Chapter 5: Doesn't he find it pointless to try and understand what you're saying? ...

Even if he walked two hundred miles, or even to the ends of the earth, Jiang Yueming would still want to see it.

He continued to squat down and do his homework with a gloomy face, copying ancient poems, translations, and annotations.

After copying it, you still have to memorize it for Yin Guiying!

After memorizing, you also have to write it from memory!

Jiang Yueming had a terrible headache, but he could only watch helplessly as it was already 4:30. With only half an hour left before get out of class ended, he knew he wouldn't be able to leave if he didn't finish his homework soon. So, he hurriedly started scribbling on his workbook.

“Report—Teacher Yin!” Jiang Yueming seized the opportunity and suddenly spoke up.

"Finished writing?" Yin Guiying asked, the child had finally finished writing.

"I need to pee—" He planned to use the same trick again, after all, everyone has to pee sometimes, and this trick never fails.

Before Jiang Yueming could finish speaking, Yin Guiying's face darkened. "If you don't finish writing and memorizing, you're not even allowed to go to the toilet! No way! If you manage to run away again, who am I supposed to complain to?"

Even appealing to God won't help.

"Go and reason with Cuicui," Jiang Yueming said with a smile.

“It’s no use arguing with anyone!” Yin Guiying said. She glanced at the time and sighed. “Then you can recite ‘Qing Ping Le: Village Life’ and I won’t let you copy it.”

"Really?!" Jiang Yueming suddenly stood up, feeling a wave of dizziness and darkness wash over her.

However, this stuff is not easy to memorize. There are quite a few characters and a lot of new words. At this time, Jiang Yueming was particularly envious of Li Leshan. Did he not have to memorize the texts? And would he not be kept after school?

"A thatched cottage, low and small, green grass by the stream... white hair, white hair..."

Oh no, I'm stuck again. Yin Guiying thought to herself.

Jiang Yueming furtively glanced at the textbook on the stool. Taking advantage of Yin Guiying's distraction while she was talking to someone, he quickly flipped the textbook to the page of ancient poems, glanced at the poem, and continued, "Whose white-haired old couple are they?"

"What does '翁媪' mean?" Yin Guiying asked.

"Who knows? You'd have to ask Xin Qiji, not me," Jiang Yueming thought to himself.

Anyway, he finished reciting it in a stumbling, guessing way. He kept getting stuck and his recitation was inaccurate. The bell was about to ring, and seeing his "let me go" expression, Yin Guiying let Jiang Yueming off the hook. She took a bottle of milk out of her desk drawer and gave it to Jiang Yueming.

"Drink more milk, it will help you grow taller," Yin Guiying said. That's what she said, but Jiang Yueming is not young anymore, and he is quite tall compared to his peers.

"Thanks, Teacher Yin!" Jiang Yueming grabbed the milk and tried to run away.

"The bell hasn't rung yet!" Yin Guiying shouted.

"Attack immediately!" Jiang Yueming shouted.

Where is this kid rushing off to with that hurried look on his face? Yin Guiying thought to herself, he's probably off playing games somewhere again. But seeing Jiang Yueming's carefree attitude, she was actually quite happy. At least this kid is easygoing, doesn't overthink things, and lives a happy life, which is good.

Yin Guiying comforted herself and cheered herself up. She casually picked up Jiang Yueming's "masterpiece" from the stool and glanced at it. The scribbles on it immediately caught her eye. The beginning was normal and resembled a person, but towards the end, it became just symbols without any words.

She suddenly felt a sharp pain in her heart from anger. She was determined to make Jiang Yueming pay for it when he came to school tomorrow.

Yin Guiying really didn't expect that the child had gone to wait for someone at the entrance of Class 2. The person he was waiting for was Li Leshan, whom he had been eagerly waiting for for two miles.

Jiang Yueming peeked out, while Li Leshan sat in the last row, listening intently as Tian Xiaoyun explained the last math problem.

He vaguely heard some rustling sounds, turned his head and saw Jiang Yueming squatting at the door, waving at him.

Startled, Li Leshan dropped his pen and book to the ground with a loud thud, which was particularly clear in the quiet classroom.

Tian Xiaoyun initially thought this was a silent protest from Li Leshan, since two minutes had already passed since class ended. She apologized somewhat sheepishly, saying that the question was indeed a bit difficult and they would discuss it again tomorrow.

"What are you going to do?" Li Leshan asked in sign language.

Jiang Yueming sneaked into Class Two to pick up Li Leshan's books from the floor. The edges of Li Leshan's books were curled up, and the covers were tattered. Knowing Li Leshan's personality, it couldn't have been him who wore them out. It must have been Wang Hao and his bunch of idiots.

Jiang Yueming was furious, but she didn't say anything. She tidied up the books and placed them on Li Leshan's desk.

"Here you go." He placed the milk on the table along with the milk. "Drinking milk will help you grow taller."

"You think I'm too short?" Li Leshan gestured with his hand.

Jiang Yueming blinked, unable to understand. His sign language skills were limited to simple words like "eat" and "go home from school." His sign language repertoire didn't extend to those kinds of words; he couldn't process anything beyond four characters.

He spoke to himself, completely oblivious to the situation, "Look, you're half a head shorter than me."

Half a ton. But Jiang Yueming exaggerated.

Li Leshan heard everything clearly but couldn't be bothered to argue with this person. In fact, Li Leshan wasn't short at all; he was taller than most people his age. It was just that Jiang Yueming was too tall.

As he walked out of the school gate, he saw Wang Hao again. This time, he was accompanied by two unfamiliar faces, wearing the uniforms of the vocational school next door. The two men had their uniforms loosely draped over their shoulders, smoking cigarettes, and looking like street thugs. Those who couldn't get into university were diverted to vocational schools or technical colleges, and Wang Hao had clearly already entered the "reserve force."

Jiang Yueming's eyes darkened, and he subtly took a half-step forward, placing Li Leshan behind him. He'd been walking with Li Leshan every day for the past week, and Wang Hao hadn't found an opportunity to make a move. He truly couldn't understand what Wang Hao was after; was he just taking advantage of Li Leshan's inability to speak? Purely boredom!

Li Leshan also saw the group of people. He glanced at them, then quickly lowered his eyes and continued walking.

After a while, Jiang Yueming started rambling again. He had a lot to say and talked from beginning to end without asking Li Leshan for any response. Li Leshan simply nodded or shook his head, which was his response.

The Lijiang Bridge is 200 meters long, not a particularly large bridge. It was just completed in the autumn of 1995. On the nineteenth day of the first lunar month in 1996, fireworks were set off on the bridge—a lavish affair that lasted at least an hour or two—to celebrate the completion and opening of the Lijiang Bridge. From then on, it became Jiang Yueming's only way home. Taking this route back would save at least five minutes.

There's an ice rink under the bridge, where Jiang Yueming has fallen many times.

"Li Leshan, have you ever gone down to the river to catch fish?" Jiang Yueming leaned on the bridge railing and looked down. The small boat was slowly moving on the water, and there were several fishermen fishing nearby.

“You see that over there? You definitely won’t catch any fish there,” Jiang Yueming said matter-of-factly. “You have to go to the other side of the river to fish; there are more fish there.”

Li Leshan shook his head. He said he couldn't swim.

Jiang Yueming didn't understand, but she could guess at a smattering of it. She quickly changed her tune, "Actually, catching fish isn't that fun. I'll take you to do something else sometime."

They continued talking to themselves, but Li Leshan also had many questions. For example, was he really offering to take him home because it was on his way? Wasn't he afraid of retaliation from Wang Hao and his gang? And why did Jiang Yueming talk so much?

However, Li Leshan genuinely couldn't speak. It was a chronic illness he developed as a child, but living with his scoundrel father at the time delayed his treatment, and they didn't have the money for it. By the time he finally wanted treatment, his vocal cords were severely damaged, and he could no longer speak.

He remained silent for a long time, knowing that his silence would make him seem particularly out of place. Over the years, he had become accustomed to being a downer simply because he couldn't speak well.

But looking at the spirited young man in front of him, Li Leshan felt a little lost: Doesn't he think being with me is boring? Doesn't he find it disappointing? I can't even give him a single word.

"Li Leshan, can you teach me sign language?" Jiang Yueming suddenly asked.

If Han Jiang heard this, he would definitely say that Jiang Yueming, who doesn't even want to study textbooks, actually wants to learn new things. It's like the sun has risen in the west and a novice can climb a tree!

Li Leshan stared at Jiang Yueming for a long time, making Jiang Yueming feel a little uneasy. He touched his nose and lowered his voice: "I... I didn't mean anything by it. I just wanted to understand what you were saying."

He also wanted to communicate with Li Leshan without any barriers. He wanted to understand him and know what he was thinking, not through a veil of paper or by guessing.

After a long while, long enough that Jiang Yueming thought Li Leshan would most likely refuse, and long enough that Jiang Yueming was a little disappointed, she finally saw Li Leshan nod.

"You agreed!" Jiang Yueming perked up again. "Don't worry, I'll learn very quickly!"

"By then, I'll know everything you say. You can say whatever you want. Whether it's Wang Hao or someone else bullying you, or something else that happened, you can tell me everything." Jiang Yueming grinned. "I won't let you teach me for nothing. I can run errands for you, buy you meals, and even bring you Cui Cui's special skill—Cui Cui's braised pork ribs!"

He could even steal Han Jiang's dog to play with Li Leshan.

Li Leshan laughed again. When he laughed, his eyebrows rose and his eyes narrowed. He looked especially handsome and charming. Jiang Yueming was stunned for a while before asking Li Leshan, "What were you laughing about during PE class today?"

We couldn't really be laughing at him for jumping rope. Actually, Jiang Yueming's technique is quite good, really good! It was just a mistake that made it look a little comical. But it was purely accidental!

"I laughed?" Li Leshan was a little confused. He didn't have that impression himself. He only remembered seeing Jiang Yueming jumping rope with the girls, and then that person suddenly tripped him... He probably did laugh, because Jiang Yueming's appearance at the time was indeed quite funny.

Why was this boy, who could get along with anyone and was so different from him, getting along so well with everyone? Why was he so willing to talk to him so much? And why did he want to understand what he was saying? Li Leshan had many questions in his mind, but faced with Jiang Yueming's bright and sparkling eyes, Li Leshan somehow couldn't refuse.

"Li Leshan, tomorrow is Friday, you'll have to teach me then! Don't forget!" Jiang Yueming shouted.

Li Leshan wanted to say, why does Jiang Yueming always speak so loudly? He's just mute, not deaf.

"I'm leaving!" Jiang Yueming waved to him. "Remember to drink the milk, so you can grow tall!"

He stood there watching the energetic young man run and disappear from his sight. The setting sun shone on Jiang Yueming's shoulders, somewhat dazzling. It made Li Leshan close his eyes.

"Okay. Got it," Li Leshan thought to himself.

A note from the author:

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Thank you to Whale Fall Baby and Orchid Fruit Baby for the nutrient solution!