A Cold and Aloof Top Student Is Relied Upon - Chapter 62

Chapter 62: Summer

◎A Sunny Day or a Rainy Day◎

After the exam results were released, everyone’s individual destinations became clear. They all agreed that they should at least get together one last time before parting ways. After all, who knew when they’d see each other again?

The world is small; sometimes, you might run into someone in a completely foreign place. But the world is also vast, so vast that even in the same town, you could go a lifetime without ever crossing paths.

You can’t really explain something like fate.

It was just like the sudden appearance and departure of the young miss. It was as if, because of some unexplainable destiny, she had come to fulfill her obligations in this lifetime and could now leave without owing anything.

Only a few blurred images were left in her mind:

Oh, I used to know this person.

By the end of July, the graduation party, which had been enthusiastically discussed in the group chat, was finally set for the first day of August. Some who had been traveling had just returned, and others who were about to travel could delay their plans. It was set to end before freshman registration.

Luo Minmin had already attended her own class’s party, but she planned to go to the Class 3 event as well, since it was the class she had spent most of her time in. She messaged Gu Zhu privately, worried she wouldn’t go, and had a ton of sweet-talk prepared. But after her first sentence, Gu Zhu had already agreed.

[It’s a deal then. I’ll pick you up from your place that day. The location isn’t far, so I’ll drive my scooter. I’ll have to ask you to suffer through a ride on my humble vehicle for now. But the next time we meet, I’ll definitely pick you up in a luxury car, which is what our provincial top student deserves.]

Gu Zhu said okay and then went to her tutoring student’s home. It was a summer job she had found. Because of her reputation as the provincial top student and the only one in the city to be admitted to Tsinghua University, some parents were quite fond of her even though she seemed young and didn’t have much work experience.

After they met, Gu Zhu’s steady and quiet personality, her clear and logical study plans, and her precise tutoring approach won the parents over. After just one lesson, the parents were already trying to book her for the winter holiday.

But Gu Zhu had her own plans and politely declined. She would only take on lessons for this summer. She wasn’t sure if she would be back home so early during the winter holiday or if she would have the time.

After all, she was going to a distant city, and as a top student, her coursework would surely be heavy. It was understandable that she might not continue tutoring. The parents understood but hoped she could take on more lessons this summer, or even better, take on all of them.

After only a moment’s thought, Gu Zhu agreed. It wasn’t because she needed the money. Because of her exam results, she had received a significant amount of prize money from the province, the city, and some local businesses. One company had even wanted to give her an apartment, which she had politely refused.

She had already received so much. At least for the next four years, her academics would not be a source of financial stress. The reason she took on more classes was simply that she wanted to keep herself busy. That way, a certain kind of loneliness wouldn’t occupy her time.

A long rainy season was already damp enough; she needed some sunlight to rinse away the rot in her bones and blood.

On the day of the graduation party, she finished her tutoring session early. After giving Luo Minmin her address, she waited for her at the entrance of the residential complex. She also messaged Gu Baozhi, telling her she might be home late and not to wait up for her.

The snack shop in town had hired a certified chef who knew how to cook a variety of dishes. The small shop was constantly innovating. To keep customers, they had to be creative, offering both local specialties and popular flavors. The two of them learned from each other and gave each other feedback. With another chef, Gu Baozhi had more time to rest.

Gu Zhu was in the county, so Gu Baozhi would come back every few days. Sometimes, on Gu Zhu’s days off, they would go grocery shopping together. Gu Baozhi would also show off the new skills she learned, letting Gu Zhu try the new dishes and give her opinion.

When they were together, and it rained, Gu Zhu would play the pipa. Her eyes would be unfocused as she played, relying only on muscle memory. If she hit a wrong note, she would stop, feel her way back to the right string, and start over from the beginning.

She always played her pipa by the window in her room. The jasmine plant outside had grown some sparse leaves—it wasn’t lush yet, but it at least had some life.

The rain from the eaves fell on the tin roof, a steady, incessant noise. Sometimes, Gu Baozhi would stop at her doorway, looking at her slender back as she faced away from her. She always felt as if the rain outside had drenched them both.

Gu Zhu had become that quiet, growing bamboo again. She broke through shattered rocks and hard soil, struggling upward. She seemed resilient and unyielding, but the harsh weather had already left a thousand holes in her. Those wounds of growth were buried in her heart, known only to her.

…

When Luo Minmin arrived, she saw Gu Zhu sitting on the edge of a flowerbed. She was carrying a canvas bag with her teaching materials, wearing a simple short-sleeved shirt, loose wide-leg pants, and canvas sneakers. She wore no makeup, yet she was clean and elegant, drawing attention.

“Zhu, get in, get in!” Luo Minmin patted the back of her scooter with the air of someone getting into a luxury car. “My little new darling. No big luxury car, but a small one is still a must, hehe!”

The scooter had separate seats. Gu Zhu bent her long legs and put her feet on the footrest, leaning back against the seat. “Okay, let’s go.”

“Let’s go! Don’t be nervous. My driving skills are top-notch now. Practicing these past few days has made me so dark. Luckily, I have makeup to cover it up, or else when it gets dark, people might think a ghost is riding a scooter and get scared to death.”

It was the peak season for learning to drive, so there was always a crowd waiting to practice. When it wasn’t raining, the sun was so strong it felt like it would peel a layer of skin off. When it rained, it was so muggy you felt like you would evaporate. All in all, summer was just too unpredictable.

“When do you leave? I remember Tsinghua starts pretty early, so you have to get there ahead of time to prepare, right?”

“The 20th. I’ll probably go two or three days early,” Gu Zhu replied. Going to a new city to live for at least four years, from the south to the north, she would first have to adjust to the weather and the environment. She was a little nervous, but only a little. Besides moving forward and adapting bit by bit, there was no other way.

“Ah, you’re leaving so soon then. My school starts on September 13th. How about I go with you to play for a few days?” Luo Minmin had been accepted to a second-tier university in the provincial capital, which was a good ranking within the province. It was a great score. Although it was a bit far from home, the high-speed train ride was only two hours, so she could just go there on the day of registration.

This meant she had a long holiday. With a month and a half left, besides getting her driver’s license, she was thinking about where to go. But going to the capital wasn’t really on her list. She said it now on a whim because she was reluctant to part with Gu Zhu. But she also knew it wouldn’t be very useful for her to go while Gu Zhu was attending school. Still, she wanted to see the capital, so now that she said it, it was out there.

Gu Zhu didn’t take it seriously. In the group chat, Luo Minmin had already been recruiting friends for a graduation trip, and the capital was not among the destinations she shared. She had invited Gu Zhu then, but Gu Zhu had refused, using her tutoring job as an excuse, to the disappointment of the person who had been trying to get her to agree with her sad puppy eyes.

After crossing this intersection, they arrived at the party venue, a restaurant. There were 56 people in their class, including Luo Minmin, so they booked two large private rooms. Each room had two tables, and the rooms were connected, with karaoke equipment, mahjong tables, coffee tables, and sofas. The space was quite spacious.

A prominent sign stood at the entrance that read, “Sanhai High School, Class of XX, Senior Class 3 Graduation Party.” The party also invited their homeroom teacher, Lin Qingmei, and a few subject teachers. Some teachers were too busy to come and had expressed their blessings and regrets in advance.

When the two of them walked in, more than half of the people were already there, decorating the room with hanging banners, all kinds of balloons, and colorful streamers. The atmosphere was fully charged.

After taking off their identical school uniforms, the boys and girls of this age had their own sense of aesthetics. This was the time for them to care about their appearance. Their diverse and youthful outfits made everyone’s eyes light up, and the playful teasing never stopped.

The lively atmosphere continued until everyone had arrived. Their homeroom teacher, Lin Qingmei, along with their physics teacher Cai Shuya, chemistry teacher Li Jiajia, and Chinese teacher Nian Yingli, all attended the banquet.

Although it was called a graduation party, it was also a thank-you banquet for the teachers. For the first time, the young students were allowed to raise their glasses and drink with their teachers. They took turns toasting them, saying things they hadn’t dared to say back then and thanking them for their hard work and guidance over the years.

Gu Zhu was not an outsider. When people toasted her, she took a small sip. She still wasn’t used to the taste of alcohol, so she had a craft beer that wasn’t too strong or bitter. When all the students in front of her had finished toasting, she also took a bottle and went around toasting each of the teachers, thanking them.

They had already said it many times, that they didn’t need to do this, that they didn’t have to drink. But for these students who had been freed from their restraints, the feeling of being an adult for the first time was addictive. So, the people toasting kept coming.

“Thank you, teacher.” Gu Zhu wasn’t one for pretty words. She would toast, say thank you, and then listen with her eyes lowered to the teachers’ caring words, just like all the times she had heard their warnings and advice at the podium, on the sports field, or in the office:

“You must work hard. If you ever need help, your teachers will always find a way to help you. After you get to university, don’t forget to keep learning. Life is just beginning. I hope your future is smooth sailing, and that you continue to shine.”

“Thank you, teachers!”

This time, it was a real farewell.

By the time the party ended, it was almost 11 PM. Besides the two teachers who had to leave early, Lin Qingmei and Li Jiajia stayed behind to help clean up, planning to leave together after every student had gone.

Gu Zhu was a little drunk. Her eyes were half-closed, and the wind had messed up her hair a bit. She stood there quietly, like a forgotten passerby.

She had come on Luo Minmin’s scooter, which was obviously not an option for going back. Although neither of them had drunk too much, it was still alcohol, so to be safe, they decided to take a taxi home.

Luo Minmin’s direction home was different from Gu Zhu’s, so they took separate taxis. Having had a drink, Luo Minmin was in high spirits and turned into a social butterfly, flapping her wings among the crowds. Her joyful laughter filled the night.

She could always be so happy.

Gu Zhu couldn’t help but feel a little envious sometimes.

It’s so nice, she thought. I hope Luo Minmin is always happy. I hope all my friends and classmates are happy.

A car stopped in front of her. She hadn’t realized that most people had already left. Lin Qingmei called out to her, asking if she needed someone to ride with her home.

Gu Zhu shook her head. She was still conscious. As she was about to get into the car after saying her goodbyes, Lin Qingmei called out to her again. In the hazy light of the night, Lin Qingmei’s face was soft, and with her usual kind and understanding gaze, she said:

“Honestly, you are the one I worry about the most. I feel like you always live so silently and wearily. Gu Zhu, sometimes, you have to let yourself relax a little. It’s okay to make mistakes. You still have so much time to correct them. You don’t always have to be so careful and cautious.”

“I hope you can be happy, too.”

Gu Zhu held the car door handle for a while. She tried to smile, but it seemed she couldn’t. All she could hear was her own hoarse voice speaking, “Teacher, I know. Thank you.”

After getting into the car, she waved to the two teachers and didn’t put her hand down until she couldn’t see their figures anymore. She rolled down a window a little. The night wind rushed in, rustling, as if it was blowing away the alcohol’s effect and making her eyes sting.

After getting out of the car and paying, she walked home slowly. The streetlights cast a long, long shadow. A sudden dizziness came over her, forcing her to stop and breathe slowly.

After several deep breaths, she continued forward, walking up the stairs one step at a time. The moment she inserted the key into the lock, someone opened the door and helped her inside.

Gu Baozhi helped her to the sofa. Smelling the alcohol on her, she frowned. “Why did you drink so much? Even if it’s a special party, you have to know your limits. Besides, you’re still so young. Drinking too much is bad for your health, do you understand?”

The delayed effects of the alcohol made it hard for her to hear Gu Baozhi clearly. There was a constant buzzing in her ears, like the sound of heavy rain falling. She covered her head. When Gu Baozhi came back with a cup of honey water, she held onto the armrest of the sofa and asked groggily, “Mom, is it raining outside?”

Gu Baozhi walked out to the balcony. The streetlights stood quietly, and the moon was bright in the sky. The weather was beautiful; it was not raining at all. So she went back inside and said in Gu Zhu’s ear, “It’s not raining. It will be a sunny day tomorrow.”

Gu Zhu seemed to have fallen asleep, lying on the sofa. The water beside her was already gone. Just as Gu Baozhi was about to help her into her room again, she said, “The sound of the rain is so loud. I can’t see anything.”

Gu Baozhi froze for a moment. She stroked her hair and comforted the little drunkard, “It’s okay. When you wake up tomorrow, you’ll be able to see.”

When Gu Zhu woke up the next day, she had forgotten what she said when she was drunk. Her head felt heavy but didn’t hurt, just a dull feeling like she hadn’t gotten enough sleep. She didn’t cancel her tutoring job for the day, but she did adjust the time, changing it from 9 AM-10 AM to 10 AM-12 PM. She still had no classes in the afternoon.

Gu Baozhi didn’t mention her drunken words from the night before, but she couldn’t stop nagging her about getting drunk. Gu Zhu didn’t argue and promised her she wouldn’t drink again when she was out. After she finished her meal, she left.

The tutoring job wasn’t long to begin with. It all came to an end on August 10th. When she was paid, she received a considerable amount of money. The parent was very generous, and the tutoring fees were high. They hoped to work together again during the next holiday.

“If there’s an opportunity, I’ll consider it,” Gu Zhu nodded. As she was leaving, she gave a gift to the child she tutored. It wasn’t an expensive gift, just a globe. It was the only subject she hadn’t tutored her in, and it was also the child’s best and favorite subject. “Goodbye,” she said.

With her summer job finished, they began to prepare for moving. The “home” in the county was originally a rental that Gu Baozhi had taken to accompany Gu Zhu for school. Now that Gu Zhu had graduated and Gu Baozhi’s business wasn’t there anymore, they would naturally move out.

They planned to move their things back to their old house. After living there for three years, they still had a lot of stuff. It would take some time to pack.

Summer was hot. Every movement made her sweat. Gu Baozhi also turned on the fan in the living room. The old-fashioned green ceiling fan took up nearly two-thirds of the ceiling. It started spinning slowly, but once it got up to speed, the airflow would be strong and make things much cooler.

Boxes were stacked one by one in the living room. The things they no longer needed had already been packed. The remaining items that were still in use would be packed this morning, and a moving truck would come to get them in the afternoon.

Gu Baozhi didn’t plan on keeping the large items like the washing machine and air conditioner. She would sell them secondhand to the landlord. They had already bought new ones and had them installed in the newly renovated house back in town.

Gu Zhu had already packed the bedding. After using a vacuum sealer, it became a thin, flat block that she could just throw into a box and seal. Next were the clothes. Some were too small, some were too old, so she put them in a woven bag for donation. But she put her school uniforms into a vacuum bag and packed them in her own suitcase, intending to keep them as a memento.

After packing her daily necessities, she went to pack her cabinet of books. She neatly categorized them. The textbooks and practice books, the books she would never read again, would be picked up by a recycling service. After picking and choosing, she was left with only one cardboard box. She opened the cabinet door below the bookshelf. There were some scattered odds and ends and a white storage box. She pushed it to the living room, planning to reorganize it and throw away the things she didn’t need.

There were some old pencil cases, used pencil pouches, and a sewing kit. A cheap keychain she had no idea where she got it. Maybe it was from some promotion at a supermarket that Gu Baozhi had told her to get.

She put the things that someone might want into a separate bag and then opened the storage box. The box wasn’t big, and there wasn’t much inside. She could see everything at a glance.

A crystal bracelet, a sketchbook, a keychain, a star night light… and the glass bottle full of paper cranes.

The familiar items made her dizzy for a moment. The unforgettable images flashed through her mind again, vividly.

The fan in the living room hummed, like the eye of a rotating typhoon. The muggy, humid feeling seemed to have swept over her again.

Gu Zhu clutched her heart, her spine on the ground suddenly collapsing. She sat down, stopping her packing. As Gu Baozhi walked over, she said in a very soft voice, “Mom, it’s raining so hard outside. Can you please take in my umbrella?”

The weather this season was always unpredictable. Gu Baozhi thought the weather had changed. She subconsciously walked into Gu Zhu’s room, pulled back the curtains, and saw the sunlight slanting onto the small jasmine plant on the windowsill. The leaves were reflecting the light. At this moment, she felt a chill.

Gu Baozhi walked over slowly, squatted down, and looked at Gu Zhu, whose eyes were unfocused. Her voice was a small whisper. “It’s not raining today. Do you want some water?”

Gu Zhu blinked. Her eyes were a little sore from dryness, so she blinked a few more times. Then, with a very confused voice, she said, “I hear the sound of such loud rain. Is it really not raining?”

Gu Baozhi held her, pointing to the sunlight coming in from the window. “Look, the sun is shining so brightly. The sound of the fan is making you hallucinate.”

Gu Zhu didn’t move. She seemed lost in thought, and then said in a voice of sudden realization, “I heard it wrong. I just suddenly can’t see anymore.”

That delayed flash flood had finally erupted. Gu Zhu’s summer could no longer see the brilliant sunshine. She only remembered that on that typhoon day, someone had come, and someone had left.

But in truth, it had been a beautiful sunny day when Bai Tan left.

She just didn’t know how to forget a person.

And she also didn’t know how to be able to see a person again.

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