The curtain of rain draped a thin veil over the Southern Magnolias on both sides. The campus path was not crowded. Pei Ran walked slowly, carrying his laptop, his right hand gently clutched around the small pendant he had just received.

The phone buzzed urgently.

[Yan Zhun: Walk faster.]

Pei Ran was startled and subconsciously turned to look, only seeing two young couples walking side-by-side under umbrellas.

[Pei Ran: Are you still here?]

Yan Zhun replied with a voice message. Pei Ran held it to his ear to listen: "Just a guess. You usually walk very slowly."

Pei Ran pursed his lips and silently put his phone into his laptop bag.

His heart was beating very fast; it hadn't calmed down even after walking such a long way. Listening again would only make it weirder.

Pei Ran hadn't accepted Yan Zhun's confession. Just like before, he started with an apology, but when he opened his mouth, he found his voice was trembling slightly.

Yan Zhun waited quietly for his answer. This patience, contrary to expectation, made Pei Ran even more nervous. With great difficulty, he finally managed to say, "I don't want to be in a relationship for now."

The sentence came out haltingly, lacking confidence.

Yan Zhun nodded calmly and said, "I know, but I'm still going to pursue you."

He even asked him, "Will you let me?"

Pei Ran didn't speak. He was afraid that if he opened his mouth, he would start stuttering again.

In the end, Yan Zhun pushed down the brim of his cap for him and said, "Got it. I'll start pursuing you then."

"Pei Ran?"

Pei Ran turned his head and saw Su Nian.

Su Nian was standing shoulder-to-shoulder with another boy, looking very intimate.

Su Nian glanced at him, paused for a moment, and then asked, "It's raining, and you're not using an umbrella? And your face... why is it so red?"

Pei Ran's face was red, but his tone was as calm as ever: "Is there something you need?"

"Oh, it's nothing, just saying hi." Su Nian paused. "Right, it was my fault for upsetting you before. Since we've run into each other, let me apologize to you again..."

"No need." Pei Ran asked, "Didn't Lin Kang pass on my message to you?"

Su Nian smiled. "He did. I know you were angry at the time, so I didn't mind. It's good that you're not angry anymore."

Pei Ran frowned, not wanting to talk to him anymore, and turned to leave.

"Hey, wait." Su Nian stopped him. "Let me give you my umbrella. Don't catch a cold."

Pei Ran refused, "No need, thank you."

"No," Su Nian smiled. "This umbrella was given to me by Brother Qingshan. I kept forgetting to return it. This is perfect, you can use it and help me return it to him."

"He and I have already broken up. You borrowed the umbrella, so you should return it yourself." Pei Ran strode away, his remaining words drifting in the rain.

Su Nian stood where he was, watching his retreating back, not moving for a long time.

The boy beside him bumped his shoulder. "Listen to what you just said. Are those even human words? Even I think you're being bitchy."

Su Nian chuckled and said, "This is how you have to deal with Pei Ran. If you're too subtle, he won't get it."

"They've already broken up, why are you still trying to disgust Pei Ran?"

Su Nian's smile didn't falter.

They had broken up, but Luo Qingshan still had someone in his heart.

If he couldn't solve the problem on Luo Qingshan's end, then he could only solve it on Pei Ran's. As long as Pei Ran didn't get back together with him, there was nothing Luo Qingshan could do.

Seeing Su Nian remain silent, his friend couldn't help but frown at him. After a long while, he asked, "Why bother? I don't think Luo Qingshan is that great. There are handsome guys everywhere. Why don't I introduce you to a few?"

"No." Su Nian took out his phone and glanced at it. He had sent over a dozen messages to Luo Qingshan but hadn't received a reply. He looked up at the curtain of rain. "Let's go."

Pei Ran returned to the dorm room, took off his cap, and after changing his clothes, he picked up the cap and walked to the washstand.

He took a new toothbrush and, with his eyes lowered, gently scrubbed the cap.

Pei Ran really liked washing things. It only required repetitive motions and allowed him to comfortably zone out for a while. But right now, he couldn't zone out at all. His mind was filled with Yan Zhun's voice.

One moment it was saying, "I like you," the next it was, "I'm starting to pursue you," and now it was asking, "Can I pursue you?"

Before they parted, Yan Zhun had reached out and patted his head through the cap. He pulled his hand back after just two seconds, told him to go back, and said the rain was about to get heavier.

A crisp pattering sound pulled Pei Ran back to his senses. He turned his head and saw raindrops splashing into the room, leaving a patch of water on the floor beneath the windowsill.

Pei Ran closed the window. Only when he returned to his desk did he see that his phone had received many text messages.

[Unknown Number: I lent him that umbrella a long time ago...]

[Unknown Number: You got caught in the rain today? Remember to drink some hot water to warm up.]

[Unknown Number: If this happens again, call me. I'll come pick you up.]

[Unknown Number: I miss you a lot. Can you please reply to me?]

Blocking his WeChat and phone number was useless; Luo Qingshan was still finding ways to get through.

Pei Ran glanced at the time. It had been less than half an hour since he met Su Nian, and Luo Qingshan already knew about it.

Pei Ran didn't reply. He backed out to look at the messages he received on WeChat.

[Yan Zhun: .]

[Pei Ran: ?]

[Yan Zhun: Seeing if I'm still here.]

[Pei Ran: Where?]

[Yan Zhun: In your friends list.]

Pei Ran took a deep breath, feeling his ears grow a little hot.

He held his phone, taking a long time to type out a series of ellipsis points, but he hadn't even had time to send it.

[Yan Zhun: You've been typing for five minutes. What kind of short essay are you writing?]

[Pei Ran: ...]

[Pei Ran: I was busy with something else and forgot to close the chat window.]

[Yan Zhun: Busy with what?]

[Pei Ran: ...A private matter.]

After sending this, Pei Ran placed his phone face down on the desk.

Then he got up, returned to the washstand, and continued washing Yan Zhun's cap.

-

Late autumn. The rain had been falling intermittently for two days.

After his roommate moved out, the dorm was quieter than before. Pei Ran felt that drawing things came much more smoothly.

He had only sketched a couple of lines when the phone rang.

"Baby Ran, what are you up to?" It was Lin Xuhuan. For once, there was no sound of keyboard clacking from his end.

"Drawing," Pei Ran asked, "What's up?"

"Drawing? Are you drawing me?" Lin Xuhuan's voice grew a little louder. "Quick, send it to me, let me see!"

"I've only sketched a few lines, the resemblance isn't there yet." Pei Ran asked again, "Is something the matter?"

Lin Xuhuan didn't answer right away. There seemed to be someone else with him. Pei Ran heard his voice grow distant: "Bro, it sounds like Baby Ran is drawing me. This kind of thing requires concentration, maybe we shouldn't disturb him?"

Pei Ran instantly knew who was with him.

His grip on the phone tightened slightly. By the time he realized it, he had already put down his drawing pen, turned off the speakerphone, and pressed the phone to his ear.

Lin Xuhuan quickly came back on the line: "It's nothing much... We were planning to go play basketball at your school's basketball court today. You should come along."

After Lin Xuhuan hung up, the person sitting on the edge of the sofa asked, "What did he say?"

"Of course he agreed." Lin Xuhuan said, puzzled, "Why didn't you ask him yourself? Why did you make me call?"

What other reason could there be?

Of course, it was because he was worried he wouldn't be able to get him to come out.

Lin Xuhuan had helped Pei Ran before. As long as he was the one to ask, Pei Ran wouldn't refuse to come.

Yan Zhun stood up, casually patted Lin Xuhuan's shoulder, and said lazily, "Raising an army for a thousand days."

It had been raining recently, so the ground was wet and soggy. The basketball players had all moved into the gymnasium.

Today was Saturday, and most people had gone out to have fun. There was hardly anyone at the court, so they didn't even need to reserve a spot.

When Pei Ran arrived at the gymnasium, he happened to see Yan Zhun leap up effortlessly and sink a mid-range shot. A corner of his jersey lifted, revealing toned abs covered in a thin sheen of sweat.

"Baby Ran." Lin Xuhuan was already out of breath after playing for a short while. "What took you so long? Come on, let's play 3-on-3."

Not expecting to have to play a game, Pei Ran paused, his motion of taking off his jacket faltering. "I'm not very good..."

"It's fine, we're all terrible. At least you participated in the sports meet. We're usually too lazy to even walk. You can just make up the numbers," Lin Xuhuan said.

Pei Ran hesitated. Just as he was about to nod, the jacket he was halfway through taking off was suddenly pulled up and back onto his body.

"He's not playing." Yan Zhun stood behind him, his words punctuated by slight panting, his voice deep as always. "He has a leg injury."

Pei Ran's shoulders stiffened. The jacket hung loosely on him, but he didn't even raise a hand to adjust it.

"Oh, right." Lin Xuhuan was baffled for a moment and blurted out, "If you knew he couldn't play, then why did you have me ask him to come over?"

Yan Zhun said, "Don't worry about it. Go play, don't slack off."

Lin Xuhuan didn't notice anything amiss at all. He just said "Oh," and added, "Then hurry up and come over."

Only the two of them were left.

Pei Ran adjusted his breathing before slowly turning around.

They had already been playing for a while. The hair on Yan Zhun's forehead was matted together with sweat, and beneath it was a pair of pitch-black eyes.

Maybe it was from the exercise, but Yan Zhun looked much more vibrant than usual, with sweat glistening under his eyes.

The air was filled with masculine hormones.

Pei Ran took the baseball cap out of his coat pocket. Because the space was small, the cap was a bit wrinkled, but thankfully the brim could stick out and wasn't badly misshapen.

He smoothed out the wrinkles and held it out to Yan Zhun. "This. Thank you."

Yan Zhun caught a faint, pleasant scent. He asked, "You washed it for me?"

When you borrow something and it gets rained on, you should definitely wash it before returning it, but there was something strange about the way Yan Zhun said it that he couldn't quite place.

Pei Ran said, "Yeah, it should be clean now."

The voices of the others urged him to come over from a distance. Yan Zhun gave a casual reply and then said, "Hold it for me for now."

The sound of the basketball bouncing on the floor was too loud. Pei Ran didn't hear clearly. "Huh?"

"Hold it for me for a bit," Yan Zhun said. "My hands are dirty, and I'm sweaty. I'll get it dirty."

He was talking about the cap, but his eyes were fixed on Pei Ran the whole time.