Chapter 22

Chapter 22

Zhuang Ji's marriage certificate was impeccably preserved; even after seven years, its cover showed not the slightest crease.

Lu Tingchao's, conversely, looked as though it had been salvaged from a dumpster, exuding a limp, pickled-cucumber level of wear and tear from inside out.

The cover was dog-eared, the spine frayed, and the inner pages appeared to have been handled countless times.

As he reached out to hand over the document, two yellowed, tattered pages tucked inside slipped from his marriage certificate, which resembled an artifact unearthed from an archaeological site—

drifting gently onto the redwood table at the divorce section of the civil registry office.

Everyone: "..."

The two fallen pages were even heart-shaped, with faint traces suggesting they were once pink.

"Hey, what's this?"

The assistant standing nearby was a young woman new to the job. She casually picked up the papers. "Zhuang Ji *gege*, together forever, ’til our hair turns white—"

Lu Tingchao: "No no no, not that!!"

Lu Tingchao made a swift grab for the note, but Zhuang Ji, standing beside him, was quicker. With a long arm, he snatched the heart-shaped paper from the assistant's hand.

The once-vibrant pink had yellowed with time, losing its former luster.

Only Lu Tingchao's scrawled handwriting remained clearly visible:

Zhuang Ji *gege*, together forever, ’til our hair turns white.

From childhood companionship to their current separation, Lu Tingchao still hadn't managed to develop good handwriting.

A dark red drop of blood silently fell onto the heart-shaped paper.

Zhuang Ji's face turned ashen. He reached out urgently to wipe it away—only to find the more he wiped, the more the blood seemed to spread, until the twelve words were no longer distinguishable.

It wasn't until a staff member nearby, in a slightly alarmed tone, stepped forward to stop him: "Sir, sir... please stop! Your wound is bleeding."

Zhuang Ji then realized that the old injury on his arm, which had been bandaged, had reopened at some point, and blood was seeping through.

Staining Lu Tingchao's last token of love for him.

Zhuang Ji's face was far too recognizable in the public eye. Several staff members present had seen his films, and a few young women were even his fans.

Meeting their idol for the first time under the circumstances of witnessing his divorce, the young women struggled to conceal their shock but couldn't help stealing glances, again and again.

They had seen too many images of this actor being bright and warm, but never had they seen him so pale, almost unsteady on his feet.

It turned out that even someone who lived on television, adored by thousands, could have such a heartbreaking moment in real life.

Suddenly.

They heard Zhuang Ji say: "It’s gone."

The staff member instinctively asked: "What's gone?"

Lu Tingchao glanced at the small note and interjected off-handedly: "The words are gone. Ah, Zhuang Ji, my handwriting was so ugly back then! No wonder you didn't like me. I'm such a mess."

Staff: "..."

Even the staff could sense the tense atmosphere, but Lu Tingchao remained oblivious.

Lu Tingchao tugged lightly on Zhuang Ji's sleeve: "Zhuang Ji *gege*, can you hand yours over too?"

The last trace of color drained from Zhuang Ji's lips.

He looked at Lu Tingchao with something akin to despair, ultimately unable to force a smile.

"Okay."

Zhuang Ji said.

The cover of his marriage certificate was carefully removed by the staff, revealing the inside cover.

A staff member opened the internal database and entered the number from the marriage certificate to check.

After a moment, they frowned: "Why is there no information?"

"Ah?"

Another staff member leaned over to look at the screen and, after a while, said in surprise: "That's strange, there’s really no record? Then how is there a marriage certificate?"

This situation seemed quite rare.

Several staff members immediately called over their supervisor, who soon came out from the office.

Lu Tingchao wanted to lean over and look at the information on the computer screen but didn’t have the nerve.

When the supervisor approached, he instinctively hid behind Zhuang Ji, peering out with curiosity: "Did you maybe miss my information?"

The staff shook their heads: "That's not possible, Mr. Lu. The internal network information is constantly updated and entered; it's impossible for anything to be missed."

Zhuang Ji: "Then why is this happening?"

Cold sweat beaded from Zhuang Ji's forehead. He looked like a man who’d just been pulled from icy water—grim, restless, and cold.

Zhuang Ji took his own marriage certificate and said softly: "Do you know? We've been married for seven years."

His tone was calm yet suppressed.

Coupled with his deep, dark eyes, it gave off an ominous feeling.

The staff felt inexplicably unnerved and hurriedly said: "It's like this, Mr. Zhuang. We understand what you mean. But the system does glitch sometimes. Let us check another system. You—"

"No need to check."

The supervisor who had just been called over studied the marriage certificate in Zhuang Ji's hand.

After a moment's thought, seemingly not wanting to provoke Zhuang Ji, he turned to Lu Tingchao: "Could you let me see your marriage certificate?"

Lu Tingchao handed it over without a fuss.

The supervisor compared Lu Tingchao's marriage certificate for a while, then looked down at Zhuang Ji's marriage certificate and shook his head: "When you got married, were both of you present in person?"

Zhuang Ji was stunned: "Of course."

Lu Tingchao, however, shook his head honestly: "No, I was out street racing and my grandpa grounded me. He had me write a written authorization, saying that Zhuang Ji had agreed to marry me."

Lu Tingchao recalled the past: "So I wrote it. As soon as I finished, Grandpa left and came back with the marriage certificate."

The staff member fell silent.

The air suddenly went silent.

Zhuang Ji suddenly looked up, his bloodshot eyes fixed on the supervisor. "What do you mean?!"

"Hey—young man, don’t jump to conclusions just yet."

The supervisor was male and an older gentleman, not particularly familiar with Zhuang Ji, but he spoke sincerely. "Here’s the thing: our policy from five years ago allowed family members to collect marriage certificates on behalf of the couple if they had prior authorization."

He continued, "But to fully respect the individuals’ wishes, within one month of such a special proxy handling, both spouses needed to come in person for a secondary confirmation to make the marriage legally valid."

After a pause, the supervisor asked, "Did the two of you come here for that secondary confirmation back then?"

Lu Tingchao: "..." He didn’t.

After receiving the marriage certificate, the Lu family collapsed, and Grandpa Lu passed away.

Lu Tingchao’s life went from being reckless to becoming dependent on others. He had to repeatedly cooperate with police inquiries while the rest of the Lu family fled abroad, hold a vigil for his grandfather, and watch day by day as the CBD building he once ran up and down playing in turned into something unrecognizable, with unfamiliar faces in the top-floor office.

As for Zhuang Ji—

Zhuang Ji’s expression was almost desolate. He lifted his head and asked, in a whisper, "Then, now that seven years have passed, can we still do the secondary confirmation?"

No one answered him.

The youngest, most reputable, audience-beloved actor seemed, at that moment, to become the most fragile stretch of sand, eroded by wind and battered repeatedly, on the verge of collapse.

Perhaps Zhuang Ji’s pallor was so ghastly that even the supervisor felt sorry for him.

After a moment’s thought, he comforted, "Look, young man, since the two of you are here to get a divorce anyway, this news might actually be good news."

The supervisor clapped his hands, feeling he’d come up with a brilliant idea. "See? It’s the best of both worlds. Originally, both your household registrations would’ve shown 'divorced,' but now they can say 'unmarried.' Isn’t that great!"

The more he thought about it, the better it seemed. He added, "Next time you get married, it’ll still be your first marriage for both of you. Isn’t that—"

"No."

Zhuang Ji cut him off.

He remained seated but seemed as if his soul had been hollowed out, adrift.

A silent vitality, like scattered dust, had vanished after a heavy rain, leaving behind only an empty shell.

Then that empty shell tugged at the corner of its mouth, looking at Lu Tingchao standing before him, and revealed a bleak, pained smile.

"Lu Tingchao, what is this? A nightmare?"

Lu Tingchao had never seen Zhuang Ji look so broken.

He stood while Zhuang Ji sat. Looking down from above, he caught sight of a tear that hadn’t yet fallen from the corner of Zhuang Ji’s eye.

Lu Tingchao didn’t know what to say.

He gnawed at his thumbnail, thinking hard. "Actually, what the supervisor said makes sense, Zhuang Ji. Our start was pretty nonsensical anyway. Maybe even heaven couldn’t stand watching me torment you, so—"

Zhuang Ji: "Then why can’t you torment me for a lifetime?!"

The wound on his arm reopened further with Zhuang Ji’s sudden movement, and blood seeped onto the table.

The earlier outburst seemed to have drained all of Zhuang Ji’s energy. He closed his eyes, nearly defeated, and reached out a bloodied hand to try and take Lu Tingchao’s.

"Since you knew how to bother me, pester me, and annoy me back in school..."

Zhuang Ji paused, as if forcing down a mouthful of blood. "Lu Tingchao, I’m begging you. Can’t you just torment me for a lifetime?"

Lu Tingchao: "..."

The bleeding hand reached for Lu Tingchao’s fingertips.

But Lu Tingchao, as if suddenly jolted, took a step back.

"Forget it."

Lu Tingchao thought for a moment.

He still seemed hesitant, still conflicted. He habitually wanted to bite his fingertip but, noticing the people around, reluctantly tucked his hands behind his back.

Lu Tingchao said, "Let’s just forget it, Zhuang Ji. You... shouldn’t be tied to me anymore."

Only he and Zhuang Ji were allowed in the divorce office.

Lu Tingchao instinctively glanced back at Mo Lingnan waiting for him by the door.

With no obstructions in his line of sight, he could clearly see Mo Lingnan standing straight and tall in his usual posture—not leaning on anything, his shoulder and back lines smooth.

Lu Tingchao bit his lip. "Brother Zhuang Ji, thank you for taking care of me all these years. Maybe we should just... leave it at that."

The heartless little ingrate covered his ears, turned, and ran.

Zhuang Ji: "Lu Tingchao!!!"

The adult Lu Tingchao stirred a gust of wind as he left his side, yet it felt exactly like the wind from every time a younger Lu Tingchao had thrown himself into his arms.

He was a carefree bird.

Even if caged, he would leave without looking back.

That breeze lifted a heart-shaped bookmark stained with blood.

The paper floated up and then landed—

Zhuang Ji, nearly drained of strength, reached for it. As he grasped the bookmark, he felt another wave of intense, heart-rending pain that left his whole body weak and his breath ragged.

The people around seemed terrified by the scene, rushing over to pull or support him.

But in Zhuang Ji’s increasingly dim and narrowing field of vision, he saw only Lu Tingchao.

That bird had flown to another man standing by the door.

The bird said, "Hey, Mo Lingnan, did you know? That marriage certificate my grandpa gave me back then wasn’t valid. Can you believe it? Actually—"

But Mo Lingnan said, "Of course I knew, Chao Chao."

It was precisely because he knew that he had waited from beginning to end for this day to come.

Mo Lingnan reached out and tousled Lu Tingchao’s hair. "Chao Chao, congratulations on regaining your freedom."

Lu Tingchao's eyes lit up: "Looking at it this way, my grandpa was such a badass back then... No wonder he's my grandpa. If only the rest of my family were as capable as him, the Lu family—"

Zhuang Ji suddenly thought, perhaps he could die at this very moment.

Maybe that bird would glance his way one last time.

But ultimately, he refused to accept it.

Why should he be the one to lose? He didn’t want to lose, nor was he willing to lose.

Lu Tingchao started to say something else.

A staff member’s exclamation came from behind: "Quick, quick, quick! Somebody call 911! Zhuang Ji just passed out—!!!"