SW - 32

Tang Yin’s eager demeanor instead left Lu Chi feeling speechless.

Lu Chi, being tall, found it convenient to hold the umbrella, while Tang Yin happily and obediently followed by his side.

Tang Yin said, “You didn’t bring an umbrella earlier, why didn’t you ask me? I have one!”

Lu Chi thought to himself, how was he supposed to know she had brought an umbrella?

Tang Yin added, “My umbrella is your umbrella.”

The continuous raindrops hitting the umbrella made a pitter-patter sound, drowning out the surrounding noise.

Yet Lu Chi still clearly heard Tang Yin’s words.

When they reached the area in front of the cafeteria, they discovered that the place was flooded.

Some students without umbrellas simply waded through the water. The accumulated water reached just below their calves, yellow and murky.

“My goodness, how are we supposed to get across?”

“Are we not eating today? I can’t stand being hungry!”

“The small supermarket isn’t open today either. There’s so much water here—do we really have to walk through it?”

It was the middle of winter, and wading through the water would surely be cold. Most people were reluctant, but they couldn’t skip meals, leaving them in a dilemma.

This led to a gathering of people around, forming a circle around the flooded area.

Fragmented groans echoed in the air.

Lu Chi and Tang Yin also stopped, unmoving.

Tang Yin glanced down at her snow boots. She had deliberately worn short ones today, just above the ankle. If she stepped into the water, her boots would likely fill up completely.

She let out a soft sigh.

She hated the feeling of water getting into her shoes, making her feet feel soggy and uncomfortable.

Lu Chi also looked down, his gaze similarly falling on her shoes.

After a moment, he asked, “Do you have snacks in the dormitory?”

“We finished them yesterday,” Tang Yin shook her head sadly. Yesterday, she and Su Kexi had rummaged through the entire cabinet.

Lu Chi’s eyes betrayed a hint of helplessness.

As they spoke, a few more people directly waded through the water, standing on the steps shouting and taking off their shoes to pour out water. Their thick winter shoes were soaked, and they had to squeeze them dry.

Tang Yin sighed again and tugged at him, “Let’s wade through too.”

As she spoke, she extended one foot.

At that moment, however, Lu Chi suddenly grabbed her, thrust the umbrella into her hand, and in the next instant, scooped her up in his arms.

Tang Yin didn’t even have time to react, her eyes widening in shock.

She asked, “What are you doing?”

Lu Chi calmly replied, “Crossing… the water.”

“…” Tang Yin tugged at his clothes, “In the middle of winter, with me being so heavy, how can you even lift me?”

Lu Chi: “… “ She was actually very light.

He didn’t refute her and stepped forward into the water.

Tang Yin nestled in Lu Chi’s arms, secretly smiling.

This feeling was probably similar to when she had secretly kissed him last time. Even hiding in her blanket at night, she could laugh out loud.

Tang Ming and Lu Ye were also among the onlookers.

The two had been hesitating for a long time and decided to return to the dormitory. They had left a pack of instant noodles last time, which they could make do with. After all, they had eaten like that more than once.

Who knew that upon turning around, they would see Lu Chi bending down to lift Tang Yin horizontally in his arms.

Yu Chun squeezed out from the crowd and exclaimed, “Wow.”

He quickly shouted, “Everyone, make way! Clear the path!”

A group of people who had been staring at the flooded area turned their heads simultaneously, only to witness another shocking scene. They quickly cleared a wide path.

It felt like they had witnessed something extraordinary today…

Lu Chi kept a straight face, especially as he noticed everyone’s eyes on him. His breathing became slower.

Without averting his gaze, he directly waded through the water.

In the blink of an eye, the two of them were already on the steps in front of the cafeteria.

The girls in the crowd couldn’t help but whisper to their friends, their hearts brimming with girlish excitement, forgetting about their hunger.

Tang Ming asked, “Am I dreaming today?”

Lu Ye replied, “A daydream, perhaps.”

Even though they had seen some interactions between the two before, they never expected Lu Chi to carry Tang Yin in front of so many people today.

There were very few people in the cafeteria.

Lu Chi and Tang Yin came in and quickly got their food. They originally planned to eat back in the dormitory, but now they had no choice but to eat here.

“We need to get the school to improve the food quality,” Tang Yin poked at her rice, “Look at you, so thin.”

Lu Chi: “… “

“But being fat doesn’t look good either.” Tang Yin rubbed her face and stared at him for a while, “I guess this is fine.”

Lu Chi endured for a long time before finally interrupting her, “Don’t talk… while eating.”

“Alright, alright.” Tang Yin mimicked zipping her lips.

There were actually quite a few hidden couples in the school, especially in the third year of high school. The greater the academic pressure, the more situations arose. At the very least, there were several in their class.

In a boarding school, the opportunities to strengthen relationships were limited to the classroom and the cafeteria.

Other outside places had surveillance cameras, and the headmaster was notorious for secretly checking obscure corners and then announcing special lists during the flag-raising ceremony.

Tang Yin stared at the couple sitting at the table behind Lu Chi.

The two seemed to be in the honeymoon phase. Despite the crowded cafeteria, they secretly fed each other, their happy expressions clearly showing their affection.

Suddenly, Tang Yin stopped moving her hands, “Lu Chi, my hand hurts.”

Lu Chi looked at her, his expression puzzled.

Tang Yin put on a pitiful face, “Feed me.”

“…” Lu Chi ignored her and continued eating his meal.

After a while, he heard no sound from the opposite side. He looked up to see Tang Yin gazing at him with big, sad eyes like a poor little kitten.

He paused, his handsome brows furrowing together.

After a moment, Lu Chi reached out with Tang Yin’s spoon, scooped a bite, and raised it to her mouth, expressionless, “Eat.”

Tang Yin didn’t hesitate, swallowing the bite and mumbling indistinctly, “The food tastes different when you feed me.”

Lu Chi was speechless. What difference was there? It all came from the same place.

Fortunately, during the rest of the meal, Tang Yin didn’t bring up any more strange requests, and he secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

After finishing, Tang Yin put down her chopsticks and suddenly leaned forward, saying, “I’m so cute, how can you resist? Hmph, hmph.”

Lu Chi shuddered at her last two “hmphs.”

Eating took quite a bit of time, and when they came out, the rain had stopped.

The thick layer of accumulated water had been drained, leaving only a thin film, negligible now.

The two turned from the side of the cafeteria into a nearby dormitory building.

This dormitory building was close to the cafeteria. Walking through the first-floor corridor to the other side led directly to the path between the two dormitory buildings at the back.

The first-floor corridor of the dormitory building was always somewhat dark.

Lu Chi walked in first, and before Tang Yin could catch up, they heard a stranger’s cry, “Ouch, you bumped into me so hard.”

She quickly walked over.

The motion-activated lights suddenly lit up, and Tang Yin saw the scene clearly, freezing in place.

After knowing him for several months, Tang Yin finally saw Lu Chi’s appearance without glasses. His eyebrows were enchanting, his eyes slanted slightly, unexpectedly captivating.

Extremely handsome.

The boy in front of him was stunned.

The next second, Lu Chi abruptly snatched the glasses from his hand, coldly uttering a single word, “Leave.”

Completely different from his usual calm demeanor.

The boy froze, dropping the glasses, and scared, he ran away, disappearing at the staircase in the blink of an eye.

Lu Chi bent down to pick them up, but Tang Yin was quicker and picked up the glasses first.

She asked, “What’s wrong with you?”

Lu Chi’s lips suddenly pressed down, his usually cold and indifferent eyes narrowing slightly, deep with flickering flames.

He stared straight into Tang Yin’s eyes.

For a moment, Tang Yin’s mind was filled with subtitles like, “Unbelievable, Lu Chi has started to learn how to seduce people…”

But who knew, in an instant, the corners of Lu Chi’s eyes gradually reddened. He covered his own eyes, forcefully turning his head away, taking the glasses from her hand and putting them on.

Tang Yin clearly saw his hands trembling.

With the glasses back on, Lu Chi returned to his usual self—cold and restrained, completely opposite from before.

The two remained squatting on the ground, the air becoming silent.

Tang Yin looked down at the floor and asked, “Lu Chi, why do you wear glasses without prescription?”

She had just touched the glasses and realized—there was no prescription. They were ordinary lenses, different from those for nearsightedness or farsightedness.

Lu Chi’s breath caught.

The staircase fell into silence. Lu Chi stiffened in place, neither moving nor walking away, his thin lips pressed tightly together.

Tang Yin hesitated before speaking, “Lu Chi, you… won’t look up?”

Lu Chi blinked his sore eyes but refused to look at her, “No.”

Tang Yin realized that from earlier until now, Lu Chi had never looked at her. Before, he even covered his own eyes.

Clearly, he didn’t want others to see.

But those eyes were so beautiful, why cover them? Tang Yin was puzzled.

After pondering for a moment, she asked the sensitive question again, “Lu Chi, why do you wear glasses?”

...

A certain memory buried deep resurfaced in his mind.

“Wow, Lu Chi is a girl!”

“No, no, no, a g-g-girl! Hahaha!”

“Quick, take off his pants! He must be pretending to be a boy to play with us, shameless, shameless!”

In a fifth-grade class after school, a group gathered around a corner of the classroom.

Through the gaps, a beautiful boy was surrounded by a circle of people, tears welling up in his eyes, crying, “N-no… don’t…”

“Shameless, shameless!” They made faces, reaching out to pull his clothes, “Are you a girl? Why pretend to be a boy?”

...

“A bunch of kids playing around, it’s not that serious. My Yangyang is just a bit mischievous, right Yangyang?”

“Teacher, maybe that little boy provoked them first. Otherwise, why would several people surround him? I think the root cause must lie with him!”

“Teacher Li, kids don’t know better, an apology will do.”

...

Fragments of conversation pieced together vivid images.

Tang Yin could almost feel Lu Chi’s helplessness at that time, along with the faces of those people, making her wish she could appear in that moment.

“I-I’m leaving,” Lu Chi’s voice floated softly.

“Lu Chi.” Tang Yin suddenly stepped forward.

She lifted his chin and cupped his face, earnestly saying, “You should know, they were born to be on your face, no one else looks as good as you.”

“They’re jealous.” She said.

Lu Chi opened his eyes, his gaze meeting hers through the flat lenses.

Tang Yin’s sparkling eyes were like stars filling the sky.