This and That Chapter 3

The sparse lights divided the courtyard into light and dark. Kevin Jiang stood in the shadow. He was very tall, with a neat figure unique to teenagers, but not too thin. He carried a schoolbag on one shoulder, his thumb hooked on the black strap, and kept looking away.

It was not until Michael Sheng pulled his son over that he turned around, and then he looked as if he had eaten rotten rice.

Seeing that the other party was so unhappy, Liam Sheng felt a little better.

"Blame me. I'm really negligent as an elder. I just found out that Xiao Kevin Jiang is also a sophomore in the affiliated high school. You two are in the same class!" Michael Sheng put his arm around his son's shoulders and pushed Liam Sheng, who was trying to pin him down, forward a step: "So, you've already met him today?"

It was not enough for him to interact with his own son, he also looked up at Kevin Jiang,   as if Kevin Jiang would answer him.

Of course Kevin Jiang would ignore him.

After a moment, Kevin Jiang had regained his expression and turned cold again, looking at Liam Sheng as if he was looking at a stranger.

"Xiao Kevin Jiang." Someone called softly.

Hearing the gentle voice of the woman, Liam Sheng remembered that in addition to Kevin Jiang,   there was actually another more important person present. Ella Jiang was standing next to his son, dressed simply and plainly, which was completely different from his imagination. She was considered tall among women, but still much shorter than Kevin Jiang. This comparison made her seem non-aggressive and even revealed a sense of softness and intimacy.

She pulled her son's arm and said softly, "Xiao Kevin Jiang? Uncle Sheng is asking you a question. You and Xiao Wang are classmates. You have met each other, right?"

Kevin Jiang turned his head away, frowning rapidly, his expression at that moment revealed his instinctive impatience and resistance. But he finally couldn't stand his mother's gaze, and after a moment of stalemate, he turned back and said indifferently: "I slept all day and didn't pay attention."

Liam Sheng thought to himself, bullSh!t, you liar.

If he continued talking like this, the situation would only get worse, so Michael Sheng stepped in to smooth things over.

He laughed and said, "It's the first day we're classmates, and I don't remember many faces. That's normal. We'll get to know each other better as we get to know each other better. There's a long way to go."

Kevin Jiang looked at him expressionlessly, slid his thumb over the strap of his schoolbag, and lifted the bag up. It looked like he was about to leave in the next second.

Sure enough, he opened his mouth and whispered: "I'll go first---"

"Can you finish your meal with mom first?" Ella Jiang's voice was gentle but cautious, sounding almost like a plea.

Kevin Jiang: ...

Liam Sheng seemed to see the soul under this man's skin struggle violently twice, and then lay back down in frustration.

He felt a little gloating while watching the fun, but he was no longer happy the next second because Ella Jiang dealt with his son and turned around to smile at him.

This was the first time that Liam Sheng saw this woman's face clearly. The moment she smiled, he suddenly realized that she looked 50% similar to his mother.

Maybe it was the light that blurred the outline of the lines, or maybe it was the shallow dimple at the corner of her mouth.

Or maybe it was because time had passed too long. No matter how hard he tried to consolidate it, the people in his memory had irreversibly faded and were no longer as clear as before. They had even begun to overlap with a stranger...

"Xiao Wang?" Ella Jiang called him uncertainly.

Liam Sheng was stunned for a moment before he came back to his senses. He suddenly lost the mood to even pretend and muttered, "Dad, I have a stomachache. I'll go upstairs first."

"Hey, don't run. Where's dinner?" Michael Sheng tried to pull him but failed. "Didn't we agree that you won't even give your dad a little face?"

Liam Sheng walked through the door carrying his schoolbag, and said without turning his head, "Your son has an exam tomorrow, and he hasn't studied any of the five subjects, so he has no time to eat."

The aunt at home handed him a pair of slippers, and he went upstairs in slippers. When he reached the corner, he couldn't help but look out the window. They were still in the yard downstairs, and Michael Sheng was talking to Ella Jiang.

It's nothing more than explaining how his son has such and such a spoiled temper. It's just a joke and don't take it seriously.

Kevin Jiang was still being held by his mother's arm, unable to leave. He stood indifferently in the dark, holding his phone in his free hand, looking down at the screen.

After sliding a few times, he seemed to realize something and suddenly looked upstairs.

Liam Sheng was startled and turned away.

He hung a "Don't Knock" sign on the handle, locked the room, put on his headphones and turned up the music volume, so loud that he couldn't hear the thunder outside, and then sat down.

The new teaching materials were lined up on the table, and he was curled up in a chair, spinning a pen.

The screen of the phone next to him lit up from time to time. He waited for several seconds before reaching out to unlock it.

The person who sent him a WeChat message was his deskmate from his previous school. He was not very good at exams but was very loyal and had a natural heroic temperament. Liam Sheng often felt that he was not here to study, but to join the Liangshan Mountain. From the third year of high school to the first year of high school, everyone who was alive had a relationship with him.

Star Anise Crab:

The math, physics and chemistry papers for the final exams of the second year of high school? What do you want this for? You are really... starting to prepare for the summer vacation?

Star Anise Crab:

That's not right. Why do you need to prepare for the final exam?

Star Anise Crab:

Boss? Please answer me.

Star Anise Crab:

Brother Sheng?

Star Anise Crab:

Monitor! Okay, you won't see the message unless I send you the test paper picture.

Liam Sheng turned the pen and wrote with one hand---

Canning:

I just saw it.

Star Anise Crab:

You keep pretending. You are just lazy. You find it too much trouble to type one more sentence. You just reply several messages at a time.

Star Anise Crab:

Look, I’ve started saving again.

Star Anise Crab:

Okay, you are handsome and you have the final say. I have asked for the test papers for you, one for each of the three subjects, math, physics and chemistry, right? Why don't you want Chinese and English? Why are you still discriminating against subjects?

Canning:

You are the discriminatory one. You can't do so much in one night. You have to know how to make choices.

Star Anise Crab:

What the hell? All night? What are you doing? And aren't you usually so lazy that you never type when you can send a voice message? What's wrong with you today? You actually typed two sentences.

Liam Sheng let out a "tsk" sound while holding his finger in the air. He finally gave up typing and sent a voice message: "Because I just came to this unfortunate school today, I have a weekly test tomorrow, which will test all the contents of the first semester of the second year of high school. If I don't cram for it, I will get zeros in all five subjects tomorrow. It's too late for Chinese and English, so I'll have to rely on fate. I can still struggle in math, physics and chemistry."

The Eight-Angled Crab replied with eight black question mark emojis, and without saying a word, he sent him the three papers, along with a voice message.

"No, I don't understand. You can't get a few points by doing one test paper per subject, right? It's impossible for them to test the original questions on these papers."

Liam Sheng: "Who told you I was going to take a test?"

Star Anise Crab: "What are you going to do?"

Liam Sheng: "I will mark the key points according to the score ratio on the test paper. The questions vary greatly from province to province, but the key points are somewhat similar. I will see which modules have the highest scores and focus on them tonight, which is more cost-effective."

Star Anise Crab: "Is this even possible?"

Liam Sheng: "I've already said it, it's a last-ditch effort."

Star Anise Crab: "What about the others?"

Liam Sheng: "It depends on fate."

After replying this, the young master suddenly felt sad. He had been in the underworld for sixteen and a half years, and he actually had to take an exam to decide his fate.

He thought for a moment and asked the crab, "What is the formula for solving the problem?"

Octagonal Crab: "Hey wait, I wrote it down on the first page of my notes, I'll take a picture of it for you. Oh my god, when I saw you using the formula for guessing the answer, I was so happy."

It was past midnight when Liam Sheng finished his chemistry and physics lessons. His eyes felt a little sore, but his stomach felt even more sour - he was almost starving to death.

He walked around the room twice and touched three places where snacks were stored, but he didn't find any left, so he had no choice but to open the door.

As expected, there was a note on the door saying that there were washed red grapes in the refrigerator and matsutake chicken porridge was warming in the kitchen, and that people should not eat anything else at night as it would burn their stomachs.

This was left by the aunt at home. Michael Sheng often did not live at home, and without his parents watching over him, Liam Sheng's three meals were always irregular. Whenever he could not get the door open, the aunt would leave some food suitable for midnight, so that he could go downstairs to find food. Gradually, it became a kind of convention.

Judging from Michael Sheng's daily routine, he must be asleep by now.

Liam Sheng went downstairs quietly in his socks without even taking off his slippers. He had just opened the refrigerator and put his head in to pick up some food when he heard Michael Sheng's low voice coming from the terrace outside the glass.

He was stunned for a moment, then reached over with the red grape in his arms. Michael Sheng was on the phone, holding the phone in one hand and pinching his brow with the other. He also looked very sleepy, but his tone was very gentle.

Michael Sheng said to the person on the other end of the phone: "I have asked about the school dormitory. You can only apply after the school officially starts. I am afraid that Xiaotian cannot live there for the time being."

"Yes, let's move in first."

"Actually, I'd be happier to live here for a long time. The day after tomorrow morning, I'll bring Xiao Chen to help you move your things. You can tell Xiao Kevin Jiang that the two sides of this yard are symmetrical, with bedrooms, living rooms and bathrooms on each side. He can treat it as a shared rental between our two families, and we can just share the kitchen."

Liam Sheng choked on a mouthful of grapes in his throat, and the tips of his ears turned red.

He had expected that after this meal, the two men would officially move in soon, but he didn't expect it to be so fast, so fast that he had three nightmares that night.

I dreamed of being chased by blank test papers, being chased by a dog, and being chased by Kevin Jiang.

The weekly exam schedule of the Affiliated High School is quite abnormal. There are five exams a day, starting at 7 am and lasting until 9 pm. The first exam is mathematics, probably to help them wake up their brains.

The invigilator stood in front and counted the papers, divided them into several groups, and asked the students at the first table to pass them to the back. Jordan Gao in the front row took a paper and handed the rest to him, asking by the way: "What are you going to do?"

Liam Sheng laughed dryly and said, "It's OK. If all else fails, choose to fill in all Cs. At least you can earn a few points as a guarantee."

"You---" Jordan Gao glanced at him, wanting to say something but stopping himself. Under the gaze of the invigilator, he shut up and sat up straight.

Me what?

Liam Sheng was puzzled for a moment, but the next second, he knew why Jordan Gao had that expression. Because he quickly glanced at the paper and found...

Mathematics! No! Multiple choice questions!

Just as he was sitting there in numbness, his shoulders were suddenly poked twice, and Kevin Jiang's low voice came from behind: "You can also try to fill in all the 14 blanks with C."

...

are you crazy?

Liam Sheng turned his head and stared at him: "I fill it out however I want. What does it have to do with you? Why do you have to poke me?"

Kevin Jiang looked at him and suddenly spread his palms: "I poked you to ask, how long do you plan to deduct my papers?"

Liam Sheng was stunned: "...Oh, I forgot."