A Certain Someone ( The On1y One ) Chapter 077 – Possessed

One on One, Guaranteed Successful Outcome, and It’s All for Free. Tell Me, Are You Learning or Not?

When Sheng Wang entered the classroom, Class B’s math teacher happened to be passing out the practice paper meant for the noon break at the lectern. He took special care to go in through the back door, but it was all futile — the entire class all made use of passing the paper around to turn to look at him, envy in their eyes.
Students become envious over the purest of reasons: if you are entirely justified in not showing up for class, then you are the most blessed person in this world. The members of the class committee being summoned to a meeting that took up an entire class period could even garner a comment along the lines of “that must be so good”, let alone cases like Sheng Wang where he managed to leave for an entire half a month.

“Quit staring, the answer key doesn’t grow on my face.” Sheng Wang felt like he accidentally walked onto the set for Star Boulevard, and he cupped his fist to beg for pardon as he sat down on his seat.

The entire class laughed at him, the math teacher teased him as he propped himself against the lectern, “Looks like Sheng Wang is in quite a good mood, life at the training camp must be pretty good.”
Some smartass continued, “Not going to class is better for health.”
The entire class guffawed once more, and finally began to get started on work obediently.

The moment Sheng Wang started he realised he was screwed, the training camp that lasted for two consecutive weeks had left its residual effect on him — his first reaction upon seeing math problems wasn’t to draw a diagram, list out formulas or calculate, but rather, he wanted to translate the question into English.
Usually, he had plenty of time left to spare after he completed a half an hour practice paper like this. However, due to this godforsaken residual effect, he was actually running a little tight on time today. When the teacher said “pens down”, he then hurriedly finished the last line.

“You seem to be a little out of practice, huh? Sheng Wang?” The math teacher lifted his chin at Sheng Wang across a few tables, “You’re much slower than before.”
For this, Sheng Wang honestly did not have any good excuse, and accepted the reprimand without any protest.
“Since you’re already done with English, you ought to put in more effort into your other subjects from now onwards. For example, you can do a couple of number sequence questions for fun.”
The whole class simultaneously let out a yell of “what the hell”.

The math teacher glared at them, and then reminded him half-jokingly, “You haven’t touched these for half a month already, but the other students did not slack off either. It will be the weekly test in a couple of days, do make use of your time properly.”

The moment he brought up exams, the class descended into despair. However, Sheng Wang’s mentality was the exact opposite of others: he looked forward to the arrival of exams. It wasn’t because he was getting too full of himself, but that after midterms he had not formally participated in any exams. He was in a rush to score into the top 45 places, and reassure Old He, Jing-jie and the rest from Class A.

When the teacher left, the people filled with despair were instantly bursting with life again. He Shi bore the brunt, and snuck her way from the front row with her back hunched over. Shi Yu spared her the majority of his chair on his own accord.
“Eh, Sheng Wang, was the training camp fun?” As someone who also participated in the preliminaries for English, He Shi’s envy was much more impactful than the others.

“It was okay. The camp was nothing special, the people there were more fun,” Sheng Wang said.
He Shi was amused, “Those who can go are all bigshots, can there be very fun people?”
“Yeah, there’s Jiang Tian,” Sheng Wang happened to be chatting on WeChat with his eyes lowered, and the words slipped out just like that.
He Shi: “……”

Sheng Wang shot a glance at her and Shi Yu, and his fingers flew as he rapidly typed.
Shop’s Anniversary Celebration: Jiang Tia:, of handsome looks, of a clear voice, of a magicked name, able to stop the nightly cries of babies with a mention.
Someone: ……
Someone: What got to you
Shop’s Anniversary Celebration: the existence of a young couple
Someone: ?

Shop’s Anniversary Celebration: Shi Yu and He Shi ignored the empty chairs, and insisted on squeezing on one
Shop’s Anniversary Celebration: you know who’s He Shi?
Shop’s Anniversary Celebration: whatever you might not really remember, in any case she’s Shi Yu’s girlfriend
Shop’s Anniversary Celebration: 40+ seats in class, and they choose to flex right in front of me
Shop’s Anniversary Celebration: they think they are so terrific for having a partner
Shop’s Anniversary Celebration: then I too am terrific

In Class A, most people had kept their stationery away and were prepared to take their afternoon naps. Only a few people were being up to no good. Gao Tianyang was engaged with tossing notes back and forth with the person in front of him, and yet this person had terrible aim, so the paper always ended up on Chili’s desk. He had to put his palm together and begged for Chili to pass the note to his front deskmate with all the sincerity of praying to his grandpa, grandma, and ancestors all at once.
As Chili helped, she rolled her eyes. The fifth round of note passing, Gao Tianyang turned behind and looked at the person behind him, and coincidentally caught that fleeting expression on Jiang Tian’s face.

“Tian-ge,” Gao Tianyang whispered, “you were smiling just now, right? I wasn’t mistaken?”
Jiang Tian lifted his gaze from the bottom of the desk. “You were mistaken.”
“I don’t care, I saw that.” Gao Tianyang said, “Your little brother said, during these times I just gotta put words in your mouth and be completely unreasonable.”
Jiang Tian did not realise what Gao Tianyang just said. “My little brother?”
“Yeah, Sheng-ge.”
“……”

Jiang Tian swept a look at the phone beneath his desk — a certain little brother was still saying that he was terrific for finding himself a partner.
Making use of how he hadn’t replied, Gao Tianyang asked again, “Then…since you were smiling just now, you should be in an okay mood, right?”
“Don’t bullshit about my mood.” Jiang Tian turned his screen off, and looked up like he knew what was coming. “What did you land me into?”

“It ain’t my fault this time! I even tried to speak up for you, but you weren’t around, so they weren’t as easily deterred.”
Gao Tianyang turned and motioned at two people in the front row, indicating for them to get their asses here. The next second, Song Sirui. the culture rep and Li Yu the class monitor all got their asses here.

The moment he saw Li Yu and the culture rep, something became apparent to Jiang Tian. If they were Gao Tianyang and the rest who were on good terms with him, Jiang Tian could still say a “scram”, but he couldn’t exactly do it to two girls, considering how the class monitor was a crybaby too.

Gao Tianyang poked Li Yu, Li Yu poked the culture rep. The culture rep summoned up her courage, “So uh, it’s basically this: Jiang Tian, the school’s cultural festival will be happening at the end of this month again. Since we won’t be participating in year three, this will be our last chance to do so. Old He generally suggested for us to not take up too much of our studying time with this, but don’t do it too half-heartedly either.”

“Initially, um, having the entire class form a choir is the most fair and least troublesome method, in any case nobody is getting out of this. Pick a song that’s easy to sing, rehearse a few times and that will do. But—”
Gao Tianyang pointed downstairs, “This was taken by the beasts from Class B and 7.”

The culture rep explained, “The meeting ended, and without even discussing with their classmates, the culture reps instantly filled the form and handed it up on the spot. There can only be two class choir performances in a level at most, I was being slightly democratic, and the slots were gone just like that.”

Jiang Tian’s brows were knitted. “So?”
“So we can only come up with smaller items. You know with our school rules, if there are less than or two people for individual performances, then the class has to come up with two items. If not, the entire level will end up sending one person up there to sing by themselves.” Gao Tianyang pointed at himself and Song Sirui, “The current arrangement is that I’ll be performing crosstalk with Old Song, this will be a group. You will be performing a song with Carp—”

Jiang Tian: “???”
“Bleh—no wait—” Gao Tianyang corrected himself, “You will be playing the guitar, and Carp will be singing.”
Jiang Tian was stupefied. “Who said I know how to play the guitar?”
Li Yu’s voice quivered, “I can’t really sing either.”
Jiang Tian: “……”

Gao Tianyang explained, “Old Song and I, we are basically reincarnated crosstalk performers. Carp, our dear class monitor, sacrificed herself for the greater cause and tanked this. However, Carp gets nervous easily, she will probably sing into a breakdown with tears. So……”
Jiang Tian: “I don’t know how to play.”
“That’s fine, you know how the cultural festival goes. You just need to be hot, who the hell actually cares about the guitar.” Gao Tianyang said, “Tian-ge, I’m not blindly flattering you — with your face alone, there would be people clapping even if all you do is to hold a broom on stage.”

Jiang Tian looked at him with very mixed feelings. “So it’s your crappy idea after all?”
Gao Tianyang’s neck shrunk. “I don’t dare to seek death like this.”
Carp said, “It’s actually teacher He.”
Jiang Tian appeared to be at a total loss. A while later, he said, “I’ll look for her after class.”
“Old He seems to be leaving the school to attend a class this afternoon.”
“Then I’ll look for her after school.”

Yet, by the time school really ended, he didn’t manage to stop He Jin — he was stopped by someone else instead. The person who stopped him had the surname of Sheng and the name of Wang, the bane of his existence that he canvassed for himself.
“I’ve heard that you have to perform too?” Sheng Wang sat cross-legged at the short window railing at the corner of the stairs, his head looking up at Jiang Tian, who was descending.
Jiang Tian turned to stare at Gao Tianyang. “You spilled?”
Gao Tianyang was already a foot on the stairs before he hastily went back inside the class. “I didn’t bring this up, Sheng-ge happened to ask.”

Jiang Tian followed down the stairs, and walked towards where Sheng Wang was. “I’m not participating.”
“Nooo,” Sheng Wang stood up with his bag, “I was just feeling glad earlier.”
“What are you glad about?”
“My class’ choir. They took advantage of me not being in school, and placed me in the direct centre of the first row.” Sheng Wang said, “The bunch of bastards kept this from me until afternoon, and caused me to completely be out of sorts for the last period. I only felt slightly consoled when I heard from Old Gao that you also have to participate just now.”

“I’m not,” Jiang Tian said, “I don’t know how to play at all.”
“The guitar?” Sheng Wang instigated, “Learning a simple song quickly for an emergency is actually quite doable, a top student is afraid of this?”
The top student was impervious. “I’m not learning.”
“Try.”
“No.”
“You’re heartless enough to let me embarrass myself alone?”
Jiang Tian tugged at his bag strap, and said rather scoundrelly, “Mn.”

Sheng Wang narrowed his eyes, and hooked an arm around his neck, causing him to hunch over and lower his head. “Say that again?”
Jiang Tian’s Adam’s apple was stuck against his arm, bobbing up and down. Sheng Wang was the only one who knew he was chuckling.

Gao Tianyang and Song Sirui then poked their heads out from the classroom at this moment, and as they cheered Sheng Wang on, they were also prepared to retreat any time.

Sheng Wang threw a quick glance at them, and turned Jiang Tian around to make his back face them. Behind him was the endless stream of students heading to the cafeteria. He lowered his voice and said to Jiang Tian, “I’ll let you in on a secret: your secret boyfriend just so happens to know how to play the guitar, and he would very much like to teach you. One on one, guaranteed successful outcome, and it’s all for free. Tell me, are you learning or not?”
……

Therefore, the same night, Gao Tianyang passed the good news to Carp and the culture rep. “Tian-ge agreed.”
“For real?” The two girls could not believe their ears.
“Sheng-ge mentioned it while we’re eating, and Tian-ge didn’t refute him.” Gao Tianyang said, “It’s real, guaranteed.”
“Why? Why did he agree all of a sudden?”
“Beats me.” Gao Tianyang said, “Are mere mortal humans able to guess my Tian-ge’s thoughts? Am I right, Tian-ge?”
As he said, he also turned to ask, “So, why?”
Jiang Tian did not even look up. “I was possessed.”
Gao Tianyang: “……”

*
Sure, everyone had to plan for the cultural festival, but the only ones who really took it seriously were the year ones. The year twos usually did not put in as much rehearsal time, at the very most only a few extra periods of night self-study were taken up.
Class A was even more lackadaisical compared to the other classes — He Jin was generous, even more so towards Jiang Tian. She straight up produced a long term absence slip, saying that he could go practise if he wanted to during night self-study.
However, Jiang Tian did not manage to make use of the night self-study leaves; Class B was rather strict, and Sheng Wang couldn’t leave. Even when he managed to get an absence slip, it would be under the context of practising their singing as the entire class in the music classroom.

After the last period of night self-study on Thursday, Jiang Tian was on his way to look for Sheng Wang in the lecture theatre with a bag in his hand, already heading downstairs, when he received Sheng Wang’s message.
Shop’s Anniversary Celebration: come to the arts building
Someone: You went for choir rehearsal?
Shop’s Anniversary Celebration: yeah
Shop’s Anniversary Celebration: we’ve already been dismissed. I got the keys to the music classroom from the teacher, and got excused from residential students’ night self-study

Fuzhong’s arts building was situated to the north, it was rather close to the sports ground, and very far from the blocks the students went to school at. All music and art lessons in Fuzhong were held here, the arts students usually practised here too, some diligent ones leave at closing time on the dot, precisely 11pm.

When Jiang Tian reached downstairs, he saw Sheng Wang waiting by the entrance.
At this timing, most of the building was dark, with only a sparse few classrooms with their lights still switched on. Sheng Wang glanced upwards, and said, “There’s already barely anyone. Thank god you were fast, otherwise we wouldn’t really have time if we leave by 11pm.”

Jiang Tian walked up the stairs three steps at a time, and entered the building with Sheng Wang, shoulders to shoulders. A few seconds passed before he spoke, “You’re really here to practise with me?”
Sheng Wang touched his nose, and turned to look behind him. There were round security cameras, covering all 360 degrees the entrance to the arts building as well as the corners of the corridors.

The campus was enormous, it could not be anymore normal to have a lot of security cameras lying around. The intent was to guard against thieves, for security purposes, but to students who were up to no good, those would be administration dean, Big Mouth Xu’s eyes, omnipresent no matter where they go.
Sheng Wang did not particularly feel that way in the past, and now he felt it more than anybody else.

The ring-shaped corridor was not actually narrow, but his shoulders — his arms — they always bumped against Jiang Tian’s. With no righteous reason, for no righteous purpose, he was simply trying to get a little closer to the person he liked with the excuse of accidental touches.
There were still two arts students in the art studio on the first floor, the room with the musical instruments was at the direct opposite. They left the glow of the light, and entered the area full of darkness. Sheng Wang opened up the door with the key, his eyes lowered.

The musical instruments room was not exactly small, but it was divided into a few narrow paths via rows and rows of metal racks. The racks were custom made, with different instruments placed according to their types. Other than instruments like pianos that were difficult to move, most of them were here.

“So dusty.” The smell of dust in the room was a little heavy, smelling distinctly aged and vintage. Still, he did not fan the dust away.
Actual arts students all brought their own instruments, only those who need it temporarily would come here to borrow. Therefore, despite the culture festival looming in the near distance, this place still remained relatively unvisited by people.

Sheng Wang reached up, wanting to switch on the lights, but his fingers did not press down upon finding the switch. He looked around with the aid of the light on his phone, and asked, “Will there be security cameras here?”
Jiang Tian followed him and checked around too. “I don’t spot any.”
Sheng Wang nodded.

He met Jiang Tian’s eyes. “Does it count as having the doors closed now?”
Jiang Tian’s eyes landed on his phone screen before turning to him again. “Not exactly.”
Sheng Wang released his thumb, and the screen darkened just like that. The metal racks and canvas bags all fell into the darkness. A random assortment of items littered by the window, crisscrossing, nearly blocking out the entire window pane. The light from the corridor was pale as it shone in through the gaps.
They could see the shadows outside, but if someone was to look in, all that could be seen was just darkness.
Sheng Wang peered at the direction of the windows, saying, “I think we can count it as closed by force now.”

However, the moment he said that, the sound of human voices could be heard from the staircase facing the room. Due to the tranquility of the night, they caught every word clearly.
“You brought the recorder yourself?”
“I borrowed it from the musical instruments room.”
“Doesn’t that mean you still have to return it?”

“……”
Without a second word, Sheng Wang raised his hand to switch on the lights, and went towards the guitar racks with Jiang Tian.
Just as they lifted up a bag, the door to the instrument room opened. Three girls walked in, and said, “Eh?”
“Jiang Tian?!” a girl gasped on instinct, and she hurriedly covered her mouth. Clearly, she did not expect to see a hot guy the moment she opened the door either. There were even two of them.

“You’re here to borrow the instrument too?” They only remembered to introduce themselves after they asked that. “We’re from Class 10.”
Jiang Tian did not appear to be in a particularly cheery mood, but he had always been so cold and aloof, everyone had long since been used to it. Funnily, it was Sheng Wang who also looked sort of unhappy. Despite the mirth in his tone, the expression on his face was a little indistinct. “We’re here to borrow a guitar. Adios.”

They registered themselves on the booklet hanging by the door, and went upstairs with the black colour bag. This time, Sheng Wang wasn’t in the mood to pick the classroom, and went in after vaguely looking for an empty one.

The arts building was designed to look like a musical note, the classrooms formed a circle that wasn’t quite round with the corridor. In the middle was an ecological garden, with a giant patch of bamboo planted. The windows facing inwards ended up being quite nicely blocked.

Young master Sheng was thwarted from his attempt at immoral behaviour, and was abnormally displeased. He began to shut the entire world out the moment he put the guitar down. Jiang Tian closed the door, and by the time he turned around, he saw a certain person sitting on the windowsill — he even pulled the hood from the sweatshirt he wore as an inner layer out and wore it on his head.
The lights weren’t switched on yet; he sat in the shadows. He did appear rather cool, but it’s just that his mood was a little bad.

Jiang Tian shot a glance at him, and suddenly walked an entire round by the windows at the other side of the classroom, pulling all the curtains facing the corridor shut. He then locked the classroom front door.
He headed to the window, unloaded the bag from his shoulder and tossed it aside. He pulled Sheng Wang’s hood down, and his back hunched over as he kissed him.

The chill at night in late December was bone-seeping. One of Sheng Wang’s feet was stepping by the edge of the windowsill, and his back was pressed against the icy-cold glass as his palm held the back of Jiang Tian’s neck.
They spent a few days being brothers, dormmates and schoolmates. Their kisses were a little sloppy now that they were finally alone, only quite a while later then did the kisses gradually turn gentle.

*
The cafeteria in a morning at Fuzhong wouldn’t be as crowded as noon, a lot of students would give up on cooked food for the sake of a few more winks of sleep, and settle their breakfast with a few biscuits and bread.
Sheng Wang and the rest went to the cafeteria depending on their moods. This morning, both Sheng Wang and Jiang Tian were in a terrific mood, so they were already seated in the canteen super early in the morning. Unexpectedly, they bumped into Gao Tianyang and the rest.

It was honestly quite the rare sight to see the lazy bums of Class A come down for breakfast for once. Sheng Wang greeted them, and the surrounding seats were instantly filled.
“I heard that you went to practise the guitar with Tian-ge last night,” Gao Tianyang shoved a mouthful of noodles into his mouth, and looked up to ask, “How did it go?”

Jiang Tian was sitting opposite him, upon hearing that he looked at him. “So-so.”
“Why?” Gao Tianyang asked.
Both Sheng Wang and Jiang Tian had long legs, and their legs were almost intertwined beneath the table. He knocked against Jiang Tian’s knee, but his eyes were on Gao Tianyang as he said, “The guitar was bad.”
“Oh, yeah, that’s true.” Gao Tianyang had zero clue as to the sneaky behaviours under the table, and even thought that they made quite a bit of sense. “After all, it belongs to the musical instrument room. With so many people borrowing it here and there, it can’t be particularly good. How now?”
“There’s one at home.” Sheng Wang said, looking at Jiang Tian. “Let’s go retrieve it after the weekly test?”

TO BE CONTINUED.