His face was still bleeding from the cuts made by ss shards when he broke out from the car window earlier, exposed to the pouring rain, causing an indescribable sting.


    This pain was negligible to him; what he truly cared about was the time: without a doubt, he was alreadyte.


    He had beente even before hended on the ground; now, he was just trying to mend the pen after the sheep were lost, wishfully thinking that he could hurry up a bit more.


    Yet, deep down, he also knew that Lin Xiaolu might not be there waiting for him.


    It was he who insisted oning to the parent-teacher meeting, something Lin Xiaolu wasn''t necessarily enthusiastic about;bined with such dreadful weather, even if he made it to the school, it might just be a way to satisfy himself.


    Let it be for self-satisfaction, then.


    Comforting himself with these thoughts, he saw the gate to Sunset Middle School emerge through the heavy rain and then quickened his pace once more, passing through a pedestrian side gate.


    Standing at the school entrance, he gasped for air, his chest heaving, scanning around the flowerbed in vain for the figure he imagined. In the end, he found nothing.


    No one was here, and naturally, neither was Lin Xiaolu.


    Gazing at the deserted flowerbed, Lin Yun''s heart sank: even though he had been prepared, facing this scene still made him sad.


    His heavy breathing dispersed in the rain, failing to take away the gloom within. He didn''t want to make excuses; the fact was he hadn''t made it on time.


    Just the thought of his daughter''s face, imagining the expression she would have due to his broken promise, filled him with regret.


    He had screwed up again.


    That''s what he thought, standing there, utterly bedraggled and for a moment, at a loss for what to do. He knew he could still make it to the parent-teacher meeting if he went into the school building now, but the greatest purpose of his trip was already lost.


    Before long, Lin Yun silently reached out his hand, his wet fingertips touching the phone in his pocket: at least he needed to ask which ssroom it was.


    —"Why did it turn out like this?"


    A somewhat familiar voice suddenly came from behind Lin Yun, and his hand paused in mid-air.


    Turning around, he saw Lin Xiaolu standing with an umbre, leaning against the pir beside the gate, looking at him puzzled.


    "Lulu..." he began, but found his voice slightly hoarse.


    "You''re toote, ten minuteste."


    Lin Xiaolu''s eyelids drooped as she raised her hand to reveal the glowing phone screen, the digital clock at the center disying the time: "It''s already 4:40."


    Lin Yun couldn''t respond, trying to pull a smile on his face to express his apology, but his awkward facial management failed to convey such a nuanced expression and ended up with a weird twist of his mouth.


    Bypassing Lin Yun''s series of strange actions, Lin Xiaolu simply nced at his distressed look, pointed to his still-bleeding face, and repeated her question: "Why did you end up like this?"


    "On the way, the light rail tram encountered a bit of an issue and suddenly stopped running..." Lin Yun exined.


    "Remnant Beasts?" Lin Xiaolu''s words left him speechless.


    "Ahem, no."


    He didn''t want Lin Xiaolu to realize that he was at the same ce as "Emerald Sparrow" at the time, so he cleared his throat roughly and said: "Why would you think of something as dangerous as Remnant Beasts?"


    "Because the Luoming Line was attacked by Remnant Beasts, it''s... what the news said." Lin Xiaolu paused in her speech, then, pointing to her cellphone, "You were on that light rail tram, weren''t you?"


    "No, I fell off a bike on the road."n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    Lin Yun tried to appear nonchnt: "The tram stopped running, so I had to scan a bike from the roadside."


    "Let''s put an end to theme lies," Lin Xiaolu said in a muffled voice.


    The man''s strained smile, now ovepping with the yful one her mother used to give when she was asionallyte, gradually merged with her memories.


    When she had once run away from home, and he hade to her ssmate''s house to find her, his haggard and weary appearance was the most disheveled she had remembered him. Today, he looked even more distressing: not only was his usually neat business attirepletely soaked, but his usually well-groomed hair also clung to his forehead like a pot lid, and the small wounds on his face were quite unsightly.


    Seeing the man who always appeared as a corporate elite transformed into this state, Lin Xiaolu thought she should feel likeughing, but for some reason, she just felt a bit of a sting in her nose. All of a sudden, she realized that adults often aren''t asposed as they seem on the surface.


    Looking at this man she knew so well yet felt so distant from, she felt for the first time that his rigid and silent exterior had cracked open a bit, allowing her a glimpse of something much more real.


    It was something she had once desperately longed for and something she had never considered up to now. It seemed that through this, she truly understood him a little better.


    So, her heart lightened, her furrowed brow rxed, and she raised her arm:


    "Catch."


    She handed out the umbre she was holding.


    "Huh?"


    Lin Yun, slightly bewildered, stared at the umbre Lin Xiaolu was offering and hesitantly epted it, "You mean..."


    "I stood at the school gate for half an hour holding it."


    Lin Xiaolu turned her face away, avoiding Lin Yun''s gaze, "Hold it for me; my arms are tired."


    And so she passed the umbre over, naturally standing beside Lin Yun and stepping under its shelter. She stretched her sore arms and shook the rain-soaked sleeves of her own.


    After a moment, seeing that Lin Yun still hadn''t moved, she looked up somewhat impatiently, "What are you standing there for? Don''t we have a parent-teacher meeting to attend?"


    "The parent-teacher meeting, yes, the parent-teacher meeting."


    In that instant, Lin Yun felt as if a warm current had cleansed his heart, joyful and somewhatforted. He gripped the umbre tighter and followed Lin Xiaolu as they stepped towards the school building.


    Father and daughter thus walked together, sharing an umbre, slowly making their way to the ssroom through the rain.


    The ck umbre swayed slightly amidst the heavy downpour, maintaining its small protected space, slowly disappearing into the rain curtain.


    Thunder rumbled in the sky, and the rain fell in gusts with the wind.


    Water pooled on the road surface, rippling as a snail was trapped in a puddle, its slow pace preventing escape, only able to retreat helplessly into its shell, waiting for the imminent death.


    Just then, from under the eaves nearby, a hand reached out, gently lifting the snail from the water and setting it on the dry ground beside.


    The owner of the hand, afterpleting this act, stepped back a few paces, retreating to a spot where the rain could not reach.


    Xia Liang squatted there alone.


    A look of satisfaction crossed her face as she quietly watched Lin Xiaolu and Lin Yun disappear into the distance, but as their figures vanished, a touch of destion appeared on her face.


    Staring nkly as the snail extended its tentacles from the shell and began to crawl slowly, she inexplicably thought about the night she pretended to run away from home and stayed at Lin Xiaolu''s ce.


    Or rather, the night she initiated the conversation, but after hearing Lin Xiaolu''s confession, blurted out a response.


    It was a sentence she dared not say too loudly, afraid to reveal her true feelings:


    "I really... envy you."