The rain was falling heavily, Ning Chuxue’s small umbrella was completely no match for it, and her body was soaked by the rain attacking from the side.
Ignoring the fact that she had long since become a drowned rat, Ning Chuxue hurriedly ran toward Mu Wannuo’s office.
She feared that Ying’s guess was correct, that Mu Wannuo really was searching the entire Academy for her.
If that were truly the case, Ning Chuxue would never forgive herself.
Never.
Although Mu Wannuo was also at fault in this matter, the root cause was still herself.
She was the one who hadn’t returned to the Office immediately as Mu Wannuo had told her to, but had instead followed Ying to the club.
“Why is the wind so strong?” Ning Chuxue couldn’t help but complain: “It wasn’t this windy when I first came out.”
The wind was so strong that every step Ning Chuxue took was a struggle.
With even the slightest lapse in attention, the wind—strong enough to bend large trees—had more than enough force to blow Ning Chuxue over.
So, every step Ning Chuxue took was arduous and effortful, and she was doing her best to maintain her balance.
At the same time, her worry grew stronger, and the worried expression Mu Wannuo had worn before she ran out surfaced in her mind.
Along with the gesture of Mu Wannuo reaching out to stop her, only to be ignored.
Ning Chuxue’s heart ached even more, and she grew even more anxious.
Her pace quickened, driven by urgency.
But she had only taken a few steps when an even more violent gust of wind suddenly swept through, striking her umbrella.
She had no choice but to turn around, pulling hard on the umbrella with both hands to keep it from being blown away.
Half a minute later, the gale finally passed.
In that tug-of-war, she had expended so much energy that her arms now felt sore and numb, unable to muster any strength.
Fortunately, though, the umbrella was of high quality.
Although the canopy had been flipped inside out by the wind, the ribs hadn’t broken.
That said, an umbrella with its canopy flipped over was certainly useless.
So, Ning Chuxue had no choice but to fix the Blue Umbrella in her hands while advancing.
“With rain this heavy, Sister Mu Wan probably wouldn’t come out, right?”
Ning Chuxue tried to hypnotize herself.
The inferior canopy was ultimately ineffective.
“Impossible, Sister Mu Wan might really be looking for me…”
Soon, the self-hypnosis was washed away by endless worry.
Ning Chuxue wouldn’t dare claim to know Mu Wannuo thoroughly, but she understood at least half of her.
Mu Wannuo was very good to her, so good that she put her first.
In Ning Chuxue’s eyes, Mu Wannuo even ranked herself second—the first place belonged to Ning Chuxue.
At that thought, Ning Chuxue’s pace quickened again, and her hands fixing the umbrella grew more frantic.
She prayed that no more gales would come, because in her current state, she definitely couldn’t withstand them.
Unless she threw away the umbrella in her hands.
But if it came to that, what she would face was a downpour with nowhere to hide.
However, reality denied her expectations.
This time, what blocked her wasn’t the gale, but the water droplets continuously falling from the sky.
The rain fell harder and more urgently.
The umbrella Ning Chuxue had just fixed seemed utterly powerless.
“Damn it, why of all times…” She gritted her teeth and threw the umbrella away.
With nothing in her hands, she focused all her energy on speeding up.
After nearly ten-odd minutes of rushing, she finally arrived at the bottom of the Office Building.
Ning Chuxue gasped for breath; after running all the way, her legs had long since gone weak, and every step was extremely difficult.
Even though it was exhausting, she didn’t stop, but rushed into the Office Building in a hurry, running toward Mu Wannuo’s Office.
She was both flustered and worried.
She tried to take out the key to the Office door from her pocket.
Because her hands were shaking, the key fell to the ground.
After bending down to pick it up, she bit her lip and prayed that her right hand would stop trembling.
After steadying herself, she tried the keyhole several times, but couldn’t get it in.
Finally, she used her left hand to firmly steady her trembling right hand.
This time, it went accurately into the keyhole.
Click—
The door was opened.
The lights were on, and the air conditioning was running.
A perfectly comfortable warm breeze blew over Ning Chuxue’s body.
“Sister Mu Wan!” She had no time to spare for such things, searching the entire room for Mu Wannuo’s figure.
“Not here…”
The Office didn’t show the familiar silhouette. With an uneasy heart, she walked in and opened the Bedroom door.
She was disappointed.
The Bedroom didn’t show the figure she had hoped for either.
“No way…”
Ning Chuxue swallowed hard, and Ying’s words surfaced in her mind.
Her heart instantly leaped to her throat. Anxiously and restlessly, she pulled out her phone, already soaked through by the rain, from her pocket.
Because of the water stains on the screen, she failed to enter her lock screen password several times.
After a tremendous effort, roughly five attempts, the screen finally switched to the main interface.
The screen was somewhat unresponsive from the rain’s drenching, so Ning Chuxue wiped the water stains with her sleeve.
The room was eerily quiet, with only the “beep” sound coming from the phone and Ning Chuxue’s heartbeat.
“The number you have dialed is powered off. Please try again later.”
A cold female voice came through.
Ning Chuxue felt as if a bucket of cold water had been dumped on her, standing frozen in place, at a loss.
Without bothering to change her soaked clothes, she walked uneasily to the window, trying to spot Mu Wannuo’s figure.
The result, however, was that the playground outside the window was completely empty.
“Impossible!” Ning Chuxue clutched her head with both hands, feeling dizzy and disoriented.
“Maybe Teacher Mu is still searching the whole campus for you right now.”
Ying’s casual remark echoed repeatedly in Ning Chuxue’s mind.
Outside, it was a Storm.
Searching for someone in such extreme conditions…
Ning Chuxue dared not continue thinking, guilt clogging her heart and catching in her throat.
She turned around in panic, her gaze landing on the envelope on the desk.
Because she had come in so hurriedly, her first priority had been to find Mu Wannuo, so she hadn’t paid attention to the very conspicuous letter.
As if possessed, she trembled as she walked to the desk. On the envelope was a line of highly visible black text.
“To Ning Chuxue.”
Beside the envelope was a box of Cold Medicine, as well as a set of Spare Clothes.
“This…” Ning Chuxue’s voice was hoarse, and tears could no longer be restrained by her eyes, streaking down her youthful face and dripping to the floor.
Ning Chuxue didn’t check the envelope first.
Her hand reached out beside the clothes and the Cold Medicine, where there was also a Paper.
“I’m sorry Chuxue, I did something really unpleasant, I must have made Chuxue angry, right? It’s just, your Elder Sister was worried you’d be deceived by bad people. Thinking about it now, I was really overthinking it… It’s raining outside. If Chuxue comes back, change into the clothes nearby first, and also drink a packet of Cold Medicine. Don’t catch a chill…”
Ning Chuxue’s voice was hoarse, reading the contents of the Note from Mu Wannuo word by word.
By the end, she nearly lost her footing and staggered backward a few steps.
Trembling, she placed the Note from Mu Wannuo she had read back in its original position.
Sobbing was the only sound Ning Chuxue could make now.
She tried hard not to let any sound escape.
But instinctively, her sobs grew louder, and her guilt grew stronger.
“Sister Mu Wan… the one who should say sorry… is me…”
Finally, she collapsed to the floor, and her sobbing turned into uncontrollable wailing.