Chapter 22

Ning City was shrouded beneath a gloomy gray. Clouds had been pressing down in the sky all day, as if brewing a heavy rain, determined to drench the world through.

The weather forecast said that in the near future, several wet and cold air currents would collide in September, and Ning City’s rainy season was expected to last a little longer than last year.

As the beginning of a new week, this did not seem beautiful in many people’s eyes.

Shi Xiu was the exception.

Yellow-green leaves drifted down onto the sidewalk of the intensive training center, then were rolled over by the wheels of a suitcase being dragged past.

Shi Xiu walked along the road with bags large and small. A drawing board was strapped to her back, and on top of the suitcase she pulled in her hand sat an overstuffed bag.

Clearly, she looked heavily burdened, yet she walked with bright vitality.

Today was Shi Xiu’s first day at the studio.

Just as Shi Xiu was about to reach the dormitory building, her hand suddenly emptied.

Feng Xinyang ran over from the direction of the teaching building and directly took the suitcase from Shi Xiu’s hand. “You got here pretty fast.”

Looking at Feng Xinyang’s long-lost smiling face, Shi Xiu did not stand on ceremony with her either. After saying “thanks,” she complained about what she had encountered that morning. “Don’t even mention it. Shi Wendong said yesterday that he’d send me, but today at noon, he suddenly had business to discuss, so he dragged me out of bed first thing in the morning. I said I could go by myself, but he insisted on sending me. I don’t even know why he insisted.”

“Huh?” Feng Xinyang made a sound of incomprehension, then pointed at the baseball cap Shi Xiu had pulled over her head. “I thought you’d messed up your haircut.”

“I didn’t mess it up. I just slept last night without drying it properly, and when I woke up this morning, it was all flying everywhere.” Shi Xiu looked helpless as she spoke and took off her hat.

Shi Xiu had not kept long hair for many years. Since she was starting over, she thought she might as well start with her hairstyle.

Her neither-long-nor-short hair swept along her jaw. It was a length her twenty-seven-year-old self liked very much.

This person’s features leaned toward handsome and heroic. She did not need much embellishment. When her eyes lowered, [bailiantales.com]she gave people the feeling that she was not someone to be messed with.

So this messy sticking-up hair did not look that terrible either. It was just that the cowlick swayed in the wind, creating a cute sense of contrast.

Looking at it, Feng Xinyang could not help reaching out to tug it. “Hahaha, Sister Shi, your new hairstyle is so cute.”

“Sister Shi is not cute.” Shi Xiu did not want to receive this evaluation from Feng Xinyang at all. She randomly grabbed at the raised hair a couple of times, then put the hat back on.

Feng Xinyang instantly smiled even more deeply and emphasized, “Cute!”

If Shang Jinyue was the person Shi Xiu, after living again, was desperately trying to leave,

then Feng Xinyang was the anchor point that gave Shi Xiu confidence she could live better in this life.

The two of them chatted and laughed, and very quickly arrived at the dormitory.

Although it was called a dormitory, it was actually more like an ordinary apartment. The studio gave students small one-bedroom, two-living-room units, two stolen contentpeople to a room. Sometimes, there were even situations where one person lived in one room.

Before Shi Xiu arrived, Feng Xinyang had spent a little extra money to book one room for herself.

Now that Shi Xiu had come, she opened the door wide and welcomed Shi Xiu to live with her.

“How is it? Not bad, right?” Feng Xinyang showed Shi Xiu the room she had gotten someone to clean yesterday, a little proud.

Shi Xiu passed through the living room and walked toward her own room, expressing toward the furnishings that clearly exceeded the standard, “Miss Feng, you could clearly have rented a place outside by yourself.”

“How boring would that be?” Feng Xinyang did not take it seriously. She enjoyed the controlled dorm life very much. “And living in the dorm is so convenient. In the future, we’ll definitely often stay up until one or two in the morning. How unsafe would it be for me to leave school alone?”

“If this world lost a rising new star in the painting world, how regrettable would that be?”

Feng Xinyang said this with a face full of sincerity, then held her own face in both hands, looking at Shi Xiu with utter narcissism.

For once, Shi Xiu did not tear her down like she used to. She simply looked at her quietly.

As if through Feng Xinyang, she also saw her own future.

Feng Xinyang would become a figure other painters of the same era could only look up to from afar.

She would be one too.

“So, later, let’s go practice sketching together. During evening self-study, I also want to look at your homework. I keep feeling like my handling of the details isn’t good enough. Give me some pointers.” Shi Xiu was like a wind-up doll whose spring had been twisted to the fullest, seriously taking her sketchbook out of her suitcase.

Feng Xinyang put on a mask of pain. “Sister Shi, spare me. I ran out here to slack off, not to let you drag me into grinding.”

“It’s your first day here. Don’t you need me to accompany you to get your meal card, water card, and access card for the training center first, then take you around the studio and introduce you to new classmates?”

Feng Xinyang’s eyes were full of expectation.

Shi the grind king was unmoved and patted Feng Xinyang’s shoulder. Read on BaiLianTales “Time is money, Little Feng.”

And with this pat, Feng Xinyang smoothly collapsed onto Shi Xiu’s bed, waving a little hand as she invited Shi Xiu. “Stop grinding. On this fine day when it’s about to rain, lie flat with me.”

Shi Xiu’s bed had been sunned by the auntie Feng Xinyang hired yesterday, making it much softer than hers.

Feng Xinyang lay on it and could not help rolling once.

Then her gaze naturally turned toward the window.

“Is this rain actually going to fall or not? Don’t tell me it’s going to wait until tomorrow?” Feng Xinyang looked at the dark clouds outside the window and disliked the heaviness of the umbrella she was carrying.

Hearing this, Shi Xiu followed Feng Xinyang’s gaze and glanced out the window, then said casually and firmly, “It’ll rain today.”

“How do you know?” Feng Xinyang was surprised by Shi Xiu’s certainty.

Shi Xiu lowered her eyes. After the sketchbook was taken away, the suitcase revealed clothes [read the original at bailiantales.com]folded by a certain someone.

Memory was like the dark clouds outside the window, gradually becoming clear along with Feng Xinyang’s question.

Shi Xiu had forgotten many things, but she still remembered that the year she met Shang Jinyue, Ning City had experienced the heaviest rain in its history.

At the time, many people in class had not brought umbrellas, and Shang Jinyue was included among them.

Everyone bitterly looked for classmates who had umbrellas to go with them. As long as they could leave the school gate and get into their family car, everything would be fine.

Shang Jinyue was not in class. She had been called over by the head of teaching to discuss the art festival competition.

Shi Xiu touched the umbrella hidden in her desk drawer and happily sent Shang Jinyue a message saying she would wait for her after school.

Shi Xiu did not know what kind of determination her past self had possessed. Clearly, Shang Jinyue did not respond, yet she was still able to sit in the classroom and watch the students leave one by one after school.

She finished the homework assigned that day and even did one extra set of derivative-focused exercises.

In order to send Shang Jinyue, who had not brought an umbrella, out of school, she waited until the school gate was about to close before finally seeing that person arrive belatedly.

“Shang Jinyue!” Seeing Shang Jinyue return, Shi Xiu’s drowsy eyes instantly lit up.

Shang Jinyue walked to her seat and looked at Shi Xiu without understanding. “Why are you still in the classroom?”

“You didn’t see the message I left you?” Shi Xiu was somewhat disappointed.

“You send a lot every day,” Shang Jinyue said faintly.

The factual statement was too direct, making a person feel as if their enthusiasm was also a kind of sin.

But Shi Xiu just happened to have endless enthusiasm. Even if one part of it was nailed dead by Shang Jinyue, another part immediately burned up.

She was only disappointed for a moment. Then she took out the umbrella from her desk drawer. “Then ​unauthorized copy​I’ll try to send fewer in the future. I’ll take you to the school gate first.”

Shi Xiu felt that when Shang Jinyue saw her, there should have been surprise in her eyes.

After all, anyone who heard someone had waited for them for so long should feel something.

Perhaps what Shang Jinyue felt was that she was lowering herself graciously enough to allow Shi Xiu to escort her out of the school gate.

She packed her schoolbag just like that, then faintly said to Shi Xiu, “Troubling you,” not even “thank you,” before standing under the umbrella Shi Xiu held up for her.

That rain was truly heavy, splashing wet most of the shirt and skirt the young girl had exposed outside the umbrella.

Air packed full of moisture made it very difficult for clothes to dry completely. From then on, Shi Xiu entered a ten-year stretch of dampness.

“So you absolutely have to hold on to your umbrella properly.” Shi Xiu’s gaze was heavy and also serious.

Feng Xinyang did not know why Shi Xiu was treating a single rainstorm so seriously.

But she still decided to listen to Shi Xiu and nodded seriously too. “Okay. I’ll remember.”

“That’s right.” The seriousness in Shi Xiu’s eyes did not lessen as she efficiently hung up the clothes Shang Jinyue had folded for her, erasing every trace this person had left with her.

“I think your drawings are pretty good.” Taking advantage of Shi Xiu packing her things, Feng Xinyang picked up Shi Xiu’s sketchbook.

Although she said she was unwilling, in reality, she still looked over Shi Xiu’s sketches for her.

But—

“I feel like there are some areas where you need to improve, but I don’t know where the problem is. Why don’t you take the homework you’ve done these past few days and show Old Xu?” Feng Xinyang scratched her head.

“Is that so?” Shi Xiu took the last item out of her suitcase and sat together with Feng Xinyang.

“Yeah.” Feng Xinyang nodded and shared information with Shi Xiu. “Old Xu even told me she cleared out an entire afternoon waiting for you to come, because she wants to have a proper bailiantales.com talk with you. You can take your homework with you while you’re at it.”

“Then I’ll go now,” Shi Xiu immediately said.

Feng Xinyang looked at the room Shi Xiu had just finished tidying, then at the three sketchbooks she was holding, and expressed toward her friend’s terrifying execution ability, “Sister Shi, do you have to work this hard? Resting for a bit won’t make a difference, right?”

“It will,” Shi Xiu said.

She had started too late. She had to use every bit of fragmented time to catch up.

.

Walking into the teaching building, the scent of different types of pigments drifted through the air.

Following Feng Xinyang’s directions, Shi Xiu smoothly arrived in front of the office of Xu Ran, the teacher responsible for their small class.

“Teacher?” The little girl revealed her head through the crack in the door.

Seeing her, Xu Ran’s eyes could not help curving. “Shi Xiu, why are you here so early?”

“I wanted to start early.”

Shi Xiu had already interacted with Xu Ran during the summer, so entering the office felt natural too.

She placed the sketchbooks she was holding onto Xu Ran’s desk and showed them to her generously. “These are the exercises I did following the studio these past two weeks. Please take a look?”

“You brat, getting respectful with me now?” Xu Ran smiled. As she spoke, she opened Shi Xiu’s sketchbook. “I was originally going to see whether your hand had gotten rusty. Perfect. I won’t test you then. I’ll go over your homework with you.”

“Okay.” Shi Xiu nodded. Her hands, hidden below the desk, squeezed together, still somewhat nervous.

Buzz.

Unfortunately, at this moment, the phone in Shi Xiu’s pocket suddenly vibrated.

As if there were some urgent message, several came in one after another.

Shi Xiu’s brows tightened.

She thought that if the person sending messages was Feng Xinyang, she would definitely scold her badly.

Unexpectedly, when she opened her phone, the sender was Shang Jinyue.

[Have you arrived at the studio?]

[I’ve finished making the plan and want to bring you the books you’ll need recently.]

[I’ll be at the gate of your training center in ten minutes.]

[I’ll wait for you.]

In all these years, Shi Xiu had never seen Shang Jinyue send her so many messages.

But even so, Shi Xiu would not go out, overwhelmed by favor, to welcome Shang Jinyue.

Her one-on-one guidance with Xu Ran had only just begun. It was obviously impossible for it to end in ten minutes.

And she would not let it end in ten minutes either.

Shi Xiu hid her hand under the desk, typing quickly to leave Shang Jinyue a message: [Don’t wait for me. Leave it with the guard.]

“I noticed you have one problem… What are you looking at?”

Xu Ran had looked over a few of Shi Xiu’s sketches and was just about to analyze the problem for her when she saw Shi Xiu lowering her head and looking at her phone.

Being looked at by Xu Ran’s sharp eyes, Shi Xiu instantly felt somewhat guilty.

She blindly pressed the send button, then turned off the screen and took the initiative to hand over the phone. “Nothing. Please go on.”

Xu Ran glanced at the phone Shi Xiu had handed over, then tilted the sketchbook toward Shi Xiu. “Look here first. For the lines you used to start the hand here…”

The charcoal stick slid across the paper, neatly leaving behind a line.

Shi Xiu listened with full concentration to Xu Ran’s analysis and did not hear the sharp gust of wind rising outside. Several raindrops struck the window with soft taps. This rain, destined to fall, had already arrived.

“Basically, that’s it. Your problems aren’t major. Compared to summer, you’ve even improved a little. After this, consciously correct it, practice more, and summarize more.”

Xu Ran’s recognition blended with the sound of rain outside the window, knocking again and again against Shi Xiu’s heart.

Light passed through the dim world and fell on the young girl’s side profile, so bright it was as if all the vitality in the world were on her.

“I understand. Thank you, Teacher.” Shi Xiu was full of fighting spirit.

Seeing Shi Xiu like this, Xu Ran could not help patting her shoulder. “The little girl really has drive. Not bad.”

She glanced at the rain outside the window, which had started at some unknown time, then asked, “Did you bring an umbrella?”

“I did.” Shi Xiu took out her mini folding umbrella from her bag.

She had long since prepared.

Xu Ran felt relieved. “All right. Go eat. It’s already past lunch time.”

“You don’t have to hurry to the classroom this afternoon either. Go back and tidy your room, have Feng Xinyang take you to get art supplies and handle your cards. Officially come to class tomorrow.”

What Xu Ran said was about the same as what Feng Xinyang had said just now. This time, Shi the grind king did not refuse.

If she did not go to the classroom, she could revise her drawings in the dorm.

Staying by herself, summarizing and organizing, her heart could also calm down, and her efficiency would be higher.

“Then I’m leaving.” Shi Xiu picked up the homework Xu Ran had corrected, waved, and left.

Xu Ran looked at this child’s energetic back and felt happy too. But then she noticed the phone on the desk. “Your phone.”

Shi Xiu had truly forgotten it and came back, embarrassed. “Hehe, thank you, Teacher.”

“Hurry and go eat something. Look at you, always forgetting things.” Xu Ran scolded affectionately.

After walking out of the office, Shi Xiu prepared to ask Feng Xinyang to go to the cafeteria for lunch.

Only, as soon as she opened her phone, her joyful gaze paused.

She had handed over her phone in too much of a hurry earlier and had stolen content not exited the conversation with Shang Jinyue.

The words she had typed were still sitting in the input box. They had never been sent to Shang Jinyue at all!

Shi Xiu’s heart instantly tightened.

But when she looked at the message time, Shang Jinyue had contacted her two hours ago. According to her understanding of Shang Jinyue, this person would not waste meaningless time. At this hour, she should have already left.

She was not a fool.

Shi Xiu glanced at the rain outside the window.

Rainwater washed over the glass, and the world outside the window looked like a melted oil painting.

Shi Xiu had not thought of how to explain it to Shang Jinyue. The urgent matter was to first put her precious drawings into her bag.

Shi Xiu packed her drawings unhurriedly, yet inexplicably with a kind of urgency.

She walked out from the studio’s main entrance, which just so happened to pass by the training center’s gate.

Intentionally or unintentionally, Shi Xiu’s gaze drifted toward the guardhouse.

She did not see the figure in her memory, nor did she see that black Maybach.

A wisp of white mist floated through the wet, cold air. Shi Xiu breathed a sigh of relief.

And it also seemed like she was laughing at herself.

She thought that now, she could explain to Shang Jinyue without any moral burden.

After all, her mistake had not caused Shang Jinyue to lose anything in this rain—

Cold rain splashed onto the ground, which was slightly warmer, bringing up a layer o stolen content f hazy, illusory mist.

Shi Xiu stepped onto the final stair in front of the teaching building’s entrance corridor and was just about to turn around when she saw someone holding an umbrella walk out from behind the guardhouse at the gate.

She wore Ning City No. 1 High School’s uniform, the silver nameplate with black characters pinned on the left side of her chest.

Rain washed over the world, and the melted oil painting blurred indistinctly, yet Shi Xiu seemed able to see the words written on that nameplate.

Ning City No. 1 High School, Senior Year Class Ten, Shang Jinyue.

Shi Xiu and Shang Jinyue met each other’s eyes through the curtain of rain.

Through the haze of rain and the barrier of wind, she had a pair of eyes as clear and tender as autumn waters.