Giving You Dawn And Dusk - Chapter 25.2

She should be Liang Xinhe’s daughter.

Her second sister-in-law taught her, “Lingdang, greet your aunt.”

The little girl bit her lower lip. After a while, she called, “Auntie.”

Liang Shi smiled. “Mm. I haven’t seen you in so long, and you’ve become even prettier.”

The little girl’s expression relaxed slightly.

Liang Shi had been observing her expression the whole time. Originally, she had thought the original owner probably had not done anything to such a small girl, but now, she felt that the original owner probably had not even spared such a young child, making the girl still watch her expression carefully.

She tried her best to make her smile gentler.

Today was Liang Xinzhou’s birthday. From the moment she entered, she had recognized this eldest brother at first glance.

He was a typical business elite, dressed in a black suit and wearing glasses. Beside him sat a cold beauty, his wife.

Qiu Zimin sat together with Father Liang, both in the main seats.

Probably because they had argued on the phone before, she did not give Liang Shi a good expression today either. Her gaze was gloomy.

Liang Shi did not deliberately try to please her.

In any case, in the end, she would separate from the Liang family too. She only needed to wait until the Liang family found their biological daughter. Her fate with this place would then be over.

Right now, she was merely going through the motions. It was clear that everyone in this family did not really welcome her return.

Although Liang Xinzhou and Liang Xinhe were both married, they still lived in the old residence and had not established separate households.

Only she had moved to Chuanlan Villa as soon as she got married.

Was there not enough room?

Of course not.

With such a large residence, even if Liang Wanwan got married, everyone could still live here together.

With so many servants, they could also serve everyone.

It was simply because they did not like her and wanted her to move out.

But that was understandable. The original owner would cause trouble outside every few days, and Father Liang had always been strict when it came to disciplining children, so father and daughter would quarrel.

The food on the table was very delicious, and Liang Shi was also very polite, only touching the one or two dishes in front of her.

There was a dish of crystal pork aspic in front of her. Seeing the little girl across from her staring at it pitifully, she had not intended to meddle, but because the little girl’s gaze was too pitiful, she still could not resist. Using the serving chopsticks, she picked some up and placed it in the little girl’s bowl.

Although Lingdang liked this food, because Liang Shi had given it to her, she did not know whether she should eat it.

She hesitantly looked toward Liang Shi. Liang Shi gave her a gentle smile. “Eat.”

Her second sister-in-law also touched her head. “What should Lingdang say?”

Lingdang was clever and smiled. “Thank you, Auntie.”

Liang Shi was unconsciously infected by her smile, and her tone became lighter too. “It’s nothing.”

Children generally did not hold grudges.

If you treated them even a little better, even if there had been unpleasantness before, they would forget it.

Lingdang was like this.

Afterward, Liang Shi helped her pick up food several more times, and her voice became even sweeter when she spoke.

Her second sister-in-law even said, “Ah Shi, eat your own food. You don’t need to mind her.”

“It’s fine. I’m full,” Liang Shi said. “I ate breakfast.”

It was only just past twelve. She had eaten a sandwich around nine, and after that, she had not done anything physically draining, so she was not very hungry.

Her second sister-in-law did not say anything more.

Instead, Liang Xinhe turned to look at her and said faintly, “You really are becoming a new person. You even got up early.”

Liang Shi: “……”

She suspected this second brother could not speak without being sarcastic.

But at the dining table, she did not retort. She shrugged, indicating that yes, she had.

This matter was thus passed over.

This meal was somewhat oppressive. Although it was a reunion meal to celebrate Liang Xinzhou’s birthday, no one at the table really spoke. It was not lively at all. It was even quiet enough to hear the sound of chopsticks landing on plates.

Liang Shi felt even more as if there were thorns on her back.

It must have been the sins caused by the original owner’s high-profile antics.

While she was eating, the servants’ gazes were probably all cast on her.

After the meal, Father Liang chatted for a while with Liang Xinzhou and Liang Xinhe about company matters.

The others sat there doing their own things in various poses.

After that, Father Liang suggested the family go play golf. There was a huge golf course behind the villa.

Liang Shi followed along to broaden her horizons.

Her golf skills were average. To be precise, she was not very good at ball sports in general.

As far as she knew, the original owner was not very good either.

Although she was an Alpha, she rarely exercised.

She did not even have defined abs.

They spent the whole afternoon rather idly. Only after five did everyone return indoors together.

Dinner was at seven. At this point, Father Liang said he was tired and wanted to return to his room to rest.

Everyone also returned to their own rooms.

Liang Shi finally figured out a little of the pattern. In this family, everything was decided by Father Liang.

In front of Father Liang, Qiu Zimin was extremely silent, not at all like the talkative person she had been on the phone before. Even when her gaze occasionally swept over, it carried a trace of reverence and fear.

It was abnormal.

Everything about this family was abnormal.

Although Liang Shi had lost her parents very early, before high school, she had lived with her grandparents.

A normal family would not have this kind of atmosphere.

It was like a strictly ranked institution.

Liang Shi pondered as she returned to the bedroom.

The original owner’s bedroom was at the innermost side of the third floor, with a coded lock.

She entered the code, pushed the door open, and was stunned.

This bedroom was very dark. It was not darkness caused by outside lighting, but a gloomy darkness.

The bedroom was airtight, and all the windows were covered tightly by curtains. But on the opposite wall, there was a fluorescent golden totem of a wolf.

It looked especially like some kind of ritual.

She turned on the light and found that all the walls were black. The carpet, sheets, quilt, and pillows were all black.

In the huge room, there were no extra decorations either. The only thing that could count as decoration was the bedside lamp.

But even the lamp’s appearance was black.

And the room’s light was not bright white light, nor was it warm yellow. It was an indescribable, somewhat eerie spotlight.

It looked more like the kind of lighting commonly seen in a bar during dancing.

She pressed it a few more times, and the light changed several times, but none of them were normal.

The most normal one was probably a very dim light that could barely illuminate the whole room.

She suppressed the shock in her heart and walked into the room. After closing the door, she actually felt a chill on her back.

So she walked over and pulled open the curtains, only to discover that the curtains were actually decoration.

Behind the curtains was a wall, and on the wall were marks carved every which way. Some of the writing was even stained with blood, looking especially like ghostly scribbles.

This was a room without windows. With Liang Shi’s personality, why would she live in this kind of room?

There were many empty rooms here. Why had they given her a windowless room?

And the decor of this room was far too gloomy, was it not?

Had Liang Shi herself decorated it like this, or had her family decorated it for her?

When she had come upstairs just now, Lingdang had pulled her to the left side of the third floor. Through a slightly opened door, she had seen that Lingdang’s room was very normal, with bright colors, warm and comfortable.

Liang Xinhe’s room was also a normal businessperson’s style.

Only the original owner’s room was like this.

Liang Shi did not even dare lie on that bed, but right now, this was the only place where she could stay quietly.

So before dinner, she still had to remain in this room.

This happened to be a good chance to look around and see whether the original owner had left behind anything like a diary.

Didn’t main characters usually love writing diaries?

In the original owner’s wardrobe, a pile of colorful clothes was neatly arranged. She flipped through them but found nothing. The bedside cabinet was empty at a glance, and in the bottom drawer, she found two packs of cigarettes.

They were just very ordinary brands on the market.

She searched the entire room but found nothing useful.

Tired from searching, she simply sat on the carpet.

She raised her head and looked at the ceiling.

The structure of the ceiling in this room was also different from ordinary ones. It was pure black, and not very flat in shape. It was the kind of arch that hung downward.

Liang Shi found it familiar, but she could not say exactly what it was.

Her phone vibrated, and she took it out to glance at it.

It was a push notification from the browser. The title read: Mountain Village Female Corpse Mysteriously Disappears—The Shocking Secret Behind It!

A completely clickbait title, but the image caught her attention.

Because the accompanying picture was of an opened coffin.

And the ceiling of this room actually had a similar effect to the one in the picture.

Both were downward-closing arches, practically an enlarged version of the picture.

Liang Shi disliked how dark the room’s lighting was, so she simply turned on her flashlight and aimed it at the ceiling. Unexpectedly, she found a string of characters behind the light.

She could not see them clearly.

She suddenly remembered what was in the original owner’s phone memo. One entry inside was: [Sacrifice. Heh.]

It was difficult not to connect a room like this with sacrifice.

But coincidentally, in the background of this world, feudal superstition was also not encouraged.

Liang Shi could not make sense of it no matter how she thought about it.

Just as she was deep in thought, she suddenly felt a burst of headache.

It was as if tens of thousands of ants were biting her, but the headache only lasted a few seconds.

After that, a segment of unfamiliar memories entered her mind.

Students wearing school uniforms, people wandering around campus, tall buildings, all kinds of people, and lecture halls.

There were too many scenes. She could not sort through them all at once.

After experiencing what had happened before, Liang Shi’s adaptability was very strong.

She quickly finished sorting through this segment of memories.

To be precise, it was two segments of memories.

One had to do with Xu Qingzhu, and the other had to do with Zhou Yi’an.

The original owner had probably noticed Xu Qingzhu during university.

Xu Qingzhu attended the best university in the country—Qingyi University. It was three streets away from the original owner’s diploma-mill university.

The original owner had run into Xu Qingzhu and Bai Weiwei at a street corner, and immediately became interested in Xu Qingzhu. But unlike how she usually flirted with girls, she did not act boldly. Instead, she adopted a very subtle method.

She found someone to get Xu Qingzhu’s class schedule, then went to that university to sit in on classes.

She went to Qingyi University’s library, cafeteria, and every possible place where she could see Xu Qingzhu, yet she never directly went up and talked to her.

It was difficult to say whether this was a kind of love.

But the scenes in her memories did indeed revolve around Xu Qingzhu.

After that came the night of the original owner’s graduation. Everyone had arranged to go camping by the sea. Facing the ocean, she shouted, “I really want to get married!”

Everyone laughed, and the matter passed just like that.

During the year after she graduated, her second brother arranged work for her, but she did not go.

Later, he gave her the title of deputy director of the Human Resources Department. She went for a few days and then lost interest, spending every day fooling around with Cheng Ran and living wildly.

But one day, when she heard about the Xu family’s corporate crisis, she went to talk to Xu Qingzhu without even thinking.

In order to marry Xu Qingzhu, she spoke with Father Liang, spoke with Qiu Zimin, and even lowered herself to beg Liang Xinhe.

It was Liang Xinhe and Qiu Zimin who spoke on her behalf, allowing her to marry Xu Qingzhu.

But after marrying Xu Qingzhu, she truly still played very wildly.

Staying out all night was normal.

After failing to touch Xu Qingzhu on their wedding night, she later wanted to touch her again, but Xu Qingzhu would not let her. As a result, she started bossing Xu Qingzhu around arrogantly and ordering her to do things.

The events after that were no different from what Liang Shi had already learned.

With this segment of memories, Liang Shi became even more unable to understand the original owner’s behavior. Why, if she clearly liked Xu Qingzhu, would she treat her in such a way?

If she did not like her, and it was only possessiveness, then why pay such a huge price to marry her?

Could it be that she liked the feeling of obtaining something and then destroying it with her own hands?

This was probably the most extreme guess.

Right now, she had no way to find the original owner and ask: Just why did you do it?

She could only say that the original owner’s thoughts were too strange.

What was worth mentioning was her past with Zhou Yi’an.

So the “we meet again” Zhou Yi’an had said when she saw Liang Shi was because they had interacted in the past, and not shallowly either.

The original owner and Zhou Yi’an had attended the same high school. At that time, everyone had yet to differentiate.

Compared to the original owner’s arrogant behavior, Zhou Yi’an was not inferior at all.

However, the Zhou family did not yet have its current background then. Zhou Yi’an’s father held office elsewhere, and no matter how long his arm was, it could not reach Haizhou. So even if Zhou Yi’an was arrogant, she did not dare bully people from the same school. Instead, she extended her claws toward middle school students. By coincidence, the person she liked bullying most was the original owner’s younger sister, Liang Wanwan.

At first, the original owner did not know about this. Liang Wanwan also did not dare tell her.

Later, someone used this matter to mock her, and only then did she find out. That very day, she went to find Zhou Yi’an. When she arrived, she discovered Zhou Yi’an was bullying Liang Wanwan. Without another word, she punched Zhou Yi’an.

That day, she beat Zhou Yi’an severely.

After that, Zhou Yi’an no longer bullied Liang Wanwan. Instead, she turned her target onto the original owner.

At that time, Zhou Yi’an often said, “Baby, you’ve caught my interest.”

The original owner had a fiery temper, and the two often fought. But the more they fought, the brighter Zhou Yi’an’s eyes became.

Not long after, Zhou Yi’an transferred to a high school abroad.

Who would have thought that after so many years, Zhou’s father would smoothly rise in rank, while the Liang family declined? Their positions were completely reversed.

Zhou Yi’an no longer needed to fear the Liang family. Instead, the Liang family had to consider the Zhou family’s attitude and obtain benefits from them, so Zhou Yi’an became unscrupulous.

So wealthy families were indeed divided into ranks.

A position like the Liang family’s could only be considered not bad, but it was still not at the top of the food chain.

Liang Shi sighed inwardly.

She truly had not expected the original owner and Zhou Yi’an to have such an intersection.

However, she was very puzzled. Why did staying in the original owner’s room cause new memories to be infused into her?

Had she triggered some kind of mechanism? Or was it based on accumulated time?

She tried both methods and discovered there was nothing special. No new memories entered her mind either.

Liang Shi organized her thoughts inside the room, then left the place.

It was gloomy and far too oppressive.

//

After Liang Shi went downstairs, she saw Lingdang curled up on the sofa watching television.

When Lingdang saw her come down, she smiled and called, “Auntie.”

Liang Shi answered and then sat with her to watch television for a while.

Soon, the Liang family members came down together.

Dinner was even more abundant than lunch, and there was a cake in the very center. But no one played with it, and no one smeared cream around. They only ate the cake very quietly, as if performing a procedure.

The atmosphere at dinner was even more oppressive than at lunch.

Liang Shi still did not eat much and then continued taking care of Lingdang.

After dinner, Lingdang had already started clinging to her.

She curled up in Liang Shi’s arms and played little games with her.

At a little past eight, Liang Shi stood up and prepared to leave.

She went out the door and had yet to get into the car when Qiu Zimin called out to her. “Ah Shi, wait.”

Liang Shi turned back, her brows faintly furrowed as she said coldly, “What is it?”

She did not think there was anything left for her and Qiu Zimin to say.

“You saw the texts Mom sent you, right?” Qiu Zimin asked, her words carrying a hint of probing. “Why didn’t you reply to Mom? Have you still not forgiven Mom?”

The wind outside gradually picked up. Liang Shi tightened her white suit jacket around herself and tucked her scattered hair behind her ear. “What do you want to say?”

“Nothing.” Qiu Zimin’s tone was heavy. “Mom didn’t mean it either. The family has such a heavy burden pressing down on it. Your father has grown so much more white hair. That piece of land in the south of the city is crucial to our family. Whether we can regain our former glory depends on this time. Yi’an truly likes you. Didn’t you also want to divorce the Xu family’s girl…”

“When did I say I wanted a divorce?” Liang Shi interrupted her. “When I married Xu Qingzhu back then, I already made it clear. You only needed to interfere in my life that once. After that, you didn’t need to manage anything.”

Having recovered some memories, Liang Shi spoke with even more confidence.

“Then you and Yi’an…” Qiu Zimin paused.

Liang Shi answered firmly, “Impossible.”

“But Liang Shi, have you forgotten who fed you, clothed you, and raised you this big?” Qiu Zimin’s expression instantly changed. In her eyes, there was not a trace of guilt. Her timid and submissive behavior earlier seemed like Liang Shi’s illusion.

“Even you do not have the right to casually interfere in my marriage,” Liang Shi said. “Making me undergo surgery and be with Zhou Yi’an—only you could come up with something like that.”

Qiu Zimin gave a cold snort. “Plenty of people do that nowadays. How is that harming you? In the future, with the Zhou family as your backing, raising you all these years won’t have been for nothing. Besides, you’ll be able to live much better than you do now.”

“There’s no need for us to discuss this matter,” Liang Shi said. “I won’t do it. You’d better stay away from Zhou Yi’an too. That person is very dangerous.”

Actually, she was very sinister.

Because you could never know what a psychologically twisted person would do.

“I’ve eaten more salt than you’ve eaten rice. I also judge people more accurately than you do. That Xu Qingzhu is not a peaceful person. In the future, she will definitely harm you badly,” Qiu Zimin said. “What’s wrong with Zhou Yi’an?”

“You’ve only taken a fancy to the Zhou family,” Liang Shi exposed her lie.

Liang Shi stared straight at her and suddenly asked in a low voice, “Are you still my mother?”

Qiu Zimin’s gaze drifted, then she said firmly, “You came out of my belly. How could I not be your mother? Liang Shi, everything I do is for your sake. If you don’t listen, then forget it. All these years, even though the Liang family has followed your wishes in everything, even though I indulged you and spoiled you, and even though everyone said my daughter was useless and not a good thing, I never believed them. I knew my daughter was good. My daughter was very obedient. It was only that they couldn’t see it. Thinking about it now, perhaps I was wrong.”

“No matter what, this is your choice. Mom is only giving you a suggestion. If you don’t like it, I won’t say it again in the future.” Qiu Zimin said, “The Liang family’s decline is inevitable. Who told me I failed to raise good children? In the future, when I die, I won’t be able to face the Liang family’s ancestors.”

Liang Shi: “……”

This script was truly far too familiar.

Liang Shi had once accepted a drama about psychological manipulation.

A man paid to attend classes specifically to learn how to manipulate wealthy, beautiful women, suppressing their confidence so they could not leave him, making them spend money on him, find work for him, and still timidly coax him.

Qiu Zimin’s current rhetoric was exactly the same as psychological manipulation.

First came the suppression, saying that you were truly terrible and that your existence was a harm to this world. Then she would say, but I believe in you. In this world, only I treat you well, so you can trust me. Everything I ask you to do is for your own good.

Over time, the other party would become a puppet that could be manipulated at will.

In more severe cases, they might become depressed or mentally unstable.

Liang Shi only looked coldly at Qiu Zimin. After she finished speaking, Liang Shi lightly asked in return, “Anything else?”

“Mom transferred money to you,” Qiu Zimin said. “You don’t have a job either, and the house you live in was bought by us. Although you don’t want to compromise, I am still your mother. I can’t possibly ignore you. Take this money and spend it. The weather is cold, so go slowly on your way back.”

Liang Shi: “Oh.”

She got into the car, then lowered the window and said to Qiu Zimin, “I’ll be going to Dongheng for work from now on. You don’t need to give me living expenses anymore. Also, the ownership of Chuanlan Villa belongs to you. I’m only temporarily living there. Once I have money, I’ll move out.”

Qiu Zimin’s expression twisted for an instant, but she forced out a smile. “What are you saying? How could I not care about my own daughter? You’re still young, and you don’t have much ability to earn money…”

“I’m already married,” Liang Shi said. “I’ll shoulder the corresponding responsibilities.”

She looked at Qiu Zimin. “So stop trying to control me.”

The car drove out of the old residence.

Qiu Zimin stood at the entrance, clutching her coat, her eyes hiding towering rage.

After a long while, Qiu Zimin gritted her teeth and spat out two words.

“Useless trash.”

//

By the time Liang Shi returned to Chuanlan Villa, it was already past nine.

Xu Qingya was sitting in the living room playing games. When she saw Liang Shi come back, she raised her head and greeted her.

“Where’s your sister?” Liang Shi asked.

Xu Qingya said, “Still sleeping.”

She stood up and walked toward her room. “Sister Liang, I’m going back to my room.”

“Okay,” Liang Shi answered.

She first went to the kitchen to pour herself a glass of water. After coming out, she looked at the living room and felt that this kind of decor and color scheme was still much more comfortable to look at. A room like the one in the old residence made her spine chill just from looking at it.

After standing downstairs in a daze for a while, she finally returned to the bedroom.

Xu Qingzhu still had not woken up. She had slept for a very long time.

Liang Shi returned to the room, took a shower, and played little phone games while waiting for her hair to dry. Later, she was too tired, and before her hair was completely dry, she lay down and fell asleep.

However, she did not sleep very deeply. Most likely, she had been frightened during the day by the decor of the original owner’s bedroom.

She actually dreamed of a coffin.

In the pitch-black night, a coffin was flying around, and paper money was drifting down from the sky.

There was also a Taoist priest who stuck a talisman right between her brows, frightening her awake all at once.

Her eyes snapped open, only to meet a pair of bright eyes.

Liang Shi was so startled that she jolted. Her heart nearly stopped. Only afterward did she realize that it was Xu Qingzhu.

She let out a soft breath, her voice a little hoarse. “What are you doing?”

“Did you have a nightmare?” Xu Qingzhu asked.

Liang Shi nodded. “Did you touch my face?”

Xu Qingzhu turned her face slightly and looked at the space between Liang Shi’s brows. Her voice was as cold and淡 as always. “No.”

After saying that, she got out of bed.

She asked, “How long did I sleep?”

Liang Shi answered, “A day and a night.”

“What about Weiwei?”

“Zhao Xuning went to pick her up. She should be fine.” Liang Shi reached out and turned on the bedside lamp. Then she lit up her phone screen and discovered that it was already past eleven.

She had slept briefly, but that dream had been too realistic. Now, she had no sleepiness left at all.

“Last night, did we…” Xu Qingzhu paused, then changed to a more tactful way of asking. “Did anything happen?”

Liang Shi immediately shook her head. “No. Nothing happened.”

Then Liang Shi suddenly realized something. “You don’t remember anything?”

Xu Qingzhu frowned slightly and answered honestly, “My memory stops after drinking a large glass of baijiu.”

Liang Shi: “……”

Goodness. So she was someone who blacked out when she drank too much.

“You don’t remember anything? Not even a tiny fragment?” Liang Shi did not even know what hope she was holding on to.

After all, Xu Qingzhu had been especially fun last night. If she remembered, it would definitely become a large-scale social death scene.

“No.” Xu Qingzhu pressed her brow. “Last night, were you the one who brought me out of there?”

“Me and Zhao Xuning.” Liang Shi did not take all the credit. “It was Zhao Xuning who found someone to open the private room door.”

Actually, at that moment, Liang Shi had felt utterly useless, as if she could do nothing.

But later, after thinking about it carefully, she realized that her original world was incompatible with this place. She had yet to fully integrate into this world.

Besides, with someone like the original owner, once something happened, she was isolated and helpless. It was truly hard for Liang Shi to face such a high-level challenge.

She only hoped that she would never encounter something like that again.

“Thank you.” Xu Qingzhu lowered her head in acknowledgment and sat on one side of the bed in a daze.

She was still wearing the clothes from before.

A camisole and long pants, both full of the smell of alcohol.

After a while, she belatedly said, “I’m going to take a shower.”

Liang Shi asked, “Are you hungry?”

Xu Qingzhu reached the bathroom door, then paused. After some consideration, she said, “Would it be troublesome to cook now?”

“The servants should all be asleep,” Xu Qingzhu said. “I’m not that hungry…”

Before she could finish speaking, her stomach growled.

Xu Qingzhu was slightly embarrassed. Liang Shi laughed softly. “It’s fine. I didn’t eat much tonight either. I’ll make something simple for us to eat together.”

“You can cook?” Xu Qingzhu raised an eyebrow in surprise.

Liang Shi nodded. “A little.”

“All right.” Xu Qingzhu said, “Sorry to trouble you.”

“Then take your shower first. I’ll bring it up after I make it.” Liang Shi said, “Your sister is downstairs. I’m afraid we’ll disturb her.”

Xu Qingzhu was surprised by her thoughtfulness, but she also found it quite pleasant. “Okay. Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.”

Liang Shi gave her the space, then went downstairs to cook noodles.

Relatively speaking, noodles were the simplest, and they were also very suitable for someone who had just woken up after sleeping for a long time.

Meanwhile, Xu Qingzhu, who stayed upstairs, found her phone before taking a shower. She discovered that the battery was fully charged, but before she went out, her phone had only been at forty percent. Liang Shi must have helped charge it.

There were many small details like this.

For example, Xu Qingzhu had just noticed that Liang Shi had slept on the very edge of the bed, where there was only enough room for her body. If she were even slightly careless, she would have fallen off.

Clearly, there had still been so much empty space on the bed.

And when Liang Shi went to cook, she did not say it was purely for Xu Qingzhu. Instead, she said that she herself was hungry and would make some for Xu Qingzhu while she was at it. This greatly reduced Xu Qingzhu’s sense of guilt.

Xu Qingzhu held her phone and thought for two seconds, then called Bai Weiwei. Her phone was turned off.

Then she called Zhao Xuning. The line was busy.

Neither of these two answered the phone.

Xu Qingzhu sent Zhao Xuning a text: [Is Weiwei okay? Did anything happen? Please contact me as soon as you have news.]

After sending it, she went to shower.

That night, she had gone to Huayue International after receiving Bai Weiwei’s text.

She knew it was not a good place. Liang Shi and Cheng Ran had often gone there in the past. But that night, the message Bai Weiwei sent her was: [Come quickly. Emergency!]

She had not thought too much and went there. But when she arrived, she discovered that Bai Weiwei was sitting there drinking with investors. Bai Weiwei was also surprised to see her. After they compared information, they realized Bai Weiwei had not sent her any message at all.

One of the bosses admitted that he had taken Bai Weiwei’s phone and sent Xu Qingzhu the message. He had long heard that Haizhou’s number one Omega was as beautiful as a celestial being, but had never had the fortune of seeing her. So he had taken this chance to ask her out for a drink.

The moment Bai Weiwei heard this, she became anxious and pulled Xu Qingzhu to leave.

Bai Weiwei herself could also be considered a fair-skinned, wealthy beauty. Her family was not extremely rich or noble, but they owned a technology company and had never lacked food or clothing. It was because she personally liked this industry that she became a manager after graduation. When her temper rose, she started arguing with that person.

A group of people around them then started persuading them to calm down.

At that drinking party, Bai Weiwei and Xu Qingzhu were not the only female Omegas. In addition, the people who had come were all big shots with some status in the industry, so Bai Weiwei did not explode completely.

But later, their skill at pressuring people to drink was too high, and they started playing a drinking-table game. Originally, they said that after two rounds, the two of them could leave. But Bai Weiwei’s luck was far too terrible, and she collapsed after one round. Xu Qingzhu was slightly better, but she also did not make it through the second round.

She had never been someone good at drinking to begin with. In addition, she had just passed her heat, and her body was in a fragile period, so she got drunk very easily.

Especially after she got drunk, her blackouts were extremely severe, the kind where she truly could not remember even the slightest bit.

She did not think too much about it, and even guessed that her outer clothes had been taken off by Liang Shi because she had gotten drunk and thrown up on them.

She did not feel there was anything inappropriate about it.

When she finished showering and came out, Liang Shi had already returned to the room. At the same time, the fragrance of noodles drifted through the room.

She glanced over. It looked quite decent.

There were two large bowls. The ratio of noodles to soup inside the bowls was just right. A layer of golden oil floated over the soup, and green scallions were sprinkled over the noodles, instantly stirring one’s appetite.

Liang Shi handed her the chopsticks. “Make do with this for now. Tomorrow morning, we’ll eat something better. You’re not suited to eating too much right now either.”

Xu Qingzhu accepted them. “Thank you.”

Liang Shi was truly hungry too. She had not eaten much at lunch or dinner.

In an atmosphere like the Liang family’s, it was very hard to eat.

Now, holding a bowl of steaming hot noodles, she felt as though all the cravings in her stomach had been awakened.

The room instantly quieted. Even though both of them were extremely hungry, they did not make any slurping sounds. Instead, they finished the noodles at an unhurried pace.

When she was almost finished eating, Xu Qingzhu discovered two poached eggs resting in the soup. She took a bite. The yolk had just solidified and did not feel dry or chalky.

She looked at Liang Shi. “Did you make eggs for yourself?”

“No,” Liang Shi said. “I ate them this morning. I’ve already replenished my nutrition, so I don’t need to eat more.”

“So you gave me your share?” Xu Qingzhu said.

Liang Shi smiled. “How could that be? They were all yours.”

Xu Qingzhu finished all the food in her bowl. Full and satisfied, she pulled out a tissue and wiped her lips.

The tissue brushed over her vivid red lips as she looked at Liang Shi. “How did you suddenly learn how to cook?”

Liang Shi: “……”

Here it came again.

The sisters’ methods really came from the same source.

The younger sister baited her. The older sister tested her.

Liang Shi smiled. “Cooking is such a simple thing. Isn’t it something anyone with hands can do?”

Xu Qingzhu pretended to understand and dragged out her voice. “Oh~”

Liang Shi got up to clean up the mess, but Xu Qingzhu pressed her back down. “You cooked. I’ll clean up.”

“No need. You just got sick. I’ll do it.” Liang Shi said, “Zhao Xuning said you need to rest quietly. If you don’t recover properly and end up in the hospital again, Zhao Xuning will definitely beat me up.”

Xu Qingzhu found this funny. “Is she that scary?”

Liang Shi nodded. “Very scary.”

She cleaned up very quickly, put everything into the dishwasher downstairs, and hurried back upstairs.

Xu Qingzhu was changing the bedsheets.

Liang Shi helped her finish. Only then did she say, “Help me get a blanket. I don’t know where they’re kept. That’s why I slept on the bed last night.”

Xu Qingzhu froze, not understanding. “This is your room and your bed. Isn’t it only natural for you to sleep here? You don’t need to explain it to me.”

Liang Shi: “……”

That did seem to make sense.

However, the system made her humble.

“It’s fine.” Liang Shi said, “I’m an Alpha. I can sleep on the floor. You sleep on the bed. While your sister is here, we’ll do it this way.”

Xu Qingzhu moved efficiently as she made the bed again. She threw the changed sheets and pillowcases into the basket while saying, “Haven’t we already discussed this problem before? You sleep on the bed.”

Liang Shi shook her head. “We can’t do that. You just recovered. How could I possibly let you sleep on the floor…”

Xu Qingzhu stood across the bed and looked at Liang Shi openly. “Who said I was going to sleep on the floor?”

Liang Shi: “……?”

Before she could react to the amount of information in Xu Qingzhu’s words, a mechanical voice suddenly rang out in her mind.

[Ding-dong! Congratulations, Host. You have accumulated 20 luck points. You are rewarded with 10,000 yuan. The reward will be deposited into your account in ten minutes.

At the same time, you have triggered a passive mission: watch a movie with Xu Qingzhu.

Note: After the passive mission is completed, your currently accumulated bad luck value will be reduced. If you fail to complete it, 1 to 3 luck points will be deducted depending on the circumstances.

P.S. Recently, Little System has discovered that Host has been performing well. This is a special encouragement. Please keep working hard! Good luck!]

Liang Shi: “……”

If I’m performing well, can’t you add two points for me?

What use is a verbal reward?

Still, this made her slightly relieved.

Finally. She had accumulated 20 luck points.

However, that passive mission was also quite troublesome.

Watching a movie was not a big deal, but points would be deducted if she failed to complete it. This system was truly shameless.

Liang Shi was speechless toward this system once again.

But this could not change her current situation.

She still had to continue being restrained by this system.

While Liang Shi was spacing out, Xu Qingzhu had already laid two blankets on the bed. “The bed is so big. Can’t we sleep on it together?”

Liang Shi: “……”

“We can, but…” Liang Shi had never slept in the same bed as a woman before. The past two days had been accidents. She had never touched Xu Qingzhu on the bed at all. But if they slept like this now, physical contact might inevitably happen.

This…

“Aren’t you afraid I’ll do something excessive to you?” Liang Shi asked.

Xu Qingzhu stared into her eyes. “Will you?”

Liang Shi: “…No.”

“Then that settles it.” Xu Qingzhu said, “For now, this is the most convenient and acceptable method. So there’s no need to be restrained. Just follow the rules.”

Liang Shi: “……”

She increasingly felt that Xu Qingzhu was not speaking to “Liang Shi,” but rather to an unfamiliar woman.

Xu Qingzhu had completely placed her in the position of a stranger, yet had developed a small bit of trust in her.

Just as Liang Shi was thinking, Xu Qingzhu lay there and suddenly said, “I think I had a dream yesterday.”

Liang Shi instinctively answered, “What dream?”

“I dreamed of you,” Xu Qingzhu said.

Liang Shi: “……?”

“I dreamed you were lying there.” Xu Qingzhu pointed to one side of the bed. “Holding your phone and watching a movie.”

Liang Shi: “Ah?”

That was not a dream.

“But that seemed to be an erotic film,” Xu Qingzhu said, shrugging. “In any case, the dream was strange.”

Liang Shi could not help saying, “That wasn’t a dream.”

Xu Qingzhu frowned, her tone slightly surprised. “Mm? So you really were watching an erotic film?”

Liang Shi: “…No. That was just an ordinary movie.”

Xu Qingzhu smiled.

Clearly, she did not believe her.

Liang Shi was about to explain, but Xu Qingzhu looked at her, her eyes curving, and used that cool, detached voice to remind her, “Movies may be nice, but don’t watch too many of them.”

Liang Shi: “?”

Xu Qingzhu continued, “Or watch them when you’re alone, okay?”

Liang Shi: “……”

She began to regret it. Why had she not recorded what Xu Qingzhu looked like when she was drunk yesterday?

That way, before bed, she could play it on loop for Xu Qingzhu.

If one of them was going to die of embarrassment, they should die together.