Chapter Five: Storms

At that moment, the flag had only risen halfway, and the entire school saw a male student carrying their School Student Union President past everyone.

The Flag Raiser stared in shock, and his hands unconsciously slowed by a couple of beats. The song had ended, yet the flag was only halfway up.

Zhao Qinyin's body was very soft. Though she was 1.6 meters tall, Chu Yu estimated that she weighed, at most, only around ninety jin.

Even so, by the time Chu Yu carried her up to the Infirmary on the third floor, sweat had already formed on his forehead.

"What happened to her, student?" Seeing this, a Female Physician quickly had Zhao Qinyin lie down on a bed in one of the rooms before turning to Chu Yu with a question.

Twenty minutes later, Zhao Qinyin's pale face had finally regained some color. Though she still could not stand, she had already sat up at the edge of the bed.

Hypoglycemia was ultimately just a temporary lack of energy in the body. Although it left someone weak and powerless when it struck, they would generally recover quickly after replenishing their energy.

After Zhao Qinyin recovered, the Infirmary doctor left the room.

"You didn't eat breakfast this morning, did you?" Seeing that she had mostly recovered, Chu Yu shook his head.

Chu Yu knew about this condition because his mother had it too. She was always trying to lose weight and ate very little, often collapsing at home from a lack of strength.

Whenever something like that happened, Chu Yu and the Old Man would always lecture her. After speaking, Chu Yu had originally wanted to start rambling on as he usually did.

But then he remembered that his mother was gone, and that this girl was merely a stranger he did not know. In the end, the words at his lips were swallowed back down.

"Just... be more careful in the future."

After saying that, Chu Yu stood up, ready to leave.

"Wait..." Zhao Qinyin's weak voice came from behind him.

Chu Yu turned back and looked at her in confusion.

"You... what's your name?"

Zhao Qinyin looked at Chu Yu with her Clear Pupils.

"Uh... Chu Yu." Chu Yu hesitated before answering.

Could she be looking to cause trouble for me because I picked her up without permission?

"Chu Yu?" Zhao Qinyin Nodded.

"Thank you. In the future... if I get the chance, I'll repay this favor."

"A favor?"

She wasn't blaming me for carrying her without permission?

Why did she seem nothing like the unapproachable person from the rumors?

"Oh!" Chu Yu studied her seriously, then Nodded. He did not stand on ceremony.

"We'll talk about it if the chance comes."

When Chu Yu walked into the classroom, the entire class turned to look at him!

Where had he carried Zhao Qinyin off to?

What had happened to Zhao Qinyin?

What was his relationship with Zhao Qinyin? Why had she not resisted at all while he carried her?

One of humanity's instincts was a love of gossip.

But class was in session, and that old Math Teacher was not easy to deal with. No one dared to ask.

Ever since the incident with the manga in Chu Yu's Desk Drawer, Qin Qianyv had been paying close attention to him. After all, Chu Yu had scolded her a couple of times. Women always remembered such things clearly.

What was going on between him and Zhao Qinyin?

When Chu Yu returned to his seat, Wang Wei, who sat in front of him, could not ask during class, but his expression told Chu Yu everything.

You'd better explain yourself honestly after class, brat... What exactly is your relationship with Zhao Qinyin?

But once class was over, Chu Yu explained what had happened, and the crowd immediately dispersed. There was absolutely no gossip value in it.

Monday's incident was merely an interlude for Chu Yu. He and Zhao Qinyin were a Scum Student and a Top Student respectively. One was someone destined to attend a Prestigious University and become part of the highest tier of the Social Pyramid, while the other might not even get into university and would stop studying after graduating High School. Their paths had little chance of crossing.

Although Zhao Qinyin had said she would repay the favor if she had the chance, it was the sort of thing one could just listen to and forget. Chu Yu did not take it seriously.

Two days passed in the blink of an eye, and Wednesday arrived.

The weekly magazine Ink Shadow, published under Ink Fish Manga Company and printed at the Printing Factory, had already been delivered yesterday to major bookstores and newsstands throughout Luo Province.

Although Ink Shadow was only a manga weekly with Weekly Sales of just over sixty thousand copies, its sales channels still covered the entire province because it was backed by Ink Fish Manga Company, one of the Luo Province Three Great Manga Companies. This was why Ink Fish Manga Company was publicly recognized as one of the big three and attracted countless manga creators from Luo Province to submit their work.

On Wednesday Early Morning, when the bookstores and newsstands opened, newspapers naturally sold best. As for manga journals like Ink Shadow, they were not particularly well-known, and their audience consisted mainly of students, who had not even gotten out of school yet.

It was not until noon and the afternoon that youngsters poured into the bookstores, among them quite a few fans of 2D works.

Ren Yu was an ordinary Office Worker. He had a hobby unknown to the people around him... manga.

A large portion of his monthly salary went toward buying works from major manga periodicals, such as Dragon Country Top Manga Periodicals under the Modu Seven Greats, or periodicals under the Luo Province Three Great Manga Companies.

Of course, every now and then, he would also buy an ordinary manga periodical like Ink Shadow.

Unlike the works in top-tier periodicals, which could run for years at a time, the shorter works in periodicals like Ink Shadow often ended after just a few months. Sometimes they offered a different kind of experience, and they were less tiring to follow.

"Mm, let me see... Mm, is Heavenly Fortune also at its final chapter this week? Oh, there's a new serialization..."

"The Garden of Words?"

"This title doesn't exactly make its meaning clear."

"But, huh, the art style is pretty good! The author is Shui Xin. Mm, it seems to be a romance type manga too. A female manga artist? Is she a newcomer?" Ren Yu flipped through the manga periodical as he walked down the street.

After lunch, Liu Jie returned to the classroom and felt terribly bored. After thinking it over, she went to the bookstore outside the school and casually bought a manga periodical... Ink Shadow.

She had not kept up with buying the previous issues, so many of the works in it were already halfway through their stories.

She flipped through the table of contents and found what she was looking for.

"The Garden of Words, Chapter One."

She turned to the pages where The Garden of Words was serialized.

What met her eyes was a pavilion in the rain, with a beautiful woman sitting alone inside.

At the bottom of the manga page were four large words: The Garden of Words.

To be honest, the title gave her absolutely no desire to read it, but the artwork... was on a completely different level from the serialized works Liu Jie had seen before.

It was far more delicate and exquisite!

No matter what, at least the art style made her want to keep reading.

On a rainy day, crowds of people headed to school and work. Everyone was indifferent, focused only on their own affairs.

The male lead, Qiu Yue, who had skipped class, held an umbrella as he arrived at the park pavilion.

Yet a woman was already inside, sheltering from the rain.

A young man using a drawing board to design shoes, and an office woman drinking beer in a park pavilion on a rainy day.

During their first meeting, the two barely exchanged a few words. Only after noticing Qiu Yue's school uniform did the woman recite a strange short poem before leaving.

"Faint thunder, overcast sky. I only hope wind and rain will come, and keep you here with me!"

Their second meeting was also on a rainy day.

Neither seemed surprised by the other's presence. Compared with their first meeting, there was less awkwardness between them, and their greetings became more natural.

The woman paired chocolate with wine, while Qiu Yue looked toward her feet as he designed shoes.

In the end, Qiu Yue told the woman that he only skipped class on rainy mornings.

The woman replied, "In that case, perhaps we'll meet again."

On the next page was a single line: The plum rain season had arrived.

That marked the end of Chapter One.

Meng Ming turned to the next page, where the artwork shifted to another series.

After reading a few pages, Meng Ming felt that something was wrong.

He flipped the manga periodical back to The Garden of Words.

To be honest, the art style was excellent, but the story was very plain and soothing. For some reason, though, it always left him with the faint feeling that his heart was hanging in the air. The urge to keep reading was not particularly strong, but it was definitely there.

Forget it, I'll support it. I hope the author works harder and updates more!

With a smile, Meng Ming picked up his phone and scanned the QR Code on the back of the periodical. His phone redirected him to a voting page.

It was for voting on the works serialized in the Ink Shadow periodical that he supported.

Without giving it much thought, he selected The Garden of Words, then exited the page.