A Brilliance, Yet Obtained - Chapter 6
Early that Monday morning, Jing Can’s biological clock woke him up. He sat at the desk in the living room and read a book for a while. When it was almost time, he got up and got ready to leave.
Speaking of which, actually, He Pingyi didn’t specifically make arrangements with Jing Can to bring him up to school every day. But after the first time, they seemed to have made a silent agreement. Every day at the same time, Jing Can would step out of the house. And as soon as he stood outside the gate, from the end of the road, he could see He Pingyi ride a small electric scooter, watching him traverse the distance until he came near.
Jing Can would stare in that direction each time, until He Pingyi would stop at his side and say, “Good morning.”
To Jing Can, any person and thing would always start from being unfamiliar until he got used to them. He Pingyi’s appearance was like that too.
“What did you do during the weekend?”
“I went to the supermarket with my mother.” Riding pillion, Jing Can has now gotten used to leaning forwards slightly and raising his voice at He Pingyi.
“The supermarket? What a coincidence, I also went. You went shopping in the supermarket two days ago?” He was not paying attention to the change of the traffic light and suddenly hit the brakes. Jing Can was caught off guard and due to the inertia, his face knocked into He Pingyi’s back.
“My bad, my bad,” He Pingyi turned around, and quickly admitted his mistake, “I was distracted and didn’t see that the light was about to change. Did you get hurt?”
Jing Can quickly shook his head. He Pingyi’s body build was relatively broad, not like the thin body type that was popular nowadays. If he had to describe it, it should most resemble the appearance of figures sketched by fashion designers.
Soft, with vigour, warm… Even though he straightened his body in a panic, so many adjectives appeared in Jing Can’s mind simultaneously. He glanced up, met He Pingyi’s eyes filled with concern, and immediately felt the cheeks that had just touched He Pingyi rapidly heat up, wreaking havoc to his ears and neck. In embarrassment, Jing Can shoved both hands into his school uniform’s pockets seeking stability. His fingers accidentally touched two slightly cool objects and got a shock. After that reaction, he lowered his head, put his hands together and worriedly clenched them.
This was the rush hour period when students arrived at school. Jing Can followed He Pingyi to go park the bike, all the while keeping his hands in his pockets and sneaking glances at the people around them. He Pingyi was solely engrossed in locking the bike, not noticing his small movements. And so, after standing up straight, He Pingyi got a scare by the mango that suddenly appeared in front of him. His gaze followed the arm holding the mango towards Jing Can. Jing Can looked into his eyes in all seriousness, and said slowly, “For you.”
Before He Pingyi could speak, Jing Can stuffed the mango into his hand and squeezed into the crowd past him.
“Hey, wait a minute…” Seeing that this person was about to slip away, He Pingyi quickly tugged at Jing Can’s arm. Before he could organise the next sentence, he suddenly caught a glimpse of the pocket on the other side of Jing Can’s school uniform. He Pingyi immediately had a hunch. He raised his hand, pointed to the bulging pocket that was hanging low with his key, and deliberately teased Jing Can. “Only gave me one?”
Jing Can stared blankly and afterwards immediately appeared ill at ease. He Pingyi watched his face turn red up to the tips of his ears, and just as he was about to speak, Jing Can quickly fished out another mango from his pocket and foisted it on him.
“I…” Jing Can raised his eyes and looked at He Pingyi.
What this looked like, Jing Can himself probably didn’t know. But seeing such an unconsciously aggrieved expression from up close, the lethal power was a bit too great for He Pingyi. He Pingyi tugged at Jing Can’s hand and shook it, his eyes fixated on Jing Can’s face, unable to move away.
“I bought three in total, and I ate one yesterday…”
“Jing Can.” Nearby, a female student suddenly called Jing Can, interrupting what he was already unable to say.
“Hey.” Normally, Jing Can’s reaction would be rather slow. However, this time he actually turned his head quickly and responded.
He Pingyi also looked over along with him, and at first glance, felt that the girl looked familiar, but couldn’t remember where he had seen her before. Moreover, he was still lost in that expression in Jing Can’s eyes. How could he even muster the energy to try to remember other people.
The girl didn’t say anything else, she just waved her hand in greeting, and left with her companion. On the other hand, Jing Can seemed to have found a rhythm from within this minor interruption. He quickly said to He Pingyi, “The bell is about to ring, I’m going first.”
He Pingyi, who had his hand shaken off for the first time, leaned against the railing, watched Jing Can scamper away and turn a corner at the end of the narrow corridor. He weighed the two mangoes in his hand, smelled them, and grinned.
They were quite fragrant.
In the first part of self-study in the morning, He Pingyi didn’t do anything else. He just took the two mangoes and clutched them in his hand. Wang Xiaowei was pretentiously holding a book, watching his deskmate contemplating the two mangoes, giggling stupidly. Ten minutes later, he poked He Pingyi with his arm and said, “If you really don’t know which one to eat first, I’ll eat one first on your behalf.”
He Pingyi didn’t move his eyes, and waved his hand, “Go away.”
“Oh oh oh,” Wang Xiaowei moved closer, and in the spirit of gossip and entertainment cultivated by his younger sister, asked “Which little miss gave this to you, let me quickly see, see what kind of love proverbs are written on it. Isn’t it a promise of undying love?”
“Tsk.” He Pingyi held the two mangoes and moved his hands aside.
“Tell me.”
“Don’t be annoying.”
“So boring.” Wang Xiaowei, who completely couldn’t see the gossip potential, retracted his neck, slumped his waist, on the desk in mud-like paralysis. “The deskmate is not cute, life is boring.”
He Pingyi didn’t seem to hear Wang Xiaowei’s grumbling and he stared at the two mangoes for a while. With reluctance, he turned his face slightly towards Wang Xiaowei, and asked, “Do you have a marker pen?”
Wang Xiaowei gave He Pingyi an empty look, took one out of the desk drawer, and slapped it on his desk.
He Pingyi pulled out the pen cap, randomly took out a piece of draft paper, and drew a stroke: “It’s too thick, is there a thinner one?”
Seeing that He Pingyi was finally willing to look at him, Wang Xiaowei was silent for two seconds, turned his head towards the textbook and recited loudly: “Ah, yikes! How dangerously high! The daunting route into the region of Shu is more daunting than climbing the sky.”
There was a flag-raising ceremony on Mondays. He Pingyi stood behind Wang Xiaowei. He saw the boy in front of Wang Xiaowei turn around, and he asked, “Is it Class Eight who is raising the flag today?”
Wang Xiaowei didn’t speak, he clicked his tongue sharply, turned his head to the side of the sports field, and smiled like a flower in bloom.
He Pingyi also looked in the direction of Class 8, but he was not looking towards the same person that Wang Xiaowei and the others were looking at.
Wang Xiaowei and the boy in front of him soon started slinging their arms over each other’s shoulders, sighing with each other, exclaiming how life as a senior high school student was beautiful, and there were many fairies in the world. Someone said, “How can there be someone this good-looking?”
These words reached He Pingyi’s ears. He Pingyi crossed his arms, stared at Jing Can, and fully approved, “Yeah, how can there be someone so good-looking?”
He Pingyi was purely and unconsciously talking to himself, but Wang Xiaowei thought a ghost came out from behind. He turned his head and with a face full of trepidation looked at He Pingyi who suddenly expressed his opinion on this kind of discussion. But he saw He Pingyi looking in the direction of Class Eight, revealing a smile similar to when he looked at the mangoes just a moment ago.
“Damn…” Wang Xiaowei, frightened by the speculation in his heart, immediately hit He Pingyi with his fist.
“Huh?” He Pingyi turned his head to look at him, “What are you doing?”
Out of protection for his tablemate, Wang Xiaowei released the buddy in front of him and pushed him forward. He then approached He Pingyi and asked in a low voice, “Your mango is not from Wen Xiangying, is it?”
Wen Xiangying…
He Pingyi felt like he had heard this name before.
He seriously tried to remember for a moment, but he couldn’t recall, and asked Wang Xiaowei, “Who?”
The flag-raising ceremony was about to begin. Chen Ji, who was standing at the back of the line, saw that the two people in front of him were still talking, and came over to warn them. Wang Xiaowei had no choice but to turn around reluctantly. But not long after, Wang Xiaowei took advantage of Chen Ji walking towards the front of the line, and turned around again: “You…”
“Oh, no, no,” He Pingyi said, raised his eyelids, and glanced at Jing Can, “Although I can’t remember clearly, it’s not her. You, stop talking.”
Jing Can was standing fifth in line with the other boys from Class Eight, his location at the very front, a little far away from He Pingyi who was standing at the end of the line. But luckily, He Pingyi’s height was enough for him to see Jing Can clearly across three classes. Hence, the flag-raising ceremony was not as boring as before.
The flag-raising team included a flag-raiser, a flag-bearer, and someone who delivers a speech under the flag. Originally, He Pingyi didn’t know who Wen Xiangying was, but during this flag-raising ceremony, he remembered the girl who greeted Jing Can early that morning. She was memorable because first, she delivered an impromptu speech beneath the flag. Second, because after her speech, she raised three objections to the school’s recent requirement that girls should either cut their hair short or tie it up in a ponytail.
This was the first time that students have openly protested against school policies in this manner. The students, who were already standing listlessly, raised their heads and looked towards the platform. He Pingyi glanced at the back of Class Eight and saw the class teacher wrinkle his brows, looking at Wen Xiangying who was fluently delivering her speech. He Pingyi silently adjusted his line of sight and it landed on Jing Can. He saw Jing Can also tilting his head, dazedly looking at the platform.
They were obviously far away from each other, but for some reason, He Pingyi was certain that Jing Can must be lost in thought. Thinking of this, He Pingyi felt his chest swell. At the very least, he felt that Jing Can already revealed more facial expressions in front of him.
This unconventional speech directly influenced the discussion after the flag-raising ceremony, causing the din over the sports field to increase by a number of decibels. He Pingyi didn’t do anything else, and immediately after they were dismissed, he stepped forward with his long legs, inserted himself and walked slowly beside Jing Can.
“Why were you in a daze just now?” He glanced left and then right, bowed his head slightly, looked at Jing Can’s profile and asked, “Thinking about those two mangoes?”
“No!” Jing Can rarely frowned at He Pingyi, and refuted him somewhat anxiously, “I’m not that stingy!”
He Pingyi choked back his laughter and didn’t speak. The two walked for a while, and when they were about to reach the stairs, Jing Can suddenly raised the hand hanging by his side, and touched He Pingyi’s arm.
He Pingyi looked over at him and heard him whisper, “It’s my fault…”
“Huh?” He Pingyi didn’t understand. He thought it was too noisy around and misheard. He lowered his head close to Jing Can: “What fault?”
“I should have given you both mangoes.”
Jing Can didn’t let He Pingyi know, but he spent the entire self-study period in regret. The more he thought about it, the more ashamed he became, and the more he couldn’t understand what his head was thinking at that time. Two mangoes were already too little, why didn’t he give all to He Pingyi? Why did he keep one for himself? This person invited him to eat chicken cutlets, took him to and from school, and he only gave him one mango.
Seeing that He Pingyi still didn’t speak, Jing Can wanted to explain more, but didn’t know how to start. He finally lowered his head in dejection
“What are you thinking about?” He Pingyi’s silence during this time was actually due to some astonishment from Jing Can’s display, so he quickly explained, “I was teasing you.”
They were already on the second floor, standing at the top of the stairs. In the crowd, He Pingyi raised his hand and rubbed his head, “I was really teasing you. I ate a mango just now, it’s super sweet.”
Jing Can raised his head and glimpsed at him, wondering if he should believe him or not. Or even if he believed it, obviously he had dug himself into a dead-end and would not be able to come out for a while. The expression on Jing Can’s face didn’t ease up much, but he cheered up and said goodbye to He Pingyi with some reluctance.
His mood was low, but everyone around him was very excited. Many students gathered together, on one hand praising Wen Xiangying for her bravery, and on the other, expressing that if the school blamed her, they would definitely back Wen Xiangying up. In comparison, Wen Xiangying, the person involved, was serene as if nothing had happened. With her long hair still draped over her shoulders, she directly walking to Jing Can’s side, and tapped the desk twice.
“Last week’s essay composition can’t be delayed any longer.”
Jing Can nodded, and reached into the desk compartment to find his essay paper. Unexpectedly, when he explored inside, he didn’t touch the composition paper, but instead touched something slightly cool and a little soft.
After only feeling it twice, Jing Can knew what it was.
His heart palpitated violently at once. His eyes following his actions, he forced himself to remain calm, carefully putting the thing in his hand aside, and continued to search for the composition paper.
One hand pulled out the essay paper, the other hand remained in the drawer, reluctant to take it out.
After Wen Xiangying left, his deskmate also happened to run to chat with others. Jing Can grabbed that cool object and pulled his hand out bit by bit.
He lowered his head and furtively looked at the yellow mango in the gap between his body and the desk
Unexpectedly, there were pictures and words written on it.
Jing Can turned the mango around, and saw a small head with large eyes, wearing glasses, with a dazed expression on.
Lifting the corner of his mouth slightly, he gently turned the mango 180 degrees, and saw the words written on the other side —— “one for each person”.
Jing Can was by the window, and a ray of sunlight shone down coincidentally on these words. Jing Can felt that his eyes were burning hot from the illumination.
Unable to restrain the corners of his mouth, Jing Can made a serious and objective comparison. This feeling right now was even sweeter than when he ate the mango for the first time.
