You’re A Liar

He could feel the other person’s gaze on him but he didn’t dare look back, so he could only obediently stare at the blackboard in front of him.

Only when the other person’s glance was no longer towards him did Ling Song’s pounding heart gradually calm down.

However, the anxiety in his heart didn’t even reduce by half. 

Others didn’t remember, but did he?

What if he did?

So what if he remembered? 400 years had passed, could he still possibly poison Ling Song to death again?

But the prince regent had great capabilities, if he really wanted to kill Ling Song again, wouldn’t it be easy for him to do so?

Why not take action first and find someone to kill him instead?

The first two periods were Ma Guosheng’s language class.

Ling Song was in conflict and started overthinking for two full periods.

He didn’t listen to a word Ma Guosheng said at the podium.

During this period, Ma Guosheng looked at him several times and was very satisfied to see him sitting perfectly straight and staring at the blackboard. 

This kid seems to be more obedient than before, how nice.

When the bell rang, Ma Guosheng left the classroom after assigning homework. 

The utterly silent classroom instantly filled with noise as students in twos and threes pushed out the door, while the rest leaped up looking for others to play. 

Seeing everyone else standing up, Ling Song became nervous again, his back tensing. It was only until that person exited out the back door did his mind relax at once. 

Four to five students gathered around Ling Song’s table and chatted continuously with him.  

“Lao da1, we heard you were hospitalised for a couple of days? What happened, is it that serious?”

“How did you suddenly fall into the river? We got a big shock once we heard about it.”

“I was saying how Hai ge looked especially kind to you today. Turns out he was caring for the injured.”

“You should’ve stayed home and rested for one more week. The monthly exams are coming soon, how nice would it be to skip the whole thing.”

Ling Song wasn’t used to his close relationship with these people. In his previous life, he was a prince and an emperor. No one dared to behave so presumptuously in front of him. 

The main point is, he didn’t recognise these people.

Wait, no, there’s still one person he recognised.

Stunned, he looked at the smiling petite boy on his left and blurted, “Xiao Dezi?” 

The boy complained, “Lao da why did you address me like that again? We agreed that you wouldn’t anymore.”

Ling Song’s gaze shifted downward to his crotch and stopped for a few seconds. His body moved faster than his brain as he reached out and grabbed a handful. 

The boy clutched his crotch and jumped back, his face flushed, “Lao da how can you just randomly behave so indescently towards people! Others won’t comply!” 

Everyone around burst into laughter. 

Ling Song expressionlessly retracted his hand.

Xiao Dezi was his personal attendant in his previous life, an eunuch. 

“You, what’s your name?” Afraid of being misunderstood, he added another sentence, “I lost my memories after falling into the river.”

But no one believed him, “And I have leukemia, you think you’re in a Korean drama? What amnesia.” 

“I really do have amnesia,” Ling Song said seriously, “If you don’t believe me you can ask Tai… the head teacher.”

Everyone stared speechlessly at one another, suspicion gradually growing in their eyes. 

Ling Song nodded, “It’s true.”

The students introduced themselves one by one.

It turned out that Xiao Dezi was called Wang Zide. This name was pretty good, at least it was better than Ma Taifu’s name in this life.  

Ling Song asked, “Why do you guys call me Lao da? Who’s the Hai ge you guys were talking about?” 

“Lao da how could you forget us, you’re so heartless, so ruthless, so provocative, ying2.”

Wang Zide let out a tearless cry. After believing that Ling Song had really lost his memories, they started lively explaining everything all at once. 

Why do they call him boss? It’s because he self proclaimed this title.

Who’s Hai Ge? The teacher in charge, Ma Guosheng. Do you not see the mediterranean sea on his head?
(t/n: Hai = sea, they’re saying how Ma Guosheng’s bald head looks like the mediterranean sea) 

“……What’s a mediterranean sea?”

This.. He must really not be able to remember anything.

All the students’ eyes carried faint sympathy as they patted him on the shoulder one by one, “Don’t worry, it doesn’t matter if you don’t remember. In the future, all of us dads will support you.”

Ling Song furrowed his brows, not fussing over this group of unruly people’s lack of respect, he asked the question he most wanted to know the answer to, “My deskmate, what’s his name?”

The students looked at each other, their expressions suddenly became subtle, growing more tender and compassionate towards Ling Song. 

Wang Zide tested the waters, “Lao da, you even forgot him?”

Ling Song didn’t understand, “Was I supposed to remember anything about him?”

The student in front of his desk, Zhang Yang, patted him on the head, “It’s alright, forget it, there are plenty of fish in the sea, good daughter, get over it a little.” 

……What does that mean?

Ling Song was tangled in confusion, and even directly ignored this person’s form of address and disrespectful behaviour.

When the bell rang for class, someone threw out a sentence ‘your deskmate’s name is Wen Yuanchu’ and dispersed into the crowd. 

His deskmate entered the classroom the second the bell rang and sat back down beside him.

That oppressive tense feeling returned. Ling Song sat still and upright, looking steadily forward. 

When the math teacher came in, the entire class stood up according to the class monitor’s call to rise, and greeted ‘good afternoon teacher’ before sitting back down. 

As the teacher started the lesson, Ling Song flipped open his book, listening with one ear and not understanding a single sentence. Soon, his mind drifted off again.

The prince regent surnamed Wen only had a single character ‘Che’ in his given name, which was different from this person’s name. Ling Song thought perhaps this person didn’t remember anything from his previous life. 

Not remembering would be the best. If he remembered, he wouldn’t be able to stay at this place anymore.

The prince regent was the one who ordered someone to bring over a glass of poisoned wine to kill him.

He was also originally pushed into the emperor position by this prince regent.  

When he was 14 years old, one of his uncles rebelled and killed his emperor father, empress mother, and his brother the crowned prince, and forced his sister-in-law the crowned princess to carry his 7 year old nephew to jump into a well. In the end, he was the only one who was saved and survived by luck.  

At the time, the prince regent wasn’t the prince regent yet, but a general stationed at the border who led the army to the capitol. After killing the rebellious new emperor, he was promoted to the throne and was self proclaimed as the prince regent. SInce then, the rightful emperor was coerced and the princes were ordered, as he gained power to rule the imperial court and the people. 

Ling Song had been a puppet emperor for five years. At the age of 19, under the encouragement of Taifu, he devised a plan to seize the power back from the prince regent’s hands, but he was killed by the prince regent instead. 

After that, he appeared in this place 400 years later, having the same name and surname as another 17 year old Ling Song.

Ling Song lowered his head as he deeply felt that he was very unfortunate. How could he still come across this person 400 years later? It’s as if the soul of the deceased still lingered.

The math teacher talking on the podium suddenly mentioned a name, “Wen Yuanchu, come up and show everyone how you did this question before.”

Ling Song sat up straight with a jolt. The person beside him stood up and walked up to the podium with long legs. 

A string of characters that Ling Song couldn’t recognize flowed out of the person’s hand. Ling Song watched helplessly and confirmed again that this person was different from him, he belonged to this world. 

He’s Wen Yuanchu, not Wen Che.

Thinking about this, Ling Song finally realized that he really couldn’t read or understand what the math teacher taught. Even if he had learned nine chapters of arithmetic math in his previous life, it was only on a superficial level. 

What should he do?

Wen Yuanchu quickly wrote out the answer and came down from the podium. Once he turned around, Ling Song immediately lowered his head without looking at him.

The math teacher delightfully praised Wen Yuanchu, explaining his problem-solving steps. Ling Song didn’t listen to a word, his brain buzzing. 

As he passed his desk just now, Wen Yuanchu bent over to pick up the pen that had rolled off and placed it back on his table before going back to his seat. 

At the moment when Wen Yuanchu reached out his hand, he tried his best to restrain himself from jumping up. 

The math teacher decided to hand out a quiz during the last 20 minutes consisting of 3 big questions.

The entire classroom collectively felt they were done for. 

Ling Song bit the pen cap. Don’t bother talking about answering questions, he was even unfamiliar on how to use the pens here..

……It’s too hard on him.

Carefully glancing at Wen Yuanchu from the side, he saw him very effortlessly answering questions.

The math teacher was walking around the classroom when he stopped beside Ling Song’s table and glanced at his empty answer sheet before looking at Ling Song’s bitter face. He softly said, “You don’t have to do the test this time.”

It was likely that Ma Guosheng had told several teachers about Ling Song’s situation.

Ling Song sighed in relief, thank the heavens.

This class period ended really quickly. The students who had wilterred from this surprise quiz were no longer in the mood to crowd around Ling Song to chat. Wen Yuanchu also did not leave the class and sat in his seat, quietly reading his book.

Ling Song looked again, it was completely in a foreigh language, he couldn’t understand a single character.

He thought it was sad that everyone in this great country had to learn the language of the vassal state. 

If this was Wen Che, he definitely would not bother looking at these trivial things.

This person certainly wasn’t Wen Che.

Oh right, Wen Che was older than him by 5 years, this person was clearly the same age as him.

Ling Song gradually calmed his heart down. To be more certain, he hesitated before boldly asking a brief question, “Class.. Classmate, what’s your name? Can we get to know each other?”

Wen Yuanchu’s hand that was holding the pen paused, shifting his gaze towards him.

Zhang Chang from the row in front of them turned around, wanting to ask Ling Song to lend him an eraser. After hearing this sentence, he silently turned back around.

This daughter failed to admit defeat; you had already lost your memory yet still going after the same piece of wood, this father is disappointed.  

Under Wen Yuanchu’s stare, Ling Song’s legs turned soft. He forced himself to remain calm and kept meditating in his heart, he’s not Wen Che, he’s not Wen Che, he’s not Wen Che. 

“I lost my memory when I drowned a few days ago and don’t remember anyone, that’s why I asked you……”

“Wen Yuanchu,” Wen Yuanchu said, his voice unlike the deep and cold one in his memories, but instead carrying a languid and clear tone. He repeated, “My name is Wen Yuanchu.” 

Zhang Yang pricked his ears as he listened to their conversation and almost fell from shock when he heard this sentence. Did Wen Yuanchu change his sexuality? How did he unexpectedly finally pay attention to Ling Song? 

Wen Yuanchu’s eyes were gentle and even appeared friendly. They were indeed different from the viciously demonic prince regent. Ling Song was completely relieved and smiled, “Oh, your name sounds nice.” 

Wen Yuanchu’s eyes shifted, “You think it’s nice?” 

“Yeah, it’s really nice.”

As long as you’re not called Wen Che, whatever you’re called sounds nice.

Wen Yuanchu nodded and continued reading without replying.

Although his deskmate wasn’t very pleasing to the eye since he looked exactly the same as the prince regent after all, Ling Song felt way more at ease.

But forget it. As long as he wasn’t that person, he’d be a little more generous and won’t take out his anger on others. 

He finally relaxed after being tense all afternoon about the distinct person beside him. Wen Yuanchu held his pen and was unconsciously drawing on the draft paper. His jumbled mind gradually settled down. 

Footnotes

1. Lao da: Big Boss
2. Ying: whining onomatopoeia