Together Forever

Chapter 4.3

Those Beautiful, Little Things

Ai Mi handed her coat to her, then took advantage of the opportunity to express to Gu Pingsheng, "Teacher Gu, I 'white part of the scallion' [cōng bái] you." After saying this, she left with chortles of "hee hee."

Gu Pingsheng was silent for a moment before asking Tong Yan, "What did she say?"

"She said she idolizes [chóng bài][1] Teacher Gu, you." She had finally found her voice again but it was still somewhat raspy. Luckily, he could not hear it.

"When you did that, weren't you afraid you might sing something wrong or off?" She looked at him.

"I have a bit of a musical foundation in vocal studies, and I'm also very familiar with that song." He motioned for her to put on her coat. These last few days, the temperature had fallen somewhat, and it was rather chilly backstage. "But I still couldn't be certain that I could completely complement you. Good thing you and Shen Yao are both very astute."

He spoke nonchalantly about this, as if a moment ago, he had been singing in a karaoke bar and not performing in front of several thousand people. And the main point was, in those circumstances, he had been required to go onstage and sing.

Piano, vocal studies, speech and broadcast... As she pieced together all these things about him, she gradually came to the realization that his family had actually intentionally trained and fostered abilities in him. Even if one were to disregard the profession he had once studied, simply these things alone were enough to make one feel a sense of regret and a twinge of sadness in the heart. Heaven had richly blessed him with many talents, but unfortunately, he no longer had an arena for him to demonstrate them.

By the time the evening gala came to an end, Tong Yan nearly collapsed from exhaustion.

Because they needed to remove their make-up and change their clothing, she and Gu Pingsheng were almost the last to arrive at the post-event celebratory feast. Students' Union had reserved the entire Haijingge Restaurant, and inside, boisterous noise and loud laughter stirred the eardrum.

The two of them had just stepped inside when Zhou Qingchen immediately clapped his hands together, indicating that everyone should quiet down. "Hurry, hurry, bring the alcohol. Tonight, our mission is to get our two emcees hammered with booze until they fall over."

Before Tong Yan had a chance to say anything, a brimming glass of beer was stuffed into her hand. Her alcohol capacity was such that she would pass out after three glasses, and she had never before been the subject of a focused effort to get her drunk. However, judging from the atmosphere here tonight, she reckoned that unless they drank themselves unconscious, they should not even think about exiting through those main doors ...

Gu Pingsheng glanced down at the glass in his hand, sensing that he could not back out of this now. "My friends and students here, do you need to take into consideration the virtue of respecting your teacher?"

"Teacher Gu," everyone suddenly shouted in unison, "we 'white part of the scallion' you." It was a resounding sound, and even the serving staff who were carrying trays around jumped with shock.

Tong Yan suddenly felt very, very touched and she turned her head to look at him. Though he could not hear, he could still see the words they had spoken.

Everyone's lips moving in unison, everyone's excited expressions caused many emotions to flood up into that pair of eyes — an intensity that flashed very briefly before it was gone.

In the end, contrary to everybody's expectations, they were the ones who were all finished off by Gu Pingsheng instead.

Everyone was transported back on bicycles ridden by dormmates who had all been summoned over from their various dormitories to help ... Only she, the one who had joined forces with Gu Pingsheng against their "common enemy," very clearheadedly looked toward Gu Pingsheng and said, "Oh no, they're all drunk. There's only us left to pay the bill."