Tan Jin brought the torn draft paper home in a daze, utterly dejected.

Taking out some tape, he carefully stuck the pieces of paper together. She had said she didn’t need to understand the story of this place at all anymore; she had said she would go to a place without rain and leave here forever.

He stuck the scraps of paper together piece by piece, thinking about her words, uselessly wiping the corners of his eyes with the back of his hand.

She had already thrown the draft paper away, yet he had his own obsession with repairing them. It was as if, once the paper was fixed, their relationship could also be repaired.

The paper was wrinkled, some places were missing. He tried hard to piece it together—the difficulty of putting it back together was very high.

Tan Jin sent Lin Shilan a text message: [Can I come find you?]

After sending the text, ten minutes passed and his phone didn’t make a sound. Helplessly, he set his phone aside and returned his attention to piecing together the paper.

After the draft paper was carefully pieced together by him, Tan Jin wrote a line of words on the back of the paper.

His phone still hadn’t made a sound. He thought perhaps she hadn’t seen it, or perhaps she didn’t want him to come find her.

Tan Jin looked dejectedly at that piece of paper. Finally, he folded it up and put it in his pocket.

He still decided to go find her.

Tan Ziheng was sitting in the living room. Seeing Tan Jin come out, he asked if he wanted to order takeout.

Tan Jin replied: “I’m not eating. I need to go out for a bit.”

Because his voice sounded emotionally low, Tan Ziheng turned to look at him. His younger brother had a face full of worries, staring straight ahead outside, and went out the door wearing house slippers.

Tan Jin walked in the direction of Lu Xiaorong’s school.

Lin Shilan had just come out from her mother’s school.

It was drizzling a bit. She opened her backpack to look for an umbrella, only then remembering the umbrella was with Su Ge.

Seeing her phone in the bag, she took it out and discovered she’d received Tan Jin’s text message. Although when she left she’d told him “I don’t need anyone else’s help, I can handle it myself,” it seemed she was still thinking about him.

Lin Shilan replied to him: [My mom threw Jing Jing away. I’m searching all the way back. Wait for me at your house.]

Lu Xiaorong’s route to work passed by the petrochemical plant.

Her mother said she’d found a secluded spot to abandon the dog. This road was also the quietest around the petrochemical plant area.

If it weren’t for looking for Jing Jing, Lin Shilan really didn’t want to walk toward the petrochemical plant. She already didn’t like that place, and on top of that, Su Ge lived in an alley near there. As Lin Shilan walked along, she looked around anxiously, praying she wouldn’t run into Su Ge.

The more you fear something, the more it comes.

Just as she reached the petrochemical plant area.

She was walking on the left side of the sidewalk when Su Ge, eating ice cream, passed by on the right.

Lin Shilan sneakily glanced at her.

Su Ge was also glancing at her with the corner of her eye.

She was getting rained on here, while Su Ge held an umbrella.

…Holding precisely that black umbrella she had refused.

Both discovered the other was sizing them up.

Lin Shilan pretended to be carefree, smoothed her wet bangs, and passed by her with ease.

Seeing her posture, Su Ge raised the umbrella an inch higher and deliberately licked the ice cream in her hand.

Along this entire route from the petrochemical plant toward home, Lin Shilan didn’t see her little native dog, but she did gain a whole body of goosebumps.

Any later, when it got dark, it would be even harder to find the dog. She was worried about Jing Jing. Since Tan Jin hadn’t replied to her text message, Lin Shilan went straight to his house to knock on the door.

It was Tan Ziheng who came to open the door.

Lin Shilan politely inquired: “Ziheng-ge, is Tan Jin home?”

“Xiao Lan,” Tan Ziheng revealed a warm smile: “Xiao Jin went out earlier and hasn’t come back yet.”

Her face showed anxiety: “Where did he go?”

Tan Ziheng scratched his head: “Don’t know. I was still planning to ask him what to eat for dinner, but seeing how rushed he was, he left without taking his keys or wallet.”

“Alright then.”

Lin Shilan backed out of his house, planning to say goodbye to Tan Ziheng.

Before she left, he asked: “Xiao Lan, is there something you need? I can tell Xiao Jin when he gets back.”

“My family’s little dog is lost. I wanted to ask Tan Jin to help me look for it together.”

Tan Ziheng had some impression: “Is it that little dog you brought to my house last time?”

Lin Shilan nodded.

After pondering for a moment, Tan Ziheng offered: “I have time. How about I accompany you to look for it?”

The urgency of finding the dog was pressing. She didn’t stand on ceremony with him.

“Okay, that would be great.”

At their doorway, they left a note for Tan Jin, telling him to call Lin Shilan when he got back…

At this moment, Tan Jin.

He was sitting in the elementary school’s teachers’ office.

Tan Jin had asked students at the school, and they said Lu Xiaorong was in this office. But when he came over to look, he saw neither Lin Shilan nor Lu Xiaorong.

Finding an empty seat, he naturally sat down.

People came and went in the office. They probably assumed he was some teacher’s child. With him sitting there, no one paid him any mind.

The air conditioning in the office was running full blast.

He sat there blankly for a while, then reached into his pocket, wanting to see if Lin Shilan had replied to his text.

How foolish—Tan Jin hadn’t brought his phone.

The cold wind blew on him. He hunched his shoulders miserably.

Next to him, several teachers had finished their afternoon classes and sat together chatting. A bunch of chattering voices came over, making Tan Jin’s head ache. He glanced at the clock on the wall. It was quite unlikely Lin Shilan would still be here.

“…Can the dog’s leg heal properly later?”

“It should be able to, who knows?”

“Teacher Zhang, you’re quite caring, willing to adopt it.”

Tan Jin, who originally wasn’t paying attention to the teachers’ conversation content, suddenly pricked up his ears because of the word “dog.”

“I’m not a caring person. It’s just that Teacher Lu asked me to. Besides, my kid has been clamoring to raise a dog. This morning when I brought the dog back, he was thrilled.”

“Well, since you’re raising it anyway, why not raise a better dog? This kind with a lame leg, can it even survive?”

“My kid always comes up with one idea after another. Buying him a puppy costs money. Let him practice with a little native dog first. If one day he doesn’t want it anymore, even if we abandon it, it won’t be heartbreaking.”

“That’s true. If you don’t want it anymore, native dogs are also easy to deal with.”

Native dog, lame leg, Teacher Lu… Hearing this conversation, catching these key phrases, Tan Jin was ninety percent certain the dog they were talking about was Jing Jing.

It seemed Lu Xiaorong had given the dog to her colleague.

That Teacher Zhang’s attitude when speaking definitely wasn’t that of someone who would properly care for a dog. Her words made Tan Jin’s blood boil. Even the air conditioning couldn’t blow away his irritation.

But the most critical thing right now was to get Jing Jing back.

It was nearly time for the elementary school teachers to get off work. Tan Jin saw them start to pack their bags and also stood up.

Teacher Zhang, talking with her colleagues, walked out of the office. He went ahead of them, maintaining some distance, walking in front.

The group talked and laughed. Teacher Zhang entered the school’s bike shed.

Tan Jin thought to himself: This is bad.

He watched helplessly as Teacher Zhang walked toward the bicycle parking area.

—No, no, don’t ride a bicycle! A bicycle is too hard to follow!

As if hearing his wish, Teacher Zhang slowly walked past the row of bicycles.

—That’s right, Teacher Zhang, walking home is so much better for you, get some exercise.

Tan Jin clenched his fists, secretly delighted in his heart.

“Beep, beep.”

Suddenly, two unlocking sounds made Tan Jin’s body shake.

An electric scooter!

Teacher Zhang pulled out the key to her electric scooter and unlocked her little electric bike.

Tan Jin didn’t want to accept this reality.

Unfortunately, Teacher Zhang had already pushed out her vehicle.

He took a deep breath, preparing to run.

Bending down, Tan Jin planned to tie his shoelaces…

This.

He looked in shock at his own worn-out flip-flops, feeling a lump in his heart.

Teacher Zhang mounted the electric scooter and twisted the handlebar.

The little vehicle was in good condition, emitting a loud engine sound.

Tan Jin accelerated, swinging his arms. The flip-flops made clanging sounds of disrepair.

Teacher Zhang rode away triumphantly.

Tan Jin slowly chased after her.