A CERTAIN SOMEONE ( THE ON1Y ONE )

Chapter 086 - Family Dinner

Sheng Wang: “Help Me Take a Picture With My Son.”

Jiang Ou did not expect to run into Du Cheng in this hospital too,
She told Sheng Mingyang that this was her classmate from high school, but in reality they were closer than classmates — Du Cheng was one of her closest friends in high school.

She was the class monitor, with Du Cheng being the vice class monitor, sitting right behind her. He would often grumble “I get the brunt of the work, you get the highest title, where else are you supposed to find such a good bro like me”, and then continue helping her out the very next second. She would often feel bad about it, so she would bring some homemade treats for the two boys behind her to share. Back then, her mother was a teacher, without any of the illnesses that came with age. She had a clear mind and a gentle personality, she was especially good at cooking too. Du Cheng often said that that deskmate of his owed it all to him for managing to get so much good food without lifting a single finger.
His deskmate’s name was Ji Huanyu; he was Jiang Ou’s boyfriend, husband, and ex-husband eventually.

Du Cheng did know of Jiang Ou’s infatuation with Ji Huanyu. Young people are bad at hiding what’s on their mind, and they have to have that one friend who they can spill everything out to. Du Cheng was that friend that she could have heart-to-heart talks with, and he even helped her indirectly find out Ji Huanyu’s actual feelings on this issue. However, Du Cheng did not have a positive view of them, he said Ji Huanyu was too scheming, he wasn’t suitable for her.
Therefore, when Jiang Ou actually did get together with Ji Huanyu, the clique of three consisting of front and back deskmates was dismantled. Ji Huanyu and Du Cheng were initially on good terms, but after that they would often have mini fights and quarrels.

At a point in time, Jiang Ou was rather confused: how did two people on perfectly good terms suddenly tear at each other’s throats just like that? It was only later then she found out that Ji Huanyu thought Du Cheng liked her too, and treated him as a potential rival for her affections, causing Jiang Ou to both cry and laugh, not knowing how to explain any of these too.
In her green days, she believed that conflict is temporary, relationships are more unwavering. Friends wouldn’t leave, lovers wouldn’t separate. Later, in the future, she found out that time stops for nobody; everyone is running ahead, everything is bound to change.

After graduation, Du Cheng went to the North, and was no longer in contact with her. He had good grades and good relations with people in general; apparently he was flourishing where he was at. It was Jiang Ou and Ji Huanyu who were entangled up for more than a decade, and concluded in a dismal, disastrous state.

Jiang Ou did not stay in much contact with her old classmates; in the earlier years, it was because everyone was busy. Later, it was intentional on her part. After the divorce, she was in a half closed-off state for a very long time. Before her son, she maintained a positive and upbeat attitude, but in actuality she had long blocked out everything that had to do with Ji Huanyu.

Later on, she then found out from her Moments that Ji Huanyu got in contact with his high school friend, got a ride on the other person’s connections, and went to develop his business overseas.
From then onwards, other than the obligatory child support he carried out, she no longer had any new knowledge of what the person was up to.

That was, until this year, she found out also via Moments: the friend that went overseas with Ji Huanyu had fallen ill, and it was quite troublesome. They didn’t know how much time there was left.
That friend was Du Cheng.

The Du Cheng on the hospital bed was completely different from the Du Cheng at 18. If not for the visiting ex-classmates she bumped into along the corridor, Jiang Ou wouldn’t have dared to claim that that was Du Cheng at all.
The scene of bygone years when the teacher would mess up, and the front and back deskmates would collapse over in laughter was just like it happened yesterday. She looked away, and suddenly they were all in their middle ages.