Together Forever - Chapter 22
Volume 2, Chapter 22: Washing Hands and Making Soup (1)
As finals week approached, most classes had ended.
Tong Yan had been spending all her time at the library this week. She and Gu Pingsheng had a tacit understanding to avoid any overt interaction at school. Gossip could be a powerful force, and although she hadn't experienced it firsthand, she could imagine the consequences.
She had already covered more than half of her Civil Procedure textbook. After six solid hours, she finally stopped copying down definitions, flexing her stiff fingers. She glanced at her phone. 6:00 PM.
Tapping her pen lightly against her notebook, she waited patiently.
Many people walked past, some rushing to the cafeteria for dinner, some coming from class to borrow books, others trying to snag a study spot during the dinner rush…
Her phone suddenly lit up. A message arrived silently:
Done studying? TK
6:10 PM was their agreed-upon time.
Every day, from 8:00 AM to 11:00 AM and from 12:00 PM to 6:00 PM, she would study, no texting allowed.
She picked up her phone. Her fingers were stiff from writing.
Slowly, she typed: Yes, I'm done studying. What are you doing?
Waiting for you to finish studying. TK
Where are you?
Behind you. TK
Tong Yan froze, then instinctively turned around. She saw him sitting at the end of a long table three rows back, not looking at her, but leaning against his hand, looking at a book the class monitor was holding open for him…
As she turned, the monitor saw her first and said something to Gu Pingsheng.
Then, he turned, looking at her with a smile, nodded to the monitor, and said something in return.
It wasn't until they walked over and sat down that Tong Yan understood the monitor's grand mission: fishing for exam questions. Since sitting down, he had been winking at her, signaling for her to cooperate, to extract as much exam-related information as possible from Gu Pingsheng…
“Tong Yan,” the monitor flipped through her printed Civil Procedure textbook. “Tong Wuji, don't worry about Civil Procedure now. The bar exam is still far away. This is a rare opportunity to be with Teacher Gu. Ask him about this semester's Commercial Arbitration.”
A rare opportunity? They hadn't seen each other for five days, but they had been texting constantly.
Tong Yan discreetly glanced at Gu Pingsheng. He was leaning back, his right elbow resting on the table, and he also glanced at her.
“Teacher Gu, I personally believe this concept is incredibly important,” the monitor said with a grin, putting down Tong Yan's textbook and continuing their previous conversation.
“It is very important,” Gu Pingsheng also picked up the Civil Procedure textbook and looked at Tong Yan's notes. Just as the monitor was eagerly anticipating more, he added, “Actually, if you review carefully, you'll find that everything I've taught is important.”
Tong Yan smiled inwardly, watching the monitor's disappointed expression as he looked at her helplessly.
She put on an innocent expression and smiled apologetically at Gu Pingsheng. “Sorry, I haven't started reviewing Commercial Arbitration yet…” The monitor, utterly defeated, realizing he wouldn't get any useful information from Gu Pingsheng, made an excuse about dinner and left them alone.
Gu Pingsheng put down the textbook and picked up her notebook.
“Preparing for the bar exam?”
She hummed in agreement, then nodded. “I didn't register this year. I'm planning to take it in my senior year. I've been reviewing for finals for four days. I wanted a change of pace, so I started reading this.”
He continued looking at her notes.
Her mind was sluggish after an entire afternoon of studying. She slumped on the table, resting her head on her arm and watching him.
“How many times do you usually read through the legal provisions?” he pointed to the thick volume of legal texts.
She held up a finger proudly. “Once. I have a good memory. For more complex ones, I copy them down as I read. I usually remember them for four or five years. If it's something really important, I can even tell you which book and page it's on.”
He looked surprised, and her smile widened.
This pride wasn't about competing with her classmates. It was like when she was young, memorizing the multiplication table and reciting it for the math teachers at her grandmother's elementary school, seeing the pride in her grandmother's eyes.
She wanted to excel, to make the people she cared about proud.
“A natural humanities student,” he said, his approval evident.
Tong Yan smiled warmly, reaching out and lightly touching his hand, which was resting on the edge of the table. It felt cold, probably still chilled from outside. As her fingers brushed against his hand, he turned his hand over and grasped hers, his grip firm.
There were a few boys studying behind them.
Hidden by the table, they couldn't be seen, but it still made her incredibly nervous… Gu Pingsheng, however, acted as if nothing had happened, continuing to flip through the legal texts with his other hand.
“What month is the exam next year?”
“September,” Tong Yan's heart fluttered. She tried to pull her hand away, but his grip tightened. “Haven't you taken it before? It's always the same time every year, it shouldn't… have changed, right?”
He shook his head. “I haven't taken it. I don't really need to.”
That was true.
Tong Yan remembered he was only a university lecturer. It wasn't a requirement for him.
“I have licenses in three US states, but they're not much use back in China,” he smiled, as if remembering something amusing. “Pingfan also has licenses in two US states, but she didn't pass the Chinese bar exam on her first try. She took it twice.” Tong Yan tried not to laugh but couldn't help it. “Are you trying to make me feel better…”
He continued chatting casually. She wiggled her fingers slightly and saw him smile, but he didn't release her hand.
People rarely talked in the library, but perhaps because it was dinner time, there were soft murmurs and laughter all around. She fidgeted for a few minutes, then finally said, “Weren't we going to eat? I'm hungry.”
He looked at her, amused. “Giving up already?”
“Yes…”
She surrendered. She was no match for him, neither in willpower nor in the ability to hide her embarrassment.
They deliberately chose a restaurant far from campus. As they were finishing their meal, she finally voiced her week-long wish. “I've been studying all week. I should be free tomorrow.”
They hadn't seen each other for a whole week. Saturday would be a perfect day to relax, to be with him.
What would they do? She hadn't thought about it.
She had never imagined they would just end up studying again.
Gu Pingsheng was definitely doing this on purpose. Sitting in his study, during her rare breaks, she would ask him questions or try to make small talk, but he always responded in English…
His home had underfloor heating, and the room was warm and cozy, making her sleepy.
Tong Yan copied down the same definition three times, word for word, but she still couldn't remember it. She twirled her pen between her fingers and discreetly glanced at him. After a moment, he seemed to notice and put down his book, looking at her.
“Let's be clear,” she held up her hand in a “stop” gesture. “Let me rest. No more English… I've already taken the CET-6 exam this semester.”
“You're done?” he finally switched back to Chinese.
She nodded. After a week of studying legal provisions, definitions, and case studies, case studies, definitions, and legal provisions… she was going crazy.
Fortunately, he also seemed to sense her exhaustion and finally gave up on supervising her studies.
She stood up and walked to the balcony, looking at the gray sky outside.
Would it rain? Or snow?
She suddenly remembered when she first arrived in Shanghai, how her dorm mates often teased her. “Back then, whenever I had class in winter, I felt so miserable. They would tease me for being from the north and still being so afraid of the cold.” She turned to him with a smile. “I couldn't explain to them how shocked I was the first time I had to carry an umbrella in my down jacket… I had always thought winter meant snow, I didn't know it could also rain heavily.”
He unwrapped a milk candy and popped it into her mouth. “If you don't like it here, why not go back after graduation?” She held the candy in her mouth. “I definitely will. Otherwise, there will be no one to take care of my grandmother.”
She had regretted her decision these past two years. Wanting to escape her difficult family situation, she had forgotten about her aging grandmother, who needed care and companionship.
They chatted for a while, and it actually started to snow.
Tong Yan's excitement lasted less than ten minutes before the snow turned to rain. It was the south, after all. The cold wasn't enough to sustain a snowfall.
“I'll take you back to school after dinner,” he seemed to notice her enjoyment of the meal. He also unwrapped a milk candy and popped it into his mouth. After a moment, he said, “It's quite good.”
She glanced at the wrapper in his hand. “What flavor is yours?”
“Red bean, I think.” He unfolded the wrapper and checked the name. “Pingfan has always liked White Rabbit candy. I remember they were always white. I didn't know they had red ones now.”
She had also eaten them since childhood.
But she had never tried the red bean flavor… She turned and rummaged through the glass dish on the desk, then looked at him with a pout. “You ate the last one! There's only yogurt and original flavor left, no red bean.”
He leaned against the desk, smiling. “It's okay, I have some.”
He pulled her into his arms and kissed her.
They had both just eaten milk candy, their lips sweet and sticky. She couldn't distinguish any particular flavor. This wasn't a dark movie theater, no ambiguous lighting, no heart pounding against her chest… They kissed softly, sweetly, eyes closed or open, seeing only each other.
The sky gradually darkened, and the room dimmed.
She smiled and turned her head away. “I should probably go.”
“I bought a lot of groceries yesterday. Let's have dinner here, then I'll take you back.”
Tong Yan was surprised. “Who's cooking?”
He smiled and asked, “You don't know how?”
“I do… but I'm not very good.” Was this another one of his surprise attacks?
“It's okay, it should be better than Pingfan's cooking,” he added, “I'm very good at chopping vegetables.”
Who didn't know how to chop vegetables?
Then she saw the perfectly uniform potato and meat shreds on the cutting board, all equal in width, thickness, and length, and finally understood what he meant by “very good”… “I'm left-handed. To improve my dexterity with my right hand, I used to practice deliberately,” he held a thin knife, expertly peeling a loofah. “I would julienne twenty potatoes every day, so I could use both hands during surgery.”
His movements were incredibly swift. Tong Yan remembered her own clumsy attempts at peeling loofah, the uneven surface, the wasted flesh. The loofah in his hands, however, was perfectly peeled, not a single blemish.
He had prepared many ingredients, but they only cooked a few dishes.
Tong Yan casually asked him a few questions, confirming her suspicions that while he was a master at chopping vegetables, his cooking skills didn't extend to actual cooking. He explained that when he craved Chinese food, he would simply boil some vegetables with chili sauce… Sometimes, he would encounter Mexican chilies, much spicier than anything in a Chinese restaurant. “I couldn't taste anything but the spice. And many chili sauces contain pepper extract to enhance the heat…”
Listening to him, she felt a strange urge to take care of him…
But he clearly had so many strengths.
He wasn't wasteful. He finished every last bite before putting down his chopsticks. Tong Yan, pretending to be nonchalant, cleared the table and looked at him. “I'll come and cook for you every Saturday from now on.”
He was about to pour her some hot water and paused at her words.
“But I'll buy the groceries myself,” although he couldn't hear, Tong Yan's voice still softened unconsciously. “The things you buy… I'm not good at cooking them…”
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