Together Forever - Chapter 23
Volume 2, Chapter 23: Washing Hands and Making Soup (2)
After the general course exams, the Law School had a week off.
Shen Yao took advantage of this break to fly directly to Changsha and spend a passionate week with Cheng Yu, leaving Tong Yan alone in the dorm. Every day, Tong Yan spent her time studying and browsing recipes online, refining her choices until, by Friday, she had a list of seven or eight dishes. None were too difficult, and with a little effort… they should be quite delicious.
Unexpectedly, on Saturday morning, just as she was about to leave, the dorm door opened.
The one who had rushed off to Changsha for love had returned early.
“Why are you back? Didn't you say Monday?”
“We had a fight,” Shen Yao pouted. “Where are you going? Isn't it Saturday?”
Tong Yan vaguely mentioned going to the library, grabbed her bag, and was about to dash out when Shen Yao caught her and said with a grin, “Don't rush, I'm not interrogating you.” She then pulled a heating pad from her bag, peeled off the sticker, lifted Tong Yan's sweater, and stuck it on her stomach over her shirt. “It's freezing outside; this will keep you warm all day.”
Shen Yao loved wearing skirts and shorts in winter, relying on these pads for warmth.
Tong Yan had seen Shen Yao use them often and noticed they weren't cheap at the supermarket, but she had only found them interesting, never thinking she'd need such a thing.
But now, with it on, she found it truly warm and comforting.
The rain had been on and off for a whole week; it was bitterly cold.
The supermarket, however, was bustling.
Gu Pingsheng pushed the cart, walking beside her. He simply nodded as she looked at the fruits and vegetables. After buying all the necessary ingredients, he quickly led her to the snack aisle.
Bags in vibrant colors.
This was the most dazzling section of the entire supermarket.
Preserved fruits and candies were sold at a separate counter.
A Shanghainese lady stood inside the square glass counter, enthusiastically snipping salted preserved plums with scissors and offering them to Gu Pingsheng and Tong Yan: “These are delicious, try some!”
Tong Yan felt awkward refusing since the lady had already cut them, so she took a small piece and put it in her mouth.
“Little girl, is it good?” the lady asked.
She looked at Gu Pingsheng, saw him eat his piece, and casually replied, “It's pretty good.”
He spoke casually, but his eyes were full of amusement. Tong Yan remembered the White Rabbit candy incident and blushed slightly. Before she could say anything, the lady offered him a piece of dried mango.
After a brief discussion about different types—those for steeping and those for eating directly—he ended up buying seven or eight bags of preserved fruits…
Tong Yan had rarely seen any snacks at his place, so she was surprised he liked these things. She tugged his arm. “I think that's enough… enough for you to eat for several months.”
“I'm buying them for you,” he chuckled. “I don't usually eat these preserved fruits and candies. Haven't you been saying you can't concentrate on your studies these past few days? Eating these strong-flavored snacks can stimulate your taste buds and help you focus.”
She stared at the seven or eight bags of preserved fruits in the cart, astonished.
She hadn't had the habit of snacking since childhood; this amount would last her until graduation.
“Young man,” the lady pointed to a glass jar of lollipops, her voice full of pride. “These have been selling like hotcakes lately. Young girls love them. They're made of brown sugar, good for blood circulation and complexion. They also have preserved plums inside, a little sour, perfect for your girlfriend to refresh herself while studying.”
“Okay, give me a jar.”
Gu Pingsheng took the jar and put it in the cart.
Tong Yan chuckled helplessly at the sight of the full jar of lollipops, realizing how easily swayed he was by sales pitches.
They had come to buy groceries, but the cart was now overflowing with snacks. Unable to resist, Tong Yan took advantage of a moment when Gu Pingsheng wasn't looking and surreptitiously slipped a couple of items back onto the shelves. She noticed another couple engaged in a similar shopping spree. The boyfriend was doing the same thing she had just done, sneaking a bag of chips onto a discount cart, while the girlfriend continuously added new snacks to their cart…
Tong Yan and the boyfriend exchanged a knowing smile, then glanced back at Gu Pingsheng, who was studying the ingredients list on a package.
A meticulous perfectionist, he scrutinized every label. She thought that being around someone like him for too long might actually impair her own ability to think…
Learned helplessness?
Her heart suddenly softened. She walked over to him and noticed a slightly bulging can on the lower shelf. She picked it up and tossed it into the cart.
Gu Pingsheng looked at her.
“It might be spoiled. We can take it to the customer service counter for them to dispose of,” she said, suddenly wanting to show off a bit of knowledge. “A bulging can means the food inside has oxidized and spoiled, right?”
She had occasionally picked up these tidbits of common sense from the corners of newspapers.
To her surprise, he simply smiled and asked, “Do you want me to say yes or no?”
She paused. “I can't be wrong, can I? I read it in the newspaper…”
“It's indeed unsafe to eat,” he placed a box of whole-wheat crackers in the cart and began pushing it, explaining as they walked, “but it's due to the gas produced by microorganisms, making it unsafe from a microbiological perspective, not because of oxidation.”
…
“Mr. Gu, are you omniscient?”
He patted her head. “I can't cook.”
As they queued to check out, the young couple happened to be in the next line. Their cart was full of snacks, frozen foods, and drinks, and they continued picking and choosing, bickering softly as they moved items to the empty cart provided by the store.
Finally, the boyfriend glanced over and muttered, “Look at them, buying ingredients to cook a real meal, while we’re stuck with frozen dumplings…” The girlfriend also looked at the contents of Gu Pingsheng’s cart and said teasingly, “You could learn! Didn’t you promise to cook Sichuan food for me when you were chasing me?”
They continued their murmuring. Tong Yan found their exchange amusing. Gu Pingsheng put his arm around her shoulder and mouthed, What are they saying?
Tong Yan tilted her head back slightly and mouthed back, The girl is nagging her boyfriend to learn how to cook.
Gu Pingsheng’s lips curved into a wry smile. He mouthed, Don’t pressure me.
Looking at his expression, Tong Yan suddenly felt a surge of satisfaction as she linked her arm through his. Mimicking his expression, she mouthed, Don’t worry, with me around, you’ll never have to cook.
In middle and high school, when her grandmother was hospitalized, she would always leave Tong Yan with a refrigerator full of ingredients. The dishes were incredibly simple to make. Her grandmother always emphasized the importance of learning to cook so she wouldn't be looked down upon after marriage. Back then, pampered by Lu Bei, whenever the topic of cooking came up, Lu Bei would always say, “I’ll do it, I’ll take care of everything.”
Back then, she had accepted his care without a second thought. Who doesn't like being pampered?
Now she realized that being able to pamper someone else felt good too.
She picked up a can of milk powder, about to tell him she didn’t really like milk, when his face suddenly drew close, and he gently kissed her lips.
Though it was just a fleeting touch… in the long checkout line, they immediately became the center of attention.
“See, see! You never dare kiss me in public…” the girl in the next line pinched her boyfriend's arm. He winced, rubbing his arm. “Let's talk about it when we get home…”
Thanks to the antics of the lively couple next to them, everyone was chuckling, looking at them and then back at Tong Yan and Gu Pingsheng. Tong Yan simply continued placing items on the conveyor belt, pretending to be oblivious to the attention.
Before leaving, she grabbed a soymilk maker and cheekily had Gu Pingsheng pay for it.
By the time they got home, it was past one in the afternoon, too late to start cooking. So she opened a package of pre-made noodles from the supermarket and boiled them. Two large bowls of noodles, loaded with Lao Gan Ma chili sauce, greens, eggs, and luncheon meat. Seeing him enjoy the meal, Tong Yan claimed she wasn’t very hungry and transferred about half of her noodles to his bowl.
The result was that she didn't eat her fill. By four o’clock, while pouring the soybeans that had been soaking for over three hours into the soymilk maker, she grabbed a supposedly blood-enriching and beautifying lollipop and popped it in her mouth to satisfy her hunger.
Once the beef was simmering with Sichuan peppercorns and star anise, she went to find Gu Pingsheng in his study.
He was at his computer, reading research papers.
Tong Yan quietly approached and leaned over from behind to see what he was looking at. The white plastic stick of her lollipop accidentally brushed against his ear, and… she was caught.
“What are you cooking? It smells delicious.” He pulled her onto his lap.
“Beef stew with potatoes. Since you like spicy food, I’m using a Sichuan recipe,” she said, licking her lollipop. “I don't know how it will turn out, but it smelled amazing when I was frying the spices.”
He seemed intrigued. Tong Yan, excited about the meal she had prepared, happily detailed the evening's menu. It all sounded tempting, but she always ended with, “It’s my first time making this, so I don’t know how it will taste.” Her lack of confidence only seemed to amuse him further. He adjusted her position on his lap so that his arm rested on her abdomen.
Just as she was about to say something else, he frowned and interrupted her. “There seems to be something… radiating heat here.”
She didn't understand and looked at him quizzically until he patted her stomach. Tong Yan finally realized, “Oh, it's a heating pad… you know… the kind girls use in the winter to stay warm.”
If he hadn’t mentioned it, she would have forgotten about the little thing that had been keeping her warm all day.
He sounded curious. “Can I see it?”
It wasn’t much to see… just a white, plaster-like thing stuck to her shirt… There wasn't really anything to look at. Embarrassed, Tong Yan hesitantly lifted her sweater, revealing the heating pad stuck to her shirt.
It was just a small, white, heat-emitting… patch.
He placed his palm over it, startling her.
In the quiet room, such a gesture… Tong Yan pursed her lips. If he wanted…
“How long have you had it on?” he suddenly changed the subject, looking at her.
“All day,” her mind still wandering, she made a rough guess. “About ten hours.”
“Next time, if you’re cold, put it here.” Gu Pingsheng quickly peeled off the heating pad and repositioned it below her left shoulder. His explanation was simple and clear. “Blood circulates through this area, flowing from the heart to the rest of the body. So if you keep this area warm, your whole body will gradually warm up.”
She had seen the instructions on the packages of heating pads Shen Yao bought. They always recommended the lower abdomen or the soles of the feet, never this spot.
Tong Yan looked at him with admiration. Her walking encyclopedia was at it again…
Her admiration continued to grow, but then he casually reached out and lifted the hem of her shirt… The sudden coolness on her skin sent a rush of blood to her cheeks, and she almost jumped off his lap.
“It’s a little red,” his voice was gentle, slightly exasperated. “Don’t leave it on for so long next time. This temperature can easily cause low-temperature burns…”
He continued his matter-of-fact explanation.
Tong Yan sat stiffly on his lap, even after he had lowered her shirt. Gu Pingsheng hadn't initially meant anything by it, but seeing her wide, flickering eyes, he couldn't help but tease her. “Don’t you often have to undress for medical checkups?”
…
Was that the same?
Flustered, Tong Yan bit her lollipop and quickly fled the scene. “I should check on the beef.” She’d barely taken a step when he pulled her back.
His voice, low and soothing, was right next to her ear. “Don’t overthink it.”
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