STT – Chapter 32

She Can Only Be My Timely Rain¹.

By the time Lu Zizheng got home, it was already dark outside. To her surprise, her mother was standing in the hallway by the open door, looking anxious.

The moment Lu Zizheng stepped out of the elevator, Mother Lu hurried over and grabbed her arm.

            

Lu Zizheng knew she was in the wrong. Before Mother Lu could say anything, she linked arms with her and pulled her along as they walked back inside, explaining in a dutiful tone, “Mom, I just went to see Dad, so I came back a little late. I’m sorry I made you worry.”

The moment they entered, she crouched down, took Mother Lu’s slippers from the shoe rack, and placed them on the floor in front of her, toes pointing out.

Mother Lu closed the door and looked at the crouching Lu Zizheng with a helpless sigh. Call Lu Zizheng thoughtless and she’d worry you to death — yet sometimes she was so considerate you couldn’t bring yourself to scold her. Mother Lu shot her a sideways glance. “Why is your phone off? I couldn’t get through at all. And it wasn’t just me worrying.”

            

Lu Zizheng explained while changing her shoes. “I accidentally dropped it earlier. The screen cracked — it’s probably broken.” She stood up, thought for a moment, and asked, “Why? Did someone call me?”

Mother Lu found it amusing. “Other than Huaixi, who else would be worrying themselves sick over you like this?”

Lu Zizheng froze. A flicker of discomfort crossed her face. She still remembered clearly their unpleasant parting on the phone days ago. She had thought Jiang Huaixi was angry — yet somehow, she had accommodated her once again. The thought sent a bittersweet warmth through her chest. She asked softly, “Did Huaixi say anything?”

            

Mother Lu walked further inside as she replied, “She asked when we planned to go back to Linzhou and whether we’d bought tickets.”

Lu Zizheng’s heart tightened with an inexplicable nervousness. “What did you tell her?”

Mother Lu went to the kitchen to heat up the food and answered with composure, “I told Huaixi the truth — that we bought tickets too late and couldn’t get high-speed train tickets back, so we were planning to take the bus on the sixth.” She glanced back at Lu Zizheng with pointed meaning. “Zhengzheng, Huaixi said she hadn’t heard from you about coming back to Juzhou either, so she figured you decided on the spur of the moment. She guessed you’d have trouble getting tickets if you booked so late. It seems she didn’t take what happened that day to heart.”

            

Lu Zizheng lowered her gaze and said nothing. She felt as though a seed buried in the soil of her heart was about to break through the surface.

Mother Lu placed a dish in the microwave. “Huaixi said she needs to come to Juzhou on the fifth to run some errands, and she’ll be heading back to Linzhou on the sixth too. She offered to give us a ride so we wouldn’t have to cram onto the bus.” She served Lu Zizheng a bowl of rice and teased, “Isn’t that quite a coincidence? Like timely rain.”

Lu Zizheng took the bowl, and a smile tugged at her lips. “Quite a coincidence…” The seed in her heart, watered by this timely rain, finally poked its tender little head through the soil.

            

Mother Lu saw her smiling with crescent eyes — a rare good mood — and felt her own spirits lift. She couldn’t resist adding a reminder: “Spring rain is as precious as oil² — don’t let it go to waste. If you don’t cherish it, next time the rain might fall on someone else’s field.”

Lu Zizheng relaxed her brows and, for the first time, smiled with such lightness. Her voice carried a gentle, lilting quality as she replied to Mother Lu, “It won’t. She can only be my timely rain — and she will only ever be my timely rain.”

Mother Lu was startled by Lu Zizheng’s sudden, confident certainty. She looked at her in puzzlement, only to see Lu Zizheng smiling and blinking at her, eyes bright with conviction.

            

She’d figured it out?

Mother Lu couldn’t help but narrow her eyes into a wide, delighted smile. She happily piled two extra chopsticks’ worth of spinach into Lu Zizheng’s bowl. “Spinach builds your nerve. Looks like I didn’t feed you all that spinach for nothing. Have some more…”

Lu Zizheng looked at her mother in amusement. What on earth was she talking about…

            

After dinner, Lu Zizheng returned to her room and took out the cracked phone. She pressed the power button without much hope. To her surprise, two or three seconds later, the screen lit up. Lu Zizheng was overjoyed. For a moment, she had the fanciful notion that ever since she’d made up her mind, ever since she’d found her resolution, everything had become smoother, more full of life. Her heart felt a lightness and ease she hadn’t known in years.

She turned on the phone and, sure enough, saw three missed calls from Jiang Huaixi in the call log.

Looking at Jiang Huaixi’s name there in red lettering, she couldn’t help but smile. She pulled out a chair, sat down at her desk, and composed a new text message to Jiang Huaixi: “I accidentally dropped my phone earlier, so I missed your calls.”

            

Jiang Huaixi replied quickly, with a single word: “Mm.”

Looking at the text, Lu Zizheng pressed her lips together, amused. Mother Lu had guessed completely wrong — this was hardly the demeanor of someone who hadn’t taken that day’s events to heart. She was clearly still sulking.

She rubbed her thumb and index finger together for a long while, then decided, for the first time, to yield in one of their disagreements. She texted: “Mom told me you’re coming to Juzhou on the fifth. Juzhou’s been much colder than Linzhou these past few days, so wear an extra layer when you come. Don’t catch a cold.”

            

Immediately, Jiang Huaixi texted back, another single syllable: “Heh.”

Lu Zizheng burst out laughing. Oh, so she was still angry and playing it cool.

But a moment later, Jiang Huaixi’s next message arrived: “Unprovoked flattery — you’re either scamming me or robbing me. You’re being so sweet all of a sudden, I’m not used to it.”

            

Lu Zizheng let out a soft, laughing breath. So the anger had faded — she was back to her usual venomous tongue.

Her index and middle fingers, starting from the bottom of the phone screen, alternated like feet taking steps, inching their way up to Jiang Huaixi’s name in the message’s recipient field. There, they stopped, and stayed for a long, long time.

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After Jiang Huaixi had made her declaration at the campus radio station’s general meeting, the two of them, rarely crossing paths, had actually coexisted peacefully for a while.

            

During the May Day holiday at the end of her freshman year’s second semester, Lu Zizheng was busy preparing for her upcoming English Level 6 exam and told her mother she wouldn’t be coming back to Juzhou. The night before the holiday, the Station Director organized a gathering for the radio station members who weren’t going home. Xu Bohan wasn’t going home either, and she dragged Lu Zizheng along. By the time they arrived, a circle of people had already gathered around the table. Xu Bohan brought her own chair and squeezed into the empty spot next to the Station Director, leaving Lu Zizheng standing awkwardly beside her — clearly not expecting to be abandoned so easily. Looking around, the only empty seat left at the entire table was the one against the wall. Lu Zizheng looked up and met Jiang Huaixi’s indifferent gaze head-on, with no way to dodge.

The Station Director waved broadly. “Zizheng, there’s a spot next to Huaixi. Sit there.”

Lu Zizheng’s head drooped. Unwilling as she was, she had no choice but to shuffle, step by heavy step, toward Jiang Huaixi.

            

She’d barely sat down when Jiang Huaixi remarked with cool mockery, “What an inconvenience to have you sit next to me. Sorry you had to look at me again.”

Lu Zizheng shot her a cold sideways glare, lifted her chair, and scooted it away from Jiang Huaixi. But the moment she sat down again, the person next to her yelped, “Ah, Zizheng, your chair is on my foot! You’re too far over, I’m so cramped here…”

Lu Zizheng scrambled up in embarrassment and moved the chair back toward Jiang Huaixi. Her face burned. She didn’t dare look up, but from the corner of her eye, she caught Jiang Huaixi watching her clumsy maneuvering with a half-smile.

            

They’d barely been eating for a few minutes when Lu Zizheng’s phone rang. She gestured to the group that she was stepping out to take a call, then rose and left the private room for the corridor. The moment she answered, she heard her Uncle’s frantic voice: “Zizheng, come back quickly. Your mother — she just coughed up blood. She’s in the emergency room at the People’s Hospital right now…”

Her legs went weak in an instant. She could barely hold the phone. Her teeth chattered so badly she could barely form words. After a moment of trembling, she managed to force out, “Right away, Uncle. I’m coming right away…”

She turned hastily to go back to the private room for her bag, took one long stride — and went crashing to the ground. Ignoring the pain, she pushed herself up and stumbled back to the room. The moment she entered, she grabbed her bag. Without a glance at anyone, she managed only a shaking “Something came up, I have to go” before rushing out.

            

She limped as fast as she could down the stairs, willing herself to fly. But the more she hurried, the more things went wrong. She lost her footing and twisted her ankle, nearly pitching forward headfirst. At the critical moment, a slender hand reached out from behind and caught her firmly. She didn’t have time to look back — just gasped “Thank you” and tried to keep running. But that hand held on, gripping her with relentless strength, refusing to let go.

Lu Zizheng turned back anxiously and saw Jiang Huaixi’s beautiful, cool face. Her voice was flat, her brow furrowed. “What happened?”

Lu Zizheng had neither the time nor the energy to deal with her. She wrenched free and tried to run, but Jiang Huaixi stubbornly seized her arm again, frowning with displeasure, and asked once more, “What happened?”

            

Lu Zizheng spun around and snapped, “Let go! I don’t have time for this. My mother’s in the emergency room. I need to get to the station.”

Jiang Huaixi’s expression turned hard, her lips pressed tight, but she didn’t let go. In two long strides, she dropped to the step below Lu Zizheng, reached both arms around her, and hoisted her onto her back. Lu Zizheng struggled, of course, refusing to comply. “Let go! What are you doing—”

Jiang Huaixi’s arms locked tight around her waist as she snapped, “Don’t move — unless you want us both to tumble down these stairs together.”

            

Lu Zizheng snapped, “Jiang Huaixi, what are you doing?!”

Jiang Huaixi had her on her back now, slightly out of breath, but her voice was as cool and collected as ever. “Am I the one being unreasonable? Can you even run? Tomorrow is the start of the May Day holiday week. You think you can just walk up to the station tonight and buy a ticket? Do you think you own the station?”

The rebuke snapped Lu Zizheng back to her senses — she realized there probably weren’t any tickets left. She struggled again. “Put me down. I’ll hire a car.”

            

As they neared the parking lot, Jiang Huaixi panted, “Stop moving around…”

When they finally reached the parking lot, the moment Jiang Huaixi set Lu Zizheng down, Lu Zizheng bolted. Jiang Huaixi grabbed her, one hand pressed to her chest, face pale, voice unsteady: “I’m driving you back to Juzhou.”

Lu Zizheng froze, motionless.

            

Jiang Huaixi opened the car door, got in, and ordered, “Get in. Where are you going to find a car at the last minute…”

Lu Zizheng hesitated. Jiang Huaixi said coldly, “I’m not helping you. I’m helping Auntie. Or are you not going to Juzhou to see Auntie? Fine, I’ll go.” With that, she shut the door. Lu Zizheng startled, pulled open the rear door, and got in.

Not far into the drive, Jiang Huaixi tossed a few bandage strips back from the front seat. When Lu Zizheng reached to pick them up, she realized her hand was scraped and bleeding — she had no idea when it had happened. But before she could feel moved by Jiang Huaixi’s attentiveness, her mind drifted back to her mother.

            

That night, Jiang Huaixi drove for five hours, arriving at the hospital past one in the morning. Mother Lu was already stable and asleep. The doctor said it was gastric bleeding and she’d need to stay in the hospital for a week. Only Lu Zizheng’s Uncle was keeping watch at the bedside. Seeing that Mother Lu was all right, Lu Zizheng felt a wave of relief, then rushed home nonstop to gather clothes and daily necessities for the hospital stay. Jiang Huaixi, without a word, drove her there and back, then offered to drive the Uncle home as well. When she returned, she had somehow gone off to buy midnight snacks for Lu Zizheng, and after that, silently stayed the entire night in the hospital corridor. The next morning, Jiang Huaixi bought breakfast and brought it to the hospital. After Mother Lu woke up, she went in to see her, then took her leave and headed back to Linzhou. Before leaving, she stopped by a supermarket, bought fruit, and handed it to Lu Zizheng’s Uncle to bring up to the ward.

Lu Zizheng watched it all in silence, and committed every detail to memory.

After returning to school, Lu Zizheng went sincerely to Jiang Huaixi’s dorm with a gift to express her gratitude. Jiang Huaixi didn’t accept the gift. She just raised an eyebrow and asked casually, “Remember what I said before? That one day, you’d willingly go to the Station Director yourself and ask to be paired with me.”

            

Lu Zizheng paused, slightly taken aback. This time, however, she didn’t fly into a rage or fire back a retort. She just gave a light laugh, turned, and walked out. That afternoon, she went to the Station Director’s dorm and submitted a request to be partnered with Jiang Huaixi.

She knew that the distance between her and Jiang Huaixi had always been so very long, and the walls she’d built around her heart so very thick. If the distance between them was ten thousand steps, then Jiang Huaixi had already walked nine thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine of them, tirelessly, to close the gap between them. It was her turn to take that last step.

She stood up and went to the window. Outside, the greenery in the residential complex was a field of withered brown. But if she looked carefully, she could still see — amid all that brown — a few tender, dewy strands of grass-green, swaying their little heads with vibrant life, greeting the new world…

            

Winter was leaving. She could already hear the footsteps of spring, drawing quietly near…

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