A Certain Someone ( The On1y One ) Chapter 104 – Dog Food

(T/N: Dog Food refers to PDA shown by couples, it is what that gets fed to “single dogs”, a term to refer to single people)

Time Is Rather Magical.

The whole table of geese — no wait, people — were all looking at Jiang Tian with their necks stretched out, appearing to be trying their best to sustain a lighthearted atmosphere; they probably didn’t want to worsen the awkwardness between two certain people.
Jiang Tian took off his coat and hung it on the rack under the round gazes of the masses, and then walked next to Gao Tianyang, his hand reaching out to grab the back of the chair. His eyes shifted up, and glanced at that idiot. “You’re the one who arranged the seats?”
Gao Tianyang’s head was tilted up. “……Ya.”
Jiang Tian nodded. He made a thumbs up at him, like he was mocking him or something, and then carried the chair all the way next to Sheng Wang, placing it down with a clang.
……
The entire private room was dead quiet.
Mostly because of confusion.

A server with a round face came in to add in two additional glasses of water for Sheng Wang and Jiang Tian, and brought a bucket of crushed ice upon Sheng Wang’s request. The server closed the door to the private room. Sheng Wang added a bit of ice to his and Jiang Tian’s still empty beverage glasses, and pushed the bucket of ice opposite him, calling out, “Old Gao.”
Gao Tianyang’s soul only travelled back from the land of confusion after all of that happened. He tugged the ice bucket till it’s right in front of him, but forgot to add them into his glass anyway. Instead, he held the bucket tightly, asking, “No wait, what’s the situation between the two of you now???”
“It is exactly what you’re seeing now.”

Gao Tianyang attempted to establish an eye contact of solidarity with Little Chili, but Little Chili’s eyes weren’t on him at all. Her hand rose above the people squeezing around her, and she explained to Sheng Wang and Jiang Tian, “I didn’t want to shift, I’ve already thought something’s not right the moment you two entered. They’re the ones who forced me to, not even a mountain can stop him once he starts squeezing—”

She patted Gao Tianyang’s dog head, saying, “Don’t look at me, hurry and shift to the side already. My chair has four legs and one of them is still in the air.”

Therefore, with question marks still floating above the heads of this group of people, they shifted all of their chairs back with clangs and bangs. And then they turned to look at Sheng Wang and Jiang Tian in unison.
Song Sirui was the nearest, and received the greatest impact. He finally couldn’t resist anymore, and asked, “So……you two are gucci again?”
Sheng Wang made eye contact with Jiang Tian, and turned the glass on the table with a laugh. “Yeah, we’re back together again.”

The table of people all turned to glare at Gao Tianyang in unison.
“Old Gao, tell me, is this not embarrassing at all!” Song Sirui admonished, “What kind of shitty military intelligence did you give? Are you toxic?”
“You’re the toxic one, I’m done so dirty!” Gao Tianyang shouted at Sheng Wang from afar, “Sheng-ge! We’ve been bros for so many years, you have to stand up for me! I called you last week, did you not say that if I invited Tian-ge, you wouldn’t come?”
What followed rapidly after this idiot spoke was an “ow”, because his foot received a crushing from Little Chili’s high heels.

Jiang Tian held the glass loosely in his hand, and turned to face Sheng Wang. “You said that?”
Sheng Wang: “……”
He sighed and grabbed a menu off-handedly, standing it upright by the side of his face. It shielded Jiang Tian’s gaze from him. He said to Gao Tianyang, “You’re truly toxic.”
“It’s been literal years, and you still can’t tell the situation at all,” Chili added.
One of Gao Tianyang’s foot was tucked away, he looked rather aggrieved. “Who would have thought they would be that fast.”

“How could you say that?” Song Sirui snubbed him, “You can’t just use the word ‘fast’ to describe men.”
“What’s it got anything to do with you? Be more civilized, can’t you see that our class monitor’s entire head is already red?” Gao Tianyang retorted.
Chili rolled her eyes, and hugged Little Carp’s— the class monitor, who was next to her — elbow, saying, “We’ve graduated for so long, this group of boys is still so……”
Idiotic.
Carp said, “Yeah.”

Sheng Wang still liked to spin his pencil around. When he was ordering food, the pencil spun into oblivion on his slender fingers. Jiang Tian was still as taciturn as before, and would occasionally come up with the coldest burns. Matched with the look of utter bafflement on Sheng Wang’s face, or the “are You in lack of a beating” expression, the entire table could lose their minds from laughter.

Gao Tianyang could still gabble non-stop like before, he could slide into conversations between any two people, and any topic could be expanded upon as wide as the sea — he was a tanned “socialite”. Song Sirui was still like a giant goose, catch him and he could get nipped at, and then he would return the nip in even greater force.

Little Chili was as fiery as ever, whoever that joked about her would all be slammed back by her — except now the range of people shrank, and she hit mostly Gao Tianyang.
Carp was studying clinical medicine, and her academic journey was lengthening visibly. Compared to Jiang Tian, who applied for a Phd straight away, she was nothing to laugh at either. She still liked to put her hair up in a simple ponytail, she would still get embarrassed all too easily, and flush till her entire face turned red whenever somebody teased her.
……

They most certainly went to different universities, they went all over the place, they’d met new classmates and friends, they’d gather and chat with them more often, they’d cross each other’s paths in life and work. Yet for some reason, if they were asked, the closest group of people to them, the ones they remembered dearly the most…had always been the group from Class A.
Perhaps it was because they had all witnessed each other’s era of youth, witnessing their most passionate, but also the most idiotic selves.

The third time Sheng Wang picked out ice cubes into the glass, Carp suddenly couldn’t hold herself back anymore. “Do you know that it’s currently winter?”
“Yeah?” A small grin broke out on Sheng Wang’s face, “It’s even more than -10 degrees below outside.”
“……” Carp asked in all sincerity, “Aren’t you cold?”
“Goddamn, someone finally said it.” Song Sirui pulled out a bottle of beer and popped it open with the edge of the table. “I’ve been wanting to say this ever since the server came in with the ice bucket. Dude, you’re eating ice in the middle of literally winter — are you sure you don’t need a checkup at the hospital? See if you have some disorder of not being able to tell the temperature or something.”
“To hell with that,” Gao Tianyang scolded.

“Old Song, I’m telling you: the popsicles sell like hotcakes the most during winter back in my old school,” Sheng Wang said. “Wanna guess why?”
Song Sirui bought into his nonsense, and asked earnestly, “Why?”
“It’s because we have central heating.” After Sheng Wang said, then let out an “oh” pretentiously. “Yeah, you guys didn’t have that, you can’t relate to that joy.”

“I—” Song Sirui was so crossed that he grabbed an empty bowl as a weapon.
Sheng Wang leaned back with a cackle, avoiding his range of attack. Coincidentally, Jiang Tian was right up against his back.
The study rep had failed in his attempt of violence, and even got a mouth stuffed full of dog food in return. He set the bowl down heavily, and could only come up with a “Fuck!”

Carp — who also did not get to experience the joy of central heating — felt the unfairness of it too. She silently poured a half glass full of beer, and joined cahoots with the few JiangZheHu classmates. Under Song Sirui’s lead, they toasted the Beijing delegation in a frenzy.

They may be a delegation, but in reality there were only two of them — Chili had yet to recover from her cold and was supposed to abstain from alcohol due to her medication. Therefore, she sent out her boyfriend. The moment Sheng Wang arrived, he flashed his keys and said he would be driving — so he sent out his boyfriend too.

This stirred up the JiangZheHu delegation’s fighting spirit even more, since despite the years of friendship, Gao Tianyang and Jiang Tian’s ability to hold their alcohol had always been a mystery. Either way, those present had never witnessed what they were like as drunks, so they insisted on making them drink as much as possible with much enthusiasm.

At the start, they could come up with some semblance of a reason, what with “Let’s welcome Tian-ge for coming back to this country, cheers to that”, “It hasn’t been easy for Tian-ge and Sheng-ge, cheers to that”, “Old Gao has gotten a promotion at work, cheers to that”.
Eventually it became a “I can’t believe Chili managed to stand a dumbass like you, you must drink to that”, “Tian-ge, you have a cat, right? Wishing the cat good health, let’s clink our glasses to that.”

After they managed to come up with all the reasons they could, they had to look for more fun things to do. The whole group of people had aged for so many years for nothing it seemed — when it came to party games for the dining table, their first thought was still the “Seven” from those years ago.
Gao Tianyang was incredibly familiar with the boss here. He raised his hands and volunteered, “The boss has some tools, hold on — I’ll go get them from the server.”
“There’s still tools?” Song Sirui’s capacity for alcohol did grow ever since he started working, and managed to forcibly hold on up till now. His gaze was a little unfocused, that’s all.

Everyone only realised that the so-called “tools” in his words was a set of cards used for truth or dare when he came in with a little box. Pre-made questions and dares were on the cards; whoever lost, whoever had to pick one.

If the person couldn’t make themself tell the truth, nor bring themself to carry out the dare, then they only needed to obediently take a drink. Song Sirui and the few clapped the table in delight when they saw the rules — they were already shameless, and were fine with doing anything. With this, they could skip out on alcohol and hang on for a while more.
However, Jiang Tian was different. It’s been so many years, could they really not know Jiang Tian’s personality by now? He definitely wouldn’t choose any of the two options, and just go drinking straight away. That fit their plan perfectly!

Therefore the table of people rolled up their sleeves and were instantly game.
At the start, Jiang Tian didn’t really mind. After all, he had a faster reaction, and had never lost at playing games like this before. However, he eventually became a little resigned……no matter the speed of his reaction, he couldn’t stand up against a certain young master who was acting out knowing just how much he got Jiang Tian wrapped around his fingertips, and was setting him up with everything he could.
After they survived the fourth round by the skin of their teeth, Jiang Tian brought Sheng Wang’s drinking glass up and took a sniff.

“What are you doing?” Sheng Wang looked askance at him.
“You added beer inside?” Jiang Tian asked.
“Nope.”
“You didn’t drink much?”
“I’m very sober.”
Jiang Tian looked at the mirth in his eyes that said he’s up to no good, and couldn’t resist after holding back for a few seconds. “Can you tell who’s with who clearly?”
“I totally can,” Sheng Wang said, “If I lose, it’s all on you.”
Jiang Tian: “……”

In the sixth round, the very sober young master Sheng had finally sabotaged his boyfriend off his throne of eternal victory. Jiang Tian side-eyed a certain person with a headache.
Song Sirui was already high from drinking. He stood there, gesturing, “Here! Tian-ge! Pick one: this stack here is truth, and this other stack here is dare. Pick a card from a stack. It’s okay, we won’t force you though; you can just drink if you don’t wanna pick. Not too much, just three glasses is enough.”

As he spoke, he already grabbed the beer bottle, and was absolutely ready to start pouring one out for Jiang Tian, only to hear the other person calmly saying, “Then I’ll pick a card.”
Song Sirui was stunned. “Huh? You seriously want to pick a card? Which stack?”
His words barely came out of his mouth and Jiang Tian had already selected a card from the truth pile.

More accurately, he didn’t select one — he flipped over the one at the very top instantly. The group all closed in to look, and saw what was written on the card: When is the last time you kissed?

This question was nothing out of the ordinary, but it had an unusual effect when used in conjunction with Jiang Tian. Those present had only witnessed his cold and aloof self, and found it difficult to connect him with terms like dating, kissing and all.

A suggestive silence filled up the private room.
Jiang Tian shot a glance at Sheng Wang, and set the flipped over card down at the side of the table, answering plainly, “Today.”

It clearly was a simple word, but Sheng Wang felt his face turning a little red. He maintained a serenity on the surface, and brought the glass up, drinking a mouth of milk with ice added in it. When he looked up again, he discovered that everyone had turned to look at him on instinct.
……
Fuck.

Young master Sheng put down his glass without a single word, and felt like he had managed to set himself up all the way to death.
He reflected for a few seconds, and heard his Ge tilt his head nearer to him, asking under his breath, “Did you have fun being cheeky?”

After a few rounds, nothing had yet to really happen to Jiang Tian, who was being sabotaged; those who were trying to make him drink had first lost it instead. Song Sirui waved his hand, saying, “Nah, I’m not playing anymore. This is too much to take, I can’t stand it anymore. I have to be an absolute moron, what on earth was I thinking, playing truth or dare with two couples. I’m about to explode from all this goddamn dog food!”

From then, the few single dogs started to make a fuss. With the reason being that their spirits were hurt, they dragged Gao Tianyang and Jiang Tian into yet another round of drinks. By the time the two were genuinely a little drunk already, Song Sirui was no longer quite steady on his feet.

His elbow was slung over the back of the chair, and sprawled against it, pulling himself together for a while. He suddenly blabbered, “Tian-ge, Sheng-ge, I don’t know if you two……you two still remember this person.”
Sheng Wang asked for a glass of warm water from the server and passed it to Jiang Tian. Upon hearing that, he stilled, and turned to face him. “Who?”
“I’ve actually mentioned this to Old Gao before—”
“And I told you before not to bring it up.” Gao Tianyang’s reaction was a little slow already; he called from a few people away.

“Eh, I know.” Song Sirui waved, indicating for him to cut out the crap, “Old Gao said you two probably couldn’t be bothered, but I can’t hold it back, so Imma just make it short.”
“Go on,” Sheng Wang said.
“I’m in the municipal administration, right?” Song Sirui said, “Sometimes, I’ll end up crossing paths with construction matters. And then around the first half of this year, I think, there’s a safety accident that occured in the construction site over in the development zone, so people are getting held legally accountable. Criminal responsibility, in fact. Sheng-ge, guess who I saw in the list of people in charge?”
Sheng Wang had a vague feeling, but he still prompted, “Who? An old classmate?”
“Qi Jiahao.”

Upon hearing this name, Sheng Wang was sent into a trance for a while. Much longer later, he let out a very slight “oh”, and was unexpectedly undisturbed. “Criminal responsibility? Then wouldn’t he end up with a criminal record?”
“Yeah.” Song Sirui nodded. “Isn’t his dad doing some construction contract thing? Of course, the scale isn’t too big. Didn’t he panic and flunk his gaokao? Think he ended up working under his dad after he graduated. In the end, they didn’t properly follow through with the safety protocols, so those things happened, and they have to pay a lot of money. Apparently they are borrowing money left and right.”
Gao Tianyang cursed from afar. “Deserved!”
Song Sirui said, “I just wanna let you two know.”
Sheng Wang nodded.

He had Qi Jiahao to thank for these friends and classmates finding out about him and Jiang Tian. Ever since that day, his life started to derail, becoming nothing of what it should have been. If he said he didn’t mind, nor did he hold any hatred, he would be lying. But more often than not, he was too busy to even think about that person at all. As time passed, he could not even recall what the person looked like.

When he was seventeen, the person named Qi Jiahao was the fuse that led to the explosive changes in his life to him; now, all he was was a minor character without any defining features in his life. So irrelevant, that he only existed for barely a few minutes in the drunken blabbers post-drinking.
Time is rather magical.

TO BE CONTINUED.