Chapter 72 He couldn't speak for many years. "I didn't ask you to kiss me."...

"I can't understand it, I can't see it, I can't understand it." Jiang Yueming threw the physics test paper aside in a very unreasonable manner and sprawled on the bed.

He wondered what was going on. He had been looking forward to the National Day holiday, and now he was doing homework with Li Leshan? What had he been waiting for all this time?

Li Leshan glanced at him helplessly, bent down to pick up the test paper, and said, "Good boy."

"Am I not good?" Jiang Yueming lied through her teeth. "Am I not good? The fact that I can sit here properly now is the best I can do."

"Who are you comparing yourself to? Comparing yourself to Xiaobai isn't very obedient." Li Leshan gestured, knowing that Xiaobai was very well-behaved with him, always keeping its word and never standing if offered a seat.

"Why am I comparing myself to a dog? I'm not a dog," Jiang Yueming muttered.

“You’re just like Tian Tian,” Li Leshan said with a smile, recalling that quirky little girl.

Jiang Yueming wasn't particularly upset at first, but now her face was completely contorted. She raised her voice slightly, "Her? How do I resemble her? Are you deliberately trying to make me angry?"

Jiang Yueming was truly heartbroken. Did that girl's unreasonable behavior have even the slightest resemblance to her own?

"I was wrong." Li Leshan admitted his mistake extremely quickly.

"You're bullying me too." Jiang Yueming was unmoved.

also?

Li Leshan caught the word, and he quickly moved closer to Jiang Yueming, almost in front of him, his face filled with worry. He hurriedly used sign language, "What does 'also' mean?"

"What does 'also' mean? You have to ask. Have you forgotten your elementary school Chinese since starting high school?" Jiang Yueming asked, puzzled.

Li Leshan shook his head and continued, "'Also', what does that mean? Is someone bullying you?"

"Yes." Jiang Yueming pretended to be very serious, and seeing Li Leshan's worried look, her anger subsided a little.

"Who is it?" Li Leshan asked again. "Do I know this person?"

“I know him,” Jiang Yueming nodded.

After receiving a positive reply, Li Leshan frantically searched his memory for people he knew, and Wang Hao, whom he had almost forgotten, resurfaced. Had he caused trouble for Jiang Yueming again? Hadn't he been taught a lesson before?

"Please tell me, okay?" Li Leshan's expression was somewhat pleading.

Why does it sound like I'm the one bullying you? Jiang Yueming thought to herself.

“Then give me a kiss and I’ll tell you,” Jiang Yueming said.

He thought there would be no further developments, and that Li Leshan would probably realize he was teasing him and then go off to sulk.

The next second, I felt a little moisture touch the corner of my mouth, though it was fleeting.

...

? !

Jiang Yueming touched the corner of her mouth, her ears instantly turning a little red.

"No... I didn't ask you to kiss me," Jiang Yueming said, touching his lips a little embarrassedly. "Nobody bullied me, I was just teasing you."

Li Leshan stared into his eyes for a while, but made no further move.

"Lele, I really... I just wanted to tease you. Nobody bullied me. Who would dare to bully me? I have to say, the test paper bullied me, physics and math bullied me..." He rambled on and on, saying that no one in Chinese, math, English, politics, history, geography, physics, chemistry, or biology was immune to his bullying. He hugged Li Leshan, coaxing and apologizing, "I was wrong, I didn't mean to."

Jiang Yueming hugged him, kissing his cheeks, ears, and hair. "Please forgive me, okay? I promise I'll never make jokes like that again, and I won't let you worry about me."

Li Leshan turned around and glanced at him, then nodded. "Don't scare me."

"I'm not trying to scare you, I'm not trying to scare you," Jiang Yueming said hurriedly. He touched Li Leshan's chest, trying to comfort him, like a gentle pat on the chest that wouldn't frighten him. But he found that the man's heart was beating incredibly fast, as if he were about to ascend into the sky in a rocket.

Li Leshan's ears also turned slightly red. He silently pushed Jiang Yueming away and stopped urging him to do his homework. Urging this guy to do his homework felt like "shortening his lifespan." Jiang Yueming would look at you with pitiful eyes to soften your heart and make you not force him to do it. However, this trick was incredibly effective.

"I'll write it, okay?" Jiang Yueming picked up the physics problem and started working on it, grinning. "You kissed me, so I can't let you kiss me for nothing."

Anyway, I've already kissed him so many times for nothing. Li Leshan thought to himself indifferently.

He received an English exam paper instead of a physics exam paper. Upon closer inspection, he realized that the handwriting on the exam paper was not Li Leshan's, and when he looked at the name column, he found it was Xu Qing.

Why is Xu Qing's exam paper here? Jiang Yueming wondered. Although she and Li Leshan went to the same school, they were practically unrelated... Also, why is Xu Qing's paper here, but Han Jiang's isn't?

"Where did you get Xu Qing's exam paper?" Jiang Yueming asked casually.

Li Leshan glanced at the test papers and explained in sign language, "Xu Qing's English essay is a model essay, and it's been circulated in the class. She asked me to collect it for her and return it to her later."

Li Leshan continued gesturing, "I also want you to see."

"Huh? Where did she take English classes?" Jiang Yueming asked in surprise, not wanting to say anything more. He was genuinely curious about how this person's English had improved so rapidly; she must have enrolled in some classes.

“I don’t understand it…” Jiang Yueming glanced at the essay, “What subject-verb-object-attribute-adverb-complement, long and complicated sentences. I don’t understand a single word.”

He couldn't understand it either; learning English was a nightmare. He must have committed murder and arson in his past life to be learning English in this one. Jiang Yueming had mastered solid geometry and parabolas since childhood, but he had absolutely no clue how to learn English.

Jiang Yueming slumped against Li Leshan, inhaling the faint scent of laundry detergent on him. She didn't want to write a single question for a second; she just wanted to lean on Li Leshan's shoulder forever.

"Are you and Xu Qing on good terms?" Jiang Yueming thought to himself. He was just thinking about it, nothing more. Even if he did, it was out of sympathy for Han Jiangming. After all, Xu Qing treasured those exam papers so much; he'd never seen her give them away so easily. In all these years, Jiang Yueming had only seen them once or twice at Li Leshan's place.

"Lele," Jiang Yueming murmured to herself, "have you made any new friends at Shishi High School?"

Does anyone eat with you or do exercises with you during breaks? Jiang Yueming wasn't possessive or thought that dating meant you couldn't have friends. He just didn't want Li Leshan to be too lonely.

Li Leshan stopped using his pen to check his calculations, and looked at Jiang Yueming with a hint of doubt in his eyes.

“Making friends is fine,” Jiang Yueming said, his tone unusually serious, “but you have to find the kind of people who are good to you, you know?”

"No one has ever treated me better than you." Li Leshan slowly took Jiang Yueming's hand.

“No matter how good I am to you,” Jiang Yueming trailed off, “Yes, there’s someone who’s better to you than me, and that person is Grandma. But it’s not that simple. No matter how good I am to you, I’m not by your side.”

Li Leshan was silent for a moment, then asked in return, "And you? Have you made any new friends at school?"

New friend.

It seems not.

Does Cao Fan, this old friend, count?

Jiang Yueming has always been well-liked, both by the elderly and the young. She is eloquent, can take a joke, and doesn't get angry easily, so she has quite a few friends, although she only has a few close confidants.

After entering high school, he didn't pay as much attention to interpersonal relationships. He usually played basketball with Cao Fan, and ate with Cao Fan, since they were elementary school classmates.

Jiang Yueming paused for a moment, hesitated for a long time, and then said, "Yes, I did. I paid it."

"Are they all good to you?" Li Leshan asked again.

Actually, no one has been better to me than you. Jiang Yueming thought to himself, and he suddenly understood what Li Leshan meant earlier; so that's what he thought too.

“Okay, that’s fine,” Jiang Yueming said. “I just don’t want you to be so lonely, I don’t want you to be alone.”

"Han Jiang takes good care of me." Li Leshan smiled gently. "He always wants to have dinner with me and insists on taking me home."

Jiang Yueming scratched his head, trying to cover up his misunderstanding, "That's just how people from Hanjiang are, enthusiastic and a bit silly. But they have good hearts..."

Li Leshan nodded, "But he can't understand my sign language. He can't even understand thank you. I can only write it down each time. Luckily, he's patient enough to understand, but I don't want to bother him."

It's been almost six years since Jiang Yueming pestered Li Leshan to teach him sign language in elementary school, and he's also learned some on his own. To be honest, Jiang Yueming's sign language skills are far more advanced than his English. He can communicate with Li Leshan very smoothly, to the point that Jiang Yueming sometimes forgets that others can't understand what Li Leshan is saying.

For so many years, no one has been able to understand what Li Leshan is saying.

He told Li Leshan to make friends, but how can he make friends if he can't communicate with him? Isn't he making things difficult for Li Leshan? Does Li Leshan want to be alone and be by himself?

"Thank you for learning sign language for me back then," Li Leshan said with a smile.

Jiang Yueming stared at him in a daze.

He's always smiling now, Jiang Yueming thought. When he first met Li Leshan, he always seemed cold and aloof. Later, Li Leshan told him that he did it that way so that others wouldn't think he was easy to bully.

Actually, Li Leshan has a particularly handsome smile. His face, which usually looks a bit cold, softens instantly. His eyebrows and eyes curve together, and once you see him, you can't forget him.

"Ah..." Jiang Yueming said "oh" again, and smiled embarrassedly, "I haven't thanked you for teaching me back then. I was so stupid, but luckily I learned it."

Although the process was long and difficult, I'm glad I learned it, and I learned it quite well.

I will have to learn it eventually.

Jiang Yueming thought to himself, if not for Li Leshan this year, then for Li Leshan next year. He would have to study for Li Leshan eventually.

“You’re not stupid at all,” Li Leshan looked at him with sincere eyes, “You’re really smart.”

“You know what? Back then you said ‘I want to understand what I’m saying.’ I haven’t been able to speak for many years, and you were the first person to say that.”

Li Leshan still remembers that feeling. When he opened his eyes from the cold hospital bed, everything else seemed normal except for a burning sensation in his throat.

For the first time, he opened his mouth, but couldn't make a sound.

He did it a second time, a third time, a fourth time...

Thus, a silent world enveloped Li Leshan for many years. From childhood to adulthood, he had no friends, and no one could understand what he was saying. Such days gradually became sparse and ordinary.

“Lele,” Jiang Yueming kissed Li Leshan’s hair and whispered, “I will definitely not be the last one to say this, you believe me.”

“But I’m really happy that I was the first,” Jiang Yueming continued. “But I came too late… If we had met earlier, three or five years earlier, you wouldn’t have had to endure so much…”

“I’m very content,” Li Leshan turned and kissed his cheek. “I’m really, really lucky.”

He has been unable to speak for many years.

Until that summer afternoon, the Lijiang River was shimmering. A spirited young boy, slightly embarrassed, touched the tip of his nose and cautiously told him that he was learning sign language so that he could understand him speak.