Xu Yaping shared many interesting stories, such as the day when Xu Sheng had gone to the neighbour’s house to do homework, and the neighbour had come over the next day asking, “Are you not working overtime today? When will you work overtime next time?” They had treated Xu Sheng like their own son.
After Xu Yaping was laid off, she didn’t know what to do for a while. She applied to several companies. She hadn’t initially planned to interview for her current position—it required training and eventually only three people were selected for hire. It was her most desired job; however, she couldn’t afford the time and felt unsuitable. Even her best friend had advised her to give up, as this company wasn’t very keen on hiring female employees.
It was Xu Sheng who had noticed the application form, registered on her behalf, and handed her the form on the day she received the notification. “Give it a try. How do you know if you don’t try?”
Listening to these stories, Shao Zhan gradually formed a picture of Xu Sheng’s face in his mind.
He would have been more naive and obedient back then, hiding his claws. Xu Sheng’s face was deceptive. Despite appearing unruly and defiant, his heart was more delicate than anyone else’s.
At Lin Jiang, apart from a few minor offences, Xu Sheng hadn’t committed any significant transgressions.
When Meng Guowei had first taken charge, he had thought Xu Sheng was hard to handle. Later on, he had unknowingly protected him and stopped the others in the Green Boat Base, saying, “Stop fighting. So many people are watching…”
Thinking of this, Shao Zhan pressed his fingertips and couldn’t help but be distracted, wondering what Xu Sheng was up to right now?
Then Xu Yaping changed the subject, as if she had mentioned something she shouldn’t have.
She tried to hold her tea cup and take a sip, but her hands were shaky, and the overflowing water almost spilled.
Shao Zhan’s rhetorical question was icy. The corner of the young man’s eyes slightly lifted, adding to his coldness.
Xu Yaping lowered her head, and her curled long hair fell over one side of her ear. She was very beautiful, especially her eyes, resembling Xu Sheng. “Let’s not talk about that. We agreed not to bring it up.”
Shao Zhan wanted to ask why she avoided the topic, but it seemed inappropriate to ask such a question.
So Shao Zhan could only ask, “What do you mean by bringing it up now?”
Xu Yaping’s fingers tightened involuntarily, showing a sense of helplessness.
Finally, Xu Yaping let go of her cup and said, “I just don’t understand. You could have tested into Lin Jiang, so why did you insist on going to Li Yang?”
Li Yang?
Which school was that?
Shao Zhan didn’t expect to hear another unfamiliar term after the mention of drawing.
When he filled out his high school entrance exam preferences, he only considered key schools and didn’t look at the others.
Xu Yaping’s thoughts were straightforward.
She truly didn’t understand fine arts and had stereotypical impressions about it, thinking it couldn’t be a proper career. Xu Sheng’s high school entrance exam scores were more than enough to get into a prestigious school like Lin Jiang Sixth High. Not many people believed that their children lacked talent; with proper education, anyone could succeed. Since he could enter Lin Jiang, it was crucial to focus on studying there.
When Xu Yaping mentioned this, she didn’t want to continue. Further discussion might lead to an uncontrollable situation. “I’ll go cook. You go back to your room and do your homework. I’ll call you when the food is ready.”
Since the end of the final exams and the beginning of the holiday, Shao Zhan, who had become Xu Sheng, vaguely felt that there was a secret hidden within this house—or more precisely, within his boyfriend.
Once Shao Zhan entered the room, he leaned against the door and lowered his head, opening up the internet browser.
He searched up a few keywords on the web.
Li Yang, school.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
Ktf olgra fcags atja jqqfjgfv kjr j obeg-mtjgjmafg qtgjrf ‘Ol Tjcu Vfmbcv Llut’.
Yc atf ifoa, atfgf kjr j qlmaegf ajxfc ja atf rmtbbi ujaf, klat ijguf ubivfc mtjgjmafgr ja atf abq. Yc atf gluta kjr jc lcagbvemalbc: Ol Tjcu Vfmbcv Llut, klat atf rmtbbi wbaab “Pccbmfca Lfjga”. Pa kjr j tlut rmtbbi klat j obmer bc olcf jgar fvemjalbc, jlwlcu ab vfnfibq jga, qtsrlmji fvemjalbc, jcv meiaegji mtjgjmafglralmr.
After checking the information about Li Yang Second High, Shao Zhan exited the browser.
On his phone screen was still that familiar sketch.
This time he looked carefully; the signature was a familiar letter ‘S’.
The questions he couldn’t ask last night were vaguely pointing towards a certain answer.
This thunderstorm was connected to him, to Xu Sheng. Something must have happened during the thunderstorm. Back at the Green Boat Base, it brought Xu Sheng to him, and now it gave him the opportunity to touch the real ‘Xu Sheng’—
Staying at Shao Zhan’s home, Xu Sheng was really bored. He couldn’t even find someone to chat with or play games on Shao Zhan’s phone. So before Shao Zhan had left, they had switched their phones back.
Xu Sheng started with playing a few rounds of games with Zhang Feng.
He lay on the sofa, his neck resting on the raised armrest. He squinted, waiting for Zhang Feng to start the game. However, it seemed that someone had arrived at Zhang Feng’s house, and a message from five minutes ago said, “Wait a moment.”
S: Are you ready or not?
S: Hurry up.
Wild Butterfly on Mountain Peak: I’m coming I’m coming.
After Zhang Feng clicked to start the game, he immediately initiated a voice chat. “Just now, a relative’s kid wanted to snatch my action figures—I let him experience a taste of society’s beatdown in advance.”
What Xu Sheng least wanted to hear now were the words “kid” or “child”; every time he heard them, memories of his little cousin’s terrifying antics flooded back.
S: … Middle schooler?
The background noise on Zhang Feng’s end was loud. He spoke loudly. “No, he’s in his first year of high school. Almost didn’t get into high school, scraped through with the lowest score and went to Li Yang…”
Xu Sheng was skilled at playing the game, and Zhang Feng’s character in the early stages had to rely on him for development.
However, after Zhang Feng finished speaking, he noticed that Xu Sheng had misplaced a skill.
“Where are you placing that?” Zhang Feng casually shouted, then continued, “You know Li Yang, right? It’s the high school with the lowest admission score in our city. Now, he’s studying painting. Without painting, you can’t get into a university.”
In the game screen, the character with the “S” above its head made a mistake, losing half of its health to the opponent. After recovering to the usual level, Xu Sheng quickly defeated the opponent.
During a break to take a potion, Xu Sheng typed a response.
S: I know.
Zhang Feng didn’t take it seriously, praised him with a “well done,” and then asked, “Why aren’t you using your microphone?”
S: My phone is broken.
Zhang Feng, “Shouldn’t you get a new phone? Didn’t you just get one recently? How come it’s having issues again?”
S: Stop talking nonsense. Pay attention to the opponent.
After finishing this round, Xu Sheng logged off. After logging off, he found the words “Li Yang Second High” still lingering in his mind.
He propped himself up with his hand, intending to go to the kitchen to boil water.
In the meantime, as Zhang Feng had just left, Kang Kai arrived.
Kang Kai: Nameless Nobody, want to chat?
S: Chat about what?
After waiting for a response, Kang Kai called, but Xu Sheng declined the call directly.
Kang Kai: ????
Kang Kai: Is someone with you?
No one.
I’m just afraid that you couldn’t bear it after hearing the sound of my voice.
But Xu Sheng certainly couldn’t respond like that. In his mind, it was okay for Kang Kai to have such misunderstandings, so he replied with a “Yes.”
Kang Kai was in the studio. During holidays, he would immerse himself in the studio and wouldn’t come out no matter who called. Before Xu Sheng moved away, they used to spend time in the studio together. Kang Kai was drawing, and suddenly he shouted into the empty space, “How do I draw this part…”
Halfway through, he realised he was shouting at empty tables and chairs. Xu Sheng had already left.
Kang Kai sat for a while and didn’t continue drawing, thinking that Xu Sheng should be on vacation right now.
Kang Kai found a topic as a starting point: By the way, your boyfriend’s grades are pretty good, right? How are you two going to choose universities for the college entrance exam?
Xu Sheng took two seconds to understand Kang Kai’s meaning. He realised that Kang Kai was indirectly trying to suggest that he should go back to painting.
Kang Kai: Does he know you’re Nameless Nobody?
Kang Kai: I don’t think it’s a good idea to keep it from him.
Kang Kai’s thoughts were simple. They all said love is a magical thing.
Maybe his lover could bring Xu Sheng back.
He couldn’t understand. If you liked something, why give it up? It must be hard to accept.
“Mum,” Kang Kai thought of this and shouted, “Mum, Xu Sheng’s level is definitely the top in our city for the joint exam, right?”
Aunt Kang was arranging tables and chairs, cleaning the studio. She had two classes to teach in the afternoon. When Xu Sheng was mentioned, her mood was similar to Mr. Yang’s. She sighed and said, “Not only the top in the city, several art schools would fight to accept him.”
–
Does he know you’re Nameless Nobody?
Xu Sheng glanced at the text again.
Shao Zhan still didn’t know about his drawing, and Xu Sheng hadn’t intentionally hidden it. It was mainly because he hadn’t had an opportunity to bring it up, and he didn’t know how to bring it up. He couldn’t suddenly say, “Let me tell you something, I’m actually the mysterious painting god that shocked the entirety of C Province.”
Shao Zhan might think he was crazy.
S: Haven’t told him yet.
Xu Sheng stayed at home for two days.
Shao Zhan was forced to spend two days building a relationship with Xu Yaping and finally waited enough for Class Seven’s team-building time.
Class Seven had agreed on a team-building time on Saturday, and they went to a famous amusement park.
In the class group chat, the question of “Where should we go play on Saturday” was discussed for several days. Boys and girls wanted to play different things. In the end, they compromised: Let’s just go to the amusement park, okay? Decision made, no more arguments.
Recently, the Class Seven students had made a somewhat shocking discovery. The study god would switch to a ‘woman’s friend’ state for a few days each month, while the school tyrant Xu Sheng would occasionally show a cold face and ignore people.
More than a dozen people gathered early at the entrance of the amusement park, and there were several claw machines near the ticket checkpoint at the entrance of the amusement park.
Qiu Qiu and several other girls surrounded Shao Zhan. They had arrived early and had to pass the time themselves. “I want the pink one!”
Xu Sheng’s skills at coaxing girls was unparalleled. He played the claw machine expertly. He had gone out to play with those girls in his first year of high school a few times.
As long as the business wasn’t too unethical, and the machines were in normal condition, he could grab wherever he aimed.
This was the scene Shao Zhan saw when he arrived.
The youth stood in front of the claw machine, his coat open, revealing the sweater he wore inside. With his tall and long-legged figure, the scene of being surrounded by girls was exceptionally eye-catching. “That pink one is a bit difficult ah, Qiu ge. Let me try.”
Qiu Qiu cheered him on, “You can do it, Zhan ge! You grabbed it at such a tricky angle just now.”
Seeing another girl next to him eager to try, Xu Sheng released one hand and asked, “Do you want to give it a try?”
“Can I?!”
“It’s quite simple. I’ll teach you.”
The girl next to him gripped the control lever, and Xu Sheng guided her on whether to go left or right.
Hou Jun and the others also gathered around to watch, “Zhan ge, we didn’t expect you to have this skill?”
Xu Sheng momentarily forgot his identity, “I often…”
As soon as the word “I” left Xu Sheng’s mouth, he saw himself standing not far away.
Shao Zhan silently reminded him: Answer properly.
Xu Sheng said, “I often study…the application of gravity through claw machines.”
Hou Jun opened his mouth. “Huh?”
Relying on a vague impression from class, Xu Sheng continued, “That, um, gravity and acceleration.”
Hou Jun nodded. “Oh…”
Qiu Qiu held the dolls Xu Sheng had just grabbed for her and was shocked by this answer. She had never thought that claw machines could be played like this. “Is, is this the power of a top student?”
thank you for the update! <3