Finally got all the plaster off my hand. My left-hand feels strange, not quite like my own,” He Su Ye frowned and said to Qiu Tian, “Using my left hand these past few days has felt odd. I’m not even proficient at typing. I suppose it’s just a matter of getting used to it.”
Qiu Tian rolled his eyes at him. “Regressed or something? I remember you used to be able to write and use chopsticks with your left hand!”
He Su Ye sighed. “Maybe it’s just lacking a bit of sensation.” He picked up a pen with his left hand, tried it a couple of times, and then dropped it, shaking his head. “Am I getting old?”
Qiu Tian chuckled, accidentally knocking over a stack of medical records. “You’re getting old, is that it? I’m just one year older than you, remember? Speaking of which, we’re probably the youngest in the class.”
He nodded, bending down to help pick up the records. “YeAh seven years have flown by. We’re already working. Back then, we couldn’t even imagine what profession to choose or who we’d meet.”
Qiu Tian smirked. “Getting sentimental again, huh? I never saw you as sentimental before. Why are you suddenly so moved after Shen Xifan left? It’s okay, you can express yourself in front of her, but spare me, the lonely one.”
He Su Ye thought for a moment. “I just can’t say anything when I see her. It’s strange.”
“Normal, normal!” Qiu Tian quickly concluded. “You should go to the US to find her already. I’ve been feeling uncomfortable for both of you, dragging it out like this.”
He smiled. “Good things always come gradually. Too fast and it feels unreal, as they say.”
Back at home, he opened his computer. Shen Xifan’s message was blinking on QQ. “The two-week Management for Services course finally ended. Got three credits, but I feel like half my brain cells got worn out. I keep dreaming about those dance concepts.”
He glanced at the time, feeling a bit worried. He typed quickly, “It’s late, you shouldn’t stay up too late. It’s not good for your health. Better to sleep early.”
Immediately, a sad face popped up on the screen. “We’re currently in Operation Management. The course requires us to use computers extensively, so I’m always with my computer now.”
He Su Ye sighed. “You don’t have to work so hard. Rest well. It’s only 5 a.m. in Ithaca. Why are you already working? Haven’t you stayed up all night?”
There was no reply for a long time. He Su Ye understood most of it. The little girl probably did stay up all night and was now too embarrassed to face him. He had to reassure her, “I’m not blaming you. I’m just worried about your health. Don’t hide. I won’t scold you.”
Immediately, a line of text popped up. “Okay, I was wrong. I won’t stay up all night anymore.”
Yes, not telling him she stayed up all night. He Su Ye sighed, picking up a teacup nearby. He glanced at it and then put it down—tea for He Shouzheng, that little rascal, and more than half left.
Shouzheng, having finished his meal, looked at the half cup of tea with a twisted face, almost crying. “I don’t want to drink this tea, it’s so bitter and sour!”
He Su Ye didn’t budge. “Kid, you’re overweight. Eating junk food every day without any nutrition isn’t good for your health. And you don’t like exercising. Besides giving you tea, there’s no other way!”
He Shouzheng sobbed. “Is there any tea that’s not bitter or sour? Can you add some sugar?”
He had to take out a book and pointedly showed it to him. “Standard weight = (height – 100) × 0.9. If the actual weight exceeds the standard weight by 20%, excluding factors like muscle development or water retention, it can be diagnosed as obesity.”
He Shouzheng remained silent, touching his face. He Su Ye took out a traditional Chinese medicine book and spread it out in front of him. “This tea is specially made for you, with bitter orange, tangerine peel, hawthorn, poria, lotus leaf, and plantain.”
The kid grumbled reluctantly. “Why is there still tangerine peel? I’d rather just eat oranges.”
“Orange peel is dried tangerine peel—” he accurately flipped to a page in the book, “Dried tangerine peel is best when aged, it’s pungent, bitter, and warm, helps soothe the liver, strengthens the spleen, and dries dampness and transforms phlegm.” He pinched He Shouzheng’s little face, “You’re just suffering from simple obesity, so you need to digest food, move qi, invigorate the spleen, and eliminate dampness.”
He Shouzheng sighed, “Fine, I’ll drink it. Uncle, I feel like ever since Sister Shen went abroad, you’ve been finding ways to mess with me. You should hurry up and chase after her, then I can have some peace.”
Pushing back the relentless little head with a finger, he sighed, “Alright, I’m not messing with you now. By the way, kid, you’re going a bit too far with your rejection of me!”
He Shouzheng shook his head. “My mom goes on business trips, and my dad treats me the same way, so I’ve seen through the true nature of men!”
While He Shouzheng was doing his homework, He Su Ye sat at the computer checking emails. Suddenly, he saw an unfamiliar address. After hesitating for a moment, he opened it and was surprised by the contents.
“I heard from the mentor that you’re going abroad, which was quite surprising, but then I thought about it and it made sense. It would be a pity for someone as talented as you to stay in the country. Sincerely congratulations!
A few days ago, Fang Kexin told me that you’ve got a new girlfriend, which was even more surprising, especially hearing that you were the one who pursued her and pursued her so diligently. I’ve been wondering what kind of girl could capture the heart of someone as dense as you, and I realized she must be very kind and gentle. Thinking about it made me smile again. Congratulations again!
I’m currently studying Bioengineering in Pennsylvania. If you need anything, you can always find me. Oh, I plan to get married to my current boyfriend next March. If you’re lucky, I hope you can come, and of course, I’d be even happier if you brought your girlfriend.”
It turned out to be Zhang Yiling. He couldn’t help but smile. After careful consideration, he replied to her email.
As he hit send, he felt like a long-standing gloom had been lifted, leaving him inexplicably light.
You can still be friends after breaking up, no matter who was at fault in the beginning. When the pain in your heart is healed by happiness, you’ll be forgiving of the past, eventually letting go.
When we meet again, we’ll greet each other with a smile, ask, “How are you?” and that’ll be enough.
Two months later, when he arrived in the United States, the one picking him up at the airport was a distant relative’s son, who happened to be studying law at Penn. They were of similar ages, lived together, didn’t talk much, but got along quite well.
He Su Ye originally planned to settle in Ithaca after arriving in the US, but unexpectedly, he received a research project when he went to report at the institute. His Chinese colleagues in the same department were all envious. He could only work diligently.
His mentor was German and known throughout the school for being strict and demanding. He greatly appreciated the diligence and solid foundation of Asian students. Among the students recruited for his laboratory, three were from Germany, and the other three were Asian students. He Su Ye was startled the first time he went to the lab. There was a conspicuous sign on the lab door: “Researchers in this lab must work seven days a week, from 10 a.m. to 12 a.m., and must fully commit during working hours.”
Well, that was good. He would work hard alongside Shen Xifan.
Whether he disguised it well or Shen Xifan simply didn’t notice, even though their schedules were synchronized, she didn’t realize that the man on the other end of QQ was living in Philadelphia, less than a two-hour drive away from her.
Shen Xifan still messaged him every day at the same time, enthusiastically telling him school stories. She particularly enjoyed talking about her hotel management major in college. Whenever she mentioned it, she’d get excited. “He Su Ye, do you know? Today, I went to the hotel’s operating room with them and learned to make small cakes. When I come back, I must show off my skills to you.”
“Cornell is such an incredible university. They built a hotel for the hotel management program, connected to the academic buildings. We often have the opportunity to intern there. But I regret that I didn’t spend my four years of college here. Now I’m studying Operations Management, MMH, mainly focusing on theoretical knowledge.”
“The school has seven restaurants. There are at least twenty-eight main dishes for dinner each time. It’s so lavish. I haven’t cooked for myself in such a long time. For someone like me who loves good food and drinks, it’s truly a blessing. If you come, I’ll make sure you taste the best food from an Ivy League school.”
He Su Ye chuckled dumbfoundedly. Penn is also an Ivy League school, and the food is good too. After hearing her, he started to feel tempted and began to plan. His gaze drifted to the calendar involuntarily.
It seemed that the only time the mentor would let him go was during Christmas. Well, he had already waited for so long, a little more time wouldn’t matter.
The next day, he went to the lab early. Just as he reached the entrance of the building, he heard someone calling his name in Chinese from behind, a deep female voice. His instinctive reaction was—Zhang Yiling.
After all these years, she still had that dominating presence, unchanged at all. He couldn’t help but smile. “Hey there!”
Zhang Yiling raised an eyebrow and teased him, “He Su Ye, you’re quite a big shot. You’ve been here for months, and yet you haven’t come to find me. Sigh, after so many years, you’re still so slow to warm up. It’s frustrating.”
He shrugged and smiled, “I’ve been busy with research, working day and night.”
Zhang Yiling was curious, “Who’s your mentor? But with someone like you, you don’t need a mentor holding a whip behind you. You run fast enough on your own.”
“Leonard—”
Her face immediately became exaggerated. “What— that weird old man! Oh my god, how can you stand him? He’s so harsh!”
He Su Ye chuckled, “Are you cold? How about we go to the cafeteria and get some hot drinks, and have a chat?”
He ordered a cup of black tea for himself and handed her a cappuccino. Zhang Yiling saw it and covered her mouth, chuckling. “He Su Ye, is it because your little girlfriend likes black tea that you’ve been influenced?”
Why were the people around him so shrewd, able to see through everything at a glance? He could only answer honestly, “Yeah.”
Zhang Yiling explained, “I used to like black tea too, but when you casually said, ‘green tea is better,’ I switched to green tea until I came to the US.” She sighed deeply, half-smiling. “This is the difference between your attitude towards me and her. I can change for you, but you only change for her. So even if I leave you, I don’t feel like I’ve lost anything, and you don’t feel like you’ve lost anything.”
He suddenly didn’t know how to respond, holding the cup. The black tea was still steaming, emitting a fragrant aroma.
He had been influenced. He used to only drink green tea, but whenever he went out with Shen Xifan, she always liked to order a cup of black tea, holding it in her hand, looking warm and happy. The first time he tried black tea, he found it uncomfortable, but later, he ordered it just to accompany Shen Xifan. Eventually, he found that he couldn’t do without black tea.
He always liked to make a cup of black tea while working late at night, and then chat with her while holding the mug. Her profile picture would flicker, sometimes a smiling face, sometimes a sad face, but no matter what, he felt happy.
This was probably what it meant to love everything about someone, first falling in love with her as a person, then being unable to help but get entangled in all her habits, gestures, and preferences, until he couldn’t extricate himself, even breathing was filled with longing.
Seeing He Su Ye looking thoughtful, Zhang Yiling burst into laughter. “He Su Ye, now you feel sorry for me? It’s okay, I’ll give you a chance to make up for it. Give me an extra red envelope when I get married.”
He readily nodded, “Sure, if I bring my girlfriend, I’ll give more.”
Zhang Yiling widened her eyes. “Wait, wait, tell me the key point. So your girlfriend is in the US now? Fang Kexin didn’t tell me about this. He Suye, don’t tell me you went abroad because of her!”
He felt slightly embarrassed. “Well, yes, but we’re not at the same school.”
Zhang Yiling looked thoroughly defeated. “He Suye, I’m deeply indignant! If you had cared about me even half as much as you do about her, I would have no regrets in this life.”
He Su Ye found it strange. “I don’t think I treated you badly before, did I?”
She smiled gently and took a sip of her coffee. “That’s not what I mean. Being good to someone has many definitions. To me, you’ve been good indeed, but you’re a principled person. You wouldn’t change things for me, or rather, you wouldn’t put in the wholehearted effort.”
The definition of love for women is truly complex, he thought to himself, but he also felt that Zhang Yiling was right.
Wholehearted and unrestricted dedication, he had never thought about it before, just acted on intuition. He had also feared that his efforts wouldn’t be reciprocated, but all those concerns vanished once she admitted her feelings for him.
Well, he might be a bit slow in matters of the heart and a bit foolish, but perhaps that wasn’t such a bad thing after all.
After Zhang Yiling left, he hurried to the lab. When he arrived, his German mentor, contrary to his usual demeanor, greeted him with a smile and left without saying anything.
His colleagues told him that only he and one of the German students had passed all the reports. The others would have to work overtime even during Christmas. He Su Ye just politely smiled, then opened his computer and continued working.
He was in a very good mood. Thinking about seeing her at Christmas made him smile involuntarily.
As he walked back to the dormitory, French plane tree leaves swirled down every second, sticking directly to the ground. They were shades of brown, light brown, orange-red, and dark yellow, distinct layers at the end of life, arranged in an orderly manner, like a beautiful painting against the ground, with the fallen leaves as a reverse line, under the clear blue sky.
His friends who had studied at Cornell in the past somehow learned about his study abroad and sent out invitations one after another. So He Su Ye mentioned his Christmas travel plans to his roommate. Unexpectedly, the roommate was very interested. “I have a car, why don’t we go together?”
The plan was immediately set. He went to ask Shen Xifan about her plans for Christmas. But as soon as he opened QQ, Shen Xifan’s little avatar kept jumping non-stop. Upon clicking, he saw a long string of inquiries, “He Su Ye, what should I do? Even though I’m sleep-deprived here, how can I still gain weight!” “Is it possible to gain weight even from drinking water? It’s all because the school food is so good, I’ve gained weight, I’m going crazy, I’m freaking out!” “I want to lose weight, I want to lose weight!”
He suppressed a smile and thought to himself that a little weight gain might be good. When they used to hold hands, he always felt her delicate wrists, as if they could break with a gentle pinch. Now, gaining some weight might be better.
Girls should let nature take its course. As long as they keep their weight within a healthy range, they shouldn’t pursue thinness deliberately. He remembered a few girls who were brought in for emergency treatment due to low blood sugar caused by dieting during his internship at the hospital. At that time, a group of boys made a unanimous decision that when looking for a girlfriend in the future, they would first educate them not to diet blindly, and then implement a plan for healthy weight loss.
But it’s strange, Shen Xifan had a good appetite when she was in China, showing no signs of deliberate dieting. How did she gain weight after going abroad? Could it be that different environments cultivate different people?
He quickly typed to reassure his girlfriend’s restless mood, “Hey, actually, it’s okay to gain a little weight. Look, you’re so thin, sometimes I worry you’ll be blown away by the wind. Please don’t rush to lose weight.”
A sad-faced rabbit emoji popped up, “No, I can’t! I can’t! If I go back to China, I’ll be too embarrassed to see you. My face is getting chubby, do you know how much pork costs per pound in China? At least this way, I can help boost exports!”
He Su Ye felt both amused and exasperated, and quickly replied, “But I’m a doctor, don’t you want to hear the opinion of a professional?”
Sure enough, the agitation on the other side subsided, replaced by a starry-eyed look of anticipation. After thinking for a moment, he said, “How about I prescribe you a weight-loss tea? You can drink it regularly, but don’t deliberately skip meals or eat less, okay?”
Shen Xifan eagerly agreed, and he only wrote down a few digestive Chinese medicines for her to soak in water. He thought to himself that this might help Shen Xifan feel more balanced, even if those medicines might not have any substantial effect.
Before Christmas, the weather in Pennsylvania unexpectedly turned warm, contrary to expectations, with no snowfall. Experienced roommates told him that after Christmas, the temperature might drop rapidly. They even had blizzards in April before.
This was his first time leaving the campus of Penn State and immersing himself in the atmosphere of another completely different campus.
Ithaca was a quiet town, with hardly any people coming and going. His roommate mentioned the long poem “Ithaca” by the Greek poet Constantine Cavafy, “When you set out on your journey to Ithaca, pray that the road is long, full of adventure, full of knowledge.”
He couldn’t help but smile. The Ithaca he was heading to had his beloved, full of hope and happiness.
They spent Christmas together last year with a group of friends. When he sent her home, she smiled and said, “I’m especially happy when I’m with you, there’s no reason.” He still remembered his feelings at that time, surprised and at a loss.
Perhaps he unknowingly fell for her back then. In such a neon-bright city, bustling with crowds, her white clothes and skirt were particularly agile in the dark. And now, how would she appear before him?
In this quiet town, in this distant land, when everything around became unfamiliar, the long night seemed endless, with no end in sight. Only by relying on each other and warming each other could they get through it.
The roommate parked the car in front of the host family’s house and pointed to a large building not far away, “That’s the Cornell Library. Just keep going along this road and then turn left.”
He checked his watch and saw it was almost five o’clock. He quickly replied, “Thanks, I’ll come find you guys later.”
The roommate teased, “Remember to bring your girlfriend for us to meet when you come. We’re all Chinese international students, we should get to know each other.”
Waving his hand, he smiled, “Okay, I’ll do that. See you later!”
Every day at five o’clock sharp, she returned from the library to the dormitory. This was her fixed schedule every day.
He originally planned to wait for her at the library entrance, but as soon as he walked to the corner, he saw a familiar figure, carrying a thick stack of reference books, hurrying along.
She was still dressed simply and plainly, her lotus-colored cotton coat making her face look even fairer. Her hair had grown to waist-length, and the commanding aura characteristic of her workplace was now hidden by a scholarly air, making her appear even more serene and steady.
But Shen Xifan didn’t notice him standing at the corner, walking on the road by herself. He had to catch up and gently tap her shoulder, softly calling out, “Shen Xifan!”
Turning around, she stared at him in astonishment, finally asking after a while, “You, He Suye, what are you doing here!”
He smiled, but found his heart racing a bit, “I came to see you.”
Taking another step forward, he reached out and took the books from her hands. Shen Xifan stared at him fixedly, trying hard to control her excited emotions. “Why are you here!” she asked again. As she spoke, she realized her heart was trembling, overwhelmed with joy, excitement, surprise, and emotion.
And before she stood this man, gently holding her hand, smiling slightly. “I’ll tell you when we get back.”