CH 051

TL: Moonlit

Qi Fenghua stood pale in place, feeling like a joke. It seemed that everyone around him was pointing and mocking him.

After Father Qi bought the wrong painting, the Qi family faced financial difficulties. In his memory, his parents, who had never fought before, had erupted into several arguments.

Mother Qi blamed his father for buying that painting, while his father believed that his mother’s constant nagging was annoying.

Qi Fenghua tried to mediate a few times, but his parents kept repeating the same few lines, like a broken record. Whenever one battle subsided, the next one began with the same argument.

After a while, Qi Fenghua didn’t like staying at home anymore. He made excuses to go out and explore every day, returning home very late, successfully avoiding his parents’ arguments.

During his parents’ fights, Qi Fenghua heard Qi Yuyu’s name multiple times.

“If Qi Yuyu were here, how could such a common mistake happen, and how could we lose money!”

“Qi Yuyu managed the Qi family well. It was you who drove him away!”

“If Qi Yuyu were here, what would he do…”

In the past, Qi Fenghua had looked down on Qi Yuyu from a superior position. He was the genius painter, the one whom everyone’s attention should be focused on.

Now, his pride in his painting skills had been crushed. Even his parents, who had always favored him, occasionally mentioned Qi Yuyu.

What Qi Fenghua found most difficult to accept was that even the ever-gentle and caring Yi Qinglou had shifted his focus to Qi Yuyu.

Qi Fenghua had always looked down upon those who harbored jealousy, even toward a genius like Yi Wusheng, who he admired without envy. But now, he tasted the bitterness of jealousy himself.

How ugly.

“Are you Qi Fenghua?” someone greeted Qi Fenghua.

Qi Fenghua forced a smile, barely lifting the corners of his mouth. As he turned around, he found a stranger. “And you are?”

The young man had a clean and obedient appearance. He scrutinized Qi Fenghua from top to bottom several times. “I heard you were the last one.”

“The last one for what?” Qi Fenghua instinctively asked, and as soon as the words left his mouth, he guessed the young man’s identity.

He was one of the former partners of Yi Wusheng, one of the victims whose work had been plagiarized and stolen by him.

“To be honest, I really dislike you,” the young man said. “So, the thing I’m giving you is not something good. You can choose to look at it or not, it’s up to you.”

As the young man spoke, he added Qi Fenghua as a friend on his own.

“Why…” Qi Fenghua opened his mouth.

“If it weren’t for you exposing everything, Yi Wusheng would still be my white moonlight,” the young man smiled, his eyes devoid of sadness and filled only with faint mockery. “Of course, I don’t want to be kept in the dark… so, I’m venting my anger.”

Baseless anger and dislike, the young man was very straightforward. “You exposed a truth to me, and I will expose a truth to you. That evens things out.”

After the young man left, Qi Fenghua still felt somewhat lost.

He lowered his head and looked at the file that had been transferred to his phone. It was in video format.

Walking to a secluded corner, Qi Fenghua hesitated for a moment. He knew that Yi Wusheng was not a good person, and the filter of Yi Wusheng’s white moonlight had long disappeared. He didn’t believe that there was any truth that could harm him.

But he felt an inexplicable fear.

After a while, Qi Fenghua turned off the sound and opened the video.

In the video, two people were entangled and fighting while completely naked, in a fierce battle.

Qi Fenghua couldn’t understand what this kind of explicit video had to do with… Before he could react, the faces of the two people in the video were revealed. One of them was the unfamiliar yet familiar young man from earlier, while the other was none other than Yi Wusheng, who had passed away several years ago.

No matter how clear Qi Fenghua was about Yi Wusheng’s true character, his face turned pale at the sight of this kind of video. He gritted his teeth and scanned the room for Lin Hanchuan’s figure, hoping to draw some strength from him, but he found nothing.

He lowered his head and tried to close the video, but suddenly, his finger trembled and stopped in place.

In the top right corner of the video, the timestamp indicated that this was a few days before Yi Wusheng’s fatal car accident. On that day, Yi Wusheng had just learned about the award he received at the Spring Breeze Fine Art Exhibition.

On that very same day, amidst their joy and excitement, Qi Fenghua and Yi Wusheng… had been intimate for the first and only time.

He slowly closed his eyes, feeling something churning in his stomach. Qi Fenghua fumbled to turn off his phone, standing in place as the message from the young man replayed in his mind.

“On the day of his accident, he had just left my place after we had breakup sex. We separated amicably.”

“Then he had the accident, and for a while, I blamed myself for causing it, feeling guilty.”

“I underwent therapy for a long time, and now I can finally let go.”

Qi Fenghua couldn’t hold back anymore and rushed to the restroom to vomit. He retched violently, as if he wanted to expel all his internal organs.

He didn’t want to remember anymore, but his memories disobeyed and flooded back.

Yi Wusheng had come from another man’s bed just an hour before, and the next hour, he was in bed with Qi Fenghua. Did he even take a shower? Was he dirty?

Qi Fenghua had thought that Yi Wusheng had the accident on his way to see him. He had fallen into depression, and it took patient guidance from Yi Qinglou to slowly overcome his psychological shadow. But on that day, Yi Wusheng had just left someone else’s bed…

In that video, after their encounter, Yi Wusheng and the young man embraced each other and talked. Qi Fenghua was brought up somehow, and Yi Wusheng commented that he was all appearance, lacking any artistic spirit…

All these words and memories filled his mind, almost making Qi Fenghua’s head explode. His hands trembled uncontrollably, and he vomited until he started coughing up blood.

Nausea, pure and utter disgust.

[“He looks quite miserable.”], floated 001 in front of Lin Hanchuan, mouth saying that he looked miserable, but his color was a lightly joyful shade of red.

Lin Hanchuan was talking with Qi Yuyu when he heard 001’s words. He divided his attention: [“Just as despicable as Yi Qinglou was back then, he’s equally despicable now.”]

An eye for an eye, just retribution.

Qi Yuyu clenched his fists, a rare expression of excitement appearing on his face. “The results of the Spring Breeze Fine Art Exhibition are out, and I…”

“I know,” Lin Hanchuan touched Qi Yuyu’s head, not surprised in the least. “The gold award, right?”

“Yes.” Under Lin Hanchuan’s calmness, Qi Yuyu also calmed his breathing. His eyes sparkled, nodding in confirmation.

Lin Hanchuan smiled and pointed to the wall in the center of the gallery, exuding a sense of pride. “That spot has been waiting for you for a long time.”

The two exchanged a smile, both seeing the joy and happiness in each other’s eyes.

001 cautiously interjected, [“Chuanchuan, your mission… has been accomplished.”]

To this, Lin Hanchuan was not surprised at all.

With the plot now reaching this point, Yi Wusheng, the white moonlight, had turned dark, the reputation of Yi’s family was in ruins, and Qi Yuyu, who wasn’t supposed to receive the gold award, got it. The plot had already deviated far from the norm.

Until just now, that young man dealt Qi Fenghua the final blow. Qi Fenghua and Yi Qinglou no longer had any possibilities. The protagonist and the love interest went their separate ways.

Lin Hanchuan didn’t expect that the young man would go to Qi Fenghua. He didn’t know what the young man had given Qi Fenghua to cause such a tremendous blow.

Originally, he had planned to spend at least a year in this world, but now it had only taken less than three months for everything to settle. It was much faster than he had imagined, Lin Hanchuan thought.

[“When are you leaving this world?”], 001 rubbed against Lin Hanchuan’s hand like a cat, asking with a tone of flattery and fawning.

Lin Hanchuan lowered his gaze, looking at Qi Yuyu in front of him, his eyes profound.

001 flew a few circles around Lin Hanchuan, its tone anxious. [“The mission is complete, and the collected energy has reached the threshold. How about you leave tonight…?”]

Just like in the previous world, leaving immediately after completing the mission without hesitation.

“Just tell me what you want, and I’ll paint as much as you desire.” Qi Yuyu was overjoyed. Despite not drinking, his face had a faint reddish hue. He enthusiastically boasted, “I can paint anything—traditional Chinese painting, oil painting, watercolor… What do you like?”

Facing Qi Yuyu’s sparkling gaze, a hint of amusement also appeared in Lin Hanchuan’s eyes as he said, “Traditional Chinese painting. Your style of traditional Chinese painting is unique.”

“Great!” Qi Yuyu waved his hand, “We’ll paint traditional Chinese painting!”

After a brief discussion between the two, 001 let out a frustrated sigh, and a gentle, unobtrusive blue blob floated in the air like a blue light bulb, soothing yet not glaring.

[“I’ll stay in this world for a year.”] Lin Hanchuan assured, [“After a year, I’ll leave.”]

The gallery had just opened, and Qi Yuyu had recently distanced himself from the Qi family. His art career had yet to take off, and Lin Hanchuan couldn’t help but worry.

[“Alright, a year it is.”] 001 sulkily returned to Lin Hanchuan’s body. Its final words were, [“You should complete the missions faster.”]

There were too many events surrounding this year’s Spring Breeze Fine Art Exhibition, receiving unprecedented attention. After the announcement of the award winners, it even trended on social media.

Netizens knew nothing about painting, but appreciating beauty was instinctual for humans, ingrained in their genes. After comparing the awarded artworks, everyone had to admit:

⌈”Qi Yuyu truly deserves the gold award; his painting is outstanding.”⌋

⌈”Some people don’t even know what those artworks are; they look confused while viewing them. How could these win awards? It seems that art is truly subjective. Then I saw Qi Yuyu’s painting… Indeed, those things are just niche aesthetics. My taste is normal.”⌋

⌈”The works that win the gold award at the Spring Breeze Fine Art Exhibition can sell for at least several hundred thousand yuan. I wonder how much Qi Yuyu’s painting can sell for. I’d like to try if it’s under one million…”⌋

⌈”I heard he doesn’t sell this painting. Don’t even think about it.”⌋

Praise flowed from everyone’s lips, leaving the previous troubles behind.

After Qi Yuyu created his verified account, his number of fans skyrocketed, surpassing even some minor celebrities, reaching ten million followers. For an artist, this fan base was already formidable, surpassing Qi Fenghua, who held the highest fan count in the art world.

No one noticed that Qi Fenghua hadn’t been active online for a long time. Initially, some people criticized him for smearing Qi Yuyu but refused to apologize, but eventually, no one paid attention to him anymore.

Qi Fenghua was completely engulfed in the history of the internet.

Only when Qi Yuyu’s painting received another international award did those past events resurface. Someone sighed and said, “That person still hasn’t apologized to this day.”