"You’re under arrest!"

After evening self-study, Shen Yuan grabbed Zhou Shaojie in a headlock the moment he came out of the bathroom and dragged him into the hallway.

"AH! I haven’t washed my hands! I still haven’t washed my hands! I peed on my hand!" Ah Jie yelled, struggling.

A moment later, two figures appeared at the sinks outside the bathroom.

"Seriously, how do you even manage to pee on your hand in the bathroom?" Shen Yuan asked, his face a mask of disgust.

Ah Jie, however, looked completely unfazed. "Too much jerking off."

"You should go home today and delete all your JM URLs."

Ah Jie chuckled. "I’ve already memorized them all."

Shen Yuan grabbed him in another headlock. "Huh? You can’t remember English vocabulary, but you remember every last JM URL perfectly, is that it?! Spit ’em out, now!"

"18c... Ptooey! You’re just trying to trick the URLs out of me! I’m not giving them to you!"

Ah Jie struggled and declared, "I will bear this sin alone!"

The two of them roughhoused their way back to the classroom, then leaned against the hallway wall and started chatting.

"Jie, what do you think you’ll be in the future?"

"A teacher, I guess," Zhou Shaojie said without a moment’s hesitation.

Shen Yuan stared at Zhou Shaojie in astonishment. "Seriously? You’re that sure about it?"

’So this is when Ah Jie decided he wanted to be a civil service exam tutor?’

Zhou Shaojie nodded. "Of course. I was just saying whatever, anyway."

Shen Yuan had the sudden urge to give Ah Jie the ’Aruba’ treatment.

"Hah, and here I thought you actually wanted to be a teacher."

"Bullshit. If I became a teacher, I’d be getting complaints every single day."

Shen Yuan nodded. "That’s true. But if you really do become a teacher, I’ll come sign up for your classes."

"Sure. I’ll charge you double."

"Die, you crooked merchant!"

After messing around for a bit, Shen Yuan got ready to head back to class.

"Alright, I’m going to go do some problems."

"FUCK! Damn tryhards deserve to die!"

Ah Jie didn’t stop Shen Yuan, continuing to stand alone in the hallway, enjoying the breeze.

Back in the classroom, Shen Yuan wiped the sweat that was sticking to his face.

"The air’s getting more and more stuffy."

Li Zhi looked up from her desk. "Didn’t you check the weather forecast? It’s about to rain."

Shen Yuan froze. "I didn’t bring an umbrella."

Shen Yuan had expected Li Zhi to say she’d brought one, but Young Master Li just shrugged and added, "I didn’t either."

"Then what if it rains? How are we going to get home?"

Hearing this, Li Zhi’s brow furrowed, her expression turning serious. "Our parents could pick us up? Or... we could fly back?"

He Zhiyu, who had been chatting with Li Zhi, heard this and her eyes went wide.

Shen Yuan, however, took a shallow breath and looked at Li Zhi with a grave expression. "Flying back... wouldn’t be a great idea, would it?"

He Zhiyu was instantly Hermione-level shocked.

’Wait, you’re actually considering it?’

’You can’t actually fly, can you?’

’These two are really... strangely sweet.’

"So, if we can’t fly, we’ll just have to get our parents to pick us up."

As Li Zhi replied to Shen Yuan, He Zhiyu was already taking a note in her heart.

["Even when the girl’s words sound so childish, the boy will always answer her seriously."]

["How are we getting home today? By bus, or should we fly?"]

["We’ll fly back, of course!"]

Ah! Just thinking about it is so sweet!

It’s just full of industrial-grade artificial sweetener.

No need to wait for school to end. Before the second period of evening self-study was over, a heavy downpour suddenly began.

"HOLY SHIT!! My book!"

Zhou Shaojie had taken Shen Yuan’s seat by the window. The rain had come without any warning, and the wind blowing into the classroom had soaked his book directly.

The students sitting by the windows quickly shut them to prevent the rain from getting in.

The PATTER-PATTER of the rain against the windows was so distracting that no one had any mind to study.

Some worried about their journey home, while others cheered at the wind and rain.

A heavy rain brings a cool spell; the summer heat dissipated in that moment.

The boys were at the window, admiring the torrential downpour, when someone suddenly shouted.

"HOLY SHIT! Whose underwear is that flying through the sky?!"

Hearing this, all the boarding students in the room grew tense.

"It’s over, I didn’t bring my laundry in! It’s not gonna get blown away, is it?"

"We should go check later. If it really blew away, we’ll probably never find it."

Behind the boys’ dormitory at Jiyang Middle School was a block of old residential buildings, mostly rented by cram school students or day students.

If something really did get blown away, it would likely disappear without a trace.

The girls’ dormitory was on the other side, but anything that blew away from there would likely be lost as well.

Ji Ningning was now worrying if her clothes would be blown away.

It was foreseeable that after evening self-study ended, some boarding students would be dashing through the rain back to the dorms to rescue their laundry.

Of course, there were also the Zen-like ones.

It’s probably blown away by now anyway. Whatever happens, happens.

"What the hell are we waiting for!"

Just then, someone in the classroom declared, "We should go now! I’ll go! Give me the keys, I’ll bring your stuff in for you!"

"Haotian, do mine too! Keys! Our dorm will cover your late-night snacks for the next week!"

"Same here, same here! I’ll get you breakfast!"

Li Haotian took the keys and stood up. He said to Yang Yimeng, the discipline monitor, "Monitor, I’m going to the bathroom."

Yang Yimeng glanced at Li Haotian and nodded.

She knew, of course, what Li Haotian was really going to do.

Yang Yimeng was also a boarding student. If it weren’t for the fact that Li Haotian couldn’t enter the girls’ dorm, she would have wanted to ask Brother Haojie to get her laundry too.

Li Haotian walked to the front of the classroom, clasped his fist in his palm in a salute to his fellow boarding students, his gaze resolute.

In response, he received equally resolute gazes.

At that moment, Li Haotian was truly worthy of his name—he was the hero of all the male boarders of Class 15!

The one who walks against the storm, the savior of underwear.

Or perhaps... the Godfather!

When Li Haotian returned, his pockets were stuffed with at least ten umbrellas. 𝓯𝓻𝒆𝙚𝒘𝓮𝙗𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝒍.𝙘𝓸𝙢

"Any of the girls need an umbrella? I’ve got some here if you do."

The girls immediately rushed forward.

In this god-awful weather, everyone was worried their clothes would be blown away.

Watching the girls hurry away, Shen Yuan remarked, "When typhoon season arrives, there probably won’t be any place to dry clothes at all."

Jiyang was, after all, affected during typhoon season.

When that time came, it would rain for long stretches without a break.

Li Zhi wasn’t too concerned about the upcoming typhoon season.

She had a dryer at home, so she wasn’t afraid of her clothes not drying.

It just made going to school a hassle. You had to carry an umbrella and worry about your clothes getting wet.

Li Zhi really disliked the feeling of being damp.

The downpour lasted for half an hour before turning into a light drizzle.

It was as if the heavens had exhausted themselves, bringing a drop in temperature.

Shen Yuan and Li Zhi walked to the school gate in the light rain.

The school gate was crowded with parents who had come to pick up their children.

Some wore raincoats, others held umbrellas.

When they saw students coming out of the school without umbrellas, the parents would tilt their own.

A canopy of umbrellas, shielding them from the fine rain.

Shen Yuan and Li Zhi ducked under the umbrellas and out the school gate.

Using location sharing, Shen Yuan quickly found Old Shen.

"Uncle Shen."

Li Zhi called out sweetly after getting in the car.

Hearing it sent a tingle through Shen Yuan’s brain; it was a bit of a sugar overdose.

Shen Yuan turned to look, about to respond with a teasing remark, but he froze on the spot.

Droplets of rain clung to the girl’s cheeks, looking so vivid under the faint light.

Li Zhi, seeing Shen Yuan staring blankly, felt a little puzzled and asked subconsciously, "What is it?"

His brain circuits stuck together with sugar, Shen Yuan asked, "Can you call me something nice, too?"

Li Zhi clearly hadn’t expected Shen Yuan to say something like that. A flicker of surprise crossed her face before she mouthed the word "scram."

Shen Yuan nodded obediently.

With a parent present, Shen Yuan couldn’t act too crazy.

After getting home, Shen Yuan, just like Li Zhi, immediately took a shower.

They had run through the rain and gotten soaked long ago.

After his shower, Shen Yuan scrolled through his QZone and Moments while drying himself off.

Then he discovered that the campus confession wall had updated!

[Jiyang Middle School Campus Confession Wall:

Wall-chan has recently received many private messages from students reacting to the sugar overload in "Defend and Steal." Wall-chan recommends taking it with a dose of "Wu San."]

Shen Yuan quickly commented.

NoCilantro (Full-Time Gaokao Prep Edition): Enjoying the sweetness while taking in the pain... Is this some kind of S&M thing?

After changing, Shen Yuan took his shirt and pants to the dirty laundry basket by the door, which his mom would later toss into the washing machine with a look of disdain.

But he still had to wash his own underwear.

After taking care of all that, Shen Yuan started on today’s math test paper.

In the midst of a storm, what’s a little pain like this?