Chapter 4 Rumors of Li Leshan's Bad Luck
Jiang Yueming and Li Leshan have been traveling together for the past two days. Besides Li Leshan, Han Jiang is also puzzled.
"You've been nowhere to be seen lately, what's wrong? Forgot about our revolutionary friendship?" Han Jiang said, a little annoyed. Jiang Yueming used to always walk home with him, but now, Jiang Yueming was nowhere to be found, and he didn't even come to play with Xiao Bai anymore!
"Three people?" Jiang Yueming was puzzled. When did there become a third person next to him and Han Jiang? Unless it was Xiao Bai. "You, me, Xiao Bai is a person too?"
"The other one is..."
"It's me!" Xu Qing's crisp voice rang out from behind. She was wearing a pink school uniform and looked like a newly blooming rose.
...
"She's not as good as Xiaobai..." Jiang Yueming looked at the girl in front of him and sighed.
"What are you saying?" Xu Qing punched Jiang Yueming.
Jiang Yueming really wants to just die and never get up again, and ideally, he'd like to extort some money from Xu Qing. He doesn't even need a large sum; he just wants Xu Qing to spend three or five yuan to buy him some game cards. That's all Jiang Yueming is capable of.
"Where have you been going after school lately? I can't find you in your class. Did Yin Guiying really make you do your homework there?" Han Jiang asked.
"Pah, pah, pah!" Jiang Yueming quickly said, "Can you please stop being so cynical?"
Han Jiang's words are never reliable when it comes to good things, but when it comes to bad things, they're like they've been blessed.
He glanced around at the students. It was during a break from physical education activities, and the two classes were having the activity together. Han Jiang and Xu Qing were in Class 3, while Jiang Yueming was in Class 4. As for why Jiang Yueming was in Class 4, well… that would be like reopening old wounds for Jiang Yueming, and everyone probably knows the answer.
"Do you still remember Li Leshan?" Jiang Yueming asked.
Han Jiang thought for a moment, then nodded. "What happened to him?"
“I’m escorting him home right now!” Jiang Yueming said.
Han Jiang had thought of all sorts of answers, but he hadn't considered this one. "What were you thinking? What if Wang Hao comes after you because of this? He's just looking for a reason to pick a fight with you, and you've delivered yourself right to his doorstep."
“Let him look,” Jiang Yueming said nonchalantly. “Who’s afraid of him?”
The only person Jiang Yueming has ever been afraid of since childhood is standing right in front of him—Xu Qing.
He wasn't afraid of anyone else, not even Yin Guiying, let alone Wang Hao. He wasn't afraid of any demons or monsters.
"What's Li Leshan like?" Han Jiang asked, and Xu Qing also leaned over to listen. "I heard he's really withdrawn, doesn't socialize with people, and nobody plays with him..."
"So what if you're aloof? You believe everything you hear, don't you?" Jiang Yueming was displeased and kicked him.
Han Jiang felt a kick in the backside. He patted the dirt stain on his school uniform pants with a troubled expression and changed his question, "So what's he like?"
“He’s doing incredibly well,” Jiang Yueming said honestly, pointing to Xu Qing. “Do you remember your stickers? Li Leshan bought them for you.”
"And my school uniform collar, Li Leshan fixed it for me." He tugged at his school uniform collar, recalling what happened this morning, his tone carrying a hint of inexplicable smugness.
These words left Han Jiang stunned. So Li Leshan wasn't the same as the rumors? Rumors are really harmful; they've made him out to be something else entirely.
"And did you know? Li Leshan is incredibly handsome."
Xu Qing suddenly spoke up, with a touch of girlish stubbornness, she quickly asked, "Is he more handsome than you?"
Kids this age can accept that someone is handsome, but they can't accept that person is more handsome than themselves. That's a matter of principle!
Jiang Yueming touched his nose a little guiltily, "Well, not really... but he's more handsome than Han Jiang!"
Han Jiang was truly an innocent victim. Hearing this, he was displeased. He couldn't forgive Jiang Yueming for giving him the toy race car this time. So, his status in Jiang Yueming's heart wasn't even as high as Li Leshan's. He had been friends with Jiang Yueming for several years, and this fickle woman…!
Seeing that Han Jiang was unhappy, Jiang Yueming stopped her verbal sparring and quickly grabbed Han Jiang's sleeve, almost making him stammer, "No, no, no, not as handsome as you! You're more handsome than me, are you satisfied now? You're the most handsome man in the world, and Li Leshan is the second most handsome..."
Sure enough, Han Jiang was much easier to coax than Xu Qing. Hearing this, she happily returned.
Xu Qing thought the two of them were really childish, so she stopped chatting with them and went to find her girlfriends to play jump rope.
"Sigh! Xu Qing..." Han Jiang was still reluctant to part.
“Then you jump with her,” Jiang Yueming said.
"Never mind then, it's just a game for little girls." Han Jiang couldn't bring himself to say it.
Jiang Yueming thought to himself, "Is his face worth enough to buy a deluxe pancake?" Since Han Jiang wasn't going, he would go instead.
"Xu Qing! Take me with you when you're playing jump rope!" Jiang Yueming ran over.
Jiang Yueming is an expert at skipping rope; he's a "king" level player.
"The Malan flower blooms at twenty-one, two eights two five six, two eights two five seven..."
He's the kind of player who can save lives, but Han Jiang, with his clumsy movements and tendency to trip over himself while jumping, can only do stance training. However, Han Jiang is happy to do stance training, but he's always criticized by Xu Qing because he can't even stand properly—either too high, too low, or crooked.
Jiang Yueming was better at hopscotch than Xu Qing. He was even better than her. He was surrounded by a group of little girls, and Jiang Yueming got along very well with them. After all, among this group of elementary school students whose faces were still silly, although Xu Qing really didn't want to admit it, Jiang Yueming, who always liked to tease her and always pulled her pigtails, did have a handsome face with a bit of a roguish charm.
That's why she asked Jiang Yueming who was more handsome, Li Leshan or him. Because in Xu Qing's mind, Jiang Yueming was already at the top level.
The school bell had rung for quite a while when Jiang Yueming stepped in to save the girl. Her blue school uniform stood out among the pink uniforms of the girls, and she was also very tall for her age, making her easily noticeable.
Jiang Yueming played these games that little girls usually played without any trouble. He didn't find it strange at all, just like he didn't find it strange that Xu Qing suddenly wanted to play basketball, even though Xu Qing was too lazy to actually play basketball; basketball was more for her.
To Jiang Yueming's surprise, after the third and fourth classes finished their physical education class, it was the first and second classes' turn to start. When Li Leshan appeared at the entrance of the playground, Jiang Yueming was still reciting the last few words of the mnemonic, and for a moment he lost his composure.
The moment their eyes met Li Leshan's, not only Jiang Yueming, but also Xu Qing and Han Jiang were stunned.
"Jiang Yueming, you tripped on the rope!" the little girls shouted.
Jiang Yueming almost tripped over his own feet and fell. There were still a few classmates scattered about a dozen meters away. He saw Li Leshan give an extremely brief smile. That perpetually cold face looked like a flower blooming when he smiled. Jiang Yueming wasn't very cultured and couldn't think of any literary sentences or beautiful metaphors. He used all the Chinese language skills he had accumulated over the past ten years and just thought Li Leshan's smile was so beautiful.
"Who...who is that person?" Xu Qing tugged at his sleeve and asked softly.
For the first time, Jiang Yueming felt a little embarrassed. He stared at Li Leshan awkwardly for a while, then said, "Li... Li Leshan."
Even Han Jiang couldn't stand still while practicing Zhan Zhuang (standing meditation). "Is that Li Leshan? Isn't he a model?"
Han Jiang's sister works as a photographer, and sometimes she hires young models. They are all incredibly handsome. Han Jiang has seen at least eight or ten of them, and the one who was a dozen meters away is now the one he thinks is the most handsome.
Unfortunately, Han Jiang's appearance ranking has now slipped from first to third (self-proclaimed).
In short, Li Leshan's face went through round after round in front of these three people. Jiang Yueming went back to class. This was an English class, but he couldn't understand a single word. He didn't know the phonetics either, so he couldn't understand them at all when they were put together. Yin Guiying came to inspect the class again. Jiang Yueming squinted and heard the students' voices repeating after him getting louder. He knew that Yin Guiying must be standing by a window.
He was also engrossed in reading, pronouncing English words as if they were burning his tongue, while Jiang Yueming's thoughts had already wandered elsewhere. Li Leshan's smiling face reappeared in Jiang Yueming's mind, and he grinned foolishly at his English textbook. It would have been better if he hadn't laughed, because as soon as he did, Yin Guiying caught him.
Jiang Yueming stood at the door with his head down, not saying a word, listening to Yin Guiying scolding someone beside him.
"What are you laughing at? You're having a good time in class, aren't you?" Yin Guiying said.
Jiang Yueming quickly shook her head, realizing the ambiguity of the statement, and then quickly nodded. She already had many teachers she'd offended; adding an English teacher to the mix would truly make things difficult for her.
“You, come to my office after class to finish your homework. If I don’t keep an eye on you, you’re not planning to do your homework at all,” Yin Guiying said.
Upon hearing this, Jiang Yueming looked up abruptly. "Teacher Yin, can I leave even if I don't finish making it?"
"If you can't finish it, keep doing it!" Yin Guiying ordered. "You're still putting off this day last week. Getting you to do your homework is harder than anything else."
It's all Han Jiang's fault for jinxing her. Jiang Yueming was lying on the stool, her legs were a little uncomfortable from squatting, and she changed her position several times, but couldn't find one she liked.
"Dancing." Yin Guiying was grading homework when she glanced at Jiang Yueming, who was fidgeting beside her.
Jiang Yueming remained silent, focusing intently on his homework. He appeared extremely serious, but in reality, he was easily piqued by the slightest disturbance.
There was a sudden knock on the office door, followed by a creaking sound as Li Leshan appeared at the doorway.
Jiang Yueming abruptly lowered his head and moved closer to Yin Guiying, using his homework to block the view. What a terrible day! This scene was incredibly embarrassing; first, he was caught jumping rope and almost fell, then he was seen doing his homework—today was just too unlucky. Actually, thinking about it, half of his current predicament was because of Li Leshan; after all, that kid had laughed first.
But that's how things are; the more you try to avoid something, the more it comes chasing you; the more you fear something, the more likely it is to happen.
Yin Guiying said to Tian Xiaoyun with great envy, "Teacher Tian, I really envy you for having such well-behaved children in your class."
"Yes, Leshan is a good boy, obedient and sensible, and his grades are good too." Tian Xiaoyun praised, following Yin Guiying's words.
Yin Guiying was still envious. She sighed and then noticed that Jiang Yueming, that troublesome boy, was hiding behind her. Yin Guiying grabbed Jiang Yueming by the back of his collar and pulled him up.
“Look at this troublesome child. He hasn’t finished his Chinese homework from last week,” Yin Guiying said.
Jiang Yueming muttered under his breath, "Who told Yin Guiying to leave so many behind?"
Fortunately, Yin Guiying didn't hear him, but he still came face to face with Li Leshan. Li Leshan's gaze swept over him, and Jiang Yueming thought to himself that the sign language really came in handy, and he could use it now.
He made a small gesture with his hand on his waist, "After school, you wait for me."
Li Leshan understood and nodded, a rare occurrence for him. Receiving a response made Jiang Yueming much happier; the fatigue from catching up on her homework vanished instantly.
He watched Li Leshan walk out of the office until Yin Guiying patted his head and said, "What are you looking at? Li Leshan has walked two miles away."
A note from the author:
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Thank you for the nutrient solution from Whale Fall Baby!
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