A Certain Someone ( The On1y One ) Chapter 037 – To Stay

He Heard The Other Person Say, “Jiang Tian, Let’s Stay In School Together.”

10 years ago, this courtyard was even more cramped than the present.
The residential block outside of Beyond Parasol Trees had just received a fresh coat of paint, on first glance they appeared to be neat and pretty. The juxtaposition caused the few old houses around the corner to look especially dilapidated. Old Man Ding was the one who stayed in the most dilapidated house.

Back then however his head hadn’t shrunk, he had plenty of energy as well as a decent amount of strength. He would pile up all sorts of porcelain and chinaware at the corner of the house, take care of all sorts of plants, and even kept a Dragon Li cat named “Leader” in order to get rid of rats in his house.

“Leader” was the easiest cat Old Man Ding had ever kept, it understood humans even better than dogs could, it would hit whatever he told it to. Jiang Tian was originally lured into the house thanks to it.
When Jiang Tian was five-six years old, he disliked talking like the way he was now, he was always quiet and sullen. Nevertheless, he was still young. It was easy to get his attention, and easy to get him to let down his guards too. As long as “Leader” laid down on his feet, there was nothing else he could do.

The residents of Beyond Parasol Trees were all neighbours who had been staying here for decades, they knew each other inside out. Old people didn’t have much variety in entertainment, they just loved to meet up, chitchat, and play chess. Whatever that went on in homes were all conversation topics in these casual chats.

Old Man Ding didn’t like to gossip, but he was obsessed with playing chess for a period of time, and so as he played he got to know about the full situation with the development of Jiang Tian’s grandmother’s illness. He already personally knew the Jiang family, and liked Jiang Tian very much too. With this and that, he treated him basically like a grandson.

The old man often gave “Leader” commands, “Leader” would lie waiting on the wall, the moment Jiang Tian walked past, it would leapt off the wall like a tiger leaving the mountains, and went to ‘accidentally’ bump into people.
Jiang Tian would suddenly find a cat descending upon him as he walked. He clearly already braked in his steps, but that cat would still fall onto his shoes, a soft ball of fur spreading on his feet.

Old Man Ding took special joy in watching that—the kid was bewildered and at an utter loss of what to do. He couldn’t stay, but he couldn’t just leave either. He could only stay frozen on the spot in a silent stand off against the cat. At this time, he would go rescue Jiang Tian with some hollers, and conveniently drag Jiang Tian into the courtyard.
Sometimes, it would be wonton and dumplings that were already wrapped, sometimes, it would be plain and simple porridge with some dishes, sometimes, he would steam two fishes or cook some soup. The old man tried all sorts of methods to give Jiang Tian something to eat.

The kid was thin-skinned and stubborn too, if you asked him if he ate, he would nod and quietly say, “I ate.”
Ask him why isn’t he going home, he always had the face of someone who hated fun as he said, “Playing outside.”

The old man’s deepest impression was of an evening. Soon after he heard that the Jiangs’ grandmother couldn’t recognise people anymore, Jiang Tian appeared outside his courtyard walls next.

He was so thin back then, his arms and legs were long, revealing traces of what he would grow to be as a teen. He carried his bag, the lanyard with the keys hanging on his neck twirled around his fingers, his mind conflicted. He could tell he had taken it out before, but didn’t manage to use it.

Old Man Ding clapped his shoulder, crouched over and asked him, “Have you eaten?”
It was the first time there was hesitation on his face, but in the end, he still nodded as he said, “I ate.”

The lamps switched on at night in the alley, the aroma of food drifting out from various homes. It was the time of the day when the smell of smoke and fire and human activity was the heaviest.
Yet, he was standing outside someone else’s walls, asking, “Grandpa, may I look at the cat?”

*
Old Man Ding zoned out for a long while before he fingered the corner of the photo album that curled up. “You know Xiao-Tian’s personality, it’s super tedious to get him to even open his mouth to ask for things. He has always been like this.”
“When he told me he wanted to look at the cat, that means that he truly didn’t have anywhere to go anymore.”

The sunlight at noon ought to be glaring and eye-piercing, but when it reached this courtyard, other than the few square metres, it was dull gray everywhere else.
This was the most unremarkable corner in Beyond Parasol Trees, it was the only place Jiang Tian was still willing to go near, it was also the only place that wanted him, that kept him for that certain long period of time.

Sheng Wang suddenly immensely upset.
This was the first time that he fell into a nearly lonesome mood due to what happened to other people.

The person in the photograph was frozen in that period of time, completely unaware of what was happening outside the photo. Yet, Sheng Wang was silent as he stared at the picture. He finally spoke, “Auntie Jiang is quite nice, she’s pretty gentle, I thought……”
“You’ve seen Xiao-Jiang?” Old Man Ding asked.

Sheng Wang didn’t speak for a noticeable amount of time before he said, “Auntie Jiang is staying with my dad. Actually, I’m not just classmates with Jiang Tian, our families are living together now.”
“Oh oh oh.” Old Man Ding suddenly understood everything, he then grumbled, “I say, Xiao-Tian isn’t the type to bring outsiders here. No wonder, no wonder. You two are brothers then?”

For that moment, Sheng Wang felt that the term “brothers” didn’t mesh well with him. How strange, he himself clearly said to Jiang Tian earlier that he once wanted a brother.
But he really couldn’t find another description.

He hesitated for a couple of seconds, and nodded. “Roughly, I guess.”
After that, he added on, “Either ways we’re pretty close.”

Old Man Ding started smiling. When he was putting on a face on a usual basis, he resembled birds of prey, like eagles and falcons, with a 70% of fierceness. The moment he laughed, his compassionate and friendly demeanour revealed itself, with a hint of childishness even.
He asked, “Who’s older, you or Xiao-Tian?”
“Him, probably. I’m born in December.” Sheng Wang said.
“Oh, he’s at the start of the year.” Old Man Ding said, “Then you have to call him ‘Gege’, why haven’t I ever heard that from you?”
Sheng Wang: “……”

The old man frowned, pretending to be displeased.
Sheng Wang coaxed: “Next time, I’ll definitely do it next time.”
Old Man Ding: “You kids are full of lies.”
Sheng Wang: “……”

The elderly male, after teasing him a little, went back to reminiscing again. He recalled: “Xiao-Jiang would be quite fine if she changed her family. I did sort of watch that girl grow up too, she worked especially hard in school, and was eager to excel. When she was 20+ years old, she was energetic, and did things with guns blazing. When she got older, she ended up being more mellow instead, like she didn’t have a temper anymore, all thanks to her issues at home.”

“Her father was addicted to gambling and was in heavy debt, her mom was a teacher, how would she earn enough to pay everything back? The debt was only settled afterwards when Xiao-Jiang got into business. Later on, there was something wrong with her mom’s brains, her body wasn’t doing well either. She needed to pay for medical bills, and there was still a kid that needed to be raised. How should she ever stop?”

“She had a lot of guilt when it came to Jiang Tian, there were two times when she came to fetch her kid, her eyes were puffy like walnuts from all the crying.” Old Man Ding tsked again and again, “I’ve never seen her cry this much in the past 20 years. That time, she was actually doing better than Ji Huanyu, but Ji Huanyu, as a person, tended to overthink, and had a fragile pride.”

He jabbed the boy in the photograph, an identical portrait to Jiang Tian as he said, “He was actually living in quite a bit of suffering as a kid too, he had no mom, no dad. Eventually……eventually he was picked up by someone along with a kid, and they were raised together under a roof.”

“Orphanage?” Sheng Wang asked.
“Not so proper.” Old Man Ding shook his head, “It was more like picking up a kitty cat or a dog, seeing how pitiful they were, giving them some food, and taking care of them. His name was given by that person, his surname followed the person who picked him up. Many years later, there was a crackdown and everything had to stop due to restrictions. The kids all left, only Ji Huanyu remained in this area.”

“He was going to go to middle school, I think, he kept staying in school. In high school, he somehow ended up getting together with Xiao-Jiang, and after graduating from university they got married. He was bullied as a kid, he would often think about becoming successful, he wanted to leave the province, the country, and make something out of himself. Therefore, he wasn’t satisfied with having to stay home to take care of the kid.”

“Either way, because of Xiao-Tian, they already fought a few times, but nothing major came out of it.” Old Man Ding said, “There was a period of time where Ji Huanyu had a change in character, he didn’t just cause Xiao-Tian to have to move around so much anymore, he came to Beyond Parasol Trees to accompany Xiao-Tian for a year. Back then, Xiao-Tian hasn’t graduated from primary school, Jiang Tian’s grandmother just passed away, so it was only the father and son staying here.”

“At the start, it was alright, at least Xiao-Tian wasn’t stuck in a situation where he couldn’t go home anymore. Afterwards however it all went wrong.” Old Man Ding said, “Ji Huanyu, that useless person, didn’t know how to take care of people. Xiao-Tian started to come over to my house again. Once, I saw a burn at the back of Xiao-Tian’s neck, he stayed here for two days and was feverish and vomiting. Eventually, Xiao-Jiang fetched him, and not long later I heard Xiao-Jiang had a divorce with Ji Huanyu.”

Sheng Wang recalled the scar at the back of Jiang Tian’s neck, he frowned as he asked: “Could it be Ji- his dad who burned him?”
“I did ask him, Xiao-Tian said it wasn’t, and it wasn’t the kind where he was pretending. I could tell if he was.” Old Man Ding said, “Ji Huanyu may be a terrible person, but he wasn’t really the type to do this.”

“Then how did it get there?” Sheng Wang did not understand.
“I don’t know.” The old man shook his head, “Xiao-Tian was extremely stubborn, his mouth tighter than anyone else. If he didn’t say anything, nobody would know. I didn’t dare to bring it up either, if I brought it up he would get upset. He didn’t have an easy life, it was rare for him to be happy. Why would I ever upset him?”

Old people were long winded, when they talked about the past, it was fragmented, and a little incoherent. Still, Sheng Wang managed to glean a corner of Jiang Tian’s childhood.

He finally understood why Jiang Tian’s dynamics with his mom was so strange. It was because of his lack of sense of belonging. He may understand Jiang Ou’s pain and guilt, which was why he always defended her. At the same time, he wasn’t able to treat a place with Jiang Ou as home either.

If they were both unhappy, Sheng Mingyang only had to worry whether Sheng Wang would ignore him. Jiang Ou had to worry whether Jiang Tian would leave.
Because he was always leaving.

Sheng Wang suspected that to Jiang Tian, no matter if it was his previous residence or White Horse Alley, none of it would make him feel a sense of belonging as much as the school dorms. At least, in the dorms, he had a clear understanding of how long he could stay, he knew when he needed to pack his suitcase up again when he unpacked.

Someone rode past the door to the courtyard on a vintage bicycle, when they turned into the alley they rang the bell on the bike.
Sheng Wang finally came back to himself and stood up straight.

The phone in his pocket suddenly vibrated. He dug it out and saw that someone added him as a WeChat friend via the class chat, the verification message said ‘Li Yu’.
Sheng Wang clicked accept, and the other person immediately sent a message.

Rainbow Koi: Sheng Wang, where are you? There’s a teacher coming around to check for attendance, I’m on duty today.

There was a rule in Fuzhong’s noon break that students aren’t allowed to randomly leave the classroom. Every once in a while there would be a teacher on patrol, if they were caught, discipline points would be deducted.
Sheng Wang then recalled that the noon break was almost over, it had been half an hour since he snuck out.

Sticker: sorry, class monitor, be back in a jiffy
Rainbow Koi: hurry up
Rainbow Koi: I said that you went to the sick bay for medicine because you were feeling unwell, don’t mess it up
Sticker: thx

Sheng Wang initially wanted to keep his phone, but he remembered something else in the last minute.
He asked: class monitor, can I still apply for the school dorms?
Rainbow Koi: ……
Sticker: im begging
Sticker: I know this is sorta asking for a beating
Rainbow Koi: S u r e……
Rainbow Koi: but your room will probably be at the last
Sticker: ok
Sticker: thank u

He said goodbye to Old Man Ding and hurried to go back to school. A step out of the door, he retreated back in again to ask, “Grandpa, where’s the cat named Leader?”
“Not here anymore.” Old Man Ding said, “It was an old cat.”
Sheng Wang’s eyes were downcasted as he nodded.

He stuffed his phone back into his pocket and flew towards the school.
Coincidentally, when he went past Duxing Block he saw a familiar figure. Jiang Tian just left the computer room, and was walking in the direction of Mingli Block.

A stray cat darted out from the bushes in front of Duxing block, and jumped up to the windowsill with some leaps. Jiang Tian’s footsteps momentarily paused. He turned to look at the stray cat.
In that moment, it was as though Sheng Wang was looking at the Beyond Parasol Trees from 10 years ago, the unaware boy in the photograph travelled through time, and abruptly came to life right in front of him.
It was just that the cat who would scam him into making him stay had long since been gone.

Sheng Wang halted in his steps, and then quickened his pace to run towards Jiang Tian.

That day, the school was tranquil as usual. The bell signaling the end of noon break had yet to ring, even the birds were tucked away under the shade of the trees, nodding off. The person who pounced from his back was the only vivid presence in this dull silence—
Jiang Tian felt someone hooking an arm around his neck, and he faltered out of inertia. The two of them stumbled a few steps. He turned around, astounded, and saw Sheng Wang’s brilliant smile.
He heard the other person say, “Jiang Tian, let’s stay in school together.”

TO BE CONTINUED.