Together Forever

Chapter 11

The Past is No More

After Saturday came to an end, it would be Sunday.

Or in other words, they had a full two days they could be together.

They arrived at Gu Pingsheng's home. Silently, she calculated out each second, but no matter how it worked out, it still felt as if there was not enough time at all. If he needed to go back for surgery, he would most likely stay in Beijing for a lengthy period of time to recover. She, however, could only remain in Shanghai and would not even have an opportunity to take care of him.

Her thoughts ran chaotically through her mind, and without really thinking, she grabbed the Sichuan peppercorn, star anise, dried orange peel, and dried chile peppers she had already pre-mixed and tossed them into the frying pan. However, she had forgotten that the oil inside had already been heating for a long time. Furiously, it began splattering from the pan. She hastily retreated two steps and bumped into him.

Gu Pingsheng swiftly brought the lid overtop of the pan and turned on the range hood fan.

"Why has your mind been wandering all this time?" Against the crackling and sizzling noises of frying, he asked her in low tones, "Since coming back from the supermarket, you've been lost in thought. Is there something you want to tell me?"

His voice was rather soft, but hints of a seldom-heard sense of uncertainty could be found in it.

Tong Yan turned off the burner, turned around, and gazed at him. "I want to go back to Beijing to take care of you."

"You still have classes to attend." He was a little surprised, but quickly, he smiled, "Tong Yan, this surgery is not dangerous, and it is only the recovery period that is relatively long. I will call you the entire time. Twice a day? Or three times? How about four?"

Tong Yan bit down on her lip. Watching as his smile deepened, her sadness only increased. Femoral head osteonecrosis, advanced stage.

In such an ordinary tone, he had stated this. For the first time, she discovered that the manner of putting on a front of strength, in reality, was simply a way of pushing everyone else away from yourself — far away ...

"I can temporarily suspend my schooling for this semester and just wait until next year to continue my third year of university." She moved close to him. "If I do that, it won't affect my grades in any way, and all that will happen is that I'll graduate one year later. How about that?"

He did not answer.

Tong Yan wrapped her arms around his neck, and quickly, she took his lower lip between her teeth and began carefully kissing around the contour of his lips, softly and at the same time, persistently.

After a while, she finally let go of him and faced him so that he could see her lips, earnestly asking once again, "Alright?"

"No." His voice had become serious. "If I had late-stage cancer, I would, without any hesitation, take you straight back to Beijing with me and have you by my side the whole time. But this disease is not that serious."

Their two bodies were pressed tightly together. She did not know whether it was because they had had a disagreement, but their bodies had gradually risen a little in temperature. And also rising up somewhat uncontrollably were both their heartbeats and the emotions that had unexplainably begun rushing forth from their hearts.

Tong Yan frowned, quietly admonishing, "Don't curse yourself."

"Don't be so superstitious." Gu Pingsheng enfolded his arms around her. "I studied medicine. Never have those things been taboo to me."