My Dearest General: It Has Always Been You

At noon, the rain fell heavily, slamming into Earth and filling the whole space with the astringent scent of petrichor, washing away the stench of blood and death. Because of the unexpected incident, Principal Mo let the students out early and tomorrow, the school would only start at 1 pm after lunch break.

Hearing that, the majority of the students were overjoyed, except for those who hadn't recovered from Li Qing's death.

Mo Ling saw the rain and murmured sadly. "It's raining. Li Qing must be crying right now. What should I do? Will she blame me up there?"

Chen Jiawei had had enough of hearing her nonsense blabber all day. She directly pulled her from the window and grabbed their bags. "Shi Nian, how do you get home?"

Shi Nian raised her head and wrote in her notebook. [I will take the subway.]

Chen Jiawei looked worried. "It's raining too hard. I am worried that the subway will stop temporarily. How about you give your brother a call and tell him to pick you up?"

Shi Nian looked out toward the heavily downcast weather and nodded. [En, I will do that. Thank you, Chen Jiawei. Also, I am very sorry for your loss.]

Chen Jiawei lowered her eyes, the glasses obscuring her sight as she nodded and pulled the wailing Mo Ling along with her.

Of course, Shi Nian was just bluffing and wouldn't really call Xu Binchen. It was just raining. If she couldn't ride on the subway, then she would just take the chance to walk home and clear her head of all the unnecessary thoughts.

She had heard of the conspiracy theories others created about how Li Qing's death was related to the forum, how everyone accused her, causing her to die unjustly. 

Did she believe that? No, of course not. 

But did she really not care about it deep inside her heart?

…Shi Nian couldn't not care.

What if? Not because of the forum, but what if somehow there was a relation between her and Li Qing's death? After all, the interval between their fight and her death was too close. Too close to be ignored.

No matter how calm her appearance was, she was uncomfortable and upset too.

And everytime she suffered from something she couldn't cope with, she would hole herself in her room, brooding, mulling again and again until she got over it. Yes, it was kind of a self-inflicted torture, but the only thing for her to calm down was to make peace with it.

However, what did she see?

Standing beyond the gate, carrying a large black umbrella, the person whose body was slender with his hair pulled up into a half bun. Was it not Jiang Jinyan?!!

Shi Nian didn't care how he got there and what he came for. Heck, she didn't even think at all. When she came to her senses, she was already running toward Jiang Jinyan. Water splashed along her every step as she approached and a wide smile made its way on her face.

Jiang Jinyan tilted the umbrella and like a slow motion scene, the lower half of his face came to sight—covered by a mask—until the end, their eyes met in midair. An undecipherable light flashed through them as his eyes bore down onto her as if searching for something.

Similarly, Shi Nian stared up at him, seeing his damp clothes and wet hair, droplets of water slid down from the tips of his hair…

She drank in the sight of him greedily. It had been a few days since she last saw him due to the last minute cramming study she did. But when she saw his drenched look, she became worried. [Mr. Jiang Jinyan...you're wet.]

Jiang Jinyan gave no answer, only looking at her fixedly. Gradually, Shi Nian realized that something didn't seem quite right. [Is there something wrong?]

"No." He finally spoke, albeit only a word.

Shi Nian sighed in relief. [It's such a coincidence. Are you waiting for someone?] She paused and braced herself, typing. [If not, can we go home together?]

The rain knocked on the surface of the umbrella ceaselessly, the loud echo almost drowning any other sound around her. It was quiet, and the only thing reflected on his eyes was her, as if…they were the only two people in the world.

Jiang Jinyan rested the handle of the umbrella on his shoulder, his other hand reached out to grab hers. "Your shoulder is drenched."

Because she was busily typing with two hands, her umbrella had slid to one side. The water fell freely onto her left shoulder and the fabric of the uniform became darker in color. Shi Nian turned aside and saw that he was right. She grinned sheepishly and held the umbrella straight, but if she wanted to type, she could only pinch it in between her neck and shoulder.

Such a hassle…

Jiang Jinyan sighed. "Come in."

Shi Nian: "…" Come in…where?

"Put away your umbrella and come inside." He explained.

Shi Nian's eyes rounded and she blinked in disbelief. Before Jiang Jinyan lost his patience and took back his words, Shi Nian hurriedly closed her umbrella and scooted closer to him, feeling the man's warm temperature exuded from a close distance. The series of movements was unexpectedly swift and smooth.

Her heart thundered inside her chest.

She didn't realize it before but the space within one umbrella…isn't it too close? To cover two people's bodies, she had to stick to him closely, their shoulders brushing against each other once in a while. Shi Nian blushed and instinctively took a step backward, but to her surprise, Jiang Jinyan's umbrella followed her, causing the rain to descend onto his back.

Shi Nian:"!!!"

She moved back in a hurry and didn't dare to run around again.

They started to walk slowly. His presence surrounded her and the narrow space almost made her head dizzy. [Mr. Jiang Jinyan, you…are you waiting for me?]

Shi Nian thought that it was not plausible. How could Jiang Jinyan stand in front of Sangzhe High on rainy days, letting the rain damp his whole body, only to wait for her?

However, to her surprise, he admitted. "Yes."

Shi Nian was so shocked that she halted in her tracks. Her eyes rounded adorably as she picked on her ears. Was it an auditory hallucination?

A flash of smile appeared in Jiang Jinyan's eyes as he reached out for her arm, pulling her forward. Shi Nian was caught off guard and her nose almost slammed onto his chest. The man's muffled voice sounded above her head. "Pay attention when you're walking."

Soft scent of detergent wafted to her nose from Jiang Jinyan's coat, mixing with the man's cool and fresh cologne and also…a faint smell of blood?

Shi Nian's dazed look sobered up in an instant as she took hold of his arm. Her eyes trailed to his hand and found splatters of blood on his knuckle and the back of his hand, his skin torn and bruised in some places. 

Her heart trembled and the festering wound on his arm came to mind. Shi Nian didn't realize how bold she was as she grabbed his warm palm, bringing it in front of her face as she looked at him questioningly, demanding any explanation.

The rims of her eyes reddened anxiously. The concern, fear and heartache was vivid and tangible, so real that it rendered him unable to react. Even without her voicing her thoughts, Jiang Jinyan could imagine what she wanted to ask;

Why are you injured?

Did you hurt yourself again?

.

.

.

A/N: hehehe Jiang Jinyan couldn't hold himself back from checking up on her ٩(ˊᗜˋ )و