57 | Seafood Family
Even now, you still mind that I don’t have arms?
Gu Mingxi really spent more than a month working on devil’s tutoring (or cramming) with Pang Qian. He helped explain math and science to her and watched as she memorized English. He even took out a test that the advanced cla.s.s had taken for Pang Qian to practice. Although this month of high-pressure learning caused Pang Qian to continually complain, when it was time for final exams, she was still greeted with unexpected results.
Her progress was very obvious. She came out as 24th in Cla.s.s 7, and her year ranking also increased a lot.
Pang Qian still felt that she didn’t do well enough. Because she was careless, she got a lot of questions wrong. She thought that if she put in more effort next time, she might even make it into the cla.s.s’ top 20. Xie Yi said before that as long as you make the top 20 in your cla.s.s at each exam, getting into a four-year undergraduate program would be no problem.
As for Gu Mingxi, he was only 12th in the entire year. That took everyone by surprise.
But he didn’t seem to mind at all. Only Gu Mingxi knew that he didn’t study enough. Chinese, math, English, physics, and chemistry were all fine, but he didn’t put enough effort into history, politics, and geography. Those subjects required memorizing. Since he didn’t have much time to do it, it was natural that his results weren’t good.
When Li Han and Pang Shuisheng returned from the parent-teacher conference, Li Han looked gloomy while Pang Shuisheng was glowing.
Seeing Li Han in low spirits, Pang Shuisheng felt a bit guilty. He knew that his daughter worked on her homework with Gu Mingxi every night, and this must have affected his own studies. He said to Li Han, “Next semester, the kids’ studies will be more busy. I’ll tell that girl not to bother Mingxi.”
Li Han looked at him without a word.
Pang Shuisheng told Pang Qian about this, and she finally realized that she was dragging Gu Mingxi’s studies behind. In the most precious two or three hours of the day, he was actually explaining things to Pang Qian. She rarely saw him working on his own studies. Pang Qian had asked Gu Mingxi if he’d finished his homework, and he just said that he already finished most of it at school. He’d be fine doing a little bit later.
Now it seems that he was lying to her.
Pang Qian told Pang Shuisheng, “I know, Dad. I won’t go to his house anymore.”
Li Han similarly spoke with Gu Mingxi, but with regards to Pang Qian not coming over anymore, he couldn’t agree to it.
Li Han found it difficult to understand. “Qian Qian’s studies aren’t bad right now. Mingxi, you don’t have to be responsible for her grades. If you could guarantee that you’d stay in the year’s top 5, I won’t oppose you tutoring Pang Qian. But right now, look. You always go to sleep in the middle of the night, and your scores have dropped out of the top 10.”
Gu Mingxi didn’t want to explain to Li Han why there was a discrepancy between his science and humanities scores. He just promised, “I’m still going to help Pang Qian. We agreed to get into the same university. As for my own scores, Mom, I promise to you that next semester, I’ll definitely make it into the year’s top 5.”
Li Han asked, “And if you can’t make top 5?”
He said, “If I can’t, then I’ll stop tutoring Pang Qian.”
Li Han stared at Gu Mingxi for a long time. Then she sat down next to him and tried to feel him out. “Son, do you like Qian Qian?”
Having his emotions suddenly revealed, even if he wanted to, Gu Mingxi couldn’t deny it. His blus.h.i.+ng face already revealed all.
Li Han asked, “Are you two dating?”
“No!” Gu Mingxi immediately denied. Then his voice lowered. “There’s nothing between us.”
Li Han looked down for a moment. She picked up Gu Mingxi’s empty sleeves that were lying on his bed and played with the cuffs. She said, “Son, let me tell you, don’t give your entire heart to a single person. Especially when that person doesn’t care about you. In my eyes, you’re an amazing boy. But I can’t deny that in other’s eyes, you’re crippled. You have to learn to have some reservations. Otherwise, one day, you might get hurt, so much that you’d rather be dead.”
Gu Mingxi didn’t know how to respond to Li Han’s words. Li han stood up and pat his shoulders. She let out a sigh and then left his room.
Gu Mingxi sat on his bed by himself, zoning out. He looked down at the two empty sleeves hanging at his sides, and he suddenly remembered something that happened two weeks ago.
That day, Pang Qian came over to his house to work on homework. She mysteriously brought over a newspaper for him to look at. It was E City’s newspaper, and there was a section on international news. Pang Qian moved over to Gu Mingxi and pointed at a small article. She said to him, “Look at this.”
It was news from America, about the development of artificial limbs that were currently being tested. If development on them was successful, the prosthetics would be able to compensate for missing limbs. The idea was to use the body’s own biosignals, including EEG and EMG, in conjunction with brain waves to control the prosthetics.
When Pang Qian explained it to Gu Mingxi, her eyes were s.h.i.+ning. Her tone was also very excited. “Gu Mingxi, who knows, maybe you’ll be able to use these artificial limbs in a few years!”
Gu Mingxi looked down at the article, which was about the size of a piece of tofu. There was a picture of a middle-aged man who was missing his right arm, wearing a prosthetic. He held a cup of water as he drank from it, with metals hands just like others’ bone ones.
Gu Mingxi looked at it for awhile, then he lifted his head and said to Pang Qian, “Even now, you still mind that I don’t have arms?”
Gu Mingxi didn’t know that he would say those kinds of words. He knew that Pang Qian was well-intentioned, but seeing her expectant eyes, his heart couldn’t help but sink. Sink into a cave of ice.
He could never become Xie Yi. Able to play the violin, able to play ping pong. He didn’t even have arm stumps. To him, prosthetic arms felt like they would be more troublesome than helpful.
That day, the two of them ended up rather unhappy. Pang Qian was also a bit angry, feeling that her good will had been mistaken for ill intentions, so she went home early. Gu Mingxi also felt stuffy inside, so he found two practice exams and worked on them until the middle of the night.
Li Han took Gu Mingxi back to her family’s home up north in Z City over Chinese New Year’s. Gu Guoxiang naturally remained in E City. The entire month, Gu Guoxiang went to visit Pang Shuisheng, bringing over New Year’s merchandise. Jin Ai’hua didn’t want to let Pang Qian hear the two men’s conversation, so she dragged her out to the market.
Pang Qian was very well-behaved and listened to her mother chat. Jin Ai’hua felt that her daughter had grown up, so she felt she had to let her daughter know about the rights and wrongs when it came to feelings and marriage. So she told her about Gu Guoxiang.
He was currently living together with a young woman, but it wasn’t the woman he’d caused a ruckus with previously. The current woman had applied to work for the metals company after graduating from university. She worked as a secretary and had accompanied Gu Guoxiang to several business social gatherings. They often drank, and somehow, the two of them got together.
Jin Ai’hua started educating Pang Qian. “Girls have to know how to love themselves. Don’t you ever do the kind of work where you have to drink with your boss! Men aren’t anything good. That woman really has no pride. She clearly knows that Gu Guoxiang has a wife and son, but she still grabbed onto him. Hmph! Gu Guoxiang is already 45 years old, and she’s not even 28 yet. What does she see in him?!”
Jin Ai’hua really felt terrible for Li Han. The more she spoke, the angrier she got. “That low-life Gu Guoxiang just saw that young girl’s body, and he wants another son. Hmph! If he wants a divorce, it’s not at all easy. House, car, and money all have to be left for Ah Han. With all the things that Ah Han knows, she’ll definitely bring him to ruin!”
When Li Han and Gu Mingxi returned to E City, it was already a week after the New Year. Gu Mingxi brought Pang Qian brought back some specialty items from his mom’s hometown. Most of it was for eating.
Pang Qian still felt apologetic about Gu Mingxi’s midterm scores, so she suggested inviting him for a meal. Gu Mingxi thought for a moment, then said, “Okay, but I’ll pick the place.”
He had Pang Qian help him carry another bag of items, and the two of them took a taxi to the machines factories. The car stopped in front of Shark’s shop. The small shop had just opened for business after the New Year. There were still firecracker remains on the ground in front of it. Pang Qian carried the large bag and stood in front of the shop doors. She felt a bit unhappy inside.
She didn’t feel good about this place, because the people here had let Gu Mingxi learn bad things. She still remembered when she saw Gu Mingxi standing in a cloud of smoke, and his cold eyes which terrified her.
Gu Mingxi already walked inside the shop. After he looked around, he happily called out, “Shark! Happy New Year!”
Shark was smoking a cigarette when he turned around. When he saw Gu Mingxi, he was very happy. “Hey, kid! Haha, Happy New Year!”
He walked over and gave Gu Mingxi a pat on the back. “Did you get taller again? It’s been a long time since I’ve seen you. How are your studies going?”
“Alright,” Gu Mingxi answered with a smile. Then he turned around and called to Pang Qian, “Pang Pang, come over. I’ll introduce you.”
Boss Pang Qian reluctantly entered the shop. Shark looked at her, and easily found that the girl was on guard. Gu Mingxi said, “Shark, I just came back from my (maternal) grandparents’ house for the New Year’s. I brought back some specialties for you and Auntie. It’s all food. Please accept it.”
Shark saw the box and bags in Pang Qian’s hands, and immediately accepted them from her. “Kid, you’re really too polite. Coming from so far away and bringing me something.”
“Shark, I never thanked you.” Gu Mingxi smiled. “Let me introduce you. This is the person I told you about, Pang Qian, my good friend. Pang Pang, this is Shark. I’ll introduce Clam and Oyster to you later. They all treated me really well.”
Pang Qian blinked a few times at Shark, then said quietly, “Shark.”
Shark squinted and then inhaled on his smoke. He said, “Kid, this girl’s the crab you told me about before?”
Gu Mingxi immediately smiled. He nodded, “That’s right. It’s her.”
Shark laughed out loud, haha. “Aiya, what fate. Everyone is seafood. Little miss, don’t look at me so fiercely. Sharks don’t eat crabs. Crabs have sh.e.l.ls, they’re not good to swallow.”
Clam and Oyster had spent an afternoon at the internet cafe. Arms around their shoulders, they walked in to work. When they saw Gu Mingxi, they happily bounced over. Clam saw that Gu Mingxi had brought along a girl. He laughed towards her and asked, “Little Crab, are you Gu Mingxi’s girlfriend?”
Gu Mingxi and Pang Qian cried out together, “No!”
Clam touched the back of his head, his face flushed. “Then… I’m Ge Xiaozhuang. I’m 19 this year, 174 cm tall, 120 weight. I’m self-studying for a college degree for mechanical engineering. I’ve already pa.s.sed a few cla.s.ses. Little Crab, let’s be friends.”
Gu Mingxi, Pang Qian, “…”
