Back Then, I Adored You

Xu Wennuan looked up at Lu Bancheng with a baffled look in her eyes. Lu Bancheng picked up the bowl of egg soup and placed it in front of her. “It’s bad for your stomach to eat too much spicy food at night. Have something light, instead.”

Xu Wennuan increased the force of her fingertips holding onto her chopsticks as she continued to look at Lu Bancheng for a moment before she lowered her head and looked at the bowl of piping-hot egg soup.

So he ordered that for me and not for himself… He even said that it was bad for my stomach to consume too much spicy food at night… Right, I passed out from a stomachache not long ago, and he broke into my house to get me to the hospital.

No wonder he stared fixedly at me when I was eating the spicy food and his lips moved as if he wanted to say something. Eventually, he said nothing and merely called for the waiter. I was still puzzled about why he was staring at me at that point. Now that I think about it, was he worried about my stomach?

A familiar feeling of warmth that Xu Wennuan had not experienced in a long time consumed her entire body. When Lu Bancheng saw Xu Wennuan lower her head and freeze as she stared at the bowl of egg soup without responding, he thought that she didn’t like it, so he broke the silence by asking, “Don’t you like it?”

Xu Wennuan shook her head and continued to remain silent, so Lu Bancheng asked again, “What do you like to eat? I’ll get them to prepare it for you.”

As he spoke, he lifted his head and called the waiter over again. When the waiter approached them, he addressed Lu Bancheng but before he could ask what Lu Bancheng wanted, Xu Wennuan regained her senses and hurriedly said to the waiter, “We’re good here. Sorry to trouble you.”

The waiter stood there without leaving and merely looked to Lu Bancheng. Xu Wennuan then continued to explain, “No, it’s not that I don’t like this. It merely made me think of something, but I changed my mind.”

As if Xu Wennuan was afraid that Lu Bancheng would not believe her, she picked up her spoon, scooped up a spoonful of egg soup, and raised it to her lips. When Lu Bancheng saw her action, he nodded his head lightly at the waiter, who then turned and left with the menu. After the waiter left, the table fell silent again with no other sound beyond that of the boiling hotpot.

Xu Wennuan had tried the egg soup at this restaurant before and thought it just average; however, the more she ate it tonight, the more she felt as if she was eating a delicacy. She didn’t know why, but the taste of it sent ripples of sweetness and warmth to her heart.

……

By the time they left the restaurant, it was already 11:00 p.m. The restaurant was so popular that, when they’d arrived earlier, they had to park some 1,000 feet away. As they walked back to the parking lot, Lu Bancheng glanced at Xu Wennuan when a chilly wind blew in their faces. She was too fashionably dressed and was only wearing a light wool coat and had no gloves, so she continuously rubbed her tiny hands together for warmth.

Lu Bancheng subconsciously looked around before he told Xu Wennuan to wait for a moment. He then entered a shop and soon popped out holding a pack of cigarettes and a piping-hot cup of milk tea. He handed the cup of milk tea over to Xu Wennuan without speaking. He then tugged open the pack of cigarettes with his teeth, pulled out a cigarette and lit it, and then took a puff before he proceeded to take the lead to walk toward the parking lot.