Back Then, I Adored You

The private room was so noisy that although Qin Zhi’ai was sitting next to Gu Yusheng, she couldn’t clearly hear their conversation.

And as for Gu Yusheng, all his attention was on the person he was talking to, so he did not at all notice the extra chair that had appeared beside him.

It wasn’t until someone recognized Qin Zhi’ai as Liang Doukou and ran over to clink glasses with her, shouting out Liang Doukou’s name, that Gu Yusheng suddenly paused in the act of stubbing out his cigarette in an ashtray.

After a few seconds, he slowly turned his head and started looking over Qin Zhi’ai quietly.

Aware of Gu Yusheng’s eyes on her, Qin Zhi’ai, who had just gotten ready to stand up and clink glasses with others, suddenly became a little stiff.

But fortunately, just like when she was leaving the airport, Gu Yusheng’s line of sight only stayed on her for a little while.

Gu Yusheng didn’t strike up any conversation with her, and Qin Zhi’ai, naturally, didn’t have the courage to provoke him.

He acted as if she didn’t exist and continued to chat with the person beside him.

Qin Zhi’ai pretended to be calm. She clinked glasses with the person who had come up to her and finished the wine in her glass. As she put down the glass, Qin Zhi’ai stole glances at Gu Yusheng from the corner of her eye.

She didn’t know if it was just an illusion, but she felt that Gu Yusheng, who had been so relaxed just now, was now acting somewhat cold.

The person who was chatting with Gu Yusheng caught her looking, and when Gu Yusheng was getting a new cigarette from his case, he suddenly asked out loud, “Do you know her?”

“No,” Gu Yusheng’s reply was muffled as he was lighting his new cigarette in his mouth.

“Well, I thought you knew each other, ’cause she just looked at you.” The person added on, probably thinking that Qin Zhi’ai, who was talking to someone else, couldn’t hear him.

Gu Yusheng smoked on the cigarette, then took it out of his mouth with his fingers. He sneered lightly and with obvious disgust, said, “Can we not talk about things that make people sick?”

Qin Zhi’ai had heard everything that the two talked about, and upon hearing Gu Yusheng’s last sentence, her fingers trembled for a moment, and wine from her glass splashed onto Gu Yusheng’s shirt cuff.

“I’m sorry…” Qin Zhi’ai hurriedly drew a tissue and reached out to wipe Gu Yusheng’s cuff.

The tissue was still a great distance away from Gu Yusheng, but like he was faced with a viper, he jerked his hand away, stood up, and kicked his chair away, saying, “Excuse me,” to the person beside him and quickly turning to leave the room.

Gu Yusheng never came back.

Qin Zhi’ai had, of course, seen that Gu Yusheng hadn’t come back because she was present.

When the dinner was approaching its end, Qin Zhi’ai used her weariness from the long-distance flight as an excuse and left after informing Zhou Jing.

Because of what she had drank, Qin Zhi’ai fell asleep in bed immediately after she reached home.

When evening came, Qin Zhi’ai was woken up by a phone call from Zhou Jing, “I drank too much, come and pick me up…” Zhou Jing gave her an address in a lisp, then hung up.

The address that Zhou Jing had spoken of was a private villa which Qin Zhi’ai had been to once before, so she was familiar with its location and found it with ease.

Just as Qin Zhi’ai was getting out of her car, she saw Gu Yusheng through the villa fence. He was leaning on a sycamore tree in the villa courtyard and talking on the phone.