, but simply out of habit.

Zhang Shutong even began to suspect that, in her eyes, all their small talk was just a necessary means to an end. Once the task was complete, most words were best left unsaid.

’Lu Qinglian only did what was necessary.’

Just like now. The sky outside was gloomy, so all the lights in the classroom were on. The bright white light of the LED tubes reflected the room’s interior on the windowpanes. Zhang Shutong turned to look at the glass, where Lu Qinglian’s reflection was pulling out a thick English tome—the *New Concept English* textbook they had ordered back in eighth grade. Her eyes were downcast, and even as she drank her milk, she flipped it open to a lesson.

A few minutes earlier, Zhang Shutong had seen her put a flat, wet object into her bag. It turned out that after leaving the office, she had first made a trip to the rooftop. A lunchbox and its lid lay scattered on the ground up there. They had left in such a hurry, and after sitting out in the freezing rain, the food inside was long past edible.

This gave Zhang Shutong a new understanding of Lu Qinglian. He decided not to disturb her further. "Excuse me," he said, before heading out the back door of the classroom.

The long break between classes was normally a time for students to go outside and blow off steam, but the rain had canceled all outdoor activities. Everyone was cooped up inside the four-story academic building, and the din of voices on every floor was so loud the windows trembled.

When it rained, the rooftop was off-limits. Zhang Shutong, however, sometimes enjoyed coming out into the hallway to watch the rain.

Countless students zipped past behind him, chasing and shoving each other playfully. The hallway lights were old, leaving the area dimly lit. Being indoors on a rainy day brought a certain sense of comfort, though no one could quite say why. Perhaps it traced back to the dawn of evolution, to a time when our ape ancestors took shelter from the rain in caves.

He was now standing directly across from the back door of Class One. Zhang Shutong watched raindrops slide down the glass, sipping his cloyingly sweet student milk. With a bit of imagination, he could pretend he was in a café: the window was a floor-to-ceiling pane, the milk in his hand was a strawberry latte, and he was in the heart of a bustling city... and what high-end café would be complete without a touch of perfume?

And just then, a familiar fragrance wafted into his nose.

’The differences between people were vast. Some only had sugary student milk to drink during the afternoon break, while others held a carton of Deluxe Milk. Some hid from the winter’s freezing rain in a hallway, while others were themselves like a soft autumn drizzle.’

Gu Qiuyan was standing directly across from the front door of Class Two. She watched the fine rain outside, her arms resting on the windowsill. She let out a breath that fogged the pane, one hand cupping her cheek while the other traced a few random lines on the glass.

But her spot wasn’t as quiet as Zhang Shutong’s. People kept coming out of her classroom, mostly girls in groups of two or three, laughing and calling out greetings to her. Zhang Shutong belatedly recalled that she was quite the popular figure these days.

Plenty of people greeted Gu Qiuyan, but she was the type who preferred not to be bothered with superfluous actions or words when she was watching the rain. She would often just give a nonchalant "mhm," not even bothering to turn her head, treating that as a response.

’How could such a popular person have time to slip out and watch the rain?’

The world was vast, so vast that hundreds of people were bustling through this long, narrow space at once, a constant river of foot traffic.

And yet, the world was also small, so small that it felt as if only two people remained. For a moment, the world fell silent.

"Class President. What a coincidence."

"Who’s your Class President? Don’t get familiar," the Class President said, blinking her thick lashes as she admired her fresh creation on the glass.