Together Forever - Chapter 5
Volume 1, Chapter 5: Those Little Stories (2)
Of course, one can't live in the past.
Especially for her.
The university used to have many drama students, who were basically one of the most vibrant sights on campus. Bored, they formed the Sunshine Drama Club, and word of it eventually reached Tong Yan's best friend.
And then, well, there was no "and then."
Best friends are there to ruin your life.
Since the preparations for the welcome party began, Tong Yan's weeks were filled with classes, her part-time job, revising scripts, and watching rehearsals in the dance hall of the student activity center.
Oh, and now there was one more thing: weekly physics tutoring sessions in Gu Pingsheng's office…
"Tong Yan, what are you thinking about?"
Tong Yan, her mind full of physics problems, turned around blankly. "Particle dynamics. I still need to think about dynamics and waves."
Amy opened her mouth wide in an exaggerated expression. "How can an artist study physics? It will stifle your creativity."
Tong Yan glanced at her. "I'm a rigorous law student. I'm just helping out with the Sunshine Drama Club, thank you very much."
"But you're the backbone of our club!" Amy continued in her dramatic stage voice. "Since 1996, a few young people with dreams, by Siyuan Lake at a certain university in southwest Shanghai, with their love for traditional dramatic arts…"
Tong Yan decisively picked up her phone, pretending to make a call.
Unexpectedly, as soon as she took a couple of steps, her phone actually vibrated. She picked it up.
Gu Pingsheng: I have some family matters to attend to this week, so the Commercial Arbitration classes have been rescheduled to after National Day. If you don't mind, you can come to my house for physics tutoring. TK
Tong Yan froze, staring at the screen and rereading the message three times…
After a while, she slowly typed a few words on the keyboard, decided against it, deleted them, and repeated the process several times before finally sending: Since you have something to attend to, let's also reschedule the physics tutoring to after National Day.
As she put down her phone, small groups in the rehearsal hall began acting, lines rising and falling, echoing from every corner. Amy, who had just been beside her, was now standing in front of a few boys, arms crossed, giving directions.
Tong Yan watched for a while, but for some reason, she couldn't focus on the rehearsal.
Suddenly, her phone vibrated again.
Gu Pingsheng: Physics is different from law. Your foundation is weak, so it's best not to interrupt the lessons. TK
But going to a teacher's house seemed inappropriate.
Besides, you're not even a physics teacher…
Tong Yan felt troubled and continued to decline: It's okay, I'll review what we covered last week this week. I won't slack off.
Gu Pingsheng: My house is very close to the Xuhui campus. It's very convenient to get there by school bus. Do you have classes on Wednesday afternoon? TK
She felt awkward and quickly replied: No.
He was definitely doing this on purpose. No one had classes on Wednesday afternoons…
Gu Pingsheng: Take the 3:30 school bus. I'll wait for you at the main campus library in forty minutes. TK
…
His tone clearly indicated that the matter was settled.
She sighed inwardly: Okay.
After four weeks, she had more or less figured out his temperament. He was courteous and polite, without the airs of a teacher, but when it came to anything academic, he immediately reverted to his role as a teacher. Serious, excessively serious…
She suddenly remembered that next week was National Day holiday, and she had already planned to go back to Beijing to visit her grandmother. Would he make her study during the holiday too? She might as well ask for leave on Wednesday when she went to his "house."
"His house"…
Tong Yan sighed again.
Sitting on the school bus on Wednesday afternoon, she suddenly felt nervous, she didn't know why.
Once National Day passed, five weeks would be gone… The traffic was heavy, and she dozed off, only to be woken up by someone next to her. Looking at her watch, she realized it had taken an hour and a half, meaning she was a full fifty minutes late.
It's over.
She checked her phone… tragically, it was dead.
No wonder there were no messages from Gu Pingsheng.
Fortunately, the bus stop was near the library. She got off and walked for a bit before spotting Gu Pingsheng's car.
A white Range Rover. She had ridden in it once before.
She hadn't known the long English name of the car before, but Lu Bei had liked it, so she had memorized the name as well.
She walked over and saw him looking down at his phone, seemingly replying to emails.
She knocked on the car window, no response.
He was really focused. Tong Yan stood by the window, staring at him. Students occasionally walked by, giving her strange looks as she stood there silently, staring at the handsome guy in the car…
Gu Pingsheng suddenly looked up, and their eyes met.
Separated only by the car window.
Her heart skipped a beat, and she smiled awkwardly. "Sorry, Teacher Gu, I'm late."
He smiled slightly and gestured for her to get in.
After she fastened her seatbelt, she asked curiously, "It's not very hot today, why aren't the windows down? The air circulation would be better, right?"
He handed her a bottle of water. "I'm not used to having the windows down, no matter the season. The city air isn't good."
Oh, a bit of a neat freak.
The car fell silent again as he drove out of the campus gates.
He was thoughtful. He had turned on the music in the car, and the volume was perfect, probably specially adjusted by someone else.
Tong Yan listened to the music, enjoying it privately, as the car quickly turned onto a quiet street. The road sloped gently upwards, lined with plane trees that provided ample shade from the summer sun.
The streets were clean, devoid of even bus stops, with only one or two small shops.
It wasn't until they entered a residential area that she saw the street sign: Hunan Road. She should take a walk here sometime… it was so peaceful.
But it wasn't until she entered his home that she truly understood the meaning of clean.
As he bent down to get her slippers, a woman suddenly emerged from the kitchen with a snow-white towel, smiling at her. "Hello. Please wait a moment, let me finish tidying the living room before you come in."
Tong Yan stared blankly at the spotless living room, then at the beautiful woman wiping every corner with a towel… Was everyone in his family a neat freak?
He briefly introduced them. "This is my cousin, Gu Pingfan. This is my student, Tong Yan." Gu Pingsheng changed into slippers. "My cousin is a surgeon now. She's the one who infected me with my slight obsession with cleanliness."
Before he could finish, Gu Pingfan turned her head and said with a smile, "Considering you were in medical school before, how could I have infected you? I was a law student back then."
Tong Yan was stunned again. "You were a law student?"
Switching from medicine to law seemed manageable.
But medicine wasn't something you just dabbled in. What kind of people were in his family…
Gu Pingsheng seemed to read her thoughts and explained with a smile, "She had already finished her doctorate, but then she suddenly felt that what she had learned was useless and wanted to do something that truly helped people. So, she started over from undergraduate studies and just finished her master's this year. She's interning at Ruijin Hospital."
…Useless. Tong Yan smiled awkwardly. "I also feel like law is useless."
But the thought of studying medicine, just the image of blood and gore, made her legs weak.
"Exactly," Gu Pingfan finally finished wiping everything she could wipe. "Back when I got my licenses in New York and California, I suddenly didn't understand why I had studied law. Then it dawned on me, treating illnesses and saving people is the most direct way to help."
Tong Yan felt even more awkward, but she politely replied, "Yes, but it must have been difficult to give up all those years of study and the licenses you earned… to start over in medicine from undergraduate studies."
Gu Pingfan's eyes narrowed like a cat's. "It's okay. I asked TK to introduce me to a mentor, and he could only guide me with the basics. He's the best teacher."
His cousin was very talkative, and it wasn't until Gu Pingsheng led her into the study that they were finally isolated from the ever-increasing number of topics.
The study was cozy, with a thick, comfortable carpet.
At first, Tong Yan focused intently as Gu Pingsheng explained the problems, but gradually, she drifted off.
What was his reason for switching to law? If he wanted to be a teacher, he could have stayed in the Medical School.
It probably had something to do with his mother.
She rested her chin in her hand, lost in thought for about three minutes, and completely lost track of what he was saying.
The near-sunset light dimmed the room. From this angle, she could see the sharp lines of his profile and a faint dimple. If a man with a round face had a dimple, it would be a comical feature, but on a thin face, a small dimple like that was truly… she couldn't describe the feeling.
She was still searching for the right word when she realized he had turned to look at her, a hint of exasperation in his expression. "Tong Yan, can my face help you pass the exam?" Startled, she instinctively replied, "I was thinking about how to solve this problem…"
But as his words registered, she couldn't help but laugh. "Teacher Gu, maybe your face really can help me pass the exam."
The thirty-six stratagems, the beauty trap, had been effective for thousands of years since the time of Goujian.
Gu Pingsheng looked momentarily puzzled, then smiled. "She was the fiancée of a good friend. They broke up because one wouldn't leave the country and the other wouldn't come back. It has nothing to do with me."
She smiled subtly. Just as she was about to say something, she saw Gu Pingsheng pick up a pen and start writing a problem while explaining, "On a smooth horizontal surface, a semi-circular barrier is fixed horizontally, with a coefficient of friction u. A small ball of mass m enters tangentially with a velocity of v₀…"
…What was this?
Seeing him finish writing quickly and stand up, Tong Yan felt a sense of dread. "Teacher Gu, we haven't covered this yet, have we?"
He put his hands in his jeans pockets, bent down slightly, and smiled at her…
His face was so close that she could even see his slightly upturned eyelashes.
Her mind was a bit slow to process as she watched his lips move and heard a voice say, "I want to understand your foundation in this area first. I'm going to take care of some personal matters and will be back shortly."
It wasn't until the door closed that she turned back to the paper, dejected.
This was blatant revenge.
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