Evening Stars Chapter 37 (Part 2)
Translated by Q the Panda (ko-fi)
Chapter 37.2
The days went on as usual. Xu Nanheng checked the weather forecast on his phone and watched the temperature curve drop bit by bit, just like the stock market at the beginning of the year. Then came the snow. It fell in relentless, heavy sheets, with an almost extravagant abandon. At first, he would glance outside a few extra times when it snowed. But soon, he grew accustomed, even somewhat annoyed. Snow again. Any more and the cars would be buried completely.
And sure enough, that Saturday when he went to the small hospital, every SUV in the row outside was covered in snow as thick as a phone standing on its side. He had to press the key fob twice just to figure out which one was the G-Wagon.
“Teacher Xu, are you heading to the county?" a nurse asked as she came out to take out the trash.
“Mm.” Xu Nanheng nodded. “I'm going to pick up Dr. Fang.”
“Oh, right. Their rotation ends next week,” the nurse said. “Be careful on the road.”
“Will do.” Xu Nanheng smiled.
Originally, Fang Shiyou hadn't wanted him to come. The mountain roads were narrow and slippery under the snow. But during their call yesterday, Fang Shiyou had let it slip that his car had broken down, and he'd have to hitch a ride back to the village with a delivery van. Xu Nanheng immediately said he'd come pick him up. After a few rounds of back-and-forth, Fang Shiyou eventually gave in.
On the drive over, Xu Nanheng had the music playing and was in high spirits, while on the other side, Fang Shiyou was full of worry, afraid something might happen to him on the way.
Just after helping out in the emergency room and heading back toward the outpatient wing, he turned a corner in the hallway and bumped into Professor Gu.
“Ouch.” Professor Gu had been walking with his head down too — like father, like son.
Fang Shiyou quickly stepped forward to steady him. “Are you alright? Did you hit anything?”
“No, no.” Professor Gu adjusted his white coat. “Why are you walking so fast?”
“I……” Fang hesitated. “I'm fine.”
Professor Gu looked him over. “Something happened? You've got worry written all over your face.”
It must have been too obvious, so Fang Shiyou had no choice but to admit it. “Uh, yeah. Someone from the village is coming to pick me up. The snow's too thick. I'm worried he might run into trouble on the road.”
Professor Gu paused, then said, “Don't worry too much. As long as he drives slowly, he'll be fine.”
After saying that, he asked, “Who's coming to get you? Doctor Yang Gao?”
“……” Fang Shiyou looked into his father's eyes and said, “No.”
Professor Gu hadn't planned to ask further. If it wasn't, then it wasn't. He nodded and was about to leave when Fang Shiyou stopped him. Taking a step forward, Fang Shiyou stood in front of him and said, “Dad, I…… I want to tell you something.”
“Oh.” Professor Gu suddenly remembered something too. “Good, I also have something to tell you. Come with me.”
The two went to Professor Gu's office. As a director, he was given a private room. Once inside, Fang Shiyou closed the door, waiting until his father sat down and settled before preparing to confess.
“Listen,” Professor Gu spoke first. “When you get back, find some thread…… a cotton thread. Measure your girlfriend's wrist and fingers. When we return to Beijing, I'll ask your aunt to take me to buy gold. You're at the age to start preparing for marriage. Your aunt mentioned gold hairpins, gold bracelets, gold rings, and what else…… Ah, I forgot. I'll ask her later. Just get the measurements first.”
“My partner…… doesn't wear hairpins.”
“Short hair?” Professor Gu thought for a moment, scratching his head. This was indeed a tricky problem for an inexperienced single father. “Then we'll leave that aside for now. About the school district apartment, you'll need to ask her family. The elementary schools in Beijing right now……”
Fang Shiyou stepped up to the desk and interrupted him. “Dad, we don't need a school district apartment.”
“Don't need one?”
“Yeah. We won't be having kids.”
Professor Gu was silent for a moment. Having children wasn't something he personally found all that wonderful, so it wasn't hard for him to accept. “Oh. Not having any is fine too. There are risks involved anyway.”
“Uh.” Fang Shiyou took a breath. “We won't be having children because…… my partner is a man. We can't have them.”
Although Teacher Xu had once joked about having three children for him, Dr. Fang was confident that was just teasing him.
The office fell into sudden silence.
Outside, there was the sound of medical staff moving about, someone calling out to someone else, and a voice announcing an order for tacrolimus for the patient in Bed 8. Fang Shiyou felt like even the sound of his own swallowing echoed too loudly in the room.
“A man?” Professor Gu looked at him in disbelief.
“Yes.” Fang Shiyou nodded. “A man.”
“You're dating a man?” Professor Gu asked again.
“Yes.” Fang Shiyou nodded once more.
Evidently, this was a bit much for a sixty-year-old single father to process. Professor Gu took off his glasses, rubbed his face, and then, with a trembling hand, unscrewed his teacup and took a sip.
“Dad……” Fang Shiyou tried calling him.
“D-d-don't call me Dad.” Professor Gu didn't look at him, just stared at the printer on his desk.
Fang Shiyou: “Professor Gu.”
Fang Shiyou: “Look, you already said you're fine with me not having kids, so why can't you accept that my partner is a man?”
The logic was sound. When gay couples came out to their families, the first ‘crime’ they were accused of was ‘you won't be able to have children.’ But Professor Gu had already accepted the ‘no kids’ part with ease, so now he didn't know how to lash out.
But he still had to lash out. No one could bottle emotions that fast. He frantically started pulling drawers open, one after another, and finally took out a string of prayer beads. Fang Shiyou hadn't even known his dad owned any.
“What are you doing?”
Professor Gu took off his white coat and tossed it onto the rack. “I'm going to the temple. I…… I'm telling your mother about this. I can't fix you, I'll have her come to you in a dream.”
“Come on, Dad.” Fang Shiyou did not know whether to laugh or cry. “Even if you tell Mom……”
“Don't call her Mom!” Professor Gu snapped, nearly dizzy with anger.
Fang Shiyou quickly took his father's white coat back down. “If I don't call her Mom, then what should I call her?”
“You, you, you call her Professor's Wife!” Professor Gu said, pointing at him.
“……” Fine.
In the end, Professor Gu didn't go to the temple. He still had outpatient duty that afternoon. After a round of commotion between father and son and some careful persuasion from Fang Shiyou, things finally settled down. Especially after Professor Gu learned that Xu Nanheng was a volunteer teacher, he sighed and decided to accept it.
After all, people who had stared down death often tended to see things more clearly. Professor Gu had lost his wife early, and was left to walk a profoundly dark path alone, cradling the infant Fang Shiyou in his arms. To him, nothing was more important than being alive. He knew he hadn't spent enough time with his son over the years. Whether he was truly busy or simply escaping, his son had grown into a worthy man, and he felt he had not failed his departed wife.
He also believed that if Fang Minshu were still around, she would only want her son to be happy and well. As for who his partner was, as long as he liked them, that was enough.
So, for the first time in over twenty years, Professor Gu asked his son for a cigarette and smoked it right there in the office. In the end, he only asked one thing, “Is he the one coming from the village to pick you up?” Fang Shiyou said yes, and that was the end of it.
As usual, when Xu Nanheng arrived, he called Fang Shiyou and drove the car into an empty parking space in the hospital lot, and waited inside. And, just like usual, when he saw Fang Shiyou come out of the building, he got out of the car to greet him.
But this time, Fang Shiyou ran straight over and pushed him right back into the car before his feet even hit the ground.
“Eh?” Xu Nanheng was puzzled. “What's the rush?”
“Just drive,” Fang Shiyou said as he got into the passenger seat, pulled on his seatbelt, and urged him to go.
Xu Nanheng frowned. “What, did you keep a younger one in the county town and now you're afraid I'll see him?”
“……” Fang Shiyou stared at him. “My dad.”
“What about your dad?”
“He knows. He's probably watching us from the second floor right now. Let's go.”
“……Damn.”
Xu Nanheng had already driven a couple of miles when it still didn't sit right with him. “No, we should turn back. I should at least say hello. Just slipping away like this is a bit impolite, isn't it?”
“Don't. Next time, when both sides are mentally prepared.”
“Fair enough.” Xu Nanheng nodded. He was a bit disheveled today anyway. Better to trim his hair, tidy up, and look decent before meeting the parent.
That thought made Xu Nanheng wonder if he should also talk to his own family about it. Fang Shiyou seemed to read his mind and said from the passenger seat, “By the way, you don't need to handle it like I did. I only have my dad, and he's the type who has seen through the cycle of life and death, so he takes things easier. For your family, let's just take it naturally.”
Xu Nanheng neither agreed nor refused. He just smiled vaguely.