Giving You Dawn And Dusk - Chapter 4

“No.” Liang Shi refuted instinctively. “I won’t divorce you.”

The moment the words left her mouth, Liang Shi herself was shocked.

That was not what she truly meant.

Judging by the current situation, divorce was the best choice for Xu Qingzhu.

As Haizhou’s number one Omega, she still had a bright future ahead of her. She could meet many more Alphas, and there were plenty who were better than Liang Shi. There would surely be someone who would not mind that she had been married before and would treat her well forever.

But Liang Shi said again, “As long as I’m alive, I will never divorce you.”

Liang Shi’s brows furrowed into a tight little mountain. She clutched her chest, and the pain forced her to take half a step back. A bead of sweat the size of a bean rolled down from her forehead, and her face instantly turned pale.

It was as if someone were controlling her body.

Or perhaps the original owner’s consciousness had not completely disappeared. On the matter of divorcing Xu Qingzhu, her stance was extremely firm.

“What’s the point?” Xu Qingzhu curled her lips and sneered. “It’s not as if you truly love me anyway.”

“I’m sorry…” Liang Shi realized she could not stop the original owner’s consciousness from speaking, so she could only frown and apologize. “I still have something to deal with right now. We’ll talk about this later.”

After saying that, she fled the ward in a panic.

Bai Weiwei and Zhao Xuning, who were standing outside the ward, stared after her retreating figure in a daze.

“Liang Shi seems…” Zhao Xuning frowned slightly. After thinking for a moment, she said, “Different from before.”

“Isn’t she always like this? After bullying Zhuzi, she starts behaving with her tail tucked between her legs and treats Zhuzi as if she’s precious beyond measure.” Bai Weiwei rolled her eyes in the direction Liang Shi had left. “Zhuzi definitely has to divorce her this time.”

“She won’t be able to,” Zhao Xuning said calmly.

Bai Weiwei looked up. “Why not?”

Zhao Xuning merely shook her head to herself, then went into the ward to check on Xu Qingzhu’s condition.

**

After Liang Shi came out of the ward, she went downstairs and bought a bottle of water from the self-service vending cabinet.

The icy water slid down her throat, finally allowing her to calm down.

She sat in the hospital lobby in her patient gown. Everyone coming and going could not help glancing at her, and her turn-head rate had reached one hundred percent.

But Liang Shi felt nothing.

She had long grown used to standing beneath the flash of cameras. Since she could withstand the lenses of countless photographers and paparazzi, she naturally would not be afraid of the gazes of a few passersby.

What truly left her depressed and irritated was the remnant consciousness of the original owner.

She had said that even if she died, she would never divorce Xu Qingzhu.

But if they did not divorce now, what was she supposed to do?

Was she supposed to go explain to Xu Qingzhu, “I’m not the Liang Shi from before. I’ve changed. I’ll treat you well”? The original owner had probably said things like that more than once. Just the fragments flashing through her memories were enough to prove how badly the original owner had treated Xu Qingzhu in the past.

They had been married for four months, and because Xu Qingzhu refused to let her mark her, Liang Shi had lost her temper many times, both openly and in secret.

A party like last night’s had been held in the villa more than once.

Because the original owner was angry, every time, she refused to let the servants interfere and made Xu Qingzhu clean everything up herself.

Xu Qingzhu probably also felt somewhat guilty, so each time, she had done it silently.

At this moment, Liang Shi seemed to have reached a dead end.

[Detection complete. There is unresolved resentment remaining in the host’s body. One hundred luck points are required to fully unlock the right to use this body.]

A cold, mechanical voice suddenly sounded in Liang Shi’s mind, frightening her so badly that she shivered.

She had thought that transmigrating into a book was already outrageous enough. She had not expected there to be a system too.

She pretended to remain calm and took a sip of ice water, then asked in her mind, “Who are you?”

[This is the Resentment Management Bureau. We are responsible for calming the resentment of those on the verge of death. However, after detecting that you illegally occupied someone else’s body, we have issued a penalty against you.]

“Then why not let her come back?”

The system fell silent for three seconds, then answered in a very strange tone:

[She really was far too scummy.]

Liang Shi: “……”

“What are luck points?” Liang Shi asked.

[The favorability gained by winning over the luck target is what we call luck points. Here, the luck target is Xu Qingzhu. Gain her favor, trust, and affection. After obtaining one hundred luck points, your body will also be transported here and will completely replace the original owner.]

“Then what about the original owner?”

The system fell silent again.

A moment later, it still spoke in that strange voice:

[We’ll send her back to her happy old home.]

Liang Shi: “……”

“What about my previous body?”

[It is currently in a coma and has already been diagnosed as being in a vegetative state. If your body is transported here, then the memories of everyone over there will be erased. No one will remember you.]

Liang Shi pressed her lips together. A sudden wave of desolation surged up in her heart. “So that means I never existed there, right?”

[More or less. However, you may also choose not to have your body transported over. You only need to reach eighty luck points, and you will be able to completely replace the original owner.]

“What if I want to go back?” Liang Shi asked calmly.

This time, the system was silent for longer than ever. After the silence, it spoke in an oddly comforting tone:

[Perhaps you would like to watch a short video?]

Liang Shi nodded, and immediately, an image unfolded in her mind.

It came with the comments under the trending topic #LiangShiVegetativeState.

[Someone like her deserves worse than death.]

[Why is she only a vegetable? She should just die.]

[I heard she’s an orphan, and one of those people who slipped through compulsory education too. A piece of social trash.]

[No wonder she always seemed so low-class.]

[…]

Thousands upon thousands of messages were all scolding her. Then the scene changed, becoming a hospital room.

Her manager, Sister Wang, sighed helplessly. “Let’s just leave it at that. Release a statement announcing her retirement from the industry.”

It felt as if a huge stone had been pressed down onto Liang Shi’s heart, so heavy she could barely breathe.

So it turned out she had always been a burden.

“I’ve decided,” Liang Shi said. “I want to stay here.”

[Understood.]

“How do I obtain luck points? Be specific,” Liang Shi asked.

[…Anything works.]

Liang Shi: “?”

[Emotional matters are beyond the scope of this bureau’s operations. However, for the next three months, we will temporarily detain the original owner. If you are unable to obtain eighty luck points within three months, you will disappear as the price for disrupting spatial order.]

Liang Shi: “……”

What kind of system was this? Why was it full of traps everywhere?

“When I gain luck points, will you give me prompts? Like plus one, minus one, that kind of thing.”

[No. A reminder will be given every twenty points.]

After a while, that mechanical voice added:

[We are very busy.]

Liang Shi: “……”

Very soon, she felt a strange force flow into her body. It was a completely inexplicable sense of lightness.

She called out to the system again, but there was no response anymore.

Liang Shi had always been the type to take things as they came. Faced with such a massive change, she only stared blankly for a while before going outside for a walk. Walking while thinking had always been one of her habits.

While she was walking, she saw that the strawberries being sold by the roadside were large and fresh, so she bought some.

On the way back to the hospital with the strawberries in hand, she tried hard to recall the things the original owner had done to Xu Qingzhu, only to discover that she could not remember anything.

She could only take things one step at a time.

When she reached the entrance of the hospital, her phone vibrated slightly. She took it out to look.

It was from an unfamiliar number.

[Coming tonight? I brought a foreign girl.]

[It’s settled, okay? Bring Xu Qingzhu with you.]

[Are we swapping for one day or one week?]

Liang Shi: “……”

Fuck!

She knew the original owner was a scumbag, but she had not expected her to be this scummy.

She was even capable of doing something like wife-swapping?

Liang Shi let out a breath and blocked the person directly.

Then she casually tied up her hair with the hair tie on her wrist. While inside the elevator, she suddenly changed floors and went straight to the tenth floor.

She had to be straightforward and explain things clearly to Xu Qingzhu first.

She was different from the Liang Shi from before!

A few minutes later, Liang Shi stood outside Xu Qingzhu’s ward and knocked lightly on the door.

A cold voice came from inside. “Come in.”

It seemed Bai Weiwei and Zhao Xuning had already left.

Liang Shi pushed the door open.

Inside the empty, quiet ward, Xu Qingzhu sat on the bed in a patient gown. Sunlight fell across her face, making her look very fragile, especially capable of stirring up someone’s desire to protect her.

Liang Shi clenched the plastic bag in her hand, making a rustling sound.

She gently closed the door and said warmly, “Xu Qingzhu, I have something to tell you.”

But unexpectedly, when Xu Qingzhu saw what she was carrying, her expression instantly changed. She immediately pressed the emergency button at the head of the bed.

Very quickly, hurried footsteps sounded outside the door.

“I won’t hurt you.” Liang Shi anxiously explained, “I’ve really changed. Can you believe me just this once? I’m truly different from before.”

“I’ll treat you very well,” Liang Shi said. “Give me one more chance. I won’t let you…”

Before she could say the word “down,” the door was forcefully pushed open.

Zhao Xuning’s white coat hung open, and she was panting heavily. The moment she saw the strawberries in Liang Shi’s hand, she was furious. “You still dare bring her this?!”

Liang Shi looked utterly confused. “……”

“Last time, you gave her strawberries injected with an aphrodisiac and caused her heat to come early. She nearly died. And now you’re doing it again?!” As Zhao Xuning spoke, she threw a punch at Liang Shi, but Liang Shi instinctively dodged.

She had practiced sanda and Muay Thai before, so her physical fitness was very good.

But hearing Zhao Xuning say that left her with a complicated mix of emotions.

She suddenly thought of a lyric:

“Build a city-state upon the ruins.”

Right now, she was the person who had to build a city-state upon the ruins—and she did not even have an excavator.

She lifted the strawberries and explained, “These are just ordinary strawberries I bought downstairs. Nothing has been injected into them. If you don’t believe me, I’ll eat one for you.”

She picked up a strawberry and was about to eat it when Xu Qingzhu, lying on the bed, suddenly screamed.

It sounded like a final cry of grief, pitiful and piercing.

Zhao Xuning was startled and immediately shouted toward the outside of the ward, “Go get Doctor Gu. There’s a patient here having a PTSD episode.”