◎She Has Feelings for Liang Shi.◎
The ward was very quiet. Xu Qingzhu sipped her water in small, measured sips.
Her manner of drinking was refined, clearly the product of formal etiquette training. Her elegant swan-like neck elongated in a beautiful line as sunlight danced across her skin.
It was a scene of breathtaking beauty.
Liang Shi stared, spellbound, until Xu Qingzhu finished drinking and set the recapped bottle on the side table. Those cool eyes flicked toward her. “What are you looking at?”
Liang Shi: “…”
She hastily looked away.
Liang Shi wasn’t a person of many words. Even after several years in the entertainment circle, she’d remained a loner.
If it weren’t for her acting talent, she’d never have survived in the industry.
She had always believed that relationships were built on exchanging genuine heart for genuine heart.
So when Sun Chengcheng first reached out to her, Liang Shi hadn’t been overly guarded. She never imagined she’d get played.
Thinking about it now soured her mood.
For a long time, neither of them spoke.
Xu Qingzhu finally broke the silence. “After discharge, I’ll have my lawyer prepare the relevant documents. I won’t take a single cent of your property. As for what you…”
She paused. Her voice grew colder, though it sounded like forced composure. “What the Liang family did for the Xu family…”
A loud, brash ringtone blared, cutting Xu Qingzhu off.
Liang Shi glanced at Xu Qingzhu first, then belatedly realized the sound was coming from her own phone.
Liang Shi: …
This ringtone was truly awful.
She pulled out her phone, covered the mouthpiece, and half-bowed to Xu Qingzhu. “I’m sorry.”
She looked at the screen. It was Cheng Ran.
“Hello.” Liang Shi answered, deliberately keeping her voice low. “What is it?”
Cheng Ran’s end was noisy, but her voice carried clearly and loudly: “Where are you?”
“Hospital,” Liang Shi said.
Cheng Ran frowned. “I’m at the hospital too. How come I didn’t see you? Unless…”
She paused, then guessed quickly: “You’re not in your own ward. You’re with Xu Qingzhu?”
Liang Shi glanced at Xu Qingzhu with a flicker of guilt, then said with a straight face: “Yes.”
“What for? Going to grovel and apologize?” Cheng Ran teased lazily. “Then I’ll swing by Xu Qingzhu’s room and take a look.”
“Don’t come,” Liang Shi refused.
“Why not? I’m Xu Qingzhu’s friend too, aren’t I? She’s sick. Can’t I visit?” Cheng Ran’s tone left no room for negotiation. “I’m already here. I can’t just leave without doing anything. Why are you so defensive? Could it be… you actually want to be a good partner?”
She laughed to herself. “Oh, give me a break. Who doesn’t know who?”
“Cheng Ran.” Liang Shi’s voice carried a note of warning.
But Cheng Ran didn’t care. “I’m almost there. Come out and meet me.”
Then the line went dead.
Liang Shi stared at the phone with a frown, then looked at Xu Qingzhu, only to find that she had already turned away, no longer facing her.
She worried that Cheng Ran might come to Xu Qingzhu’s ward and say something to upset her, so she quickly told Xu Qingzhu: “A friend is coming to see me. I’ll step out.”
Xu Qingzhu didn’t respond.
“If you need anything, press the emergency button,” Liang Shi said. “Or call me. Your phone is by the bed. I’ve charged it for you. Also…”
Liang Shi glanced at the phone whose case matched her own in a couples’ design. She lowered her gaze and said: “I’ve restored all your data. There’s no password set. You can set your own. And I’ve deleted all the copied data, including the USB drive with your information. I destroyed it. I won’t touch your phone again, and I won’t invade your privacy.”
After the original host had seized Xu Qingzhu’s phone, she had copied all its data onto a USB drive. During the wait outside earlier, Liang Shi had remembered this and rushed to a phone store to get it sorted. She’d also bought Xu Qingzhu a brand-new phone, in case the old one left a bad taste.
“There’s also a brand-new, unopened phone. If you don’t want to use the old one, you can move the SIM card over and use the new one.” As Liang Shi spoke, the clacking of high heels echoed down the corridor. She guessed it was Cheng Ran.
Nobody but her would stomp around a hospital in stilettos.
Liang Shi kept it brief. “Take care of yourself. I’ll come check on you later.”
Then she strode quickly out of the ward.
And the moment she stepped out, Xu Qingzhu opened her eyes on the bed.
She hadn’t been asleep.
She had heard everything Liang Shi said.
Moreover, she’d had keen hearing since childhood. She’d also heard what Cheng Ran said on the phone.
And not just that. She’d heard all the flippant, dismissive things Liang Shi had said about her to other people before.
She just never spoke up.
Because the Xu family had been on the verge of bankruptcy, it was Liang Shi who married her and poured a significant sum of capital into the family, saving the company. Xu Qingzhu felt she owed a debt, so she had endured everything in silence.
Besides, she had feelings for Liang Shi.
In her memory, Liang Shi was the girl who, even when kidnapped, bravely searched for a way out and encouraged her to escape together. Not the reckless, willful, philandering person she saw now.
But memories didn’t change. People did.
Liang Shi was no longer the person she remembered.
Lying in bed, tormented by her heat, Xu Qingzhu had finally come to terms with that.
Even if Liang Shi now said she wouldn’t hurt her, gave her repeated reassurances, and behaved better, Xu Qingzhu would not trust her again.
She wanted a divorce.
Then she would join the company to help her father. She held an MBA degree; her father had only kept her away from the business because he worried about her health.
Xu Qingzhu was deep in thought when her phone buzzed.
【Mom: Sweet A-Zhu, has your sister contacted you?】
Xu Qingzhu frowned. 【No.】
Xu Qingzhu had a younger sister named Xu Qingya, fifteen this year, just starting high school. Full of adolescent rebellion.
Before Xu Qingzhu married, Xu Qingya had quarreled constantly with their parents at home, and Xu Qingzhu played the mediator.
When Xu Qingzhu got married, Xu Qingya cried her eyes out and promised she would always listen to their parents from then on.
That promise lasted four months.
At least this was the first time since the wedding that her mother had reached out asking about Xu Qingya.
She replied: 【No.】
【Mom: Yaya and your father got into another fight. He threw away all of Chen Zhengxuan’s merchandise and tore down the posters in her room. She got so mad she ran away from home. Your father’s stubborn streak kicked in too, and he froze her cards. She’ll probably contact you. Take care of her and talk some sense into her when she does.】
Xu Qingzhu: 【Okay.】
She was utterly drained but mustered the strength to call Xu Qingya.
No answer.
She tried again. The line was busy.
When she switched back to the screen, a new message from her mother had arrived: 【Are things going well with A-Shi?】
Xu Qingzhu’s finger hovered over the screen. She didn’t know how to reply.
A single tear fell onto the pillow.
She typed: Mom, I’m planning to divorce Liang Shi
Before she could finish, another message popped up at the top of the screen: 【The Liang family is powerful, and they helped us out. Be good to A-Shi. She might have been spoiled since childhood and have a bad temper, but she’s not a bad person.】
Xu Qingzhu: …
You just haven’t seen how vicious she can be.
【Mom: The company’s situation hasn’t been great lately. Your father comes home exhausted every day. As long as you two are doing well, that’s what matters.】
Xu Qingzhu deleted everything she had written. The thousand unsaid words became one: 【Okay.】
Meanwhile, Liang Shi had found Cheng Ran.
Cheng Ran had a mane of wavy brown hair, wore a tight bodycon miniskirt, and was heavily made up, much like the original host’s face when Liang Shi first arrived.
From a distance, the sharp, cloying perfume assaulted Liang Shi’s nostrils. She fanned the air in front of her nose, grateful she hadn’t let Cheng Ran into Xu Qingzhu’s ward.
“Let’s go,” Cheng Ran said. “Let’s visit Xu Qingzhu.”
“No need.” Liang Shi refused and put some distance between them. “She’s asleep.”
Cheng Ran turned to look at her, suspicious. “Liang Shi, since when are you so considerate?”
Liang Shi: …
“Fine, I won’t touch her. Happy?” Cheng Ran said. “Is this necessary? Guarding me like I’m a thief.”
Liang Shi pressed her lips together and called her name seriously: “Cheng Ran.”
She felt it was essential to make things clear with Cheng Ran.
If she kept associating with someone like Cheng Ran, Xu Qingzhu would have every reason to misunderstand her.
But the moment she finished, her phone rang again. An unknown number.
She turned away and answered. “Hello?”
A plaintive voice came through: “Liang Shi, it’s me.”
Liang Shi: …
Who was this now?
The original host’s habit of not saving contact names was really unhelpful.
“Is my sister there with you?” Xu Qingya said. “If she is, step away from her first.”
Liang Shi: …
Her sister? Who?
“Liang Shi?” Xu Qingya probed. “Is my sister with you? Are you two at the villa?”
Liang Shi figured it out. This had to be Xu Qingzhu’s younger sister.
She cleared her throat lightly. “We’re not together. What’s up?”
Xu Qingya huffed angrily: “Good, because I’d just get in trouble again. Liang Shi, can you give me fifty thousand yuan? Don’t tell my sister. My dad froze my card and I have nowhere to stay.”
Liang Shi had seen plenty of rebellious teenage girls run away from home during her days on film sets, so she stayed completely calm and asked only: “Where are you right now?”
“Cloud Summit Tower.” Xu Qingya added, “Don’t tell my sister about this.”
Liang Shi didn’t agree right away. “I’ll come find you. Stay put somewhere.”
Xu Qingya was clearly very familiar with Liang Shi and trusted her. “Okay.”
After hanging up, Liang Shi was still weighing how to handle the situation when Xu Qingzhu’s voice came from behind.
She called out in a cold voice: “Liang Shi.”
Liang Shi turned. Xu Qingzhu stood in the doorway, her face pale.
She asked: “Has Yaya contacted you?”
Liang Shi: …
A beat later, without hesitation: “Yes.”
