Together Forever

Chapter 9.3

I Can Hear You

He did not ask further and only casually conversed a little more with her.

These next two days, I have things going on. I'll come pick you up the day after tomorrow? TK

Okay.

Tong Yan stared out at the dim lights of the nightscape, her mood significantly better. Perhaps it was because she had heard his voice.

The next afternoon, a woman who was around thirty-five, thirty-six years old came to pay a visit at Tong Yan's home. She was a surgeon at the Peking Union Medical College Hospital and a former student of one of the homeroom classes Grandmother had been in charge of. Actually, at the time, Grandmother had mainly taught music and had only been a homeroom teacher for two or three years, but many former students, even when they reached their middle age, still remembered to come visit and give their greetings during the Lunar New Year celebrations.

"This is the card for the medical centre." The auntie pulled out a card and set it down on the coffee table. With a smile, she advised, "In these recent years, you've entered into older age, and you should have physical examinations more frequently."

Grandmother was holding a knife and paring an apple. "No need, no need. I've always consistently exercised, and my body is very healthy."

"I know many elderly folks find it taboo to get physical check-ups and are worried that they might find out that there is a problem, but when people get old, it's inevitable that there will be more or less some areas that just aren't feeling all that well. It's best to get a complete physical done every year and set your mind at ease."

Smiling, Grandmother handed the apple over to that auntie. "Alright, alright. I will definitely go."

When Grandmother went into the kitchen to check on the ribs she was stewing, Tong Yan suddenly inquired, "Auntie, did the cardiac surgery unit of your hospital once have an intern doctor whose surname was Gu?"

She was actually merely very curious about his past — that past in which he had been a cardiac surgeon — and when she asked the question, she had not held out much hope of getting an answer. After all, he had only been an intern, and in that large hospital that Peking Union Hospital was, why would anyone pay attention to what was going on in another department?

"You mean Little Gu?" The auntie really did seem to have some sort of impression of him in her mind. "The boy whose mom was also a doctor?"

"You really do know? I think he was only there for less than a few months."

"If the one you're talking about is him, then I know him for sure." The auntie contemplated briefly before speaking again. "His mom was a very well known cardiac surgeon. I saw her, as the lead surgeon, perform a surgical operation on a little girl. On that heart that was only the size of an egg or so, she put in more than one hundred sutures. Someone simply born to be a surgeon." The auntie shook her head with a rueful smile, giving a sigh as she uttered "Such a pity," but then did not carry on with the discussion on this topic of his mother.

"Why? Do you know Little Gu?" the auntie suddenly smilingly asked.

Tong Yan hesitated for a while before replying, "He's one of my university teachers, my teacher for Commercial Arbitration Law."

The auntie looked at her in astonishment. "He switched into law afterwards? Didn't he lose his hearing?"

Tong Yan hurriedly nodded. "Yes. Do you know how he lost his hearing?"

"It's not really a secret. Basically, anyone there at the time knew at least some of what happened." The auntie picked up her teacup and took a small sip before continuing, "Do you remember the SARS outbreak that year?"