Chapter 3

Chapter 3

After walking for an unknown amount of time, Gu Zhixian spoke up lazily. “Ma’am, how long do you plan on following me? I’m going to call the police.”

“Until you don’t want to die anymore,” I said with a face full of determination. “I’m staying here for three days.”

Gu Zhixian fell silent for a few seconds. For some reason, he suddenly let out a scoff and stopped, waiting for me to catch up to him.

The clear moonlight spilled over his head, giving his features a sense of fractured loneliness. “Didn’t you say you’re my future wife?”

He believed me?

My eyes lit up. “Mhm!”

He gave a faint smile. “Then can you tell me what you like about me?”

His tone was laced with mockery, yet it also carried a hidden, barely perceptible trace of hope.

Having been ignored and loathed by his parents for so long, he didn’t believe anyone could actually like someone like him.

My chest felt a sharp pang of pain. I looked at him and said, “The future you… you’ll scoop up a puppy that fell into a puddle and hold it in your arms to shield it from the rain. You’ll live frugally just to spend a month’s salary on its medical bills. You’ll buy out an entire cart of green beans from an old man on a rainy day. Even though you nearly drowned as a child and have recurring nightmares about it, when you see someone accidentally fall into the water, you’ll jump in to save her without a second thought.”

I didn’t tell him that I was the girl he saved.

I spoke with the utmost sincerity. “The future you is a very kind, very good person. Because you suffered and endured hardships yourself, you’ll sponsor thousands of students from impoverished families. Later on, you’ll even donate tens of millions to your alma mater to establish a scholarship named after yourself.”

Gu Zhixian looked at me without saying a word.

But I keenly noticed a flush of crimson creeping up his neck.

I gave a soft laugh and tilted my head to look at him. “It’s because you’re so wonderful that I like you so much.”

He uncomfortably turned his head away.

“We met at a social mixer. You were really cold and aloof back then. I had to ask for your contact information twice before you gave it to me, and I was even the one who confessed first. Later, when we got close, you claimed it was love at first sight for you.”

All of this was what I had heard from others.

Gu Zhixian was a prominent figure in university. Back then, the story of the Journalism Department’s ‘department flower’ chasing him had been the talk of the town.

It was also at that time that I had completely given up hope.

“You’re a very responsible boyfriend. You’ll keep track of my period in a notebook. Knowing how clumsy I am, you’ll prepare pads and chocolate for me in advance. When I lose my temper because of cramps, you never blame me. Once, when we went hiking with a club, the two of us took a tumble while playing around. You carried me on your back the whole way. It wasn’t until we got back that I realized your body was covered in bruises and your knees were scraped raw, yet you hadn’t said a single word.”

As I smiled, my eyes welled up with tears.

I had been there that day, but I wasn’t the protagonist.

That day, I watched as he carefully hoisted that girl onto his back and carried her tirelessly the entire way. The beautiful young couple looked like a perfect match.

As the sun dipped below the horizon, my raw, bittersweet crush was buried along with the fading light.

For all these years, I had always played the role of a bystander witnessing their love story.

There was something different in the way Gu Zhixian looked at me now. He asked, “What’s your name?”

I spoke slowly. “Tong Xi.”

Tong Xi-that was the name of his future wife.