After the Most Hated Persona Faked Their Death, the Ex-Husband Lost His Mind - Chapter 1

Li Zhi: “Come! I am taking you to see your father, your real father!”

“Every person’s name is unique. Every individual is one of a kind. Each child is born into this world full of great love and grows up amidst the boundless affection of their parents. Your names are the beginning of that love; they are the greatest proof of its existence.”

To a group of first-grade children, these words were far too profound. The weather was sweltering, and the old electric fan buzzed overhead. Its steady hum acted as a lullaby.

Li Zhi lay sprawled across his desk, his sweaty arms sticking to the wooden surface. He stared unblinkingly at the teacher who was speaking eloquently at the podium, yet he only half-understood her words.

The teacher enthusiastically performed her monologue for a while. Seeing the vast majority of her students wilting like sun-scorched weeds, she shook her head in disappointment, clearly feeling they were beyond help.

“Remember to go home and ask your parents why they gave you your name,” she said, using the simplest terms possible to conclude a lesson she found quite deflating.

This time, Li Zhi understood perfectly. He was an irreproachable good boy. While the other students stayed after class to play with slingshots or kick soccer balls, seven-year-old Li Zhi slung on the backpack his mother had scavenged from a flea market and walked, step by step, toward her.

“Mom,” Li Zhi called out.

Wang Xiaochun was playing cards. She did not even look up as she sensed her son’s arrival. With a cigarette dangling from her mouth, she asked irritably, “What!”

“I have a question for you.” When Wang Xiaochun played cards, she was like a lit firecracker; she was someone you did not dare provoke. Li Zhi was a bit terrified of his mother and did not dare speak loudly. The question sat stuck in his throat like a muffled sigh.

Wang Xiaochun raised her thin eyebrows. Her hands, sporting bright red nail polish, shuffled the mahjong tiles with a loud clatter. “Do not annoy me. Wait a moment; I do not have time right now!”

Li Zhi nodded. Habitually, he pulled up a plastic stool and sat beside her. He inhaled an unknown amount of secondhand smoke before he finally saw Wang Xiaochun’s face light up with joy. She pushed the tiles forward. “Pong! I win!”

“Hurry up, pay up!” She stood up with a radiant face, stretching out both hands. Her fellow players hissed in annoyance, reluctantly handing over the money.

Wang Xiaochun took the cash and stuffed it into her pocket. She looked up at the sky and told her friends, “Alright! It is getting late. That is it for today. We will meet again next time!”

She turned to lead Li Zhi away, but before they had gone two steps, the three other players behind her began to shout. “What is the rush? Look at the time! Play a little longer!”

Wang Xiaochun waved them off politely. “No, I am going back.”

The players were not having it. One complained, “Xiaochun, how can you be like this? You win money and immediately run off. Your sportsmanship is terrible! Next time, we will not ask you to play!”

Wang Xiaochun snorted disdainfully, pretending not to hear, and kept walking.

The heat was enough to make anyone’s temper flare. The other players were also hot-headed, and seeing her lack of cooperation, they threw a few insults. One man said something so particularly foul that it provoked Wang Xiaochun to snap back.

“What are you screaming about!” Wang Xiaochun was fierce. Her eyebrows arched as she prepared for a fight. “You old bastard, you should watch your mouth! These legs belong to me; it is none of your business when I decide to leave! You think I actually enjoy playing with a bunch of nobodies like you?”

The player who had spoken so maliciously was an old man known for his sharp tongue. Now, his face turned the color of pig liver from rage, yet he could not get a single word out.

The other two players, fearing he might have a heart attack, rushed over to calm him down. One spat on the ground and cursed, “Damn it! She is a crazy woman. She really thinks she is someone special!”

Despite their words, their eyes remained glued to Wang Xiaochun’s departing figure. Their gaze was nakedly predatory, and even after she had walked several meters away, she could still feel it. She frowned in disgust. “Trash!”

Li Zhi held Wang Xiaochun’s hand. He looked back at the shirtless man and then at Wang Xiaochun’s clenched jaw. He knew that although his mother and the old men had parted on bad terms today, the next time they were missing a fourth player, the man would still find an excuse to invite her out.

And Wang Xiaochun would still go because this was her job. She had been disconnected from society for too many years and could not find a respectable job. Fortunately, her mahjong skills were exceptional, and the money she won helped support the household.

Unfortunately, in this neighborhood, aside from those lecherous men, no one was willing to play with her.

Wang Xiaochun herself, along with her son Li Zhi and even her husband, was very unpopular in this cramped, narrow-minded, and economically backward residential area. There were two reasons for this.

First, Wang Xiaochun was too beautiful. Li Zhi always felt she looked like a Hong Kong superstar from the 90s.

Second, and more importantly, Wang Xiaochun had previously been a mistress to a wealthy man.

Born in the Southwest, Wang Xiaochun was the middle child with an older brother and a younger brother. Her parents, poisoned by the mindset of favoring boys over girls, gave all their love to her brothers and saved all their scolding for their daughter.

Wang Xiaochun dropped out before finishing junior high because the family could not afford it. She helped around the house for a few years. When she reached eighteen, she accidentally overheard her parents discussing selling her to a fifty-year-old widower in the village to pay for her older brother’s marriage dowry. Terrified, she stole some money and ran away.

Though she was not well-educated, Wang Xiaochun had a lot of grit. She hated her parents for treating her like a source of income for all those years. She stole a significant amount of money and fled to S City, never contacting those two parents again.

With no degree and no connections, Wang Xiaochun was just a country girl. However, her beauty was her saving grace. She was hired as an elevator girl in a five-star hotel.

That was where she met Zhou Guoxiong. He claimed to be a single multi-millionaire. He was groomed like a gentleman and told her every day that he loved her. Wang Xiaochun fell for it; she was completely enchanted.

Uneducated and easily influenced, Wang Xiaochun was dazzled by the glamour of S City. She was blinded by the constant stream of large diamond rings and designer bags. She believed the man’s lies, thinking he would marry her, until she was slapped awake by Zhou Guoxiong’s pregnant wife.

All her expensive gifts were taken away, and Wang Xiaochun became destitute once more. The sweet, wealthy days turned into a hollow dream.

After separating from Zhou Guoxiong, she realized she was pregnant. Wang Xiaochun was at a dead end; she even considered ending her life.

It was then that she met Li’s father, who worked on a construction site. He was captivated by her beauty and fell completely under her spell. They soon married.

Li’s father was the quintessential honest man. He knew she was pregnant and did not mind. He happily brought Wang Xiaochun back to his dilapidated neighborhood.

Initially, everyone in the neighborhood was envious of Li’s father for marrying such a goddess. Later, when the story of Wang Xiaochun’s past spread, they both became targets of public scorn. Back then, premarital pregnancy was a major scandal; someone like Wang Xiaochun was considered even worse.

The couple was constantly criticized behind their backs. From the time Li Zhi was born until he grew up, they simply became used to it. Wang Xiaochun stubbed out her cigarette and asked her son, “What were you saying earlier?”

“Why am I called Li Zhi?” Li Zhi asked.

Wang Xiaochun sniffled and thought for a moment. “You were born in July. It was hot, and there were cicadas buzzing outside the hospital. I was so annoyed; I felt you were the reincarnation of a cicada, so I named you Li Zhi.”

Wang Xiaochun gave Li Zhi a very casual start to his life. Li Zhi did not know what to say to that.

That evening, when Li’s father came home and the three of them ate dinner together, Li Zhi asked his father the same question. His father chuckled honestly. “I hope you gain much knowledge and become a useful talent for the country!”

Wang Xiaochun, holding her bowl, rolled her eyes beside them.

Later, when the teacher asked again, Li Zhi gave his father’s explanation. However, in his heart, he always felt that the true meaning of his name was what his mother said: a cicada.

But being a cicada was not so bad. Li Zhi had very low demands for everything. Having enough to eat and wear was sufficient. His father treated him as if he were his own flesh and blood.

He felt he had a very happy home, a family of three. He had a mother who was shrewd and fierce, an honest and hardworking father, and himself, who was quite obedient.

Li Zhi had learned in math class that a triangle is the most stable shape. He felt his family was a stable triangle. Although they were poor, everyone fulfilled their roles and the home would not collapse. But he never expected that his father would leave.

During the winter break of Li Zhi’s second year of middle school, his father was hit in the head by a steel bar at the construction site and died instantly. The contractor fled, and there was no one to claim compensation from. Wang Xiaochun ran around every day seeking justice, her eyes nearly blind from crying.

Life at home became very tight. When the pillar of the family collapsed, the home fell apart. Wang Xiaochun’s personality changed drastically, becoming aggressive. She had always been fierce, but not like this; hitting and scolding Li Zhi became a daily occurrence. If anything went wrong, she would kick and beat him.

Li Zhi’s face and body were always covered in bruises and wounds. The story of his family’s misfortune spread, and his classmates always looked at him with pitying eyes.

At this age, everyone is at their most sensitive. Li Zhi did not know when he started letting his hair grow long. His old-fashioned black-framed glasses seemed to be welded to his face. He always walked with a hunched back, hugging the walls. If anyone looked at him, Li Zhi would feel a tingling sensation all over his body, as if he were being pricked by thorns.

He was even less sure of when Wang Xiaochun managed to crawl out of the mire of grief. She began to dress herself up and go out frequently. She was radiant.

The movie-star-like Wang Xiaochun stood next to the cowering Li Zhi, whose face was mostly hidden by messy hair. No one would have guessed they were mother and son.

However, Wang Xiaochun seemed very excited and did not care about the contrast. On a particularly scorching morning, she did something unprecedented and grand: she hailed a taxi to take Li Zhi to a strange place.

The place was lush with green grass. Through a complex wrought-iron gate, Li Zhi saw a massive, white fountain in the center and a castle-like manor behind it that he had only ever seen in movies.

Li Zhi had never seen a real castle, but he felt this place was like a palace, grand and spectacular. He was stunned.

Just then, Wang Xiaochun walked over. When the security guard saw her, he actually nodded with a smile. “Sister! You have come!”

Wang Xiaochun tucked her hair behind her ear. “I am here to see Guoxiong!”

The guard gave a somewhat awkward smile. “Sister, could you wait a moment? Right now, it might not be very convenient.” He lowered his voice. “The young master has invited some classmates over to play today!”

Wang Xiaochun was displeased. “Guoxiong made an appointment with me for today!”

“Right now!” she added loudly.

The guard knew her temper and did not dare provoke her. Since she insisted, he opened the gate and let the mother and son in. Wang Xiaochun grabbed the dazed Li Zhi with one hand and clutched a kraft paper envelope in the other.

With her chin tilted slightly up, she marched forward like a female warrior. She said to Li Zhi, “Come! I am taking you to see your father, your real father!”