After the Most Hated Persona Faked Their Death, the Ex-Husband Lost His Mind - Chapter 28

In the end, he still had nothing.

“Do not be afraid, do not be afraid. Do not cry anymore.” Deng Zhuoyuan patted Li Zhi’s back. He wanted to say more comforting words, but he saw Li Zhi suddenly lean over and grab the hem of his clothes.

This reaction took Deng Zhuoyuan by surprise. He was momentarily dazed, and in that moment, Li Zhi cried even harder. This pale and thin youth looked at him with a gaze full of deep attachment and longing.

He called him Brother Mingzhang.

He asked him, or rather, that person, why he had only come to see him now.

Li Zhi said he missed him very much.

Deng Zhuoyuan suddenly remembered Li Zhi saying before that he looked like someone. This question, which had troubled him for days, finally had an answer. At this moment, Li Zhi was clearly not thinking straight; he was hallucinating and mistaking people’s identities.

Deng Zhuoyuan had stayed late to work overtime today, organizing patient files until now. Just as he was about to leave, he stumbled upon Li Zhi’s episode. At this time, he absolutely could not clarify his identity. He could only go along with Li Zhi to calm his emotions as quickly as possible.

When he noticed that Li Zhi’s crying was subsiding and his breathing was becoming steady, Deng Zhuoyuan quietly reached out a hand and gestured to the nurse behind him. The nurse tiptoed around behind Li Zhi and injected the sedative into his vein.

Once the medicine took effect, Li Zhi gradually fell into a deep sleep. Deng Zhuoyuan helped him onto the hospital bed and pulled up the covers for him.

Deng Zhuoyuan pressed his temples tiredly. He thought that, unfortunately, Li Zhi’s dosage would likely have to be increased again.

Li Zhi had not had such a heavy sleep in a long time.

He had a nightmare. In the dream, he and Chu Mingzhang were smoking together on the balcony. Two wisps of smoke intertwined and then dissipated with the wind. They saw each other’s reflections in their eyes.

They could not help but kiss, and then Chu Mingzhang ignored him. After that, he became a madman, locked in a white cage.

But in reality, it was not like that. They did smoke together, but they did not kiss. Until the cigarette burned to the end, no one spoke.

The two of them stood up together. They completed their studies as usual, then showered and slept. Every day was like that.

Chu Mingzhang was going to the neighboring city for a competition. This competition was very important. The competition, which lasted for more than half a month, adopted military style management. Chu Mingzhang had to hand over his mobile phone. When Li Zhi thought that he would be unable to contact Chu Mingzhang for so long, his mood inevitably plummeted.

“It is okay,” Chu Mingzhang said. “You can call me between eight and nine in the evening. Calling is allowed; it is not that inhumane.”

Despite those words, Li Zhi still did not dare to call Chu Mingzhang. This competition was so important, and every second was so precious; how could he dare to disturb Chu Mingzhang so easily?

Longing gripped Li Zhi’s heart like a hurricane. He kept his worries hidden, and since it was the change of seasons, his resistance was weak. He fell ill, and as luck would have it, he caught the flu.

He held on for a few days but finally could not take it anymore. On the day Chu Mingzhang returned, Li Zhi developed a high fever, though he was completely unaware of it himself.

It was Chu Mingzhang who noticed his abnormality through his overly pale complexion. Chu Mingzhang sent him home. After Li Zhi rested at home for a few days, his condition did not improve. Wang Xiaochun could only request leave for him and send him to the hospital.

Being in the hospital was not a big deal. Chu Mingzhang would visit him often and sit by his side to chat with him, just like right now.

“Brother Mingzhang, have you been busy lately?” Li Zhi sat up straight, his upper body leaning forward slightly. “If you are busy, you do not have to come every day.”

“I am fine here, really.” Li Zhi gave him a smile. “I think I will be able to leave the hospital before long.”

Chu Mingzhang sat across from him and pushed the meal on the table toward Li Zhi. “Eat first. We will talk after you eat.”

Li Zhi did not move his chopsticks. “I am not hungry. Brother Mingzhang, have you eaten? You eat; I am not hungry.”

“Li Zhi,” Chu Mingzhang said seriously. “Eat. Be good.”

Hearing this, Li Zhi pursed his lips. He glanced at Chu Mingzhang and then began to eat. He ate half of it in silence, then put down his chopsticks and looked up at Chu Mingzhang again.

“It is too little. Eat a bit more,” Chu Mingzhang said.

Li Zhi pursed his lips, shook his head, and pushed the half finished meal away, meaning he could not eat any more and did not want it.

Chu Mingzhang sighed and did not force him further. He signaled Li Zhi to hold out his hand and poured several tablets into his palm. “Time for medicine.”

Chu Mingzhang fed him the medicine, and Li Zhi actually did not feel anything was wrong. He obediently swallowed the tablets and then skillfully opened his mouth and stuck out his tongue to prove to him that he had not hidden the medicine.

“Done,” Li Zhi said indistinctly.

“Mhm,” Chu Mingzhang responded. “I am not busy lately. I will come again tomorrow.”

Li Zhi’s eyes immediately lit up. “Will you really come again tomorrow?”

“Yes. You are here alone, so you must listen to the nurses. Go to sleep early and do not stay up late reading. In short, be well.”

Chu Mingzhang never used to speak such long sentences, but Li Zhi did not find it strange at all. He nodded repeatedly. “I will. Then, you must come to see me.”

“Mhm.” A weight settled on the top of his head as Chu Mingzhang rubbed his hair. “I will.”

Chu Mingzhang left. Li Zhi watched his receding figure reluctantly. Even after the door closed, he could not bear to look away.

Leaning against the door, Deng Zhuoyuan let out a breath, and his racing heart finally settled. He had managed to feed Li Zhi his medicine without any further trouble.

Li Zhi was hallucinating and had mistaken him for another boy, Chu Mingzhang? Probably a classmate.

Was he a friend? But the relationship seemed to go beyond that. Judging from Li Zhi’s attitude, in his heart, this boy was likely more than just a friend.

Deng Zhuoyuan had not yet figured out exactly what kind of person he was, nor did he know how this boy had interacted with Li Zhi before. He could only observe Li Zhi’s expressions and follow his reactions, guessing as he went.

Pretending to be someone else naturally made Deng Zhuoyuan feel mentally exhausted, but he did not dare to abruptly shatter Li Zhi’s fantasy. Although Li Zhi had not been clear headed lately, his mood was clearly much better than before.

He was able to eat, and the nurses said his sleep had improved slightly. Treatment was a long process, and Deng Zhuoyuan knew he could not be too hasty.

The immediate priority was to ensure Li Zhi could eat normally and that his physical indicators remained within the normal range. Therefore, every day Deng Zhuoyuan pretended to be the “Brother Mingzhang” Li Zhi spoke of, supervising his meals and medicine. Li Zhi was also very obedient, much more so than before.

Food is the soul of health, and Li Zhi’s complexion had improved a lot during this period. Deng Zhuoyuan estimated that in about another month, Li Zhi’s body would be recovered, at which point they could proceed to the next step of treatment.

Deng Zhuoyuan’s calculations were good, but he did not account for an accident.

That day, he was not at the hospital.

Deng Zhuoyuan had taken a temporary leave.

Because Li Zhi was hospitalized, the school allowed students to visit out of humanitarian concern. The person who came was Gong Jie.

Gong Jie was led into Li Zhi’s ward by a nurse. Li Zhi was watching television in the room. Hearing the sound from the door, Li Zhi naturally looked up. The moment he saw Gong Jie clearly, his eyes widened slightly. “Gong Jie?”

“Lizhi!” Gong Jie put down the gift bag in her hand and jogged over to sit beside Li Zhi. “How are you? Why have you not recovered after so long?”

Li Zhi moved slightly to the side to create distance from her. “Do not take off your mask. What if I pass it to you? Why are you here?”

“You have been away from school for so long; everyone is very worried about you.” Gong Jie put on her mask and crossed her arms, looking a bit unhappy. “I sent you so many messages, but you did not reply to me. I knew nothing about your situation. You do not know how worried I was!”

Li Zhi lowered his head in embarrassment. “I am sorry. Do not worry anymore. I should be able to leave the hospital before long.”

“…” Gong Jie was still a bit unhappy, but the joy of seeing Li Zhi diluted that displeasure. She could not help but lean closer and whisper, “Lizhi, when I came up just now, I saw many strange people.”

“An old lady even mistook me for her daughter. She kept staring at me and muttering something. She looked neurotic; it scared me to death.”

“And another thing, you clearly have the flu, so why are you in the psychiatric department?” Gong Jie asked in confusion.

Li Zhi froze for a moment, then looked down and smiled. “Ah, maybe there were not enough wards, so I was moved here.”

The number of VIP wards was limited, so a transfer was not impossible. Gong Jie accepted this explanation and did not doubt it. She wanted to say more, but she noticed Li Zhi was staring at the door in a daze.

“Lizhi? What is wrong?” Gong Jie looked toward the door in confusion.

“Oh, oh, nothing.” Li Zhi smiled and shook his head. “Are you the only one who came?”

“Will Brother Mingzhang come today?”

“Chu Mingzhang?” Gong Jie did not know why Li Zhi would suddenly mention him, but she knew that something had happened between Li Zhi and Chu Mingzhang some time ago.

Although she did not know exactly what had happened, the two were clearly not as close as before. Gong Jie chose her words carefully. “Well, he has been quite busy lately.”

“Oh,” Li Zhi responded. He lowered his head, clearly a bit dejected. “He said yesterday that he would come today.”

Gong Jie blinked and asked in confusion, “Yesterday?”

“Did you two meet yesterday?”

“Yes.” Li Zhi hugged his knees and turned his head to look at her, his cheeks slightly floated. “Except for Sundays, we meet almost every day.”

Gong Jie was completely stunned. She stared at Li Zhi for a moment and spoke subconsciously, “How is that possible?”

“How is that possible!” Gong Jie suddenly shook her head. “He has not even been in the country during this time!”

“He went abroad for a competition!”

Gong Jie’s words were completely impulsive. As soon as she said them, she regretted it. This was because she noticed Li Zhi’s expression; the color suddenly drained from his face, leaving it as pale as peeling wall paint, and his lips trembled neurotically.

“No, no.” Li Zhi clutched his head. “Then what did I see?”

Li Zhi crawled toward Gong Jie. His face loomed large before her, and she could see the fine red veins appearing in the whites of his eyes. “He was with me, he has always been with me. Was it not him?”

“Was it not him?”

Gong Jie was terrified. In that moment, she did not know what to say. She missed the best opportunity to stabilize Li Zhi’s emotions. So, when she tried to explain further later, Li Zhi could no longer hear a word.

“No, Lizhi. He was with you; I remembered it wrong. Lizhi, I remembered it wrong.”

Li Zhi could only hear her initial “No.” He did not hear a single word of what came after. Instead, those words stimulated him, and his expression became terrifyingly hideous.

“He was not there! He was not there at all!!”

Li Zhi curled up in pain, his head feeling as if it were splitting apart, as if a sharp knife had been thrust into the crown of his head. Tears welled in the corners of his eyes. Every event that had happened recently was shattered, falling to the ground like shards of glass. Real or fake, he could not tell.

Li Zhi could not hear any sound. He only felt great pain, a suffocating pain in his chest, as if he had been pierced through.

He did not know when he regained consciousness. When he could clearly see everything before him and hear the sounds around him again, Li Zhi found himself tied to the bed.

Gong Jie stood in the distance, covering her mouth and looking at him with red eyes. Several nurses surrounded the bed, and the person closest to him was Deng Zhuoyuan.

Li Zhi turned his face and smiled. Although the smile was exhausted and hideous to the extreme, he said, “Doctor Deng.”

Deng Zhuoyuan’s expression changed.

Li Zhi closed his eyes, wanting to just fall asleep like this, to sleep forever.

There was no Chu Mingzhang.

In the end, he still had nothing.