Chapter 110 Living Together "Did Li Yong hit you again?"...
In May and June, it gets very hot in Shengping. The heat and stuffiness are especially pronounced this summer, affecting not only the weather but also one's mood.
The ceiling fan overhead was humming, just spinning around without blowing any air.
"Damn it." Jiang Yueming stood up from his seat in frustration, startling Cao Fan who was standing next to him.
Cao Fan was puzzled. He quietly moved his stool further away from Jiang Yueming. This kid had really changed lately, like a firecracker, ready to explode at the slightest touch, shooting skyward without hesitation, giving no one time to react, and causing a huge scattershot.
The day before yesterday, some unlucky kid from one of the classes was talking a little too loudly and saying something vulgar at the classroom door. I don't know if he was disturbing Jiang Yueming's sleep or what, but this kid picked up a broom from behind and threw it at him.
Although the behavior was heroic, the punishment of being reprimanded, made to stand in the corner, and made to clean up was still imposed.
"Where are you going?" Cao Fan asked cautiously, afraid that any word might ignite a firecracker. Given the distance between him and Jiang Yueming, he wouldn't even have time to fly away, let alone run. He'd have to be launched into the sky by a Dongfeng missile.
"The toilet," Jiang Yueming said.
"Oh." Cao Fan said "oh" again, afraid that an "oh" would make the old man in front of him feel that he was just being perfunctory.
Jiang Yueming went to the sink and washed his face, trying to suppress the irritation in his heart. He braced his hands on the sink, water dripping from his bangs.
Since that argument with Li Leshan, the two hadn't seen each other for half a month. Actually, there was no chance to meet in the first place; since they weren't in the same school anymore, any opportunities to meet were created by Jiang Yueming himself, crossing three bridges. He was incredibly skilled at creating opportunities where none existed.
Although they hadn't met or contacted each other, Jiang Yueming did ask Han Jiang to tell him some basic information, like whether Li Leshan was in school. Asking Han Jiang about trivial matters was useless; he didn't know that much, and he had no interest in inquiring, as he was still angry. Jiang Yueming admitted that his words had been somewhat harsh, but he wouldn't have said them if he hadn't suffered such a great injustice.
Anyway, he originally wanted to stay away from me. Jiang Yueming thought to herself, this is probably exactly what he wanted.
As he pondered, his vision blurred again.
Actually, if Li Leshan had been willing to talk to him properly, or if he had relied on himself a little, made up a reason to deceive him, or even cried in front of him, wouldn't he have softened a little and lowered his head?
But he was so stubborn, so obstinate, so headstrong.
Jiang Yueming took a deep breath, turned around, and went back to the classroom.
He's been living a muddled life lately, not much better than before. He has a ton of homework and tests to do, and if he doesn't finish them soon, Liu Xijun will definitely come and kill him.
"What homework did you assign last week?" Jiang Yueming asked.
"Last week?" Cao Fan asked incredulously. "Brother, it's Friday already. The last week you're talking about, is it the last week from last Monday to last Sunday?"
"Are you reciting tongue twisters?" Jiang Yueming didn't understand why he would break down such simple, obvious words into a string of meaningless phrases, calling them "water talk," all convoluted and roundabout. Did he think saying more words would bring him some kind of benefit?
A habitual bad habit.
"Let me count." Cao Fan started counting on his fingers.
Jiang Yueming hummed in agreement and sat down, staring at Cao Fan as he counted.
Ten seconds passed, twenty seconds passed, half a minute passed...
"No, you haven't finished counting yet?" Jiang Yueming's eyes widened. "How many did you leave? Or do you not know how to do addition and subtraction within ten?"
“Eighteen sets.” Cao Fan finished counting, and then he added, “Note that it’s sets, not individual pieces.”
...
Holy shit.
Jiang Yueming swallowed hard, trying to comfort himself. Maybe he wrote two sets when he was feeling down, or maybe he really did write them but just forgot.
Finding things from last week this week is a miracle, especially on Jiang Yueming's utterly chaotic desk. He bent down, rummaged through the desk drawer for exam papers, pulled out a huge pile, and threw them all onto the desk.
"If only this were money," Jiang Yueming thought. He would have become rich and reached the pinnacle of life long ago.
Because there's so much stuff and so many things, it's practically a garbage dump, but because it's not as big as a garbage dump, it feels even more crowded.
He pulled out a dozen or twenty sheets of paper, containing all sorts of things, including the monthly exam papers from the first half of the year, which were now neatly and orderly laid out on his desk.
However, there wasn't much of his own handwriting on his exam paper; it was almost entirely Li Leshan's handwriting. Blue, red, and black ink were densely packed around it, with every knowledge point, formula, and even the corresponding textbook page number marked on the exam paper, although Jiang Yueming hadn't really looked at it properly.
"Joke, joke, joke!" Cao Fan exclaimed in surprise upon seeing this.
"Are you planning to sing Huo Yuanjia? If you want to sing, go outside and sing it." Jiang Yueming wanted the test paper back.
"No way, what's so precious about it? Let me see it!" Cao Fan snatched the test paper and examined it. "I didn't realize you put in so much effort. At this rate, it'll take you at least two hours to analyze this whole set of papers."
He looked closely and realized something was wrong.
“This handwriting doesn’t look like yours,” Cao Fan noticed immediately, because Jiang Yueming’s handwriting wasn’t that good, but he couldn’t tell whose it was. “Brother, you’re about to have a stroke of good luck in love. The person who wrote this analysis for you is definitely a 100% crush on you, and it has to be a 10,000 times crush. Do you know how much time this takes?”
He clicked his tongue in amazement, "These days, you can't find anyone this devoted. You're really lucky."
"Give it back to me." Jiang Yueming's voice was icy cold.
"What's the rush?" Cao Fan wasn't going to return it yet; he hadn't finished admiring it. "Look at the handwriting, look at the formulas she used. She wrote three different solutions for each problem, more comprehensive than the answer key. How much does she want to go to university with you? The person who wrote this must be an absolute academic genius."
"You want to die, don't you?" Jiang Yueming glanced at him.
"No, no, no!" Upon detecting the keyword, Cao Fan quickly handed over the test paper with both hands, "I don't want to die, I don't want to die, I don't want to die."
He re-examined the exam papers, and through the neat handwriting, he seemed to see countless late nights Li Leshan sitting at his desk writing explanations. How many nights had he stayed up, how many pen refills had he used, how much time had he spent to hand each exam paper to him?
Jiang Yueming suddenly felt a pang of sadness. What Li Leshan had told him back then still echoed in his mind to this day.
"For you, it's all worth it," Jiang Yueming thought, looking at the exam paper with mixed feelings.
Does he... really deserve it?
The way he spoke, the way he treated Li Leshan... did he deserve Li Leshan to do that?
"Hey!" Cao Fan saw Jiang Yueming about to leave with his schoolbag and quickly called out in a low voice, "What are you doing!"
"I'm leaving." Jiang Yueming hurriedly stuffed several sets of test papers into his schoolbag.
"get out of class isn't over yet!" Cao Fan was at his wits' end with his deskmate, who was always up to no good. He grabbed Jiang Yueming's sleeve and said, "If Lao Liu finds out, you're really finished!"
"Can I ask for leave?" Jiang Yueming couldn't stand it for even a second longer. He needed to see Li Leshan right now, immediately, and he really couldn't stay any longer. "Just say I'm sick, okay?"
Cao Fan slowly let go of his clothes.
That goes without saying.
What else is there to say?
This looks really sick.
"Um, well, you forgot your school uniform jacket." Cao Fan pointed to the half-loose jacket sticking out of the desk drawer, the sleeves of which had fallen down quite a bit, almost touching the ground.
"It's the middle of summer, and you're already complaining about how hot I am." Jiang Yueming ignored the school uniform jacket completely. It was cold in winter and hot in summer; wearing it was just too much of a hardship. "I'm leaving."
"Thanks, brother." Jiang Yueyue pondered for a moment.
"What are you thanking me for?" Cao Fan wasn't intentionally asking for thanks; he genuinely didn't know. "Could it be that you're thanking me for being so thoughtful, remembering to remind you to bring your coat? Well, that's true, I, Cao Fan, am known as your 'thoughtful little cotton-padded jacket'..."
Jiang Yueming looked at him as if he were a lunatic.
This person has been muttering to himself for a while now. Besides, it's really out of the loop; a cotton-padded coat is completely out of place in the middle of summer.
"Alright, looks like it's not because I'm being too thoughtful." Cao Fan finally realized his own limitations.
"Thank you for speaking so directly, without beating around the bush or thinking it through." Jiang Yueming left these words behind and hurried out. If Cao Fan had been a little more subtle or less direct, Jiang Yueming might not have even realized what he meant.
Cao Fan clearly didn't understand what this person meant, and couldn't detect any gratitude. He could only weakly utter, "It's fine if you don't thank me, but what are you doing here?"
Jiang Yueming continued cycling, crossing three more bridges, trying to create an opportunity for him to meet Li Leshan. Fortunately, he still had a chance to create one.
Jiang Yueming parked his car and waited at the entrance of Shishi High School, squatting for a while, standing for a while, and pacing back and forth. Today is Friday, and he has to wait for Li Leshan to come out of the school gate, otherwise he will not see him again.
When we meet in a bit, what will he say? It's been so long since we last met, I really... really miss him, I miss him so much. Every night I have to look at Li Leshan's photo to fall asleep, and I have to look at Li Leshan's photo to have the energy to get through the day.
Lele, he wanted to say, "I was wrong too. I spoke too much without thinking, and I must have hurt you. I'll speak more carefully in the future... Please rely on me a little more."
Can't we just live together like this, snuggling together?
Jiang Yueming raised his eyes, his gaze sweeping across the crowd leaving the school gate. He looked at each person, one by one, but this wasn't him, that wasn't him either. Until his gaze focused on a certain person, he suddenly froze on the spot.
Without a word or a greeting, Jiang Yueming stumbled through the crowd, grabbed Li Leshan's hand—who hadn't yet reacted—and pulled him to a nearby corner.
Jiang Yueming pressed his shoulder, her eyes instantly turning red, her voice sounding like it was being squeezed out of her throat, as she suppressed her anger, "Did Li Yong hit you again?"
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