Chapter 86 Eight Seconds "I've thought about you for many eight seconds."

Li Yong lived in a remote old town area, a place filled with unfinished buildings—some unfinished, some abandoned by developers, some for various reasons… The whole place seemed desolate and quiet, so few people came and went. There was hardly any life around. He waited until Li Yong staggered upstairs before following him.

Li Leshan pulled his hat brim down further, concealing himself in the shadows of the stairwell. He guessed that Li Yong probably didn't live alone; perhaps he had accomplices, or perhaps he, like him, had also been released from prison.

Li Yong is back. Li Leshan squatted on the ground, starting to make plans for the future. He knew Li Yong too well; Li Yong would never leave before he had squeezed every last drop of money out of him. He had nowhere else to go, and he probably only managed to find Sheng Ping because he had already borrowed from and begged all his relatives back home.

Taking his grandmother with him? This was Li Leshan's plan before Li Yong returned. Once he went to university, he could take his grandmother somewhere else, anywhere would do, as long as they could stay away from Li Yong for the rest of their lives and have a peaceful life. But he wasn't given that much time. Before he grew up enough, before he became capable enough, before he could go far enough, Li Yong was released from prison.

He couldn't leave either. Li Leshan thought to himself, he still had to go to school. Even if he didn't go to school, Jiang Yueming was still here... But not going to school was not an option. He had to go to school, he needed to go to school. He didn't know about others, but for him, only going to school could change his fate, only going to school could give his grandmother a better life, only going to school could allow him to continue being with Jiang Yueming.

Ever since Grandma fell and hurt her leg, she hasn't been as healthy as before. Although she still acts the same as before, Li Leshan knows that it's just because Grandma doesn't want him to worry. She often mutters in pain at night, and sometimes the pain keeps her awake all night.

Given his grandmother's condition, he couldn't take her with him now; her body couldn't withstand such a near-vagrant lifestyle. If he could, Li Leshan was willing to bear the suffering, the pain, and the torment a thousand times over himself. He was willing to shoulder it all.

As long as he doesn't go looking for his grandmother or Jiang Yueming, Li Leshan repeatedly writes the character "Ming" on the cement ground with pebbles. He only has this one thought in his mind. He doesn't ask for much. As long as Li Yong doesn't go looking for them, he will accept whatever Li Yong does or wants.

Li Leshan admitted to everything.

He slowly stood up, wiped away the marks left by the pebbles on the ground with his foot, and then hurriedly left the place.

Before leaving, he looked back one last time. The stairwell was pitch black, like an endless abyss, with no end in sight. Li Leshan didn't know what was inside. But he knew that once he fell in, he would never be able to climb out.

"Wh-what?" Jiang Yueming frowned. Hearing this news was worse than the start of school tomorrow, worse than having unfinished homework checked on the first day of school. It was much worse.

"I'll wait for you, okay? The weather's slowly getting warmer." Jiang Yueming quickly replied, "I'm not afraid..."

Li Leshan shook his head. He had to rush to his part-time job at the shop after school and didn't have time to go home with Jiang Yueming. He certainly couldn't tell her what he was doing or that he was working. There was no need. So he made up an excuse, saying it was after-school training. He knew Jiang Yueming couldn't handle this kind of thing.

"Don't wait for me, I've been out very late." Li Leshan said sincerely, he didn't want Jiang Yueming to keep waiting for him. "Go home quickly after school, do your homework, do practice problems, rest... you have a lot to do too."

“But what I want most is…” Jiang Yueming looked at him expectantly, wondering if Li Leshan could understand his feelings. With homework, practice problems, and rest in mind, how could he possibly think about this?

"I want to too." Li Leshan knew what he was going to say. He wanted to go home to be with his grandmother, but then he realized he had more important things to do. He needed this job and he needed to earn this money.

"That must be too tiring," Jiang Yueming said with a hint of concern. "No matter what, you can't study that late, can you? Is your school really that desperate for students to get into Tsinghua or Peking University?"

"Don't worry about me." Li Leshan smiled gently, indicating that he didn't need to worry. "I can handle it."

He said that since he was going to do practice problems at home anyway, it was no different from doing them at school, and with more people around, there was a certain kind of learning atmosphere.

“How could I not be worried?” Jiang Yueming said logically. “I could count on my fingers how worried I am. With your condition, how many meals, sleep, and rest do you get enough of?”

Li Leshan lowered his head and nuzzled against his shoulder. He was indeed feeling tired; he hadn't had enough sleep during the winter break alone, and even his problem-solving speed had slowed down a bit. Time would only be tighter after school started, so tight that he might not have much time to think about anything else. Now, listening to Jiang Yueming's rambling voice in his ear, he felt a warm glow in his heart and didn't feel tired at all.

“That’s how it is,” Li Leshan looked at him, just like their homeroom teacher said, it’s not enough, not enough at all. This intensity of study is actually not enough; people have to push themselves and adapt to the intensity of the Tsinghua and Peking University classes as soon as possible. “Some students in our class are still studying until two or three in the morning…”

This is a true story. In order not to disturb his roommates' rest, he simply sat on the steps of the stairs to study. By the light of the incandescent light in the stairwell, he studied until two or three in the morning. This was seen by a classmate when he went to the toilet in the middle of the night.

"Wow," despite the admiring and surprised tone, he said it as a complete statement. Jiang Yueming was furious and had no admiration left; normally, he would have been completely awestruck. "You dare try imitating that."

Two or three o'clock? Are you crazy?

Li Leshan quickly shook his head, looking at his expression, not daring to refute him at all, because refusing at this time would definitely have dire consequences, "I won't learn, I won't learn."

“Lele,” Jiang Yueming’s tone softened and her voice became gentler, “I don’t mean anything by it. I know that your class is full of top students and geniuses. Their grades are so good that they could go up mountains and down to the sea. I also know that you have to catch up and you can’t fall behind, but I just don’t want you to be too tired.”

Looking at the weariness in Li Leshan's eyes, he felt a pang of heartache. Others might not notice, but how could Jiang Yueming not see it? He had watched Li Leshan grow up, and he knew that Li Leshan must also be under pressure. In this environment, if he didn't keep up, he would be surpassed; if he didn't fight hard, he wouldn't survive.

Li Leshan took his hand and gently squeezed his palm; the spot he squeezed felt a little hot and numb.

“You too,” Li Leshan began to instruct, “Don’t skip breakfast just to sleep in a little longer, be careful when playing basketball, pay attention in class and don’t get distracted.”

"I promise you everything else, but I really can't stop thinking about you," Jiang Yueming said. If he could control his mind, he would have gotten into Tsinghua and Peking University two or three times over. As a child, he would get distracted by racing and games, and as an adult, he would get distracted by Li Leshan. He has been a "professional mind-wanderer" since he was a child. No one can outrun him, not even Han Jiang.

"When we meet, I think about it; when we don't meet, I think about it three times a day, for eight hours each time," Jiang Yueming said with a mournful face. "Don't make things too hard on me."

If getting into university were as simple as "thinking about Li Leshan," Jiang Yueming wouldn't need to do anything but sit and think. He's not bragging, he'd be a shoo-in for the top scorer in the country; nobody can think like him, and nobody's thinking is as sincere.

"Then I can run for five minutes." Seeing his predicament, Li Leshan conceded, "I'll miss you too."

“That won’t do,” Jiang Yueming said hastily. At this moment, she was more decisive than anyone else. She couldn’t let Li Leshan be delayed, that was Jiang Yueming’s bottom line. “You can think about it after class.”

"But when you're in class..." Jiang Yueming started to ask, but hesitated, feeling that the question was too narcissistic.

Do you think about me during class? Good heavens, that's Li Leshan! He can't imagine Li Leshan daydreaming in class, thinking about romance. Asking that question must be out of his mind, a million times over. He's so busy he doesn't even have time to turn the page, who could he possibly think about? Thinking about Euclid, thinking about Einstein… that's not enough, how could he possibly have time to think about him?

"Yes, I will." But Li Leshan's words were completely unexpected by Jiang Yueming. "I will think about it twice in one class, once after finishing the problem, and once when discussing the problem."

Jiang Yueming was stunned, not expecting Li Leshan to say that. He immediately felt his ears burning and stammered for a long time without being able to say a word.

“One, one time is enough... one minute,” one minute was a bit too much, one minute was enough for Li Leshan to finish several problems, so Jiang Yueming quickly changed his mind, “five seconds, five seconds of thinking about me is enough.”

“Not enough.” Li Leshan gestured under his gaze. “It needs to be at least eight seconds.”

"Eight, eight...?" Jiang Yueming was puzzled and confused. How could there be whole numbers with odd or even numbers?

Why eight seconds? Why this specific number of seconds?

Under Jiang Yueming's questioning gaze, Li Leshan nodded firmly. He recalled those repeated strokes, sometimes on the test paper, sometimes on the textbook, sometimes on the draft paper. The scenes were different, but all those strokes were fixed. "It takes eight seconds to write your name once."

"I've thought about you for many eight seconds."

Time gallops forward at breakneck speed, eight seconds after eight seconds, accumulating into many minutes, hours, and days, giving people no chance to catch their breath.

Compared to Jiang Yueming, Li Leshan felt that time passed faster, more urgently, and more urgently. He carried heavy burdens on his shoulders and body, both from studying and from life. The only time he could catch his breath was eight seconds.

-----------------------

Author's Note: Snowing! Snowing! Although it's just drizzling, it makes me realize winter is really here [pity]. The wind was so strong last night, even though I was still sleeping soundly [droopy-eared bunny head].