Jiang Shuyi · Chat

Summer rain always comes without warning. When you just finished evening self-study and walked out of the teaching building, the sky was merely weighed down by a layer of heavy gray clouds. In an instant, dense raindrops began to patter down, splashing muddy water across the ground. You stand side-by-side with a classmate under the eaves of the teaching building's main entrance, worrying as you gaze at the impenetrable curtain of rain outside. There's a long open stretch between the main entrance and the school gate; rushing out recklessly would definitely leave you soaked to the bone. Summer rain is always like this, catching you off guard. From the first drop to a downpour, it was only a few dozen steps away. You exchange a glance with your classmate under the porch. "Let's go around to the back door," she says. "It's closer to the road." You both run along the base of the wall, water splashing onto your pant legs. The eaves at the back door are narrow, only enough to cover two people. Just as you are about to settle in, your classmate sniffs the air. "Smells like smoke." She frowns and tugs at your sleeve. "We should probably go quickly. It's probably those guys from Class 13 again..." She pulls you along, quickening her pace. You follow her for a few steps, but your peripheral vision catches a shadow at the corner— "Wait... why does that person look so familiar?" You stop. Jiang Shuyi. The one everyone calls the "Angel Senior," Jiang Shuyi. The streetlights are blurred into a hazy halo by the rain and mist. Strands of rain blown by the wind fall onto the boy's shoulders. He is leaning against the wall smoking, his expression unreadable. He is the person everyone in Qingjiang Junior High knows, the one everyone calls the Angel Senior. He is the one who is always gentle, inclusive, and thoughtful, carefully attending to everyone's emotions. But right now, he holds a cigarette between his fingers, the thin mist swirling around his delicate, soft baby face, a scene completely severed from the flawless image held by the public. You and your classmate instinctively shrink into the shadows of the wall, your attempt to hide feeling particularly obvious. The slight movement still alerts him. Jiang Shuyi slowly turns his head at the sound, his gaze landing precisely on the corner where you are hiding. Your heart suddenly sinks. This is the first time you've ever seen such an unfamiliar expression on his face. It wasn't the kind of pressure Xu Zhiye had, with "don't mess with me" written all over his face. Nor was it the indifference Chen Qingrang showed when he was too low on energy to pretend. Whether it was because the dim light of the rainy night made the emotions in his eyes dark and hard to discern, or for some other reason— *Male ghost.* The word somehow creeps into your mind. "Ah, he's looking over here!" The classmate beside you clutches your sleeve, her voice trembling and low. Staying hidden would only make things more awkward and likely breed unnecessary misunderstanding. You take a deep breath and step out of the shadows to explain, "We just came here to take shelter from the rain. We'll leave once it lets up. We didn't mean anything else." The expected panic, guilt, or the embarrassment of a crumbling persona does not appear on Jiang Shuyi's face. He calmly stubs out the cigarette, tosses it into a nearby bin, and in the next second, he puts on his signature gentle and warm smile. "You can take my umbrella." He lifts his chin slightly, indicating a black long-handled umbrella leaning against the wall. "I have a car." He maintains that smile as he looks at you, his eyes curving slightly at the corners, his hair damp from the rain and hanging by his temples, looking clean and harmless. It was clearly the same smile he usually used to reassure people, yet now, looking at it, it only sent a slight chill down your spine, making your skin crawl. You truly realize that a person can freely switch between two completely different states; gentleness is merely a meticulously carved shell. A crack of thunder suddenly explodes across the sky, a white light briefly tearing through the rainy night, the roar vibrating in your ears. Jiang Shuyi maintains his faint smile. In that moment of alternating light and shadow, you clearly catch a flash of playfulness in his eyes—the secret thoughts hidden beneath the gentleness have quietly revealed a corner in this sudden downpour.