A CERTAIN SOMEONE ( THE ON1Y ONE )

Chapter 093 - Bitter Summer

He Had Never Heard Such Clamorous Cries of Cicadas Ever Since.

The next time Jiang Tian saw Sheng Mingyang again was noon the very same day — in the hospital, full of chaos.

Neither of them wanted to get Jiang Ou involved, but they forgot one single thing: the walls have ears, and the school happens to be the place where rumours are most easily born.

After Jiang Ou went for her parent-teacher meeting, she called Sheng Mingyang, but he didn’t pick up. He only sent a message on WeChat, saying, “Have something going on, will be back late.” Due to Ji Huanyu, she was already in a stage of conflict with Sheng Mingyang, they were on the verge of breaking up. Along with how she wasn’t involved in his business anymore due to her health, she didn’t ask any further upon seeing the message. Instead, she went to Mingli Block with the crowd, wanting to wave Jiang Tian goodbye before leaving.
She ended up catching wind of the rumours circulating along the corridors. Rumours about her son.

Gao Tianyang knew Jiang Ou, and was also the first one to notice that she wasn’t acting quite right. Both Sheng Wang and Jiang Tian’s phones were in their bags in the classroom, so he could only take the more indirect approach, and called the last number…...and so the phone call reached Old Man Ding.
And then there was no point of return.
When Jiang Tian rushed back to Fuzhong, it was this exact catastrophe he was welcomed with.

At that point, he felt like someone was playing an absurd trick on him. He was already trying so hard, but he always seemed to be a few seconds behind. He missed the first step, so he was doomed to miss everything else, and then watch with his very own eyes how the carriages on the train crash into each other, one by one. Turning everything upside down, destroyed beyond recognition.
And all he could do was just stand there, watching.
He wasn’t good at speaking up, nor was he good at venting his feelings. He was a mute in name.

Sheng Mingyang had already travelled to the hospital at the fastest speed he could manage. When he exited the lift, he saw Jiang Tian sitting on a random empty bench along the corridor, his body caving in on himself, his elbows on his legs. His head was hanging so low, it almost reached his elbows. His brows and features were still full of the sharpness of youth, but he was absolutely beaten.
He initially wanted to say something — he came to the place with a chest full of anger — but upon seeing a Jiang Tian in this state, whatever he wanted to say instantly vanished to the back of his mind.

For that split second, he abruptly had the realisation that this older boy before him was actually roughly the same age as Sheng Wang……
It seemed that it had never truly clicked for him before that.

But that thought was but a mere fleeting one in his mind before it was suppressed down again. Jiang Tian heard his footsteps, glanced at him, and then behind him on instinct. There was nobody else in the lift, and it closed behind him with a thud.
Sheng Mingyang frowned. A moment later, he spoke, “Sheng Wang isn’t here, I got someone else to take care of him.”
The feeling of accounting to other people the whereabouts of his son was rather strange, causing him to feel irked. The anger he just suppressed surged up once more. However, he couldn’t manage to speak to Jiang Tian like how he spoke to Sheng Wang; he would subconsciously restrain himself, and speak officiously.
It was at this time then he discovered that he had never treated Jiang Tian as one of his own at all.

Jiang Tian stood up from the chair. He was actually taller than Sheng Mingyang, so despite having the unsubstantial frame unique to teenagers, it was still enough to let people feel the pressure. He said, “The problem is with me, don’t scold him.”
Sheng Mingyang thought that this was getting absurd — Sheng Wang was clearly his son, but some other person was going out of his lane, like he was a villain bent on causing Sheng Wang to suffer. “Since when have you seen me scold him?”
He asked in reply. He honestly did not want to continue this conversation anymore, so he hurried inside.