Chapter 61 "Brother, I told you, I'll take care of you..."
Chapter 61
Because they were going to the hot spring resort with Tan Ming and the others the next day, Yu Pan and Shen Yanzhou were much more restrained that day.
Aside from snuggling on the sofa watching TV and occasionally exchanging wet kisses, they did nothing else.
The next morning, the two got up early, washed up, had a simple breakfast at home, and then set off to meet Tan Ming at his house. Together they drove to a hot spring resort on the outskirts of the city.
The villa was built halfway up the mountain, in a quiet and secluded environment. As the car drove to the foot of the mountain, Yu Pan rolled down the window and looked up. The villa was surrounded by a ring of white mist, making it look ethereal and otherworldly.
After parking the car, a waiter came up to confirm their information and led them inside. After walking along the path for two or three minutes, steaming hot spring pools of varying sizes appeared in front of them, nestled among large rocks and bamboo groves.
After they rinsed themselves clean, Shen Yanzhou chose a relatively secluded spot with a small pool surrounded by rocks. He first tested the water temperature, and then helped Yu Pan sit down slowly in the warm spring water.
Hot water soaked over her shoulders. Yu Pan leaned against the pool wall, squinted, and sighed.
"Are you comfortable?" Shen Yanzhou sat down next to him, put his arm around his shoulder, and let him lean on him.
"Hmm..." Yu Pan responded lazily, resting her head on Shen Yanzhou's neck and saying with her eyes closed, "It feels... almost the same as soaking in the bathtub at home, just a bit bigger."
“Okay, then we’ll soak at home next time.” Shen Yanzhou replied, raising his hand to brush away Yu Pan’s damp bangs.
This hot spring resort is not officially open yet. Tan Ming used to work for Shen Yanzhou in Lanzhou. He is also a very outgoing person. Over time, he got to know a lot of people and got an internal "trial soak" spot. That's why he invited them to come and try it out.
It wasn't officially open for business, so there were no accommodations available. After they finished bathing, the staff brought them some light food.
After eating, they strolled around the estate. Unlike Yu Panguang, who was admiring the scenery, Shen Yanzhou and Tan Ming were more focused on learning. Apart from the accommodation area, which they couldn't enter, they didn't linger after visiting the outer areas and drove down the mountain.
Perhaps it was because of the hot spring, but on the way back, Yu Pan clearly felt that most of the soreness and fatigue in her body had disappeared.
He leaned back in his chair, listening to Shen Yanzhou next to him and Tan Ming sitting behind him chatting. The topic quickly turned to the project in Qingyu.
Yu Pan didn't quite understand the technical terms and plans, and Shen Yanzhou's voice sounded like a lullaby. His eyelids grew heavier and heavier, and he eventually tilted his head and fell asleep.
Yu Pan didn't wake up until the car stopped in front of his house, and Shen Yanzhou walked around to open the car door and carefully carried him out of the car.
Noticing the person in his arms move, Shen Yanzhou lowered his head and rubbed his chin against the other's forehead, asking, "Awake? Do you want something to eat?"
Yu Pan wrapped her arms tightly around Shen Yanzhou's neck, rested her chin on his shoulder, and obediently replied, "Yes."
Seeing how well-behaved he was, Shen Yanzhou's heart melted. He just wanted to carry him inside as soon as possible so that he wouldn't go hungry.
"stop!"
Just as they reached the stairs in front of the door, the person in his arms suddenly called out, and Chen Yanzhou stopped in his tracks. "What's wrong?"
"Move a little closer to the mailbox." Yu Pan patted his shoulder and looked at the wooden mailbox by the stairs.
Shen Yanzhou then turned his head to look and saw a pointed yellow envelope corner peeking out from the mailbox opening.
Yu Pan reached out to the mailbox lid, opened it, and found three letters inside. He picked them up and checked the postmark date; they had been sent before the New Year, which he hadn't noticed.
Shen Yanzhou carried Yu Pan into the house and placed him on the living room sofa. He also saw the name of the magazine on the envelope.
Yu Pan laid the three letters out in a row on the coffee table, stroking her chin as she pondered which one to open first.
"When did you submit the manuscript?" Shen Yanzhou was somewhat surprised, as Yu Pan hadn't mentioned it before.
"In December, right after that motivational conference," Yu Pan replied, finally making up her mind as she picked up the letter on the far right.
When it comes to submitting manuscripts, Yu Pan has always had a rather Zen-like attitude, and her past experiences with rejections have made her less concerned about gains and losses.
But being indifferent doesn't mean not caring about the outcome, so when he tore open the envelope and saw the twenty-five yuan inside, along with a formal notification that his manuscript had been accepted, Yu Pan's breath caught in his throat.
He eagerly opened the other two letters.
The other two letters also included money and acceptance notices. In one of them, the editor even added a note praising his writing style and saying that he was welcome to submit similar articles.
All manuscripts have been approved!
This was something Yu Pan had never imagined; he felt so excited he was about to faint!
Yu Pan rushed into the kitchen with the acceptance letters and suddenly hugged Shen Yanzhou from behind, who was boiling water to cook dumplings.
"I got my manuscript approved! Bro! All of them were approved! All three were approved!" he shouted incoherently, hugging Shen Yanzhou's waist and jumping around him.
Shen Yanzhou almost dropped the pot lid he was holding when he was bumped by him. He quickly put it down, turned around, and looked at Yu Pan's face, which was flushed with excitement. He felt an endless sense of pride and joy.
After letting Yu Pan bounce around for a while, Shen Yanzhou smiled and pulled him into her arms, then leaned down and kissed his lips. "That's great! Our Panpan is awesome!"
Even after the dumplings were served, Yu Pan was still in a state of extreme excitement, repeatedly looking at the notices, and didn't even bother to eat.
The combined royalties from these three articles amounted to eighty yuan. Before going to bed that night, Yu Pan carefully counted the money several times, folded it neatly, and then solemnly placed it in Chen Yanzhou's hand. "Brother, I told you, I'll take care of you!"
Shen Yanzhou took the money and took out the small iron box that was specifically used to store Yu Pan's income.
The tin box contained the prize money Yu Pan had won in essay competitions over the past year or so, ranging from ten or eight yuan to three or five yuan.
Shen Yanzhou took the money out of the box and counted it together with the eighty yuan he had today. It turned out that he had a total of one hundred and fifty-four yuan.
Yu Pan looked at the small wad of money in Shen Yanzhou's hand. He knew that this amount of money was less than the pocket money Shen Yanzhou usually gave him, but he still patted Shen Yanzhou on the back with great generosity.
"Although this money isn't enough right now, I'll earn more for you in the future. I've said it before, I'll take care of you!"
Shen Yanzhou ate the big, round pie that Yu Pan had drawn for him willingly. He hugged Yu Pan and kissed him on the corner of his lips. "Okay, brother is waiting."
-
Happy times are always short-lived. Construction in Qingyu is scheduled to officially begin on the tenth of the month, and Shen Yanzhou must set off on the ninth.
Yu Pan originally wanted to go with them and come back when school started, but when he found that his winter break homework, except for math, was still blank, the idea immediately disappeared.
Thus, the plan to go to Qingyu was completely ruined. Before leaving, Shen Yanzhou contacted the teacher who had been in charge of tutoring him and asked him to come over to supervise Yu Pan to finish his winter vacation homework and help him consolidate his knowledge points to prepare for the start of school.
On the night before Shen Yanzhou left, both of them were somewhat out of control about the impending separation.
Yu Pan was very clingy all night because he knew he wouldn't see Shen Yanzhou for a long time. Whenever Shen Yanzhou tried to leave, he held on tightly and wouldn't let go.
This directly resulted in Shen Yanzhou leaving the next day while Yu Pan was still asleep, and they couldn't even say goodbye.
When Yu Pan woke up, he was the only one left in the room. He wrapped himself in a thick coat, slipped on his slippers, and walked to the top of the stairs, where he smelled the aroma of food coming from downstairs.
Just as he reached the corner of the stairs, he bumped into Aunt Zhou, who was about to go upstairs to call him.
"Little Pan is awake? Perfect timing, dinner's ready, come down and eat!" Aunt Zhou said with a smile.
Yu Pan nodded and forced a smile: "Aunt Zhou, Happy New Year."
"Happy New Year!" Aunt Zhou replied.
As Yu Pan sat alone at the dining table, looking at the empty seat opposite her, she truly realized that the New Year had passed and Shen Yanzhou was gone.
Not long after we finished eating, the phone upstairs rang. It was Shen Yanzhou calling; he had just gotten off the plane and it sounded very noisy.
"Panpan, have you eaten?"
"I ate it, and I ate it really well." Yu Pan held the receiver, trying to make her voice sound cheerful.
"Okay, don't eat too much," Shen Yanzhou habitually reminded him.
"I know, you're always talking, talking, talking." Yu Pan complained, but the corners of her mouth unconsciously curved up.
Shen Yanzhou chuckled on the other end of the phone and then said, "I've arranged for a teacher to come over this afternoon to help you with your homework. Remember to listen carefully in class."
"Okay—I got it—" Yu Pan replied in a drawn-out voice, the sadness of parting in her heart being greatly reduced by this phone call.
School started on the sixteenth day of the first lunar month. With the help of her tutor, Yu Pan finally managed to finish all her winter vacation homework before the start of the new semester.
On the first day of school, as soon as Yu Pan arrived in the classroom and saw Ling Luo, the first thing she did was thank him.
Ling Luo was taken aback by his words, blinking blankly, "Huh? Why are you thanking me?"
"Didn't you talk to me about submitting articles before? You said I might have submitted to the wrong style." Yu Pan scratched her head a little embarrassedly. "I thought about it for a long time after I got back, and then I found a few magazines with a style similar to my writing and submitted them, and they all accepted!"
Ling Luo never expected that Yu Pan would not only take her casual remark to heart, but actually make it happen!
He excitedly patted Yu Pan on the shoulder, his voice rising considerably: "Holy crap! Really?! You're amazing! I knew it! Gold always shines!"
Yu Pan blushed slightly at his praise, then suddenly remembered what happened before the holiday, "Oh, by the way, how are things going with you and that... lunchbox seller?"
"We're back together!" Ling Luo said proudly. "I even helped him set up his stall during the holiday! He sold fried potatoes, and business was booming!"
Yu Pan asked in surprise, "Where should we put it?"
"It's still over on the pedestrian shopping street," Ling Luo said, clicking her tongue with a hint of regret. "I was thinking that if I could run into you, I would definitely pack you a big bag full of spicy and cilantro!"
After hearing Ling Luo's words, Yu Pan's already red face started to burn even more.
He spent almost the entire holiday in bed. He rarely went out, let alone got out of bed. He also had to catch up on his homework, so he simply didn't have time to go out.
"Why is your face so red?" Ling Luo asked.
"Maybe it's because the classroom is too stuffy," Yu Pan changed the subject. "By the way, have you finished your homework?"
"I still have a few geography papers to finish!" Ling Luo immediately changed the subject, clasped his hands together in a gesture of respect to Yu Pan, and said, "Hey Yu Pan, are you done? Help me out!"
Yu Pan reluctantly took out her prepared geography test paper from her schoolbag and handed it to Ling Luo. Ling Luo took the test paper and, without saying a word, buried herself in copying it.
-
Entering the second semester of senior year, the atmosphere of the entire grade changed. Everyone seemed to be wound up tightly.
Last semester, you could see students laughing and playing in the hallway during breaks. This semester, unless they're going to the bathroom, everyone in the class seems to be nailed to their chairs, burying their heads in books and doing practice problems.
Peking University is a top-tier university, and it's not easy to get in. Yu Pan knew this better than anyone else. He started asking Shen Yanzhou to arrange more intensive tutoring classes, and at the same time, he filled his own schedule to the brim.
He even postponed his nightly phone call with Shen Yanzhou to 11 p.m., and every morning at 6 a.m., as soon as the alarm rang, he no longer lingered in bed. After washing up, he went to his study to read aloud English and other subject knowledge points.
Such intense study was undoubtedly arduous, especially after such hard work, Yu Pan's grades regressed instead of improving in an exam, causing her to immediately break down.
After school, she called Shen Yanzhou crying, shouting into the phone, "I don't want to take the college entrance exam anymore," "I don't want to study anymore," "Can I come work for you?"
Shen Yanzhou agreed repeatedly, coaxing him along with his words, "Okay," "We won't learn," "Brother will have someone buy you a plane ticket right now."
After crying, Yu Pan wiped away her tears and picked up her pen to continue studying.
Now, when Yu Pan talks to Shen Yanzhou at night, she starts yawning after only a few words and falls asleep within ten minutes, dreaming about studying.
Shen Yanzhou listened to his breathing and the occasional babbling in his sleep on the other end of the phone, feeling extremely distressed.
But this is the path Yu Pan chose for himself, and the effort he put into his dream. All Shen Yanzhou can do is support him unconditionally and comfort him when he is on the verge of collapse from studying.
Yu Pan is not particularly gifted in mathematics. She is not sensitive enough to changes in numbers and formulas, and she may get stuck on the same type of problem if the form is slightly changed.
He relied more on a kind of clumsy persistence and willpower, through repeated practice and rote memorization of question types and solution steps.
Fortunately, Yu Pan was willing to work hard. If he made a mistake once, he would do it twice, and if that didn't work, he would do it three times. He would copy down the wrong questions and repeatedly reinforce his memory. It was with this simple method that his math scores steadily improved.
Under such high-pressure study conditions, Shen Yanzhou could only come back to accompany Yu Pan for a few days each month. Most of the time, he would just sit at his desk and quietly accompany him in his studies.
After all, if Shen Yanzhou really did something that affected the review the next day, Yu Pan would really cry.
Moreover, he was learning while crying, looking so pitiful that it made Shen Yanzhou feel bad. It would be better to do nothing but stay by his side.
Prolonged screen time and lack of sleep have made Yu Pan's dark circles under her eyes even more pronounced as the exam approaches.
Shen Yanzhou sometimes even regrets whether he should have taken him to Peking University and planted such a difficult dream in his heart.
However, seeing Yu Pan's excitement when talking about Peking University, Shen Yanzhou knew that it was all worth it.
Time flew by in the midst of this intense daily preparation for the exam. The countdown numbers next to the blackboard grew smaller and smaller, and finally, the day of the college entrance exam arrived.
Unfortunately, early July was the most crucial period for the Qingyu Project, and Shen Yanzhou was too busy to get away. By the time he finished dealing with his urgent matters and rushed back to Lanzhou, Yu Pan was already sitting in the examination hall, taking her final exam.
The bell rang, signaling the end of the exam. Yu Pan put down her pen, handed in her paper, and walked out of the exam room.
The summer sun was blinding. As soon as Yu Pan stepped out of the school gate, she spotted Shen Yanzhou at the very front of the group of parents who had said they wouldn't be able to come back, but were now standing outside the school gate waiting.
Yu Pan smiled and ran towards him.
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Author's Note: Panpan: In the next chapter, I'll be a college student! [Cat emoji][Cat emoji][Cat emoji]
Shen Yanzhou: Stand at the very front, so Panpan can see me first! [Angry]
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