The divorce comeback system arrived right after I was born.

Summer rains always come out of nowhere. One second it's a sweltering sauna-like day, and the next it's like someone has overturned a basin of water from the sky.

The school bell had just rung when everything outside the window was already a white blur, and the raindrops were pounding against the glass, making a loud, unsettling sound.

The classroom was filled with wails.

Most students who didn't bring umbrellas were forced to stay, either crowding in the corridors to call home or dejectedly returning to their seats, praying that the rain would subside soon.

Chen Zhi packed his schoolbag and was about to take out his phone to check the traffic when a fragrant breeze suddenly wafted around him.

"Chen Zhi!"

Lin Wanwan, carrying her schoolbag and with her ponytail swinging back and forth, had a "praise me" expression on her face. "My dad just texted me saying he's passing by the school and will pick me up on his way. Come with me."

Chen Zhi raised an eyebrow and glanced at the scene outside the window, which looked like water was being poured out.

His parents get off work around the same time he gets out of school, so they're probably stuck in traffic on the overpass right now.

He took out his phone and sent his mother a WeChat message: "Mom, I've gone home in Uncle Lin's car. Don't worry about me."

After sending the message, he put his phone back in his pocket. Just as he was about to get up, he caught a glimpse of his deskmate, Pei Ningxue, still sitting there.

Her usually ramrod-straight back looked rather thin at that moment.

The books on the table were neatly arranged, but the person remained motionless, only tilting their head, their clear, cold eyes staring unfocused at the heavy rain outside the window.

At this time of day, the Pei family's black Mercedes would usually be parked at the school gate.

"Why aren't you leaving yet?" Chen Zhi asked casually. "Hasn't the driver arrived?"

Pei Ningxue snapped out of her daze, her long eyelashes trembled, and she gently shook her head.

"Didn't you bring an umbrella?" Chen Zhi asked again.

Pei Ningxue pursed her lips and nodded.

Her hands, resting on her knees, twitched slightly. She had actually messaged the driver, but hadn't received a reply.

Chen Zhi clicked his tongue.

Without saying much, he reached into the side pocket of his backpack, pulled out a black folding umbrella, and casually placed it on Pei Ningxue's desk.

"Take it."

Pei Ningxue was stunned.

She tilted her head, and for the first time, her eyes, which were looking at Chen Zhi, showed obvious doubt, as if asking: I gave you your umbrella, what are you going to do now?

Before Chen Zhi could even open his mouth to show off, Lin Wanwan's urging voice came from the classroom door.

"Chen Zhi! What are you dawdling for! My dad's car is almost at the school gate!"

Lin Wanwan was an impatient person. Seeing that Chen Zhi was still dawdling, she simply ran in, grabbed Chen Zhi's arm and dragged him out. "Hurry up, hurry up, don't keep my dad waiting, or he'll start nagging me again."

Chen Zhi was pulled so hard that he stumbled, and he instinctively took the umbrella from Lin Wanwan's hand.

"Alright, alright, let's go."

While giving him a perfunctory answer, he opened the umbrella and casually covered Lin Wanwan's head with it, also covering himself in the process.

Lin Wanwan was taken aback, blinking her big eyes as she looked at the umbrella above her head, then at Chen Zhi, whose hands were empty.

"Hey? Where's your umbrella? I remember you brought it this morning."

Chen Zhi remained calm and composed, casually making up a story: "I lent it to Li Zihan. That kid is going to the bookstore to buy 'Dragon Raja,' and he's afraid the book will get wet without an umbrella."

"Oh." Lin Wanwan didn't think much of it and instead moved closer to Chen Zhi. "Then come closer so you don't get wet."

The two shared an umbrella and stepped into the rain.

The rain was too heavy; a small umbrella was clearly insufficient to shelter two people. Chen Zhi tilted the umbrella handle mostly towards Lin Wanwan, instantly soaking half of his own shoulder.

"Hey, move over there a bit, your shoulders are all wet!" Lin Wanwan complained, reaching out to push his arm.

"Don't move, or you'll get wet too." Chen Zhi pressed her head down. "Do you want to go back and take a hot shower, or do you want to catch a cold and have a runny nose tomorrow?"

"You're the one with a runny nose!" Lin Wanwan pinched his waist angrily.

The sounds of the two playfully bickering gradually faded into the distance, soon disappearing into the noisy rain.

In the classroom.

Pei Ningxue remained seated in the same place.

She slowly lowered her head and looked at the black folding umbrella on the table.

The umbrella handle still held the warmth of that person's hand.

She reached out and gently touched the cold ribs of the umbrella with her fingertips, then turned her head and stared through the fogged glass window at the two figures standing close together in the rain, lost in thought.

……

At the school gate, a black Audi was flashing its hazard lights.

The car window was half-rolled down, revealing the face of a slightly serious middle-aged man.

Lin Shuxian glanced at his watch, his brow furrowing slightly. This girl said she'd be out soon, and it's been ten minutes already.

Just then, I saw two people rushing towards me through the rain.

Under a small pink umbrella, her daughter was practically glued to that brat, the two of them laughing carefree and talking about nothing.

Lin Shuxian's eyelids twitched violently twice, and the veins on his eyelids seemed about to bulge out.

As the car door opened, a wave of damp steam, mixed with the restlessness of youth, rushed in.

"Dad! Have you been waiting long?" Lin Wanwan closed her umbrella and quickly jumped into the back seat. "The rain was too heavy, and the roads were difficult to navigate."

Chen Zhi followed closely behind, folded his umbrella, and greeted him politely, "Hello, Uncle Lin, thank you for your trouble."

"It's okay, I'm going the same way."

Lin Shuxian glanced in the rearview mirror and saw that Chen Zhi's left side was soaked, while his own daughter was completely dry. His anger subsided a little.

This kid is sensible.

The car slowly started moving and merged into the congested traffic.

In the back seat, Lin Wanwan was clearly still caught up in her excitement, chattering away to Chen Zhi about the gossip in their class.

"Oh right, is Li Zihan really going to buy books? It's raining so hard?"

"That's faith, you wouldn't understand," Chen Zhi leaned back in his chair and replied lazily. "For Erii, he'd go even if it rained knives, let alone rain."

"Tch, typical chuunibyou." Lin Wanwan pouted, pulling a bag of gummies from her bag. "Want some?"

"Orange flavor? I'll have one."

"Hey! Don't grab it!"

"tasty."

"Chen Zhi, are you a dog?!"

The two jostled and pushed each other in the back seat over a gummy candy. Lin Shuxian gripped the steering wheel tighter and tighter until his knuckles turned white.

He took a deep breath, trying to maintain his dignity and composure as an elder.

"Hey, Wanwan, sit properly and stop yelling."

Lin Wanwan stuck out her tongue and behaved herself a little, but she was still secretly pinching Chen Zhi's thigh.

Chen Zhi was in so much pain that he was wincing, but he still had to keep smiling in front of Uncle Lin. It was a bittersweet experience.

The car moved along, stopping and starting, and finally managed to get to the building in the residential area.

The rain has subsided a little.

Lin Shuxian parked the car, turned to look at Chen Zhi, and put on that polite yet distant smile that is unique to adults.

"Xiao Chen, it's so late, are your parents home?"

That's just a polite remark.

According to normal social etiquette, Chen Zhi should have said "Yes, yes" at this point, and then tactfully said goodbye and went home.

Lin Shuxian had the same plan.

But who is Chen Zhi?

That's a seasoned veteran who's been reborn and has a skin thicker than a city wall.

Chen Zhi's face showed a perfectly measured look of melancholy as he sighed, "Sigh, Uncle Lin, my parents are both working overtime today and won't be back until very late. They told me to go home and cook instant noodles by myself."

As he spoke, he rubbed his stomach and made a "gurgling" sound in sync.

Lin Shuxian's smile froze for a moment.

This... the script is wrong?

But he'd already asked the question, so he couldn't just kick him out, could he? That would be too rude.

So, Lin Shuxian braced himself and feigned enthusiasm, saying, "How can that be? You're still growing, instant noodles aren't nutritious. How about... coming to my house for dinner tonight?"

He silently prayed: Reject me, please reject me quickly, tell me you don't want to trouble us.

To everyone's surprise, Chen Zhi's eyes lit up instantly, and the "dejected" look on his face vanished in an instant, replaced by a bright smile.

"Really? That's great! Thank you, Uncle Lin! I was just craving Auntie's cooking!"

Before Lin Shuxian could react, Chen Zhi had already opened the car door and nimbly climbed out, not forgetting to turn back and greet Lin Wanwan.

"Wanwan, hurry up, I'm starving!"

Lin Wanwan cheered, "Yay! Mom must have made something delicious today!"

The two little ones dashed into the stairwell in a flash.

Lin Shuxian was left alone in the driver's seat, his hand still frozen in mid-air.

He looked at the empty back seat, then at his own stiff face in the rearview mirror.

After a long pause, he finally managed to stammer out, "...This kid, can't he understand polite conversation?"

……

On the other side, at the Pei family villa.

The sky was completely dark, and the streetlights in the villa area cast dim, yellowish halos in the rain and mist.

A black Mercedes slowly drove through the carved gate.

Before the car had even come to a complete stop, Pei Ningxue could hear an argument coming from inside the house. The noise was loud, and even through the thick rain and car windows, it was still jarring.

"I'm so sorry, Miss." The driver, Uncle Wang, looked apologetic and cautiously turned around. "Mr. Pei and his wife... seem to have had a fight about personnel changes at the company, so they're a little late."

Pei Ningxue carried her schoolbag expressionlessly, clutching the black folding umbrella tightly in her hand.

"It's alright, Uncle Wang."

The voice was very soft, and one could not discern whether the speaker was happy or angry.

She opened the car door and opened the umbrella.

The umbrella was large enough to completely cover her, but the sense of emptiness was even more pronounced.

As you step into the entryway, the sounds of arguing become immediately clear.

"Pei Dongcheng! What do you mean? Are you trying to rip me off now?"

The woman's voice was shrill and piercing, filled with hysterical rage: "Don't forget, if it weren't for my dad's investment in you, your Pei family would have been finished long ago! Now that the company is doing better, you want to kick my people out? You want to sideline me?"

The living room was a mess, with shattered vases scattered on the floor.

Stepmother Liu Yi, dressed in an expensive silk nightgown, pointed at the man sitting on the sofa and began to curse.

Pei Dongcheng's face was ashen, and he had a cigarette between his fingers.

"Can't you be reasonable? The finance department is the core of the company. You're making your nephew, who can't even do basic accounting, the director? Are you trying to ruin the company?"

"I don't care! This position must belong to the Liu family!"

Pei Ningxue changed her shoes and, as if she hadn't seen the two people, walked straight through the living room and upstairs.

"Ningxue is back?"

Pei Dongcheng's expression softened slightly when he saw his daughter, and he tried to stand up.

But Liu Yi was furious and grabbed him, saying, "Don't try to change the subject! This isn't over!"

Pei Ningxue didn't stop walking, but simply said, "I'm going back to my room to do my homework."

"Bang."

The door was closed, shutting out all the arguments and chaos.

The room was quiet, with only the sound of raindrops tapping on the window.

Pei Ningxue threw her schoolbag on the bed and sat down at her desk.

She placed the black folding umbrella on the corner of the table, still dripping water, which pooled on the tabletop in a small puddle.

She stared at the puddle of water for a while, then silently took out her notebook and started doing her homework.

The pen tip scratched across the paper.

After what seemed like an eternity, the arguing downstairs finally stopped. Then came the sound of a door slamming and a car starting.

The world is finally quiet.

Pei Ningxue stretched and rubbed her slightly sore neck.

My stomach growled at just the right moment.

I haven't had dinner yet.

She glanced at the time; it was almost nine o'clock.

Just then, there was a gentle knock on the door.

"Ningxue, are you asleep?"

It was Pei Dongcheng's voice.

"without."

The door was pushed open, and Pei Dongcheng walked in.

He looked exhausted; the argument seemed to have drained him of all his energy. The once glamorous CEO Pei, in front of outsiders, now resembled a middle-aged man bent over by the weight of life.

He placed a cup of hot milk somewhat awkwardly on Pei Ningxue's desk.

"You haven't eaten yet, have you? Have some milk to tide you over."

Pei Dongcheng pulled up a chair and sat down next to his daughter.

He looked at Pei Ningxue's profile, which bore a resemblance to his deceased wife, and his eyes suddenly reddened.

"Ningxue, I'm so sorry..."

His voice was a little hoarse, filled with deep guilt, "I've made you suffer all these years."

Pei Ningxue paused for a moment while holding the pen.

She turned her head, looked at the handsome man with gray hair, and gently shook her head.

"It's okay, Dad."

Pei Dongcheng felt even more distressed. The more sensible his daughter was, the more incompetent he felt.

"Don't worry." Pei Dongcheng took a deep breath, as if he had made up his mind. "Give Dad some more time. As long as we wait a few more years until that project is completed, I will be able to completely break free from the Liu family's control and take back everything that belongs to us."

"When the time comes, Dad will definitely make it up to you."

Pei Ningxue looked down at the math problems in her workbook and didn't say anything.

Seeing his daughter remain silent, Pei Dongcheng didn't know how to continue the conversation. The silence between father and daughter was even more suffocating than their earlier argument.

"Um... do you have enough money?"

Pei Dongcheng ultimately chose the most direct method. He took out his phone and transferred money to Pei Ningxue.

"If you don't have enough, ask your dad for more. Buy whatever you want, don't deprive yourself."

"Yes, thank you, Dad."

Pei Dongcheng sighed, stood up, and patted his daughter's shoulder: "Get some rest early, don't study too late."

After saying that, he hurriedly left the room.

The door closed again.

Pei Ningxue picked up her phone and glanced at it.

Transferred 20,000.

She accepted the money expressionlessly and tossed her phone aside.

My gaze fell once again on the black folding umbrella.

The umbrella was dry and lay there quietly.

She suddenly remembered the look in Chen Zhi's eyes when he threw her the umbrella after school, and the way he and Lin Wanwan were playing around in the rain.

That vibrant, youthful energy and liveliness is so far removed from her.

Pei Ningxue, as if possessed, reached out, picked up the umbrella, and gently opened it a little.

A faint aroma wafted out.

It tastes more like spicy snack strips?

Pei Ningxue paused for a moment, then her lips curled up slightly, forming a very faint smile.

Did this guy put his umbrella and snacks together?

She closed the umbrella again, carefully tucked it into the deepest part of the drawer, then picked up the glass of milk that was gradually cooling and drank it all in one gulp.

He can drink expired milk and not die, so what's a little coldness to him?

I need to return the umbrella to him tomorrow.