Back Then, I Adored You

“A, I might have to go to Shanghai for a project during Chinese New Year. Aren’t you going to be in Hangzhou? It’s close enough to Shanghai that I thought we could meet at the Jiayuan Tea Restaurant on January 3rd. Since we’ve been writing to each other for so many years, I figured we should meet in real life if we have a chance.”

Gu Yusheng wrote down the address of the restaurant, the reserved table number, and the time at the end of the letter.

Afraid that she might not come, he added at the end, “P.S. I will wait for you at the restaurant all day. I will wait until you come.”

On January 3rd, it was less than two months away from Xu Wennuan’s wedding in Bali on February 24.

That day, Beijing was smoggy.

That day, Hangzhou was clear with blue sky and white clouds.

That day, Shanghai’s weather was like that in Hangzhou.

That day, there was sensational news about Qin Zhi’ai and Gu Yusheng in Shanghai.

Coincidentally, on that same day, there was other sensational news regarding Wu Hao and Xu Wennuan in Beijing, much more sensational than the private news she had just made with Gu Yusheng.

As Xu Wennuan’s fiance and future son-in-law of the Xus, Wu Hao was expected to be at the Xu’s house to celebrate the new year on January 2nd. In the morning, however, he had received a phone call informing him that he had to meet an important client arriving in Beijing that day. He had postponed his arrival to the Xu’s house to January 3rd.

Xu Wennuan woke up anxiously early the morning of his arrival.

She wasn’t sure why she was so nervous, but among her woman’s intuition, her period due to begin, and little spasms in her eyelids, she was sure something big was about to happen.

But more specifically, Xu Wennuan knew at the bottom of her heart that her emotions had to do with what had happened a few days ago. Xu Wennuan and Wu Hao had planned to see a movie together, but he had stood her up because of some urgent business.

They had had a rough time when they came back to Beijing from Shanghai to start their business. They were so busy every day that they didn’t even have time to have decent meals together.

Before then, they had always made time to meet up and kiss and hug each other, but now these times seemed to be replaced by all the social networking required when running a business and negotiating deals.

Men would rather pay to hire a secretary to go with them to socialize than have their women go with them. Back then, no matter how late Wu Hao had gotten home, he would always send her a text message or give her a call. He never forgot to greet her with a “good morning” and a “good night.”

“My dear wife, I had a lot of drinks today. Feeling terrible now.”

“My dear wife, are you sleeping now? I just got home.”

“My dear wife, I bought you your favorite barbecue. I will bring it to you. Come down to get it when I get to your building.”

As Wu Hao’s business saw success, he had more dinners to go to. Sometimes, he would forget to call her, and she couldn’t help but to complain about it the next day. He would always apologize.

“My dear wife, I am sorry. I had too much to drink.”

“My dear wife, I’m sorry. My phone battery died.”

“My dear wife, I’m sorry.”

In the beginning, he only had to apologize once a month. Later, he had to apologize twice and then three and four times a month. She had been hearing his apologies almost every day as of late.