Chapter 9: Rainy Night Rescue

Heavy wind drove fat raindrops against the glass window. The panes crackled and popped.

Lin Ci sat in the last row of the classroom and stared at the dark sky outside. Irritation prickled at her for no clear reason.

The evening elective for seniors had just ended. The teacher said class was dismissed, and the clock already read eight thirty.

She pulled out her phone and unlocked the screen, then sent Gu Mianmian a WeChat message.

[It’s raining. Did you bring an umbrella?]

Two minutes passed. The chat stayed silent.

Lin Ci called her on voice chat. It rang seven or eight times before cutting off on its own.

“Damn.”

Lin Ci cursed under her breath, grabbed her bag, and strode out of the classroom.

She ran all the way back to the dorm, snatched a large black umbrella from behind the door, and turned toward the south gate.

The rain was fiercer than she had expected. It hammered the concrete and kicked up sheets of mist.

A gust hit her head-on, nearly tearing the umbrella from her hand.

By the time she reached the night market street outside the south gate, icy rainwater had filled her sneakers.

Her jeans clung wetly to her thighs and knees, heavy and miserable.

Water covered the whole night market street ankle-deep. The stalls had closed long ago, and shop after shop had pulled down its shutter.

Lin Ci splashed through the mud and water and scanned ahead. She finally spotted the sign for Old Zhao’s Skewers.

The shop’s large iron gate was pulled down most of the way, leaving a gap about the height of a person.

Lin Ci bent and slipped under the rolling shutter.

Inside, the light was dim. The grill had been put out long ago.

Gu Mianmian was crouched in a corner of the back kitchen, soaked through.

Her old sweatshirt, washed pale, clung to her thin body and outlined the narrow line of her back.

Her long black hair stuck wetly to both sides of her face. Water slid from her chin, drop by drop.

She hugged her knees, curled into a small ball. Her lips had a faint blue-white tinge.

The owner, Zhao Dayong, was wiping a table. He tossed out a sentence without looking up.

“Rain’s too heavy today. We’re closing early. I’ll pay your wages tomorrow.”

Zhao Peng leaned against the door frame nearby, a cigarette between his fingers. His eyes kept crawling over Gu Mianmian.

“Little Gu, how are you getting back to school in this rain?”

Zhao Peng blew out smoke and sidled closer with a grin.

“Or just stay here tonight. There’s an empty room upstairs. I’ll find you a clean blanket.”

As he spoke, he took half a step forward and reached for Gu Mianmian’s arm.

“Take your filthy hand off her.”

A cold, clear voice cut in from the shutter entrance.

Zhao Peng jumped. The cigarette nearly dropped onto his pants.

He turned and saw Lin Ci stride in.

Lin Ci closed her black umbrella. Rain had wet her long hair, and a few strands clung to the pale, slender side of her neck.

Her loose white T-shirt was soaked through, hinting at the shape beneath.

But there was no warmth on her face. Her dark eyes fixed on Zhao Peng, cold as ice.

“I’m here to get her. She’s coming back with me. Take your filthy hand off her.”

Lin Ci stepped forward and blocked Gu Mianmian behind her.

Zhao Peng rubbed his nose. The pressure coming off Lin Ci made him retreat half a step.

He opened his mouth, maybe to threaten her, but one look at that stunning, icy face and the words died in his throat.

The memory of being shoved to the ground by Lin Ci last time still ached in his lower back.

“Senior… you… why are you here?”

Gu Mianmian stayed crouched on the floor, voice barely above a whisper.

Lin Ci turned, held the black umbrella over her head, and offered her palm.

“Save it. Get up. We’re going back to the dorm.”

Gu Mianmian stared through her wet, messy bangs at the hand waiting in front of her.

Long fingers, skin white and fine, and warmth that belonged only to Lin Ci.

Gu Mianmian’s eyes reddened without warning.

She had grown up in an orphanage and taken more than her share of cold looks and indifference.

Whenever a heavy rain fell, other people’s parents waited at the school gate with umbrellas.

Only she always ran through the rain alone with her schoolbag over her head.

No one had ever come out in the rain just to pick her up.

Never.

Gu Mianmian sniffed, reached out with her cold hand, and placed it in Lin Ci’s warm palm.

Lin Ci pulled her to her feet.

Gu Mianmian swayed, steadying herself with the pull.

Lin Ci didn’t spare Zhao Peng a glance. She opened the big black umbrella and led Gu Mianmian out through the rolling shutter.

Outside, the rain still poured down.

Lin Ci tilted most of the umbrella toward Gu Mianmian. Her own left shoulder was quickly battered by the rain.

Water slid down her collarbone and into her collar. She shivered.

The two walked step by step toward school through water that covered their ankles.

Halfway there, in a small alley, Gu Mianmian’s pace suddenly slowed.

Her body swayed. Her steps turned unsteady, as if she were walking on cotton. Each one was slower than the last.

Lin Ci noticed something wrong behind her, stopped, and turned to look.

Gu Mianmian’s face was bloodless. Deep marks showed where she had bitten her lower lip.

“What’s wrong?”

Lin Ci reached for her wrist.

The moment she touched her, Gu Mianmian’s burning skin startled her.

Lin Ci raised the back of her right hand and pressed it to Gu Mianmian’s smooth forehead.

The heat was frightening.

“Do you have a fever?”

“No… no… I don’t…”

Gu Mianmian protested weakly, her eyelashes trembling hard.

Before she finished speaking, her legs gave out. She pitched forward, strength gone.

“f*ck!”

Lin Ci swore and shot out an arm. She caught Gu Mianmian’s slender waist.

Gu Mianmian fell softly against her. Her head rested limply on Lin Ci’s shoulder.

Her hot breath brushed Lin Ci’s collarbone. It burned with fever.

The rain only grew heavier. There was not even a taxi in sight.

Lin Ci wedged the umbrella handle between her neck and shoulder, turned quickly, and crouched.

“Stop wasting time. Get on. I’ll carry you.”

Gu Mianmian half-opened her hazy eyes and pressed her hands weakly against Lin Ci’s back. She shook her head.

“Senior… you… you can’t carry me…”

Lin Ci laughed in exasperation, reached back, hooked her arms under Gu Mianmian’s thighs, and hoisted her up.

“Don’t look down on me. You don’t even weigh seventy jin. I used to carry two buckets of purified water in one hand.”

Gu Mianmian was forced against Lin Ci’s slender back.

Two soaked bodies pressed close together.

Lin Ci still had a guy’s baseline strength, but this girl’s frame was naturally slim.

As she walked, Gu Mianmian’s thin, feverish chest pressed against her back. It rose and fell with each breath.

Lin Ci felt a warm, soft weight against her back, and her heartbeat stumbled two beats.

She gritted her teeth. Her left hand held the umbrella, her right arm supported Gu Mianmian’s thighs, and she broke into a run through the storm.

Rain pounded the umbrella with a dull roar.

Gu Mianmian lay on Lin Ci’s back. Her mind drifted.

The storm was cold. The wind was cold too.

But pressed against Lin Ci’s nape, a faint milky scent cut through the wet rain and worked its way into her nose.

Gu Mianmian reached out her soft arms and tightened them little by little. She clung greedily to Lin Ci’s slender neck.

She buried her burning cheek in Lin Ci’s damp hair, as if afraid the warmth would escape. Her arms tightened on their own.

“Senior.”

Her weak voice slipped from her throat. The rain almost swallowed it.

“What?”

Lin Ci gasped for air and quickened her pace.

“You’re really warm.”

Lin Ci’s whole body was numb from the rain, and she complained inwardly.

I’m about to freeze into a popsicle. You call this warm?

This unlucky junior must be burning up so badly she’s lost her mind.

“Shut up. Save your strength for the IV.”

Lin Ci rushed through the north gate of Jiangcheng University and sprinted toward the campus hospital.

Past the tree-lined avenue, the bright lights of the campus hospital emergency hall finally appeared.

Lin Ci kicked open the glass door of the emergency room and strode inside.

“Doctor! Help! Someone passed out from a high fever!”

Lin Ci’s voice echoed through the hall.

The on-duty emergency doctor pushed up his glasses and walked out. When he saw the scene before him, he froze.

A tall, stunningly cold beauty, soaked through, was carrying another girl steadily on her back.

And she wasn’t even breathing hard. Her steps were impossibly steady.

The doctor took off his glasses and wiped them. He stared at Lin Ci in disbelief.

This girl looked fragile and soft. How was her strength so terrifying?

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