Chapter 16.3 (1/2)
Together Forever (至此终年) — Chapter 16.3
April 30, 2016 by hoju Leave a comment
The mind and its imagination are such powerful things. This is just a small piece of what Gu Pingsheng meant, that if he had a girlfriend, she would “suffer with him”? (On a side note, who said Teacher Gu is all serious? See how he lures his wife out for some fun?)
Chapter 16.3 – My Mister Gu (3)
He pulled her outside, catching her completely off guard.
In that s.p.a.ce where many people were swarming forward with all their might, only the two of them were moving in the opposite direction.
“I have to go to work.” Tong Yan could hear the people around her grumbling and complaining, but though she wanted to break free, she was unable to. “If there’s anything, we can talk about it tonight, okay?”
“I drove. I’ll drive you to your work. We’ll talk on the way.”
He stretched out an arm, fending off two men beside them who were trying to get on the bus.
“Eh? First thing in the morning and I get to run into a lunatic. What are you doing not getting on—” The obstruction incensed one of the men, but when that person whipped his head around and lashed out with a sentence, he was gradually frightened into silence by the look in Lu Bei’s eyes.
Worried that he might cause trouble, Tong Yan quickly flipped her hand over and held him back by the arm. “These people are all just going to work. We’re the ones in the wrong.” Lu Bei did not utter a sound and merely wiped away at the rain on his face.
His vehicle was parked on the roadside not far from the bus stop. As she stepped out from the flow of people, she quickly pulled his coat back down from over her head and opened her umbrella above herself.
Lu Bei opened his car door and motioned for her to get inside. Tong Yan shook her head. “Let’s just talk here. What is so important that you absolutely had to come find me now?”
Lu Bei had expected this insistence from her, and he did not force her. Or to be more exact, he had never known how to force her to do something.
“That day, I heard the people in the fruit shop call you Mrs. Gu. Are you married to that person?”
Tong Yan gave an “mm.”
“He’s your university teacher.” Lu Bei was not asking; he merely stated this. “I remember last Christmas, I saw him in Shanghai.”
As before, she answered with an “mm.”
“With you in a relations.h.i.+p like this with your teacher, will that affect you from graduating?”
“It’s just another year. After my interns.h.i.+p, I’ll be graduating.”
“You and him are living here, in this community compound? And you’re living together with Grandmother?”
“Yes. He’s the one who bought the apartment.”
The questions Lu Bei asked were all over the place and had no method or plan to them. But no matter what he asked, she provided a sincere answer to him, with no intentions at all of being perfunctory or half-hearted.
Eventually, Lu Bei could not make himself ask further but yet was also unwilling to get into the vehicle, so he stood beside his car door in silence. And she, holding her umbrella above her, stood with him. Many years ago, in one of their occasional arguments, Lu Bei had also stood awkwardly out in the thickly falling snow, unwilling to go home but also unwilling to admit he was wrong. She had also stood in the same way before him, wearing a thick knitted hat and gloves and remaining in a silent huff.
“It’s about time now.” She pressed her lips into a smile. “I really am going to be late.”
“Is he unable to hear?” Lu Bei suddenly opened his mouth and spoke again. “He can’t hear people speak? Can’t hear any sounds at all?”
This question was rather unexpected, and Tong Yan did not answer straightaway. Then, she heard him say, “One night, I came here to sign the home purchase contract and saw him over in the fruit store selecting fruits. I had originally wanted to say h.e.l.lo to him but discovered that he actually could not hear me speak. And then you came home.”
Tong Yan thought for a moment, then decided to be honest. “He once had an illness and that later affected his hearing.”
“So you know that he is deaf, but you still want to be with him?”
“Of course I know about his deafness. I knew from the first day he came to cla.s.s.” Tong Yan’s tone was light. “Aside from this one thing, he is outstanding in every aspect, and he is very good to me, great to me.”
Lu Bei did not utter anything. It was not long ago that he, in Tong Yan’s eyes, had also been this way. None of his shortcomings were important. She would only say, “Lu Bei is very good. He is great to me …”
“You really want to live in this community?” Tong Yan turned the questions to him. “Do you really think that will be a good thing?”
He fell silent for some time before telling her, “Fang Yunyun is the one who bought the property. I won’t be living here. You can rest a.s.sured.”
That day her luck was very good, for when she was about to leave, a taxicab happened to come to a stop beside her. No sooner had the pa.s.senger in the front seat pushed open the door than she pulled open the back door and sat into the taxi.
After the taxi had driven far away, even the driver noticed something and with a grin, asked this young girl whether she had gotten in a quarrel with her boyfriend. Otherwise, how could she harden her heart and just leave alone in a taxi?
Tong Yan smiled and answered, no, he was simply an old schoolmate.
When she arrived at the courthouse, the court clerk who was mentoring her had just finished two court sessions. Seeing the terribly wretched state that Tong Yan was in as she wiped at the water soaking her pants, she was rather perplexed and asked, was the rain coming down hard outside? Why were her pants all wet? Tong Yan could not very well say that she had stood out in the rain for too long and had basically gotten wet because of the wind and rainwater that had splashed up, so she only gave an “mm-hmm” and answered vaguely, “Quite hard.”
“Autumn rains carry a chill in them. I have a pair of workout pants in my cabinet. Go grab it and put it on.” This big sister-like court clerk smiled and patted her on the shoulder. “You’re late anyway, so you might as well be a little bit more thick-skinned and just ask for the day off.”
“No, I can’t.” Tong Yan pulled out several more tissues and dabbed at her pants. “I can’t change into workout pants. That would look so bad in an office setting. Requesting a day off also will not do. I need good grades for my interns.h.i.+p to help me earn money in the future to provide for my family.”
Usually, those who were able to obtain an interns.h.i.+p position in one of the courts had all relied on connections to do so, and hence, the court clerk simple treated her words as if she was joking. From the drawer, she pulled out a hairdryer for Tong Yan, telling her to go to the washroom to blow herself dry, and then set the notes she needed Tong Yan to organize onto the desk.