Liang Wengao gazed at his precious daughter, his eyes brimming with “gratitude.” “You really are Daddy’s dutiful (scratch that) blabbermouth little padded jacket!”
“Hahaha~~” Liang Sheng gloated. “Dad, speaking of which, where does that ex-girlfriend of yours live now?”
Liang Wengao shot her an irritated look. “Why’s a kid like you asking about that? What are you going to do even if you know where she lives…”
Zhong Wen fixed him with a glare sharp as daggers. “What are you feeling guilty about? Afraid we’ll go over there and hurt her?”
Liang Wengao instantly cowered. “No way, my dear ladies! I’ll tell you, alright?”
“She’s at Flower Allure Neighborhood, Building 28, Unit 3, first floor.”
Before Zhong Wen could even speak, Liang Sheng—this “dutiful little padded jacket”—started spilling more beans. “Eh? Dad, how do you remember that so clearly? Your memory’s amazing. If only I inherited that from you.”
Liang Wengao: “…” Thanks a lot.
“Haha~” The green-haired little blabbermouth laughed merrily, a stark contrast to her old man’s darkening face.
Zhong Wen got annoyed too and picked up her chopsticks. “Eat!”
Liang Sheng immediately wiped the grin off her face, picked up her bowl, and shoveled rice into her mouth obediently.
Liang Wengao shuddered even more, mimicking his daughter as he grabbed his bowl and started wolfing down his food.
Birds of a feather, indeed. Or rather, like father, like daughter.
That evening, Liang Sheng hid on the stairs, eager to eavesdrop on how her dad would sweet-talk her mom into bed.
“Honey, it’s thundering out there today…”
My, my, where did that usual authoritative voice go? This one sounded so meek~ Liang Sheng nearly burst out teasing him.
Zhong Wen shot back immediately. “Then I’ll go sleep with our girl. You don’t need to keep me company—just pack up and head to the sofa.”
Haha! Let’s see how you handle that!
Liang Sheng clenched her fists in excitement.
Truth be told, it wasn’t that she was heartless and wanted to watch her poor old dad get bossed around by her mom. It was just that every time she thought about how this man had abandoned her and her mother—in this life, or the last, or the one before—she felt an ache deep in her heart.
“Ah!”
A sharp scream suddenly rang out from downstairs.
Liang Sheng jolted in surprise and started to rush down, but as she poked her head around the corner, she yanked it back in and wanted to slap herself.
In that instant, she’d caught sight of the usually dignified Liang Wengao scooping Zhong Wen up into his arms. Right after dinner, the green-haired girl felt even more stuffed—overloaded on PDA.
Damn it! Liang Sheng stormed back to her room in a huff.
“One day, I’ll make others choke on my PDA too! One day, I’ll have my own relationships! Damn it!” She flopped onto her bed, grumbling.
“You could get out of singlehood right now,” Akino Kazuko teased. “Don’t believe me? Try it—text any one of the girls you’re pursuing in your phone, say you want to be with her, and boom, you’ll have a cute girlfriend instantly.”
“Yeah, right,” Liang Sheng said with a headache, rubbing her temples. “If I got together with one of those girls, the others would lose their minds.”
Akino Kazuko agreed. “Tsk tsk, you really are one sinful woman.”
Liang Sheng tossed her hair. “Tch, when did having charm become a sin? If having appeal is a crime, then haven’t I already piled up a mountain of them?”
The Favorability System was utterly speechless. She’d seen shameless, but never this shameless.
—— —— ——
The next day with Lu Ziqing naturally followed the classic trio.
First, get all dolled up to delight the girl’s eyes.
Second, sweet-talk her until her heart fluttered like butterflies.
Third, get handsy and affectionate until she was dizzy with bliss.
By the end of that routine, most girls were putty in your hands.
And this was Lu Ziqing—no ordinary girl, but one who’d already been conquered by Liang Sheng to over 200 favorability, maxed out and then some.
Liang Sheng’s thought process was a bit questionable, though. She’d kissed so many girls already; what was one more? So at their farewell, she casually planted a kiss on the tsundere young miss’s cheek.
“……?”
She left, leaving Miss Lu standing there in the breeze, utterly bewildered and frozen for a good long moment.
“What… just happened?”
It wasn’t until her family arrived in the car to pick her up and tugged her inside that she snapped out of it.
“Hey——!!!!!”
Her shout nearly blew the roof off the sedan. The driver up front flinched, nearly ending his decade-long driving streak, while the bodyguard in the passenger seat whipped around, ready to protect their young miss.
But the scream had come from Lu Ziqing herself.
“Miss, what’s wrong?!” He naturally assumed their young miss was in pain or hurt somewhere.
By now, Lu Ziqing had come back to her senses, her mouth going numb as she stammered, “I-I-I-I… I, th-the y-young miss!”
What was she supposed to say? That Liang Sheng had kissed her? No way could she admit that!
“I-I’m f-fine!” Lu Ziqing clapped her hands over her burning cheeks, turning to stare out the window. “I just suddenly remembered a scary story, that’s all.”
The bodyguard didn’t buy it but didn’t dare press.
Back home, just as she headed upstairs, Lu Ziqing ran into Su Ze.
Her heart clenched, snapping her out of the shy daze from the green-haired girl’s French kiss. Lu Ziqing fully believed Liang Sheng’s warnings now—she was convinced this childhood sweetheart living in her house was nothing but scum.
“Miss, where’d you go play?” Su Ze spotted Lu Ziqing and lit up like a hound eyeing a bone.
Already wary of Su Ze, Lu Ziqing felt even more uneasy under that gaze and quickly sidestepped him. “I was out with Liang Sheng.”
With that, she hurried upstairs.
Liang Sheng again… Su Ze gnashed his teeth. Trouble maker.
Lu Ziqing didn’t go far, though. She turned back to sneak a peek at Su Ze.
Seeing he hadn’t left the house, she finally relaxed and returned to her room.
She was taking Liang Sheng’s advice about watching over Lu Ziqing to heart.
That meant hacking the villa’s entire security feed onto her phone, checking it obsessively—especially the front gate cam—to see if Su Ze ever stepped out.
Once, when Su Ze just went out to toss the trash, she nearly panicked and called the green-haired girl. If he hadn’t come right back into view on the cameras, Lu Ziqing would’ve died of embarrassment.
A couple more days passed, and on Friday morning, Lu Ziqing had just woken up. Yawning with her hair a mess, she idly unlocked her phone—and suddenly jolted wide awake.
There was Su Ze at the front gate, opening the door, empty-handed. No parcels or trash bags in sight.
In a flash, she remembered Liang Sheng’s instructions: do whatever it took to stall Su Ze if he tried to leave the house.
