Back Then, I Adored You

This time, Gu Yusheng was unexpectedly patient. He didn’t rush her or show any trace of impatience. He pressed the button in the elevator, and when he saw she had still not arrived as the door was about to close, he had even reached his hand out to prevent the door from closing. After she walked into the elevator, he followed her and stepped into it.

When they arrived on the floor where the party was being held, Gu Yusheng still let her walk out first. However, this time, he didn’t walk ahead of her with quick steps like he had upstairs, but followed her pace to slowly walk into the banquet hall with grace.

Many officials and wealthy people were there, and they couldn’t avoid dealing with these people.

Since the Gu Family had gained fame and prestige in the business circles of Beijing, a steady stream of people went to Gu Yusheng to greet him.

Qin Zhi’ai was afraid that if she made a mistake and embarrassed Gu Yusheng, pissing him off, she would be the one who suffered, so she always had a slight smile on her face no matter how much her stomach hurt. She stood by him mannerly, holding his arm and acting as a beautiful and perfect companion.

When people offered her a toast, she took a sip gracefully, even though the wine was icy.

Fortunately, Gu Yusheng must have been tired after greeting so many people during the dinner that he had attended alone, so when he was done greeting Mr. Zhang, whom he had been cooperating with recently, he detoured to the resting area and sat by Lu Bancheng, who was chatting eloquently with the others.

There were a lot of people, men and women, sitting around that table.

Apart from Lu Bancheng and Wu Hao, who Qin Zhi’ai was familiar with, she had never seen the rest of people there, for they had always hung out with Gu Yusheng alone.

After Gu Yusheng sat down, he took a cigarette out from the case on the table, put it into his mouth, and looked for a lighter.

The lighter was quite far away from him, so when he failed to reach it, Qin Zhi’ai who sat right by his side grabbed the lighter for him. When she handed it to him, he didn’t take it, but moved his head closer to her with the cigarette in his mouth.

Qin Zhi’ai understood what he wanted, but because of the pain in her belly, she flicked the lighter several times before finally lighting it, then moved it to the cigarette.

After he took a deep inhale, the cigarette sparked, so Qin Zhi’ai put the lighter back on the table. At this moment, she had already exhausted all her strength and could no longer pretend to be energetic. For fear that she might be seen through due to the unbearable pain if she continued to stay with Gu Yusheng, she whispered in his ear, “I need to go to the bathroom.”

Gu Yusheng was smoking, but nodded after hearing what she said. Then he took the cigarette between his fingers out of his mouth and exhaled a mess of smoke, responding, “Go ahead.”

…

When Qin Zhi’ai had been accompanying Gu Yusheng to greet the others, she had noticed that in the northernmost part of the banquet hall was a door, behind which was a balcony that was about ten stairs below the floor.

It was hot outside on summer nights, so almost no one would be there. She pretended to walk toward the bathroom after she got Gu Yusheng’s permission, but when she was out of his sight, she turned and walked toward the balcony.