A Certain Someone ( The On1y One ) Chapter 032 – Absence

He Jin Said In Exasperation, “Did You Two Plan This?”

Putting a subtle change like this aside, the days in White Horse Alley House 7 were still relatively harmonious, but that harmony only lasted for several days.

The problems Sheng Mingyang ran into were yet to be solved, and a new issue popped up in his business. Friday morning, Sheng Wang went downstairs, and stumbled into a quarrel between him and Jiang Ou.

The contents of that quarrel were quite simple, actually. The general gist was that Jiang Ou felt that she could lend a hand, but Sheng Mingyang would rather she stay at home and take care of the kids.
Jiang Ou had a gentle temperament, Sheng Mingyang wasn’t hot tempered either. It was precisely because of this that when they argued, when neither of them were willing to back down there was a flavour of helplessness and pent-up feelings.

“What do you think I barely sleep for?” Sheng Mingyang propped himself against the ceramic counter in the kitchen, saying as he pinched the middle of his brows.
“But——”
Sheng Ou was just about to rebut when he added another line. “You told me about what happened with Xiao-Tian before, I’m sure you wouldn’t want to be like that again.”
Jiang Ou’s mouth was open, but it was as if her tongue was pinched. She recalled something, and all fight went out of her, her eyes were downcast as she quieted.
Sheng Mingyang had his hand on her shoulder as he said: “So, just listen to me this time, yeah?”
Quite a while later, Jiang Ou nodded.
……

Who knew who spotted Sheng Wang who was standing by the stairs first, the two of them quickly changed their expressions back to normal. Sheng Mingyang pulled open the glass door and left the kitchen, Jiang Ou shot a hurried smile at him, and started scooping out the porridge into a bowl.

“What happened?” Sheng Wang didn’t actually catch the argument clearly. He looked at Jiang Ou’s figure, and quickly glanced at the stairs.
Fortunately, Jiang Tian left two practice papers behind and went back in to take it, he did not catch any of that. Otherwise, who knew what kind of response he would have.

Sheng Wang sometimes felt that Jiang Tian and his mom’s dynamics were a little strange.
If he said that they were on bad terms, many details would reveal how protective Jiang Tian was over her. No matter what, as long as Jiang Ou opened her mouth, he couldn’t bring himself to reject her.
But if he said that they were on good terms……he couldn’t help but feel that something was missing.

Sheng Mingyang’s phone started buzzing in vibration. He answered in a rush, and also turned around to tell Sheng Wang: “No big deal, it’s just that I still have to go on a business trip for a few more days, I’ll be heading to the airport later.”
Sheng Wang had long been used to the way he had to fly everywhere all the time, he wasn’t surprised at all. “How are you getting there?”

“Hello?” Sheng Mingyang greeted the person at the other end of the phone, and squeezed out the time to reply to his son. “Xiao-Chen will be sending you and Xiao-Tian to school, I’ll be getting there with another car instead.”
“You can just get Uncle Xiao-Chen to send you, we have the school bus.” Sheng Wang said.

“What bus?” Sheng Mingyang could only ‘care for the head but not the ass’, he was trying to juggle both sides at once, and didn’t manage to catch his son clearly.
“……”
Sheng Wang waved his hand. “Just make your phone call, I’m gonna eat.”

Sheng Mingyang crooked two fingers to motion kneeling down to apologise, and pulled open the glass door to the patio outside.
By the time he looked back to the house after the extremely urgent call of his, Sheng Wang and Jiang Tian already finished their breakfast and left, with Xiao-Chen still waiting outside the courtyard for him.

*
Every old street in this city was lined with parasol trees, they stood there for decades amidst the flowing traffic and the sea of people. The thick branches and leaves intersected with each other, blocking out the heavens, blocking out the sun.
Sunlight could only shine through the cracks and gaps, leaving behind spotted patches of light on the ground. The pedestrians weaved through the lights and shadows.

There were plenty of mobile food carts along the street outside of White Horse Alley, and in front of these carts were steaming white fog as well as the lines of people queuing up.

Sheng Wang dodged around the crowd, and waited for the green light at the sidewalk near the corner. He took a quick glance at the old street, and said to Jiang Tian: “I was an especially fussy kid back then, I would often cause a ruckus and wake everyone up early in the morning.”
“And then?” Jiang Tian asked.
“Then I would come to this street, and survey the circumstances of the common people,” Sheng Wang said, “I had to walk from that end of the street to this end, and when I saw that everyone was living a safe and peaceful life, I could go back to sleep without any worries.”

Jiang Tian was amused as he listened. “Why this street.”
“It’s lively.” Sheng Wang said, “People are only interesting when they are all talkative.”
He finished talking, caught the look on Jiang Tian’s face that instantly went dead, and instantly doubled over in laughter. “Eh wait, nononono, I’m not laughing at you for being boring, you’re fine being your frozen self too, I was just saying.”

“But really,” Sheng Wang’s eyes were crescent as he faced the traffic lights, “if you were here a few years earlier, I would have definitely welcomed you.”
“Why?” Jiang Tian asked again.
The way he chatted these two days changed a little, he no longer replied with the terminal “Mn” or “Oh”, he actually learnt to reply with a hook.

“Because, for a period of time, I wanted a brother quite a lot. Whether he’s older or younger is fine with me, younger is better though.” Sheng Wang answered his question, and suddenly tapped Jiang Tian hurriedly. “Green light now, hurry up. When’s the school bus arriving?”
“6.30.”
“That’s fine, we can still make it.”
Sheng Wang checked the time on his phone, and crossed the sidewalk with Jiang Tian. They stood and waited at the stop at the other side of the street, the topic about brothers never came back.

To be honest, Sheng Wang was a stingy little brat when he was young. He disliked any living creature who dared to try to take his toys, his limelight, and his snacks. If he really did have siblings, they would probably end up tumbling around all day in fistfights.
Later, the grandpa that would bring him out to survey the streets was no longer around, the mother who called him “Wang-zai” everyday was no longer around either. Slowly, gradually, Sheng Mingyang stopped being around often too, and he no longer was so stingy anymore.

Those two years, he desperately wished that there were more people in the house or something. Best be a brother, who’s a little younger than him, who would stay a little longer too.
On a certain day later, he suddenly realised that even if they’re brothers it didn’t mean anything.
What comes will always go.

*
6.30am, the school bus arrived at the stop right on the dot.
The moment Sheng Wang and Jiang Tian boarded, the girls in the bus all burst into excited whispers, causing Sheng Wang to nearly retreat back to the stop.

Upon seeing that they’re unfamiliar faces, with the uproar they caused, the driver instantly awakened his professionalism. He used his mouth to point at the machine next to the driver’s seat. “What year? Where’s your card? Take it out and swipe it.”

Sheng Wang had never taken the school bus before, he didn’t understand the instructions at all. He was momentarily stunned, and asked: “What card?”
“School card, what else.” The driver said.

Fuzhong’s card and the nametag were one item, containing both the student’s information as well as money, which meant the card was especially important for residential students. Meals, and activating the shower all relied on this, but to Sheng Wang it might as well not exist.
Xi Le convenience store allowed for mobile transactions, furthermore he long since bidded farewell to the canteen, he never even thought of remembering to bring his school card every time he left for school.

“Forgot to bring it?” The driver asked in suspicion.
Sheng Wang sheepishly touched his nose, just as he was about to say “I think I’ll just alight”, he heard Jiang Tian’s voice behind him. “Brought it.”
He reached forward from behind, going past Sheng Wang to swipe on the machine, and then stuffed the card in his hand.

“When did you even take it.” Sheng Wang had astonishment written all over his face.
“When you snuck out of the house like a thief.” Jiang Tian also brought his own card over and tapped it against the machine.
Some people wouldn’t stop going on about taking the school bus, they may be faster than anyone else, but their hands may be emptier than anyone else’s..
“Where did I put the card?”
“The cabinet at the entrance hall.”

“Boarding passengers, don’t block the entrance.” The driver was clearly half a metre away from them, yet he insisted on broadcasting it to the entire bus with a horn. “There’s empty seats at the back!”
“Sorry.”
Sheng Wang hurried forward. Out of the corner of his eyes, he spotted two girls whose faces were thoroughly red at the first row, whispering god knows what to each other.

White Horse Alley wasn’t that far from Fuzhong. At this stop, the school bus was close to being completely filled. There were few empty seats, with some of them being solo seats scattered all around. The last row was the only one with two connecting seats.

The vehicle soon started moving, Sheng Wang shot a quick look at the last row as he held onto the back of a seat, and said to Jiang Tian: “Let’s sit there.”
He sat down in the third row, saving the empty seat in the second row for Jiang Tian. Afterwards, he stuffed in his earpiece, lowered his head and started using his phone.
The string attached to the school tag was intertwined around his finger in circles and loops.

The boy beside him was in the same class as the two girls in front, he kept chatting as he leaned forward against the back of the chair. They seemed to be the history-politics class under Dean Xu, they received news slightly faster than other people.
Sheng Wang heard them mention something about the parent-teacher meeting.
He internally said, please don’t tell me……

Parent-teacher meetings gave him the most headaches in school, unrivalled by any other thing. He always had to explain why his parents couldn’t make it.
At one point, he suspected the involvement of dark forces at work when it came to this matter, somehow they managed to pick precisely whenever Sheng Mingyang wouldn’t be around.

The two classes in the morning were physics lessons. Young Master Sheng wasn’t even in the mood to do practice papers. Instead, he focused all his energy on praying, hoping that He Jin would dispel the rumour when the lesson ends.
In the end, the moment the second period ended, He Jin said: “Just letting you guys know, this Sunday afternoon, there will be a parent-teacher meeting for year 2s, it will be held in Xiude block’s hall. Year 2 is a pivotal year after all.”
Gao Tianyang mumbled, “You all said that in Year 1 too.”

“Yup, every year is pivotal.” He Jin said as her patience ran out. “No matter what, the school still has to communicate with the parents. When you go home, make sure to let your parents know. The year’s general assembly will be held from 3-4pm, attendance will be taken. 4pm onwards, everyone will return to their own classes. The other teachers and I will be talking to your parents about your individual performance, including all your strengths and weaknesses, future development etc etc.”

He Jin finished speaking, and finally tossed out the line that Sheng Wang was afraid to hear the most: “This is compulsory for everyone, if you really have special circumstances, come find me after class.”
Sheng Wang’s head dropped onto the table with a bonk.

He pursed his lips as both hands sent Sheng Mingyang a message hidden under his table.
Shop’s Closed: Are you off the plane yet
Encyclopedia For Healthy Living: I’ve alighted.
Encyclopedia For Healthy Living: I’ve already said Xiao-Chen can send you guys, why did you run away without a word. Are you angry with dad?
Shop’s Closed: No

Shop’s Closed: when are you returning?
Encyclopedia For Healthy Living: Hard to say, probably around next Thursday-Friday.
Encyclopedia For Healthy Living: Why?
Shop’s Closed: just asking
Encyclopedia For Healthy Living: Really nothing?
Shop’s Closed: no
Shop’s Closed: i’m gonna go run

When Sheng Wang finished typing he turned off his phone’s screen, buried his head and started fretting.

Sheng Mingyang was busy with work, he couldn’t afford to care about the weather back home, otherwise he would have realised that rain started pouring at 8am.
And his son understood this very well, that’s why he didn’t even bother with coming up with a reasonable excuse when he lied.

Sheng Wang was sprawled over for a few moments. He dug out his phone and earpiece, and went to the other end of the corridor from the classroom.
There was a corner next to the washrooms’ right side, the angle was extremely tricky. Class A students loved to go there whenever they had to make a call, as long as they weren’t caught blatantly waving their phones around in their hands, they would hardly ever get caught.

Sheng Wang stuffed in his earpiece and started to look for driver Uncle Xiao-Chen’s name in his recent contacts list.
Abrupt coughing noises exploded from the corridor, sounding strikingly like Big Mouth Xu. He nearly jumped out of his skin, and messily switched off his screen. He placed his phone back in his pocket, and waited for the other person to pick up.

The dial tone was longer than usual, it meandered on.
Ages later, there were a bunch of light rustling noises before the person finally picked up.

Before the other person could speak, Sheng Wang headed straight to the main point: “Uncle Xiao-Chen, it’s parent-teacher meeting again. The Jianghu is in trouble and needs your help, can you help me pretend again?”
The other person for some reason didn’t reply, instead falling into silence.

A moment, and Jiang Tian’s voice passed through his earpiece. His voice was low as he said: “I think you got the wrong number.”
His voice was lowered especially softly, like the wind of pine trees caressing the strings of music. Perhaps it was because it was too quiet in the earpiece, it even sounded a little gentle.
Sheng Wang suddenly felt as though he was put on the spot.

It was like a person who was calm and unflustered on the outside, the moment they heard their parents ask “Are you okay” when they stepped into their home, their nose started getting all stuffy.
It was only a few simple words, that’s all.

For that few seconds Sheng Wang did not speak, neither did Jiang Tian hang up.
Class A was at the west of the corridor, the corner of his was at the east. They were less than 10m apart. If a classmate yelled, he could hear it both inside and outside the earpiece.

Yet another while later, Sheng Wang said: “I’ll hang up and call again.”
Jiang Tian said: “Ok.”

He reached into his pocket and pressed the button at the side twice. He lowered his head and looked through his recent contacts over and over again. In the end, he didn’t make that second call.

Gao Tianyang came over to the washroom, and said hi to him with his arm around his shoulders. Sheng Wang plucked out his earpiece and said, “Go do your business, I’m gonna head to the office.”
“What for?”
“Informing Old He about special circumstances.”

He passed through the classmates chasing each other around in the corridor, walked to the office and yelled “reporting”.
He Jin waved her hands at him. “Come in, what’s the matter?”
“Teacher, my dad can’t make it for the parent-teacher meeting.” Sheng Wang said.

“The school set it on Sunday especially to avoid clashing with weekdays.” He Jin did not reproach him, she only tried to fight for it. “Can you get your dad to adjust the timing? This parent-teacher meeting is quite important, if he really couldn’t make it for the one in the hall, showing up only for the one after 4 will do too. Just half an hour is enough.”

“He really couldn’t make it.” Sheng Wang said.
“How about 20 minutes?” He Jin said, “If he comes, I could chat with him first.”

Boys at this age are all tall and lanky, a growth spurt and suddenly they would be taller than a bunch of teachers. When He Jin was seated in her chair, she had to look up when she talked to him.
She saw Sheng Wang’s downcasted eyes, and his finger touching his nose, like he was in a silent standoff.

He Jin’s son was still young, he was nothing alike with Sheng Wang. Yet when she looked at the boy in front of her, her heart ached a little.
She thought for a bit and said, “How about this, next weekend, please kindly bother him to come here for a bit, I’ll be waiting here for him.”

Sheng Wang gave a tired smile. “He’s on business trips quite often, it’s kinda hard to catch him. I’ll send him here when I manage to catch him, is that ok?”
He Jin understood, this means that he might not even make it next weekend either.

She almost couldn’t bear to ask anymore.
She could tell that Sheng Wang did not want to spend a single second longer on this. But she had her responsibilities, she couldn’t just not care about this at all.

She deliberated. Just as she was about to speak again, another “reporting” rang from the door to the office.

Sheng Wang heard that voice in his earpiece just now, he was plenty sensitive towards it. He turned around to look behind, to see that Jiang Tian was standing tall and straight at the door with his school uniform wide open.
“Come in,” He Jin asked him, “what’s the matter with you too?”
Sheng Wang watched Jiang Tian walk in and stand next to him. His voice was cold and plain as usual when he said: “No one could make it for the parent-teacher meeting, I can’t participate.”
He Jin: “……”

Sheng Wang lost any awkwardness he had, and stared at him with question marks all over his head. Jiang Tian didn’t even look up.
He Jin said in exasperation, “Did you two plan this?”

“Sure.” He Jin nodded. What else could she do?
The first in the level and the one who improved the fastest both couldn’t attend the parent-teacher meeting, what else was she supposed to say?

“How about you two just partner up, when you go home discuss this with your parents, whenever everyone’s all free, I’ll hold a three-way mini parent-teacher meeting and have a quick chat, how about that?” After He Jin spoke, she didn’t give them the room to argue. She waved them off and said, “So that’s set, hurry up and leave.”

The two were chased out of the office, but they didn’t manage to make it back in class. Instead, they were ambushed on their way back.
The one who ambushed them was students’ affairs Big Mouth Xu. His expression was solemn as he waited around the corner with his hands behind his back. He waved at the two of them. “Follow me to Duxing block.”

“Me?” Sheng Wang pointed at himself.
“The both of you.” Big Mouth Xu said.
“I didn’t get into any fights recently,” Sheng Wang was a little lost, but he did not forget to add, “he didn’t either.”

These words jabbed at a sore spot on Big Mouth Xu’s body somewhere somehow. His expression turned uglier than ever, but it seemed that his anger wasn’t directed at Sheng Wang and Jiang Tian.

“About your absence from the listening compre exam last time……that time when Jiang Tian pestered me for ages to get us to check the security cameras at the corridor, we checked it.” Big Mouth Xu said, “These two days I also asked quite a few people, and there’s finally an outcome. Today, I’ll be giving you two a proper explanation.”

TO BE CONTINUED.