After the Person Everyone Hated Died, They All Went Mad

[Read with caution, major revisions planned]

Jiang Xuezhou was an illegitimate son no one wanted, timid and cowardly, with only his strikingly beautiful face to set him apart.

After returning to the family home, he did his best to please everyone.

But Jiang's father never looked him in the eye, and his younger brother only shouted at him to get out. His eldest brother, whom he'd once depended on, gripped his face and asked, "Is this how you usually seduce people?"

All the young masters wanted to take a turn trampling him.

The man his father and brothers had told him to please looked at him coldly. "Why are you making that face? Isn't this what you wanted?"

Jiang Xuezhou was utterly confused. All he had ever wanted was freedom.

He begged through his tears, "I don't want to marry Xie Sheng."

But all his father and brothers showed was disgust and impatience. Wasn't this why they'd brought him back?

Amid everyone's indifference, Jiang Xuezhou's heart finally died. He leapt into the sea and vanished beneath the waves.

Jiang's father stared in disbelief. "Quick, save him!!"

His eldest brother's eyes reddened, and he broke free of the people holding him back and jumped in. In the dark of night, with rain pouring down, Jiang Shao knelt on the shore and roared in helpless anguish.

One by one, the people who had bullied him came to pay their respects. They looked as grief-stricken as if they'd lost their dearest friend.

How strange. He was supposed to be hated by everyone.

Jiang Muye had always thought the illegitimate son his father brought home had feelings for him, and that he'd jumped into the sea only because he'd been forced to marry someone he didn't love.

After Xuezhou died, he finally understood his own feelings. He frantically called off his engagement, punished himself, and punished everyone who had ever bullied Xuezhou.

He coldly watched Jiang's father go gray overnight, consumed by regret. He watched his once-arrogant younger brother struggle through each day, filled with pain and remorse. He watched the man who had nearly become his brother-in-law search the sea like a madman for over half a year. Then he watched... someone new appear by Xie Sheng's side.

The newcomer was said to be the last disciple of a master of traditional Chinese painting. He had recently held his own solo exhibition. Jiang Muye glanced over coldly, only to discover that this "rising star of the art world" looked exactly like his dead younger brother.

No longer meek and pitiable in the Jiang family, he stood before his paintings, proud and beautiful.

They said he'd just won the gold prize in a national competition. They said he was incredibly popular at home and abroad, with tens of millions of followers in only six months. They said one of his paintings had sold for tens of millions...

But when Jiang Muye rushed up to him like a madman, the other man looked completely baffled. "Sorry, but who are you?"

He had forgotten. He had forgotten everyone who had ever bullied him, but let that mad dog from the Xie family pull him into his arms. "This is the artist behind the exhibition. You'd better mind your manners, Young Master Jiang, unless you want to be thrown out."

*

Xie Sheng watched Jiang Xuezhou jump into the sea with his own eyes, and spat up a mouthful of blood from the depths of his heart. After Jiang Muye was rescued, Xie Sheng remained in the freezing sea, searching through the night until he lost consciousness and was dragged ashore.

He refused to believe Jiang Xuezhou was dead. Like a madman, he investigated what had happened that day, and finally learned how badly he'd misunderstood everything and how cruelly he'd treated Xuezhou.

He thought they would never meet again in this life. Then, by chance, he wandered into a small fishing village and saw a smiling young man teaching children to paint.

He was secretly glad that Xuezhou had forgotten him, but his instinctive rejection filled him with pain and remorse. Like a thief, he stole a glimpse of Xuezhou's smile, walking a tightrope in constant fear...

He could spend his whole life making up for his mistakes, but he feared Jiang Xuezhou wouldn't give him the chance. After all, before he lost his memory, Xuezhou had loved someone else, hadn't he?

The Sword of Damocles fell. Jiang Xuezhou looked at him without expression and demanded, "You lied to me?"

"How dare you show your face in front of me and lie to me all over again?"

"Didn't you say I was a slut? So now you're in love with a slut?"

Xie Sheng clutched his aching heart and knelt, begging him to stop.

Jiang Xuezhou was cold and weary. Why did everyone hurt him first, then come back to apologize?

Why should he forgive them?

Content warnings:

1. The author let loose with this one to indulge their tastes. It's melodramatic, ridiculously melodramatic, and overflowing with angst. But the love interest is a beautiful, independent sweetheart, an honest boy who's gorgeous but doesn't quite know it.

2. Everyone gets their comeuppance, and they'll all die, their bones burned to ashes by jealousy in the end. (The love interest's wrongdoing isn't unforgivable, so he can be forgiven.)

3. The eldest brother, Jiang Muye, is a disposable love interest. The protagonist's illegitimate status is fake, and they are not related by blood. He seems hated by everyone but is actually beloved by all. There will also be some villains who aren't even worth calling supporting characters.

4. There is an amnesia plot. Before losing his memory, the protagonist loved none of them. Important: he loved nobody. Only the love interest gets full marks for virtue, so he gets the husband! One-on-one, mutual devotion, and a story of redemption!!!

Theme: Love yourself.