MM | Chapter 14

Coordinating Stories

The rain was pouring down, soaking half of the corridor floor. The students who had been wandering outside vanished in an instant, retreating to their nests. Only Sheng Wang wanted to go out for some fresh air.

Sitting at his desk, he felt like a newly arrived monkey in a zoo, surrounded tightly by curious onlookers from all directions.

Gao Tianyang played the tour guide: “150 questions, are you even human?”

Perched on his desk, his voice naturally amplified, making sure the whole class could hear.

Those who indirectly copied Sheng Wang’s homework were at the forefront, chiming in: “Exactly, let alone getting them all right, I’d be satisfied if I got less than 10 wrong, really.”

“10 is a high bar for me, 20. If I get less than 20 wrong out of 150, I’d die laughing.”

“Ambitious!”

“The world has suffered from English for too long—if only the college entrance exam didn’t include English, Tsinghua and Peking University would be fighting over me!”

“Dream on!”

These guys were shameless, boasting so much that even the class committee rep, Song Sirui, couldn’t stand it. He squeezed through the crowd to scold them, then turned to Sheng Wang: “Hey, let’s discuss something.”

Sheng Wang sneezed twice, grabbed a tissue, and asked in confusion, “Why are you yelling at me?”

Song Sirui was momentarily speechless, then said with a laugh, “No, when you arrived, I said Xu dug up a school heartthrob. I usually call people by one character, so it just slipped out.”

Sheng Wang chuckled dryly: “That’s an interesting thought, can you change it?”

Song Sirui: “Sure, then just Sheng.”

“Or maybe kidney,” Gao Tianyang slapped him on the back, grinning wickedly, “Just call him Wang.”

“Screw you, you’re the dog,” Song Sirui cursed Gao Tianyang, then looked at Sheng Wang with a wronged expression, “Why do you have such a name?”

Sheng Wang laughed and said, “Sorry, it’s too late to change it now. Just call me whatever.”

“How about Sheng-ge, Sheng-ge?” Song Sirui suggested.

Sheng Wang was sipping water and grinned, “You’re making me feel a bit floaty.”

“First rule of Class A, whoever has the best grades is the ‘Ge,’ doesn’t matter where you’re from.” Song Sirui pointed casually, “Like the guy behind you, everyone calls him Ge.”

Leaning back in his seat, Sheng Wang continued drinking, his eyes glancing sideways.

In his peripheral vision, the seat behind him was empty. Jiang Tian was nowhere to be seen, even though the break had been over for more than twenty minutes.

Song Sirui called him brother a few times, then earnestly got to the point: “Next time, don’t give your papers to Gao Tianyang, okay? Our homeroom teacher said I should keep an eye on everyone and report anyone copying homework.”

“Did you report it?” Gao Tianyang laughed slyly.

“I’ve got it all written down, I’ll report it quarterly, just wait.”

Song Sirui wasn’t tall, always sitting in the front row in any class. With his sleeves rolled up, he looked like a poodle, and everyone in Class A liked to tease him. He never really had any authority, and his threats to report people never succeeded.

He nagged Sheng Wang for a while, only to hear a few “uh-huhs” in response. A moment later, Sheng Wang suddenly asked, “What did you just say?”

“…”

Song Sirui felt like jumping off a building.

“Sheng-ge, are you messing with me?” he asked, collapsing.

Sheng Wang withdrew his gaze from the back desk, sincerely apologizing with his water cup in hand: “Sorry, I spaced out for a bit.”

Song Sirui plopped down on Gao Tianyang’s chair, sighing, “I can’t stay in this class committee position anymore. Whoever wants it can have it. I’ll step down after this quarter.”

Sheng Wang looked guilty.

Gao Tianyang mouthed: Old habit, let him be.

Every few days, Song Sirui would make similar threats, but when it came time for elections, everyone would vote for him, keeping him stuck in the class committee position, unable to escape.

Gao Tianyang was popular, and so was Song Sirui. They and their group of friends chatted with Sheng Wang throughout the entire break. Listening to them, Sheng Wang recalled Sister Jing’s words—Intensive classes can be simple or complex.

From what he’d seen so far, these classmates seemed pretty simple.

As the break was about to end, the crowd around Sheng Wang dispersed.

His head was still dizzy, and his nose was uncomfortably blocked. He didn’t feel like doing exercises or reading, so he rested his head on the desk, hiding his hands to play a silly mobile game.

Just two levels in, someone passed by his desk.

He caught a glimpse of familiar shoes, accompanied by a folded umbrella dripping water, forming a line on the floor.

While controlling the little runner on the screen, he heard Gao Tianyang ask, “Tian-ge, where did you go? It’s pouring out there.”

The shoes stopped, and Jiang Tian’s voice came from beside him: “Went to the infirmary.”

Sheng Wang paused.

The infirmary???

He quietly raised his head, noticing Jiang Tian holding an umbrella in one hand and a white plastic bag with the infirmary logo in the other. The bag’s opening was narrow, making it hard to see what was inside.

“What did you go to the infirmary for?” Gao Tianyang asked curiously.

Yeah, what did you go to the infirmary for?

Sheng Wang glanced at the plastic bag, his mind racing with absurd thoughts.

It wasn’t his fault for overthinking. Jiang Tian seemed perfectly healthy, and he had just talked about the infirmary with Gao Tianyang that morning. The coincidence was uncanny.

…Could it be?

Sheng Wang looked up at Jiang Tian.

Over the past couple of days, he’d sensed that Jiang Tian, despite his aloof exterior, had a soft spot, at least for his mom.

Maybe… for others too?

If, Sheng Wang thought to himself, if Jiang Tian really went to get medicine, the next time Sheng Mingyang forced him to call him Ge, he might reluctantly oblige.

Of course, only as a formality.

Perhaps due to the boredom of being sick, Sheng Wang’s mind was particularly active. He was imagining scenarios when the plastic bag rustled. Jiang Tian opened one side to show the overly curious Gao Tianyang: “My mom burned her hand this morning, so I got two jars of ointment.”

Sheng Wang glanced inside the bag, spotting two small dark green jars, identical to the ones Auntie Sun had applied on Jiang Ou earlier.

He paused for a moment, mentally saying “oh,” and the scene he’d been constructing vanished.

Gao Tianyang chatted with Jiang Tian for a bit more, but Sheng Wang didn’t pay much attention.

Soon, Jiang Tian closed the bag and turned to head back to his seat. As he lifted his foot, his gaze inexplicably shifted, meeting Sheng Wang’s.

The moment their eyes met, Sheng Wang lowered his gaze.

The little runner on his phone had long since fallen to its death. He hit restart, his thumbs sliding across the screen.

Outside, the sky was dark, and the classroom was lit by cool-toned fluorescent lights, casting square patches of light on the phone. Half the screen showed the little runner jumping silently between cliffs, while the other half reflected the silhouette of the person beside him—

Jiang Tian stood in that position for two seconds before returning to his seat.

For the rest of the day, Sheng Wang’s luck was terrible. Every silly game he played ended in instant failure, frustrating him into shutting off his phone and burying it deep in his bag.

Evening self-study ended at 8 PM. With an extra grade level, the school was much livelier at night. Homeroom teacher He Jin came into the classroom right at dismissal to hurriedly announce the new school bus schedule. By the time she left, most people in the Grade 2 Senior building had already left.

Sheng Wang packed his bag and was about to stand up when Gao Tianyang suddenly tapped him: “Hey, got plans tonight?”

“Just homework, why?” Sheng Wang replied.

“Besides homework? Nothing, right?”

Sheng Wang nodded.

Gao Tianyang snapped his fingers: “Then come with me. Qi’s brother opened a barbecue place outside the north gate. It’s the grand opening today, and we’re gathering some people to liven it up. There’s not much homework tonight, so it’s a rare chance to relax. Wanna come?”

Due to his cold, Sheng Wang wasn’t really hungry. But he was in a phase where he didn’t want to go home, especially today, mainly to avoid Jiang Ou.

Her kindness left him at a loss. He couldn’t bring himself to embarrass her, but he also couldn’t bring himself to accept or get close to her.

So he thought for a moment and said to Gao Tianyang, “Alright, I’ll go. Who else is coming?”

Gao Tianyang gestured around, and those still lingering in the classroom grabbed their bags: “Me, you, the class committee rep, the class monitor, Qi, Monkey, Dahua—”

“Enough,” Sheng Wang said, exasperated, “Any more names and I won’t remember them.”

“A dozen or so, just right for a big table,” Gao Tianyang said.

Song Sirui, with his backpack on, came over and asked, “Ready?”

“Let’s go,” Gao Tianyang called out, “Qi Jiahao and the others went to the restroom. Let’s meet them over there.”

Sheng Wang slung his bag over his shoulder, glanced at an empty seat, and asked, “Aren’t you and Jiang Tian pretty close? Didn’t invite him?”

Gao Tianyang replied, “Not just close, we’re childhood friends.”

Sheng Wang was surprised: “Childhood friends?”

“Yeah, from the same residential area,” Gao Tianyang said. “He never joins these kinds of outings. He’s always busy with something.”

He raised an eyebrow and added, “But I’m surprised you asked about him.”

“Surprised about what?”

“On your first day, didn’t you two have a spat? And apart from Sister Jing making you look at test papers together, I haven’t seen you talk much. I thought you didn’t know him at all and would rather he didn’t come.”

Sheng Wang nodded, “We’re not really familiar.”

Aside from entering the same door at night, they really weren’t familiar.

As he chatted with Gao Tianyang, Sheng Wang turned on his phone. As soon as the screen unlocked, several WeChat notifications popped up. Gao Tianyang didn’t think much of it and leaned over: “Do you need to let your family know?”

Sheng Wang pressed his lips together. He never really needed to inform his family, just Uncle Xiao Chen, the driver.

He opened WeChat, intending to find Xiao Chen, when he noticed a red dot on the top conversation, indicating a new message. The conversation was labeled: Jiang Tian.

Sheng Wang instinctively opened it and found that Jiang Tian had sent him two messages, just before evening self-study ended.

Jiang Tian: I’ll be back late today.

Jiang Tian: If asked, say it’s competition tutoring.

Finally, some people know to coordinate stories in advance, while Gao Tianyang beside him was already scared to death.