DTTM – Chapter 14 : You are the only one in the whole province who got them all correct.

Chapter 13 | 👖 Contents 👖 | Chapter 15

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Translator: Silvery
PR: Decadence

It’s hard to say if it’s because of that sweet.  Yu Sheng remains out of sorts even after being towed along for a time.

When he finally snaps back to reality, the eaves of the dormitory are already peeking out around the corner at them.

In the clammy and chilly air, raindrop chases after raindrop in a pursuit down to the ground, breaking out a foggy mist of rain.

That souvenir umbrella from some Summer Camp holds the fort tenaciously, seeing its mission through to the end. Whilst being battered out of shape by the relentless winds, whilst fending off the pattering raindrops, and even whilst it sways back and forth unsteadily, it shields the top of the two people’s heads in a steadfast manner.

……

It takes a while before Yu Sheng remembers there are two of them under this umbrella.

He still can’t get used to a Jin Linkun who is so silent.

Since his clothes are completely soaked through, it doesn’t feel pleasant to leave them clinging onto his skin. When Yu Sheng tries prying them off, however, the whooping winds assaulting them from every angle imaginable sweep in faster than one can blink, leaving him with no option but to abandon this notion.

When Yu Sheng raises his head, his eyes fall upon the hand holding the umbrella.

Long, pale, with prominent knuckles. Due to the beating winds, it has to exert some force to keep the umbrella in place, causing light bluish veins to bulge out.

When he is neither speaking nor riling him up, Jin Linkun actually seems like a proper human being.

Although his blouse is clearly drenched through with clumps of mud and blades of grass stuck to it, the dampened fabric highlights his prominent muscles rather unexpectedly. His collar falls open in a careless manner, revealing his well-built front. The rippling lines of his forearm also peeks out from the rolled-up cuffs of his sleeves.

Just going by these alone, Yu Sheng doesn’t have the slightest doubt Jin Linkun would be able to finish off those hooligans & sidekicks single-handedly.

Despite that, the person in question doesn’t seem to be the least conscious of it. Right hand maintaining a steady grasp over the umbrella handle, his empty left hand is stuffed in the pocket of his pants and his eyes are slightly lidded. His entire being seems blithe to the point of radiating total nonchalance.

The umbrella’s cover is truly too small. The whirling of the wind brings rain with it. The pair walk closer together subconsciously, their arms bumping by accident.

Yu Sheng can almost feel the other person’s light breaths and warmth.

Being used to keeping his distance from others, this instinctively makes him feel discomforted and he subtly inches away. 

Jin Linkun follows suit most amenably, angling the umbrella towards Yu Sheng.

Yu Sheng scrunches his brows and he takes another half a step away.

The umbrella follows him again with that other person.

……

Seeing how they’ve all but turned a corner with this manoeuvre and completely left the dormitory behind them, Yu Sheng finally can’t hold it in anymore. He comes to an abrupt stop:

“Where are you going exactly?”

“Ah?”

As if snapping back to himself at last, Jin Linkun retracts the hand from his pocket, pulling out those completely soaked and foggy glasses to put on blindly. He turns his head a full circle, looking around:

“Where is this?”

Yu Sheng: “……”

The rain might have gotten into this person’s head.

Every ounce of lackadaisical blaseness he projected on Jin Linkun vaporizes instantaneously. Yu Sheng’s breath hitches. He takes one look at this guy still squinting and trying his best to make out the way. Then, Yu Sheng raises a hand and snatches the umbrella from him:

“Follow me.”

Jin Linkun is normally blind as a bat without his glasses. When a heavy shower is tossed into the mix, his visibility drops by another two notches. Knowing his own limits quite well, he dutifully follows after that somewhat blurry silhouette.

He is an extremely annoying guy. Throughout the journey, he keeps insisting on fussing over Yu Sheng:

“Aren’t you tired out from carrying it? I’m slightly taller than you. Let me do it—”

Yu Sheng sucks in a deep breath:

“Zip it.”

Jin Linkun shuts up. Following after his roomie who had already made full preparations to fence-vault and attempt a jailbreak from this Summer Camp, they successfully complete the journey back to their dorm room.

N University has extremely fine living quarters for their students.

Since it is still vacation, there aren’t many staying back in school. N University had thus specially opened an entire hall of residence for the Summer Camp’s usage.

All living quarters are twin-room with an attached bathroom that has hot water around the clock. The air-con, WIFI, and all other necessary appliances are also supplied. They’re pulling out all stops to sway the choices of institutions for this cream-of-the-crop pool of scholars following their Finals.

Jin Linkun accepts the paper napkin Yu Sheng chucks at him, drying his lenses off and putting them back on. He heaves a deep sigh of relief at his instantly brighter and clearer world:

“Thank you. If not for you, I would have never made it back.”

Yu Sheng is still shaking the umbrella clean of water out on the balcony. He mutely lifts his head, casting him a look.

He doesn’t know what Jin Linkun went out to do exactly, or why he would appear so timingly at that place.

In any case, he couldn’t have gone out to take a breath of fresh air.

Yu Sheng stands at the balcony and peers out of the window.

This bout of rain has been accumulating for the past few days. Raindrops tumble delightfully out from the skies, looking like they will only grow heavier. The rain probably won’t end quickly.

He had, truthfully speaking, brought a change of clothes with him. However, since it was stuffed in his bag, it is all sopping wet by now.

Yu Sheng opens up his school bag and rifles through it twice before hanging it inside out on the clothing rack. The clothes are likewise hung up to dry. Just when he’s contemplating whether to wait for the rain to stop before hightailing out of here, two taps suddenly sound out against the glass door of the balcony.

The air-con has only just been started up so there remains a trace of warmth lingering. Yu Sheng frowns as he pulls the door open a fraction:

“What is it.”

Jin Linkun moves fast. At this point, he had already dried himself and changed into a new set of clothes. Squeezing his way out onto the balcony, he looks utterly refreshed.

He has with him a towel and a set of cosy and warm clothes which he had blown dry. Handing both of them to Yu Sheng, he flanks Yu Sheng’s side, acting as if it’s only natural:

“I’m taking in some fresh air.”

“……”

Yu Sheng falls silent for a while before pulling the glass door open and evacuating the balcony.

Jin Linkun makes good on his word. He stands at the balcony enjoying his fresh air for some ten minutes before coming back.

By then, Yu Sheng had already dried himself off and pulled on the set of clothes he handed him. Extremely peeved by the pants which have a couple inches on him, he happens to be looking down at it with an unreadable face and a pair of scissors in his hand which he procured from somewhere.

Jin Linkun: “……”

Jin Linkun reminds him tentatively:

“Friend, this pair of pants is still wearable for me in the future.”

Yu Sheng straightens up, flinging that pair of scissors aside and flopping backwards on the bed:

“I know. I was just entertaining the thought for fun.”

The youth’s hair dried carelessly, so his half-dry locks appear soft and tameable. Consistently frosty eyes at half-mast, his long lashes fend against his cheeks, their edges curving up slightly near-end.

Under the illumination of the lights, little dim shadows are cast on his cheeks.

Each and every sharp edge about him seems to have been sanded off by an invisible hand, gentling down into softness.

Standing by the side of his bed, Jin Linkun carries the half full cup of warmed water in his hand. The words which had been on his tongue slip his mind for once.

……

Before he can remember what he wanted to say, there are two knocks on their door. 

Yu Sheng had gone off to fence-vault before he even stepped into his dorm room. Jin Linkun was busy and didn’t look at his phone. Therefore, the pair beautifully missed the Summer Camp’s first thousand-person online meeting.

The Summer Camp for the cream of the crop is nothing if not efficient. Already, the shortlisted top scorers from all cities have been shuffled into some ten teams. Through the process of self-recommendation and reviewing of their grades, the Captains and Vice-Captains have been decided.

Yu Sheng and Jin Linkun were both sorted into Team 7. The one knocking on their door is Team 7’s Vice-Captain, otherwise known as Kong Jiahe. He is a student coming from the very high school Teacher Wan Yongming is an educator of.

Willowy and slightly introverted, he is your typical good student who has his nose deep in his books all day. He is also the top student of that particular city, as well as the No. 3 of the Province following closely after Yu Sheng and Jin Linkun.

Wan Yongming had specially picked him to be the Vice-Captain so as to train his interaction skills with other people.

The effects of said training aren’t that obvious, however. Standing before the No. 1 and No. 2 whose vibes are way too overpowering, Kong Jiahe’s nerves are so wrecked, he misspeaks several times and only manages to blabber his entire self-introduction and reason for coming thereafter.

Team 7’s first Group Activity shall begin in 10 minutes.

The location: The Recreation Centre’s Multi-Purpose Room. The activity: Showdown for the Title of the Grammar Champion.

Yu Sheng can’t believe his ears:

“Come again?”

“Grammar. Grammar Showdown.”

Kong Jiahe stammers for a little before repeating himself dutifully:

“Teacher Wan is personally taking charge of our team. Since it is the first day of the camp, he said we should relax a little.”

Pausing here, he adds helpfully:

“It’ll be very fun.”

Yu Sheng: “……”

Yu Sheng suddenly remembers what that White Silver Substitute said:

“It’s quite relaxing. It’s all fun and games.”

……

White Silver Substitute might have meant it for real. 

Jin Linkun is calm as a river. Just one glance at him tells everyone how much of an old hand he is in Summer Camps. Amicably patting Kong The Third on the shoulder, he happily ascertains the route and conditions with him in a practiced manner.

Kong Jiahe gulps, standing at attention. He anxiously repeats the summons before he easily turns to Yu Sheng, who’s still sitting on the bed:

“Student Yu… Is there anything you’d like to confirm?”

It’s hard to pinpoint why, but although Jin Linkun is clearly laid back and is neither angry or harried, even when he is merely standing there, looking elegant and refined without the slightest smile or words, he still strikes an instinctive terror in Kong Jiahe. 

In comparison, Kong Jiahe is far more willing to go out of his way and say a couple of words to that slightly temperamental-looking Student Yu in the corner.

Yu Sheng is still having a hard time swallowing their definition of “Relaxed” and “Fun”. Still out of sorts, his mouth moves without him thinking:

“Are we talking about English?”

Kong Jiahe: “……”

Provincial No. 3, Vice-Captain Student Kong, drifts down the corridor with his soul slipping out of his mouth.

Yu Sheng doesn’t think there’s anything wrong with his question.

He has quite a good impression of Student Kong despite all things. He didn’t intend to cow him off. Poking his head out the corridor, he’s a bit baffled:

“Did I say something wrong?”

“You didn’t.”

Looking at the time, Jin Linkun pulls Yu Sheng out of the room and finds his way with the sketched map:

“They are the ones who’ve been focusing too much on the Finals. If they just open their hearts and minds, they would realize. There are actually many languages with their grammar out there waiting for us to explore and appreciate.”

Yu Sheng: “……”

He thinks he can bring forward the matter of fence-vaulting to escape.

Jin Linkun has almost gotten their location figured out. Pinpointing their destination not long after, he crosses the covered bridge with him while trying to explain his previous dilemma:

“The truth is, I’m normally not bad at finding my way around. Rainy days are simply a unique case. Next time, it’ll be best if you can remind me to put on my glasses…”

Yu Sheng makes a non-committal sound and looks out the window, drawing up a plan to get out of here.

The rain seems to have lightened somewhat after persisting for some time. Nonetheless, it hasn’t stopped, and it continues to go on even now.

The skies are dark without many people outside. It’s a lot quieter than normal. The rain pitter-patters on and bats against the window canopy.

This weather is the best for drawing the curtains and burying one’s head under the covers to go back to sleep.

……

The students of Team 7 don’t share his ambition in the least.

When Jin Linkun pushes the door open, over half of the people have already squeezed into the space and are all fired up with their English Oral Practice. Their ardent vigour towards studies are no different from raging bonfires ravaging through the crowd, lighting the entire Multi-Purpose Room on flames. 

Yu Sheng’s steps come to a screeching halt. Before he gets the chance to back out of this frightening activity room, Teacher Wan has already entered from behind and is patting him on the shoulder with a close-eyed smile. He pulls out a question paper to push on him.

“The staff have run the tabulations behind the scenes. This year’s Reading Comprehension was especially hard. It had lots of pitfalls, and even I got 2 questions wrong. You are the only one in the whole province who got them all correct.”

Teacher Wan is quite delighted. He does not step upstage but instead gathers around to sit with the students:

“Come. Why don’t you explain to everyone how you understood the text?”

******

The author has something to say:
Sheng Ge actually wants to explain he’s a slacker as well.
But no one believes him.

Silvery: Kong Jiahe reminds me a bit of this person:

(There’ll soon be someone even more pitiful than him though.)

Decadence: Yes, YS. Please explain your understanding of the text about abolishment of nuclear weaponry so that society moves on to using politicians’ tongues as an efficient weapon and fuel alternative. (Not offending anyone in particular, just my imagination of how those hellish texts look. I’m an English major and even I get chills when thinking of this ‘text’ school gave for the test)

Silvery: =u= She having the nasties from exams.

Next Time on DTTM!
Chapter 15: <Cool, my ass.>

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Chapter 13 | 👖 Contents 👖 | Chapter 15

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