A Brilliance, Yet Obtained

Two bouts of rain fell twice consecutively in Huihe City, dousing away the summer heat. Because He Pingyi’s mum caught a cold, she went to receive four intravenous fluid infusions, right when Papa He was away on a business trip. He Pingyi went to apply for four days’ vacation leave to care for her. When he came back to school, a pile of test papers sat on his desk, making him suspect that the university entrance examinations were already being held the following month.

Seeing his countenance of suffering through a headache, Wang Xiaowei pulled six or seven sheets from the pile of papers and said, "Do this first. This is what we will discuss these two days."

He Ping stared at the words on the paper in puzzlement, "We haven’t finished our class yet, have we? How can there be so many problems for us to do?"

"That’s right, we haven't finished discussing it yet." Wang Xiaowei finished writing the character for "proof", took his pen and tapped it twice on top of a stack of papers. "These are lessons for af– ter– class."

When the bell signalling the start of classes rang, He Pingyi frowned and took a breath, rolled the papers and stuffed them into the desk drawer for the time being. The Chinese literature teacher walked into the classroom, textbook in hand. Wang Xiaowei wrote the last formula, flipped the pages over to the back where four blank questions remained, and finally could not help complain in a whisper, "Keep on talking about what all-rounded education, what nonsense.”

During the day, the teacher’s lectures were ongoing. He Pingyi could only desperately work during the evening self-study period. But the problem is…

He Pingyi looked at the geometric figure on the paper and tossed his pen aside.

The problem is, he can't do it either.

"Ugh." He Pingyi sighed, not wanting to write anymore. But he knew that he wouldn't gain anything in the future without working hard for it, he wouldn't get a chance to become rich overnight, and now he could only resignedly pick up the pen he had thrown away.

"Not going?"

"You can go first." He Pingyi looked at his watch and mulled over how once he finished the maths paper, he had to do the physics questions next. Those problems were so difficult. If he didn’t do it, he was afraid he wouldn't be able to understand half the words when the teacher discussed.

The people in the classroom left one by one. It was almost half-past eleven at night when He Pingyi finished. He massaged his aching shoulders, stood up, yawned and switched off the light.

At this time, the school was practically empty. Even the dormitory building has entered the last period of noise before lights out. He Pingyi locked the gate and gave a glance towards outside the railing. Several street lamps were still lit so his vision was not filled in darkness and some light seeped in.

It was He Pingyi’s first time to see such a quiet campus. On weekdays, he was always arriving at school in a rush, hovering on the borderline of lateness, along with a large number of university entrance examination candidates who were hurriedly leaving the campus. The school bell, the sounds of lectures, the voices during class recitation, the sounds of discussion, and the shuffle of papers were the most indispensable sounds in school. He Pingyi stopped and leaned against the railing, stretching out his arm on it while gazing down. A figure appeared from under his viewpoint, wearing a school uniform, carrying a schoolbag, and wearing thick glasses.

He Pingyi was startled.

Jing Can?

He poked his neck out again and took a careful look. After confirming that it was Jing Can, He Pingyi bent his arms and leaned forward on the railing to see what he was doing.

On the ground, Jing Can took small steps forward, extended a leg to the side at a drain, struck a pose as if drifting a car, drew an arc on the ground, and turned the corner.

He Pingyi lifted his chin from where it nestled on his arm and saw Jing Can run two more steps, then stop and look back at the road he had just run.

"Hello."

He Pingyi suddenly opened his mouth. Jing Can below trembled with fear and looked up.

Seeing his flustered expression, He Pingyi kept smiling and asked, "I heard you used the gutter to turn the corner. Is it true or not?"

As if building some kind of rapport, Jing Can quietly maintained this pose of looking up at him for a long period. He Pingyi stooped down, bent his body back, and then leaned forward again, burying his chin on his arm and looked at Jing Can.

"Huh?" Jing Can's response was very normal, with a somewhat confused expression.

"Let’s drive one lap?" He Pingyi said this line, then turned around with a smile and headed down.

"Why haven't you left yet?" He Pingyi saw Jing Can looking at him and raised an eyebrow at him and asked.

"Doing homework."

A burst of wind suddenly stirred. Jing Can was originally standing on a small stone step. When the wind blew, he did not know whether it was cold or he was just not standing firmly, but he got down from the stone step and stamped his feet. Jing Can's forehead fringe was of a longer length. At that moment, he lowered his head so the hair strands hung floating in the air.

"The temperature has dropped recently and it’s even colder in the morning and evening. You should put on more clothes."

The two people walked out side by side along the school building. Hearing what He Pingyi said, Jing Can glanced at him and replied in all seriousness: "I even wore our school uniform jacket but you only wore a short-sleeved shirt."

"Uhm," He Ping said without thinking, "The main point is that I'm not cold."

Jing Can kicked the stone under his foot and whispered, "I'm not cold either."

Saying that, Jing Can took two steps and sneezed. He Pingyi bowed his head and laughed. Jing Can glanced at him gently, and then pursed his lips without saying anything.

"How do you go home?" He Pingyi changed the topic and asked, "Riding a bike?"

"I walk."

Probably in order to create a quiet learning atmosphere for the third year students, the senior three campus of Number Seven Secondary was no longer located in the centre of the city. But to what extent? The campus has been built for five or six years, but the surrounding area has not been fully developed yet. There were not a lot of cars here during the day, and at night, there wasn’t even a shadow of a person in sight. Fortunately, Huihe City was small. Even if this place was considered to be in the outskirts, it was not very far from the downtown area.

It was Jing Can’s first time to stay this late at school. After saying this, he gazed at the direction of the school gate and lowered his eyes helplessly.

A stone rolled out again. Jing Can thought, Can't they put up more lights?

He Pingyi has been watching the minute changes in Jing Can's expression all along. He suddenly felt that Jing Can, this person, was very contradictory, and he suspected that his previous understanding of Jing Can was wrong. Previously, when he saw Jing Can during the times he was not talking, He Pingyi could not guess what he was thinking at all. But at this moment, each shift in emotion was instantly synchronised to his facial expressions, it couldn’t be any simpler than this.

Seeing him frown while still not saying anything, He Pingyi patted his shoulder, “Then, come with me on my bike? It’s too late. Let’s go back together.”

In a split second, an expression emerged on Jing Can's face — pleasant surprise coupled with a impression of something being liberated — which did not dissipate when he looked up at He Pingyi.

He Pingyi once again negated his previous assumptions regarding Jing Can. Such a child, how could he think that he could hold such crafty thoughts?

The two turned into the bike shed with He Pingyi leading the way, and went straight to the side of a small electric-powered scooter.

Looking at the two small purple flower patterns on the handlebar, Jing Can hesitated for a few seconds and asked the person who was unlocking the vehicle: "This is your bike?"

"Then whose is it?" He Pingyi nudged the kickstand with his foot and pushed the bike out. "Am I going to steal one here so late at night? Get on, you’re not allowed to be scared."

Jing Can moved to the back seat, turned around and gestured twice, but still did not sit down.

"Straddle the seat securely." He Pingyi said and reached his hand backward, "Give me your school bag."

He waited for a while but no weight was placed on his hand. He Pingyi turned his head and caught Jing Can staring at his hand dazedly.

"What are you in a daze for?" He Pingyi inclined his body and reached out again. "Give it to me."

The school did not allow riding a bike within its premises, but at this time, He Pingyi and Jing Can circled the electric bike around the school twice with no one giving a care.

"Hey, do you guys in the humanities class also have a lot of homework?"

"What?"

He Pingyi spoke suddenly, and Jing Can was spacing out and did not hear clearly.

"Homework, why do I feel that the teachers give us too much homework? I have been writing papers until now, and still have a lot of unfinished work." He Pingyi adjusted a little and drove by the side of a speed bump. "What homework were you rushing to finish? Was it also an after-school exercise?"

In the back seat, Jing Can pushed up his eyeglasses, paused for a moment, and then answered in a stilted manner, "No, it's for the literature homework... essay composition."

"Huh?" He Pingyi thought he misheard, "Composition?"

"Mhm," Jing Can answered honestly, "I can't write."

He Pingyi did not know whether it was his own misperception. From Jing Can behind him, he could hear a tinge of grievance within these three words.

"Me too," He Pingyi laughed and rescued the situation. "I’m also not good in formal composition writing."

Maybe because it was not a flattering topic, Jing Can didn't speak again. He Pingyi tended to become lazy when he rides a bike. Especially at this time when the street was so quiet. If not because he had Jing Can with him, he might have ridden unhurriedly until he fell asleep. He squinted slightly and enjoyed the slightly cool evening air. The person behind him also remained quiet.

"These last few days why did I not… did not see you?"

Somewhat unexpectedly, after driving past one block, it was Jing Can who spoke first and broke the silence.

"Oh, something came up at home so I asked for a few days of vacation." He Pingyi finished and thought for a while, "But I also haven't seen you before. Maybe because I don't really go out of the classroom so I didn't have many opportunities to meet you."

"Is that so?" Softly, Jing Can asked.

When he stopped at a red light, He Pingyi looked towards the direction of his home and it suddenly occurred to him that he offered Jing Can a ride and then drove off without asking where his house was.

"Hey?" He Pingyi felt that his brain was not very bright right now. He wanted to laugh a little, "Where is your house? I forgot to ask you and you also didn't tell me. If I kidnapped you and sold you..."

He didn’t have time to finish his words because Jing Can suddenly reached his hand out and grabbed the clothes at the side of his waist. If not for the clothes tightening up and sticking to his skin, He Pingyi could hardly feel that slight weight.

The finger protruding from the side of his waist was white, almost to the point of transparency. He Pingyi glanced at it and suddenly forgot what he wanted to say.

He turned left.

"39 Yanchao Road."

He Pingyi drove to Yanchao Road and stopped, but Jing Can still didn’t let go. He Pingyi thought he drove so steadily that Jing Can fell asleep in the back seat. He turned his back and patted his arm. "We’re here."

"Oh." Jing Can’s answer came half a beat late and he quickly stepped off the car.

He Pingyi glanced sideways at the big house and found that all the lights inside were turned off. He raised his chin and said, "Go back quickly, then. Your family is asleep."

Jing Can nodded obediently, turned around, and He Pingyi watched him walk toward the house. Unexpectedly, after taking a few steps, Jing Can suddenly turned back and looked like he wanted to say something but hesitated.

"What's the matter?" He Pingyi took the initiative to ask.

"Just now, you said it wrong." Jing Can’s appearance seemed somewhat apprehensive. He said this very slowly, as if testing whether He Ping would feel bad because of his words. "It should be, 'I want to go with you for a round, do you have time?'"

He Pingyi understood then that Jing Can was referring to what he said earlier.

"Oh?" Actually, he could not remember this sentence clearly. He reckoned that Jing Can was right, but when he was corrected so earnestly, he suddenly wanted to tease him. "How come I think what I said is right? Did you remember it wrong?"

"Impossible." Jing Can had no hesitation at all this time. He looked at He Pingyi with stars shining brightly in his eyes. "It’s impossible for me to remember it wrong."

In this single moment, there was something on Jing Can's face that He Pingyi had never seen before — a sense of self-confidence and certainty.

He Pingyi was taken aback for a moment.

Seeing that he did not respond, a hint of distress appeared momentarily on Jing Can's face. He thought his words were too brash and made things difficult for He Pingyi. He hastily said, "Goodbye." and turned away to run.

"Hey." He Pingyi didn't understand why he was fleeing all of a sudden. He leaned his body forward slightly and stopped him with a smile.

Jing Can turned around, stopped where he stood and looked towards him. He Pingyi lifted one corner of his mouth and laughed without restraint.

"I have time," He Pingyi said. "I'll pick you up tomorrow morning at 6:50."

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A/N

*These lines are from the 'Initial D " movie, more of this joke later.

Qiqi:
Surprise chapter! I'm loving all the Initial D references here. I have to rewatch the live action some time to check whether I translated Xiao Can's correction right.

Sticky He Pingyi is just grabbing all the opportunities to be with Xiao Can, heh.