Giving You Dawn and Dusk - Chapter 25.3

It was past nine when Liang Shi returned to Chuanlan Villa.

Xu Qingya was sitting in the living room playing a game. She looked up and greeted Liang Shi when she saw her return.

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

Xu Qingya said, “Still asleep.”

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

“Good,” Liang Shi replied.

She first went to the kitchen to pour a glass of water. Coming out, she looked at the living room and felt that this style of decor was much more comfortable to look at. The room at the old residence made her spine crawl just thinking about it.

After spacing out downstairs for a while, she returned to her room.

Xu Qingzhu was still not awake. She had been sleeping for a very long time.

Liang Shi took a shower in the room. While waiting for her hair to dry, she played a small game on her phone. Later, she was too tired and fell asleep before her hair was completely dry.

However, she didn’t sleep well. She was likely still shaken by the decor of the original host’s bedroom from earlier in the day.

She actually dreamed of a coffin.

In the dead of the night, a coffin was flying around, and joss paper was drifting down from the sky.

There was also a Taoist priest who put a talisman on her forehead, which immediately startled her awake.

She opened her eyes suddenly, only to meet a pair of bright eyes.

Liang Shi was so startled her heart nearly stopped. Then she realized it was Xu Qingzhu.

She let out a soft breath, her voice slightly 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 to look at Liang Shi’s forehead, her voice as indifferent as ever. “No.”

Then she got out of bed.

She asked, “How long did I sleep?”

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

“And Weiwei?”

“Zhao Xuning went to pick her up. She should be fine.” Liang Shi reached out to turn on the bedside lamp, then checked her phone screen, realizing it was past eleven o’clock.

She had only slept for a short while, and the dream felt too real. She wasn’t sleepy at all now.

“Did we… last night…” Xu Qingzhu paused, then changed to a softer question. “Did anything happen?”

Liang Shi immediately shook her head. “No, nothing at all.”

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

Xu Qingzhu frowned slightly and answered truthfully, “My memory stops after drinking a large glass of baijiu (white liquor).”

Liang Shi: “…”

Well, she’s the type who blacks out when drunk.

“You don’t remember anything? Not even fragments?” Liang Shi didn’t know what she was hoping for.

After all, last night’s Xu Qingzhu was very playful. If she remembered, it would be a major public embarrassment for her.

“No,” Xu Qingzhu pressed her temples. “Did you take me out of that place last night?”

“Zhao Xuning and I did,” Liang Shi didn’t take all the credit. “Zhao Xuning found someone to open the private room door.”

Actually, at the time, Liang Shi felt utterly useless; she couldn’t do anything.

But thinking about it now, her original world and this one were completely different. She hadn’t fully integrated into this world yet.

Moreover, like the original host, she was isolated and helpless when trouble arose. It was truly difficult to face such a high level of challenge.

She just hoped she wouldn’t encounter anything like this again.

“Thank you,” Xu Qingzhu bowed her head and sat on the edge of the bed, lost in thought.

She was still wearing the same clothes as before.

The tank top and long pants smelled strongly of alcohol.

After a moment, she seemed to realize. “I’m going to take a shower.”

Liang Shi asked, “Are you hungry?”

Xu Qingzhu stopped at the bathroom door, considering. “Is it too much trouble to cook now?”

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

Before she could finish, her stomach rumbled loudly.

Xu Qingzhu looked slightly embarrassed. Liang Shi chuckled. “It’s fine. I didn’t eat enough tonight either. I’ll make something simple, and we can eat together.”

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

Liang Shi nodded. “A little.”

“Alright,” Xu Qingzhu said. “Thank you for the trouble.”

“You take your shower first. I’ll bring it up when it’s done,” Liang Shi said. “Your sister is downstairs. I don’t want to wake her up.”

Xu Qingzhu was surprised by her thoughtfulness but was clearly pleased. “Okay, thank you.”

“You’re welcome.”

Liang Shi left the room for her and went downstairs to cook noodles.

Relatively speaking, noodles were the simplest dish and suitable for someone who had just woken up after a long sleep.

Upstairs, before taking a shower, Xu Qingzhu found her phone. It was fully charged. When she left, her phone only had 40% battery, so Liang Shi must have charged it for her.

Liang Shi was full of these small details.

For example, Xu Qingzhu just noticed that Liang Shi had been sleeping on the very edge of the bed, just enough space for her body, risking falling off if she moved carelessly.

Even though there was so much space left on the bed.

Also, when she offered to cook, she didn’t just say it was purely for Xu Qingzhu. She said she was hungry herself and would make some for Xu Qingzhu too, which greatly reduced Xu Qingzhu’s sense of guilt.

Xu Qingzhu held her phone, pondering for two seconds, then called Bai Weiwei, who was switched off.

She called Zhao Xuning, but it was busy.

Neither of them answered.

Xu Qingzhu sent a text message to Zhao Xuning: 【Is Weiwei alright? Did anything happen? Please contact me as soon as you have news.】

After sending it, she went to take a shower.

That night, she had gone to Huayue International after receiving a text message from Bai Weiwei.

She knew it wasn’t a good place; Liang Shi and Cheng Ran used to go there often. But the text message Bai Weiwei sent her said: 【Come quick, emergency!】

She didn’t think too much and went, only to find Bai Weiwei sitting there drinking with investors. Bai Weiwei was also surprised to see her. After they compared notes, they realized Bai Weiwei hadn’t sent the message.

One of the bosses admitted that he had taken Bai Weiwei’s phone to send the message to Xu Qingzhu. He had heard that Haizhou’s Number One Omega was angelic but had never had the chance to meet her, so he used this opportunity to invite her for a drink.

Hearing this, Bai Weiwei panicked and grabbed Xu Qingzhu, trying to leave.

Bai Weiwei was originally a wealthy young woman. Her family wasn’t enormously rich, but they owned a tech company, so she didn’t lack anything. She became an agent after graduation because she genuinely loved the industry. When her temper flared up, she argued with the man.

The people around them started mediating.

The drinking party didn’t just have Bai Weiwei and Xu Qingzhu as female Omegas. Plus, the attendees were all prominent figures in the industry, so Bai Weiwei didn’t make a big scene.

But later, their technique for pouring drinks was too skillful, and they started a drinking game. They were initially told they could leave after two rounds, but Bai Weiwei had terrible luck and was knocked out after the first round. Xu Qingzhu was slightly better off but didn’t last through the second round either.

She was never someone who drank much, and coupled with the fact that she had just recovered from heat, her body was vulnerable, and she easily became drunk.

Especially when she got drunk, she suffered severe memory loss—truly not remembering anything.

She didn’t think much of it, even guessing that her outer clothes had been removed because she had thrown up on them while drunk, and Liang Shi had helped her.

She didn’t find anything amiss.

When she came out of the shower, Liang Shi had returned to the room, and the scent of noodles filled the air.

She looked at the food. It looked quite presentable.

Two large bowls. The proportion of noodles to soup was just right. There was a layer of golden oil floating on the soup, topped with green scallions. It looked very appetizing.

Liang Shi handed her the chopsticks. “Just make do with this. We’ll eat something better tomorrow morning. You shouldn’t eat too much right now.”

Xu Qingzhu took them. “Thank you.”

Liang Shi was genuinely hungry, too. She hadn’t eaten much for lunch or dinner.

In the atmosphere of the Liang family, it was hard to eat.

Holding a bowl of steaming hot noodles now, she felt all the hunger pangs in her stomach were awakened.

The room immediately quieted. Although both were extremely hungry, neither made any slurping sounds. They finished the noodles unhurriedly.

As they were nearly finished, Xu Qingzhu noticed two poached eggs in the soup. She bit into one. The yolk was just set, not too dry.

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

“No,” Liang Shi said. “I had them this morning. My nutrition is already supplemented. I don’t need to eat more.”

“So you gave me your portion?” Xu Qingzhu asked.

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

Xu Qingzhu finished everything in her bowl, satisfied. She took a tissue and wiped her lips.

The tissue brushed across her bright red lips. She looked at Liang Shi. “How did you suddenly learn to cook?”

Liang Shi: “…”

It’s happening again.

The sisters’ tactics were exactly the same.

The younger sister was fishing, and the older sister was probing.

Liang Shi smiled. “Cooking is so simple. Isn’t it something anyone can do?”

Xu Qingzhu feigned sudden enlightenment, drawing out the sound. “Oh~”

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

“No need. You’re just recovering from being ill. I’ll do it,” Liang Shi said. “Zhao Xuning said you need to rest. If you don’t recover well and end up back in the hospital, Zhao Xuning will definitely beat me up.”

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

Liang Shi nodded. “Very scary.”

She cleaned up quickly, putting everything into the dishwasher downstairs, then hurried back upstairs.

Xu Qingzhu was changing the sheets.

Liang Shi helped her finish, then said, “Can you get me a quilt? I don’t know where they are kept. That’s why I slept on the bed last night.”

Xu Qingzhu was surprised, then said, confused, “This is your room, your bed. It’s only right that you sleep here, isn’t it? You don’t need to explain to me.”

Liang Shi: “…”

That’s kind of true, isn’t it?

But the System made her humble.

“It’s fine,” Liang Shi said. “I’m an Alpha. I can sleep on the floor. You sleep in the bed. This is how it will be while your sister is here.”

Xu Qingzhu quickly made the bed, throwing the used sheets and pillowcases into the laundry basket. As she did so, she said, “We already discussed this issue, didn’t we? You sleep on the bed.”

Liang Shi shook her head. “I can’t do that. You just got well. How could I make you sleep on the floor…”

Xu Qingzhu stood across the bed from her, looking at Liang Shi frankly. “Who said I was going to sleep on the floor?”

Liang Shi: “…?”

Before she could process the meaning of Xu Qingzhu’s words, a mechanical voice suddenly rang out in her mind:

【Ding-dong! Congratulations, Host. You have accumulated 20 Luck Value points. Reward: 10,000 yuan. The reward will be credited to your account in ten minutes.

Also, you have triggered a passive mission: Watch a movie with Xu Qingzhu.

Note: Completing the passive mission will eliminate the currently accumulated bad luck value. Failure to complete will result in a deduction of 1-3 Luck Value points as deemed appropriate.

P.S.: The System has noticed the Host’s good performance recently. This is an encouragement. Please continue your hard work, oh! Keep it up!】

Liang Shi: “…”

Good performance, and you don’t even add two points?

What’s the use of verbal rewards?

However, this made her slightly relieved.

Finally, she had accumulated 20 Luck Value points.

But that passive mission was quite annoying.

Watching a movie wasn’t a big deal, but failing to complete it meant a point deduction. This System was shameless.

Liang Shi was once again speechless with this System.

But this didn’t change her current predicament.

She still had to continue being constrained by this System.

While Liang Shi was momentarily distracted, Xu Qingzhu had already laid two quilts on the bed. “The bed is so big. Can’t we just sleep in the bed together?”

Liang Shi: “…”

“We can, but…” Liang Shi had never slept in the same bed with a woman. The last two days were exceptions; she hadn’t touched Xu Qingzhu on the bed. But sleeping like this now, physical contact would be unavoidable.

This…

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

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

Liang Shi: “…No.”

“Then that settles it,” Xu Qingzhu said. “For now, this is the most convenient and easiest method to accept. So don’t be reserved. Just adhere to the rules.”

Liang Shi: “…”

She increasingly felt that Xu Qingzhu was not talking to “Liang Shi” but to a strange woman.

She was completely placed in the position of a stranger, yet a tiny bit of trust was being nurtured.

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

Liang Shi instinctively replied, “What?”

“I dreamed of you,” Xu Qingzhu said.

Liang Shi: “…?”

“I dreamed you were lying there,” Xu Qingzhu pointed to the side of the bed. “Watching a movie on your phone.”

Liang Shi: “Ah?”

That wasn’t a dream.

“But it looked like a soft-core movie,” Xu Qingzhu shrugged. “Anyway, it was a strange dream.”

Liang Shi couldn’t help but say, “That wasn’t a dream.”

Xu Qingzhu frowned, sounding slightly surprised. “Hmm? So you were really watching soft-core porn?”

Xu Qingzhu smiled faintly.

Clearly, she didn’t believe her.

Liang Shi was about to explain, but Xu Qingzhu looked at her, her eyes curving into a smile. She used her cool, indifferent voice to instruct her. “Even if the movie is good, don’t watch it too much, oh.”

Liang Shi: “?”

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

Liang Shi: “…”

She began to regret why she hadn’t recorded Xu Qingzhu’s drunk state yesterday.

She would have looped the video for Xu Qingzhu before she went to sleep.

If we’re going to be publicly embarrassed, we’ll be publicly embarrassed together.