A Certain Someone ( The On1y One ) Chapter 015 – Tattletale

He’s Right Here. He’s Drinking Right Next to Me.

The moment Sheng Wang spotted Gao Tianyang opening his mouth, he hooked his arm around his neck, covered his mouth and dragged him out of the class. “Don’t shout, the moment you make a sound you’re dead.”
Gao Tianyang nodded after he took roughly a century to digest what he saw.

“I’m letting go then,” Sheng Wang looked up and shot a smile at the people inside the classroom after he spoke in a low voice. The rest had no clue what was going on, and only thought that they were playing around.
Gao Tianyang nodded again.
Sheng Wang finally released him and stood up straight.

Gao Tianyang looked like he was in need of oxygen after receiving such a huge scare and being suffocated for a good while. He weakly leaned against the corridor railings, and fanned himself with his collar. A moment later, he finally squeezed out, “What’s even going on between the two of you?”

Sheng Wang did not exactly treat his own family situation as a taboo topic, if someone asked he would just say that he belonged to a single-parent family. However, this did not mean that he was willing to talk about everything to other people. He was also unsure if Jiang Tian was willing or not.
People at this age were usually both proud and sensitive. Sheng Wang prided himself as half the classic example of one. As for Jiang Tian, he felt like this person was double that.

Therefore, he pondered before saying to Gao Tianyang, “It’s a little too complicated for explanations, just think of this as the two of us splitting rent. Go ask Jiang Tian for the specific details.”

Since he was a childhood friend, Gao Tianyang should more or less already know about Jiang Tian’s family situation. He would not end up touching all of his sore points.

Gao Tianyang said ‘oh’, sounding like he only half understood what he said, and did not carefully think about the meaning of ‘splitting rent’. He only followed up with, “Why did you still say that you’re not close to Tian-ge then?”
He recalled even further, and felt like he was lied to even more, “My god, so the two of you share a house at night, and pretend to not know each other in the day? For what? Underground celebrity romance?”

“Bullshit,” Sheng Wang said, “he stays in his room, I stay in my room. Will you be close to your neighbours?”
“I will,” Gao Tianyang said, “I live opposite my grandparents.”
“…….”
Sheng Wang wanted to toss the annoying pest downstairs.

“The two of you even have each other’s WeChat,” Gao Tianyang felt even more woeful as he spoke, “I knew Tian-ge for more than a decade, I only got his WeChat a few years ago, and yet it only took the two of you a couple of days.”
Sheng Wang replied with an ‘Oh’.

Two seconds later, the young master suddenly realised that something was wrong and slapped Gao Tianyang’s back. “How many years has it been since WeChat came out?!”
Gao Tianyang doubled over with laughter against the railing. He rubbed the area where he was slapped, “Aiyo, no way, I’m going to Tian-ge and tell him. Why are you so easily tricked.”
As this person spoke he really dug out his phone. Sheng Wang rolled his eyes, lifted his foot, and walked.

The people inside the classroom came out chattering, the group of people joked and shoved each other around as they walked towards the staircase, exactly meeting up with the two who just came out of the toilet.
Qi Jiahao just washed his hands. The moment he saw Sheng Wang, he momentarily froze in the midst of shaking water droplets off his hands.

That instance of awkwardness was actually quite obvious, but the lighting in the corridor was too dim and everyone was jokingly and playfully shoving each other around. Nobody really noticed.
The next second, he already reverted back to a normal expression, and flicked a bunch of water in Gao Tianyang’s face. “Not bad, you managed to scam in a God of Studying!”

In actuality, only English was outstanding above the rest for Sheng Wang, he did not even pass a single one of the three sciences. To call him a God of Studying was an over-exaggeration. Young master Sheng Wang was very self aware, he would receive all sorts of normal praises without any questions, but for overly grandiose flatter like this, he could not digest it very well.

The praise caused goosebumps to break out all over him. He subtly shook it off before he heard Qi Jiahao talk to Gao Tianyang again, “You only abducted this one? Who else did you call, where’s my Tian-ge?”

The goosebumps Sheng Wang just shook off sprouted out like spring bamboo shoots after rain once more.
He even said ‘my Tian-ge’. Not even Gao Tianyang says it all the time. He silently mocked in his head, that this student Qi Jiahao was a little slimy when it came to his words.

Gao Tianyang said, “Don’t say your Tian-ge, your Tian-ge will never join degenerate activities like this.”
“He’s really not coming? Can you try asking again later?” Qi Jiahao said.
“We’ll see,” Gao Tianyang said.

Sheng Wang felt that his observation skills were very strong. He already sorted out the relationship amongst these people with two to three lines alone — like how Gao Tianyang was truly on good terms with Jiang Tian, Qi Jiahao seemed like he was trying to worm his way into being friends with Jiang Tian.

With the departure of a few school buses, more than half of the teaching zone was instantly empty, yet there were still a few lecture theatres brightly lit up.
Sheng Wang followed them to the north gate, and occasionally glimpsed behind. He asked, “Isn’t night self study until eight o’clock, why are there still people having class, year threes?”

“Mainly year threes, and also some year twos and ones, but not as many,” Song Sirui stuck out his finger and pointed in a circle, “the three lecture theatres there are for year threes, the one here is for year twos, and the smallest one here is for year ones. These are all boarding students, they have an additional period of night self study compared to us.”
“Now it’s supplementary period. We end classes at eight, they end at nine. When school officially reopens, we end at nine thirty, they end at ten thirty.”

Fuzhong was in the urban area and for the present they did not engage in secluded style schooling, they have way fewer boarding students as compared to other schools. The school bus was convenient for traveling to school anyway.

“Treasure it now, it’s the last year. Wait till we’re year three, the teachers will have lengthy heart to heart chats, one by one, to suggest to live in the school. By then, the majority will choose to stay in the dorms, and some over there.”
Gao Tianyang pointed at the residential zone outside the school with his chin. “There, that place is nearly an external school dorm, everyone there are all accompanying parents and those who need tuition.”

“Why is night self study held inside the lecture theatres then?” Sheng Wang asked.
“Well, that’s because there’s no exact numbers for the number of on-campus students per class, some will have more and some will have less. Look at our class, we don’t have any at all. Class B downstairs only has four in total, how shall night self study go on. So the student affairs office made this rule that all boarding students will go to the lecture theatre for night self study, those in the same year will share a lecture theatre. Teachers from all subjects will be on duty to answer your questions.”

Sheng Wang nodded pensively.
Gao Tianyang said, “No wait, Sheng-ge, why does it feel like I’m seeing temptation on your face? Don’t tell me you seriously want to stay on campus?”

No seriously, he really did kinda want to.
He boarded for both middle school year three and high school year one. He thought that Sheng Mingyang would stay at home for a bit more when he went back to his old ancestral home, that’s why he chose to be a day student. However, the other person went for business trips more frequently than before, leaving him, Jiang Ou, and Jiang Tian awkwardly facing each other at home.
If he boarded, then all the awkwardness and conflict and struggles would no longer exist, everything would be much easier.

“If I want to stay on campus, when do I apply?” Sheng Wang asked.
“Before school officially starts. There should be an announcement. You just need to ask Little Carp here.” Gao Tianyang pointed at the girl in a ponytail right next to him, “she’s the class monitor, she’s usually the first to know when it came to announcements like this.”

The class monitor’s name was Li Yu, her name was like a boy’s. In reality however like her nickname, she was a cute and lovely girl. Though her results may not surpass the bunch of screwed up people like Jiang Tian, she won at being obedient and earnest, and would not piss the teachers off.
God knows how difficult it was to find an actually obedient student in Class A, therefore she became the class monitor.

“Sure, I’ll let you know when I receive the notice.” Li Yu could not help but say, “We are all quite unwilling to board, there’s no way it’s as convenient as living at home. You really want to stay here?”
Sheng Wang gave a half hearted reason. “It’s lively, that’s why. It’s so awfully boring to fret over the papers alone. If there’s a hundred plus more people around me who are in even greater distress, wouldn’t it be a little better?”

Gao Tianyang sucked in his breath. “This seems kinda legit.”

The other people bellowed with laughter, saying that he could easily brainwash easily swayed people. Qi Jiahao alone was the one who said, “It may not necessarily be lively, our class has a special privilege.”
Sheng Wang looked at him. “What privilege?”
“Big Mouth Xu said so. Class A don’t need to go to the lecture theatre, we can do night self study in our own classroom,” Qi Jiahao said, “they probably trust our self control more.”
His tone was very neutral, sounding like he was mentioning it by the hand, and yet the trace of sense of superiority could not be hidden.

Li Yu was a guileless girl. She said with a face full of worry, “Do our class really have self-control? Think about your phones and PSP hidden inside your desks. It’s only because Dean Xu doesn’t conduct checks that often, otherwise we would all be caught red-handed.”
Everyone, including Sheng Wang, silently stuffed their phones deeper into their pockets.
Qi Jiahao went on again, “The infrequent spot checks are because we are Class A.”

The BBQ shop Gao Tianyang mentioned was quite nearby, it was situated right in the residential zone at the north gate. The boss bought two apartments from the block facing the street, removed some walls and made a dining room. He also placed open air tables and chairs right in front of the door. It was pretty lively.

“You’re all Xiao-Qi’s classmates, right?” The boss was a young man, his facial features were all proper, and if he tidied up a bit he could be considered a handsome guy. But as he was wearing a white work singlet, beige coloured bermudas, a pair of slippers, cigarettes in his mouth and ‘sloppy’ written all over him, the word handsome instantly disappeared by half.

He squinted amidst the smoke, and gave a generous wave. “Those who came to show support are my friends, if Xiao-Qi calls me Ge, then the rest of you are my Didis.”

The three girls’ faces twitched a little.
He then added, “And Meimeis, mainly because I’ll look like a hooligan if I call you Meimei the moment we just met, I should probably just call y’all gals.”

“There—I left the best spots for y’all. Today, the alcohol is all on me, feel free to drink what you like. There’s a QR code on the menu on the table, you just need a scan.” The boss nodded up invitingly. He probably wanted to act a little more gentlemanly, but the singlet and the pants dragged his score down. “Who’s that, Xiao-Hei, serve this gang of little siblings of mine some cold dishes and drinks first.”

While he spoke, he held his cigarette in his mouth and puffed, like a human incense burner. Sheng Wang was already unwell, with the fumes from this incense burner, he squinted and coughed for quite a while.

“Ay, I apologise,” the boss took out his cigarette, “I’m so busy with opening my business that I haven’t slept in two days. I was relying on it to stay awake. I didn’t mean to suffocate you on purpose.”

As he spoke, he sized Sheng Wang up and down and all over for a few moments, muttering, “Did I see you from somewhere else before or something, you look quite familiar.”

“Ah?” Sheng Wang took a serious look at him, and said sincerely, “Sorry, I have facial blindness.”
The boss laughed, and waved it off. “Nah, I was just saying. You should go order food. I have a lot of people here, I’m afraid that I can’t take care of you guys as well. Xiao-Qi, look after for a bit.”

Qi Jiahao raised his hand, “Oh yeah, no problem Ge!”
He turned around and beckoned his classmates, “Let’s go let’s go, let’s go sit down. Let me just tell you guys that this Gege of mine is super awesome. His name is Zhao Xi. Have y’all heard of Zhao Xi?”

The gang shook their heads.

“Tsk, don’t you guys ever look at the wall of honour in the administrative block? The one that features them by batches,” Qi Jiahao said, “he’s right inside. He was in the class of 2006, and won many prizes. He was also the top of the city for gaokao.”

Everyone was baffled, the way he bragged they would have thought he was the one who was the top scorer or something.
“Just this? Top scorer?” It was not that Gao Tianyang looked down on him, rather it was more like he did not expect that at all.

“Ay, don’t just look at this,” Qi Jiahao said, “he was overseas previously and only just came back recently. He probably is already a foot in for a job, either ways he’s definitely super badass. I think he’s on a break for now or something, when he came back he ended up helping a friend to set this BBQ shop up, it’s all for fun.”

“Oh, so he isn’t the real boss then?” Gao Tianyang said.
They sat down at the table. There was an AC pipe and an electric fan already set up at the side. Even though the seats were open air, it was neither hot nor did it attract mosquitos. They could even enjoy the lively atmosphere at night, it was indeed a very good spot.

Qi Jiahao was not truly so close to Zhao Xi to the point that he knew more details. Everyone else did not ask more questions, and could only exclaim how kickass Zhao Xi was.
At this age, jealousy and adoration came all too easily. The former was for good grades, the latter for overly good grades.

Soon enough, a waiter called Xiao-Hei brought peanuts, edamame, and a plate of Bo Bo chicken. He even served ice beer for everyone and said, “Xi-ge’s treat.”

Qi Jiahao acted like a host, and distributed the beer to everyone. Sheng Wang let out an ‘Ay’, and said, “I won’t be drinking this, is there any water?”
“God of Studying, how could you be like this? The three girls didn’t ask for water either, and yet you’re asking for it first? That can’t be good.” Qi Jiahao would not stop going on about God of Studying, Sheng Wang could not feel comfortable with it at all.
But he could not handle even more was “incapable”.

Gao Tianyang was always straightforward, he retorted right back. “He’s unwell, that’s all. Don’t get him into trouble.”
As he said he attempted to remove the mug in front of Sheng Wang, but was stopped by Sheng Wang’s paw.

“Don’t move it, I’m not switching anymore,” Sheng Wang said.
It was still that saying, men’s dignity is bigger than the sky, the young master was capable of everything ever. He silently estimated the volume of the beer, and reckoned that he could probably down two mugs.

Qi Jiahao huddled with some other people as they ordered food. Sheng Wang had nothing to do, and so he held the mug’s handle and waited for the food.
Yet, the fake boss called Zhao Xi returned with three cans of coconut juice, and said to Li Yu and the girls, “There, I brought some drinks.”
Li Yu bashfully received the drinks, and shared it with the two other girls.

In the midst of conversation, Qi Jiahao urged Gao Tianyang again, “We’ll order a wave of dishes first. Do you want to ask Tian-ge again? Just to check if he wants to come.”
Gao Tianyang mumbled something, and dug out his phone to look for Jiang Tian’s WeChat.

Sheng Wang held the mug in his hands. His gaze drifted over to him for a moment before retracting it again, only to see the three girls opposite all staring at Gao Tianyang’s hand, the two of them with especially obvious blushes.
Sheng Wang: “ ……”

He’s quite popular, isn’t he.
He tsked internally.
Gao Tianyang held the phone up to his mouth, “Tian-ge, are you busy tonight? We’re munching on skewers at the north gate, are you coming?”
The next second, his phone rang with a new message.

Sheng Wang shot a glance, and saw four words: I’m busy, not going.
Gao Tianyang displayed his phone for one entire round. “See this yet?”

The three girls were visibly a little disappointed.
“Why is Jiang Tian always so cold,” one of the girls could not help but to say.

The fake boss Zhao Xi was about to leave when he heard that and stopped in his steps, he sucked in air through his mouth before he said, “Oh, you guys are classmates with Jiang Tian?”
Gao Tianyang was surprised. “You know him?”

“I do, we are quite tight.” Zhao Xi spoke, and suddenly shifted his gaze to Sheng Wang. He pointed at Sheng Wang, and said, “Oh—I remember now.”
Sheng Wang said, “ah?”
“You’re the dash and diner boy that Jiang Tian had to rescue last time, right?” Zhao Xi said.

After he said that, the atmosphere across the entire table turned stiff, maybe out of either shock or surprise.
Sheng Wang was even stiffer, why did he have to expose him like this, did his pride not matter any more??

Zhao Xi got a hearty laugh for a good while upon seeing his expression, and said, “When I went to the shop I already saw the two of you walking towards the teaching block, my dad runs the shop.”

As Zhao Xi went on, he immediately started calling someone.
Sheng Wang did not immediately realise what he was doing, but not even two seconds later he understood—

He saw Zhao Xi speak to the person on the other side of the phone, saying, “Jiang Tian, your friend is already here, you’re seriously not coming?”
“Which friend? The one that you brought to my dad’s shop for lunch.”
“Yeah, he’s right here. He’s drinking right next to me.”

Sheng Wang looked at the mug in front of him, and silently let go.
He was somewhat incredulous., Zhao Xi was already so old, he really blindly tattled on people for fun?

TO BE CONTINUED.