Part 2. Love Letter from That Year
67 | Mountain of Books, Sea of Questions
Ah? You’re really going to study accounting?
When Gu Mingxi walked inside the front door, his heart hadn’t calmed down, still pounding intensely in his chest. He went to the bathroom and sat down on a plastic chair, lifting his foot to open a low tap on the wall.
Water flowed out and he cleaned his feet. Then he bent his head down and used his right foot to scrub his face. The water in summertime was always hot, so Gu Mingxi wanted to wash his face off with some cold water to calm himself. But the more he washed, the more excited he became.
When he walked out of the bathroom, his clothes were dripping with water. Li Han was startled and she grabbed a towel to help him dry his face. She complained, “Your clothes are all wet.”
Gu Mingxi looked away and said quietly, “It was too hot so I wanted to cool down.”
They walked to the living room and Li Han picked up a box on the table for Gu Mingxi to see. “Mingxi, your dad came by.”
Gu Mingxi was shocked as Li Han helped him open the box. “Since it’s your 18th birthday today, he was going to pick you up to have a meal together. Your (paternal) grandparents haven’t seen you in awhile either. But you weren’t here, so he left this and left.”
Li Han held a bar-shaped Nokia cellphone in her hand. She said softly, “This is your father’s birthday present. He didn’t set up a number yet, but said for you to bring your ID and set it up yourself. He said you’re grown up, and since you’re heading to university next year, you should have a phone. But we’re not sure if it’s convenient for you to use.”
Gu Mingxi stared at the phone in his mother’s hands for awhile. he said, “I’ll accept it first, but I won’t use it for now.”
He returned to his room, and pulled off his shorts with his feet. He sat down on his bed with his legs crossed, and he shook his pants with his foot until a small picture dropped out of his pocket.
Gu Mingxi looked at the two smiling faces on the photo. He stroked the girl’s face with his big toe as his emotions calmed. He looked over to his desk. School would start in less than half a month.
At the same time, next door in Apt. 501, Pang Qian also had that photo in her hands. There was a missing picture on her photo sheet. It was the one with her standing side by side with Gu Mingxi. At the time, she’d wanted to delete it and retake the photo, but Gu Mingxi stopped her. He said he really like it, to leave it for him.
Pang Qian had the photo of the two of their faces next to each other. She was smiling happily, and Gu Mingxi looked a bit awkward. Pang Qian carefully cut out the two-inch photo and slipped it to her wallet. Her ID card covered it, so even with careful inspection, you wouldn’t see it.
And so, she hid away the photo, just as she did with her feelings. Pang Qian sat at her desk, zoning out. Then she pulled out a hardcover notebook from her drawer. This was a notebook she’d used for a long time. She didn’t write anything strange in it, and she left it out openly in her drawer, not at all afraid her parents would see it. Inside, she’d copied down popular song lyrics, some cla.s.sical sayings, famous words, English poems, and there were also lots of newspaper and magazine cutouts… Pang Qian flipped to an empty page and wrote earnestly:
Target June 2003. Pang Qian, work hard!
She also drew a small crab. An oval with eight legs, waving two claws.
In September, school started up again. Pang Qian and Gu Mingxi rose into Year 3. They entered into a world with mountains of books and seas of questions.
Pang Qian decided to put everything aside. Cartoons, dramas, celebrities, popular music, comics, ping pong…and the thoughts in the mind of a young girl.
Since Gu Mingxi had been supervising her throughout the summer break, she’d studied continuously. So she performed pretty well on the diagnostics test at the start of the year. In Cla.s.s 7, her score put her in the upper half of the rankings. This gave her a boost of confidence. She knew that as long as she put in the effort, there would be forward progress.
Pang Qian became very serious, in an unprecedented way. Their cla.s.s still had two more months of lessons before they finished the course material and entered the review period. Zheng Qiaoqiao realized that Pang Qian was never absent-minded or daydreaming in cla.s.s anymore.
She very seriously listened and every prepared for cla.s.s ahead of time. Before the teacher went over the lesson, she would look over the material at home. She took note of the things she didn’t understand, so that she’d be able to grasp the meaning more easily when the teacher explained it.
But Pang Qian still had a bad habit. She still wasn’t accustomed to asking the teacher when she didn’t understand something. When she came across a problem or didn’t understand something, her first thought was to ask Gu Mingxi.
–That seemingly G.o.d-like Gu Mingxi. The Gu Mingxi who promised he’d always be beside her.
November marked the final midterm exam for the high school students. Pang Qian was very serious about it, and she came out with the best score of her high school career. Ranked 153rd in the year for science. Although this was still a rather middling score, Teacher Zhong said that if Pang Qian could maintain this level, getting into a tier-3 university would be no problem.
After the midterm exams, all cla.s.ses concluded, and all of the Year 3 students entered the exam review period. On the corner of the blackboard, there was a countdown to the college entrance exam. Originally, this was something that gave Pang Qian a great headache, but now it was something that gave her meaning.
With the arrival of winter, Year 3 female student Pang Qian’s schedule was as follows.
Wake up at 5 o’clock. Memorize English for one hour. Wash face and brush teeth at 6:30, then eat breakfast. At 7, knock on Gu Mingxi’s door and head to school together.
After arriving at school, turn in homework, and then go to cla.s.s.
The teachers were putting together a syllabus in accordance with the college entrance exam, with key points to review. The most effective studying tactic though, was to work on more practice problems. On top of every student’s desk, there was a pile of test papers. Sometimes Pang Qian would wonder how they could finish that many practice tests, but in the end, she still answered each test paper, question by question.
When the morning cla.s.ses ended, Pang Qian and Gu Mingxi went to eat lunch. After eating, she dragged him to the school yard to run a few laps. They gossiped a bit and loosened their muscles. Sometimes, Pang Qian would pull Gu Mingxi up the stands and help him ma.s.sage his legs.
The amount of practice problems he did were much greater than Pang Qian’s, so she was worried he would get cramps.
After their outing, Pang Qian returned to her cla.s.sroom and lied on her desk to sleep for half an hour. Then she would continue studying.
The changes in her were very obvious. The image Pang Qian gave out was that she was lazy, loved to eat and play, and her grades were below average. But now, the diligence and effort she put into her studies left her cla.s.smates dumbfounded.
Zheng Qiaoqiao asked Pang Qian what her goal was. She said, “Guarantee getting into a tier-2 school, aim for a tier-1. Gu Mingxi and I made a pact to go to school together in Shanghai. Although I know it’s very difficult to get into the same university as Gu Mingxi, I think that if I work hard, the distance between us might not be as large.”
When the afternoon cla.s.ses finished, Pang Qian and Gu Mingxi went to the cafeteria to eat dinner. After they ate, they had more than an hour of free-time. Gu Mingxi and Pang Qian made the most of this time. The two of them sat in the cafeteria and went over questions. Pang Qian wrote down all the things she wasn’t sure about that day, and during this period, she had Gu Mingxi explain them to her. Whatever he couldn’t go over during that period of time, they would continue after the self-study period ended.
At 6:45 PM, the evening self-study period began. During this period, Pang Qian worked non-stop on practice problems, practice problems, practice problems… Gradually, she grew interested in studying. Before, she felt that it was a very boring thing. But now, after solving a difficult problem, she felt kind of carefree, like her whole body could relax.
Pang Qian could be considered someone who gets excited in a group of people. When things were tough, she would think that it was just one year. At most, it was one year. Gu Mingxi had said before, that as long as she persevered through this year, her life might be changed.
The evening self-study period ended at 9. Pang Qian and Gu Mingxi took the bus home. At this time of night, the bus was full of empty seats. Two extremely tired kids sat on the swaying bus, heads side by side, and they quickly fell asleep.
When they arrived back at the Golden Compound, the two of them said their goodnights and returned to their respective homes. She ran over the things they studied that day, and then worked on some more practice problems.
At 11 o’clock, she turned out the lights and slipped into her dreams.
Pang Qian’s efforts weren’t wasted. On the semester’s final exam, which could be considered a practice run for the college entrance exams, Pang Qian came 118th in the year for science. She’d made the most progress in Cla.s.s 7.
When Pang Shuisheng returned from the parent-teacher meeting, he was so happy that he wanted to set off firecrackers. He told Jin Ai’hua that Teacher Zhong told him that there was a high chance that Pang Qian could get into a tier-2 university.
But Pang Qian wasn’t satisfied with herself. At this time, she started to regret how little effort she put in during Years 1 and 2. She started to worry that there wasn’t enough time in a day. Gu Mingxi came in 2nd for science, and 1st place went to Wu Min. Pang Qian knew that he’d be able to get into a top-ranked university.
All Pang Qian remembered about Year 3 was that it was exhausting. She’d let go of all her recreational activities. Every day, there were practice problems that she didn’t finish. She never got enough sleep. When Sunday came and she had the time to make up for it, she couldn’t sleep. She immediately got up and started memorizing English.
Although it was tough and exhausting, this period of time was simple and innocent. Pang Qian’s mind had no distractions. Even when she ran into Xie Yi at school, her mood no longer fluctuated.
Xiao Yujing and Xie Yi never got together. According to Gu Mingxi, the two of them rarely spoke. Actually, they didn’t really have the time to chat. Year 3 students at a top high school, and in the advanced cla.s.s at that, really didn’t have much energy to think about other things.
Multiple choice questions with ABCD choices always had a right answer. True or false questions always had a right and a wrong. On (free response) math questions, no matter how complicated or difficult or crazy, there was always a correct solution.
Years later, when Pang Qian entered society, she finally realized that it was only during school that things were so black and white, so obvious at a glance. No deception, no scheming, no pretenses.
Crying was crying, laughing was laughing, liking was liking, hating was hating.
When this time pa.s.sed, it pa.s.sed. No one would be able to get it back. All you could do is hold onto the memories deep in your heart.
It’s a shame that at the time, Pang Qian didn’t understand this.
In Pang Qian’s life, from the day she was born, she was tangled up with Gu Mingxi. They had an agreement. Even if they couldn’t study at the same school, they had to study in the same city. Pang Qian never thought of her future with Gu Mingxi, or what would happen to them in the end. It wasn’t that she didn’t dare to think about it, but rather, she felt that she and Gu Mingxi would never separate.
18 year old Pang Qian never once thought that there would be a day where she would lose her Gu Mingxi.
In the spring of 2003, after several rounds of provincial, city, district, and school mock exams that came like bombs one after the other, Pang Qian felt a bit numb. She continued to improve, each time scoring better than the last time. On the final city mock exam, Pang Qian’s score would have gotten her into a tier-1 school.
Gu Mingxi praised her, saying she was like a typical “wing-it” kind of person. Indeed, Pang Qian was a bit carefree, very cheerful and optimistic. She didn’t get nervous easily. When she went into an exam with confidence, she came out with very goof results.
In mid April, the school held another parent-teacher meeting. It could also be considered a meeting about the college entrance exams. Pang s.h.i.+usheng and Li Han went to the school, leaving Gu Mingxi home alone.
Pang Qian went over to his house. The two of them studied together, and soon started chatting.
It was less than two months from the college entrance exams, so the two of them couldn’t help discussing which schools they wanted to go to. Pang Qian asked Gu Mingxi, “Which school do you want to get into in Shanghai?”
Gu Mingxi looked at her, his pen dangling from his toes. He returned, “What about you? Which university do you want to get into?”
Pang Qian shook her head, “I’m not sure. I keep looking through the brochures, and some of them look nice. I just don’t know which one I’ll be able to get into.”
Gu Mingxi smiled, “Actually, the school comes afterwards. The key point is what do you want to study?”
“I never thought about it.” Pang Qian asked, “Gu Mingxi, what major do you think is better?”
Gu Mingxi said, “That depends on what kind of job you want in the future.”
Pang Qian went through her mind and said seriously, “I want a white-collar job. The kind in a tall office building. Every day, I can wear high heels and a pretty dress.”
At her serious tone, Gu Mingxi laughed. He said, “Then I suggest you study finance.”
“Finance?”
“Yes, going into finance would be the closest to what you want.”
Pang Qian thought for a bit, then nodded. “Finance, I’ll remember that.”
And then she asked again, “You still didn’t say where you want to go to.”
He was silent for a moment, then said, “I want to go to the Shanghai University of Finance and Economics.”
Pang Qian was shocked. “Ah? You’re really going to study accounting?”
Gu Mingxi laughed. “Please, although SHUFE isn’t as good as Fudan or Jiao Tong, it’s still really hard to get into.”
Pang Qian looked at him ignorantly. Gu Mingxi said, “Actually, the finance major I told you about is also my goal.” He shrugged his shoulders causing the empty s.h.i.+rt sleeves to swing back and forth. He looked down at his shoulders and said, “I don’t have arms, so most professions aren’t suitable. I think that I can do well in finance. Actually, what you said isn’t wrong. Accounting is really suitable for me.”
Pang Qian knew that he was joking about that last bit. She was in no position to give Gu Mingxi any suggestions. With regards to this, he’d definitely considered things much more than she.
Gu Mingxi started telling Pang Qian about what kind of university SHUFE was again, what it was known for. As he was talking about it enthusiastically, the doorbell rang.
“Did the parent-teacher meeting end this early?” Pang Qian asked. She helped Gu Mingxi get the door. When she opened it, she just stared ahea.
Standing outside the door was someone she hadn’t seen in a long time, Gu Guoxiang.
