The torrential rain lasted for a long time. Even as darkness fell, the downpour showed no sign of stopping, and the flowerbeds in the courtyard began to flood. Liang He and Qiu Yun took umbrellas, intending to head to the main street to catch a bus back to school. However, the moment they opened the courtyard gate, they found the water in the alley already reached their knees. They waded through the water, bracing themselves against the walls. Despite each having an umbrella, their clothes were mostly soaked before they even reached the bus station. To make matters worse, the bus service had been suspended due to the flooded roads. A neighborhood official, braving the heavy rain, held a megaphone made of rolled-up newspaper and shouted at them, "Go back, go back! The typhoon is coming! Don't come out today, there are no more buses!"
So, a typhoon was coming.
Liang He looked up at the sky; the typhoon had arrived early this year. Qiu Yun followed his gaze. The rain fell in relentless waves, and the wind spared no effort in lashing the water against them. The two looked at each other, helpless. They had no choice but to roll up their trouser legs again and wade back. By the time they returned to the courtyard house, both were completely drenched.
Qiu Yun had to find another set of Qiu Zheng-hong’s clothes for Liang He. She also changed her own outfit from the inside out. Just as she finished and pushed her door open, she let out a resounding sneeze.
"Are you alright?" Liang He emerged from Qiu Zheng-hong’s room, also changed, cradling his wet clothes in his arms. "Did you catch a cold?"
"I'm fine," Qiu Yun waved her arm dismissively and flexed her biceps with a "manly" flourish. "Just a sneeze from the wind. I have a strong constitution."
Liang He had never seen a girl strike such a pose; it was neither refined nor ladylike. Under normal circumstances, he would have frowned immediately, his expression full of disapproval. But at this moment, he didn't find the gesture unseemly at all. Aside from a slight sense of surprise, he actually found it somewhat cute.
He smiled and asked, "Where should I hang these clothes to dry?"
"Give them to me," Qiu Yun walked over, took the clothes, and placed them by the sink under the eaves. She felt around under the sink for a basin and held it out to catch half a basin of rainwater from the sky.
"I'll do it myself," Liang He said hurriedly. "I can do it."
"It's fine, it'll only take thirty seconds," Qiu Yun tossed the clothes into the basin, gave them a few brisk scrubs, and wrung them out. "You only wore them for a short while; I'll just give them a quick shake."
Liang He watched the black short-sleeved shirt—the one he had just taken off—now held in Qiu Yun’s hands. She shook it out naturally and hung it on the line stretched beneath the eaves.
It was a mundane scene, yet he couldn't help but stare, entranced.
*Gurgle—*
At that moment, someone’s stomach let out a loud growl.
Qiu Yun felt a bit embarrassed. she rubbed her stomach and wiped the water off her hands. "It's dinner time. Teacher Liang, are you hungry?"
Liang He had been drinking earlier, and though the effects of the alcohol had long since dissipated, he didn't feel particularly hungry. He glanced at the sky outside and asked, "What do you have to eat at home?"
"That... I don't know." Qiu Yun had never actually eaten a meal in this courtyard house. Usually, she came back for a Sunday afternoon and returned to school in the evening. "But there should be rice or noodles in the house. As for vegetables..." Qiu Yun gestured toward the greens in the courtyard, washed a vibrant emerald by the rain. "Green, organic, fresh, and pollution-free..."
As Liang He listened to her, he took it upon himself to open the cupboard to check. Hearing Qiu Yun’s last remark, he poked his head out from behind the cupboard door and smiled slightly. "There's one bundle of noodles left."
Liang He boiled half a jin of noodles—three-tenths for himself and two-tenths for Qiu Yun. Qiu Yun plucked a few fresh leaves from the courtyard, and the clear noodle soup was instantly graced with a touch of warmth. This was the first time not only for Qiu Yun, but for Liang He as well, to eat noodles cooked with rainwater. Indeed, a living person wouldn't let themselves die of thirst just because the tap water was cut off. The ancients took the sky as their roof and the earth as their mat; today, Qiu Yun took the rain as her water, brewing tea and boiling noodles with it, eating with great relish. Liang He was hesitant at first—after all, the water hadn't been filtered or disinfected—but Qiu Yun didn't care at all. She patted his shoulder like a comrade and said, "The waters of the Yellow River come from the heavens. A little dirt won't hurt."
With that, she clinked her noodle bowl against his. "I'll eat first as a gesture of respect."
Liang He couldn't help but laugh. He took a large mouthful; the taste was unexpectedly delicious.
By the time they finished the noodles, the sky had turned pitch black.
It was already early summer in June, when the days were longer than the nights. But due to the storm and the power outage, the night seemed darker than ever. Qiu Yun rummaged through the cupboard and found two candles. Once lit, the room gained a flickering glow.
In this era, entertainment was already scarce. With the power out, it felt as though they had truly returned to the agrarian age of "working at sunrise and resting at sunset." Qiu Yun and Liang He cleared the bowls and the pot under the veranda while the wind howled and the rain lashed outside. Qiu Yun asked, "Can we still get back to school today?"
Liang He looked outside and said, "We'll go back when the rain lets up later."
"Huh?" Qiu Yun felt a bit apprehensive. "How will we get back? We're not walking, are we?" On a normal day, the walk to school would take about an hour, but in this storm...
"We?" Liang He wrung out the loofah sponge. "Why would you go back? The flooding is so deep and the buses have stopped. You should wait until transportation resumes before heading back to school."
"What do you mean?" Qiu Yun’s hand paused while wiping a bowl. "Are you saying you're going back alone?"
"Of course. You can lend me an umbrella in a bit."
"Are you joking?" Qiu Yun’s eyes widened. "Do you know how long it takes to walk back from here? In rain like this, you're planning to swim back to school?"
Seeing her strong reaction, Liang He smiled. "That's why I'm telling you to wait until the weather clears before you go back."
"Teacher Liang, I suspect you haven't sobered up yet." Qiu Yun scrutinized him closely.
Liang He propped the pot up to dry by the sink and shook the water off his hands. "What do you mean 'sobered up'? I wasn't drunk to begin with. What else am I supposed to do?"
"You can stay at my house," Qiu Yun said as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
"That won't do," Liang He rejected the idea without a second thought. An unmarried man and woman staying together for the night—how could that be acceptable?
"Why won't it do?" Qiu Yun argued. "The courtyard house doesn't just have one room. You can sleep in my senior's room, and I'll sleep in mine." At this point, Qiu Yun seemed to realize the reason for Liang He's refusal. She paused deliberately and added with a playful drawl, "Oh... are you perhaps overthinking things?"
"I didn't even intend to stay, so what is there to overthink?" Liang He said with a straight face.
"Hee-hee, I don't mind at all," Qiu Yun nudged Liang He’s shoulder. "Are you feeling shy? Or—" She held up both hands, wiggling her ten fingers in front of him like claws. "Or are you afraid I'll ravish you? Haha, don't worry, there are no fox spirits here."
"That's enough," Liang He pretended to put on a stern face. "You're getting more and more out of line. What if your senior comes back tonight?"
"Comes back?" Qiu Yun laughed. "In this hellish weather, people can't get out, and they certainly can't get in. Besides, on the off chance he does return, you can just share a room with him."
"That... won't do." The arrangement sounded logical, but Liang He had never experienced sharing a room with a male stranger. His first instinct was to refuse. Before he could think of how to respond, Qiu Yun realized the flaw in her plan first—having Qiu Zheng-hong and Liang He in the same room. Setting aside whether Qiu Zheng-hong would be willing, she felt such an arrangement was too dangerous.
"How about this then," Qiu Yun corrected herself quickly. "You sleep in my room."
"And you?"
"Me...? I'll sleep on the bed, and you sleep on the floor; or you sleep on the bed, and I sleep on the floor," Qiu Yun said nonchalantly.
Hearing this, Liang He’s face flushed slightly. Fortunately, it was dark, and no one could see. He frowned. "That won't do. You are a girl; how can you speak so carelessly?"
"'That won't do'... haha," Qiu Yun covered her mouth and laughed. "There it is again, 'that won't do.' Teacher Liang, I'm going to give you a nickname. Let's just call you 'Mr. This-Won't-Do,' okay?"
Liang He was both annoyed and amused by her diversion.
"Then I'll sleep in my senior's room, and you sleep in mine alone. How about that?" Qiu Yun suggested another combination.
"This..." Liang He thought about it and immediately shook his head. Although Qiu Yun’s senior had a physical disability, he was still an adult man. No matter how close their relationship was, he wouldn't feel right about her staying in his room for the night. This suggestion was even worse than the last one. He was about to say "That won't do" again, but changed it at the last second to: "That's not good either."
Qiu Yun felt a bit helpless. "This won't do, that's not good... what exactly do you want?"
"I think... I should still head back to school."
Qiu Yun pressed a hand to her forehead. "Teacher Liang, you are far too old-fashioned and pedantic. It's not me trying to keep you here; it's the Heavens keeping you here. You're a highly educated man, yet why do I feel like you're still living in a feudal society? I'm not going to eat you, so what exactly are you afraid of?"
Liang He felt his ears burning. What was he afraid of? What was there to be afraid of? Yet as he thought this, the heart in his chest began to beat faster.
*Thump-thump, thump-thump.* It was the same sound from the afternoon, drowning out the rain outside the window.
He said hurriedly, "There's nothing to be afraid of." With that, he walked over to pick up the umbrella under the veranda.
Seeing that he truly intended to leave, Qiu Yun opened her mouth. She clearly wanted to persuade him further, but a sudden, inexplicable wave of anger rose within her, and she snapped her mouth shut.
Just as Liang He’s hand touched the umbrella, Qiu Yun spoke again. "I'm not lending you the umbrella."
Liang He froze and looked back at her in surprise.
"I borrowed this umbrella from Wang Chen at school. If you want to take it, you have to ask her first."
Liang He was speechless. He reached for the other umbrella nearby, only to hear Qiu Yun’s voice again: "That one is mine. I'm not lending it."
Liang He was completely at a loss. He realized Qiu Yun was doing this on purpose, yet he couldn't understand why she had suddenly become so huffy when they had been fine just a moment ago. He stood three meters away from her. He had intended to defend himself, but then he saw her standing there in the darkness, dressed in moon-white long sleeves and trousers, glaring at him with puffed-out cheeks.
He suddenly felt like laughing. He obediently put the umbrella back. "Fine then, I'll walk back in the rain."
"You..." Qiu Yun finally spoke.
Liang He pretended not to hear and walked straight out. But just as he took a step down the stairs, his legs gave way without warning, and he collapsed as if losing his balance.
