A Certain Someone ( The On1y One ) Chapter 087 – Winter Break

Chili: I Saw It, It Was During the Cultural Festival.

“Xiao-Chen will be coming to fetch us later, so how do I say this — will the two of you be coming back home tonight?” Sheng Mingyang helped Jiang Ou to bring the dishes to the kitchen, he asked Sheng Wang while he washed his hands.
“We’re not going back,” Sheng Wang shook his head. “The teacher only approved of our leave from night self-study, that doesn’t extend to dorm check at night.”
“That’s fine too, finals are coming anyway. After you’re done, you can come home for a good rest.”
“Mn……”

Sheng Mingyang drew a piece of tissue to wipe his hands. The window before them glistened, and Sheng Wang spaced out in the reflected light. Sheng Mingyang glanced at him, and turned to ask, “Are you okay? Why do you look so lifeless?”
“Nothing, I’m just drowsy,” Sheng Wang scratched the corner of his eye, and answered off the top of his mind.
“Oh. I thought you’re feeling the pressure from the upcoming exams.”
“Is that even possible?” Sheng Wang laughed. “Since when have you seen your son get stressed out over exams?”
“That’s true.” Sheng Mingyang laughed heartily and walked outside. When he went past him, he patted the back of his head.

Boys grew like trees, and they shot up faster than anything else. He could still recall the way Sheng Wang was a tiny boy, and his hand only needed to dangle before he could pat his fluffy bed of hair. It was as though in the blink of an eye, the little kid back then already was roughly the same height as him, with the possibility of growing even taller. It was no longer as easy for him to pat his head.

There’s barely any years left……Sheng Mingyang thought.
Now, he could still be in charge of every aspect in Sheng Wang’s life, but that might not be the case in the future. Become an adult, wings strong enough to carry them, and then they’ll fly too far. No parent could accept this process without a single fight, just like beasts fighting over the last piece of territory.
Fortunately, the son of his didn’t really cause trouble.

Sheng Wang and Jiang Tian waved them goodbye, and returned back to the school together. Xiao-Chen fetched Sheng Mingyang and Jiang Ou, and drove the car to White Horse Alley. Jiang Ou leaned against the chair for a while, and suddenly asked Sheng Mingyang, “Why did you bring the dinner ahead? Didn’t we agree on holding it after the new year?”

She was someone who knew what’s the appropriate thing to do in the right time and place very well, and would rarely immediately expose anyone in front of everyone. She actually did disagree with Sheng Mingyang in many things, this is unavoidable no matter between working partners or spouses, not to mention the way they were both. However, they would never let it show before Jiang Tian and Sheng Wang.

Sheng Mingyang patted the back of her hand, and gave a placting smile. “The alcohol got to me a little, so I ended up saying things on my own accord. So, you don’t want it to be that early?”
Jiang Ou looked outside the window. “Not really. There’s too many things before the new year, I’m scared that we won’t be able to cope.”

To be fair, this wasn’t Sheng Mingyang’s fault, there was hardly any difference between before and after the new year. She was just a little agitated, possibly a side effect from that meeting in the hospital. Her fingers rubbed the phone screen, unlocked the phone and aimlessly scrolled through Moments. She then couldn’t resist it anymore and tapped into Du Cheng’s gallery.

There was hardly anything in his gallery. In the earlier days, he would occasionally share some articles, and in these two years, there were more things related to daily life. Sometimes it would be a boring painting, sometimes it would be a picture of the hospital. Most of them weren’t very happy, some on the verge of sounding moody.

Jiang Ou had heard from doctors that patients with problems occuring in their brains would often end up like this: bad temper that changed like the weather. Just as she was zoning out, she mindlessly refreshed the screen and saw an additional status in Du Cheng’s gallery, posted just now—

He took a picture of the bedside drawer, on top of it was a fruit basket gifted by his friends and old classmates, and certainly including the flower Jiang Ou bought at the last minute. He captioned two words, seemingly random: I’m sorry.

The nonsensical rambles that came from illness would easily cause one to feel down too. Jiang Ou stared at the status for a while, and felt a little uncomfortable.

“That classmate of yours?” Sheng Mingyang asked.
“Mn,” Jiang Ou nodded.
“What’s the illness?”
“Cancer, it has already spreaded.”

Sheng Mingyang felt a little pitiful for him. “Today was in too much of a hurry, two days later, squeeze out some time to buy something, and I’ll accompany you to go visit him again. He’s probably around our age, if something happens to him, his wife and kids must feel very sad.”
Jiang Ou nodded. A while later, she said, sounding uncertain, “I think……he didn’t get married.”

*
Sheng Wang and Jiang Tian had settled on a place. The agent was rather quick, and the procedures were done in the blink of an eye. However, the landlord was on consecutive business trips, and they had to wait for him to return before they could get the entrance card and the keys.
There were only a few days left to this semester, the two figured they might as well move over after their finals.

The words Sheng Mingyang said that night was like the rainy day in this season, a dark cloud of grey hanging over the two’s heads. Jiang Tian and Sheng Wang silently agreed on skipping past that topic, neither of them brought it up on their own accord.

It was because they both understood — better than anyone else — that there was no way they could brashly charge over and tell Sheng Mingyang and Jiang Ou that they were already together, and they definitely couldn’t get in the two adults’ way to tell them to not get married.
There was no solution to this question for now.

The last few days before finals, plenty of day students willingly stayed behind for the last period of night self-study, even including the few from Class A. Gao Tianyang went to the water fountain to refill his bottle, and went to Jiang Tian’s table in square steps, saying, “Tian-ge, are you touched yet? You don’t need to take up the entire classroom by yourself anymore.”

The tip of Jiang Tian’s pen moved non-stop; he only looked up after he was done with a line of formula. “Why are you staying for another period?”
“His ass is so heavy he’s firmly seated in the last place of this class, nobody can drag him away,” Song Sirui interrupted, “now he’s feeling the fear again, he’s scared that he will be sent downstairs with a kick from Sheng-ge during finals.”
“Your ass is the one that’s heavy,” Gao Tianyang insulted him back without any mercy, and then asked, “Why aren’t you leaving too?”
Song Sirui said, “My mom declared that if I can enter the top five for the finals, she’ll reward me with a new phone.”
“How materialistic of you.” Gao Tianyang sat on the table, waiting for the bell signalling the start of class to ring. He turned and took a look behind, calling out, “Chili? Little Chili? Classmate Li Jia?”

Chili’s head was struck by his tiny ball of paper before she finally looked up. “What?”
“You’ve already scored first place in the level and you’re still working your butt off?” Gao Tianyang pointed at Jiang Tian, “The way this is going, don’t tell me you don’t intend for Jiang Tian to return to his throne?”

Chili peered at Jiang Tian and hurriedly looked away again. “None of your business.”
It was rare for someone as oblivious as Gao Tianyang to notice that something was off with someone for once. He asked, “Eh? I realise you’re kinda withered lately.”

After the cultural festival, Chili hadn’t exactly been in a good state. She accidentally stumbled upon a secret, and her first secret crush was put to an end just like that.
It wasn’t possible for her to feel unaffected at all, but it wasn’t as bad as she imagined it to be either. It was a particular type of sourness, she felt it whenever she looked at Jiang Tian, and even more whenever she looked at Sheng Wang. Only when she bantered with Gao Tianyang then she was temporarily relieved from that ache, yet this dumbass knew not a single thing at all, and stepped specifically on all her sore spots—

Jiang Tian finished up this question and kept his paper while they bantered, grabbing his bag.
Gao Tianyang hurriedly asked, “Why are you taking your bag? You’re skipping night self-study?”

Jiang Tian lifted his chin in the direction of the back door. “I’m heading to the lecture theatre.”
Gao Tianyang followed his line of sight, and finally saw that Sheng Wang had come up, and was leaning against the back door with a hand on his bag and another in his pocket.

“So lively today?” Sheng Wang asked.
“Sheng-ge!” Gao Tianyang and Song Sirui greeted him, and asked, “So Tian-ge usually goes to the lecture theatre for night self-study?”
Before Jiang Tian could speak, Sheng Wang cut in, “Yep, the atmosphere downstairs is better, more people around.”
The moment Gao Tianyang heard how the atmosphere was great, he immediately stuffed his book into his bag. “Then I’ll go too.”
Immediately after he said that, Sheng Wang, Jiang Tian, and Little Chili all turned to him in silence. Gao Tianyang stilled, and scratched his head. “What?”
Chili thought this right here is an absolute idiot, he’s so obtuse.

However, a few minutes later, a discerning person like her was dragged along by Gao Tianyang and Song Sirui — that pair of idiots — to the lecture theatre, and even insisted on sitting in directly front of Jiang Tian and Sheng Wang.
She heard Gao Tianyang turn behind, and lower his voice to say to the two, “I plan to live in the dorms next semester too, maybe I can discuss with the teacher or something, I want to stay with the two of you.”

“We aren’t living in the dorms next semester,” Jiang Tian said.
“Huh?” Gao Tianyang asked in confusion, “Then where will you be staying?”
“Renting,” Jiang Tian said.
“The two of you together?”
“Mn.”

Chili nudged the table behind her on instinct. She intended to remind him that with so many people in the lecture theatre, they need to be more careful with their words.
However, only after she reminded them then she realised that she was overthinking. There were countless number of students who rented near Fuzhong, there wasn’t anything inherently wrong with what they were saying.

She looked up awkwardly, and saw the few boys all staring at her in confusion.
Chili met Sheng Wang’s gaze and nearly couldn’t keep a poker face. She squeezed out after what felt like ages, “Y’all can continue whatever after lesson’s over.”

Perhaps her acting was too bad and couldn’t hide the fact that something was weighing on her mind, for the night self-study the next few consecutive days, Sheng Wang’s eyes kept landing on her whether intentionally or not. After she caught him doing that, he smiled apologetically and did not look at her anymore, like a restrained and yet polite form of observation.

There was only a sequel to this observation in the evening after finals ended.
On the way back home on the school bus, she received a message from Sheng Wang. He said: chili, can I ask you something.

The temperature had plummeted as of late, there was a sparse bit of rainfall in early morning, and it soon became snow. By the time evening arrived, the entire of Fuzhong was coated in a blanket of white. The snow wasn’t heavy, Sheng Wang and Jiang Tian weren’t carrying umbrellas. When they walked to the west gate, there was only a little dampness on their shoulders.

Sheng Wang fingers flew as he typed on his phone, traces of red appearing on the joints of his fingers.
“Who are you chatting with like you’re running out of time?” Jiang Tian glanced at him, and withdrew his hand from his pocket, grabbing his finger tip. He felt like he was touching a snow skin dessert.

Due to the snow, there was barely anyone outside of the west gate. Sheng Wang made use of the opportunity to plaster the entire back of his hand against his palm, covering it for a while before turning. And then he rubbed his fingers as he continued typing.
After he sent that, he finally looked up, saying, “Was just asking Chili about something.”

The bit of snow rolled off from his lashes, Jiang Tian caught it with the crook of his fingers. “What is it?”
Sheng Wang was about to speak when his phone screen lit up. He rubbed his joints, and waited for a few seconds before he unlocked the phone, his eyes lowered. He saw a new message in his WeChat window.

Chili: I saw it, it was during the cultural festival.

Just as I thought.
Sheng Wang thought.

He met Jiang Tian’s eyes, and the both of them stilled in the snow. He didn’t know what to reply for the moment. Just as he was deliberating over his words, his finger hovering above the screen, Chili sent another message.
She said: I didn’t tell anyone else.
She said: Don’t worry.

Sheng Wang paused for a long time, and his eyes suddenly crescented.
The first person in the know who expressed their opinion on this was seriously someone who was on their side, on his side with Jiang Tian. It was a little unexpected, but for some reason it seemed perfectly logical for this sentiment to come from Chili.

A friend didn’t actually mean much, neither did it resolve anything. Still, it parted the dark clouds temporarily, allowing them to breathe a little.
And so the winter break came just like this.

Fuzhong’s winter break was neither too long nor too short, it started from the 25th of the last month to the fifth day of Chinese New Year, avoiding the two peak periods of travel both in front and behind, vaguely making up 10 days. Before the holiday, the school held a simple grand assembly expressing a relatively uncomplicated sentiment: it would be the start of February once winter vacation ends, exactly a month from the minor gaokao at the start of March.

The so-called minor gaokao was the one in which they would participate in the exams for all the non-elective subjects all at once. For science students like Sheng Wang and Jiang Tian, they would have to go for the history, geography, and political studies paper. They would get a ranking based on their scores, and those who scored an A could get an additional mark for their gaokao, those who scored As for all four could get five marks.
As for candidates who failed minor gaokao, they would not be qualified to participate in the formal gaokao, so all major schools placed heavy importance on this exam.

According to Fuzhong’s tradition, the school would end lessons for their main subjects and strictly focus on these four, concentrating all their revisions for a month. According to Class A’s tradition, they only had one requirement: All As.
It wasn’t about “to their best abilities”, it was a “must”. Whoever that lost a single A was an embarrassment.

Therefore, Sheng Wang and the rest’s winter vacation homework found an entire stack of humanities papers in them, sort of counting as a warmup. If it was before, he would have definitely completed all the homework in the first few days of break. However, this time round was an exception.

The moment winter break had just begun, he became “occupied with official duties”. He would often sit cross-legged on the windowsill in Jiang Tian’s bedroom, his phone would buzz non-stop, busy with god knows what. For the first two days, Jiang Tian was busy rushing up the courseware for Chu-ge’s supplementary class, and didn’t manage to keep an eye on him too. By the time he looked up again after completing his work, Sheng Wang had already disappeared.

Both Sheng Mingyang and Jiang Ou were around, the two couldn’t afford to be too clingy with each other.
With the excuse of getting a glass of water, Jiang Tian went around the entire house, and did not find even a hair of a certain person. Therefore, he sent a message to Sheng Wang on WeChat upon returning to the bedroom.

Ok: Where?
You Say That Again: outside, you’re taking a break?

Jiang Tian raised an eyebrow — his sharp senses allowed him to tell something was up with the second half of the sentence — someone seemed to sneak out specifically while he was busy with work.

Ok: Why are you out?
You Say That Again: I have something going on, aren’t you gonna continue fiddling around with the software?
Ok: ……
A moment of silence, and Jiang Tian decided to head out to catch someone.

TO BE CONTINUED.