Back Then, I Adored You

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio  Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

“She was completely covered in bruises when she came over that day. Her face was swollen, her lip was split, and her elbows were frail and covered in blood.

“I was terrified at that moment. I consoled her for a very long time before she eventually told me the bits and pieces of what all had happened to her during the years she’d been married to Lin Mo…

“It took me 10 years to realize that what I had believed was completely false. Lin Mo had been a beast toward her and treated her like subhuman. He beat her up any and every time he was in a bad mood.”

Zhang Lin had become extremely angry by now, and she was tightly clenching her teeth, whereas Qin Jiayan’s throat was raw and parched, but he couldn’t force himself to swallow, which left him feeling choked and unable to breathe.

“I told Su Qing to divorce him, and if she couldn’t, then she should leave his house instead of staying in that hell. She cupped her face and began to cry when I told her this. She said that when she’d had a chance to leave in the past, she had committed to stay with the Lin family, that that was the only way she could remain in Beijing and that someday she needed to see for herself that you were happy in life…

“And now that she had seen you and knew that you were happy, she could no longer leave Lin Mo.”

Back then, she rejected me when I went to look for her. I thought that she was being heartless but, now that I think about it, I never believed that could be true…

Qin Jiayan asked anxiously, “Why not?”

“Mr. Qin, you and Su Qing have already done it, haven’t you?”

Because she was afraid that Qin Jiayan might not understand what she was alluding to, she added, “I mean what married couples do?”

Qin Jiayan nodded his head.

Zhang Lin continued. “After Su Qing returned to the Lin family that night, she initiated a divorce for the first time. The Lin family was livid. It had been incredibly difficult for Lin Mo to marry a woman, even in name only, so why would they let Su Qing off the hook? During the argument that night, Mother Lin took out photographs of you taking Su Qing to your apartment to spend the night.”

“You are Su Qing’s Achilles heel. No matter how resolute she had been about the divorce, her hope to get one vanished the moment she saw those photos. She was terrified that the Lin family would widely distribute them among the social networks of the noble and prestigious families throughout Beijing. She felt that it had been difficult enough for you to reach the status you had, and she refused to let your reputation suffer in any way because of her.

“That day, she sobbed and told me many things. Toward the end, she asked me what she should do. She said that Lin Mo could abuse her at any moment and that she was genuinely afraid that he would hurt the child she was carrying.”

As Zhang Lin said this, her eyes turned red. “At that point in time, she was actually still concerned about your child and not herself.”

“I had neither money nor power, so how could I help her? I thought hard, and eventually I thought about you. I encouraged her to discuss it with you, thinking that was the only way she might possibly save herself as well as your child.

“She was very hesitant, but I eventually convinced her. Ultimately, though, because of Lin Mo’s abuse, she did have a miscarriage before she had a chance to. I was so very worried about her, I hurried to Beijing and stayed in the hospital with her until she recovered.

“When I got back home, I called her often, so I was aware of the fact that she had bumped into you when she was at the hospital administration office settling her bill. I also knew that she had tailed you for an entire day, until she eventually had a chance to talk to you privately at the mall… I had thought that she would have brought this up to you then, and I couldn’t understand why she hadn’t after she had mustered up the courage to stop you…

“It was only two days ago that I finally realized that she never intended to discuss the matter with you even though she had promised me she would.

“It was because she didn’t have the courage. She knew those photographs would haunt you, and she did not dare to let that happen.

“When I was in Beijing, she appeared to be fine, but two days after I left, she was gone…”