Together Forever

Due to Gu Pingsheng’s arrival, the Law Faculty suddenly came into the limelight.

As an academic inst.i.tution known for science and engineering, the faculties of Telecommunications and Management had always been the leaders of the school, and the Faculty of Architecture and the various science faculties were also not to be taken lightly, despite their habit of remaining quiet. As for the few lonely faculties that belonged to the liberal arts category, they practically had no status in the school worth mentioning.

“ ‘Law school? This university has a law school? Isn’t it only Fudan[1] that has one?’” Shen Yao indignantly read the heading of one of the threads on the school’s BBS forum. “How dare they actually say that. They’re looking down on us!”

Her eyes had been fixed on the online discussion board the entire afternoon and even lunch had been taken care of with only some instant noodles.

Because of a single photograph of Gu Pingsheng, though, the Law Faculty finally became famous.

The weather was very hot, and Tong Yan lay sprawled on her bed.

She was biting open longan sh.e.l.ls with her teeth, and one by one, she ate the fruit while occasionally lifting aside the muslin bed curtain to toss the sh.e.l.ls under the bed.

Longan fruit (image credit)

“We’re normally so low-key, but this week, we’re practically catching up to Super Girl[2] in popularity. It’s all Gu Ping–– “ Midway through, she realized she was actually addressing him directly by his name and immediately caught herself. “… Teacher Gu’s fault.”

Shen Yao cackled with a “hehe” and corrected her, “The thing is, we’ve successfully trampled the Faculty of Architecture and now have the most beautiful teacher in the entire school.”

Tong Yan nearly swallowed her longan seed.

Gu Pingsheng’s face was relatively fairer in complexion and more slender, and relatively sharper and more defined, and every so often, his attire would be rather attractive and pleasing. But to use the description, “most beautiful” on a teacher of the Law Faculty was just… However, Gu Pingsheng’s ability to incite the ma.s.ses was something she could not deny either.

This was apparent just by looking at this week’s three cla.s.ses of International Commercial Arbitration Law. The students who sat in on the cla.s.s just to listen, despite not actually taking the course, had filled the entire cla.s.sroom, causing her and the cla.s.s prefect, who were both late, to have no seats and only stand at the door, staring blankly.

A cla.s.sroom that seated more than sixty people… And our faculty only had nineteen students in it for our year… Where did all these people come from?

It was fortunate that when Gu Pingsheng stepped in, he had quickly discovered that their territory had been completely overrun by outsiders[3] and had softly asked two girls sitting in the front row, “Could I trouble you…”

Before his question could be completed, the two girls had immediately jumped to their feet. “Teacher, it’s no problem. We’ll just stand.”

Tong Yan had been speechless. In this day and age, there were still people willing to stand to listen to a cla.s.s lecture?

Luckily, he only came to the school three times a week.

In the end, to preserve the rights and interests of the students of their year, the cla.s.s prefect had held a small internal meeting and established that no one should in any way divulge this semester’s cla.s.s schedule or else that person would become the public enemy. They couldn’t make Teacher Gu sacrifice himself and his good looks every time to help them, right?

Tong Yan finished eating her longan fruit and then climbed down the bunk bed ladder to discover that Shen Yao had seated herself back in front of the computer.

The subject headings for every post on the entire screen were flashing with the words, “Law Faculty.”

“Risking My Life to Leak Law Faculty’s Timetable,” “Discuss the Abrupt Rise of the Law Faculty and its Journey to its Current Celebrity Period.” “Open Letter to the Leaders of Our School re: Waste of Educational Resources in Law Faculty,” “May I Ask Which One of You has Friends in the Law Faculty?”……

Shen Yao clicked the mouse and opened up a post with the subject line, “Strongly Against Teacher/Student Romances. Bring Back Our Pure, Clean Campus!’

“Wasn’t it, last year at the Faculty of Architecture’s graduation ceremony, there was a teacher-student couple that got married on that day? How come no one’s ever mentioned them? G.o.d’s finally blessed us for once, and we’ve suddenly stepped on everyone else’s toes.”

Tong Yan could not be bothered to pay attention to her, and alone, she left and went outside to attend her elective course. Because it was Friday and many people had selected their courses to avoid falling on this day of the week so that they could return home, there were not many students on the university campus. She walked along the pathway and was right in the middle of letting her mind go blank and feeling utterly fatigued, when someone unexpectedly called her name.

In that moment when she turned around, she was taken aback.

Facing the sunlight, she looked over to see Gu Pingsheng, who was extremely popular in the school by now, poking his head out from a Range Rover.

Because he was framed by a background of sunlight, she could not see his expression clearly and could only sense that his eyes were on her. For reasons unknown, she remembered that night when he had sat quietly on the ground outside of the emergency room. The occasional nurse walking by had not dared to look at him.

Tong Yan walked up beside the vehicle, making an effort to slow her speech. “Teacher Gu, why are you here today?”

Gu Pingsheng watched her amusedly. “You don’t need to speak so slowly. It makes me feel like I’m watching a movie played in slow motion. Where are you going?”

His voice had much texture to it, but unfortunately, he could not hear himself speak.

The tone in which he spoke was like a very close friend and not like a teacher.

Smiling rather awkwardly, Tong Yan answered, “The library.”

She had thought she was just exchanging small talk with him and did not expect that she would end up sitting in Gu Pingsheng’s vehicle. He had said he would drive her there, but in reality, it was merely a three to four minute car ride. Still, she could not refrain from sneaking glances at him a couple of times. To be truthful, from the time they had met each other again, she had not dared look directly at him.

When it was time to get off the vehicle, he also stepped out. In this place where there was always a relatively large number of people coming and going, Tong Yan was still rather nervous about walking together with him. However, it would be inappropriate for her to say anything, and so, she could only cautiously probe, “Teacher, you’re here to borrow books, too?”

He locked his vehicle before turning to her and asking in return, “You don’t know about today’s special lecture?”

Tong Yan searched hard through her memory and seemed to remember that a certain well-known figure in international trade laws had been invited to the school. It seemed her cla.s.s prefect had mentioned it to them on Wednesday. Now, she glanced over Gu Pingsheng’s appearance — a black suit and tie, a calm expression in his eyes, a smile that seemed imperturbable. Besides his small action of hooking his keys around his finger, he did indeed look much more stern and authoritarian than normal…

“Don’t tell me you’re the speaker?” She blurted out the question.

“It’s my friend,” he answered with a slight chuckle. “I’m here to check over the lecture hall. Have you eaten yet?”

“No.”

“It’s past six o’clock now.” He contemplated briefly and then suggested, “The lecture begins at seven. Time is a little tight. I’ll go buy some sandwiches and drinks and we’ll…” He took a glance at the lake called “Remembrance of Roots[4]”, which was in front of the library. “Let’s eat beside the lake.”

She had actually never intended on attending this lecture.

Unconsciously, her eyes flitted away. “I really want to go but I have a computers cla.s.s this evening…”

“Would you be able to look at me when you speak?”

Her cheeks grew hot and immediately, she turned back to meet his gaze.

Smiling slightly, he explained, “I didn’t get a clear look at what you said just now.”

With his gaze on her, she did not dare say any of the fibs she had had prepared and could only reply, “I was saying, I need to go to the fifth floor to borrow some books. You might need to wait for me for a little bit.”

Because of Gu Pingsheng’s warmness and enthusiasm, she had no choice but to attend this unforeseen lecture.

Sitting down by the lake, the two of them hastily ate their dinner. As she took the first bite out of her sandwich, she glanced over at Gu Pingsheng, who was browsing through some papers. At the same time, he started putting away his materials and turned to look at her.

Tong Yan immediately adjusted her facial expression, and with a sincere and respectful look in her eyes, she waited for her teacher’s instructings.

“Your mother is well? How is her health?” He unwrapped his sandwich and took a bite.

“Very well.” She thought for a moment and then asked him a similar question. “Your mother…”

“She pa.s.sed away.”

She offered her apology. After she had finished her entire sandwich and was starting to take sips of her coffee, she finally asked the question that had been on her mind. “Teacher Gu, I remember you used to be a doctor.” And moreover, a cardiac surgeon at the Peking Union Medical College Hospital.

When she said this, two girls walked by in front of them, casting curious and envious glances.

Tong Yan was slightly embarra.s.sed. Earlier, when Gu Pingsheng had made the suggestion, she had wanted to say that Remembrance of Roots Lake was known in the school to be “a lake for dates,” especially on nights like this one, where a gentle breeze was blowing. Every bench was occupied by snuggling couples…… She had already deliberately placed the books she had just borrowed between the two of them, but Gu Pingsheng was just too striking. All those stares of jealousy and envy were impossible to avoid, even if she tried.

“Technically, I couldn’t be considered a doctor. Back then, I was just doing an internship at the hospital my mother worked at,” he told her. “Later, because I could not hear, I could not work at an operating table anymore and so I switched to study law.”

“You were able to get your PhD so quickly?”

“I took my undergraduate studies in the U.S. Both law school and medical school require that you have an undergraduate degree before you are eligible to apply.” He smiled, ate the last bite of his sandwich, and then pulled out a package of moist towelettes, holding it up first to her. “At the time, I had completed two years of medical school and had not graduated yet when a mishap occurred. One of my [female, elder] cousins introduced me directly to her advising professor, and so I went to the U.K. to study law. So in fact, I actually did not waste too much time.”

She understood now. Pulling out a towelette from the package, she asked, “But, why did you come back to China? Wouldn’t it be good to stay at the college you graduated from?”

Gu Pingsheng also yanked out a towelette, and after wiping down his hands, he picked up his paper cup and took a drink of his coffee. “After I graduated last year, I came back to China for vacation, and one time during a dinner, I met the dean of your Law Faculty. He invited me to teach for one semester as a trial. I have a friend here in this university, and she also convinced me to come here. And so, I decided to give it a try to see if I could be a teacher.” He thought for a moment, then added, “I only signed on for one semester.”

“Just one semester?”

He nodded. “I may not even get used to being called ‘Teacher’ before I’ve left.”

Tong Yan gave an “oh” in response and then turned her head away, continuing to sip at the coffee inside the paper cup. She had never before had to casually converse under someone’s constant gaze, and even when they stepped into the library building together, she still was not yet accustomed to it.

Generally, guest lectures were not scheduled on Fridays because most students would have gone home and attendance would be poor.

However, when Tong Yan stepped into the large lecture hall, she gaped in astonishment. This lecture hall that seated five hundred was packed, with not a single empty seat, and even the aisles were filled with standing people… She reckoned, aside from the presentations held for fourth year students to aid them in finding jobs, this had never before been seen.

Luckily, Shen Yao had saved a seat for her ahead of time.

The entire evening, Gu Pingsheng took on the role of facilitator for the lecture.

This American friend also had celebrity status and he spoke fluent Chinese. He was lecturing away on trade laws when he veered off to talk about how, when he was in the Middle East, he had pa.s.sed through gunfire and even personally rescued a girl. As they listened to his descriptions, the entire hall of people would again and again let out anxious cries. Occasionally, Gu Pingsheng would throw in a couple of sentences, and though his words were few, his comments were even more vivid and exciting than if he had personally experienced all this.

Later, when the banter between the two of them became too animated, the American started to tell amusing personal stories of Gu Pingsheng. “Back in King’s College, your Teacher Gu was definitely a “pretty lady’s bane[5].’”

The large, five hundred-person lecture hall instantly grew quiet… This American did not simply have “good Chinese,” he had mastered it to the point of perfection.

Gu Pingsheng shook his head and did not speak, merely smiling. When his American friend wanted to say more, though, he finally switched his microphone to his other hand and interrupted duly, “It is now time for questions, so do the students have any questions?”

A single sentence successfully caused the hall to liven up again.

Beside them, a Korean exchange student did not understand the meaning behind “pretty lady’s bane” but was truly curious. “The thing that American guy just said, what does it mean?”

Grinning, Shen Yao explained, “Beauty that causes ‘the moon to hide, the flowers to hang in shame, the fish to sink, and the wild geese to alight.[6]’ You understand that?”

The Korean student prided himself on having pa.s.sed the Chinese language a.s.sessment examination and replied very seriously, “It means a woman so beautiful that she causes the fish and the wild geese to become so dazed that they forget how to swim and fly.”

Hearing this, Tong Yan wanted to giggle. The meaning was correct, but why did it sound so weird?

“That definition is about right. What that person is saying is, Teacher Gu is so gorgeous that even the pretty ladies are put to such shame they want to die.”

Not surprisingly, that night on the school’s BBS, the string of post headings that were lined up and down the screen had all become “Pretty Lady’s Bane.”

Every Sunday, Tong Yan would go to work at her part-time job in a French sporting goods store.

This particular company actually had four or five different stores within Shanghai. In the beginning, when she first went for her interview, she had favoured this particular company simply because of its branch store that was near the university. However, she had not expected that shortly after she started her job, she would be internally transferred to another branch store that was much further away. When she had received the call informing her of this, she had hesitated for three seconds and then still chose to accept the transfer.

As a result, every Sunday at five o’clock in the morning, she needed to force herself to crawl out of bed and travel by bus for two hours before she reached the store. The only benefit of this was that this particular store was near the Hongqiao area[1] and 90% of its customers were foreigners, so it was a nice opportunity to practice her spoken English while being a sales a.s.sistant at the same time. Except, the store’s recent shipment of athletic pants had completely shattered that lovely dream.

These last several weeks, she had been sent directly into the storeroom where, like a machine, she would clip the pants onto the hangers. The biggest problem was, the metal clips were very stiff and the waist of the pants had to be pulled taut before they could be clipped. When she finished all of the more than five hundred pairs of pants, her fingers were swollen.

By the time the manager had completed inspecting her work, it was already past one o’clock in the afternoon.

She was starving, and her stomach rumbled as she walked out of the storeroom and ran with hands raised to the checkout counter. “Miao Miao, I’m going crazy. See how ridiculously swollen my fingers are?”

“Such a tragedy.” Miao Miao shook her head. “It’s a work-related injury, ah.”

She growled in complaint, “Yeah! The first three fingers of both my hands have no feeling. Am I going to have to eat my lunch using my ring finger and pinky to hold my chopsticks?”

Miao Miao was about to banter a couple more sentences with her when she suddenly switched to put on a professional expression, shifted her eyes away, and addressed someone behind Tong Yan. “Sir, this checkout counter is closed already.”

“That’s alright,” a voice answered from behind.

Teacher Gu? Tong Yan turned around in surprise. Gu Pingsheng was looking directly at her.

Could there be more of a coincidence?

Seeing the American professor beside Gu Pingsheng and that shopping cart that was crammed full of goods, she instantly understood. These two people were likely planning on driving themselves around on a self-guided tour. The cart was packed with things like tents and fishing rods…

“Your friends?” Miao Miao observed the two of them as he stared at her and she stared at him and quickly said, “Here, come here to pay. I’ll give you the 11% employee discount.”

After saying this, she immediately pulled the “closed” sign off her till and very keenly helped Gu Pingsheng pay for their items.

Seeing that she was standing off to the side with nothing to do, Tong Yan stepped in and helped her bag each of the items. This was work that she was accustomed to doing since early on, so very quickly, four large bags were filled. However, as she picked up the bags, she hesitated.

So heavy. Who should she hand them to? Forget it. Of course, she should take care of her own teacher. Without batting an eye, she handed the two lighter bags to Gu Pingsheng and gave the other two to the American professor. In any case, no one could tell the difference from just the size of the bags alone.

She had not expected that right when she handed the bags over, Miao Miao would grinningly whisper in her ear, “I’m going to have lunch now. You, have a nice lunch with your hot guy. I’m guessing you won’t even get to use your ring and pinky fingers. Just kind of take a couple of bites for show. When you’re all warm and fed, you tend to start thinking raunchy thoughts.”

A gasp of “ah” escaped from Tong Yan, and then before she could grab her back, that la.s.s had already scurried away.

“Let’s have lunch together?” Gu Pingsheng spoke up at just the right moment.

Hence, Tong Yan somehow ended up eating lunch together with two university teachers.

Fortunately, she was eating curry rice, so she could use a spoon, which was easy to handle.

After the three of them had finished ordering their meals, Gu Pinsheng suddenly said to her, “Let me look at your fingers.”

Tong Yan paused in surprise. How was he going to look at them? She stretched her fingers straight upright in front of him. While she was still waiting nervously, he had already gently taken her fingers in his hand and pulled them closer to him. Tong Yan started in shock. It was rather inappropriate for Teacher Gu to hold a girl’s hand like this out in the open, right?

As he examined her fingers, the American professor put on a show of seriousness, glancing over at them and then b.u.mping Gu Pingsheng on the arm. When Gu Pingsheng tilted his head to look at him, he grinned, “Hey TK, seeing that look in your eyes reminds me of when you were studying medicine.”

There was a seldom seen moment where Gu Pingsheng was taken aback before he smiled and let go of her hand. “Indeed, guilty again of acting out of occupational habit.”

Oh right, he used to be a doctor. To doctors, there were absolutely no taboos between men and women.

Secretly relieved, she pulled back her hand, took her straw between her fingers, and started sucking madly at her smoothie.

Those hands just a moment ago had radiated warmth, not the icy-coldness of many years ago. They were well-proportioned, slender, and completely without any flaws.

Seriously, like the hands of one of those idealized surgeons in American television dramas…

“Will you be continuing to work like that this afternoon?” he asked her before motioning to a server. “May I trouble you to bring me some larger chunks of ice?”

Tong Yan waited until he had turned back to face them and she was certain that he could see the motions of her lips before answering, “No, not this afternoon. This afternoon, I just need to work as a sales a.s.sistant, that’s it.”

“Why don’t you switch to work somewhere else?” He thought for a moment. “For example, tutoring?”

Tong Yan smiled, “I’m a student in the liberal arts stream. In general, it’s the science or engineering students who can find the tutoring jobs. Middle school and high school students usually hire people to teach math, physics, and chem. Very few ask for tutors in language arts.”

“Even if you don’t do tutoring, there are lots of other jobs.”

She smiled again, “Yes, but I actually want to work in something that doesn’t just involve sitting down, writing and drawing. I’m letting myself toil and sweat and experience personally how earning money isn’t easy.”

The American professor grinned at this. “That’s very understandable and normal. I used to also frequently work as a cashier or something. University students usually just sit in a cla.s.sroom, and if your job is like that, too, it’d be no fun at all.”

She quickly nodded in agreement. “That girl who was here earlier graduated from a technical college and has worked for many years now. My very first day here, I was writing out a receipt for a customer, and I actually realized that I didn’t even know how to write out the numbers one, two, and three in banker’s anti-fraud characters[2]. It’s really simple for me to type out characters on my computer, but when it really came time to write them out with a pen, I discovered I was like an illiterate.”

Soon, the server had brought over a bucket of ice. Gu Pingsheng pulled out his package of moist towelettes, took one, and wrapped an appropriately shaped ice chunk in it before handing it to her. “Hold this in your hands. It should be a little better by the afternoon.”

She took it from him and clutched it in her hands, feeling slightly embarra.s.sed. She was not that weak and fragile, you know.

In the afternoon, when she was back at work, Miao Miao’s eyes were like those of a wolf. “When the manager came back just now, she secretly told me that a man was holding your hand. Let’s not even talk about how romantic it is. I specifically asked whether it was the Chinese guy or the American. Good thing, good thing, it turned out to be that Chinese guy whose looks are enough to make people envious. Ha ha ha ha! Hurry now. Tell me the secrets behind successful seduction.”

Tong Yan’s head was “covered with black lines[3].“ [speechless] “He’s my university teacher.”

Miao Miao was stunned. “A teacher and student romance? That’s wicked amazing!”

“He was just checking to see how my fingers were.” Tong Yan raised her hand and waved it right in front of Miao Miao’s eyes. “Did you forget about my work-related injury?”

Miao Miao continued with her surprised look. “Tong Yan, I remember you’re studying law, right? So your teacher should also teach law, right? At the very least, he should definitely have nothing to do with medicine.”

“He used to be a doctor and then later switched to teach law.”

“No wonder he’s a teacher at a prestigious school. So talented! So wickedly amazing!”

Tong Yan was simply speechless and decided to give up on trying to explain. She went over to greet a foreign couple and started her light and easy work as a sales a.s.sistant.

Due to all the physical labour of Sunday, on Monday, she successfully managed to sleep almost right up until the start of cla.s.s and was dragged out of bed by Shen Yao. “Hurry and get up. Today is International Commercial Arbitration. There’s going to be a quiz.”

Her head still foggy, she opened her eyes and stared, unmoving, at that face in front of her for a long while before she suddenly sat straight up. “A quiz?!”

And it was in International Commercial Arbitration… Why was it Gu Pingsheng again?

She gnawed on the end of her pen and stared at those numerous and dense squiggles of English words in front of her. Normally, the thing that vexed her most was English comprehension problems. This time, just great, she not only had to read and comprehend, she had to thoroughly understand all of those complicated law cases as well. Most importantly, she also had to a.n.a.lyze them… and write out her a.n.a.lysis in English.

This wasn’t just a simple CET-4 or 6[4] English composition.

She cast a quick glance over at the quiz paper of the cla.s.s prefect, who was sitting beside her. More dense squiggles of English words in handwriting that looked easy and confident. Basically, aside from “is,” “are,” and “here”… she did not understand any of it.

“Tong Wuji.” Shen Yao’s head was lowered as she called her name.

Her name was Tong Yan, like the idiom, “tong yan wu ji.” [“Children’s words are spoken without reservations or filters.”] Her nickname: Tong Wuji.[5]

Shen Yao had not spoken quietly, obviously taking advantage of Gu Pingsheng’s deafness.

From an unknown corner, a few chuckles could be heard followed almost immediately by more chuckles and quiet sounds of conversing coming from the front of the room. Without exception, everyone was staring down at his or her own quiz paper but murmuring with one another to compare answers.

Tong Yan stole a guilty look at the man sitting beside the cla.s.sroom door and ignored Shen Yao.

Shen Yao continued to call her name from behind her, changing her voice in all sorts of weird and wacky ways until, at last, she shouted loudly, “Tong Yan!” Shocked, Tong Yan dropped her pen and once again glanced guiltily at Gu Pingsheng.

A gaze pa.s.sed over everyone in the room and quickly caught hers. Tong Yan hurriedly lowered her head and fixed her eyes hatefully on her quiz paper. “What?”

Shen Yao’s tone was especially fawning. “Tong Wuji, let me see your paper…”

“…… I haven’t written anything either.”

“Tong Yan.” A voice suddenly echoed out, rather cold, like a deep pool of water.

In a state where she wanted to cry but was unable to, Tong Yan rose quietly to her feet and looked directly at Gu Pingsheng. “Teacher Gu.”

He gazed wordlessly at her for a brief moment, then walked over, picked up her quiz paper that she had only written a couple of sentences on, and looked again at her. “Don’t know the answers?”

“…… I don’t.” If she were to fib even now in this moment, then she would be digging her own grave.

Outside the windows, the cicadas were chirping incessantly, and the ceiling fan above her head was happily spinning away.

But inside the cla.s.sroom, it was extremely quiet. Great Beauty Gu’s demonstration of authority was quite scary.

After a long moment of silence, Gu Pingsheng finally gave a long sigh. “It’s the first in-cla.s.s quiz, and all of you may not yet be used to using English to do the case studies. How about this? Tong Yan, you answer one question from me. If you answer correctly, today, you will all be allowed to bring your quizzes back with you to do and your marks will still count like normal towards your overall grade.”

The cla.s.s broke out in an excited uproar, and everybody immediately turned and fixed their eyes on Tong Yan, the intensity of their gazes stronger than even the blazing sun. Only Tong Yan’s face grew even paler.

“What is the general concept behind ‘international commercial arbitration laws’?” Gu Pingsheng asked her smilingly.

General concept?

“Holy cr*p!” Someone from a corner murmured, “Tong Wuji, if you can’t even answer that, expel yourself at once from our cla.s.s.”

“Tong Yan, for our overall grade, yah!”

“Pretty Lady’s Bane is deliberately letting us off the hook, hey, Yan Yan.”

Tong Yan wished she could cry. If you’ve got the breath to say all that stuff… why don’t you just hurry up and tell me the answer?

“All of you, raise your heads and look at me,” Gu Pingsheng instructed with a chuckle.

Once his voice rang out, every person instantly shut his or her mouth. Obediently, they lifted their heads to gaze at Great Beauty Gu.

“Are you done thinking over your answer?” he asked.

Torn with agony, Tong Yan steeled herself and forced herself to bravely look at Gu Pingsheng. “ ‘International Commercial Arbitration Law’… is… laws that are… international… and commercial… and about arbitration.”

The members of the cla.s.s collectively felt tears springing into their eyes. Sure enough, spoken true to her name — like children’s words, completely without filters. Not even the slightest bit of technique or skill in them.

Everybody was laughing. Gu Pingsheng, though, was not and simply calmly repeated her words. “Laws that are international, commercial, and about arbitration?” In that moment of such solemnity, Tong Yan was somewhat unable to make herself speak.

The person behind her raised a hand and lifted her head, asking, “Teacher, may I answer for her?” Shen Yao’s conscience, at last, was feeling remorseful, and she decided to turn herself in.

Gu Pingsheng’s lips were pressed together and turned up at the corner, but it was uncertain whether he was contemplating or smiling. In the end, he shook his head. “No, it’s not necessary.”

He walked back to the podium, opened the textbook, and began his lecture as if nothing had happened. However, when the bell rang signaling the end of cla.s.s, he closed his book and stated, “Tong Yan, this afternoon, head over to Administration and come to my office.”

She was done for.

The instant Gu Pingsheng left the cla.s.sroom with books in hand, all eyes turned toward Tong Yan, and the expression in every one of them said only a single thing: You’re done for.

“It’s okay.” Shen Yao patted her on the shoulder. “Pretty Lady’s Bane is specifically a bane to pretty ladies, so that just goes to show that your looks are very fine.”

Tong Yan ground her teeth together, wishing she could eat her alive.

The end result was, that afternoon when she arrived at the Law Building, every administrative teacher would grin at her and ask, “International Commercial Arbitration, huh? You know now what the consequences are for not studying?”

And all the teaching professors would tell her in a grave and meaningful tone, “Tong Yan, you seem quite smart. Why is it your grades always are not high, but not low either? If you try just a little harder, you’d be able to get one of the slots to be an exchange student.”

Tong Yan either smiled or provided a respectful response. Only after she had stepped into his office did she finally realize that he wanted to see her not just for that stupid International Commercial Arbitration cla.s.s but for another reason as well.

He had said before that he “had a friend” in this particular school, but she had not expected that it would be Zhao Yin, one of the female teachers in the Faculty of Science. This teacher was also the G.o.ddess of Nightmares in her first and second years of university. As a pure liberal arts stream student who had not taken physics since her second year of high school but was required to take university level physics after entering post-secondary, what sort of fate did this mean for her?

The fate of having to retake physics over and over again.

“TK, I’m going now.” Teacher Zhao, whose voice was smooth and tactful, smiled at Tong Yan. “Tong Yan, I had a look at your schedule just now. You didn’t register for physics this semester. You’re planning on taking it again next semester instead?”

In fact, this teacher was actually quite good, but Tong Yan just truly could not understand the things she lectured about.

With a very polite smile, Tong Yan answered, “I want to read up and study myself first during this semester. Next semester, I’ll throw myself into the battle again.”

Teacher Zhao did not say any more and left.

This was her first time in Gu Pingsheng’s office. She was uncertain whether it was his personal preference or whether it was a particular fondness of one of the administrative teachers but the décor of the entire office tended towards the colour white. Even the fabric sofa was a milky white colour. Only a lush corn plant in a large plant pot gave off a green l.u.s.ter under the sunlight.

Corn plant (image credit)

His first words to her were, “You took physics four times?”

In that instant, Tong Yan felt as if she had walked into the wrong place. She seemed to have come here about International Commercial Arbitration, not university physics, right?

She decided not to answer this question. But she needed a very compelling conversation shifter…

“You guys… aren’t boyfriend-girlfriend, are you?” To decide his work location based on a friend’s wishes meant that they certainly could not have just an ordinary relationship.

Gu Pingsheng was taken aback but then immediately chuckled.

In the end, he also did not answer this question and actually took advantage of her guilty mindset over asking it to dig up the reason why she had failed physics four times. Her summarization was very simple: “Talent is something that cannot be forced. Teacher Gu, since my first year in high school, I’ve known that I’m no good in physics.”

Gu Pingsheng took a drink of water. “Do you need me to give you some extra help sessions?”

Tong Yan’s heart gave a little skip but she did not reply. Instead, she sat down on the sofa and after some time, looked right at him and said, “Teacher Gu, can you just treat it like we never knew each other in the past?”

“Why?”

“I’m really doing quite well right now, but with all the extra care you’re showing me, it actually gives me the feeling like things in my life aren’t really all that good.” These words should actually have been said with her head lowered, but with him, she had no choice but to meet his gaze directly and take in every expression he showed. “Really, you can go over to the school’s cafeteria and take a walk around. You might run into a student or two who doesn’t have enough money for food and are waiting to eat other people’s leftovers… Those are the people who really need help. I just belong to the middle of the pack, and I don’t need to worry about whether I have food to eat or anything to drink…”

“Tong Yan,” Gu Pingsheng cut her off. “That year, in the hospital… I’m sorry. That was the only time I ever hit anyone.”

Why did he suddenly bring up such a serious topic? What Tong Yan had been trying to express was, my life right now is calm and uneventful, and you don’t need to look after me so much.

“It actually didn’t hurt at all when you hit me. It was just a little embarra.s.sing.”

She was unable to forget that day.

There had been particularly few people outside of the ICU, and the lighting had been starkly white and cold.

The schoolbag she had worn was very heavy, and inside were many, many papers and books. The math problem her teacher had written on the blackboard earlier on was still racing through her mind. She could only see several people surrounding a middle-aged man as well as an extremely young man sitting on the floor, his back leaning against the snow-white wall, his one arm draped across his knees, and his hand holding a thin sheet of white paper.

The middle-aged man walked over to her and asked, “You must be Yan Yan?”

Although his voice had been intentionally made to sound warm and kind, a long-engrained habit of carrying a lofty and superior manner caused him to appear shrouded in a layer of coldness and detachment. Who she was was not of importance; what was important was that she was the only person, her mother’s only kin, who could sign to authorize her mother’s surgery. The surgery fee was not of importance; what was important was that written signature.

She really could not remember what she had been feeling at the time. But, she had refused to sign.

Even when the doctor had inquired whether she wanted to look in on or visit her mother, she had simply replied that she needed to go back to attend cla.s.s.

The only things she could clearly recall were the strange looks in the eyes of the doctors and nurses. And then, someone had yanked up her hand and forced her to sign her name. It was someone who had nothing to do with the entire situation — Gu Pingsheng.

While she was struggling, she had bit down on his hand, so hard that even her teeth had ached, but still he would not let go.

In the end, he had slapped her across her cheek. It was very loud. The sound had echoed through the entire corridor. “In this world, you have the right to choose anything. The one exception is your parents. You cannot choose them and you cannot give them up.”

At the time, she had sobbed wretchedly. Now, as she looked back upon it, it had not hurt whatsoever.

Perhaps it had been his words that had caused her to completely breakdown. In this world, you could choose anything except your parents. Yes, she had no choice at all. Only afterwards, when many doctors came over and pulled him back, telling him, “Your mother has gone into cardiac arrest,” did he suddenly freeze and let go of her…

She remembered his name badge pinned on his chest: “Department of Cardiac Surgery. Gu Pingsheng.” She hazily recalled the memory.

“In this world, you have the right to choose anything… The one exception is your parents… And you cannot give them up.”

“Tong Yan?”

She pulled back her thoughts and raised her head to look at him. Such clear, distinct facial features. He had not changed at all.

She felt that if they continued along with this conversation, she would have no hopes of being able to properly take his cla.s.s this semester. As a result, she hurriedly fell silent and thought of an excuse that would allow her to depart from his office.

However, as she was leaving, she still felt that the cla.s.s had crossed the line today and, turning back around, she looked at him and said, “Our cla.s.s is just normally used to joking around. They really did not mean any harm.” And weren’t deliberately picking on your handicap.

Gu Pingsheng picked up a gla.s.s, took a drink of water, and smiled, “I know.”

When she returned to the dormitory, the three girls inside were holding a bowl of melon seeds and munching on them while watching television dramas. Seeing that Tong Yan had come back, w.a.n.g Xiaoru immediately grinned and asked, “What’d Teacher Gu do to you?”

Tong Yan grabbed a handful of melon seeds. “He didn’t do anything to me.”

“Look at you all meek and submissive.” Shen Yao laughed, “We were just saying when we were having lunch earlier, how come your name seems to roll off Great Beauty Gu’s lips so easily? It’s always, ‘Tong Yan, Tong Yan.’ Don’t tell me the two of you have ‘taken a narrow, winding path and found your own little secluded haven[1],’ eh?”

Tong Yan flicked a glance over at her, then continued eating her melon seeds in silence. In reality, she understood that those memories of her past that she had never wanted to think back upon would certainly be pulled back up by Gu Pingsheng. Even if he never mentioned them, she would still eventually think about them herself.

She cracked open and ate her tenth melon seed before finally heaving a sigh. “We’ve had two weeks of cla.s.ses already. Who can tell me how many weeks left until we’re off on winter break?”

“Nineteen weeks of cla.s.ses in total, seventeen weeks left.” Shen Yao looked at her gleefully. “Are you trying to figure out how long you have left until you have to go back and re-take physics?”

Seventeen weeks. Another one hundred and nineteen days.

From that point on, she immediately gave International Commercial Arbitration first and foremost priority out of all her courses, and all three successive in-cla.s.s quizzes that followed were pa.s.sed without any difficulty. Each time, she would arrive very early to cla.s.s and sit at the very back of the room. Once the bell rang, signaling the end of cla.s.s, she would dash straight out. Such a perfect plan. She wished she could set a countdown clock like she did for her National College Entrance Exams[2] years earlier.

Today, after cla.s.s was over, she went into the restroom beside their cla.s.sroom and washed her face. September weather in Shanghai always arrived so fiercely and unforgivingly. In the time span of just a single cla.s.s, her entire body had become covered in sweat.

With a tissue, she haphazardly wiped off her face, and as she stepped out, she saw Shen Yao and several others standing by the door with wide grins. The moment they saw her, they grew mirthful. “Tong Yan Wuji, this guy’s looking for you. Do you know him?”

In front of all the girls stood a spectacle-wearing male student, whose build was neither tall nor short and whose appearance was neither attractive nor ugly.

Tong Yan caught the look of “there’s a love affair going on here” on their faces and immediately understood. “This is the cla.s.s rep from my drawing and sketching cla.s.s.” She walked over toward him. “What’s up? You’re looking for me for something?”

If her memory served her correctly, this person was from the Faculty of Science, the place where the ratio of males to females was severely imbalanced, and everyday, it was either formulas or else laboratory experiments. She reckoned he had probably never before been surrounded and stared at by several girls, and he stood there in embarra.s.sment for quite some time before finally saying, “Last week, there was an a.s.signment that needed to be handed in. You were the only one who didn’t go to cla.s.s. I’m here… to collect your a.s.signment.”

Ah, totally forgot. What did it mean by “caring for one thing but losing another[3]”? This, here, was it. She had only concerned herself with International Commercial Arbitration and had forgotten about the sketching a.s.signment from her elective course.

Tong Yan smiled awkwardly, “I forgot to draw it. How about I bring it over to you tonight? Your name is…?” So sad. She didn’t even know what the name of this cla.s.s representative was.

The male student felt even more awkward than her. “Shen Heng. You don’t need to bring it to my dorm. How about this? At eight o’clock tonight, I’ll be by the Upper Building, you know, right by Remembrance of Roots Lake.” Shen Heng hesitated but finally decided on a more noticeable and obvious location. “Forget it. Let’s just wait beneath the flag. See you there!”

Tong Yan was dumbfounded, but before she had even agreed, the boy had promptly left. She was not fast enough to call him back, and she did not even have his mobile phone number… Was she really going to have to go to the front of the school, at the most conspicuous landmark beneath that slowly fluttering red flag, to hand in an a.s.signment?

Delighting in her misfortune, Shen Yao patted her on the shoulder. “I’ll say, Big Brother Wuji[4] attracted all the beautiful female celebrity figures of his era. How come you only manage to attract such rotten suitors? This one’s just absolutely one of a kind. He doesn’t take the initiative and volunteer to pick you up from your dorm and instead arranges to meet you beneath the flag? And, what kind of dumb excuse is that? Nowadays, do such dedicated cla.s.s reps even exist anymore? Such a ridiculously rotten suitor.”

With Shen Yao putting it that way, Tong Yan could not even laugh. However, the a.s.signment needed to be handed in. This was her grade for half the semester.

In the end, the other three girls in her dormitory were the ones who were exceptionally excited and insisted on hiding out around the area to watch in secret how she handed in her sketching a.s.signment by the oh-so-great and amazing Remembrance of Roots Lake.

Unable to stop them, she could only steel herself and stand on the pavement of the tree-lined walkway beside the lake, watching the area beneath the flagpole from afar and waiting for that Shen Heng to arrive before she walked over there.

Her head was down and she was studying the wildly luxuriant growth of weeds in the flowerbeds when she saw two pairs of feet pa.s.sing by in front of her. Judging from the shoes, it was a man and a woman, but why had they suddenly stopped here? Come on, this wasn’t a good place for whispering a little private exchange, right? Oh please, don’t kiss. Can’t you see there’s a live and kicking person right here?…

While her thoughts were still jumbled and everywhere, the pair of high heeled feet had stepped closer to her. “Tong Yan?”

This was a voice she had listened to for four semesters. It was the G.o.ddess of Nightmares. As she lifted her head, the eyes of the other three girls by the lake widened in shock.

Two steps behind the G.o.ddess of Nightmares stood Gu Pingsheng — that Gu Pingsheng who supposedly did not live or ever stay on the school campus and every week only came to teach three cla.s.ses.

The pale amber light of the streetlamp shone upon him, highlighting and defining each feature of his face. His eyes were such a rich deep black… Pretty Lady’s Bane, indeed. His deadliness managed to take down even the G.o.ddess of Nightmares.

“How is your studying for physics going?” Zhao Yin asked out of occupational habit.

“I’ve got the basics now…” she answered, completely fibbing.

The instant physics was mentioned, Zhao Yin’s smile immediately became warmer and softer, and she started to explain in a gentle tone why Tong Yan had failed last semester. She was not certain the reason, but Tong Yan felt extremely uncomfortable listening to her.

Right as she was about to find an excuse to slip away from there, Gu Pingsheng had already walked up to her. “Sketching?” Sketch paper was truly quite easy to recognize.

When Tong Yan nodded, Gu Pingsheng smiled and lowered his head to gaze at her. “Let me see.”

Tong Yan handed it over to him. It was just a very simple still life sketch.

He untied the string, unfurled the entire sketch, and glanced it over. “It seems like there’s some issues with the perspective. Do you have a pencil?”

Tong Yan was taken aback. “Yes.”

Rummaging through her bag, she found her pencil case, pulled out a pencil and eraser, and handed them to him. He took them from her and erased away some places. Curling his pinky finger, he brushed away the eraser fragments and then started to… amend her a.s.signment.