Back Then, I Adored You

…

Gu Yusheng and Qin Zhi’ai had agreed a week ago to take Little Peanut to a new children’s theme restaurant for dinner.

At four in the afternoon, Qin Zhi’ai placed her cell phone on the table in the living room and went to the dining room to get some milk for the four-year-old Little Peanut.

Qin Zhi’ai’s phone rang and, to help her mother, Little Peanut ran over with the phone in her hands, saying, “Mommy, your phone is ringing.”

With her own hands occupied, Qin Zhi’ai merely cocked her head to look at the screen. When she saw that it was the reminder for dinner, she took note of the time but didn’t take the phone.

As Little Peanut had already begun reading, she roughly understood that the screen indicated that she would be going out for dinner with her parents that night.

When she remembered, though, that only her mother and herself were at home, she looked up and asked, “Mommy, does daddy know about this?”

Gu Yusheng had agreed to the date with Qin Zhi’ai and, because he was not one to make an empty promise, Qin Zhi’ai acknowledged her by saying, “Daddy knows.”

“What if daddy doesn’t know?” Qin Jiayan had just taught Little Peanut how to make a phone call not long ago and, right now, she was extremely interested in making one. Thus, she asked Qin Zhi’ai, “Mommy, can I call daddy to remind him?”

“Sure,” said Qin Zhi’ai.

Feeling pleased with herself, Little Peanut held onto the phone, walked to the living room, and stood next to the TV to call Gu Yusheng while the TV program Pleasant Goat and Big Bad Wolf was on.

Gu Yusheng was on a phone call with someone when Little Peanut’s call went through, and an automated female voice said, “I’m sorry. The number you have called is busy…”

Daddy is busy…

Little Peanut hung up the call with disappointment.

Qin Zhi’ai noticed that Little Peanut was upset when she passed the milk over to her, so she asked with concern, “What’s wrong?”

“When I called daddy just now, a big sister answered the call and said that daddy was busy…” Little Peanut then saw the milk and she immediately began happily drinking it, forgetting that she was upset just a second ago.

Other than Xiaowang, Gu Yusheng’s long-term assistant, no other person ever had access to Gu Yusheng’s phone, and the phone number Qin Zhi’ai used to reach Gu Yusheng was his private number.

Why would a woman answer the call?

Qin Zhi’ai inadvertently felt suspicious in her heart, and the more she thought about it, the more uncomfortable she felt, so she called Gu Yusheng; his phone, however, was turned off.

A woman answered the call earlier on and now his phone is turned off? Could it be that Gu Yusheng is…

While she knew her imagination tended to run wild, Qin Zhi’ai’s heart still felt insecure. Every now and then, she would trying calling Gu Yusheng but even at six o’clock, the time they had agreed to meet for diner, Qin Zhi’ai still had not managed to reach him.

…

An urgent issue had cropped up at work, and Gu Yusheng didn’t return home until eight o’clock.

After entering the password, he pushed open the front door and hollered, “Dear?”

A pillow crashed into him before he could enter the house.

Gu Yusheng was quick to react, and he managed to dodge the projectile but, before he could figure out what was going on, blankets then hit him followed by handfuls of clothes.

After several years of marriage, this was the first time that Qin Zhi’ai had ever flown into a rage, and Gu Yusheng was so shocked that his legs quivered. “Xiao’ai, what on earth happened?”

Qin Zhi’ai grabbed a pair of Gu Yusheng’s underwear and threw them onto his head. “What happened!?” she yelled. Don’t you know best what happened!? You were with another woman behind my back, and she answered your phone when our daughter called you!”

My cell phone has been with me all day long, so when did a woman answer Little Peanut’s call? More importantly, I turned my cell phone off after my call this afternoon because the battery had gone dead…

Gu Yusheng was unable to summarize an explanation, and with a blank expression on his face he exclaimed, “I… I was not!”

“You’re denying it?” Qin Zhi’ai turned her head and looked toward Little Peanut. “Little Peanut, didn’t you say it was a big sister who answered the phone when you called daddy this afternoon?”

Little Peanut nodded her head and answered crisply, “Yes!”

“See! Your daughter already said so, and yet you’re still trying to lie to me!” Qin Zhi’ai became increasingly angry as she spoke and, eventually, she smashed the bag of his socks she had packed into his face.

What the f*ck is going on?

Gu Yusheng almost wanted to kneel before Qin Zhi’ai to prove his innocence. “Xiao’ai, I really did not…”

Little Peanut began to imitate Qin Zhi’ai’s tone of voice, saying, “Daddy, stop denying it! You did! I have proof! The big sister said ‘Sorry, the number you called was busy…'”

…

When Little Peanut was five-years-old, just before Chinese New Year, Old Master Gu sad to her, “Little Peanut, give your great grandfather the most precious New Year’s gift, and great grandfather will give you a big red packet, okay?”

When Little Peanut heard the words “big red packet,” she blinked her big, round eyes and nodded her head at Old Master Gu with a glow before she replied in a nasally voice, “Alright, Great Grandfather. No problem.”

After leaving the Gu mansion, Little Peanut began to rack her brain to think about what the most precious gift would be. When she arrived home, she dug out all her toys. She felt that every one of them was precious but also that every one of them was not that precious. Just when she was almost out of juice, she suddenly recalled that she had accidentally stumbled across a small, colorful foil packet when she went into her parents’ room to steal the iPad to watch cartoons. Back then, before she’d had a chance to carefully examine it, Qin Zhi’ai had come into the bedroom and discovered her and quickly snatched the packaged condom away from her, saying in an unusually nervous and sharp tone of voice, “Little Peanut, you’re not allowed to touch this so carelessly!” She then hid the packet again in a cabinet that she could lock.

Little Peanut ditched the toys in her hands and began to bite her fingers as she cocked her head to stare at her parents’ bedroom. Her small face had a serious expression as she began to think.

In all the TV shows, things that cannot be carelessly touched and that are also hidden are usually precious, so that colorful little square must be precious.

Little Peanut dramatically nodded her head, becoming increasingly certain of the square’s value.

Great Grandfather said that he would give me a big red packet if I gave him a precious gift. If I gave him many precious gifts, then wouldn’t I be able to get many big red packets?

Thus, on New Year’s Eve, Old Master Gu received a big box of condoms at the dining room table. He looked at all the bright, shiny, small squares with embarrassment on his wrinkled face and, as he was helpless about what to say or do, Little Peanut reached out her tiny hands. “Great Grandfather, that’s a total of a hundred precious gifts. You need to give me a hundred big red packets!”

After saying this, Little Peanut remembered that her mother had taught her that a polite child would thank others after receiving something from them and so, she added on in her most youthful voice, “Thank you, Great Grandfather!”

……