A Certain Someone ( The On1y One ) Chapter 112 – The Height of Youth

In This Human World, the Blazing Sun Is Just Right. The Wind Soars Past the Tips of the Tree Branches; at This Moment, They Are at the Height of Their Youth.

Young master Sheng was good at arranging subtle surprises like this, and gatherings, and breakfast — this person was busy chatting on WeChat, and his already terrible culinary skills were straight up further discounted. He was up to his neck in trying to manage to cook. He had no idea how to deal with the wok that was sizzling all over, and stood 800m away from the stove. He gestured with the spatula from far, all because he was tall and had long arms.
The glass door was locked, and the kitchen was enveloped in smoke and flames. He squinted for several while before he realised that he forgot to turn on the kitchen hood. By the time he turned on the kitchen hood and briefly relaxed, the rice grains and egg were starting to stick to the bottom.
In any case……the effect was rather ‘surprising’.

Jiang Tian curbed his worry and curiosity, and waited for nearly 20 minutes in the living room. Just as he placed his phone down and was prepared to go inside the kitchen and check up on him, a certain person had come out with a plate, bringing with him the smell of smoke and fire.
It wasn’t a description, he genuinely smelled like smoke and fire. Jiang Tian choked on the smell and coughed.

He grabbed the mineral water bottle with the remaining bit of water left from just now and took a drink. He glanced at the content of the plate without a single word, and his expression instantly became a little numb.
What on earth is this pile of charred black stuff?
Dr. Jiang was this close to saying that out loud, but the moment he recalled that the chef was his Wang-zai, he silently choked back his cutting words. He cleared his throat, “And this is—”
Sheng Wang placed the plate on the coffee table, forcibly stayed unashamed, wincing a little guiltily, “Soy sauce fried rice.”
Jiang Tian: “……”

Sheng Wang wanted to ask, why are you so silent, but he already knew why even without asking. The two somehow managed to recreate the atmosphere of mourning all over a plate of rice, and after standing-off for several seconds, the young master laughed first.
Dr. Jiang instantly couldn’t keep it up anymore. As Sheng Wang collapsed onto the sofa with laughter, he pointed at the plate, and said calmly, “I thought you didn’t want to do this anymore, and made this with engine oil for me.”
“Screw off, I was totally serious.” The young master sat up straight and began quibbling, “I just didn’t keep a good control over the portion, that’s all, and the colour of the soy sauce Auntie Sun bought back this time is a little dark.”
“Here, say it again.” Jiang Tian took his phone out, and opened the voice recorder app. “I’ll play it for Auntie Sun next time.”

Sheng Wang said, petulant, “I suspect you’re trying to pick a fight.”
“If I don’t pick one, I will have to eat this.”
“So what if you took a bite? It just looks a little more tragic, but what if?” The young master dug out a spoonful himself first. It barely entered his mouth before he silently took the spoon out again, his expression speaking of extreme distress.
Jiang Tian suppressed his laughter as he asked, “What do you feel?”
Sheng Wang: “Bleh……it’s way too much.”
At this point, a certain person had given up on struggling, and obediently took his phone out to order two sets of porridges.

Ever since the young master had messed a meal up, he had become rather obedient, with guilt in his heart. After all, he wanted these two days to be a little more perfect for Jiang Tian, and so he decided to quit all the tormenting, and become a boyfriend who’s at his every beck and call.
Previously, Sheng Mingyang was home, and so they were more or less a little reserved. Besides, they were all adults already, customary acts for Chinese New Year and all have to be carried out properly, and so they did not have the chance to go out on their own.
Now that he’s thinking about it, they had once both lived in this city for many years, but they never had the chance to openly go out on a date, to travel and have fun. The teenage years were stuck to those few locations, and all the places they went to belonged to the same patch of sky above Fuzhong. They were supposed to be ‘unstoppable’, but never did they ever truly go ‘unbridled’ before.
Now that there’s suddenly plenty of time, he kept wanting to slowly fill up the holes left by those regrets.

Sheng Wang said, how about we go out for a bit in the afternoon? Is there any place you want to go?
Jiang Tian took his phone out and went through a few pages. “There’s a lantern festival tonight, do you want to see it?”
Sheng Wang thought to himself, Ge, are you messing with me?

Every Chinese New Year, from the first day to the 15th, there would always be a lantern festival. It is indeed the biggest event of the year, but there are also truly a lot of people. They were basically there to wilfully suffer. However, just a few minutes ago, he swore to be a good and obedient boyfriend, and so — as he held down his pain — he nodded without any hesitation.
Yet, what he did not know was that Jiang Tian wasn’t interested in this either. He merely thought that he wanted to go out and have fun, so with the mindset of letting him be he forced himself to pick one.

So, the beginning of tonight began with such a misunderstanding. Neither of them held much expectations, and were even prepared for their feet to be stomped on until they turned swollen. And yet, as they were truly standing there, holding each other’s hand in the sea of people like it’s perfectly natural — laughing and chatting like the countless couples around them — leisurely making their way forward — they felt like they would not have it any other way
They passed by a rare patch of empty ground; Sheng Wang tugged at the person next to him, saying, “Ge, look at me.”
When Jiang Tian turned around, he lifted his phone and took a picture of them beneath the lights.
Next to them was the ceaseless stream of people, behind them were the lights that dimmed and glowed, strung up along the stretch of river. They were lit up from the ancient times to this day, lasting for eons.
He wanted to print out this picture, and slip it into that photo album too. The seasons on this earth changed again and again; they were still together.

In the holidays, the liveliness would always be slow to end, slightly resembling the nightless city filled with lights. By the time the two got home, it was already past eleven.
Sheng Wang took off his scarf and hung it on the clothing rack by the entrance hall. He switched on the air conditioner in loud succession.
“Did you have fun?” he asked.
Jiang Tian pointed at his shoes, which were stepped on countless times. “What do you think?”
Sheng Wang was nearly losing his mind from laughter. He nudged his Ge upstairs. “Don’t feel sorry for the shoes anymore, go shower already, Dr. Jiang. I’m too full from eating, so I’ll be taking a stroll in the living room for digestion.”
Jiang Tian watched his eyes — bright as the stars — and wanted to say something for a split second. In the end, he still headed upstairs. He did know the reason behind Sheng Wang busying himself for the whole day, but it had genuinely been a long while since he last celebrated his birthday. It was to the extent that as he watched the time inch closer to midnight, his nerves would subconsciously get tensed up, like he was still filled with trepidation that had stayed in his heart for several unending years.

Out of some unknown mindset, he stayed in the bathroom for a long time, and leaned against the basin, drying his already half-dried hair. He only snapped out of it when he heard the sound of the doorbell downstairs. He tossed the towel into the washing machine, and headed downstairs with the phone in his hand.

He thought that he would still be a little unused to all these. But as he sat down on the sofa and saw the transparent cake box with a familiar style, he then realised belatedly that repulse wasn’t what he felt on all those occasions — it was longing.
He longed for the person in front of him saying “happy birthday” to him to be Sheng Wang all too much — nobody else could do, it had to be him. He was like a childish brat who lost his things, and insisted on having that item returned to him in perfect conditions before he could make peace with himself.

“I still looked for the same cake shop to order from. The fondue isn’t cracked this time, I’ve checked,” Sheng Wang said.
The colour palette of this cake was much alike to the one a few years ago, but it wasn’t crowded with many tiny figures like last time. There were only him and Jiang Tian on top of it, as well as two cats. One was curled up, quietly sleeping away — that’s the “Leader” he once had — and the other one was still playing, “Leader’s” legacy.
Sheng Wang said, “I used to like dragging in a bunch of people whenever I wanted to do something, now I’m not doing that anymore.”
When he was young, he loved to use grandiose words, even his promises would involve a lot of people without realising at all. It was later when he finally understood: he couldn’t help other people make promises on their behalf. When would he be coming, when would he be leaving, how long would he be staying with him, he could — and he should — only say “I”.
I will spend every birthday with you from now onwards, I will always be by your side, I love you.

The second hand moved to 12 tick by tick, everything about the setting was the same as before. It was still this sofa, it was still these two particular people. Sheng Wang leaned in, and gave Jiang Tian a kiss. “Ge, you’re 19 now, I love you.”
He kissed him again. “You’re 20 now, I still love you.”
“And also the 21-years-old you.”
……
For every count of a year, he would kiss him. From 19 to 24, from his lips to his jaws to his Adam’s Apple. The last one was on his heart. He said, “Happy birthday, Jiang Tian.”

Jiang Tian pressed his forehead to his, and his brows lightly knitted. Maybe he was allaying the pangs of pain in his heart, coming in dense and quick pricks, or he was holding back the turbulent emotions he was currently feeling.
He caressed Sheng Wang’s face, tilted his head and pressed his lips to his. It was gentle and lingering, and then it was forceful. In the end, he was practically pressing down on him as they kissed till they ran out of air.
……
They nearly did it once on the sofa, and had to rely on that last bit of rationality left in them to enter the bathroom in Sheng Wang’s bedroom.
The mist on the glass door made it slippery. As Sheng Wang gripped the edges, he suddenly recalled something Jiang Tian once said a long, long time ago. He said that the soundproofing here wasn’t as good as he thought it was.
Who knew what he recalled, but soon enough, Jiang Tian watched a wave of flush crawl up his back and shoulders.

The atmosphere tonight was too good, the two were a little lost to the madness.
Sheng Wang barely changed into fresh clothes before it’s pushed up again by Jiang Tian. He sat on his knees, biting the edge of the shirt, and turned to look up uncontrollably. By the time he looked down once more, his gaze was already unfocused, but glinting from the light too.

When all was said and done, they didn’t sleep for too long either. Sheng Wang thought that the two of them would be arriving on the dot again for the rare gathering, but unexpectedly, he was already wide awake past seven in the morning.
The gathering would be held at 10 in the morning. When they were done getting ready and arrived at Fuzhong, it wasn’t even 9.30am yet.

The temperature of winter in this city wasn’t that low. If there was a sunny day, it would even give one the illusion that spring was about to arrive; it was just that the air going up their nostrils was still so goddamn icy.
The high school campus was much different from the university one. As long as school wasn’t in session, there would barely be anyone around. The quiet was a spacious kind, but it wouldn’t be desolate. It was like a dense forest covered in snow, teeming with life that was hidden away, ready to burst forth any time soon.
In order to blend in with the atmosphere unique to secondary schools, Sheng Wang did not wear a coat today, and especially wore an athletic jacket. He was both handsome and cool, causing the sparse few girls who passed by to lightly exclaim.

Year twos and threes would have lessons starting from day five of the New Year in Fuzhong. An extremely small portion of residence students had already come back to school in advance. Sheng Wang heard the sound of people at last when they passed by the basketball court, and coupled with the sound of the basketball landing on the floor, it added some dashes of colour to this winter day.

Those few boys were a little curious about the passing-by strangers too, and looked at them from the corner of their eyes. They ended up losing control of the ball, and with a slip of the hand, the ball hit the edge of the backboard, bouncing all the way out of court. It landed near Jiang Tian’s foot.
One of the boys whistled, and raised his hands high up in the air, the pose of someone ready to receive the ball.

This was an unspoken rule between schooling boys: the person on the court would raise his hands, the person out of the court would pick the ball up and toss it back, no need to even say anything at all.
He bent over to pick the basketball up. Just as he was about to throw it back, he heard someone snapping their fingers in the near distance. He turned around to look, and Sheng Wang smirked as he did the ball-receiving pose too.
Jiang Tian scoffed, and tossed the ball to his own people in a show of extreme biasness.

Just after the ball was passed over, he saw the the troops of Class A coming in groups within sight, arriving at 10 on the dot, walking along Road #3.
Gao Tianyang had spotted them from afar, yelling, “Tian-ge, Sheng-ge! You guys seriously reached here so early?!”
Two other people hollered along, “What is it? You want to play basketball?”
“Sure! It’s been so long, my hands are itching to play.”

Jiang Tian raised his hands at the group of classmates in the distance.
He turned around, and saw Sheng Wang rolling up his sleeve, dribbling the ball a couple of times, and then jumping before the hoop.
The basketball crossed between his legs, going from his left hand to his right, drawing out a smooth arch in mid-air. It spun one round in the hoop, high up above, and fell down through the direct centre with a whoosh.

For that one split second, it almost gave him the illusion that they were still in Fuzhong; they only had a long, drawn out holiday, that’s all.
Road #3 was still so lengthy that there was no end to it, the luxurious branches and the leaves atop of the parasol trees still flourished

In this human world, the blazing sun is just right. The wind soars past the tips of the tree branches; at this moment, they are at the height of their youth.

END.