Back Then, I Adored You

“Mm,” Gu Yusheng replied in a muted voice.

Earlier, she already had felt like crying when she had been listening to him speak. Now, upon hearing the meaningless sound he made in response to her, tears began to fall from her eyes and she began to cry harder.

“Yusheng, I didn’t blame you when you intentionally played games with me twice back then. And after that, I still didn’t blame you when I met you again and you had forgotten about me. I also didn’t blame you when I had discovered you’d given me a fake phone number. Now, I’m even less likely to blame you. Others might say that I’m a loser to put up with this for a man, but what do they know. I will only be such a loser for Gu Yusheng. I am willing to be a loser…”

When Gu Yusheng heard this on the other end of the phone, he felt as if his heart had been sliced open. If he were only next to her, he would be able to hold her in his arms and console her as she cried. But now that they were thousands of miles apart, there was nothing he could do.

Gu Yusheng racked his brains and thought for a long time before he finally came up with words of consolation. “Xiao’ai, I only like to see you cry when I’m screwing you and you’re pleading with me. Beyond that, I don’t like you crying.”

Qin Zhi’ai paused her cries and after a sniffle, she stopped completely. “You’re so nasty! You rogue!”

Her coquettish voice made Gu Yusheng feel a slight surge of impulse. Chewing on his cigarette, he spoke in the same casual and ruffian tone that was how he had spoken in the days of his youth, “It is perfectly justified for a husband to behave like a hooligan toward his wife. I could be even more of a rogue. Do you want to try?”

“You…” Qin Zhi’ai was at a loss for words, and Gu Yusheng could sense her bashfulness over the phone. He had loved her shy demeanor since they were young—It still made his heart flutter.

A smile crept onto Gu Yusheng’s lips. After a while, as if he recalled something, he said, “Xiao’ai, we’ve been married for a while now, and you have yet to call me ‘hubby.’”

I never thought I would ever hear this in my lifetime…

Gu Yusheng paused and said, “Xiao’ai, call me hubby…”

After a moment of silence on the other end of the phone, she said in a soft, gentle voice, “Hubby.”

Hearing this endearment felt like a warm breeze blowing across his heart, making the cigarette in his fingers tremble. Shortly after, he finally replied, “Mm.” A bit after that, he said, “It’s getting late. Hurry up, and get some rest.”

“Okay.” She did not seem to have finished saying what she wanted to say to him, as her tone sounded slightly reluctant when she said, “Goodnight.”

“Yes. Goodnight.” Gu Yusheng waited until Qin Zhi’ai had ended the call before he hung up. Standing in the wind, he smoked half of his cigarette before picking up his phone again and sending Qin Zhi’ai another text message: “Love you.”

After sending it, he thought about it and added another word: “Wifey.”

After not receiving a reply for some time, Gu Yusheng assumed she was asleep. While holding his phone, he leaned against the lamp post, finished the rest of his cigarette, and then strode toward the hospital entrance.

When he was approaching the entrance, his eyelids twitched violently. He abruptly stopped in his tracks and looked up at the bright moon in the sky. The moonlight was almost gleaming, and a sense of foreboding was slowly creeping into his heart.

Hopefully, it’s just an illusion.

Gu Yusheng stood silently for a moment. Retracting his gaze, he walked up to the car, pulled opened the door, got in, and drove off.