Chapter 29 I just want to call you
Chapter 29
After finishing his phone call with Wang Hongjuan, Shen Yanzhou searched all over Lanzhou but couldn't find any adult learning classes specifically for Yu Pan's type of aphasia rehabilitation. Meanwhile, the environments of regular adult night schools and training classes were too complicated.
He had no choice but to settle for the school, which was, after all, a place where he could practice his language skills and the environment was quite good.
After asking the question, Shen Yanzhou saw Yu Pan's lips tighten and he knew the answer.
"No, I don't want to go," Yu Pan replied, biting her lip.
Shen Yanzhou stroked his soft hair. "Okay, if you don't want to go, you don't have to. I understand."
Yu Pan, as if afraid of disappointing him, gripped the hem of Shen Yanzhou's clothes tightly at his waist and said slowly, "You...aren't you going to ask about me?"
"Hmm?" Shen Yanzhou followed his words, "Then tell your brother, Panpan, why don't you want to go?"
“They all laugh at me.” Yu Pan snuggled close to Shen Yanzhou, softly telling him about her grievances. “At school, they all call me a mute.”
"It's not that I... don't want to talk." As Yu Pan spoke, tears rolled down her cheeks and landed on Shen Yanzhou's hand. They were warm, but they burned his heart.
Yu Pan loved learning, but he disliked school. Aside from the few moments he enjoyed in class, he was left with countless, maliciously mocking cries of "Dumb!"
Especially after Shen Yanzhou went to junior high school and was no longer in the same school as him, the helplessness of being bullied and teased almost overwhelmed him.
"Okay, I understand. Panpan won't be going to school."
Shen Yanzhou wiped away his tears and hugged him tightly: "Then let's study at home. I'll hire a teacher who will only teach you, okay?"
"What is this?" Yu Pan sniffed.
“It’s like having a teacher at home who only teaches you, there are no other classmates.” Shen Yanzhou explained patiently, “There’s only a teacher at home, and your brother will also stay with you. When your brother isn’t here, Aunt Zhou will also be there to keep you company.”
Aunt Zhou was their housekeeper, who came during the day to cook and clean. She was a gentle and quiet middle-aged woman.
There were no classmates... Yu Pan thought for a while and finally nodded.
Shen Yanzhou acted swiftly. The day after he and Yu Pan agreed to find a teacher, he asked Xiao Chen to inquire about teachers in Lanzhou City who could provide in-home systematic language training.
Xiao Chen quickly contacted several people, and Shen Yanzhou personally went to discuss the matter. Facing outsiders, Shen Yanzhou didn't say much, but his demands were clear and specific.
“One-on-one speech rehabilitation training is needed. The time and place can be arranged according to our convenience. The class fee is double the market price. The key is patience. We can’t rush it and we can’t put pressure on him.”
He was concise and to the point, without any unnecessary pleasantries, and directly decided on an experienced teacher.
The teacher's surname is Qin. She has a son with moderate hearing impairment. The child, Shen Yanzhou, was seen during the job interview. He speaks fluently and with accurate intonation. If you didn't know beforehand, you wouldn't be able to tell that he has a hearing problem.
Teacher Qin is indeed experienced. She will guide Yu Pan through systematic breathing training, mouth muscle massage, and pronunciation practice.
When Shen Yanzhou got home from get off work, he often saw Yu Pan facing the large mirror in the bathroom, earnestly practicing her pronunciation over and over again, her expression focused.
Whenever this happened, Shen Yanzhou would stop and lean against the doorframe, watching quietly. The warm yellow light outlined Yu Pan's profile as she practiced diligently, her brows slightly furrowed because the practice wasn't going her way.
Shen Yanzhou walked over, wrapped his arms around Yu Pan's waist from behind, and affectionately rested his chin on the top of Yu Pan's head. Looking at the person in his arms through the mirror, he asked in a low voice, "What did you learn from Teacher Qin today?"
Yu Pan's attention shifted from herself in the mirror to Shen Yanzhou. Her eyes crinkled with laughter as she turned around, looked up at Shen Yanzhou, and said with a touch of pride in showing off her achievement, "Today, I learned 'Ode to the Goose'."
After saying that, Yu Pan was a little embarrassed, but she still began to recite earnestly, word by word: "Goose, goose, goose, with its curved neck singing to the sky, white feathers floating on green water, red webbed feet paddling clear waves."
Compared to figuring things out on my own with phonetic cards, having professional guidance has proven to be much more effective.
After only a month of classes, Yu Pan was already able to recite a simple ancient poem quite fluently. Although her speech was a bit slow and some of her pronunciations were still a little unclear, there was almost no stumbling in her voice.
"Yes, Panpan is really great." Shen Yanzhou never hesitated to praise, a gentle smile spreading across his lips. After he finished speaking, he naturally lowered his head and first kissed Yu Pan's smooth forehead, then kissed his slightly pouting lips from his focused recitation.
This felt like a reward for Yu Pan's hard work, and Yu Pan felt reassured and happy about it.
Shen Yanzhou didn't immediately back away, but gently rubbed his nose against Yu Pan's nose. Their breaths mingled, and they were so close that they could see each other's reflections in each other's eyes.
"Panpan," Shen Yanzhou said, his voice tinged with a barely perceptible tenderness, "we'll go back to Xishan Village next week."
Upon hearing this, Yu Pan's eyes lit up, and she nodded vigorously, "Mid-Autumn Festival!"
"Amazing, you remember the date so clearly." Shen Yanzhou chuckled and started nuzzling his nose again.
The Mid-Autumn Festival is a day for family reunion. Teacher Qin mentioned it just this afternoon, and Yu Pan remembered it perfectly.
"It's been so long since I've been back to see Uncle and Aunt Shen!" Yu Pan was getting happier and happier. He wanted to tell Uncle and Aunt Shen that he could talk now!
"Oh, right." Yu Pan suddenly remembered something important and hurriedly added, "I also need to go back to Baixi Town to see my landlady and grandfather."
"Of course I'll go," Shen Yanzhou replied, his gaze lingering on Yu Pan's lips, which were flushed with excitement.
He was still occasionally rubbing his nose against Yu Pan's, seemingly never getting enough of this intimate feeling of skin touching.
Then, as if he could no longer resist, he kissed her again.
This time, unlike the brief reward before, the kiss was deeper and more lingering.
Yu Pan obediently tilted his head slightly to cooperate with the deepening kiss. He liked kissing Shen Yanzhou and liked this intimate feeling.
He suddenly realized that Shen Yanzhou seemed to be particularly obsessed with kissing him lately.
Although they are quite affectionate in their daily lives, and kissing is a common occurrence, in the past they mostly kissed each other on the forehead, cheek, or corner of the mouth.
But now, almost every kiss ends with this deep kiss. And each one lasts a very long time. Sometimes, when they're lying in bed at night, Shen Yanzhou will be holding him and talking when he suddenly kisses him.
Several times, Yu Pan couldn't resist the drowsiness while kissing him and drifted off to sleep.
On several other occasions, while half-asleep, he felt Shen Yanzhou watching him. After a while, he would get up and get out of bed, followed by the faint sound of water coming from the bathroom.
Yu Pan vaguely felt that this was related to the temperature and changes he felt, but the feeling was too vague. Shen Yanzhou never made any further moves, only holding him and kissing him.
This doubt was quickly overshadowed by the sense of security that Shen Yanzhou gave him, and Yu Pan stopped thinking about it. For him, anything related to Shen Yanzhou, whether it was a kiss or a hug, he liked it.
Yu Pan wrapped her arms around Shen Yanzhou's neck, relying entirely on his embrace.
After the kiss ended, Yu Pan's eyes were also covered with a layer of watery light, and she leaned softly on Shen Yanzhou's shoulder to calm her breathing.
Shen Yanzhou wiped his moist lips with his fingertip and responded to what Yu Pan had just said: "Yes, go back and tell them that our Panpan is amazing. She can recite poems and speak a lot of words."
-
To prepare for this holiday, Shen Yanzhou worked overtime for nearly half a month, returning home late every night.
The night before departure, Shen Yanzhou packed his luggage and said to Yu Pan, who was helping him, "This time we're going back by plane."
"An airplane?" Yu Pan's eyes widened, forgetting to fold the socks in her hands.
He had read the word in a book and knew it was a means of transportation that could fly. Shen Yanzhou had ridden in it and told him about it, but he never thought he could ride in it himself.
"Is it the kind where we sit inside and fly into the sky?"
Shen Yanzhou chuckled and took the socks from his hand. "Yes, the one I told you about before, a big mechanical iron bird, we sit inside its belly."
Yu Pan nodded thoughtfully, her imagination running wild. "Then, can't we sit on the back of a bird?"
"Hmm? Why do you want to sit on a bird's back?" Shen Yanzhou asked, packing his luggage.
"I'm afraid we'll be dragged out." Yu Pan honestly expressed her thoughts.
Shen Yanzhou was amused by his strange thought process and couldn't help but pat his butt and pull out a pair of trousers that had been wrinkled from sitting on them from under his legs. "No, be good, don't cause trouble."
"Oh...how amazing," Yu Pan murmured, filled with curiosity and trepidation about her upcoming first airplane ride.
Shen Yanzhou had flown twice before on business trips and was quite familiar with the process. Xiao Chen had booked the tickets in advance, so they only needed to arrive at the airport early.
The waiting hall was spacious and bright. Yu Pan sat next to Shen Yanzhou, curiously looking around at everything.
The wait was getting too long and he was getting bored. He noticed the plane ticket in Shen Yanzhou's bag and took it out to look at it.
The ticket was handwritten, the information was clear, and the price was clearly stated on it: 220 yuan.
Upon seeing this number, Yu Pan's heart skipped a beat, but it didn't cause much of a stir.
He belatedly paused, surprised by his own calm reaction.
Yu Pan still remembers the cost of the bus fare from Xishan Village to Baixi Town, the accommodation fee, and the nearly fifty yuan train ticket from Baixi to Lanzhou. At that time, it weighed heavily on his heart and made him feel suffocated.
Shen Yanzhou told him not to think about it or care, but he couldn't help it. He would toss and turn at night, thinking about how much rice that money could buy and how long he and Shen Yanzhou could stay at home doing nothing and eat.
When did it start to change?
Yu Pan thought that it was probably from the beginning of this year that Shen Yanzhou started to get busier and busier.
He remembered that after working for more than two months, when Shen Yanzhou returned with his wages, his little wooden box was so full that the lid couldn't be closed.
Later, as the money accumulated, the wooden box was replaced with a smaller wooden box, which eventually became too small to hold everything.
Shen Yanzhou then took him to the credit union, opened an account, and turned that thick stack of money into numbers on a savings account.
At first, Yu Pan felt empty inside, always feeling uneasy about leaving her money with someone else, and would touch her bankbook several times a day.
Shen Yanzhou noticed this and took him to withdraw money several times. Only then did Yu Pan understand that the money hadn't been lost; it had simply been transported to them in a safer way.
He gradually came to understand the meaning of what Shen Yanzhou used to say to him: "Money is for relieving worries, not for worrying about."
Yu Pan's gaze shifted from the plane ticket to Shen Yanzhou beside her.
Shen Yanzhou was looking at the morning newspaper provided by the airport, while Yu Pan quietly observed the man who had given her all her confidence and security.
Shen Yanzhou's changes were enormous, even greater than his.
Two years ago, Shen Yanzhou was a gunpowder mixer in a mountain village, wearing faded work clothes and smelling of gunpowder.
Now, he wears a well-tailored shirt and trousers, with the cuffs rolled up to reveal a section of his muscular forearm and a watch. He exudes a calm and capable demeanor, but he still coaxes himself and patiently teaches him to speak.
As Yu Pan watched, a feeling inexplicably welled up in her heart.
The feeling was complicated, and Yu Pan couldn't explain it. It might be pride, or it might be peace of mind, and... well, there were other feelings he couldn't put into words. Anyway, there were many, many feelings mixed together.
Yu Pan quietly reached out and placed her hand into Chen Yanzhou's palm.
Shen Yanzhou closed the newspaper, grasped Yu Pan's slightly cool hand, and asked in a low voice, "What's wrong? Are you bored? Or nervous?"
Yu Pan shook her head, but gripped his hand even tighter and rested her head on his strong shoulder.
"Brother," Yu Pan called softly.
"Hmm?" Shen Yanzhou turned her head and rubbed her cheek against the top of his head.
"It's nothing." Yu Pan smiled, her eyes crinkling. "I just wanted to call you."
It's so good to have Shen Yanzhou around.
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Author's Note: I've submitted this because my brain works very slowly. I didn't know how to annotate it, so I'll just do it manually. I've quoted Luo Binwang's poem "Ode to the Goose."
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