He Heard The Other Person Say, "Jiang Tian,
Let's Stay In School Together."
10 years ago, this courtyard was even more cramped than
the present.
The residential block outside of Beyond Parasol Trees had
just received a fresh coat of paint, on first glance they appeared to
be neat and pretty. The juxtaposition caused the few old houses
around the corner to look especially dilapidated. Old Man Ding
was the one who stayed in the most dilapidated house.
Back then however his head hadn't shrunk, he had plenty of
energy as well as a decent amount of strength. He would pile up
all sorts of porcelain and chinaware at the corner of the house,
take care of all sorts of plants, and even kept a Dragon Li cat
named "Leader" in order to get rid of rats in his house.
(t/n: Dragon Li cat)
"Leader" was the easiest cat Old Man Ding had ever kept, it
understood humans even better than dogs could, it would hit
whatever he told it to. Jiang Tian was originally lured into the
house thanks to it.
When Jiang Tian was five-six years old, he disliked talking like
the way he was now, he was always quiet and sullen.
Nevertheless, he was still young. It was easy to get his attention,
and easy to get him to let down his guards too. As long as
"Leader" laid down on his feet, there was nothing else he could
do.
The residents of Beyond Parasol Trees were all neighbours
who had been staying here for decades, they knew each other
inside out. Old people didn't have much variety in entertainment,
they just loved to meet up, chitchat, and play chess. Whatever
that went on in homes were all conversation topics in these
casual chats.
Old Man Ding didn't like to gossip, but he was obsessed with
playing chess for a period of time, and so as he played he got to
know about the full situation with the development of Jiang Tian's
grandmother's illness. He already personally knew the Jiang
family, and liked Jiang Tian very much too. With this and that, he
treated him basically like a grandson.
The old man often gave "Leader" commands, "Leader" would
lie waiting on the wall, the moment Jiang Tian walked past, it
would leapt off the wall like a tiger leaving the mountains, and
went to 'accidentally' bump into people.
Jiang Tian would suddenly find a cat descending upon him as
he walked. He clearly already braked in his steps, but that cat
would still fall onto his shoes, a soft ball of fur spreading on his
feet.
Old Man Ding took special joy in watching that—the kid was
bewildered and at an utter loss of what to do. He couldn't stay,
but he couldn't just leave either. He could only stay frozen on the
spot in a silent stand off against the cat. At this time, he would go
rescue Jiang Tian with some hollers, and conveniently drag Jiang
Tian into the courtyard.
Sometimes, it would be wonton and dumplings that were
already wrapped, sometimes, it would be plain and simple
porridge with some dishes, sometimes, he would steam two
fishes or cook some soup. The old man tried all sorts of methods
to give Jiang Tian something to eat.
The kid was thin-skinned and stubborn too, if you asked him
if he ate, he would nod and quietly say, "I ate."
Ask him why isn't he going home, he always had the face of
someone who hated fun as he said, "Playing outside."
The old man's deepest impression was of an evening. Soon
after he heard that the Jiangs' grandmother couldn't recognise
people anymore, Jiang Tian appeared outside his courtyard walls
next.
He was so thin back then, his arms and legs were long,
revealing traces of what he would grow to be as a teen. He carried
his bag, the lanyard with the keys hanging on his neck twirled
around his fingers, his mind conflicted. He could tell he had taken
it out before, but didn't manage to use it.
Old Man Ding clapped his shoulder, crouched over and
asked him, "Have you eaten?"
It was the first time there was hesitation on his face, but in
the end, he still nodded as he said, "I ate."
The lamps switched on at night in the alley, the aroma of
food drifting out from various homes. It was the time of the day
when the smell of smoke and fire and human activity was the
heaviest.
Yet, he was standing outside someone else's walls, asking,
"Grandpa, may I look at the cat?"
*
Old Man Ding zoned out for a long while before he fingered
the corner of the photo album that curled up. "You know Xiao-
Tian's personality, it's super tedious to get him to even open his
mouth to ask for things. He has always been like this."
"When he told me he wanted to look at the cat, that means
that he truly didn't have anywhere to go anymore."
The sunlight at noon ought to be glaring and eye-piercing,
but when it reached this courtyard, other than the few square
metres, it was dull gray everywhere else.
This was the most unremarkable corner in Beyond Parasol
Trees, it was the only place Jiang Tian was still willing to go near, it
was also the only place that wanted him, that kept him for that
certain long period of time.
Sheng Wang suddenly immensely upset.
This was the first time that he fell into a nearly lonesome
mood due to what happened to other people.
The person in the photograph was frozen in that period of
time, completely unaware of what was happening outside the
photo. Yet, Sheng Wang was silent as he stared at the picture. He
finally spoke, "Auntie Jiang is quite nice, she's pretty gentle, I
thought..."
"You've seen Xiao-Jiang?" Old Man Ding asked.
Sheng Wang didn't speak for a noticeable amount of time
before he said, "Auntie Jiang is staying with my dad. Actually, I'm
not just classmates with Jiang Tian, our families are living together
now."
"Oh oh oh." Old Man Ding suddenly understood everything,
he then grumbled, "I say, Xiao-Tian isn't the type to bring outsiders
here. No wonder, no wonder. You two are brothers then?"
For that moment, Sheng Wang felt that the term "brothers"
didn't mesh well with him. How strange, he himself clearly said to
Jiang Tian earlier that he once wanted a brother.
But he really couldn't find another description.
He hesitated for a couple of seconds, and nodded. "Roughly,
I guess."
After that, he added on, "Either ways we're pretty close."
Old Man Ding started smiling. When he was putting on a
face on a usual basis, he resembled birds of prey, like eagles and
falcons, with a 70% of fierceness. The moment he laughed, his
compassionate and friendly demeanour revealed itself, with a
hint of childishness even.
He asked, "Who's older, you or Xiao-Tian?"
"Him, probably. I'm born in December." Sheng Wang said.
"Oh, he's at the start of the year." Old Man Ding said, "Then
you have to call him 'Gege', why haven't I ever heard that from
you?"
Sheng Wang: "..."
The old man frowned, pretending to be displeased.
Sheng Wang coaxed: "Next time, I'll definitely do it next time."
Old Man Ding: "You kids are full of lies."
Sheng Wang: "..."
The elderly male, after teasing him a little, went back to
reminiscing again. He recalled: "Xiao-Jiang would be quite fine if
she changed her family. I did sort of watch that girl grow up too,
she worked especially hard in school, and was eager to excel.
When she was 20+ years old, she was energetic, and did things
with guns blazing. When she got older, she ended up being more
mellow instead, like she didn't have a temper anymore, all thanks
to her issues at home."
"Her father was addicted to gambling and was in heavy debt,
her mom was a teacher, how would she earn enough to pay
everything back? The debt was only settled afterwards when Xiao-
Jiang got into business. Later on, there was something wrong with
her mom's brains, her body wasn't doing well either. She needed
to pay for medical bills, and there was still a kid that needed to be
raised. How should she ever stop?"
"She had a lot of guilt when it came to Jiang Tian, there were
two times when she came to fetch her kid, her eyes were puffy
like walnuts from all the crying." Old Man Ding tsked again and
again, "I've never seen her cry this much in the past 20 years. That
time, she was actually doing better than Ji Huanyu, but Ji Huanyu,
as a person, tended to overthink, and had a fragile pride."
He jabbed the boy in the photograph, an identical portrait to
Jiang Tian as he said, "He was actually living in quite a bit of
suffering as a kid too, he had no mom, no dad.
Eventually…...eventually he was picked up by someone along with
a kid, and they were raised together under a roof."
"Orphanage?" Sheng Wang asked.
"Not so proper." Old Man Ding shook his head, "It was more
like picking up a kitty cat or a dog, seeing how pitiful they were,
giving them some food, and taking care of them. His name was
given by that person, his surname followed the person who
picked him up. Many years later, there was a crackdown and
everything had to stop due to restrictions. The kids all left, only Ji
Huanyu remained in this area."
"He was going to go to middle school, I think, he kept staying
in school. In high school, he somehow ended up getting together
with Xiao-Jiang, and after graduating from university they got
married. He was bullied as a kid, he would often think about
becoming successful, he wanted to leave the province, the
country, and make something out of himself. Therefore, he wasn't
satisfied with having to stay home to take care of the kid."
"Either way, because of Xiao-Tian, they already fought a few
times, but nothing major came out of it." Old Man Ding said,
"There was a period of time where Ji Huanyu had a change in
character, he didn't just cause Xiao-Tian to have to move around
so much anymore, he came to Beyond Parasol Trees to
accompany Xiao-Tian for a year. Back then, Xiao-Tian hasn't
graduated from primary school, Jiang Tian's grandmother just
passed away, so it was only the father and son staying here."
"At the start, it was alright, at least Xiao-Tian wasn't stuck in a
situation where he couldn't go home anymore. Afterwards
however it all went wrong." Old Man Ding said, "Ji Huanyu, that
useless person, didn't know how to take care of people. Xiao-Tian
started to come over to my house again. Once, I saw a burn at the
back of Xiao-Tian's neck, he stayed here for two days and was
feverish and vomiting. Eventually, Xiao-Jiang fetched him, and not
long later I heard Xiao-Jiang had a divorce with Ji Huanyu."
Sheng Wang recalled the scar at the back of Jiang Tian's neck,
he frowned as he asked: "Could it be Ji- his dad who burned him?"
"I did ask him, Xiao-Tian said it wasn't, and it wasn't the kind
where he was pretending. I could tell if he was." Old Man Ding
said, "Ji Huanyu may be a terrible person, but he wasn't really the
type to do this."
"Then how did it get there?" Sheng Wang did not understand.
"I don't know." The old man shook his head, "Xiao-Tian was
extremely stubborn, his mouth tighter than anyone else. If he
didn't say anything, nobody would know. I didn't dare to bring it
up either, if I brought it up he would get upset. He didn't have an
easy life, it was rare for him to be happy. Why would I ever upset
him?"
Old people were long winded, when they talked about the
past, it was fragmented, and a little incoherent. Still, Sheng Wang
managed to glean a corner of Jiang Tian's childhood.
He finally understood why Jiang Tian's dynamics with his
mom was so strange. It was because of his lack of sense of
belonging. He may understand Jiang Ou's pain and guilt, which
was why he always defended her. At the same time, he wasn't
able to treat a place with Jiang Ou as home either.
If they were both unhappy, Sheng Mingyang only had to
worry whether Sheng Wang would ignore him. Jiang Ou had to
worry whether Jiang Tian would leave.
Because he was always leaving.
Sheng Wang suspected that to Jiang Tian, no matter if it was
his previous residence or White Horse Alley, none of it would
make him feel a sense of belonging as much as the school dorms.
At least, in the dorms, he had a clear understanding of how long
he could stay, he knew when he needed to pack his suitcase up
again when he unpacked.
Someone rode past the door to the courtyard on a vintage
bicycle, when they turned into the alley they rang the bell on the
bike.
Sheng Wang finally came back to himself and stood up
straight.
The phone in his pocket suddenly vibrated. He dug it out and
saw that someone added him as a WeChat friend via the class
chat, the verification message said 'Li Yu'.
Sheng Wang clicked accept, and the other person
immediately sent a message.
Rainbow Koi: Sheng Wang, where are you? There's a teacher
coming around to check for attendance, I'm on duty today.
There was a rule in Fuzhong's noon break that students
aren't allowed to randomly leave the classroom. Every once in a
while there would be a teacher on patrol, if they were caught,
discipline points would be deducted.
Sheng Wang then recalled that the noon break was almost
over, it had been half an hour since he snuck out.
Sticker: sorry, class monitor, be back in a jiffy
Rainbow Koi: hurry up
Rainbow Koi: I said that you went to the sick bay for
medicine because you were feeling unwell, don't mess it up
Sticker: thx
Sheng Wang initially wanted to keep his phone, but he
remembered something else in the last minute.
He asked: class monitor, can I still apply for the school
dorms?
Rainbow Koi: ...
Sticker: im begging
Sticker: I know this is sorta asking for a beating
Rainbow Koi: S u r e...
Rainbow Koi: but your room will probably be at the last
Sticker: ok
Sticker: thank u
He said goodbye to Old Man Ding and hurried to go back to
school. A step out of the door, he retreated back in again to ask,
"Grandpa, where's the cat named Leader?"
"Not here anymore." Old Man Ding said, "It was an old cat."
Sheng Wang's eyes were downcasted as he nodded.
He stuffed his phone back into his pocket and flew towards
the school.
Coincidentally, when he went past Duxing Block he saw a
familiar figure. Jiang Tian just left the computer room, and was
walking in the direction of Mingli Block.
A stray cat darted out from the bushes in front of Duxing
block, and jumped up to the windowsill with some leaps. Jiang
Tian's footsteps momentarily paused. He turned to look at the
stray cat.
In that moment, it was as though Sheng Wang was looking
at the Beyond Parasol Trees from 10 years ago, the unaware boy
in the photograph travelled through time, and abruptly came to
life right in front of him.
It was just that the cat who would scam him into making him
stay had long since been gone.
Sheng Wang halted in his steps, and then quickened his pace
to run towards Jiang Tian.
That day, the school was tranquil as usual. The bell signaling
the end of noon break had yet to ring, even the birds were tucked
away under the shade of the trees, nodding off. The person who
pounced from his back was the only vivid presence in this dull
silence—
Jiang Tian felt someone hooking an arm around his neck, and
he faltered out of inertia. The two of them stumbled a few steps.
He turned around, astounded, and saw Sheng Wang's brilliant
smile.
He heard theother person say, "Jiang Tian, let's stay in
school together."