[Outside the Workshop · Late Night, Sudden Rain]
The night was heavy and dark as rain suddenly poured down in sheets.
The lights in the workshop had not yet fully gone out; scattered gears and metal plates on the worktables glimmered faintly.
Lin Lie gathered the blueprints at hand and realized that several of them had been left at the Yao Residence. Just as he pushed the door open, rain hammered against the stone pavement, splashing pale droplets into the air.
He stopped at the threshold, his brows knitting slightly.
—If he forced his way back now, the drawings would surely be soaked.
—But if he waited any longer, it was already nearing the third watch of the night.
As he hesitated, a crisp pa sounded beside his ear.
A patch of dry shadow fell over him, blocking the torrential rain.
He turned his head and saw Ding Yuxuan grinning as she held a small umbrella above him.
"Hehe—how about it? This is my newest invention. I call it a folding umbrella!"
"Why are you still here?" Lin Lie asked in surprise. Ever since Si Chengjing had permitted her to stay by his side, Lin Lie had deliberately assigned her work far from him, trying to keep her at a distance.
Ding Yuxuan pretended not to hear his question. She held up the small umbrella, its frame made of delicate Yao-crystal and iron plates. When folded, it was no bigger than a palm. She tilted the umbrella slightly toward him, while her own shoulder was half-soaked by the rain.
Lin Lie's chest tightened subtly. He frowned and reached out to take the handle.
She smiled as she explained, "Once I got caught in the rain and was soaked head to toe. I thought—if there were something small you could carry with you, something you could just open whenever you needed shelter…"
Before she finished speaking, rain slid off the umbrella's surface and struck the stone slabs below.
Lin Lie watched quietly. It wasn't some grand mechanism—yet at this moment, it solved the problem perfectly.
His expression remained unchanged, but his voice softened in a way even he found unfamiliar.
"…Not bad."
Raindrops tapped rhythmically against the umbrella ribs. Her smile shone in the night like a small lantern.
He had always thought these "everyday gadgets" were nothing but childish amusements—but now, this umbrella had truly eased an urgent dilemma.
Ding Yuxuan's eyes lit up. She grinned even wider.
"Of course! Want me to make you a portable one too? Then you won't have to worry about getting soaked ever again!"
Lin Lie said nothing, merely watching the lines of rain slipping past the edge of the umbrella. Somewhere in his chest, something stirred—touched by her wild ideas and quiet thoughtfulness.
"It's late. A young lady shouldn't be lingering alone in the workshop," he said.
"You've got some nerve saying that," she shot back, hands on her hips. "If you hadn't sent me off to the far end to do chores and refused to teach me anything, would I be blocking your way here? Do you have any idea how long I sat on that little stool waiting?"
She pointed angrily toward a corner. "That folding stool over there? I invented that too!"
Lin Lie paused, following her finger. Sure enough, a small stool sat in the corner, its thin wooden legs marked with folding joints. On the ground beside it lay a rather intricate-looking Luban lock.
She huffed, "If I hadn't brought it myself, I'd have passed out from exhaustion long ago. Do you think everyone can stare at blueprints all night like you?"
Lin Lie frowned, his voice low. "I sent you away because I didn't want you causing trouble by sticking around. The designs in this workshop aren't something just anyone can touch."
"Oh, spare me!" Ding Yuxuan cut in immediately, her eyes bright with defiance. "You say you're afraid I'll cause trouble, but really you just look down on me! And yet my little inventions actually work—folding stools for resting, folding umbrellas for rain. They may not be grand mechanisms, but they make life more comfortable!"
The more she spoke, the angrier she became, finally planting her hands on her hips and glaring at him.
Lin Lie listened in silence, lips pressed tight. Rain drummed on the umbrella, and for a long while, he didn't respond.
—She really was different from what he'd assumed.
Her wild ideas weren't nonsense; they turned into something genuinely considerate.
At length, he looked away and said flatly, "…The stool's structure is solid. The support points are stable."
The rare praise made Ding Yuxuan freeze—then she broke into a beaming smile.
"Hah! I knew it! No matter how stubborn you act, you admit it in your heart!"
Lin Lie frowned. "It's late. It's not safe for you to walk back alone."
The words left his mouth before he could stop them, carrying an oddly natural concern.
"So you're walking me home?" she teased, eyes sparkling.
Lin Lie didn't answer. He simply steadied the umbrella and stepped into the rain with her. The space beneath it was small, forcing their shoulders to brush—but he didn't move away.
The alley was quiet, filled only with the sound of rain tapping against the umbrella and the bluestone pavement.
Lin Lie glanced up unconsciously at the interlaced curves of the umbrella frame.
The structure was simple—almost crude—yet strong enough to hold up the canopy against the downpour.
The umbrella was small; their shoulders brushed now and then. Ding Yuxuan remained perfectly at ease, chattering as they walked.
"See? Aren't my little inventions useful? On nights like this, you don't have to end up soaked. You should take one with you whenever you travel!"
Lin Lie didn't reply. He just listened, occasionally glancing at her.
Rainlight reflected in her eyes like scattered stars.
Something stirred faintly in his chest, and he quickly looked away.
[At the Ding Residence Gate]
By the time they reached the alley entrance, the rain still hadn't let up. Ding Yuxuan pushed the umbrella into his hands.
"Take it back with you. And stop saying my stuff is just nonsense."
Lin Lie hesitated for a heartbeat, fingers closing around the handle—then he didn't refuse.
"Go on inside! And don't stay up all night drawing again—you'll ruin your eyes!" she called with a wave, then turned and ran into the courtyard, her figure blurring in the rain.
Lin Lie stood there, watching the courtyard gate close, an inexplicable heaviness rising in his chest.
[Yao Residence · Lin Lie's Room · Late Night]
He entered the room and carefully set the protected blueprints back on the desk. Only then did he fold the umbrella.
Click.
The folding joints snapped softly as the ribs collapsed layer by layer, leaving only a short handle behind.
Lin Lie stared at it, his fingers tracing the seams. Unbidden, the image of her bright, carefree smile surfaced in his mind.
He murmured under his breath, "…Imaginative… yet not to be underestimated."
He thought of the meticulous notes he had studied since childhood under his grandfather—every line exact, no deviation allowed.
And yet this girl, guided by instinct and daily life, could turn cold techniques into the warmest ideas.
Rain tapped against the window lattice. Inside his chest, something seemed to crack open, ever so slightly.
His thoughts drifted back to earlier moments:
—her proud grin even as rain soaked her shoulder;
—her hands on her hips, pointing at the folding stool as she argued;
—the way she declared, "You're stubborn, but soft-hearted," with utter confidence.
Lin Lie lowered his gaze, fingers unconsciously brushing the umbrella.
For the first time, he admitted to himself: perhaps her "nonsense ideas" were what technology had originally been meant to be.
—not to build grand machines,
—not to awe the world,
—but simply to be useful when it mattered.
His lips pressed together as an emotion he couldn't name welled in his chest.
He had deliberately kept his distance, unwilling to let her come close.
Yet she always appeared at the most critical moments, armed with inventions that seemed trivial—but weren't.
Perhaps technology didn't always need to be vast and magnificent.
Even something meant to spare a person from getting a little wet was worthwhile.
He set the folding umbrella gently beside the desk, as though it were something precious.
[Workshop]
In the past, Lin Lie had locked himself between blueprints and parts, deaf to the bustle outside.
It was the world he'd built for himself—cold, orderly, ruled by lines and numbers.
But after that rainy night, his gaze began to follow Ding Yuxuan without his noticing.
She was always smiling, tossing out whimsical ideas offhand.
People laughed at first—then actually tried them.
Crowds gathered around her in the workshop. Even the taciturn craftsmen couldn't help chiming in.
She was like a flame the wind could never extinguish, lighting up cold iron wherever she went.
Only then did Lin Lie realize—
just how popular that little girl was in the workshop.
And the more he noticed it, the heavier the feeling in his chest became—
a feeling he couldn't quite name, whether it was irritation… or something far closer to concern.