A CERTAIN SOMEONE ( THE ON1Y ONE )

Chapter 080 - Going Home

Jiang Tian Suddenly Said, “Your Bathroom Has Terrible Soundproofing.”

After the last paper, Sheng Wang and Jiang Tian went straight to the hospital on their very next footstep. There were supposed to be proper visitation hours for the ward, but it wasn’t set in stone. The nurse still allowed them to chat a little with the old man.
“Didn’t Xiao-Zhao pass the massage?” The old man glared, “You’re not going to school tomorrow? Nothing serious happened to me, what are ya doing running here and there?”

“They’re giving us a holiday for tomorrow, the night self-study for the next few nights are cancelled too,” Jiang Tian said.
“Who do you think you’re fooling?” Old Man Ding found it a little hard to believe. “Why the holiday out of the blue? Did you two ask for leave?”
Jiang Tian said, “Didn’t they fish someone up in the river?”

“So what about it?”
“Our school is more cautious,” Sheng Wang explained, “they said that they don’t dare to let the students loose all over the place at night without finding out what exactly happened. Either the parents fetch us after night self-study, or it’s straight up cancelled for the time being.”
“How would it be possible for every family to get someone to fetch them?” Old Man Ding said.
“Indeed,” Sheng Wang nodded, “So they simply cancelled it.”

There was also an elderly man staying next bed over. He fell asleep and woke up again several times while watching the TV, and after he stacked his pillows up, he began chatting with them too.
“You kids are from Fuzhong?” the elderly man asked, “Didn’t an accident happen there?”
“Yes,” Old Man Ding said, “we were just talking about it, the school is scared enough to give them a holiday.”
However, the old man was clearly on the more gossipy side, he knew more details too. “I heard from the nurse this morning that the body fished up was a girl. Quite young, around twenty to thirty years old. She’s not from this area, and until now nobody has claimed the body. Poor thing.”
“Yeah.”

“That’s why as they say, you can’t live alone.” The elderly man said it from the bottom of his heart, and he sighed, “As for me, sigh, the old missy left early, my kids aren’t filial, now I live by myself. I fainted while playing mahjong that day, and it was other people who sent me here. If I rely on them……”
He waved. “Then I’ll already be gone.”

The elderly always found their kindred when it comes to conversation topics like this. Old Man Ding tapped Sheng Wang and Jiang Tian, saying to the elderly man, “See this yet? As for me, well, if not for these two, I would be gone too.”
“Oh? Grandsons?” the elderly man said, “it’s okay if the grandkids are filial too, that’s good enough.”

Old Man Ding shook his head. A while later he nodded again, saying, “Mn, grandsons, flesh and blood.”
The old man pondered. “No, wait, you were telling me this afternoon that you have no kids, where did the flesh and blood grandsons come from.”
Old Man Ding laughed, pointing at him, “Why are you so easy to trick.”

“I don’t have sons or daughters, but this one here is closer than blood.” Old Man Ding pointed at Sheng Wang, “I’m not giving this one up for anything.”
Sheng Wang joked, “How about me, grandpa? Will you exchange him for me?”
Old Man Ding hesitated for two seconds.
Jiang Tian: “......”
The old man guffawed again. “I’m not changing, I want both.”

The old man showed off for a while before the nurse came in, urging them to hurry up and rest and sleep. Sheng Wang and Jiang Tian hence called for a car home.

It had been a while since they last returned to White Horse Alley; the house was still deep in the depths of the alley, once they were inside, the clamour of the city was muted. The streetlamp outside the courtyard quietly stood at the corner of the wall. Sheng Wang’s footsteps briefly paused — he suddenly recalled what it was like when Jiang Tian just moved in.