A Certain Someone ( The On1y One ) Chapter 022 – Old Man Ding

Young Master Sheng Wang’s Mental State Collapsed On The Spot.

The world of secondary education was very simple, as long as one was slightly outstanding in certain areas, they could become one of the popular kids, well known throughout the school. Those with good grades could make it there, those with good looks could certainly too. Jiang Tian perfectly occupied both conditions, his name becoming much more mystical as a result.
From the moment the boy who delivered the notebook spoke till the moment the test officially started, the people around were in a state of both curious and yet afraid to gossip, like a mosquito with its wings pinched together, only daring to move the mouth and not make a single sound.

Sheng Wang thought it was kind of funny.

To think back then I was also quite the popular one, at least there wouldn’t be any idiots around who would say ‘this score is pretty bad’ right in front of me, Sheng Wang said internally.
Soon enough though, he felt that whatever, constantly reminiscing about the past was no fun.

He had always felt that he had a heart and lungs of iron, he would just show a paper with only 60-70 marks to other people, and he could even make a joke out of it. Everyone gets a little kick out of it, and the issue would be considered over.
Only till this moment, when the people who couldn’t keep their mouths to themselves bury themselves into the test with distress, and the school bell gradually stopping its final sound, with him sitting in the classroom and listening to the cacophony of the cicadas outside, he suddenly realised albeit late—
This feeling of dropping from the clouds to the mud, he really did not like it at all.
Nobody would ever like it.

There was a tiny piece of paper pasted at the left corner of every table, with the name, class, exam registration number and the seat number written on top. The invigilator quietly walked off the teaching platform, a form in his hands, and approached the students to get them to sign it individually.
He soon approached Sheng Wang. After double checking against the information, he pressed the form against his desk, and whispered, “Sign here.”

279 was his seat number this time. Fuzhong’s niche was in the sciences. In year two, other than Class AB, the top 7 were all science classes. His ranking this time wasn’t really desirable. Sheng Wang clicked his pen, and signed his name after that number.

He should set himself a small target, like……jumping 100 places from 279.

The first test, mathematics, went on from 7am to 9.30am, afterwards they had a half an hour of break to adjust. The second subject, physics, went from 10am to 11.40am.
After these two papers, the person basically perished.
The moment the bell rang, a huge wave of living dead poured out from the classrooms.

Gao Tianyang was only a class away from Sheng Wang, the moment he handed in his script he waited outside Class 5, in the corridor.
Sheng Wang’s face was full of astonishment as he held his bag, “You seriously didn’t go straight for the canteen?”
“We don’t need to fight for the canteen food for today, did you forget?” Gao Tianyang realised the moment he spoke, “Oh, yeah right, you didn’t know. Our school has a rule, for days with weeklies, the canteen will open up for meals two times, there’s no need to fight at all. I reckon they are scared that when students need to compete with their physical capabilities after going through the beatings of the tests, they would lose it. What if they go leaping down from the observatory, that would have a bad effect.”

“Besides, there’s not going to be many people eating at the canteen today,” Gao Tianyang gestured with his head towards the classroom, “there, look, there’s a bunch of them staying here.”
There were indeed people who remained behind, a rough count showed that there’s 10+ of them. People were not allowed to eat cooked meals with aromas, they all dug out from their bags biscuits, breads, and ham sausage.

“This hardcore? Sheng Wang recalled that the last weekly test did not go like this, but then again, last time round he took it in Class A. The people in their class were usually quite hardcore, when it came to the day of the test itself they treasured themselves plenty enough, even in the canteen they picked to make sure they ate the good stuff.

Gao Tianyang said, “Didn’t the system change, right? It’s really quite the provokation. Nobody wants to go further back the more they test. Let’s go, hurry up, let’s go, hurry up and eat.”

“Eh wait hold on—” Sheng Wang stopped in his steps as he hooked his arms around the staircase railing, and looked upstairs. Class A was near the staircase, most of the group had already left, there was only a small wave of people going downstairs in sparse groups.

Earlier, he wanted to say if we weren’t heading to the west gate, I’ll need to let Jiang Tian know or something, only to see a figure coming down from upstairs, his hand audaciously holding a phone.
“Tian-ge, we’re here.” Gao Tianyang lifted his hand to signal.
Jiang Tian lifted his head and gave them a look, his thumb rapidly tapped at the screen, like he was deleting something.

“What the heck, you’re not even trying to hide, aren’t you afraid of running into Big Mouth Xu once you go around a corner or something?” Gao Tianyang said.
“He’s patrolling the year ones today.” Jiang Tian tossed the phone back into his pocket. Before the screen turned off, Sheng Wang thought he briefly caught a glance of a vertical row of red dots, like WeChat’s interface.
His mind ran, and for some reason, he thought that Jiang Tian was about to send him a message just now.
“You’re not heading to the west gate today?”
“Mm,” Jiang Tian pointed at Gao Tianyang, “he didn’t tell you?”
“Tell me what?”
“Tell you that we’re all eating in the canteen today.” Gao Tianyang dragged his voice, sounding done, “Do I even need to say it, ge. He will find out when I drag him here to wait for you anyways.”

It was the first time Sheng Wang met someone who spoke through his actions in this manner, and asked in bewilderment, “What if you didn’t manage to make me stay?”
“I run faster than dogs, tell me how I can lose you?” Gao Tianyang said.
Sheng Wang was speechless, and gave him a thumbs up.

“Why not the west gate today?” Sheng Wang followed Gao Tianyang downstairs. Next to him was the stream of humans quickly filing past them, and Jiang Tian was behind him.
He actually meant to ask Jiang Tian, but Gao Tianyang enthusiastically answered instead, “Because the west gate is so far, going back and forth alone will suck up 20 minutes, and when you factor in eating that’s so much time wasted. Do you know what’s being tested this afternoon?”

“Language, right?” Sheng Wang said.
“Yeah, language,” Gao Tianyang said, “language is so terrifying, I still haven’t memorised two pieces of classical texts, if I get it all wrong, Garfield will hang me up and whip me. Tian-ge, did you memorise?”
Sheng Wang turned behind, and saw Jiang Tian say, with a ‘coffin face’, “No.”
Gao Tianyang asked again, “Did you memorise the 8 tricks to poetry appreciation?”
“You’re really getting into it, aren’t you?”

Sheng Wang especially wanted to laugh. He nearly forgot, this influential figure wasn’t omnipotent either, the moment he saw language his face was written with “I am Unwell”.
Gao Tianyang was getting a kick out of asking, Sheng Wang also joined in. He turned around and said, “Did you read Garfield’s lyrical writing guide?”
Gao Tianyang even chorused, “Did you read?”
Jiang Tian: “……”
The moment he saw him brake in his steps, Sheng Wang immediately ran down the stairs three steps at a time, slipping away faster than even Gao Tianyang.

They stood next to the fountain to wait for Jiang Tian. Gao Tianyang was bent over in laughter, and as he laughed, his expression changed, and asked Sheng Wang, “You freaking ran even faster than I did, you’re telling me you’re frail and have no energy in your limbs at all?”
“Sometimes, sometimes.” Sheng Wang used the back of his hand to wipe at the sweat gathering at the corner of his forehead, and fanned himself with his own collar.

Reckless, unbridled youth were always attractive to people. When he ran over, the girls he passed by all turned their eyes to him. At the moment, he felt that he was too high key, and immediately started playing dead by propping himself against his knees.
Gao Tianyang side-eyed him in displeasure.
“What are you looking at?” Sheng Wang said, “I really can’t run at all, if not for the sake of exams today that I ate a few extra mouths for breakfast, I usually don’t have the strength to even fight a chicken. I’m super unhealthy, even.”
“Quibble.” Gao Tianyang started sprouting nonsense, “You just want to eat with Tian-ge, you don’t want to eat with me.”
Sheng Wang: “……”

Look at the kind of bullshit he was sprouting.
The young master gave a sardonic laugh, he didn’t bother replying at all.

There was suddenly a ruckus from the crowd nearby. Sheng Wang heard someone cursing ‘Damn beggar get out of the way! Eh fuck my new shoes—”

He frowned and looked, only to see a familiar, bronze figure tumble down from the flight stairs with the fountain. A blue bag on his shoulders fell onto the floor, the small watermelon rolled on the floor and cracked open. The red flesh faced skywards, sweet and saccharine juices spilled out.

Gao Tianyang yelled, “The mute!”
Sheng Wang suddenly recalled, this was the mute he saw at Xi Le, the convenience store.

“What’s going on?”
“Who’s that person?”
“I think he’s the scraps picker from the west gate.”
The girls gasped in alarm, and retreated a few steps out of fear. The crowd was full of furtive whispers.

“Isn’t that Class A’s Sheng Wang?”
“And that’s their sports rep, aiyo, what the, is his shoulder made of metal?”
The student who was shoved aside grumbled.

Sheng Wang and Gao Tianyang helped the mute up. Due to the hunchback on his back, his stature squished short and small. When they helped him up, they basically lifted him up.
The mute seemed to be still late on the uptake, his palms were put together, praying and grunting with grunts and whines, like he was apologising.

Sheng Wang grabbed his arm and inspected it. His kneecaps were scraped in two places, revealing red, bleeding flesh.

When a person reaches a certain age, their mannerisms are always a little similar. The mute was only 50+ years old, yet he had the mannerism of a 70-80 years old. The way he closed his eyes and panted reminded Sheng Wang of his maternal grandpa who passed away. When he was in the hospital, down with a heavy illness, he also grunted and whined with his eyes closed, just like this.
He was suffering a great deal from the pain, yet other people who couldn’t help take on the pain.

Gao Tianyang straightened up and asked, “Who pushed him?”
Most people were hesitant, and did not say a word. Their gazes however all shifted to the same spot. A girl with a fiery tone spoke in the silence, “Who else could it be, ZhaiTao, duh!”

Sheng Wang’s brows furrowed as he looked up, following the crowd’s gaze towards a certain area. A guy had his arm slung around another student, his right foot lifted up and he was wiping his shoes, mouth mumbling something.
Enemies are fated to meet and clash, it was the same person who mocked Sheng Wang in Class 5’s exam room.

“Fucking damn it, it’s you again,” Gao Tianyang cursed, “which dog went blind, and pooped out something that reeks like you?”
Zhai Tao violently tossed away the tissue in his hand, “Fuck! Cuss me out one more time?”

“I can look past you being trash, but you even create more garbage.” After Gao Tianyang sneered, he said, “I’m still cussing you out, whatchu going to do?”
Zhai Tao was posturing, trying to head down the steps. The students beside him tried to hold him back, but he shook them aside.
“Why are you fighting the one with the surname Gao, he’s famous for being all brawns and no brains!” that student called, “there’s only two of us here, it’s not worth it.”

Gao Tianyang hung the taunt on his face, “Ay, here! I’m afraid you’re too cowardly to fight. This is the first fucking time I’ve heard an idiot from a normal class say to Class A’s student’s face that they’re all brawn, who are you kidding?”
With this, both of them could not stand it anymore. Zhai Tao rushed down the steps in a couple of steps, and shot straight at them.

Gao Tianyang clenched his fist and was ready to face them head on before he saw a flash of something before his eyes.
Before he could react, Sheng Wang already unloaded his bag, and with a lift of his hand he flung it out.

The schoolbag brushed past his ears, he could still hear the ‘whoosh’ of wind.
Gao Tianyang’s jaws dropped, he saw the schoolbag make a solid smack on Zhai Tao’s face, he could even hear the loud ‘whack’ when it did.
The bag dropped on the floor, Zhai Tao covered his face and bent down with a long ‘ow’, his mouth open as he wheezed.
“What the……” Gao Tianyang looked at him, and turned back to look at Sheng Wang, slowly squeezing out, “fuck?”
He couldn’t be blamed for this shock, it was all because Sheng Wang looked like someone who wouldn’t resort to physical fights at all.

Zhai Tao’s face was imprinted with two lines that came from the zipper, looking sort of funny. But when matched with him having conniptions and raging on, he was still a little terrifying.
Then he picked the line Sheng Wang hated hearing the most to yell over, he said, “Fuck your mom!”

Sheng Wang’s expression instantly chilled.
Gao Tianyang didn’t quite get the trigger, but he could see the change in Sheng Wang’s mood with his naked eye.

In the midst of bewilderment and confusion, there was yet another commotion from the front. He looked up.
Zhai Tao, who just insulted someone, was kicked from behind. He lost his balance and fell to the ground.

Jiang Tian approached from the back, and grabbed the bag along the way. He looked at Zhai Tao, who looked completely disgraced, and said, “Apologise.”
“I’ll rather apologise to your-”
(t/n: When translated directly, it’s ‘i apologise your mom’, but that’s not very grammatically correct. Instead, I have to come out with an insult that made use of ‘mom’ at the later line.)

Before the word ‘mom’ could come out of his mouth, Jiang Tian’s hand holding the schoolbag raised up.
Zhai Tao hugged his head on instinct.

“Apologise.” Jiang Tian said.
“I—” Zhai Tao was so pissed that his face reddened, “who am I apologising to?!”“You’re retarded?”

“I……”
Zhai Tao was on the losing hand here, and it was weekly test period too, the usual bros he commanded around were all getting their asses whipped by education, and were not with him then. With the attitude of ‘a wise man knows better than to fight when the odds are against him’, he did not continue asking for a beating.

He climbed up from the ground with a stiff look on his face. As he swept the dirt off his shoulders, he rotated his neck. At last, he squeezed out a line, “I’m sorry, okay? Fuck.”
With that, he limped up the stairs, snatched over the school jacket in his classmate’s hands, and walked away with a long face.

The one who stirred trouble was gone, and conflict roughly ended there.
The crowd dispersed with a whoosh, some people discussed as they headed towards the canteen, some people went back to the exam room. Some people may even be headed to the staff office or the students affairs office.
Whatever, they can do what they like, Sheng Wang didn’t care.

“You should probably still head to the school hospital?”
“Yeah, better disinfect the wound too.”
Two girls gave a reminder, one of their voices was the exact same as the one who reported against ‘Zhai Tao’.
Sheng Wang turned to look, and realised it was someone he knew. This time round, he no longer had facial blindness, and recognized them as the girls who reminded him to not get on Zhai Tao’s bad side from the same exam room.

He didn’t know their names, but Gao Tianyang knew. After all, these two girls would go visit Jiang Tian in Class A every once in a while like they were clocking in. They barely managed to speak to Jiang Tian, and ended up getting to know other people from Class A instead.
“Ay, don’t hang around when guys fight, it’s quite bloody.” Gao Tianyang said to the girl with a baby face, “Little Dimples, hurry up and drag your Xue Qian away. Her looming presence here with her height is scaring me.”

The girl beside was at least 1.7m, and wore a high ponytail. When she heard what he said, she scoffed, “I’m not even looking at you, the heck are you worried for.”
“Yeah yeah yeah, I’m the ugly one, fine?” Gao Tianyang responded.

Still, Xue Qian did not bother lingering around either, she pulled Dimples and went straight from the canteen. Before she left, she even openly directed at Sheng Wang, “Eh, you were quite hot just now!”
Sheng Wang, “……”
“I told you, one of these girls had a change of affection!” Gao Tianyang winked at Jiang Tian and Sheng Wang, receiving two ‘scram’ in return.

With these interruptions, Sheng Wang’s expression was no longer that cold anymore.
He rubbed his face, and squatted down before the mute. He pointed at the wounds, and said with exaggerated mouth movements, “You really need to clean the wound up, so many tiny pieces of stone got in.”

“Let’s go, the school hospital it is.” Gao Tianyang said.
The Mute gestured with some grunts, he pursed his lips and just shook his head.

Gao Tianyang said, “Uncle, don’t gesture anymore, I don’t understand you.”
Sheng Wang subconsciously looked at Jiang Tian. If he recalled correctly, the mute seemed to know Jiang Tian.
As expected, Jiang Tian said, “He said he’s not going to the school hospital, there’s disinfectant cream at home.”

Sheng Wang had much insight with being sick, he was especially selective when it came to medicine too. He immediately asked, “What kind of cream? How long has it been there? Is it expired yet?”
The Mute: “?”
Gao Tianyang was amused, “Why are you so selective?”
Jiang Tian followed, without thinking, “He’s precious.”
A question mark slowly appeared over Sheng Wang’s head.
As for Gao Tianyang, he stared at the back of Jiang Tian’s head, looking as if he had just seen a ghost.

The west gate in school was always quite empty. The parasol trees intersected with each other, creating shade for the entire path. The sunlight leaked through the tiny gaps amidst the thick shade.
In front of the gate stood a residential block in an alley. It had a name that befitted the scene, called, ‘Beyond Parasol Trees’.

Gao Tianyang said that he and Jiang Tian stayed here when they were kids.
Beyond Parasol Trees was the oldest residential block in Fuzhong. Gao Tianyang’s paternal grandparents, as well as Jiang Tian’s maternal grandmother, were all teachers who taught in Fuzhong back then.

“The primary school opposite is quite famous, so I moved in around five-six years old, and stayed here all the way until I graduated from primary school.” Gao Tianyang pointed at Jiang Tian and said, “He’s earlier than me though, he came here around three years old, I think? He moved away before he graduated from primary school though.”
Sheng Wang looked at Jiang Tian curiously. He was supporting the mute and did not even look up. He only said “Mm”.

They were rather familiar with the people in Beyond Parasol Trees, especially elderly seniors, due to their lengthy stay before. A few people called out to them on the way, and they even tugged at Gao Tianyang, saying, “It’s been a while since you’ve came, right?”

The mute’s house was in the depths of the alley. It wasn’t in the residential block, it was that kind of older house with a courtyard.
Sheng Wang’s first reaction was: “It’s quite big.”
There was a giant tree next to the house, the slanted branches half covered the rooftop, like a natural umbrella. It was even quite cooling.

To his surprise, Gao Tianyang pursed his lips out and said, “He’s only occupying this room.”
The hall in the west side of the courtyard was left to be supported by only a single pillar, there wasn’t even a door. Inside the hall was filled with bundles and bundles of waste paper, used books and even plastic bottles. Next to the pile of old items, was a house of around a little more than 10m², it was where the mute stayed.
This included a bed, a wardrobe, a table, an old television as well as a bathroom that could not get any smaller even if it tried.

Sheng Wang was beyond speechless as he looked, but he did not show it.
“How about the opposite?” He pointed at the other side of the courtyard. The structure on the other side was roughly the same as the one here, but that hall had a door, and there was a Four Immortals table inside. A short and low kitchen was connected to one end of the hall, and another end to a bedroom nearly the same as the mute’s.

“Old Man Ding is the one living opposite, he’s a famous lonely old man in Beyond Parasol Trees.” Gao Tianyang said, “Tian-ge is on good terms with him, he always ate his lunch here. I couldn’t, mostly because when I was young, I accidentally made holes in his roof when I climbed up the tree. The old man holds a grudge, he’ll take a broom every time he sees me.”

He pointed at a gap on the rooftop, and yet Sheng Wang was completely distracted, his gaze could not help but constantly drift towards the hall.
The reason why Jiang Tian always disappeared beyond the west gate, was because he came here to eat?
Why?

As they talked, the door from the room opposite opened with a creak. An old man with sparse hair walked out. He looked alert and in robust health, his shoulders were set super straight. It was just that the wrinkles on his forehead were particularly set into his head too, with a raise of his eyebrows three creases instantly appeared.

Gao Tianyang instantly let out a ‘Fuck’, and ducked behind Sheng Wang and Jiang Tian, “Tian-ge, you set me up, isn’t he not supposed to be here today?”
“Since when did I say he wouldn’t be here?”
“Didn’t you tell him that you’re not coming over for lunch today? Then why isn’t he taking his afternoon nap at this time?” Gao Tianyang started kicking up a fuss again.

Despite Old Man Ding’s old age, his vision was very good. The moment he spotted his enemy, he turned around to grab the broom leaning against the wall.
The mute opened his tongueless mouth, and cackled at the side.

Gao Tianyang shot out with a bow-and-arrow step, saying, “Don’t hit me! I’m just sending Uncle mute back, I’m leaving now! Goodbye!”
This ridiculous idiot cupped his fist, and escaped out of the door in a flurry.

“You’re really leaving?”
“Does the broom look fake to you?” Gao Tianyang said, “The two of You have to suffer for a bit, I’ll go to Xi Le for a meal now. After I’m done I’ll head straight back to the classroom, see ya later!”

Old Man Ding was like an elderly owl, and stared at the door in full alert. Only when he made sure that stinking brat really escaped, he finally slowly settled the broom down.
He wore black cloth shoes, and walked towards them via cutting across the courtyard, asking, “What’s going on with this?”
The Mute grunted and gestured.
Old Man Ding sighed, turned around and looked at Jiang Tian, “What’s he saying, Xiao-Tian?”
“He fell down in school and scraped his knee.” Jiang Tian said.
Sheng Wang raised up the blue cloth bag in his hand, saying, “Two watermelons cracked open too, there’s only one good one left.”

Old Man Ding’s owl eyes stared at Sheng Wang again, after he gave him a once over, he asked, “Whose kid is this?”
This question was an awkward one.
According to theory, Jiang Tian had to say, “My house’s.”

Sheng Wang gave a dry laugh, and fought to answer before Jiang Tian could, “I’m his classmate, hello Grandpa Ding.”
Generally speaking, when handsome guys act obedient nobody could withstand them, but Old Man Ding did not go the common path.

His eyes bulged as he glared, “Who said my surname is Ding!”
Sheng Wang: “……”

He gave a sheepish smile at Old Man Ding, a face full of innocence. The moment he turned around he stared Jiang Tian down.
Thank goodness the other person did not abandon him to die. He pointed at the courtyard door and said, “The one who just ran away taught him that.”
Old Man Ding hmmphed, and said, “Brat only knows how to sprout rubbish!”

Jiang Tian let Gao Tianyang shoulder all the blame without even blinking. Old Man Ding’s attitude towards Sheng Wang visibly became much better. He said, “You sent mute back with Xiao-Tian? Don’t you two still have papers today?”
Sheng Wang said, “Mm, there’s enough time.”
Old Man Ding felt that he was sensible, he nodded and said, “So the two of you have already eaten?”
Sheng Wang gave a look at Jiang Tian.

“What? You don’t even know if you already ate?” The old man had strong observation skills, he exposed him on the spot, not bothering to give him a way out.
Sheng Wang internally thought that I’m just letting Jiang Tian take the lead for the conversation out of courtesy that’s all! He was ultimately an outsider, if he said he didn’t eat, the old man would make them stay and eat, Jiang Tian would have to agree even if he didn’t want to, how awfully inconvenient that would be.

He kept the slight smile on his face as he slowly lifted his toes, and stepped on Jiang Tian’s foot, indicating Jiang Tian to save the show.
Jiang Tian said, “……haven’t.”
Sheng Wang was stumped, and looked at him in astonishment.
Jiang Tian said, deadpan, “Lift your foot up first.”
“Oh oh oh, sorry.” Sheng Wang sprung away.

Old people’s elation were just like kids’, it all showed on the face. Old Man Ding suddenly became happy, and fanned himself with a palmetto fan as he walked towards the kitchen, head swaying. “Aih, I just knew that you two didn’t eat! I’ll whip something up.”

The moment the old man left, they supported the mute into the room.
Jiang Tian got two bottles down from the top of the wardrobe with much familiar ease, along with a bag of cotton swabs.

After he dealt with the wound, the mute gestured, indicating that he wanted to get up. Jiang Tian pressed him down and said, “Don’t move, let me do it.”
He held the blue bag in his hands, and brought Sheng Wang outside.

There was a well in the courtyard, a white tin bucket next to it. The handle was secured with a rope to the well. Jiang Tian placed the only undamaged watermelon inside the bucket, held the rope, and lowered the pail into the well.
Sheng Wang was earnestly looking at the entire process while propping himself against his knees. When it was over, he asked, “What are you doing? Washing the watermelon?”
“Chilling it.” Jiang Tian said.
“Why not put it in the fridge to chill it?”

Jiang Tian was half-squatting. Upon hearing that, he looked up at him, a little like…he was looking at a fool.
Sheng Wang was sensitive, he exploded, “What?”
Jiang Tian pointed at the bedroom with his chin, “Did you see a fridge just now?”
Sheng Wang lowered his head, “Oh.”
He thought a little, there seriously wasn’t any.
He was too used to having it good, he nearly forgot, some people from all sorts of street corners were not having it good too.

His eyes were fixed on the pitch-black well, and for a moment he zoned out.
Jiang Tian suddenly dragged the rope to pull the bucket up again. After the dunk from the well water, the watermelon skin was clean to the point of gleaming. The bucket crashed against the wall of the well, the water splashing all over.

“Try it.” Jiang Tian nodded at the watermelon.
Sheng Wang was lost, but reached out to touch it anyway. There was still half a bucket of well water, and it was shockingly cool to the touch.
“Well water is this chilly?” Sheng Wang retracted his claws with a whoosh.
“Mm.” Jiang Tian settled the bucket down once more. He stood up straight, shook away the water droplets on his fingers and said, “It’s as good as a fridge.”
Sheng Wang said an ‘oh’, and his mood became better again.

“Eh?” Sheng Wang was a little curious, “Just asking, I saw that other people don’t understand his hand gestures, how did you understand?”
“I only half understood, half of it is guesswork too,” Jiang Tian said, “the only one who could chat with him is the boss in Xi Le.”

Sheng Wang nodded, internally thinking, no wonder the mute always went to Xi Le. Sometimes he would help Boss Zhao carry stuff, sometimes he helped to sort out the packaging. Sometimes he would go collect scraps, sometimes he would just stay there.
If there was only a single person in the world who could hear you talk, then they would be more important than anyone else.

Old Man Ding’s food was already cooked, when people came all he needed was to heat it up a little. Jiang Tian said before that he wouldn’t be coming. His and the mute’s appetite were both small, so he only made a dish and a soup. He was worried that it was too monotonous, and made stir fried pork slices with green peppers on the spot, and served it up like he was presenting a treasure.

Before entering the hall, Jiang Tian tugged at Sheng Wang.
“Is there something?” Sheng Wang asked in confusion.
Jiang Tian hesitated a little, saying “Maybe you should still go to Xi Le.”
“Huh?” Jiang Tian suddenly changed his mind, Sheng Wang almost couldn’t react in time.

He looked at Jiang Tian, stopped for a while, and then softly let out an ‘Ah’.
He still wasn’t used to letting outsiders into his life, he guess? This place was where Jiang Tian came to every day, but he never voluntarily brought it up to other people before. Other than childhood friends like Gao Tianyang who knew everything about him, he probably did not like anyone to ever get a peep into his private life.

He could understand.
It was just that he felt a little disappointment at being left out of the door.
Sheng Wang smiled as he said, “Sure, I’m up for whatever. Then you can help me explain to Old Man Di……um, what’s his surname again? You can help me explain, and tell him that I have an emergency and have to go.”

When he spoke, Jiang Tian kept looking at him, his brows slightly furrowed, thinking god knows what.
Sheng Wang tugged at his bag, and lifted it up.
Just as he was about to turn and leave, Jiang Tian spoke again, “Forget it, take it that I said nothing.”
Sheng Wang: “……”

“You really didn’t get beaten up before with the way you are?” Sheng Wang couldn’t hold himself back.
Just as the young master was seriously about to explode already, Jiang Tian added, “The elderly don’t care so much when it comes to cooking, I don’t know if you can bear it.”

Jiang Tian’s brows were still furrowed, “Would you rather stay here, or would you rather go to Xile?”
Sheng Wang stared off against him for a while, and finally understood what he meant. “You took so long just to explain, that you’re afraid that I can’t stand the food here?”
Jiang Tian was momentarily silent, and stiffly squeezed out, “I don’t want wastage when the food’s already served.”
Sheng Wang raised an eyebrow, looking at him in suspicion, “Where did you learn this awkward way of yours?”
Jiang Tian’s handsome face was stiff as he pointed at the door, seeing him out, “You should just go to Xi Le.”
“Nope.”

Sheng Wang’s down mood went up again, he lifted his foot and headed to the hall. As he walked, he said, “What kind of misunderstanding do you have of me, that I’m that picky?”
Jiang Tian dug his phone out on the spot, and opened up his gallery.
Sheng Wang at that moment thought, that’s bad, the drunk footage was still in this asshole’s hands, he held him down and said, “Fine fine fine, I’m picky, I’m super super super picky, happy yet?”

Quite obviously, Jiang Tian was not satisfied at all.
He switched away from the gallery, and opened WeChat under Sheng Wang’s questioning gaze. He speedily swiped down a few times, opened an avatar, and shoved the chat records right in Sheng Wang’s face.

Sheng Wang saw the remark: Xi Le – Zhao Su.
What an aloof nickname style. As he ridiculed in his head, he read the few paragraphs, and was instantly dumbfounded.

The chunks of words came from Boss Zhao, of course.
Middle age men were addicted to WeChat, they often liked to type chunks of mini essays like this, disregarding if the other person was interested in reading at all. Either way, they keyed in whatever they liked.
He saw Boss Zhao spam and nag as below:

Xi Le – Zhao Su: Mute says that there will be fresh watermelons 2 days later, if you’re free after school, you can come claim one. It’s probably a crisp one. Do you eat slushy ones or crispy ones?

Jiang Tian: Anything’s fine, thank you.

Xi Le – Zhao Su: In the end, you’re easier to keep. That boy that you brought over for meals is way too picky with his food. After many days of observations, it turns out, he doesn’t eat carrots, nor does he eat spinach. Scallion, garlic, coriander are okay just for flavouring, if he could tell they exist he wouldn’t eat them. He would eat white radish if it’s diced up, but not in chunks. He doesn’t eat green pepper in slices, but he would bear it if it’s in julienne strips. If the potatoes are too crunchy, he wouldn’t eat them. If the watermelons are too slushy, he wouldn’t eat them. If the strawberries are sour, he wouldn’t eat them. If the grapes are too sweet, he wouldn’t eat them.

Xi Le – Zhao Su: If I have a son like this, I’ll starve him for 3 days first.
Xi Le – Zhao Su: Whatever, I won’t go on anymore. My son isn’t any good bird either.

Jiang Tian: ……
Sheng Wang could already feel Jiang Tian’s numb shock and speechlessness all the way from the screen, but Sheng Wang was even more asphyxiated.
He wanted to say, are all these middle age people so gossipy? Why do they tattle for everything! Was a meal this deserving of a rearing report?
But he thought, Boss Zhao was the same person who said “That boy of yours is dine and dashing, come save him” after all, what would he stop at?

Sheng Wang helped Jiang Tian switch off the screen, saying, “He’s slandering me.”

“Who’s slandering you?” Old Man Ding scooped the rice and served them. “Hurry up and sit, this Xiao— Xiao what?”
He asked Jiang Tian.
“Xiao-Wang.” Jiang Tian reported his name according to his habit, after he spoke he paused for a moment.
A pet mame like this coming out from his mouth was indeed a little weird. Sheng Wang’s dangling fingers squeezed his joints in discomfort, saying, “Xiao-Sheng, Xiao-Wang both work too, as long as You’re happy.”

Old Man Ding said, “Xiao-Sheng, how much do you eat? Is this bowl enough?”
“Enough.” Sheng Wang hurriedly said.
“Then I’ll go scoop some for you.”
“Let me do it.”

Unfortunately the old man was quick on his feet, he ran away with the rice scoop in hand.
Sheng Wang could only sheepishly keep his hand back, and sat down at the Four Immortals table. Perhaps he was genuinely hungry, though the dishes on the table were simple, they really did smell delicious, smelling even better than the ones made by chatterbox Boss Zhao of Xi Le.

His stomach rumbled. In order to cover up that uncool sound, he coughed, and asked Jiang Tian, “Why does Gao Tianyang call him Old Man Ding?”
Jiang Tian’s lips moved. With a sweep of his gaze he saw Old Man Ding carrying the rice in, and pulled out his phone and opened the memo instead.

Sheng Wang leaned in, a face full of questions.
He saw Jiang Tian tap the pencil, and drew an oval on the memo. Within the memo was the word Ding(丁), and then two round eyes, three lines of wrinkles on his forehead.

Then, he started typing. His two thumbs were thin and lengthy, the speed he tapped at the keyboard was even faster.
Sheng Wang saw another line of words appearing on the memo:
There’s a nursery rhyme, called There’s an Old Man Ding, have you heard of it?

Next was another line:
Look alike yet?

“Alike.”
Sheng Wang buried his head and started laughing, and Jiang Tian deleted the memo with a poker face.

Thanks to the simple doodle, Sheng Wang had a hard time holding back his laughter during the meal, his mood became unusually good.
Maybe nobody would believe it if he told them that the most relaxing and happy meal he had eaten during recent times, was seriously the one with Jiang Tian.

He suddenly felt that, if he did not have that level of awkward relations of being ‘false brothers’ between him and Jiang Tian, and they managed to normally meet each other, normally become classmates, normally become front and back deskmates, then they would certainly have become pretty good friends.

But soon he erased that thought, as he was on the way back to the exam room, Sheng Wang suddenly remembered what happened in the morning.
He asked Jiang Tian, “You planned to go to the canteen this noon, since we would have met at noon, why did you go through the length of passing me the correction collection?”
Upon hearing that, Jiang Tian’s brows slightly furrowed, “You didn’t look through it before the exam?”
Sheng Wang was incredibly confused, “I’m doing math and physics, why would I flip through the chemistry collection?”

There was a moment of blankness on Jiang Tian’s expression, like he did not consider the possibility of this situation at all. He paused for a while, before he frowned again and asked, “You didn’t see WeChat either?”
“You sent me a WeChat?”
Sheng Wang snatched his bag and started digging for his phone, as he dug he said, “Don’t you always switch off your phone before exams?”
Jiang Tian’s expression was blank for a moment once more. He said, “I put it on silent.”

Sheng Wang opened his phone before they reached the exam hall, and as expected he received a WeChat sent from this morning.
Jiang Tian: Take a look at the correction collection.

Sheng Wang was about to go dig out his notebook, but Jiang Tian stopped him, “Whatever, don’t look anymore.”
Sheng Wang asked, “Why?”
Jiang Tian said, “Your mental state will collapse.”

Sheng Wang: “???”

The more he put it that way the more he must take a look at it! He dug out the correction, and before he could flip it open, a piece of paper slipped out.
It was a page casually torn out from a certain assessment book, the edges were rough. There was a question underlined in red by someone, marked with an bombastic pentagram star.

Sheng Wang picked it up and gave it a careful look, and discovered that it was a physics question. The question type was very familiar. Though it wasn’t exactly the same, it was close to the last major question in today’s physics paper.

Jiang Tian said, “This revision question has been practised by the entire batch, other than you.”
“……”
Just as Jiang ‘fake fortune teller’ Tianpredicted, young master Sheng Wang’s mental state collapsed on the spot.

Even though Sheng Wang was a little dazed from that blow, his strong professionalism caused him to come back to his senses in the afternoon papers, and converted his despair into power. The last three papers were smooth sailing.

Fuzhong had always been quick at marking the papers and calculating the results. The second day, a rumour started spreading within year two, saying that the new transfer hottie spent a single week, and raised his overall score by nearly 50 marks. His level positioning shot forward by nearly 100 places.
The whole batch was in an uproar, the rumours continued spreading for an entire night of self study, and were subsequently dispelled by the teachers of each class during the second period. The teachers also corrected that information on an official level.

The real result of that weekly test was: Sheng Wang raised his overall score by 62, and chemistry alone shot from 60+ marks to 90, his level position raised up by 127 places.

More people lost it.

TO BE CONTINUED.