328. After School
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At six in the evening, the students anxiously gathered at the bottom level of the teaching building, staring out at the relentless downpour and scratching their heads about what to do next.
It may still be evening, but the thick clouds completely shrouded the setting sun, making the outside world look like the middle of the night.
Some students who had checked the weather forecast opened their umbrellas and dashed through the rain toward the dormitory, while others, unwilling to wait, bolted into the rain… Yet the number of students lingering under the building only kept increasing.
The school’s drainage system seemed abysmal; after just half an hour of rain, the campus was already littered with puddles.
Lin Nan wasn’t afraid of bad weather, but rain? Nope, not a threat!
Earlier, Chen Yao’s parents insisted on volunteering, forcing Lin Nan to unlock a magic spell that acted like a protective shield, which allowed her to step into the downpour without getting her clothes wet.
But honestly, she thought running in the rain would look a bit uncool, and returning completely dry might make Chen Yao suspicious.
“What are we gonna do?” she asked, feigning anxiety as she clustered with her three roommates at the base of the stairs, watching the rain pouring down heavier and heavier. “Who’s brave enough to run back for an umbrella?”
“Nice idea, but with rain this heavy, even an umbrella would be useless,” Tu Junhui said, lounging against the wall, engrossed in his game console, clearly lost in the world of Zelda.
Chen Yao leaned over to peek at the tiny screen while barking orders: “Dodge backward! Use b*llet time to slice him! How have you two been battling for a whole lesson and still haven’t killed this centaur?!”
“Relax, I’m looking up a strategy,” Xiong Da declared, scrolling through his phone with fervor.
“Aren’t you the one who said you played all night yesterday and still couldn’t win?” Tu Junhui shot back, rolling his eyes. “With your crummy equipment, each hit barely deals any damage—just grinding it out will take forever.”
Lin Nan noticed that these three didn’t seem too bothered by the rain, and since she could easily use magic to return whenever she pleased, she didn’t mind it either. In fact, she took some joy in watching the hesitant students finally make the plunge into the curtain of rain.
One student slipped in the rain, triggering a chorus of gasps. Lin Nan leaned in to catch a glimpse, but her height was of no help; all she could see were the backs of heads.
As expected, I need a height-growing spell!
It’s not embarrassing to say—Frieza is probably wishing for height, too!
“Hey! No umbrella, huh?”
Lin Nan turned to see Lilith descending the stairs, clutching a cat. She wore her usual smirk, dripping with sarcasm. “I already sent Lina to fetch an umbrella!”
“Li Na would help you get one?”
“She skipped class! Just headed to the cafeteria for some grub.” Lilith’s teeth clenched at that thought. “Always telling me not to skip class when she’s the one ditching! It drives me crazy!”
“Look at it! Isn’t it getting fatter? I’m raising it! Way better than your pathetic one!”
Lin Nan silently turned away, unwilling to get involved. She was a morally sound individual; bullying Lilith would leave her feeling guilty. But Lilith just loved to push buttons, so she decided to ignore her.
Wonder who was crying at the playground last night? Just twenty-four hours later, and she’s flaunting again!
“You don’t know! That brat Lina snuck food last night while I was at the playground—ordered goodies without telling me! By the time I got back, she just saved me some soup!”
“Little White seems to be getting a bit… feisty lately; it’s been all over Little Black!”
“Hey, pay attention to me! I’m talking here!”
Lin Nan, feeling a tad helpless, turned back to her: “That’s Sprite and Cola, not Little White and Little Black—how cliché! Plus, isn’t Little Black your son?”
Caught off guard, Lilith paused, realizing she had a ‘foster son’ to consider.
“What son?” Chen Yao chimed in, utterly perplexed, his face a picture of shock. “She has a kid now?!”
“Holy smokes! Lin Nan, you need to take notes from her!” His eyes sparkled with mischief as he leaned towards Lin Nan. “We can’t let her go ahead of us! And I heard that marriage certificates can even get you extra credits.”
Talking big while only wearing a short-sleeve, Chen Yao was shivering in the cold.
Lin Nan shrugged off her outer jacket, attempting to steer the conversation in a different direction, but Chen Yao shot her down with a serious look: “I’m fine, you wear it. Otherwise, getting a cold will be such a hassle. Let’s keep chatting about children!”
“……”
Lost for words, Lin Nan didn’t know what to say, while Lilith couldn’t help but laugh.
Lin Nan couldn’t shake the feeling that Lilith was laughing at her, so she turned and kicked Chen Yao’s calf.
Chen Yao winced, gritting his teeth, and then the sudden pain on his calf reminded him dreadfully of the time Lin Nan slapped him and sent him flying.
This kick—shouldn’t I be compensated with a game console?!
The thought flashed through his mind, but his expression turned sheepish as he scratched his head. “Alright, let’s stop messing around. We need to figure a way out of here. We can’t just sit here waiting for the rain to stop, can we?”
Lin Nan shot him an eye-roll.
But mere minutes later, the rain showed no signs of easing, and the students lingering in the building began to trickle out one after another.
Most dashed directly into the rain, while a few were fortunate enough to have friends bringing umbrellas. Just as Lin Nan and her group prepared to bolt, they spotted Li Na approaching the building, brandishing three umbrellas.
She was holding one, handed another to Lilith, and then passed the last one to Lin Nan.
Lin Nan could hardly believe that this girl even thought of her.
“We’re heading out first,” Li Na nodded at Lin Nan as a greeting and then took Lilith, walking bravely into the downpour.
Watching them leave, Lin Nan opened her umbrella, only to find it was annoyingly small.
She hesitated and glanced at her roommates. “Should I run back to the dorm and grab umbrellas for you?”
Tu Junhui had already set his game console down and shook his head with a frown. “Forget it; too much trouble. I’ll just sprint back.”
“Yeah,” Xiong Da agreed, pulling up the hood of his sweatshirt as he followed Tu Junhui toward the dorm.
No way! This umbrella is too tiny; I don’t want to share it with Chen Yao!
With a helpless expression, Lin Nan looked up at Chen Yao, who shrugged and took the umbrella. “Guess we should go.”
By the time they returned to the rental apartment, they would both be half-soaked.
They sighed together, and Lin Nan nonchalantly cast a spell that kept her body and clothes dry from the rain, then intentionally shifted to give Chen Yao more space.
She bent her head down to check her phone for the weather forecast for the next couple of days.
“It’s going to rain all day tomorrow,” Lin Nan grumbled, clearly displeased. She hated heavy rain because it meant her clothes wouldn’t dry, and the gloomy skies affected her mood.
“It’s okay, I have an umbrella at home,” Chen Yao said as he raised the umbrella over Lin Nan’s head, trying to keep the rain off her as much as possible, while the rest of him was already drenched.
He noticed Lin Nan staggered slightly to the side as she walked, clearly trying to give her spot under the umbrella a bit more room.
They were both thinking the same thing.
Too bad the umbrella’s in my hands—I’m in charge here.
Chen Yao grinned over at Lin Nan, then suddenly, he couldn’t help but sneeze.
He immediately regretted giving her all the coverage.
