Giving You Dawn And Dusk - Chapter 24

Huayue International, top floor.

At night, Haizhou City was lit as brightly as day. Traffic flowed endlessly along the roads, and the entire city was still immersed in noise and bustle.

Inside the suite, however, the night had already begun.

The Omega’s voice was soft and sweet, her body pliant, her tone rising and falling in waves.

The woman standing outside the suite took off her black suit jacket and casually tossed it onto the sofa.

While waiting for the people inside to finish, she stood by the window and lit a cigarette. At the same time, she opened half the window. Smoke blended into the late-autumn night wind, and the end of the cigarette flickered scarlet.

After a while, the sounds inside the suite gradually died down.

A beautiful mixed-race Omega came out of the suite. Her features were deep, and she had a pair of blue eyes. She was wrapped only in a dark coat, with two slender, fair legs still exposed. Whatever she wore underneath was probably hollowed out.

There was no trace of satisfaction on that face.

Even so, she still left the room angrily.

After a long while, Cheng Ran came out of the room wearing a robe. She walked to the window, wrinkled her nose slightly, and said familiarly, “Give me one.”

Zhou Yi’an flicked off some ash and said meaningfully, “That was pretty short.”

Cheng Ran: “……”

“It’s because you came.” Cheng Ran glanced at her sideways and went straight to the coffee table to pick up the cigarette box. She took one and lit it.

“Wasn’t that satisfying.” Cheng Ran took a drag, her hair casually scattered over her shoulders. “That place was fake. When I touched it, it was all silicone.”

“Her face was all right.” Zhou Yi’an had already finished smoking. She casually flicked the cigarette butt into the trash can and teased, “You saw Xu Qingzhu, so you randomly found a substitute, right? Someone like that, who knows how many people’s beds she’s rolled through.”

“No,” Cheng Ran said. “She just entered the industry. First time.”

Zhou Yi’an raised an eyebrow and only smiled without speaking.

“What are you here for?” Cheng Ran asked. “Didn’t you say we wouldn’t see each other during this period?”

“My baby won’t reply to me. I was bored, so I came to play with you.” Zhou Yi’an’s eyes stared closely at Cheng Ran. Cheng Ran tightened her robe, then smoothed her long hair. The cigarette butt happened to fall onto the ends of her hair, and the room was instantly filled with the unpleasant smell of burnt hair.

Zhou Yi’an lowered her head and laughed softly, saying in a strange tone, “Look how scared you are.”

Cheng Ran hurriedly stubbed out the cigarette and casually threw the butt onto the coffee table.

She pulled out a few tissues to wipe her hair and hands, saying as she worked, “That’s because you’re bored. This joke isn’t funny.”

There was a bit of probing in her words.

“Isn’t it funny?” Zhou Yi’an tucked one hand into her pocket. “I thought I was the king of comedy.”

“That’s all in your head,” Cheng Ran retorted without thinking.

Zhou Yi’an laughed softly and shrugged indifferently. “Maybe.”

“All right, stop speaking in riddles here. If you have something to say, say it directly.” Cheng Ran got up and poured herself a glass of red wine. After taking a small sip, she said, “I’m a little sleepy.”

“Then let’s sleep together?” Zhou Yi’an curled her lips.

Cheng Ran: “……”

“Do you think that’s possible for me, an Alpha?” Cheng Ran sneered. “Just use that idea on Liang Shi. I won’t keep you company.”

“Being a pillow princess can feel pretty good too. Don’t you want to try?” Zhou Yi’an was wearing a black shirt today, with two buttons undone at the collar, exposing her beautiful collarbones.

She had an exquisite collarbone-length haircut in a dark brown-black shade, just enough to show off her collarbones. Around her neck was a silver star pendant necklace.

The sleeves of her shirt were rolled up halfway, and there was a blue moon tattoo on her arm.

Objectively speaking, this person was quite beautiful.

If one slept with her, there would probably be a unique flavor to it.

But…

Cheng Ran curled her lips and sneered. “If you’re willing to be the pillow princess, I can consider it.”

“Really?” Zhou Yi’an suddenly moved close to her, smiling wickedly. “Then let’s try.”

Cheng Ran’s gaze wandered slightly.

She did not know whether Zhou Yi’an was serious or joking.

As a dissolute Alpha, she had slept with at least a hundred women.

But all of them had been Omegas or Betas.

A Beta’s body was not as soft as an Omega’s, so she still preferred Omegas.

As for an Alpha, she really had never tried.

The main reason was that if two Alphas slept together, the pillow princess would get sick.

Cheng Ran liked things wild, but not wild enough to get herself killed. That was not worth it.

At this moment, the room was deathly quiet. A few seconds later, Cheng Ran smiled and pushed Zhou Yi’an away. “Don’t joke around. I’ll take it seriously.”

Zhou Yi’an smiled and sat down, taking another cigarette from the coffee table. “Just a joke.”

Her voice was lazy and hoarse, yet carried a hint of gloom. “I still like my baby more.”

Cheng Ran also sat down. “Say it. What did you come to me for?”

Zhou Yi’an looked sideways at her and exhaled a mouthful of smoke. Her line of sight was blocked by the smoke as she smiled and said, “I couldn’t tell. You’re actually quite merciful.”

“What do you mean?” Cheng Ran asked.

Zhou Yi’an’s voice turned a few degrees lighter. “Why didn’t you sleep with Xu Qingzhu? Or why didn’t you let someone else sleep with her? I told you, I wanted to see the video.”

Cheng Ran inexplicably shuddered.

She tossed her long hair. “What’s the need? In any case, all you need is to get Liang Shi.”

“But I like seeing my baby heartbroken.” Zhou Yi’an pressed the tip of her tongue against her teeth and clicked it. “Especially when she’s so heartbroken that she comes crying to beg me. That would interest me even more.”

Cheng Ran: “……”

“Xu Qingzhu has PTSD,” Cheng Ran said. “If it causes a death, it won’t be easy to clean up.”

Zhou Yi’an glanced at her. Cheng Ran lowered her head and did not meet her eyes.

“Didn’t I say I would clean it up? You only needed to do what I told you.” Zhou Yi’an’s voice became even colder and thinner. “If you can’t even handle this small matter, how are you supposed to cooperate with me? Or are you saying your heart softened?”

Zhou Yi’an’s fingers suddenly hooked under Cheng Ran’s chin. “You would rather come back here and sleep with an artificial product than sleep with Haizhou’s number one Omega. Your feelings for my baby are truly deep.”

Cheng Ran was forced to meet her eyes. In those eyes, she could not see the slightest trace of warmth.

There was only cold killing intent.

“You’re using the wrong words.” Cheng Ran pulled away from her grip. “I’ve cut ties with Liang Shi. I already said I didn’t want a death on my hands.”

“This place isn’t exactly clean either. When you all go crazy playing, what haven’t you done?” Zhou Yi’an smiled, but the smile did not reach her eyes. “With you acting like this, I have no way to continue cooperating with you.”

“Then let’s not cooperate.” Cheng Ran said, “After this time ends, let’s call it done.”

As it happened, Cheng Ran did not want to cooperate anymore either. She disliked Zhou Yi’an’s condescending attitude.

“Is this time really over?” Zhou Yi’an looked sideways at her. “Nothing happened to Xu Qingzhu, and you even handed her over to my baby on a silver platter. Guess what the two of them will do tonight?”

Cheng Ran: “……”

“Cheng Ran.” Zhou Yi’an stood up and picked up her suit jacket. “Don’t be soft-hearted again next time.”

Cheng Ran clenched her fists. “I said I’m not cooperating with you anymore.”

“Huaguang Group is currently applying for the construction rights to the Bay Bridge. Guess whether this is important to your father?” Zhou Yi’an smiled. “Some things don’t become true just because you say them. I’m magnanimous, so this time, I’ll forgive you. But next time, if you do something wrong, I’ll tie you up.”

A chill suddenly ran down Cheng Ran’s spine.

She felt as if she were cooperating with a poisonous snake.

And this poisonous snake might turn around and bite her at any time.

Even after Zhou Yi’an left, Cheng Ran still did not come back to herself.

After a long while, she drank the wine in her glass, then suddenly threw the glass hard.

The glass cracked with a sharp sound, scattering shards across the floor.

Fuck.

Zhou Yi’an was really fucking perverted.

//

The early autumn night wind carried a chill as Liang Shi hurried downstairs with Xu Qingzhu in her arms.

Xu Qingzhu had Liang Shi’s jacket draped over her. She was normally considered fairly tall, but curled up in Liang Shi’s arms right now, she looked small. Only her hands were restless, touching from Liang Shi’s lower abdomen up to her chest.

Even through the fabric, she could still touch softness.

Several times, Liang Shi was touched so badly that she nearly let out a muffled sound. Fortunately, her jacket covered them, so the movements did not look so obvious.

Xu Qingya followed beside them the whole way. When they were going downstairs, she said, “Sister Xuning still hasn’t come down.”

“Take your sister to the hospital first,” Liang Shi said. “We can’t worry about that much. Zhao Xuning is a doctor. She’ll know what to do.”

Xu Qingya helped open the car door, and Liang Shi placed Xu Qingzhu in the back seat.

But Xu Qingzhu clung to Liang Shi’s arm and would not let go. It was as if she had found something that could ease the heat and restlessness inside her. Her bonelessly soft hand landed on Liang Shi’s wrist and gently rubbed it. Yet it did not seem like deliberate seduction. She was only acting on instinct.

It was not flirting, yet it was better than flirting.

Liang Shi felt an nameless fire keep climbing in her lower abdomen. Her whole body turned numb and tingling, the feeling rushing from her wrist all the way to her toes. She could not help licking her lips and coaxed in a low voice, “Zhuzi, be good. Let go.”

Her voice was very gentle. She tried her best to keep it calm, but if one listened carefully, the final note was trembling.

Her body’s instincts made it impossible for her to fully control herself.

But she knew that Xu Qingzhu was not clear-headed, while she still was.

If she took advantage of Xu Qingzhu while she was not conscious, that would be far too shameless.

Liang Shi felt that she could barely count as an upright person.

Unexpectedly, when Xu Qingzhu heard her words, not only did she not let go, but her fingers moved upward from Liang Shi’s wrist and landed on her forearm. Her fingers lightly pinched the flesh there.

There was not much flesh, but the place she pinched just happened to itch slightly.

It was not only the skin there that itched. Her entire body itched.

A tingling, numbing kind of itch.

Liang Shi suspected that Xu Qingzhu’s hands had been enchanted.

She took a deep breath and said gently, “Zhuzi, I’ll take you to the hospital. Let go first, okay?”

“No…” Xu Qingzhu frowned like a child. “Don’t go to the hospital.”

She had first drunk too much alcohol, and then after her blocker lost its effectiveness, she had accidentally consumed an aphrodisiac. Her current condition really could not be called ideal.

The fact that she had not relieved herself in public already counted as an impressive amount of mental self-control.

Even though her two legs were also constantly rubbing together.

On the way earlier, she had even held Liang Shi’s hand and tried to guide it over.

Liang Shi had been so frightened that she trembled and almost dropped her.

At this moment, Liang Shi was inwardly suffering, but she could only keep coaxing her. “Then we won’t go. I’ll take you home, okay? Once we get home and you sleep, you’ll feel better.”

Xu Qingzhu suddenly covered her mouth and dry-heaved.

“Careful, she’s going to throw up,” Xu Qingya quickly said.

Liang Shi hurriedly moved aside and made room for her, but after Xu Qingzhu breathed in some fresh air, she felt a little better.

She shook her head, looking wronged and pitiful.

For some reason, Liang Shi thought of the cat she had once raised.

Actually, it had not really counted as her cat.

She had picked it up once on the way back to the hotel after finishing work late.

That day, it had been raining heavily. The cat had been curled up in a small roadside shed. The wind was fierce, and it had curled its body while constantly sticking out its tongue to lick its fur.

Liang Shi’s heart had softened for a moment, so she had brought it back and raised it.

It had indeed kept Liang Shi company for a while.

During those lonely years, that cat had briefly healed her.

Maybe she simply had no fate with these small lives.

She had raised it for less than a year before it passed away.

But Liang Shi clearly remembered that when the cat was scolded by her, and also when it had secretly drunk the wine she had hidden at home, its expression had looked especially like Xu Qingzhu’s right now.

Both of them looked at you pitifully, their eyes misted with water and carrying a trace of dazed innocence, as if begging for forgiveness, yet also as if saying aggrievedly, “I didn’t do anything—”

Liang Shi summarized that as the aura of someone who was clearly in the wrong yet still acted justified.

“I won’t throw up.” Xu Qingzhu bit her lower lip and choked out, “Take me home, okay?”

There was a trace of pleading hidden in it, but her tone was openly acting spoiled.

Liang Shi’s pity for her grew even stronger, and she nodded firmly. “Okay. We’ll go home. But you need to let go of me first. Only then can I drive.”

Xu Qingzhu looked at her. The mist in her eyes turned into beads that fell onto her flushed cheeks. There was still one drop of water hanging on her long lashes, making her look pitiful and delicate, like a fragile porcelain doll.

Liang Shi: “……”

Save me.

No one had told her Xu Qingzhu’s contrast would be this huge after getting drunk!

She had originally thought she was a gentle goddess, then discovered she was a cold beauty. Now she had discovered that she belonged to the pure and adorable type too.

In short, every day brought new surprises.

Liang Shi felt a little unable to withstand it.

Who the fuck could withstand this?

Liang Shi felt that if Xu Qingzhu said to her right now, “Can you take me to the moon?” she would definitely agree unconditionally.

It would be the kind of impulse where her head heated up and she disregarded everything else.

Perhaps, in this moment, she understood King You of Zhou a little.

Although when she had read that story before, she had thought King You of Zhou was nothing but a foolish tyrant. An idiot.

How could someone like that exist in this world?

But now she felt that she had been too young back then.

“Liang… Shi~” Xu Qingzhu called her name softly, the ending note curling upward, as if the sound had come from lightly biting the tip of her tongue.

Liang Shi’s legs went weak, but she barely held herself up and did not embarrass herself. She answered softly, her voice also turning gentle. “I’m here. What’s wrong?”

Xu Qingzhu tightened her grip on Liang Shi’s arm and lightly rubbed her head against her. Her hair just happened to fall over Liang Shi’s collarbone.

Some strands even slipped inside along her clothes, touching her skin.

Xu Qingzhu looked at her and suddenly smiled. That smile made Liang Shi briefly lose focus.

Liang Shi swallowed and coaxed again, “Zhuzi, let go, okay?”

“No.” Xu Qingzhu’s nasal tone was slightly heavier. She furrowed her brows faintly, and no one knew what she thought of, but she suddenly licked her lips. “Meow~”

Liang Shi: “……”

For an instant, her heart seemed to stop.

When she made the sound of a cat, her expression was fifty percent like one.

But she was far more teasing than a cat.

She only lightly licked her lips, and they flushed with a shimmering red, as if coated with the finest lip gloss. No artificial color had been added. It was only the body’s most primitive color.

Liang Shi exhaled deeply.

She felt that she had come here to undergo a trial.

Previously, she had thought it was a life-and-death trial. Now she felt it was a trial of love.

“She’s lost it.” Xu Qingya helplessly pressed her forehead at the side. “Sister Liang, please bear with her.”

Only that sentence pulled Liang Shi’s wandering thoughts back.

It seemed Xu Qingzhu had already had this problem before. It had not just appeared today.

Xu Qingya was very familiar with it.

“Was she like this before too?” Liang Shi asked carefully.

“When she drinks too much, she’s not very normal anyway.” Xu Qingya spoke without the slightest politeness. “Sometimes she pretends to be a cat, sometimes a dog, sometimes she imitates a pig. Anyway, she can imitate a lot of animal sounds. But where are we going now?”

“I can’t drive,” Liang Shi said. “Let’s go home first. Your sister wants to go home.”

“Liang Shi…” Xu Qingzhu called her again.

Liang Shi lowered her head. “I’m here.”

Xu Qingzhu was about to cry. That cool, clear voice now seemed dipped in honey.

She said, “I feel so… terrible.”

Even her words came out in broken pieces, and her two legs had already clamped together.

Her brows furrowed even tighter, and tears kept falling.

Xu Qingya could not bear to watch anymore and got out of the car directly. “Give me the car keys. I’ll drive.”

Liang Shi instinctively handed them over, but halfway through, she remembered. “You’re underage. You don’t have a license, right?”

Xu Qingya: “……”

“You sit in the back and take care of her.” Xu Qingya rubbed her ear. “I really can’t stand her. This voice… it’s too babyish.”

When she said that, there was quite a bit of frustration in her tone, as if she hated that Xu Qingzhu was not living up to expectations.

But after saying that, she ran a few steps toward Huayue International’s entrance. She casually pointed at a security guard. “Help us out.”

The security guard who was pointed at froze and pointed at himself in confusion. “Me?”

“Yes, you. Do you have a driver’s license?” Xu Qingya was not afraid of strangers at all.

The security guard nodded. “Yes.”

Xu Qingya took two hundred yuan out of her pocket. “Come with me. Help drive a car.”

Security guard: “……”

Liang Shi, who was watching from the side, could not help giving Xu Qingya a thumbs-up.

This younger sister was too capable.

Xu Qingya sat in the passenger seat and quickly fastened her seat belt.

At the same time, she flipped the rearview mirror downward and instructed the security guard, “From now on, no matter what sounds you hear, you are not allowed to turn around. Got it?”

The young man who had been forced from security guard into substitute driver: “?”

“Sister Liang, just pretend we don’t exist.” Xu Qingya said, “I’ll try not to listen. But please, don’t let Xu Qingzhu die.”

Liang Shi: “……”

She kept feeling that this younger sister knew a bit too much.

But thinking about it again, kids nowadays all knew quite a lot.

//

The white Porsche drove away from Huayue International and merged into traffic.

The car quieted down, so quiet that only everyone’s breathing remained.

Even Xu Qingya and the substitute driver’s breathing became lighter.

Only Xu Qingzhu’s slightly hurried breathing remained.

Liang Shi sat there, and Xu Qingzhu took the initiative to lean toward her. Her body was far too hot, desperate to find something that could cool her down.

And the person beside her was the most suitable.

Even her hand was the most suitable.

Her face also carried a cool touch.

Xu Qingzhu’s hand landed on Liang Shi’s waist and moved from left to right. There was no pattern to her movements. In any case, she wanted to pull away this obstructive clothing.

Liang Shi could not help pressing down on her hand and saying softly, “Zhuzi, endure it a little longer, okay?”

She did not know what kind of aphrodisiac Xu Qingzhu had taken.

But in this world, as long as it was a drug, there should always be an antidote.

Xu Qingzhu, however, raised her head. Tears suddenly fell from those slightly reddened eyes.

Like pearls from a broken string.

When she cried, there was no emotion in it. She simply cried.

There was not even a sob.

Even Liang Shi, who had performed countless crying scenes and was often praised by major marketing accounts as having the best crying scenes in the industry, was shocked.

If this were acting, giving her an Oscar would not be excessive.

“Don’t cry.” Liang Shi hurriedly searched for tissues. She found a pack in her pocket, pulled one out, and handed it to her, but Xu Qingzhu did not take it.

Liang Shi could only fold it and wipe her tears for her, softly coaxing as she did, “Zhuzi, don’t cry. We’ll be home soon.”

After saying that, she handed her phone to Xu Qingya. “Call the housekeeper and have the family doctor come over.”

Xu Qingya accepted the instruction and did as told. While she was at it, she turned back and looked at her sister.

There was nothing else to say. Only despair.

Heaven knew that in their family, they never let her sister touch alcohol.

From childhood to now, the number of times her sister had gotten drunk could be counted on one hand. And the few times she did get drunk, she herself completely forgot everything she did afterward.

From the moment she became drunk, she had no idea what she was doing.

At this moment, Xu Qingya had already accepted reality.

A married daughter was like spilled water. Let her wife clean up this mess.

Meanwhile, Liang Shi felt like she was about to be driven insane.

Xu Qingzhu said nothing. She only cried, and the tears simply would not stop. Liang Shi could only keep handing her tissues.

After a while, Xu Qingzhu suddenly let out a small, milky hiccup.

Her tears instantly stopped.

As if there were a switch.

This greatly amazed Liang Shi.

“Are you going to throw up?” Liang Shi asked.

Xu Qingzhu rested her head on Liang Shi’s shoulder, moved close to her ear, and suddenly bit it lightly.

In that instant, goosebumps rose all over Liang Shi.

Her entire body felt as if it had been struck by electricity, going numb.

“Do you think I don’t know anything?” Xu Qingzhu licked the tip of her tongue. That moist touch landed on Liang Shi’s ear, and her ear moved slightly.

But her heart tightened.

Know what?

“You slept with Miaomiao on our wedding night, right?” Xu Qingzhu’s voice was very low, carrying a trace of desolation and complaint.

It was like a basin of cold water being poured over Liang Shi’s head.

Liang Shi instantly sobered.

So Xu Qingzhu was talking about the original owner.

What feelings did she have toward the original owner?

Love?

Or dependence?

Liang Shi did not know.

The book had not explained it in detail. Only later, after Xu Qingzhu got together with her destined Alpha, had she once described her feelings toward the original owner like this: “She was like the driftwood I grabbed when I was floating alone on the sea. Later, when I reached shore, she was no longer useful. I once felt very grateful that she saved my life, but later I discovered that she was broken and rotten, worse than a pile of trash. Throwing her away as soon as possible was the most correct choice. I tried carving her into an exquisite wooden sculpture, but she was not worthy of my expensive carving knife. So if you ask whether I ever loved her, I can only say, I don’t know.”

It was a relatively literary way of phrasing it.

But it accurately described Xu Qingzhu’s feelings toward the original owner.

In the end, it came down to three words—I don’t know.

All of Xu Qingzhu’s previous behavior had seemed to weave a net, quickly pulling Liang Shi into an illusion.

It gave Liang Shi a brief misconception and caused her to misunderstand her own feelings.

But if she thought carefully, the two of them had only known each other for a few days.

How could someone possibly like another person within just a few days?

Perhaps it was because the system had forcibly bound the two of them together, and because she had pieced together Xu Qingzhu’s entire life through bits and pieces of information.

That was why she had the illusion that they had known each other for a long time and were very familiar.

In reality, the two of them were only slightly familiar housemates.

They could not even be considered friends.

After figuring this out, Liang Shi finally felt less blocked up inside.

And Xu Qingzhu was still speaking.

“And a month ago, you tricked me by saying you were going on a business trip. In reality, you went to Diya Hotel with Cheng Ran. You all played there for three days and three nights.” Xu Qingzhu enunciated each word clearly. “There were seven of you sleeping together, right?”

“That day, there were two Omegas and two Betas. How were they? Were they all prettier than me? Did they have better figures than me?” Xu Qingzhu laughed softly. As she did, she pulled Liang Shi’s hand and placed it on her softness, separated only by a thin camisole.

The cotton fabric felt very nice to the touch.

Slightly rounded, somewhat soft.