Orange Storm chapter 38
It’s Over
Fang Xing wrote down the answer to the last question, put down the pen, and quickly scanned the entire exam paper to confirm that there were no skipped or incorrect questions on the answer sheet. After the check, he looked up at the clock hanging on the classroom blackboard. The exam was 90 minutes long, and now only 42 minutes had passed.
Closing the pen, he picked up the exam paper and stood up. The invigilating teacher carried a chair and sat at the edge of the platform, monitoring every move below. When he saw Fang Xing stand up, he was momentarily surprised, thinking that Fang Xing was going to do something until Fang Xing placed the exam paper on the platform.
“Submitting your paper?”
The invigilating teacher looked at him in bewilderment, then quickly turned to check the clock on the wall. It had been more than half an hour, and according to the regulations, it was acceptable to submit the paper.
He looked back at Fang Xing, frowning in disagreement, “Aren’t you going to check it again?”
“No need,” Fang Xing said.
His response was quite decisive, and the invigilating teacher swallowed the remaining words, gesturing for Fang Xing to leave quickly.
In just a few seconds, the attention of the entire examination room was drawn to Fang Xing. Everyone stopped writing and looked towards the front row. Under the scrutiny of all, Fang Xing quickly packed up his things and pushed open the door of the examination room.
As he left, he heard the voice of the invigilating teacher behind him. “Some students shouldn’t think they’re extraordinary just because they study well. The better you study, the more careful you should be in checking. When you take the college entrance exam…”
The rest of the sentence was lost as he walked farther away, and he didn’t hear it clearly. However, he could already imagine the comments about him after this exam — the arrogant guy, the top of the year who handed in the paper early.
If he failed this time, it would be quite embarrassing.
He probably wouldn’t, though. Despite having a pile of things to deal with right before the exam, he felt that he was more focused on this test than ever before. For the entire forty minutes, his mind was filled only with the exam paper and questions. It wasn’t until now, after finishing the exam and leaving the examination room, that other thoughts slowly returned to his mind.
For example, Jiang Zhijin.
Right now, he really, really wanted to see Jiang Zhijin.
While the seniors were taking the exam, the other two grades were attending classes, making the entire school almost empty. Fang Xing handed the leave slip to the gatekeeper and left the school.
There was no one at the school gate, neither Jiang Zhijin nor Zhai Wan. Fang Xing furrowed his brows, took out his phone, and called Jiang Zhijin.
The call was answered quickly. Without waiting for the other person to speak, Fang Xing asked directly, “Where are you?”
“Have you finished the exam?” Jiang Zhijin on the other end sounded somewhat surprised. “I’m on the way back to the city.”
“Back to the city?”
“I went to the airport, everything’s sorted out. It’s okay. Focus on your classes.”
Fang Xing fell silent for a moment and said, “I’m at the school gate.”
“…What?”
Fang Xing repeated, “At the school gate, took a leave.”
Jiang Zhijin remained silent for a moment and finally burst into laughter.
“You really are…”
Hearing Jiang Zhijin sigh, Fang Xing then said, “I’m waiting for you here.”
Fang Xing hung up the phone and felt that his move was quite silly. Jiang Zhijin was an adult, and he had his own way of handling things. Fang Xing coming out rashly might just cause trouble for him.
But he was worried that Zhai Wan might do something, and more worried that Jiang Zhijin might need help.
Perhaps, most importantly, he suddenly really wanted to see Jiang Zhijin.
Thinking about this, he suddenly felt a bit flustered.
He forced himself to stop this thought. The gatekeeper was still looking over here, probably wondering why he was still standing at the gate. Actually, Fang Xing could have walked fifty meters to the nearby or opposite milk tea shop to wait for Jiang Zhijin, but he hesitated for a moment and didn’t move.
Because from this position, when Jiang Zhijin came over later, Fang Xing could see him at a glance.
For this unreasonable reason, he stood at the gate for almost half an hour until he saw Jiang Zhijin’s car.
Jiang Zhijin did see Fang Xing standing at the school gate at a glance — tall and straight, like a small poplar tree, wearing the school uniform like a model waiting for a street photoshoot.
He drove directly over, rolled down the window, and gestured for him to get in.
It wasn’t until Fang Xing got into the car that Jiang Zhijin was somewhat shocked and asked, “Have you been waiting for me here since you called?”
It was already winter, and although the daytime temperature wasn’t particularly low, it was around four to five degrees, and sometimes the wind would blow. Jiang Zhijin didn’t know what to say for a while and only after a while said, “Did you go crazy from the exam, top student? Can you find a place to sit next time?”
Fang Xing didn’t answer but asked, “Where’s Zhai Wan?”
“Gone. I took her to the airport. Then I called your dad. Everything should be fine now.”
“Oh.” Fang Xing responded, glanced at Jiang Zhijin, and asked again, “Are you… alright?”
“You took leave just because you were worried about me?” Jiang Zhijin glanced at him while driving. “Have you finished your exam?”
“I submitted early.”
“If your not top the class again this time—”
Fang Xing interrupted Jiang Zhijin, “It won’t happen.”
“…Impressive, Xiao Xing.” Jiang Zhijin sighed while smiling and glanced at the time.
“It’s four o’clock. Want to go to the supermarket and then have dinner at home?”
“Sure.”
Originally, Jiang Zhijin wanted to eat out with Fang Xing, but four o’clock was indeed too early. After buying groceries at the supermarket and driving back home, it was just past five o’clock.
For dinner, there was broccoli stir-fried with shrimp, cold mixed shredded vegetables, cumin beef, and a pork rib and Chinese yam soup. Jiang Zhijin seemed to be in a good mood, instructing Fang Xing to help wash vegetables and rice. Later, because Tang Yuan also joined the kitchen for fun, Jiang Zhijin found it troublesome and drove both Fang Xing and the cat out.
Holding the cat at the kitchen door, Fang Xing looked at Jiang Zhijin cutting carrot strips. Jiang Zhijin turned halfway and glanced back.
“Did you finish your homework, the class skipper on leave?”
“I took leave.”
“Skipping without any reason is equal to skipping class. Go do your homework.”
The cat meowed at the right time. Fang Xing finally carried the cat to the living room. Jiang Zhijin watched Fang Xing’s back and inexplicably sighed in relief.
A height of nearly 1.8 meters, standing at the door and observing every move, could indeed be intimidating.
As a top student, Fang Xing, although on leave—excused, still persisted in solving problems for several hours. It wasn’t until he wanted to take a shower, that he opened the bedroom door.
Jiang Zhijin had just finished showering, and the living room was very warm. He was only wearing a white vest, his hair wasn’t dry yet, and he didn’t blow it dry; it hung wet. Fang Xing took a glance and suddenly saw clear marks of fingernail pinches on Jiang Zhijin’s left hand.
He was originally about to walk to the bathroom, but seeing this, he suddenly stopped and walked towards Jiang Zhijin.
“What happened?” he pointed to the marks on Jiang Zhijin’s forearm. “How did this happen?”
“Hmm?” Jiang Zhijin, a bit puzzled, followed Fang Xing’s direction. When he saw the marks on his hand, Jiang Zhijin was first stunned, then reacted.
“Oh, it was caused by Zhai Wan.”
After speaking, he saw Fang Xing frowning, and he laughed, saying, “It’s fine, not even the skin is broken, just some marks. It’ll be gone in a few days.”
Fang Xing fell silent for a moment and sat down on the right side of Jiang Zhijin.
“What did she say today?”
“Not much, just chatted casually for a couple of minutes.”
“Said I’m his brother and that I should save him, right?” Fang Xing smiled. “She said the same thing last time.”
“Sometimes I feel like I might be…” Fang Xing paused for a moment. “How to say it, heartless. After all, he’s just a child. But if he were someone I didn’t know at all, maybe I would donate, but he happened to be…”
Fang Xing pursed his lips. “It sounds even more heartless. I don’t know what to say.”
“Then don’t say anything and don’t think about it.” Jiang Zhijin patiently listened to him and said. “Donate if you want, don’t if you don’t. It’s your own body, it has nothing to do with others.”
Jiang Zhijin picked up the cigarette case on the table, took out a cigarette, bit it in his mouth, and then put the case back.
“Don’t always worry about others, whether it’s that child, Zhai Wan, Fang Chenglin, or your mom.”
Fang Xing’s heart sank.
Jiang Zhijin was indeed clever; Fang Xing’s reluctance to donate was not only because he couldn’t forgive Zhai Wan and Fang Chenglin but also had a lot to do with his mom.
He felt that he was letting his mom down.
Jiang Zhijin picked up a lighter, looked at him, and asked, “Mind if I smoke?”
“…Um.” Fang Xing didn’t react at first, subconsciously responded, then asked, “Why are you asking me?”
“Afraid your dog nose will smell it and get upset.” Jiang Zhijin smiled, lit a cigarette, and the faint smoke dispersed.
“Your current task is to study hard and make progress every day. If you casually take leave again, I’ll smoke you out.”
Fang Xing smiled and looked at Jiang Zhijin.
Jiang Zhijin was smoking a menthol bead-flavored cigarette. He bit the small bead, and the strong menthol flavor immediately spread. Through the light white smoke, Fang Xing looked at him; the side of his face seemed less distinct in the smoke, only revealing the outline of his jaw. He wore a vest, exposing large areas of fair skin and a well-defined collarbone.
Jiang Zhijin’s collarbone was very beautiful, straight and clear, with shallow collarbone dimples. His hair, due to laziness, was left unblown, hanging disheveled. Fang Xing watched as water droplets slowly gathered at the tips of Jiang Zhijin’s hair, dripping down and landing precisely on Jiang his collarbone.
Drip.
Fang Xing suddenly stood up.
Jiang Zhijin, who had wanted to say something, was startled by him. Looking up at Fang Xing, he asked, “What are you doing?”
“I… I need to take a shower.”
After saying that, he turned around and walked straight to the bathroom. His speed was fast; he reached the door in a few steps, opened the door neatly, walked in, and then locked the door.
Then he took two steps forward, stood in front of the mirror, and stopped moving.
The person in the mirror had no expression, looking calm. Fang Xing stared at himself for a moment, finally lifted his hand to cover his face, and let out a long breath.
It’s over, Fang Xing thought.
Fang Xing was a science student with extremely strong logical thinking. For him, many things, especially the confusion and agitation he felt during this time facing Jiang Zhijin, could actually be sorted out by logical reasoning.
For example, the night Jiang Zhijin said, “Look at me,” it was due to being moved; the day Jiang Zhijin came to pick him up in the rain was because he thought he had troubled Fang Xing; the day Jiang Zhijin got sick was out of pity because he looked too weak; even the spring dream a few nights ago, could be explained as normal behavior for a teenager…
But at this moment, he realized that, besides the uncertain feelings in his heart, there were also some physiological reactions that could not be explained logically.
For example, when Jiang Zhijin just lowered his head to smoke, he found out that, unexpectedly… he was aroused.