Back Then, I Adored You

Even though they had both been in Shanghai, their schools had been far apart. He hadn’t hung up on her; instead, he had patiently coaxed her until she had heard his voice drifting through her window. “Xu Wennuan! Xu Wennuan!”

She had dashed to the window and had seen Wu Hao standing in the rain without an umbrella. With his head raised, he had said, “Come down.”

Her school was located in the suburbs, so it had never been easy to get a ride at night. Wu Hao had carried her on his back while she had held the umbrella. He had taken one step after another until they had eventually arrived at the hospital some six miles away.

By the time they had gotten there, her stomach had already stopped hurting, as though by having ridden on his back she was possessed by everything good in the world.

He was so incredibly good to me. Even though he betrayed me, his kindness toward me has always been genuine.

Xu Wennuan grabbed her phone, found Wu Hao’s phone number, and dialed it as though she were still possessed. The phone rang for a long time before he answered. Xu Wennuan thought he had been sleeping, so she asked apologetically, “Did I wake you?”

Wu Hao was in fact wide awake and sensed something off with her voice. He did not answer her question and instead asked her anxiously, “What’s the matter with you? Were you crying?”

It would have been better if Wu Hao hadn’t asked but, the moment he did, Xu Wennuan’s tears flowed even harder. She really did not want to cry out loud, but she could not help but slightly sob.

Still anxious, Wu Hao continued to ask her a string of questions only to be met with no response. After listening to her attempt to suppress her crying, he abruptly said to someone beside him, “Book a plane ticket for me. I want to go back to China.”

It was only then that Xu Wennuan realized that Wu Hao was most likely in a business meeting, as she heard several conversations on his end, all in English.

Is Wu Hao on an overseas business trip?

Xu Wennuan cleared her nose and was just about to say that it wasn’t necessary when Wu Hao said, “Nuannuan, let’s meet tomorrow night.”

Xu Wennuan hesitated for a moment and eventually said, “Okay.”

The next day, Xu Wennuan slept until 2:00 p.m., after having gotten so little sleep. Her abdomen was slightly uncomfortable, but it was no longer painful. After getting up, she took a shower, got dressed, and went out to eat breakfast. Upon returning home, she checked the time and saw that she would be meeting Wu Hao in three hours, so she lazed around on the sofa and watched TV to kill time.

At 4:30 p.m., Xu Wennuan went into her bedroom to put on a touch of makeup, after which she chose her prettiest dress and matched it with an exquisite pair of high heels. By 5:10 p.m., she picked up her purse and sat on the sofa waiting for Wu Hao’s call.

They had agreed to meet at 5:30 p.m., so when her phone rang at 5:20 p.m., she thought it was Wu Hao calling but, when she looked at her phone, a foreign number appeared on the screen.

Xu Wennuan did not want to answer the call, but it rang relentlessly. She finally answered it on her way to the bathroom, and on the other end was a voice she wished she could go her entire life without hearing. “Is this Xu Wennuan? I am Jiang Qianqian.”

Xu Wennuan halted halfway through turning on the faucet. She wanted to hang up, but she also wanted to listen to what Jiang Qianqian had to say. As she was hesitating, Jiang Qianqian spoke again. “Do you have time to meet? Let’s arrange a meeting.”

“There’s no need for that,” Xu Wennuan replied coldly. Just as she moved her finger to end the call, Jiang Qianqian’s voice could be heard again.

“I’m pregnant with Wu Hao’s child,” she said.