Rain marks
Chapter 2: Rain Traces
Bai Ke finally went to the literature club activity on Friday.
She stood at the door to the activity room, the edge of her notebook clutched in her hand, beads of sweat forming. Through the glass window, she saw Chen Yiyu standing at the podium, his head bent over, adjusting the multimedia equipment. The afternoon light filtered through the blinds, casting dappled stripes on his body.
"Bai Ke?" Li Meng's voice came from behind, "Why are you here?"
Bai Ke turned around and saw Li Meng holding a stack of physics competition materials with a puzzled look on his face.
"I'm here to participate in the literature club activities." She tried to make her voice sound natural. "What about you?"
"Help the teacher deliver the materials to Chen Yiyu." Li Meng shook the materials in his hand. "He needs them for the training this afternoon. Seriously, he could have picked them up on the way, but he made me deliver them."
Before Bai Ke could respond, the door to the activity room opened. Chen Yiyu stood at the doorway, his eyes first fixed on Bai Ke's face, he nodded slightly, and then turned to Li Meng.
"Thank you for your help." He took the information and spoke gently.
"Remember to get it yourself next time, college tyrant." Li Meng patted Chen Yiyu's shoulder and looked at Bai Ke, "Wait for me after the event. Let's go home together?"
Bai Ke felt Chen Yiyu's gaze turn towards her, and her cheeks became slightly hot. "No, I have to go to the library to return a book today."
Li Meng shrugged: "Okay, see you tomorrow."
After Li Meng left, Chen Yiyu did not return to the activity room immediately, but stood at the door and looked at Bai Ke.
"You're here," he said.
Those three simple words made Bai Ke's heart skip a beat. He remembered their previous conversation, and remembered that he had invited her.
"Yeah." She nodded and followed him into the activity room.
A number of people were already seated in the event room. Bai Ke found a seat near the back and watched Chen Yiyu walk up to the podium. He was discussing the use of imagery in modern poetry, his voice steady and clear, like a mountain stream.
"In the writings of some poets, rain is not only a natural phenomenon, but also a carrier of memory." Chen Yiyu switched to PPT and showed a short poem. "For example, in this poem 'Rain Traces', the poet connects the past and the present through the imagery of rain."
Bai Ke stared at the poem on the screen and suddenly felt familiar.
"The rain washes against the windowpanes,
It also washes away the traces of time.
The umbrella you handed me,
It brings back memories of the entire rainy season."
She frowned slightly. She seemed to have read this poem somewhere before.
After the event, several girls gathered around Chen Yiyu to ask him questions. Bai Ke packed up her things and quietly left through the back door. It had begun to rain outside, fine threads of rain forming a transparent web in the autumn air.
She stood at the door of the teaching building, looking for her umbrella in her schoolbag, but found that she had forgotten to bring it when she went out in the morning.
"No umbrella?"
Bai Ke turned around and saw Chen Yiyu standing behind her, holding a dark blue folding umbrella in his hand.
"I forgot." She smiled helplessly, "Let's go when the rain stops."
Chen Yiyu was silent for a moment, then said, "I'll give you a piece."
"No, don't you still have to attend physical training?"
"The training is in the laboratory building, on the way."
They walked side by side in the rain, the space under the umbrella small and quiet. Bai Ke could smell the faint scent of laundry detergent on him, mixed with the smell of grass after the rain. Her arm would occasionally touch his, and every slight contact made her heart beat faster.
"That poem," Bai Ke suddenly spoke, trying to break the uneasy silence, "'Rain Traces', I seem to have read it somewhere."
Chen Yiyu paused for a moment: "Maybe it's in a poetry collection."
"Maybe." Bai Ke nodded, then remembered something, "By the way, you shared very well. I didn't expect you to know so much about modern poetry."
"It's just an interest." Chen Yiyu's voice was very light. "Some memories become clearer after being washed by rain."
They reached the fork in the road leading to the laboratory building and the school gate. The rain had lightened considerably, turning into a fine mist.
"Thank you for sending me." Bai Ke said, "I can walk back by myself."
Chen Yiyu looked at her, with a complex expression in his eyes: "Bai Ke, do you still remember the summer three years ago?"
"Three years ago?"
"At the gate of No. 7 Middle School, it was also a rainy day."
Bai Ke tried to recall. Three years ago, when she was still in junior high, she went to the Seventh Middle School in the west of the city to participate in a writing competition training session. She remembered that one rainy day, she saw a boy sitting on the stone steps at the school gate, soaking wet, his eyes empty. She had already walked past him, but then turned back and handed him her umbrella.
"That boy...is you?" Bai Ke opened his eyes wide in surprise.
Chen Yiyu nodded slightly. "That day, my father's company declared bankruptcy. I went to school to handle the transfer procedures. When I came out, it started raining, so I just sat there... I didn't know where to go next."
Bai Ke remembered the boy's appearance that day. He lowered his head, raindrops dripping down his hair, forming small puddles on the ground. When she handed him the umbrella, he looked up, his bright eyes filled with pain.
"What happened to your family?"
"I sold my house to pay off my debts and moved to the south of the city." Chen Yiyu's tone was calm, as if he was telling someone else's story. "I transferred here and started studying very hard. Because I knew that was my only way out."
Bai Ke suddenly understood where his low profile and aloofness came from. It wasn't pride, but the sobriety and restraint he'd experienced after setbacks.
"I've kept that umbrella," Chen Yiyu continued. "It's dark blue with little white cloud patterns on it."
Bai Ke was stunned. Her umbrella was indeed dark blue with white clouds, and it was her favorite umbrella in junior high school.
"How do you know it was me who handed you the umbrella..."
"Your umbrella had a name on it, and I saw your name and school on the list of winners of the essay competition. Later, I saw you on campus several times." Chen Yiyu's voice was low. "You may not remember it, but your kindness on that rainy day meant a lot to me."
The rain had completely stopped. A corner of the western sky appeared blue, and the sun pierced through the clouds, casting rays of golden light.
"I didn't expect you would forget me." Chen Yiyu said softly, with the corners of his mouth raised and his eyes fixed on her face.
Bai Ke didn't know how to respond. Her heart was beating fast, and an unfamiliar emotion spread in her chest, warm and sour.
"I have to go to training." Chen Yiyu looked at his watch. "Will you come to the literature club activities next week?"
Bai Ke nodded, feeling his cheeks getting hot: "I will."
Chen Yiyu looked at her: "Then, see you next week."
He turned and walked towards the laboratory building, while Bai Ke stood there, watching his back gradually disappear. A strange feeling welled up in her heart. It was like discovering a secret entrance, but she didn't know what kind of scenery was hidden behind the door.
On the way home, Bai Ke kept thinking about that rainy day. The image in her memory gradually became clearer—the drenched boy, those eyes filled with pain yet still bright. It turned out that they had met long ago, their paths crossed, leaving behind a faint trace of rain.
When she reached the gate of the community, she saw Li Meng standing there, spinning a basketball in her hands.
"Didn't you say you wanted to go to the library?" Li Meng asked with a raised eyebrow.
"I changed my mind." Bai Ke avoided his gaze. "What are you doing here?"
"Waiting for you." Li Meng tucked the basketball under his arm. "I just saw Chen Yiyu send you off. When did you two become so familiar with each other?"
Bai Ke pursed her lips and said, "We just met by chance. He gave me a ride along the way."
Li Meng stared at her for a few seconds, then smiled: "Bai Ke, you know, you touch your ears when you lie."
Bai Ke subconsciously put down the hand that had just touched his earlobe, a little annoyed: "I didn't lie."
"Okay, whatever you want." Li Meng shrugged. "But I have to remind you that Chen Yiyu has been very close to Qiu Luodi recently. I heard that the two families have already formed an alliance."
"Marriage?" Bai Ke repeated the word in disbelief. "What era is this?"
"We don't understand the world of the rich." Li Meng patted her shoulder and said, "Let's go. Auntie asked me to have dinner at your house tonight."
Bai Ke followed Li Meng home, her heart in turmoil. Wasn't Chen Yiyu's family bankrupt? Why was he marrying into Qiu Luodi's family? And what did he mean by what he said to her today?
After dinner, Bai Ke returned to her room and dug out her junior high school diary from the bottom shelf of her bookcase. She flipped to the rainy day three years ago and found the relevant record:
"I went to No. 7 Middle School for training today, and it was raining on my way back. At the school gate, I saw a boy sitting in the rain, soaking wet and looking very sad. I gave him my umbrella, hoping this small act of kindness would make him feel better. When he looked up at me, his eyes were like a starry sky washed by rain, bright and sad."
Bai Ke closed her diary and walked to the window. The night sky was clear, dotted with stars. She remembered what Chen Yiyu had said at the literary club event today: "Some memories become clearer after being washed away by rain."
Her fingers gently slid across the glass, as if she could touch the rain from three years ago. The throbbing feeling in her heart became more and more obvious, like a newly sprouted seed, quietly growing under the nourishment of the rain.
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