Back Then, I Adored You

Xu Wennuan told her to come quickly to celebrate with them at dinner. Wu Hao’s company had finally signed a big contract.

As a friend of Xu Wennuan and Wuhao, Qin Zhi’ai was happy for their success and agreed to come without a second thought. She walked to the subway station after Xu Wennuan texted the address to her.

Gu Yusheng had thought Qin Zhi’ai was going to have dinner with him. He did not expect her to leave while he was stuck socializing with the administrators from Xi University.

After an hour of conversation at the exit of the restaurant, Gu Yusheng gave Xiaowang a bored expression. Xiaowang immediately said, “Master Gu, you have an appointment with Master Liang at 8:30. I’m afraid we have to leave soon to make it.”

Hearing this, Gu Yusheng feigned regret and said goodbye to the administrators. He walked back to the car with Xiaowang.

Once inside, Gu Yusheng took out his phone, set silence mode to off, and checked his calls as Xiaowang drove. He’d missed 34 calls. Some of them were from the landline at his grandpa’s house, some from his grandpa’s cell phones, and some from Liang Doukou.

Before he could finish checking all the calls, Xiaowang said, “Master Gu, your grandpa called me. He knows you got back to Beijing today and wants you to come home.”

Gu Yusheng rubbed his forehead and blankly responded, “Okay.”

“So, Master Gu, are we going to your grandpa’s house?”

Gu Yusheng didn’t answer. A call came in as he held the phone. It was from his grandpa’s landline. He stared at the screen and then swiped it. He raised the phone to his ear, but before he could answer Liang Doukou said, “Yusheng, grandpa asked me to call you to see when you’ll be home for dinner?”

Gu Yusheng was quiet.

Liang Doukou waited and then continued, “We haven’t had dinner yet. We’re all waiting on you.”

Gu Yusheng didn’t say a word.

“Yusheng, you rarely come back to Beijing. Don’t you want to see your grandpa?”

Gu Yusheng remained silent.

“Yusheng, I know you’re listening. Can you say something?”

Gu Yusheng raised his eyebrows at Liang Doukou’s question and said, “Who is she?”

Now Liang Doukou was silent. When she finally spoke, she sounded sad and hurt. “Yusheng, it has been a long time. Can you stop being like this? You either pretend I don’t exist or when you do talk to me all you ask is who is she. Can you say something else to me?”

“Okay,” Gu Yusheng said calmly. “What is her name?”

When Liang Doukou didn’t respond, Gu Yusheng continued, “Or what is her phone number?”

“Or how much information about her did you destroy?”

Liang Doukou was silent again for some time before saying, “Yu…”

Before she could finish, Gu Yusheng hung up. He said to Xiaowang, “Call my grandpa’s house and let them know I will come to see grandpa when she’s not there.”