Chapter 35 A Late Night Call

Shi Yitong was not a sensitive man. He fell asleep in just a few minutes and started snoring loudly. Since I had something weighing heavily on my mind, and also because of his snoring, I couldn’t sleep at all.

I tossed and turned on my bed before giving up on sleeping. I took out my phone from under the pillow.

There was no notification shown on the screen, let alone missed calls or unread messages.

It had been a whole day since I arrived at Mt.Diecui, and Wen Jiubo didn’t try to contact me on my phone.

He didn’t even ask me where I was going before I left, or perhaps he already knew where I was going through his otherworldly connections.

Or maybe, it was just that he never cared about where I was.

I laughed at myself. Yeah, Wen Jiubo was that kind of person. He always thought he was superior to everyone else. He would only show his smile to people he believed to be useful to him and would be cold to the ones he deemed worthless.

When thinking it over, I thought I was probably like one of the poker cards in his hand. When I was useful, he would play this card, but when I was not, he would throw it away.

I quietly stared at the screen and couldn’t help thinking about it over and over again even though I knew it was probably just my imagination. These thoughts in my mind were like sharp needles, deeply stabbing into my heart.

Though I laughed happily when I was with my friends during the day, as soon the night fell, that man’s figure inexplicably lingered in my mind.

His solemn face, his smile, the way he squinted to reveal a sly expression, and his gentleness.

And yet, all of it might just be a lie.

Something warm was dripping down my face. I touched the corner of my eyes and found it was wet.

While I was stuck in my thoughts, the phone suddenly rang. Even when compared to Shi Yitong’s loud snores, the ringtone was deafening.

The screen showed that it was Wen Jiubo.

Wait? Wen Jiubo? Why was he calling me all of a sudden? Why would he decide to call me in the middle of the night instead of during the day?

What was wrong with him?!

I quickly grabbed the phone and held it in my hand, but I wasn’t sure if I should answer it or hang up.

The phone kept vibrating in my hand. However, the moment my finger was about to touch the screen, it stopped.

It only rang for around three seconds before he hung up.

Wen Jiubo! Are you kidding me?!

At that moment, I didn’t know where this newfound courage came from, but I called him back without even thinking about it. And this time, he picked up the phone quickly. However, after he answered, neither Wen Jiubo or I said anything.

Damn. I didn’t know what to say.

What should I say? Should I greet him first? Why did he pick up the phone so quickly? What should I do?

I didn’t know how much time had passed, but when I was about to hang up the phone, Wen Jiubo finally began to talk,

“Gu Yu.”

Wen Jiubo whispered my name softly. However, his gentle whisper magically calmed my nervous heart and gave me the strength to answer.

“En, I’m here,” I murmured while clenching my phone.

“It’s already late, why aren’t you asleep?” Wen Jiubo asked with a smile.

“You’re no different,” I murmured.

“I’m not like you,” Wen Jiubo replied. “You’re young, and it’s not good for you to stay up late at night.”

…Wait, so why did you call me just now?

After hearing his words, I suddenly felt a wave of abhorrence.

“So, you’re calling just to make fun of me?” I replied with a little anger. “If this is the case, you should hang up and go to sleep right now.”

However, Wen Jiubo answered before I hang up the phone, “Gu Yu, I’m sorry.”

As soon as he said ” I’m sorry,” the anger I felt disappeared as if I was a leaky rubber ball. His apology made me feel like I was a troublemaker and he was a reasonable person.

“Are you crying?”

Only after hearing this, I found myself crying again involuntarily.I hurriedly wiped my face with the back of my hand. I then asked angrily, “Why?”

Wen Jiubo was silent.

“Why didn’t you ask where I went? Why didn’t you call me? Why didn’t you ask me anything lately?” I raised my voice. “Aren’t you curious at all? Didn’t you have some suspicions? Or maybe you never cared about where I am and what I’m doing? You never care about these things, do you?”

Wen Jiubo didn’t answer, and his silence almost drove me crazy. However, before I decided to break this silence and say something harsher, he suddenly opened his mouth.

“No, it’s not like that,” He whispered.

“So what is it?!” His attitude angered me. Later on, I realized that if Shi Yitong weren’t such a heavy sleeper, I would’ve probably woken him up.

“Are you saying, you don’t know the reason?” Though his tone didn’t change, I could feel that he was restraining his anger. “It’s because you refuse to tell me.”

I was dumbfounded and speechless.

“You refused to come to the old residence; you didn’t want to speak to me, and you refused to tell me where you went. I’m more perceptive than you are, so I can tell.” Wen Jiubo lowered his voice and said, “During those last few days, you avoided me on purpose. You tried your best not to speak to me or meet me. You suddenly said you were going to visit a place without telling me in advance. So do you still think I should shamelessly ask you where you went and what you were doing?”

I was totally dumbfounded.

This probably was the first time that Wen Jiubo behaved like a normal human being and lost his temper. However, he lost it for such a petty thing.

He was like a normal human being…and was angry at me because of some misunderstanding.

So did Wen Jiubo think in the way as I did? Did he think that I went on a trip with my friends because I didn’t want to speak to him?

“I…” I stammered, “I never thought that…”

“You didn’t give me a chance to explain, and now you blame me for not explaining myself?” He retorted angrily, “Are you a three-year-old child? Do you need your mother to explain everything to you? Why do you never think about what you have done?!”

“No, you don’t understand!” I hurriedly refuted, “I just…I just…”

“Just what?” Wen Jiubo’s voice was cold.

“I just…” I hesitated but decided to tell him the truth. “I just can’t trust you.”

There was a silence between us that lasted for a while.

“So, let me guess,” Wen Jiubo began to talk again. “Rather than hanging out with your friends, you went out to investigate my identity, right?”

“En.” I was forced to admit.

“The reason why you hid from me and refused to come to the old residence was because I didn’t tell you my identity, right?”

“…Yes,” Once again I was forced to admit to it.

“Wow… I didn’t expect that little Gu Yu was such a sensitive child.” I heard some giggles coming from the other side.

Hold on…did Wen Jiubo’s tone suddenly change to the playful one I’m familiar with?

I almost could picture how he was speaking to me with a sly smile on his face on the other side of the phone.

“I see. So can I ask, Little Gu Yu, do you have any idea about my identity?”

I nodded nervously. Then I realized that I was speaking to him through the phone and he couldn’t see me nod.

“Uh…yes.”

“What is it?”

Wen Jiubo was leading me around by the nose now, while I had to answer all his questions.

“Em… Bai Ze,” I answered nervously. I paid close attention to his response to get some clues.

“I see,” Wen Jiubo said pretentiously. “In your eyes, I’m such a powerful being.”

I couldn’t help but ask, “Are you?”

“Well… who knows?” Wen Jiubo purposefully dragged his words. “Maybe I am, maybe I’m not.”

Not again! Why is he so shameless?!

“However, Gu Yu, if this is what you want, I won’t stop you.”

I was dumbfounded after hearing this; I didn’t expect Wen Jiubo would say something like that.

“What?”

“I said, if this is what you want, you’re free to do whatever you want.” Wen Jiubo said slowly. He seemed not angry at all. “You’re right. You don’t understand me, so you have every right to doubt me. Since you want to know my identity, you and your friends are free to investigate. I won’t stop you.”

“Why don’t you just tell me?!” I blurted out.

Wen Jiubo remained silent for a moment. I didn’t know what he was thinking.

“I have my reasons.” In the end, he said, “Like you have your reasons to investigate. Gu Yu, I won’t force you to believe me, but I want you to know that, whether or not you know my identity or my past, I will never, ever hurt you. In this world, you’re the only person I cherish. This is the only thing I want you to know.

My face immediately blushed. Why did this man always say embarrassing things with a straight face? And as if it was normal nonetheless!

“I know! Stop talking like that!” I hurriedly interrupted him in case he was going to say something strange again.