On Saturday, Jiangcheng was suddenly hit by a cool, heavy downpour.
The streets became slick with rain.
None of the households could bear to shut their windows completely, and the curtains billowed like waves across the sea.
Mother Wen sat in the living room watching her husband practise calligraphy. She glanced outside.
“The rain is really heavy. It might not stop at all today. It looks like Xiao Ci and Yiqing won’t be able to go out after all. That’s probably for the best…”
Before she could finish, a burst of footsteps interrupted her.
Wen Ci hurried downstairs with a white canvas bag over one shoulder and an umbrella in her hand.
“Dad, Mum,” she greeted them. “I’m going out.”
Mother Wen froze and called after her.
“You’re still going out in rain this heavy? Why don’t you tell Yiqing and go another day?”
“We can’t change it. We already bought the cinema tickets, and they can’t be refunded.”
“Isn’t the film at four in the afternoon? It isn’t even two yet.”
Two days earlier, Mother Wen had carefully questioned her about that day’s schedule again.
It had always been a rule in their household. Ever since she was young, Wen Ci had been required to report every detail whenever she went anywhere.
Wen Ci and Zhou Wu had never agreed on a specific time.
In the past, they had tacitly met at around six or seven in the evening.
This time, Wen Ci had also intended to leave closer to evening.
Yet perhaps because Zhou Wu had told her to arrive early, the hours that morning seemed to stretch endlessly.
She remembered Zhou Wu once mentioning that he maintained a long-term booking for the suite.
So arriving early… probably would not be a problem.
Wen Ci regretted telling her mother the film was so late.
Without changing her expression, she said, “We’re going shopping before heading to the cinema.”
Mother Wen frowned.
“…All right. It’s raining outside, so be careful when you walk. Don’t get soaked.”
Wen Ci first went to the dry cleaner to collect Zhou Wu’s jacket.
When she arrived, the rain was still manageable. It was heavy, but possible to walk beneath an umbrella.
Unexpectedly, while the owner went to retrieve the jacket, several rumbles of thunder sounded and the rain began pouring down as though buckets were being emptied from the sky, striking the pavement like bricks.
Wen Ci opened her umbrella and headed towards the pickup point for her taxi.
She had taken only two steps when a violent gust of wind rose.
With a loud snap, the fragile umbrella folded backwards and died on the spot.
Rain lashed across her face.
Wen Ci could only run into the nearby shopping centre for shelter.
She picked up her phone, intending to explain the situation to the ride-hailing driver.
Unexpectedly, the driver moved faster than she did and had already cancelled the booking.
Wen Ci sighed and entered the shopping centre.
She bought another umbrella for twice the price it would have cost outside.
When she checked the ride-hailing app again, it warned that cars were extremely busy because of the rain.
There were four hundred people ahead of her in the queue, with an estimated wait of thirty minutes.
Perhaps because she had been caught in the rain, Wen Ci shivered beneath the shopping centre’s air conditioning.
She was still deciding whether to pay extra for a more expensive car or remain inside and wait in the queue when she suddenly felt something faintly unusual.
Wen Ci froze, then hurriedly turned and entered the bathroom.
…
Zhou Wu sat lazily on the sofa, watching the rain strike the floor-to-ceiling windows as he spoke on the phone.
“Understood. I’ll have them reserve those dishes tonight,” his secretary, Qiaoqiao, said. “How many guests will you have this evening? I’ll ask the restaurant to reserve a table.”
“There’s no need,” Zhou Wu replied. “Have the food packed and delivered to the hotel.”
“All right.”
After ending the call, Zhou Wu checked the time.
It was not even three yet.
He clicked his tongue impatiently.
He had felt somewhat restless throughout the week.
After considering it, Zhou Wu blamed the problem on Wen Ci.
At the party, she had kissed him and immediately fallen asleep.
She had kissed him like that, then talked nonsense and seduced him for a while afterwards.
No matter how he looked at it, she had stirred everything up and then left him to deal with the consequences alone.
Zhou Wu closed the project proposal, lit a cigarette and lowered his head to send a message.
**Zhou Wu: What time is convenient? It’s raining. I’ll collect you.**
The status intermittently showed that the other person was typing.
Five minutes later—
**Wen Ci: Sorry, today won’t work. Could we meet next week?**
**Wen Ci: [crying] I’m sorry. Something genuinely came up at the last minute.**
Zhou Wu bit lightly on the cigarette and called her directly.
At that moment, Wen Ci sat inside a secluded café in the shopping centre, feeling like the unluckiest and most pitiful person in the world.
When Zhou Wu’s call appeared, she answered immediately.
“What happened, Ms Wen?” Zhou Wu asked calmly.
The café was crowded.
Wen Ci covered the microphone and explained quietly, “My period started.”
Zhou Wu raised an eyebrow.
When he did not respond, Wen Ci assumed he was displeased.
After all, she had now cancelled on him twice in a row.
She explained softly, “I’m sorry. I… don’t know why it suddenly came early this month.”
Zhou Wu laughed.
“Why are you apologising for that?”
At the neighbouring table, several young women were touching up their makeup while complaining about the weather and a disappointing milk-tea shop they had recently visited.
Zhou Wu heard them.
“You’re outside?”
“Mm.”
Wen Ci had not intended to say anything.
Yet perhaps because the day had been so unlucky, the moment Zhou Wu asked, she could not resist recounting everything that had happened.
“…Fortunately, the bathroom had the shopping centre’s assistance hotline posted inside.”
Faint movements sounded on Zhou Wu’s side.
“Where are you going next? Home?”
“I can’t go home yet.”
Because she had lied to Zhou Wu once before and been exposed immediately, Wen Ci was now especially honest with him.
“I told my family I had plans with Yiqing today and wouldn’t return until the evening.”
She had also sent Dou Yiqing a message, but Dou Yiqing had not replied.
Perhaps she was still asleep after her afternoon nap.
Zhou Wu pressed the lift button.
“Which shopping centre?”
“Mm?”
Wen Ci froze.
“I’m coming to collect you.”
Zhou Wu laughed.
“You’ve already lied to your parents this much. It would be a waste not to see me.”
…
Wen Ci had already prepared herself to remain in the shopping centre until evening.
When Zhou Wu appeared before her, she still struggled to react.
It was the weekend, and the rain had filled the café with customers.
When Zhou Wu entered, many people could not resist looking at him several times.
Upon seeing her, Zhou Wu raised a hand and touched her hair.
“What happened to you?” he asked with amusement.
“I was caught in the rain.”
Wen Ci pressed her lips together.
Before leaving home, she had even gone to the trouble of straightening her hair.
Now she looked nothing but bedraggled.
Zhou Wu glanced at the white canvas bag beside her.
“Is that yours?”
Wen Ci nodded.
“Your jacket. I had it cleaned.”
Zhou Wu pulled the jacket out and noticed that the bag also contained a packet of sanitary pads she had bought at the last minute and a notebook.
Wen Ci explained, “That’s my lesson-planning notebook.”
“Were you planning to teach me?” Zhou Wu raised an eyebrow.
“No.”
Wen Ci looked embarrassed.
“I thought that if you weren’t at the hotel during the afternoon, I could get some work done.”
“How diligent, Ms Wen.”
Zhou Wu laughed and tossed the freshly cleaned jacket back to her.
“Wear it. The air conditioning is cold.”
The first thing Zhou Wu did upon returning to the hotel was raise the temperature of the air conditioning.
Wen Ci entered the room carrying her white canvas bag.
The moment she stepped inside, she saw the c*ndoms on the living-room table.
They formed one long strip and had probably been taken out in advance by Zhou Wu.
A faint tingling spread through Wen Ci’s heart.
She rationally forced down every trace of disappointment that surfaced in her mind.
“Do you want to shower first?” Zhou Wu asked, turning towards her.
The words were familiar.
He had used them as an opening on several of their previous meetings.
Zhou Wu rather liked having s*x in the bathroom.
Whenever he asked her that question, it had always been both a suggestion and a request for her consent.
Wen Ci froze and looked back at him.
Her fingers tightened around the handles of her bag.
After a long internal struggle, she said, “…All right.”
Zhou Wu raised an eyebrow, only just beginning to feel that her reaction was strange when she hurriedly added, “Then… then bring the c*ndoms inside. And… be gentle.”
“…”
Zhou Wu turned his face away and burst out laughing.
Under Wen Ci’s confused gaze, he explained through his laughter, “That isn’t what I meant. You were caught in the rain, so I thought a shower would make you feel better.”
“I’m not that much of an animal, and I don’t have that particular preference.”
Zhou Wu lowered his eyes towards her, his expression open and honest.
“Although I do want to sleep with you, I can restrain myself. Relax, Ms Wen.”
“………………”
Wen Ci’s face turned bright red.
She stood there in complete despair, wanting to die again.
Zhou Wu entered the dressing room and found her a long-sleeved T-shirt.
When he returned, Wen Ci was still standing in the same place, apparently not having rebuilt her inner world yet.
Suppressing his laughter, Zhou Wu exchanged the shirt for the canvas bag in her hands.
“I couldn’t find trousers that would fit you. This should cover enough. Make do with it for now. If you’re cold, I’ll have someone buy something and bring it up.”
“No need. I’m not cold. This is enough. Thank you.”
Without looking back, Wen Ci fled into the bathroom.
…
The sound of water inside the bathroom blended with the rain outside.
Wen Ci spent half an hour in the shower.
Zhou Wu sat at the desk and continued reading the proposal he had not finished earlier.
The image of Wen Ci’s devastated expression flashed through his mind, and he found it amusing again.
It was strange.
Although they had done nothing, the uncomfortable restlessness that had lingered inside him throughout the week had suddenly disappeared.
Perhaps Ms Wen was naturally cooling to look at.
Zhou Wu reached this conclusion inwardly.
The bathroom door finally opened.
Zhou Wu turned at the sound.
Wen Ci emerged wearing his T-shirt.
The shirt was long enough to cover half her thighs, but that also created a problem.
The collar was too wide, and the entire garment barely remained supported by her narrow shoulders, exposing a large expanse of fair skin.
Wen Ci had washed her hair.
It was not completely dry, and several strands clung to her long, slender neck.
The air was filled with the scent of shower gel from her body.
It was the same as his, yet somehow also different.
The heat returned.
“Thank you. I feel much better.”
Wen Ci avoided his gaze and asked politely, “May I stay here until evening? I’ll sit in the living room and work on my lesson plans. I won’t disturb you. I’ll leave after dinnertime.”
“The table in the living room is low. It won’t be comfortable.”
Zhou Wu gestured with his chin towards the space beside him.
“If you don’t mind, sit here with me.”
Wen Ci intended to refuse.
Although the desk was large, it would still feel somewhat crowded with two people sharing it.
She was not particular about her surroundings. She could work at the low table.
Before she could speak, however, Zhou Wu had already stood and moved a chair from the living room to the space beside him.
She could only say, “All right. Thank you.”
Worried she might disturb Zhou Wu, Wen Ci kept leaning as far away from him as possible.
They sat silently for a while.
Then Zhou Wu suddenly put down the proposal.
Wen Ci immediately said, “Perhaps I should go to the living room after all—”
“I’m starting to regret it.”
“What?”
Wen Ci stared at him blankly.
“I think I might be a little bit of an animal after all.”
Zhou Wu looked towards her and negotiated with a smile.
“Ms Wen, we won’t have s*x. But may I kiss you?”
Zhou Wu’s eyes were very dark.
When he looked directly at someone, it was easy to become drawn into them.
Wen Ci was thoroughly bewitched.
By the time she returned to her senses, she had already leaned forwards and kissed Zhou Wu once.
Zhou Wu was clearly startled by the kiss.
Then his smile deepened.
“That’s all? It isn’t enough.”
Wen Ci’s heartbeat accelerated with the rain.
“Then what should I do?”
“Sit on my lap,” Zhou Wu said.
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