Love Me in Another Universe

Chapter 101 Exclamation Mark in the Rain

December 12, 2000, Tuesday. At nine o'clock in the evening, Guan Xuchen was attending the elective course "Introduction to Psychology" in the Third Teaching Building.

The young female teacher, with thin-rimmed glasses and a ponytail, pointed at the blackboard and said methodically, "'Anything that can go wrong will go wrong' — this is how we generally understand Murphy's Law. In fact, the original wording of Murphy's Law is: 'If there are two or more ways to do something and one of those results in a catastrophe, then someone will do it that way.' "

She paused, then added half-jokingly, "Just like every year, there are always students who don't listen carefully in class, end up failing the exam, and can't get the credits for this elective course. I hope none of you will make that choice."

Just then, the class bell rang. Amid the students' laughter, the teacher dismissed the class, saying she would explain Murphy's Law in detail in the next session.

Guan Xuchen stood up, gathered his things, and left the classroom with the other students, heading back to the dormitory.

As Guan Xuchen walked down the stairs, he heard the rumble of thunder and flash of lightning outside. He had a bad feeling. He prayed silently to Heaven for mercy, hoping the rain would hold off until he got back to the dorm.

But Heaven seemed to be in a bad mood that day. It started to rain the moment Guan Xuchen reached the entrance of the building.

Guan Xuchen almost always carried an umbrella when going out. But that evening, the communal bathroom was crowded. He had to wait in line and didn't finish taking a shower until 7:10 p.m. He had rushed out of the dorm to attend the elective course and forgotten to bring his umbrella. It rarely rained in Guangzhou in December, yet on that night of all nights, it did.

Guan Xuchen remembered the "Murphy's Law" mentioned in class earlier, thinking how eerily accurate the law was, and couldn't help but feel a mix of amusement and frustration.

The rain fell neither too hard nor too light. Some students had brought umbrellas and left in small groups of two or three. Guan Xuchen wanted to see if any other boys had umbrellas so he could share one. But he noticed that almost all the students with umbrellas were girls — none of the boys had brought theirs.

Not many students from the School of Foreign Languages had enrolled in this elective course. Besides Guan Xuchen, there were eight or nine girls, as well as two other boys who lived in the same dorm building as Guan.

One of the boys, Tan Junhao, glanced at the rain outside and said to Guan Xuchen and the other boy named Xue Jiangqian, "The rain isn't that heavy. Why don't we dash back?"

Xue Jiangqian nodded in agreement, "Worst case, we can just take another shower when we get back."

Guan Xuchen smiled in embarrassment and said to them, "You guys go ahead. I want to stay here and read for a while."

So Tan and Xue, like the other boys, boldly dashed straight into the rain.

Guan Xuchen and some girls who hadn't brought umbrellas stood at the entrance of the building, waiting for the rain to stop before heading back to the dorm.

Guan Xuchen silently watched the rain fall like broken threads onto the ground. For some reason, he suddenly remembered a riddle he had seen six years ago at the Dong Fang Amusement Park carnival with Gao Xinglang: "Tens of thousands of threads, invisible when they fall into water..."

Back then, Gao Xinglang clearly knew the answer was rain, but he deliberately said it was noodles and even gave an "explanation" for it.

Guan Xuchen's lips curled up involuntarily, but he quickly wiped the smile off his face and sighed softly.