Chapter 95 I wish you a vast world. "I will run well." Me...
"The domain of f(x) is D. According to the problem, for any x in D, we have..."
Li Leshan was writing the answer key next to the test paper, and Jiang Yueming was watching from the side. The two of them had their heads close together, and anyone who didn't know better would think they were whispering to each other, but they were actually working on math problems.
"Damn it, is that answer key insane? What did he skip over in question 23?" Jiang Yueming was furious. What's wrong with them, the underachievers? They think they have no rights? He could tolerate someone skipping a multiple-choice question, but what does it mean to skip it from beginning to end? This is just provocation.
Li Leshan tapped on the table, signaling him to look at the question.
Jiang Yueming quickly said "Oh," and leaned closer to look. There was a bunch of English characters on it, and after looking at it for a long time, he really couldn't understand it.
“It’s okay, take your time.” Li Leshan gestured, showing great patience. “Just get the first question right.”
Mathematics has nothing to do with speed. Even if Jiang Yueming is slow, he still won't be able to solve this function next year. He probably just doesn't have the genetics for it, so you can't blame him.
"Doing homework?" Xiuli came down the stairs and immediately noticed the two of them huddled together.
Jiang Yueming looked up and responded. Now, if anyone disturbs him, he will stop and play with the other person.
"Oh my, so hardworking," Sister Xiuli said enviously. Her child was also a child who didn't like to study and was always mischievous. She sent him to his grandparents' house in the countryside during the summer vacation, otherwise she would have enough to worry about every day. "Two college students, don't work too hard."
"Okay." Jiang Yueming watched her walk out the door with eager eyes.
He had been sitting there for at least forty minutes, not an hour, when he simply couldn't take it anymore. Jiang Yueming leaned back and slumped into the rocking chair.
"You do it yourself, I don't want this score. I can't afford it." Jiang Yueming covered her face, looking utterly hopeless.
He'll just try to find a solution, copy down the conditions from the problem, and calculate the value of function 'a'. If he can't find it, he'll just guess 'a' = ±1; there's no other way anyway. Two points are better than nothing.
Li Leshan glanced back at him, then stopped insisting and turned back to obediently write the questions and solutions.
Han Jiang disappeared this summer vacation without a word, leaving Xiaobai at home. Luckily, Tian Tian was home and could play with Xiaobai. Han Jiang is such an irresponsible "dad," going out to run wild without even taking Xiaobai with him.
"Come to my house today and see Xiaobai," Jiang Yueming said. "It's so bored at home, no one plays with it."
"Where's Tian Tian?" Li Leshan asked.
“Her,” Jiang Yueming’s lips twitched, “Dream on. She scored 180 points in Chinese, math, and English combined, and she just stayed in her room memorizing and doing exercises.”
Three times six equals one hundred and eighty, and Tian Tian's average score is just barely passing. She also failed math and English, relying entirely on Chinese to help her, but even that didn't help much. No wonder they're like siblings; they're alike in every way.
Li Leshan remained silent for a while.
"Are you trying to say that she looks a lot like me!" Jiang Yueming knew exactly what he was thinking. He knew Li Leshan's thoughts perfectly well, and no one knew them better than him.
“I didn’t think that way,” Li Leshan said in sign language.
“Say it again,” Jiang Yueming said, sitting cross-legged in the rocking chair like an old man, “you must think we look alike, like we were made from the same mold.”
Indeed, they look incredibly alike. Li Leshan thought to himself, "Jiang Yueming will definitely be unhappy if I say this. He'd rather look like Xiaobai than like Tiantian."
"Come sleep at my place tonight," Jiang Yueming said softly. Come to think of it, it had been a long time since Li Leshan had slept at his house. There was no way to do it when he was in school, and even during the long summer vacation, there seemed to be no opportunity.
"I have to go back and take care of Grandma." Li Leshan hesitated for a moment, "Why don't you come to my house?"
"Is it okay!" Jiang Yueming's eyes lit up immediately. He was a little disappointed, but he wanted Li Leshan to come home with him so that he could spend time with Li Leshan. As long as he achieved his goal, he didn't care where they went.
"Then I'll let my aunt know." Jiang Yueming quickly typed a text message.
“But you have to…” Li Leshan started signing, then realized that Jiang Yueming wasn’t looking in his direction at all, so he stopped.
"Okay, I've sent it." Jiang Yueming put his phone in his pocket, completely forgetting about Xiaobai who was waiting to play at home.
However, Xiaobai is probably already used to it; this guy with a love-struck mind has made quite a few choices like this before.
Xiuli doesn't stay at the Zhonghua Market at night. Not many shop owners actually stay there. The second floor is usually a loft for storing goods, unlike a proper second floor. It's small, cluttered, and not suitable for living.
Jiang Yueming pulled down the roller shutter, took out his key from his pocket, and locked the door. He would keep the key and unlock the door when he came back tomorrow; Sister Xiuli had another one as a backup.
"Let's go." Jiang Yueming extended her hand.
Li Leshan grasped his hand. By this time, the Zhonghua Market was almost deserted, and no one noticed them. The night market stalls outside were crowded, but because there were so many people, even fewer noticed them.
"Are you hungry? You didn't eat much at noon. You were probably too busy doing your homework." Jiang Yueming looked back as she rode her bicycle. "Do you want something to eat?"
Li Leshan shook his head. "I'm not hungry. Let's go home."
Jiang Yueming acted as if she hadn't seen him and continued, "I get hungry in the middle of the night too. I'll go buy two servings of liangpi (cold skin noodles). Grandma probably isn't asleep yet."
“Grandma can’t eat cold food,” Li Leshan said, looking at him.
Jiang Yueming pursed her lips, thought for a moment, and said, "Then I'll buy her some hot porridge."
Li Leshan tugged at the hem of his clothes again, "She's probably asleep. She usually goes to bed around 9:30."
"Then you drink it." Jiang Yueming was determined to buy the meal anyway. He gestured to Li Leshan with his chin, indicating that he should sit still and not move. Then he turned around and ran into the night market stall.
Li Leshan glanced at the time, then stared at the crowd for a while. About ten minutes later, Jiang Yueming finally jogged home.
"Take it." He handed it to Li Leshan.
"I saw a place with a super long line for grilled gluten, it must be really delicious." He bought two skewers, wanting Li Leshan to try them. Luckily, he ran into an acquaintance who helped him get two skewers. He could wait, but thinking of Li Leshan, he couldn't wait any longer.
"You bought a lot."
“It’s not too much,” Jiang Yueming chuckled. “I didn’t buy everything from the night market stalls, so it’s not too much. If Han Jiang were here today, he’d show you what a Shengping glutton is like. Didn’t you see when he participated in the food expo last year? I couldn’t stop him, he was like a truck. If he eats any longer, he can forget about getting into the food expo in the future. They’ll have to put up a sign at the door saying ‘Han Jiang, do not enter.’”
The food expo, also known as the food fair, is not as large as those in big cities, but it is still quite grand and attracts a lot of people. It's like a large-scale free tasting event; many people come to join the fun, but not many go purely for the food. Han Jiang is one of them.
"I'll go see Grandma first. You can come back to my room and sit for a while," Li Leshan said in sign language.
“Okay.” Jiang Yueming walked into the room with the things.
He hadn't been to Li Leshan's house for a long time; he'd barely even sat down, let alone slept there. The reason Li Leshan hadn't mentioned it was probably because of his father. To Li Leshan, Li Yong was like a ticking time bomb, someone who never knew when he'd appear in his sight. So, to prevent Jiang Yueming from running into him, he could only avoid letting Jiang Yueming come here.
"What day is it today?" Li Leshan pushed open the bedroom door. He had just visited his grandmother, who was already resting.
Jiang Yueming was a little confused, and his heart skipped a beat. What day is it today? What's the date again? He didn't pay much attention to dates when he wasn't in school, and he still didn't pay much attention when he was in school. He only remembered Fridays clearly because that's when he could meet Li Leshan.
So what day is it today? Could it be his 300th or 40th anniversary with Li Leshan? When did they first meet? It's been so long. They haven't celebrated anything like this in all these years! Why did he suddenly decide to celebrate an anniversary?
"W-What happened?" Jiang Yueming slid to her knees and apologized. "I don't know, I forgot. Is it important? I really forgot, hit me if you want."
"Stop." Li Leshan wanted to stop him from apologizing.
Jiang Yueming took a deep breath, stood still, and awaited judgment.
“It’s your birthday, how come you always forget?” Li Leshan gestured, reasonably suspecting that Jiang Yueming still didn’t know what day her birthday was.
Do you know your birthday?
Jiang Yueming finally realized what was happening and breathed a sigh of relief, thankfully it wasn't an important day.
“I know, isn’t that right…?” Jiang Yueming said.
“That’s the Gregorian calendar.” Li Leshan said with a somewhat helpless expression, “We all observe the lunar calendar.”
"Then I really forgot." Jiang Yueming laughed twice. Fortunately, he hadn't forgotten any important dates with Li Leshan. "I don't look at the calendar much. It seems like every year is different."
"Then how come you remember my birthday so clearly?" Li Leshan asked again. He could remember everyone's birthday clearly, his aunt's, Han Jiang's, Tian Tian's, and even his grandmother's, but he couldn't remember his own.
“Oh dear,” Jiang Yueming touched her nose, “because you are the most important person in my heart.”
"You're probably going to say again that you should be the most important person in your own heart, right?" Jiang Yueming knew what he was going to say. "Lele, you should never say that. It's not convincing at all."
"If I asked you to name all the people who are important to you, I don't know how long it would take you to get to your own name." He would talk about himself, he would talk about his grandmother, he might even talk about Yin Guiying and Tian Xiaoyun, but he would never talk about Li Leshan.
Li Leshan didn't answer again. He hadn't thought about this question, just like Jiang Yueming didn't remember her own birthday. Perhaps people are a little careless about themselves.
He squatted down and reached out to untie Jiang Yueming's shoelaces.
This action startled Jiang Yueming, who quickly asked, "W-what are you doing?"
“I bought you a pair of shoes,” Li Leshan looked up at him, “I wanted to let you try them on.”
"I can put them on myself," Jiang Yueming said hastily. He wasn't a child, nor was he incapable of taking care of himself; how could he let Li Leshan put his shoes on for him?
Li Leshan acted as if he hadn't heard a thing, completely ignoring it. His stubbornness left Jiang Yueming with no way to refuse him.
Li Leshan bought him a pair of running shoes, which would cost him half a month's salary. Jiang Yueming had considered buying himself a new pair of running shoes with the money he won at the sports meet, thinking that he might be able to run faster that way, but when it came to actually buying them, he was a little reluctant.
Seventeen this year, eighteen next year. Slowly, I'll grow from a naive youth into someone capable of standing on my own. Time really flies, giving no chance to react or even a moment to think. Every birthday since I turned twelve has been spent with Li Leshan. In the early years, we'd set off a small firework to celebrate, but we stopped doing that as we got older.
Jiang Yueming wiggled his shoes, feeling a sense of security as he stepped on the ground. Looking at Li Leshan's lowered eyelashes and straight nose, he suddenly felt a surge of emotion and rushed forward to hug Li Leshan.
"Thank you, Lele. I'll run well." Jiang Yueming said each word with particular seriousness. There was a second half to her sentence: "I'll catch up with you quickly," but she swallowed it back, along with a touch of bitterness.
The room was completely dark, with only the flickering candlelight providing a faint glow. The light shone on their faces, making them feel slightly hot.
"Happy seventeenth birthday," Li Leshan said, looking at Jiang Yueming's hopeful eyes. "I wish you happiness and a bright future."
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Author's note: Little Bai, please wait one more lifetime!
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