Chapter 30: CH 032

TL: Moonlit

“What do you mean?” There was a momentary flicker of unease on Qi Fenghua’s face, but he quickly regained his composure and asked in return.

Lin Hanchuan observed Qi Fenghua’s expression carefully. No matter how much he pretended to be calm, he couldn’t match the acting skills of the previous world’s top actors and actresses. With a little observation, one could detect something amiss.

However, Yi Qinglou had been with him for two years and hadn’t noticed any flaws.

A cold smile played at the corner of Lin Hanchuan’s lips, his gaze piercing and direct. “I suddenly became curious why you are so good to me.”

The unabashed scrutiny made Qi Fenghua unable to maintain his expression. Even during the forced marriage at the beginning, he had never been looked at with such chilling eyes by the Yi Qinglou he remembered.

Just as the unease in his heart was rising, Lin Hanchuan’s next words eased his expression slightly.

These words, filled with a desire for love… Qi Fenghua smiled faintly, his temperament as ethereal as ever. “What do you think?”

Qi Fenghua’s smile was faint, his tone also calm, as tranquil as still water without any vitality.

But no one had ever doubted Qi Fenghua’s love for Yi Qinglou. He had shown it through his absolute obedience and actions, demonstrating everything.

As for his coldness… it was simply Qi Fenghua’s naturally cool disposition.

No one had considered that even someone as naturally cold as him would have different emotions when it came to their beloved. However, Qi Fenghua had never shown any fluctuations in his emotions toward Yi Qinglou.

Not on the night two years ago when he was told he could only be a substitute; not during the two years when Yi Qinglou often went out and fooled around with friends; not even when Yi Qinglou started treating him better after his heart was moved. There were no emotional fluctuations from Qi Fenghua.

“You don’t love me,” Lin Hanchuan leaned against the door frame, his tone calm as he stated.

At this moment, he was wearing a snow-white basic shirt, his disheveled hair curling lazily at the ends. A simple and elegant black diamond earring hung from his right ear.

His features were clear, and there always seemed to be a casual smile on his face. Yet, he had a pair of extraordinarily clean and pure peach blossom eyes that made even his carefree smile not repulsive. Instead, it made people blush and possessed a somewhat unconventional charm.

Qi Fenghua looked at Lin Hanchuan for a while, as if he hadn’t heard Lin Hanchuan’s words. He seemed lost in memories, suppressing his own emotions.

After a few seconds, Qi Fenghua took a step forward and fastened the buttons on Lin Hanchuan’s chest, displaying a gentle and virtuous demeanor. “Don’t undo the buttons so much.”

[“Wow.”] 001, who was watching from the side, turned a vibrant shade of green. It gloated, [“Host, he seems to dislike you now. You don’t look like Yi Wusheng anymore.”]

Perhaps it was still silently cursing in its heart. 001 circled around Qi Fenghua’s feet, regretfully realizing that it could only hear its own host’s heartbeat and not the inner thoughts of others.

Lin Hanchuan lowered his gaze and watched Qi Fenghua’s movements. After Qi Fenghua finished fastening all the buttons and stepped back with satisfaction, Lin Hanchuan lazily raised his hand and undid most of the buttons, revealing a large expanse of skin from his neck to his chest.

Witnessing the entire process of Qi Fenghua’s face turning dark, Lin Hanchuan hooked the corner of his lips.

Yi Qinglou sweetly believed that Qi Fenghua was a sufferer of obsessive-compulsive disorder, which was why he couldn’t stand his own disheveled appearance and would always personally button up the undone buttons… In Yi Qinglou’s memory, this behavior represented Qi Fenghua’s love beneath his cold exterior. Yi Qinglou immensely enjoyed it, and sometimes he would intentionally undo the buttons, just to savor the fleeting sweetness.

Feeling a sudden weariness in his heart, Lin Hanchuan rubbed his temples. He didn’t want to continue pretending with Qi Fenghua and spoke directly, “Let’s get a divorce.”

Qi Fenghua suddenly lifted his eyes, his pupils shrinking. It was the most significant change in his expression.

001 also exclaimed, transforming into a green color akin to a startled black kitten. [“Chuanchuan! Your mission is to gain Qi Fenghua’s love and complete the plot. Divorce isn’t part of the original storyline!”]

Lin Hanchuan glanced at 001, and the latter immediately fell silent. It choked back its words, sealing its own mouth.

“Why do you suddenly want a divorce?” Qi Fenghua’s face turned pale, and he clenched his fists tightly, his knuckles protruding. He looked at Lin Hanchuan as if he were looking at a heartless man. “When you were fooling around outside, I never interfered. I’ve done everything a good partner should do…”

Recalling the bits and pieces of the past two years, when Yi Qinglou initially ignored him, he treated him with tenderness, gradually softening his attitude.

Qi Fenghua believed that he had done everything he could for Yi Qinglou. They didn’t owe each other anything, and they didn’t need to love each other. It was just a cooperative relationship. But Yi Qinglou was insatiable.

“You actually want me to love you? Who do you think you are?” Qi Fenghua looked at Lin Hanchuan, his disgust and disdain evident for the first time, but he couldn’t separate himself from the face that looked exactly like Yi Wusheng.

It had been a long time since he had such intense emotional fluctuations. Suddenly, Qi Fenghua’s vision darkened, and he fainted.

Before losing consciousness, he vaguely saw the face that looked exactly like Yi Wusheng removes its frivolousness, and the gaze became calm and steady, just like…

Brother Yi.

Lan Hanchuan: “…”

001 was dumbfounded. [Is this… the legendary “setting up a trap”?]

According to the memories of the original host, Lin Hanchuan took Qi Fenghua to the best private hospital in Qingzhou City. While he was undergoing examination, Lin Hanchuan informed Qi Fenghua’s family and, after some consideration, he also informed Yi Qinglou’s parents.

When Qi Fenghua woke up and opened his eyes, he saw four familiar elder faces. He was taken aback. “Mom, Dad, uncles, aunt, why are you here?”

“Fenghua, how have you been taking care of yourself?” Qi Fenghua’s mother was an attractive noblewoman, and her tear-streaked face had ruined her makeup. “The doctor said you have low blood sugar. Have you been neglecting your meals again?”

Qi Fenghua comforted his heartbroken mother and scanned the room with his gaze.

In his memory, before he passed out, it seemed like he saw Brother Yi… He knew it was an illusion, but Qi Fenghua would rather deceive himself until his gaze met the person entering the room. His pupils contracted. “Why are you dressed like this?!”

“Why can’t I dress like this?” Lin Hanchuan raised an eyebrow.

He was wearing a black T-shirt with a casual black shirt jacket over it. A long silver chain hung from his chest. He wore loose casual pants with iron chains, and there was a circular silver earring with a red gem on his earlobe.

With a composed and restrained demeanor mixed with a touch of wickedness, he resembled a long-lost vampire in a European castle, languid and casual.

“I’ve already told you that this style doesn’t suit you.” Qi Fenghua gritted his teeth. “You’re more suitable for light-colored clothes, and white matches your temperament.”

“Well, it seems like your sense of color is lacking.” Lin Hanchuan flicked his earlobe. The black and red earrings added a mysterious and sexy touch. “With my looks, any style suits me just fine.”

Father Yi snorted from the side. “You’re almost thirty years old and still haven’t grown up. Dressing like this and playing with cars and motorcycles, what are you thinking?”

“I haven’t played with cars for three years,” Lin Hanchuan smiled, but there was no hint of amusement in his eyes.

Three years ago, Yi Qinglou was twenty-two, the same year when Yi Wusheng died in a car accident.

Knowing that it was time for him to shoulder the responsibility of the family, Yi Qinglou changed his previous willfulness and never touched motorcycles or cars again, fearing it would remind his parents of Yi Wusheng’s accident.

However, for a full three years, neither of his parents noticed his change.

Father Yi was speechless, and Mother Yi smiled to defuse the situation. “Children have their own blessings. You two should live happily…”

Unlike Qi Fenghua’s parents, who appeared rich and adorned with gold and silver, Father Yi and Mother Yi dressed modestly. Their hair was graying, and they had a weathered look. Compared to Qi Fenghua’s parents of the same age, they looked as if they had aged ten years.

They were renowned figures in the art world, having taught countless students. Everyone would respectfully address them as professors from the bottom of their hearts.

But no one knew that this poor couple originally had a genius son who could have carried on their artistic legacy. Unfortunately, fate envied his talent, and Yi Wusheng, who had just won first prize in a national painting competition for young artists, died in a car accident.

Now, three years had passed, and they still hadn’t recovered from the tragedy.

Everyone pitied this elderly couple, sympathizing with their loss of a child in their old age, the phenomenon of the younger generation passing away before the older generation. But no one knew… that their proud genius son had a twin brother.

The two brothers arrived in this world just minutes apart and had identical appearances, but their treatment couldn’t have been more different.

Lin Hanchuan looked around and saw Qi Fenghua enduring his disgust, as well as Yi Qinglou’s indifferent father and mother… He smiled and said, “I want a divorce.”

These simple four words hit the ground with astonishing force.

Qi Fenghua was the first to react. “I don’t agree!”

Then, everyone exploded like a pot of boiling water, with accusations and reproaches echoing endlessly.

“We entrusted Fenghua to you, and he has suffered so much for your sake. How dare you ask for a divorce?!”

“Yi Qinglou, how dare you! If you abandon Fenghua, I will break your legs!”

“What’s gotten into you?”

…

Not a single person asked for the reason behind the divorce.

Lin Hanchuan stood in place, allowing them to vent their anger. His expression remained calm and inscrutable. As the elders scolded and cursed, their voices gradually died down.

In the midst of everyone’s bewildered expressions, Lin Hanchuan approached the hospital bed and asked, “You don’t agree?”

Qi Fenghua gritted his teeth. Ignoring Lin Hanchuan’s attire, his gaze remained fixed on the exquisitely beautiful face, his eyes stubborn. “I don’t agree!”

“According to the laws and regulations, if there are no substantial marital facts, a couple can automatically divorce after two years of separation. We just happened to have been married for two years, and within those two years…” Lin Hanchuan thought seriously for a moment. “It seems like we haven’t had any intimate contact, right?”

Once these words were spoken, everyone froze.

Amidst the various gazes, Lin Hanchuan continued in a leisurely manner, “If you don’t want a divorce, do you want to make love to me?”

Qi Fenghua blurted out instinctively, “No!”

Just like rejecting intimate contact with someone he loathed, his refusal came without hesitation, his eyes still filled with undisguised disgust and hatred.

Everyone else in the room was stunned. In their impression, Qi Fenghua loved Yi Qionglou deeply, passionately, without any regrets… He even deceived his own parents until now, only to reveal his true feelings at this moment.

Lin Hanchuan smiled in response. Taking a step back, he appeared relaxed. “It seems like you’ve made your decision.”

Qi Fenghua looked at Lin Hanchuan with a perplexed gaze and a bitter tone. “Were all the changes in your feelings towards me over these past two years fake?”

In the span of two years, Qi Fenghua had witnessed the nominal husband’s transformation from indifference to reluctant tenderness. Though Lin Hanchuan had never explicitly expressed his love, Qi Fenghua could sense the growing affection in his eyes.

Could it be that all these emotional changes were fake? Qi Fenghua found it difficult to accept for a moment.

For a full two years, even a dog could be tamed, and ice could be melted, let alone a tender human heart.

Lin Hanchuan clutched his chest, feeling a distinct and lingering pain. It was as if an old wound had been repeatedly scratched by a blunt knife for months and years—painful, but not life-threatening. However, one day, a new, sharp knife joined the scene and plunged into the wound swiftly and decisively.

“In the end, who is real and who is fake.” Leaving behind these words, Lin Hanchuan walked out of the hospital room in a somewhat disheveled state, his steps slightly unsteady.

After leaving the hospital room, Lin Hanchuan couldn’t maintain his expression. He stumbled, and instinctively reached out to support himself against the wall.

“Are you okay?” A steady hand firmly held onto Lin Hanchuan.

Lin Hanchuan looked up and was stunned.