Beyond The Outline

The field behind Sixth High was busiest after school. The male students would sometimes even skip dinner, in order to look for spots at the basketball court in droves. Xu Sheng went to play occasionally, but his motive wasn’t just to play basketball. It was this guy who lazily pushed through the iron fence door of the basketball court with a water bottle in his hand, swaggering inside. No one in the entire school dared to stop him.

Xu Sheng went to the field to show his face, sitting cross-legged on the flower-bed edge to watch Zhang Feng miss a three-pointer with his amateur shooting skills. He booed a few times along with the crowd. 

The court was just Zhang Feng and the others running around; it wasn’t  very interesting.

Xu Sheng looked into the distance, past the crowd lining up at the basketball court. On the other side of the road was a boy walking towards the route to the dormitory buildings. The uniformed youth hung his backpack over his shoulder with one strap, a single earbud stuck into his ear, heading towards the car pick-up location.

Xu Sheng thought to himself, there were so many people in this school wearing school uniforms, yet the way his deskmate wore his uniform made him recognisable at a glance.

The English recitation in Shao Zhan’s earbuds had only played for two seconds when he heard the notification sound of a message. 

He slid his lockscreen up.

S: I see you.

S: I’m at the field, look back.

Shao Zhan halted his footsteps. According to his normal behaviour, he would have definitely expressed the six words ‘See if I even notice you’, but after he had experienced becoming Xu Sheng, under the name of the school tyrant, the memories of the past and the people once present suddenly swept over him.

This message had been too surprising.

Although Xu Sheng didn’t ask anything and changed the subject randomly, sometimes Xu Sheng had this acute sense that was even uncannier than he expected. This keenness stemmed from his observation of others, and was completely different from what he displayed on the surface.

As if the two words “look back” had some kind of magical ability, Shao Zhan looked over.

The days were long and nights short in summer. The sun hadn’t begun setting yet, the sunlight burning hot. 

Sitting there, Xu Sheng stuck out even more than those playing basketball.

He held a bottle of water in his hands, his shirt drifting in the breeze. The studs in his ears weren’t noticeable usually in the classroom, but the rays of light scattered off of them—when he saw Shao Zhan turn around, Xu Sheng smiled, and waved at him in the moment following.

S:  See you next week.

Shao Zhan reminded him: Grades are out next week. 

S：……

S: …

Xu Sheng pondered what to respond with.

Zhang Feng stepped back from the court and wiped his sweat away with his clothes. “The girl across, was she watching me just now?” 

Xu Sheng returned to his senses. “What girl?”

“Didn’t I just ask you to watch her for me.” Zhang Feng became impatient. “The one at the field across, with the two pigtails. She was in the class next-door during our first year. You don’t care a bit about your brother’s life.”

“You’ve chased after too many people, how am I supposed to remember all of them.” Xu Sheng didn’t dare say he was too busy sitting there watching his deskmate and had completely forgotten his request. “With your basketball skills, you should probably beg the heavens that she wasn’t watching you just now.”

Zhang Feng choked, then noticed that the direction Xu Sheng had been looking over at wasn’t quite right, and looked over. “Wait a minute, what were you looking at just now?” 

“…” Xu Sheng twirled the water bottle around. “Wasn’t looking at anything.”

“What wasn’t looking at anything…”

We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.

Zhang Feng was halfway done with his sentence before he also noticed that school uniform. “Study god?”

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Xu Sheng was patted into shock.

A man’s sixth sense told him that this definitely had to do with the consequences of switching bodies, something to do with his previous flirtatious behaviour.

As expected, Zhang Feng said, “It’s about that forum post, actually have you felt it too, I think study god likes you.”

This sentence was as powerful as that sound of thunder yesterday. Xu Sheng almost spewed out the gulp of water in his mouth. 

Xu Sheng’s next words were said with much difficulty. “You think…what?”

Zhang Feng, “Isn’t this obvious, study god never plays around with the forum, but wrote a little essay over five hundred words for you. A pair of bewitching peach blossom eyes—don’t talk to me about some third party or whatever, others might not know but how could I not understand? Begging Meng Guowei to be deskmates with you, helping you study, how is the meaning any less obvious? And that day during the fight at the internet cafe, I’ve finally figured out why he ran over so hurriedly!”

He wasn’t.

He didn’t. 

But Xu Sheng was powerless to argue.

Only after he switched back did he realise how disastrously he had set Shao Zhan’s character up.

Xu Sheng’s speechless response gave Zhang Feng even more confidence in his theory. He thought he was becoming psychic, the fact that he had broken through the biggest secret at Lin Jiang Sixth High.

Xu Sheng interrupted. “No…this situation might be, a misunderstanding from what you think. 

Zhang Feng’s eyes were filled with certainty. “I understand everything, what are you afraid of? I won’t tell anyone.”

“…”

Brother, this truly makes me quite afraid.

Xu Sheng finally sighed. “Fuck you, go play basketball, scram.” 

Zhang Feng went back to the court with his ball.

Xu Sheng sat by the basketball court for a while. It was only until the sky began getting dark did he read that “come back this weekend” text again.

Then he casually threw the water bottle into the trash can before getting up.

Bam! 

It passed by in a parabola-shaped arc, thrown exactly in the middle.

After a month of not going home, the little district was still the same as it always was, there was just more greenery and plants. After entering the area, there were rows of parasol trees that lined each side of the road. The residential area was located on the very edge of City C’s suburbs, so it wasn’t overly noisy, and the environment was quiet.

Xu Sheng opened the door, the light in the entrance way was still on.

When he arrived home, the lady had also just returned from the office, wearing a black striped suit, giving off a disciplined and capable vibe, hair lightly curled, currently facing the window as she talked on the phone. “No problem, Mr. Xue, I’ll have someone correct the report tonight… Very sorry, I should have been more careful, such a mistake should not have happened.” 

Xu Sheng passed by the living room, and knocked twice on the door of the dining room, as a way to notify her that he had arrived.

Xu Yaping spoke a few more sentences before hanging up the phone.

Xu Sheng first poured himself a glass of water, and upon seeing her hang up the phone, he pushed the cup in front of her, then leaned back fully in his chair.

On the table were home cooked dishes packed from a nearby restaurant. 

Xu Yaping said, “I suddenly had work to do, and didn’t have the time to shop for groceries, so I ordered takeout.”

The woman looked like a classic office worker, and was very similar in looks to Xu Sheng, especially in the eyes, it was just that the shape of the woman’s eyes was not as sharp as that of a teenager’s. Other than the faint wrinkles in the corners of her eyes, age seemed to have left no mark on the rest of her body, and anyone who saw her would think that she was a very pretty woman.

Her entire face was filled with an exhaustion after such busy work.

Xu Yaping’s tone carried a sharpness tempered by her work, so much so that she wasn’t even aware of it. “I heard you had an exam yesterday, how was it?” 

Xu Sheng didn’t care about it and picked up a pair of chopsticks. “It’s just like that, I did it as usual, there’s still room for improving a hundred more marks.”

Other people scored a hundred points or so. For him, he could improve another hundred points.

Xu Yaping, “…”

Xu Yaping held her chopsticks, and didn’t move for a long time. It seemed like she was enduring something; in the end, she put her chopsticks down, and chose to spoil this seemingly normal atmosphere. “Are you still thinking about—” 

There was a bam. She hadn’t even finished speaking before Xu Sheng also put down his chopsticks.

The atmosphere seemed to suddenly quiet down.

The tension was so thick it was suffocating.

Neither of them had mentioned that phrase, but it made no difference either way. 

In this kind of circumstance, Xu Sheng unconsciously wanted to lift his hand and unbutton the collar of his uniform, and he remembered that he wasn’t Shao Zhan anymore, and he wasn’t even wearing a uniform.

After a moment, Xu Sheng stood up and said, “Mom, I’m full, you can keep eating.”

Xu Yaping didn’t say anything, still silently enduring, her nails digging into her own skin. She had been happy when Xu Sheng came back, and part of her regretted her own anxious actions to have ruined a good meal like this, and the other part of her was angry, angry at her child for having such an attitude towards schooling. “Stand right there, where do you think you’re going?”

Xu Yaping also stood up, and the two of them stared at each other from across the dining table. “I know you still blame me, you even hate me, hate that I’m interfering, but you’re still young, you still don’t understand this world, this society fully…” 

“I’m going out for a walk, if you asked me to come back just to tell me these things,” Xu Sheng said nonchalantly, “We probably don’t need to sit here together and eat, also, next time, you don’t need to go in a roundabout way and ask Meng Guowei what I’m doing lately.”

His current attitude was no different from after the mock exams, the first time he was called in by Meng Guowei, he looked as though he didn’t care about anything at all.

After Xu Sheng finished speaking, he pulled the door open.

Xu Yaping was a single mother, and spent most of her time busy with work. Under such stresses, there were a lot of things she couldn’t take care of. Since Xu Sheng was a child, when she came home late, Xu Sheng would be placed in the care of a private art studio in one of the houses downstairs. 

The studio wasn’t very big, and there were only a dozen or so students. An art teacher owned the studio, and Xu Yaping remembered the first time the teacher had praised him, saying that “this child has talent”, she didn’t think too much of it.

In Xu Yaping’s view, how could painting and drawing be a proper job? If he liked to do it, he could do it in his free time and no one would stop him.

She just wished for her child to live a stable and proper life…

Xu Yaping looked at the empty seat across from her, and sighed helplessly. She was all sorts of exhausted, so she slowly closed her eyes. 

Xu Sheng said he was going out for a walk, but he didn’t know where he was going either. He stood by the side of the street and walked two rounds. He took out his phone to look at the time, and when he unlocked it, the sketch on his home screen came into view.

Below the blurrily written date was a signature, just the letter S.

For some reason, Xu Sheng walked back to the neighbouring area around the little old district he lived in before they moved houses.

The art studio downstairs looked the same as ever. The door to the studio was open, having just accepted a new batch of students. When Xu Sheng drew closer, he heard the teacher explaining the basics of drawing poses. “Let’s pick up our pencils, it’s different from when we’re writing, we use our thumb and index finger to hold it like this, the pencil resting against our palm, and the thumb pressing against it like so… That’s right, we’ll learn how to hold the pencil and draw in this class.” 

There was a compartment in the studio which was an open room, and it would usually have long-time students inside who came in during their free time to draw, and if they didn’t finish drawing they would place their works inside that room, as such this place had another name, it was called the “Advanced Room”.

A sketch or oil painting could take up to a week, and the details were breathtaking.

It completely exceeded the comprehension of those students just learning how to paint.

Just like you who was still learning about staves in music theory, others were already going to concert halls. 

The teacher was a forty or so year old woman. She was slender, wore a white skirt, had straight hair, and when she spoke her voice was gentle. “Everyone should have a piece of drawing paper, the key learning goal of this class is to draw the lines well.”

Xu Sheng stood at the entrance, but didn’t go inside.

After the woman gave the students a demonstration, she stood up and gathered the drawing papers, and pinned the contents on the blackboard. Only when she looked back did she see him. “Xu Sheng?”

Xu Sheng walked inside. “Auntie Kang.” 

Xu Sheng had called her that since he was young. Auntie Kang laughed, and looked at him a little more closely. “Are you busy with high school work? It’s been a long time.”

Xu Sheng, “It’s all right, I was just around… buying some things, and came over to visit you.”

“It’s just nice that xiao Kai is inside.” It was possible that Auntie Kang knew that “buying some things” was just an excuse. In the beginning, when Xu Sheng and his mother argued, this always happened, but she wasn’t in any position to say anything. She pointed to the open room. “He was mumbling about you earlier too, he’ll definitely be very happy to see that you’re here.”

Kang Kai was Auntie Kang’s son, younger than Xu Sheng by a few months, they had more or less grown up together in this studio. 

When Kang Kai heard the words “Xu Sheng”, he tossed down his pen and came out. He was very handsome, it was just that he wasn’t tall. When he saw Xu Sheng, he hurriedly pulled him into the compartment and said, “Mom, carry on with your class, you don’t need to check my drawing later, I’ll ask Sheng ge to do it.”

“This is how you treat a guest?” Xu Sheng picked up a sharpened pencil from the pencil box. “Wanting me to check your work as soon as I arrive.”

Kang Kai, “It’s not like you don’t know my mom, she’s nice normally, but then becomes as fierce as a tiger.”

Xu Sheng’s gaze fell on the portrait on the easel, and he corrected the structure slightly. 

“No wonder my mother always dislikes me and wants me to learn from you more.” Kang Kai had looked at the drawing for half a day and hadn’t been able to discover the proper proportions, but Xu Sheng had grasped it in an instant. “… Are you even human? Are our hands different?”

He wasn’t sure if it was because their hands were built differently, but Xu Sheng’s fingers were long, and were more attractive than the average person’s.

Xu Sheng, “Don’t be self-deprecating, just be diligent.”

Kang Kai, “Fuck.” 

Xu Sheng, “Take the difference between yourself and others and turn that anger and sadness into motivating power.”

Kang Kai, “Stop, don’t say anymore.”

Xu Sheng couldn’t stay here for too long. He finished correcting the structure and adjusted the lighting, then relaxed his hand and tossed the pencil back into the pencil box. “Finish the rest yourself, I’ll go and wash my hands.”

Other than Kang Kai, there was another student painting inside the room, ever since Xu Sheng had walked in, they had been looking his way. 

For no reason.

Kang Kai who had said “are our hands different” was the recognised painting god of the studio, and he was usually the only one helping other people correct their work. Although it wasn’t the testing period yet, he was capable of attending the artist university exams with his current skill level and casually getting at least 20th place without trying. He could teach his own classes in the studio.

“Art god.” That student was simply too curious and asked while swiping the brush, “Who is he? Is he part of our studio? So amazing.”

Kang Kai’s voice was casual, but the words he said were completely not so. “If I’m an art god, then the person who just came, you probably wouldn’t have any words to describe him. Let’s say it like this, if that guy participated in the joint college entrance exam, the first place in the entire city would probably have to change.”