Together Forever

Chapter 9.1

I Can Hear You

During that last week of examinations, more and more people began to leave to head home.

Every year, for the winter and summer breaks, someone from the Beijing Students' Association would be in charge of booking tickets back to Beijing, and so, a large part of the train car would be filled with familiar friends and people, all talking and laughing until the next morning.

This year, she had also reserved her ticket in advance. When Gu Pingsheng asked her whether she wanted to go back to Beijing together with him, she suddenly realized that he was returning to the same city as her.

With her pen, she crossed off the last day of this semester.

Nineteen weeks. One hundred and thirty-three days.

When Gu Pingsheng arrived, it had been the first day of a new semester and the first class of the morning.

She could still remember, that day, the weather had been very nice. The morning sunlight had shone in through the window, and he had been completely enveloped in its glow. Casually, he had held the chalk and written his name: Gu Pingsheng.

The tip of her pen slid over her yearly calendar and stopped inside one of the small grids. Inside the square for December 24th, she drew a heart, then used her pen and colored it in.

"Is Tong Yan there?" Someone suddenly knocked on the door. It was Wen Jingjing.

Shen Yao initially had grumbled about Wen Jingjing's request to move to a different dormitory room, but eventually, it faded from her mind.

University was unlike middle and high school where they would all study together everyday from morning to night. Shen Yao and Xiaoru were both the type who did not really attend class, and as a result, because they were not staying together in the same room with Wen Jingjing anymore, they gradually drifted apart from her. In contrast, because of that night's conversation where she had poured out her troubles, Jingjing was still very close to Tong Yan.

Tossing down her pen, Tong Yan opened the door and looked at her with a smile. "How did you know I'm here?

Wen Jingjing put on a mysterious, knowing smile. "Aren't you like this every year? You always leave here a little later than other people."

"I leave together with the people from the Beijing Students' Association, so of course I have to wait until everyone has finished their exams." Tong Yan turned around and walked back into the room. Rummaging around on her desk, she pulled out some tasty snacks. Right as she turned around and was about to hand them to her, she saw Gu Pingsheng and the teacher who was the sponsor of their class walk in together ...

"Class Sponsor wants to check on and convey his regards to fellow students who haven't left yet. He happened to bump into Teacher Gu, so they came together," Wen Jingjing explained.

Though he was called the class sponsor in charge of their class, in fact, he was one of the former graduate students of their faculty who had just graduated and had remained at the school as one of the faculty administrative teachers. A boy with a shy smile, but yet, he walked in here now with an air of seriousness, inquiring on how she was doing. Tong Yan was holding a handful of lollipops and did not have a chance to set them down, but yet she also felt it would be inappropriate to give them to Jingjing right in front of Gu Pingsheng.

Gu Pingsheng's manner was serious and proper as well, and he merely removed his black, leather gloves and casually slipped them into the pocket of his coat.

Tong Yan seemed to suddenly remember something. Hastily, she stuffed the lollipops over to Wen Jingjing, gesturing to her that it was for her to eat to quell any cravings. Then, she casually leaned against the desk, feeling around behind her until she found her own pair of light blue gloves and dropped them into the drawer.