Back Then, I Adored You

They searched for another two hours.

Still, they found nothing.

Everyone felt like it was hopeless to keep searching for Gu Yusheng, but Qin Zhi’ai was unwilling to face it, stubbornly staying by the river and refusing to leave.

Seeing that she was reluctant to leave, the police were too embarrassed to leave, so they could only stay and accompany her all this time.

Qin Zhi’ai’s bare feet were scarred severely, and her lips had become purple, because it was very cold by the river late at night. The middle-aged policeman who had been following Qin Zhi’ai was very worried about her, so he arranged for an intern at the police department to run to a close supermarket to buy something for her.

The intern bought a pair of shoes, a big bag of bread, and some bottles of water.

The middle-aged policeman handed the shoes to Qin Zhi’ai, who had been walking through the middle of the night. She was now exhausted, slumped by the river and stared blankly at the river in front of her. When seeing the shoes, she said “thank you” softly. After putting on the shoes, she stopped moving again.

After working overtime to look for Gu Yusheng, everyone was very hungry, thus devoured like a wolf.

The middle-aged policeman saw Qin Zhi’ai had no response, came to her with a bottle of water and a loaf of bread, sat down and handed her the food, “Eat something, okay?”

Qin Zhi’ai shook her head and said nothing as if she were a dumb.

As she stared at the river and listened to the sound of flowing water, she suddenly thought of when he had phoned her that afternoon.

“I’m going to Shanghai.”

“Are you coming for me?”

“Yes, I’m going there to see you.”

“When? I’ll pick you up.”

“Little troublemaker, are you feeling better?”

“Little troublemaker, I’m sorry.”

“Little troublemaker, be careful.”

“Little troublemaker…”

“We’ll talk more later.”

He said he would talk to me later, so why hasn’t he come to meet me yet?

Qin Zhi’ai’s eyes were full of tears once again. The tears were like a broken line of pearls, rolling down her face constantly.

The middle-aged policeman wanted to persuade Qin Zhi’ai to eat something, but when he saw that she had suddenly burst into tears, he became somewhat speechless.

Silence prevailed on the shore. After eating and drinking enough, everyone just stood there, helplessly looking at Qin Zhi’ai, who was crying silently.

It was getting colder with the wind growing stronger. Qin Zhi’ai was so cold that her whole body began to tremble, and all the policemen who had come to look for Gu Yusheng were so cold that their teeth began to chatter as well.

They had spent the whole night by the river, and it would be dawn soon. At last, someone couldn’t help but say, “We’ve looked dozens of miles down the river, but we haven’t seen anyone. I think it’s pretty much hopeless. ”

As soon as he said that, others echoed his words.

“The whirlpool in that little waterfall was so large. Ships would have a hard time passing it, let alone a person who fell into it.”

“That’s the most dangerous place in the river. A few people die there every year.”

“It’s like we’re looking for a needle in a haystack. It’s too hard to find him, so we have to wait for a body to show up or someone else to find him.”

“Sir, let’s go. We’ve been searching for twelve hours.”

The middle-aged policeman sitting beside Qin Zhi’ai coughed and turned his head, saying, “We aren’t being indifferent. We’ve really tried our best to find him, but there were no results. It’s best not to go on spending so much time here.”

After a pause, the middle-aged policeman added, “As you can see, we’ve spent the whole night with you, but now you have to face the reality.”