Back Then, I Adored You

When Thursday night came, Qin Zhi’ai began checking her phone at 7:15 p.m. At precisely 8:00 p.m., the phone rang, and the caller ID showed it was from Gu Yusheng. Qin Zhi’ai was pleased he was on time.

Qin Zhi’ai and Gu Yusheng had been married and were expecting their first baby, so ordinarily they would not be considered a couple in the honeymoon stage, but neither were they considered newlyweds. Before Qin Zhi’ai answered the call, she felt her heart race as it had when she was a teenager and would receive a call from Gu Yusheng. She took a deep breath to suppress her excitement and gently slid her finger on the screen to answer the call.

“Yusheng.” After she called out his name, she heard nothing on Gu Yusheng’s end other than the sound of wind. The housekeeper and the caretaker were watching TV in the living room, and the character they were watching was crying loudly on the screen, so she told Gu Yusheng to hold on before he had a chance to say anything. She got up and went upstairs, walked into the master bedroom, and closed the door behind her. The quietness was a relief, and she softly called out his name again. “Yusheng.”

“Yes.” Besides Gu Yusheng’s clear voice, Qin Zhi’ai also heard him exhaling. She slightly frowned and asked, “Are you smoking?”

“Yeah.” Gu Yusheng was biting the cigarette as he talked so he was muttering. He took the cigarette out of his mouth and then said, “Have you had dinner yet?”

“Yes, how about you?”

“Me, too. What did you have?”

“A lot…” While tilting her head, Qin Zhi’ai listed all the food the housekeeper had prepared for her dinner that night. Gu Yusheng listened patiently on the other end. When she finished, he asked her, “How are you doing?”

“I’m good. Little peanut has been exceptionally good to me.” Qin Zhi’ai looked down to examine her big bump. “Little peanut seems to be sleeping now and stopped moving around. She moved a lot this afternoon around four o’clock. I could even feel her hand through my stomach.”

And Qin Zhi’ai could not help but also complain about her little peanut. “Yusheng, your daughter has not been behaving herself. She’s been moving around all day long, and last night I couldn’t sleep because of it. Sometimes it hurts when she kicks me.”

As Qin Zhi’ai talked, she suddenly screamed briefly. Gu Yusheng had been smoking on the other end of the call. He had been listening carefully to what Qin Zhi’ai had been talking about, but her scream had caused his muscles to tense up. Worriedly, he asked, “What happened?”

“It’s alright. Probably your daughter heard me talking behind her back so she kicked me.” Her daughter was proving to be a kicker, causing some serious pain to Qin Zhi’ai, thus causing her voice to tremble. She reached her hand out to rub her stomach, where she felt her daughter moving. She suddenly remembered something and told Gu Yusheng to hold on.

She ended their phone call before Gu Yusheng could say anything and then she instantly video-called him back. After Gu Yusheng answered it, Qin Zhi’ai faced the camera to her stomach. On the left side, there was a bulge. Qin Zhi’ai was afraid Gu Yusheng could not see it so she pointed at it. “Yusheng, can you see? Your daughter woke up to say ‘hi’ to you.”