Chapter 24

Yun Huizhi was right. People aren’t made of paper.

Chu Ruoyou’s nearly thirty years of life experience told her you must not get caught in the rain. Even if just a drizzle dampened a layer of hair, you had to wash and blow-dry it.

If faced with a heavy downpour, either don’t go out, or if you must, prepare thoroughly to protect yourself.

This was common sense.

But there was this one person, carefree and bold, free as a bird.

She promised to take her out to play and would absolutely not break her word, insisting on riding the bicycle even with the strong wind.

When she heard Chu Ruoyou say she was tired and wanted to go home to sleep, she waded through water to take her back.

The road was deserted. Midway, the rain started up again intermittently.

Yun Huizhi said, don’t be afraid, the worst outcome is just getting wet.

“Will get sick.”

“We won’t.” Yun Huizhi swore confidently.

Not long after entering the inn, they were drenched to the bone in the courtyard, experiencing the “worst outcome” Yun Huizhi had described.

Chu Ruoyou went from dazed to accepting, then started laughing along, speaking loudly in the wind and rain, “It really isn’t all that bad.”

The night was thick, the tipsy feeling spreading through her body. Holding hands, running through the downpour, throwing all consciousness away. It was so exhilarating, she doubted if this was reality.

As if entering a dream, as if meeting a guide.

The moon hid behind the inky clouds. The clear moonlight faintly rimmed the dark clouds with a pale silver glow.

Yun Huizhi, facing the dense, heavy raindrops, lifted her head and said, “We’re even braver than the moon!”

At that moment, Chu Ruoyou felt Yun Huizhi was the most lovable, most dashing person under heaven. Meeting someone like this, this journey was without regrets.

Afterward, she realized she was just a girl with an eighth-grader syndrome. And who knows if they disturbed any neighbors.

But that was an afterthought.

After their embrace in the corridor, they held back the impulse to kiss and went upstairs to the room.

Yun Huizhi held her hand, step by step up the stairs. “I remember, the first time we held hands and walked, it was you who initiated it.”

Chu Ruoyou’s brain could barely function anymore. She responded casually, “Was it?”

“Yes!”

Yun Huizhi said, “I was shy then. I didn’t dare hold your hand, afraid you’d be unhappy.”

“Every step was you seducing me first.”

She said something weird.

Chu Ruoyou didn’t have the strength to refute.

Entering the room, they peeled off their soaking clothes and stepped into the shower together.

The hot water washed away all the chill of the summer rain, pouring comfort and clarity back into their bodies, quieting their souls.

“Every step?”

Chu Ruoyou, bare before her, letting her admire her young, beautiful body, said, “Utter nonsense.”

Yun Huizhi cackled gleefully, pressing her against the tiles for a kiss. After kissing, she held her tight, saying in the purest tone, “I like you so much.”

The hot water was still running, the background noise loud and chaotic. This one sentence landed with force.

Chu Ruoyou wanted to pretend she hadn’t heard, but her organs were beyond her control. Her lips voiced a question to hold onto this limited-edition Yun Huizhi.

“Who am I?”

You say you like me. Do you know who I am? Do you understand me?

Or is it that a phrase like “I like you” is just an interjection, something you can say to anyone, and once said, it doesn’t mean anything?

Yun Huizhi stopped clinging so tightly. She pulled back, cupped her face, and smiled. “Ruoyou, did you drink too much tonight? You don’t even remember who you are.”

“If you’ve really forgotten, then I’ll lie. I’ll tell you, you are my girlfriend.”

The ancients spoke of being so drunk they didn’t know the sky was in the water. For Chu Ruoyou, drunk, she knew deeply that the sky had been moved into Yun Huizhi’s eyes.

A sky full of starlight, nowhere to find a corner of shadow to cower in.

She was so open and bright.

She was so endearing.

This conversation ended without conclusion. Yun Huizhi pushed open the bathroom door and used the hairdryer to dry her hair and her waterlogged brain.

Luckily, Chu Ruoyou’s alcohol tolerance was average, and she was also dead tired, seeming more sluggish than usual. She didn’t take her nonsense to heart.

After drying her hair, Chu Ruoyou said she was hungry.

These words were to ease the awkwardness, and besides, they hadn’t eaten much at the bar. Tossing around until now, her stomach was truly growling.

As soon as she said it, she planned to get into bed and sleep, because even she thought the priority now was sleeping.

But Yun Huizhi smartly opened the snack cabinet, took out two cups of instant noodles, added purified water to the kettle, and pressed the boil button.

She asked, “Japanese Tonkotsu or Spicy Tonkotsu, which do you want?”

Her sequence of actions was smooth as flowing water, just from hearing one idle comment she hadn’t expected a response to.

Anyone else, hearing someone say “I’m hungry” at two or three in the morning, would urge them not to eat, to sleep early, and eat when they woke up.

But Yun Huizhi didn’t care about any of that. She just wanted to fulfill all of Chu Ruoyou’s thoughts and needs.

Chu Ruoyou thought to herself, staying up late, drinking, getting soaked in the rain, groping home in the dark, and then eating a midnight snack, junk food at that.

They’d stacked up all the unhealthy buffs imaginable.

She felt it was somewhat inappropriate, but what came out of her mouth was, “Japanese Tonkotsu.”

They sat at the high table by the glass window, each holding their prepared instant noodles, eating while listening to the unceasing rain outside.

Half past two in the morning. A southern small town, quiet and dark in all directions, yet noisy under the heavy rain.

A few corridor lights glowed faintly, like stars shaken down by the thunder.

Night rain swelling autumn pools.

How many blossoms fell?

Thunder and lightning, instant noodles and soda.

The darkness and harsh weather outside contrasted with the brightness and leisurely warmth inside.

Yun Huizhi felt a long-lost sense of security. Chu Ruoyou was sitting beside her, eating her noodles with relish. If she could, she would freeze time in this very minute.

No need for words, for actions, for the exhausting back-and-forth. No need to respond to my hopeless fantasies. Nothing needed.

Just us being deliberately silent together, that would be enough.

Chu Ruoyou broke the silence, “I think I’ve found the feeling I wanted most from this town visit.”

“What feeling is that?”

“Safety, after escaping the city.”

Yun Huizhi was surprised and envious. “You found it so quickly?”

Why had it taken her so long?

“I thought you’d say it was slow.”

Chu Ruoyou explained to her, “Because you’ve already taken me to so many places, shown me so many beautiful sights, tried new and interesting ways of living. But I haven’t really grasped much.”

“Those were all just my arrangements. Every tourist that comes here goes through that same route. Of course, you wouldn’t find anything special that way.”

Within the town, among the mountains and forests, under the waterfall, inside the inn.

Chu Ruoyou had always been somewhat detached, always carrying a city coldness that didn’t quite fit in, like the cool tones of her perfume.

“You were originally very ‘city,’ but tonight, running through the downpour, laughing and making noise under the corridor, eating instant noodles with me at three in the morning… I feel like you’ve gotten a bit of the ‘town’ feeling.”

“So ‘city’ and ‘town’ are adjectives for you?”

Chu Ruoyou smiled indulgently.

“You know the poet Gu Cheng, right?”

“Mm.”

“Hearing that name, you immediately feel the poetry. If his name were Gu Zhen or Gu Cun, it wouldn’t be so poetic. So you see, these words can be used as adjectives.”

Chu Ruoyou found her logic lacking, “Quite the opposite. It’s in towns and villages where you find poetry. What’s tacky is the city. Can’t be poetic.”

“What’s dry and what’s wet, you’re making my head dizzy.” Yun Huizhi resorted to acting spoiled.

“Fine, I don’t understand poetry either. To put it simply, your temperament is especially elegant and unique. You stand out in a crowd, not the same style as our simple little town. But tonight, you became a drowned rat just like me. You said you felt a sense of belonging, and I believe it.”

“Thank you for the compliment.” Chu Ruoyou only heard the good parts, ignoring the rest.

Yun Huizhi suddenly grew vigilant, “You’re not going to find the feeling you wanted and then decide to leave, are you?”

“Finding it doesn’t mean possessing it. I think I still need some time. Besides, this rain is supposed to last a few days. I can’t leave even if I wanted to. What are you so anxious about?”

They slept until they woke naturally the next day. Yun Huizhi got a call from her biological father and went outside the room to answer it.

Drizzly rain, misty and grey. The summer sky at nine forty in the morning was ashen, only slightly brighter than the early morning hours.

The courtyard was empty of people, just the sound of insects.

The trees, large and small, seemed melancholic and subdued. The flower rack, drenched all night, had leaves and petals scattered across the ground.

The sound of rain faded. Yun Huizhi spoke softly, “Don’t meddle in my business.”

“Yeah, I’m just sticking around at my aunt’s place. Come the second half of the year, I’ll find someone to marry, then I’ll be stuck here forever.”

“How is there no one good? Our front desk guy, top-notch looks, well-read, I’ve had a secret crush on him forever.”

“Who cares what his education is or if he has money?”

After hanging up, Yun Huizhi felt great. She went back into the room and told Chu Ruoyou, “My dad called, said he wants me to go to his place. A friend’s son is supposedly a good catch. Wants to set me up.”

Chu Ruoyou asked worriedly, “Does he want you to help ease his debt pressure?”

“Uh, no, it’s just that he loves fussing over nothing.” Yun Huizhi almost forgot the lies she’d made up before.

“I told him if I’m looking for someone, I’ll find them here in town. Little Zhang’s not bad. Anyway, I don’t trust his taste.”

“So that’s why your mother wants to bring your little sister here?”

The two things were completely unrelated. Yun Huizhi didn’t want to lie today and explained in detail, “No. My parents divorced many years ago. My little sister is from my mom’s later marriage. My dad also has a new family.”

“So who did you stay with?”

“I grew up with my grandmother.”

Chu Ruoyou suppressed her astonished expression. She had assumed Yun Huizhi’s personality suggested a rich, happy family upbringing. How could this be?

Yun Huizhi didn’t think much of it. “They both love me very much. Having their own families isn’t a big deal.”

She finished and smiled. “Don’t think I’m making up a sob story and about to ask to borrow money. No, I’m doing really well. And living with my grandma wasn’t in the countryside either. It’s just that grandma is gone, and then… I need money now, so that’s how it is.”

She couldn’t keep making things up towards the end and just wrapped it up hastily.

Chu Ruoyou gave her a big, tight hug.

They both pretended nothing had happened last night, but this embrace exposed too much and awakened too much.

So, they fell silent again.

It rained for several days straight. They just stayed at the inn.

That night had drenched them so thoroughly, they lost any special interest in rain. Even eating out with an umbrella, they refused to go far, heading straight back to the room after eating to hole up.

Chu Ruoyou finished her book and borrowed a new one from Little Zhang.

Little Zhang never lent out personal belongings, but for Yun Huizhi’s sake, he was willing—after all, she was practically half-an-owner here.

Even more bored, they played two-player games in the recreation room, killing the long hours.

Their coordination was terrible, zero chemistry. Good thing they weren’t a real couple, or they could’ve broken up right then and there.

In the evening, Yun Huizhi came upstairs, opened the door, and immediately said to Chu Ruoyou, “I figured out where to go for dinner tonight. The rain stopped outside, we can…”

She saw Chu Ruoyou point at her earphones and realized she was on a call, quickly shutting her mouth.

Chu Ruoyou said, “She is a new friend.”

Yun Huizhi stuck out her tongue and sat on the sofa, looking at her phone.

“Yes, I’m in the room. We’re staying together.”

Chu Ruoyou calmly asked the person on the other end, “Two girls staying together, is there a problem?”

Yun Huizhi realized this woman really knew how to act straight. That question? Positively iron-straight.

“I’m going to eat now. Let’s talk next time.”

Seeing her hang up, Yun Huizhi asked, “Was that your family?”

“No, a straight female friend.”

“You’re totally using her straightness to bluff, huh.”

Because she hadn’t replied to Ren Yuhan, Ren Yuhan waited a few days and called directly, saying she was worried something had happened to her.

After Chu Ruoyou asked that question just now, the other end had been silent for a long time. Finally, it said, “Of course there’s no problem, as long as you’re sure she’s a good person.”

Chu Ruoyou found it ironic.

“Yun Huizhi, are you a good person?”

“No one’s more bad than me! Rawr—”