Back Then, I Adored You

Gu Yusheng had always sensed he would probably one day have a fight, but it didn’t matter to him because he’d expected it.

His family background was more prestigious than that of most people, but he had never bullied anyone at school. That day had been his first and only time.

He pretended his arm was fractured and called his grandfather after he had fought with the gangsters and his friends. His grandfather loved him very much, and he immediately came to see him but, of course, police deputies were already accompanying his grandfather. The gangsters had already been cuffed and taken away to the police station for fighting in public.

Once the internet cafe returned to calm, Gu Yusheng got in his grandfather’s car, and his grandfather told the driver to go to the hospital. Gu Yusheng immediately stretched out his broken arm, patted the back of the seat, and said, “Let’s go home.” His grandfather watched him in shock.

Gu Yusheng knew where Qin Zhi’ai lived because he had overheard her conversation with Xu Wennuan once when they were in the convenience store by the school to buy snacks. As they were checking out, he walked past them with a bottle of water and overheard Qin Zhi’ai complaining to Xu Wennuan in a whisper, “Nuannuan, there’s construction on the road near my house, but there’s no streetlight there. I’m scared of going home so late after study hall…”

He hadn’t heard what she said after that because he had already exited the store, but he’d heard enough now to change the time he and his friends met at the internet cafe to play computer games to the same time as evening study hall at school.

When the bell rang, he immediately went to the track field, riding his bike to search for her, and followed her at a distance once he’d found her. She had never known that he had secretly followed her home like a stalker for two weeks while the road in front of her apartment had been under construction.

Gu Yusheng had also always liked observing her shyness. Once he saw her walking out of a bookstore with a girlfriend when he was waiting for his classmate on his bike. Qin Zhi’ai was so engrossed in talking to her friend that even when she had passed right by him she didn’t even notice him, even though he had heard everything they were saying.

“What books did you borrow?” the girl asked Qin Zhi’ai.

Qin Zhi’ai was such an innocent, smart, pretty, and wonderful girl in Gu Yusheng’s eyes that he assumed she would read books like Dream of the Red Chamber, Gone with the Wind, and The Story of a Noble Family.

Instead, she waved the three books she was holding in the air and, without shame, declared their titles in her clear, beautiful voice, “Bossy Boss and His Wife; Love Me, Uncle; and Evil Teacher, You Are So Bad.”

Gu Yusheng’s eyesight was good, and he clearly saw the covers of those three books, one with a hand-painted woman with half of her breasts showing.

The other girl giggled with her hand over her mouth. She leaned over to whisper to Qin Zhi’ai, “Xiao’ai, you are bad.”

Qin Zhi’ai smiled at the girl in reply and put her books into her backpack. Then she shamelessly said, “A slightly perverted girl is cuter.”

At that moment, Gu Yusheng could not contain himself and laughed out loud. Qin Zhi’ai and her friend turned around immediately and looked in his direction. Not wanting them to know he was eavesdropping and with his phone in his hand, he pretended he was on a call and laughed again in the mic, saying, “Okay, no problem. See you tonight.”