Back Then, I Adored You

“So, Lu Bancheng, I hope that you won’t say things like that again—They’re disgusting!

“Besides that, I do not wish to have any form of contact with you except when you really need me to play the role of your wife and meet your parents.

“As such, Lu Bancheng, don’t talk to me when you don’t need to! I’ll be treating you as if you don’t exist!

“I hope that you can abide by our agreement, and we can get divorced in one year.

“I’m assuming that’s the guest room. You shouldn’t have any problem with me staying there, right?”

Before Lu Bancheng could speak, Xu Wennuan walked over to the couch to retrieve her luggage and then entered the guest room and slammed the door shut; then, as if she had suddenly recalled something, she pulled the door open again to get her keys and slammed the door again.

Even though Lu Bancheng was standing a distance away from the guest room, he could clearly hear the sound of her door being locked. At the same moment, he suddenly felt like something was stuck in his throat, and it became particularly uncomfortable for him to breathe.

He stared straight ahead through the window, taking in the view of the beautifully lit city at night, accompanied by a dull pain in his heart.

Yes, it’s true that Wu Hao didn’t touch her despite being in love with her for 10 years. But didn’t he get involved with another woman?

He had wanted to say that out loud, but that would be like pouring salt on her already deep wound. He had eventually decided against it, because he could not bring himself to do that to her. And everything he had wanted to tell her to convey his most intimate feelings for her would all be redundant now.

After all, he had never meant anything to her, and she was not obligated to cherish his feelings. Telling her what he felt would just be humiliating himself.

……

Six months after Gu Yusheng and Qin Zhi’ai were married, it was Spring Festival, and a month later the weather had finally started warming up. As Qin Zhi’ai had not seen Xu Wennuan for quite a while, she asked her out over the weekend, and they had arranged to meet at the SPK clearance sale.

The two of them shopped from noon until four. When they had grown tired, they settled down in a coffee shop at the roof level of SPK with their purchases. Qin Zhi’ai ordered milk tea, and Xu Wennuan ordered coffee and a slice of butter cake.

As Qin Zhi’ai stirred her tea, she glanced at Xu Wennuan, who was stuffing her face with the butter cake, and said, “You seem to have quite an appetite!”

“Is that so?” Xu Wennuan laughed as she set her fork aside and lifted her head.

“Yes. You had three bowls of rice when you had lunch at my place earlier. In all the years I’ve known you, this is the first time I’ve seen you eat this much. And it’s only been a few hours since lunch and you’re eating again…”

“The cake here is delicious—Of course I have to try it since I’m already here. As for lunch, isn’t that because your personal chef is amazing?” Xu Wennuan sipped her coffee and was suddenly reminded of when Qin Zhi’ai and Gu Yusheng had caused a stir on the internet two weeks ago.

Gu Yusheng and Qin Zhi’ai had gone out for dinner. Before they’d started eating, Qin Zhi’ai had casually snapped a few photographs of the dishes and posted them online, tagging Gu Yusheng and adding the caption: “Mr. Gu, I like the food from this restaurant.”

Two hours later, Gu Yusheng had posted a photograph of a chef and tagged Qin Zhi’ai with the caption, “It’s settled. Starting tomorrow, he is officially Miss Qin’s personal chef.”

Subsequently, their friends online had taken screenshots of these posts and started sharing them. Xiaowang had even deliberately chosen an admiring caption: “Loving couple abuses us single dogs daily.”