Chapter 21 The man's broad, warm chest enveloped her completely...
Chi Yu was not present at dinner time in the evening.
Xinmian peered curiously into the living room a few times, but didn't ask a question.
But Chen Xiulian noticed her actions and smiled, "Ayu, go to Old Chen's place and see if the doors and windows are closed tightly."
Xinmian went into the kitchen to help get chopsticks and bowls, nodding as if she didn't care much.
Uncle Chen lives alone and is quite old, so he really needs to be extra careful during typhoons.
After dinner, it started raining outside.
Because of the typhoon, it got dark much earlier than usual today.
At 7 p.m. on a summer evening, it was already completely dark outside.
The raindrops pattered down, soaking the entire yard in just a few seconds.
The wind, carrying rain, lashed in, and the floor-to-ceiling glass doors of the living room creaked and groaned.
This was the first time Xin Mian had encountered such a situation. She sat on the sofa, looking outside with unease.
Chen Xiulian was used to it. After taking a shower, she smiled and said to Mianmian, "Mianmian, it's still early, go take a shower."
The later it gets, the heavier the rain and the stronger the wind become, and there will also be thunder.
"...Oh well."
Xin Mian gave a perfunctory reply.
The chubby orange cat lay down beside her, raised its paw and patted the back of her hand, meowed, and continued to lie down.
Chen Xiulian understood, "Don't worry."
"Old Chen's family also lives in Dongpu Lane, not far away. Ayu will be back in a little while."
The phone screen on the table lit up. Xinmian picked it up and saw that it was a mass text message from the mobile carrier.
Typhoon Peter is expected to make landfall at 1:00 AM. The city has activated a red typhoon warning signal, and work and classes have been suspended. Residents are advised to avoid going out unless necessary, reinforce doors and windows, and take precautions against flooding...
She clicked "read" and a message popped up on WeChat.
Qin Shengtian, [Mianmian, remember to close the doors and windows properly!]
Xinmian replied, "[Okay, you too, be careful]"
Qin Shengtian quickly replied with an emoji and thoughtfully asked, "Are you scared? If you are, we can make a voice call."
Xin Mian's lips slowly curved into a smile. Although the wind and rain were mixed with the sound of television broadcasts in her ears, her heart felt warm.
"It's okay, I'm not scared. I'm going to take a shower now."
【good】
Before going upstairs, she went to Chen Xiulian's room and locked the windows for her.
The chubby orange cat followed her closely. When it saw that she was going back to the third floor, it seemed to remember what Chi Yu had said before about not letting it go to Xinmian's room. It meowed a few times at the top of the stairs, but in the end, it did not follow her up.
Xinmian smiled, patted its head, picked it up and put it back in its cat bed, and moved the cat bed a little further away from the glass door.
——
Half an hour later, the gate of No. 7 Dongpu Lane was opened.
Chi Yu, covered in rain and sweat, his tall figure damp with moisture, entered from outside.
Despite the raincoat, some rain was still inevitable.
Her bangs were completely wet and drooped slightly, and her dark eyes looked even darker and brighter after being soaked by the rain.
Chen Xiulian came out of the room wearing a coat and saw him standing in the living room drying his hair.
The chubby orange cat circled around his feet.
"grandmother."
Knowing he was back, Chen Xiulian was relieved and nodded. "There's hot water in the kitchen. Drink some, then go take a shower quickly, so you don't get sick."
“Okay,” Chi Yu agreed, and stepped inside. “Is it alright if you close the doors and windows of your room?”
Chen Xiulian smiled kindly, "Don't worry, Mianmian has checked it for me."
"It's very urgent."
Chi Yu paused, instinctively looking towards the stairs.
The third floor is very quiet.
Chen Xiulian wrapped her coat tighter around herself and patted his arm, saying, "All the doors and windows in the house are closed."
After saying that, he went straight back to his room.
In the quiet living room, only Chi Yu remained.
The bright lights elongated his tall and slender figure.
Water droplets dripped from the wet clothes and landed on the chubby orange's fluffy head.
The chubby orange cat suddenly sprang to attention, swishing its tail as it leaped onto the stair railing and squatted down, looking around.
[Who?! Who's plotting against me?!]
Ignoring its startled reaction, Chi Yu grabbed its front paws by the armpits and lifted it up, looking it in the eye.
"Is she scared at home with the rain so heavy?"
Fat Orange instantly understood who he was talking about, and flicked its tail in the air.
[Meow~]
[This cat doesn't know either.]
"become."
Chi Yu responded casually, "Then I'll go upstairs and take a look myself."
The chubby orange cat suddenly struggled in his hand, meowing!
[What's the meaning of you, a grown man, going into a girl's room?]
[You're not allowed to go!]
But Chi Yu ignored its protests, grabbed it by the scruff of its neck with one hand, and lifted it back to its cat bed.
Then he turned around and went to the third floor.
The window at the end of the third-floor corridor was closed, but the sound of wind and rain could still be faintly heard outside.
The room door was tightly closed, but a small beam of light peeked out from the crack underneath.
Chi Yu stood in front of the door and suddenly remembered the scene on the second floor that afternoon.
She leaned against the wall, clutching the collar of her coat tightly.
A breeze blew in from the wide-open balcony door, causing the two pink and white ribbons behind her to flutter.
Do you need my help?
Perhaps those words were too "horrifying" for Xin Mian, because she stared at him with wide eyes.
Her delicate, porcelain-white face was even redder than before.
He strained half his face, and then a long string of words came out—
"I didn't leave because I wanted you to help me, but because I wanted to tell you that I'm wearing the clothes now and will return them to you later."
After saying that, her slender figure nimbly bent over and slipped out through the gap under his raised arm.
It runs faster than a rabbit.
Thinking of this, Chi Yu smiled silently, a slight smile playing on his lips.
The wind and rain outside battered the window at the end of the corridor. A flash of lightning caused a thunderclap, and a sudden flash of light revealed the shadowy silhouettes of trees outside the window.
He snapped out of his daze and raised his hand to knock on the door.
But there was no response from inside.
He guessed she was taking a shower.
The clothes I was wearing had stopped dripping wet thanks to the air conditioning, but they still felt sticky and uncomfortable against my skin.
The tall man stood in front of the door for a few minutes before finally turning around and going downstairs.
——
By the time Xinmian finished showering and came out, it was almost 8 o'clock.
The curtains by the floor-to-ceiling glass door were not drawn, and it was pitch black outside. Raindrops kept hitting the glass, and the sliding door made a slight creaking sound in the wind.
The sound of the wind whistling through the surrounding trees, like special effects from a horror movie, echoed in her ears.
The air conditioner was set too low, so Xinmian picked up the remote and adjusted the temperature before opening the door to the room.
The house was quiet. Looking down the stairs, the lights in the living room were off, and only the wall lamps in the hallway were casting a warm yellow glow.
She thought for a moment, then took a few steps toward the stairs.
I didn't go downstairs; I just lay there looking down.
On the second floor, the door to Chi Yu's room was also closed.
But a faint light could be seen through the crack in the door, so he must have already returned.
Xinmian felt relieved and tiptoed back to her room.
Turn off the lights and get into bed.
The wind howled, and even with her head pressed against the pillow, she couldn't block it out.
Sleeping on a rainy day is indeed very comfortable, but such heavy wind and rain can always make people feel uneasy.
The phone on the bedside table lit up again. She thought it was Qin Shengtian, but when she picked it up, she realized it wasn't.
She received a message from an unmarked Yuncheng number.
[Mianmian, did you feel better after going out to play? When are you coming back?]
Xin Mian stared intently at the message, her delicate brows furrowed tightly, as if she wanted to bore a hole through the phone with her gaze.
She pursed her lips and ultimately chose to delete it directly.
My mood, which was already gloomy because of the storm, became even more suffocated.
She buried her head under the covers and casually opened the little green book.
The little green book accurately read her big data, and the homepage recommendations are all artists, illustrators, and travel guides.
Admiring the wives' works and beautiful scenery through the screen briefly diverted her attention.
Two hours later, sleepiness came over her, and she slowly closed her eyes to the sound of the hazy wind and rain.
——
Around midnight, the center of Typhoon Peter approached the coast.
The gale-force winds, accompanied by torrential rain, swept across all cities within the typhoon's radius, like the roar of a ferocious beast.
This also includes Wangshui Island.
The rain poured down, and the waves on the beach at Clearwater Bay rose one after another, while the ships in the harbor swayed precariously in the wind and rain.
In Dongpu Lane, the dimly lit stone-paved road is covered with fallen osmanthus blossoms and green leaves blown down by the wind.
Beside the alley, a large tree branch was snapped off by the wind and rain, and then crashed violently against the floor-to-ceiling windows on the third floor.
"Bang—!!!"
At around 1 a.m., Xinmian was awakened by a loud and violent noise.
A fierce wind rushed in through the crack in the glass, accompanied by large raindrops.
The curtains by the wall were whipped up by the wind, making a whooshing sound.
Xinmian sat on the bed, hugging her blanket, staring in astonishment at everything before her.
The room was dimly lit, and as far as the eye could see, lightning roared outside the sliding door, and a flash of white light illuminated everything inside the room in an instant.
The wind and rain blew in, and the ground near the balcony door was already wet, with fallen leaves drifting in.
On the terrace, a branch thicker than an arm lay sprawled to one side, one end of it hanging precariously over a shard of broken glass.
The desk and sofa were right next to the sliding door, where her backpack, notebook, tablet, and drawing screen were placed.
Without thinking, Xinmian quickly threw off the covers to salvage her eating utensils.
However, the moment her feet touched the ground, she was lifted up by a strong force.
The man's broad, warm chest enveloped her completely, and his deep, angry voice came from above her head.
"Don't you want to keep your feet if you're not wearing shoes?"
The moment Xin Mian turned around in surprise, Chi Yu had already gently placed her back on the bed.
Her instinct was still to get out of bed, "My things..."
A large hand pressed down on his shoulder, and Chi Yu walked straight to the table. "Stay put, I'll take care of it."
He was wearing a black and white loungewear set, his dark hair slightly disheveled, clearly having been woken up from his sleep.
But those dark eyes were deep and stern, clear enough to give people a strong sense of security.
He quickly salvaged the items on the table and sofa and put them on the bed.
Xinmian checked it carefully and found that apart from a few raindrops on the surface, there was nothing wrong with it.
She felt relieved.
When she looked up again, Chi Yu had already finished cleaning up the broken glass by the sliding door and was walking towards her.
The overhead light in the room was off, and in the dim night, only the dolphin-shaped nightlight by the bedside emitted a warm yellow glow.
Occasionally, lightning flashes, illuminating the man's sharp, defined jawline.
His tall frame leaned down slightly beside the bed, and he held her shoulders, carefully examining her from head to toe.
Xin Mian obediently turned her body following his force, and when she met the man's serious and cold gaze, she swallowed hard and whispered, "I'm not hurt..."
No sooner had the words left his mouth than footsteps sounded outside the door.
The two turned around at the same time and saw Chen Xiulian and Pang Ju standing in the corridor, looking at her anxiously.
"Mianmian, are you alright?"
[Meow~]
[Are you alright?]
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