Chapter 81 In the Rain, Under the Umbrella

Chapter 81: In the Rain, Beneath the Umbrella

Lin Haoda and Pei Mingyi had known each other for a long time.

About five or six years ago, Pei Mingyi's sister got married and rented out an entire island, hiring Lin Haoda's company to handle the wedding planning. Ordinarily, this kind of free vacation wouldn't have fallen to Lin Haoda, but a female colleague's due date came early, so he was rushed in at the last minute to fill the gap.

Lin Haoda wasn't senior enough to have a say, and he had no pressing duties. Each day, aside from checking inventory, he mostly ran errands for the guests. As time passed, he gradually noticed the bride's younger brother—Pei Mingyi.

Back then, Pei Mingyi had just undergone surgery and hadn't fully recovered. He was constantly accompanied by an assistant. Whenever Lin Haoda ran into them, he would see the assistant pull a pill bottle out of a bag and hand it to him. Though Pei Mingyi had flown to the island to recover, he was closely watched, confined to his room all day—more like being monitored.

Lin Haoda brought the schedule to discuss wedding arrangements with him. The assistant had stepped away briefly, leaving just the two of them in the room. Pei Mingyi sat silently in his wheelchair, gazing out at the sea, then suddenly turned to Lin Haoda and asked, "Could you possibly push me to the beach?"

Lin Haoda hesitated, but since Pei Mingyi was technically one of his clients, he eventually agreed. He carefully maneuvered the wheelchair past everyone to a deserted stretch of beach.

Pei Mingyi had been indoors for so long that his skin was paler than usual. When he stood up from the wheelchair, Lin Haoda's eyes inadvertently fell on the back of his hand, where bluish veins were starkly visible. He quickly looked away, feeling a pang of sympathy.

Waves crashed onto the shore, foam breaking at their feet. Seagulls flew low in the distance. Pei Mingyi quietly basked in the sun without making any further requests.

Lin Haoda wheeled him back to the room, luckily without the assistant noticing. The next day and the day after followed the same routine. Every afternoon, Lin Haoda would knock on his door, and no one found it strange, since the Pei siblings were close, and there were many parts of the wedding that required Pei Mingyi's participation.

Lin Haoda was soft-hearted and considered it a good deed. As Pei Mingyi grew more familiar with him, he'd occasionally strike up a conversation. But Lin Haoda wasn't good at socializing, so he struggled to respond appropriately. Besides, Pei Mingyi's life was too different from his—it was like they lived in two separate worlds.

Pei Mingyi told him a lot about himself—how he got injured, his previous career—but Lin Haoda wasn't interested in sports and had never heard of Formula 1 racing. He only thought it seemed like a dangerous sport.

On the fifth day, at dusk, he was wheeling Pei Mingyi back to the room when they were caught red-handed by the furious assistant. Lin Haoda couldn't defend himself and didn't try to shift the blame. He honestly admitted his mistake, was chewed out by his boss, and was taken off that assignment.

On the seventh day, the wedding took place as planned. It rained briefly in the morning, then cleared up, and the island was bathed in bright sunlight with a turquoise sea.

The ceremony went smoothly, but Pei Mingyi was absent. Curious, Lin Haoda asked a colleague privately, who told him that Mr. Pei refused to cooperate and they couldn't handle him, so they just left him alone in the hotel.

Worried, Lin Haoda quietly returned to the hotel. Just as he was about to knock on Pei Mingyi's door, he noticed it was ajar. He pushed it open and saw Pei Mingyi had somehow fallen from the wheelchair, face down on the carpet, fingers curled, eyes tightly shut, gasping in pain.

Lin Haoda quickly cradled his head on his lap and gently patted the side of his neck. "Mr. Pei! Are you okay? Where does it hurt?"

Pei Mingyi gasped raggedly and barely managed to say, "An... allergy..."

Lin Haoda noticed the red marks on his wrists. Rolling up Pei Mingyi's sleeve, he saw large red welts spreading across his skin. He looked around and found a glass that had been knocked over at the foot of the bed, with traces of juice left in it.

Lin Haoda picked it up and sniffed it, then turned to Pei Mingyi: "Are you allergic to peaches?"

There was a clinic on the east side of the island. Lin Haoda had gone there two days earlier for headache medicine and found the doctor was just average—okay for basic chronic pain meds, but not for emergencies.

Because of the ceremony, the hotel was nearly empty. Lin Haoda wheeled Pei Mingyi to the front desk and asked the staff to call the city hospital. They said it would take at least an hour for someone to arrive, so he gave up on that hope and, with Pei Mingyi already semiconscious, headed for the pier.

Several speedboats were moored at the dock. Lin Haoda grabbed a local and, using gestures and broken phrases, took out twenty bucks from his pocket to signal him to get on the boat and start the engine.

The wheelchair couldn't be brought onto the boat, and there was no one else to help carry Pei Mingyi aboard. In a burst of unexpected strength, Lin Haoda gritted his teeth, hoisted the unconscious Pei Mingyi onto his back, and staggered onto the speedboat.

Following the shortest route, they sped for over twenty minutes before reaching the main island where the capital was.

Pei Mingyi was lifted onto a stretcher and pushed into the emergency room. Lin Haoda stood outside, watching the red light flick on. Only then did he realize his legs were giving out and his hands were shaking.

He felt for his phone in his pocket and found it was missing. Still hoping to find it, he headed for the door and borrowed a phone from a security guard to make a call.

Pei Mingyi's family and assistant rushed over in the afternoon. The bride's veil was still on, its hem stained with mud, crumpled into a ball. The surgery had already gone smoothly. A group of people, faces pale with shock, rushed into the ICU, sobbing as they crowded around the bed.

Lin Haoda's return flight was scheduled for the next morning. He didn't stay long at the city hospital. Instead, he bought a one-dollar ferry ticket and slowly took the public ferry back to the island.

Until he left the island the next day, Lin Haoda had no idea how Pei Mingyi was—whether he had woken up or would suffer any lasting effects. For a while, he often blamed himself: if only he had discovered it sooner, Pei Mingyi wouldn't have been alone in that room, suffering alone in despair.

About two weeks later, a commendation banner showed up at the office, and everyone who had gone to the island received a five-hundred-yuan bonus. Though no reason was given, Lin Haoda's worries were finally put to rest, and he guessed that Pei Mingyi had recovered well.

He never imagined they would meet again. He quickly changed his number and was transferred to a branch office. What he didn't know was that Pei Mingyi had been searching for him for a long time. Lin Haoda never saw any of that coming.

Lin Haoda rubbed his eyes and woke up to the warm blast of the car's heater.

Pei Mingyi was in the driver's seat beside him. Seeing him awake, he handed over a carton of milk that was still warm and asked gently, "Did you sleep well? We'll be there in ten minutes."

Lin Haoda had gotten up early today and was catching a ride with Pei Mingyi to the hotel. Traffic was heavy—a stretch of just a few hundred meters had taken nearly twenty minutes, stopping and starting.

Lin Haoda took the milk and poked the straw through the foil top. "I think I just dreamed about you."

Pei Mingyi kept one hand on the wheel and turned to smile at him. "Was it a good dream?"

"After I left that island, were you looking for me the whole time?"

"Yes, after I was discharged." Pei Mingyi thought for a moment and told him, "The swelling in my throat damaged my vocal cords. I couldn't speak for about half a month. I didn't know your phone number or your position, and my sister soon moved to Finland to settle down."

He paused, his voice dropping slightly: "Back then, I kept thinking of one phrase."

Lin Haoda turned to look at him. "What?"

"...Looking for a needle in a haystack."

A raindrop hit the glass. Lin Haoda looked up at the tall skyscrapers outside. Gray leaden clouds hung low over the rooftops, and raindrops fell like transparent prisms, reflecting the damp, dimly lit streets and people outside.

As they got out of the car, Pei Mingyi reminded him to take an umbrella. Lin Haoda thought for a moment, then closed the door, turned back, and bent down to look at him through the window. "I'll be off work at ten-thirty tonight. Can you pick me up?"

Lin Haoda walked into the lobby and spotted Tong Dong and Xiao Ming standing on the stairs, arms crossed, staring at him as if checking him out.

"What?" Lin Haoda pinned on his name badge as he walked over, putting on his group leader act. "All the work done? Why are you loafing around here?"

Tong Dong curled her lips and gave a smirk, calling him "Boss." "We just saw you getting out of a Cayenne. What's going on?"

Xiao Ming cleared her throat and chimed in, "Looks like it's not a new relationship—more like an old flame becoming official, huh?"

"Nonsense." Lin Haoda choked on his words and squeezed past them. "I don't know what you're talking about."

Tong Dong clattered after him, grinning. "Congratulations, Group Leader!" Xiao Ming, somehow led astray, pleaded from behind: "Brother Haoda, I wanna eat lobster again."

Lin Haoda pursed his lips, brushed them off, and headed straight for the second floor.

As Lin Haoda had expected, because the first floor was hosting a gaming forum, the crowd on the second floor had more than doubled, including many conspicuous anime cosplayers. Lin Haoda had the workers move the couple's photo wall out a bit more and asked the hotel to put two staff members at the entrance to guide people on the first floor.

Fortunately, the bride was also into anime and gaming, so she understood the venue change and was willing to move the wedding to the second floor.

Lin Haoda and his team worked through the morning. After the ceremony started smoothly at noon, he finally caught his breath.

He sent a message in the group, asking Tong Dong and Xiao Ming if they had eaten lunch and to come relieve him. After waiting five minutes with no reply, Xiao Ye eventually came to find him.

Lin Haoda held his boxed lunch and asked, "Where are those two?"

Xiao Ye answered honestly: "They sneaked into the gaming expo. I heard the organizer invited the game's creative team."

Lin Haoda was about to ask more when a commotion erupted downstairs. Standing on the second-floor circular terrace, he leaned over the railing and saw people swarming all at once. The scene was chaotic, with security struggling to keep order, and camera flashes flickering nonstop.

Lin Haoda quickly looked away, momentarily blinded, thinking a celebrity must have arrived. He asked Xiao Ye, but Xiao Ye shook his head, saying he didn't know.

After the lunch banquet, Tong Dong came back with Xiao Ming, each carrying two giant cartoon plushies, looking thoroughly satisfied.

Lin Haoda poked the plush toy’s head and asked, “Is it fun?”

Tong Dong’s eyes instantly lit up with excitement. “I finally got to see my idol!”

“Which celebrity?” Lin Haoda asked, a bit curious. “I couldn’t find anything online just now.”

“Not a celebrity.” Xiao Ming gulped down some herbal tea, finally calming down. “We met the production team of Qiming Star.”

Lin Haoda realized that Qiming Star was probably that popular game everyone’s been talking about lately.

He hadn’t played it and wasn’t interested, so he just said, “Okay,” and didn’t bother asking more.

“So handsome! Really handsome!” Tong Dong’s eyes glazed over as she muttered to herself, “I wonder if he's a producer or from the publisher…”

Lin Haoda and Xiao Ming exchanged a silent glance, neither saying a word.

“The game’s actually pretty fun.” Xiao Ming finally pulled out a card and handed it to him. “Brother Haoda, give it a try when you have time. We’re short on a healer.”

Lin Haoda took the oddly shaped card, designed like a purple star. Flipping it over, he saw a QR code on the back with a line of small text beneath it: Welcome to give it a try.

He nodded, said “Okay,” and casually slipped the card into his pocket.

This little incident didn’t stick in his mind.

Night had fallen, and the setup team had finally packed up. Lin Haoda always stayed until the end, signing off on the checklist and watching the truck leave before clocking out.

The hotel was still brightly lit, but the crowd had thinned, as if the daytime bustle had never happened.

Lin Haoda walked through the porch and waited by the roadside in front of the hotel. The weather was freezing, with freezing rain—tiny, icy pellets like crystals settling into his hair. The night was deep, and the city lights pierced through the clouds, like reflections of a celestial palace.

Wrapped in his coat, Lin Haoda called Pei Mingyi while checking the time. The phone rang several times, but no one answered.

It was past 10:30. Remembering the time he’d agreed on with Pei Mingyi that morning, Lin Haoda instinctively looked around—maybe he was already here?

There weren’t many cars parked outside the hotel, aside from a few taxis with lit signs, only a black sedan parked on the left.

The light was too dim; the car’s body nearly blended into the night.

Hesitantly, Lin Haoda walked toward it. The car’s interior lights were off, with someone in the driver’s seat. He circled to the front to check the license plate, vaguely recalling it, and thought it might be Pei Mingyi.

As he pulled open the door, the dome light slowly came on. Lin Haoda stood by the passenger side and looked up to face the driver’s seat.

A face he didn’t recognize. Lin Haoda blinked, quickly realized his mistake, and backed away, his leg bumping the door. “Sorry, sorry! I mistook you for someone else. I didn’t mean to get into your car.”

The young man in the driver’s seat paused for a moment, then quickly waved his hand and softly said it was fine.

Lin Haoda noticed he was wearing gloves and figured he might be a driver. Instinctively, he turned to glance at the back seat, but just then his phone buzzed in his pocket. He pulled it out—it was Pei Mingyi.

His train of thought broken, and without time to apologize further to the car owner, Lin Haoda hurriedly closed the door. His gaze paused on the dark-tinted rear window for two seconds before he turned and walked into the freezing rain.

Strangely enough, the moment Lin Haoda opened the car door, before the cold wind could sweep in, Guan Junshan in the back seat woke up first.

He caught a faint scent of perfume, mixed with the same hotel fragrance from his own coat. In the dim glow of the dome light, he heard Lin Haoda’s voice.

At first, he thought it was a dream. Guan Junshan froze, but after Lin Haoda closed the door and left, he eagerly rolled down the window.

The early winter wind, mixed with icy pellets, hit his face, bringing a faint, raw sting. Guan Junshan sat there motionless, his gaze following the faint figure under the streetlight until it reached another car.

Lin Haoda stopped by Pei Mingyi’s car. He didn’t get in right away but bent down to knock on the window, poking his head in to say something.

The next second, Pei Mingyi got out with an umbrella. The wind was strong, and in the pitch-black night, Guan Junshan watched him lean considerately toward Lin Haoda, shielding him from the wind and rain overhead.

Guan Junshan stared at them, his lips quickly turning blue and numb from the cold.

His heart began to race uncontrollably, thumping, thumping, thudding in his chest and eardrums, burning every inch of his flesh and blood, causing him pain.

From not too far away, he saw Lin Haoda raise his hand and point from a distance in his direction.

Guan Junshan wasn’t sure if Lin Haoda had seen him.

He instinctively leaned back into his seat, letting the shadow cast by the streetlight awkwardly cover the lower half of his handsome face.

Before he could catch his breath, regret set in.

Because he saw Lin Haoda smiling. Under another man’s umbrella, the warm, gentle smile in Lin Haoda’s eyes, through the memory of time, was like a light, nimble dagger—lightly and slowly, precisely cutting open Guan Junshan’s heart.

It was raining outside, and his heart was gradually losing warmth, spilling out pain that no one noticed.

Mixed with a persistent, restless longing.