My Mister Ostrich

Part 2. Love Letter from That Year

55 | Arts Festival
Don’t grab onto my toes, they’re dirty.

“Xie Yi’s become infuriated with Xiao Yujing. He says that they just can’t work out their duet.”

“Did Xiao Yujing talk to you about Xie Yi? …No? Never? They’re always arguing. Xiao Yujing’s really patient then.”

“Xie Yi tells me all day long that he always that that Xiao Yujing was well-learned and had a gentle temperament. He never expected that she was so crazy when she played the violin. Xie Yi said that if she’s like that, she should just perform her violin solo.”

“But there’s nothing they can do now. They already promised Teacher Zhong. Xie Yi doesn’t feel good backing out, so he can only bite the bullet and learn the song.”

…

Pang Qian was laying on Gu Mingxi’s bed, flipping through the pages of Cartoon King. She was eating some beef jerky, her legs swinging in the air. She kept talking about Xie Yi. After she finished her beef jerky, she licked her fingers clean.

Gu Mingxi looked at her and then lowered his head to Pang Qian’s homework next to his feet. They were in different classes so their homework was very different. The advanced class moved at a much quicker pace than the other classes. The teacher already told them that by the time Year 2 ends, they should have finished learning the Year 3 material. Then they would spend Year 3 reviewing all the material for exams. But the other classes couldn’t use this method.

Fortunately, Gu Mingxi had already done the type of homework Pang Qian had, several days before. But he discovered a serious problem. Pang Qian’s math and science didn’t seem to follow the general pace. There was a lot of stuff she seemed to know, but also didn’t really know at the same time. Without spending a lot of time working on practice problems to support her knowledge, over the long run, her scores would only drop even more.

Gu Mingxi thought that he had to help her think of a plan. If they start supplementary lessons now, there was still time.

He said to Pang Qian on the bed, “Stop laying there. Come here. I’ll explain some of the physics questions you got wrong.”

Pang Qian rolled around and stretched, before pouting and saying, “Let me rest a little more. All the dance practice at school made me exhausted.”

Gu Mingxi put up with her. “Alright, then rest another 5 minutes.”

“5 minutes is too little. 10 minutes.”

She laid lazily on the bed for another while before finally getting up and walking over to Gu Mingxi’s desk to look at things curiously. The furniture in Gu Mingxi’s room hadn’t changed. It was just like before he moved away. He only took his desk and chair. They were custom-made for him, so others wouldn’t be able to use it.

Pang Qian saw a picture frame on the bookshelf. It was made of crystal, 8 inches wide. And inside was the group photo that Class 2 took on their summer trip.

Pang Qian also had a copy of the photo, but she never put it up. She picked up the picture frame and looked at it. “Where did you get this picture frame? It’s really pretty. It shines, and it’s pretty heavy.”

Gu Mingxi said, “Do you want it? I can give it to you.”

“…” Pang Qian didn’t know what to say. “Why are you just like Xiao Yujing? I can’t just compliment your things? I was just saying it casually, but then you guys both say you’ll give me the things. You make it seem like I’m asking for your things.”

Gu Mingxi stood up and walked over to her. He said, “That’s not what I meant. My dad brought this picture frame back from France. Originally, it was in their room, with their photo in it. When we were packing our things, I saw my mom pull the photo out, so I asked if I could take the frame.”

Hearing him say that it belonged to Gu Guoxiang and Li Han, Pang Qian’s heart grew heavy. After all, she’d seen the time when the two of them were much more in love. When she was younger, Gu Guoxiang also carried her in his arms, holding hands with Gu Mingxi, as they walked around outside the compound to buy snacks. They’d buy delicious food and go back to the compound. He’d pat Gu Mingxi’s head and say, “Mingxi, take Pang Qian to play. I’m going to take a smoke.”

Gu Mingxi was a very obedient child. He would hold hands with the fat little Pang Qian, and the two of them would run along happily.

Now, even though the setting was the same, the people had changed.

“Pang Pang.” Gu Mingxi called Pang Qian out of her reverie. “It’s been 10 minutes. I’m going to go over the questions now.”

Pang Qian’s expression immediately soured.

It had been a year since she’d worked on homework with Gu Mingxi. Pang Qian really wasn’t used to it anymore. He was very, very, very strict. He was even more strict than the teachers at school. Pang Qian admitted that there were some topics that she didn’t really understand. She would just guess randomly sometimes or use a formula in whatever way she could. Although it was wrong, the teacher wouldn’t think her understanding was very poor. But none of that mattered with Gu Mingxi. He made Pang Qian explain her reasoning, and after she was unable to keep stumbling through her explanation, Gu Mingxi figured out what she didn’t understand. He pulled over the textbook with his foot and started explaining the basics to her.

He never let her brush things off or pretend to understand something. Gu Mingxi said, “I’m not a teacher, you don’t have to be embarrassed in front of me. If you don’t understand something, just say so. I’ll explain it to you. If you still don’t understand it, I’ll keep trying to explain. I’ll find a way to make you understand it. It’s okay if we have to go a bit slower. As long as your foundation is solid, you’ll understand what you learn later more easily.”

Pang Qian looked at him as if he was some kind of strange creature. “Gu Mingxi, you really should become a teacher in the future. You act just like one.”

Gu Mingxi glanced at her, “How could I write on the board?”

“Oh…” Pang Qian scratched her head. “You can be a tutor! Private one-on-one tutoring. My mom wanted to get me a tutor before. One class for two hours, and it cost 50 dollars…”

“Don’t change the topic.” Gu Mingxi picked up a pen with his right foot and poked Pang Qian’s leg. “Come here. I’ll explain it to you.”

Pang Qian saw how serious he was, so she put away her joking attitude. Actually, she didn’t dislike studying. She just wasn’t raised with very good studying habits. When it came to studying, it really just depended on how things went. If she was happy to, she would study like crazy. Otherwise, she wouldn’t. She didn’t like to ask the teacher questions, so after she left Gu Mingxi, she realized that her scores had really fallen.

Gu Mingxi was a teacher who never lost patience. He very seriously and attentively helped explain the problems to Pang Qian. He was also a student, but when he was teaching Pang Qian, he became a very qualified tutor.

Pang Qian didn’t even consider whether Gu Mingxi had finished his homework or not yet. He had a lot more homework than her. But at the time, the thought really never even crossed Pang Qian’s mind, probably because Gu Mingxi always seemed so calm and unhurried.

For two hours, from 7 to 9 o’clock, Pang Qian felt she had been much more productive than all day at school. When Gu Mingxi said, “We’ll stop here for today,” Pang Qian actually had a feeling of “Ah, we’re just going to stop now?” It had been a long time since she’d put such efforts into her studies. It really seemed like she could only put away her pride when she was with Gu Mingxi. When there was anything she wondered about, she didn’t hesitate to ask at all. “Aiya, I really don’t get it. Explain it again.”

Gu Mingxi put down the pen in his foot. He stood up and walked back and forth twice. He bent over once, and then he stretched back. He stretched his legs out and then lifted and shook his right foot. He was wearing a navy blue sweater, and the sleeves gently swung back and forth at his sides.

Pang Qian was packing away her things. Seeing him like that, she asked, “Are you really tired?”

Gu Mingxi looked at her and didn’t try to hide it. “Mm. We spend a long time writing things during the day. My waist aches a bit and my foot hurts too. My leg’s a bit numb too.”

Pang Qian asked, “Have you gotten any cramps lately?”

“…” After some silence, he admitted, “A few times. After writing for a few hours, my leg would cramp up.”

This was an unavoidable thing. Since he was younger, his leg and foot had cramped countless times. Pang Qian stood up and pushed Gu Mingxi to his bed. “Sit down. I’ll help you rub your legs.”

Gu Mingxi felt a bit uneasy. “It’s okay. I’m fine now.”

“I’ll just help you loosen your muscles.” She pushed at Gu Mingxi’s shoulders, making his sit down onto his bed.

Pang Qian crouched down in front of him and started rubbing (and pressing) his leg with her hands. First the right leg, from the thigh to the calf and then back up. She used quite a bit of force, because it wouldn’t be effective otherwise. After she finished with the right leg, she worked on the left leg. When she finished with that, she picked up Gu Mingxi’s right foot and helped massage the back of it. She even grabbed his toes and helped move them around.

Gu Mingxi had his head down the whole time, looking at her. He spoke quietly, “Don’t grab onto my toes, they’re dirty.”

“They’re not.” Pang Qian looked down at his feet. “But, Gu Mingxi, your feet have calluses. They didn’t have them before.”

His face started to flush, and he didn’t respond.

After Pang Qian finished relaxing his leg muscles, she said, “Your toenails are kind of long. I’ll help you cut them.”

Gu Mingxi, “…”

She really went and found a pair of nail clippers and helped him cut his toenails. The two of them sat across from each other. Gu Mingxi’s foot rested on Pang Qian’s thigh. She lowered her head, right hand holding the clippers, as she carefully helped him cut his nails.

Gu Mingxi kept looking at her face and the set of long eyelashes. Other than Li Han, Pang Qian was the only one who had helped him cut his nails before. To other people, it would probably seem like a very strange thing, but Pang Qian always did it very naturally.

As she was clipping, she said, “I haven’t cut your nails in a long time. Your feet have gotten really big.”

When the finished clipping his nails, she pulled out some hand cream from her bag. She squeezed a bit out and applied it to Gu Mingxi’s feet. As she rubbed it on, she smiled and said, “You didn’t get frostbite this year.” When she finished, she even bent down to take a sniff. “Oh… Smells nice.”

Gu Mingxi’s face had already become a ripe tomato. Seeing her finally finish, he quickly put his feet on the ground.

Before she left, Pang Qian said, “I’ll help you massage your legs. And your waist too. In any case, there’s just the two of us here. You don’t have to be embarrassed. If there’s anywhere that doesn’t feel comfortable, just tell me.”

Gu Mingxi nodded, “Mm.”

Before the year ended, the New Year’s art festival was held in the school auditorium. Gu Mingxi sat together with Xiao Yujing, who was carrying her violin case and a bag of clothes for the performance. She was fourth. She told Gu Mingxi, “Later, come back stage with me, okay? Help me watch my things.”

She didn’t have any good friends in the class. Jiang Zhiya and a few other students also had to perform, so Xiao Yujing didn’t want to ask them to help.

Gu Mingxi’s heartbeat quickened. Originally, he’d wanted to stop by back stage because Pang Qian was going to dance. He nodded, “Okay.”

Gu Mingxi accompanied Xiao Yujing backstage. Xie Yi was already there, a black suit in his hands. When he saw Xiao Yujing, his gaze could be described as very bitter and hateful.

Xiao Yujing only glanced at him before she spoke to Gu Mingxi. “I’m going to change. Watch my violin for me, thanks.”

After she left, Xie Yi walked over to Gu Mingxi’s side. When he saw Xiao Yujing’s violin case on the ground, he said, “God, my suffering will finally end. I won’t have to work together with that crazy girl anymore.”

Gu Mingxi didn’t really understand Xie Yi’s words. He couldn’t help saying, “Xiao Yujing’s a pretty good person. She doesn’t talk that much usually.”

Xie Yi stared at him. “Wait until you see her violin performance. She’s seriously crazy.”

Gu Mingxi, “…”

Xie Yi was called to change. Gu Mingxi stood in the corner, guarding Xiao Yujing’s violin. Just then, a cheerful voice called out. “Hey, Gu Mingxi!”

Gu Mingxi turned around to look, and saw a shining Indian girl running to him.