A Certain Someone ( The On1y One ) Chapter 028 – Crash And Burn

Canned: You Got Old Man Ding To Take Care Of My Lunch?

Fuzhong students had very complicated feelings towards the monthly test. On one hand, the exam itself was more painful than death, but on the other, as long as they gritted their teeth and endured past it, they would get two days for a monthly break.
Ever since Sheng Wang added Gao Tianyang and Song Sirui, Sheng Wang’s WeChat main interface was filled with an additional bunch of group chats, with group chats like [Mingli Giant Melting Pot], the chat for Fuzhong year twos, [Most A on Earth](the chat with no teachers), Year 2 Class A One Big Family (hello teacher), as where as all sorts of three to six people tiny groups.

Once the monthly break started, the WeChat group with the teachers remained dead quiet at the bottom of the screen, the groups without teachers exploded otherwise. No matter when he checked it was always 999+ messages.
Sheng Wang put every chat on ‘Do Not Disturb’, but he could not prevent others from tagging him.

The chattiest one was the Melting Pot chat, there were all sorts of people from all classes, any topic of conversation could and would start and continue. As the social butterfly of Class A, Gao Tianyang was especially active in this chat. Song Sirui, Qi Jiahao and Little Chilli were determined to not be outdone either.

Sheng Wang almost thought that Gao Tianyang had announced the news about the hooligans to the people in the giant group chat, when he opened it up then he raised that they were discussing about the monthly break.

Two students with the prefix Class 9 in front of their names were complaining that the homework the teachers assigned for them was totally impossible to be completed within two days. The other classes also echoed the same sentiments one after another. Only Gao Tianyang came out to pull aggro, and said: “Old He and the rest decided to spare us this time, they didn’t assign anything at all,” causing the million people to collectively spit and curse.

Then Qi Jiahao popped up, saying: I’m envious.
Class 7 – Xue Qian: Aren’t you Class A too what are you even envious for?
Class A – Qi Jiahao: I don’t have 2 days of break, only 1.5
Class A – Gao Tianyang: The few of them have to participate in the English Olympiad on Tuesday afternoon
Class 9 – Chen Di: What the, the troubles of top students
Class A – Qi Jiahao: I was looking forward to the monthly break so much, half a day is gone just like this……

When Sheng Wang scrolled to here he couldn’t hold it in, he kinda wanted to laugh. Their class rep’s every line was filled with ‘please shower me in praises’, after he said that, the group chat was filled with a long awkward silence. The next time someone spoke, the message even indicated the time above.

Class 7 – Xue Qian: @Boom, who else is participating?
Class A – Gao Tianyang: @Canned @. @Rainbow Koi, four from our class. Other than Old Qi there are also Sheng-ge, Tian-ge, and our class monitor Little Carp.
Class A – Qi Jiahao: Jing-jie let me see the participants list the other day, there’s also Class B’s He Shu and Class 9’s Ma Shi.
Class 7 – Xue Qian: Both Sheng Wang and Jiang Tian are going?
Class A – Qi Jiahao: [Sweats]

Class 7 – Xue Qian: Suddenly regretting not studying hard for English.
Class 7 – Gong Xin Yue: Suddenly regretting not studying hard for English.
Class 8 – Li Jue: Suddenly regretting not studying hard for English.

The entire chat was filled with more than a hundred of this like they were spamming.
Gao Tianyang couldn’t stand it anymore. He popped up to copy paste the same message, and then tagged Sheng Wang and Jiang Tian once more, stating “If I studied hard for English, maybe I would have gotten this many girls to line up for me too.”
With him starting, he caused the guys to start spamming yet again, and so Sheng Wang was tagged many times over.

At this moment he was curled up in Jiang Tian’s room and going through Jing-jie’s Olympiad papers, their phones both vibrated at the same time.
After he got a rough look through the chat records, he shook the hand that was numb from all the vibration and said, “Where did your Fuzhong find this many repeaters from?”
“Don’t know.” Jiang Tian swept a look at the screen, he planned to ignore those people.

Sheng Wang did not plan to reply either, but Qi Jiahao suddenly tagged him, Jiang Tian and the class monitor Li Yu and asked: Oh yeah, how are you guys getting there the day after tomorrow?
The English Olympiad is held in different locations every year, last year it was Fuzhong by chance, this year it isn’t here anymore. Instead, it would be held at Erzhong, that school was miles and miles away from the city area, with its back facing a pond full of reeds, and was well known for being desolate.

This time, class monitor Li Yu finally spoke.
Class A – Li Yu: I’m ok with anything, let’s go together?
After speaking she also tagged Sheng Wang and Jiang Tian.

Li Yu was quite nice, Sheng Wang didn’t have the heart to leave her with an awkward silence. Therefore, he quit playing dead and nudged Jiang Tian. “The class monitor’s asking how we are getting to Erzhong the day after.”
“I have something on with Beyond Parasol Trees in the morning, after I eat I’ll take the train directly from there.” Jiang Tian replied.

Sheng Wang initially wanted to get Uncle Xiao-Chen to send them both, after hearing what Jiang Tian said he quickly changed his mind.
“What’s that station called again?” Sheng Wang opened the map app.
Jiang Tian’s gaze slightly shifted. He looked up from the paper, glimpsed at Sheng Wang’s screen and asked, “Why are you asking this?”
“I’m going with you, can’t I.” Sheng Wang said.

His thumb hovered over the keyboard as he waited for the other person to report the name of the station. Jiang Tian was slightly stunned for a moment. “It’s just called Beyond Parasol Trees.”
Sheng Wang soon picked the right location on the map, when he turned away he discovered that Jiang Tian’s gaze was still on him.

“What are you looking at?” Sheng Wang snapped his fingers at him.
Jiang Tian’s line of sight shifted back to the paper. He twirled the pen for two rounds before looking again up, “Have you taken the train before?”
Sheng Wang: ……
Who are you looking down on?

He lifted his foot and aimed at Jiang Tian, “Giving you a chance, say it again.”
Jiang Tian pointed at his phone with the pen. “Reply your message first.”

“Oh yeah, I nearly forgot from being too pissed at you.” Sheng Wang fished over his phone, and tagged Li Yu: I’m taking the train.
Class A – Li Yu: Okok sure.
Class A – Qi Jiahao: @. How about you, Tian-ge? Shall we meet in school before going together?

“He’s asking you.” Sheng Wang said as he held the phone.
‘I don’t want to talk’ was written all over Jiang Tian’s face. “Just help me reply.”
“Sure.”

Therefore, not even past five seconds of being Qi Jiahao tagging Jiang Tian, Class A – Sheng Wang popped up with a ding: He’s taking the train too.
After Sheng Wang replied he tossed his phone aside and continued studying, not knowing that after he spoke the thousand-strong group chat was silent for ages, followed by a bunch of girls all starting to spam question marks in unison.

*
They did not skimp out on doing questions over the monthly break, the only good thing was that they could sleep until they naturally awakened. However, Jiang Tian did not wake up too late, after all the biological clock shaped over a long period of time would not simply be stopped within a couple of days.
He woke up once before it was even 6am. He could vaguely hear the sound of washing up from the bathroom next door over, the sound of the glass cup being settled on the ceramic shelf, the light buzz of the electric toothbrush.

If that person lazed around for only an extra 10 minutes, it was already considered not bad for him. Waking up this early on a holiday? No way, he definitely got the day wrong.
Jiang Tian lazily guessed in his drowsiness.
His eyes remained shut, the fingers resting at the back of his head grabbed at his hair before letting go again, like he did a partial stretch. Next, he heard a bunch of a burst of chaos, Sheng Wang switched off the source of water noises, and indistinctly swore “shit”.

The Adam’s apple of the boy curled up on his side on the bed slightly moved up and down, a low noise coming from the bottom of his throat. It was hard to tell if he was laughing or jeering.

Soon, the cup next door over clanged, bearing the grumpiness and the dissatisfaction of its owner. The half-dead shuffling noise of slippers travelled from the bathroom back to the bed. He probably went back to sleep, afterwards there wasn’t any sign of movement.

Jiang Tian actually did not have the habit of sleeping in.
No matter what time he woke up in the morning, he always opened his eyes and got out of the bed within a few minutes. Despite his face looking as if he was facing a snowstorm when he was washing up and getting dressed, his movements were always swift and clean.

Today, however, he slept again unprecedentedly.
When he woke up for the second time, the sun was already high up in the sky. The ray of light shone in through the gap between the curtains, hurting his eyes when he looked at it. The time displayed on his phone was 8:36, he woke up three hours later than usual.
This was the first rare occasion he got a sleep in in years.

Next door was completely peaceful, he clearly was still sleeping in. Jiang Tian briefly washed up, kept the paper, grabbed his bag, and went downstairs.
As compared to upstairs, downstairs was in a state of soundless bustle.
The breakfast was already prepared, Auntie Sun was sweeping the living room. Jiang Ou wasn’t used to standing around while other people worked, so she just followed behind Auntie Sun at a distance that was neither near nor far. Sometimes she would tidy up the remote on the coffee table, sometimes she would pick up the withered leaves that fell from the flower vase.
Sheng Mingyang however was on a phone call outside the glass door on the first floor.

Jiang Tian paused in his steps on the stairs. He tugged at his bag, and silently watched this entire scene with his eyes downcasted.
It was a sort of a cruel joke, he seriously spotted some of the ease and comfort usually present in other normal families, this was something he had never witnessed for the past ten and more years.
As though there was a wooden frame framing these three people, when he walked in, the painting would be ruined.

Jiang Ou spotted him first, she waved at him. “Come down for breakfast, there’s a small tray of steamed crystal shumai today.”
“Not eating anymore.” Jiang Tian said as he hurried downstairs, “Got things to do in school, I’m running late.”
“You shouldn’t go hungry even when you’re running late.” Jiang Ou couldn’t convince him otherwise, so she pulled out a piece of food safe plastic bag, picked four shumai dumplings from the still hot steaming basket, and placed the bag into Jiang Tian’s school bag. “There’s still four left for Xiao-Wang.”
Upon hearing that Jiang Tian shot a glance upstairs. He suddenly realised that it wasn’t just him who was outside the painting just now.

Of course nothing was up with school.
Jiang Tian walked past the north gate of Fuzhong, and ducked into the residential area sitting right outside of school. He first went to look for Zhao Xi in Block 6, asking about recent developments in regards to the two hooligans, got two shumai stolen by Zhao Xi, and then went around to Beyond Parasol Trees outside the west gate, walking into Old Man Ding’s courtyard.

Once a person reached old age, there were much less activities they could do for entertainment. Old Man Ding never did like to chit chat with other people by the neighbourhood flower garden, his only joy was found in watching television. Military affairs, agricultural affairs, and the news. It’s been like this for the past several decades, just these three.
Last night, his darling television suddenly stopped working, he couldn’t switch it on no matter what. The old man abruptly felt like the sky had just caved in, he clumsily made a call to Jiang Tian with an elderly phone.
Jiang Tian promised to come fix it for him this morning.

In Gao Tianyang’s words, the old man was incredibly narrow minded, and incredibly bad tempered too. He was especially guarded, the entire world to him was dubious as hell, only Jiang Tian was sensible and reliable.

“Eaten breakfast?” Jiang Tian put down his bag.
“The hell with breakfast, I’m not in the mood to cook.” Old Man Ding stared at the television resentfully.
Jiang Tian gave the last two shumai to him. “Give the mute one.”
The old man obediently went to split it equally with his opposite door neighbour, and soon came back with a shumai in his mouth. He asked, “How did the television spoil just like this! Know how to fix it?”

Jiang Tian internally said, how would I know.
He had never fixed a tv before, it was just that when he received Old Man Ding’s panicked call, he honestly couldn’t make himself say the words “Don’t know”.

The old man was lonely for his whole life, Jiang Tian was the only one who ever only stayed, he basically treated him like his own flesh and blood grandson. Therefore he had to know how to, even if he didn’t know he still had to know. As such, he checked the manual on how to fix the tv for the whole night before this, summarised quite a few methods, and planned to try them out today.

Unfortunately, he didn’t manage to say anything pleasant to the ear when prompted. The old man asked if he could fix it, his reply of “Up to fate” earned him a light slap from him.
Fortunately however, his efforts did not go to waste. His luck was pretty decent, after struggling for half an hour, the television quickly flashed after being connected to the electric outlet, and the screen started working once more.
Old Man Ding’s grin nearly broke his face, he bluntly praised, “Ay our Xiao-Tian is still the most capable one after all! Knows everything!”

With the television coming back to life, the old man also found the motivation to cook. He was busy with cooking from 10am to 11.30am, and awarded the key player with five dishes and a soup.
The key player took a quick glimpse at the dishes. The green pepper was julienned, the potato was stewed soft and flavourful, the meat consisted of mostly ribs, it was neither too fatty or too lean, and there were even crunchy bones.
After two mouths, he suddenly began a conversation out of nowhere. “I have to leave at 12.10pm.”
“So rush?” The old man took the bait hook line and sinker, he asked in accordance.

Jiang Tian said, “There’s a competition this afternoon, I agreed to meet with someone to take the train here.”
“Oh–” Old Man Ding found it novel. After all, he rarely saw him together with people. other than Gao Tianyang that up to no good, mischievous brat. Old Man Ding asked, “With who?”
“The freeloader from last time.”
Old Man Ding said, annoyed, “Oh, Xiao-Wang! How is that freeloading, kid’s so obedient and well-behaved, he’s so likeable. Why didn’t he come again later, he hated my cooking?”

“No,” Jiang Tian said, “He thought the canteen food is worse than yours.”
“What do you mean worse than mine.” Old Man Ding argued, displeased, “So you’re saying he thinks my cooking is great?”

The elderly are weak against praises. You praise that his food is good, and he would want nothing more than to treat the entire world to a meal.

Just as expected, Old Man Ding said, “Then why didn’t you bring him here?”
Jiang Tian said, bewildered, “You didn’t ask me to.”
Old Man Ding tsked, and gave him another clap. “Kid’s some state banquet’s guest of honour or what, I have to be the one inviting him? If I didn’t tell you to you wouldn’t? Do you make friends by being like this in school? To think back then we—”
“Whatever, I’m not going on anymore. You kids don’t like it when old people nag at you.” Old Man Ding curled his lips. “Tell him, he can come here when the canteen’s food is bad, he gets to order and it’s definitely filling!”

Jiang Tian lowered his eyes as he swallowed his food. He dug out his phone and said, “Say that again.”
He tapped open Sheng Wang’s WeChat, and switched to voice message mode. He held the button down as he moved the phone next to Old Man Ding’s mouth, waiting for him to speak.

“Why are you making me say this again?” Old Man Ding played a wild card, he asked that instead.
“……”
Jiang Tian released the button without realising, and the recorded voice message whooshed out.

Great, the entire segment collapsed.

At this point Old Man Ding finally caught on, he straight away went to grab Jiang Tian’s phone, fiddled around, and clumsily held the button down as he yelled: “Uh that Xiao-Wang! Don’t eat at the canteen anymore, you can come here for lunch from now onwards, want to eat anything just say it, grandpa will make it all for you!”
After he spoke he let go, and the second message also whooshed out.

Jiang Tian couldn’t retract the message at all, he could only start releasing cold air on his own.
He thought that he must have committed many sins in his past life, that’s why he attracted a bunch of monsters specifically out to get in his way.

Merely a few seconds later, Sheng Wang replied.
Canned: You got old man Ding to take care of my lunch?

Jiang Tian: “……”
Whatever, he doesn’t care anymore.

TO BE CONTINUED.