Giving You Dawn And Dusk - Chapter 19

Liang Shi did not know how the original owner had pretended in front of Xu Qingzhu’s parents before.

But badness in this world came in many forms, while goodness had only one.

Acting obedient and well-behaved was not Liang Shi’s strong suit. She did not have much experience getting along with elders, but when she had filmed on set, some of the senior actors had liked her very much.

So this was not difficult for her.

At present, Xu Qingzhu’s suggestion could not be more suitable.

So she readily agreed.

“You don’t need to pay rent,” Liang Shi said. “The second floor will still be left to you. I’ll live on the first floor. After we go back, change the lock on the bedroom door. That way, you’ll feel safer. But…”

She paused. “If your sister moves in, we probably… can’t temporarily live separately.”

“So I’ll persuade her to go back,” Xu Qingzhu promised her. “No matter what method it takes. When the time comes, she may act spoiled with you and try to convince you to let her stay. I hope you can be a little firm.”

Liang Shi: “……”

When had she ever not been firm?

She sent over a slightly bewildered look. Xu Qingzhu lightly pressed her lips together, turned her face away, and said, “You’ve always found it hard to resist little girls acting spoiled.”

Liang Shi: “……”

Ah, this.

The original owner indeed… seemed unable to resist.

Otherwise, she would not have had so many “female confidantes.”

“I’ll change that from now on.” Liang Shi coughed lightly and immediately changed the subject. “Who’s the celebrity your sister likes?”

She wanted to see whether there would be any celebrities from her previous world here.

“Chen Zhengxuan,” Xu Qingzhu said. “I think he’s an idol? From a boy group.”

Liang Shi searched through all the memories in her mind and found that she had never heard of this person.

The entertainment industry here was probably not the same one she had been in before.

“All right.” Liang Shi’s tone carried a hint of disappointment.

“You know him?” Xu Qingzhu raised an eyebrow and asked.

Liang Shi shook her head. “How could I?”

After a brief pause, she asked again, “If I said I wanted to act, what would you think?”

Xu Qingzhu looked her up and down. Her gaze landed on Liang Shi’s eyes as she said faintly, “You’d probably be a good actress.”

Liang Shi: “……”

For some reason, it did not sound like a compliment.

Still, she did not discuss the topic in depth with Xu Qingzhu. Right now, she did not understand the entertainment industry here very well. The original owner also had so many complicated family relationships and social networks. If she entered the entertainment industry, scandals could explode around her at any moment.

Most importantly, there was still that garbage system making her complete missions.

These three months were the critical period.

Whether she could live or not depended on these three months.

It had only come up in conversation, so she had mentioned it casually.

Obviously, Xu Qingzhu did not take her words seriously.

//

The car drove past Jiangyuan Road, past Century Plaza, past Jinmao Building, and past many of Haizhou City’s landmark buildings.

This place was somewhat different from the place Liang Shi had lived before.

Because it was coastal, even the air was damp and carried a faint salty scent.

This was Liang Shi’s first time returning to the villa.

She had been here for several days, but had spent all of them in the hospital.

It had truly been quite difficult.

Other people transmigrated into books and had everything go smoothly, becoming winners in life.

She transmigrated into a book and had to clean up a mess while taking care of her sister-in-law.

“……”

Just as Liang Shi drove onto the main road, she saw Xu Qingya standing at the entrance of the villa.

Her outfit today was more obedient-looking. A T-shirt, jeans, white canvas shoes, and no heavy makeup. She stood by the road with a backpack on, playing with her phone.

The moment she saw their car approach, Xu Qingya put away her phone, shoved both hands into her pockets, and wore a淡淡 expression.

Most likely, she was still sulking at Xu Qingzhu.

Liang Shi drove the car into the courtyard. While unbuckling her seat belt, Xu Qingzhu said, “You go back first. I’ll be responsible for persuading her to leave.”

Liang Shi: “……”

In order not to live in the same room as her, Xu Qingzhu was really working quite hard.

“I won’t get out of the car yet,” Liang Shi said. “You go handle it. Call me after you’ve settled it.”

Xu Qingzhu glanced at her and reluctantly said, “That works too.”

Liang Shi’s car windows had privacy film. From outside, one could not see inside, but from inside, the situation outside was very clear.

After Xu Qingzhu got out of the car, she said to Xu Qingya, “Either go home or go back to the hotel. Choose one.”

“I choose the third option.” Xu Qingya gave a light huff. “The hotel is too cold and lonely. I don’t want to eat takeout.”

“Then go home,” Xu Qingzhu said. “Mom is still waiting for you at home.”

“I already talked to Mom.” Xu Qingya shrugged indifferently. “Mom told me to stay with you for a week to calm down.”

Xu Qingzhu: “……”

“And,” Xu Qingya pouted, “if I stay at a hotel, wouldn’t that still be wasting your money? If I stay here, just find me a small room. I absolutely won’t get in the way, and I won’t be a third wheel.”

“No,” Xu Qingzhu still refused.

But Xu Qingya had already circled around the car and arrived at the driver’s side. She pulled the car door open.

Liang Shi, who was sitting in the driver’s seat playing Snake: “?”

“Sister Liang Shi, tell me. Is my sister being unreasonable?” Xu Qingya asked her to judge.

Liang Shi: “……?”

She looked toward Xu Qingzhu.

Xu Qingzhu frowned. “Xu Qingya, can you stop making trouble? Go home, or stay at the hotel. Spend a few days outside to clear your head, and that’s enough. Why do you have to come to my place? Do you think my life is too comfortable, so you want to come and make things difficult for me?”

Xu Qingya’s expression cracked for a second, but a moment later, she turned back, made a face at her, and said in an extremely infuriating tone, “Yeah, yeah.”

Xu Qingzhu: “……”

She pressed her brow with a headache.

“Are you even my sister? I’m about to end up on the streets, and you won’t even take me in for a few days.” Xu Qingya complained with some grievance. “Even Sister Liang Shi agreed to let me stay here. Why won’t you?”

Liang Shi hurriedly waved her hand. “I didn’t. I haven’t.”

Xu Qingya: “……”

She was silent for a moment, then said faintly, “Well, well. Henpecked, huh?”

Liang Shi: “……”

She just did not want to be punished by the system for no reason again.

It hurt!

“I’ll call Uncle Liu right now and have him come pick you up,” Xu Qingzhu said. Afraid that Xu Qingya would discover her true intention, she added, “If you were on vacation and came to stay with me for a few days, there would be no problem. You could even stay for an entire holiday. But school starts in just a few days, and you just quarreled with Dad. Dad isn’t in good health. Do you still remember that? When you ran away from home, did you consider his feelings?”

“Then when he tore up my idol’s posters, did he consider my feelings?” Xu Qingya said coldly. “Only you’re the great filial daughter, and I’m just being unreasonable, right? I want to understand him too, but things aren’t going well with his company, so he takes his anger out on me and still wants me to forgive him generously. I don’t understand.”

Xu Qingzhu: “……”

At the end, Xu Qingya even asked, “Sister Liang Shi, do you understand?”

Liang Shi: “……”

She did not dare understand.

“This matter was Dad’s fault.” Xu Qingzhu was still dialing Uncle Liu’s number, but it rang for a long time with no one answering.

Xu Qingya advised her, “Stop wasting your effort. Uncle Liu is busy dismissing the household servants right now. He doesn’t have time.”

“Why?” Xu Qingzhu was puzzled.

Was the family already struggling to this extent? She knew nothing about it.

“Mom doesn’t want you to know, so just pretend you don’t know, okay?” Xu Qingya shoved both hands into her pockets, her expression cool. “Just stay here and be your proper Mrs. Liang. As for me, I’ll stay at your house for a few days. Once this storm passes, I’ll go back. Or once school starts, I’ll live on campus. I promise I won’t disturb your couple time. Is that okay, my dear sister?”

Xu Qingzhu: “……”

Since things had already been said to this extent, it would seem heartless if Xu Qingzhu still refused.

She cast her gaze toward Liang Shi, who had been acting invisible the whole time.

Liang Shi: “……?”

“Then let her stay?” Liang Shi read Xu Qingzhu’s expression as she spoke, first throwing out the sentence as a question. Seeing Xu Qingzhu faintly let out a breath of relief, she said, “Stay, then. It’s not as if there are no rooms here.”

“All right.” Xu Qingya sweetly thanked her. “Thank you, Sister.”

“Tell me first. Why is the family dismissing the servants?” Xu Qingzhu asked.

Xu Qingya shrugged indifferently. “The company’s finances aren’t good, and the family has no money. They can’t pay wages, so naturally, they’re dismissing some people. It’s all small stuff.”

“What do you mean, small stuff?” Xu Qingzhu said coldly. “Does it only count as a big deal once the company goes bankrupt and we have to sell the house and land? Why didn’t anyone tell me?”

“What’s there to say?” Xu Qingya said. “Dad isn’t cut out for business. It’s not like you don’t know that. If it goes bankrupt, then it goes bankrupt. You’re already married off, so just be your Mrs. Liang properly and don’t meddle in the family’s mess, okay? As for us, even if we end up on the streets, we won’t come trouble you. As long as you’re well, that’s enough. Got it?”

She spoke with a cocky, swaggering attitude, and her tone was a little aggressive.

After saying that, she turned and went to wait at the villa entrance.

Xu Qingzhu was left standing alone by the car, thinking.

The family company was an enterprise left behind by her great-grandfather. It had flourished in her maternal grandfather’s hands, then been passed to her father, only to reach this current desperate situation.

This was unacceptable.

A fire ignited in Xu Qingzhu’s heart, and she immediately wanted to go home and ask her father clearly.

Back then, when she used her own marriage in exchange for financing from the Liang family, her father had said that as long as they had that sum of money, they would definitely be able to fight a beautiful turnaround battle. But what about now?

In less than half a year, they had already fallen to the point where they had to dismiss household servants to cut costs.

“Lend me the car keys. I’m going out,” Xu Qingzhu said.

Liang Shi could guess her intention just from her expression. “You want to go home? Ask your parents about this?”

Xu Qingzhu nodded.

“Maybe not yet,” Liang Shi said.

On the other side, Xu Qingya was perking up her ears to listen to the commotion here, so Liang Shi leaned a step closer and said, “If you go back with emotions like this, you probably won’t be able to solve the problem. And right now, you don’t understand anything about the situation yet. What if there are other hidden circumstances? Besides, it’s noon. Let’s eat first. We can discuss this matter slowly…”

Xu Qingzhu’s gaze turned toward her, carrying a hint of sharpness. Liang Shi awkwardly rubbed the tip of her nose and added, somewhat uncertainly, “That works too… right?”

The word “right” came out almost soundless.

Xu Qingzhu looked at her and was still thinking when Xu Qingya lazily called from the entrance, “Can you two stop dawdling? I’m starving to death.”

Liang Shi was not confident she could persuade Xu Qingzhu, but Xu Qingzhu stood in place for a few seconds, then somewhat awkwardly turned her face away and rubbed her ear.

Only then did Liang Shi realize she had gotten a little too close to Xu Qingzhu.

She immediately took half a step back and apologized sincerely. “Sorry, I didn’t mean—”

“It’s fine.” Xu Qingzhu interrupted her. Then, taking the opportunity, she held Liang Shi’s hand, leaned forward, and moved close to her ear. Her warm breath spilled against Liang Shi’s ear, carrying a trace of teasing heat. It made Liang Shi’s ear itch, and her throat turned a little dry. She coughed lightly, somewhat unnaturally.

Xu Qingzhu’s lips were only a hair’s breadth from her ear. If she moved even a little closer, their skin would touch.

Liang Shi’s heart pounded, feeling as though it were about to leap out.

Xu Qingzhu’s slightly moist lips brushed against the side of her ear as she said softly, “Sorry for the trouble.”

Her voice was low, like a smoky voice, seductive enough to hook a person’s soul.

“You have to act with me.”