A Certain Someone ( The On1y One ) Chapter 091 – Ice Arrows

“Don’t Bother Checking.”

The house that was White Horse Alley had been transformed into a barrel of gunpowder, ready to explode at any moment. When Sheng Wang was packing up his luggage, he accidentally overheard Jiang Ou and Sheng Mingyang’s conversation. To be fair, it wasn’t quite a conversation — it was Jiang Ou apologising one-sidedly. She had been high strung and temperamental as of late, what she did the most every day was apologising. Nobody could withstand that, and nobody could really criticise her for that too.

She felt that her current state was very problematic, and that was unfair towards Sheng Mingyang. She wanted to separate for a while. All Sheng Mingyang did was to comfort her, saying, “It’s fine, don’t think too much. Healing first is more important.” And then he went to the balcony, smoking for a very long time.

Sheng Wang instinctively felt that the two might not end up getting married after all.
He thought that he would feel glad or regretful when this happened, but in actuality he did not feel a single thing at all. He and Jiang Tian were standing on a tightrope, shoulder to shoulder — trying to keep their balance alone was sapping all their energy, they had no time to care about anything else at all.

Fuzhong would be holding a level parent-teacher meeting when school reopens. For one, they wanted to chat about the results for the finals last semester, and secondly, they wanted to prepare them for the minor gaokao at the start of March.

The meeting will be more formal than the previous others, the school was deathly afraid that some people wouldn’t bring it up to their parents, so they went straight to sending everyone a message via the contact list.
Funnily enough, this period of time was probably the longest Sheng Mingyang had ever stayed at home. He received the notice from Big Mouth Xu, and immediately agreed to go without any doubt.
He initially wanted to go by himself, wanting to let Jiang Ou stay home and rest, and get Auntie Sun to take care of her. After much pondering however, he also figured that having the chance to go out and take her mind off things, having a change in environment, would help Jiang Ou escape the things that haunted her, to stop burrowing deeper into it.

Sheng Wang wanted to make use of the opportunity of school reopening to breathe, but ended up back at square one because of this parent. As such, he was down and spiritless on his way to school.

Sheng Mingyang was the one driving. He eyed his son from the rearview mirror quite a few times, and finally asked, laughingly, “What is it, you still can’t bear for holidays to end even when you’re this big now?”
The moment he heard this, Sheng Wang felt that this line coming from Sheng Mingyang of all people was way too absurd. He honestly couldn’t resist anymore, and a corner of his lips jerked; a casual act of self-mockery. Jiang Tian’s hand dangled on the seat, and in a spot where Sheng Mingyang and Jiang Ou couldn’t see them, he picked at his little finger gently.

The irritation in Sheng Wang’s heart dwindled by a little. His eyes were outside, but his finger hooked onto Jiang Tian tightly. When Sheng Mingyang looked at him once more, he half-heartedly grunted a reply, saying, “‘M a little sleepy from getting up too early, Imma nap a bit.”
He grabbed a cushion off-handedly, placed it against the window, and shut his eyes.

There are 24 hours in a day and 365 days in a year. Setting aside school and sleep, the remaining time was small change. After putting it that way, they weren’t too far from graduating either.
He flipped through many books and did many questions over the break. Sometimes, he’d have the illusion that as long as they tried with all their might to keep running — faster than anyone else — the days would shorten a little more.

Sheng Mingyang had a lot of friends. Before he even entered Fuzhong, his phone — his WeChat, buzzed non-stop. It was as though he wasn’t there for a parent-teacher meeting, but for a gathering.
He had been troubled by Jiang Ou’s issues for the entire winter break, and it was only at this time then he realised that it had been a long while since he paid any attention to his son’s academics. He absorbed information vigorously like a student studying for a test at the last minute, he took in anything and everything.

There wasn’t much, actually. Most of it was about his grades and performance in school, and they were basically all praises. Yet, Sheng Wang felt like he and Jiang Tian were like organisms cultivated in a transparent petri dish, allowing people to verbally report their daily observations and their growths. The first sentence may be a praise, the next would forever remain an unknown. And all they could do was to listen.

“Did you catch that? Xiao-Tian is so amazing, other than the time he was a little affected by sending the old mister to the hospital, he’s first in the level every exam. He performed especially well for finals,” Sheng Mingyang hung up, and generously heaped praises upon Jiang Tian. Jiang Ou also sported a gentle and pretty smile.
Adults expressed even their prejudice in a “polite, respectful” form. At this moment, it was as though they had already forgotten how they watched Jiang Tian, intentionally or not — like the animosity caused by Ji Huanyu never existed in the first place.

“Wang-zai did quite well too,” Sheng Mingyang smiled as he said, “Second place. To be honest, the fact that you can catch up to this extent, dad is really happy about it. I can tell you really put in a lot of effort.”
Sheng Wang replied with a “Mn”.

For some reason, this “second place” that came from those phone calls always felt so surreal. He didn’t feel quite real; he wasn’t happy, nor did he feel like a burden had been lifted off his back.

Sheng Mingyang and Jiang Ou were barely in school before they were guided towards the hall by the teacher, that was where the level’s parent-teacher meeting was held. Big Mouth Xu was as pleased as punch, and he even brought them to see the Wall of Honour.
Sheng Wang only tapped Jiang Tian after he watched them go in the distance. The two went up Mingli Block, a few steps at a time, and then their blood, frozen solid for a while now, started flowing again at last.

Sheng Wang took huge strides up the second floor. He turned around, hands in his pockets, and was smiling as he walked backwards, his eyes on Jiang Tian. He said, “Heard that? Second place. What did I say last time? I’ll definitely touch the tiger’s butt in a semester.”
Jiang Tian let out a “Mn”, and his pace matched with his, neither too fast nor too slow. When he grunted that reply, it was still filled with the habitual gloominess from the holiday. After a few seconds, he melted at last, and cracked a joke. “Was it nice to touch?”

Sheng Wang was about to open his mouth, but He Jin hurried down with a few papers in hand. She let out a sigh of relief when she saw Jiang Tian. “Why are you so late? Here, come with me to the hall.”
“Why?”
“You’re first in the level, so you’re the student rep. You need to say a couple of things for the parent-teacher meeting later,” He Jin shook the paper in her hand, “Just a small bit, you only need to read them out loud.”
Sheng Wang stood by the side for a while, and tapped Jiang Tian’s shoulder. “I’m heading up first, we’ll talk about it later.”

We’ll talk about it later, this line filled up their entire break.
The instances of them getting interrupted and then having to find another time to continue happened too often, they were already way too used to saying it. Only, most of the interruptions precisely occurred at the interesting moments — after that time, there was no longer any meaning in continuing.

When Sheng Wang headed upstairs, He Jin called out to him too, reminding, “You performed well for finals this time, do bring your belongings back upstairs during self-study. I’ve informed the class monitor and the rest to squeeze out a seat for you.

“Huh?” Sheng Wang gaped.
He Jin laughed. “What, a winter break was enough to break your mind, and slow down your reaction speed? You’re the second place, you’re coming back to Class A!”

Sheng Wang barely entered Class B before Carp and Gao Tianyang headed down too, waving at him while leaning forward against the backdoor. Sheng Wang informed the deskmates in front and behind him, grabbed his bag and left.
Gao Tianyang had once again managed to struggle his way into staying in Class A, along with how happy he was feeling for Sheng Wang, he seemed overly excited, nearly dancing for joy. “I don’t think you had the time to poke around after arriving this late, right? I’ve managed to eavesdrop for you in the office — Sheng-ge, you’re only five marks away from Tina-ge this time. Old Wu said two minor mistakes of yours were quite a pity. I think there is a threat to Tian-ge’s reign now, we can anticipate you two’s fight for the throne for this semester.”

Carp said, “He Jin got us to spare a seat for you, the empty seat we squeezed out were too in front. Since you’re tall and have no problems with your vision, sitting in front will just block the people behind you. So we’re still giving you your old seat, in front of Jiang Tian’s desk.”

It was only at this time that it had truly sunken in for Sheng Wang that he was back in Class A already. The dumbass decision to change classes back then finally had a full-stop to it.
After taking so many twists and turns, he’s going to sit in front of Jiang Tian once more. The days ahead suddenly became clear — listening to the lessons, doing questions, participating in competitions. Maybe he could fight for a few first places, maybe he could win a few awards with Jiang Tian next to him, turning the Wall of Honour into a matching puzzle game, seeing who has more pictures of them on the wall.

Once he thought about that, it seemed to be pretty good too.

This was probably the only thing worth being happy about as of late. Sheng Wang followed them upstairs, and asked offhandedly, “Then how many have the misfortune to get exiled this time?”
“Oh, just one,” The mirth on Gao Tianyang’s face was gone; it was unclear if he felt pity or something else.
“One? Who?”
“Who else? Qi Jiahao, duh.”
Sheng Wang was shocked, and halted in his steps.

“His grades had been steadily dropping last semester, it was a matter of time.” Gao Tianyang snuck a glance upstairs, and lowered his voice. “You were late today, if you were earlier you might have seen it. Qi Jiahao’s mom came over, what the hell……seriously, he was quite the sorry thing, even I—”

He abruptly stopped in the middle of his sentence, as Qi Jiahao was coming downstairs with his bag. He had a cut by his mouth, his hair was extremely messy. There was a tissue stuffed in his nose, blotched with a patch of red. He seemed both humiliated and comical.
Sheng Wang was going back to Class A, and he was pushed out. One was heading upstairs, the other was heading downstairs. This intersection was embarrassing and taunting — fated, even.

His most humiliating, ugly state was directly chanced upon by the person he disliked the most, and he couldn’t even run away. The instant Qi Jiahao looked at Sheng Wang, his gaze was filled with resentment, yet he stubbornly kept his head up, with a few traces of disdain.
He intentionally did not stay out of his way when he turned around the corner, he heavily knocked against Sheng Wang’s shoulder. “Why don’t you continue, huh? Weren’t you so excited talking about it? Fuck!”
“What’s wrong with you?” Gao Tianyang was a little sheepish, but as he ended up stumbling along with that knock, anger rose up within him too, especially considering that Sheng Wang — the person he bumped into — didn’t say anything at all. He knew Qi Jiahao was merely picking a fight.

Qi Jiahao suddenly stood still, and turned around, a dark look on his face. “Yeah, there is something wrong with me. Isn’t that what you guys always thought? You think I’m an idiot, treating me like I don’t exist. Happy now that I’m chased out at last?”
He then turned, staring at Sheng Wang. “You managed to force me out, does it feel good?”

There was something indescribable in that gaze, like he was carrying a bucket of petrol as he watched a fire burn. Seconds ago he was humiliated, but the next he gave off the feeling of haughtiness. This baffled Sheng Wang, and it made him rather uncomfortable too. He suddenly recalled Little Chili’s reminder a long while ago, saying that Qi Jiahao wanted to check the security cameras after he lost his bag, but in the end nothing was really settled.
Sheng Wang initially wanted to reply “Were you the second place before? Did I steal your place or what?”, but when he thought about that incident, he swallowed his words back with a frown instead. He tugged at Gao Tianyang, saying, “Old Gao, let’s go.”

“What do you mean go? Why are you chickening out? Aren’t you the arrogant type?” Qi Jiahao rubbed at the blood by his nose, relentless. He had been holding everything back in a corner of Class A’s classroom; he was invisibly ostracised and alienated. Initially, he thought that that was on him, but time passed — resentment, indignation, and the feeling that he was being wronged gradually took over instead. And then he was squeezed out of Class A; the instance he was showered by hits and blows from his mother, those feelings instantly escalated into a twisted anger.

“What are you guys doing? Don’t argue anymore, the parents are all here today,” Carp was a little lost, and attempted to get them to back down a little, to bring it inside.
Gao Tianyang rolled his eyes, adding on, “Yeah, it’s the parent-teacher meeting. Is it not shameful to act up here?”
“SHAMEFUL?! SO MANY OF YOU GUYS WERE STANDING THERE WHEN MY MOM HIT ME, WHAT USE DO I HAVE FOR SHAME? MY ASS IS ALREADY OUT OF CLASS A, WHO CARES ABOUT SHAME?” Qi Jiahao roared.
Sheng Wang honestly couldn’t hold it in anymore. “Then you can tell that to your mom.”

“My mom can’t be reasoned with, but y’all are disgusting.”
Sheng Wang nearly developed a reflex to the word “disgusting” over the break. Because of this word, they spent their entire break stuck under suffocating, watchful eyes. To the point that he felt extremely irritated upon hearing this word.

Regardless, Qi Jiahao was still going on. “You all think that I’m garbage, that I’m a goddamn idiot. But the ones who called me Old Qi here Old Qi there were you guys too. So what were all of you?”
Gao Tianyang, “We’re blind, alright?”
“Yeah, quite blind indeed,” Qi Jiahao nodded, and glanced at Sheng Wang. He said, emphasising every word, “Worshipping two homosexuals like something precious.”

Sheng Wang’s brain exploded into static, the corner of the stairs fell into a dead quiet.
The hubbub upstairs and downstairs were ceaseless, but it felt like they were blocked out by layers upon layers of thick, thick frosted glass. They might as well be an entirely different world, unclear and muted. He couldn’t hear a single thing.
There was only one thought on his mind: As I expected……
The blade hovering on top of their heads occasionally reared its head. It had never truly disappeared all along, as he expected — it was merely waiting for the time when it would crash onto the ground with a bang. It was probably made of ice, otherwise he couldn’t explain the way the shards sent chills all over his body as it landed on his head.

“What kind of bullshit are you spouting?!” Gao Tianyang was the first to react, snapping out from that bombshell. He acted like he heard some ludicrous joke, and fumed with rage too.
Qi Jiahao tugged at his bag, saying, “What, you didn’t know? Your two closest friends are commiting brotherly in—”
Before he could say “cest”, Sheng Wang had already swung his fist.

How Gao Tianyang exploded into curses and swearing, how Carp was trying to talk everyone down from a fight, how Big Mouth Xu managed to leave the hall and rush over, Sheng Wang could not recall a single bit.
He didn’t know why Qi Jiahao didn’t choose to expose them at the start, and why he wasn’t able to stop himself later on. He only knew the moment the other person spoke, the delicate balance he maintained with Jiang Tian with much difficulty was devastatingly shattered.
The tightrope snapped; their feet were met with thin air, and they plunged into the abyss.

By the time he finally landed, and abruptly came back to himself, he was already standing in the administration office. Sheng Mingyang was nearby, listening to Qi Jiahao refute with all his might.
Big Mouth Xu believed in keeping everything on the downlow; if he could get less people involved, he would. Other than Sheng Mingyang who was always at the forefront of news, there was nobody else. Everything else in the hall went on as per normal, the student rep had just finished his speech. The applause from the parents was thunderous beneath the stage. In comparison, this office was as cold as an icehouse despite not having air conditioning switched on.

Qi Jiahao insisted that he wasn’t lying, he saw them. He saw them on the day of the cultural festival, just that he did not want to say anything at that time.
Sheng Mingyang said, “I know my own son, I trust that he wouldn’t do something like this. Wouldn’t the school have security cameras in these places? All we need to do is to check to find out if the truth was being told. It’s plenty normal for teenage students to quarrel here and there, and say anything once they are cornered. I understand all of these. However, we cannot stop slanders and rumours — once it spreads, it is damaging. Old Xu, please help me check.”
Perhaps he genuinely didn’t believe him, or he was just finding evidence to support himself. Every single word from him was serene, but they seemed to be pressing down on Sheng Wang’s shoulders, stabbing his torso blade by blade.
……
That wasn’t quite right, actually.
Sheng Wang thought, he was also the one pressing Sheng Mingyang down, stabbing him blade by blade.

He opened his mouth when Big Mouth Xu stood up, his voice hoarse. He said, “Don’t bother checking.”

Before the break ended, Sheng Wang would always think: what would become of Jiang Tian and him in time? However, he forgot — there were too many hidden risks for them, they might not even have a chance at “time”.

TO BE CONTINUED.