Note: This chapter is Redone on 7 / 27 / 2025
Link for character illustration:
https://ko-fi.com/hannibal52661/gallery
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Volume 1 Chapter 30: Rain
The sky suddenly turned gloomy. The sweltering sunlight was blocked by thick clouds, and the wind began to stir restlessly.
Ning Chu instinctively looked up. The heavy black clouds were gathering at a speed visible to the naked eye, until there was no trace of sunlight left in the sky.
Perfect~
Following the instructor's commands, he marched in step with the others, nearly moved to tears.
The entire first week of military training had been nothing but blazing sunshine, torturing him to the brink of collapse—finally, today brought rain.
A cool droplet landed on his forehead, then another on his cheek. Raindrops began to fall in scattered taps, making the students stir restlessly, though the instructors quickly shouted them back into line.
Even if it didn't rain heavily, at least they wouldn't be training under the sun.
In less than ten minutes, the drizzle became a steady curtain of rain, forcing a temporary halt to training. The students were herded under the trees for shelter.
"If it gets heavier, we won't have to train at all, right?" Wang Jie was clearly the happiest of them all. Sitting cross-legged on the ground, he looked up at the cloud-covered sky with hopeful eyes. "Let it rain for five days and five nights! That'll be the whole week off!"
"Wouldn't they just make it up later?" Ning Chu sat on the circular flowerbed beneath the tree, though his voice still betrayed his joy.
Wen Yang came back with bread and bottled water—the snacks Han Jingye had prepared for the students—and plopped down beside Ning Chu. Before Ning Chu could say anything, a girl shyly stepped forward, face bright red, and handed Wen Yang a thermos.
"I– I made sour plum juice."
"Uh…"
Before Wen Yang could refuse, the thermos was shoved into his hands. The girl bolted back to the group of girls, where she was instantly surrounded by her friends, all teasing and praising her courage.
"Must be nice~ Having a girl make you sour plum juice by hand."
Ning Chu's tone was sour enough to curdle milk. The jealousy was practically spilling out.
Why wasn't he the one who got to be the protagonist? He was the one who wrote the novel, yet somehow he ended up as one of the conquerable characters destined to be devoured by the protagonist!
If he had been the protagonist, he wouldn't be resisting the plot like this. After all, when he'd written it, he'd imagined himself in Wen Yang's shoes, treating the main character as his own self-insert.
"Want some?" Wen Yang smiled, offering the thermos to him.
"It's from a girl who likes you~" Ning Chu's mocking tone made Wen Yang awkward.
"I'm not really a fan of sour plum juice."
"If you're not drinking, I will." Zhang Shaoqing appeared out of nowhere, snatched the thermos, and downed half of it in one go. "Burp!"
Ning Chu gave him a look of pure disdain.
Scum.
The wind across the field grew stronger, whipping their clothes and making them snap loudly. Someone's hat blew off and tumbled across the track, disappearing into the bushes at the edge of the field.
Unfortunately, the girls on the field were all in training uniforms—not the short skirts you'd see in the JP romcom.
Ning Chu pressed his own hat down firmly.
The circular flowerbed was packed with students. Wen Yang and Zhang Shaoqing were pushed closer and closer toward the center, until Ning Chu, trapped between them, felt his space shrinking. Soon, both his shoulders were pressed against theirs.
Great. Now he was stuck in a "sandwich of men" before the plot even called for it.
He stood up to make room for others.
Seeing he had nowhere to sit, Wen Yang patted his thigh, motioning for him to sit down.
"Tch!" Ning Chu turned away in disdain.
Even if he was still a full-fledged man, he had zero interest in any kind of close physical contact with either the protagonist or the villain. No putting arms around shoulders, and definitely no sitting in someone's lap.
Rainwater began to drip through the thick branches overhead, landing on the students huddled beneath.
One of the instructors pulled out his phone to check with his superiors. Moments later, he raised his voice and announced—
"Military training is suspended!"
"Woohoo!"
As the students erupted in cheers, the instructor's expression didn't change as he continued, "Half an hour from now, I'll be conducting a dormitory hygiene and safety inspection together with your school leaders! Any dorms that fail will run five laps tomorrow."
"Boo~"
"Dismissed!"
Because of the rain, the hygiene inspection had been moved up.
Just thinking about the messy state of his dorm gave Ning Chu a headache. The only time it had been cleaned was on the first day of school; after that, not a soul had willingly swept the floor for weeks.
Yet somehow, mysteriously, there was never any actual trash visible on the floor.
"Let's go, let's go, time to clean up!"
"Hey, does my hair dryer count as a high-power appliance? Damn! It won't get confiscated, will it?"
The students chattered noisily, leaving in small groups toward the dorm building.
"Let's go too," Wen Yang said, stretching lazily. "By the way, where's that girl? I still have her thermos."
"She's over there sneaking glances at you," Zhang Shaoqing said, pointing at a girl not far away, teasing, "Says she's here to get the thermos back, but really she wants your WeChat. Gotta lay the groundwork for those future nightlife plans, right?"
Ning Chu stiffened, instinctively turning to look at Wen Yang.
If Zhang Shaoqing was right, then it wouldn't be long before Wen Yang lost his virginity!
For some reason, seeing Ning Chu's slightly tense expression gave Wen Yang an odd twinge of guilt, like he was somehow betraying his roommate…
"I'll go return it for you!" Ning Chu snatched the thermos from his hands and darted away.
As that small figure disappeared into the distance, Zhang Shaoqing smirked at Wen Yang and teased, "Look at him—like he's terrified you'll talk to another woman."
"Cut it out," Wen Yang shot him a glance. "If Ning Chu hears you, he'll get upset and go all quiet again."
"Yeah, yeah~"
"All done!" Ning Chu came running back in a hurry, a thin sheen of sweat on his forehead. "I returned it to her!"
But he quickly noticed Wen Yang's slightly strange expression, and Zhang Shaoqing's eyes that were gleaming with amusement.
His smile turned a bit stiff—he knew his actions could be misunderstood—so he awkwardly tried to come up with an excuse.
"I just thought… that girl is pretty… and she seems shy."
"Oh, please. Put her in heels and she'd be half a head taller than you."
"No way it's that bad!"
He kicked out at Zhang Shaoqing, who yelped and hopped aside.
"Ha~ missed me!"
Truth be told, Ning Chu rarely met shy and reserved girls here!
Look at the others—each one was fiercer than the next, and if you weren't careful they'd have Wen Yang eaten clean to the bone.
Girls like that were truly shy, but in certain kinds of hentai novels, they were also incredibly sensitive and, in bed…
A large raindrop smacked him squarely on the forehead, soaking a wide patch and snapping him out of his wandering thoughts.
"Wang Jie! Back to the dorm!"
The rain was getting heavier and heavier, dripping more and more densely from the leaves overhead, until the trees could no longer shield them.
Ning Chu's group didn't have umbrellas, so the four of them sprinted through the rain toward the dorm building for ten minutes straight.
By the time they reached the dorm lobby, their clothes were almost completely soaked through.
Ning Chu's stamina wasn't great; after ten minutes of running, his throat was dry, his chest heaving as he bent over with his hands on his knees to catch his breath.
"Where's Wang Jie?"
When Wen Yang asked, Ning Chu turned around—only to see Wang Jie still far off in the distance, panting heavily and running like his life depended on it.
That guy's stamina was even worse than his own!