Back Then, I Adored You

No matter how Wu Hao thought about it, his conclusion was that this was the only possibility. To verify his conjecture, he specially went to Jiang Qianqian’s home, where he accidentally caught her in the process of plotting something. He initially had wanted to stop her but, after some thought, not only did he not stop her, he even gave her a secret incentive.

……

Xu Wennuan hadn’t contacted Zero for a couple of weeks, but the night after Lu Bancheng had left her house she had sent Zero a message. She chatted with him every day, and Zero was obviously Lu Bancheng; however, Lu Bancheng’s face would still surface in her mind from time to time and, wittingly or unwittingly, she would always pick up her phone to look at his phone number.

She could interact with Zero casually and freely, but there was no reason for her to contact Lu Bancheng. Thus, every time, she had only stared at Lu Bancheng’s number before she’d open the game to look for Zero and chat with him as usual about everything under the sun as if she didn’t know that he was Lu Bancheng.

Whenever she had chatted with Zero before she knew he was Lu Bancheng, she had always imagined about what kind of man he was. She had imagined him to be middle-aged now, in his 40s, and an accomplished man when he was in his 30s. She had even imagined him to be as beautiful as Adonis.

But one day when Zero had told her that drinking a cup of milk at night could improve the quality of her sleep, a vision of Lu Bancheng serving her a cup of milk had suddenly flashed in her mind. Subsequently, she had then realized with shock that ever since the day Lu Bancheng had left after having prepared breakfast for her, she had subconsciously treated Zero as Lu Bancheng whenever she chatted with him.

Three days before Chinese New Year’s Eve, Qin Zhi’ai dropped by Xu Wennuan’s club for a spa session, because Xu Wennuan had arranged the most skilled staff person to serve her. When the session ended, Qin Zhi’ai entered Xu Wennuan’s office, where she was on the phone. Qin Zhi’ai took a seat on the sofa and then grabbed a magazine to browse through while she waited. After Xu Wennuan hung up the call, Qin Zhi’ai then closed the magazine, and they began to chat.

Throughout their conversation, Qin Zhi’ai was picking up her phone and replying to Gu Yusheng’s texts. When she placed her phone down at one point, she said in a passing remark, “Yusheng mentioned to me earlier that Brother Bancheng is returning to America five days after Chinese New Year. Brother Bancheng is planning to treat them to a meal the day before he leaves. He was over at our house a while back, and I unintentionally heard him tell Yusheng that this time he plans on permanently staying in America. I really don’t understand why he wants to stay in America when everything’s good right here at home.”

When Xu Wennuan heard this, her hands, which were holding a pen, froze momentarily; however, she managed to keep her surprise in check and replied with a slight smile on her face, “Is that so?” Afterward, with a casual expression on her face, she continued conversing with Qin Zhi’ai as if she’d already forgotten what Qin Zhi’ai had just told her.

At 5:00 p.m., Qin Zhi’ai received a call from home to notify her that Little Peanut was awake and crying for her mother, leaving her with no choice but to cancel her dinner plans with Xu Wennuan and take her leave.

When Xu Wennuan was alone in the office, she finally placed her pen down and limply sunk back into her chair with her lips pursed tightly.

Lu Bancheng is actually going to return to America—and so soon?