Chapter 25: Second Movie Class, Holding an Umbrella in the Night Rain

Chapter 25: The Second Film Class – Night Rain Under an Umbrella

Ten minutes later, Jiang Yanche walked out of the activity room with his hands in his pockets, his face stormy.

Qi Heyin glanced back at him, fighting back a laugh as her lips curled slightly.

"Go ahead, laugh if you want..." Jiang Yanche shot her a look and said expressionlessly, "I’ve been coerced. My spotless reputation at Faro [School/University] is about to be ruined."

Qi Heyin thought for a moment and asked bluntly, "Does your cousin have something on you?"

Jiang Yanche’s cheeks puffed out, and he turned his face away angrily. "Hmph!"

Qi Heyin: "?" What does 'hmph' mean?

So that’s a yes...

She hadn’t expected Jiang Yanche to actually agree to the president’s demand—wearing a maid outfit to serve guests during the club’s festival event.

This usually arrogant and carefree young master didn’t seem like the type who would willingly lower himself to serve others, let alone cross-dress and become the center of an unusual spectacle.

After all, in the original novel’s plot, these top-tier Celestial Nobles male leads had always held themselves above everyone else from start to finish. They stood high above, disdaining to participate in such "beneath their dignity" group activities.

Thinking about it, Qi Heyin suddenly felt a bit of admiration for the club president. She wondered what kind of leverage the president had over Jiang Yanche to rope him into this, despite his obvious reluctance.

"Everyone’s so hypocritical. Just now, they were saying it’s too cold for girls to wear skirts in this weather, but now they’re all making me wear one... Does changing genders suddenly make me immune to the cold? Why? Why?"

"When that day comes, I’m banning the entire FF forum and deleting every post without mercy! Anyone who dares to secretly share my photos or gossip about me will have me personally knocking on their door, heh..."

"Am I the only male server? That’s too few, way too few. I demand more male servers join this event—at the very least, Chen Shuo and the others from our class have to come with me!"

Jiang Yanche continued grumbling indignantly, insisting that the president add a few more unwilling participants to share his humiliation.

In the end, the president coldly rejected him with the excuse, "Only club members can participate."

Hearing this, he gave a small pout, his pink bangs limp over his forehead, looking utterly heartbroken.

Naturally, Qi Heyin would also be participating in the Reading Club’s school festival event. Since the idea of wearing butler outfits had originally been her suggestion, and it had been accepted, she had every reason to join in and prepare alongside everyone else.

Over the past few days, in the online group chats of her other two clubs—the Art Club and the Go Club—discussions about the school festival activities had also taken place. However, the plans and participants for those clubs had long been decided, so she hadn’t been involved.

Thus, for this school festival, Qi Heyin only needed to focus wholeheartedly on her role in the Reading Club’s exhibition area.

Tuesday passed quickly, and before she knew it, it was already 7 PM.

The class bell rang. As usual, Qi Heyin sat in the classroom for the course titled *Imperial Classic Films and Art Appreciation*, gazing at the large projection screen at the front of the lecture hall, waiting for the professor to select this week’s film.

This week, it seemed nearly all her classmates had shown up—the room was packed, an unusually full house.

Qi Heyin was running late and had no choice but to take a seat near the back, in a somewhat out-of-the-way spot with a poor view.

Over the past two days, she had suddenly become a school celebrity, drawing stares wherever she went. Though most of these looks weren’t malicious, just how intense they were still made her uncomfortable.

Not wanting to cause more attention today, Qi Heyin had deliberately worn a mask before class, pulled her knit cap low over her head, and slipped in unnoticed from the back while swamped in an oversized coat.

As she entered, she heard some students in the front rows craning their necks and whispering, buzzing with chatter, as if searching for someone.

Some were saying her name, while others were asking, "Has Young Master Ji arrived yet?"

They didn't seem to notice she'd slipped in unnoticed.

Qi Heyin exhaled softly in relief.

She'd known from the start that most classmates today were just here to gawk...

Just then, the teacher at the podium finally selected a movie and clicked play.

The classroom lights slowly faded, and a tall figure materialized at the back of the room. He paused by the aisle not far from Qi Heyin before ultimately choosing to sit down beside her.

The faint scrape of a chair reached her. Realizing someone had suddenly taken the seat next to her, Qi Heyin instinctively glanced sideways.

The dim lighting left only vague shapes, but she could vaguely make out a hooded figure in black—seemingly a boy.

After sitting down, the boy turned his head and looked at her quietly.

Just then, a flicker of white light from the screen caught half his face.

The boy was also wearing a mask—a black one.

The oversized hood shadowed his eyebrows and most of his forehead.

Only his eyes were visible.

They were strikingly unique—one red and one black, with a peach-blossom curve, slightly upturned at the outer corners, luminous and captivating. Beneath the red eye was a faint red teardrop mole.

Those eyes were so distinctive that Qi Heyin recognized their owner almost instantly.

"Ji Ningye?" Qi Heyin murmured, meeting his gaze.

The hooded figure hesitated briefly before giving a slight nod.

He glanced around, then silently reached up to adjust his mask, pulling it higher.

Even now, sitting openly beside her in public still required no small courage.

Seeing Ji Ningye even more covered up than she was, Qi Heyin didn’t think he was trying to avoid attention.

Unlike her, he'd long since grown used to such gazes in the academy.

Recalling what had happened at Yunxin’s birthday banquet the previous Saturday, Qi Heyin figured Ji Ningye was covering up the wounds on his face.

After all, in the original story, this young master—whose beauty surpassed even that of women—was obsessively protective of his looks.

Thinking this, Qi Heyin asked offhand about his injury, "Has your wound healed any better now?"

Ji Ningye murmured 'Mhm,' lowering his voice as he added, "Almost."

Qi Heyin nodded.

They'd never interacted much, and with this matter settled, she was out of things to say.

So she offered him a faint smile before turning back to the movie playing on the screen.

Today’s film was some artsy film called Constellations, exploring big questions about the universe and human existence.

As before, Ji Ningye watched for a short while but quickly found the film tedious—its narrative drawn-out and dull, its cinematography obscure and pretentious, everything he hated about pretentious art films.

Compared to the last film *Unrequited Love*, which had a fresh and sweet style that pleasantly surprised him, this movie wasn't his thing at all.

He probably wouldn't be able to focus this time. Maybe the reason he immersed himself last time was simply because he resonated with the protagonist of *Unrequited Love*...

Ji Ningye soon found himself fighting back a yawn. Just as he was about to let it out, he remembered the girl sitting beside him and forced himself to stop.

He quietly turned to look at her, only to find that Qi Heyin also seemed somewhat distracted, her gaze downcast, expression calm, lost in thought.

Great - she wasn't into this either.

Ji Ningye sighed in relief and let the yawn out.

Two hours of zoning out and fighting sleep dragged by.

At nine o’clock, the bell signaling the end of class rang on time.

Qi Heyin quickly packed her bag, grabbed her communicator and stood up, then turned to Ji Ningye.

"I’ll head out first," she said, waving politely at him. "Bye."

"Mm, bye," Ji Ningye replied, giving her a small smile as he watched her face.

Qi Heyin hurried out of the building and made her way toward the school gate.

Along the way, a cold night breeze hit her. Her nose twitched, catching a faint dampness in the cool air.

Suddenly, she remembered the weather forecast she’d seen before leaving home—it was supposed to rain tonight.

Instinctively, Qi Heyin stopped and dug through her bag for an umbrella.

...Nothing.

She'd probably left it in the lounge earlier when she went to study in the administrative building.

Luckily, she was already close to the school gate, and her ride should have arrived by now. The rain hadn’t started yet.

Qi Heyin picked up speed heading for the gate.

Just as she reached it, her driver called saying the car had broken down on the way.

"Maybe you should wait somewhere on campus for now. I'll get the butler to send another car to pick you up," he suggested.

Qi Heyin silently sighed.

She glanced at her watch—it was past nine already. Waiting for another car to come from home would likely take over an hour.

"Hold on, don’t call for a car yet... Let me think," she murmured.

Farrow Academy was located in the western suburbs of the capital, a sparsely populated area where catching a cab home wasn't happening. Moreover, since most students were from aristocratic families with personal drivers, barely anyone took cabs for commuting, and cab drivers rarely waited around for business here.

However... Qi Heyin recalled a bus stop just for scholarship students not far from the school gate. One line went right by the villa district where her home was.

"No need to send another car. It's getting late—I’ll just take the school bus back," she said into the communicator. "Just meet me at the bus stop outside the villa area."

There was a pause before the driver then finally said okay.

Putting down the communicator, Qi Heyin suddenly felt a faint cool sensation on her face.

Then, raindrops pattered around her.

Of course the rain would start right now.

Bad luck just keeps piling up...

Qi Heyin raised her head and squinted through the rain at the bus stop a few hundred meters away.

She tightened her grip on her backpack, took a deep breath, and got ready to make a run for it through the rain.

Just then, a tall shadow appeared above her.

"Why didn't you bring an umbrella?" A calm voice cut through the rain.

Qi Heyin turned her head and saw Ji Ningye standing beside her, walking a silver-blue motorcycle.

A black backpack with its zipper open hung on the motorcycle. The man lowered his head, took out an umbrella from the backpack, opened it, and held it out to her.

Noticing her damp hair, he frowned and asked, "Didn’t your family come to pick you up?"