Together Forever - Chapter 2

Volume 1, Chapter 2: The School's Fatal Beauty (2)

Every Sunday, Tong Yan worked part-time at a French sporting goods store.

This store had four or five branches in Shanghai. Initially, she applied because the branch near the university was convenient, but after being hired, she was unexpectedly transferred to a location far away.

When she received the phone call, she hesitated for three seconds before accepting.

So, every Sunday morning at 5:00 AM, she forced herself to get up and endure a two-hour bus ride to the store. The only advantage was that the branch was near Hongqiao Airport, and 90% of the customers were foreigners, providing a good opportunity to practice her spoken English.

However, a recent shipment of new sports pants to the store completely shattered this dream.

For the past few weeks, she had been relegated to the warehouse, mechanically clipping pants onto hangers. The biggest problem was the stiff metal clips, requiring her to pull the waistband taut. After handling over five hundred pairs of pants, her fingers were swollen.

The manager finished his inspection a little after 1:00 PM.

She was starving and rushed out of the warehouse, holding up her hands as she ran to the cashier. "Miao Miao, I'm going crazy! Look at my fingers, they're so swollen!"

"That's brutal," Miao Miao shook her head. "It's a work-related injury!"

Tong Yan grimaced, complaining. "Yeah, my first three fingers are numb. Am I supposed to use my ring finger and pinky to hold my chopsticks later?" Miao Miao was about to tease her when her expression suddenly shifted to a professional one, her gaze moving past Tong Yan. "Sir, this register is closed."

"It's okay," a voice replied from behind.

Teacher Gu?

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

What a coincidence!

She saw the American professor next to Gu Pingsheng and the overflowing shopping cart, immediately understanding. They were probably going on a road trip. The cart was filled with tents, fishing rods, and the like…

"Your friend?" Miao Miao, seeing them looking at each other, immediately said, "Come here, pay at my register. I'll give you the employee discount."

She quickly removed the "closed" sign and enthusiastically rang up Gu Pingsheng's purchases.

Tong Yan had nothing to do, so she helped bag the items. This was a familiar task, and she quickly packed four large bags, but hesitated when she tried to lift them.

They were so heavy, who should carry them?

Well, of course, she had to take care of her own teacher.

She discreetly handed the two lighter bags to Gu Pingsheng and the other two to the American professor.

From the size, you couldn't tell the difference.

Unexpectedly, as soon as she handed over the bags, Miao Miao whispered with a grin, "I'm going to lunch. You have a nice meal with this handsome guy. I bet you won't even need your ring finger and pinky. Just pretend to eat a little, a full stomach fosters other desires."

Tong Yan gasped, but before she could stop her, Miao Miao slipped away.

"Shall we have lunch together?" Gu Pingsheng spoke at just the right moment.

As a result, Tong Yan once again found herself having lunch with two university professors.

Fortunately, it was curry, so she could use a spoon, the easiest utensil to manage.

After they ordered, Gu Pingsheng suddenly said to her, "Let me see your fingers."

Tong Yan froze. How was she supposed to show him?

She held her hand out in front of him, palm up. Just as she was feeling apprehensive, he gently grasped her fingertips and pulled her hand closer.

Tong Yan was startled.

Holding a girl's hand like this in public seemed inappropriate.

While he was examining her fingers, the American professor also took a serious look and nudged Gu Pingsheng's arm. Gu Pingsheng turned to him, and the professor said with a smile, "TK, the look in your eyes reminds me of when you were studying medicine."

He paused for a moment, then smiled and released her hand. "Indeed, my occupational habits are resurfacing."

Right, he used to be a doctor. Doctors didn't have such gender-based reservations.

She breathed a sigh of relief, withdrawing her hand and taking a large gulp of her iced smoothie.

His hand was warm, not as icy as it had been years ago. His fingers were long, slender, and flawless, with even flesh and bone.

They really were like the hands of a surgeon romanticized in American TV shows…

"Are you going to continue working like this this afternoon?" he asked, calling over a waiter. "Could I have some larger ice cubes, please?"

Tong Yan waited for him to turn back, making sure he could see her lips before answering, "No, I'll just be working as a sales assistant this afternoon."

"Why not find a different part-time job?" he pondered. "Like tutoring?"

Tong Yan smiled. "I'm a humanities student. It's usually easier for science students to find tutoring jobs. High school students usually hire tutors for math, physics, and chemistry. Rarely anyone needs a language tutor."

"There are plenty of other jobs besides tutoring."

She smiled. "Yeah, I just want to do something that isn't sitting and writing or drawing. I want to challenge myself physically and experience the difficulty of earning money."

The American professor laughed. "That's perfectly normal. I used to work as a cashier and things like that. University students already spend so much time sitting in classrooms, it wouldn't be fun if their part-time jobs were the same."

She nodded vigorously in agreement. "The girl from earlier graduated from vocational school and has been working for years. On my first day, when I had to issue an invoice for a customer, I realized I didn't even know how to write the formal uppercase characters for numbers. Typing on a computer is easy, but when it comes to writing by hand, I realized I'm illiterate."

The waiter quickly brought a bucket of ice. He took out a wet wipe from his pocket, wrapped a suitably sized ice cube in it, and handed it to her. "Hold this in your hand. It should help this afternoon."

She took it and held it in her hand, feeling a little embarrassed.

She wasn't that delicate…

On her way back that afternoon, Miao Miao's eyes were gleaming like a wolf's. "The manager came back and whispered to me that you were holding hands with a man. It sounded so romantic! I specifically asked if he was Chinese or foreign. Thankfully, thankfully, it was that incredibly handsome Chinese guy! Hahahaha! Quick, tell me your secrets!"

Tong Yan was exasperated. "He's my university professor."

Miao Miao was stunned. "A teacher-student relationship? That's amazing!"

"…He was examining my fingers," she held up her hand, waving it in front of Miao Miao. "Did you forget about my work injury?"

Miao Miao continued to stare blankly. "Tong Yan, I remember you're studying law, right? Your teacher should also be teaching law, right? At least, definitely nothing related to medicine, right?"

"…He used to be a doctor, and then he switched to teaching law."

"…He's truly a prestigious university professor, so talented, so amazing!"

Tong Yan gave up trying to explain and turned to greet a foreign couple, starting her easier sales assistant work.

Because of the physical labor on Sunday, she successfully slept in almost until class time on Monday, only to be dragged out of bed by Shen Yao. "Get up, quick! It's Commercial Arbitration today, and there's a pop quiz."

She opened her eyes blearily, staring at the face in front of her for a long time before abruptly sitting up. "A pop quiz?!"

And it was International Commercial Arbitration…

Why was it Gu Pingsheng again?

She chewed on the end of her pen, staring at the densely packed English text in front of her. She usually dreaded English reading comprehension, and now, not only did she have to read, but she also had to thoroughly understand a complex case, and most importantly, analyze it… in English.

This wasn't as simple as a CET-4 or CET-6 essay.

With this kind of case analysis question, she didn't even have the chance to cheat.

She quickly glanced at the class monitor's paper next to her. It was covered in elegant English handwriting, but apart from words like "is," "are," and "here," she couldn't understand a thing.

"Tong Wuji?" Shen Yao called her name, head down.

Her name was Tong Yan, meaning "Child speaks without忌讳 (jihui - taboo/reserve)." Her nickname: Tong Wuji.

Shen Yao's voice wasn't quiet, clearly taking advantage of Gu Pingsheng's inability to hear.

A few chuckles came from somewhere in the classroom, followed by more whispers and soft laughter from the front. Without exception, everyone was murmuring softly, staring at their papers and comparing answers.

Tong Yan nervously glanced at the person sitting by the door but ignored Shen Yao.

Shen Yao continued calling her from behind, using various voices and making funny noises, before finally yelling, "Tong Yan!"

Startled, she dropped her pen and nervously glanced at Gu Pingsheng again.

His gaze swept across the room and quickly landed on her. Tong Yan quickly looked down, glaring at her paper. "What?"

Shen Yao's voice was exceptionally sweet. "Tong Wuji, let me see your paper..."

"…I haven't written anything either."

"Tong Yan."

A voice suddenly rang out, somewhat cold, like the water of a deep pool.

Tong Yan wanted to cry. She stood up resignedly and looked at Gu Pingsheng. "Teacher Gu."

He looked at her calmly, walked over, picked up her paper with only two sentences written on it, and looked at her again. "Don't know how to do it?"

"…No." Lying at this point would be suicidal.

The cicadas outside chirped endlessly, and the fan above whirred cheerfully.

But the classroom was eerily silent. Even the beautiful Gu could be intimidating when he was serious.

After a long silence, Gu Pingsheng finally sighed softly. "This is the first pop quiz, so you might not be used to doing case analysis in English. How about this, Tong Yan, you answer one question for me. If you answer correctly, everyone can take their papers home to finish, and the scores will still count towards your overall grade."

The class erupted in excitement, their gazes immediately fixing on Tong Yan, burning hotter than the sun.

Only Tong Yan's face turned even paler.

"What is the concept of 'International Commercial Arbitration Law'?" Gu Pingsheng looked at her with a faint smile.

The concept?

"Damn it," someone muttered from the corner. "Tong Wuji, if you can't even answer this, you should be expelled from the class." "Tong Yan, our grades depend on you!" "The Fatal Beauty is throwing you a lifeline, Yan Yan."

Tong Yan wanted to cry. They had the time to say all this… why not just tell her the answer?

"Everyone, look up at me," Gu Pingsheng said with a smile.

As soon as he spoke, everyone fell silent and obediently looked up at the beautiful Gu.

"Have you thought about it?" he asked.

Tong Yan felt her insides twisting. She steeled herself and looked at Gu Pingsheng. "'International Commercial Arbitration Law'… is… international, commercial, arbitration… law."

The entire class collectively facepalmed.

Truly Tong Yan "without reserve," utterly devoid of any technical substance.

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