Liang Sheng had just gotten home when Liang Wengao and Zhong Wen rushed at her, chattering incoherently. “Baby girl, a-are you alright? Come here, let Mommy take a look—turn around, hands up!”
A massive look of bewilderment spread across Liang Sheng’s face. What the hell was going on?
“Daughter dear~” Liang Wengao bent down and scooped his daughter into a hug, whimpering like a shy young maiden. Then he yanked her back abruptly, gripping both her arms tightly. “Why didn’t you tell your dad? Why didn’t you say anything yesterday? Something that dangerous—why’d you go and do it!”
Zhong Wen nodded vigorously from the side. “Exactly, exactly!”
Ah… Liang Sheng finally realized they were talking about her “heroic rescue.”
She tried to explain. “Well… I just happened to be right there, so I pulled her to safety.”
Liang Wengao hugged her excitedly again, beaming with pride. “That’s my girl! Just like your old man back in the day!” Then he pulled away once more, repeating the exact same motions. “But you can’t do anything like that again. It’s way too dangerous.”
Zhong Wen kept nodding along from the sidelines.
Then Liang Wengao straightened up and began pacing the living room, hands clasped behind his back.
“Hmm… My daughter’s such a hero—everyone needs to know about it. Here’s what we’ll do: next week? No, this Saturday. I’ll throw a banquet at the country villa! Let the whole world hear about our girl’s brave deed!” he announced with grand passion.
This time, Zhong Wen’s agreement was even more enthusiastic. “Yes! Our daughter’s heroism deserves to be known across the whole city—no, the entire country!”
Liang Sheng’s jaw nearly hit the floor in shock. No way? It was just that one thing… Okay, sure, it had been pretty heroic, but did they really need to make such a huge fuss?
Sigh, the corrupt joys of the wealthy. Liang Sheng sighed with feigned helplessness, though a sly grin actually crept onto her face. Who said she wasn’t one of the rich now, too?
—
Knock knock. Liang Sheng jolted awake to the sound of tapping at her window.
Who the hell!? In the dead of night—knocking at the window! Her eyes flew open wide. What time was it? Hands shaking, she fumbled for her phone. Eleven thirty-four PM. Definitely not Liang Jin. Crap, this was a real ghost!
She yanked the covers over her head, trying to convince herself it was all a dream. But her trembling body gave away just how terrified she was.
“Liang Sheng.”
Mommy! The ghost was calling her name! No way—she absolutely couldn’t answer. Responding would let it drag her soul away!
“Liang Sheng? You awake? Open the window. I need to talk to you.” Another voice drifted in.
Total ghost trick! But… that voice sounded kind of familiar. Wait—Senior Sister Yuqi!
Mustering her courage, Liang Sheng peeked out from under the covers just a little, squinting her eyes. She spotted a stack of documents. Thank you, System—my golden finger! So that’s what you’re for. Perfect!
Sure enough, it was Senior Sister Gu Yuqi. Liang Sheng’s fear vanished in an instant. She scrambled upright, flung open the curtains, and cracked the window to reveal the senior sister’s weary face.
“You… how’d you even get up here?” Liang Sheng stared at Gu Yuqi in confusion.
Gu Yuqi shrugged. “Saw a ladder around, so I climbed it. Then I spotted you sleeping, drooling all o—” Liang Sheng clapped a hand over her mouth. No way was she letting that slide—her goddess image would be toast (not that it was anything but a goofy girl’s to begin with).
Hold up—hadn’t she closed the curtains before bed? Liang Sheng’s face was suddenly covered in question marks.
“Pfft.” Gu Yuqi suddenly burst out laughing. She ducked her head, hand over her mouth, her shoulders quivering.
Liang Sheng’s cheeks flushed. Damn it… even her laugh was that gorgeous. Punchable!
There were only two SSS-level beauties in the story: Gu Yuqi and… Liang Sheng shuddered at the thought. That twisted yandere who trailed after the male lead nonstop, ready to murder anyone—guy or girl—who got too close.
At least the silver lining was that she didn’t show up until the plot was already halfway done.
Lost in her thoughts, Liang Sheng suddenly felt an arm loop around her neck, pulling her close. Gu Yuqi brushed aside the stray hairs on her forehead and planted a soft kiss there.
“Goodnight~” Gu Yuqi smiled, looking even more enchanting in the moonlight. With that, she turned and left.
Liang Sheng clutched her forehead, wide-eyed like she’d been spooked (though her heart was actually doing cartwheels).
With a thud, she collapsed back onto the bed and stared unblinking at the ceiling. Aaaahhhhh! She got molested! Senior sister molested her! Clutching her face, Liang Sheng rolled around wildly on the bed (probably the first person in history thrilled to bits about being groped—total idiot).
But seriously, what was senior sister doing here in the middle of the night?
Too excited to sleep, Liang Sheng pondered it from every angle, tilting her head this way and that. Still no clue. Finally, hugging her pillow tight, her mind wandered into fantasy territory: Maybe senior sister was craving her body… Pfft, gross! No way—she wasn’t like that at all!
She buried her burning face deep in the pillow. It had to be because she’d been ignoring senior sister lately. Unable to bear it, she’d pined away with longing and rushed over from afar (??? They lived in the same neighborhood…) just for one glimpse of her beloved. Bathed in moonlight, her serene, angelic beauty had left senior sister utterly satisfied before she departed.
At that thought, Liang Sheng burst into delighted laughter. She thrashed around on the bed like she was high on something.
But moments later, a voice called up from downstairs.
“Baby girl, having a nightmare? Those noises sound so weird.” Zhong Wen sounded worried.
“N-nothing! Go back to sleep, Mom.” Liang Sheng had no explanation, so she just stammered it off.
Heart full and content, she was just drifting off when her quick wits kicked in again. Wait—where had that ladder come from?
She sat up and peered out the window. That ladder… Had senior sister forgotten to take it? No, hang on—it looked familiar. Pfft… it was Liang Jin’s from last time!
A chill of aftershock ran through her. Thank goodness it had been Yuqi who’d climbed up. If it was a burglar… or worse, a gang of psychos with a saw, turning the place into a bloodbath… She’d have been toast long ago.
Liang Sheng wanted to pull the ladder in, but one glance at the pitch-black night and the shadowy lawn below, and she chickened out completely.
Still, trying to sleep with that thing there felt risky. What if a killer snuck in?
Torn between the two ideas, she finally gritted her teeth and climbed down the ladder.
Sparse moonlight dotted the darkness. A chilly breeze brushed past like a playful girl tickling her neck, sending goosebumps racing across her skin.
That’s when she realized—she had no idea how to retract the damn thing! It was so long—how did you make it shorter? She poked and prodded at it. Minutes ticked by… no luck.
Stupid ladder! Liang Sheng decided on verbal abuse. It worked great on her laggy phone back home.
“Listen up—if you don’t shorten right now, I’m smashing you to bits!” “What, still not? Believe I’ll chuck you in the crematorium?” “WTF, damn it! Shorten for your granny!”
The ladder might as well have been weeping. Lady, that’s your problem.
“Hah~” A pained whimper escaped her as she accidentally gashed her leg on a loose screw. Tearfully, she blamed the ladder. “This is all your fault! If you weren’t so damn long, I wouldn’t be hurt. Hurry up and shorten already!”
No dice. Furious, Liang Sheng slammed it against the ground. Crack—it broke.
She smacked her own forehead in annoyance, but hey, silver lining: now it was too short to reach anyway.
Yay~ Bouncing happily, Liang Sheng headed back… back… um…
Wait—the ladder was broken. How was she supposed to get back up?
Her face twisted into an expression of utter despair mixed with hysterical laughter.
In the end, she had to knock on the door and endure a thorough scolding from her mother before she could crawl back inside.
—
All senior sister’s fault. Liang Sheng woke up the next morning in a huff. If not for that midnight intrusion, she never would’ve spent those agonizing minutes alone in the dark.
But… senior sister’s face… heh heh heh. Drool dribbled unbidden down her chin. Couldn’t be helped—beauty was justice! For that face alone, forgiven.
So spineless.
Over the next few days, Liang Sheng and Song An’an walked to and from school up ahead, while Gu Yuqi trailed slowly behind like a loyal pup.
Soon, a rumor swept the school: Gu Yuqi and Liang Sheng used to be a couple until Sheng dumped her—for a mistress. The other woman was either Song An’an or Lu Ziqing.
That was the relatively tame version. The wilder one boiled down to a single line: Liang Sheng had put a voodoo curse on Gu Yuqi.
Liang Sheng was equal parts furious and amused, with no idea how to even debunk it. Song An’an, on the other hand, was over the moon—even if the rumors painted her as the mistress. Just having her name mentioned alongside Liang Sheng’s was pure bliss!
As for Lu Ziqing… she blew her top. She shelled out big money to trace the rumor back to its source: a girl named Jin Zhengxuan.
Lu Ziqing stormed straight to Grade 2 Class D, gave Jin Zhengxuan a brutal tongue-lashing, and even raised her hand to scare her. The girl burst into frightened sobs, and the rumor died overnight.
Deeply touched, Liang Sheng sidled up to Lu Ziqing. “Young Miss, did you go threaten her for my sake?”
“No.” Lu Ziqing shot her a disgusted look, flipped her hair, and pouted. “I did it because that line about ‘Lu Ziqing being Liang Sheng’s possible mistress’ was disgusting. What are you imagining? Like I’d ever care about you.”
…Ouch. A bucket of ice water straight to the head. Liang Sheng had gotten ahead of herself again.
But she didn’t see what came next: after she walked away, Lu Ziqing’s cheeks tinted pink as she muttered under her breath, too quiet for anyone to hear, “It was for you, dummy.”
A cool, tsundere young miss like her would never admit she did it for anyone.
