Together Forever - Chapter 41
Volume 2, Chapter 41: Love Back Then (2)
In the end, the one adjusting to jet lag outlasted the one brimming with excitement.
During the two weeks of her grandmother's chemotherapy, he was there every day, staying with her late into the night, always using jet lag as an excuse. Finally, feeling sorry for him, she had to repeatedly insist she was truly, really sleepy before he would finally end their long text message exchanges.
By the time her grandmother was discharged, they had both lost weight.
Her grandmother, her eyes red with gratitude, treated him even better than her own granddaughter.
“My grandson-in-law is such a good man,” she kept repeating to Auntie Liu. “Such a good man.”
Auntie Liu, aware of Gu Pingsheng’s health issues but not wanting to worry Tong Yan’s grandmother, had taken Tong Yan aside and spoken to her privately. The gist of it was that life was unpredictable, things happened, and it was best to accept them and move on.
Tong Yan replied earnestly, “Auntie Liu, my greatest strength is my ability to let things go.”
After her grandmother’s discharge, he finally settled on a university to teach at.
It was the university she had grown up near, the one she used to visit frequently.
Secretly pleased, she made plans to take him on a campus tour.
One weekday afternoon, free from work and classes, they visited the university. Tong Yan picked out a student-style outfit for him: a white short-sleeved shirt that deliberately exposed his intimidating tattoo.
The effect was striking.
Heads turned as they walked across campus.
As they sat in the bleachers of the sports field, watching two teams play soccer under the blazing sun, he sighed dramatically. “I’ve never regretted getting this tattoo as much as I do today.”
Tong Yan was wearing the light blue dress he had bought for her. The color softened the pallor from her sleepless nights.
“Don’t you feel like a student?” Tong Yan leaned back against the railing, looking at Gu Pingsheng sitting on the concrete steps. “Technically, you are a student. You haven’t worked outside academia for more than a year; you’ve spent most of your life in school. The only difference between us is that I’m an undergraduate, and you’re a doctoral graduate.”
“So?” he leaned back on one elbow, smiling at her. “What’s your point?”
“No particular point,” she said, looking away. “Just a random thought. It just occurred to me that we’re like a campus couple… not like a… married couple…”
That wasn’t quite right either; they weren’t officially married yet…
He held out his hand. “Come sit next to me.”
She walked over and sat beside him.
“What does it mean to be like a married couple?”
Tong Yan thought for a moment. “Having meals together, taking walks, worrying about the kids and the elderly, managing household expenses…” It sounded familiar, but she had no real concept of what it meant. “I don’t know; I’ve never been married…”
“Neither have I,” Gu Pingsheng chuckled. “But you seem to have forgotten something.”
“What?”
“Having meals together, taking walks… following that logic,” he looked at her thoughtfully, “shouldn’t we also be sleeping together?”
…
“Gu Pingsheng, behave yourself!”
“Technically, I’m not even thirty yet,” he corrected her. “Not that old. And it’s not like I’ve only been in school. I’ve been volunteering since high school. My first year of university, I went to Ghana for a volunteer project. I was your age then, teaching ten-year-olds math, English, even religion and French.”
Intrigued, Tong Yan looked at him. “You speak French?”
“No, not then, not really. And I’ve probably forgotten everything by now.” He finally admitted another weakness. “The educational level in Ghana wasn't very high. When they told me I’d be teaching French, I basically had to teach myself before teaching the kids… But come to think of it, that was also in a school setting.”
Tong Yan suddenly interrupted him. “Don't you think we live in completely different worlds? Like we have nothing in common.”
“Mrs. Gu, aren’t you being a little too self-deprecating?” Gu Pingsheng chuckled, studying her features, his hand tracing the outline of her face. “When you were thirteen, your face was only this big…”
He stopped, searched for something on the steps behind him, and picked up a small pebble.
Then, to her surprise, he drew a rough world map on the concrete and tapped the location of Beijing. “You were thirteen when we met here. Then…” he circled various locations on the map, a list so extensive it was almost enviable. “…I went to all these places, but in the end, I met you here again.” He circled back to China and wrote “Shanghai.”
“Now, I’m back where I started,” he tossed the pebble aside. “Have you noticed? No matter how far I go, I always come back.”
His face was so close she could feel his breath on her skin.
Their noses touched, and she exhaled softly, tilting her head back so he could read her lips. “Dear Teacher Gu, you’ll be teaching here soon; please try to restrain yourself.”
He smiled faintly.
“Sometimes, when a man says touching things, he has an ulterior motive. He’s just fishing for a reward.”
Tong Yan burst out laughing.
“I’ll sing you a song,” she said after a moment’s thought. “As a reward.”
It was a song from 1975, the oldest song she knew. Recalling the lyrics, she began to sing softly. The smooth melody of Rod Stewart’s “Sailing.”
She had learned the song a long time ago but had never really paid attention to the lyrics.
Until one night, two months ago, humming the tune, she had suddenly thought of him.
“I am sailing, I am sailing, home again ’cross the sea…”
It was already a slow song, but she enunciated each word carefully, her voice soft but clear enough for him to read her lips.
He was sitting with his back to the sun, making it difficult for her to see his face, so she shielded her eyes with her hand and continued singing. “Can you hear, can you hear me…”
Gu Pingsheng watched her, seeming to understand.
“…through the dark night, far away, I am ever trying, to be with you…”
When she finished, she studied his face, looking for any sign of being moved. “Trust me, I’m a good singer. I was third place in the 2008 campus singing competition. The winner and runner-up are now TV hosts.”
“I can imagine.” He pulled her up and led her down the bleachers.
Unable to contain herself any longer, she complained, “You could at least pretend to be touched!”
He hummed in agreement. “I need to go home and think about it, think about how to express my… profound emotions.”
Tong Yan understood his implication and casually glanced towards the center of the field, but… but they had only been intimate a couple of times, and even the slightest recollection made her blush, making it impossible to look at him.
Although he had shown her the deed to the apartment on his first day back, with both their names on it, as proof of his commitment to marrying her, they weren’t officially married yet, and with her still in school, they had to be discreet. So, since her grandmother’s discharge, they had been sleeping in separate rooms…
In the distance, cheers erupted from the field, accompanied by a whistle and shouts; someone must have scored. Although it wasn’t her university, the thought of him teaching here made those unfamiliar faces seem strangely welcoming.
As they reached the side of the bleachers, they discovered that the gate, which had been open when they arrived, was now locked. It wasn’t a high fence, and Gu Pingsheng easily climbed over, but her dress made it difficult.
“Put your arms around my neck,” he said.
Tong Yan obeyed, and he lifted her over the fence. She quickly tucked her knees up, and once her feet were on solid ground, she complained, slightly breathless, “Don’t do that again! You’re still recovering; what if…”
“It’s fine,” he smoothed the wrinkles on the back of her dress. “I like holding you.”
His words left her speechless. She blinked, then decided to remain silent.
They bought groceries for dinner on their way back, arriving home before 3:30.
After putting everything away in the refrigerator, she quietly opened her grandmother’s door and saw her sitting in an armchair, reading with her glasses on. “We’re back,” she said cheerfully. “How about zhajiangmian (noodles with soybean paste) for dinner? I bought all the ingredients. I can start cooking around 5:30, and we can eat at 6:00?”
Her grandmother took off her reading glasses and smiled. “Had fun? Go take a nap, or watch some TV. Don’t worry about me.” She then put her glasses back on and resumed reading.
Tong Yan closed the door and went to her room to change. Just as she reached for the doorknob, he wrapped his arms around her from behind.
She turned around, sticking out her tongue and mouthing, Let me change first.
He smiled, leaning against her doorframe, and kissed her. His lips were cool, probably from drinking iced water. She slid her hands around his waist, then up his back, her back pressed against the wall as she tried to evade his kiss. Finally, cornered, she took his hand and playfully wagged her finger. “Mr. Gu, no indecent behavior in broad daylight!”
Gu Pingsheng, seemingly not quite understanding, pushed open the door and entered her room.
“What does ‘indecent behavior in broad daylight’ mean?”
Tong Yan patiently explained each character and its meaning, then nuzzled his chin, looking up at him. “…Basically, it means doing bad things during the day is very, very bad.”
He chuckled, his dimples prominent.
“Mr. Gu seems to be perpetually suffering from jet lag, unable to distinguish between day and night…”
With that perfectly reasonable excuse, he began kissing her lips and cheeks, slowly advancing. Tong Yan retreated, step by step, until her back hit the wall…
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