It was a call from Lu Bancheng.
Xu Wennuan spaced out for quite some time, to the point that Lu Bancheng thought that she was asleep and wasn’t hearing her phone ring, so he eventually ended the call.
After a few seconds, when her phone vibrated in her palms, she focused her eyes on the screen and saw that it was a message from Lu Bancheng.
“It’s my mother’s birthday tomorrow. Do you have some time in the afternoon to accompany me to go meet her?”
Upon thinking through her history with his parents, beyond having met them a few times during the month before they had obtained her official marriage certificate, his parents had been traveling and she had not seen them for the past three months.
Although their current relationship was as good as not being married, the million dollars he’d given to her at the beginning of their agreement had helped her tremendously in a difficult situation. Regardless of the many unhappy incidents they’d experienced, she knew she had to fulfill her end of the agreement.
Xu Wennuan pursed her lips and stared at her cell phone screen for a long time before she eventually unlocked her phone and replied, “Got it.”
After the screen indicated that her message had been read, she received a call from Lu Bancheng again. After briefly hesitating, Xu Wennuan accepted the call.
She did not make a sound before, without addressing her by name, he got straight to the point. “It’s Saturday tomorrow. You don’t have to work, right? I’ll head over to your house to pick you up at 10:00 a.m. Do you have any problems with that?”
“No.”
Lu Bancheng paused after her one-word answer and then continued. “I’ve prepared a birthday gift on your behalf.”
Xu Wennuan did not reply.
Both ends of the call sunk into heavy silence. After a few seconds, Lu Bancheng went on and muttered “okay” before he ended the call without another word.
……
That night, Xu Wennuan felt a sense of stuffiness in her chest, making it exceptionally uneasy to sleep. Having to pretend to be an intimate married couple bothered her throughout the night and got her out of bed very early the next morning. Although they had arranged to meet at 10:00 a.m., Lu Bancheng arrived 20 minutes early.
Xu Wennuan continued preparing to leave for 10 minutes before she took the elevator to the ground floor. Upon exiting the entrance to her neighborhood, she caught sight of the Lu Bancheng’s car parked on the side of the road with its hazard lights blinking. She stopped in her tracks subconsciously and stared at his car for some time before she finally inhaled and slowly walked toward it.
As she was about to reach the car, Lu Bancheng, who was sitting inside, noticed her through the window. With little change in expression, he quickly retracted his gaze, reached out his arm, and mindlessly pressed the button to unlock the car.
When Xu Wennuan heard the quick pop of the doors unlocking, she didn’t greet Lu Bancheng before pulling open the car door and getting in. As she fastened her seat belt, Lu Bancheng picked up an intricate bag beside him and held it before Xu Wennuan’s eyes. “The birthday gift,” he stated. Xu Wennuan took it from him without a word.
Lu Bancheng also remained silent as he gently stepped on the accelerator and drove skillfully while staring straight ahead at the road. Although they didn’t exchange a single word, Xu Wennuan felt an indescribable sense of anxiety coursing through her, even as they merely sat next to each other in silence.
Despite being an extremely hot summer day, Xu Wennuan could not help but reach out and roll down her window a few inches when the car stopped at a traffic light.
