Summer downpours never lasted long.
By the time Zheng Qing left the study room and stepped outside, the sky had already cleared. The orange-yellow sun hid behind a thin layer of clouds like a ripe orange.
The air was filled with the fresh scent after rain, mingling with the gradually rising warmth and easing some of the unease in his chest.
"Slow down," the witch reminded him softly from behind. "The roads are slippery after the rain."
Zheng Qing turned around, and the confusion in his eyes faded somewhat.
Only then did Zheng Qing realize that he had been gripping Jiang Yu's wrist.
"S-sorry!" The wizard's hand sprang away as though stung by a hornet. His face reddened at once as he stammered, "I-I was just in a hurry... I really didn't mean to."
After waking abruptly from his dream, for some reason, his mind had short-circuited. He had jumped up from his armchair and dragged Jiang Yu out of the study room. The others had remained sitting there blankly, apparently not yet realizing what had happened—Li Meng, who had been listening to Jiang Yu explain a problem, might have understood, but she had been more than happy to get farther away from her cousin, so naturally she said nothing.
At the time, Zheng Qing's thoughts had been simple: go to the Cat Fruit Tree, catch the wizard who had been "scribbling" on the black cat's throne, and, if possible, hand him over to a gray-robed groundskeeper or some professor.
As for dragging Jiang Yu along, it was because she also had a small "share" in that "throne." The wizard felt that she ought to be there.
But once he left the study room and the damp, soft breeze after the rain blew over him, the young scholarship student immediately