MNL Chapter 17

Chapter 17 Clarity: That Night, Shen Yan Was There

“Huh?” Xu Jing doubted his ears, but compared to that, Shen Yan’s actions just now were clearly more suggestive.

“It’s nothing, hiss…” Shen Yan paused, frowning. “It hurts.”

This was his first time applying medicine to someone, and he couldn’t distinguish between light and heavy pressure. He could only use the strength he usually used on himself, and he was already being very careful.

Xu Jing said in a displeased tone, “If you’re so afraid of pain, why didn’t you go to the hospital sooner?”

The room was quiet. Xu Jing, not hearing a response, looked up and suddenly met Shen Yan’s dark and deep eyes.

“After she left, no one ever asked me if it hurt.”

The voice was light and calm, but it made Xu Jing stop his movements as soon as he heard the words.

He had thought of many reasons why Shen Yan lived alone: maybe he didn’t want to live at school like him, or his parents were working out of town and it wasn’t convenient, or he had argued with his family and was being stubborn.

But he had never thought it would be like this.

He could tell that “she” referred to Shen Yan’s mother, but he didn’t dare to think too deeply about what “left” meant.

What about the other one then?

Such a question only lingered in Xu Jing’s mind for a moment. Since he moved in, he hadn’t seen any men visit 602. If they really cared about their son, how could they leave him alone without asking?

The medicine was applied. Xu Jing sat down next to Shen Yan and asked the question that had been lingering in his mind for so many days: “Did you mistake me for someone else last time?”

“Yes.”

“Who was that person?”

“I don’t know.”

“What?”

Shen Yan’s eyes were obscure, and he repeated, his low voice sounding somewhat helpless. “I don’t know who he is.”

The matter itself wasn’t complicated, and it could be explained in a few words, but Xu Jing didn’t speak for a long time after hearing it. So when Shen Yan was little, someone had given him brief warmth and care, just such a small thing, and Shen Yan could remember it for so long.

“People’s memories will gradually become blurred as they get older. I was only eight years old then, and that little boy couldn’t even speak clearly. I only knew that he was carrying a schoolbag and walked out of Hongyan Kindergarten.”

“Hongyan Kindergarten?” Xu Jing thought for a while, then asked, “The one in the city center?”

“Yes.” Seeing Xu Jing’s puzzled expression, Shen Yan didn’t hide anything and replied, “You went to kindergarten there, and I found your name through the teachers there.”

Xu Jing was stunned. “So you think I’m the boy who gave you the race car model back then?”

“It’s not just because of that.” Shen Yan turned his head, squinting slightly. “Although so many years have passed, some charm cannot be changed.”

The implication was that he and that boy were somewhat similar.

Hearing these words made Xu Jing a little unhappy. What did he mean by similar? So, Shen Yan’s previous caring behavior was because he mistook him for that person?

It’s just a race car model, was it worth cherishing and remembering for nearly ten years?

But considering Shen Yan’s family situation, he didn’t say these words after all.

“I’m not like anyone.” Xu Jing stood up, coldly saying, “The medicine is applied, I’m leaving.”

Shen Yan: “…”

“Wait.” Shen Yan also stood up, puzzled. “Are you angry?”

“Why would I be angry? You can mistake anyone for that person, just don’t mistake me again.” Xu Jing said decisively, “I don’t have this memory, I’m not the person you’re looking for.”

Shen Yan nodded slightly, his expression a little serious. “I understand.”

“Be careful when you take a shower.” Xu Jing instructed stiffly, but didn’t forget to close the door before leaving.

His gaze lingered on the door for a long time before Shen Yan packed up the medicine kit and put it back in its place, his movements showing no signs of abnormality.

·

The registration for the sports meet was basically successful thanks to Cha Fei’ang’s efforts. Now only the number of people registered for the 1500 meters was not enough, but there weren’t many girls in Class Four to begin with, and they couldn’t find anyone willing to run after a long time. Although Cha Fei’ang was impatient, he was very patient with girls, patiently persuading them one by one without finding it troublesome.

Wen Yi listened to him for half a minute, found it noisy, took the pen, and boldly ticked the long-distance running box in her column.

“Class Monitor, you’re so great!” Cha Fei’ang gave a thumbs up, complimenting him. “You’re simply the goddess among goddesses. I’ll get my brothers to cheer you on.”

“Okay.” Wen Yi smiled, but her voice was much quieter when she spoke again. “What about Xu Jing?”

“He just went to the office.”

“No.” Wen Yi bit her lower lip, her face turning a little red. “Will he come?”

Cha Fei’ang was stunned, as if he had discovered a secret, and quickly said cheerfully, “Of course, I’ll call Brother Jing to cheer you on too!”

Wen Yi touched her hair a little embarrassedly, and soon punched Cha Fei’ang’s shoulder, saying, “You’re thoughtful.”

Inside the office.

A boy with a blank expression was facing the homeroom teacher in front of the desk, with the cold gaze of a certain English teacher on the back of his head.

“Xu Jing, the teacher compared your English scores and overall scores from the opening exam, weekly exam, and monthly exam, and found that they are very stable.” Liang Yin was carefully considering what to say next, thinking about how to say it without hurting Xu Jing’s self-esteem. At this time, Li Qin’s tired voice had already come over, “They are very stable, ranking seventh in the grade, and the bottom seventh in the English class. The math score is twice the English score.”

“To be precise, it’s 2.4 times.” Zhou Yan finished speaking, smiled and took a sip of tea, even the wrinkles at the corners of his eyes were piled up together. “Xu Jing got the last math question right, and the score added up is three points higher than Shen Yan.”

Li Qin: “…”

Is it about multiples now?

Liang Yin was the youngest of all the teachers, and she didn’t want to interrupt them at this time, so she could only shift her attention back to Xu Jing.

“Subject preference is a very common thing. Isn’t there a saying in ‘On Teachers,’ that everyone has their area of expertise, so don’t be discouraged. If you encounter any difficulties in English, you can come to the office to ask Teacher Li, or you can discuss learning methods with Shen Yan. The teacher believes that you will definitely make a breakthrough in the next exam.”

Xu Jing had heard these words for five or six years. Every homeroom teacher had said this to him, and his ears were almost calloused. But seeing the expectation in Liang Yin’s eyes, Xu Jing could only suppress what he wanted to say, and nodded after a moment. “Okay.”

“That’s right, after all, you’re only in the first year of high school, you still have more than two years to catch up.” Li Qin also comforted him and handed Xu Jing the stack of homework on the table. “Help me take this to Shen Yan and let him distribute it.”

After entering the classroom, Xu Jing saw the two people in the corner again. Mao Chengyu felt that Shen Yan’s level of explaining problems was too high, and sometimes he couldn’t understand and didn’t dare to ask a second time, so he liked to come to Zhou Ji to discuss the problems after class. And Lin Xiyan’s grades were in the middle of the class. She, who was slightly worse in science, always liked to ask Shen Yan questions recently.

Xu Jing walked closer and was about to put down the stack of homework when he heard Shen Yan say coldly, “I can’t do this question.”

He only saw Lin Xiyan stunned, and then pointed to the next question. “What about this one?”

“Didn’t write it.”

Xu Jing casually glanced at the questions Lin Xiyan asked and found that it was yesterday’s homework. And if he remembered correctly, Shen Yan had even finished writing the next chapter.

He’s quite good at fooling people.

Lin Xiyan carefully looked at Shen Yan’s expression, felt a little embarrassed, and had no choice but to say that she would go back and think about it again.

The person sitting there had some irritability pressed between his sharp eyebrows, and when he picked up a pen to prepare to write the questions, he suddenly found that half a shadow appeared on the paper.

Shen Yan turned his head and saw Xu Jing standing behind him, holding the homework in one hand.

“What’s wrong?”

“The teacher asked you to distribute it.” Xu Jing put down the homework and was about to leave.

“Wait.” Shen Yan stopped him. “The doctor told me to try to walk around less.”

Xu Jing turned his head expressionlessly.

After a few seconds of stalemate, Shen Yan’s hand, which was originally on the table, moved to his leg at some point. He moved slightly and slowly raised his eyes to look at Xu Jing, his eyes hesitant.

He didn’t say anything, but it was like he said everything.

“…”

Immediately, the person standing picked up the homework again, his face cold, and walked to the podium.

Liang Yin mentioned in class that those who signed up for the long-distance running could have their Chinese homework for the National Day holiday halved. As soon as this was said, the people in the class instantly became energetic, and all ran to Cha Fei’ang to compete for selection after class.

“It’s full, it’s full, my god, Teacher Liang still has a way.” Cha Fei’ang raised the registration form and said with emotion, “This is the first time I’ve seen the people so enthusiastic.”

“Hey, Brother Jing, you signed up for the high jump and two hundred meters?”

Xu Jing had just finished distributing the homework, and after rolling up his sleeves, he asked, “Is there a problem?”

“I thought you would sign up for the long run.”

“Can’t compete.”

Hearing this, the people around laughed. Xu Jing’s serious words always had a strange sense of humor.

“By the way, yesterday Zhang Dong ran into me and Shen Yan when he came out of the toilet. Shen Yan just glanced at him, and this person went around.” Cha Fei’ang clicked his tongue twice. “I think he will definitely not talk nonsense again in the future.”

Xu Jing gave a simple “hmm”, and after a moment suddenly felt something was wrong.

“Shen Yan looked at him?”

“Yes.”

His brain was turning rapidly at this time, and the cause and effect hidden in the few words suddenly connected into a line after his brief thought.

After a long while, Xu Jing opened his mouth hesitantly, “Did you tell him?”

“No, oh, right, I forgot to tell you.” Cha Fei’ang’s next words were like a rock falling from the sky, making him dizzy for a while.

“That night, Shen Yan was there.”

Xu Jing: “…”