MM | Chapter 47

Entering by Mistake

The construction of a subway station nearby cut off the power lines, and in the evening, the Affiliated High School suddenly lost power.

The school had a backup generator, but it malfunctioned and couldn’t supply electricity. A short meeting was held, and it was decided to cancel evening self-study, giving the students a night off, much to their delight.

Day students grabbed their bags and rushed out of the school. Boarders, unable to leave due to different school cards, had to obediently return to their dorms and wait for the power to come back.

Having just finished the weekly exams yesterday, everyone was too distracted to focus on studying. Shi Yu paced around the dorm, took three phone calls, and finally swallowed his pride to ask Jiang Tian, “Tian-ge, I heard you can mimic teachers’ signatures really well.”

Jiang Tian was sitting on the bed, chatting on WeChat. He frowned and asked, “Who said that?”

This rumor had been around for a while, with people in Class A mentioning it now and then. Mainly because Jiang Tian had beautiful handwriting, both in regular and cursive styles. It was said that he could replicate a teacher’s signature almost perfectly with just a glance.

Shi Yu didn’t know the source, only that he needed something from Jiang Tian and had to adapt to the situation. After thinking for two seconds, he said, “I heard it from Sheng Wang.”

Jiang Tian pressed his lips together and said, “Oh.”

Shi Yu breathed a sigh of relief, feeling halfway successful.

Jiang Tian lowered his head and continued typing.

He seemed to be in a good mood, at least his expression was relaxed, not as cold as usual. Shi Yu was curious about who he was chatting with but didn’t dare peek at the screen.

Many girls at school pursued Jiang Tian, and as his roommate, Shi Yu was often asked for his WeChat. This could be one of those girls, finally melting the ice sculpture a bit.

Shi Yu pulled out a “leave slip,” hoping to take advantage of Jiang Tian’s good mood to ask him to mimic Big Mouth Xu’s signature. But as soon as he handed it over, Jiang Tian held up his phone screen.

The screen showed a WeChat chat interface, with the other party’s nickname as Sticker.

Shi Yu thought, damn, all this time you were chatting with your brother???

Just as he finished complaining internally, he saw the following conversation—

Jiang Tian: Did you tell people I can mimic teachers’ signatures?

Sticker: No way

Sticker: Honest to God

Sticker: Which jerk is spreading rumors about me?

This was a public execution if there ever was one.

The rumor-spreading jerk clung to the bed rail and knelt on the ground, crying, “Tian-ge, I’m sorry. Please be kind and sign for me. I just want to go out and play…”

“Sign it yourself,” Jiang Tian said.

Seeing his plan fail, Shi Yu dejectedly went to the balcony to make a call.

Jiang Tian ignored him and walked to the desk, pulling out a chair to sit down. He pulled a workbook from the stack and asked Qiu Wenbin across from him, “Can I borrow your rechargeable lamp?”

Qiu Wenbin nodded, “Go ahead.”

Jiang Tian turned on the lamp and started writing in a notebook.

Qiu Wenbin had already lain down, planning to do nothing tonight. The power outage was a perfect excuse to take a day off. But seeing the top student in the grade working hard, he felt guilty about being lazy. He tossed and turned before finally sitting up.

But when Qiu Wenbin sat across from Jiang Tian, he realized the top student wasn’t doing exercises. Jiang Tian flipped through ten pages at a time, quickly scanning the content and jotting down page numbers and problem numbers in his notebook.

“What are you doing?” Qiu Wenbin couldn’t help but ask.

“Organizing,” Jiang Tian said.

“Organizing what?”

“Interesting problems.”

Qiu Wenbin glanced at the marked problems, thinking that the joys of a top student were beyond ordinary people. As long as Jiang Tian was happy.

Jiang Tian wasn’t doing it for his own happiness.

Before yesterday’s exam, He Jin mentioned that this weekly test was the last practice before the midterms. The “rolling class system” in Class A might change to increase urgency, affecting more than just the bottom three students.

The specific rules weren’t out yet, but Jiang Tian felt Sheng Wang wasn’t safe. Although Sheng Wang had risen 200 ranks in the past two months, impressing even the teachers, he was still ranked 79th, which was a bit risky.

Gao Tianyang and the others joked that Sheng Wang was also a cheat, but even cheats needed time to level up. Jiang Tian wanted to help him shorten that time.

Moreover…

Someone had been complaining all day on WeChat about being bored to death.

Jiang Tian wanted to prepare a set of problems for him to pass the time, selecting the best from the recent ones he’d worked on.

Shi Yu made two more calls and left the dorm with a determined look. Qiu Wenbin chewed on his pen, struggling with a problem. Jiang Tian finished one book and was about to pick up another when his phone screen lit up quietly.

He picked it up and, as expected, it was the bored one again.

Sticker: Jiang Tian

Sticker: Jiang Tian

Sticker: Jiang Tian

Jiang Tian: …

Jiang Tian: Here

He sensed Sheng Wang was suddenly a bit excited, though he didn’t know why.

Sticker: Is the power back?

Jiang Tian: Not yet

Sticker: By the way, didn’t you say you had something to do tonight?

Jiang Tian: Yeah

Sticker: What is it?

Jiang Tian glanced at the notebook beside him. He had casually mentioned it yesterday, referring to organizing the problems for Sheng Wang. But his stubbornness was deep-rooted, making it impossible to say directly—it would seem pretentious, like seeking credit.

Before he could answer, another line popped up in the chat—

Sticker: Do you need to leave the school for it?

Jiang Tian hadn’t thought of an excuse, so he went along with it: Yeah, going to Wutongwai.

He and Sheng Wang went to Old Man Ding’s place for meals every day. He had discussed this with Big Mouth Xu, who left a long-term pass at the gate to avoid daily signatures, as long as they returned to the dorm before bed checks.

Sticker: Then go ahead, I’m going to eat.

After saying that, he went quiet.

The screen didn’t light up for a while, and Jiang Tian felt a bit uneasy. He would glance at his phone after selecting a few problems, and after nearly half an hour, Sheng Wang still hadn’t responded.

Nothing was happening around him, and there was nothing to talk about. Jiang Tian’s eyes lingered on an unusually troublesome problem, considering whether to take a photo and send it over as a joke, when finally a new message came through.

Sticker: I’m done eating. How much longer for you?

Jiang Tian: Finished

Sticker: That fast???

Jiang Tian: Why?

Sticker: Nothing, so you’re back at school?

Jiang Tian hesitated between “Yeah” and “Not yet,” choosing the longer one.

After sending it, he added: On my way back.

Sheng Wang replied with an emoji, a sly grin that seemed to hide some mischief.

Jiang Tian felt puzzled for a moment.

Two minutes later, Sheng Wang sent another message: Are you at the west gate?

Jiang Tian: Just left the alley, crossing the road to the west gate.

There was a pause on the other side, and Jiang Tian slowly frowned, feeling more and more that something was off.

Suddenly, the overhead lights flickered, and the cold white light unexpectedly enveloped the room, turning darkness into brightness. Jiang Tian squinted against the glare.

At that moment, his phone screen lit up again.

Jiang Tian shielded his eyes from the white light and looked down. Sheng Wang had sent two new messages—

Sticker: Are you really at the west gate?

Sticker: Why don’t I see you???

Perhaps it was the glaring lights, but Jiang Tian stared at those words, momentarily stunned. By the time he reacted, he was already grabbing his phone and heading downstairs.

Qiu Wenbin’s voice came from above on the stairs, puzzled, “Where are you going?”

“To pick someone up,” Jiang Tian said.

The entire school was emerging from the night, with lights turning on one by one in the teaching and office buildings along Road No. 3. The milky white light shone through the glass, casting slanted beams from different floors.

There were quite a few teachers and students who hadn’t returned to their dorms, chatting and strolling in small groups, pausing as the lights came on.

Jiang Tian walked through the crowd. His fair skin and the cool aura he exuded when he ran and jumped, drew the attention of passing girls, who frequently looked back but didn’t dare approach.

*

Sheng Wang had sweet-talked Uncle Xiao Chen into leaving and was now standing by the security booth outside the west gate, with a single-shoulder bag slung over him.

He could walk these days, but his left foot still couldn’t bear too much weight. Even standing like this, his weight was on his right side, making him appear lazy and a bit nonchalant.

He stood with his back to the school gate, facing the alley entrance of Wutongwai, typing furiously on his phone to scold someone. Just as he was about to send it, a call came through.

Jiang Tian’s name flashed on the screen. Sheng Wang pressed to answer and immediately said, “Are you messing with me?!”

He glanced again at the alley entrance, where only two elderly people were walking, supporting each other, with no sign of anyone else.

“I’ve been standing here for ages. The security uncle thinks I’m posing. Weren’t you just crossing the road to the west gate? Where are you?”

Just as he finished asking, he heard footsteps approaching from behind, someone running over. He turned around to see Jiang Tian stopping in front of him.

Perhaps because he had run too fast, Jiang Tian’s breathing was a bit heavy. His long, slender arms hung by his sides, with faintly visible veins near his inner wrist.

He lowered his head to catch his breath, then removed an earphone and said to Sheng Wang, “I’m here now.”

Sheng Wang suddenly didn’t know what to say.

He met Jiang Tian’s gaze, paused for a moment, then quickly looked away, saying, “Since you got here fast, I can be generous.”

“Why did you suddenly come back to school?” Jiang Tian asked.

“Why else?” Sheng Wang said irritably. “At school, I can move around. At home, they won’t even let me leave the bedroom. You try lying down for five days and see how it feels.”

Jiang Tian took his bag. At first, Sheng Wang stubbornly refused to give it up, but after considering how long Road No. 3 was, he relented—walking it straight was good enough, carrying a load was out of the question.

“Also, can you believe Auntie Sun cooks me pig’s feet three times a day?” Sheng Wang complained, listing countless reasons why he was forced to return to school. “Other people get bone broth when they break a leg, what’s with the pig’s feet?”

Jiang Tian said, “It’s to heal what ails you.”

“Get lost.”

Sheng Wang said it, then turned slightly to ask Jiang Tian, “Do I look different?”

Jiang Tian: “Yes.”

Sheng Wang stared at him, “Think carefully before you speak.”

Jiang Tian nodded and said, “You’ve gained weight.”

Sheng Wang felt a bit gloomy, but before he could dwell on it, he saw Jiang Tian turn his head away.

“…”

Obviously lying!

Sheng Wang reached out to grab Jiang Tian’s neck, “Can’t you go a day without teasing me?”

Jiang Tian didn’t dodge seriously, probably afraid Sheng Wang would hurt his foot again. As they joked around, they realized they had instinctively taken the shortcut through Xiushen Garden.

During the day, Xiushen Garden was quiet and peaceful, and they often passed through it without issue. But now it felt different. Sheng Wang immediately noticed two figures holding hands, whispering as they walked through the woods. Further away, a boy boldly put his arm around a girl’s shoulder, brushing his forehead against her face.

The atmosphere in the woods was too intimate, making Sheng Wang feel out of place and inexplicably uneasy.

He wanted to say, “Let’s take another route,” but when he turned, he met Jiang Tian’s gaze. Though it was no different from usual, it inexplicably made him nervous.

He quickly looked away, licking his dry lips, and said, “There are so many people, no wonder it’s called Magpie Bridge.”

Jiang Tian had already looked away, seemingly searching for an exit, and responded in a low voice, “Yeah.”