We agreed not to date, so why are you crying now that I've become the richest man?

Ye Chen did not immediately withdraw his hand. With his other hand, he quickly pushed the ventilation door on the side of the oven to block the oxygen from entering before turning to look at the person opposite him.

"Did it splash on your face?"

Gu Yuxuan leaned against the wooden booth, looking at the forearm that was less than an inch in front of her nose.

Beneath the cotton fabric of the black hoodie, his muscles were taut, and two oil stains on the cuffs were glistening with shine.

Her breath hitched for a beat, and her earlobes turned a thin layer of red at a visible speed, spreading all the way down to her neck.

"No...no."

Gu Yuxuan looked away, lowered her head, picked up her chopsticks and fiddled with two pieces of spicy cabbage in the small dish in front of her, her voice eight octaves lower than before.

"Your sleeve... is stained. Did the oil seep in and burn your skin?"

Ye Chen withdrew his arm, glanced down at his sleeve, and waved his hand dismissively.

"The hoodie is thick, so I didn't feel anything. I just need to wash it with dish soap when I get back, and it'll be clean."

Gu Yuxuan pulled out two napkins from the tissue box, leaned over and handed them to Ye Chen. Before Ye Chen could take them, she had already pressed the napkins against the oil spots on his cuff and gently absorbed the oil.

Through the fabric of her sweatshirt, she applied very light pressure with her fingers.

"The fabric of this garment is quite soft, and dish soap can easily damage it. I'll buy a pack of wet wipes at the convenience store on my way out and use it to press down the stain first. When I get back to the dorm, I'll quickly lather it with soap and let it soak. I don't want the oil stain to dry completely and leave a mark."

After blotting the oil, she crumpled the tissue in her palm, sat up straight again, picked up her chopsticks, and placed a piece of roasted corn into Ye Chen's bowl.

"Eat quickly, or it'll burn."

Ye Chen looked at the golden corn kernels in the bowl, picked up his chopsticks and took a bite; the sweet aroma filled the air.

The meal lasted for more than an hour. Gu Yuxuan had a small appetite, and after eating two rolls of pork belly wrapped in lettuce and a few spoonfuls of rice, she stopped eating. The rest of the food went almost entirely into Ye Chen's stomach.

The two didn't order any more drinks. Ye Chen got up, swiped his card at the front desk to pay the bill, and walked out of the store. It was just past 7:30.

The cool October night breeze dispelled the smoky smell of barbecue clinging to the two of them. The GG signs and neon lights on both sides of the street lit up one after another, illuminating the asphalt road.

"It's not too late yet, shall we walk back to digest our food?"

Ye Chen turned his head to look at Gu Yuxuan standing on the steps.

Gu Yuxuan put her hands in the pockets of her knitted cardigan, the evening breeze blowing a few strands of hair across her forehead, and she nodded gently.

"Okay, it's only a ten-minute walk back."

The two walked down the steps side by side, strolling leisurely along the sidewalk covered with fallen camphor leaves towards Jiaotong University.

Xuefu Road, which leads from the commercial street to the south gate of Jiaotong University, is lined with plane trees that are quite old.

The daytime temperature was relatively mild, but as soon as night fell, the dampness from the riverbank seeped in with the wind, and the clouds overhead hung low, obscuring even the stars.

Ye Chen walked on the outer side of the road, deliberately slowing his pace by half a beat to accommodate Gu Yuxuan's stride.

The two chatted casually about recent school matters, from elective courses to the headache-inducing pop quizzes. The atmosphere was relaxed and pleasant. Just as they crossed an intersection, a gust of wind carrying the earthy smell swept up fallen leaves and blew them in their faces.

pat.

Large raindrops suddenly pelted the leaves of the sycamore tree.

Before pedestrians could react, the scattered raindrops turned into a dense curtain of rain in three seconds, pouring down and creating a white mist on the road.

College students carrying milk tea on the street screamed and ran away, squeezing into the nearest clothing stores and milk tea shops. There wasn't even a bus stop in the middle of the tree-lined road, which was in the middle of nowhere.

The icy rain hit her face, and Gu Yuxuan subconsciously raised her arm to shield her forehead. Her light gray knitted cardigan was stained with dark water within a few breaths.

Ye Chen, standing beside him, moved with lightning speed. He grabbed the hem of the black hoodie with both hands and pulled it up, deftly taking off his jacket, leaving only a fitted white cotton long-sleeved T-shirt underneath.

He stretched out his arm and placed the oversized black hoodie over their heads, then casually wrapped his left arm around Gu Yuxuan's right shoulder and pulled her into his arms.

"Stay close to me, there's a shop around the corner, run!"

Ye Chen's voice pierced through the sound of the pouring rain and clearly reached Gu Yuxuan's ears.

Gu Yuxuan was pulled to the left by him, her shoulder bumping against his warm chest. Her nose was filled with the clean scent of soap on his body and the lingering warmth of the roasted meat.

Without thinking, she instinctively grabbed the corner of Ye Chen's white T-shirt at his waist with her left hand and jogged forward to keep up with him.

The rain pounded heavily on the fabric of the hoodie overhead, making a dull thud.

After running for more than fifty meters, a general store with dim yellow incandescent lights came into view on the street corner, with a blue and white striped plastic awning more than a meter wide sticking out in front of the door.

Ye Chen protected Gu Yuxuan as they stepped onto the cement steps and stood in the dry area under the eaves.

He then lowered the black hoodie he had been holding above his head, flicked it a couple of times, and the water droplets splattered from the hem of the hoodie into the puddles below the steps.

The space under the awning was narrow, with the roller shutter of a grocery store piled high with beer crates behind it, and torrential rain pouring down in front of it, while passersby kept running over to take shelter from the rain on both sides.

To avoid getting wet from passersby swinging their umbrellas, Ye Chen stepped back half a step, sheltering Gu Yuxuan in the corner between the roller shutter and the shelf, while he himself stood to the side to block the wind.

The two were so close that their foreheads could touch if they just lowered their heads slightly.

Gu Yuxuan loosened her grip on his clothes, her chest rising and falling slightly from the running, and looked up at the person in front of her.

On the way here, Ye Chen had tilted the entire hoodie over her head. Her knitwear was mostly dry except for a little dampness on her shoulders. On the other hand, Ye Chen's white long-sleeved T-shirt on the right shoulder and back was completely soaked by the rain. The semi-transparent cotton fabric clung to her shoulders and back, outlining the smooth and strong lines of her shoulder blades.

A cool breeze swept across the ground, and Ye Chen's fingers, which were resting at his side, clenched slightly.

Looking at his soaked right shoulder, Gu Yuxuan felt a slight pang of tenderness in her heart. She took out a pack of tissues from her canvas bag, pulled out two tissues, and placed her hand on his wet shoulder.

"You just tilted all your clothes towards me... and got yourself soaked."

Her fingers touched his warm skin through the thin, damp T-shirt. Her knuckles paused for a moment, and she glanced away at the beer crate beside her, not daring to look him in the eye. But her hands didn't stop; she gently wiped the water droplets from his shoulders and collarbone.

Ye Chen looked down at her slightly drooping eyelashes and reddened earlobes, and smiled.

"What's a little rain to a grown man like you? But if your clothes get soaked and stick to your body, you'll definitely catch a cold when the wind blows."

The rain showed no signs of letting up, and the raindrops cascaded down the edge of the awning, forming a crystal-clear curtain of water in front of the two of them, completely isolating them from the noise and damp cold outside.

Under the narrow eaves, the air was humid and warm, filled with each other's scent.

Gu Yuxuan gazed at the eaves covered in raindrops. The only sounds she could hear were the patter of rain against the plastic sheeting and Ye Chen's steady breathing. For some reason, a melody she'd listened to countless times on repeat in her headphones suddenly began to play softly in her mind…

The most beautiful thing is not a rainy day, but the eaves where we once sheltered from the rain.

What was originally a chaotic and hasty autumn rain became the most touching moment of the late autumn night because of this small, sheltered eaves and the boy in front of her who shielded her from the wind and rain. She even had a momentary secret desire to hope that the sound of the rain outside would stop slowly.