The phone rang.

It was the landlady calling her back.

Lin Shilan hurriedly answered: “Landlady Grandma, could you open the door for me? I left behind a bag before, and inside it there’s a bead from a bracelet. That kind of crystal grayish-blue bead—it’s very important to me. Have you seen that bag?”

“Xiao Lin, speak slowly.”

The old lady spoke unhurriedly and politely: “I’m out of town with my family right now, so I can’t open the door for you. When I received your text message earlier, I asked my son, but he doesn’t know anything about a bag. What does the bag you’re looking for look like?”

Her emotions having calmed somewhat, Lin Shilan wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes and described: “A pure black handbag, fairly large. I usually used it to carry books. The material is that hard kind.”

“I haven’t seen it.” After a pause, the old lady added: “Actually, it couldn’t possibly be in the room. After we sent you to the hospital, we called in a cleaning company, and everything was cleared out and thrown away. What we kept, we gave to you. We’re not planning to rent the room out again. If you want to go in and look, wait until I return from out of town.”

“Oh, okay.”

The hope that had been kindled was extinguished. Her heart sank.

“I understand, thank you.”

Perhaps seeing her pitifulness, the old lady couldn’t help adding a few more words: “If it weren’t for your illness, we would have wanted to rent to you. But when you have an episode, the situation is too severe. If I don’t come in time next time and something happens to you in my room, I can’t bear that responsibility. Medical care is so advanced nowadays—Xiao Lin, you should find several doctor specialists to treat you. See if you can find someone with excellent medical skills to cure this illness. You’re still so young; it would be such a pity to continue like this…”

Mental illness wasn’t something that could just be cured at will.

The old lady knew she had misspoken and didn’t continue further.

Understanding that she hadn’t meant ill, Lin Shilan thanked her again.

The call ended.

She sat in the empty corridor, hugging her arms, feeling bone-chilling cold.

The remaining bead from the bracelet—its whereabouts unknown.

Tan Jin, a ghost who appeared and disappeared in this rainy season.

Was he a miracle born from the overlapping of parallel spacetimes, or a twisted hallucination from her worsening condition?

Lin Shilan couldn’t tell anymore.

Coming out from the rental apartment, she walked alone on the street.

The city’s lights were just coming on, traffic flowed endlessly, and people walked together in twos and threes.

At the intersection, heads surged, and the signal light across the way turned green.

She followed the crowd and crossed the street.

Some people went to squeeze into the subway, some walked toward department stores, some strolled the pedestrian street.

There were so many people here, everyone walking in different directions, all knowing where they were going.

The clustered crowds of people were like coins at a bank, poured into a sorting machine.

Ten-cent ones, fifty-cent ones, one-yuan ones—they scattered everywhere, yet all found their own category. They would travel along prescribed tracks to reach their destinations.

But Lin Shilan was a coin that had gotten stuck.

Before this rainy season, following the life path her mother had arranged for her, she buried her head in books.

Her grades were good, not because she was particularly clever, but because she put in more effort than her classmates at school. Lin Shilan didn’t dare lose the advantage of good grades; aside from that, she didn’t know what she was good at.

She came to the big city alone, knowing nothing about the new world, her heart timid.

Not knowing how to rest, not knowing what to do after resting, not knowing if she could still keep up with others after resting. Lin Shilan was deathly afraid of falling behind, because falling behind meant being abandoned, and being abandoned meant she could no longer find her own value.

When she was alone, she often missed her mother.

Her mother cared about her most and loved her most. If her mother’s love for her wasn’t love, then Lin Shilan didn’t know what true love looked like. Her mother gave birth to her and raised her; her mother had given more to her than anyone else.

Her mother had so many demands of her, but her mother needed her most.

After her mother was gone, Lin Shilan didn’t know where else she was needed.

The rope binding her had broken; she was free, yet still had nowhere to go. The outside world was frightening, and Lin Shilan had no confidence she could handle it well.

This rainy season was her first time—she encountered a person… He appeared out of nowhere, wanting to form an alliance with her, taking her to get glasses, accompanying her to rescue dogs, taking her to play, taking her to eat things she had never eaten before.

He said: Live for yourself for once.

He said: Lin Shilan, you’re really so cool!

He said: You’ve already done very well.

Because of him, Lin Shilan defied her mother and did things she had always wanted to do before.

Because of him…

But he was gone now.

The signal lights changed several rounds.

The surrounding high-rises were brilliantly lit, yet not a single beam of light illuminated Lin Shilan’s eyes.

A windless, rainless summer night.

Her confusion drowned in the lively, noisy streets.

Silent and soundless, uncared for by anyone.

Nearby, a new store had opened, and shop employees were distributing flyers everywhere. Passing by her, they also stuffed one into her hand.

Lin Shilan looked down—it was for a newly opened bubble tea shop.

She stared at the flyer for a full five minutes. As if possessed, she took steps toward that bubble tea shop.

As soon as she entered, an employee immediately greeted her enthusiastically: “Hello, welcome. What would you like to drink?”

“Pearl…”

Only when she spoke did she realize her voice was hoarse.

She stammered: “I want pearl milk tea. Do you have it?”

“Yes, miss,” the shop clerk skillfully entered her order into the machine: “Would you like a large or medium cup? Do you want any other add-ins? Any requirements for sweetness level or ice?”

In their small town, when Tan Jin accompanied Lin Shilan to buy milk tea, they just ordered pearl milk tea directly—that was all.

She didn’t understand what the clerk meant. Her fingers anxiously picked at the fingernail of her other hand, and she felt some inclination to back out.

“I’ll have a large pearl milk tea with no other special requirements. Is that okay?”

The clerk looked up and glanced at her: “Sure. Then I’ll make you a large pearl milk tea with regular sugar and regular ice. Is that alright?”

Lin Shilan nodded.

After getting the pearl milk tea, she walked out of the shop.

At the roadside, she inserted the straw and took a sip.

The pearls were sweet, soft and chewy.

The milk tea had a light tea flavor.

Unlike the milk tea in their town, which only had a monotonous sweet taste.

There was moisture on her face. Using her hand to wipe her eyes, she couldn’t really say what she was sad about.

Perhaps it was that the pearl milk tea she was drinking was so much better than what she had drunk in the small town.

—She didn’t know if Tan Jin had ever drunk this.

—She didn’t know if he would ever have the chance to drink it in the future.

…

The customer who had just ordered a cup of milk tea returned not long after. She was running, pushing through the door in a fluster. The clerks all thought the milk tea had been made wrong and she was coming to complain.

Unexpectedly, she came back to order another cup of pearl milk tea to take away.

According to the weather forecast, this week, it wouldn’t rain in the city where Lin Shilan was…

She understood where she needed to go.

Returning to the hostel and taking her money, Lin Shilan headed straight for the bus station. She didn’t bring a single bottle of the medication she was supposed to take daily; her backpack only contained a cup of pearl milk tea.

After buying her ticket, Lin Shilan sat in the waiting room.

The phone vibrated twice.

A message came in.

【Xiao Lan, would it be convenient to see you now?】

She replied to him earnestly: 【Brother Ziheng, sorry I can’t meet. I have to leave for a while.】

Tan Ziheng’s call came through immediately.

“Xiao Lan, where are you going?”

His tone was tense, his nerves highly strained.

“Don’t stay silent, don’t scare me. Meet me first. Where are you?”

Lin Shilan sounded cheerful as she said: “Don’t worry about me. Brother Ziheng, I’m going to find the rain.”

Tan Ziheng’s worry deepened: “Find the rain? What does that mean?”

“Even though it’s not raining here, somewhere it’s always raining.”

In her tone was a kind of unwavering determination.

Strangely, Tan Ziheng didn’t interrupt her, quietly listening as she finished speaking.

“Between Tan Jin and me, there’s a vow. Brother Ziheng, you said that Tan Jin was the type of person with deep obsessions—things and people he set his heart on, he would absolutely never let go. If he couldn’t obtain them, he would never give up.”

“Brother Ziheng, I’m that kind of person too.”

“I will find Tan Jin. If I don’t find him, I’ll never give up.”

Tan Ziheng grew more confused the more he listened: “Xiao Lan, when did I ever say such things to you? I have no recollection whatsoever. Didn’t I tell you that Xiao Jin has long since…”

The bus arrived at the station.

She hung up the phone.

Whether Tan Jin was a person from a parallel spacetime or just a hallucination.

She no longer cared.

Lin Shilan boarded the bus, heading toward the path she had chosen.

The bus’s speakers played a lyrical song she had never heard before. After the vehicle filled with passengers, it slowly drove into the darkness.

On the highway, occasionally, across great distances, freight trucks or small cars passed by. The bright headlights were like light points from scattered stars in the black night sky.

Lin Shilan hugged her backpack.

Her head resting against the window glass, she softly recited the words he had written.

“Wait for the rain to come, then we’ll meet again.”

“True heart unchanged, loyal unto death.”

She slept groggily on the bus for a while.

After arriving at the station, Lin Shilan didn’t wake up, so the driver came to call her.

She turned her head and looked.

There were tiny water droplets on the car window.

Rushing off the bus at lightning speed, she looked up at the sky.

—How wonderful, it really was raining outside.

Rainwater pattered on her forehead, making her laugh out loud.

For the first time since the flood, Lin Shilan actually felt happy because of rain.

She ran out of the bus station, hopping and jumping.

As long as it was raining, that was enough.

It was the rainy season now. As long as there was a bit of rain, Lin Shilan could see the otherworld.

In such a short time, she had already found one.

At the main entrance of the bus station hung a sign for “Yan County Hotel.”

Just as she was excitedly running toward that sign, someone suddenly called out to her from behind.

“Lin Shilan!”

Lin Shilan stopped in her tracks.

Tan Ziheng, whom she hadn’t seen in four years, stood there with anger on his face.

“You’re really too reckless, running to another city and not answering my calls.”

He looked much more mature, dressed in a suit, even more handsome than before.

Based on one phone call, Tan Ziheng had actually followed her all the way here.

“I listened to the background noise on your call and guessed you were at a bus station. I drove to the bus station asking people everywhere, then rushed here like a headless fly. Do you know how worried I was about you on the way?”

Lin Shilan stood frozen in place.

Her gaze looked in Tan Ziheng’s direction, yet it wasn’t only Tan Ziheng she was looking at.

Night had deepened.

In the neighboring city’s night sky, light rain was falling.

But no matter how dark the night, Lin Shilan couldn’t possibly be mistaken.

Behind Tan Ziheng stood Tan Jin.