Chapter 49: “Luckily, Luckily” Part 1

SpongeBob Afraid of Water: 【Good evening, nice to meet you, Cui Qijin/Penguin Spin】

Chi Shuishui: 【Yeah, what color is the rain over there?】

【loopy approaching.jpg】

The replies seemed to come at the exact same moment.

So even something this silly wasn’t unique to Cui Qijin alone.

The rain continued to pour outside. She had no idea what color it really was. Cui Qijin had originally been curled up under the covers, but after seeing Chi Shuishui’s response, she actually got out of bed. She opened the window and peered out, but the world beyond was pitch black. No color was visible at all. So she stood there by the window, placing both phones neatly side by side, and sent off replies simultaneously—

wkeinauadqtqb: 【Are you in a good mood today?】

That had originally been the second thing she planned to say to SpongeBob Afraid of Water back then.

Cui Qijin: 【Probably mango colored, I don’t know.】

Only with Chi Buyu did rain and shadows ever have colors.

Text chatting was such a waste of time. Not only did it require exhausting mental effort to decipher the other person’s meaning, but then you had to wait for their reply afterward, turning yourself into a slow, stupid snail.

That stupidity lay in—

One moment, Cui Qijin was holding both phones, feeling ridiculous staring at the screens like an idiot. So she decided to flip through a magazine to pass the time.

The next moment, the phones buzzed. She calmly tossed the magazine aside. The pages she’d just skimmed rustled back to the first one, just like those dozens of seconds spent waiting for replies…

She hadn’t done anything but wait.

She stared at both phones.

SpongeBob Afraid of Water messaged her: 【Not bad. It’s just that a huge rainstorm hit, but I forgot to bring an umbrella. Chengdu loves raining so much/Penguin Spin】

Chi Shuishui messaged her: 【! If only it wouldn’t rain!】

How should she reply next?

Cui Qijin pressed her lips together.

The two phones seemed to be chatting about the same rain, yet somehow not.

wkeinauadqtqb: 【Maybe check if the mall has any umbrellas to borrow. Don’t get soaked on the way back, or you’ll slip and fall.】

It sounded alarmist, like some urban legend.

Cui Qijin: 【Don’t you like the rain?】

Cui Qijin chose not to treat it as the same conversation. And of course, Chi Buyu played along.

SpongeBob Afraid of Water:

【Don’t worry, I’ve made it home safe!/Penguin Spin】

【But! Mai Mai!】

【Tell me why you didn’t show up!】

【I waited for you in the mall for hours until it closed/angry fire】

Chi Shuishui:

【Stupid Cui Muhuo!】

【Do you even know what stupid thing you did today!】

Suddenly, both of Cui Qijin’s phones were buzzing nonstop, like thunder rumbling on a rainy day.

She thought this was truly a wondrous experience.

It was as if that rain from 2014 had somehow connected with this one in 2024.

Parallel timelines overlapping.

Everything now had a chance to be revisited.

This was probably no ordinary rain.

SpongeBob Afraid of Water hadn’t tripped and fallen that rainy night due to night blindness. Instead, she made it home safely. So Cui Qijin never saw Chi Buyu in the hospital room and felt the urge to avoid her. At the same time, Chi Buyu didn’t awkwardly overthink and pull away either. She even gave wkeinauadqtqb the chance to ask “why.”

So wkeinauadqtqb glanced out at the ongoing rain and, very abruptly with no real reason, had an idea. She hesitated, wrestled with it, wanted to seize the opportunity—but wasn’t sure if she should voice her thoughts—

【Sorry】

【I actually came】

【But I didn’t expect it was you】

【Chi Buyu】

【So I ran away】

【Can you give me another chance?】

Meanwhile, Chi Shuishui—like a chirping little bird in this 2024 rain—angrily and vividly demanded to know exactly what stupid thing she had done that evening. Cui Qijin racked her brain for memories and realized she’d been doing stupid things all night. So she asked Chi Shuishui—

【Which one?】

She even tacitly accepted being called a dummy by Chi Shuishui.

SpongeBob Afraid of Water replied first:

【Hm～】

【What kind of chance? But I won’t agree easily~】

【I need to think about it/Penguin Spin】

Then Chi Shuishui:

【Today! Why! Did your! Hand! Keep! Lifting! And not! Put it down!】

Chi Shuishui’s single sentence was packed with exclamation points.

Cui Qijin saw her reflection in the window smiling amid the pattering rain.

How childish. An adult getting scolded as a dummy and still grinning like this.

She distastefully pressed down the corners of her mouth.

First, she replied to Chi Shuishui: 【Because of the allergy.】

Then, after hesitating and editing back and forth, she finally replied to SpongeBob Afraid of Water:

【If the weather’s good tomorrow, want to meet up again?】

After sending both messages,

she forced herself not to look at the phones.

She even locked both screens outright.

Instead, she watched the rain, the pitch-black rain, and picked up the magazine that had flipped back to page one. She leafed through it absentmindedly, not even registering how many pages she turned.

The 2024 phone lit up first, messages popping up one after another:

【As if!】

【Didn’t you realize I wanted to hold your hand just now!】

【You kept it up the whole time!】

【We walked for half an hour, you clutching your neck the whole way. People thought I’d done something to you! And I didn’t even get a chance to hold hands!】

The 2014 phone lit up too, but with just one message:

【Hmph, fine, I’ll reluctantly agree/Penguin Spin】

The rain misted in through the slightly open window gap, a bit cool. Cui Qijin stared calmly at both phones for a long, long time. When she finally looked up at the glass, she realized her hands were both tightly clutching her neck.

So silly, so stupid.

This was the exact state she’d been in while walking through the crowds of Love Adrift Street for half an hour.

And with Chi Buyu, no less.

She slowly released her grip on her neck, twisting her head left and right in front of the glass like a nervous tic. It really was red enough to look like a severe allergic reaction.

She tightened her somewhat stiff lips, then suddenly remembered Chi Shuishui’s words. Her fingers unconsciously curled, the creases of her palms gradually filling with misty rain—

Hold hands? Like little kids talking about “holding handies” and “making up”…

Cui Qijin inexplicably started laughing.

Then, she cleared her throat deliberately and sent the exact same message to both 2014 and 2024:

【See you tomorrow then, Chi Buyu.】

She was just typing text—why had she cleared her throat like that? In the early hours of that morning, Cui Qijin suddenly opened her eyes, feeling deeply annoyed about it.

–

Chen Wenran had said that during the Universiade, Chengdu had done some cloud-seeding to clear the skies. The weather had been impressively blue back then.

Cui Qijin hadn’t paid attention at the time, hadn’t noticed just how blue Chengdu’s skies were after the cloud-seeding.

But now she did. Lately, Chengdu’s skies had been quite blue.

She even strolled under the azure sky like one of those boring people she’d once dismissed, stepping on her own shadow. And for no reason at all, she thought—

In a few centuries, would people be able to pay for personal cloud-seeding services? That way, every important outing could come with perfect weather.

Last night’s agreement didn’t feel very official.

If the weather’s good, meet again?

—No time? No place?

Nothing like that had been specified.

Cui Qijin got up the next day intending to send Chi Buyu a proper invitation.

But Chen Wenran—somehow hearing about it and learning she was debating a formal invite—sent her an eye-roll emoji and launched into a heartfelt lecture:

【I’m done with you】

【Why not send an email notice while you’re at it?】

【You think Shuishui doesn’t get it?】

【If she really didn’t understand, how do you think I found out?】

【My god】

【Cui Qijin, how are you this boring at dating?】

【No blanks, no surprises, no ambiguity or teasing—where’s the mutual rush of sweetness?】

Cui Qijin didn’t quite agree.

She thought Chen Wenran’s dating style was risky—prone to slip-ups if not careful. That clearly didn’t fit her own cautious approach to timing.

But then she thought, but—

Was her obsession with avoiding mistakes actually the wrong approach?

Would a too-formal invite make Chi Buyu lose interest, or feel pressured?

Chi Buyu not showing up wouldn’t be a big deal anyway.

By the rules of fairness, Chi Buyu could stand her up once here.

But… Chen Wenran’s dating mode?

Dating?

Cui Qijin unconsciously examined her own thoughts and found them strangely off. How had she slipped into using such an absurd word without realizing? How had she become this version of herself?

Like a dummy whose head was filled only with “love.”

Cui Qijin sighed, carefully weighing the pros and cons of formal versus casual invites, and their feasibility.

In the end, that morning she sent a message to both Chi Buyu and SpongeBob Afraid of Water:

【It’s good weather today.】

Chi Shuishui replied: 【Hm～】

SpongeBob Afraid of Water replied: 【I’m wearing a skirt today!】

So Cui Qijin thought—

A skirt? Why mention wearing a skirt specifically? Was Chi Buyu preparing for today’s meetup too? Would it be more magical if they both headed to the old spot without coordinating?

Maybe Chen Wenran was right. A little ambiguity really did make things sweeter.

Cui Qijin pulled back the foot she had already stepped into the studio and closed the door instead. She silently apologized to the rational left side of her brain, then walked along with her head down, rearranging her schedule for the day on her phone.

Under the warm, melting sunlight, she walked the entire length of Love Adrift Street once more and returned to her place. She changed into comfortable loungewear and sat casually on the carpet, wrapping up the Colorful Leaf Taro plant she had been nursing so well lately. She remembered that this particular pot hadn’t been given away.

Yu Chenxing’s teacher called just as Cui Qijin was debating whether to repot it in something prettier or stick with practicality—after all, Chi Buyu had a knack for killing just about anything she tried to care for.

She furrowed her brow and let out a sneeze.

It suddenly hit her that it was the season in Chengdu when the willow fluff filled the air, and Yu Chenxing always seemed to fall ill at this time of year.

Then the phone rang. Yu Chenxing’s counselor spoke politely from the other end. “Is this Yu Chenxing’s sister? Chenxing isn’t doing well. We might need you to come over.”

–

Chi Buyu found herself glancing at her phone all day without meaning to.

Whenever You Ying looked her way, she snatched it away like a high schooler caught by the teacher, her face changing in an instant.

You Ying couldn’t help but ask, “Shuishui, do you have a date today or something?”

Chi Buyu’s eyes widened. She suddenly pointed at the brilliant blue sky outside the car window. “Wow! The weather’s so nice today.”

You Ying rubbed her forehead in exasperation. “I’m not trying to bust you for puppy love.”

Chi Buyu propped her chin on her hand with a cheeky grin. “Aw, it’s just that the word ‘date’ sounds kinda embarrassing.”

You Ying glanced at her through the rearview mirror. “What, is it really a date?”

Chi Buyu covered her face so her cousin couldn’t see. Her reply was muffled. “Dunno. Kinda feels like it, I guess.”

There was obvious anticipation in her tone. Even her voice sounded brighter.

You Ying eyed the dark circles Chi Buyu had carefully covered up that morning, a smile tugging at her lips. “You’ve been burning the midnight oil on new designs these past few days. Once we’re done picking fabrics today, why not call it early and head home? Skip dinner with the factory folks?”

“No way!”

Chi Buyu refused indignantly. She smoothed her skirt hem as she added, “That’d just be shoving my responsibilities onto you guys so I could run off and have fun!”

You Ying opened her mouth as if to argue further.