A Certain Someone ( The On1y One ) Chapter 076 – Back to School

Shop’s Anniversary Celebration: May I Have a Human Pillow.

It happened to be already Monday by the time they were done with the formal competition, thus perfectly skipping past the monthly break. Sheng Mingyang initially arranged for Xiao-Chen to go fetch them from the bus stop, but Fuzhong ended up stealing his job instead.
The private vehicle was the exact same as the one from before, and so was the driver. Only, the person sitting in the shotgun went from Yang Jing to Big Mouth Xu.

Sheng Wang was initially a little relieved, thinking that taking the school’s car was better than Xiao-Chen’s — better than seeing Jiang Ou and Sheng Mingyang the moment they open the car door in any case.
Still, seeing Big Mouth Xu upon opening the door wasn’t something to rejoice about either; no student — yet to graduate, that is — would love to hang around with the administration dean, let alone students who once had their phones confiscated.

The moment Big Mouth Xu showed himself, Sheng Wang stuffed his phone back into his pocket.
“You aren’t even this obedient while you’re in school, you think I’ll bother confiscating your phone when you’re out?” Big Mouth Xu said, exasperated. “Checking in with your parents at home or just chit-chatting? Continue if you’re checking in, treat it like I didn’t say anything if you just want to chit-chat and play games.”

“My dad’s asking if our school’s car is arriving soon,” Sheng Wang answered.
“Then you definitely have to notify him, so that the parents wouldn’t worry. Our school is quite adept when it comes to this — we will only be early, never late. No matter what, we wouldn’t land the students in a situation where they are waiting at the bus stop with nobody fetching them.” Big Mouth Xu thus began seriously going into a spiel on how Fuzhong is responsible towards the treatment of its students. As Sheng Wang just kept replying with “Mn” noncommittally, he speedily replied Sheng Mingyang’s WeChat messages.

Encyclopedia for Healthy Living: The temperature has dropped quite drastically recently, your Auntie Jiang said that the quilts in your dormitory are a little too thin. Do you have time to go back to your dorm in the afternoon? We’ll make a trip to the school, and add more mattresses.
Shop’s Anniversary Celebration: it isn’t cold though
Shop’s Anniversary Celebration: we’re behind on two weeks worth of lessons, we might not necessarily have time after afternoon classes.
Encyclopedia for Healthy Living: Pass the keys to us, I’ll go settle that with Auntie Jiang
Shop’s Anniversary Celebration: it isn’t just the two of us in the dorms, we have dormmates too…you’ll scare them if you suddenly show up

Sheng Wang was busy typing with his head lowered when he suddenly heard Jiang Tian ask quietly, “Why are you frowning?”
“My dad.” As Sheng Wang spoke, he wanted to show Jiang Tian the contents of the chat, but just as he turned over he suddenly felt that it wasn’t quite appropriate.
Firstly, in this conversation, his intent in not letting Sheng Mingyang and Jiang Ou come to school was too obvious — he was scared that Jiang Tian would think that he was regretting everything.
Secondly, he also did not want to let Jiang Tian see Sheng Mingyang and Jiang Ou’s names either, worried that Jiang Tian would feel burdened and regretful.

Therefore his phone flashed before Jiang Tian’s eyes, and his phone was back to him again before the other person could catch a glimpse. His eyes were lowered as he grumbled, “My dad insisted that the temperature dropped, and was interrogating me about whether we wore long underpants.”

Afraid that Jiang Tian didn’t buy what he said, he went all the way to caress Jiang Tian’s thigh, whispering, “Lemme see if you wore it.”
“…….”
Jiang Tian avoided him, and removed that paw of his. Sheng Wang relentlessly tried to get around him, but Jiang Tian grabbed his wrist instead.

Big Mouth Xu — who was prattling non-stop in front — finally quieted and turned around.
The two instantly let go, Sheng Wang even moved slightly to the side, and made a clear divide between them in much contriteness as he leaned against the car window.

Subconsciously, he was a little worried — Big Mouth Xu had the eyes of an eagle, he even suspected that he was in love by watching him send messages alone. Now that he was sitting next to Jiang Tian, right before Big Mouth Xu’s very eyes, he might as well be turning himself in.
Unexpectedly, Big Mouth Xu simply hmphed, and shook his head, telling the driver, “Sigh, thank god I only have one son at home. If they are brothers, look—”
He pointed at the two behind him. “They’ll probably fight all the way into adulthood.”

The driver’s face expressed that he could very well relate. “Two sons are what my house has, fighting over toys, food, the bed…either way the other person’s stuff will always be better.”
“Right? What a headache.”
Big Mouth thus began chatting with him in regards to their sons’ education, and no longer bothered about the two sitting behind him.

Sheng Wang was stunned for quite a while before he realised that in Big Mouth’s and the rest’s eyes, he was part of the same family as Jiang Tian. They were brothers; it was plenty normal for them to be closer and to get into more skirmishes. No matter what, they wouldn’t read too deep into their behaviour, as long as they are careful.
…….
They just needed to be a little more careful.

Sheng Wang’s body, tense for the entire time, finally started to gradually relax, and his spirits were lifted again. Even the tone he replied Sheng Mingyang’s messages with was no longer as stiff — like the phone screen separating them was a protective film itself, able to withstand any smash and fall.

He switched to a more comfortable position, his head against the car window, his right leg touching Jiang Tian’s, and began bullshitting with Sheng Mingyang.
Shop’s Anniversary Celebration: tell Auntie Jiang there’s air-conditioning in the dorm, we even get too warm if we wear long sleeves to sleep at night. if you put another layer, we will literally combust.
Sheng Mingyang replied, exasperated: Nonsense
Shop’s Anniversary Celebration: forreals
Shop’s Anniversary Celebration: I’ll take a picture at night when we get back if you don’t believe me, a slightly fatter dormmate is even in singlets
Shop’s Anniversary Celebration: do you want your son to die from overheating
Encyclopedia for Healthy Living: The temperature will definitely keep falling later on, even if you don’t layer it now, you can keep it there as backup
Shop’s Anniversary Celebration: dad, please recall carefully: think about the closets in our dorm, you’re telling me there’s enough space for backup quilts?

The Encyclopedia for Healthy Living finally started to have doubts.
Sheng Wang then added: we can simply just bring them over the next time we go home
Sheng Mingyang probably went to discuss this with Jiang Ou, and finally replied after quite a while later: Sure, we’ll wait for the next break.

His right hand, resting on the seat, softly snapped. Jiang Tian looked over, asking, “Done?”
“Yeah.”

Sheng Wang finished replying, and in the very next second he tapped into the chat pinned at the top, typing: I’m so sleepy
Someone: ……

Jiang Tian swept a look at him, his expression indicating that he was rather speechless, probably thinking that this was kinda dumb. The word “childish” was written on his face, but his fingers played along as he typed without making any protests.
Someone: If you’re tired, sleep
Someone: There’s still more than 30 minutes to the school
Shop’s Anniversary Celebration: may I have a human pillow
Shop’s Anniversary Celebration: forget it, I know I’ll never get to have one

Jiang Tian’s thin eyelids slightly shifted up, his gaze landing on the back of Big Mouth Xu’s head. After staring for about five seconds, his eyes lowered again, like a silence expression of displeasure. It was a very simple movement, but when Jiang Tian did it, Sheng Wang found it hilarious.

Big Mouth Xu was afflicted with the occupational disease of being an administration dean, he was constantly on the lookout. He heard Sheng Wang’s rather soft snort, and turned to ask, “What are you laughing about?”
Sheng Wang instantly went back to normal, saying, “Nothing, happened to chance upon a joke while refreshing my Moments.”
Big Mouth appeared very interested as he asked. “Oh? What’s the joke?”
Sheng Wang: “……”
This time round, Jiang Tian turned aside.

The hell you’re laughing at.
Sheng Wang shifted his feet, and stepped on Jiang Tian’s shoe without batting a single eye.

Fortunately, Big Mouth Xu wasn’t that intent on listening to the joke, and soon he was lured away by the driver’s conversation topic. Sheng Wang slumped over once more.
Shop’s Anniversary Celebration: I miss uncle Xiao-Chen
Shop’s Anniversary Celebration: I could even lie down at the back in his car
Shop’s Anniversary Celebration: he wouldn’t ask me what joke I saw either

Someone: Remove your foot first
Shop’s Anniversary Celebration: big mouth’s sitting in front, I gotta be on my best behaviour from the top to my legs, my foot is the only thing that can rest against you for a while now
Shop’s Anniversary Celebration: can’t you let me have this
Someone: ……

As Sheng Wang teased Jiang Tian, he suppressed his laughter while thinking that the car was honestly stifling — all he wanted was to reach the school already.
It’ll be fine after we alight, it won’t be this stifling after we reach the school, Fuzhong is so big after all, that was what he thought.

Yet, when they actually alighted, he realised that he had his hopes up — Fuzhong may be huge, but in actuality it was no better than the space in the car.

It was midday when they came back, when they went to their dorm to put down their luggages they ran into Shi Yu and Qiu Wenbin, when they went to Wu Tong Wai for lunch, there was Old Man Ding and the mute.
In the past, Sheng Wang thought those alleys were barren of people, but now he felt that it was a little too lively. In a moment an old man greeted them with his groceries in hand, and in another kids ran past them as they chased each other around. There were even a lot of households which left the windows on the first floor wide open, with some watering their plants, letting the air out as they cook, chit-chatting with the television on etc.

The school’s Road #3 was not as empty as before anymore; there were always students walking along the boulevard, with a drink or newly-bought stationery in hand. There weren’t exactly many people, but it was enough to give the illusion that the stream of people was endless.

In the city, in the streets and alleys, human life bustled and flourished.
It was only at this moment, Sheng Wang truly realised that the “vacation” had ended — in the much longer future, they had no choice but to hide themselves away, keeping their joy and love to the private, desolate spaces.
In a hidden corner, in a place unknown to anyone else.

*
When the two headed upstairs, they bumped into a huge wave of teachers who just came over from the cafeteria. The teachers from Class A, Class B, and even Class 9 were all there.

Yang Jing directly stopped them. “I had lessons in the morning that I couldn’t switch away from, that’s why I wasn’t there to fetch you. Are your luggages brought back to the dorm?”
“Mn,” Sheng Wang said. “We just finished lunch.”
“I heard the two of you had fallen sick?” He Jin was the first to worry for their health as always.

“Huh?” Sheng Wang and Jiang Tian’s eyes met each others’ before they hurriedly turned away.
“Caught a cold for quite a while,” Sheng Wang pointed at Jiang Tian, “He even got a fever.”
“I’ve heard. They say that there was a water outage at your residence, and quite a few people fell sick, right?”

It was not the first time Jiang Tian had left the school for external competitions, and the teachers’ knowledge wasn’t news to him. It was Sheng Wang however who was shocked. He Jin explained, “There are only this many teachers who are involved in holding competitions, everyone knows each other. The school is worried that you aren’t taking proper care of yourself while you’re there, so we do check in quite often.”
“Ohh, no wonder.”
“Also, your performance and results slips were all mailed to the school, it’s sort of like feedback from the training camp,” Yang Jing said. “We’ve already received them yesterday.”
Sheng Wang: “???”

“Why do you look so spooked?” Yang Jing said, done. “You played truant or got up to no good and broke the rules or?”
“No,” Jiang Tian said, “We got a day for sick leave, that’s all.”
“Saw that. The feedback already mentioned that, your performances are constantly quite remarkable, other than the one day of sick leave you did not miss a single lesson either,” Yang Jing said, “The evaluation even said you are both considered excellent students, it’s just that you had a slight disadvantage for PK scores.”

The English teacher from Class 9 said, “Oh? I didn’t see that yesterday. How far behind are they?”
Yang Jing said, “Around 4-5 marks, I think.”
“Who’s in the lead?”
“Who else? Yizhong’s students, duh.”
“Then we’re basically out of— it’s more troublesome now.”

The teacher likely wanted to say “Basically out of luck”, because the results from the training camp could also affect the student’s state of mind for the formal competition, those who were in lead were probably more relaxed, those who were lagging behind likely faced greater pressure; if they couldn’t properly adjust, the gap would only grow.
However, in lieu of the students’ feelings, he chose his words more tactfully.

Class B’s English teacher clapped Sheng Wang and Jiang Tian’s shoulders. “It’s okay, being able to enter finals is already a breakthrough — no matter what, it is an experience with a major competition, it’s already pretty good.”
Yang Jing also said, “Yes, this has already brought pride for me. Oh, yeah, did Xu say anything when he went to fetch you today? He was blahblahing non-stop to me with the results in his hand yesterday, asking me if we’re in the run for top three on the national level.”

Sheng Wang replied as per the truth, “He didn’t mention anything at the start, just casual chit-chat. Later on, he mentioned something like that as we alighted, saying that the number of people who can get a prize in this competition is quite few in numbers, the school will already be very satisfied with a third place. He told us to not feel burdened, and do our best to prepare for other competitions too.”
Yang Jing nodded, “Sure, he finally said something that isn’t so grandiose.”
“Old Xu really likes to exaggerate, a little modesty is better after all.” He Jin said smilingly, and asked the two students, “What did you two say in reply then?”
Sheng Wang hesitated, saying, “We wouldn’t do badly enough to end up in third place.”
He Jin: “……”
Okay, that’s no better than Old Xu.

Yang Jing looked at the two madmen, exasperated. She squeezed out a line, sounding possibly happy or worried, “Sure, the results are out next month. I’ll wait and see how the two of you wouldn’t do badly enough to end up in third place.”

TO BE CONTINUED.