Across from the bus station were some gathered small vendors.

Tan Jin appeared next to a small stall selling spicy hot pot, about five steps away from Tan Ziheng.

He stared fixedly at Lin Shilan.

She also looked at him, her heart filled with mixed emotions.

Tan Ziheng was expressing his concern. After he finished speaking, Lin Shilan had actually been distracted the entire time, with no reaction at all.

Furrowing his brows, he sensed something was wrong: “What’s the matter, Xiao Lan? What are you looking at?”

Lin Shilan raised her hand and pointed behind Tan Ziheng.

“It’s raining. He’s come.”

She didn’t say “his” name.

Yet Tan Ziheng instantly understood who it was.

Stiffly turning his neck, he looked back.

In the light rain, people came and went across the street from the bus station. The vendors’ small rain shelters and rain covers blocked most of the view of the road.

Tan Ziheng’s throat tightened as he asked: “Where?”

“There…” Lin Shilan’s gaze turned toward the spicy hot pot stall.

But.

Tan Jin was gone.

She quickly left Tan Ziheng behind and ran to where he had just been standing.

Looking left and right, she didn’t see that familiar figure.

Tan Ziheng followed.

The spicy hot pot stall owner thought business had come. He lifted the pot lid, and with the stirring of his ladle, white mist swirled and fragrance dispersed in all directions.

Lin Shilan’s stomach made a timely “gurgle” sound.

Tan Ziheng couldn’t help but smile: “Xiao Lan, are you so hungry you’re hallucinating?”

She remained silent, her gaze still searching everywhere.

“Stop looking. It’s a hallucination.” He emphasized again.

Patting her arm, he forcibly led her away from this noisy environment: “Come on, get in my car. I’ll take you to eat something good.”

Sitting in Tan Ziheng’s car, Lin Shilan anxiously bit her finger.

Why had the Tan Jin she just saw disappeared?

The simplest answer: Tan Jin was her hallucination.

Or, at that particular moment, he was unwilling to appear.

Tan Jin shouldn’t be hiding from her. The only possibility was that he didn’t want to see Tan Ziheng.

Did that mean that Tan Ziheng could see Tan Jin, and because he didn’t want to see his older brother, he had hidden?

Lin Shilan tilted her head and looked out the car window.

Tan Ziheng called her several times before she came back to her senses.

“What did you say earlier?”

“I said, there’s a seafood restaurant on top of the department store building. It’s a chain. They have several good signature dishes we can try,” Tan Ziheng’s expression was helpless as he half-joked: “Xiao Lan, your mind isn’t on me at all.”

“I’m sorry.”

This apology from Lin Shilan came from the heart. It was too impolite—four years without seeing each other, and only at this moment had her thoughts returned to their conversation.

“Brother Ziheng, I’ve disrupted your life. Making you search for me everywhere in the middle of the night, even coming all the way here—I’m really sorry.”

If she hadn’t been looking for Tan Jin, she wouldn’t have chosen to call him, and then Tan Ziheng wouldn’t have had to worry about her.

All these years, he had been secretly helping her from the shadows—that was the way he had chosen. Her proactive contact had dragged him into a mess that had nothing to do with him.

“Why say such things? That’s so formal…”

Tan Ziheng was about to drop his pretense when he suddenly thought of something and changed direction.

“Ahem. However, you really did worry me. I rushed over from the company non-stop, my heart in my throat the whole way. If you’re truly apologizing, then promise me you won’t run off randomly next time.”

Lin Shilan still held that sentiment of not wanting to trouble him.

“I’m fine…” After their reunion, she had already said these three words several times.

Tan Ziheng interrupted her.

“On the phone, you said Cao A’yi wasn’t a good person and told me not to send money to her and her prayer ceremony. So from now on, I’ll just send the money directly to you.”

“Lin Shilan, don’t pretend with me that you’re fine.”

He called her by her full name, his tone rarely this serious.

“I know everything.”

He didn’t spell it out. Those three words “know everything” already made her understand clearly.

Tan Ziheng had contacted Cao A’yi before making that call asking to see her.

Lin Shilan didn’t know what Cao A’yi had told him.

—That she could see ghosts? That she could see the old village?

—That as soon as the rainy season came, she would become possessed and make up stories, talking nonsense?

—That she was mentally ill? That she took a year off from school to hide from the rain?

Probably she had told him about her entire situation, with plenty of embellishment added.

Otherwise, Tan Ziheng wouldn’t have anxiously contacted her and rushed to find her.

Lin Shilan wanted to defend herself, but felt slightly at a loss for words. Four years separated them, and she didn’t know where to begin.

Fortunately, they arrived at the restaurant, solving her predicament.

They got out of the car, tacitly agreeing not to continue the topic from the car.

The seafood restaurant was on the top floor of the department store.

The lower floors of the department store had already closed, but the restaurant was still open. They took the elevator upstairs.

This restaurant’s business was extremely brisk, with people eating late-night snacks noisily filling the restaurant’s main hall.

Tan Ziheng requested a private room.

Unlike ordinary seafood restaurants, this establishment didn’t have menus—customers had to go outside to the seafood display cases to order. The cases held live seafood, and customers could order on the spot, have it weighed on the spot, then sent to the kitchen for preparation.

After entering the private room, Lin Shilan stayed behind to watch their bags, letting Tan Ziheng go order food.

“Brother Ziheng, order whatever you want to eat. I can eat anything.”

“Are you sure you don’t want to come? Their seafood cases are full of seafood—it’s like a small aquarium. While I’m ordering, you can also look around.”

She shook her head, really not in that mood: “You go ahead. I’ll wait for you.”

“Alright then.” Tan Ziheng pushed the door and went out.

The moment his front foot left.

Immediately, the private room door opened again.

Hearing the creaking sound, Lin Shilan naturally assumed he had left something behind and came back.

“What do you need to get, Brother Ziheng?”

As she spoke, she looked up toward the door.

There stood Tan Jin.

They stared at each other.

For over two weeks, he had disappeared, and Lin Shilan had exhausted every means to find him.

Her hand gripped her bag tightly.

Precisely because he had been missing for so long, his sudden appearance like this made it feel so unreal.

Forcing herself to remain composed, Lin Shilan greeted him first.

“Hello there, ghost.”

Her teeth chattered against each other, half from resentment, half from fear.

Tan Jin walked straight toward her.

“I’m not a ghost. Tan Ziheng is the ghost.”

He sat down beside her, taking the seat that originally belonged to Tan Ziheng.

Supporting his chin with one hand, Tan Jin looked her over and discovered with surprise: “You’re afraid of me?”

To say she wasn’t afraid would be a lie.

Goosebumps rose all over her body; she trembled with fright.

“Tan Ziheng said you perished four years ago.”

“Is that so?”

Leisurely, Tan Jin poured himself a cup of tea.

“I told you long ago that Tan Ziheng died four years ago. You don’t believe me—you want to believe Tan Ziheng.”

—Even now, he was still lying to her.

Gritting her teeth, Lin Shilan gave him a faint smile: “Why shouldn’t I believe Tan Ziheng?”

Tan Jin drank his tea, casually sowing discord between them: “If Tan Ziheng is really alive, why did it take four years for him to come see you?”

“He has his difficulties,” she countered: “Then why can you only see me when it rains?”

“You also saw Tan Ziheng when it rained.”

The teacup emptied, he played with the small cup, as if it had nothing to do with him.

“Don’t forget, just now at the train station outside, it was raining—that’s when you saw him for the first time since the flood.”

Tan Jin really did treat her like a fool.

Lin Shilan was infuriated.

“Today is the first time I’ve seen Tan Ziheng in four years, and you know that? You understand me so well—to this degree, truly impressive.”

“You understand me, so you showed me that note telling me to wait for the rain.”

“You understand me, so you could pretend to run into me at the hospital.”

“You understand me, so you can always fabricate stories that convince me.”

“Tell me, how do you manage to understand everything? Before talking about Tan Ziheng, can you explain yourself clearly first?”

“You say you’re alive—where’s the proof? Give me proof. You don’t have any…”

Agitated and irritable, she chattered on incessantly.

Tan Jin pounced over.

He embraced her in one motion, burying his head in her chest.

This was an intimacy they had never shared before.

Lin Shilan was speechless.

He held too tightly, his arms wrapped around her.

Behind the summer shirt, his body was so warm.

“I’m a living person.” He said.

Her hands and feet were ice cold, but the warmth pressed against her chest scalded her thoroughly.

Belatedly realizing, she pushed him, wanting to create distance between them, to return to their previous safe position.

Tan Jin didn’t budge an inch.

Lin Shilan used greater force, even planning to pry his fingers loose.

He muttered threateningly: “Lin Shilan, if you insist on pushing me away, when Tan Ziheng comes back, I’ll kiss you.”

What kind of talk was that?!

She was extremely embarrassed and annoyed, the redness from her ears burning to her cheeks. Unable to push him away, she could only berate him in exasperation.

“You’re a ghost! You don’t dare see Tan Ziheng at all!”

“When Tan Ziheng comes, you won’t even have time to run—you’re just a cowardly turtle!”

Tan Jin hugged her comfortably, his face incredibly thick-skinned.

“Do I dare or not? Just wait and see.”

Footsteps constantly sounded in the corridor outside. Lin Shilan was anxious to break free from him.

No matter what kind of existence Tan Jin was, it wasn’t appropriate for Tan Ziheng to see him.

She also didn’t want to be inexplicably kissed by him!

Driven into complete disarray by him, Lin Shilan didn’t dare gamble. Lin Shilan chickened out.

“Let go of me! You’re bullying me. You bully me every time. When you can’t win an argument with facts, you use brute force. All you can do is pester relentlessly and lie to people, right? You can’t do anything else, can you?”

Being mocked by her like this, his throat went dry, yet he raised his head and retorted.

“So what if I am?”

Lin Shilan was so angry she stamped her feet.

—Why was there such a childish person as Tan Jin!

“I’ll give you a chance. Lin Shilan, right now, do you want to leave with me or not?”

His eyes held a smile, like a bad child addicted to pranks. The small red mole on his face was conspicuous, his expression mischievously annoying.

“Tan Ziheng will be back soon. The opportunity is fleeting.”

Lin Shilan sneered coldly: “See, cowardly turtle. You don’t dare see him.”

“Pretend I didn’t say anything.” Tan Jin leaned down, hiding in her embrace again.

Just as Lin Shilan was about to be driven to death by him.

A series of footsteps returning from ordering, rapidly approaching their private room.