Giving You Dawn And Dusk - Chapter 25.1
She lay sprawled across the sofa, her long hair scattered over the floor, and merely glanced at her phone.
She gave a light scoff. “Trash.”
Then she blocked Liang Shi’s number.
After that, she softly began humming a song.
Cheng Ran had many friends. She was not lacking this one.
But Liang Shi had been the one she could play with the best. They had known each other since they were very young, and they had fooled around together back in school.
In the end, their friendship had actually been cut off.
Even though Cheng Ran had found out it was because she had lost her memory.
Did losing her memory mean she could stop recognizing her friends?
Especially when her words that day had been so decisive.
Cheng Ran had only wanted to teach her a lesson.
Did she not like her Omega? Then Cheng Ran would destroy her Omega.
But at the crucial moment, she had still softened.
A friend’s wife was not to be bullied.
Cheng Ran had not touched Xu Qingzhu. But to be fair, Xu Qingzhu really was seductive.
What troubled Cheng Ran now was that she had gotten involved with Zhou Yi’an.
And that woman was a pervert.
She could guess even without thinking what Liang Shi wanted to do by meeting her now. It would simply be to beat her up and question her about why she had attacked an Omega.
But how could there be that many whys in this world?
She wanted to do it, so she did.
Right now, Cheng Ran had no mood to argue with her, confront her, or even fight her.
So she simply could not be bothered.
After blocking Liang Shi’s number, Cheng Ran called her assistant again and asked her to book a plane ticket abroad.
The noise of this city gradually drew its curtain closed, and Cheng Ran also fell asleep in the loneliness.
//
Meanwhile, on the other side of the city, Liang Shi sat in the living room, spinning her phone.
Only one nightlight was on in the living room, making the vast space appear empty.
But it was also suitable for thinking.
She had sent Cheng Ran a text, but the other person had not replied. When she called, it went straight to a busy tone.
Most likely, the other person had blocked her.
That counted as an answer.
She did not even need to ask for a reason.
For people like Cheng Ran and the others, as long as their mood came, some could even play themselves to death, let alone other people.
It was just like the countless incidents Huayue International suppressed every year.
Zhao Xuning could threaten a person in charge who held little actual power by saying she could use the media to expose everything Huayue International had done. That way, Huayue International’s reputation would plummet, and correspondingly, its market value might evaporate by several hundred million overnight.
But the price to pay for doing that would be enormous.
Sometimes, the power of capital was unshakable precisely because moving one part affected the whole.
Liang Shi had only wanted to find Cheng Ran and tell her that if she had any problems in the future, she could come directly to Liang Shi.
Liang Shi would keep her company to the end, instead of letting her go after Xu Qingzhu.
Taking over the original owner’s body also meant taking over her mess.
Even the chain reactions caused by Liang Shi acting out of character after coming here would have to be borne by her as well.
Liang Shi had already mentally prepared herself for that.
The most troublesome thing was that after coming here, she had been isolated and helpless.
Just like what had happened tonight. She had been far too passive. She could not do anything.
Standing in the corridor of Huayue International, she suddenly realized that in an environment like this, she had no way to protect the people she wanted to protect.
This was her first time stepping into high society, and only then did she learn that wealthy families were also divided into different ranks.
And before truly powerful authority, money was only so much.
This was a world completely different from the one she had lived in before.
Here, she was about to witness a reality even crueler than the entertainment industry.
She had never liked implicating others.
It gave her a sense of guilt and blame.
Perhaps it had something to do with her upbringing. Since childhood, she had never truly given her heart to protect someone.
For her, being able to protect herself had already been difficult enough.
In the entertainment industry, where people devoured others without even spitting out the bones, she had climbed up from the bottom and earned a Best Actress nomination.
That had no small connection to the fact that she had always kept to herself.
It was not that she had no love or sympathy, but when she could barely protect herself, such things were nothing but empty talk.
She had always known her limits.
But with Xu Qingzhu, she had slightly lost them.
It might also have been because she had only just arrived here and was not yet familiar with the environment.
Liang Shi curled up on the sofa and thought for a long time. Then she went to the kitchen and poured herself a glass of water.
Xu Qingzhu was fast asleep, and Liang Shi did not want to go upstairs and squeeze in either, so she simply sat dazedly on the sofa and waited until she grew sleepy before going upstairs.
Where to sleep tonight was still a problem.
The carpet had been newly changed, but she still had not found a quilt.
Lying in the same bed as Xu Qingzhu was obviously impossible too.
So after thinking about it, the best place to rest turned out to be the sofa in the living room.
Just as she was sorting through everything that had happened these past few days in her mind, a very soft sound of a door opening rang out.
She raised her head and saw Xu Qingya coming out of her room.
She was wearing earphones and holding her phone horizontally to play a game. Probably afraid of disturbing them, she lowered her voice while communicating with someone. “Go left. Left. You idiot, you can’t even tell left from right?”
As she spoke, she walked toward the kitchen, but because she was not watching the road, she accidentally tripped over a step. Her pupils instantly shrank, but she suppressed herself and did not dare cry out. Fortunately, she did not fall. She merely stumbled, the top of her foot knocking against something, hurting so much that she bared her teeth.
However, she finally raised her head and saw Liang Shi.
Liang Shi nodded at her.
Xu Qingya took off her earphones. “Sister Liang, you’re still not asleep?”
“I’ll sleep in a while.” Liang Shi drank all the water in her cup in one go and reminded her, “You should sleep early too.”
Xu Qingya was dazed. “Oh.”
She walked toward the kitchen, but after only a few steps, she turned back again, took off her earphones, and said seriously, “Sister Liang, I have a question.”
“What is it?” Liang Shi asked softly.
“You and my sister are married, right?” Xu Qingya said.
Liang Shi nodded.
“The drug my sister was given tonight was that kind. Clearly, the two of you only needed to… do that, and the drug in her body would have been relieved.” Xu Qingya spoke vaguely, but anyone could understand. Sometimes Liang Shi could not help marveling that this was probably the wonder of language.
Words that were a little too embarrassing to say aloud could be replaced with pronouns, and both sides would still understand the meaning.
“But you had me call the family doctor,” Xu Qingya said. “Between the two of you, who has the problem?”
She stared straight at Liang Shi, as if she wanted to stare a hole through her.
“Logically speaking, I shouldn’t be asking about these things,” Xu Qingya shrugged. “You know, I’m just a minor.”
Liang Shi: “……”
So you still remember you’re a minor?
If she had not said it, Liang Shi would have almost forgotten.
Xu Qingya was frighteningly mature for her age.
“Hey, Sister Liang, don’t look at me with that kind of gaze,” Xu Qingya said. “I’ve never dated anyone. I heard it all from other people. Mainly, Xu Qingzhu is too awkward. When she likes something, she never takes the initiative to ask for it. If you give it to her, she’ll accept it. If you don’t give it, no matter how much she likes it, she won’t ask. And she’s never dated anyone either. All these years at home, our whole family has accommodated her. So I was thinking, was it because after you came into contact with her, you understood her personality, so the two of you stopped getting along?”
Liang Shi immediately shook her head. “Nothing like that.”
“There’s no need to hide it from me,” Xu Qingya said. “Actually, I don’t like Xu Qingzhu either. If you don’t like her, just tell me. The two of us can badmouth her together.”
Liang Shi: “……?”
She suspected Xu Qingya was baiting her.
Liang Shi said helplessly, “It’s not that I don’t like your sister. It just isn’t right to take advantage of her while she’s not conscious.”
Xu Qingya said, “But you two are married. It’s legal.”
“Your sister would feel uncomfortable,” Liang Shi said. “She drank alcohol and was drugged with an aphrodisiac. Having the family doctor help bring down the heat and letting her sleep properly was the best choice.”
Xu Qingya still looked somewhat doubtful, her tone reluctant. “All right.”
“Enough, you little old soul.” Liang Shi smiled. “Your sister and I are doing fine. Your sister’s personality isn’t as awkward as you say either. She’s quite cute. Don’t always say bad things about her. If I hear it again next time, I’ll tell on you.”
Xu Qingya rolled her eyes. “Go ahead. I’m not afraid of her.”
But she still hesitated. “You two really are fine?”
“We’re fine.” Liang Shi’s smile was gentle, even her eyes carrying a hint of indulgence. “Being able to marry your sister is a blessing I earned over three lifetimes.”
Xu Qingya shivered her shoulders. “You’re souring me to death.”
She pouted and walked toward the kitchen, waving as she did. “Sleep early, Sister Liang. I’ll drink a cup of water and sleep too.”
“Drink less,” Liang Shi reminded her. “Drinking too much water before bed makes you puffy.”
“I know.” Xu Qingya put her earphones back on.
Liang Shi watched her back and felt that this little girl was not as bad as she had seemed at first.
She was just a little rebellious in that teenage way.
Sharp-tongued and tsundere.
Her personality contrasted greatly with Xu Qingzhu’s.
Liang Shi watched for a while, then turned and went upstairs. But just as she had climbed two steps, Xu Qingya’s voice rang out in the living room.
“I’m not going back yet. We’ll talk about it after school starts.”
“Why am I staying here? Do you even need to ask? To supervise, of course!”
“I suspect my sister and her wife are in a sham marriage. It’s already this late, and my sister’s wife still hasn’t gone back to the room.”
Liang Shi’s foot slipped, and she almost fell.
She refused to believe Xu Qingya did not know she was still here!
She clearly knew and deliberately said that just so Liang Shi would hear it.
Liang Shi: “……”
“I have to observe for a while,” Xu Qingya continued. “Anyway, our family is already a mess right now. I need to make sure at least one person in the family can live well. Xu Qingzhu has princess syndrome, so I need to see if she has a princess’s fate.”
“Maybe not. I still think the two of them seem like they’re in a sham marriage.”
Liang Shi: “……?”
Was it that obvious?
Liang Shi walked upstairs and returned to the room with heavy steps.
When the bedroom door closed, Xu Qingya took off her earphones, looked back toward the second floor, and sent her mother a text.
[They went into the same room to sleep.]
//
The room was even darker than the living room, with only one small bedside lamp on.
And it was near the balcony.
When Liang Shi first entered, she had yet to adjust to the dimness of the room and almost hit her head against the wall.
Clearly, the drunk person was not her, yet she felt a little dizzy and disoriented.
Xu Qingzhu was sleeping deeply. It could even be called unconscious sleep.
Long, even breaths came from inside the room.
When she was asleep, she was extremely well-behaved. There was no sign at all of the commotion from tonight.
Liang Shi sat by the bed for a while, then curled into the sofa in the corner.
She was tall with long legs, so curling up on the sofa was far too uncomfortable. By the dim light, she looked toward Xu Qingzhu.
She really wanted to ask the system: Hey? Are you there? Arrange a bed for me.
Unfortunately, there was no answer.
The system would not care about such trivial matters for her.
But to Liang Shi, this was a major issue.
She had always had standards for sleep. Even when filming late-night scenes, she would definitely find time to sleep in a comfortable bed.
If there was no bed, she would rather not sleep.
She could not sleep on the sofa, so she simply got up again. After tossing and turning several times, she became somewhat restless.
A moment later, she turned on the dim yellow bedside lamp.
From the bedside drawer, she took out a book. It was a poetry collection.
Judging by the signs of having been flipped through, it seemed to belong to Xu Qingzhu.
The poetry collection was entirely in English. Liang Shi could not really understand it. Her English level was limited to oral communication, and even then, it had to be simple.
That was because her agent had planned ahead, believing that one day, Liang Shi might go international. In order to prevent her from being mocked as uncultured when accepting awards abroad, the agent had specially hired a teacher to train her spoken English.
Liang Shi casually flipped through a few pages, then put it back.
There was nothing in the room to entertain her, so she could only take out her phone, open a video app, and randomly select a movie to watch.
She leaned against the headboard. The soft cushion was fairly comfortable, easing the fatigue of running around all day.
She piled the large double quilt entirely on Xu Qingzhu’s side. The gathered quilt clearly divided the bed into opposing territories. One person on one side was sleeping deeply, while the person on the other side did not even have the chance to toss and turn.
But as long as there was a place where Liang Shi could be a little more comfortable, she would not be so restless.
The movie was an old one. Liang Shi discovered that some movies she had liked existed in this world too, while there were also some new films she had never heard of. New films naturally required new stars, and Liang Shi did not recognize any of those stars.
She clearly realized that this was not the entertainment industry of her world.
Still, being able to start over in a place was quite exciting.
Although she had not yet obtained her own body, Liang Shi had already begun looking forward to entering the industry and acting again.
After all, after living for so many years, acting was what gave her the greatest sense of accomplishment and allowed her to realize her self-worth the most.
At this thought, she could not help looking toward Xu Qingzhu.
She thought inwardly: How exactly am I supposed to win you over?
The system’s original wording was: obtain her favor, trust, and affection.
What a highly technical task.
Being able to achieve the first two would already be difficult.
But it was still the same saying: take it one step at a time.
Liang Shi never wasted too much of today’s time worrying over tomorrow’s matters.
The movie was a same-sex film, and the story background was set before the ABO gender differentiation era.
The very first frame opened with white subtitles on a black background—Once, the world did not allow us to love each other.
The second line—But we insisted on tightly embracing in the crowd and kissing passionately.
Those two lines alone stirred Liang Shi’s emotions. She lowered her lashes and watched quietly.
The movie told the story of two girls who fell in love at university. One was a student in the dance department, majoring in ballet, a typical campus goddess—bright and dazzling, the object of admiration for many boys at the school. She participated in all kinds of competitions and won awards until her hands went soft. The school belle was her label.
In contrast, the other female lead seemed ordinary. She was timid and insecure. Although she was pretty, she did not really show her brilliance, and because she did not know how to dress up, she seemed rustic and unfashionable. On the first day of school, the two moved into the same dormitory and became roommates.
The insecure person clumsily imitated the shining one.
She wanted to become a second version of her, wanted to become popular just like her.
But she was always outside the crowd. When the dormitory went out to eat, they always left her behind. When everyone traveled outside, they left her behind too.
They talked about clothes, bags, and cosmetics, while she could only quietly be an observer.
Once she gathered the courage to join the conversation, she would become the topic terminator. The atmosphere that had clearly been cheerful just moments ago would suddenly cool down.
Gradually, she stopped trying to join those topics and began going everywhere alone.
And the person who was isolated together with her was the outstanding, shining one.
Because she was too outstanding, she was considered someone who liked showing off. She was incompatible with ordinary people and also became a target of dislike.
Their fate began with a song. Because they both liked that song, they ate together.
Gradually, their understanding of each other deepened. One was a dancer, and the other could play elegant piano music.
Between the two of them, a unique tacit understanding developed. Going out, holding hands, linking arms, acting spoiled with each other—whatever they needed to do, one look from the other was enough to understand.
The goddess rejected all her pursuers and remained alone.
Then rumors began. People said the two of them were a couple, and that the goddess did not date because there was something wrong with her sexual orientation.
As the rumors grew more intense, the insecure one took the initiative to distance herself. On one hand, she suppressed her feelings, spending the days in quiet sorrow and the nights unable to sleep. On the other, she could not help caring about the goddess’s movements—from who she ate with, to how many classes she attended, to who she went to meet.
This stiff relationship continued for several months.
Until one day, on a bus, the goddess encountered a groping hand. For the first time, the insecure one stood up so bravely. She stood on the moral high ground and fiercely condemned that person, then took the goddess’s hand.
In that instant, their fingers intertwined.
That was the bravest moment of her life.
After they got off the bus, beside the blue sea, the insecure one gathered her courage and asked, “Can I kiss you?”
At this point, the movie reached a small climax. It was a restrained yet intimate kiss.
The color palette of this movie was very comfortable, and placing the kissing scene against this background gave it a sense of tragic grandeur. The two female leads had very different visual styles: one had striking features, while the other was the pure and innocent type.
The pure person was stained with unknown desire, kissing over with abandon and passion.
The seemingly intense one could only respond clumsily.
This kissing scene lasted two minutes, and the comments flying across the screen had practically gone mad.
Liang Shi found them distracting and turned off all the comments.
To say something mood-killing, she was not immersed in the emotions of the two main characters. Instead, she was watching the camera blocking.
After all, as an actress, she knew how this kind of kissing scene was filmed.
There would be more than ten cameras set up around them, and dozens of staff members on site. When filming close-ups, the actor herself was kissing toward the camera, so this kind of image could not form too strong a stimulus for her.
At this moment, the film’s rhythm sped up. After the kiss came the fade-to-black night scene.
This director’s control over this part of the scene was too strong. It once made Liang Shi suspect that this person had originally filmed erotic movies. Before this fade-to-black scene, she even specifically searched it up and found that he had not.
This person had started out filming proper documentaries, and documentaries about cultural relics at that. Halfway through, he had suddenly changed fields and decided to make movies. This was his first film after switching tracks.
She had to admit, this director really had something.
He filmed a fade-to-black scene that was both pure and desirous.
The fingers undoing buttons were given a close-up. A heart beating intensely from nervousness, uneven breathing that could not calm down—all of it lay on the second and third buttons of the shirt.
The female lead’s fingers were slender, yet when undoing the buttons, they looked clumsy, stretching out the audience’s anticipation.
And because the other female lead found her movements too slow and could not wait, she reached over to help her.
The instant finger touched finger, it triggered a new round of kissing.
After that, the shot cut to a close-up of the lamp. From near to far, the sounds in the audio did not lessen.
This kind of sound was usually dubbed by professional voice actors, and the compatibility with the actor’s own voice was very high.
At this kind of moment, having no shot was better than having a shot.
After the scene changed, it became a close-up of the characters. A single blanket wrapped around both of them, making for an intense bed scene.
Liang Shi was hesitating over whether to skip this scene. Before her finger could land on the screen, a weak voice suddenly came from beside her.
“Water…”
Xu Qingzhu was half asleep and half awake. Her throat was so dry and hoarse that she could barely speak. Even when she used all her strength to say a single word, it felt as if her throat had been scraped with sand, hurting terribly.
She frowned. The pain in her body had not completely faded.
Hearing her, Liang Shi immediately put down the phone and got up to get her water.
Then she walked to Xu Qingzhu’s side and supported her back so she could drink.
Xu Qingzhu was like a traveler walking through the desert, parched to the extreme. Her hot palm lightly brushed over Liang Shi’s hand holding the cup.
She gulped down the whole glass, with traces of water still left at the corner of her mouth.
Those lips, moistened by water, looked glistening.
They easily made one think of a rippling sea surface, as if thousands of acres of sunset had spilled across it—moist and luminous.
Even half asleep and half awake, she still politely said thank you.
Liang Shi had originally thought she would wipe the water from the corner of her mouth herself before sleeping again. But clearly, Xu Qingzhu did not have that awareness right now. After drinking, she lay back on the bed, only her palm still resting on the back of Liang Shi’s hand, taking the opportunity to tug her downward.
Liang Shi did not know where her heart had fallen. Her thoughts drifted slightly, and she was actually pulled down by Xu Qingzhu with no effort at all.
By the time Liang Shi realized it, her ear was only a hair’s breadth from Xu Qingzhu. It seemed as though those water-stained lips would fall onto her ear in the next second.
Her ear could still feel warm moisture, like the gentle caress of the sea breeze.
The warm yellow light pulled this ambiguity to its limit.
It was like a glowing trap. One careless step and she would fall in.
And once she fell into the light, she would quickly be wrapped in gentle desire.
But Liang Shi quickly sat upright and took a deep breath.
She pulled her hand free from Xu Qingzhu’s and used it to fan her burning cheeks.
For all these years, she had kept her desires light and her heart restrained. How could she have expected that after coming here for only a few days, she would be teased until she did not know what to do?
It was as if a long-dormant desire had felt spring’s arrival and could not wait to break through the earth.
Yet she forced it back down.
Liang Shi placed the water glass to the side and glanced at Xu Qingzhu, who had fallen deeply asleep again.
The water at the corner of her mouth was still glistening. Liang Shi, who had a bit of a compulsion about things like that, raised her hand and wiped it away for her.
Her thumb touched those vivid red lips. In that instant, the sensation of skin against skin became real. Even though she tried her best to suppress her desire, physiological reactions were very difficult to force down. Liang Shi turned her face and looked at her.
After a long while, she turned away and raised her hand to cover her own face.
Her ears had already begun to burn.
Liang Shi got up and went to the bathroom to take a shower.
It was, honestly, quite hard to endure.
When she came out after showering, her whole body carried a chill. After throwing all those messy thoughts out of her mind, she also became a little more clear-headed.
She returned to the bedside again and deliberately pushed that pile of blankets closer to Xu Qingzhu, while she herself took up only a small part of the bed and continued watching the movie.
Unfortunately, on the phone screen, two bodies were tangled together. In the world of this book, the filming requirements for sexual content in dramas and movies were not censored too severely. Facts proved that audiences also loved watching it, especially when it was filmed well. The box office would be extremely high.
The previous scene she had watched had used empty shots. In other words, when it was time to fade to black, it directly switched to the city’s night scenery.
This was also a technique directors often used when filming these kinds of scenes.
But this time, it did not. Instead, it showed the scene outright.
They were in a dim room, on a bed, their fingers landing on each other’s softness.
They gazed at each other, looking deeply into each other’s eyes…
“So hot…” Xu Qingzhu’s somewhat suppressed voice sounded.
It was even more soul-stirring than the voices in the movie when the two women reached the height of passion.
Liang Shi immediately pulled the blanket a little more toward herself, while Xu Qingzhu half opened her eyes and happened to see the image on the screen.
That was probably the movie’s most passionate scene.
At that moment, the two female leads became one, reaching straight into the depths of each other’s souls.
The sound of water rose all around.
The entire room echoed with their voices as they gently called each other’s names.
The names were spoken with the tips of their tongues, and they were so close that even a breathy whisper could be heard clearly.
Liang Shi: “……”
She immediately turned her phone face down.
But the sound was still playing, accompanied by the ambiguous background music.
Anyone would misunderstand.
“I wasn’t…” Liang Shi instinctively wanted to explain, but Xu Qingzhu curved her lips in a smile. Her voice, not yet fully awake, was even more seductive than the movie. She asked, “Is it good?”
Liang Shi: “…It’s okay.”
She had never been particularly good at lying.
Besides, her brain short-circuited for a moment, and she simply followed Xu Qingzhu’s words and answered.
Then she heard Xu Qingzhu say, “Finish watching and sleep early.”
Liang Shi: “……?”
That was it?
Liang Shi had thought Xu Qingzhu was awake and wanted to ask where the blankets were, but before she could speak, she saw Xu Qingzhu turn over and breathe evenly again.
“?”
Truly a false alarm.
But it still made Liang Shi feel socially dead.
Her image had always been that of a serious veteran cadre, a calm and desireless Buddha. Watching erotic films did not quite match her image.
Even though she had also… watched them before.
It was a very normal physiological need.
But being discovered by someone was another story altogether.
So she immediately put away her phone.
Liang Shi lay there and thought: How was she supposed to get through this long night?
Her body was pressed only against the edge of the bed. Although the bed was big enough, she was still afraid Xu Qingzhu might sleep restlessly and like to roll around, so she left plenty of space for her.
As for Liang Shi, she was usually someone who slept very steadily. Wherever she was before falling asleep was where she would still be when she woke up.
Her mind was still filled with chaotic thoughts, but she still could not resist her body’s instinctive sleepiness.
Before she could even figure out what to eat for breakfast tomorrow, she had already fallen asleep.
//
The next morning.
Sunlight scattered into the room, spreading over the bed. It was a little glaring, and Liang Shi was stung awake by it.
She picked up her phone and glanced at it. Eight twenty.
It was about time to get up, but Xu Qingzhu was still sleeping, as if she wanted to make up for all the sleep she had missed before.
Liang Shi was afraid the sunlight would bother her, so she got up and closed the curtains tightly.
The room instantly fell into dimness again.
Liang Shi’s daily routine had always been good.
If she was not filming, she would get up around eight in the morning, exercise for a while, eat breakfast, then watch dramas or read books. In the afternoon, she would sit on the balcony and have afternoon tea, spending a relaxed and pleasant day.
When she got up, there was no one in the house. The shared areas had already been cleaned by the servants and were spotless.
She went to the kitchen, poured herself a glass of water, then took bread from the refrigerator and cracked an egg into the breakfast maker.
She planned to make sandwiches.
If conditions allowed, she definitely had to eat breakfast.
Just as she was busy in the kitchen, Xu Qingya’s voice suddenly sounded. “Sister Liang, you can cook too?”
Liang Shi’s fried egg happened to be about seventy percent done, still runny in the center. She glanced back while busy and saw Xu Qingya with messy hair, not caring about her image at all. She gave a huge yawn and reached out to take a slice of bread. Before Liang Shi could say anything, Xu Qingya had already bitten into it.
“That’s cold,” Liang Shi said.
Unfortunately, she was a step too late.
Xu Qingya did not mind. “It’s fine. As long as it’s edible.”
Liang Shi: “……”
All right, then.
“Where’s my sister?” Xu Qingya asked. “Still not awake?”
“Mm.” Liang Shi said, “The doctor said last night that she might sleep for a whole day and night.”
Xu Qingya shook her head. “She’s really become Sleeping Beauty.”
She bit into a piece of bread while playing with her phone. Only after a while did she raise her head and ask, “Sister Liang, what are you making? Make me one too. I’m kind of hungry.”
Without looking back, Liang Shi answered, “A sandwich. It’s almost done.”
As she spoke, she had already wrapped one and handed it to Xu Qingya, then started making her own.
Xu Qingya took a bite. At first, she had not held much expectation for Liang Shi’s cooking skills. Mainly because sandwiches were like scrambled eggs with tomatoes—no matter how you made them, they were unlikely to taste bad, but making them especially delicious was not that likely either.
But the moment it entered her mouth, Xu Qingya was stunned.
At first, she was not sure. She thought maybe it was because she was too hungry, so she had the illusion that this thing was fresh, fragrant, and delicious.
But she quickly took two more bites, and only after swallowing everything did she say, “Sister Liang, did you really make this?”
Liang Shi smiled helplessly. “You were sitting right there. How could I cheat?”
“No, this is too good.” Xu Qingya gave her a thumbs-up. “This cooking skill is comparable to a five-star chef. What did you use to make it? Why does it taste so fresh? It’s so fresh I want to bite my own tongue off.”
Liang Shi felt that this praise was far too exaggerated.
She did have some confidence in her cooking skills. After all, she had helped in restaurant kitchens for many years. But suddenly facing such high praise still felt like more than she deserved.
“It’s just the ordinary method,” Liang Shi said. “Fried egg, lettuce, cheese, tomato, and a little sauce.”
“It’s better than every sandwich I’ve eaten before,” Xu Qingya sincerely praised. “This makes me want to live at your house long-term.”
Liang Shi: “……”
Please do not.
But she could not possibly say that honestly. On the surface, she put on a friendly appearance. “Then stay. Stay as long as you want.”
After a pause, she added an attached condition. “As long as your sister lets you.”
Xu Qingya: “Tsk.”
Liang Shi quickly finished making her own sandwich too and sat there chatting idly with Xu Qingya.
Mostly, it was Xu Qingya chatting with her, and she was responsible for responding.
Xu Qingya was quite a talkative little girl. When she talked about idol culture, her eyes shone.
She also said her dream was to become a manager.
But after saying that, she fell somewhat silent. After a pause, she said, “Forget it. I’d better change my dream.”
“Why?” Liang Shi was puzzled.
Xu Qingya sighed. “Sister Weiwei is a manager. A lot of Chen Zhengxuan’s merchandise was something she helped me get.”
Liang Shi understood her worry too, but she could only offer a mild comfort. “Not all managers are like that.”
However, this reminded her of Bai Weiwei and Zhao Xuning.
After she left with Xu Qingzhu last night, she had not seen Zhao Xuning on the way, so she still did not know what happened on Zhao Xuning’s side.
Out of humanitarian concern, after Liang Shi finished breakfast and put the dishes into the dishwasher, she sent Zhao Xuning a message asking about the situation on her end.
After a long while, Zhao Xuning replied: [It’s okay.]
A rather perfunctory answer.
But Liang Shi had done her part.
After that, she did not ask further.
In the morning, with nothing to do, she began looking up information on Dongheng Group, especially its newly established magazine department.
Just as Liang Xinhe had said, this magazine department was newly established. It had not even released a single issue yet. On Weibo, it only had an official account with no posts at all, and ten thousand followers, probably bought by someone.
Because nothing had been released yet, the information one could find online was pitifully scarce.
She also looked into other electronic magazines, especially searching for companies similar to Dongheng Group that had founded electronic magazines, attempting to find some successful experience from them.
During her search, she discovered that the first company in the industry to do this was Haiwei Jewelry.
It was clearly only a jewelry company, yet it had advanced experience. Not only had it founded an electronic magazine, but it had also established a first-rate domestic fashion magazine—Pearl.
In this era where print media had already declined, the print media industry had become a sunset industry. Many major magazine publishers had shut down one after another. Most of the remaining ones were either losing money or persisting on sheer passion. But Pearl had carved out a different path, focusing on feminism and inviting well-known domestic writers to write its editorials.
In a fashion magazine, there was not much written copy, but every article in each issue of theirs had piercing force.
In the new media era, it could be said that each article would easily get over one hundred thousand views.
However, their magazine and electronic publication were produced separately, with completely non-overlapping content.
It was precisely because of this that the electronic publication had not stolen the sales of the print magazine.
And the group of people who founded this magazine had not previously worked in the magazine industry. Some came from the fashion industry, some were designers, and there were even web novel authors.
So the industry’s evaluation of Pearl magazine was: a group of third-rate people running a first-rate magazine.
Liang Shi organized all the information. By the time she finished, it was already noon.
The housekeeper asked whether lunch should be prepared. She was still thinking over the menu in her mind, but before she could decide, she received a call from Liang Xinhe.
She answered and politely greeted him. “Second Brother.”
“Where are you?” Liang Xinhe asked.
Liang Shi thought he had come to check on her and obediently answered, “At home.”
“Chuanlan Villa?”
“Yes.”
“What are you still doing there?” Liang Xinhe’s tone was already somewhat impatient. “Liang Shi, I really thought you were going to become a new person, but in the end, you’re still like this? It was one thing when you were a bastard outside, but now you don’t even want this family anymore? Are you trying to cut ties with the Liang family?”
Liang Shi: “……?”
“Enough. How are you talking to Ah Shi?” A gentle female voice sounded. “You’re clearly worried about Ah Shi and wanted to see her, but in the end, you use these words to stab at people. With that kind of attitude, every time you talk for more than a few sentences, you end up arguing.”
Liang Shi guessed that this should be her second sister-in-law.
In the original book, the second sister-in-law did not have many scenes.
But she was considered a very positive character.
When the original owner was especially down and out, she had even given the original owner a sum of money, but that money had soon been completely lost by the original owner through gambling.
That was what led to the original owner later setting her sights on her daughter.
Liang Shi did not know much more than that.
After all, before transmigrating into the book, she had not carefully read and memorized the entire text.
“Ah Shi.” Her second sister-in-law had taken the phone. “You’re coming back to the old residence today, right? Remember to bring your wife.”
“Second Sister-in-law.” Liang Shi’s attitude was very good. “Zhuzi is sick. She can’t go back.”
“Is it serious?” Her second sister-in-law said worriedly. “Then stay home and take care of her. It’s fine. I’ll explain it to Mom.”
“How can you keep indulging her like this?” Liang Xinhe took the phone back again. “Liang Shi, no matter what you have going on today, you have to come back. What did you say to me last week? Even if knives fell from the sky, you would return to the old residence. Did you forget your own words?”
Liang Shi: “……”
That was what the original owner said.
Forget it.
In any case, she was now Liang Shi.
“Today is Big Brother’s birthday. We’re only asking you to come home for a meal, and you’re unwilling? Then from now on, don’t even use the Liang surname.” Liang Xinhe said impatiently, then hung up.
Liang Xinhe’s temper was indeed somewhat quick.
But his heart was good.
Liang Shi did not complain either. She told the housekeeper that lunch today only needed to be made for Xu Qingya, and that she had to return to the old residence.
Since it was Liang Xinzhou’s birthday, Liang Shi had to go no matter what.
After all, she still counted as a member of the Liang family for now.
It was just that the original owner’s relationship with her family was all rather ordinary. With how much trouble she had caused, she had probably already caused almost everything she could.
In short, it was a whole pile of mess.
//
Liang Shi did not know the way back to the old residence, so the driver took her there.
The old residence was not far from the villa, but it was obviously more luxurious and had more heritage. The surrounding area was full of villas and manors.
It had quite a feeling of occupying a mountain and ruling as king in the old days.
The Liang family’s building was Gothic-style. Among this group of villas, it could be considered distinctive.
The moment her car entered the courtyard, someone came out to welcome her.
When she got out of the car, the servant bent and bowed, extending an arm. “Third Miss.”
Liang Shi placed her hand on the servant’s arm and got out of the car.
The entrance was richly carved and decorated, making one feel as if they had accidentally entered a museum. It was clear that the Liang family must have spent quite a lot of money building this residence.
Two rows of maids stood at the entrance. When she walked past, they bent in unison and respectfully called, “Third Miss.”
It had quite an impressive style.
Because she had to return to the old residence, Liang Shi had specially gone to buy a proper outfit.
She really could not accept the clothes in the original owner’s wardrobe.
Today, she wore a light apricot-colored long dress paired with a white suit jacket. Her long hair was also let down, and she wore silver earrings.
Her makeup was somewhat bright, but not overly glamorous. Paired with the cool, minimalist white suit jacket, it was low-key without seeming disrespectful.
After she entered, the first to notice her was still her second sister-in-law. Her second sister-in-law stood up with a smile. “Ah Shi is back.”
At the long gilded table, everyone was already seated. Although there was still a seat at the table, the extra tableware had been removed. Everyone had already assumed she would not come back.
Father Liang was over sixty, in good health, and sitting in the main seat. When he saw her, he only gave a faint hum. “So you still know to come back.”
Liang Shi smiled awkwardly. “Sorry, I was busy and forgot.”
Her tone was full of distance.
She actually wanted to establish a good relationship with these people, but unfortunately, she had not had family for so many years and truly did not know how to get along with them. She could only try to be a little more polite.
Besides, everyone was already used to the original owner’s unruly and carefree style.
However, at home, the original owner could still be considered relatively obedient.
So Liang Shi did not reveal any flaws.
She simply stood there, slightly embarrassed.
No one told her to sit, and other than her second sister-in-law, no one greeted her. The girl sitting at the far end of the table looked pure and innocent. She pressed her lips together and said, “Third Sister.”
“Mm.” Liang Shi smiled at her. “Wanwan, has school started?”
Liang Wanwan was the youngest sister in the family. She had just entered her third year of university this year, and her personality was much more likable than the original owner’s.
“Not yet,” Liang Wanwan said. “It starts the day after tomorrow.”
Liang Shi nodded.
Awkward conversation was truly difficult.
Especially in this almost completely unfamiliar situation. It was entirely a technical skill.
“Why are you all standing around? Get Third Miss some tableware.” It was still Liang Xinhe who spoke. “Each and every one of you, do you not even have this much awareness?”
The servants immediately went, and another servant pulled out a chair for Liang Shi.
Liang Shi sat down. Across from her was a little girl.
She looked about three or four years old and wore a pink hair clip. The look she gave Liang Shi was timid.
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