Become the Sickly Villain in the Novel - Chapter 60

Early the next morning, Li Nuo stepped out of the door and, after only a few steps, bumped straight into Fang Che.

“…Do you also live around here? Or have you installed surveillance cameras?”

“Not inside the apartment, just in the hallway.”

“…Seriously?”

“It’s not me who installed them. It’s the property management.”

Li Nuo nodded in understanding. Well, that made sense. This was a high-end apartment complex—of course, the hallways would have surveillance cameras.

But… did Fang Che actually look at the surveillance footage?

Li Nuo shivered slightly and decided it was better not to think about it any further.

On the way to the coffee shop, Li Nuo asked Fang Che to keep his distance. It was better not to let anyone know about his upcoming conversation with Zhang Wanhui just yet.

When they arrived at the coffee shop, Li Nuo scanned the room and quickly spotted someone waving at him.

“Li Nuo, over here.”

Li Nuo nodded toward Fang Che, who tactfully went to sit in a corner. From there, he could easily observe the two of them.

“Hello.” Li Nuo greeted politely as he approached.

Zhang Wanhui looked at him with a strange expression. “This is the first time I’ve seen you greet someone so politely. It feels a little… complicated.”

Li Nuo observed this person, who was never mentioned in the novel, from such a close distance. He had narrow eyes, thin lips, and an intense sharpness when he squinted at someone. However, when he smiled, he appeared very gentle.

When Zhang Wanhui saw Li Nuo, his expression visibly relaxed.

It seemed he really was quite familiar with the “original” Li Nuo.

Li Nuo sat down across from him.

Zhang Wanhui sized him up from head to toe, his tone incredulous. “You’ve really changed a lot—your demeanor, your gaze, your mannerisms. Completely different.”

“Is it that obvious?”

“Hmm… Yeah. You used to look down your nose at people, and your eyes were always cold.”

Zhang Wanhui lifted his chin and mimicked the original Li Nuo’s haughty expression, making Li Nuo curl his toes in embarrassment.

Clearing his throat, Li Nuo quickly changed the subject. “You said you’re familiar with me. So, what’s our relationship?”

Zhang Wanhui thought for a moment before answering, “I’d say we’re friends, or to be more precise, we were more like bad company. We were high school classmates.”

“High school? Then are you friends with Li Yan as well?”

Zhang Wanhui raised an eyebrow. “Didn’t I just tell you? We were just a pair of troublemakers. You weren’t a good person, and neither was I. So, naturally, my relationship with Li Yan wasn’t great.”

Li Nuo found himself unable to refute this explanation.

“He really hated me, you know. And he wasn’t too fond of you meeting up with me, either.”

“Li Yan isn’t the type to dislike people without reason.”

Li Nuo instinctively defended his younger brother.

“It seems like you’re getting along pretty well with Li Yan.”

“Of course. We’re brothers, after all.”

Zhang Wanhui’s expression grew even more complicated at this response. Shaking his head, he said mockingly, “You really did lose your memory, huh? You’ve completely forgotten how you and Li Yan used to get along. And you’re the one who told me about it, too.”

“What do you mean?”

“You said he sold the family house and took all the money for himself.”

Li Nuo was a bit confused. Wasn’t it the scumbag father who sold the house? What did it have to do with Li Yan?

“Is that really what I said?”

“Yeah. And that he wouldn’t let you go out, forcing you to stay at home all the time. That’s why I’d occasionally visit you at your place. But I haven’t seen you much these past few months.”

Li Nuo held his head in his hands. “I’m not being kept inside. I mean, I’m out now, aren’t I?”

“But you brought someone along, which surprised me.”

Zhang Wanhui glanced at Fang Che, who was seated some distance away, his gaze filled with caution. That tall man in the suit radiated danger.

“Don’t worry about him. In any case, there’s no way Li Yan would do something like that to me. He’s only worried about my health.”

Zhang Wanhui let out a derisive laugh. “Fine. I’ll accept that you’ve lost your memory. This is the first time I’ve heard you speak up for Li Yan.”

“Did I really dislike Li Yan that much before?”

“Dislike? That’s putting it mildly. You were probably the person who wished most for his death. Every time you talked about him, your tone was dripping with hatred.”

Li Nuo’s expression froze instantly. While he had known that the original owner hadn’t been kind to Li Yan, he hadn’t expected the animosity to reach such an extreme level.

“I didn’t like him much either, but I wasn’t on your level,” Zhang Wanhui shrugged.

After the initial shock, Li Nuo quickly pulled his thoughts back. It didn’t matter—those were the original owner’s ideas. Now, he was in control. Thankfully, the original owner hadn’t done anything drastic yet.

But it was clear that the original owner had been close to this person in front of him. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have shared his inner thoughts so easily.

But Li Nuo wasn’t the original Li Nuo. His gaze turned cold. “I’ve never said anything like that, so shut up.”

Zhang Wanhui chuckled helplessly. “Does losing your memory really change someone this much?”

Though he had been testing Li Nuo, he hadn’t expected such a firm and straightforward denial. It seemed there truly wasn’t a shred of memory left in him.

“If I’d known, I would’ve contacted you earlier.”

Previously, he had angered Li Nuo, and because of that, he hadn’t reached out for a while. With Li Nuo’s personality, he wouldn’t take the initiative to contact him, so after waiting months without hearing anything, Zhang Wanhui couldn’t resist looking for him, only to be greeted by a gaze as if he were a complete stranger.

Now, it seemed he really was a stranger.

“Don’t speak badly of Li Yan in front of me anymore. I don’t want to hear it.”

“And one more thing,” Li Nuo said, his face cold as he stared at him. “Any talk about death is absolutely forbidden.”

Faced with Li Nuo’s icy gaze, Zhang Wanhui raised his hands in mock surrender. “You’ve done a total 180, haven’t you? A few months pass, and suddenly you’re the model big brother? And for the record, that wasn’t my line. It was yours. Even if you’ve lost your memory, you should remember that much.”

“……”

“You don’t believe me, do you? I don’t know what kind of mental journey you’ve been on since you lost your memory, but let’s take a look at your phone. Before your amnesia, did you even have a single picture of Li Yan on your phone? Let alone a photo of the two of you together.”

Li Nuo kept his mouth shut. He had indeed gone through his phone before, and there wasn’t a single photo of Li Yan.

Zhang Wanhui picked up his phone from the table, unlocked it, scrolled for a moment, and then pushed it toward Li Nuo. “But I have one of us.”

On the screen was a photo of the two of them together.

“See? We really were close.”

Li Nuo glanced at the phone screen. In the photo, Zhang Wanhui had an arm around the original owner, smiling, while the original owner stared blankly at the camera.

“You claim we’re close, so why didn’t you contact me sooner? From what I see on my phone, it was only recently that you started texting me more frequently.”

“Well, you didn’t reply, did you?”

“A person with amnesia should at least be cautious.”

“……”

“Besides, I noticed all our past chat history has been deleted. Did something happen before?”

At this question, Zhang Wanhui turned his head slightly, looking hesitant.

But under Li Nuo’s persistent gaze, he finally opened his mouth reluctantly. “It’s nothing major. I just did something that upset you.”

“That’s all?”

“Your personality can be a bit extreme, you know,” Zhang Wanhui replied, his voice involuntarily rising as if recalling his own grievances. “When you get angry, it lasts forever. Even if I apologized, it didn’t help. So I figured I’d wait until you cooled off before reaching out again. But then you ended up in the hospital for some tests, and I didn’t want to bother you. Who would’ve thought…”

Li Nuo pressed further. “What exactly did you do to upset me?”

“…Just something like that. You’ll remember when your memory comes back.”

As he said this, Zhang Wanhui seemed to get excited. “I heard that revisiting the past can help with memory recovery. Do you want to visit the high school we attended together? Maybe you’ll remember something.”

“No need,” Li Nuo shook his head firmly. He knew his own situation best. This wasn’t amnesia; he was a different person altogether.

Zhang Wanhui looked a little disappointed but kept complaining. “So you deleted all our chat history? Did you block my number too?”

“I didn’t block your number. I kept it.”

Hearing this, Zhang Wanhui let out a sigh of relief, though he still grumbled, “You’ve never reached out to me, and I was really worried. I’ve always done whatever you asked me to do.

“And as for Li Yan, he’s always criticizing your hobbies. Last time you said you wanted to buy a pair of shoes, and Li Yan took forever to give you the money. By the time he did, the raffle had already ended.”

Hearing about the original owner’s “hobby,” Li Nuo’s mouth twitched slightly. Was that “hobby” the one where he spent money recklessly? As for Li Yan delaying the money, it was probably because he didn’t have enough at the time.

“And even though he sold your family’s house, he didn’t give you a single cent from it,” Zhang Wanhui said indignantly.

Li Nuo let out a brief sigh. He thought he finally understood the situation.

The original Li Nuo must not have told Zhang Wanhui about their scumbag father’s gambling debts. Instead, he’d spun the story to make it seem like the family home was sold unfairly, painting himself as the victim of Li Yan’s bullying.

He let out a sigh and began to explain. “That’s not how it was. My house was sold off by my… gambling-addicted father, so I had to move into an old apartment complex. Li Yan is the one paying off the debts now.”

“What?”

Zhang Wanhui stared at him, his mouth slightly open in shock.

“That’s how it is. I don’t think I’ve ever mentioned this to you before.”

After speaking for so long, Li Nuo was starting to feel thirsty. He glanced toward the counter, eyeing the drinks menu.

Clicking his tongue in disbelief, Zhang Wanhui muttered, “Fine, if you say so. Anyway, that thing you asked me to help with—I’ve made some progress. I’ll get in touch once there’s a concrete result.”

“What thing?”

“I’ll keep it to myself for now. It’s still up in the air. If you want to recover your memory, you know where to find me.” Zhang Wanhui gave him a warm smile. “After all, I’m pretty sure Li Yan wouldn’t want you to get your memory back.”

After Zhang Wanhui left, Li Nuo ordered a glass of milk and slowly finished it in the coffee shop before heading home.

……………

“Who?”

Li Yan looked confused as he asked the question.

“I said I met up with Zhang Wanhui,” Li Nuo repeated, observing Li Yan’s reaction closely.

Li Yan’s face instantly darkened. If he weren’t pressing his lips together so tightly, he might’ve started cursing.

It seemed he really despised Zhang Wanhui.

Li Nuo observed his expression and recalled the things Zhang Wanhui had said at the coffee shop earlier.

“…Brother, are you still in touch with him?”

“Yes. He said he’s someone familiar with me and knows me well, so I decided to meet him.”

Hearing this, Li Yan’s expression became even uglier.

He was well aware of how frequently his brother had been in contact with Zhang Wanhui before the memory loss. But in Li Yan’s opinion, Zhang Wanhui was not someone worth getting close to. If anyone could influence Li Nuo, Li Yan believed it would be Zhang Wanhui.

It wasn’t in a romantic sense, but in another way entirely.

Back in high school, Zhang Wanhui had been the quintessential “bad boy.” Li Yan had told Li Nuo to stay away from him, but one day, the two had become close anyway, and their connection lasted up until now.

After that hospital check-up, however, Li Yan had never heard his brother mention Zhang Wanhui again. At the time, he thought the amnesia was a blessing in disguise.

But now, they were in contact again.

“Brother, what did you talk about with him during your meeting?”

“Nothing important. He said he knew me well, so I wanted to learn more about my past. I also told him about my memory loss.”

Li Yan could barely keep his expression under control. “…Are you planning to meet him again?”

Deliberately ignoring Li Yan’s obvious disapproval, Li Nuo averted his gaze. “I think I will.”

Even if Li Yan tried to persuade him otherwise, he was determined to meet him again. There were things he wanted to uncover.