ICSTC CH5: Downpour Tomorrow

However, both of them quickly shot down that possibility—purely because Chi Zhiyue possessed an unnaturally stable emotional disposition.

Lan Ju couldn’t help but bring up an incident where an intern made a blunder by misplacing a brand partner’s ad placement slot. While everyone else was gearing up to deliver a scolding, Chi Zhiyue had stepped in directly to stop them. He immediately devised a solution on the spot, calmly directing the intern through the recovery process from start to finish.

Only after the crisis had passed did Chi Zhiyue call the intern aside to offer a few brief words of feedback—never displaying even the slightest trace of anger throughout the entire ordeal.

Luo Ye genuinely felt that with temperament like that, the guy could easily be cast as one of those stoic, unbothered elites from a Beijing high-society drama.

After speculating endlessly, Lan Ju asked Luo Ye one more time: “Are you sure it wasn’t you?”

“I’m completely sure,” Luo Ye let out a speechlessly amused laugh. “Brother Ju, what kind of person do you take me for?”

Lan Ju: “The kind of person who’d throw a punch so hard it knocks out two of his teeth and leaves him kneeling on the floor calling you ‘His Majesty.'”

Luo Ye: “Are you insane?”

Yet when he gave it a second thought—despite people constantly remarking that Luo Ye carried the rugged aura of a street delinquent, he had never actually been seen throwing hands throughout his entire college career, save for tossing out a few fiery insults.

Lan Ju was genuinely intrigued now: “Seriously though, have you actually never been in a real fight?”

Luo Ye paused to reflect for a moment before replying, “Does beating up livestock count?”

Lan Ju froze: “Your family raised pigs?”

Luo Ye: “My dad.”

Starting from his third year of middle school, as long as Luo Zhengwei was home, a physical altercation between them was practically guaranteed. As those fights dragged on over the years, Luo Ye’s physical strength grew significantly—he only became more resilient with every hit he took. Until one day, he completely overpowered Luo Zhengwei. That very day, he scooped up Luo Peng and ran away without looking back.

They had been running ever since, never once returning to check on him.

Lan Ju was familiar with some of their family background and held zero goodwill toward that father figure himself. Hearing Luo Ye describe him that way, he found it remarkably fitting and burst into laughter, pounding his desk.

“Hahaha, but wait, that still doesn’t quite count~ Your old man only counts as half a beast, so technically you’ve still never fought an actual person.”

Lan Ju continued laughing heartily on the other end of the line.

Amidst the laughter, Luo Ye glanced over at his alt Weibo account. Aside from the steadily climbing number of likes, his direct messages remained completely unattended. His heart sank a fraction.

Accompanied by a sudden tickle in his throat, he let out a few dry coughs.

Lan Ju had been preparing to wrap up the call, but hearing the coughing instantly reignited his concern: “You’re already coughing like that—are you still planning to come to work tomorrow?”

“I’m fine, really. Just a simple sore throat,” Luo Ye reached up to touch his own forehead; it didn’t feel overly hot. “I’ll swing by the hospital tomorrow afternoon to grab some meds. Earning half a day’s pay is still earning money.”

Seeing that he couldn’t convince him otherwise, Lan Ju could only let it drop: “Alright then, take care of yourself. I’m heading off to work on my draft.”

After hanging up the phone, the bedroom didn’t stay quiet for long before the device chimed again with a timely notification.

[Alert from an account you follow: Wild Grass Band Official has posted an announcement]

Wild Grass Band was a group Luo Ye had adored ever since middle school.

Item #5 on his bucket list was to attend one of their standalone concert tours before he died. There happened to be a performance scheduled for December 29th of this year, and Luo Ye had already set his alarm to grab tickets the moment sales opened.

He wondered if this late-night notification was about an added venue date or an extra fan-sign session.

Smiling, Luo Ye tapped open the announcement.

Then, the corners of his mouth froze solid.

Printed in bold, capitalized black text across a plain white graphic was the official statement:

[We deeply apologize. Due to venue adjustments on the organizer’s end, the standalone concert originally scheduled for December 29th will be postponed to January 3rd. Ticket sales timing remains unchanged and will still open on December 11th.]

“…” Luo Ye stared at that line of text, reading it over and over until the last shred of hope in his chest completely withered away.

He collapsed onto his bed with a sharp thud, burying his face deep into his pillow while his fist slammed twice into the soft mattress.

His tail swished about in sheer frustration for a good while before finally drooping limply against his thigh.

So frustrating. Not a single thing was going his way.

Getting sick, failing to find the person he was looking for, missing out on the concert, and on top of all that, dying soon—with all four feelings piling up at once, Luo Ye felt a buzzing ache echoing inside his head.

The next day, he forced himself to pull his spirits together, but Luo Peng still picked up on his off-kilter mood, nagging him for over ten minutes straight.

“If you’re really feeling unwell…” Luo Peng was about to continue his lecture when Luo Ye couldn’t take it anymore—he reached out, pinched both of Luo Peng’s cheeks, and stretched them outward.

Luo Peng’s eyes widened as he stared at him: “Wha-what are you doing…”

Only after squishing his face for a good while did Luo Ye release his grip, stating smoothly, “If you talked this much with your classmates, you’d have made friends ages ago.”

Luo Peng fell silent, his scarf tucked up to hide his reddened cheeks. Before leaving, he faced Luo Ye and performed a rapid sequence of sign language that looked almost like hand seals.

Luo Ye understood it perfectly, of course, but he played dumb and pretended he hadn’t seen a thing, humming a tune as he went off to change his clothes.

His outfit for the day was fairly simple: a grey hoodie layered beneath a black down jacket, paired with dark grey floor-length sweatpants. He casually pulled a grey knit beanie over his head to complete the look.

Since he needed to head to the hospital in the afternoon, he decided against riding his motorcycle. Popping in a Bluetooth earbud, he strolled leisurely along the street toward the subway station.

It happened to be an exceptionally frigid day, with the water pooling in the cracked pavement threatening to freeze over.

The quiet, invisible countdown timer reflected off the standing water. The flower shop along the street had moved all its displays indoors, leaving behind only branches of winterberry Laden with bright red berries.

The shop owner spotted Luo Ye while moving items around and offered him a warm, friendly greeting. Usually, the owner would invite him into the shop to sit for a bit, but seeing that he was headed off to work today, she handed him two disposable hand warmers instead.

Luo Ye accepted them with a grateful thank you, wrapping his down jacket tightly around himself as he pulled his neck in and hurried down into the subway station.

Upon reaching his workstation, Luo Ye slumped right into his chair with his elbows resting on the desk. He closed his eyes for a short break, his cat ears twitching back and forth in rhythm with his colleagues’ surrounding chatter.

After resting for a few minutes, the warm airflow from the heater dispelled the lingering cold. Feeling cozy all over, Luo Ye stood up and got straight to work.

He stayed busy straight through until 10:30 AM before heading to the break room for a water refill. A colleague named Xiao Zhao stealthily leaned over: “Brother Ye, are you in a bad mood today?”

Luo Ye was surprised. He had been wearing a face mask all morning and hadn’t interacted much with anyone outside of handoff work: “How could you tell?”

Xiao Zhao: “You didn’t scold me today.”

Luo Ye: “…Are you a masochist?”

Bai Nan, who happened to be walking past, pinched her nose in exaggerated disgust: “Whoa, there’s a total creep in here.”

Xiao Zhao glanced at Bai Nan, rubbing his chin with a snort: “Even if I were a creep, could I really compare to Bai Cheng level creepiness? Man actually tried to put his hands on someone inside our company.”

The news regarding Bai Cheng had spread like wildfire through their internal group chats that morning. Some were actively searching for that unknown hero to send them a commendatory banner, while others like Xiao Zhao were simply turning it into jokes.

There were even a few bizarre supernatural theories floating around, claiming that no one had actually intervened that day—that Bai Cheng had simply been possessed by a ghost and ended up beating himself up.

Lan Ju had shared that exact piece of gossip with Luo Ye as a hilarious joke over lunch.

Luo Ye had laughed so hard after hearing it that he barely managed a few bites of food: “Where on earth do you even read such absurd nonsense?”

Lan Ju finished off a mountain bowl of rice like a passing storm, his rounded cheeks bulging as he replied, “Since nobody knows who actually did it, everyone’s just started crafting their own wild unofficial histories.”

Luo Ye: “…Isn’t that taking ‘wild’ a bit too far?”

“That’s nothing compared to what the scriptwriters in our department came up with! Their versions are so wildly unhinged I’m almost embarrassed to tell you,” Lan Ju wiped his mouth and let out a satisfied burp. “By the way, how are you getting to the hospital later? Should I hail a ride for you?”

“No need, I bumped into Wan Qing earlier. He said he’s heading that way anyway and offered me a ride,” Luo Ye leaned back into his chair, crossing his arms as he looked at Lan Ju’s sparkling clean, empty plate, unable to hold back a sigh: “Brother Ju, you truly are the person who respects the cafeteria food the most in this entire company.”

Lan Ju looked up, blinking his eyes with an innocent expression: “It really tastes amazing though.”

Luo Ye glanced at the stir-fried broccoli with grapes in his own dish: “…You’re probably the only person who thinks so.”

“Isn’t life all about trying new things?” Lan Ju casually peeled an orange. “What time are you leaving?”

Luo Ye checked the time on his phone: “1:30 PM.”

The 1:30 PM winter sunlight was as faint as a thin veil, with distant clusters of office towers cutting out a clean, crisp blue sky.

Wearing his mask and a single earbud, Luo Ye stood near the company’s back exit, silently observing the sky above.

Quite a few employees passed by on their way out. Whenever it was someone he recognized, they would pause to chat with him for a few moments.

After the countdown timer ticked down by two minutes or so, Manager Fang from Human Resources approached, her high heels clicking lightly as she held her shoulder bag. She offered a bright greeting: “Xiao Luo! Off work so early today?”

“Not quite, heading to the hospital,” Luo Ye’s eyes crinkled slightly at the corners, his voice muffled behind the mask. “You have great eyes, Manager Fang. I bundled up like this and you still recognized me instantly.”

“With a stature as good as yours, who else could it be in our company? Plus, you have that mole on your face, which makes you even easier to spot,” Manager Fang rubbed her hands together, red from the cold, blowing a puff of warm white vapor into her palms. “Are you waiting for a ride?”

“I’m waiting for Wan Qing,” Luo Ye said. “What about you?”

“Waiting for my husband. A small matter came up at home,” Manager Fang explained.

“Oh, right, Manager Fang, about the bulletin board…”

Just as Luo Ye was about to ask about swapping out the photos on the display board, the steady hum of an engine approached from a distance, and an unfamiliar black Mercedes pulled up to a smooth stop right in front of them.

Luo Ye instinctively assumed Manager Fang’s husband had arrived and stepped back a stride, thinking to himself: As expected of a manager-level executive, even the car is this grand.

Yet when he turned his head, he noticed Manager Fang taking a step back as well.

Luo Ye: “Ah?”

Manager Fang: “Hmm?”

As the two exchanged a look of shared confusion, the car window rolled down smoothly.

Chi Zhiyue’s striking side profile came into view. He was wearing the exact same coat as yesterday, one hand resting casually on the steering wheel as he offered a light smile: “Manager Fang, what a coincidence.”

Once Manager Fang caught a clear view of the driver, she immediately shuffled over with quick, small steps, her tone turning instantly warm: “Oh, it’s you! Are you waiting for someone too?”

Chi Zhiyue lowered his handsome eyes, letting out a soft, gentle “Mhm.”

Luo Ye had little interest in their conversation and kept looking past the vehicle for Wan Qing’s car, completely unaware that his gaze had landed directly on Chi Zhiyue.

It wasn’t until he heard Chi Zhiyue call out his name: “Luo Ye.”

He snapped his head around abruptly, landing his gaze straight into Chi Zhiyue’s eyes. The other man tapped his fingertips lightly against the steering wheel, letting out a low, soft chuckle: “Haven’t checked your phone yet?”

“Huh? …Oh.” Luo Ye realized something instantly and fished out his phone.

Sure enough, Wan Qing had sent two messages right around the time he was chatting with Manager Fang.

Message 1:So sorry man, something urgent popped up suddenly!

Message 2:But don’t worry, I ran into Chi Zhiyue on the way. He said he happens to be heading in that direction anyway and offered to take you! Remember to say thank you to him! Xiao Chi really is such a great guy~ [tongue-out playful emoji]

Luo Ye: “…” Why are you acting cute at a time like this?!

Lifting his eyes once more, he saw Manager Fang with her back turned to him, whispering something softly to Chi Zhiyue.

Chi Zhiyue leaned against the seatback in a completely relaxed posture. His eyes were curved into a gentle crescent as he silently met Luo Ye’s gaze, his voice unhurried and calm:

“Get in.”