After the Most Hated Persona Faked Their Death, the Ex-Husband Lost His Mind - Chapter 16

“Is there something wrong with your brain?”

Brahms’s Hungarian Dance No. 5, a world-renowned classical masterpiece, filled the air.

The hall was so silent that one could hear a pin drop. As the dark red velvet curtains were drawn back, the conductor, dressed in a black and white tuxedo, stood straight at the front. With the fall of the baton, the music rose in unison, and the beautiful melody poured out like flowing water.

The music shifted in intensity; the rhythm was at times passionate and at times soothing. The expressions of everyone on stage were solemn and captivated; each person seemed to glow with their own light.

Gong Jie sat near the front as the associate principal of the first violins. She sat poised, immersed in the music like a beautiful princess. Her love for the violin was unquestionable; music was her lifelong pursuit.

“The violin is my dream,” Gong Jie once told Li Zhi. “Even if I become a beggar one day, I will keep playing.”

When she spoke, her eyes sparkled. She had asked him, “Li Zhi, is there anything you love?”

That question caught Li Zhi off guard. He had never considered it. Gong Jie tried a different approach: “What do you want to do in the future?”

The future, he had imagined it. Li Zhi answered honestly, “I want to write a book, recording all the good and bad things that have happened over these years.”

Li Zhi paused. Gong Jie listened intently, waiting for him to continue. “And then?”

“And then I discover I have a terminal illness. Finally, on the last day of my twenty-fifth year, I die of illness in a foreign land.”

He still remembered Gong Jie’s expression back then: stunned, with visible sadness. She had slapped his shoulder hard. “What kind of nonsense are you talking?”

“Spit it out! Cancel that thought!”

“Li Zhi,” Gong Jie said with utmost gravity, “you will be happy and joyful.”

Is that so? I hope so.

The music gradually became gentle, and the sound of another instrument began to stand out. Unlike the infectious melody of the violin, the sound of the double bass was deep and rich, like an elegant noble gentleman with his chin slightly raised.

He was proud, refusing to approach from afar. People could only see a glimpse of his silhouette, so ethereal that one could not be sure if he was truly standing there.

Even Li Zhi could not figure out when his gaze had drifted away from Gong Jie and settled on Chu Mingzhang in the back right.

The lights spilled over him like moonlight. He had taken off his suit jacket, and his vest accentuated his healthy, upright physique. His snow-white shirt sleeves were rolled up, and the muscles in his arms tensed as he pressed the strings, looking strong and beautiful.

It was truly, truly, Li Zhi could not even find a suitable word to describe it.

Even when the conductor lowered his hands, the music ended, and the hall erupted in thunderous applause, Li Zhi remained dazed. A dull ache began to spread across the palm of his left hand.

He quickly looked down and realized that, at some point, he had gripped his own left hand so hard with his right that it was flushed red. Li Zhi stood up in a daze, following the crowd out of the auditorium and toward the banquet hall.

The banquet hall was already decorated. The melodious sound of a saxophone drifted through the room, and a tall foreign woman sang an unknown Scottish folk song. A large open space was left in the middle of the hall for ballroom dancing.

Dancing was an important part of the banquet. Since Li Zhi did not know how to dance, there was no need to join in. He bypassed the area, planning to find some food to pass the time. As he passed the champagne tower, he happened to run into Gong Jie.

Actually, it was not just Gong Jie; there were many people, both men and women, all from the symphony orchestra.

“Li Zhi!” Gong Jie called out to him. “How was it just now?”

“It was great, it sounded very good,” Li Zhi replied with a smile.

“Hi, are you Li Zhi?”

The speaker was a tall boy with handsome features and a relaxed posture, his hand in his pocket. Li Zhi looked at him and felt he looked familiar but could not quite place him. He stared for a moment.

Gong Jie quietly pulled his sleeve and whispered in his ear. Li Zhi suddenly realized that this was the boy Gong Jie liked, the concertmaster of the orchestra. He quickly reached out his hand. “Hello, Senior!”

The senior looked down at his hand for a moment but did not take it. He simply nodded with a smile. “Hello, hi.”

Li Zhi’s hand froze in mid-air. Embarrassed, he gave a dry laugh and began to withdraw it. Just then, he heard a voice from nearby: “You used the wrong hand.”

It was Chu Mingzhang. Li Zhi snapped his head up. Gong Jie also snapped back to reality. “Oh, right. Li Zhi, you should use your right hand.”

Handshake etiquette, no one had ever told Li Zhi about such things. He naturally assumed either hand was fine. Humiliation crawled up his spine like a cold snake, nearly making him flee.

Chu Mingzhang gave a light scoff. Li Zhi was not sure what he was laughing at; perhaps he was mocking his ignorance.

The atmosphere suddenly became awkward until a waiter approached with a tray. Gong Jie’s eyes lit up. “Vanilla puff pastry!”

The banquet desserts were provided by a star-rated hotel. Gong Jie pointed at them and said excitedly to Li Zhi, “Those are incredibly delicious!”

The waiter smiled and walked toward them. Gong Jie and Li Zhi each took one. The senior did not eat sweets. Another girl nearby took one as well. She took a small bite, her eyes lighting up, and turned toward Chu Mingzhang. With slightly flushed cheeks, she asked, “Um, aren’t you going to eat one?”

“These are really good. I remember you like sweets quite a bit.”

Chu Mingzhang liked sweets? It was hard to imagine that such a cold person would enjoy sugary food.

But Chu Mingzhang only glanced at them, appearing uninterested. The girl did not even get a reply and was clearly disappointed.

The senior stepped in to smooth things over. “Hahaha, didn’t you know? Your principal has a thing about germs; he will not eat self-serve food like this. He is afraid someone else might have accidentally touched the dessert.”

“Food, things he uses, clothes, oh, especially clothes! Hahaha, he is particularly fussy about clothes. His clothes have to be washed separately from everyone else’s.”

“If someone else has worn his clothes, Chu Mingzhang will absolutely never want them again. It is not personal, even if his own father wore them, it would be the same.”

“Remember that one time our families went to the island for vacation together?”

“That is enough,” Chu Mingzhang interrupted. He curled his lip slightly. “How long has it been?”

The implication was: why bother mentioning something from so many years ago?

The senior lowered his eyelids and laughed. The laugh was strangely familiar; it was just how Li Zhi had laughed moments ago.

At this moment, Li Zhi’s feelings were incredibly complex. He felt as if he had fallen into a spice jar filled with all sorts of flavors. Trying to distinguish the sour, sweet, bitter, and spicy notes within himself was an exhausting task.

Li Zhi did not know that joy, loneliness, excitement, and cowardice, along with many other conflicting emotions, could be mashed together. His heart had become a box of “Bertie Bott’s Every Flavor Beans”; he could not find a single word to accurately describe the taste.

“So, you have a germaphobia.”

He saw the other man slowly turn his head. Li Zhi looked up at him slightly. His heart was pounding. Scenes kept playing over and over in his mind, from the first time he met Chu Mingzhang until now.

He thought of the white spotlight that had shone on them both earlier, and of Chu Mingzhang bathed in light on stage. Li Zhi could hardly see Chu Mingzhang’s face; it was a white, blurry haze, as if he were not a person but a mass of light.

If I could become a person like Chu Mingzhang, he suddenly thought.

If he could be like him, if he could easily gain the respect and attention of others, if he could be such a handsome and upright person.

Chu Mingzhang only gave him a single glance before walking away. Li Zhi watched his back, his spine damp with sweat from his frantic heartbeat.

Han Ziyao was a lying fraud. Chu Mingzhang had thrown those clothes away not because he hated him, but because of his germaphobia.

It was just a small quirk. Chu Mingzhang was so excellent, so radiant, a person everyone was willing to admire. He was exactly who Li Zhi dreamed of becoming.

Unfortunately, some feelings could never see the light of day. Chu Mingzhang already had someone in his heart, and it was Li Zhi’s only friend.

It seemed Chu Mingzhang really liked Gong Jie. Just look at his cold attitude toward the senior today; he would not even offer a polite word.

Thus, that unspeakable emotion was buried deep in Li Zhi’s heart. Fervent admiration took over, and the gloom that had hung over Li Zhi for days vanished. He felt as if he had found a reason to live again.

The sun burns eternally, powerful and warm.

Li Zhi did not expect to become the sun. One sun was enough.

He only asked that the sun would take pity on him and generously shine a little light on him, just enough for him to survive.

“This idiot is possessed.” Han Ziyao jumped and made a perfect swish. He tilted his head. “He is here again.”

Zhou Baiyu ignored him, frowning as he typed on his phone. Receiving no response, Han Ziyao rolled his eyes. He threw the rebounding basketball toward Chu Mingzhang, but the latter did not catch it.

“Damn it,” Han Ziyao cursed irritably. “Are we going to play or not?”

Zhou Baiyu still did not acknowledge him, likely because his new target was proving difficult. As for Chu Mingzhang, he walked toward the other side, where a thin boy stood. His hair was messy, hiding his face.

“Oh, hello,” Li Zhi smiled. He glanced into the empty basketball court. “Are you still playing today?”

“Why are you here again?” Chu Mingzhang frowned.

“To bring water.” He held out a bottle of ice-cold mineral water. The weather had turned warm, and the bottle was covered in condensation.

Chu Mingzhang took a deep breath. “Li Zhi, what exactly do you want?”

He did not understand. After he had made his stance clear last semester, Li Zhi had obviously restrained himself and stopped pestering him. But after the start of term banquet, everything had reverted.

In fact, it was even worse than before.

This boy, who looked like a pitiful creature who would be scared out of his wits by a few words, had somehow become so persistent in just a few months. Chu Mingzhang could not remember how many times he had said:

“I do not need it.”

“There is water at school.”

“I do not drink water from others.”

Normally, people would take the hint and retreat. It had been that way his whole life; as soon as Chu Mingzhang showed the slightest displeasure, people would be terrified and want to stay miles away, as if he were some kind of monster.

But not Li Zhi. For the first time in his life, Chu Mingzhang had encountered a troublesome situation, and the person making things difficult was this cowering boy in front of him.

As months passed, Li Zhi became more resilient. The more Chu Mingzhang kept him away, the closer he followed. He acted like Chu Mingzhang’s full-time school butler, doing almost everything for him.

He handled duty shifts, handed out assignments, and brought water. Some people mocked him with a sneer: “Li Zhi, are you his lackey? His little sidekick?”

“Maybe,” Li Zhi would say.

“Does Chu Mingzhang know?”

It was blatant mockery, laughing at how pathetic he was, but Li Zhi only smiled, shy and timid.

Once, Chu Mingzhang had turned a page so hard that he tore a third of the paper. He began spinning his pen faster and faster until it flew from his fingers and hit the floor with a clack.

He leaned down to pick it up, but his fingertips unexpectedly touched another person’s. The other boy picked up the pen, his voice soft and thin: “Here.”

Chu Mingzhang lowered his eyes and stared at the pen for a moment. The hand holding the pen was so pale it was almost transparent, and so thin the skin barely seemed to cover the bone.

A strange, irritable anger welled up in Chu Mingzhang’s heart. On impulse, he grabbed the pen and threw it into the trash can. He did not even look at Li Zhi. “Do not touch my things without permission.”

“And do not bother me.”

That had stopped things for a while, but it only lasted a few days. And now, he was back.

“Me? Um, I am here to apologize.” Li Zhi tucked the water bottle behind his back and pulled out two movie tickets like a magic trick. He showed that pleading smile again, the one that looked like both a laugh and a cry. “Are you still angry? I bought two movie tickets.”

“Let us go see it together?”

“Li Zhi,” Chu Mingzhang heard himself say, “is there something wrong with your brain?”