Chapter 844
IF0116
After so many years of friendship, Village Chief Chu certainly didn't come here to criticize him!
Li Zhuangsheng opened the chat box with Village Chief Chu.
However, as soon as he clicked on it, the other party withdrew the message.
Li Zhuangsheng blinked, waiting for the other party to resend the message, but it never came. Instead, another netizen, "Fengxiaotama," sent him a message: "[What's wrong?]"
Li Zhuangsheng helplessly blew on his bangs. He knew Feng Xiaotama, who seemed to be a "master" of painting, gender unknown. He would occasionally ask him to commission illustrations for his novels and was quite satisfied with him. Every time he received a painting, he would shower him with compliments, and he always asked him the same person.
Li Zhuangsheng had seen Fengxiaotama's QQ homepage and quite liked his signature, "When people arrive in Luoyang, the flowers are in full bloom, but I have not encountered spring when I came." It seems that this person is not only good at painting, but also quite cultured... probably.
It seems this talented artist also reads his own novel; how incredibly embarrassing… Li Zhuangsheng wanted to cover his face and run away.
It's nothing, I'm just not feeling well.
After replying, Li Zhuangsheng thought for a moment and added:
I'm sorry, you must have found this amusing.
Judging from their chat history, this talented artist seems to be a bargain; let's not piss him off!
Li Zhuangsheng waited a while, but Fengxiaotama only sent a "...". Li Zhuangsheng scratched his head, wondering what the other party was trying to express. Was she speechless at him?
[What's going on with you? Didn't you say you were fine in the group chat? Did you stumble and fall and your brain regress to ten years ago?]
The next moment, Village Chief Chu finally sent another message.
Li Zhuangsheng's hands trembled as he read the message. He... he was just talking nonsense, wasn't he? Li Zhuangsheng thought to himself.
Moreover, the strong aggression in her words made her seem less like a friend and more like a resentful, abandoned woman confined to her chambers.
Li Zhuangsheng stared at the message and hesitated for a long time, unsure how to reply to this most unfamiliar friend. After thinking for a long time, he tentatively replied with a question mark.
[Your writing style is exactly the same as your disastrous debut work from ten years ago. What triggered you to produce this kind of literary garbage again after so many years? Did your wife 'cheate on you, rape you, and demand a share of your assets'?]
Li Zhuangsheng scratched his head with both hands. Hey, although the other party was sometimes very aggressive before, it wasn't this aggressive, was it? This doesn't seem to be aimed at attacking him, but rather at "venting his anger".
However, for whatever reason, Village Chief Chu was the only one who saw through the clues. Li Zhuangsheng was prepared to be collectively "abandoned" by the readers, but Village Chief Chu was, after all, an old friend of many years, and he least wanted the other party to misunderstand him or even leave him because of this.
What I'm about to say might be hard for most people to believe, but it's the truth. I actually have amnesia.
Li Zhuangsheng tapped his fingers lightly on the keyboard, took a deep breath, and waited for the other party's reply.
Would he believe it? Or should I take a picture of my medical record from when I went to Nanjing for treatment and show it to him?
Amnesia? When did this happen?
Almost immediately, Village Chief Chu replied with two messages.
[It was one or two days before I asked for leave... probably two days after you left]
Li Zhuangsheng was quite pleased to see that the other party didn't suspect anything. Although he was a bit sharp-tongued, they were old friends after all, and he still trusted them to some extent.
To what extent has your amnesia progressed? What have you been doing lately? Are there any signs of improvement? What did the doctor say? Do you remember me?
Village Chief Chu sent a series of questions, which Li Zhuangsheng answered one by one:
[I feel like my amnesia is quite severe. I have no memory of anything from my second year of high school until the day I lost my memory.] [I initially went to Nanjing Brain Hospital for treatment, and then went home to take care of some things.] [My amnesia hasn't improved at all, and the doctor said it might never get better.] [To be honest, I don't remember you at all. I've only seen our chat history and know that we were good friends.] After Li Zhuangsheng sent the last reply, the other party fell into a brief silence.
"Is your sister-in-law taking care of you at home now?" After a long while, Village Chief Chu asked again.
She also suffered from amnesia, just like me; we had the exact same symptoms.
At this point, Li Zhuangsheng couldn't help but sigh. What a mess he'd made!
She also has amnesia? What caused it? You both have amnesia, so how are you doing now?
Village Chief Chu was still moving at lightning speed.
Li Zhuangsheng couldn't help but scratch his head again, thinking that since Village Chief Chu knew about Hu Mengdie, he might as well stop hiding it.
The hospital couldn't find the cause, and the police checked the surveillance footage but found nothing unusual... What else can we do now? We can't exactly live with strangers for the rest of our lives. We registered at the Civil Affairs Bureau last month, and we should be able to get our divorce certificate soon.
After sending the message, Li Zhuangsheng was curious about Village Chief Chu's next reply.
Since the other party knows Hu Mengdie, they might have even met her. How will he respond to his decision?
Should he try to convince himself not to get a divorce, thinking it would be a waste of such a beautiful wife? Or would he bluntly say something like, "She probably just didn't like you," a statement that really hits home?
However, nothing happened. After a long, long silence, Village Chief Chu posted a strange message:
[A poem written by a celestial being amidst red leaves, a dream of peach blossoms and a beautiful face fading. What comes after this broken poem? Answer me within half a minute.]
[Wei Sheng, clinging to the pillar, sinks into the empty water; where can one see the cold moon over the Blue Bridge?] [Wasn't this something I wrote in my third year of junior high?] [Damn, you doubt I'm really me? Should we video chat?] [Besides, this is my masterpiece, how can it be considered a lousy poem!]
Li Zhuangsheng smiled wryly and replied quickly.
[Your proudest work should be the poem you wrote when you saw your school beauty during your first-year military training, which reads, "Life is like smoke, a dream is broken; after parting from Yunying, the moon is cold over the Blue Bridge."]
Holy crap, you even know that?!
Li Zhuangsheng's face was burning, but judging from the looks of it, Village Chief Chu probably didn't know that the school beauty he once flirted with was now his wife... his ex-wife.
The other party fell silent again, and did not respond for a long time.
Just as Li Zhuangsheng was getting impatient, Village Chief Chu finally replied again:
Okay, I got it. You damn bastard, are you still home?
[Yeah, I've been on extended leave from work, so I'm home every day now... Sigh, I was trying to continue writing my novel these past few days, I've already saved up 30,000 words, but my writing skills just aren't up to par.]
I understand, don't worry.
Village Chief Chu has now logged off.
"Did you go off to do something else?" Li Zhuangsheng left the chat without pressing the issue. In short, as long as the other party knew that he didn't intentionally write such badly, that was enough!
He thought of Feng Xiao Tama again, opened their chat window, and wondered if he should explain things to him as well, only to find that Feng Xiao Tama had just changed his signature:
Looking up and down at the vast universe, what could be more joyful?
Your last signature sounded like you were heartbroken; what good thing happened to you? (End of Chapter)