A Certain Someone ( The On1y One ) Chapter 054 – Back Alley

Soon Enough, the Lost Item Was Claimed by Jiang Tian Along With the Pears.

The brats were already intrigued, but Zhao Xi refused to go on anymore. He used his chopsticks and leisurely picked out the soft tendon on the metal stick. The moment he looked up, 30+ pairs of eyes were sparkling at him.
“What?” Zhao Xi was amused.

“What’s next, Xi-ge?”
“What do you mean what’s next?” Zhao Xi played dumb.
“Why are you like this?!” Everyone didn’t dare to fight him either, they could only protest by slapping the table.

“Then?” Zhao Xi didn’t intend to go into too many details. He only said, “Then my grades fluctuated too much and nearly gave my homeroom teacher heart problems.”
Those who were there all knew how amazing his grades were, when they heard that, expressions of surprise all showed up on their faces. “No way, Xi-ge, your grades could still piss teachers off?”

“It could, of course it could.” Zhao Xi was frank, “Who doesn’t have their bad days or two. I had a bad temper back then, it’s fine if I’m so pissed that I was gonna explode, but I was too apt at fanning the flames too, so whenever I fou……”

His words jammed, and he chuckled, his fingers tracing the rim of the glass, “The alcohol is making me blabber. Anyways, quarrels and conflicts happened pretty often. Now thinking back, my luck was pretty shit, 8 out of 10 times we fought, it was exam time, therefore—”
His palms splayed open, indicating “You get it”.

Back then, he was honestly insane, he didn’t put too much importance on anything. When he’s in a good mood, he could go through an entire Olympiad questions collection in two days. When he’s in a bad mood, then to motherfucking hell the exams can go.
This type of people, when they start dating, who they are torturing are the teachers and not themself. One week he may be the first in the level and leaving the second behind in the dust, the next he dared to fall out of the first 100 places with a dark look on his face. The next week again, he came back with a grin.
Which teacher could stand this? None of them could stand this.

At the start, the homeroom teacher was scared out of his mind, thinking that a major incident happened to him or something. He dragged him to the office for a heart-to-heart talk, and with that it took up the entire night of self-study. After that, the teacher wasn’t terrified anymore, he had only anger.

That homeroom teacher had the surname of Fang, and was the infamous King of Hell in Fuzhong. When he started acting fierce, nobody dared to even breathe too heavily. When they heard his footsteps, any student chasing each other around would instantly return to their seats.

Sometimes, he would try to relax the mood in the class, and play some songs for the students. No matter, it was basically two songs, one Yesterday Once More and the other Don’t Cry. The former was out in 1973, the latter in 1991, a few generations away from the students.
He didn’t speak when he played the songs either. He just propped himself up against the lecture table, and surveyed the entire class from the top of his his spectacles. Nobody could relax at all.

It was a teacher with such a terrifying reputation, that Zhao Xi somehow managed to anger into growing an entire patch of white hair.
Zhao Xi had met many teachers as he grew up, and out of them, Old Fang was the strictest, the one who scolded him the fiercest, and the one who worried about him the most after he graduated.

Old Fang wasn’t good at small talk, neither was he good at expressing a casual side. Every year when it was the time for festivities once more, Zhao Xi would make a call to him. He would use the tone he used in the night self-study chat, ask Zhao Xi about how his health was, was he doing okay, and when would he be coming back to the country.
For quite a few years, Zhao Xi didn’t frequently come back, but every single time, he would pay a visit to Old Fang.

Yet another day later, Old Fang became sick; it was lymphoma. It rapidly turned for the worse. Zhao Xi hastily returned, and could only make it in time for his funeral.

That day, Zhao Xi played Old Fang’s two favourite songs on loop in the car. He suddenly realised: life is full of accidents, if you aren’t careful enough, you might not get to see a certain someone ever again.

*
The brats didn’t get the full juice, they weren’t satisfied at all. However, Zhao Xi paid zero heed to their whines and complaints. Nothing came to fruit of their revolution, and so they could only give up in resentment. Soon, they were enthusiastically chatting about something else. A bunch of youth, full of vigour, will never run out of conversation topics when they are gathered together.

Zhao Xi didn’t speak much later, he only smiled as he watched them. Occasionally, he would murmur something to Lin Beiting, probably treating the group of students as an accompaniment to the alcohol. Around nine, Zhao Xi received a call. Lin Beiting notified the group, drank the remaining alcohol in the bottle, and the two went on their way.

“Lin-ge and Xi-ge are honestly so tight.” Song Sirui glanced outside through the window, and saw the pair of silhouettes turn around the corner. His face was full of envy as he said, “My dad said, students usually don’t stay much in contact with friends made in middle-high school, people like him have friends from only uni.”

“Not for sure,” Gao Tianyang said, “that few godmothers of mine are my mom’s friends from middle and high school.”
“That’s right, it depends on the person, and also whether they are truly tight.” Someone added, “I think our class is pretty good though, we’ll definitely stay in contact after we grow older.”

“Definitely!” Song Sirui sported two blotches of plateau red that came with drinking, and said, with an arm around a boy on his left and another on Gao Tianyang on his right, “Look at how tight we are! And there’s still Tian-ge and Sheng-ge, I’ve always thought that you two are especially similar to Xi-ge and Lin-ge, you’ll definitely be as close in the future.”

Jiang Tian was murmuring something to Sheng Wang at that time, upon hearing that he looked up at Song Sirui. His lips moved, whether he wanted to refute that or answer was up to anyone’s guess, but in the end, he didn’t speak.
As for Sheng Wang, he drank enough to enter the state of buddhist meditation. No matter what others said, he appeared to be above everyone else.

Gao Tianyang swatted away Song Sirui’s reed stem that he called his arm. Exasperated, he said, “No shit sherlock! They are part of the same family, of course they’ll be close.”
“Ohohoh, yeah right.” Song Sirui slapped his head, and raised a glass at Sheng Wang, “My bad, I drink!”
Sheng Wang lifted his glass along too, and took a sip in much self awareness.
Jiang Tian: “……”

He stuck his hand right in front of Sheng Wang’s face, lifted a few fingers, and asked, “How many?”
Sheng Wang scoffed in annoyance, and pressed his fingers back down one by one. ‘Who are you trying to scare, it’s four.”
Jiang Tian: “……”

Glasses and plates scattered askew on the table, there was still a bit of iced beer left, but nobody could take it anymore. Everyone had long since finished their food, but to depart straightway felt a little too abrupt. Some idiot suggested to play “Seven”, whoever lost, whoever takes a shot, thus finishing the remaining beer.

Jiang Tian pointed at Sheng Wang, “He’s skipping this out.”
“No way! Why is he skipping?” Everyone rejected it.
“He’s already drunk,” Jiang Tian said.
“Drunk?” Gao Tianyang looked next to him, and Sheng Wang smiled as he shook his head. His face was utterly composed, he didn’t blabber nonsense nor did he act insane, how was he even drunk?

“Who are you tryna fool, Tian-ge? If this is called drunk, then I’ve gotten alcohol poisoning!” Gao Tianyang waved, “No skipping, nobody is allowed to skip at all, let’s start!”
With a hand on the beer bucket, he pointed at the girl opposite. “Little Chilli, you start, show them no mercy.”

The so called “Seven” drinking game is a counting game, those who reached numbers with the digit 7 or a multiple of 7 have to clap their hands and skip. When played on a normal basis, the group of people that is Class A could make it go on for forever. But, after drinking so much, it wasn’t the same anymore, someone was bound to make mistakes.

Class monitor, Li Yu, rested her head on the table and snoozed after she received her first round of punishments. There were a few who couldn’t handle their alcohol who began slumping downwards in the chair too, waving their hands with a stupid grin on their faces. Still, none of them made as many mistakes as Sheng Wang did.

This young master appeared to be easy-going and casual on the surface, but his mouth had a mind of its own. He specifically counted for 7 and multiples of 7. In the end, Gao Tianyang gave up and placed the bucket of beer in front of him, filling up an entire glass and said, “Sheng-ge, you’re just here for free beer, right, Sheng-ge?”
The golden liquor continued to bubble up, the creamy white foam gathering on the top, and sliding down from the outer surface of the glass. Sheng Wang couldn’t be bothered to even raise his hand anymore. He lowered his head and sipped that mouthful of foam without lifting the glass, and then frowned. “Actually, I don’t think I can take it anymore.”

Gao Tianyang asked in despair, “Then you shouldn’t have made that many mistakes!”
“It’s not like I did it on purpose,” Sheng Wang said.

A ring of white stained his lips, and his tongue darted out to lick them off. Just as he was uncertain about how he was supposed to down that glass of beer, he saw a hand reach in from the side.
Sheng Wang’s reaction at that present was actually a little slow. He zoned out as he stared at the mole on the wrist for a while, before he turned his eyes towards the owner of that hand—

Jiang Tian’s thin eyelids were half downcasted as he finished all the beer with his head tilted up. He settled the glass back onto the table, nodded at the door and said, “We can leave now.”

Gao Tianyang and the rest wowed in jeers, and cried out things like “badass”. Various chairs moving around caused a giant racket, and most people stood up.

Sheng Wang stood up too, and tried to shoot for the exit.
Jiang Tian pulled him back, asking, “Where do you think you’re going?”

“Toilet,” Sheng Wang said, “you wanna go with me?”
“……” Jiang Tian released him. “I’ll wait for you at the entrance.”

Sheng Wang wasn’t actually heading to the toilet, he was going to pay for the food. This person may be so drunk that he couldn’t count 7 anymore, but he refused to forget the fact that he was treating everyone. He leaned over the counter and said to the young lady, “The bill for the private booth.”
“No need, Lin-ge said that this meal is on them. Everyone has finished eating? Stone and the rest have booked cars for you, and will be sending the classmates of yours back. This is also what Lin-ge and Xi-ge told us to do.”
Sheng Wang grumbled, “For such a grown person, why are they still fighting with me to treat……”
The cashier lady giggled non-stop, and followed his train of thoughts, “Yeah, the boss is so immature.”
She took out a bag of fragrant pears from the counter’s cabinet, passed it to Sheng Wang and said, “Xiao-Tian placed it here, you two are going back to school together later?”
Sheng Wang nodded. He carried the bag of pears, found a random counter, leaned against it and waited for him.

“Hey, don’t stand there, that’s the lost and found corner,” the cashier lady said.
“Oh, then I’ll wait to be claimed,” Sheng Wang said.
The young lady doubled over in laughter again.

Soon enough, the lost item was claimed by Jiang Tian along with the pears.

*
Last time he drank too much, Sheng Wang and Jiang Tian’s relationship was just so-so, therefore he only managed to earn the role of the cameraman. This time however, it was different. Someone threw an arm around Jiang Tian’s shoulders, and forced him to participate in the dumbassery that was “walk in a straight line” for the entire time.

The alley in Beyond Parasol Trees was quite uneven, actually. Cars can pass through the widest parts, and as for the narrowest, only bicycles can pass through. Under Sheng Wang’s lead, Jiang Tian’s shoulders crashed into the wall three separate times.

“Why are you constantly going sideways?” Sheng Wang asked in confusion.
“Unhand me and I wouldn’t go sideways,” Jiang Tian said.
“Nuh-uh.”
“……”
Jiang Tian really had to give it up for him.

This was in no freaking way better than being a cameraman.
He may be thinking so, but his arm still guided Sheng Wang nonetheless. There were plenty of small pieces of rocks in the corner of the alley, and he would sprain his ankle again if he accidentally stepped onto them. Though the snake-path walking style was absolutely moronic, it did manage to reduce the probability of someone getting injured for the second time at least.
Old Man Ding’s house was of the older type, with a tall doorstep. The young master had heavy feet and couldn’t lift it up to go across it. In a bout of anger, he planted his butt down on the stone block outside the gate, and waved at Jiang Tian. “I’m not gonna go in, Imma just wait here.”
“Don’t run all over the place,” Jiang Tian said.
Sheng Wang nodded, and internally said, my legs are mine though.

Jiang Tian walked across the courtyard and into the house. Old Man Ding’s coughs could be heard across the walls and doors that weren’t tall in the first place, causing some slight echo to reverberate within the alley.

This was the deepest part of the alley, with most of its residents being the elderly. People at this age usually wouldn’t be awake at this timing, there weren’t even many lamps lit up. It was so quiet that only the sparse sounds of dog barks could be heard.

Sheng Wang vaguely heard someone murmuring something in the vertical alley to the right. He turned around to look, and saw two tall figures walking past the alley entrance, the shadows elongated by the streetlights slowly faded behind the wall.

He stared at empty space for a few seconds before he recalled: the two people sort of resembled Zhao Xi and Lin Beiting.

Out of the investigative desire of top students, he stood up and stomped his feet that were going numb, and staggered his way to the alley entrance. He stuck his head out. What surprised him however, was that the two didn’t walk very far either, they were only 7-8m away from him.

They appeared to be more like strolling, as they spoke, their footsteps would occasionally stop. With the aid of the streetlight, Sheng Wang could finally get a clear view of their faces. It was Zhao Xi and Lin Beiting indeed.
Judging by the direction of the alley, they probably just came over from Xi Le.

Lin Beiting said something, and Zhao Xi stopped in his steps. After listening for a while, he was doubled over in laughter as he had a hand on Lin Beiting’s shoulders.
Sheng Wang was unsure whether he should let them know he’s there, after all, the two bosses had just stolen his treat.

He was conflicted for a while. Just as he wanted to leave the corner of the wall and call out to them, he saw Zhao Xi straighten up. He looked towards Lin Beiting with mirth on his face, and raised the hand that was previously resting on his shoulder. He hooked his finger at him beckoningly, as though he was issuing a challenge.
Lin Beiting appeared to lift an eyebrow.

He slapped away that challenging finger, tilted his head and pressed his lips to Zhao Xi’s.

This long and straight alley was both narrow and out of the way, with too many routes that could easily replace it. Usually, barely anyone would pass by, like a peaceful and secluded passage.
There was only a single streetlight, it wasn’t exactly bright. The yellow light elongated the two’s shadows to eternity, casting upon the uneven rock floor, both suggestive and intimate.

Crack.
The gravel in the corner made a slight noise under his shoe, there was barely any commotion at all, but Sheng Wang was startled nonetheless. By the time he realised, he had retreated back behind the wall, his heart quickly pounding like a drum.

*
Jiang Tian left the courtyard, and saw the empty rock. Fortunately, there came a noise the next second from the wall, the breath that was caught in his throat was released.

“Why are you standing here?” He strided over.
Sheng Wang seemed to be zoning out, and only came back to himself by sound of the question. Perhaps it was the dark encroaching night that was obscuring his vision, but there was a trace of panic in his eyes.

Despite knowing that he couldn’t be logical with a drunkard, Jiang Tian still lowered his voice nonetheless. “What are you scared of?”
His gaze swept everywhere, and looked around the alley too. Everywhere was spotless, there were no stray dogs or stray cats, neither were there bats and moths.

Sheng Wang didn’t speak. He stared at Jiang Tian with vacant eyes for a bit, and the once dispersed intoxication slowly bubbled up in him again. People who drank got thirsty easily; he licked his lips before looking down as he said, “Who’s scared? Am not. Ate too much, decided to stand up for a bit.”

Jiang Tian was still a little skeptical.
Sheng Wang then said, “Is the old man asleep yet? I wanna sleep already, I’m so sleepy.”
Jiang Tian lowered his head and kept his eyes on him for a bit. He straightened up. “Let’s go then, back to the dorm.”

The dormmates had already long since showered, the scent of shampoo wafting about in the room. Shi Yu was playing games as he leaned on his bed, Qiu Wenbin was still industriously toiling away at the table, only a portable lamp was switched on.
When they entered, the alcohol kicked in for Sheng Wang once more, he was a bit unsteady on his feet. Qiu Wenbin rushed over to help him, but this ancestor rejected his help. He was so drowsy that his eyelids were threatening to fight each other already, but he still remembered to go take a shower in the bathroom, and proceed to die a glorious death in the lower bunk with the wetness still clinging onto him.

“My god, how much did he drink?” Shi Yu asked as he sat on the bed.
“Not that much,” Jiang Tian said.

Someone could barely handle his alcohol but had an abnormally strong will too, nobody knew from which drink was it that he started getting drunk.

Qiu Wenbin took a look at Sheng Wang’s sleeping position, and asked in sympathy, “Deity, are you sleeping upstairs tonight then?”
Jiang Tian didn’t manage to successfully make the transition in the end, because someone was having quite the fitful sleep, he kept tossing and turning. The bed in the dorm was in no way comparable to that giant bed of his at home, with two rounds of toss and turn, he nearly fell off the bed.
Therefore, Jiang Tian remained in the lower bunk in order to stop him from falling.

That night, Jiang Tian didn’t get a good night’s sleep, and neither did Sheng Wang.
That scene from the alley seemed to have imprinted itself in his mind, and then appearing in his dreams every opportunity it got. He had a lot of dreams that came in messy bits and pieces, and with the end of every part he would suddenly find himself walking beneath that streetlight.

Around him were two mottled walls of the alley. Beneath him were the moss growing in between the cracks of the floor made of stone, as well as tiny bits of gravel. The light was always swaying in the dream, sometimes, the shadows would be casted on the wall, and others, on the floor.
Dusky, quiet, salacious.

He would always hear someone call his name in the end. Every time he looked up, all he saw was Jiang Tian’s face.

*
After god knows how many parts, Sheng Wang finally woke up.
The instant he opened his eyes, his spirits were still stuck at the end of his dream, a thin layer of sweat gathered on the corner of his forehead.

Half of his body was draped over Jiang Tian’s, his arms around his neck, a leg pressing down against the other’s. Due to the heat, the blanket had long since been discarded, with more than half of it hanging by the edge of the bed. Therefore, there were basically zero barriers between his and Jiang Tian’s body.

The material of his long pants was soft and yet thin, it couldn’t even block out body heat, not to mention some even more awkward reactions.

The sky was on the verge of lighting up, the light that shone in was pale. It seeped in through the gaps between the balcony door and the floor, and the gaps between the windows and the wall. The dorm was dead quiet. Sheng Wang lowered his eyes, and heard his own heartbeat, pounding like a drum, and the uneven breaths he took.

He removed his leg near frenetically, while also attempting to be more subtle, trying to not wake Jiang Tian up. He glanced at Jiang Tian, and soon he abruptly left the bed and went back to the upper bunk, terrified to stay for a second longer.

Because, for a split second just now, with his eyes on Jiang Tian, he seriously felt the impulse to go a little closer. He wanted to lower his head, and touch his ge’s lips that constantly pursed into a straight line. He wanted to see if it was as cold as it seemed.

The ceiling above him was nothing but white, so was the look on Sheng Wang’s face.
He stared at that swath of white for a very long time, his heartbeat so heavy that he heard it roaring in his eardrums.

He didn’t notice the person below him turn around, not to even mention the way Jiang Tian pulled over the blanket to cover his abdomen, and opened his eyes as he laid on his side.

TO BE CONTINUED.