Ready to Take, Ready to BreakCh4 - Rain of Coincidences

The smell of rain drifts from the window as the pitter-patter of raindrops catches his attention. Pu Li Ming isn’t really sure how else to describe the smell. Wet pavement? Wet leaves? He doesn’t know, probably just describe it as well, wet.
It’s been raining for a few days now. It turned into more of a drizzle this morning, but with the sky steadily growing darker, he thinks it might not be too far-fetched for it to start pouring even more later on. Probably soon by the looks of it, even.
With a sigh he finishes up the last of his lychee jelly pack, ignoring the grumbling of his stomach and the twinge of discomfort from the feeling of it going down his throat.
He snaps out of his daze when the bell rings, signaling the end of classes. With the bustle of the room of students starting to leave, he stands up and starts packing his things as well.
“—like Professor said, using those kinds of materials would be way more sustainable so I don’t see what could be so wrong about that and surely they would see that—”
“—Well some of those said materials are also way more expensive or way more of a hassle to get so the common masses won’t even think about doing it that way—”
Pu Li Ming’s head snaps in the direction of Shang Wenduo and Feng Phan who were deep in some sort of discussion probably relevant to the topic that was discussed just now in their last class.
If only he was as good of a student as they were, honestly.
“What about you, Li Ming?” Shang Wenduo asked.
Pu Li Ming blinked into reality, “Huh?”
Shang Wenduo snickers, “Clearly didn’t hear a single thing we said.”
Feng Phan explained, “We were talking about how viable it was to use alternative more sustainable materials from the common ones. Professor made a comment about it a while ago.”
Oh, that was what the discussion was about. Pu Li Ming thought to himself. Probably should take note of that.
“I may or may not have spaced out through most of the discussion.” He admitted sheepishly.
Shang Wenduo flicked his forehead, making him yelp and rub at the spot, “Dumbass, what are you going to do if the Professor makes an activity or makes us write an essay about it or something?”

We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.

Pu Li Ming can only frown in response.
“Lbk jybea j raevs rfrrlbc ja ws jqjgawfca?” Mfcu Utjc reuufrar.
“Uifjrf, atja kbeiv yf nfgs jqqgfmljafv. P jirb cffv rbwf jrrlrajcmf klat ws yglvuf qgbpfma. P tjnf jc lvfj atja P kjccj ags, yea P cffv jcbatfg rfa bo tjcvr ab lwqifwfca la.” Vtjcu Qfcveb rlutr.
“P’v yf tjqqs ab tfiq sbe klat atja.” Mfcu Utjc rjsr klat j rwlif.
“Oh, sorry guys. Mom wants me back home early…” Pu Li Ming says.
“What for?” Feng Phan asks, with a curious tilt of his head.
He explained, “For dinner, she said.”
“Ahh,” Feng Phan muttered, “Alrighty then, tell Auntie I said hi, yes?”
“I will—”
Shang Wenduo cut Pu Li Ming off, “—And tell her not to let you go before you get at least a cup of rice in you.”
With a huff and a roll of his eyes, “Yes. And no.”
“Well be careful with the rain, Li Ming!” Feng Phan warns. “You know how dangerous it is to drive in bad weather!”
“I will, I will!” Pu Li Ming insists.
Without missing a beat, Shang Wenduo crows right after, “Don’t forget your umbrella, dear!” And starts waving his hand like a Western woman saying goodbye to her husband as he goes off to the war. Feng Phan smacks him lightly on the arm, making him help.
Pu Li Ming throws her hands in the air in exasperation, “I’m leaving now! See you two never!” He says before leaving in brisk steps.
“Bye!!!” Feng Phan shouts back and waves while Wenduo laughs beside him.
Shaking his head, Pu Li Ming slows down his steps a few ways ahead.
Once he reaches the parking lot area, he looks overhead at where the roof ends and the sky starts together with the faint shimmer of rain droplets drizzling from overhead.
He tugs his sling bag over one raised knee, balancing on what foot while he riffles through it.
Great, he completely forgot where he put his umbrella. Maybe he left it at home?
With a sigh, he closes his sling bag, zips it tight, raises it over his head, and starts running.
As soon as he gets to his car, he reaches into his pocket to quickly open the driver’s side. He still ended up slightly damp when he got inside and closed the car door.
He tries drying himself a little with a face towel he may have forgotten about in his car months ago, it doesn’t do much but he guesses it’ll do for now.
So he starts the car, turns on the wipers, and starts driving.
With bad timing, the rain picks up even more before he could arrive home.
Pu Li Ming’s face scrunches up in displeasure, with a small hint of anxious worry, as he slows his driving from the obstruction of his view from the rain.
Thankfully, he was about a little past halfway there.
And of course, because the world just seemed to hate him (especially today in particular), his car started to make a weird clunky noise.
“Oh no…” He muttered to himself, “Please no…”
But it was no use, he knew for sure that his car’s about to get complications in a bit.
And just like that, he turns on his hazards and goes to the side once the car slowly stops going as fast as it should be.
Eventually, it slowed to a full stop.
Pu Li Ming stared at his car’s dashboard in complete silence.
“…”
“…AHH—” he lets out a short frustrated yell before almost slamming his head on the steering wheel, making the car let out a short beep.
He whimpered to himself and squeezed his eyes shut.
After a few minutes, he straightens back up, runs his hand over his face, and then goes out into the rain again, this time not caring about getting wet.
He runs around the car towards the trunk to get his toolbox. It didn’t have the complete equipment he may need, but for now, he hoped it would be good enough.
He comes up to the hood of the car and pops it open. He tries to see through the rain and squints his eyes to keep dripping water out of them.
Just when he’s starting to think it would be a lost cause, a hand grabs onto the hood.
“Close it. Can’t do anything about it anymore…”
With that, Pu Li Ming hurriedly backs up. Both in surprise and from the words.
Suddenly, he’s not getting any raindrops on him.
Then the hand easily pushes the lid down and closes with just one hand.
“…at least not in the rain.”
He looks up at the umbrella over his head, then slowly follows the am holding the handle to the owner.
And Pu Li Ming’s black lychee eyes meet cool mesmerizing brown.
…those eyes. r6DyxE

Story translated by Chrysanthemum Garden.