In mid-October, a cold front brought several straight days of light rain.
When it rained, Chen Shi'an stopped riding his bicycle and walked to and from school with Wen Zhixia, just as before.
On evenings when it wasn't raining, Li Wanyin still set up her stall as usual.
Fortunately, the autumn rain didn't last long. On the twenty-third, the Double Ninth Festival, the skies cleared again, and the month was nearing its end.
Unfortunately, they still had classes on the Double Ninth Festival. Otherwise, Chen Shi'an had wanted to mark the occasion by finding a mountain to climb.
"Huh? Today's the Double Ninth Festival?"
Wen Zhixia was a little surprised when Chen Shi'an mentioned it over their meal.
"...You didn't know?"
"Of course I know about the Double Ninth Festival! I just didn't realize it was today. School doesn't even give us a day off!"
Chen Shi'an laughed. "You only remember festivals that come with days off, huh?"
"Then why is it called the Double Ninth Festival?"
"In the Book of Changes, nine is a yang number. On the ninth day of the ninth month, both the month and day are yang. Two nines overlap, so it's called the Double Yang Festival."
"Oh, so that's why!"
Moving on from the festival, Wen Zhixia giggled and asked him, "Then, Taoist, do you want to practice the Three-Legged Race with me and Xiao Yan after school? Sports Day's coming up soon. Shouldn't you get some practice?"
Chen Shi'an paused. "Isn't it two people and three legs? How would three people practice together?"
"Xiao Yan's terrible at it. We can take turns practicing together."
"But I already promised the class monitor this morning that I'd practice with her."
"?"
The girl's cheeks puffed out at that, but she still refused to give up.