Chapter 20
The rain continued to fall for half the afternoon.
Rainwater pooled on the glass, forming crisscrossing streams that slid down the glass. Looking out, one saw a misty, watery world. The autumn leaves on the trees drooped listlessly, constantly being knocked down by the rain, leaving a wet carpet along the way.
After school, they'll most likely have to walk home in the rain.
Xu Qingzhou stared blankly for a while, then looked away and was about to continue writing when someone called from the back door:
"Xu Qingzhou, someone is looking for you."
She turned around.
Two girls stood at the back door, sometimes pretending to be calm as they looked around, and sometimes nervously turning their gaze to her.
After being called out to ask for letters during several breaks in a row, Xu Qingzhou went from being puzzled at first to becoming used to it and calm. After all, when the girls asked for letters, they were in the middle of an emotional state and would inevitably reveal some bits and pieces of information.
The words pieced together were enough for her to roughly guess what had happened, not to mention that her deskmate had also heard some rumors and told her about them.
Xu Qingzhou put himself in their shoes and realized he understood the girls' fear and anxiety.
However, some girls are just a bit sharp-tongued, and when they get emotional, they inevitably say some hurtful things.
When the last self-study period ended, his deskmate noticed that Xu Qingzhou was still engrossed in writing problems, as if he hadn't heard the bell.
"Hello."
She gently nudged Xu Qingzhou's arm to remind her, "School's out."
Remembering that Xu Qingzhou had been called to Old Zhao's office for a talk earlier that day, she asked again, "Are you staying for evening self-study today?"
Xu Qingzhou snapped out of her daze, managed a weak smile, and shook her head at her deskmate.
Her eyes were visibly red.
Her deskmate knew she must be in a bad mood today. She opened her mouth, but didn't know what to say to comfort her, so she didn't say anything more.
*
The rain had mostly stopped sometime earlier, with only a few scattered raindrops falling from time to time.
Xu Qingzhou glanced at the gloomy sky, guessing that the rain was likely to continue, and quickened his pace toward the rental compound.
Sure enough, just as Xu Qingzhou stepped through the rain puddles and jogged to the school gate, the rain started to intensify again.
One umbrella after another opened up around them, and even those who didn't bring umbrellas complained about the unpredictable weather while shrinking under their companions' umbrellas.
There were no shops on either side of the school gate, and the ground was bare and rain-soaked. Only a few stationery and bookstores and snack shops were open across the street.
As the rain intensified, Xu Qingzhou had no choice but to cross the street and run to the stationery store on the other side.
Above the entrance of the stationery store was a blue rain curtain about two meters long and one meter wide. Inside, several students were picking out things. Xu Qingzhou didn't want to buy any stationery, so he stood under the rain curtain at the entrance, waiting for the rain to subside.
People came and went, and Xu Qingzhou moved to the side, then moved again, but because the store was small, he inevitably got splashed with rainwater when opening and closing his umbrella.
She looked up at the sky.
The rolling dark clouds moved rapidly across the sky, but the rain showed no sign of letting up.
If we keep waiting like this, I don't know when it will end.
After thinking for a while, Xu Qingzhou shamelessly turned around to look at the boss several times.
Finally, I mustered up the courage to ask if there were any large, unused plastic bags that could be used to keep out the rain.
The shop owner, who was eating sunflower seeds, shook his head: "We don't have plastic bags, but we do have umbrellas."
The other person then pointed towards the door:
"It's not expensive, only 20 yuan."
Xu Qingzhou turned his head and glanced at it.
She clearly remembered that when she came to buy things a few days ago, it seemed to be ten yuan...
Xu Qingzhou smiled and shook his head.
The boss ignored her and continued watching variety shows on his phone while cracking sunflower seeds.
The atmosphere fell silent for a moment.
Xu Qingzhou walked to the door again and looked up at the sky.
About half a minute later, she suddenly took off her schoolbag, then took off her school uniform jacket and put the schoolbag back on her back.
He held his school uniform up with both hands, shielding his head.
Xu Qingzhou gazed at the rolling dark clouds in the distance, pursed his lips, and plunged headlong into the rain.
He had only taken two steps when he bumped into someone.
Xu Qingzhou instinctively stopped and turned to avoid the attack, but the next second, his wrist was suddenly grabbed, and at the same time, a familiar voice came from above—
"Xu Qingzhou?"
Because his wrist was gripped, Xu Qingzhou's coat slipped off his right hand.
His head reappeared, but he wasn't wet by the expected rain.
Xu Qingzhou instinctively raised his hand to shield his head, but the moment he looked up, he saw his familiar old yellow umbrella.
She paused for a moment, then looked down and met Chi Jun's gaze.
Chi Jun looked at her, his face showing no particular emotion.
"You're just planning to run back like this?"
Xu Qingzhou felt a little embarrassed when she remembered that she had refused Chi Jun's request to bring an umbrella that morning.
She didn't answer, but instead took out a pen and paper from her pocket and asked:
How did you end up here?
Chi Jun looked up and gestured with his chin toward the stationery store.
"A chess piece is missing and can't be found. Let's buy a new set."
oh……
Xu Qingzhou put away his paper and pen and nodded.
“Otherwise,” Chi Jun looked at her, his face still bearing that joking expression, “You think I came here specifically to pick you up from school?”
Xu Qingzhou paused for a moment, then quickly shook his head.
It's not good to be presumptuous.
She reminded herself again.
*
Xu Qingzhou followed Chi Jun into the stationery store once again.
As soon as Chi Jun entered, he asked where the chess set was. He walked over, picked up a random piece, and went to pay the bill.
Seeing how casually he picked them up, Xu Qingzhou couldn't help but remind him: "Won't you pick them out more carefully?"
Chi Jun: "No need, it's all chess anyway."
In that case, there's really no need to brave the rain to buy it here; the Suhua Supermarket near my home also sells it.
Chi Jun stared at the words on the paper, his expression pausing slightly.
A few seconds later, he turned to look at Xu Qingzhou, a smirk playing on his lips: "I'm willing."
"..."
Although Chi Jun was raising his eyebrows and smiling, he didn't seem angry at all.
But these three words seem to inherently carry a certain emotional connotation.
Xu Qingzhou silently reflected for a moment:
Chi Jun bought it, but now that she's saying this, it does seem like she's making him look stupid.
It's not very polite, and it's not very appropriate.
So he obediently shut up and stopped talking.
However, when it came time to pay, Chi Jun glanced at the cardboard box by the door, picked up an umbrella from it, and was about to pay for it together when Xu Qingzhou couldn't hold back anymore.
She weakly reminded:
We already have umbrellas.
Chi Jun turned around and glanced at her.
"Shall I share an umbrella with you? What if I get soaked?"
Xu Qingzhou: "..."
All right.
It's good to know how to take care of yourself.
As Xu Qingzhou walked out of the stationery store again, she had her little yellow umbrella in her hand.
No longer needing to run in the rain in a disheveled state, my steps suddenly became much calmer.
Chi Jun walked beside him, holding a large black umbrella and carrying his new set of chess pieces.
The rain showed no signs of letting up, and the number of food stalls outside the school gates decreased sharply due to the rain. The students quickly bought some food and then retreated back to their classrooms.
The further you walk, the fewer pedestrians there are on the road.
Neither of them spoke.
The rain pounded against the umbrella, so clear it felt like it was hitting my eardrums.
When people are in a quiet moment, their emotions tend to run wild. As Xu Qingzhou walked forward, she couldn't help but recall Old Zhao's scolding words and the girls standing in the corridor, their reproachful and dissatisfied looks at her.
While waiting for the green light at the intersection, Xu Qingzhou turned his head and rubbed his eyes.
Turning back again, she saw Chi Jun staring at her with a probing look in his eyes.
Xu Qingzhou's eyes flickered, and he lowered his head, pretending to crush the leaves on the ground with his foot.
But she still couldn't escape Chi Jun's eyes.
"You cried?"
Xu Qingzhou looked up at him and shook her head.
Chi Jun ruthlessly exposed her.
Your eyes are red.
Xu Qingzhou: "..."
Is it that obvious?
Just as she was stunned, Chi Jun stared at her, narrowed his eyes slightly, and his gaze gradually became meaningful.
Xu Qingzhou felt a chill run down his spine under that gaze, sensing that he was about to say, "You didn't think I came here specifically to pick you up, and you're crying from being so touched, did you?"
No, I can't let him think that I'm so easily presumptuous.
But she was unwilling to tell Chi Jun the real reason.
In a flash, Xu Qingzhou came up with a reason.
She picked up a pen and paper and began to write.
Chi Jun raised an eyebrow and waited quietly for her explanation.
Then he saw two lines of text appear on the paper after the pen fell—
Actually, I cried because I was so upset.
[Because of your umbrella, I ended up paying twice as much as I should have]
Chi Jun: "..."
*
Chi Juncai wouldn't believe Xu Qingzhou's excuse.
However, since she didn't want to talk about it, Chi Jun didn't bother to ask any further.
After that night, Xu Qingzhou remained as usual, with no unusual expression on her face. She went to school as usual and cooked and did housework as usual.
Chi Jun quickly forgot about it.
However, nothing stays hidden forever.
Not to mention that Chi Jun now has a wide circle of friends and a wide network of connections, and he can always get involved with Xu Qingzhou's school or even her senior year (3) class.
That day, a group of people, wanting to play basketball in peace and quiet, specifically arranged to go to another, less popular basketball court.
The sun was shining brightly that morning, and the temperature was quite hot, almost like summer.
Chi Jun, dressed in a black jersey, walked from under the shade of a tree, twirling a ball in his hand.
A cool breeze blew by, carrying the fresh scent of leaves and the laughter of the group of people who had arrived earlier at the basketball court.
"Holy crap, I heard that the envelopes were spread out on the ground for at least one square meter, and that wasn't even fully unfolded. What the hell does that mean?"
"What does it mean? It means Jun-ge is popular. Every time we play basketball, a huge group of girls come because of him, right?"
"But then again, why did his sister hoard all those letters? She could have just handed them over to her brother."
"Perhaps... they want to save them up to sell as scrap?"
"What the hell is selling junk? Hahahaha..."
Chi Jun paused, put the ball he was spinning in his hand, and frowned slightly.
As a fox transformed into a human, his hearing has always been extraordinary.
In addition, the group of boys over there didn't see him at all, so they were talking quite loudly. Chi Jun easily overheard most of what they were saying and quickly reconstructed the facts in his mind.
It turned out that Xu Qingzhou had collected a bunch of love letters from girls, but he didn't dare to give them to him, so he stuffed them all into his desk in the classroom. As a result, the desk was knocked over by a playful boy, exposing them.
Unfortunately, some boys with a perverse sense of humor tried to attract attention by tearing open the letter and reading it aloud on the spot, causing trouble.
This resulted in Xu Qingzhou being called to the homeroom teacher's office for a scolding, and also being harshly mocked and ridiculed by the girls who came to ask for the letters.
Holding the ball, Chi Jun suddenly recalled the scene from that night when Xu Qingzhou desperately hid an envelope behind his back.
It seems that the letter was actually asked by someone else to pass it on to him.
However, she didn't dare to give it to him and reluctantly admitted it herself.
"Actually, if you ask me..."
The boy who told the story so vividly was named Wang Shuai. He had a twin brother who was a good student and happened to be in the same class as Xu Qingzhou. At this moment, he was resting his chin on his hand, shifting to a different posture with his legs crossed, and giving his final commentary on the event:
"It's only natural to want the love letter back; I would want it too."
"But the problem is, those girls are all very proud and sharp-tongued. It's not like the girl's sister is obligated to deliver your love letter. She's just being wishful and doesn't dare to admit defeat. They're being sarcastic and sarcastic towards Xu Jun's sister. What's most infuriating is that some of them are even maliciously speculating to his face that the relationship between the siblings is abnormal."
"The key is that this girl is mute, so she can't talk back," Wang Shuai clapped his hands, "Tell me, isn't that frustrating? Isn't that frustrating?"
"etc."
A sharp-witted man named Li Rui, who was standing nearby, noticed the key point and raised his hand to interrupt him: "What mute? Who's mute?"
"Xu Jun's sister..." Wang Shuai blinked, "She's completely mute, the kind who really can't speak. You guys didn't know?"
Everyone was immediately shocked. They looked at each other in disbelief.
So, Chi Jun, who was so full of vigor and surrounded by admirers, actually had a sister who was... mute?
"No, are you sure? Don't talk nonsense," someone reminded Wang Shuai.
Wang Shuai clicked his tongue.
"My brother and that girl's sister have been classmates for three years. Would I make things up?"
The lively and bustling atmosphere suddenly became a bit dull because of this information.
Li Rui was the most bored.
He rolled his eyes, looking at the sky and then at the ground, occasionally sighing and shaking his head.
Someone nearby joked with him, "What's wrong with you, Ruizi? I didn't know you were so compassionate."
"Get lost."
Li Rui shoved the man and sighed heavily, "I even told Xu Jun that I'd try to set me up with his sister sometime. After all, that guy is so handsome, I figured his sister must be pretty too."
"Yes, that's true. Xu Jun's younger sister is indeed very beautiful, the kind of girl who's artistic and well-behaved. I've seen her with my own eyes."
As he spoke, Wang Shuai put his arm around Li Rui's shoulder: "Well, how should I put it? He has fair skin, big eyes, and a pure temperament, with a touch of otherworldly scholarly air. Anyway, if you go after him, you'll definitely not lose out!"
"You're still not losing money, are you?"
Li Rui jumped up from the ground: "She's already mute, and you think that's a loss? You'd only lose out if she had a litter of mute babies? A disability, brother, that has a huge impact! It might even affect her descendants. What decent family would dare marry her then—"
Before he could finish speaking, a muffled thud was heard.
Li Rui was knocked forward by the impact, and his head was spinning.
He was rubbing his shoulder, about to unleash a torrent of curses at whoever was so blind, when he turned his head and saw Xu Jun standing there with his hands in his pockets, chin slightly raised, looking at him and saying:
"I haven't even complained about your ugly face yet, and you're already complaining about my sister?"
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