After the Most Hated Persona Faked Their Death, the Ex-Husband Lost His Mind - Chapter 23

It was Chu Mingzhang who forced their fates to become entangled. It was all Chu Mingzhang’s fault.

The three large words “In Surgery” above the partitioned door glowed with a blood-red light. That dark red reflection against the snow-white walls of the hospital corridor mirrored the fresh bloodstains on a woman’s skin. The door slid open once more, and a doctor covered in blood stepped out.

He walked toward Zhou Guoxiong, who looked up with bloodshot eyes. “How is my wife?”

“Mr. Zhou,” the doctor began, “Mrs. Zhou is suffering from a major hemorrhage. She urgently needs a blood transfusion.”

Zhou Guoxiong could barely restrain his emotions. “Then give her one! I only care about the safety of my wife and child!”

The doctor spoke with some difficulty. “It is like this. Mrs. Zhou has Rh-negative blood. This blood type is quite rare, and our hospital’s blood bank does not have any in stock.”

“Then apply for it! File a report! I do not care what method you use; you must arrange it for my wife!”

“Yes, yes, of course. It is just that this blood type is currently unavailable in any hospital blood bank in S City. I can only request it from the neighboring Z City. However, the distance, even by helicopter, it will take about an hour.”

“Given the lady’s current condition, whether she can last even half an hour is unknown.”

“I have provided everything I can provide,” Zhou Guoxiong said. “I will say it again: I want my wife and child safe. If anything happens, you can forget about being the vice president of this municipal hospital.”

The doctor was drenched in sweat. “Yes, yes, I will certainly do my best.”

The operating room doors closed again. Zhou Guoxiong’s back immediately slumped as he staggered into a nearby seat. He looked up and met the gaze of the youth sitting opposite him.

Li Zhi looked at him, his lips trembling as he called out softly, “Dad.”

Li Zhi rarely communicated with Zhou Guoxiong. Zhou Guoxiong did not care for him, and Li Zhi felt more fear than closeness toward his father. Yet at this moment, he could not find anyone else to talk to besides Zhou Guoxiong.

He wanted to ask if his mother was going to die. But before he could utter the words, the operating room door opened again. This time, another doctor came out and handed a document and a pen to Zhou Guoxiong.

Li Zhi guessed it was a notice of critical condition.

Zhou Guoxiong could no longer maintain his composure. He pointed at the paper. “What is this? What do you mean by this?”

“Mr. Zhou, we”

“Did you not say she needed a blood transfusion? Then wait for the blood to arrive! You just promised me you would do your best, and now you are doing this? I will not sign such a thing!”

“Mr. Zhou, we just discovered that the lady’s situation is not merely a hemorrhage. When she fell from the stairs, the umbilical cord”

Li Zhi could not listen to the words that followed. Those invisible words transformed into hideous faces, screaming as they lunged at him. Li Zhi ran away like a madman, his heart pounding frantically.

Was Mom going to die? This question circled his mind incessantly. He felt a lump in his throat and a suffocating pressure in his chest. Li Zhi could not take it anymore; he desperately needed an outlet.

“Please, please pick up.” Li Zhi frantically flipped through his contacts and pressed a number. He neurotically bit his fingernails, crouching in a corner while listening to the ringing of the phone.

Li Zhi’s eyes darted around anxiously. Every passing second was a form of torture. Finally, the call connected.

“Gong Jie,” Li Zhi said, clinging to his only friend like a lifeline. “My brother pushed my mom down the stairs. She is hemorrhaging. The doctor just issued a critical condition notice. Gong Jie”

Li Zhi took a deep breath. “Do you think she will die? Is Mom going to die?”

“Will she leave me?” Li Zhi grabbed his hair with one hand, pulling hard as if he had lost the ability to feel pain. “She is dying. If she dies, what will I do? What will I do?”

“What will I do? Gong Jie,” Li Zhi’s mind was a mess, his speech rambling and disjointed. “She fell from the stairs and lay in a pool of blood, motionless. She looked dead then. Gong Jie, I am so scared.”

“Why are you not saying anything? Please, I”

“Li Zhi.” At that moment, the voice on the other end was not Gong Jie’s. It was the voice of another youth, calm and pleasant. “Do not cry.”

Li Zhi froze. He wiped his face with the back of his hand and found it wet with tears. Then he lowered his phone and stared blankly at the contact name on the screen: Brother Mingzhang.

Li Zhi did not have many people in his contacts. Chu Mingzhang was listed just below Gong Jie, and he had scrolled too fast, accidentally clicking the name below Gong Jie’s.

“Where are you now?” Chu Mingzhang asked.

Li Zhi paused for a moment, then told him his location with a trembling voice.

“I understand,” Chu Mingzhang said. “I will be there in fifteen minutes.”

“Stop crying.”

When Chu Mingzhang arrived, Li Zhi was still crouching in that corner, curled up and biting his thumb. Even when Chu Mingzhang stood before him, he did not look up.

Chu Mingzhang did not call his name. Instead, he knelt down and moved Li Zhi’s thumb away. Li Zhi looked at him with dull eyes; blood stained his front teeth where he had bitten through the skin of his thumb. “Brother Mingzhang.”

“Brother Mingzhang,” Li Zhi said, his voice rising slightly. “You are here. I”

Li Zhi did not know how to face Chu Mingzhang. After all, Chu Mingzhang’s attitude toward him lately had been hot and cold, and they rarely spoke. Seeing Chu Mingzhang standing there made Li Zhi feel a sense of strangeness.

Chu Mingzhang asked him what had happened.

Li Zhi wanted to answer. He wanted to tell him everything from beginning to end in a calm manner, but he clearly overestimated himself.

He could not remember when he started crying. Eventually, he could not even get a word out. His fear from today, the fear from many days past, it all tangled together. Tears poured from his eyes as he sobbed, his chest aching and his stomach cramping from the force of it.

Li Zhi’s crying sounded like the wretched scream of a rabbit.

In that moment, Chu Mingzhang hugged him.

Li Zhi’s sobs hitched. His head was buried against Chu Mingzhang’s shoulder, and his voice was muffled and intermittent. “I am scared, I am scared”

“Will she die? Will I lose my mom?”

“Will I be left all alone?”

“No, do not be afraid.” Chu Mingzhang sat on the hospital floor holding him. He lowered his eyes, his voice soft yet clear. “It will be okay.”

By then, Li Zhi’s mind was incoherent. He could not really process what Chu Mingzhang was saying; he just kept repeating his fears, while Chu Mingzhang tirelessly repeated that it would be okay.

Later, because he had cried so hard, his throat could no longer make a sound. He remembered Chu Mingzhang’s voice also going hoarse, yet a hand continued to pat him gently on the back.

It was not until the doctor came out to say that the child could not be saved, but Wang Xiaochun was out of danger, that the pressure in Li Zhi’s throat finally dissipated.

Exhaustion surged like an overwhelming wave. Li Zhi finally could not hold on any longer; his vision went black, and he fainted.

Just before losing consciousness, he could still feel that hand on his back and the heartbeat echoing against his ear.

Wang Xiaochun had fallen from the stairs, and the child in her womb had been strangled by the umbilical cord, eventually dying of asphyxiation.

Zhou Baiyu was “exiled” by Zhou Guoxiong to Toronto with only a minimum monthly allowance, which was practically nothing to a young master who had grown up in luxury.

In other words, Zhou Guoxiong had effectively severed his relationship with his eldest son. To compensate Wang Xiaochun, Zhou Guoxiong was now almost entirely submissive to her, willing to give everything just to make her smile.

Without a younger brother and having lost his older brother, Li Zhi’s life underwent a total transformation within a few days. Over the next few months, other things began to change subtly as well.

After that day at the hospital, the relationship between Li Zhi and Chu Mingzhang returned to how it used to be. Chu Mingzhang no longer avoided him. They went to school together, ate lunch together, and Li Zhi continued to be his little follower.

But at some point, things shifted. For instance, Li Zhi no longer waited for Chu Mingzhang at the dormitory; instead, Chu Mingzhang would arrive first to wait for Li Zhi.

Li Zhi no longer wiped the blackboard for Chu Mingzhang. Even when it was Li Zhi’s turn for duty, Chu Mingzhang would naturally do the work for him.

If Li Zhi did not cling to him one day but spent time with someone else instead, Chu Mingzhang would be very dissatisfied. Li Zhi remembered the day he went to help Gong Jie confess to a senior and forgot to bring water to Chu Mingzhang.

When he ran back to the court, Chu Mingzhang was still waiting there. He gave Li Zhi a single look, then folded his arms and walked away without a word.

Li Zhi froze for a moment before quickly following. To his surprise, Chu Mingzhang walked faster and faster, forcing Li Zhi to pick up his pace. Chu Mingzhang was tall with long legs; eventually, Li Zhi had to run to keep up. “Brother Mingzhang, Brother Mingzhang, wait! Uh!”

Chu Mingzhang stopped abruptly. Unprepared, Li Zhi slammed his nose against Chu Mingzhang’s back, causing him to wince in pain. Chu Mingzhang turned around. “You could have come even later.”

Only then did Li Zhi realize Chu Mingzhang was angry with him. At first, he did not truly believe Chu Mingzhang was upset simply because he was late, as the other claimed.

He hesitated for a moment, his eyes fixed on the tips of his shoes. “Uh, you know?”

Chu Mingzhang frowned but did not speak. Li Zhi fidgeted with his fingers. “Brother Mingzhang, I did not betray you. I just think, do not be angry when you hear this.”

He swallowed. “I know you like her. During this time, I have often said good things about you to her. But she really does not like you that much. Feelings cannot be forced. Besides, they are only together for now. Life is long; who knows how long they will last? So, Brother Mingzhang, you still have a chance.”

Li Zhi rambled on with this earnest advice, but Chu Mingzhang did not process a single word of it. His brows were knitted so tightly they formed a deep furrow. “Li Zhi”

“What on earth are you talking about?”

Li Zhi was startled and looked up at him. “Are you not blaming me for helping Gong Jie confess to someone?”

Chu Mingzhang looked at him with utter bewilderment. “Why would I blame you for that? What does you helping her confess have to do with me?”

Chu Mingzhang paused. He hesitated between saying “You have no sense of time” and “You cannot distinguish priorities,” but in the end, neither came out. “The relationship between you two is way too close. Do you not know about the boundaries between men and women?”

“You,” Chu Mingzhang voiced his suspicion of the day. “Do you like her?”

Li Zhi was stunned, completely and utterly stunned. Once he realized what was asked, he shook his head frantically. “No, no, no, no! We are just friends. Why would you think that? Besides”

Li Zhi’s next words hit like a bolt of lightning. “Is the one who likes her not you?”

“…” Chu Mingzhang’s eyes widened slightly. “Li Zhi.”

“Are you out of your mind?”

This scolding was abrupt, leaving Li Zhi feeling quite wronged. Chu Mingzhang lowered his head and rubbed his forehead, almost laughing out of sheer frustration. “With which eye did you see me liking her?”

“I,” Li Zhi stammered, unable to find the words, so he told the truth. “Han, Han Ziyao said so.”

At this, Chu Mingzhang did not even want to acknowledge him anymore. He walked toward a vending machine in the distance without a word. Li Zhi hesitated for a moment but followed him anyway. “Brother Mingzhang, Brother Mingzhang, I”

Li Zhi felt wrongly accused and a little sad. He stood behind the other in silence. As the minutes ticked by and Li Zhi was about to say something, a cold sensation touched the tip of his nose.

Chu Mingzhang held a soda can fresh from the cooler against the bridge of Li Zhi’s nose. His eyes were half-lidded. “Does your nose still hurt?”

Li Zhi was dazed. He subconsciously shook his head, then nodded.

“Do not be late next time,” Chu Mingzhang said, his voice softening. “Do not listen to other people’s nonsense.”

They were standing very close. Li Zhi looked up at Chu Mingzhang. He smelled the fresh orange scent of the soda, and the sound of the popping bubbles felt like his own restless heartbeat.

At that moment, as he looked into Chu Mingzhang’s eyes, many things underwent a massive transformation. A delayed joy surged within him. If it were not for Gong Jie

If it were not for Gong Jie, then why had Chu Mingzhang helped him so much in the beginning?

Certain emotions flooded back like a tide, submerging him. Li Zhi knew those unspeakable feelings had never disappeared; he had simply suppressed them by force.

But now, he could no longer restrain them.

Chu Mingzhang pulled back the soda can, naturally popped the tab, and handed it to him. Li Zhi took a sip. The sweet, cold liquid sliding down his throat could not extinguish the fire within him. Li Zhi held the can, stealing a glance at the person beside him.

Much, much later, Li Zhi would often think: if only Chu Mingzhang had not helped him so many times. If only Chu Mingzhang had not appeared so often when he was at his most helpless. Even

If only, on this day, Chu Mingzhang had not told him so clearly that he did not like Gong Jie. It would have been better to let the misunderstanding continue.

Then perhaps the events that followed would never have happened. Everything afterward might never have occurred. They would have been friends for life. Li Zhi would have called him “Brother Mingzhang” until he died, merely as a follower, with a pure sense of admiration.

It was Chu Mingzhang who forced their fates to become entangled. It was all Chu Mingzhang’s fault.

It was all his fault.