A Certain Someone ( The On1y One ) Chapter 059 – Switching Class

“Ge, Are You Mad at Me?”

For the entirety of physics class, Class A was enveloped in a suffocating mood. Of course, it wasn’t solely because of Sheng Wang, but he was indeed the key element.

He Jin would usually make some pretty lame jokes when she had class. However, she was solemn from the start to the end for today. As she deconstructed the logic behind answering the question on the lectern, the students’ pens scritch-scratched against their papers as they noted it down. Sheng Wang didn’t retain anything as his phone screen was constantly lighting up, new messages coming in non-stop.

Gao Tianyang and Song Sirui, the two chatterboxes, sent the most frequent messages. As Sheng Wang switched back and forth between two chat windows, he finally couldn’t handle the both of them at once in the end, and figured that he might as well make a group chat for the two of them.
Unassuming Gao Tianyang: NO!!! I STILL CAN’T FREAKING ACCEPT IT!!!
Unassuming Gao Tianyang: why……
Da-Song: i can barely accept it too
Da-Song: this shouldn’t be
Da-Song: even Old Gao made it in

His words were clearly taunting. If it was any other time, Gao Tianyang could fight him for half an hour with that alone, and maybe the mood would become livelier too. Yet, Gao Tianyang didn’t refute his words.
Unassuming Gao Tianyang: yeah, even I made it in

Sheng Wang typed with his head down, and brought out what he had already explained previously: i’ve said it before, the exam was so-so for me.

Unassuming Gao Tianyang: wasn’t that just being humble!!!
Unassuming Gao Tianyang: ask that to 10 people after exams, and all 10 will all say it’s so-so, isn’t that the polite standard reply???
Sticker: i have never participated in those
Unassuming Gao Tianyang: ……
Da-Song: ……
Da-Song: omg that’s true
Unassuming Gao Tianyang: truly your baba

Sheng Wang never did participate in formalities like this. His “so-so” meant that he wasn’t really satisfied with his performance, his “it’s okay” meant that it was not bad, his “pretty good” meant that he really did do quite well.
This was already the restrained and humbled down version, he was even more brazen towards Jiang Tian.

Once, as he compiled his notes, tucked away in the neighbouring bedroom, he went all the way to declare boastfully, “Just wait, in a semester, I could touch the tiger’s butt?”
Jiang Tian was stunned for a moment, and asked what he meant.
Sheng Wang said, “The first in place, the king of the mountains, refers to the tiger. Second place, close enough to touch, that’s what I meant.”

The tiger possibly had never met such an audacious person, and had to take two seconds to digest this joke. He first watched Sheng Wang with extremely mixed feelings, and then expelled him from the bedroom along with his books, saying, “It’s faster to just dream.”

Gao Tianyang and Song Sirui were still talking. Sheng Wang’s finger hovered over the keyboard as he spaced out. That conversation was merely a couple of months ago, but now thinking about it, it was a little dizzying.
Nobody had entered his “study room” for a long time now, the place they lived in changed too. That kind of joke he could make with zero abandon, he would no longer make anymore.
It was because of what weighed down on his conscience.

He was just changing his class, it wasn’t like a life and death separation or anything. He simply had to move from upstairs to downstairs, that’s all. Gao Tianyang and Song Sirui were natural crosstalk performers, and with Sheng Wang’s various changes in subject along with a couple of jokes, the mood was soon lively again.

Da-Song: the next time there will be a change of classes is after finals, by then Sheng-ge will be ready to fight his way back
Unassuming Gao Tianyang: definitely!
Sticker: Old Gao, I’ll suggest you to seize the moment
Unassuming Gao Tianyang: why should I have to seize the moment?
Sticker: if you’re still teeteering at the 45th place, the next time I make it in, it’s your turn to cry
Unassuming Gao Tianyang: ????

This idiot probably just realised why Sheng Wang said, and spammed with an entire column of memes expressing confusion, then silently keeping his phone away in order to take down notes. This round of consolation ended with a backfired attack and the persuasion to study.

Sheng Wang backed away from the group chat, and saw 20+ unread messages, coming from all sorts of people in class. Some told him that it’s alright, that there are many people who go in and out of Class A. Some said that with the rate he was improving at, the next time he came in he would be a resident in the nail house. There were even some who weren’t too good at comforting people, and only sent a few emojis.

This was only a part of it.
He replied to all the messages on WeChat one by one, and by the time he looked up, he discovered many post-it notes folded into tiny squares on his table. They featured the same encouraging words, the content not so different from each other, the handwriting vastly differing. Sheng Wang didn’t even know who were the ones who tossed them over, but that didn’t stop him from feeling a little touched.
These were the sort of friends you would have in the teens; friends both silly and simple.

He even saw Little Chilli crumple up a ball of pink post-it, and while He Jin turned around, she tossed it behind her without looking back. It ended up on Gao Tianyang’s table by accident.
Gao Tianyang—that idiot—didn’t realise what was happening, and gestured furiously. Like chicken communicating with ducks, they ended up chatting through paper notes instead.

Sheng Wang was very much amused by that.
He lowered his head as he quietly chortled, and the smile slowly faded from his face again. He suddenly had the thought, would Jiang Tian look at him the same way he looked at Little Chilli? Maintaining a distance with some awareness, not causing awkwardness while also not leading anyone on either?

This was clearly impossible, however.
The average person wouldn’t think the wrong way like him until they are on the same frequency, there would naturally be no chance for that awareness. Besides, Jiang Tian was family, there was no way he could maintain his distance like normal classmates.
He simply wanted to correct the crooked path he had set upon, he didn’t plan to stop talking to Jiang Tian forever.

Sheng Wang sneered at himself, thinking, man, this is so freaking distressing.
What was even more distressing was that he had received messages from most people in Class A, there was only one person whom he hadn’t heard from at all.
He stared at the chat pinned at the top of WeChat, and panic was starting to set up.
This period of physics class went by unexpectedly quickly, as though he only blinked twice, and the bell signalling the end of the period rang. Sheng Wang was startled back to reality by this bell that came out of the blue. He peered behind him as He Jin left the platform, and coincidentally met Jiang Tian’s eyes.

For some reason, Sheng Wang wanted to flee on the spot. And so he did.

Are you a coward?
Sheng Wang spat in his head. He was on He Jin’s heels as he followed her into the office, and presented himself for a scolding in advance. As expected, that “Reporting in” of his was akin to a lamb entering the tiger’s mouth, five teachers instantly surrounded him.

“You’ve arrived just in time, I was about to look for you!”

The language teacher, Beckon Money, drew out an exam paper. The paper bobbed up and down as she said, “What were you doing for these two comprehension passages? How many times did I say this before, for the poetry appreciation segment, look at the score weightage, the score weightage, the score weightage! An 8 marks question, the answer has a high likelihood of requiring 4 key points. For 6 marks, it should be 3. Any less, and there should be something wrong. Just to be safe, making up 8 small points or even 6 will do. Either way, extra points wouldn’t result in a deduction of marks. You ought to be familiar with this format by now, why did you mess up this time?”

“And also, for memorised text, I’ve said this over and over again: when you memorise, don’t just move your mouths, take a pen and write it down. A single wrong character and everything is gone just like that, no matter how well you have it memorised, it’s all for nothing.”

Just as Beckon Money finished speaking, Yang Jing too also slapped the paper in front of him. She pointed at the MCQ she marked out, and said, “Were you unconscious or were you frozen stupid by wearing too little that day? You’re telling me you made such low level mistakes too?!”

No matter how much she liked the student, Jing-jie was utterly ruthless when it came to chewing them out. In fact, the more she liked them, the harsher her words.
Beckon Money saw the way Sheng Wang obediently hung his head down low as he accepted all and any scoldings, and didn’t have the heart to watch anymore. She helped to speak up for him, “I think his English is still okay, that boy is first in English after all.”

“So what if he’s first in English?” Yang Jing said, “Have I not seen number 1 before or he hasn’t?”
Beckon Money: “……”

“Don’t act obedient in front of me!” Yang Jing knocked on the table loudly, “Tell me yourself, if only you have taken another look at these questions, would you still make these mistakes!”
Sheng Wang replied with a “Mn”.
“To hell with Mn!” Yang Jing said, “My stomach hurts every time I think of it.”

Old Wu and the rest were flipping through his papers at the side too. Their expressions were rather mild, they didn’t scold Sheng Wang like Yang Jing who was basically jabbing at his forehead as she scolded, but their mood were around the same—

If you say that Sheng Wang made a complete mess, that wasn’t the case either. He answered most of the questions pretty well, with only a small part not being the average standard, the score wasn’t unsightly either; it could fall under regular fluctuation.
If you judge by one subject alone, Sheng Wang’s grade was actually pretty decent. Every mistake could be said to be a small mistake, but with the mistakes accumulated from five subjects, then it became such a pity.
After much pondering, they could only say that it was a pity.

“If you didn’t get these few questions wrong, you could have gotten 5 more marks at the very least for English! What’s the meaning of that 5?” Yang Jing said, “With that 5 marks, you wouldn’t need to change your class, got it?”
“Sorry,” Sheng Wang said.

He did know that he would not need to change his class if it wasn’t for the five marks; it was because he knew, that was precisely why he made the mistakes. He didn’t feel any regret, as long as it was something he did himself, no matter how insane it is, he would rarely regret it. However, he was indeed guilt-ridden. Very, very much guilt-ridden.

“Alright, alright. Fortunately, it’s just midterms, there’s still more chances after this.” He Jin had been in charge of many batches of students, with every batch, she was not lacking in excellent and outstanding students. However, every batch had a different way of adding more white hairs to her head.
The years of youth are the fusion of impulse and mishaps in the first place. The most captivating, but also the most anger inducing. As the homeroom teacher, she had long since been used to it.

As compared to the subject teachers, He Jin was concerned about more issues. She was more like a parent in a different way.
She pulled out a chair, and said to Sheng Wang, “You have already received your scoldings, take a seat.”

“You have sprained your ankles before, and didn’t attend a few minor exams.” There was a stack of papers with tables neatly layered in her hands, a red pen was used to mark out every single improvement and the opposite of for every student, as well as points to take note of. Sheng Wang’s column was especially filled up.

“Your level position this time is the 49th place, and the 147th place amongst the four schools. Compared to the exam before you sprained your ankle, this is actually an improvement. But whether the improvement is from a week or a month, there is still a difference.” He Jin gently said, “The teachers are this frantic, not because they don’t think you are good enough, but precisely because that you are good enough, that we wish that you performed at the level you ought to have. At the very least, it shouldn’t be 49 or 147.”

“I can tell you aren’t in a good state this time, are you facing any problems?” He Jin stared into his eyes.
Sheng Wang avoided her eyes, and a moment later, he quietly returned her gaze. He flashed a quick smile as he said, “No, I’m not. I wouldn’t be like this next time, teacher.”

“Sure.” He Jin’s expression relaxed, and joked, “The administration dean, Dean Xu, was telling me last time that you are merely getting away because of your good looks. You look obedient, like a good student, but you are actually plenty mischievous. I’ll believe you for the time being, I want to see you in the top 45 places next exam, is that okay?”

“Okay,” Sheng Wang nodded.
“You probably have to go to another class from midday onwards. For the next half of the semester, you can ask the teachers from your class if you have any questions, you can also come upstairs to ask us, there’s no need to have any qualms. We have always said this: any students in the entire level are free to treat us as their teachers too. Also, for competition class, in principle your attendance is now voluntary, but I’m personally letting you know, I hope that you will obediently turn up for every class. There is plenty of space in the classroom, we are at no shortage of chairs.”

“Okay,” Sheng Wang said.
“If you let me find out that you have slacked off at any point—” He Jin’s finger pointed at him, and hmphed before continuing, “—just you wait for a face to face chat.”
Yang Jing pointed around her, and added, “See this? Five teachers, it will be a ruthless non-stop style face to face chat.”
Sheng Wang laughed.

*
The ten minutes inter-class break was spent on that talk. Sheng Wang went back to Class A with He Jin, and when they entered the classroom, the school bell rang on the dot.
He went back to his seat briskly. What surprised him however, was the fact that the seat belonging to the person behind him was empty.

Sheng Wang suppressed his curiosity for a while, and didn’t manage to in the end. He patted Gao Tianyang’s shoulder.
“Huh?” Gao Tianyang turned around questioningly.
Sheng Wang jabbed behind him with his thumb. “Where is he?”
“You’re talking about Tian-ge? Convenience store,” Gao Tianyang said.
Just after he said that, Jiang Tian opened the door to the classroom, and said without looking up, “Reporting in.”
He Jin nodded at his seat, indicating for him to hurry and sit down. Her gaze swept past his hand twice in a row before she called, puzzled, “Jiang Tian.”

Jiang Tian happened to be passing by Sheng Wang’s desk. He paused in his steps, and turned to face the lectern.
He Jin asked, “You bought iced water in this weather? Aren’t you cold?”
“No.” When Jiang Tian turned back, his eyes flitted past Sheng Wang’s face. He carried that fogged up bottle, and sat down behind him. His clothes lightly brushed past Sheng Wang’s shoulder, bringing about a frigid breeze

Sheng Wang didn’t turn behind. He heard the sound of a bottle being uncapped coming from the back. Jiang Tian was the one who was drinking it, but it felt like he took a few gulps too.
Iced water in late autumn had to be petrifyingly cool.

After that, for the entire morning, Jiang Tian did not speak. It was only when the last lesson ended, he then stood by Sheng Wang’s desk with an umbrella, and his finger knocked on his table, saying, “Go eat.”

Road #3 still meandered on, the two walked shoulders to shoulders as they shared an umbrella. Their pace wasn’t exactly quick, but nobody spoke at all. When they passed by a rubbish bin, Jiang Tian tossed the empty bottle inside.

Condensation was still dripping off from the outside of the bottle even as he tossed it away. The joints of his digit were a bloodless white, appearing icy. Sheng Wang wanted to feel how cold they were for himself all of a sudden, yet he could not find a single reason to.
The current scenario reminded him of the first time he went to Xi Le. Jiang Tian was just as silent as he was now for the entire journey. Back then, he felt that it was only reasonable; now, he could only feel incredibly unaccustomed to it.

“Ge,” Sheng Wang called out to him.
If Sheng Mingyang heard that word from him, he would be so moved that he would be experiencing an entire myriad of feelings. After all, no matter how he coaxed and cajoled at the start, Sheng Wang would rather die than to say that.
To be honest, he was still unused to it, but he was trying his best.

Laziness was written in his nature, it was rare for him to be putting so much effort, despite how this type of hard work wasn’t pleasing anyone.

Jiang Tian’s cheekbone moved a bit. There was barely any expression on his face. Moments later, he finally looked at him.
“Are you mad at me?” Sheng Wang asked.
Jiang Tian’s gaze rested on his face for a while before he eventually retracted it. “No.”
Sheng Wang nodded, and only replied after several moments later, “Okay.”

They went around the corner of the long alley, and went across the doorstep in front of the old courtyard one after another. Old Man Ding welcomed them with a wok spatula. “How quick you’ve arrived today, none of that dilly-dallying along the way I see.”
“Yup,” Sheng Wang was supportive, “I’m so hungry I’m gonna die.”
He was hungry to the point that his stomach was twitching in pain.

“You’re just in time, I’ve made a steamed fish head with chopped chilli today,” the old man said, pleased with himself. “Apparently the cafeteria has made it before? Try it and see which version is nicer.”
The old man was in a good mood today. Not only did he cook steamed fish head with chopped chilli, he had also stewed black chicken soup, as well as three small plates of stir-fry. The red and green chopped chilli, as well as the jade green choy sum were placed neatly on the table. Uncle mute was there too, and was giddily bringing the bowls and cutleries.

“Aren’t you starving to death already? Eat more.” Old Man Ding scooped for them full bowls of rice and ladled soup too, and waited for comments in elation.
Sheng Wang gave his praises, to the point that the old man was absolutely over the moon.
He turned and asked Jiang Tian too, “How is it? Better than the school’s cafeteria, right?”
Jiang Tian replied with a “Mn”.

“Oh, you think that it’s yummy too?” Old Man Ding looked askance at him, “I thought I must have poisoned it.”
Jiang Tian finally looked up at him, confusion evident on his face.
Old Man Ding pointed at the face and said, “If it’s so yummy, what’s with that ugly look on your face?”
Jiang Tian lowered his eyes and swallowed his food. Two seconds later, he finally answered, “If I’m smiling as I eat, you would have even more questions.”
Old Man Ding surprisingly found himself agreeing. He pictured that, and shivered. “No more talking, let us just eat.”

Sheng Wang’s stomach felt terrible, he couldn’t taste much of anything either. However, since he already said that he was hungry, he ate more than usual nonetheless. The old man and the mute both ate quickly; two entire mouthfuls and the rice in the bowl would disappear by half. Soon enough, they were already done eating, and headed to the kitchen to finish washing the vegetables they didn’t manage to in the morning.
Thus, the hall was only left with two people.

The more Sheng Wang ate, the more he slowed down. He put down his chopsticks eventually.
Jiang Tian’s soup spoon bumped against the bowl, creating a light clang. He suddenly spoke. “Gastric pain?”
Sheng Wang was stunned for several seconds before he realised that Jiang Tian spoke to him on his own accord, and his mood instantly changed slightly for the better. He replied on instinct, “No, I’m full, that’s all.”

Jiang Tian didn’t speak. He drank two mouthfuls of chicken soup with his head down, and finally couldn’t resist asking, “Did you lie to Old He like this in the office too?”
Sheng Wang stiffened. This time round, he really froze up.

Perhaps he didn’t want to come off as sounding too cold or being too overbearing, Jiang Tian’s eyes were downcasted for the entire time. He waited for a reply in silence. A white porcelain spoon was pinched between his fingers, but he did not take another mouthful of soup. Still, even with all that, the sharp and pointed corner of his was still revealed.
It was just like that bottle of iced water in late autumn; despite the gentle, hazy layer of mist wrapped around the bottle, it was so cold that it hurts to the touch.

Sheng Wang fidgeted, wanting to change his sitting position, but he couldn’t be bothered from the pain in his stomach.
“What did I lie to Old He about?” he asked.
Jiang Tian: “About flunking on purpose.”
Sheng Wang’s stomach twitched, and the pain akin to a needle stab speedily spreaded. He lightly hunched over, and didn’t manage to say anything for several long whiles.

This gastric pain sure knows how to pick its timing, he ridiculed himself, it probably looks no different from pretending.
He pressed down on the aching area twice with much force, and said to Jiang Tian, “It wasn’t on purpose, why would I flunk a major exam on purpose? It’s not like I’ll get anything out of it.”

The entire class was consoling him; they all thought that he didn’t perform at his usual level, he had terrible luck. All the teachers were reprimanding him; they thought he wasn’t in a good state, he was negligent. Jiang Tian was the only one who knew that he didn’t fail to perform at his usual level; he wasn’t negligent, he did it all on purpose.
He could not find a reason, nor did he find any evidence. He just knew.

Jiang Tian’s lips pursed into a straight line. His brows briefly knitted, he appeared to be wanting to say something, but simultaneously not knowing what to say at all.
“I didn’t do it on purpose.” Sheng Wang’s eyes were slightly downcasted, his voice incredibly soft.

His face was pale, either from possibly the lack of rest or the gastric pain. The lighting was terrible in the old house, the hall was dim. The torrent poured on outside, the rain cascading down from the inclined rooftop, forming a curtain of water along the edge of the tiles on the ledge.

For some strange reason, Jiang Tian was reminded of the first time Sheng Wang was drunk. He sat in the car sulkily, the expression on the face being the same too. Occasionally, he would look outside the car window. The swath of light and darkness gliding across his half-lidded eyes; sometimes, they were extremely bright, but others, a tiny twinkle of light.
He certainly wasn’t saying anything, but he always seemed a little lonesome.

He thought, it must have been around that moment onwards, that he started being unable to help but to be a little nicer to him. Unwittingly, it became habit.

Jiang Tian stood up by the table, the person who was still quibbling suddenly tugged at his wrist.
“What?” Sheng Wang looked up at him as he asked.
“……”

Jiang Tian’s fingers twitched. He said, “I’m getting you hot water.”
Sheng Wang said an “Oh”, and his gaze sank again. He released him.

Jiang Tian went to the kitchen, took out a glass, washed it and poured half a glass of boiling water. He then mixed the previously boiled water that the old man left out to cool, and went back to the hall. He settled the cup before Sheng Wang.

“When are you moving?” he asked.
“Hm?” Sheng Wang was caught off guard.
He curbed his impatience as he asked once more, “When are you moving to a different class?”
“Noon,” Sheng Wang paused before he added on, “before noon break ends, I think.”

In reality, there wasn’t much time left, but none of them spoke up about leaving. The hall fell into a silence that kept stretching on. Sheng Wang brought the glass to his mouth, and took tiny sips of the slightly boiling hot water.

After yet several moments later, he suddenly spoke. “I really did mess up this time, I’ve made so many mistakes across all the subjects.”

Who are you trying to fool.
Jiang Tian said so internally, but what left his mouth was, “Okay.”
Sheng Wang took a few more mouths of hot water. Perhaps his gastric was slightly relieved, he looked like he felt better.

Jiang Tian was momentarily quiet before he nodded, his throat rumbled, “Okay.”

*
Mingli Block’s noon break had always been quiet, but it was absolutely bustling with life today. One could hear the sound of tables and chairs shuffling around all the way from the ground floor. At first listen, it was lively, but it was at the expense of some tears.

When Sheng Wang returned back to the classroom, the other four students who needed to leave had already packed their bags. One of them was empty handed; clearly, he must have gone downstairs at one point already.

“Sheng-ge, you all will be going to Class B, right?” that person asked.
Sheng Wang nodded. His expression was mournful as he said, “Okay, I’m merely downstairs, I guess. We’re only separated by a ceiling.”

“You wouldn’t be there?” Sheng Wang asked.
“I have to go to Class 1,” he said, “I don’t know if I can ever come back.”

“Don’t be like that, you definitely can!” Gao Tianyang consoled.
That boy however was pretty clear-headed. He said, with bitterness laced in his voice, “Every time people had to leave they probably received the same consolation. How many of them actually made it back in the end?”
Gao Tianyang choked, and slapped his back. “You can’t give up just like that either!”

He then fistbumped Sheng Wang, saying, “Sheng-ge, you sh—no wait, don’t be overly determined, it’ll scare us.”
After Gao Tianyang spoke, he instinctively shot a glance at Jiang Tian. He thought that he would be receiving a glare from Jiang Tian, like the last time when he said “pass by”. However, Jiang Tian did not look up this time.

He acutely felt the subtle change between the two, but with his jellyfish style brain, he was unable to put the change into words.
Therefore, he chose to keep his mouth shut, as quiet as mice.

Sheng Wang stuffed a portion of his items in his bag. Just as he was about to carry another stack of books, he saw Jiang Tian bend over, and help him carry those. He proceeded to walk towards the staircase.

Issues like level position were discussed behind closed doors. Before they go through the change of class, nobody would know the situation in other classes.
Class B was waiting for the people upstairs to descend from the heavens as they cleared up the tables, but never did they expect the first one to appear to be Jiang Tian. The student on duty was so spooked that they lost their grip on the rag, and nearly wiped it on another person’s face.
“What’s the situation?” Someone discussed furtively, “What kind of bombshell is this, Jiang Tian is switching class?”
“Keep dreaming,” another person mocked. “He’s helping to carry things for sure.”
“Who is that big of a deal?”

Just as they spoke, Sheng Wang followed into the classroom, a bag slung across his shoulders. The people were agape again.
A few seconds later, someone muttered under their breath, “There, the big deal himself.”

There were a few empty tables. Jiang Tian asked Sheng Wang, “Where?”
“Here!” A tanned hand before an empty table suddenly reached out. Sheng Wang looked over there, and saw Shi Yu pointing at the seat in front of him. “You can sit here.”

“That will do too.” Sheng Wang nodded.
Jiang Tian said, “Is he taller than you?”
Shi Yu: “……can we not talk about this now? Let it rest, Tian-ge.”

Jiang Tian did not speak any further. He walked over, and placed Sheng Wang’s books down. The other students who had to change their class all streamed in one after another too, and occupied the remaining tables. Sheng Wang stuffed his school bag inside his desk, and just as he was about to take things out, he heard Jiang Tian say, “I’m going up.”
He briefly paused in his action. He looked up and said, “Sure.”

He watched Jiang Tian leave the classroom via the back door, and soon, he disappeared from the corridor. In that fleeting moment, he had a flashback to the first time he saw the suitcase, in the neighbouring bedroom, as well as a certain inter-class break, when Jiang Tian told him “have to move sooner or later” at the back of the class.
Only, he was the one who had to move this time.

You’re the one who chose to stay further away from him, you’re the one who wanted to come downstairs. Stop acting like you can’t bear to leave with your crocodile tears.
Sheng Wang said to himself.

There was still more than 10 minutes until noon break was over. The people who moved into Class B had already settled down, the classroom gradually reverted back to calmness. Over here, the arrangement between different groups was slightly different. Unfamiliar gaps, unfamiliar faces. Even the scent of the air freshener wafting through the air was unfamiliar too.

Still, that’s alright. He had transferred schools so many times, and switched to so many different classrooms. This was merely one of them.
He was good at adapting, he could thrive anywhere. Within a few minutes, he would be used to this place, just like the time he moved into Class A all the way from a different province.

Remnants of gastric pain still lingered in Sheng Wang; after he was done tidying his things, he sprawled over the desk.
He planned to make use of the tail end of the noon break to relax with his eyes closed, but he ended up accidentally falling asleep instead. Just like how one can already have everything all planned out, but there would always be some people, and some issues unaccounted for in the plan.

*
Class A was a place in the level where people would watch in envy, but also shrink back away from. Therefore, some students may have ended up in the top 45 places, but they were too terrified to enter the classroom.
Class B and Class 1 were already done with the switching of class, the few tables in Class A were still empty. When Jiang Tian went back to his classroom, he saw a few people tentatively looking inside.

Gao Tianyang had once again taken upon the heavy duties of being a socialite. He waved at them without asking, and said, “Whatchu waiting for, friends? You’re in military pose? We’ve already cleared the tables, you’re still not coming in? You need us to perform a formation to show our welcome?”

“Noneednoneed.” The few students’ faces were flushed, they awkwardly shuffled in with their bags.
“Take whatever seat you like, yeah?” Gao Tianyang pointed at the few empty tables. Just as he was about to point at Sheng Wang’s, he heard Tian-ge open his golden mouth, saying, “Wait.”

Gao Tianyang looked at him in puzzlement.
Jiang Tian did not sit down the moment he came back to class. Instead, he took out the school bag, pencil case as well as papers out from the inside of his desk. He had a tall stature; with just a stretch, he managed to toss the few books on his table to the one in front of him. He then went to Sheng Wang’s seat and sat down, a bag in his hands.

Gao Tianyang never thought that things could go like this. He watched for ages with question marks floating all over his head, and asked, “Tian-ge, what are you doing?”
“Changing seats, can’t you tell?” Jiang Tian said.
“No, I mean, I can tell, but—” Gao Tianyang scratched at his buzzed crew cut, and said, “Why are you suddenly changing your seat?”

Jiang Tian placed his items inside the desk one by one. Upon hearing that, he said without even looking up, “I sat here in the first place, any problem?”
Gao Tianyang then recalled: before Sheng Wang came, Jiang Tian did sit here. Now that Sheng Wang left, he came back here with his things in tow.

He suddenly felt some mixed feelings, but he soon snapped out of it. “No problem, it’s good that you’re changing back here. Otherwise, if I want to whisper something during class, I lean back, and the new classmate doesn’t answer me at all, that would be so awkward.”
Jiang Tian settled his things down, and shot him a glance as he said, “I wouldn’t respond to you either.”
“I knooow, not only will you ignore me, you’ll even ask me to shut up and turn back around.” Gao Tianyang shook his head, “Now that we’re comparing, Sheng-ge is the one who shows me more face.”
Jiang Tian pursed his lips, and no longer spoke. He took out a book conveniently, and picked a ballpoint pen. He no longer looked up. Gao Tianyang groaned and sighed, and turned back to face the front. After a quick round of banter with Song Sirui, he began doing his practice paper too.

More than half of the students made use of the time to sleep. The class monitor subtly switched off two lamps, and the lighting in the classroom dimmed. The raindrops in the ongoing rain that fell around them were slanted. The cascade of water continued to hum. Inside, however, it was quiet. Just like every single noon break in the past.

These few Olympiad questions were extensive, the sentences being convoluted too. Jiang Tian stared at them for quite a few minutes, but not a single word entered his mind. He then realised that he was completely distracted.

He leaned back against the chair; a hand dangled by the side of his body, the other hand rested on the table, a pen within his fingers. The pen spun for four-five rounds, and he still couldn’t absorb anything. He finally raised his eyes in a manner of giving up.

The figure by the table in front of him became Gao Tianyang; it was no longer the person who likes to wear his uniform below his shoulders when he’s warm, and lazily fanned himself with his T-shirt collar. It was no longer the person who would dare to slowly and leisurely rock his chair with his foot on the bar beneath the table, and turn around to act obedient as he apologised to him after his chair would occasionally bump against the edge of his table.

His eyes were lowered as he zoned out for a moment. He suddenly felt, after so many twists and turns, he had gone from the starting point to the starting point once more. The transfer student in the middle seemed to have never come in the first place.
If he doesn’t look back, and see the few new students who transferred in, he even felt like it was an illusion; that he merely took a nap on the table over the noon break, and had a fleeting dream.
It was the height of summer when he closed his eyes; when he opened them, it was already late autumn.

The screen on his phone inside his bag suddenly flashed. Jiang Tian dug it out on instinct and opened WeChat. There were no new messages. He spaced out for a while before he realised that that was some lunchtime news that an app sent out as a notification.

He pulled down the menu, and kept it back up again. He watched the top most chat in WeChat, that flat Wangzai sticker quietly rested in the profile picture.

Jiang Tian actually had the habit of changing aliases, his style simple and completely boring: the full name, or how he addressed them. The one at the top was his first exception.
He had briefly changed the person’s alias to “Sheng Wang” before, but a few days later, deep into the night, he changed it back for some inexplicable reason. Back then, he couldn’t put into words what mindset he was doing that out of, but now, it was more obvious: he simply wanted to see the other person’s changes, if his profile picture changed, if he was happy or not.

He recalled a noon many years ago: it was a continuously raining day like this, that cat named “Leader” had come to the end of its life as it laid in its home.
Before that, there were already many signs—he didn’t like to eat anymore, neither did he like to move. He visited a lot of stores, and searched on a lot of websites. He had tried so many ways in order to keep it for a few more years.
However, Old Man Ding said, “It’s already an old cat, it doesn’t have much time. We can’t make it stay anymore.”
In the end, he didn’t manage to make it stay. Just as expected.

……
It seems that it has always been like this.
When he was young, he tied Jiang Ou’s silk ribbon around his finger, but he had never seen her every time he opened his eyes. Later on, he wrote his name and pasted his photo on a slip of paper, and tied it around his grandmother’s wrist, but the old lady still couldn’t remember him. Even later, after taking so many pictures and videos of Leader, that cat who had spent such a long time with him was still buried six foot under.

Keeping people with him had never been his forte, and never did he managed to make anyone stay either.

These few days, Sheng Wang had begun calling him “Ge” at a frequent rate, but he wasn’t happy. Instead, he would often flashback to these bygone affairs. He knew that the person who would hook an arm around his neck as he said “Let’s stay in school together” was going further away from him, but he had no idea how to keep him.
After so many years, he still never managed to learn how to keep someone; he could still only use awkward, and stubbornly stupid methods.

It had never worked, but he still wanted to try nonetheless.

TO BE CONTINUED.