Chapter 3 – No One Would Dislike Him

On Friday morning, during the reading class, Li Tang was distracted, his mind preoccupied with thoughts of his English notebook.

Two days had passed, and Jiang Lou seemed to have forgotten about it, not returning it yet.

It wasn’t that the notebook was particularly precious—it was just the beginning of the semester, after all, and he’d only written one page. His handwriting wasn’t neat either, hardly something he could show off. If he hadn’t been caught off guard while sneaking a peek and panicked, Li Tang would never have lent it out so easily.

Glancing sideways, Jiang Lou was still asleep, lying on his left side, right ear exposed, along with his tightly closed eyes and straight nose bridge.

He looked truly gentle and harmless when sleeping. Even though he usually wore a smile on his face, there was always an entirely different quality about him, akin to a pure white cloud revealing a dark undercurrent, a brewing storm in the midst of clear skies—a contradictory fusion of extremes.

Li Tang couldn’t help but steal a few more glances, thinking he’d ask for the notebook back during the break.

However,

After the first class, Jiang Lou was called by Teacher Liu to distribute teaching materials to the class. During the long break after the second class, the English teacher took over.

“After a week of school, everyone has gotten to know each other. Let’s choose our class representatives.”

Previously, the English homework had been collected and distributed by the class president, leading the students to believe that the English teacher had forgotten about appointing representatives.

Being a class representative in high school was a tough job, especially for English class representatives. They not only had to collect and distribute homework but also supervise morning readings when the teacher was absent.

So no one was eager to take on the role. After waiting for quite some time, only a few hands were raised half-heartedly, clearly under the English teacher’s watchful eye.

Li Tang looked around, his hands on the desk unconsciously twisting together.

He genuinely wanted to raise his hand.

That morning, before leaving home, his mother, Zhang Zhaoyue, had come downstairs to have breakfast with him, asking how he was adapting to his new school.

Li Tang, who had not received much attention from his mother for a long time, felt unexpectedly flattered. He promptly replied that he was adapting well, that the teachers and classmates were all friendly, and that the educational level didn’t fall short of the capital’s international high school.

Zhang Zhaoyue’s expression relaxed slightly. “No. 1 High School is still pretty good here in Xucheng; I graduated from here myself.”

She also told Li Tang that she had served as the English class representative for three years at Xucheng No. 1 High School.

Li Tang thought to himself that if he became the English class representative too, his mother might be pleased.

But he was shy, and whenever he wanted something in the past, someone would always find a way to hand it to him. He had never fought for anything himself.

This hesitation led the English teacher to make a decision: “Then the three of you come to my office later…”

Before she could finish, Li Tang heard the person beside him suddenly speak up, “Teacher, Li Tang wants to participate in the election as well.”

Jiang Lou propped his chin on his hand, his sleepy eyes slightly squinted, but his voice was unusually clear. “His English is excellent, I can vouch for it.”

As soon as Jiang Lou woke up, the last row of Group Four in Class 1 once again became a gathering spot.

During the break after the third class, Huo Xichen sat cross-legged on the windowsill, loudly berating Jiang Lou for lacking loyalty. “My English grades are decent too, why didn’t you sign me up?”

Jiang Lou laughed. “If you wanted to be the class representative, you should’ve raised your own hand. Why would I need to help?”

“It’s not the same,” Huo Xichen put on a performance. “Hmph, men are fickle, changing their minds faster than they can flip a book!”

The surrounding boys made gagging gestures, one of them saying, “If I remember correctly, you two only met during the summer when we were divided into classes.”

Huo Xichen retorted, “Still longer than the transfer student’s acquaintance.”

…

Li Tang lay on the table, pretending to sleep as if he couldn’t bear to face anyone, his mind swirling with thoughts. One moment, he wondered how Jiang Lou knew he wanted to be the class representative. The next, he thought about how the homeroom teacher said Jiang Lou was helpful, seemingly not exaggerating at all.

At the end of the last class in the morning, the class president, Li Zichu, came to report that the English teacher had officially appointed Li Tang as the class representative.

It happened so quickly that Li Tang was surprised. Had it really been decided with just one trip to the office?

It was hard not to suspect there was something fishy going on.

His first task upon assuming the role was to explain English problems to his classmates.

The first to approach was Zhou Dongze, who had played basketball with him before. As the class sports commissioner, he towered over Li Tang’s desk, looking up with an eager expression, somewhat comical.

Li Tang took his responsibilities seriously, patiently starting from the basics. This was a stark contrast to the teacher’s usual “you don’t even need to look at this question, it can only be C.” Zhou Dongze felt like he was drinking from a fountain of knowledge, marveling that such detailed explanations could even be understood by kindergarten kids.

Embarrassed by the praise, Li Tang reciprocated, “It’s because you have strong comprehension skills.”

After explaining several questions, Li Tang began to grasp the method, discovering the importance of encouragement. Whenever Zhou Dongze said he understood, Li Tang would praise him, saying things like, “Very good… Really impressive… Fantastic.”

After finishing the questions, Zhou Dongze smiled and said, “You’re so good at teaching, you should become a teacher.”

Li Tang didn’t dare overstep his bounds, waving his hands. “I’m just an amateur, you should primarily ask our English teacher.”

“But I’ll call you ‘Little Teacher’ then,” Zhou Dongze said. “When I ask you questions in the future, you won’t find me annoying, right?”

“Of course not.”

Teaching others gave him a sense of accomplishment.

“That’s great,” Zhou Dongze said. “Let’s hang out on the weekend.”

“Sure.”

“Then we’ll connect via WeChat later.”

At noon, Li Tang and Li Zichu went to the school cafeteria for lunch. Li Zichu introduced him to a few stalls with better-tasting food, and Li Tang finally found a meal he considered acceptable at this school.

He ate little, feeling full halfway through. He scooped the egg flower soup in his bowl with no particular rhythm. Seeing Li Tang bored, Li Zichu struck up a conversation. “It’s quite far from the capital to here, why did you think of coming here to study?”

Li Tang didn’t want to elaborate too much. “My mother’s hometown is here, I came with her.”

“Wow,” Li Zichu exclaimed. “You’re truly filial.”

Li Tang glanced at the person across from him, thinking to himself that it was fortunate his expression was sincere, without any hint of mockery. Otherwise, those words could easily be taken as sarcasm.

They returned to talking about their class, and Li Zichu mentioned, “Jiang Lou and I were in the same class during junior high and the first year of senior high. He was always the math class representative.”

Li Tang pondered this. “The teachers seem to like him quite a bit.”

Li Zichu nodded. “Not just the teachers.”

Recalling the conversation he had overheard on the rooftop on the first day of school, Li Tang agreed. “There are many girls chasing after him.”

“There are plenty of guys too,” Li Zichu added, then realized his statement might be misinterpreted. “Not in that way, but everyone likes to be around him. You know, people who are good-looking and excel academically tend to be a bit proud, inevitably looking down on others… But not Jiang Lou. It’s comfortable to be around him; he never makes anyone feel awkward.”

“Why don’t you play ball with him then?”

“He says he doesn’t want to hold us back. He’s the kind of person who always considers others. If it weren’t for him letting me take the position, I wouldn’t have become the class president.”

Li Tang began to understand why Jiang Lou could get the teacher to choose him as the English class representative with just one sentence.

But…

“Why become the class president?”

In Li Tang’s eyes, being the class president was a job where one worked tirelessly for the teacher and the entire class. Someone actually wanted to do it voluntarily?

“Maybe it’s because of habit,” Li Zichu candidly explained. “I’ve been the class president since elementary school. If I weren’t one day, I’d feel uncomfortable all over.”

Li Tang thought to himself that this might be a masochistic mentality, a hidden sadomasochist.

But he said aloud, “He must know you well then, knowing that you wanted to be the class president.”

Having finished eating, Li Zichu put down his chopsticks and summed up, “So I say, no one would dislike him.”

School dismissed on Friday afternoon after the general cleaning, with no evening self-study.

Coincidentally, the duty students for the first week were the two students in the last row of Group Four—Jiang Lou and Li Tang.

Facing various cleaning tools for the first time, Li Tang, participating in labor at school, didn’t know where to start. Jiang Lou picked out a mop and two rags for him. “Go wet them in the restroom, I’ll sweep the floor.”

Li Tang obediently went. While washing the mop, his palm stung. Flipping his hand over, he saw a wooden splinter embedded in his palm. He tried to remove it but couldn’t, so he decided to leave it alone for now.

Carrying the dripping wet mop back, Li Tang noticed there was an additional person in the classroom.

It was the girl who had handed Jiang Lou a love poem on the rooftop that day—the Chinese class representative from the neighboring Class 2. Li Tang had heard the teacher call her name in the office: Su Qinhan.

Upon hearing someone enter, Su Qinhan turned around, leaning against a desk. She glanced at Li Tang and immediately turned back, acting as if he didn’t exist.

Jiang Lou also looked over, saying, “I haven’t finished sweeping yet, you can rest for a bit.”

Li Tang, having been assigned the task, had no right to complain. So, he returned to his seat and laid down.

He continued trying to remove the splinter from his hand. However, the splinter seemed to have a mind of its own. After some effort, his hand turned red, but the splinter seemed to be embedded even deeper.

Every touch brought pain, accompanied by a slight tingling. Li Tang subconsciously licked his lips, staring at the splinter barely protruding from his skin, poking it once, then again.

One time, he applied too much force, the pain traveling along his sensory nerves, jolting his brain. Li Tang suddenly snapped back to reality.

He quickly pulled out his phone to distract himself.

He hid his phone in the inner layer of his backpack under the desk, taking it out to play when it was safe.

There wasn’t much to play with. He wasn’t addicted to games. Opening the group chat for his former international school class, he realized he couldn’t join in the conversations his old classmates were having.

Private messaging Cao Yang, that guy didn’t know what he was doing, taking ages to reply.

Li Tang randomly opened a public account that told bizarre tales. However, no matter how captivating the stories, they weren’t as engaging as the conversations happening elsewhere.

“How about we hang out together on the weekend?”

“Still hanging out? Doesn’t Principal Su care about you?”

“Why bring up my dad for no reason, it’s annoying.”

“You don’t want me to be summoned to the guidance office for questioning again.”

“Sigh, forget it, forget it. Did you read the poem I wrote?”

“Read it.”

“Well, I’m going to quiz you on it. What’s the last line?”

“Hmm, let me think.”

“How can you still think about it… Hey, stop sweeping for a moment… Are you even listening to me!”

The prone position was lulling him to sleep, and Li Tang found himself drifting off as he listened.

In his hazy state, he vaguely wondered, what was the last line?

“I love you,” or “Please be with me”?

He woke up to the dimming light, suddenly sitting up straight, catching sight of a tall figure before relaxing.

He stood up and walked toward the back of the classroom. “…Why didn’t you wake me up?”

Jiang Lou was tidying up the tools and didn’t look up when he heard this. “There wasn’t much work left.”

Su Qinhan had already left, Li Tang didn’t know how she had been coaxed away. Feeling somewhat uneasy, he ran his fingers through his disheveled hair. “Is there anything else that needs to be done?”

Jiang Lou glanced at the nearby rag. “The podium hasn’t been wiped yet.”

Afraid Jiang Lou would think he was intentionally slacking off, Li Tang hastily grabbed the rag and rushed to the podium.

As he wiped, he kept looking back at the rear of the classroom. At that moment, Jiang Lou was standing with his back to the podium. Li Tang noticed that he had broad shoulders, which was why he didn’t appear weak despite being slender.

Looking at him this way, the fact that he was deaf in one ear was indeed a tremendous regret for him.

According to Li Zichu, since he started being classmates with him, Jiang Lou couldn’t hear in his left ear. So either he was born that way or it happened before junior high…

Right, the matter of becoming the English class representative—he hadn’t thanked him yet.

In his previous experience with interpersonal relationships, Li Tang was accustomed to fair exchanges, not skilled at unilaterally accepting help from others. Therefore, he deliberated for a bit longer.

Just as he was about to speak, he was interrupted by the other party.

“You had a nightmare earlier,” Jiang Lou said.

It wasn’t a question, and Li Tang was momentarily taken aback. “How did you know… Did I talk in my sleep?”

“Mm,” Jiang Lou said. “You called out ‘mom.'”

He turned around, his gaze directly meeting Li Tang’s. “You called out three times.”

Mom, mom, mom.

…

Where did mom go, does mom not want me anymore?

…

My mom’s name is Zhang Zhaoyue, brother, have you ever seen her?

The intrusion of an inappropriate memory made Li Tang abruptly freeze, his eyes widening slightly.

At dusk, under the classroom’s high-temperature white incandescent lamps, Jiang Lou’s contradictory nature reappeared—an annoying fatigue, an incomprehensible irritability, and some emotions akin to apathy.

Even though his features remained calm, his mouth still held a faint smile.

His tone was indifferent, subtly conveying concern.

Jiang Lou asked, “You kept calling for your mom, do you miss her?”