After the Most Hated Persona Faked Their Death, the Ex-Husband Lost His Mind - Chapter 29

Li Zhi said that he was willing to pay any price for it.

“These three types of medicine are taken with meals in the morning. This one is taken before bed at night, and this one every other day. Do not stay cooped up at home all the time; go out more. Getting some sun helps improve your mood,” Deng Zhuoyuan said as he stuffed a bag of medicine into Li Zhi’s hand.

Li Zhi received it in silence. Deng Zhuoyuan looked at the crown of his head and restrained the urge to reach out and stroke it. Deng Zhuoyuan lowered his eyes and smiled. “After you go back, you can contact me whenever you feel unhappy.”

“When you want to see me, just call my number. You can come to find me whenever you wish,” Deng Zhuoyuan lowered his voice. “I only have you as a patient, so I am very free.”

Li Zhi still did not speak; he only nodded.

He squatted down to pack his luggage with slow movements. Once finished, he checked it over three or four times. When Li Zhi opened the suitcase for the third time to rummage through it, Deng Zhuoyuan finally could not help but squat down and ask him, “What are you looking for?”

“I am afraid of leaving something behind,” Li Zhi said.

Deng Zhuoyuan helped him steady the suitcase. “Nothing is left behind, Student Li. You have checked it many times already.”

Li Zhi still refused to move, standing there numbly with his eyes fixed on the suitcase. Deng Zhuoyuan gave a helpless smile. “Even if something is left behind, it does not matter. I will let you know.”

“Do not be nervous. Come, I will see you out.” Deng Zhuoyuan intended to help him pull the luggage, but Li Zhi avoided his reaching hand. Li Zhi walked ahead in silence, and Deng Zhuoyuan followed behind, his brow slightly furrowed as he watched the youth’s back.

Mild obsessive-compulsive tendencies, forgetfulness, and a slightly hunched, thin frame; Li Zhi’s mental state was still unstable and remained in the treatment stage. Normally, discharge is not recommended in such cases.

However, Li Zhi’s mother wanted him out. She had already signed the papers, so anything Deng Zhuoyuan said was in vain. He could only watch as Li Zhi was taken away.

Deng Zhuoyuan escorted Li Zhi to the ground floor of the hospital. A Bentley was already waiting at the entrance. The driver jumped out to take the suitcase from Li Zhi’s hand while Li Zhi climbed into the car. Deng Zhuoyuan watched the door close.

The window was rolled down slightly, revealing a pair of eyes. Deng Zhuoyuan met his gaze and waved. “Remember to take your medicine on time.”

The engine started, and the Bentley sped away. Li Zhi withdrew his gaze and rolled the window back up. At that moment, a woman’s voice sounded by his ear: “You see your mother and do not even greet her?”

Li Zhi turned his head at the sound and met the woman’s eyes. Wang Xiaochun scanned him from head to toe, her beautiful brows knitting tightly. “Still looking so sickly.”

“Your arm.” Wang Xiaochun reached out toward him, and Li Zhi obediently extended an arm.

Wang Xiaochun rolled up his sleeve. The crisscrossing scars from before had faded until they were almost invisible. Her expression softened slightly. She was about to say something when the car jolted violently, causing both of them to lurch forward.

“What happened?”

“Forgive me, Madam, someone rear-ended us ahead.” The driver apologized. Li Zhi’s gaze naturally wandered outside, and it was that casual glance that changed everything.

Li Zhi froze instantly. His eyes widened in disbelief, and everything that followed seemed to happen in a single second. He broke free from Wang Xiaochun’s grip, pushed open the car door, and ran outside.

The car had not yet come to a full stop, and Li Zhi fell to the ground due to inertia. But he ignored the pain in his knees and left Wang Xiaochun’s exclamation behind, running toward that figure with everything he had.

Li Zhi wove through the passing vehicles, swinging his arms like a madman, running toward the roadside at his top speed.

Li Zhi stared fixedly at the figure across the zebra crossing: a white sweater, a gray coat, headphones hanging around his neck, and spotless sneakers. Li Zhi raised his hand to rub his eyes, over and over, with such force that his eyelids turned red and sore.

That person stood at the edge of the sidewalk. The light turned green across the street, and pedestrians flowed back and forth. Li Zhi could not help but take a step forward, unable to restrain himself from walking toward that person. The late autumn wind brushed past Li Zhi’s face, his loose hair obscuring his eyes. He closed his eyes, and when the wind died down, the green light had stopped.

The red light turned on, and vehicles sped past Li Zhi, the exhaust fumes forcing him to take a step back.

He did not know when the light across the street turned green again. In short, when the cars finally finished passing and Li Zhi gathered the courage to run to the other side, the person was gone.

In those few minutes, as quick as a blink, a living person had vanished. It was like a gust of wind that brushed past his eyes and was never seen again.

The tip of Li Zhi’s heart throbbed with a numbing pain.

At that moment, a sudden pain flared in his arm. Li Zhi’s eyes widened, and he turned his head sharply. “Ming”

His mouth hung slightly open as he stared at the face in front of him, forcing the second half of the sentence back down his throat. It felt like swallowing a razor blade, the blade tearing his throat open, forcing Li Zhi to swallow a mouthful of thick blood.

“You are crazy!” Wang Xiaochun’s eyes were wide with fury. “Who taught you to jump out of the car like that? Do you want to be killed?”

Wang Xiaochun dragged Li Zhi away without a word and pulled him back into the car.

For the rest of the journey, Li Zhi did not say another word. He simply turned his head and stared out the window.

But he could not see anything clearly; a mist of tears covered his eyes.

Wang Xiaochun was in a hurry to bring Li Zhi back primarily because Zhou Guoxiong had returned to the country.

Speaking of which, Zhou Guoxiong was also quite miserable. He had fathered three sons in his life: one died shortly after birth, one was personally sent abroad by him, effectively severing their relationship, and the only son left under his roof was Li Zhi.

Wang Xiaochun knew that Zhou Guoxiong had never particularly liked Li Zhi. He found him too withdrawn and dull, always carrying a sense of poverty etched into his bones that could not be washed away. There was no helping it; he could “exile” a son he had raised from childhood at a moment’s notice, let alone this son picked up halfway through life.

Wang Xiaochun could no longer have children, but that did not mean Zhou Guoxiong could not have more. With his fortune, if he wanted, having another hundred children would not be a problem.

Wang Xiaochun could never tolerate another woman coming with a child to compete with her. The three of them had to be firmly tied together; they had to become a real family; at least, she had to make Zhou Guoxiong feel that way.

So when Zhou Guoxiong returned home, Wang Xiaochun proposed that the whole family go to a temple to pray for blessings.

“Pray for blessings?” Zhou Guoxiong was a bit surprised to hear this. “Did you not used to disbelieve in such things?”

Wang Xiaochun gave him a light pat with a smile. “What Chinese person truly disbelieves in these things? Besides”

She seemed to remember something, her brow knitting slightly, her red lips parted as if hesitating to speak.

The moment Zhou Guoxiong saw her like this, his heart tightened. He hurriedly pulled her into his arms. “Besides what? Just say it.”

Wang Xiaochun leaned her supple body against his shoulder but did not speak. Instead, Li Zhi, who was sitting to the side, took up the conversation. “Mother has not been sleeping well lately. She said she often dreams of younger brother crying, so she wants to go to the temple and ask a master to perform a ritual.”

“What nonsense are you talking about?” Wang Xiaochun glanced at him. She snuggled against Zhou Guoxiong, her soft palm resting lightly on his chest. “It is Li Zhi.”

“You were abroad recently. As soon as Li Zhi came home, he kept asking me if his father was back and how his father was doing. It was my fault too; I always brushed him off saying everything was fine. This child does not say much, but he always has you in his heart. Look, he was even worried enough to be hospitalized.”

Li Zhi felt ashamed hearing Wang Xiaochun’s words, and goosebumps immediately rose on his skin. He lowered his head, avoiding Zhou Guoxiong’s gaze.

Zhou Guoxiong might not have entirely believed Wang Xiaochun, but Li Zhi’s first sentence had stirred his guilt. Wang Xiaochun’s face made her words feel half-true, and guilt pushed that to seventy percent.

“I see,” Zhou Guoxiong let out a sigh. “Everything shall be as you wish.”

Zhou Guoxiong had a meeting that evening; he did not stay long before leaving again. Only Wang Xiaochun and Li Zhi were left in the spacious living room. Wang Xiaochun no longer looked as submissive and fragile as before. She glanced sideways at Li Zhi. “You were quite clever today.”

“You remembered everything I told you. Not bad.”

She stopped mid-sentence and glanced at Li Zhi again. She sat over and used a finger to lift Li Zhi’s chin. Wang Xiaochun looked him over and then let go.

“Seventeen now, your features have filled out a bit,” Wang Xiaochun said. “Not like before, when you looked like a sparrow.”

She added, “But for a boy, such a face is useless.”

“You really are useless.”

This year, they did not go abroad for the New Year. On the second day of the lunar year, the three of them went to a local temple in S City that was said to be extremely efficacious. While the master performed the ritual for the two adults, Li Zhi wandered around the temple alone.

A monk of indeterminate age walked up to Li Zhi and said something kindly in Hokkien. Li Zhi did not understand and looked at him with confusion.

“Does the young benefactor have any requests for the Buddha?” the monk asked in Mandarin.

Li Zhi instinctively shook his head at first, then nodded after realizing. “Yes.”

The monk smiled and walked to a large stone incense burner in the center, then beckoned to him. The monk seemed to pull out three incense sticks as if by magic, lit them at the fire, and handed them to Li Zhi.

“Silently recite your name, birth date, and address in your heart. Bow to the east, south, west, and north. After bowing, insert these sticks into the incense burner.”

Li Zhi nodded. He glanced back at Wang Xiaochun and Zhou Guoxiong inside the hall. The abbot was sprinkling water from a willow bottle onto them while they held their hands together in deep devotion.

“Does the Buddha blame people for being greedy?” Li Zhi withdrew his gaze and asked this out of nowhere. “Can my wish really come true?”

“If it comes true, will I lose anything?”

The monk murmured “Amitabha” and said the Buddha is merciful.

“How could the Buddha blame the benefactor?” the monk said. “The benefactor can rest assured.”

“As for gain and loss, everything in the world has its cause and effect.”

He left after saying this. Li Zhi looked at the burning incense in his hand and hesitated for a moment. Ultimately, he followed the monk’s instructions and bowed to the east, south, west, and north. Once finished, he inserted the three incense sticks into the burner.

By the time Li Zhi was done, Wang Xiaochun and Zhou Guoxiong had also come out. Li Zhi walked toward them. Before Zhou Guoxiong, Wang Xiaochun put on the appearance of a loving mother. “What did Xiao Zhi ask the Bodhisattva for?”

Li Zhi did not answer. Instead, he unusually looked at Zhou Guoxiong and asked, “What did Father ask the Bodhisattva for?”

“And what did Mother ask for?”

The couple clearly did not expect Li Zhi to throw the question back at them. Zhou Guoxiong was stunned for a moment, then laughed. “What else could we ask for? We asked for the family to be safe and sound.”

“Yes, safe and sound,” Wang Xiaochun added. “For the family to be healthy.”

Li Zhi lowered his head and smiled. He said, “Yes, that is what I asked for as well.”

The three walked toward the distance. Li Zhi slowly fell behind the group. Feeling something, he looked back at the temple. The Bodhisattva statue with its merciful face had half-lidded eyes, as if looking at him.

Only the Bodhisattva knew what they truly wanted in their hearts.

The monk said everything in the world has cause and effect. Li Zhi believed that for every gain, there must be a loss. What did he want to gain?

He wanted love.

He wanted pure love, a reasonless kindness, just like his long-dead adoptive father.

His adoptive father was dead, but it did not matter; for every loss, there is a gain. Heaven had sent another person to his side. This person was not as gentle as his adoptive father, but he provided the same sense of peace and security, causing Li Zhi to develop a deep attachment.

Li Zhi loved him. If only that person loved him back. If only they loved each other.

If only he could receive a piece of true love.

Li Zhi told the Buddha that he was willing to pay any price for it.