Side Story Four
Gu Jing stayed back after school. On her desk were stacks of books and she crazily did her homework.
‘Gu Jing, why aren’t you going home? Do you need me to help you?’ the first student asked.
‘I’m almost done,’ Gu Jing said.
‘Don’t worry about Gu Jing. You know she’s waiting for someone,’ the second student said.
Young adolescents at the age of twelve and thirteen became aware of the opposite gender. If a girl and boy were close at that age then they were often teasing targets.
Gu Jing ignored her cla.s.smates’ laughter, because her teacher caught her not doing her homework and she had to stay behind and finish her homework. She didn’t dare to be lazy again.
Gu Jing’s cla.s.s mates went home. She sat at her desk, did her homework and occasionally she glanced at the door. She packed her school bag when she saw Zhen Lang at the door.
Zhen Lang stood at the door of Gu Jing’s cla.s.s room and he smiled. ‘Gu Jing, school’s over.’
‘Look, isn’t that Zhen Lang?’ the third student who walked pa.s.s Zhen Lang asked softly.
‘Every day Zhen Lang comes to take Gu Jing home. They have a good relationship,’ the fourth student next to the third student said enviously.
‘Zhen Lang and Gu Jing’s homes are close together, of course they’ll go home together. Zhen Lang is the smartest student in the school, why would he like Gu Jing?’ the third student said spitefully.
‘That makes sense,’ the fourth student said and she walked home with the third student.
Gu Jing put an arm through her school bag strap, she ignored the other students’ insults and she walked to the door. She was used to the students’ admiration toward Zhen Lang, because he was the smartest student in the school and she was the school’s tomboy. She often heard other students say she was like a horse next to a prince if the other students saw her together with Zhen Lang.
‘Give me your bag,’ Zhen Lang said.
Gu Jing was tall for her age, but no matter how much she jumped around she was never taller than Zhen Lang.
Zhen Lang carried two school bags on his shoulder toward. On the way to his bike he took out a lollipop from his school bag, unwrapped it and gave it to Gu Jing. ‘How’s your ankle?’
Gu Jing put the lollipop in her mouth. ‘It still hurts a bit. Mum won’t let me ride my bike, but I feel good.’
Zhen Lang stood beside his bike and he frowned. ‘It still hurts?’
‘It’s my third ankle injury so it takes a little longer to heal,’ Gu Jing said.
‘Then don’t jump around at night,’ Zhen Lang said. He pa.s.sed Gu Jing their school bags and he sat on the rider’s seat. ‘Sit on the back seat.’
Gu Jing sat on the back seat of Zhen Lang’s bike. She wrapped an arm around his waist. He pedalled whilst she hummed on the way home.
‘You seem happy today,’ Zhen Lang said.
‘Um. Today Xu Hing from my cla.s.s asked if I can ride a bike home. I said tomorrow I can ride a bike home and she said she that we can ride our bikes home together from tomorrow onward,’ Gu Jing said.
‘She only said a few words to you?’ Zhen Lang asked and he smiled. ‘You’re easily satisfied.’
Gu Jing smiled. ‘Most of the girls in my cla.s.s say I’m a tomboy and they don’t like to play with me. Xu Hing is the first girl who wants to talk to me. Tomorrow I don’t need to sit on your bike anymore. I want to go home with Xu Hing.’
Zhen Lang pedalled slower. ‘Your ankle still hurts.’
‘I don’t care. I never had a girlfriend before, I want to go home with Xu Hing,’ Gu Jing said.
Zhen Lang frowned and Gu Jing didn’t say anything else. He pedalled silently the rest of the way home.
Zhen Lang braked in front of his and Gu Jing’s home. She jumped off his bike, gave him his school bag and she walked to her home.
‘Little girl,’ Zhen Lang said.
Gu Jing ignored Zhen Lang who walked behind her.
‘Then how about tomorrow you sit at the back of my bike? I’ll take you home and she can ride next to us, ok?’ Zhen Lang asked.
Gu Jing stood still and she slowly turned around to face Zhen Lang.
‘What do you think?’ Zhen Lang asked.
Gu Jing smiled and she nodded her head. ‘Ok.’
The next day a strange scene of two bikes rode home together. Zhen Lang rode his bike with Gu Jing on the back seat whilst Xu Hing rode on her bike and followed behind them.
Xu Hing pedalled faster for her bike to be on the right side of Zhen Lang’s bike. Gu Jing smiled at her, but Zhen Lang ignored her so she talked about school work.
School work was not Gu Jing’s forte. She poked Zhen Lang’s waist to silently ask him to help Xu Hing. He reluctantly answered Xu Hing’s question about school work.
Gu Jing was happy she had a girlfriend to the point she regretted she couldn’t throw Zhen Lang aside. But Zhen Lang always guarded her cla.s.s room door after school each day and she couldn’t escape from him. She had no choice except go home together with Zhen Lang and Xu Hing after school.
Gu Jing went home together with Zhen Lang and Xu Hing for three months and it was nearly Gu Jing’s birthday. Gu Jing was happy her ankle almost healed and she wanted to invite Xu Hing to celebrate her birthday.
‘Zhen Lang, for little girl’s birthday what do you want to eat?’ Mrs Gu asked affectionately.
Gu Jing didn’t understand why it was her birthday, but her mum asked Zhen Lang what he wanted to eat.
Zhen Lang saw Gu Jing pouted her lips and he smiled with aunty Gu. ‘Aunty Gu, I want to eat something sweet like a big pink flower icing.’
Gu Jing’s trial for the national team was the day after her birthday. She knew she had a good chance of making the team. She liked sweets so Zhen Lang’s request for a sweet cake made her happier.
Gu Jing smiled and she propped her arm on Zhen Lang’s shoulder. ‘Hey, what are you getting me for my birthday?’
‘What do you want for you birthday?’ Zhen Lang asked.
‘I don’t know,’ Gu Jing said and she smiled. ‘You can think about what I want for my birthday.’
‘I hope you’ll be surprised when you open the birthday gift I’m getting you,’ Zhen Lang said.
Zhen Lang smiled and his thumb caressed Gu Jing’s chin.
‘If I make it on the national team, will you give me a congratulatory gift?’ Gu Jing asked.
Zhen Lang looked at Gu Jing’s arm on his shoulder for a while then he nodded his head.
On Gu Jing’s birthday she was happy she was a year older. She stared at her sweet birthday cake on the dining table. ‘Mum, when can I eat the cake?’
Mrs Gu poked her head through the kitchen door. ‘You’re not allowed to touch the cake until aunty and uncle Zhen and Zhen Lang are here.’
‘Yes mum,’ Gu Jing said and she drooled.
‘Didn’t you say you invited a cla.s.s mate? Why aren’t you going outside to see if she’s here? What if she’s lost?’ Mrs Gu asked.
‘Yes mum!’ Gu Jing said.
Gu Jing remembered she invited Xu Hing and she ran outside.
Outside Gu Jing’s home Xu Hing wore a pretty red dress and she shyly spoke to Zhen Lang.
‘Aren’t you here to celebrate Gu Jing’s birthday? Why did you ask me to come here?’ Zhen Lang asked coldly.
‘I…’ Xu Hing said. She blushed and she put a gift in front of Zhen Lang’s face. ‘It’s for you. Thank you for helping me with school work on the way home.’
Zhen Lang glanced at the box in the girl’s hand, but he kept his hands in his pants pockets. ‘I didn’t help you with your school work and I have no interest in helping you with your school work.’
‘But you did help me with school work,’ Xu Hing said softly.
Zhen Lang’s back rested against a wall and he looked coldly at the girl. ‘Gu Jing asked me so I answered.’
Xu Hing’s hand that held the gift drooped and she bit her lips.
‘Since you’re here, hurry up and go inside Gu Jing’s home. She’s waiting for you,’ Zhen Lang said impatiently.
Zhen Lang walked pa.s.sed the girl toward Gu Jing’s home.
‘If I ask Gu Jing to ask you to help me with my school work, of course you wouldn’t dare not to help me with my school work,’ Xu Hing threatened.
Zhen Lang turned around and he smiled coldly at the girl.
Xu Hing was dazzled by Zhen Lang’s smile.
Zhen Lang slowly stepped back to the girl and he stood in front of her. ‘Do you mean that you used Gu Jing to talk to me?’
Xu Hing struggled to calm herself. She looked at Zhen Lang’s handsome face and it made her more anxious. ‘I…’
‘It’s not hard to help you with your school work,’ Zhen Lang said coldly. He grabbed the gift from the girl’s hand. ‘You can ask me directly for help.’
‘Really?’ Xu Hing asked.
Zhen Lang nodded his head. ‘Really. But I have one request. If your target is me then there’s no need for you to follow a bore like Gu Jing. You’re a gentle girl, it’s not suitable for you to hang around Gu Jing.’
‘Ok,’ Xu Hing agreed without hesitation. She took out a different gift from her bag and she gave it to Zhen Lang. ‘Give this to Gu Jing for me, I’m going home.’
Zhen Lang waited until the deluded girl happily pedalled her bike at a far distance. Then he threw the gift the girl got him into a bin.
Gu Jing saw Zhen Lang turned around and she quickly hid behind a wall. She didn’t hear the start of Zhen Lang and Xu Hing’s conversation, because they spoke softly. But later Zhen Lang and Xu Hing spoke in a louder voice. Gu Jing clearly heard Zhen Lang’s parting words to Xu Hing – ‘You can ask me directly for help. A gentle girl like you isn’t suitable to hang around Gu Jing.’
In that moment Zhen Lang’s words made Gu Jing’s heart fell into an abyss. Gu Jing felt sad Xu Hing left without hesitation and Gu Jing stood in a daze because she didn’t know what happened and why Xu Hing left. But Zhen Lang’s words hurt Gu Jing more. She didn’t understand why someone she knew for many years would say she wasn’t suitable to hang around gentle girls.
Gu Jing didn’t know why Zhen Lang looked down on her and why he broke apart her first friendship with someone else. She wondered if Zhen Lang knew how much she valued friendship. She finally realised what sort of person Zhen Lang truly was after knowing him for many years!
Gu Jing ran into her home. She saw her mum was busy in the kitchen and her mum didn’t notice her bleached white face.
‘Is your friend here? Go upstairs, ask aunty and uncle Zhen and Zhen Lang to come downstairs. Dinner will be ready soon,’ Mrs Gu said.
Zhen Lang’s name felt like a heavy jinx that kicked Gu Jing’s heart. The bright pink flower icing on her birthday cake was an eyesore. She crazily carried her birthday cake into her room. Inside her room she ate each piece of the cake.
Gu Jing thought if Zhen Lang liked to eat sweet birthday cakes then she wasn’t going to let him! If Zhen Lang liked big pink flower icing then there was no door for him to eat it! If Zhen Lang hates tomboys, likes to steal her friend away then she won’t care about him anymore and she won’t spend time with someone who likes to mock her.
Gu Jing thought Zhen Lang could be his fake obedient student and she would be her rowdy tomboy self. She felt like Zhen Lang’s face floated in front of her. She used more strength to bite each piece of cake as if she bit Zhen Lang.
Gu Jing started to regret why she chose to run away, and why she was scared Zhen Lang would see her. Her usual self would charge at Zhen Lang, hit him and yell at him. But she chose to stay inside her room and silently eat sweet birthday cake to get rid of her anger.
‘Little girl where are you?’ Mrs Gu asked.
‘Little girl, Zhen Lang got you a special birthday gift. Come outside and open it,’ Mrs Zhen said.
Gu Jing heard Zhen Lang’s name and she stayed in her home.
‘Gu Jing, hurry up and come out. Let’s eat your birthday cake together,’ Zhen Lang said.
Gu Jing didn’t want to eat cake with Zhen Lang. She didn’t want to see him, talk to him or eat anything sweet with him!
Gu Jing stuffed the birthday cake icing in her mouth to block out the voices from outside her room.
Mr and Mrs Gu, Mr and Mrs Zhen and Zhen Lang walked into Gu Jing’s room. They saw half a cake missing and Gu Jing who hugged her stomach and hunched over a chair.
‘Gu Jing, here is your birthday gift…’ Zhen Lang said. He heard Gu Jing groaned in pain and he dropped the gift he got her on the floor. He rushed over to her. ‘What’s wrong?’
‘You don’t need to care,’ Gu Jing said. She felt her stomach tightened. She forced her eyes open and she pushed Zhen Lang away. ‘I know how hateful you are. You’re troublesome, seeing you makes me sick.’
‘What are you saying?’ Zhen Lang asked.
Zhen Lang wiped icing off Gu Jing’s face, but she pushed him away. He didn’t get a chance to say anything else, because their parents rushed to Gu Jing’s side.
‘Daddy… my stomach hurts,’ Gu Jing said.
‘Hurts?’ Mr and Mrs Gu and Mr and Mrs Zhen asked and they looked at the half missing cake and they understood why Gu Jing had a stomach ache. They carried Gu Jing to the hospital.
Zhen Lang wanted to hold Gu Jing’s hand, but she pushed his hand away.
That year Gu Jing spent her birthday at the hospital, and she couldn’t go to the national team trial the day after her birthday. She spent those days running to the toilet. The doctors and nurses spun a legend about the little girl and the birthday cake based on her birthday cake incident.
Mr and Mrs Gu and Mr and Mrs Zhen were relieved Gu Jing’s condition stabilised after a few days. They needed to go to work and take care of housework so they left Gu Jing alone in her hospital room.
Gu Jing sat on her hospital bed and she felt depressed. She had nothing left, no friends and no national team trial that she dreamt of for many years. She wasn’t someone who liked to cry, but her heart felt disappointment and emptiness.
Zhen Lang stood in front of Gu Jing’s hospital room. ‘Gu Jing.’
‘What are you doing here?’ Gu Jing asked.
Gu Jing saw Zhen Lang and her sadness and frustrations turned to rage.
‘I came here to visit you,’ Zhen Lang said. He put his school bag on a table and he stepped toward Gu Jing’s bed. ‘And aunty and uncle Gu asked me to tutor you.’
‘I don’t need anything! I don’t care what my parents said and I don’t care what you said to my parents. I don’t need anything, I don’t need you to visit me, I don’t need tutoring and in the future I don’t want to see you again!’ Gu Jing said.
Gu Jing took out her anger she held back for a few days on Zhen Lang. Her parents thought she was gluttonous and his parents thought she was childish but no one thought the trouble maker was Zhen Lang.
‘It’s your fault I don’t have friends. It’s your fault I can’t go to the national trial. What else do you want? Zhen Lang, I promise after I recover there will be a day I’ll make you taste disappointment,’ Gu Jing said.
‘Is that so?’ Zhen Lang asked. He saw Gu Jing’s lively complexion returned and he smiled. ‘Do you have that ability?’
Zhen Lang didn’t explain anything to Gu Jing, because he knew what she needed wasn’t an explanation, she needed motivation.
‘Who says I don’t have that ability?’ Gu Jing asked. She jumped off the bed. She grabbed Zhen Lang’s school bag. ‘Isn’t it just school work?’
Zhen Lang took out school text books and he sat next to Gu Jing on the bed.
‘I’m letting you know from today onwards, you and I won’t walk on the same path. I’ll never forgive you, I won’t go to school or go tutoring with you anymore. I don’t care what my parents think. I won’t let you live a peaceful life,’ Gu Jing said.
After Gu Jing returned to school a rumour spread around the school that the childhood sweethearts Gu Jing and Zhen Lang became childhood enemies.
Gu Jing turned into a diligent student and she trained vigorously for the next national team trial because she didn’t want to give Zhen Lang another opportunity to mock her.
Many school girls asked Gu Jing to pa.s.s love letters to Zhen Lang. Gu Jing didn’t hesitate to rip the love letters to pieces then she gave it to Zhen Lang. But Zhen Lang had perceptive eyes so she couldn’t do anything more excessive than ripping his love letters.
Gu Jing’s rivalry with Zhen Lang lasted throughout their high school years. School girls were afraid to go near Zhen Lang and Zhen Lang persuaded Gu Jing’s parents not to let Gu Jing go to the next national team trial.
Many years later Gu Jing sat on the floor of her childhood room. She packed her belongings to hers and Zhen Lang’s home in their hometown. But it was more accurate to say their home in their hometown was an extension of their parents’ homes. If they visited their parents they would eat downstairs and sleep upstairs.
It was because the Zhen household was rich, Mr Zhen didn’t want his son and daughter-in-law’s home in their hometown to be far away from their childhood home. So Mr Zhen paid for an extension floor to their childhood home and he planned to convert his son and daughter-in-law’s childhood rooms into nursery rooms for his future grandchildren.
Gu Jing loved her childhood home and she knew no matter how many children she and Zhen Lang had in the future, there would always be enough rooms for their children.
Gu Jing took out an old dusty wrapped box from under her childhood bed, and she carefully unwrapped the box.
Gu Jing opened the box and inside were no valuable items. Most of it were her old tournament awards, old toys and childhood memorabilia. It made her reminisce about her foolish childhood years.
Under old books and pens her eyes were attracted to a little box she didn’t recognise. She opened the little box, it was a blue snow globe. Finally she remembered it was the snow globe Zhen Lang got her for her birthday that year she missed her first national team trial. Because at that time she was angry at Zhen Lang, she only glanced once at the snow globe and put it back in its little box.
Gu Jing thanked the heavens she didn’t throw Zhen Lang’s snow globe in the bin. She didn’t expect the person she hated for many years would become her husband, the closest person to her and also her… she bit her lips and she smiled.
Gu Jing held the snow globe. Inside the snow globe was a boy and girl figurines who faced each other and held hands. She shook the snow globe and a snow storm slowly fell on the beautiful boy and girl figurines.
No matter how Gu Jing looked at the boy and girl figurines, she thought they looked like Zhen Lang and herself. She saw words engraved on top of the snow globe – ‘I only need your smile, Zhen Lang.’
After the snow storm stopped Gu Jing propped her chin on her knees and she shook the snow globe again. She stared at it in a daze. She thought it was true, as long as she smiled Zhen Lang would easily agree with her. Her foot accidently knocked the little box and she heard there was something else inside the little box. She put the snow globe on the floor and she picked up the little box.
Gu Jing took out a faded yellow note. The words scribbled on the yellow note looked rushed, but the letters were still elegant and she was certain it was Zhen Lang’s handwriting – ‘After today, Zhen Lang is willing to protect Gu Jing forever, I’ll be by her side and trust her.’
Gu Jing thought Zhen Lang had always been by her side and protected her. It was always what he wanted and he never wavered.
Zhen Lang walked into his wife’s childhood room. ‘Done packing? Let me hold the packed boxes.’
Gu Jing looked up at Zhen Lang and from the floor she felt he looked taller and more handsome.
Gu Jing remembered Zhen Lang’s words on the note and she puckered her lips. ‘Mr Vet.’
Zhen Lang sat behind his wife and he wrapped his arms around her waist. ‘What is it? Why are you suddenly meek?’
Zhen Lang’s wife laid her head on his shoulder and she laughed happily. He kissed her lips for a while.
Gu Jing picked up the snow globe, she shook it and she smiled. ‘Confess, how long have you secretly loved me?’
‘Secretly loved you?’ Zhen Lang asked. He saw the note in his wife’s hand and he took the note from her. ‘Whose handwriting is this? It’s really ugly.’
‘I want to know too. It seems like this person loves me deeply. I’ve decided I’m going to marry this person, but I don’t know who this person is,’ Gu Jing said.
Zhen Lang pulled his wife onto his lap and he hugged her. ‘It’s too late for you to marry someone else. You’re my wife and you’re pregnant with my child. If you dare runaway, be careful I don’t tell uncle Xie you stole something of mine without permission.’
On the inside Gu Jing cursed her husband. ‘Stolen something from you? Stole your child? Took your sperm without your permission? Aren’t you the little demon? Each time it’s always this position and that position. It’s your fault my years and months of freedom are destroyed.’
‘Be careful the floor is cold,’ Zhen Lang said. He put his wife’s legs on his legs. ‘Foolish little girl, I love you this much but you saw me as your enemy. If I didn’t give into you then wouldn’t I abstain for the rest of my life?’
Gu Jing thought if her husband abstained for longer than twenty-five years then she wouldn’t know where to retreat. But she thought her husband’s skills didn’t seem like someone who abstained for many years.
‘Don’t think too much,’ Zhen Lang said. He pinched his wife’s cheeks. ‘A smart person in the modern era can research about anything.’
Gu Jing let go of her suspicions about why her husband’s skills didn’t match with someone who abstained for many years. She thought what he said was reasonable since he studied about the human body. But how could he explain about his kissing skills? Each time he kissed her she felt breathless and his kisses drove her crazy.
Gu Jing pulled her husband’s shirt collar. ‘Confess, that year what did you and Chen Wei do? Did you do… do… do…’
‘Do, do, do?’ Zhen Lang asked. He pretended he didn’t know what his wife wanted to ask. He stood and he pulled her up. ‘Are you hungry? I’ll take you to eat at a restaurant, don’t starve my child.’
Gu Jing felt a little hungry and she rubbed her stomach. ‘Mr Vet, I want to eat cake.’
Zhen Lang tripped over his foot. Luckily he didn’t cause his loveable wife to fall. ‘Aren’t you the one who vomits if you eat sweet food?’
Gu Jing shrugged her shoulders. ‘I don’t know. Perhaps because I’m pregnant my cravings changed. It doesn’t matter, right now I want to eat cake. Our child wants to eat lollipops, chocolate, ice-cream…’
Zhen Lang heard his wife’s cravings and it made him anxious.
Gu Jing saw the anxiety on her husband’s face and she felt it was worth being pregnant with his child.
Gu Jing rubbed her flat stomach and she telepathically spoke to her child – ‘My loving child, in this lifetime your mummy has no hope to defeat your daddy in a fight. I’ll need to rely on you, don’t disappoint your mummy, ok?’