Chapter 99: Chapter 94: One Umbrella Is Enough

A black umbrella, a black raincoat, a gaze like a torch, and a voice like a lion’s roar.

"Slow down!"

At the harsh shout, the boy who had been brazenly pushing through the crowd immediately slowed his pace.

He was afraid that if he went any faster, that black umbrella would come crashing down on his neck.

Shen Yuan held Li Zhi’s hand right under the discipline teacher’s nose, and he could clearly feel their clasped hands getting wet.

It wasn’t from nervous sweat, but from the rain.

The umbrellas formed a dense canopy, and every so often, another would jostle against theirs.

Rainwater would then slide right off and pour down between them.

It landed on their hands, soaking them.

But soon, Shen Yuan felt another hand grasp his.

Just like that morning, Li Zhi held on to Shen Yuan tightly.

Shen Yuan gave a tug, pulling Li Zhi closer to his side. He then tilted the umbrella slightly, making sure she was completely covered.

"Hey, make sure you don’t get wet."

"It’s fine. My hair is already wet, anyway."

Hearing Shen Yuan, Li Zhi looked completely exasperated.

"Seriously, you’d better watch out or you’ll start growing mushrooms on your head!"

"If you’re so worried about me, then walk faster. You’re being so slow. Are you trying to get my clothes soaked through, too?"

Li Zhi’s eyes flew wide. "You think I’m slow? Why don’t you just fly then?"

"I’m holding an umbrella, aren’t I? I can’t fly."

The words had barely left his mouth when Li Zhi gave him a swat.

Wincing, Shen Yuan threatened, "Hey! Hit me again and see if I don’t give you a public demonstration of the most aerodynamic way to hold an umbrella!"

"Huh?"

Li Zhi didn’t get it at first.

But when she saw Shen Yuan move his hand to the button to collapse the umbrella, she instantly understood.

’The most aerodynamic way to hold an umbrella, my ass.’

"You’d better hold that umbrella properly!"

No sooner had Li Zhi spoken than the discipline teacher’s lion-like roar echoed out again.

Startled, they both flinched and fell silent.

The moment their eyes met, Shen Yuan and Li Zhi snorted with laughter.

"What are you laughing at? Let’s go, I’m hungry."

"Alright, alright."

Once they reached the cafeteria, Shen Yuan pulled a plastic bag he’d borrowed from Li Haotian out of his pocket.

’You know, these things are actually really useful.’

Plastic bags are one of those things you don’t appreciate when you’re young. But once you get a little older—you don’t even have to be in your thirties or forties—you start naturally saving any plastic bags you find, just in case you need one for trash.

It’s so much more convenient than grabbing a whole new trash bag from the roll.

Shen Yuan stuffed his raincoat into the plastic bag. He’d need it again for the trip back.

...

"They say the path of scholarship is difficult, but I never expected the path to a meal to be so hard, too."

Eldest Female Cousin sat on the teacher’s podium in Class 15, holding a cup of instant noodles. She looked down at the steaming contents, took a loud slurp of noodles, and followed it with a swig of Coke.

"Tsk, ahhh—"

Over Eldest Female Cousin’s sounds of satisfaction, Shen Yuan’s voice cut in.

"Hard, my ass! Aren’t I the one who had it hard?"

Shen Yuan protested, "All you had to do was wait in the office to eat your instant noodles! What about me? I had to walk all the way here in the pouring rain!"

Yang Yishui shot Shen Yuan a disdainful look. "As if you’re the one who paid for that bag of food."

Shen Yuan craned his neck, switching his line of attack. "Well, then why’d you come to the classroom to eat?"

"The office would get too smelly."

"And the classroom won’t? Old Zhou said we’re not allowed to eat instant noodles in the classroom."

"Old Zhou was talking about you students, not me. I’m a teacher," Eldest Female Cousin said, full of righteous conviction.

Shen Yuan’s mouth twitched.

’Damn it, is that what they call exploiting a loophole?’

’Someone ban her account.’

Fuming, Shen Yuan grabbed the hairdryer and aimed a blast of hot air at Eldest Female Cousin’s face.

"Hey, hey, hey! Is this any way to use the hairdryer I lent you, you dumbass?"

The sound of the hairdryer echoed through Class 15 right up until the bell for the afternoon nap.

After a food run in that rain, the only person in all of Jiyang Middle School who could have kept their hair dry was the vice principal.

The vice principal was bald.

Seeing this bunch of dumbasses with their soaking wet hair, Eldest Female Cousin let the whole class use the hairdryer she had originally only lent to Shen Yuan.

It was no wonder Yang Yishui was so popular in Class 15.

That evening, perhaps because the lingering aroma of Yang Yishui’s instant noodles from lunchtime had made everyone crave them, half of Class 15 ended up staying behind to eat instant noodles!

So there they were, a whole group of them, all just looking at each other in bewilderment.

"Fuck, so everyone thought they’d be one of the only ones staying behind for noodles, huh!"

Ah Jie’s voice rang out, and the whole class burst into laughter.

However, with so many people eating instant noodles, the water dispenser in Class 15 ran out of hot water.

Even after pooling the resources from the water dispensers in Class 13 and Class 14 next door, there still wasn’t enough hot water.

In the end, it was Shen Yuan who led a raid on the teachers’ office to "borrow" Eldest Female Cousin’s electric kettle, finally solving Class 15’s dinner crisis.

Just before the evening self-study session began, Old Zhou returned to the office after finishing his own dinner. He was planning to boil some water to ward off the chill when he found that his electric kettle was gone.

"What the fuck? Where’s my kettle?"

Apparently, one electric kettle hadn’t been enough to solve Class 15’s dinner problem.