Rainy Season Clears

Xie Zhiyuan is a third-year university student majoring in sculpture at Q University, but he secretly works as a Puppet Master. This profession is passed down through families and is unknown to ninety-nine percent of humanity. Puppet Masters make leather puppets for a hidden humanoid species called Jingren. Jingren are ancient human ancestors who lost all body hair, pores, and skin texture over evolutionary time. They survive by wearing custom-made puppets to blend into human society. The puppets are handcrafted from pig skin boiled into leather water mixed with a special gel, then spread onto glass sheets with skin patterns. Once solidified, the skin is peeled off, laid on wire frames, and sculpted into human shapes.

Xie Zhiyuan entered this profession a year ago after his childhood friend Zhao Yufeng died in a car accident that decapitated him. Zhao Yufeng's family used hereditary witchcraft to allow him to survive by parasitizing his soul into a small scarecrow. The scarecrow crawls onto Xie Zhiyuan's body, often manifesting as a mouth on his arm that can speak. They are saving money to buy a fully human-like doll body, which costs over a million yuan, for Zhao Yufeng to control permanently. At their current saving rate of ten to twenty thousand a year, it will take a hundred years, but Xie Zhiyuan continues to make puppets to earn money.

Xie Zhiyuan lives in a rental apartment outside school where the rooms are filled with unfinished humanoid skins suspended on wire frames. The apartment has a large pot where animal skins are boiled. He juggles his studies with his secret work. In school, he is the class monitor of Sculpture Class 1, but he has a fraught relationship with Li Yanqiao, the minister of the Disciplinary Inspection Department. Li Yanqiao is a cleanliness freak with an obsession for order. Earlier, Xie Zhiyuan entered the art classroom and maliciously mixed all of Li Yanqiao's paints together, ruining them. Li Yanqiao later discovers this through surveillance footage.

One day after classes, Xie Zhiyuan skips a lecture and falls asleep on a bench on the lawn. It rained previously, and the bench is still wet. When he wakes up, his light-colored jeans are soaked on the buttocks area with water. He tries to dry them by straddling a restroom windowsill, pretending to smoke while airing his pants. Li Yanqiao finds him there and confronts him about the ruined paints. A physical altercation erupts. Li Yanqiao pins Xie Zhiyuan's head under a running faucet, dunking him in water. When Li Yanqiao's hand accidentally touches Xie Zhiyuan's wet pants, he assumes Xie Zhiyuan has wet himself from fear. Xie Zhiyuan panics that Li Yanqiao will spread this rumor. Desperate to prove it is only water, Xie Zhiyuan wipes his wet pants and shoves his hand under Li Yanqiao's nose, demanding he smell it. Li Yanqiao struggles and kneels him in the groin. In chase, Xie Zhiyuan tackles Li Yanqiao to the ground and straddles him, frantically rubbing the water from his hands onto Li Yanqiao's butt to demonstrate it is just water. A female student appears and witnesses the scene, screaming. Other students stick their heads out of classrooms. Xie Zhiyuan's hands remain on Li Yanqiao's buttocks. Li Yanqiao slaps Xie Zhiyuan across the face and orders everyone to stop taking photos. The incident goes viral on the school confession wall. Rumors quickly escalate: Xie Zhiyuan is accused of sexually harassing Li Yanqiao in the corridor, with some saying he failed a confession and assaulted him. Both lose eligibility for scholarships and awards that year. Xie Zhiyuan's counselor scolds him harshly.

That evening, Xie Zhiyuan finishes dinner and packages a completed puppet for a delivery. He tapes the package thoroughly and writes "Confidential Delivery" on it. He rides a broken pedal tricycle given by a street sweeper to the client's high-end apartment building. At the elevator, he passes a mysteriously dressed man in an identical black windbreaker, hat, and mask, whose posture strikes Xie Zhiyuan as arrogant and familiar. He arrives at the client's door, finding it open and the room dark. The client, a Jingren, lies on the floor in a pool of blood. The Jingren begs for help. Xie Zhiyuan steps over him, places the puppet in the living room, then exits. He bends down, smiles politely, and asks how the client will pay the remaining balance. The Jingren pleads to be saved first, promising payment and compensation. Xie Zhiyuan picks up a thin gold chain on the floor next to the Jingren, declares that this covers the balance with extra for cleaning his stained jeans, and leaves the apartment, closing the door on the dying client. The story indicates Xie Zhiyuan's cold, pragmatic nature in his dealings with the supernatural world, prioritizing money for Zhao Yufeng's body over the life of a Jingren. The introduction of the mysterious man suggests a future connection. The incident with Li Yanqiao has permanently damaged Xie Zhiyuan's reputation at school, but he continues his double life, preparing to face the consequences of his actions and the ongoing need to provide for his parasitic friend. The worldbuilding establishes an urban fantasy setting where secret human species coexist with humans under strict agreements, and Puppet Masters operate in the shadows to maintain this balance while pursuing their own goals. The main driving force for Xie Zhiyuan is the procurement of a new body for Zhao Yufeng, a goal that requires immense financial resources and influences every decision he makes, including his callous treatment of a dying client. The conflict with Li Yanqiao, rooted in personal antagonism and a public humiliation, remains unresolved and threatens Xie Zhiyuan's academic future. The narrative concludes with Xie Zhiyuan back in his apartment, having secured payment for the puppet, and the scarecrow Zhao Yufeng present on his arm. The overnight work to prepare the puppet left Xie Zhiyuan tired, but the need to continue earning money persists.