Together Forever - Chapter 46
Volume 3, Chapter 46: My Mr. Gu (1)
After a long summer break, she began her internship.
It wasn’t what she had imagined. It wasn’t particularly busy, but she encountered a variety of people, clients and lawyers alike.
Gu Pingsheng’s new students were adorable.
The first time she went to the university to wait for him after class, they had teased her relentlessly. That afternoon, after the bell rang, a group of students emerged, surrounding him like he was a celebrity.
She leaned against the railing, watching him from afar, until he saw her and grinned.
“Teacher Gu, is that our esteemed Mrs. Gu?” one of the girls asked.
After he confirmed it, the students, three or four years younger than Tong Yan, started teasing her, showering her with compliments she knew he couldn't hear. She was reminded of her own classmates back in Shanghai, teasing her from beneath the podium, their words hidden from him.
Over a year had passed, and they were now over a thousand kilometers apart.
He was still Teacher Gu, the captivating man in a crisp shirt.
“Someone once told me that university professors and doctors are the most easily tempted professions. Just imagine, for the next thirty years, you’ll be surrounded by eighteen-year-old students, then you’ll come home to me, an increasingly frumpy housewife… Won’t you be even slightly tempted?” she asked, her feet resting on his lap. “And men age so gracefully…”
Gu Pingsheng, after reading her lengthy statement, raised an eyebrow and smiled, returning to his book.
He completely ignored her hypothetical worries.
She had been joking, and seeing his lack of response, she playfully nudged his leg with her foot. When he finally looked up, she moved closer, abandoning her playful tone. “What if a girl… liked you, like I do?”
His expression turned serious. He considered for a moment, then said, “It’s definitely a possibility.”
“A possibility?” Tong Yan stared at him.
“The law school here is quite large. It seems I’ll be teaching nine classes this semester. Based on Mrs. Gu’s probability calculations, it’s indeed a risky situation.”
“Yes, yes, corrupting a student after teaching just one class…”
“However, I inform every class that I’m not available.”
Not available.
She liked that. Smiling with satisfaction, she asked, “Mr. Gu, what would you like for dinner tomorrow? Don't hesitate to ask.”
He nodded. “Let me think about it. I’ll tell you tomorrow.”
Unfortunately, things didn’t go as planned. Tong Yan returned home from the courthouse close to 7:30, dinner ready, but he still wasn't home. Her grandmother always ate early, around five or six, and went to bed by nine. Tong Yan sent him three messages, but he didn't reply. She told her grandmother he was probably busy at the university.
But she couldn't shake off a feeling of unease.
By eight o'clock, she could no longer sit still. Making up an excuse, she left the apartment and started calling him repeatedly. Ten minutes into the taxi ride, the call connected. “Hello? Is this… Mrs. Gu?” a young man’s voice asked.
“Yes, it’s me,” Tong Yan said, taking a deep breath. “Did something happen to Teacher Gu?”
Without waiting for a reply, she continued anxiously, “Did he collapse? Is he at the university? Or at the hospital?”
“He’s at the hospital,” the student quickly reassured her. “A few of us brought him here. He just regained consciousness…” A buzzing filled her ears, the voice on the phone fading in and out.
She quickly gave the driver the hospital’s address.
When she arrived, three or four students were huddled around his bed, their faces etched with worry. A doctor, holding an X-ray, looked puzzled. “Do you have any pre-existing conditions? This scan…”
Tong Yan’s focus was entirely on Gu Pingsheng, not the scan.
If something was wrong, it was definitely related to SARS.
“Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome,” Gu Pingsheng said, then, seeing her approach, smiled faintly. The doctor, recognizing the acronym, looked back at the scan.
One of the students instinctively stepped back, then, realizing his reaction, quickly lowered his head.
He was standing at the foot of the bed, and Tong Yan saw everything.
“That explains it. Myocardial ischemia causing angina. It’s been humid and rainy this week. Have you been experiencing this for a while? You need to be careful in this kind of weather, especially during the humid summer months. Try to avoid strenuous activity…” The doctor, now aware of his medical history, quickly understood the cause.
After giving his instructions, he asked, “Which hospital were you at during the SARS outbreak?”
“Peking Union Medical College Hospital.”
“PUMCH?” the doctor said thoughtfully. “They had the highest success rate in treating SARS. You were lucky to be there. Do you live nearby?” Gu Pingsheng, still struggling slightly to breathe, said calmly, “I was a doctor there.”
The student who had stepped back looked at him, his eyes wide.
The doctor was momentarily speechless, then quickly recovered, asking about his colleagues from PUMCH. Gu Pingsheng had only been there a short time, during the SARS outbreak. The doctor mentioned a former classmate who had died during that time, and Gu Pingsheng nodded, saying they had been in the same ward.
The students, four or five years younger than Tong Yan, had been too young to fully grasp the severity of that distant crisis. Hearing that Gu Pingsheng had been a doctor, they were surprised, their expressions mirroring Shen Yao’s earlier admiration.
Medicine and law seemed like vastly different fields.
Only the student at the foot of the bed listened intently, almost too intently.
Since it was late, Gu Pingsheng sent the students home. Tong Yan sat by his bed, listening to the two men, who had just met, reminisce. When she was little, she had believed doctors were omnipotent, capable of curing any ailment, that a simple touch of their stethoscope could stop a cough and bring down a fever.
Later, in high school and university, she had witnessed the reality of red envelopes and rejected appointments.
The news seemed to focus only on the negative aspects of the medical profession. Then she met him, and during those months leading up to his surgery, she had read countless news articles about SARS, feeling a strange sense of… understanding. Doctors were hailed as angels in white during crises, then demonized as butchers once the crisis passed…
Angels who could heal others but were ultimately vulnerable themselves, unable to save themselves from illness and death.
Gu Pingsheng decided not to stay at the hospital that night. The doctor personally escorted them to the lobby.
“These days, doctors have a worse reputation than those who make gutter oil,” the doctor said, shaking his head wryly. “Looking at you, then thinking about my classmate… It just doesn’t seem fair.”
Standing in the quiet lobby, Gu Pingsheng, his expression unreadable, replied, “If my health wasn’t an issue, I would have returned to medicine. Your classmate… would have probably said the same.”
As they walked out of the hospital, Tong Yan’s worry was evident. “Are you sure you’re okay? Shouldn’t you stay at the hospital for observation?” Whether it was myocardial ischemia caused by lung problems or something else, he had collapsed from angina. Heart problems were not to be taken lightly…
Before Gu Pingsheng could answer, he looked behind her.
She turned around and saw the student still standing there.
“Teacher Gu,” the student’s Mandarin was accented, “I’ve heard stories about SARS since I was a child. Guangdong was also hit hard, so…” Gu Pingsheng walked over and patted his head. “Go back to school. Teacher Gu is a married man and can’t be responsible for your accommodation if the dorms are closed.”
The student seemed to want to say something more, but he left, his expression apologetic.
It was past midnight when they arrived home. Worried about him, Tong Yan refused to sleep in a separate room. After a quick shower, she went to his room.
He didn’t like wearing pajamas, and whenever she slept with him, she noticed his body temperature was always lower than hers. Lying in bed, she realized he was still awake, so she turned on the bedside lamp. “It’s been humid and rainy these past few days. I feel suffocated whenever I’m outside in the heat. Should you take a few days off?”
Gu Pingsheng, squinting against the light, looked at her. “Okay.”
She thought for a moment, then asked, “Those times you didn't go to the university, saying you had something to do at home… was it because you weren’t feeling well?” She placed her hand on his chest, trying to feel his heartbeat, but she couldn't find the right spot. As she continued her clumsy attempts, she felt a strange tightness in her own chest, as if she could feel his discomfort.
Gu Pingsheng smiled, watching her, his hand resting behind his head.
“Teach me how to take a pulse,” she said suddenly.
“I’ll teach you after you get back from the courthouse tomorrow,” he glanced at the clock on the nightstand. “It’s almost two. Shouldn’t we sleep?” He reached for the lamp.
She stopped him, finally voicing her guilt. “I’m not a good wife. I don’t know anything, I can’t do anything. All I do is cook for you; you take care of everything else.”
Even when he had collapsed and been hospitalized, she had been the last to arrive.
Lacking life experience and having grown up in a broken home, she didn’t even know how to be a good wife, didn’t know the intricacies of a normal family life.
“Apart from earning a living, I’m not sure how to be a good husband either. And I don’t even earn that much,” Gu Pingsheng took her hand and placed it on his chest, his voice serious. “Your self-doubt… it’s not your fault. It’s because of me. Yan Yan, I’m selfish. I know I’m not healthy, yet I still insisted on being with you.”
Comments
Post a Comment