IP Chapter 27
Incurable Pain | Chapter 27
The days of senior year in high school can basically be described in four words – the tactic of solving problems.
All the ambiguous restlessness, uneasiness, and even the tangled pain of adolescence can be submerged in the large quantity of complex exercises represented by these four words. Everyone, like numb donkeys, with their fingers and eyes kidnapped by test papers and exercise books, struggles desperately to grasp the tail of the college entrance examination and studies with all their might.
But even if they try hard, time still flies by quickly, like a wound-up clock.
In a daze, the day arrived at the Lantern Festival, the fifteenth day of the first lunar month.
The Lantern Festival marks the end of the Spring Festival, the last day of family joy, and is considered a festival of moderate size.
The school kindly canceled the evening self-study session. After finishing the last class at half past five, the students should have burst out of the school gates like untamed horses and rushed into the crowd to celebrate… but they were all stopped by a sudden heavy rain.
Bai Xunyin looked out of the window at the gray sky outside, with the drizzle mixed with snow blowing in with the cold wind, making people feel cold.
She couldn’t help but furrow her brows slightly with a headache.
Linlan was a city with frequent rain in the rainy season, but it rarely rained from November to March during the winter.
Every year at this season, people don’t usually carry umbrellas with them as they do during normal times. Instead, they rely on weather forecasts before going out. However, the weather forecast clearly stated that the Lantern Festival would be a sunny day.
It seems that the forecast was inaccurate, causing a lot of trouble for people.
Once the rain in Linlan starts, it continues endlessly, making it inevitable for those who didn’t bring an umbrella to catch a cold on the way home.
For a while, even the most rebellious students in the school didn’t have the courage to rush into this snowy rain-filled icy world. Except for a few lucky ones with umbrellas, most of the students were trapped inside.
The cancellation of the evening self-study session by the school now seemed to be useless.
“Ah, so annoying.”
Ah Mo also looked out the window, holding Bai Xunyin’s elbow and complaining softly, “Why is it raining again? My mom said that my grandmother is coming to our house today and asked me to go back early…”
“Ning Shumo.”
As she was chattering away, Sheng Wen passed by. His voice was clear and cold as he took over her words, seemingly casually swaying the long umbrella in his hand.
—He was also one of the ‘lucky ones’ who brought an umbrella.
Ah Mo was stunned, looking at him somewhat unexpectedly, momentarily slow to react to what he meant.
Instead, Bai Xunyin quietly pushed her arm, and Amo looked to the side. In her usually calm eyes, she read a hint of suggestion.
“Ah.”
Ah Mo came to her senses, the usually carefree girl showing a hint of ‘shyness’, hesitantly asking, “Are you offering to accompany me? To share an umbrella?”
…
This girl always had a knack for asking awkward questions.
A hint of embarrassment flashed across Sheng Wen’s face, only briefly responding, “On the way.”
Inside Ah Mo’s mind, a bunch of colorful fireworks instantly bloomed, her eyes curved with joy—then, prioritizing her relationship over friendship, she followed Sheng Wen.
Bai Xunyin couldn’t help but feel a bit amused and exasperated, sending Ah Mo a [Go for it] emoji on WeChat.
Seeing her excitement, she then put away her phone and refocused on the papers on her desk.
Since the rain wasn’t letting up anytime soon, she might as well take the opportunity to review yesterday’s test papers. She still wasn’t clear on the train of thought for the last physics question.
Yu Luoyin, two seats away, couldn’t help but find this scene a bit amusing.
Vacation and dismissal were always the most exciting words for students. However, the rain that interrupted their ‘celebration’ made them all restless. But for Bai Xunyin, these external sounds and surprises were hardly significant.
She was like a calm and precise instrument, always walking on the correct ‘righteous’ path, her heart unwavering amidst the chaos of the world around her.
It seemed that all the commotions and distractions had nothing to do with her small corner of the world.
Yu Luoyin narrowed his long, narrow black eyes slightly, feeling intrigued as he watched.
In the past, he rarely had such moments of carefully scrutinizing a girl. He always approached directly, without understanding the concept of ‘distance’ in observation.
Now… feeling shy in familiar surroundings, he could only observe from afar, which he found quite interesting.
Yu Luoyin thought with amusement, absentmindedly playing with an umbrella in the desk, his long fingers casually toying with it.
Next to him, Zhou Xinsui noticed this small movement and inexplicably asked, “What are you waiting for with an umbrella here? Aren’t you going home?”
“Don’t bother.”
Yu Luoyin tossed the umbrella to him. “You go first.”
While Zhou Xinsui was waiting for this response, he already took the umbrella without hesitation and left.
When he was gone, Li Yuan and Lu Ye, who came over for help, arrived late, constantly complaining about the horrible weather.
Yu Luoyin let them chatter on, paying no attention, his black eyes constantly watching Bai Xunyin’s straight back, profile…
His gaze was hot, as if it had substance.
“When will this damn rain stop? Canceling evening self-study is as useless as not canceling it, it sucks… Yu Ge, what are you looking at?”
Lu Ye complained halfway through, only to realize that the person he was venting to wasn’t even looking at him but had been staring at something not far away all along.
He couldn’t help but follow his gaze and saw Bai Xunyin’s figure slightly bowing over her desk, doing her homework.
For a moment, Lu Ye couldn’t help feeling a little strange—what were these two doing?
Why were they not talking in the same classroom, but instead staring at each other like that?
He scratched his head, then went over in his straightforward manner to strike up a conversation. “Bai Xunyin, you…”
But before he could finish, Bai Xunyin closed her book sharply, the crisp sound interrupting Lu Ye’s words.
Then he watched as the girl swiftly tidied up her things on the desk, took her bag, and left the noisy classroom. From start to finish, her expression remained cold, not giving him a single glance.
At this moment, Lu Ye’s felt a mix of astonishment and bewilderment, dumbfoundedly watching Bai Xunyin’s slender figure leave the classroom.
And Yu Luoyin , who had been lingering, suddenly stood up and hurried after them.
“This…”
Lu Ye awkwardly turned his head, puzzled, and asked Li Yuan behind him, “Did I offend Bai Xunyin?”
“Who knows?”
Li Yuan chuckled, but after glancing at the rain still pouring outside the window, thinking about those two who rushed out without an umbrella… he pondered for a moment.
“Let’s go, let’s go out and see.”
The two of them ran out, quickly descended the stairs, and arrived outside the teaching building.
Through the glass door, they could see from afar Bai Xunyin and Yu Luoyin running out one after the other.
In the freezing rain, the two seemed to be acting out a scene from a drama—
Yu Luoyin, a real man indeed, for the sake of looking cool, disregarded the freezing rain and wind, took off his school uniform and covered the girl’s head with it, leaving himself in just a white shirt, which was instantly soaked and clung tightly to his well-defined body.
Lu Ye and Li Yuan were speechless as they watched.
Even more shocking was that Bai Xunyin didn’t seem to appreciate this gesture. With a tug, she threw the uniform back at Yù Luòyīn and, with her black hair drenched and her fair face cold and stubborn, she pursed her lips and ran off.
The two soon disappeared from their sight, making the previous scene seem surreal.
“This…”
Lu Ye hesitated, thinking about Bai Xunyin’s attitude, and asked, “Did they have a fight?”
Li Yuan remained silent, his expression grave as he shook his head after a while.
He belatedly remembered that Yu Luoyin usually kept an umbrella in his desk, but today, he deliberately used his clothes as an umbrella, clearly intending to employ a tactic to either soften the girl’s heart or win her favor.
But given Yu Luoyin and Bai Xunyin’s current relationship, he shouldn’t need to resort to such tricks anymore, should he?
Could it be… their relationship has broken down?
Yu Luoyin’s clinginess annoyed Bai Xunyin to no end.
On the school playground, she rejected his makeshift “umbrella” made from his school uniform, rudely tossing it back at him before running off. She had expected the proud young man to feel embarrassed and angry, but she hadn’t expected Yu Luoyin to shamelessly follow her.
Whether intentional or not, he didn’t put his uniform back on after taking it off just now. Instead, he flaunted a soaked white shirt in front of her, looking cold. Yu Luoyin’s black hair was also drenched, just like hers.
Bai Xunyin felt like she was in an ice cellar all over, so she coldly turned her head away, out of sight, out of mind.
“Fool, aren’t you cold?”
Yu Luoyin seemed determined to be clingy, persistently following her and insisting on wrapping his uniform around her.
“Put this on first.”
Bai Xunyin impatiently tore it off and threw it on the ground— the blue and white uniform instantly stained with dirt.
“I only have two uniforms, and now I’m left with just one. Did you have to throw it?”
Yu Luoyin chuckled bitterly, finding humor in the rain. “Bai Xunyin, can’t you have a little sympathy?”
He deliberately played the victim, his pale face turning black with cold, his black eyes pleading with her.
The words “ridiculous” flashed through Bai Xunyin’s mind.
The culprit accuses her of lacking sympathy?
A sardonic smile tugged at the corner of her lips as she sidestepped him, swiftly making her way to the bus stop.
On a rainy day like this, cycling was out of the question, so she had to take the bus.
The bus stop was crowded with people seeking shelter from the rain, resembling a bustling pigeon coop, but few actually got on the bus.
Just as Bai Xunyin came, the bus she was about to take, the No. 108, arrived. With agility, she jumped on board, moving so quickly that if Yu Luoyin hadn’t been staring at her without blinking, he would have almost missed it.
His eyes stung from the rain as he followed suit without a word.
However, getting into the empty bus posed a problem—
Young master Yu’s bus-riding experiences were rarer than sightings of wild animals. With no change on him, he stood awkwardly in place, not knowing what to do.
Yu Luoyin’s eyes involuntarily followed Bai Xunyin’s slender figure. The girl stood indifferently by the seat, not even sparing a glance in his direction.
In an instant, his chest was filled with an indescribable cacophony of emotions. For the first time, he felt the embarrassment of being in a pitiful situation in front of everyone’s eyes.
Two dollars proved to be the hero’s downfall… he just didn’t have the two dollars needed to ride the bus.
Yu Luoyin couldn’t help but laugh at himself.
But perhaps his face was useful after all, for a plump middle-aged lady nearby, seeing Yu Luoyin’s handsome appearance and pitiful state, acted on her maternal instincts.
“Oh my, how did this young man get so drenched? Ran out of money to take the bus?”
The plump lady didn’t want Yu Luoyin to suffer when he got off the bus, so she took out two coins and generously threw them into the fare box.
“Auntie will pay for you.”
Yu Luoyin’s shattered gaze slowly regained focus. He smiled gently, overflowing with gratitude. “Thank you, Auntie.”
He insisted on scanning five yuan to the auntie using WeChat on his phone before stepping into the bus, where shallow puddles covered the floor near the windows.
He stood by Bai Xunyin’s side like a shadow.
His slender fingers grasped the handrail on the bus, covered in moisture, and immediately felt icy cold.
Yu Luoyin’s gaze involuntarily fell on the handrail next to him, noticing Bai Xunyin’s slender fingers, pale and faintly reddened at the fingertips, gripping tightly.
Bai Xunyin’s home wasn’t far from the school, probably only… two or three stops away?
Perhaps they could only peacefully coexist for this short journey of two or three stops, in silence.
Bai Xunyin’s gaze lowered slightly, unfocused, as she watched the swiftly passing scenes outside the window— the glass was covered in fog, making it hard to see.
But with Yu Luoyin beside her, it seemed like there was an air of torment permeating the atmosphere. Finally reaching her stop, Bai Xunyin got off the bus along with the crowd.
But she didn’t expect Yu Luoyin to follow her.
Today, he seemed to be clingy to a certain extent, making the air feel stifling.
Bai Xunyin was pulled by the wrist from behind, impatiently turning her head back, only to meet Yu Luoyin’s eyes, which seemed to contain an indescribable mix of fire and ice.
As if there was something burning inside him that was too intense to express, but his clean-cut facial features remained cold and pale.
“Bai Xunyin,” Yu Luoyin spoke, his voice clear but hoarse from the rain soaking him.
“Give me a moment to speak.”
Bai Xunyin pursed her lips and remained silent, only freeing her hand from his grip.
Fortunately, Yu Luoyin didn’t use too much force to hold her, otherwise, the strength of a boy would overpower a girl’s attempts to break free.
The rain in Linlan, which had lasted for two hours, showed no signs of stopping.
“I don’t want you to catch a cold, so I’ll keep it short,” Yu Luoyin paused, his black eyes fixed on her.
After a brief silence, he seemed to make up his mind and said, “I apologize, I’m sorry.”
Sleepyblue’s Corner:
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