Back Then, I Adored You

She walked forward with ease while wearing her high heels and approached the car window with the intention of knocking and letting Lu Bancheng know that she was there but, when she looked through the window and saw Lu Bancheng sitting in the driver’s seat, the back of his head was toward her, and he was in a daze while staring at the street outside.

Xu Wennuan couldn’t see his expression, but she could sense his loneliness and helplessness based on his posture. When she had received his phone call, she had felt his unhappiness, but she had not expected him to really be in a bad mood.

Xu Wennuan’s mood took a slight turn for the worse at this moment. She had not realized what was happening to her when Lu Bancheng turned his head rather bewilderedly, as though he thought that he had been waiting for too long. She quickly gathered her thoughts, raised her hand, and gave him a wave.

Lu Bancheng pushed open the door, stepped out of the car, and approached Xu Wennuan. She quickly opened her bag, retrieved the envelope, and handed it to him, saying, “Do count this.” Lu Bancheng lowered his gaze and looked at the envelope in her hands. He was not in a hurry to receive it.

She just returned to Beijing this morning, but she’s already in a rush to contact me and return me my money… She’s still the same person she was a year ago—She can’t wait to cut off all ties with me.

But what exactly was I expecting? All she did was ask me for help once in Lijiang. We’ve been strangers to each other the past year. Isn’t it only natural that this incident won’t change anything?

Xu Wennuan couldn’t resist shaking the envelope in her hands when Lu Bancheng failed to respond after some time. He returned to his senses and tried his best to suppress the loneliness swelling in his chest. He reached out, took the envelope, and stuffed it into his pocket without counting the money.

Lu Bancheng had not uttered a single word since he emerged from the car. Now that Xu Wennuan had returned his money, she didn’t know what to say, either. She simply stood quietly before him for a few moments before saying, “If there’s nothing else, I’ll leave now.”

After hearing her words, Lu Bancheng lifted his head to look at her. His gaze was distracted, and after a long while he finally nodded and hummed in acknowledgment. She curled her lips at Lu Bancheng and muttered, “Goodbye,” and then headed toward the roadside.

At the exact moment she extended her arm to flag a taxi, Lu Bancheng, who had been silent all this while, suddenly called out to her. When Xu Wennuan turned back, he took two steps forward and leaned against the front of the car. He asked, “Were you the person who called the front desk to get me an ambulance?”

So, this is what he wants to ask me about…

Xu Wennuan nodded without hesitation and admitted it. “Yes, it was me.”

Thereafter, she was reminded that it wouldn’t be a good idea to mention how she had headed to his accommodation alone last night and started giving him an explanation that included only half of the truth. She said, “I felt how hot your fingers were yesterday when I returned your coat to you, and when I saw how pale you looked I was reminded that you had gotten drenched in the rain. After all, that had something to do with me, and I felt bad about it. so I gave you a call. When you didn’t answer, I went over and saw you unconscious in your villa through the window.”

There was a trace of tension between Lu Bancheng’s eyebrows. “Did you run into anybody when you came?”

Is he referring to Wu Hao? Is he nervous because he’s afraid that I overheard his conversation with Wu Hao and found out that he’s Zero Degrees?

Xu Wennuan was puzzled, but she acted like she didn’t know what was going on and shook her head at Lu Bancheng. “No,” she said. After a pause, she asked, “Why?”

Xu Wennuan carefully noticed Lu Bancheng exhaling in relief.

Indeed, he was afraid that I’d discovered his identity as Zero Degrees…

The words that he had said to Wu Hao suddenly flashed across her mind.

“Even though I’ve left her, I’m still guarding her.”

“I will use my initial identity and stay by her side in a virtual world where she doesn’t know about me.”

Is it because there’s too much unhappiness between me and Lu Bancheng’s real identity, so he can only use Zero Degrees’s identity to keep up with me? Is he afraid that I’d cut off all contact with him after learning that he’s the person behind Zero Degrees, which is why he’s been hiding that from me and actively finding excuses to reject my requests to meet up in real life?