◎Sleeping Together.◎
Cheng Ran was dead drunk when she saw Liang Shi’s text.
She was sprawled out on the sofa, long hair spilling across the floor, and only gave her phone a cursory glance.
A contemptuous snort. “Trash.”
Then she blacklisted Liang Shi’s number.
And went back to humming softly to herself.
Cheng Ran had plenty of friends. She wasn’t short on this one.
But Liang Shi was the one she got along with best. They’d known each other since they were small and spent their school years getting into all kinds of trouble together.
And now, she’d been cut off entirely.
Even though Cheng Ran had found out it was because Liang Shi had lost her memory.
So losing her memory meant she couldn’t recognize a friend?
Especially since the things she’d said that day had been so final.
Cheng Ran had only wanted to teach her a lesson.
Wasn’t Liang Shi in love with her Omega? Then she’d destroy that Omega.
But at the critical moment, she’d gone soft.
A friend’s wife was off-limits.
Cheng Ran hadn’t touched Xu Qingzhu, though she had to admit, Xu Qingzhu was genuinely alluring.
What Cheng Ran was worried about now was that she’d gotten tangled up with Zhou Yi’an.
And that woman was a psychopath.
She could guess what Liang Shi wanted from seeing her at this hour: nothing more than beating her up and demanding to know why she’d targeted an Omega.
There were no “whys” in this world.
If you wanted to do something, you did it.
Cheng Ran wasn’t in the mood to bicker, confront her, or get into a fight.
So she simply ignored her.
After blacklisting Liang Shi’s number, Cheng Ran called her assistant and asked her to book a flight abroad.
The clamor of the city gradually faded, and Cheng Ran fell asleep in the silence.
On the other side of the city, Liang Shi sat in the living room, turning her phone over and over in her hands.
Only a nightlight was on, and the vast space felt hollow and empty.
But that was good for thinking.
She’d texted Cheng Ran with no reply, and when she called, it went straight to a busy signal.
So the other woman must have blacklisted her.
She’d guessed as much.
She didn’t even need to ask why.
For people like Cheng Ran, once the mood struck, some of them would literally play themselves to death, let alone anyone else.
Just look at the incidents Huayue International buried every year; there were too many to count.
Zhao Xuning could threaten some powerless middle manager and say she’d use media connections to expose Huayue International’s dirty laundry, tanking its reputation overnight and potentially wiping out hundreds of millions in market value.
But the cost of doing that would be enormous.
The power of capital was sometimes immovable precisely because pulling one thread would unravel everything.
Liang Shi had only wanted to tell Cheng Ran that if there were any problems going forward, she should come to her directly.
She’d see it through to the end, rather than going after Xu Qingzhu.
Taking over the original host’s body also meant taking over her messes.
Even the chain reactions caused by acting out of character, the consequences were hers to bear as well.
Liang Shi had been mentally prepared for that from the start.
The most troublesome part was that she was isolated and helpless here.
Like what had happened tonight. She’d been too passive, unable to do anything.
Standing in the corridor of Huayue International, she’d suddenly realized that in an environment like this, she couldn’t protect the people she wanted to protect.
It was her first time stepping into high society, and only then did she learn that even the wealthy had their own pecking order.
And before enough power, money meant little more than nothing.
This was a world completely different from the one she’d lived in before.
She was about to witness a reality far crueler than the entertainment industry.
She’d always disliked dragging others into her problems.
It left her with guilt and a sense of culpability.
Perhaps it had something to do with growing up the way she did, but she’d never truly opened her heart to protect someone.
For her, keeping herself intact was already difficult enough.
In the entertainment industry that chewed people up without spitting them out, she’d clawed her way up from the bottom and earned a Best Actress nomination.
That had a lot to do with looking out only for herself.
It wasn’t that she lacked compassion or empathy. It was just that when she couldn’t even save herself, all that talk was meaningless.
She’d always known her limits.
But with Xu Qingzhu, she’d slightly overstepped them.
Maybe it was because she’d only just arrived and wasn’t yet used to the environment.
Liang Shi nestled into the sofa and thought for a long time, then went to the kitchen and poured herself a glass of water.
Xu Qingzhu was sound asleep, and she didn’t want to crowd her, so she simply sat in the living room spacing out, waiting until she felt drowsy enough to head upstairs.
Where she’d sleep tonight was still a question.
The carpet was newly replaced, but she hadn’t found any blankets.
Sharing a bed with Xu Qingzhu was obviously out of the question.
So after thinking it over, the best place to rest was apparently the living room sofa.
Just as she was mentally sorting through everything that had happened these past few days, she heard the very soft sound of a door opening.
She looked up and saw Xu Qingya coming out of her room.
Wearing headphones and holding her phone horizontally, playing a game. Probably afraid of waking the others, she was negotiating with someone in a hushed voice: “Go left, left! You idiot, you can’t even tell left from right.”
She chattered as she walked toward the kitchen but, not watching where she was going, tripped on a step. Her pupils contracted sharply, though she held back and didn’t dare cry out. Thankfully she didn’t fall, just stumbled; the top of her foot smacked against the step, and she grimaced in pain.
Then she finally looked up and spotted Liang Shi.
Liang Shi gave her a nod.
Xu Qingya took out her earbuds. “Sister Liang, you’re not asleep yet?”
“I’ll sleep in a bit.” Liang Shi drained her glass and added, “You should get to sleep early too.”
Xu Qingya blinked. “Oh.”
She headed toward the kitchen but turned back after a few steps, took off her headphones, and said with a serious, earnest look: “Sister Liang, I have a question.”
“What is it?” Liang Shi asked in a low voice.
“You’re married to my sister, right?” Xu Qingya said.
Liang Shi nodded.
“Last night, the drug my sister was given was that kind. You two could have just… done that, and it would have worn off.” Xu Qingya phrased it delicately, but the meaning was clear. Sometimes Liang Shi marveled at the magic of language.
Using pronouns for things too embarrassing to say outright, and both sides still understood.
“But you had me call the family doctor instead,” Xu Qingya said. “So which one of you has the problem?”
She stared straight at Liang Shi, as if trying to bore a hole through her.
“Technically, I shouldn’t be asking about this stuff.” Xu Qingya shrugged. “You know, I’m still a minor.”
Liang Shi: “…”
You remember you’re a minor?
If she hadn’t said it, Liang Shi would have almost forgotten.
Xu Qingya was frighteningly precocious.
“Hey, hey, Sister Liang, don’t look at me like that.” Xu Qingya said: “I’ve never dated anyone, I just hear things from others. The thing is, Xu Qingzhu is just too stubborn. When she likes something, she’ll never ask for it outright. If you offer it, she’ll take it. But if you don’t offer, no matter how much she wants it, she’ll never open her mouth to ask. And she’s never dated anyone either. All these years at home, our whole family has been tiptoeing around her. So I was thinking, maybe after you got to know her personality, you two just don’t get along?”
Liang Shi shook her head at once. “That’s not it at all.”
“You don’t have to hide it from me,” Xu Qingya said. “Honestly, I don’t like Xu Qingzhu either. If you don’t like her, just tell me. We can trash-talk her together.”
Liang Shi: “…?”
She suspected Xu Qingya was fishing.
Liang Shi sighed helplessly. “I don’t dislike your sister. Taking advantage of someone when they’re not in their right mind isn’t right.”
Xu Qingya: “But you two are married! It’s legal.”
“Your sister would be uncomfortable,” Liang Shi said. “She’d been drinking and was drugged with an aphrodisiac. Having the family doctor help bring her temperature down and letting her get a good night’s sleep was the best option.”
Xu Qingya was still skeptical, her tone grudging. “Fine.”
“Alright, you little smart aleck.” Liang Shi smiled. “Things are great between me and your sister. Her personality isn’t as difficult as you say. She’s quite cute. Stop badmouthing her. If I hear it again, I’m telling on you.”
Xu Qingya rolled her eyes. “Go ahead, I’m not scared of her.”
But she still hesitated. “You two are really okay?”
“Really.” Liang Shi’s smile was warm, her eyes carrying a hint of doting fondness. “Marrying your sister is the luckiest thing that ever happened to me.”
Xu Qingya shuddered. “So cheesy I could die.”
She pouted and headed into the kitchen, waving back over her shoulder. “Get some sleep, Sister Liang. I’m going to grab a glass of water and then sleep too.”
“Don’t drink too much,” Liang Shi cautioned. “Drinking water before bed makes you puffy.”
“Got it.” Xu Qingya put her headphones back on.
Liang Shi watched her retreating back and thought this girl wasn’t as bad as she’d seemed at first.
Just a bit of teenage rebellion.
Sharp-tongued and tsundere.
A huge contrast to Xu Qingzhu’s personality.
Liang Shi watched for a moment, then turned to head upstairs. But she’d barely taken two steps when Xu Qingya’s voice rang out in the living room.
“I’m not going back. I’ll figure it out after school starts.”
“Why am I staying? Isn’t it obvious? To keep an eye on things!”
“I suspect my sister and her wife are in a sham marriage. It’s this late and her wife still hasn’t come back to the room.”
Liang Shi’s foot slipped, and she nearly fell.
She refused to believe Xu Qingya didn’t know she was standing right there!
She clearly knew and had said it deliberately so Liang Shi would hear.
Liang Shi: “…”
“I need to observe for a while,” Xu Qingya continued. “Anyway, our family is a mess right now. I need to make sure at least one person at home can live a decent life. Xu Qingzhu has princess syndrome. I need to see if she has a princess’s fate.”
“Maybe not. I still think they look like a sham marriage.”
Liang Shi: “…?”
Was it that obvious?
Liang Shi trudged upstairs to the room with heavy steps.
When the room door clicked shut, Xu Qingya took off her headphones, glanced back toward the second floor, and texted her mom: 【They went to sleep in the same room.】
The room was darker than the living room, with only a small bedside nightlight on.
Near the balcony.
Right after stepping in, Liang Shi’s eyes hadn’t yet adjusted to the dimness, and she nearly cracked her head against the wall.
She wasn’t the one who’d been drinking, yet she felt a bit dizzy and disoriented.
Xu Qingzhu was sleeping soundly, or rather, unconscious.
The room was filled with the sound of steady, even breathing.
When asleep, she was perfectly well-behaved, showing no trace of the evening’s turmoil.
Liang Shi sat by the bed for a while, then curled into the corner sofa.
With her height and long legs, curling up in the sofa was agonizing. By the faint light, she looked over at Xu Qingzhu.
She really wanted to ask the system: Hey? You there? Arrange me a bed, please.
Too bad no one answered.
The system would never bother with such trivial matters.
