Part 2. Love Letter from That Year

54 | Turning Back Time
All men grow beards, okay.

Many years later, Pang Qian would recall this time when she was in year 2. As if time had been turned back, she and he were back at the starting point.

She would recall Gu Mingxi smiling at her that winter morning. They were so warm that they could scorch someone else’s eyes. Every single time she remembered it, she would want to cry.

Gu Mingxi and Li Han moved back to Apt. 502. The reason that they gave to others was that it was inconvenient for Gu Mingxi to get to school when they lived at City West. After year 2 started, he had much more schoolwork to complete. When he started year 3, he would have to go to evening study cla.s.ses, so it was better to live in the center of the city.

Gu Guoxiang still lived in that large house in the New Gold Park. Actually, Pang Qian already heard about the truth from her parents. Gu Guoxiang and Li Han had separated.

They didn’t divorce, because the two of them were both somewhat against divorce. Or maybe, subconsciously, those feelings were still there. But the reality was that the two of them couldn’t live together anymore. When Gu Guoxiang returned home, Li Han never spoke with him. The moment she spoke, she would lash out at him with cynical words. And sometimes he couldn’t endure it silently, and he would throw back some stabbing words at her. And so, their family would start a big argument again.

The two of them would look at each other with disgust. After a few rounds of this, Gu Guoxiang came home less and less often.

But they couldn’t continue forward like that. Gu Guoxiang was currently rising through the ranks at work, and he couldn’t let others criticize him about a divorce or his style of life. And so, when Li Han suggested taking Gu Mingxi back to the Golden Compound, Gu Guoxiang immediately started getting the arrangements set. Because Li Han wanted to spend her efforts taking care of Gu Mingxi, she couldn’t work at the factory from dawn to dusk anymore, so Gu Guoxiang found a way to let her retire early due to illness. He even helped her find a private company near the compound, where she could work an undemanding office job. As a result, the two of them temporarily separated. They didn’t have to have a great big argument every time they saw each other, so they both felt like a load had been lifted from their shoulders.

But for Gu Mingxi, seeing his parents break up this way, he still felt extremely sad.

The sky was overcast and it had intermittently through the night. Pang Qian carried an umbrella and headed out the door to go to school. She stood in front of her door in a daze, and then eventually went over and knocked on the door to 502.

The door opened and a familiar face appeared in front of her. Gu Mingxi was getting ready to head out. Seeing Pang Qian, he raised his eyebrows at her. “Pang Pang, good morning.”

He was sitting on a stool, changing his shoes. Pang Qian didn’t wait for him to finish putting them on before crouching down to help him put them on. Gu Mingxi was a bit unhappy. “I can put them on by myself.”

“You’re too slow.” Pang Qian looked at his shoes and asked, “Gu Mingxi, will you be cold wearing these shoes?”

“No, I’m used to it.” He stood up, and Pang Qian picked up the raincoat and helped him put it on. Seeing them leave, Li Han came out from the kitchen and exhorted, “Be careful on the way to school. Qian Qian, take care of Gu Mingxi on the bus.”

Pang Qian quickly agreed, “I will, Auntie.”

Gu Mingxi and Pang Qian left together. Pang Qian carried an umbrella and Gu Mingxi, in his raincoat, walked beside her. The rain drip-dropped onto the umbrella, as Pang Qian remembered that snowy day when they were younger. She and Gu Mingxi had been playing around as they took this path to school.

She secretly glanced over at Gu Mingxi. At that time, she was a tiny bit taller than the little boy. Now though, he had already grown up, and he was taller than her by a head.

“What are you looking at?” Gu Mingxi twisted his lips asking.

Pang Qian shook her head. “Nothing. It’s just been a long time since I’ve gone to school with you. It’s a bit strange.”

He smiled. “It’s been a long time since you’ve done homework with me too. When that time comes, you’ll feel even more unused to it.”

A frown immediately appeared on Pang Qian’s face.

When they got to the bus stop, Pang Qian helped Gu Mingxi take off his jacket. She folded it up and then stuffed it into a plastic bag. After he moved back, she naturally stopped riding her bike to school. Every day, she would take the bus with him. Pang Qian felt that she was Gu Mingxi’s pair of hands. She helped him take off his coat and swipe his IC card. When they were on the bus, she helped protect him. To her, doing all of these things was both natural and familiar.

The bus was really crowded because of the rain. Inside the bus, people were dripping and it was very wet. It was cold outside and warm inside, so the windows all fogged up.

Pang Qian and Gu Mingxi stood near the rear door. He stood against a pole very stably. When he saw the windows, he blew out a breath and a cloud of white appeared. She stood in front of him, just like in the past. She held onto the pole with one hand, and wrapped her other arm around his waist.

Someone pushed past behind Pang Qian, causing her to stand right up next to Gu Mingxi. Her upper body was pressed up to his chest. She lifted her head and saw a pair of s.h.i.+ning black eyes.

His eyes were very gentle. The two of them were very close, so Pang Qian could see a small image of herself reflected in his eyes. She was suddenly aware that she wasn’t a little kid anymore. She couldn’t just stick next to Gu Mingxi without any care like that.

She took a step back, her face slightly flushed. She didn’t expect someone else to push from behind again. Suddenly, she lost her balance and fell forward. Her head crashed into Gu Mingxi’s chest.

“Be careful,” his voice rang in her ears. His tone was cool and bright, his voice gentle. Pang Qian lifted her head to look at him again. She reached her hand to touch her hurting nose and said quietly, “I know.”

Maybe she was imagining it, but she always felt that there was a particular smell on Gu Mingxi. It wasn’t exactly fragrant, but of course it wasn’t stinky. The smell was nearly indiscernible, but when she closed her eyes, she could tell that the person beside her was Gu Mingxi.

In this moment, Pang Qian suddenly thought of the girl that Gu Mingxi liked. She understood him too well. Gu Mingxi had never dated before, and the only gossip about him had been linked with her.

That girl had somehow quietly entered his heart. He must really like her. He would look at her with a pair of gently eyes, and he would speak to her with a pleasant voice. In that drawing cla.s.sroom, far away from Pang Qian, he would probably call that girl’s nickname very affectionately. Even when she was causing trouble, he would speak with her, affectedly and with restraint.

But that girl didn’t like him. She liked a different boy. Pang Qian really felt upset for him. She secretly looked up at him. He was very handsome. It was a very different kind of handsome to Xie Yi.

Xie Yi was pretty, with delicate features and skin. He looked like the son of a rich family. And Gu Mingxi looked a bit cooler than Xie Yi. His face was sharp, with deep features. Thin lips, straight nose. Standing so close to him, Pang Qian could even see some stubble on his chin.

She curiously reached out to touch it. p.r.i.c.kly. Gu Mingxi pulled away and Pang Qian laughed. “Hey, you have a beard.”

He didn’t know what to say. “All men grow beards, okay.”

“Ey– Man?” Pang Qian’s tone carried a teasing air. “Do you shave yet?”

A bit embarra.s.sed, “For half a year.”

“How do you shave? Is it easy?”

Gu Mingxi spoke very quietly. “It’s okay. Like when I brush my teeth. I use my foot to hold the razor. It’s not a big deal.”

Pang Qian closed her mouth and laughed. Gu Mingxi’s face grew redder and redder. “What are you laughing at.”

Pang Qian said softly, “Nothing. I just thought that for Christmas, I can give you a razor as a gift!”

Gu Mingxi, “…”

Later on, Pang Qian came to realize that a razor was a very personal thing. A woman couldn’t just randomly send men razors. They needed to have a very intimate relations.h.i.+p for it to be okay.

When the bus arrived to their stop, Pang Qian and Gu Mingxi got off. They had to walk a bit, so she helped him put his raincoat back on.

He was too tall. In the past, she was able to hold the umbrella up for both of them to walk under. But now, she really couldn’t help hold the umbrella for him.

A bike whizzed past, catching them by surprise. The person on the bike was very eye-catching because he wasn’t wearing a coat. The rain had made his hair wet, but he didn’t care. He just rode quickly through the school gates.

It was Xie Yi.

Seeing him, Pang Qian suddenly thought of the violin and the arts festival. She recalled something that made her very excited. She said to Gu Mingxi, “Hey, Gu Mingxi, did you know that I’m performing in the arts festival program this year too?!”

For the 2001 – 2002 art show, Cla.s.s 7 was putting on two performances. One was Xie Yi’s violin recital, and the other was eight girls dancing and Indian dance. Pang Qian and Zheng Qiaoqiao were both partic.i.p.ating. Pang Qian was extremely excited about it. Since she was small, she’d never performed before.

Xie Yi was rather irritated about his violin performance. He complained to Pang Qian, “From primary year 2 until high school year 2, I’ve played. Every year, I play. Aren’t you guys tired of listening to it?”

Pang Qian giggled and shook her head. “Not tired at all. You play really well.”

Actually, what she really wanted to say was that everyone just wanted to watch how cool he looked when he performed. In any case, whatever you play, no one really understands it.

The week before the performance, their head teacher, Teacher Zhong, found Xie Yi to discuss something with him. Cla.s.s 1 had also prepared to put on a violin solo. When the student council had a meeting about it, they felt that this would be a bit repet.i.tive, so they brought the two teachers in to discuss having both students perform together. They could pick a simple song and change it into a duet to let the kids play it together.

Xie Yi asked, “Who plays violin in Cla.s.s 1?”

Teacher Zhong said, “Xiao Yujing.”