WP Chapter 43

Si Shaorong couldn’t help tightening his grip on the towel. “And after that…?”

“That psycho had disturbing levels of persistence,” Li Xun said as he lit a cigarette. “Chased that dumbass for half a year, and in the end, actually managed to win him over.”

What followed was nothing unusual, but still painful. Jiang Yibai fell headlong into a burning romance, wrapped tightly around Zheng Yu’s finger. He trusted Zheng Yu completely. And who wouldn’t believe it was real love, after being pursued so passionately for six straight months?

Later, Zheng Yu started scamming him for money. Jiang Yibai was still a student, scraping together earnings from his gigs at the bar. Every cent went to Zheng Yu. When that wasn’t enough, he dug into his own allowance, until eventually he couldn’t even afford to eat.

Li Xun realized something was off and tried to talk him into leaving Zheng Yu. But Jiang Yibai was stubborn and hopelessly loyal. He refused to listen.

Over time, thanks to Zheng Yu’s meddling, tensions started growing between Jiang Yibai and his bandmates. One day, the boyfriend of the drummer, the same guy who had introduced him to Zheng Yu came to Jiang Yibai demanding repayment.

Jiang Yibai had no idea what money he was talking about. The guy said Zheng Yu had borrowed a few thousand from him and told him to get it back from Jiang Yibai, because supposedly he was the one managing Zheng Yu’s finances.

Jiang Yibai couldn’t scrape that money together. He tried to find Zheng Yu but couldn’t reach him. In the end, he had no choice but to ask his parents for help.

Jiang Yibai had come out early. His parents knew about it, but they had never really accepted it.

When he asked to borrow money for his boyfriend but couldn’t explain the situation clearly, they immediately assumed Zheng Yu was untrustworthy and refused to help. It turned into a full-blown argument.

Si Shaorong’s chest tightened as he listened. He couldn’t picture what Jiang Yibai must have looked like back then.

Jiang Yibai ended up cobbling the money together from friends and classmates. But the drummer’s boyfriend thought he was pocketing the money for himself, maybe using it for god knows what. Jiang Yibai couldn’t be bothered to explain. Eventually, he got back in touch with Zheng Yu, who claimed it was just a misunderstanding and said he was away on a business trip, wouldn’t be around for a while.

And Jiang Yibai, still a fool, believed him.

“By that time, he’d already started going on blind dates with women,” Li Xun exhaled a puff of smoke.

Si Shaorong clenched his jaw, unable to understand how someone could be so vile, so selfish.

“From the moment he got what he wanted, their whole relationship lasted less than a year,” Li Xun said. “And most of the time, he was off on those so-called business trips.”

Jiang Yibai pressed the damp towel to his face and mumbled, “I really was a fucking idiot.”

Li Xun gave a snort and flicked the ash from his cigarette.

Zheng Youli asked, “What about the band breaking up?”

“It was around the time we were about to graduate,” Jiang Yibai said. “An agency reached out and wanted to sign us. Everyone thought it was a great opportunity. Zheng Yu heard about it and came back, asking me…”

Jiang Yibai was silent for a long time before finally speaking. “He asked me how much money we’d get from the contract.”

Si Shaorong was stunned. “Why would he ask that?”

“Right? Why would he?” Jiang Yibai gave a bitter shake of his head. “Back then, I thought he was just concerned about my future. I didn’t find out until later that he was already planning to marry a woman. He had originally intended to break up with me, but after hearing about the contract, he started thinking about something else entirely.”

Zheng Youli frowned. “He wanted a cut? What did that have to do with him?”

Li Xun clicked his tongue and gestured toward Jiang Yibai. “This kid actually answered him honestly. Said there wouldn’t be any upfront payment from the contract. The agency would first provide training and development, and then earnings would be split based on the jobs he got.”

As soon as Zheng Yu heard that, he figured there was nothing in it for him and lost interest.

But then he started thinking. If Jiang Yibai was good enough to be approached by an agency, then maybe the only problem was the company being too small. If it were a bigger one, the money might be better.

He thought of the rising trend of online media at the time and started pushing Jiang Yibai not to sign with a traditional agency. He told him to go with a livestreaming platform instead. Maybe it would be more profitable.

“I respected the group’s decision,” Jiang Yibai said. “We’d already agreed to sign with the agency. We were a band. I couldn’t just make that call on my own. What I didn’t know was that behind my back, he went to talk to the drummer and told him it was my idea.”

Of course, that was something Jiang Yibai only learned later. At the time, he was completely in the dark.

Everyone in the band had been students, inexperienced. Even the drummer’s boyfriend was just a student. So when Zheng Yu pulled them aside and talked them into it, they believed him. In the end, they suggested not signing, and the deal fell through.

Jiang Yibai thought that was what everyone wanted, so he didn’t question it. During that time, Zheng Yu was constantly sticking close to him, hyping up the livestream idea. Their relationship flared up again. Later, Jiang Yibai wanted to introduce him to his family as his boyfriend, but his family rejected it outright. Hurt and angry, he packed his things and moved into Zheng Yu’s place.

But to Zheng Yu, Jiang Yibai had already become a burden.

He was two-timing, lying to both Jiang Yibai and the woman he was courting.

Afraid of getting caught, he secretly contacted Jiang Yibai’s parents and told them to come take him back.

Si Shaorong felt a tightness in his chest. He had to take several deep breaths before he managed to say, “Uncle and Auntie… something happened to them?”

“No one could have predicted it,” Li Xun said, dragging hard on his cigarette. “Sometimes fate just… has its own way.”

Si Shaorong gripped Jiang Yibai’s hand, feeling it tremble slightly. His heart ached so badly he wanted to pull him into his arms and hold him tight.

Jiang Yibai steadied himself, and finally said hoarsely, “I got a call from the police. I was completely stunned. When Zheng Yu heard something had happened, he didn’t tell me anything, just said I should hurry over. I didn’t think too much and rushed out, but when I got there… all I received were their personal effects. The last call on my dad’s phone was from Zheng Yu.”

“I didn’t know who to lash out at. That rage was suffocating, I felt like I was going to lose my mind.” Jiang Yibai let out a long, shaky breath. “At the hospital, I smashed a chair. Whatever I could grab, I threw. When my relatives arrived after getting the news, they saw me like that and tore into me the moment they walked in.”

He couldn’t forget the scene.

The emergency room lights were dim. The hallway lights were harsh and pale. The doctors were waiting for signatures. The police had him pressed up against the wall, telling him to calm down. His relatives stood nearby, crying and screaming, hurling every word they could at him. It was all his fault. He had never brought his parents a moment of peace. He was a jinx. He had caused this disaster, and no amount of regret could change that. He deserved it. He had brought it on himself. He had killed them. He was a murderer.

To this day, Jiang Yibai didn’t know how he didn’t go insane right then and there.

“By the time I remembered to go find Zheng Yu, I couldn’t find him anymore,” Jiang Yibai said, letting out a dry laugh. “He moved out overnight, changed his phone number, cut off all contact with me. He even told the band that I had secretly signed with the company and had already taken the money.”

Si Shaorong gritted his teeth, cursing under his breath. “Fucking bastard. What the hell was he after?”

“He knew the drummer’s boyfriend, and he was the one who convinced them not to sign with the agency in the first place. So he needed a way to cover his tracks, and I became the scapegoat.” Jiang Yibai said, voice flat. “Because of that, the band broke up. The drummer’s boyfriend came to confront me, and only during that fight did I start to piece together the truth. But they didn’t believe me. I had a bad temper. Zheng Yu, on the other hand, was charming.”

“That’s when I realized all that talk about being like-minded brothers was bullshit. No one believed me.” Jiang Yibai stared up at the damp towel draped over his face. Through the fabric, he could make out the harsh, blinding white of the lights outside. He kept his eyes open, staring blankly. “That guy you ran into at the bar earlier, the one you said looked familiar was the drummer’s boyfriend. Zheng Youli didn’t get it wrong. He’s always looked down on me. Thought I was the one who ruined the band’s future.”

Si Shaorong immediately bristled. “That had nothing to do with you!”

Jiang Yibai patted Si Shaorong’s hand gently, trying to soothe him. “It’s all in the past.”

Li Xun, cigarette still hanging from his lips, looked over. “Is it really?”

Jiang Yibai’s hand stilled.

“You’ve looked like you’ve been living seriously these past few years, but deep down? You know damn well you’ve been a wreck.”

Li Xun’s chest tightened with a mix of anger and pain. He stood up, paced once with his hands behind his back, then snapped, “You begged that agency to take on the rest of the band. They refused. When the others found out, they thought you were putting on a show. Tell me, how the fuck was that your responsibility? Did you put a knife to their throats and force them not to sign? They were grown adults. They made their own damn decisions. And you, what the hell were you doing, running back to the company after all that? Looking for punishment?”

“Your parents died in a car accident, did any of them come see you? Comfort you? Not a single one. They all vanished like smoke. What, do they still think this was your fault? That it was punishment?” Li Xun had clearly been holding in this fury for a long time. He kicked over a chair. “Back then I seriously wanted to find someone to beat the shit out of those bastards, let them get a taste of what real punishment feels like. If it hadn’t been for you—”

He cut himself off with a sharp exhale, then sat back down, cigarette dangling from his lips, silent again.

The band had broken up. His lover had disappeared. His parents were dead.

And all of it, through some cruel twist of fate, had ended up looking like it was somehow all Jiang Yibai’s fault. And he had never said a word, just carried the weight on his own shoulders.

He fell apart for a whole year. Didn’t even go to the graduation dinner. After graduation, he deleted every single one of his classmates’ contacts and shut himself away, cutting himself off completely from everyone and everything.

Li Xun had been worried. He would check in from time to time, afraid Jiang Yibai might really die in that apartment without anyone even noticing.

“His dad didn’t have many relatives, just one younger brother,” Li Xun said with a cold laugh. “That uncle was absolute scum. He showed up with his wife and daughter to demand a share of the inheritance, saying they deserved it. Why? Because Jiang Yibai is gay, so he won’t have kids. But their daughter will. She’s getting married. She’ll have children. She can carry on the family line. So they should get a bigger share.”

Si Shaorong felt a fire ignite in his chest, one that no amount of air could put out.

“One day I dropped off some food and walked in just in time to see that whole freak family getting thrown out by Jiang Yibai himself,” Li Xun said. “Honestly, we should be thanking them. It took something like that to finally snap him out of it. Our zombie of a Teacher Jiang finally got back on his feet.”

Under the towel, Jiang Yibai let out a dry snort.

“You know the rest,” he said, waving a hand as he took off the towel and gave Li Xun a look. “No need to drag up all that old crap. I, Jiang Yibai, made a glorious return. I write porn, teach music, rent out properties, and I’m living a damn good life.”

He noticed how awful Si Shaorong looked and gave him a pat, trying to comfort him. “It’s all in the past.”

But everyone in the room knew the truth.

If it had really been in the past, Jiang Yibai wouldn’t have buried it so deep it became untouchable. A wound so old it turned taboo.

“Your second uncle…” Si Shaorong frowned. “Did he ever cause trouble again?”

“Once in a while,” Jiang Yibai said. “I ignore him. He can’t do anything to me.”

“If he tries again, tell me,” Si Shaorong said, holding him close. “I know a couple good lawyers.”

Jiang Yibai froze.

Si Shaorong held him tighter. He didn’t dare imagine what it must have been like to lose everything, to be abandoned by family, and to survive all on his own. He didn’t know how Jiang Yibai had managed to crawl out of that pit and become the bright, open person he was now.

And for a moment, he regretted not meeting Jiang Yibai sooner. Even if he couldn’t have helped, at least he could have been there. So he wouldn’t have had to face it all alone.

But now… now there was still time. And with that thought, Si Shaorong felt a quiet, overwhelming gratitude because he still had the chance.