Rain

On Monday, Lu Mingfei arrived at Shilan High School just like any other day; the life of an ordinary high schooler was quite peaceful.

In Lu Mingfei's memory, during his high school years, only Su Xiaoqiang and Chen Wenwen could be considered his friends.

Whenever Chen Wenwen, as the president of the Literature Club, assigned Lu Mingfei a task, she would always ask him to guarantee its completion, as if Lu Mingfei's guarantee actually carried any weight.

Yet, because of this trust, Lu Mingfei had always held a strong fondness for Chen Wenwen.

As for Su Xiaoqiang, their acquaintance began on the first day of high school when an oblivious boy stood beside her, pointing at Chen Wenwen and whispering, "That's probably the class beauty of our new grade."

The Little Goddess had never suffered such an insult; she stomped hard on the boy's foot and walked away without looking back.

That boy was Lu Mingfei.

From then on, Lu Mingfei and Su Xiaoqiang seemed to become arch-enemies. Whenever the Little Goddess ran into Lu Mingfei, they would inevitably end up arguing, and thanks to his talent for spewing nonsense, he could always leave her speechless with rage.

Even so, as long as he buttered her up a little, he could always mooch snacks off her.

His past self had been starved for affection, with parents rarely by his side, so he tried to cling to every shred of warmth, which made him seem pathetic throughout middle and high school, unable to make any real friends.

But the current him no longer craved to be loved, because he was now capable of seizing everything.

Upon reaching the classroom, Lu Mingfei discovered something absurd.

Why was the Little Goddess here!

Su Xiaoqiang was sitting brazenly in the seat next to his, a spot that should have been occupied by some obscure male classmate.

Lu Mingfei stood not far away, clutching his schoolbag and staring silently at Su Xiaoqiang.

"Yo, good morning, Lu Mingfei!" Su Xiaoqiang's cheerful greeting rang out.

"Seeing you greet me like this makes me want to vomit," Lu Mingfei said, looking as if he'd seen a ghost.

"Don't worry about such details; in any case, I'm your new deskmate from now on!" Su Xiaoqiang giggled.

"A student with grades as good as yours coming to sit with me—did the head teacher agree to this?" Lu Mingfei asked.

"I spoke to our head teacher yesterday. I told him you've been quite diligent lately and I wanted to come over to help improve your grades. Besides, the school gym is a bit old, and my family is planning to sponsor a renovation," Su Xiaoqiang replied with a straight face.

Lu Mingfei's mouth twitched: "The last sentence was the real point, wasn't it!"

Su Xiaoqiang told him to rest easy, as she had everything arranged.

"Come on, get in." Su Xiaoqiang scooted her seat forward to let Lu Mingfei pass from behind.

Seeing this, Lu Mingfei couldn't say anything more and simply sat down in his seat.

"When did they get so close?"

Chen Wenwen watched them from a nearby seat, looking puzzled.

During class, Lu Mingfei listened attentively. With the college entrance exam coming up next semester, he still harbored a desire to get into a good university.

One thing was crucial: his soul power was immense, manifesting in an ability to learn things very quickly. He had tested it; he'd looked through his freshman and sophomore textbooks at home on Sunday and had basically mastered them after reading through once.

This gave Lu Mingfei a great deal of confidence.

After class, the students gathered in their own little circles to chat.

Su Xiaoqiang opened her bag, pulled out a variety of snacks, and shared a portion with the girls she was close to.

Lu Mingfei watched with envy. He didn't have many hobbies, but eating was one of them. No matter which world he was in, he always wanted to taste good food when he saw it. Unfortunately, he didn't have much money now; he even had to have others treat him to a drink of Nutri-Express when he went online.

Lu Mingfei pondered what excuse he should use this time to get snacks from the Little Goddess.

"Do you want some?" After distributing the snacks to her friends, Su Xiaoqiang turned to look at Lu Mingfei.

Lu Mingfei crossed his arms and looked serious: "Give me more."

"Here, yours." Su Xiaoqiang pushed a pile of snacks onto Lu Mingfei's desk.

Lu Mingfei looked at the half-table of snacks: "Isn't this a bit too much? I might not be able to finish all this."

"If you can't finish it, take it home. It's not like I'm asking you to eat it all right now," Su Xiaoqiang said, looking at Lu Mingfei with disdain.

"Little Goddess, you are truly a great person to be friends with!" Lu Mingfei didn't hesitate to shove the snacks into his desk drawer and tore open a bag to start eating.

Su Xiaoqiang rested her chin on her hand, quietly watching Lu Mingfei eat. He remained completely oblivious.

What a glutton, Su Xiaoqiang thought to herself, though she felt it was great that Lu Mingfei liked them so much; it made bringing all those snacks worth it.

The girl's mood lightened.

In the afternoon, the sky outside turned pitch black, and the once-clear sky became thick with dark clouds. I hope it doesn't rain when school lets out, Lu Mingfei thought, frowning at the gloomy sky; he hadn't brought an umbrella today.

Things rarely went as one wished. As the bell rang, bean-sized raindrops began to fall instantly, thick and fast, accompanied by thunder—a rainstorm had arrived right on cue.

Private cars were usually not allowed on campus, but given the severe weather, parents were worried about their children getting soaked, and after coordinating with the school, the cars were let in.

Lu Mingfei stood by the classroom window, wondering how to get home. Many in the class had already left in their family cars.

Looking at the weather, Lu Mingfei remembered a typhoon from once before. The storm that day had been even worse than this one, and he had been preparing to go home just like today, but the rain had been too heavy.

He remembered seeing the Shilan High School legend, Chu Zihang, also taking shelter from the rain under the eaves. But unlike him, Lu Mingfei had seen the class's piano beauty, Liu Miaomiao, invite Chu Zihang to leave with her, saying she could drop him off at home.

Chu Zihang lived up to his reputation as the legend of Shilan High School; he rejected Liu Miaomiao's invitation outright.

Lu Mingfei watched as Liu Miaomiao's driver opened a massive black umbrella over her head. She took off her strappy sandals, and the driver crouched down to help her put on rain boots. Liu Miaomiao hid under the umbrella and carefully walked toward the black BMW with its headlights shining in the rain.

He had been too cold at the time, thinking that Liu Miaomiao had invited Chu Zihang, but Chu Zihang hadn't agreed; as far as he remembered, they weren't heading in the same direction anyway.

So, he had shouted at Liu Miaomiao from under the eaves: "Hey! Liu Miaomiao! Liu Miaomiao! Can you give me a ride?"

"Lu Mingfei, just walk yourself! My house isn't in the same direction as yours!" Liu Miaomiao didn't even turn her head.

Lu Mingfei squatted under the eaves, watching the BMW slide silently into the curtain of rain. Its taillights flashed, the engine roared with a high-pitched whine, and it was gone.

Back then, Lu Mingfei had stood up, his neck crooked and his head drooping, and began to walk slowly along the eaves.

Once he stepped out from the shelter, he hunched his shoulders, wrapped his jacket around his head, and darted into the rain like a stray dog.

He caught a cold when he got home, and it was quite a severe one at that.

Recalling these things, Lu Mingfei felt a bit sad for his past self.

"Lu Mingfei, it's raining outside. Do you want to take my family's car home?" Su Xiaoqiang asked, looking at Lu Mingfei, who was staring blankly out the window.

Lu Mingfei was stunned: "But my house and yours aren't in the same direction."

"What does that have to do with anything? Just get in. I'll drop you off at your place first. Come to think of it, I don't even know where you live yet; this is a good chance to learn the way," Su Xiaoqiang said, hands on her hips as she faced Lu Mingfei.

"My car is here, let's go." Su Xiaoqiang pushed Lu Mingfei out of the classroom without giving him a chance to argue.

Uncle Chen was already standing by the door of the Mercedes-Benz S500, holding a black umbrella.

Seeing Su Xiaoqiang pushing a classmate out, Uncle Chen took another umbrella from the car and walked over.

"Uncle Chen, this is my friend Lu Mingfei. We're going to drop him off at his house first," Su Xiaoqiang said, pointing at Lu Mingfei.

"Very well, Miss. Mr. Lu, please take this umbrella and get in the car with us." Uncle Chen handed the umbrella he had brought from the car to Lu Mingfei.

Lu Mingfei silently took the umbrella and followed Su Xiaoqiang into the car.

Inside, Su Xiaoqiang and Lu Mingfei sat together in the back seat of the Mercedes-Benz S500. Su Xiaoqiang told him all the latest gossip from class, and Lu Mingfei exclaimed in surprise again and again.

When they arrived at his aunt's house, Su Xiaoqiang smiled at him and said: "Now I know where you live! I'll come find you to hang out during the holidays!" As she spoke, she handed the umbrella to Lu Mingfei so he wouldn't get wet when he got out of the car.

Lu Mingfei nodded and said to her: "Just remember to let me know when you're coming."

"Got it! Goodbye, Lu Mingfei!" Su Xiaoqiang waved at Lu Mingfei through the car window.

"Goodbye!" Lu Mingfei stood in the rain holding the umbrella, waving back in response.

I saw that someone has been casting recommendation votes for me for several days in a row, and I'm quite happy about it.