Chapter 133: Raindrops
Su Yu walked into the student union office with a stack of documents. He saw Lu Siyuan sitting in a chair, in a daze. He placed the documents on the table and sat down next to him.
He tilted his head and asked, “Are you in a bad mood?”
“Hmm?” Lu Siyuan looked up, a forced smile hiding a hint of weariness. He held his pen and continued to sign some student union documents. The winter break was coming up, and these had to be dealt with before the holiday. “Tang Xin and I had a fight.”
“Why?”
“She’s from Qingchuan. She wants me to meet her family before I go back for the New Year.”
“That should… be a good thing, right?”
“Yeah, I was quite happy when she mentioned it.” Lu Siyuan wrote a few words and then stopped. He paused for a moment. “But I don’t think I’m ready. I didn’t agree. Tang Xin thinks I don’t care about her, but I think she’s not considering my feelings. We had a big fight.”
Su Yu was also silent. He didn’t understand what it was like to be taken to meet the family of the person he loved. Besides a few general descriptions, Xia Qian Ge had never mentioned her family in front of him. But he thought… it probably took a lot of courage to be willing to share the person you liked with your closest relatives.
“Then she must like you very much. You should explain it to her properly.”
“I know that.” Lu Siyuan nodded. He sorted out the documents Su Yu had brought and suddenly asked, “Do you think… I’m too cowardly? She’s already taken ninety-nine steps, and I’m still hesitating to take even one.”
“Then will you two really get married?” Su Yu asked.
“We…” Lu Siyuan paused. He thought for a moment. “I don’t know. I don’t know her that well yet. Sometimes I can’t figure out her temper at all. I asked Gu Chuan. Her family is quite wealthy in Qingchuan. I’m from an ordinary family. I can’t afford to be a good match for her.”
“You don’t know her well…” Su Yu murmured these words and nodded. “Then talk to her again. Tang Xin is a good person. Get to know her better before you talk about the future. Don’t be so muddle-headed, or… you’ll have conflicts in the future.”
“Mm-hmm, I actually know all this. I just wanted to talk to someone. I feel much better now.”
Lu Siyuan smiled and picked up his pen again. There was still a little work left to do in the afternoon, and it was getting dark.
A knock came from the door. Su Yu looked up and saw Xia Qian Ge walk in. She was still dressed in her usual plain and simple clothes, without makeup, her face a little pale. The sickness in her eyes accentuated her fragile beauty, with the delicate and gentle charm of a girl from a southern water town.
“What are you doing here…”
Xia Qian Ge was a little surprised. She blinked her bright eyes, a hint of the vitality a girl of her age should have.
“Oh, I asked Su Yu to help me. There are a lot of documents, and I asked him to help me sort them out. Otherwise, I really wouldn’t be able to finish this afternoon. I see you’re usually quite tired… so I didn’t bother you.” Lu Siyuan explained before Su Yu could speak. He looked at the documents in Xia Qian Ge’s hand. “Is there something urgent you need to submit?”
“Yeah, a little. These are the late applications from a few of our classmates, for joining the party. Do you think you can…”
“Oh, no problem. It’s fine.” Lu Siyuan took the documents.
“Do you need my help? I don’t have a part-time job today.”
Xia Qian Ge looked at the pile of documents on the desk, tucked a few stray strands of hair behind her ear, and said with a smile, “Otherwise, it’s quite tiring to see you alone.”
“Oh, no need. These are not urgent. I’m just waiting for Tang Xin to finish class here.” Lu Siyuan shook his head. He glanced at Su Yu with a smile. “It’s dinner time. You two can go eat first. Otherwise, when class is over, the cafeteria will be packed.”
“That’s true.” Xia Qian Ge shifted her gaze and looked at Su Yu. “Are you hungry, Su Yu? Want to go together?”
“Um…” Su Yu paused for a moment, then nodded. “Let’s go together then.”
…
After Qingchuan entered winter, there were several heavy snowfalls. The days when the white snow turned into sewage were unusually cold. As soon as class was over, he would rush back to the air-conditioned dorm. But fortunately, after New Year’s Day, it was sunny for a long time, and the damp and cold clothes that had been hanging under the eaves could finally be folded and put away in the closet.
Su Yu secretly glanced at the girl’s soft profile, stammering, not knowing what to say.
A couple who had just come out of the cafeteria brushed past them. Their happy and cheerful conversation fell on Su Yu’s ear, not too loud, not too soft, a stark contrast to the slightly heavy silence between them.
Xia Qian Ge suddenly turned her head, her gaze meeting Su Yu’s. Su Yu quickly backed down. He touched the tip of his nose guiltily and looked away. But the faint blush on his earlobes betrayed his thoughts. He prayed that the girl would be a little more careless and not see his thief-like actions.
Perhaps it was out of guilt and shame, or perhaps his thoughts were just so despicable and disgusting. The dream on Christmas Eve was like a curse, entangled in his consciousness. The beautiful spring scene would always flash in his mind from time to time.
They were naked, wantonly venting their primal desires on the vast grassland. The grass flew everywhere, and the warm spring rain turned the ground muddy, growing more lush green grass, and finally burying them completely.
They would even switch positions, and the girl’s moans in the dream would linger in his ears for a long time, triggering an unavoidable physiological reaction. He was already past his youth, yet he had still done such a shameful thing in his dream.
“What’s wrong?”
Xia Qian Ge suddenly leaned closer. Her clear, black and white eyes were not tinged with a single bit of yellow desire, a complete opposite of the lustful her in the dream. The rich fragrance of gardenias brushed past Su Yu’s nose. He felt more and more that he couldn’t face this familiar face. He couldn’t help but take a few steps back, creating a distance he thought was safe.
“N-Nothing. It’s just…”
Plop!
A cold raindrop fell on Su Yu’s face. He was stunned and didn’t have time to react. The rain that had been accumulating for many days suddenly poured down. The bean-sized raindrops pattered against the eaves. The snow melted in the rain, carrying a bone-chilling cold. It fell on his body, like a small silver needle piercing his flesh and blood.
Su Yu suddenly remembered that it was supposed to rain today, but he hadn’t expected it to be so heavy, so sudden.
He suddenly looked up at the girl. The other party was standing in the rain, at a loss. The bean-sized hailstones had soaked her bangs. The girl hugged her arms and looked up at him, her clear, black and white eyes filled with moisture, whether it was rainwater or…
She was terrifyingly fragile, biting her pale lips and standing in the wind and rain like a soft and slender blade of grass on the roadside, as if she were about to be broken at the root in the next second.
He always saw such a girl in his dreams of the drizzling spring rain. At the end of the dream, the crisp grass was stained with hot, red blood. The girl lay on his chest, her expression listless yet smiling happily.
The rain was getting heavier, and the wind and rain were swaying.
He was overthinking it again.
