After Liang Shi asked about it, he gave up.
Zhao Xuning then asked her if she had been in contact with Cheng Ran recently, and Liang Shi shook her head, "It feels like she's vanished into thin air. She didn't come to the Liang family dinner that day either."
"Maybe he did something wrong and ran away." Zhao Xuning had just finished his shift and hitched a ride home with Liang Shi.
On the way home, Liang Shi chatted with her for a while and found that Zhao Xuning was not as cold as she seemed.
She was also sensible, only chatting casually.
Most of the questions asked were related to her profession.
If she encountered something she was interested in, Zhao Xuning would answer it more often; if she wasn't interested, she would give a perfunctory reply.
Zhao Xuning suddenly asked her about being kidnapped when she was a child.
Liang Shi only knew that Xu Qingzhu had PTSD because she was kidnapped when she was young, but he had no idea whether the original owner of this body had been kidnapped. However, he could not say that he did not know. He could only shake his head helplessly and say, "I don't remember."
It was clear that Zhao Xuning was greatly disappointed with this answer.
However, Zhao Xuning suggested that she go to the hospital for a comprehensive check-up when she has time, including a mental health check-up.
Liang Shi found her quite interesting and added her on WeChat before getting off the bus.
Two minutes later, Zhao Xuning liked her only post on WeChat Moments and commented: Be a good person.
Liang Shi: "..."
//
Liang Shi did not have the servants prepare dinner that evening.
She didn't like the food the maid cooked; it was too sweet. Since she had nothing else to do, she went downstairs to make herself some pasta.
Before doing it, I even messaged Xu Qingzhu to ask, "What are you having for dinner?"
Although the two had previously agreed that the other person didn't need to wait if they were working overtime.
However, Liang Shi has never had the habit of eating alone. In the past, when her assistant occasionally stayed at her house, she would also cook a meal for her assistant.
However, Xu Qingzhu was probably busy and did not reply.
She ate it herself.
After dinner, she stayed in the living room to watch a movie.
The TV in the living room was large and had a clear picture. This time, she didn't trust the movie labels and actually turned on an animated film to watch.
It's unique in this world, and it's called "The Rabbit Doesn't Cry".
She found the name intriguing and the rabbit on the cover quite cute, so she clicked to read it.
It has a touch of dark fairy tale.
Xu Qingzhu didn't return until after eight o'clock.
She looked exhausted. Seeing Liang Shi watching a movie, she greeted him, changed her shoes, and went upstairs to wash up.
As she went upstairs, Liang Shi asked, "Have you eaten yet?"
Xu Qingzhu said, "Not yet."
Liang Shi: "..."
"What do you want to eat?" Liang Shi said, "I had spaghetti for dinner, and there's still some spaghetti sauce in the fridge. How about I cook you a bowl of spaghetti?"
"Okay," Xu Qingzhu said weakly. "Thank you."
"It's nothing," Liang Shi said as he went to the kitchen.
Xu Qingzhu went back to her room, removed her makeup, took a quick shower, and then, while drying her hair, tried to look at the proposal on her phone, only to find it was off.
The crucial point is that she didn't even know when she turned off her phone.
She dried her hair until it was half dry, charged her phone, and then went downstairs.
The aroma of food wafting from downstairs awakened her sense of taste.
I wasn't hungry at first, but the smell of food made me realize that my stomach was empty.
"It's ready." Liang Shi was already sitting on the sofa watching her cartoons. "Hurry up and eat, or the noodles will get cold."
"Okay, thank you." Xu Qingzhu went to eat her noodles.
She has excellent table manners; even when eating noodles, she doesn't make a sound and eats quite slowly.
After finishing the meal, I went to wash the dishes.
He who eats another's food is bound to do so.
Feeling a bit awkward about going back upstairs to work right after finishing her meal, she exchanged a few pleasantries with Liang Shi, asking, "Who helped you get discharged today?"
“Zhao Xuning,” Liang Shi said, “she seems to like me quite a bit now.”
After pausing, he immediately corrected himself, "It's not that kind of liking, it's just normal, the liking between friends."
Xu Qingzhu chuckled softly, and her whole body relaxed.
She felt that Liang Shi had a kind of magic that always made people feel relaxed without them even realizing it.
"So what was she to you before?" Xu Qingzhu asked.
Liang Shi said, "Didn't you know before? Of course you hated me."
She touched her nose sheepishly. "When I first woke up, she scared me by saying she would cut out my glands."
Xu Qingzhu glanced at her ears and said, "I never thought Dr. Zhao could be so childish."
“She’s always been quite childish,” Liang Shi said. “This morning I saw her watching Chibi Maruko-chan while she was on duty.”
Xu Qingzhu: "...?"
After a long while, she looked at the rabbit hopping around on TV and said quietly, "So you caught it from her?"
Liang Shi: "..."
She coughed lightly, "It's nice to occasionally revert to childlike innocence. Some of the films made by adults these days aren't really suitable for self-cultivation."
The last four words were emphasized, as if referring to the movie watched the night before last.
Xu Qingzhu understood, chuckled softly, and sat there with her watching the little rabbits for a while.
Then I asked her, "Do you need to use the study?"
Liang Shi shook his head: "I didn't go to work today, I don't have any jobs, you can use it."
Xu Qingzhu politely replied, "Okay, thank you."
Less than an hour after arriving home, Xu Qingzhu said thank you three or four times.
Liang Shi felt quite uncomfortable listening to this. Although she herself was a very polite person, it was because in an environment where every word and action was magnified infinitely, she had to maintain those unnecessary politenesses. Sometimes when attending an event, she might have to say thank you ten times in ten minutes. If she missed even one, netizens might see it and maliciously take screenshots to say that she was impolite.
However, she rarely talks about it at home.
She rubbed her ears and said gently, "This place is yours too. You can use it wherever you want. You don't need to tell me or thank me."
"Alright then." Xu Qingzhu didn't stand on ceremony with her anymore. "Then I'll requisition her tonight."
"Okay." Liang Shi added, "No need to work overtime too late."
After she finished speaking, Xu Qingzhu had already closed the study door.
I don't know if she heard me or not.
Liang Shi's gaze remained fixed on the television screen, where a cute pink bunny was tugging at its own ears, begging its mother to buy it a comic book.
Something suddenly flashed through Liang Shi's mind.
— Comic book.
Oops!
The novel that Xu Qingya gave her that day is still on the desk in the study!
She immediately ran to the study and opened the door, only to find Xu Qingzhu holding a book with a flashy cover, "Sweet Daily Life with the Female CEO," and reading it with a very serious expression.
Liang Shi: "..."
She immediately said, "This is what your sister left in the study."
"She gave it to you?" Xu Qingzhu asked, "To help you study?"
Liang Shi: "..."
A few seconds later, Liang Shicheng nodded honestly, "I haven't looked at it yet."
"Stop looking," Xu Qingzhu said. "It's a banned book."
Liang Shi: "?"
"No way," Liang Shi said incredulously, "It's just a domineering CEO novel, how bad could it possibly be?"
Xu Qingzhu casually flipped to a page and read seriously: "Tonight I came to her house. Before I even entered, I was blindfolded. A black strip of cloth put me in darkness. Then my shirt buttons were undone, and a pair of cold hands touched down my collarbone. Her fingers were very long, and I liked them very much."
I asked her, "What are we going to do tonight?"
She hugged me from behind and said she wanted to do/do what she loved.
I couldn't resist her voice; it was like she was singing in my ear. I just wanted to lose myself with her.
Liang Shi blushed deeply upon hearing this.
Xu Qingzhu finally stopped reading, looked up from the book, and asked her with a hint of mockery in her cool voice, "Do you still need to read?"
Liang Shi: "..."
There's absolutely no need for that.
But for some reason, the scene just now reminded her of a scene from the movie she watched last night.
The young lady knelt there in the basement, reading aloud some passionate words with great emotion.
She swallowed hard, trying to clear her name, "I really didn't watch it."
Xu Qingzhu said, "I understand."
Liang Shi stood there, unsure whether to leave or stay.
Xu Qingzhu threw the book directly into the trash can, then turned to ask her, "Is there anything else?"