Chapter 6: Coincidence
Three days later.
Everything was back to normal so fast that Lin Yuan began to question why he had been so enthusiastic about a lamp.
The thrill of the Yunnan trip had already faded with the pressure of his daily life. Morning delivery. Warehouse shifts. Cheap meals. Late-night business videos.
Nothing had changed. The brass lamp remained in the place he left it - the edge of his desk.
Occasionally, he picked up the lamp when he was tidying up his room. Sometimes he just stared at the lamp before going to bed. It had never gotten cold.
It had remained warm no matter when he touched the metal. It was a peculiar thing at first, but on the third day, Lin Yuan convinced himself that this was merely the type of metal it was made of.
There was an explanation to it. There always was.
Saturday came in with heavy rain.
A rhythm of water hitting his apartment window, the same sound that woke Lin Yuan up long before his alarm clock. He stretched lazily and then glanced at the time. 8:30 AM. His shift wouldn't start until 12 PM.
"Nice..."
He hadn't slept this late in months. He ambled toward the small kitchen, set a kettle of water, and put it on the burner.
While waiting for the water to boil, he looked at the mountain of dirty clothes beside his washing machine. "...I guess I really can't ignore you any longer."
Laundry day. On weekends, the shared laundry area on the rooftop was often packed. Unfortunately…so was the rain.
Lin Yuan sighed and looked out of the window. Gray clouds filled the entire sky, and water was pouring down from the rooftops of buildings across the street.
He grabbed a shirt out of the basket and frowned.
"If it goes on like this…" He scratched the back of his head, "…my clothes won't be able to dry until tomorrow."
The kettle whirled. He poured himself a cup of tea and took the basket upstairs regardless, just in case the rain would subside later.
It did not. The rooftop was deserted. Everyone else had apparently made the sensible decision to stay indoors.
Lin Yuan stood beneath the concrete shelter, observing the persistent rain. His clothes would not dry under these conditions.
He let out a helpless laugh. "It'd be nice if the rain stopped for a bit."
He wasn't speaking to anyone; he was just muttering to himself.
After another minute of standing in the rain, he picked up the basket. "No use standing around here."
As soon as he turned back towards the stairs… the rhythmic patter of raindrops started to diminish.
Lin Yuan froze. The heavy shower turned into a light drizzle. The drizzle dwindled into sporadic droplets. Within a minute, all of the rain had stopped.
Silence fell onto the rooftop. Lin Yuan slowly turned his head toward the sky again. The thick gray clouds had not vanished; they just… stopped releasing rain.
"Huh," he blinked twice. "That was good timing."
Without giving it much thought, he carried the basket over to the clotheslines and began hanging up his shirts, then his trousers, then his towels.
Just as he clipped the last towel to the line, sunlight began piercing through the clouds. A golden radiance spread across the rooftops, and the remaining clouds parted as if being pushed by an unseen wind.
Lin Yuan raised his hand to cover his eyes from the brightness. "…Are you kidding me?"
The weather had changed with such suddenness that it was almost felt unreal. The door on the rooftop swung open, revealing a neighbor, an elderly woman, who came out with her own basket of laundry.
She gazed at the bright sky in surprise. " I thought it was going to rain all morning."
" I thought so too." Lin Yuan smirked. "Guess the forecast was wrong."
The old lady let out a chuckle. "They always are."
They both finished hanging their laundry and within a few minutes, the two of them had already forgotten the brief incident. The rest of the morning passed uneventfully.
Lin Yuan returned to his apartment, changed into his work uniform, and set off for work. By early afternoon, the hot sun had transformed the entire city into an oven.
The pavement radiated heat from the roads. The sunlight made the cars blur like water-colors. The air itself seemed to carry a fever.
Lin Yuan stopped his motorbike in the parking lot of a shopping plaza to pick up a delivery.
As soon as he took off his helmet, sweat was already beading on his forehead. "…This is brutal."
Ten minutes were left until his food order was ready, so he leaned against a tree to rest and wipe his brow with a handkerchief. In the distance, two construction workers sat on a bench, sipping cold water.
"Hope it rains," one said, tilting his head to stare at the sky.
The other scoffed, "After all that rain this morning? It wasn't enough."
Lin Yuan offered a thin smile. "I agree."
He tipped his head back. The sun was relentless, unyielding. Without even thinking, he said, "A little rain wouldn't actually hurt."
It slipped out so casually, just another random thought. Nothing changed.
Lin Yuan shrugged, "Should have known."
His food was ready. He got on the bike and rode away.
Five minutes later, at a red light… A cool breeze fanned his face. Lin Yuan furrowed his brow. Leaves on the nearby trees began to rustle.
He looked up. Clouds. Dark, heavy clouds that hadn't been there just a moment ago.
A couple of other pedestrians pointed. "Wasn't it just sunny?"
A woman said, quickly opening her umbrella. Another was scanning his phone, checking the weather. Then, before anyone could say another word… The first raindrop fell on Lin Yuan's helmet.
Another followed. Then more. And in less than thirty seconds, the sky opened up over the city. This was not a drizzle; this was a full-blown summer downpour.
Traffic screeched to a halt. People darted for shelter under awnings, laughing and grumbling in equal measure.
Lin Yuan pulled under the overhang of a convenience store. "…Are you kidding me?"
He looked up at the sky, then down at the rain, then back up at the sky again. The timing was… odd. Really, really odd.
This morning, he had casually wished for the rain to stop, and it had. Now he had casually wished for rain… and it was raining.
Lin Yuan crossed his arms. "…Coincidence."
That's what it was. Weather changed all the time. He was just lucky. Or unlucky, depending on how you felt about making food deliveries in the rain.
The owner of the convenience store stepped outside with a broom. "Crazy weather."
Lin Yuan nodded. "It really is."
The owner laughed. "Welcome to Chongqing."
Lin Yuan smiled and looked back out at the downpour. Coincidence. It was just a coincidence.
But still… the rest of the afternoon, whenever his gaze drifted upward to the sky… there was one small question lingering in the back of his mind
"What if it wasn't?"