Chapter 1335

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Protagonist:

Li Xiulan

Wang Xiaohua sat in the departure lounge waiting for the plane to arrive.

Gu Wenqing had just asked him what time his flight was; he didn't think much of it and sent Gu Wenqing a screenshot of his ticket.

He sat there spacing out, his mind a tangle of countless thoughts.

He was about to go back, but had no idea what would happen once he did.

Life is like this — when the road ahead is long and full of uncertainty, the heart inevitably stirs with a sense of bewilderment.

Someone nearby was playing on their phone, scrolling through the Douyin short videos that had just recently become popular.

On the other side, a young couple were using the wait to play a round of Honor of Kings together.

Wang Xiaohua felt severely out of step with this era, because he had never chased after any of these trendy things — not the popular music, the popular TV dramas, the popular games, or the popular ways of entertainment.

He didn't know whether his future work would require dealing with these things; if it did, he'd probably have to study up in advance.

Just as his thoughts were racing wildly, at that moment, accompanied by a waft of fragrance, a figure appeared before him.

"Classmate, may I sit next to you?"

A familiar voice reached his ears, and Wang Xiaohua couldn't help but freeze.

He slowly looked up; what met his eyes was a pair of simple canvas shoes, then two bare, fair, incomparably long legs, then a denim miniskirt, paired with a slightly loose white crew-neck short-sleeved top.

Finally appearing before Wang Xiaohua's eyes was Gu Wenqing's face, beaming radiantly.

She wore her hair in a neat bun, matching her capable, decisive personality.

"Teacher Gu, how come you're here?"

Wang Xiaohua exclaimed in surprise.

Gu Wenqing laughed:

"Haha, didn't expect it, right? Surprise!"

The bewilderment and melancholy in Wang Xiaohua's heart vanished in an instant, replaced by an indescribable joy:

"Teacher Gu, are you also flying home today?"

Gu Wenqing said with a smile:

"No, I'm not going to my home. I'm going to yours."

Wang Xiaohua was even more shocked:

"For real?"

Gu Wenqing produced her boarding pass:

"Why would I lie to you?"

Wang Xiaohua's face was full of disbelief: "Th-this-this... Teacher Gu, what are you planning to do?"

In that instant, his mind went blank.

Gu Wenqing just said:

"Didn't we agree? To visit your home and do thorough preparation for my literary creation! I figured, since summer break has arrived and I have nothing going on anyway, I'd go to your place with you today. That way the trip won't be so dull, and we can talk in depth about your growing-up experiences! Student Xiaohua, I didn't give advance notice — will you feel offended?"

Wang Xiaohua hurriedly said:

"No no no, Teacher Gu is willing to go back with me — I feel extremely honored. How could it be offensive?"

Gu Wenqing sat down next to Wang Xiaohua:

"Good. I was still afraid doing this might make you unhappy. Since you put it that way, I'm relieved."

The two sat together, chatting while waiting for boarding time.

The topics weren't limited to Wang Xiaohua's life experiences.

It was just like friends chatting — all over the place, rambling freely, easy and unrestrained.

In the course of chatting, Wang Xiaohua only now learned for the first time that Gu Wenqing was from Shanghai, and both her parents were professor-level high-level intellectuals.

Her father held considerable authority in the domestic physics field; her mother was a literature professor at a university, specializing in the history of modern and contemporary literature development.

She herself had also gotten into Fudan University through her own efforts, and later got into Tsinghua's graduate program.

She is currently a dual-shoulder counselor at Tsinghua, not a formal counselor — meaning she is still an enrolled graduate student at Tsinghua; the counselor role is just a concurrent position.

Wang Xiaohua had never understood this identity of hers before; he only knew that starting from the first semester of junior year, she became the new counselor for his class.

After learning Gu Wenqing's family background, Wang Xiaohua couldn't help but sigh inwardly — the gap between his family and Gu Wenqing's was simply too vast.

So Gu Wenqing grew up in a high-intellectual family, surrounded by love from childhood to adulthood — no wonder her character is so good, and she has such patience with students.

Before, Wang Xiaohua had hit her, yet she not only didn't take it out on him, she didn't retaliate against him at all; instead, after learning the reason, she even gave him no small amount of help.

"Teacher Gu, your family is too amazing, right? You must have been very happy from childhood to adulthood! If only I could be born into such a good family!"

Gu Wenqing didn't deliberately conceal anything, but spoke candidly:

"To tell the truth, it really was quite happy. My biggest worry as a child was probably coming home after school and facing a whole table of delicious dishes made by our nanny, not knowing which one to start eating first."

Hearing Gu Wenqing say this, Wang Xiaohua felt even more envious.

Because his childhood worries were the material deprivations brought by poverty, the endless quarrels and smashing things from his parents' discord, the desire to study but having no English teacher to teach him.

"Speaking of which, your grades must have been excellent as a kid, right?"

Wang Xiaohua asked curiously.

Gu Wenqing, however, said:

"Just average. I never tested into first place — always middle-of-the-road level. But my parents were very tolerant toward me and didn't have many demands on my grades, because they knew that no matter how hard I tried, I definitely couldn't surpass them."

Wang Xiaohua said:

"You're a Tsinghua University Graduate Student now, that's not bad at all."

Gu Wenqing, however, said:

"Compared to them, I fall far short, especially my dad — I can't even compare to a single hair of his. Back in high school, I suddenly felt I couldn't go on muddling along like this, couldn't bring shame on my parents, and only then did I think to strive hard. I told my parents I wanted to strive hard, and without a second word they signed me up for several tutoring classes, found several famous teachers to tutor me, and during that period I studied until I wanted to vomit, so now I don't have much motivation for studying anymore, just muddling along to get a graduate diploma, then find a job, and that'll be about it for my life."

Gu Wenqing spoke lightly of her past.

The "that'll be about it for my life" from her lips is a height countless people strive and struggle their whole lives without ever reaching.

Can only say, having parents to lift you up and having no parents to lift you up, life really is completely different.

Gu Wenqing spoke again:

"I told my mom I want to create a literary novel, and my mom said, once I finish creating it, she'll help me contact publishers, even if she has to self-fund it she'll publish it, and then when she sees relatives and friends she'll give a copy to each and every one! I said Mom don't, doing that would make me so ashamed, I'll finish writing it and submit to publishers under a pen name, if publishers don't want it I'll post it online, I still really want to prove myself."

Gu Wenqing looked at Wang Xiaohua and said with a smile:

"Classmate Wang Xiaohua, if this book I write can sell, I'll split half the money with you!"