Back Then, I Adored You

The word “birthday” slowly appeared. He shot out this word a lot faster than the last word, which might have been because it was easier to write. “Birthday” was easy for Gu Yusheng to recognize from a distance, as well.

Seeing that word, Gu Yusheng could guess that that man was trying to shoot out the words “happy birthday” for Liang Doukou.

When the man tried to shoot the word “happy,” it took him a long time to shoot out half of the word, and the rest of it looked like a mess.

It was getting close to the time the park closed. The vendor started to urge him to finish soon. The guy with Liang Doukou rushed to finish shooting out the words. He hadn’t been good with the gun from the beginning, but the shots got even more off target more after he was rushed. Even simply trying to write out the words with his shots, he couldn’t even shoot any balloons.

Liang Doukou didn’t seem to mind at all. She took the gun from the guy’s hand and handed it over to the vendor. She looked like she was sorry to have held the vendor longer. She said something in apology and dragged the guy by his arm to leave. They ran to the exit of the park.

The guy looked upset and unhappy for not fully shooting the words out. Liang Doukou turned her head to him as they walked, talking and smiling at him. It was obvious that she was trying to cheer the guy up. She even tickled his lower back at the end. The guy immediately broke out into a huge smile after Liang Doukou tickled him.

There was a big crowd at the exit. The guy held Liang Doukou in his arms to protect her from being pushed by the crowd as they followed them out of the park.

Gu Yusheng stood still with his stiff body until Liang Doukou and the guy disappeared from his sight.

He didn’t move his eyes away from Liang Doukou’s direction until a kid touched his leg with a glowstick when he and his parents walked out of the park. Gu Yusheng heard the housekeeper calling to him over the phone. “Mr. Gu, are you there?”

He realized he had been standing there, dazed out with the phone in hand. Gu Yusheng tensed the corners of his mouth. He wanted to respond to the housekeeper, but he opened his mouth and found his throat was so sore that he couldn’t make any sound. He hung up the phone and walked to the exit in long strides.

Gu Yusheng’s car was only fifty yards away from Liang Doukou’s.

He stopped his car after he saw her stop her car at S University.

It was already late. There was nobody on the street around the university.

That guy got out of Liang Doukou’s car from the passenger side. She followed him and got out of the car. She was wearing high heels, but still shorter than the guy.

Gu Yusheng didn’t know what that guy had said to her but he saw Liang Doukou turn around and search out a small bag from the guy’s pant pocket.

Gu Yusheng had trained his eyesight very well when he had been trained for shooting in the military. Even though he was a little far from them, he could still see the man take out a sparking object from his bag. He could tell clearly that it was a necklace.

That guy stood behind Liang Doukou, carefully lifted up her hair, and put the necklace on her.

Gu Yusheng couldn’t tell what the guy asked Liang Doukou. He could only see Liang Doukou touch the necklace first and turn around to give a big smile to him. She said something back to him.

Judging from the movements of her mouth, Gu Yusheng guessed that he might have said, “Do you like it?” And she had replied, “I love it.”