Evening Stars Chapter 45 (Part 1)
Translated by Q the Panda (ko-fi)
Chapter 45.1
The new school year began in September.
At the opening ceremony, Xu Nanheng wore a plain white shirt, suit trousers, and a simple dark evergreen tie. In the auditorium, he stood with the other teachers off to the side of the stage, in an unnoticed corner.
This year, Xu Nanheng taught mathematics for Class 1-11 and Class 1-15. This year, the number of classes in the first year of senior high school had been limited to 15, with 55 students in each class. Admissions were highly regulated, with no exceptions made for donations or personal connections outside of the designated special admissions quotas.
Following the ceremony, everyone proceeded to the sports field for the flag-raising and the first-year student representative's speech beneath the national flag. It wasn't until the third period that they entered their classrooms. At this point, class matters were handled by the homeroom teachers, while the subject teachers stayed in the office to prepare lessons.
The office for first-year teachers held six desks and six teachers. Xu Nanheng's desk was the third in the row by the door. On it sat his computer and bookshelf, and like everyone else, he placed a few personal items, such as decorations, small potted plants, and the like.
The homeroom teacher for Class 1-11 was Dai Jimian. He wasn't very familiar with the other three teachers but could recall their names. After a brief greeting, everyone sat down at their desks and got busy with their own work. The last one was the teacher surnamed Lei, the same one who had made those sarcastic remarks at the meeting not long ago.
But ever since learning that Dasang Choedon had been admitted to Lhasa, Xu Nanheng no longer cared about petty people like that. He was in good spirits, and arguing with them would only spoil his mood.
Before the volunteer teaching assignment, a few teachers had carelessly gossiped that Teacher Xu had used family connections to get a spot. Xu Nanheng responded by trashing half their office, and after that, the gossip died down. In big cities, people were easily intimidated by violence. At the end of the day, even if you could call the police or even sue, who actually wanted to get beaten?
As for Teacher Lei, he also backed down after Xu Nanheng shut him up with a single sentence. That was just how the world worked. If you acted timid, people took advantage, but if you showed strength, they backed off.
That day, Xu Nanheng's last morning class was with Class 15. The homeroom teacher's surname was Sang, and her desk was across the aisle from his. On her desk stood a small photo frame with a picture of Teacher Sang's family.
Xu Nanheng thought he might like to put something on his desk too. He actually had a photo with him, a Polaroid of Fang Shiyou tucked inside his wallet.
“I saw Teacher Sang's family photo on her desk this morning, and I happened to have this one in my wallet,” he said, taking out his wallet from his pocket and pulling out the Polaroid.
Fang Shiyou almost choked. After swallowing his food and taking a sip of water, he asked, “You didn't actually put it up, did you?”
“No.” Xu Nanheng laughed. “Look at you, getting all nervous.”
“It's not that I'm scared, but you're working in the system. One wrong move and you could lose your job,” Fang Shiyou said, wiping his mouth with a napkin.
They were back in the familiar hotel room, a spacious suite that cost fifteen thousand yuan a night. It comprised a bedroom, a living and dining area, and two bathrooms.
Fang Shiyou was the one paying again. Xu Nanheng genuinely felt a bit guilty. After all, he was the attending physician. They sat close together at the corner of the dining table. There were three dishes, a soup, and a bottle of wine, all delivered by the hotel, and all paid for by Fang Shiyou.
When Xu Nanheng was almost done eating, he gestured for Fang Shiyou to hand him a napkin and said, “Have you thought about moving out? The money we spend on one night here could rent a two-bedroom near my school for a month.”
Leaning back in his chair, Fang Shiyou loosened his tie and said, “I don't want to lower your standard of living.”
Xu Nanheng stared at him expressionlessly. “If that move you just made hadn't been a little sexy, I'd already have cursed you out. Seriously, if I could live in your tiny apartment back in the county, why would I suddenly turn picky in Beijing?”
“I never thought you were being picky.” Fang Shiyou grew a little flustered, straightening up and leaning forward. “It's not about you. I just don't want you to have to compromise for my sake.”
“Can you act like a normal person?” Xu Nanheng frowned. “The only reason I booked this place in the first place was because it was the only one available during summer break. Sure, my family's doing fine, but I wasn't raised on gold dust and jade grains…… come on, didn't you already figure that out back in Tibet?”
Halfway through, Teacher Xu realized what he'd just said. So he pushed on, taking advantage of his own momentum. “What's wrong with you, Fang Shiyou? Am I some Limited Edition Tibet Volunteer Teacher to you? Most people only stick around for the good times, but you? Do you actually get happier the tougher things get?”
Xu Nanheng was an upfront man. Even though the two of them would be in bed later that night making love, he still had to settle the matter now. That was how a math teacher approached problems: step by step, cause and effect, until the solution was clear.
Fang Shiyou, who had been reaching for a glass of water, paused. He changed course, picked up the wine instead, and took a small sip. Knowing he was in the wrong, he lowered his voice and murmured in a semi-pleading tone, “No, Teacher Xu, that's not it. I'll move out, then. What kind of place do you like? A siheyuan is probably out of my range…… would a large flat be okay?”
This doctor really knew how to handle him. Xu Nanheng had expected a few back-and-forth arguments, but he didn't talk back at all. He just lowered his head and spoke gently. It left Xu no choice but to soften too. “I'm thinking long-term here. You paid again tonight without telling me. Setting family background aside, I'm just an ordinary teacher with a salary. There's really no need for this.”
“Alright.” Fang Shiyou took his hand and kissed the back of it. “We'll go look at places this weekend?”
Once the talk was settled, they went to bed. The fifteen-thousand room rate was a tangible reminder that time was money. Because of their frequent stays, the hotel had sent over a medium-sized cream cake that evening. Fang Shiyou propped himself up over Xu Nanheng and used a tiny glob of cream on his tongue as bait, luring him in as if he were fishing, coaxing him to extend his own tongue and taste it.
Both of them were quick learners and remarkably inventive, and they didn't have to hold back. After all, they were in a sealed room with no one to disturb them. Fang Shiyou thought that when they went apartment hunting, the first priority had to be excellent soundproofing.
After eating and making love, they ended up going out in the middle of the night, calling the staff to come in and change the sheets.
In the 24-hour convenience store downstairs, the two of them stood by the floor-to-ceiling windows. Neither of them sat. Teacher Xu faced the street, while Dr. Fang stood sideways, looking at him. They bought two ice creams and chatted as they ate.
Back in Tibet, Fang Shiyou had said he'd accumulated quite a few days off, but they had to be used this year and couldn't be carried over to the next. He leaned over and took a bite of Fang Shiyou's chocolate one, saying, “It's not easy for me to take a proper break. All my days off are tied to national holidays and the school calendar. The moment you go anywhere, it's packed shoulder to shoulder, like the Badaling Great Wall.”
“True enough.” Fang Shiyou also leaned over and took a bite of Xu Nanheng's mango ice cream, then said, “Then maybe we can just explore around the city?”
Xu Nanheng looked at him with the same expression he'd use for a student. “Dr. Fang, this is Beijing. When people here say ‘around the city’ during a holiday, that means by the time you've driven from the 3rd Ring Road to the 6th Ring Road, you could've gone from Shigatse to Everest Base Camp.”
Then Xu Nanheng gave him an amused look. “You suggesting that means you don't usually go out on holidays, do you?”
Fang pressed his lips together and shook his head. “I basically don't go out.”
“I knew it. We're the same,” Xu said, crunching on the cone of his ice cream.
For the next minute and a half, they ate in silence, the crisp sound of cones breaking between their teeth. When they finished, Xu Nanheng looked out through the glass at the pitch-black sky and sighed. “How about after we buy an apartment, we pick a holiday and just lie around at home for a week?”
Fang Shiyou said, “Okay. I actually thought you were going to say we should buy a plane ticket during the National Day holiday and fly to Lhasa to conduct a surprise inspection of Choedon's monthly exam scores.”
Xu Nanheng gave him a satisfied look, resting a hand on his shoulder like a superior praising a subordinate. “You've got great awareness. I did have that fleeting thought, but it won't do. She's only in her first year. We'll wait until she's chosen her subject track, then we'll go. We'll bring along some test papers from our school to give her some pressure and intensity.”
“I knew it.”
After finishing their ice creams, they went back upstairs to the hotel to sleep. Xu Nanheng's classes the next day were during the third and fourth periods, while Fang Shiyou had the night shift, so they could sleep in a bit longer.
As for buying a place, both of them met the qualifications to purchase property in Beijing. Fang Shiyou was on night shift that day, but since it was a quiet night, he spent time browsing property listings online. His impression of Beijing real estate had always just been ‘expensive,’ though he hadn't realized how much until he looked at the listings. He found out that the old residential community he and Professor Gu lived in was nearly 100,000 yuan per square meter.
Beijing really was something else. Fang Shiyou stared at the endless strings of digits, wondering why he'd chosen medicine. He was a thirty-year-old attending physician, and it would take at least two more years to reach the associate title. He had studied medicine for ten years. By now, some of his peers had already graduated, started businesses, and saved enough for a down payment. Even those still in grad school were doing projects under their advisors. And there was himself. If not for having a father like Professor Gu……
Thinking of his father, Fang Shiyou paused for a moment, then relaxed slightly.
If he remembered correctly, Professor Gu had recently mentioned buying a school-district apartment in Beijing. Fang Shiyou knew his father had the means. After all, he was a medical master's graduate from the nineties, had led three research projects, and co-authored medical monographs. But just as Fang Shiyou had no idea what the house they lived in was worth per square meter, he also had no idea how much his father actually had in savings.
Asking one's father for money was an awkward thing for any thirty-year-old man, but Fang Shiyou really had no other choice. He graduated with his Ph.D. at twenty-eight. Couldn't he be loosely counted as a fresh graduate? Nothing shameful about that.