Giving You Dawn and Dusk - Chapter 17

The rich aroma continued to diffuse.

With every inhale and exhale, the scent filled Liang Shi’s nostrils.

Liang Shi’s lower abdomen felt tight. Her arm brushed against Xu Qingzhu’s skin.

It gave off a slight coolness.

But this coolness couldn’t dispel the heat radiating from her body.

Liang Shi slightly turned her face away and moved her body toward the other side of the bed.

The hottest part was her shoulder.

It felt as though hot tears were falling onto it, soaking her T-shirt.

The skin on that part of her shoulder was badly scalded.

Something must have happened to her, Liang Shi thought.

But Liang Shi didn’t ask.

She didn’t know if Xu Qingzhu felt the same way she did—that in such an atmosphere, one didn’t really want anyone to speak.

All that was needed was a shoulder to lean on, to absorb some energy.

Even if it was only a little bit.

If Xu Qingzhu wanted to talk, she would naturally talk.

If not, Liang Shi would simply serve as her prop.

Fortunately, Xu Qingzhu didn’t stay long.

She leaned on her for a while, then retreated. Liang Shi could vaguely make out her silhouette in the darkness.

She sat up, bracing herself with her arms, her back to Liang Shi, her face turned toward the window. In that instant, Liang Shi felt she looked very lonely.

A loneliness just like her own.

But it was only for a second. Xu Qingzhu bent down to put on her shoes. She stood up, picked up her phone, and her voice had regained its coolness, though if one listened closely, they could still tell she had been crying.

“I’m leaving now,” Xu Qingzhu said.

Liang Shi also sat up. “Aren’t you going to say anything?”

Xu Qingzhu paused. “What do you want to hear?”

“Didn’t you say you wanted to chat just now?” Liang Shi asked.

Xu Qingzhu shook her head. “I don’t feel like it now.”

Liang Shi: “…”

She was quite spontaneous.

But also quite interesting.

Liang Shi had assumed Xu Qingzhu would be the introverted, aloof yet gentle and reserved type, but her interactions with her were completely unexpected.

She wasn’t awkwardly intelligent, nor was she deliberately maintaining a facade.

She looked quiet, gentle, and indifferent, but she actually had a fiery and resilient heart.

She seemed very much like… white on the outside, black on the inside.

And very much like… playing the pig to eat the tiger.

Liang Shi simply replied, “Oh.”

She didn’t press the issue and lay back down on the bed. Xu Qingzhu stopped at the doorway again and whispered, “Liang Shi.”

“Hmm?” Liang Shi replied nasally.

“You owe me a favor, right?” Xu Qingzhu said.

Liang Shi: “…?”

“Tonight,” Xu Qingzhu reminded her. “Zhou Yian has always hidden her gender publicly.”

“Then how did you know?” Liang Shi asked.

“A friend of mine treated her before.”

“Was it Zhao Xuning?”

Xu Qingzhu paused. “That’s none of your business.”

“Then why did you tell me?” Liang Shi stood up, approaching her step by step. “Was it purely to help me?”

“What do you think?”

“I don’t think so.” Liang Shi moved closer, catching the faint scent of fragrance from her hair. “You’ve always wanted to divorce me. If I got together with Zhou Yian, you would get your wish, but you didn’t let that happen. Given your level of dislike for me, I won’t simply believe that you told me because you were worried about me. So… what’s your motive? Or rather, what else do you want from me?”

She stood very close, almost pressing against Xu Qingzhu as she spoke.

Her lips were only an inch away from Xu Qingzhu’s ear.

Xu Qingzhu didn’t move at all.

Hearing this, she chuckled softly, then suppressed her smile. “Regardless of my motive, I helped you, which is a fact, right? So you owe me a favor.”

“Then what do you want me to do?” Liang Shi asked. “Does the Xu family company still need financing? You just heard my phone call, right? The Liang family can barely save itself now; they even need to sell a daughter to get a piece of land. I probably can’t help you.”

“I haven’t thought about it yet,” Xu Qingzhu said. “I’ll let you know when I do. Don’t worry.”

“Xu Qingzhu,” Liang Shi took half a step back. “You are nothing like you were before.”

She stated the fact in a calm tone.

Xu Qingzhu abruptly turned back, a smile playing on her lips. “Then is there a possibility that you never truly knew me?”

Liang Shi was momentarily speechless.

“Get some rest,” Xu Qingzhu said, then left the room.

Liang Shi stood still, only snapping back when she heard the door close.

//

Xu Qingzhu walked quickly toward the elevator. It was a busy time at the hospital.

The elevator entrance was crowded with people. She stood among the crowd, trying her best to hide herself.

The forced composure from earlier made her face feel hot. Her face and ears were flushed, and her palms were sweaty, making her phone clammy and hot in her grip.

There were five nail marks in her forcibly clenched palms, the nail beds white with strain.

A kind aunt next to her asked, “Young lady, are you alright? Do you need me to call a doctor for you?”

“No, thank you, Auntie,” Xu Qingzhu politely declined.

She placed her hand over her heart, trying to calm her wildly beating heart.

She wasn’t an actress, so her acting was too clumsy.

If the lights had been on, Liang Shi would surely have noticed her abnormality.

Fortunately, with the lights off, she was able to pretend.

The elevator ascended to the tenth floor. When Xu Qingzhu returned to her room, a nurse was setting up her IV drip. Hearing footsteps, the nurse turned around and smiled, greeting her, “You’re back.”

“Mmm,” Xu Qingzhu sat on the bed, taking several deep breaths before finally feeling somewhat recovered.

“Lie down,” the nurse said. “You can sleep once the drip is finished.”

“Okay.” Xu Qingzhu placed her phone on the bedside table and asked while the nurse was inserting the needle, “Where is Dr. Zhao?”

“She’s doing her rounds,” the nurse replied. “One patient needs a physical exam. It will probably take her a while to finish.”

“Alright.”

“Did you need her for something?” the nurse asked.

“Yes. I’ll call her later, thank you,” Xu Qingzhu said.

Once the nurse finished the drip and left, the room fell quiet, and Xu Qingzhu finally fully relaxed.

A clear tear fell.

She raised the back of her hand to wipe it away.

Her phone quickly vibrated.

She reluctantly picked it up. It was a message from her mother.

【My dear Bamboo.】

Before Xu Qingzhu could reply, the messages quickly flooded the screen.

【Your dad said if there’s no way, then forget it. Don’t let these things create discord between you and A-Shi.】

【Your dad and I discussed it. Minghui’s fate must be so. We tried our best. There’s nothing we can do.】

【None of this is your concern. Mom was too emotional today, which is why I put pressure on you.】

【I’m sorry, Mom apologizes to you. Just take care of yourself. You don’t need to worry about the family’s affairs. Your dad and I have been through everything. This little thing won’t defeat us.】

【Mom only has you and your sister now. We are truly sorry. We shouldn’t have passed the pressure on to you.】

【My dear Bamboo, Mom loves you.】

Xu Qingzhu’s eyes reddened as she read.

She wiped away the fallen tears again and tapped the screen to reply: 【I asked Liang Shi. The Liang family can’t help us with financing.】

This time, her mother sent a voice message. “It’s alright. The Liang family has helped us enough. Haven’t you rested yet? Has your sister caused you any trouble?”

Xu Qingzhu replied: 【Ya Ya is behaving well.】

She chatted with her mother a little longer. Her mother kept apologizing and comforting her.

She also mentioned that Minghui was not yet at its dead end, and her father could still manage.

Minghui Jewelry was a family business passed down from her great-grandfather, but her father truly was not a businessman.

Not many years after the business was handed to him, it began to decline.

Even after receiving a thirty-million-yuan investment a few months ago, it was still unable to escape the fate of bankruptcy.

Xu Qingzhu thought for a moment and sent a message to her father: 【I plan to join the company.】