Chapter Three: A Husband with Three Identities?

The next moment, Ouyang Junyan’s brows knitted tightly, his voice as cold as a massive block of ice. “Fang Zhiyin, what did you just do to me?”

What?

Ouyang Junyan pulled up his sleeves, revealing both arms mottled with bruises of various sizes, evidence left from their struggle in the car moments ago.

What’s wrong? Did he not remember what had just happened?

“And during work hours, what are you doing in my office?” His tone was colder still, plunging to an abyssal chill.

Fang Zhiyin looked utterly bewildered, but then a spark of inspiration struck. She asked him, “Ouyang Junyan, how old are you?!”

Ouyang Junyan’s eyes widened, staring at her in disbelief. “Are you mad?”

You’re the one who’s mad, not me!

“Just tell me!”

“Thirty-five,” he replied impatiently, straightening his clothes. “Now go home at once!”

This was bad!

Fang Zhiyin suddenly couldn’t tell who was having the split personality—herself or him! The Ouyang Junyan she’d met that morning had said he was eighteen, but the one in the president’s office now claimed to be thirty-five!

But in reality, Ouyang Junyan was twenty-eight years old…

Seeing Fang Zhiyin lingering without leaving, Ouyang Junyan actually picked up the phone to call his secretary. “Have security come in and escort this unauthorized person out.”

Unauthorized person?

Fang Zhiyin’s eyes flared with anger. “Ouyang!”

Even in the worst days of their relationship, during cold wars, she had never been thrown out by him in public!

“And look at this!” Suddenly, Ouyang Junyan tossed his phone in front of her.

Fang Zhiyin saw that her dear husband was trending on social media.

“S-God’s sudden return to campus causes a sensation more explosive than a celebrity’s appearance…”

“What is this about?” Ouyang Junyan glared at her, convinced she had orchestrated this, his stare menacing. “Are you setting me up?”

“No! You went back on your own!” Did he really remember nothing?

Two minutes later, two security guards actually arrived.

“Do you even know who I am?” Fang Zhiyin demanded of them.

Then she turned to Ouyang Junyan.

Ouyang Junyan’s sharp gaze was utterly unfamiliar. “Go with them.”

“No! I can’t leave!” Fang Zhiyin grew anxious. “I need to sit down and talk with you… Do you even realize you’re ill?”

“What did you say?” At those final words, Ouyang Junyan did turn his head.

In truth, Fang Zhiyin wasn’t sure what exactly was wrong with him. She suddenly recalled a college classmate who, after behaving normally for years, one day became strangely odd. Her parents had come to withdraw her from school, and she was taken home. Years later, Fang Zhiyin learned from their classmates’ group chat that the girl had developed a psychiatric illness and could no longer continue her studies.

Thinking back, she felt not just regret, but also that her classmate and Ouyang Junyan were surprisingly alike!

So Fang Zhiyin fabricated a story on the spot. “Ouyang, as your wife, I have to tell you—the doctor warned me not to agitate you, saying you might be mentally unstable due to excessive stress. I’ve just been following you around. This morning you went back to S University, and it took the driver and me every ounce of effort to bring you back.”

“It’s a pity you’re not a novelist.” Ouyang Junyan, instead of reacting as she expected, simply responded with a mocking sneer. “I don’t know how you managed to get me to S University, but I don’t believe a word you say.”

Fang Zhiyin’s face flushed deep red.

“Get out!”

She nearly started an argument with him. “Last night I told you I wanted a divorce!” But then she remembered he truly was ill. If she left him now… wasn’t he rather pitiful?

Besides, Ouyang Group was a publicly listed company. If word got out that Ouyang Junyan was sick—seriously, frighteningly schizophrenic—the stock would nosedive! Not to mention the rumors that would ensue!

“Fine! I’ll tolerate you!” Throwing out these words, Fang Zhiyin let herself be escorted out by the two guards.

She left the office but didn’t leave the building.

She was still determined to find a way to get Ouyang Junyan to see a doctor.

She waited from day until nightfall, hearing that the thirty-five-year-old Ouyang Junyan had been locked in a brainstorming meeting with upper management the entire time.

Ravenous, she asked the driver to keep watch while she went out for dinner. When she returned, the driver told her, “Madam, sir just left in a hurry!”

“Why didn’t you stop him?!”

“I… couldn’t!” The driver had no idea Ouyang Junyan was ill—he only remembered the morning’s scene of chaos in the car and was a bit afraid of him.

Fang Zhiyin quickly called his phone. This time, it was switched off.

The whole night, she and the driver scoured the city for Ouyang Junyan.

She even went to S University, but the security guard said he hadn’t seen him again. She had no idea where else to look.

Sitting in the car, Fang Zhiyin wondered—did she truly love him? Or was it only his appearance, not his soul, that she loved?

All along, she’d never really known what he was thinking.

By the time she got home, it was nearly midnight.

Exhausted, Fang Zhiyin planned to go to the police station first thing in the morning to report her husband missing.

She entered the pitch-black house, which suddenly lit up in a blaze of brightness.

“Wife! Where have you been all day?! Why are you back so late?!”

For a moment, Fang Zhiyin thought she was hallucinating…

In the morning, he claimed to be eighteen; at noon, thirty-five; and now, in the dead of night, this Ouyang Junyan—of indeterminate age—stood before her wearing an impossibly cute apron, holding a homemade cake, beaming at her.

His face was so gentle it seemed to drip with tenderness.

“You…”

“Did you forget? Today’s our one hundred sixty-second day since we met!” He bounced over to her, presenting his DIY cake with both hands. “Happy anniversary!”

“Dare I ask, how old are you this year?” Fang Zhiyin managed to squeeze out the question before she fainted.

“How could you forget my birthday? I’m twenty-five…” he pouted at her, thinking himself adorably cute.

Fang Zhiyin felt nauseous, utterly disoriented.

Heavens above! What kind of supernatural disaster was this? Could you please take him away?

Never had she imagined that overnight, her husband Ouyang Junyan would splinter into three entirely different men. She suddenly missed the twenty-eight-year-old version, calm and indifferent, his “true self.”

If she hadn’t reflexively pinched the spot between her nose and lip, she might have actually fainted.

“You…”

“Open wide! Ah!”

Ouyang Junyan held the homemade cake to her lips.

Fang Zhiyin nearly gagged. “Thank you… You eat it. I really can’t.”

“Wife, what’s wrong?” he whined with sickly affection.

Wife!

To hear him call her that again!

So many days and nights in the past, Fang Zhiyin had longed for Ouyang Junyan to call her “wife” like any ordinary husband. But now, it only made her feel ill.

“I’m going to sleep.” With that, Fang Zhiyin fled to her room as if her tail were on fire.