◎I’ve started to like you.◎
Pedestrians hurried along the street, brushing past them one after another. Now and then, a few words of admiration drifted their way.
All of it was praise for Xu Qingzhu.
Xu Qingzhu finished tying the butterfly knot of the bandage around her palm. Her slender fingers withdrew, and she once again kept a proper distance from Liang Shi.
A faint smile played on her lips, but her eyes were cold and calm, like a still, ancient well without a ripple. Her cool, ethereal bearing was on full display.
Liang Shi’s gaze lingered on her eyes for a moment before pulling away quickly.
It wasn’t as if she hadn’t considered the possibility of being found out.
She just hadn’t expected it to happen this fast.
Her personality and the original owner’s were polar opposites: one loved noise, the other loved quiet; one was wild and free-spirited, the other reserved and introverted. The moment she transmigrated in, it was inevitable she’d be OOC.
But now didn’t seem like a good time to confess.
Liang Shi tensed for a split second, then laughed. “No.”
Xu Qingzhu let out a breath, her smile widening a touch. The scrutiny in her gaze grew sharper, as though she were trying to figure out what kind of creature had taken up residence in this shell: human or ghost.
But Liang Shi tilted her face up and laughed softly. “If I’m not Liang Shi, who else could I be?”
Her smile was warm, like a spring breeze or a bright moon, her eyes brimming with tenderness.
She gazed steadily at Xu Qingzhu, her look entirely without aggression.
Completely different from the original owner.
“Who knows?” Xu Qingzhu’s voice was cool and clear, carrying a touch of ethereal detachment. “Perhaps only you know the answer?”
“What kind of talk is that?” Liang Shi pressed her freshly bandaged hand lightly to her forehead, feigning helplessness. “Of course I know. I am Liang Shi.”
“Are you?” The corner of Xu Qingzhu’s mouth curled into a smile, but it carried an enigmatic edge.
That smile reminded Liang Shi of the ones she used to see across negotiation tables.
She thought that if Xu Qingzhu hadn’t married the original owner and become a full-time housewife, she would have made an excellent career woman.
In fact, in the novel, Xu Qingzhu would shed her old self after leaving the scumbag Alpha and become the CEO of a publicly listed company.
Liang Shi preferred a partner who had a career.
Because a career meant independence.
A lover’s affection might change, but one’s own abilities wouldn’t.
Before you can love someone else, you must love yourself.
Liang Shi’s thoughts drifted for a moment, but she quickly snapped back. Meeting Xu Qingzhu’s deep gaze without flinching, she smiled. “Of course I am. Unless I’ve been swapped with someone else? In that case, let me reintroduce myself: I’m Liang He, Liang Shi’s younger sister.”
She deliberately used a joking tone to lighten the mood.
But Xu Qingzhu stared at her, unmoving, her smile frozen in place, as though she could bore a hole straight through her.
Liang Shi’s palms were slick with sweat.
Honestly, being under that kind of gaze was incredibly oppressive.
Especially since Xu Qingzhu was deliberately applying pressure.
Liang Shi held her perfect smile and didn’t rush to speak, letting Xu Qingzhu go first.
After a long silence, Xu Qingzhu smiled. “Is that so? Liang He.”
Her voice was cool and clear, carrying a faintly seductive lilt. She pronounced the name slowly, almost syllable by syllable, as though tracing a feather across the tip of someone’s heart. With each word, Liang Shi’s heart trembled. She even swallowed hard without quite meaning to.
It seemed that the romance target’s looks and voice were so extraordinarily good that she was… losing her composure.
After all, this was Haizhou’s top omega, the object of countless Alphas’ desire.
“Mm-hmm.” Liang Shi was panicking inside, but not a flicker of it showed on her face. After all, she was someone who had won the Golden Rooster Best Supporting Actress. She certainly couldn’t lose an acting contest against someone with zero acting skills. “I think the name’s not bad, actually.”
“But Liang Shi doesn’t have a younger sister,” Xu Qingzhu said. “She only has two older sisters and one younger brother.”
Liang Shi clicked her tongue inwardly.
She really was the female lead. Sharp.
Going straight for the trap?
Fortunately, she knew some of the details.
The original owner had two older brothers and one younger sister.
“Is that so?” Liang Shi smiled. “It’s been so long since I’ve been in touch. I had no idea one of my brothers had a sex change. Was it Liang Xinzhou or Liang Xinhe?”
A flicker of surprise crossed Xu Qingzhu’s eyes. “So you do remember.”
“Of course. If I couldn’t even remember my own siblings, that’d make me a real piece of work,” Liang Shi said.
After speaking, she added silently to herself: Not that they’re actually my siblings.
The original owner’s real parents were still God knows where.
Going by typical novel conventions, a cannon fodder supporting character’s biological parents were always terrible people: greedy, short-sighted, petty-minded folk, which was why they’d swapped children in the first place.
Liang Shi held no illusions about them.
She only hoped that if they ever found her, they wouldn’t become a burden.
“If Xinzhou and Xinhe heard that, they’d probably be moved to tears.” There was a hint of sarcasm in Xu Qingzhu’s words. Liang Shi accepted it gracefully, but then looked at her and said, “You don’t seem much like Xu Qingzhu either.”
“Is that so?” Xu Qingzhu looked over faintly and tossed the question back. “Then who do I seem like?”
“I don’t know.” Liang Shi shook her head gently, her gaze warm. “I imagine only you know that.”
She deftly turned the tables, passing the topic right back to Xu Qingzhu.
“Liang Shi is right-handed,” Xu Qingzhu said. “But you seem to be left-handed. You always carry things in your left hand. Even the hand you cut is your right.”
Liang Shi hadn’t expected Xu Qingzhu to observe so carefully. She smiled. “Actually, I’m comfortable with both hands. If you don’t believe me, you can ask my parents.”
Xu Qingzhu would definitely not go to the Liang parents over something like this.
After all, the Liang parents had been against Liang Shi marrying Xu Qingzhu to begin with.
Liang Shi had only been attracted to Xu Qingzhu’s reputation and her looks, but the Liang parents valued family background more. If they’d had the choice, they would have picked Liang Shi’s childhood sweetheart, the heiress of Shengmao Group: Lin Xingcan.
The original owner had actually staged a huge fight with the family back then to marry Xu Qingzhu.
Liang Shi still had fragments of that memory, which only made it harder to understand why the original owner had changed so drastically after the wedding and tormented Xu Qingzhu endlessly.
“Is that so? Then I suppose I don’t know you as well as I thought.” Xu Qingzhu stood up from the bench. The wind stirred her long hair and dress, and her slender waist looked like it would fit perfectly in an autumn embrace.
She tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear. “It seems you’ve changed a great deal.”
Her voice was soft, mostly probing.
Liang Shi parried with ease. “You’ve changed a great deal too.”
Hearing this, Xu Qingzhu suddenly turned back to look at her, raising an eyebrow slightly. “How so?”
“You’ve become… colder.” Liang Shi paused. “And you really can’t stand me.”
Xu Qingzhu smiled.
She faced Liang Shi directly, looking down at her from above. Her brown eyes seemed fickle and detached. “That’s because…”
She paused. “I don’t like you anymore.”
Liang Shi looked up. At this distance, any closer and they could almost kiss.
Close enough for their souls to nearly touch.
And yet they were worlds apart.
Liang Shi licked her lips lightly. “Then I’ve… started to like you.”
Her eyes curved into crescents, filled with quiet sincerity. “Maybe we can start over.”
The words had barely left her mouth when a voice called out from not far away. “Lion!”
Before Liang Shi could react, the strikingly beautiful omega was already standing in front of her, giving Xu Qingzhu a light but deliberate nudge to the side. Putting on a cute, mischievous expression, she whined, “Lion, I was calling you just now. Why didn’t you answer me?”
Liang Shi: “…?”
Was this Lin Xingcan?
Oh no. Help.
