Giving You Dawn and Dusk - Chapter 18

Zhao Xuning arrived after her rounds. It was past ten o’clock.

She wasn’t on night duty tonight, so after finishing her rounds, it was her personal time. She planned to check on Xu Qingzhu, and if everything was fine, she would go home.

In the room, Xu Qingzhu was pretending to sleep. Hearing footsteps, she opened her eyes and, seeing Zhao Xuning, gave a weak smile. “You’re here.”

Zhao Xuning nodded. “Feeling any better?”

“Much better,” Xu Qingzhu sat up.

The relationship between the two wasn’t exceptionally close. Xu Qingzhu was close with Bai Weiwei; they were high school classmates and college roommates.

They had known each other for many years. Bai Weiwei and Zhao Xuning met online; they played a multiplayer online game together.

For a while, Bai Weiwei spoke of her “online friend” constantly.

Later, Bai Weiwei got acute gastroenteritis and was taken to the hospital. Her attending physician was Zhao Xuning. Bai Weiwei saw the messages she had sent her on Zhao Xuning’s phone, which she had dropped in the room, and the two unexpectedly met in person.

They became friends in real life.

After graduation, Bai Weiwei didn’t inherit the family business; she became an agent.

Her work was incredibly busy, leaving her little time to play games or even flirt with Zhao Xuning.

And Zhao Xuning’s feelings for her seemed to be just so-so.

But Zhao Xuning was too reserved. Neither Xu Qingzhu nor Bai Weiwei could fully guess what she was thinking.

Xu Qingzhu had stayed in the hospital to look after Bai Weiwei when she was admitted, which is how she got to know Zhao Xuning.

When she occasionally visited the hospital, Bai Weiwei always urged Zhao Xuning to take care of herself, and they gradually became familiar.

Xu Qingzhu had indeed asked Zhao Xuning about Zhou Yian.

When Liang Shi played that voice message, Zhao Xuning was also present. After Liang Shi and Bai Weiwei left, Zhao Xuning specifically came back to ask if Xu Qingzhu knew about the relationship between Liang Shi and Zhou Yian.

Xu Qingzhu did know some things, such as an old comment where Liang Shi had told Cheng Ran, “To hell with Zhou Yian, a toad trying to eat swan meat.”

At the time, she didn’t know what happened; she only looked up the name online but found nothing.

Hidden gender individuals inject drugs regularly, and only those close to them know their gender. Applying to the National General Administration to become a hidden gender individual provides state protection, meaning no gender-related information will appear online.

Correspondingly, the application process to become a hidden gender individual is complicated and requires a payment of twenty million yuan.

Therefore, there are currently not many hidden gender individuals in the country.

Most hidden gender individuals are those who are attracted to the same sex but fear public scrutiny, so they choose to hide their gender at a high cost.

Zhou Yian was a classic example.

Once one becomes a hidden gender individual, the state protects them from public condemnation.

After Xu Qingzhu truthfully shared what she knew, she asked Zhao Xuning, “Does Zhou Yian like Alphas? Or specifically, does she like Liang Shi?”

Zhao Xuning paused, then said ambiguously, “The answer is what you already suspect.”

This served as a reminder to Xu Qingzhu.

That’s why Xu Qingzhu went to Liang Shi’s room.

She originally intended to ask Liang Shi for help.

Although she hated to ask, her mother’s call had put her in a difficult position, so she still went to see Liang Shi.

However, she overheard some unpleasant things.

She roughly gathered what Madam Liang said.

She also heard the argument between the mother and daughter, which caused her emotions to briefly collapse.

Fortunately, she stopped herself at the last minute.

How could she possibly rely on Liang Shi?

That was Liang Shi.

Even though… that Liang Shi didn’t seem quite like the one she knew.

“Still thinking about Liang Shi?” Zhao Xuning’s words pulled Xu Qingzhu’s wandering thoughts back. She shook her head, pressing her forehead with one hand. “No.”

Then she corrected herself. “Yes.”

“Did you confirm things with her regarding Zhou Yian?” Zhao Xuning asked.

Xu Qingzhu nodded. “I called her and generally confirmed it.”

“That’s fine then.” Zhao Xuning paused, pulled up a chair and sat down. The top button of her white shirt was meticulously fastened. Her long hair was casually tied back. She then slowly took off her glasses, revealing the beauty mark under her eye. She casually twirled the glasses arm between her fingers. “You came here because you still want to know about Liang Shi, right?”

“Mmm,” Xu Qingzhu didn’t deny it. “You said before that Liang Shi showed signs of amnesia, right?”

“Yes. She showed some symptoms of amnesia when she first woke up. I arranged for a head CT scan, which showed no issues. Her intelligence and physical condition haven’t declined,” Zhao Xuning said. “But she’s been acting very abnormal these past few days. It’s like… she suddenly became a different person.”

“You’ve known her for a longer time. Why do you think that is?” Xu Qingzhu asked.

Zhao Xuning shook her head. “Although I know her, we are not close.”

She was reluctant to be associated with someone like Liang Shi.

Everyone in their circle knew that Zhao Xuning and Liang Shi didn’t get along.

Liang Shi had been arrogant and overbearing since elementary school—marking her territory, forming cliques, a total bully. Backed by her two older brothers and the family’s wealth and influence, the Liang family was more powerful back then, counted among the top affluent families in Haizhou City.

Years later, the Liang family had declined.

But Liang Shi’s temper had remained unchanged.

It had even gotten worse.

Except… once, when she was kidnapped as a child, that Liang Shi also showed some strange symptoms.

Sometimes, when she abruptly woke up from sleeping in class, she would say, “I’m not me. Who am I?”

She was very erratic.

Everyone secretly thought it was because she was kidnapped, so her mind was slightly affected.

The other kidnapped girl, they heard, had been in a coma for two months after returning and never spoke again.

At the time, Zhao Xuning didn’t know that person was Xu Qingzhu.

Zhao Xuning, on the other hand, had been aloof since childhood, excelled academically, and preferred not to socialize. Many people in school thought she was stuck-up.

Moreover, she was quite good-looking, and people constantly sent her love letters, attracting a lot of jealousy.

Everyone started differentiating between the ages of 15 and 18.

Before age 15, no one knew what gender they would differentiate into.

Even so, many people began to feel stirrings of affection before age 15.

In junior high, a girl Liang Shi liked passed a love letter to Zhao Xuning. Liang Shi brought people to corner Zhao Xuning after school.

The two even fought.

Both of them were bruised that day, but Zhao Xuning had the upper hand. After that, Liang Shi never provoked Zhao Xuning again.

Zhao Xuning had always looked down on Liang Shi.

Or rather, she looked down on rich second-generation heirs who behaved recklessly because of their family’s wealth.

Zhou Yian was also in the category of people she disliked.

“But she is indeed very different from before,” Zhao Xuning admitted truthfully. “She suddenly became polite, humble, gentle, and even a bit friendly.”

Xu Qingzhu was silent for a moment before saying, “Is there a possibility that this isn’t Liang Shi?”

“I’ve considered that, but I checked all the surveillance footage since her admission and verified her blood type and DNA. Everything proves that she is Liang Shi.”

“What other reason could cause such a drastic change in personality overnight?” Xu Qingzhu asked. “Have there been similar cases?”

“There were some in the past. A portion was handed over to a mysterious national organization for decades of research. Another portion was later confirmed to be a genuine change of heart, but usually triggered by a major event,” Zhao Xuning paused. “Which type do you think she belongs to?”

Xu Qingzhu shook her head. “I don’t know.”

After a short while, Xu Qingzhu considered, “That day when I was in heat, she tried to force a mark on me. I pushed her hard, and her head hit the wall. It made a very loud noise. Could that be related?”

“It might be, but I checked. She doesn’t have any blood clots compressing her brain nerves, so it doesn’t look like amnesia, but it could be caused by other factors,” Zhao Xuning said. “I’ll arrange a full body check-up for her tomorrow.”

“Will she agree?” Xu Qingzhu asked.

Zhao Xuning, who was twirling her glasses, paused suddenly, then said firmly, “The way she is now, she will.”

“However…” Zhao Xuning paused. “Isn’t the way she is now better?”

“It’s very good, unbelievably good,” Xu Qingzhu said.

“So why worry about it?” Zhao Xuning said. “Whether she’s turned over a new leaf or had a sudden realization, as long as she’s good now, isn’t that enough? Sometimes, people shouldn’t be too fixated on answers.”

Xu Qingzhu suddenly smiled. “You’re right.”

After Zhao Xuning left, Xu Qingzhu lay on the bed, deep in thought.

After a long time, she sent a message to Liang Shi: 【I lost my composure earlier. I apologize.】

//

Liang Shi woke up the next day and saw the message. She replied, 【It’s nothing.】

Then she went downstairs to buy breakfast and took it up to the tenth floor to eat with Xu Qingzhu.

They shared a very quiet breakfast.

Liang Shi didn’t intend to bring up the divorce again.

She had already tried. Any text message she sent to Xu Qingzhu related to divorce was blocked by the System. The System had even briefly appeared yesterday, warning her not to attempt any more futile efforts.

There were no shortcuts to this conquest.

She gave up.

After breakfast, Liang Shi politely declined Zhao Xuning’s suggestion for a full body check-up, insisted on processing her own discharge, and then asked Xu Qingzhu if she wanted to be discharged.

Zhao Xuning happened to come over and said she could be discharged, but she would need to rest at home and be carefully monitored for two days before returning to normal activities.

Liang Shi proceeded to process her discharge paperwork as well.

On the way home, Xu Qingzhu sat in the passenger seat silently, resuming her ‘do-not-approach’ demeanor.

The vulnerability and familiarity from last night seemed completely gone.

The two were like strangers.

As the car approached Yunding Mansion, Liang Shi’s phone suddenly rang.

The soft, light music made Xu Qingzhu open her eyes. She looked at Liang Shi, who was driving. “Pull over, or should I hang up for you?”

Liang Shi said, “Check who it is.”

She didn’t dare to abruptly ask Xu Qingzhu to answer.

The original host’s phone was like a ticking time bomb; you never knew when it might explode.

Even she was nervous answering it, let alone asking Xu Qingzhu to.

Xu Qingzhu looked at the screen; it was Xu Qingya.

She answered, turning on speakerphone.

Xu Qingya said over the phone, “Sister Liang Shi, what are you doing? Let’s discuss something.”

Liang Shi looked at Xu Qingzhu. Xu Qingzhu mouthed the words: “Focus on driving.”

Liang Shi cleared her throat, trying to sound normal. “What is it?”

“The hotel is too lonely,” Xu Qingya said. “Can I stay at your house for a few days?”

Xu Qingzhu decisively refused. “No.”

“Ah? Is my sister there?” Xu Qingya sounded annoyed, then said, “I’m asking Sister Liang Shi, not you.”

“I decide,” Xu Qingzhu said.

Xu Qingya scoffed. “I’m coming over anyway. I’m already at your door. Hurry up and come back.”

Xu Qingzhu: “…”

Liang Shi was helpless and could only say, “Wait for a moment. Your sister and I will be there soon.”

After hanging up, Xu Qingzhu said, “I will handle my sister’s affairs; you don’t need to worry. When we get back, I will move into the room in the farthest east on the first floor and pay you market-rate rent. My father’s health is poor, and the company is facing some issues, so I can’t divorce you temporarily. But when the time is right, we’ll go through with it, okay?”

Before Liang Shi could reply, Xu Qingzhu added, “During this time, I hope you can act just like you used to in front of my family—pretend as much as possible.”

Liang Shi: “…”