This was Qiu Xing’s first time coming to this place to unload cargo; he had never been here before. Qiu Xing wasn’t afraid of going to unfamiliar places. Three years ago, when he first started driving, everywhere was unfamiliar to him. At the beginning, there was another driver in the truck who only guided him for two months, after which he had been venturing out on his own. After all, a living person wouldn’t get lost.

Navigation was very accurate in cities, but in rural areas, it sometimes had large errors with no obvious landmarks, making it difficult to explain directions over the phone.

The weather in this area was poor, with the sky darkening as if holding back a heavy rain, and the signal was intermittent.

Qiu Xing had circled the area several times but still couldn’t find the intersection the other party had mentioned. Qiu Xing parked the truck by the roadside and called the other party. The person’s tone was aggressive, possibly due to the dialect, and sounded very impolite.

Qiu Xing didn’t argue with them. Regardless of the other person’s attitude, he maintained an unwavering tone that couldn’t be described as either good or bad.

After hanging up, Qiu Xing continued searching for the road. Lin Yiran looked worriedly at the dark, oppressive sky. According to the weather forecast, it should already be raining by now.

The atmospheric pressure in the cabin wasn’t much higher than outside. The two of them hadn’t talked much for the past two days. The truck was filled with the coldness of impending separation and some deliberate distance.

Lin Yiran had set up WeChat, and the first thing she did was search for Qiu Xing’s phone number and add him.

Her WeChat was just like the phone’s contact list—Qiu Xing was the first contact in it, and currently the only one.

Surprisingly, Qiu Xing’s profile picture was a cartoon character from “Captain Tsubasa,” which seemed completely at odds with Qiu Xing.

But thinking about it, it made sense. Qiu Xing probably started using WeChat in high school, and he was a boy who loved playing soccer since childhood, sunny and cheerful.

By the time this profile picture no longer matched him, Qiu Xing probably couldn’t be bothered with what his profile picture was anymore.

His WeChat name was simply “Qiu Xing,” though Lin Yiran still made a point of setting a personal note for him.

She paused at the input box for a long time, and finally carefully typed “Qiu Xing.”

“It’s raining,” Lin Yiran said to Qiu Xing, watching the raindrops hitting the side window.

Qiu Xing responded with an “Mmm.”

Qiu Xing had wanted to finish unloading the cargo and leave before it rained. The dirt roads in this area had already become muddy after several days of rain, and if it rained again, they might not be able to leave.

The road surface now was full of potholes; cars could no longer pass, and large trucks could barely get through.

Some particularly large holes had been filled with various sizes of gravel, but these had already been displaced by passing vehicles. The journey was genuinely difficult, and Lin Yiran’s head hit the window several times.

The lumber mill they finally found was more than twenty kilometers away from the navigation location.

The truck was loaded with a cargo of veneer, which would be brought here for further processing into boards, later to be used for flooring.

The factory owner didn’t want to unload in the rain, and the workers wanted extra pay for unloading in the rain. The owner wanted to wait until the rain stopped before unloading. But according to the weather forecast, this rain would continue until midnight, and Qiu Xing didn’t want to wait.

The owner quickly said something in dialect, but Qiu Xing maintained his neither cold nor warm, impenetrable demeanor. Finally, the owner ignored Qiu Xing and went under a shed to shelter from the rain.

With the owner and workers gone, there was no one to unload the truck. If they had to wait for the rain to stop before starting, given the low-lying terrain here, once water accumulated, Qiu Xing and Lin Yiran wouldn’t be able to leave today.

The rain grew heavier. Qiu Xing sat in the truck for a few minutes, then suddenly opened the door and jumped down.

Lin Yiran was startled as she watched Qiu Xing walk along the side of the truck, reaching up to unhook each hook, circling the truck, and pulling down all the ropes.

Qiu Xing jumped onto the back of the truck, stepped onto the railing to get to the roof, and began rolling up the tarpaulin.

The cargo was covered with two layers of tarpaulin, inside and out, because the veneers were afraid of rain. The wooden boards had been dried, so they were dry materials. Once soaked by rain, they would easily become moldy and unusable.

This truckload of first-grade veneers from the north was worth over two hundred thousand yuan. Watching it getting drenched under the heavy rain made the owner’s eyelids twitch.

He put on a raincoat and came to the truck, calling to Qiu Xing, asking him to back the truck under the shed, saying, “Back it in, we’ll unload now, unload now!”

The owner was cursing in dialect, but Qiu Xing ignored him. After rolling up the tarpaulin and collecting the ropes, Qiu Xing jumped down from the truck and backed the trailer into the shed.

The owner called the workers, continuing to curse and mutter. Qiu Xing sat in the truck, pretending not to hear. The bundled veneers were quick to unload; once the conveyor belt was set up, it would take only two hours to unload.

Although Lin Yiran couldn’t hear clearly, she knew the owner was cursing Qiu Xing, and quite crudely. Qiu Xing didn’t care, but Lin Yiran looked very unhappy, her face tense.

Qiu Xing had already changed into dry clothes and was leaning back against the seat to rest. He sat further back than Lin Yiran and was looking at her from behind, resting his head on the backrest, without her noticing.

Qiu Xing watched as Lin Yiran glared in the direction of the owner, her brows furrowed, her eyes slightly brighter than usual in anger.

Qiu Xing quietly looked at her for a while, then turned his head away and closed his eyes as if sleeping.

Qiu Xing didn’t need to settle accounts with the local owner. As soon as the last bundle of goods was unloaded from the truck, Qiu Xing didn’t wait a minute; he drove away immediately, not even bothering to close the railings and doors of the trailer.

The rain had become very heavy; the later they left, the more likely they wouldn’t be able to get out. Although it was still afternoon, the sky looked as if it were already night. Some roads had already started to accumulate water. Qiu Xing’s truck could only drive in curves, avoiding the potholes in the dirt road.

An empty truck was much easier to drive than a fully loaded one, not as heavy.

The truck sank into a huge pothole, causing the vehicle to shake. Lin Yiran gasped, “Be careful.”

Qiu Xing had to reverse twice to get out of this hole. The wheels slipped in the muddy pit, and Qiu Xing said, “If it keeps raining like this, we really won’t be able to leave.”

Lin Yiran said, “It’s going to rain for a long time.”

Qiu Xing said, “Even if it stops, we won’t be able to leave.”

Lin Yiran looked at him. Qiu Xing still had the leisure to make a half-joke, saying, “We’d have to wait for the mud to dry.”

However, just a few minutes after Qiu Xing said this, the truck hit an unavoidable round pit, and the wheels sank heavily.

Qiu Xing reversed several times, but the truck couldn’t get out. The wheels kept spinning, only throwing out mud.

Qiu Xing got out to check, and Lin Yiran followed.

The mud had already buried half the wheel. Without another vehicle to pull them out, there was no way they could get out.

Both were half-soaked. Lin Yiran asked, “Do we have anything we can put under the wheels?”

Qiu Xing bent down to look at the pit and said, “It won’t help.”

“What about a blanket? Could you back up a bit, put a blanket in front of the wheels for traction?” Lin Yiran asked.

Qiu Xing said no.

Lin Yiran paid no attention to the rain falling on her, standing bent over with Qiu Xing. Qiu Xing said, “Get in the truck, I’ll try again.”

Lin Yiran didn’t get into the truck but stepped back to watch Qiu Xing reverse and then drive forward again. Each time it was just a little bit off; if there was something hard in front to provide a little support, they could get out.

“Qiu Xing,” Lin Yiran looked up and called to him, pointing in the direction they had come from, “keep trying to drive, I’ll go find some rocks. I saw some earlier.”

“Don’t go,” Qiu Xing wouldn’t let her move, “get in.”

Lin Yiran had already turned and walked away with big steps. Qiu Xing called her name in a deep voice. By the time Qiu Xing turned off the engine with a dark expression, Lin Yiran had already run far away.

The rain was getting more urgent. The road they were on had a slight incline, getting higher as it went forward. The water was flowing backward. This village had been flooded before, and later the road surface had been raised.

Lin Yiran had disappeared. Qiu Xing walked to the intersection but couldn’t see her in either direction.

Black-yellow water currents swept along with mud and sand. At this rate of pouring rain, they faced more than just a stranded truck.

This was a place that had flooded before. Although the truck was high enough, with the rain continuing until midnight and water flowing in from all directions, it was hard to say what would happen.

Qiu Xing had to drive the truck away as soon as possible.

He climbed onto the truck and quickly bundled up the tarpaulin, throwing it to the ground.

Lin Yiran still wasn’t in sight.

The phones were left in the truck; she hadn’t taken anything with her. Qiu Xing reversed the truck and jumped down again to place the tarpaulin in front of the wheels.

He should drive the truck away first, no matter what, and not let it remain stuck here. Although the rain was urgent, nothing serious would happen in these few minutes. Lin Yiran was smart; she wouldn’t encounter any danger on such a short road.

After throwing the tarpaulin over, Qiu Xing should have gone back to the truck to find something else to put under the wheels. But he paused for a few seconds, bent over, then straightened up and turned to leave—

Just as Qiu Xing turned around, Lin Yiran appeared, laboriously walking back from the road with two rocks that were huge for her.

Her clothes were all dirty and soaked through. Her two thin arms somehow managed to support these two rocks, barely using her wrists and forearms to prevent them from falling.

Qiu Xing walked over to her, without saying a word, took the rocks from her hands, turned around, and threw them in front of the wheels with two heavy thuds.

“Get in,” Qiu Xing said to Lin Yiran with his back turned.

His voice had never been so deep before, coldly thrown toward Lin Yiran. Lin Yiran tilted her head slightly, wanting to see Qiu Xing’s face.

Qiu Xing didn’t turn around, so Lin Yiran couldn’t see him. She got into the truck silently.

Qiu Xing got the truck out, then went down to collect the tarpaulin and throw it in the back. When he got back in the truck, he said to Lin Yiran, “Go sit in the back.”

Lin Yiran obediently moved to the back immediately, not minding her wet clothes.

“Change your clothes,” Qiu Xing said again.

Lin Yiran was completely soaked. She looked at the rain-blurred window, then at Qiu Xing.

Lin Yiran hung two pieces of clothing in the middle, blocking off the small lower berth. The rustling sound of changing clothes was so intimate, yet at this moment, there was not a hint of romance in the cabin.

Qiu Xing focused on driving with a grim face. Lin Yiran quickly changed her clothes and said softly, “Done.”

The downpour continued to pound on the roof of the truck. The windshield wipers swung back and forth at their fastest speed, making one’s heart restless and uneasy.

After twenty minutes on the bumpy road, Qiu Xing finally drove the truck off the village road and onto a paved road.

The narrow country road could barely accommodate two lanes. The road was densely sheltered by trees on both sides, with trunks and branches blocking the sky. A not-quite-straight small road gently pointed ahead, deserted in this weather.

Qiu Xing stopped the truck and turned off the engine.

The light in the truck was dim, and the outside world seemed to have been submerged by rainwater. But at this moment, Lin Yiran once again felt extremely secure.

It was like a small basement in a windstorm, like a wooden cabin with a coal stove burning on a snowy day. The more turbulent and dangerous the outside world, the more comfortable and safe she felt in this small space.

The only drawback was the low-pressure Qiu Xing.

Lin Yiran glanced at him. Qiu Xing’s clothes and pants were soaked with water, his arms and hands dirty. Lin Yiran took out Qiu Xing’s towel and touched his arm with it.

Qiu Xing didn’t take the towel.

When he suddenly leaned over, Lin Yiran didn’t back away. She might not have reacted in time, or she might have been a bit surprised.

She just looked at Qiu Xing with slightly widened eyes, bewildered.

Qiu Xing didn’t get very close to her, with one hand propped beside her leg. Lin Yiran was trapped in this cramped and small rectangular space. She could feel the dampness from Qiu Xing’s body and vaguely sense his body temperature.

Qiu Xing’s expression was extremely fierce, a rare display of direct emotion on his usually expressionless face. His eyes were very dark as he glared at Lin Yiran: “Did water get into your brain?”

Lin Yiran’s arms trembled slightly, whether from cold or from being scolded by Qiu Xing, she wasn’t sure.

“Don’t you know the water is flowing in that direction?” Qiu Xing frowned. “Why did you run when I told you not to go?”

Lin Yiran answered gently, “It doesn’t flow that fast.”

Seeing Qiu Xing’s expression change, she honestly added, “I didn’t think too much. I was afraid that if we waited longer, we wouldn’t be able to leave.”

“Why are you in such a hurry if we can’t leave?” Qiu Xing continued questioning her.

Lin Yiran looked at him, her expression still gentle, and responded, “I’m not in a hurry. I thought you were anxious.”

Qiu Xing was fiercely blocking her in, but Lin Yiran wasn’t afraid or avoiding him. She even looked directly into Qiu Xing’s eyes.

Her hair was still wet, her face touched with moisture, but her clothes were soft and dry. At her collar, one could still see the mark from when Qiu Xing had accidentally hurt her, tinged with blue.

Qiu Xing saw that both her arms were scraped, from moving the rocks earlier. Her arms weren’t trembling from cold or fear of Qiu Xing’s anger but from the exertion that she hadn’t yet recovered from.

Lin Yiran depended on Qiu Xing, was grateful to Qiu Xing, so her gaze at him was always gentle. At such a close distance, she encompassed Qiu Xing in her tender eyes.

“What’s wrong with me being anxious?” Qiu Xing stared at her and asked again.

Lin Yiran shook her head and said, “I don’t want you to worry.”

Her gaze swept from Qiu Xing’s eyes to his lips, then lifted her eyelashes to meet his eyes again. A drop of water fell from Qiu Xing’s hair, and Lin Yiran raised her hand, naturally using her thumb to gently wipe it away.

When Qiu Xing suddenly pulled her in by the neck for an embrace, Lin Yiran’s delicate nose bridge bumped into Qiu Xing’s hard collarbone.

This was their first embrace. Qiu Xing was quite rough, and Lin Yiran inhaled secretly from the pain.