Free Last Kiss in Tiananmen Square by Lisa Zhang Wharton Page A

11am. She knew that she just missed a 10:00am mathematics class. Then she found a message on a piece of torn notebook paper.
     
    “Baiyun,
     
    I’m going to the class. I’ll lend you my notes. You’d better sleep. Hope to see you in the next class.
     
    Yumei”
     
    An egg-bread was on the table as well as a bowl of porridge. Yumei must have gotten them for her from the cafeteria in the morning.
     
    She quickly washed her face, brushed her teeth by the concrete sink in one of the two large washrooms on the fourth floor. She ate the breakfast, made her bed and walked out of the dormitory. She decided to attend the rest of classes just to be good.
     
    At 4:30pm Baiyun rode slowly back toward her dormitory. When Baiyun passed by the Triangle, she ran into Li Yan who was rushing.
     
    “Where are you going?” Baiyun asked as she balanced her bicycle between her legs.
     
    “The News Center, the new campus radio station,” said Li Yan. “You should stop by sometimes between your studies and social life.”
     
    “What social life are you talking about?” Baiyun sensed something new in her tone. Was she making fun of her for not having a social life?
     
    “A worker named Dagong has been hanging around the campus and would like to meet up with you,” said Li Yan and waved goodbye without noticing Baiyun was a little embarrassed.
     
    Dagong was here! What was he doing here? Baiyun thought as she pushed her bicycle in the slow traffic. She noticed some people on the street didn’t all look like students. Some men were older, more muscular and had swarthy faces. Older women also ran around the campus, carrying blankets and tin containers under their arms. The streets inside Beijing University were almost like any streets in downtown Beijing. What a change! The prodemocracy movement made Beijing University, normally an intellectual’s paradise, into a community theatre. She could see clusters of students and workers on street corners, talking to each other like a family. Whenever she went, everyone smiled at her friendly. Through this atmosphere, she could see changes that had happened in people’s hearts and souls.
     
    As soon as Baiyun arrived at her dorm, she saw Dagong waiting for her by the door. He wore a pair of dark green sunglasses. His starched white shirt and khaki pants made him look like a professor instead of a technician.
     
    “Baiyun.” He approached her enthusiastically.
     
    “Hi Dagong. What bought you here?” Leaning her bike against her waist, she shook hands with him.
     
    “I’m here for a meeting with the Beijing Student Federation. We are planning a rally on May 4th to commensurate the seventies anniversary of the May 4 th student movement. We want to be part of it, too. Also I think I might see you here.”
     
    “This is nice to see you.” Baiyun jumped, and the bicycle swung away from her and almost fell but was rescued by Dagong’s quick move.
     
    Seeing Dagong made Baiyun felt much better. The horror she experienced at home had long gone.
     
    “I’d like to show you the campus,” said Baiyun.
     
    “I would like to take you for dinner,” said Dagong with a big smile.
     
    “Let’s go. Do you want me to take you on my bicycle again? This time you can sit on the front handle bar and lean against my chest. I could hold you with one arm and hold on to the bicycle with the other,” said Dagong.
     
    “So people would think we are…a pair of sweethearts? No, I don’t think so,” said Baiyun shyly with her eyes looking down and her cheeks red. But she soon recovered. She raised her head and said, “It is impossible to ride on campus now, especially near the Triangle. Have you been to the Triangle?”
     
    “Not yet.”
     
    “Let’s go then. Students always give speech there.” Baiyun felt uplifted.
     
    They both parked their bicycles and locked them to the rack. They walked toward the Triangle.
     
    By 5:00pm, the sun had gradually disappeared behind the trees