A Certain Someone ( The On1y One ) Chapter 056 – Impact

The Dream He Finally Forgot With Much Difficulty Made a Dramatic Reappearance

“Sheng Wang, are you okay?” He Jin queried.
The clip of the experiment happened to stop playing at that moment, the students on both sides of the classroom were already rolling the light-blocking curtain back up. Sheng Wang sprawled across his desk, and as he coughed, he waved his hand high up in the air, indicating that he was alright.

“You’re really okay?” Out of Class A’s teachers, He Jin was the most gentle, and the one prone to worrying the most. Probably had something to do with how young her kid was too.
Sheng Wang’s hand, up in the air, made a thumbs up, indicating that he was perfectly fine.

“Did you choke on water?” He Jin asked once more.
“……”
Sheng Wang was toeing the verge of breaking down. To his resignation, his neck and face were thoroughly flushed from coughing, and thus he couldn’t reply. Therefore he hesitated two seconds, and lifted the can of Wangzai milk up.
He Jin said, “Isn’t this internecine?”
The entire class guffawed.

Sheng Wang placed the small red can back onto the table with a clang, and internally said, the fuck you’re laughing at, you monsters!

After He Jin was done joking, she started going through the topic. Some students, previously dozing off, had completely awakened from the laughter and started taking down notes too. Young master Sheng had made a noble sacrifice, it was just that his dignity couldn’t get over it.

He had already stopped coughing, but the blood that rushed to his face had yet to fade. He figured he might as well not get up, and hid a hand under the table to send messages.
Sticker: the nerve to laugh when you’re the one who bought it???
Jiang Tian: Wasn’t laughing
Sticker: bullshit, I heard you
Jiang Tian: ……
Jiang Tian: Your hearing must be truly good

Sheng Wang stopped in the midst of replying. He came to the abrupt realisation that Jiang Tian honestly chuckled quite softly, when mixed with Gao Tianyang’s racuous voice, it might as well be silent. Yet, he still caught it.
Other people’s laughs didn’t enter his ears, he only heard that laugh from Jiang Tian, like he minded particularly much.

Sheng Wang pouted, and replied to the person with a “ha” first. The joking expression on his face gradually faded away. He then sent a despicable shrugging meme “no 300 taels of silver buried here” style, and said: can’t help that you’re the closest.

In any case, with the effort of the few lines, he managed to diverge from the topic on that night at Beyond Parasol Trees. Jiang Tian got distracted by him for once, and he seemed to not remember afterwards either.

He wasn’t sure if Jiang Tian knew about the truth about Zhao Xi and Lin Beiting’s relationship……from the reaction he showed that day at the gathering, he probably didn’t.
No matter what, that was still Zhao Xi and Lin Beiting’s private matter after all, that scene in the alley outside of Beyond Parasol Trees was ever so intimate; no matter how surprised, shocked, or affected Sheng Wang was, he wouldn’t spread around what he chanced upon by accident.

It happened in a place where no one would pass by, therefore it was a story known by no one. Only the main characters have the rights to decide whether it should be spread around.

Sheng Wang wasn’t a busybody, and neither did he like to judge whether someone is a good candidate for friendship or to even get to know better based on private matters that were neither right nor wrong. He still thought Zhao Xi and Lin Beiting were both cool as hell, but he did slightly avoid them recently—after his worldview was so abruptly shaken up just once from this, he already ended up with so many strange dreams in a row. With a second round of shaking up, he could wave goodbye to sleep.

But, there exists a saying called “whatever you’re scared of will come for you”, and also a phenomenon called “selection bias”. The person he used to not see often in the past, was now everywhere he looked these few days.

Sheng Wang went to Xi Le to buy water, and so he heard Boss Zhao gesturing at the mute, “I left my phone by the cabinet next to my bed, Zhao Xi will be passing it to me later.”
He went to eat at Old Man Ding’s, and ended up bumping into Zhao Xi and Lin Beiting talking to their friend at the corner of the street outside the west gate.
He was summoned to the office at night by Jing-jie to help to mark papers, Zhao Xi and Lin Beiting were a table away as they discussed the progress for the competition class.
It was even to the point that when he went to the PE equipment room to return the basketball, he ran into the two walking shoulders to shoulders with Big Mouth Xu on Road #3, appearing to be attending a meal together.

It was no big deal if he was the only one there, and yet nine out of ten times, Jiang Tian was next to him too. Thus, they had to stop, greet the two, and chit chat with them.

Not only that, Sheng Wang kept hearing people say that he and Jiang Tian were incredibly similar to that pair. There definitely weren’t so many ‘insightful’ people before.
If they were the Gao Tianyang/Song Sirui type, Sheng Wang could viciously beat them up with an excuse. To his chagrin, even the teachers like He Jin and Yang Jing were involved too, Sheng Wang couldn’t just beat them up either.

The one who said this the most was administration’s Big Mouth Xu, actually.
Sheng Wang and Jiang Tian never exactly stuck to the rules. Big Mouth was a heavy victim of it before, therefore, he said to Zhao Xi more than once in front of them, “These two are so proud, the moment I see them I would think of you two. This head of mine……it has been aching for more than a decade.”

Zhao Xi, in contrast, was daring to joke about anyone and everyone as usual. “Lin-zi was from Yizhong in the past, kindly don’t take on the credit for Yourself. The Yizhong administration dean himself did not say anything either. Also, if your head has been aching for more than 10 years, I recommend at least paying the hospital a visit.”

Big Mouth Xu flew into anger. “Yizhong administration’s Old Pan is plenty close to me, what do you mean he didn’t say anything? He told me all about it 10+ years ago, saying that if Lin Beiting goes to your Fuzhong to stir trouble, be sure to help me catch him and give him a good scolding. But I couldn’t catch him? So what kind of ideas could I even come up with.”
Zhao Xi nudged Lin Beiting.
Lin Beiting explained, “Young age gave plenty of energy and vigour, the speed at running away was a little faster than expected.”

Zhao Xi nearly died from laughing, Big Mouth Xu was tongue tied and completely unable to quibble back. He could only turn around to snark at Sheng Wang and Jiang Tian, “Saw that? You two are just like a carbon copy of these two rascals now.”

What’s with the just like.
Sheng Wang internally said, you sure are good at juxtaposition.
He furtively shot a glance at Jiang Tian when Big Mouth Xu said “carbon copy”, the other person appeared to have felt his gaze too, and also turned to look at him.

Jiang Tian’s lips moved, but in the end no sound came out. After letting Big Mouth nag on and one for a good while, he replied with a single line in the end. “Got it, teacher. We’ll run slower next time.”
Big Mouth Xu’s eyes bulged, wishing more than anything to whip him to death. Sheng Wang swiftly reacted, turned heel and ran as he pulled Jiang Tian along.

With that, he confirmed one thing: Jiang Tian probably genuinely didn’t know about the exact truth to Zhao Xi and Lin Beiting’s relationship.

*
The midterm exam was a major exam, the few key point schools with a legacy in the city all enjoyed training their troops with simulations on major exams like this. This time, other than a synchronous examination date as well as marking of papers, they even planned to simulate the randomised exam venue, wanting to give their students the chance to get used to not taking their exams in their own schools in advance.

Fuzhong had terrible luck this time, and got Nangao, the school located the furthest away. Mingli Block had to be allocated for Jinhu’s students’ exams too. The day before the exam, Fuzhong cancelled night self-study, and spent it on setting the exam venue up.
The moment the afternoon classes ended, the day students ran away happily. Sheng Wang and Jiang Tian went to Old Man Ding’s for dinner. They initially planned to return to the dorms, shower and sleep, but they ran into management’s teacher on Road #3, and so Jiang Tian was summoned away again.

Despite the looming pressure from midterms, the very fact that night self-study was cancelled was enough to send a portion of students into a frenzy. The residential block was raucous. There were all sorts of people: those who were chatting at the corridor, those who were chasing each other around, those who were accompanying each other to get hot water, or those who were hidden away in a corner to secretly smoke.

When Sheng Wang walked past 605, he smelled the stench of cigarettes wafting out from the tiny window in the bathroom. He narrowed his eyes and coughed, then speeded to the entrance to his own dorm.
To his surprise, their dorm was very quiet, neither could he see any light inside.

It’s nearly eight, there nobody is back yet?
Sheng Wang opened the door in confusion, only to see Shi Yu hugging a laptop, light faintly emanating from the screen and casting onto his face.

“What are you doing?” Sheng Wang closed the door, and reached out next, wanting to turn on the lights.
Shi Yu hurried, “Don’t switch it on, do it later. Are you in a rush to use it?”
“Not really,” Sheng Wang said.

There were lamps along the corridor too, they shone in through the window on top of the door, thus the dorm wasn’t in complete darkness. He tossed his school bag onto the table with the aid of that light, asking, “Where’s Bin-zi?”
“He found the residential block too noisy, so he went to the lecture theatre to study,” Shi Yu said.

Sheng Wang internally said, oh yeah, those who are truly in the hurry to study would have gone to the lecture theatre. Those who stay in the block tonight are all planning to not cram anything in, no wonder it is this noisy.

His screen was bright and then it was dark again, this went on and on, but no sound came out. Sheng Wang moved closer, and saw a female ghost hanging upside down with her head touching the ground. Her ghastly pale face with blurry features floated towards the screen from the other end of the corridor.

“Horror film?” Sheng Wang tapped on the keyboard. “Why didn’t you turn on the sound? I think I’ve seen this before, want spoilers?”
“What the fuck don’t—” Before Shi Yu could stop him, the volume was switched on by Sheng Wang.
The way the female ghost’s head met the ground was a little like the basketballs that bounced and rolled by themselves on the basketball court in the evening, it echoed repeatedly. That face instantly flashed to right in front of the screen.

A howl escaped from Shi Yu, he instantly covered his eyes.
Sheng Wang had no reaction whatsoever to the female ghost, rather, he was more startled by him. “What are you doing?”
“Quick, turn off the sound already, quick—”
“Suresuresure,” Sheng Wang pressed the mute button, unsure if he should laugh or cry. “It’s switched off already, want to switch on the lights?”
“No need!”

Shi Yu apprehensively removed his fingers, and heaved a long sigh of relief. “Don’t switch on the lights, I’m building my courage.”
Sheng Wang: “……I really couldn’t tell.”
“I’m going at it incrementally.” His skin was too tan, without any light, it was hard to tell if his expression was fine or not. In any case, he sounded incredibly weak.

“You can increment yourself then,” Sheng Wang felt for his school card, “I’m gonna bathe.”
“Eh, Sheng-ge!” Shi Yu called out once again.
Sheng Wang said, “Relax, I’m not switching on the lights.”
“No, I wasn’t meaning that.” Shi Yu tugged at him in a rare moment of kiss-assery, saying, “Wait, you’re really not scared? You still dare to shower without the lights on after witnessing that female ghost’s ‘a glance back and a smile’?”

“Why wouldn’t I dare,” Sheng Wang said.

Shi Yu internally said, this can’t be, you’re this gutsy but you still had to share a bed with Tian-ge the last time the thief entered the dorms? Could it be that the scaredy cat is Tian-ge? After letting his imagination run wild for a few seconds, he shook his head and went straight to the main point. “If you aren’t scared, you might as well watch a few minutes with me then. It’s going to end soon anyways.”

Sheng Wang had nothing to do either way, so he nodded. “Sure, I’ll watch.”
With him around, Shi Yu turned on the volume to two boxes with much difficulty, and finished watching the last 15 minutes with agony on his face. He basically had a death grip on Sheng Wang’s arm the entire time, his palm wet with sweat.

Sheng Wang didn’t really like this sensation of sweat sticking to skin, and used reaching out to take a bottle of drink as an excuse to remove his elbow. Shi Yu wiped his hands on his pants, and didn’t continue gripping onto him either.
He recuperated for a few seconds as he leaned against the bed footbridge, thinking that the aftermath of this film was a little too much, the more he thought about it the more it scared him.

“That won’t do, I will watch something else to cover up my impression of that.” Shi Yu randomly clicked around.
Sheng Wang joked at the side, “Seeing how spooked you are, something that isn’t super impactful couldn’t save you, submit to fate already.”

“Impactful, impactful……” Shi Yu mumbled, and suddenly smirked, “If you put it that way, I really do have something.”
Sheng Wang looked at him in doubt.
He said, “Come, Sheng-ge. Seeing that you accompanied me to watch a horror film, I’ll show you something real good. Da-Qian and the rest got it and sent it to me a few days ago.”

Sheng Wang wasn’t completely familiar with Class B students. Just as he mulled over who Da-Qian was, Shi Yu had already found that something “real good”, and clicked ‘play’ cryptically.

The video jumped straight to the last time it stopped at.
Sheng Wang looked up, and saw two figures tangled up with each other as they kissed under the dim, swaying light. One had the pants half taken off below the groin, the other kneeling in between the slightly parted legs.

What……the fuck.

Sheng Wang was stunned for two seconds, and turned his gaze away like his eyes were stung by honey bees. The dream he finally forgot with much difficulty made a dramatic reappearance. There seemed to be footsteps outside the corridor; he didn’t actually catch it clearly, but his hands moved before his brain, and snapped Shi Yu’s laptop shut.

“Fuck, what for?” Shi Yu was astonished by the lightning speed that Sheng Wang’s hand moved at, and after he realised what was happening, he was a little baffled. If he doesn’t wanna watch, he could just not watch it? Why close the laptop. Besides, what’s wrong with watching it a little, it’s so normal, was there a need to be this prissy.

Sheng Wang had already stood up from his bed. Just as he was about to open his laptop again and grumble, he heard the sound of keys jingling in the keyhole. The next second, the door was pushed open, and Jiang Tian’s tall silhouette stood at the door, his back facing the light.

Shi Yu quietly retracted the hand that was about to open the laptop again, internally saying, shit, thank god Sheng Wang reacted quickly enough. They were both dormmates, but he wouldn’t dare to watch things like this right before Jiang Tian’s very eyes. Maybe it was because that person was too cold.
He thought, no wonder Sheng Wang was in a hurry to close the laptop, he knew Jiang Tian was coming back soon. But how did he freaking know?
Jiang Tian, who opened the door and came in, didn’t know about the wild thoughts in his dormmate’s head. He merely switched on the lights out of habit, and saw Sheng Wang standing by the long table.

Perhaps it was the way the room was lit up, briefly dazzling him, but in that split second, Sheng Wang’s face and neck were both ivory white, yet somehow he gave him the illusion that he was flushed.
His lips were slightly parted, the expression in which he looked at the direction of the entrance revealed a tinge of astonishment.

Jiang Tian, entering inside, paused in his footsteps. He met his eyes across the distance of a few steps.
Seconds later, Sheng Wang abruptly tore his eyes away. His Adam’s apple lightly bobbed. He reached out, scooped over the clean clothes he had previously laid out on the bed’s railings, and said, “I’m gonna go shower.”

TO BE CONTINUED.