Together Forever - Prologue
Prologue
"I graduated from King's College London and will be with you for the entire semester. You can call me Teacher, or simply Gu Pingsheng." He held a piece of chalk loosely and wrote his name on the blackboard. The morning sunlight streamed through the windows, enveloping his faintly discernible figure. "I can't hear, so if you have questions, please face me. I will watch your lips and eyes, and understand what you are saying."
His voice was somewhat soft, clear, and gentle.
Everyone looked at him with regret, even their breathing subconsciously softened.
King's College London, one of the top three law schools in the UK.
Before Teacher Gu arrived, all the professors in the law school were either impeccably dressed in suits, scholars returning from Waseda University in Japan, or sporting a suit jacket with haphazard jeans and sneakers, PhDs back from Yale or other American universities.
King's College London? This was a first.
All third-year courses in the law school switched to English instruction for International Law, and many students eagerly anticipated this sole teacher from London. They envisioned someone dashing, elegant, and refined, or perhaps scholarly and gentle. Unexpectedly, his appearance was a bit surprising.
The way he held the chalk was elegant, almost like a surgeon holding a scalpel—of course, the romanticized kind you see on TV. He was very young, surprisingly young. He wore a soft, high-quality white shirt and casual pants. His shirt sleeves were rolled up, faintly revealing a tattoo…
If you didn't know better, you'd think he was a senior from the architecture department who wandered into the wrong classroom.
He seemed to sense everyone's surprise and casually loosened his tie.
Then… he lowered his head, took off his tie, and unbuttoned his collar. "This semester I'll be in charge of your 'International Commercial Arbitration Law' course. It's a very simple course. It will be taught in English, and if anyone doesn't understand, feel free to raise your hand and interrupt me." There seemed to be a smile on his face, but it was hard to tell. "Remember, raise your hand. Speaking out won't work."
Someone whispered, "I bet he's only in his twenties."
The voice wasn't quiet, and everyone looked thoughtful.
"In my class, you can whisper," he surprisingly noticed. "But I should be able to see everything. Can we start with roll call?" He smiled.
His eyes calmly and intently scanned everyone, a gaze that made many female students want to look away.
But then they remembered he needed to see their lips. Almost everyone, without exception, obediently looked towards the podium.
After finishing these words, Gu Pingsheng lowered his head slightly. "I will call roll once, and you can ask me one question when your name is called."
"Zhao Qing."
"Teacher," a girl in the front row stood up, "what is your tattoo?"
He smiled slightly and said, "A woman's name." He stopped looking at the roster and continued roll call. "Li Dongyang."
A boy in the back row stood up with a grin. "Teacher, is it the name of your first woman?"
He lowered his head and looked at the next name. "No, it's my mother's name."
Silence fell over the room; they seemed to have touched upon a sensitive topic.
He didn't seem to mind and continued, "Wang Xiaoru."
"Teacher, all the professors in our department are PhDs. Are you too? You seem very young."
"Yes."
"Zhao Xin."
"Teacher, do you have a girlfriend?"
The class erupted in surprise. The one asking was their class monitor, and the question was… he was a man.
The class monitor cleared his throat. "Teacher, I was dared."
Several girls behind him looked indignant and buried their heads.
He smiled and picked up the roster on the podium, holding it in his arm. "No."
Everyone burst into laughter, buzzing with discussion.
As a result of the class monitor's lead, everyone started strategically directing their questions towards personal matters. They probed about his personal travels and experiences at King's College London. He patiently answered each question, occasionally adding interesting anecdotes that made listening a real pleasure. He didn't know that these seemingly ordinary questions, when combined, painted a picture of someone from a good family, practically perfect.
Unable to hear? A huge advantage.
It made him seem deeply focused and attentive, looking only at you when he spoke.
"Heavens, does our department have a rule against teacher-student relationships?" The person who had just been called sat down, murmuring softly.
He suddenly paused, raising his head to scan the classroom. "Tong Yan."
A girl stood up in the last row of the classroom. "Teacher, are you from the north?"
Tong Yan had been in a daze since he entered the classroom. His face was so familiar, very much like someone she knew, but that person should be studying cardiac surgery, and certainly wasn't deaf. But if not, why did he look so much alike, even down to the dimple on the right side of his face when he smiled?
He smiled silently, leaving everyone a bit bewildered, and finally nodded. "Yes."
It really was him.
They had only met once, but they remembered each other's names.
That night outside the emergency room, he stood out in his white coat, though he hadn't been this gentle.
Comments
Post a Comment