MM | Chapter 60

Wavering

The study atmosphere in Class B wasn’t particularly intense. As Shi Yu mentioned, half the students were either buried in their desks playing PSP, mobile games, chatting on QQ and WeChat, or watching novels on phones tucked into canvas pencil cases. Some even hid wireless earphones under their long hair to watch videos.

The relationship between teachers and students was a constant game of cat and mouse. One side always found ways to check, while the other always found ways to play.

The few students who moved down from Class A didn’t quite fit in. Maybe they were just in a bad mood, all wearing stern expressions. Sheng Wang was the only exception.

When Shi Yu had bragged about these things to Sheng Wang, he forgot that Sheng Wang had changed schools too many times and seen too many different classes. Each class had its own vibe, and Sheng Wang had been in noisier ones.

Back when they were preparing for high school, the top students eligible for recommendation exams were grouped into a pre-exam sprint class. That was truly unruly.

Locking the classroom door and drawing the curtains, playing poker, chess, or huddling together for games was common. Sheng Wang even nailed a folding basket to the back wall of the classroom. When the boys got restless, they would throw anything into it and even dared to compete.

Sheng Wang’s basketball shooting skills were honed during those two months.

Some even brought dice, using a mug as a dice cup. The loser had to treat the whole class to a late-night snack, though “whole class” actually meant just 18 people. Sheng Wang had bad luck and treated them many times.

The late-night snacks at the school cafeteria were theoretically for the teachers on duty, not for students, to avoid delaying lights out. But they often succeeded.

A couple of times, someone tipped off the teachers, who came with their score deduction books to catch them. They split into three groups and managed to evade capture, sneaking back to the dorms with their food to celebrate, only to meet again at the “Flag-Raising Criticism Meeting” on Monday.

What Shi Yu had seen and hadn’t seen, Sheng Wang had probably done it all. Big Mouth Xu was right; Sheng Wang just had the advantage of looking innocent and well-behaved.

He once thought he liked that class the most because it was unrestrained and lively, and he could avoid returning to a lonely and boring home.

After the recommendation exams ended, that temporary class disbanded, and he realized his so-called liking was just that.

By the second day of vacation, those wild days became blurry. A month later, he couldn’t even remember some classmates’ names, just a few nicknames. After that, the people from those days just became “them.”

Looking back, it was all fragmented, things that required no effort, nothing worth mentioning.

The afternoon classes in Class B were filled with physics and math. The teacher was earnestly explaining problem-solving strategies, and only a few students were taking notes, Sheng Wang being one of them.

However, he wasn’t taking notes.

The class committee rep took advantage of the break to distribute assignments from the language and English teachers to the new students. Sheng Wang listened with one ear to the teacher while leisurely working through English exercises.

As he turned the page, he gently rocked his chair, realizing there wasn’t much difference between upstairs and downstairs.

The teacher’s pace was a bit slow, the thought process too detailed, the difficulty not as deep as Old He and the others, the expansion part was slightly less, and there were too many repetitive questions on the practice sheets. But he could adjust these himself. Besides that, there seemed to be no drawbacks.

He had said it wouldn’t be that hard. See, he was already adapting.

He told himself this.

Outside, the wind and rain continued. For a long time, raindrops densely hit the window glass, rhythmically monotonous, like the clock hanging on the back wall of the classroom, repeating the same sound, with time quietly passing in this sound.

The sky was dim, hard to tell if it was early or late, and the teacher’s voice was lulling.

In the gap between exercises, Sheng Wang looked up, suddenly unsure of the day. He pulled out a language paper, spent a class and a half writing to the last reading, and his handwriting began to break.

He scratched a few times before realizing the ink in the pen had unknowingly run out, leaving only a thin layer of yellow oil—language papers always consumed ink.

He habitually unscrewed the pen, leaned back in his chair, and knocked on the desk behind him without looking back, waiting with an open hand.

There was a momentary blank, and no one placed anything in his open palm. He didn’t receive a new pen refill, only Shi Yu’s puzzled question: “What? Need a ruler or a pen?”

Sheng Wang was momentarily stunned, suddenly embarrassed.

The rain seemed to grow louder at that moment, annoyingly noisy. Amidst the clamor, he turned his head, wanting to ask the confused Shi Yu, “Do you have an extra pen refill? Lend me one, I’ll return it tomorrow.”

But before he could speak, he didn’t want to anymore.

Shi Yu remained puzzled, and Sheng Wang smiled, “Nothing, I got lost in thought doing exercises.”

“Oh…” Shi Yu responded blankly.

Before he could say more, Sheng Wang had already turned back.

Looking at the dismantled pen in his hand, Sheng Wang suddenly lost interest in continuing the exercises. He sat for a long time in the pouring rain, finally admitting he had been too presumptuous.

He had overestimated his adaptability and endurance.

In less than half a day, he began to miss his seat upstairs.

Sheng Wang couldn’t remember how the rest of the class passed. He only remembered snapping back to reality at the sound of the bell, pulling out an almost unused umbrella from his bag, and rushing to the Xi Le Convenience Store.

Boss Zhao was quite surprised, chattering, “Oh, why run here in this rain? Look at your pant legs, all splashed with water. You’ll cry when you have to wash them.”

“It’s fine, there’s an auntie who does the washing.” Sheng Wang went straight inside.

Boss Zhao curiously peeked to see him grabbing three boxes of pen refills, red, black, and blue, along with a paper cutter, ruler, tape, and a card-marking pen…

“Alright, alright, alright, what are you doing? Buying wholesale?” Boss Zhao hurriedly came out from behind the counter, like a worried parent afraid their child would waste money, following Sheng Wang back and forth along the shelves.

Sheng Wang’s eyes were still scanning the shelves, “Not wholesale, just things I need.”

Boss Zhao was even more puzzled, “Pen refills I get, I know you use them fast. But where don’t you have a ruler, cutter, or card-marking pen? Didn’t you attend class before?”

Sheng Wang seriously explained, “I do, but I often lose them, can’t find them, and have to borrow.”

Boss Zhao “tsk-tsked” twice, saying, “All kids are the same, losing things and not tidying up.”

Just as he finished speaking, he saw Sheng Wang grabbing three packs of sticky notes and couldn’t help but scold, “One pack is enough, why take so many?”

“To stick and remind myself not to lose things,” Sheng Wang said, “so I don’t have to keep borrowing.”

He picked up a few more items, his arms almost full, and finally said softly, “I don’t want to borrow anymore.”

Every three years is a gap, and Boss Zhao felt like he and Sheng Wang were separated by an ocean. He couldn’t understand what students were thinking these days, only knowing that if he lingered any longer, he’d be late for class.

Moreover, Sheng Wang seemed a bit lost, as if he didn’t even know what else he needed to buy. Boss Zhao patted his back and pushed him to the counter, saying, “Stop picking, leave the duplicates with me, and come back when you run out. Just these few things, let me scan them for checkout.”

He found a bag to pack the items, and thinking it might get wet in the rain, he added another layer. When handing the bag to Sheng Wang, Boss Zhao couldn’t help but say, “There’s only one more class before dinner, you could’ve come then. You have to go to Wutongwai to eat anyway. It’s not urgent stuff.”

Sheng Wang said, “I just ran out of pen ink, and without it, I can’t use it in the next class.”

Boss Zhao nodded, believing him.

But Sheng Wang knew these were just excuses. He didn’t want to wait until dinner to buy them because Jiang Tian would be around, and he didn’t want Jiang Tian to see him buying these things.

Flustered and aimless.

It must look like an idiot.

Sheng Wang hurried back to Mingli Building with the bag. Perhaps it was the urging sound of the bell, or maybe the rainy days made people muddled, but his legs ran faster than his brain. By the time he realized it, he was already on the top floor.

Old Wu, holding a thermos, was heading to Class A and called out to the boy passing by, “Jiang Tian, take these papers and distribute them first.”

Jiang Tian took the papers and walked towards the classroom. As he passed the stairs, he saw Sheng Wang standing there.

He held an umbrella in one hand, water dripping and soaking a large area of the floor. In the other hand, he carried a bag with the Xi Le Convenience Store’s name and the Affiliated High School logo, indicating he had just bought something and was in a hurry to return to class.

Jiang Tian immediately knew he had gone to the wrong floor, his face showing confusion and embarrassment, even a hint of inexplicable distress.

Jiang Tian quickly glanced away, furrowing his brow before turning back to Sheng Wang, “Looking for Sister Jing?”

Sheng Wang shook his head, his dark eyes staring unblinkingly at Jiang Tian. After a moment, he seemed to snap out of it and shook his head again, saying, “No, I just…”

He paused, finally smiling wryly and self-deprecatingly, “Went the wrong way.”

Jiang Tian glanced at the forced smile on his lips and didn’t respond.

Even though Sheng Wang had deliberately messed up the exam and walked away, seeing that smile still made Jiang Tian uncomfortable, even a little heartbroken.

“So embarrassing, just pretend you didn’t see me, I’m going down.” With that, Sheng Wang turned and ran downstairs. As he turned the corner, he glanced back.

However, Old Wu had already arrived, puzzled, “Why aren’t you in class yet?”

As the words fell, Sheng Wang had already disappeared down the corridor.

*

When Sheng Wang returned to his seat, Shi Yu was startled by the large bag of items, “What are you doing? Planning to live in the classroom?”

Sheng Wang put the items into his desk one by one, not looking back, “I wish I could.”

“Why? What happened to you?”

“Nothing happened.” Sheng Wang took out a new pen refill and replaced the empty one from the previous class, “It’s just the rain is annoying, and I’m too lazy.”

It’s just that rainy days are too bothersome. He had barely managed to suppress certain impulses, and they hadn’t even shown results yet, almost failing.

Just seeing Jiang Tian upstairs once.

Then having dinner later, going back to the dorm to sleep… damn, how is he supposed to live like this?

Whether the heavens heard his complaint or not, the dinner at Wutongwai didn’t happen in the end. Because Jiang Tian’s father, Ji Huanyu, went to Grandpa Ding’s house.