1979: My fiancée is a goddess

Chapter 420 Visiting Waseda, Finally Meeting

"Bang bang——"

The sound of tram wheels rolling over the rails became the best white noise, lulling the early-rising office workers on the train into a drowsy state.

Men and women, still half-asleep, gripped the overhead handrails or armrests with one hand and held an iced Americano in the other, suits draped over their elbows, their bodies swaying back and forth in the crowd like seaweed as the train swayed...

Cheng Kaiyan was in good spirits, but she wasn't in much better shape at the moment.

Shinjuku Station is the busiest station in Japan. Due to its central location, the line capacity was insufficient in the 1980s, so almost every train was packed in the morning.

Cheng Kaiyan boarded the train early, but after only two stops, she was squeezed into a corner of the carriage by several young female students who were worried about encountering a pervert on the train, and she couldn't move.

Completely immobilized, surrounded by female students in every way except behind them, where the hard, cold carriage was behind them.

The girls on the left and right were quite reserved, while the petite girl in front was practically begging to be embraced with her big, watery eyes.

"call……"

Cheng Kaiyan watched as the flashing station indicator lights pointed to Waseda University Station, and he finally breathed a sigh of relief. This ordeal was finally coming to an end.

"Ding Ding Ding-"

"Waseda University Station has arrived. Passengers, please disembark..."

The announcer's gentle, sweet voice rang out from the loudspeaker, and the carriage door slammed open.

Cheng Kaiyan pushed aside several female students around her and squeezed out with the crowd getting off the bus.

I got out of the train carriage.

As his view opened up and the air became fresher, the moisture from the morning dew filled Cheng Kaiyan's lungs. He stood on the bustling station platform and looked up into the distance.

A cluster of buildings stretching for miles came into view—Waseda University's main campus.

The literary academy where Zhao Ruixue studied was located there.

Cheng Kaiyan came to see her today, partly to catch up and ask how she had been doing for the past six months, and partly to invite her to play the female lead in "Love Letter".

During this time, he also thought a lot and understood many details that he hadn't understood before.

The reason why Zhao Ruixue chose to study abroad without saying a word was probably because of his influence.

The story and plot of "Love Letter" are so similar to the experiences of the two when they were young. Later, Zhao Ruixue had to perform in the stage play "Love Letter" again, and Cheng Kaiyan and Liu Xiaoli became a couple again...

Under the influence of numerous factors.

Zhao Ruixue was overwhelmed with grief and despair. She never wanted to see Cheng Kaiyan again, nor did she want to be trapped in that childhood relationship.

She calmed down and decided to study abroad, hoping that time and distance would help her overcome everything.

But before she left the country, Cheng Kaiyan, feeling sorry for her, gave her another manuscript that truly recorded their innocent and naive childhood memories.

As Cheng Kaiyan pondered the past, she drank the coffee she had bought from the vending machine and walked towards the exit of the station.

About five minutes later, he finally arrived at his destination.

Before me stood a school gate without a large iron gate or gateposts.

Only a wooden sign with the school's name in traditional Chinese characters hangs on the right-hand wall.

In 1935 (Showa 10), Waseda University permanently removed the pillars and gate of its main entrance to demonstrate that Waseda University will never turn away those who want to learn and to maintain a humanistic spirit of openness and progress.

Therefore, Waseda University's main entrance has no gate, and its main entrance is also known as the "Gate Without a Gate".

This university is quite well-known in the country.

It was a renowned stronghold for left-wing scholars and a center for the study of Marxism. In 1920, it established its first Department of Social Sciences, which specialized in the study of Marxist economic theory.

At that time, it attracted many domestic students to study abroad, such as historical figures like Song Jiaoren, Liao Zhongkai, and Li Dazhao.

However, after the outbreak of the invasion of China, this department was forcibly abolished by the Japanese government.

Thanks to the fact that it had no gate, Cheng Kaiyan smoothly followed the students into the campus.

Cheng Kaiyan decided to sort out her thoughts first. Meeting her wasn't difficult, but inviting Zhao Ruixue to play the female lead was a challenge.

So he wandered around, looking for the location of the Faculty of Arts, following the road signs.

Walking to a lawn with statues of famous people, Cheng Kaiyan sat down on a bench nearby. After about ten minutes, she finally came up with a good reason: "Why don't I say that I'm representing Beijing Normal University and have come to see how the international students are doing?"

Just then, a young man's voice came from beside me, and it was in Chinese: "You are... Cheng Kaiyan?! Is that you? What are you doing here?"

"you are?"

Cheng Kaiyan looked up in surprise and saw a young man in a black uniform standing in front of her.

He has handsome and well-proportioned features and fair skin, but his eyes are a little puffy and his lower eyelids have light dark circles, which adds a touch of gloom and decadence to his sunny and handsome temperament.

Sun Shiyun had spent the entire night partying with his friends in Shinjuku's Kabukicho district, and his lifeless eyes were fixed intently on the young man sitting on the bench.

What's Cheng Kaiyan doing here?

This was the first question that popped into Sun Shiyun's mind.

He couldn't believe that Cheng Kaiyan, who was struggling as a teaching assistant in China, earning a meager salary of fifty yuan, had only one notable identity: a somewhat famous writer.

How did he suddenly become able to go abroad and even get into Waseda University?

Regardless of how he got here, Sun Shiyun immediately realized Cheng Kaiyan's purpose in coming here—Zhao Ruixue!

"Ha ha……"

“Cheng Kaiyan, don’t you remember me? I’m Sun Shiyun from Class 1 of the Chinese Department at Beijing Normal University. Last year, I was an exchange student sent to Waseda University with Ruixue.”

Sun Shiyun smiled warmly as if meeting an old friend in a foreign land, and he ignored the school bell and started chatting with Cheng Kaiyan.

Those eyes, having seen the world and prosperity of Japan, began to scrutinize Cheng Kaiyan from head to toe.

He wore a Zhongshan suit with a polyester shirt underneath, the white cuffs of which had light blue ink spots. He wore loose black trousers and old Beijing cloth shoes with layered soles.

Although there was nothing wrong with this outfit on Cheng Kaiyan, it even accentuated his fresh and aloof scholarly air.

But Sun Shiyun knew that all of his clothes were cheap domestic street vendor items, and the total price of all of them probably wasn't even as much as the leather shoes he was wearing.

The gap between the two is not just this, but more about their status, education, perspective, and social class.

At Beijing Normal University, Cheng Kaiyan was widely admired by teachers and students, especially female students, and was hailed as a literary prodigy.

Even Sun Shiyun, who also liked Zhao Ruixue and was Cheng Kaiyan's rival in love, had to call him Teacher Cheng.

But now that she's left the environment of Beijing Normal University and has gone to Japan, what does Cheng Kaiyan have left?
Sun Shiyun was a true member of a privileged family; his parents and elders all worked in the Ministry of Metallurgy.

He's currently an international student at a world-renowned university, where he associates with wealthy young men from Japanese families and political scions, and frequents high-end shopping malls and clubs...

His future is bright if he returns to China. His elders have already planned his political career, and it's a sure thing that he will rise to prominence and even become a regional leader.

Although the two are not far apart now, they have quietly undergone tremendous changes.

"How can you, alone, compare to the accumulated wealth of my family for three generations?"

Thinking of this, Sun Shiyun couldn't help but feel a faint sense of superiority, and his gaze towards Cheng Kaiyan subtly shifted to one of condescension. Cheng Kaiyan, of course, was unaware of Sun Shiyun's thoughts. He had a good memory and quickly recalled the scene where Sun Shiyun appeared. Their first meeting was in the library, where Sun Shiyun was chatting with Zhao Ruixue, seemingly harboring a secret crush on her.

Cheng Kaiyan chuckled and said with a sudden realization, "Oh, it's you, Sun. It's been a long time."

"Yes, it's been a long time. Cheng Kaiyan, you came to Waseda to see Ruixue, right?"

Sun Shiyun had a gentle smile on his face, and he looked refined, sunny and humble.

But a cold smile and mockery flashed in his eyes.

laugh……

Is Cheng Kaiyan still dreaming of being childhood sweethearts with Ruixue? Does he even think Zhao Ruixue has feelings for him?

Unfortunately, the Ruixue of today is no longer the Zhao Ruixue from a poor, single-income family that Cheng Kaiyan knew.

Ruixue is now one of the four beauties of Waseda College of Letters. She has excellent academic performance and this year, as an outstanding international student representative, she spoke on stage in front of tens of thousands of people across the university. She was even praised by the university leaders.

Even more astonishingly, Ruixue, a literary newcomer, submitted her work to Kodansha, one of Japan's four major literary publishing houses, and was accepted on her first attempt. She then won the Newcomer Award, and recently her sales have exceeded 50,000 copies, reaching the level of a bestselling author in Japan, making her an instant celebrity!
Fifty thousand copies sold may not sound like much, but this is a standalone volume.

It can be said that Zhao Ruixue has surpassed the average person in every aspect, including education, literature, knowledge, and social network.

Even Sun Shiyun himself, who was usually arrogant, couldn't help but look up to Zhao Ruixue with admiration. Only a woman like her could arouse a man's desire to conquer her.

On the other hand, when Cheng Kaiyan sees Zhao Ruixue again later, when she sees this aloof and talented woman who is surrounded by admirers and stands alone in the world, how ashamed and even inferior she will feel.

If Zhao Ruixue were to cast that cold and unfamiliar look at Cheng Kaiyan again, Cheng Kaiyan would probably break down.
Sigh... It's both pathetic and laughable.

A woman like Ruixue is simply not someone Cheng Kaiyan could ever set his sights on.

Thinking of this, Sun Shiyun lost all interest in dealing with Cheng Kaiyan and instead felt a pang of pity and emotion.

"I guess so. I'm here on behalf of the school to inspect and visit you international students and see how you're studying and living abroad."

Cheng Kaiyan leaned back on the bench and casually told him the excuse she had just made up.

Then, too lazy to waste time with Sun Shiyun, he went straight to the point and asked, "Sun, you should know where Zhao Ruixue is, right?"

"Of course, today is a major lecture on literary theory by Professor Shin Torigoe, an internationally renowned literary scholar from our Academy of Literature."

Ruixue should be in the lecture hall of Okuma Auditorium right now. Why don't you just come with me, and I'll take you to her.

Sun Shiyun thought to himself, "Just as I thought," and looked at Cheng Kaiyan with pity before enthusiastically pulling her towards the classroom.

……

"After more than 30 years of development, children's literature has now separated from and become independent of adult literature."

However, apart from the academic community of literary theorists, the general public, even authors and professional literary critics, still have a very superficial understanding of children's literature…

The professor on the podium is holding a pointer and giving a lecture.

With a head of fluffy silver hair, wearing black-rimmed glasses, and a slender figure, he exuded a spirit as upright as a pine tree, commanding respect.

This professor is none other than Shin Torigoe, Japan's most accomplished and influential master of children's literature theory and a pure literature theory expert. He is a renowned scholar even in Asia and around the world.

With such a distinguished figure, countless students from the School of Arts and even other departments came to visit, filling the lecture hall to capacity.

In the dense crowd, there was a row of students on the right side of the classroom, near the window.

A cool and beautiful woman, bathed in sunlight by the window, seemed to be surrounded by a holy halo, attracting the attention of many boys nearby.

The woman was tall and slender, wearing a white satin fitted shirt with a black collar flower on her upper body and a white knee-length skirt with soft floral pleats. She sat by the window with the poise of a primary school student.

Her dark hair was neatly coiled into a bun at the back of her head, revealing her long, slender, snow-white neck.

That bare, snow-white face, now showing a thoughtful expression as the professor spoke, remained exquisitely beautiful.

A pair of brown, frameless glasses perched on his high, straight nose, exuding a handsome and dashing air, as he listened attentively to the lesson.

A snow-white hand rested quietly in front of her on the table, unconsciously tracing delicate, slender black characters on the paper with the Parker gold-nib fountain pen in hand: "Children's Literature... Cheng Kaiyan... Spring..."

The cute, round-faced girl next to her glanced down at the Chinese characters on the paper, shook her head helplessly, and thought, "This Cheng Kaiyan is really persistent. What's so good about him that makes Ruixue so obsessed?"

Last night, I think I even dreamed about him, right? Otherwise, why would Ruixue talk in her sleep in the middle of the night?
"Snap out of it, pay attention in class."

As the class representative, Ayana Uesugi felt obligated to care about the mental health and student life of her friends and classmates, so she slapped the aloof girl's hand in an annoyed manner.

"Ah."

Zhao Ruixue snapped back to reality with a sharp pain in the back of her hand. It wasn't that Cheng Kaiyan was truly someone she was head over heels in love with, someone she was obsessed with.

It was Professor Torigoe Shin's lecture on children's literature theory that stirred up her memories.

She remembers that on the last day before the holiday last year, she and her friends listened to Cheng Kaiyan's lecture in the auditorium of Beijing Normal University, along with many literature professors, teachers and students.

At that time, Cheng Kaiyan was writing a theoretical paper on children's literature, entitled "The Three Major Themes of Children's Literature".

"Children's literature is an extremely complex communicative activity that involves the dynamic interaction of multiple factors, including adult authors, texts, child readers, and socio-cultural context..."

"We could probably write a lot of valuable research papers on the relationship between any number of factors."

"This is the mindset that everyone should establish when first encountering children's literature theory. Children's literature is undoubtedly great, complex, and sacred..."

"The first question is, do you think contemporary children's literature is 'for children' or 'being for children'?"

On the podium, the elderly professor with silver hair asked a fundamental question about children's literature, waiting for the students below to ponder in silence.

Just then, two male students quietly walked in through the back door of the classroom. Professor Torigoe Shin's lips curled into a sly smile, and he immediately pointed at them: "You two latecomers at the back door, come and answer the questions."

"what?!"

Cheng Kaiyan was suddenly called out and froze on the spot.

Then the young people in the classroom all turned to look at him with curiosity and amusement.

Zhao Ruixue had no interest in such trivial matters and focused on organizing her notes.

But Uesugi Ayana, who was watching the spectacle, turned her head and suddenly exclaimed in surprise: "How could it be him? He's from our school too?"

"Who?"

"It's that Chinese guy I met last night, he's really good-looking, Ruixue, you should take a look."

Uesugi Ayana shook Zhao Ruixue's arm, urging her on.

"Go, go, go!"

Zhao Ruixue reluctantly put down her pen, turned around and looked at the graceful figure at the back of the classroom, and her heart suddenly trembled.

It was hard to tell whether it was surprise or bittersweetness; a complex mix of emotions welled up inside me like a spilled soy sauce bottle, spreading from my heart to the tip of his high, handsome nose, and then to his clear, bright eyes…

For a moment, they were silent, gazing intently at the figure from their memories, speechless for a long time.

"It's him, it really is him...it really is springtime..."

(End of this chapter)