Chapter 44: Anticipation Amidst the Storm

After breakfast, with a typhoon approaching, Zhong Tian bid farewell to Li Jianren and Auntie Wang.

She left the villa complex and waited outside for a ride-hailing car.

A taxi ride back from Li Jianren’s place would cost over twenty yuan.

In Taisan City, this was the first time Zhong Tian had ever taken such an expensive ride.

Although there was a bus stop nearby, Zhong Tian truly had no desire to take it.

‘It would take over ten minutes,’ she thought.

Zhong Tian looked up at the sky, noticing dark clouds already gathering in the distance.

‘I hope I make it in time.’

****

The oppressive dark clouds slowly descended, blanketing the sky and threatening to engulf the small fishing village below.

Though it was still daytime, the world had grown as dim as night.

The young girl standing outside seemed to faintly hear the rumble of thunder and feel the still air begin to stir once more.

She glanced at the phone in her hand; it was almost nine o’clock.

‘They’re still not back?’

The girl shook her head, trying to reassure herself that her parents must have already returned to the harbor to take shelter from the storm, merely dealing with some boat mooring issues.

‘It’ll be fine… it’ll be fine…’

Despite her self-reassurance, a sense of unease persisted.

“Yinlian, aren’t you going inside yet?” a middle-aged man, her neighbor, approached her.

He spoke in the Taisan dialect, “A big storm is coming!”

“I… I’m waiting for my parents…”

Hearing this, the middle-aged man’s expression changed, and he instinctively glanced towards the harbor.

“Don’t—don’t worry,” he stammered. “I reckon they’ll be back soon. You go inside first, and I’ll head to the harbor to ask around for you…”

“I… I’ll go myself.”

Unable to resist the growing anxiety in her heart, Yinlian finally dashed towards the harbor.

However, her neighbor grabbed her arm, “Be obedient and go inside first! Old Yu entrusted me to look after you!”

At this, Yu Yinlian understood: her parents were still at sea.

They hadn’t returned.

Her face instantly turned ashen, and she wrenched her hand free from her neighbor’s grasp, taking another decisive step forward.

A golden gleam flashed in her eyes, and her dark pupils instantly transformed into a deep blue.

In the blink of an eye, her figure vanished from her neighbor’s sight.

This was her ability, a unique innate power: the capacity to make herself “unobservable and untouchable” to others.

From Yu Yinlian’s perspective, the neighbor stood before her in a daze, his mouth agape as if speaking in terror.

He then scanned his surroundings a few times before scurrying off to search, yet even when he passed right by Yu Yinlian, nearly brushing her shoulder, he failed to detect her presence.

Conversely, she could not hear the neighbor’s words either.

Silently, she offered an apology to her neighbor and then sprinted towards the harbor.

She ran along the familiar path, deftly avoiding villagers and the occasional passing motorcycles and small trucks, arriving at the harbor without anyone noticing her.

Standing atop the seawall, she gazed down at the neatly moored fishing boats, both large and small.

She was searching for her parents’ vessel.

Yet, she found nothing.

At that moment, the wind grew stronger, and the sky darkened even further.

Yu Yinlian’s deep blue eyes reverted to black as she deactivated her “unobservable” state.

Trembling slightly, she sat down upon the seawall.

‘Don’t scare yourself, Yu Yinlian!’

‘It’ll be fine… it’ll be fine…’

‘It’s just a typhoon; it’ll be fine… it has to be fine…’

****

After waiting for over ten minutes, Zhong Tian finally got into her ride before the rain began, returning home.

The moment she stepped through the door, Zhong Tian heard the fierce sounds of rain and wind raging outside.

“I’m home.”

As Zhong Tian spoke, she switched on the lights in the house.

However, since it wasn’t particularly dark, she only turned on one large lamp in the living room.

The living room was empty, and Zhong Tian glanced towards the inner rooms, realizing both Su Linxi and Zhong Jing were in their respective spaces.

‘Su Linxi is probably writing, and Zhong Jing, being sensitive to thunder and darkness, is likely curled up asleep,’ Zhong Tian mused.

She looked out at the balcony, noting that all the clothes had already been brought in.

‘It’s a good thing Su Linxi is here.’

Having slept well the previous night, Zhong Tian had no intention of resting.

With the wind howling and thunder rumbling, she wasn’t particularly keen on using her desktop computer for drawing.

Instead, she decided to sit in the living room, play on her phone, and then cook when the time came.

Zhong Tian opened WeChat and navigated to Bai Ruijin’s chat interface.

[Li Jianren and I are planning to host a gathering at his family’s beach with a few friends.]

[Next weekend, can you make it?]

She sent these messages to Bai Ruijin, awaiting her reply.

****

Bai Ruijin had just woken up.

Opening her eyes, she saw the room plunged into dimness and initially thought it was still dark outside.

Had her phone not vibrated twice, lighting up the screen to display the time, she would have simply rolled over and gone back to sleep.

She yawned and opened WeChat.

It was a message from Zhong Tian.

After reading it, she instantly perked up.

‘A beach party?’

‘Oh, wonderful! This way, I can legitimately spend time with Li Jianren!’

After a moment’s consideration, she replied:

[I’m totally free!]

[Oh, by the way, can I invite Qiaoqiao?]

[Yes.] Zhong Tian replied promptly.

Bai Ruijin took a screenshot of the chat, sent it to Zheng Qiao, and then double-tapped her avatar.

[Qiaoqiao, do you have time to come?]

****

Zheng Qiao was currently engrossed in a manga.

It was the one drawn by Zhong Tian.

She had been reading it all morning and found it surprisingly captivating.

‘Could this truly be something Zhong Tian drew?’ she wondered.

‘The person capable of devising such a moving plot is actually an ice-faced, expressionless girl?’

Just as she was about to turn to the next page, a message notification popped up at the top of her phone screen.

It was a WeChat message from Bai Ruijin.

She opened it, first tapping on the screenshot and examining it carefully.

‘Hmm?’

‘Li Jianren’s family beach?’

‘Are they fishermen? Living by the sea…’

‘Next weekend, huh? I remember it’s a long weekend,’ she mused.

After thinking for a moment, she realized she had nothing planned for those two days, so she typed on her screen:

[I can probably make it.]

After replying, she switched back to her manga.

****

Upon receiving Bai Ruijin’s reply confirming that “both of them could come,” Zhong Tian exited WeChat.

She planned to open the Bilibili video app to see if there were any interesting videos.

She clicked on a funny video recommended on the homepage, which appeared to be a collection of amusing Q&A screenshots.

“Does everyone remember the last words your loved ones said to you before they passed away?”

“What you love is your life.”

*Pfft—*

‘Today’s first pearl of wisdom.’

After scrolling through videos for about an hour, Zhong Tian heard the sound of a door opening from an inner room.

Zhong Jing emerged from her room.

Her face devoid of expression, she proceeded to switch on all the lights in the living room, then sat down next to Zhong Tian and began playing on her phone.

“I thought you were asleep.”

“…Couldn’t sleep.”

As she spoke, a flash of white light illuminated the window, immediately followed by a deafening clap of thunder.

Having mentally prepared herself when she saw the flash, Zhong Tian was not startled by the ensuing thunder.

However, Zhong Jing, sitting beside her, gave an almost imperceptible shiver, and her single cowlick shot straight up.

Yet, the expression on her face remained unchanged.

No matter how many times Zhong Tian witnessed it, she was always impressed by Zhong Jing’s naturally superior emotional control.

It took a long while for Zhong Jing to calm down.

Even while playing on her phone, she couldn’t help but glance towards the balcony, seemingly on guard for the next flash of lightning.

Zhong Tian rummaged through her canvas bag, found her Bluetooth earphones, and after ensuring they were connected to her phone, she opened her music app and selected a violin concerto.

She leaned over, gently brushed aside Zhong Jing’s hair, placed the Bluetooth earphones on her, and then activated the noise-canceling mode.

Zhong Jing paused for a moment, looked back at Zhong Tian, but said nothing.

As the noise-canceling mode activated, the surrounding cacophony of wind and rain almost entirely vanished, leaving only the elegant strains of the violin echoing.

She seemed to relax, resuming her usual languid posture as she continued to play on her phone.

Seeing that Zhong Jing was fine, Zhong Tian got up and went into the kitchen, opening the refrigerator to ponder what to make for lunch.

There were still plenty of ingredients.

‘Perhaps something simple and light,’ she considered. ‘I had a bit too many snacks last night.’

Just as she was thinking this, Su Linxi walked almost silently to her side.

“Perfect timing. What would you like to eat?”

“Anything is fine.”

Zhong Tian agreed, checked the time, and seeing that it was already past eleven, decided to start preparing lunch.

****

The young girl named Yu Yinlian still sat on the seawall.

The heavy rain poured down, and the wind howled, threatening to sweep away her slender frame.

Yet, she remained seated with her knees hugged to her chest, seemingly unaffected.

This was because she had used her “unobservable and untouchable” ability on the wind and rain.

It was her first time using this ability on inanimate objects, and to her surprise, it had succeeded.

‘Perhaps there will be terrible side effects later,’ she thought.

But she paid no mind to it; all she wanted now was to see her parents’ boat return to the harbor before her.

Raising a trembling hand, she called her parents again.

This was the thirteenth call.

She waited in silence, and waited, only to eventually hear the thirteenth “unanswered” prompt.

Her emotions had shifted from worry and fear to despair.

Her deep blue eyes gradually lost their luster, yet she continued to gaze through the dense curtain of rain at the almost pitch-black sea in the distance.

****

“Speaking of which,”

Zhong Tian swallowed her mouthful of food. “Next weekend, Jianren and I are planning a gathering at his family’s beach. Would you two like to come?”

Su Linxi set down her bowl of soup. “I’m fine with it.”

Zhong Jing remained silent.

‘Hmm, silence means she doesn’t want to go,’ Zhong Tian concluded.

As she thought this, Zhong Tian looked out at the howling wind and rain.

‘I wonder when this storm will finally cease.’