Professor Lu and Dr. Shen - Chapter 1.5

Chapter 1.5

 -8-

It was the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, and I spent time in Teacher Lu’s apartment.

I was watching the fireworks outside the window while lying on the bed. 

“Hmmm…life is better with you.”

The confession wasn’t very creative, and Teacher Lu didn’t react the way everyone thought he would. He just said, “It’s okay. Amazing, amazing, amazing. Everything is great.”

I lightly pushed him with my arm and asked, “What makes your life great?”

Teacher Lu said something that I still remember. “When you open the window, you can see the stars in the sky, and when you close the window, you are in our bed.”

-9-

At the beginning of the year, our two families had a meal at a hotel.

Everyone carefully poured some red wine, and I just grabbed one before everyone and took a sip. After I did that, I saw everyone at the table looking at me, making me embarrassed.

After a few seconds, old Teacher Lu and Teacher Wu also looked up and did the same thing silently. Then everyone at the table tried it and kept going. Speaking and laughing as though it didn’t happen.

I want to hug Teacher Wu and tell her she is like my mother.

-10-

After celebrating the Chinese New Year, I noticed that I gained some extra fat under my chin. I worked three-night shifts, and now I look tired and overweight. I looked in the mirror and saw wrinkles on my neck, and I felt I was getting old.

“Will you still want me even if I’m not attractive anymore?” I asked Teacher Lu.

Teacher Lu said sharply, “Do you think you are feeling lustful at the moment?”

I removed my shoes and was going to throw them at him, but Teacher Lu looked at me with blurry eyes and said, “Don’t worry. You will be a fun old lady when you’re old, and I’m just a crazy old man who likes fun old ladies.”

Me: “…”

‘I hope we can still be nice to each other when we are old.’

 -11-

Teacher Lu didn’t usually write in a diary or share his feelings on social media, but he would jot down some of his feelings on nearby paper. This would inevitably lead to the loss of the stolen goods and leave behind individual evidence.

I looked at his high school books at his house, and they were clean, with only names written on them. Out of nowhere on a certain page, someone had written, “Shen Hanxiao, you are really dumb. You can’t even solve simple math problems.”

And on the same page, another sentence was written in a different colour.“

Perhaps you don’t have to be intelligent; you can make me fall in love just by looking at me.”

I felt no sensation and had a lot of goosebumps.

Then I found another thing written on a paper napkin inside a notebook. 

“I dreamed of Shen Hanxiao last night, and I don’t remember what she did. It must have been something stupid. But I was very happy. I woke up as soon as I felt happy, went back to sleep, and tried to return to the sweet dream, but to no avail. I got up late in the morning and forgot to put sugar in the coffee. It was so bitter. I have to wait till she turns 22 years old.”

I held the paper and looked around. He approached me, lightly flicked my forehead, and asked, “What’s the matter? Are you feeling emotional?”

Me: “No, I’m just wondering what Princeton napkins are made of. The material has stayed the same for many years.”

When he came back to China for an interview at T University, he was given a decorative object. He wrote, “I often doubt the world and life. The only thing I don’t doubt is that I love you.” 

 Actually, he never told me those words. But I believed that in the future, I would discover the surprises he hid in many places.

End of chapter 1

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