Back Then, I Adored You

Because it was evening, there were not many people around. The middle-aged policeman worried that something would happen to Qin Zhi’ai, so he rushed to lock his car before he jumped over the railing to chase after her.

She wobbled on high heels as she walked and nearly fell a few times.

The middle-aged policeman followed after her, reminding her several times to be careful. Qin Zhi’ai thought the high heels were stopping her from running quickly, so she decided to take them off and run with bare feet.

There were many solid objects on the bank that hurt her feet, however, she did not look like she felt any pain. With fire in her eyes, she moved even faster than the middle-aged policeman.

She stood on the riverside and screamed Gu Yusheng’s name twice.

It was very quiet by the river at night. Aside from the sound of the rushing water and whistling wind, there were no other sounds that could be heard.

She became worried and screamed Gu Yusheng’s name twice more. She then turned to walk downstream as she repeatedly screamed his name.

She had no idea how far she had walked downstream, and there were many cuts on her feet. They bled a lot, but she continued to wobble without any plans to stop.

The middle-aged policeman who followed behind her tried to convince her to stop, but she ignored him.

At this moment, Gu Yusheng was the only thing on her mind and her only goal was to find him.

She had no clue how many times she had called out his name.

It may have been a hundred times or even a thousand times. Every time she called his name, she was expecting to hear him respond with that familiar and casual “oh.” However, she was disappointed each time as she heard nothing in return.

She was afraid of being disappointed further, but the more scared she felt, the louder she screamed. After a while, her throat got so sore that her voice became very hoarse.

The middle-aged policeman received a call at midnight.

Qin Zhi’ai could tell it was a call from the search crew that the police department had sent out.

Her eyes immediately became brighter than ever. Before the middle-aged policeman finished the call, she asked, “Did they find him? Do you have any new information about him? Where is he now?”

The middle-aged policeman sort of avoided looking into Qin Zhi’ai’s eyes, pausing for a while before he looked away. He said with a low voice, “Not yet. They have searched for about eight hours and they said the chances of finding him were slim. They were thinking of stopping…”

Qin Zhi’ai’s body shook. She had thought there were no more tears left to cry, but suddenly, tears welled up in her eyes again. “No! How could there be no more hope? What if he is still alive? How could you give up on him?”

The search crew had been looking for eight straight hours. They were very tired and wanted to take a break. It had been a long time since he had gone missing and they feared that the chance of him still being alive was slim. By the time they located him, it could be his dead body. There would be no large difference in finding him tonight or the next day, if that were the case.

The middle-aged policeman moved his lips, but did not pass on his colleague’s words to Qin Zhi’ai. He only looked at her with embarrassment.

Qin Zhi’ai could tell they wanted to call it a day. In a low pitched voice, she begged, “Please, can you continue to look for him? Maybe we can find him. Please.”

The middle-aged policeman sighed a few times at her pleading. He finally lifted his cell phone to make a call and said, “Let’s look around one last time. We have been searching for so long, but let’s look for him for one last round. We will see if we still cannot find him.”