“Shen Wanqing, Sicheng doesn’t like you at all. He only got together with you because of a bet he made with us.”
“We were bored and happened to notice that you were secretly watching him, so we bet that there was no way he would date a poor and ordinary girl like you.”
“We never expected him to agree to date you just to spite us.”
“But he said he would only play around with you for a month. He wouldn’t kiss you or touch you. If you don’t believe me, listen to this recording…”
In the recording, the man’s voice sounded young and cold, carrying an arrogant sense of superiority.
“Playing with a good girl? I’m actually a little interested…”
In the middle of the night, Shen Wanqing suddenly jolted awake. She hurriedly turned on the light in her room and sat up. Only then did she feel a little better.
She had dreamed about what happened during her senior year of high school again.
Although five years had already passed, she could never forget what had happened that year. It always came back to torment her.
During her senior year of high school, Shen Wanqing had suddenly experienced her first taste of love and fallen for the most popular boy in school, Huo Sicheng.
However, she had never confessed her feelings. She had only secretly admired him.
Unexpectedly, Huo Sicheng suddenly asked to meet her alone and asked if she wanted to be his girlfriend.
She had been so overwhelmed by happiness that she had blushed and agreed.
After that, Huo Sicheng often took her out to have fun, but his friends always looked at her strangely and made sarcastic remarks whenever they spoke to her.
Huo Sicheng never stopped them. Shen Wanqing was too embarrassed to make a fuss, so she silently endured it all.
Before she knew it, she and Huo Sicheng had been a couple for a month.
Then Huo Sicheng’s childhood friend invited her to meet at a dessert shop.
His childhood friend told her the whole truth.
She also played the recording for her.
Shen Wanqing did not dare to believe it, but she had no choice but to accept the truth.
That night, she asked Huo Sicheng to meet her. She had intended to question him, but he brought up breaking up first.
It was the weekend.
She had spent the day working at a restaurant because she knew his birthday was approaching and wanted to buy him a birthday present.
But after learning the truth that day, she became distracted while working at the restaurant and badly burned her arm.
When she heard him say that they were breaking up, she suddenly felt there was no point in blaming him anymore.
She hid her injured hand behind her back and simply said, “Okay.”
Huo Sicheng did not return to school the next day.
Later, she heard that he and his group of wealthy friends had gone abroad to attend university.
Now, Shen Wanqing had finished high school, finished university, and had been working as an ordinary employee at a design company for a year.
She did not know what was wrong with her lately. She kept dreaming about what had happened during her senior year of high school.
Although she still hated Huo Sicheng, she no longer wanted to dream about anything related to him.
Shen Wanqing closed her eyes and tried to hypnotize herself into going back to sleep.
Before long, she finally fell into a deep sleep again.
The next time Shen Wanqing woke up, it was because her phone was ringing.
She answered the call and spoke groggily.
“Who is this?”
Shen’s Mother shouted energetically, “Why are you still in bed? Didn’t you promise to go on a blind date today?”
Shen Wanqing instantly woke up completely and sat upright.
She remembered that yesterday had been Friday. Her mother had called her and said that there was an exceptionally good young man who was from the same hometown as their family. He was currently working in Jingcheng just like Shen Wanqing, and he was single. Her mother had asked her to go on a blind date with him.
Ever since she graduated last year, Shen’s Mother had constantly urged her to get married. Shen Wanqing had been pressured into it, so she had agreed to her mother yesterday.
But she thought to herself that she did not want to get married so soon. She was only going through the motions.
She gave an awkward laugh.
“Mom, stop rushing me. I’ll get up right away. I’ll go on the blind date right away.”
Shen Wanqing quickly got out of bed, washed up, and changed her clothes.
Although it was summer, she did not own any short-sleeved clothes.
Her arm had been badly burned back then, leaving behind an ugly scar.
Although the doctor had said it could be removed, the treatment would cost a lot of money. Her family could not afford it, and she was unwilling to spend that much money either. So even when it was unbearably hot, she could only wear thin long sleeves to cover the scar.
Shen Wanqing wore a thin white long-sleeved shirt with jeans and a pair of black-and-white canvas shoes. She slung a small white bag over her shoulder and left the house.
An hour later, Shen Wanqing sat in a beautifully decorated café, waiting for her blind date.
She did not notice that someone at the café counter had widened his eyes after seeing her.
“Old Lin, look over there. Do you see who that is?” a chubby young man asked excitedly.
Beside him, a young man with dyed red hair lazily yawned.
“Who?”
The next second, the red-haired man, Lin Xi, widened his eyes.
“That woman… Why does she feel so familiar?”
The chubby man, Zhang Fengyan, lowered his voice and said slyly, “Do you remember that girl we schemed against with Brother Cheng during our senior year of high school?”
Lin Xi froze for a moment.
Zhang Fengyan continued on his own.
“This woman looks exactly like that girl. She must be her. I think her name was Shen Wanqing…”
Lin Xi frowned.
“I do remember there was someone like that, but I don’t remember what she looked like. I do think this woman looks a lot like all the women Ah Cheng has dated over the past few years…”
Zhang Fengyan let out a gasp and stared at Lin Xi in shock.
“Could it be that Brother Cheng has always been in love with her, and all the women he found over the years were just her substitutes?”
Curiosity appeared in Lin Xi’s eyes.
“How about we send this woman’s blind-date photo to Ah Cheng and see what happens?”
Zhang Fengyan rubbed his hands together.
“Sure, sure.”
.
Jingcheng, Huo Family Manor.
Huo Sicheng had not slept properly for several days.
At this moment, he was lying on the bed. He had just taken sleeping pills and was lying there with his eyes closed, trying to fall asleep.
There was also a young and beautiful woman beside his bed.
Upon closer inspection, the woman did indeed look very much like Shen Wanqing, especially around the mouth.
But no one was paying attention to her at the moment.
She quietly sat beside the bed, keeping the handsome man company.
Suddenly, the man opened his eyes and looked at her darkly.
“You can leave.”
The woman froze for a moment, but she did not dare question him. She hurriedly stood up and quietly left.
After the woman was gone, Huo Sicheng sat up and irritably picked up his phone.
For some unknown reason, he had suddenly developed a serious illness over the past few years: severe insomnia.
He always found it difficult to fall asleep. Even when he occasionally managed to do so, he would quickly wake up and then remain unable to sleep despite feeling exhausted.
Moreover, whenever he managed to fall asleep and get some rest for a short while, it was because someone was beside him.
Only when someone accompanied him could he sleep.
Without the company of these women, he simply could not sleep.
Over the past few years, he had dated many girlfriends.
He never kissed or slept with them because he could not feel any desire toward these women.
Yet he needed them to quietly stay beside him so that he could fall asleep.
However, these so-called girlfriends had very short shelf lives.
For example, the woman he had just sent away had only been his girlfriend for a week, yet she had already stopped being able to help him sleep.
This could not continue.
He did not want to die suddenly because his exhaustion had gone untreated.
Suddenly, a new message appeared on his phone.
Huo Sicheng opened the chat and discovered that it was a message and a photo from his friend, Lin Xi.
Lin Xi: [Ah Cheng, doesn’t this girl look like your girlfriends? She seems to be on a blind date. Don’t you think the man she’s meeting is not good enough for her?]
Like his girlfriends?
Huo Sicheng thought of the woman he had just driven away.
His gaze shifted to the photo.