Xu Qingzhu was shocked, "You took her to McDonald's?"
“She insisted on going.” Liang Shi said, feeling wronged.
Xu Qingzhu: "...Didn't we already have lunch?"
Liang Shi remained silent.
After a moment, Liang Shi said helplessly, "She said she wanted to eat chicken legs and hamburgers."
Xu Qingzhu: "Then why is she holding popcorn?"
Normally, the Liang family would never feed Lingdang such junk food, but when Liang Shi took her out, the little girl really let loose. With her superb skills in charming others, she managed to coax Liang Shi into a daze, to the point that he would buy her almost anything she wanted.
By the time Liang Shi realized what was happening, the little girl had already eaten half a hamburger and a chicken leg, and her stomach was bulging.
The other half of the hamburger was because she simply couldn't finish it.
After all, she had also drunk a glass of cola.
The slender little girl went out for a while, and her original princess dress was almost torn.
Liang Shi also felt very guilty, but he just couldn't resist the cute little girl's soft and sweet coquettishness.
In addition, Lingdang has a sweet tongue and can easily charm people.
Liang Shi was once again rendered speechless, and awkwardly touched the tip of his nose.
Sally chimed in, "Blanche, why are you being so fierce? Liang Shi just dotes on his niece~ Who wouldn't love such a well-behaved and adorable child?"
The bell blinked its eyes and smiled brightly, "Sister, you're so beautiful! Are your eyes sapphires?"
Sally was overjoyed. "OMG, can I steal this kid? I really want him!"
Lin Luoxi scoffed, "Such a glib tongue at such a young age."
Upon hearing this, Lingdang looked over, tilted her head, and then covered her mouth in surprise, "I think I saw a fairy sister."
Lin Luoxi: "..."
Everyone: ?
"Sister, you look like a fairy in that white dress." Lingdang blinked. "I love your dress so much, it's prettier than mine."
Lin Luoxi: "...I'll send you one tomorrow."
Bell immediately bowed, "Thank you, sister! You're the prettiest!"
Liang Shi looked helplessly at Xu Qingzhu and shrugged – See, I'm not the only one who's been fooled.
Sally had already picked up Lingdang in her arms. "My little princess, did you go to steal some food?"
"My aunt gave me this to eat." Lingdang reached out and pinched a piece of popcorn to feed her. "Is it good?"
“It’s so sweet,” Sally said.
The bell giggled with delight.
Sally and Lin Luoxi played with the bell for a while, then asked Liang Shi to take her to fly a kite. The three of them went to the study to discuss work.
After discussing the design drafts, Sally suddenly said, "Did you know? The design department is getting a new person, supposedly last year's RT's New Designer of the Year."
"How come I didn't know?" Xu Qingzhu said, "Who invited you?"
“The minister, I think,” Sally said. “I only found out from the group chat.”
"What group?" Xu Qingzhu and Lin Luoxi asked at the same time.
Sally: "A gossip group."
Sally has always been good at socializing and can quickly become friends with people in unfamiliar environments; she has a bit of social anxiety.
Therefore, Xu Qingzhu and Lin Luoxi were not surprised that she could get firsthand gossip, but simply asked her, "Is this information reliable?"
Sally nodded. "What Lumi said should be true."
Lumi is the social queen of the design department. She can build good relationships with everyone in the company. She knows everything, from where the secretaries in the president's office had afternoon tea yesterday to what the marketing director had for lunch today.
The key point is that Xu Qingzhu, as the deputy director of the design department, was unaware that a designer was about to be parachuted in.
RT is a renowned international competition in the jewelry design industry, and those selected as emerging designers by RT should be highly valued.
Why was Minghui Jewelry suddenly invited to its store?
And who invited them?
The minister doesn't care about anything anymore; even if someone is parachuted in, it'll just be someone her father directly invited.
Why didn't you tell her beforehand?
Xu Qingzhu was seething with anger, but there was nothing she could do.
Her father was already angry with her because of her joining the company.
"Will the new designer have different ideas from us?" Sally was worried about the design aspects. "Is the timing of their arrival before the fall product launch a deliberate attempt to cause trouble?"
"Probably not," Lin Luoxi said. "The new product launch is just a few days away. Everything that needs to be done is almost done. The media has already been notified, and the themes have been released. What could she possibly do alone?"
The two discussed the issue for a while but couldn't come to any conclusion. Finally, Xu Qingzhu said, "Let's go and see tomorrow. It's still just a rumor and might not be true. Besides, whether she's a rising star designer at RT still needs to be verified."
They started discussing work again.
By the time Dr. Gu arrived, they had almost finished their discussion.
Sally and Cherry went outside to find Liang Shi and Lingdang to play, while Xu Qingzhu and Dr. Gu chatted in the study. Through the huge floor-to-ceiling window, they could see Liang Shi running.
She held the kite string and flew it, with a bell chasing after it.
The colorful kites flew freely in the sky, and she smiled brightly.
After observing for a while, Dr. Gu couldn't help but sigh, "The changes are indeed significant."
Xu Qingzhu told Gu Junru about her previous doubts. Gu Junru observed her for a while but could not be completely sure that she had a dual personality.
However, it is indeed highly likely that Liang Shi had a dual personality.
One personality might be a patriotic and dedicated good person, while the other personality might be a destructive madman.
Furthermore, to cure her split personality, it is necessary to understand her childhood and recent events.
This is too difficult for Xu Qingzhu to do.
However, before leaving, Gu Junru gave Xu Qingzhu a suggestion, though it wasn't exactly aboveboard—if she was really curious, she could look at her phone or find her diary.
Patients with dual personality disorder usually find something is wrong after the personality shifts, and thus struggle with themselves. In the process of struggling, communication is inevitable, so they will use the form of writing a diary or keeping notes to talk to themselves.
This can be considered a breakthrough.
For someone like Xu Qingzhu, who has a strong sense of morality, it is really difficult to do.
She never looked through Liang Shi's phone.
//
That evening, Sally and Cherry stayed at her house for dinner. Sally insisted on drinking that bottle of wine and asked Liang Shi to make her some snacks to go with it.
Halfway through the meal, Sun Meirou arrived. They wanted to invite her to stay for the rest of the meal, but the family at the old house was waiting for them to return home before eating, so they left with Lingdang.
Lingdang said reluctantly, "Auntie, can I come visit you again next week?"
Liang Shi readily agreed.
It has to be said that it's a little disorienting that the usually chattering little kid suddenly left.
After a few rounds of drinks, Liang Shi's face was flushed again, while Sally only appeared sober. She teased with a smile, "Liang Shi, you can't hold your liquor."
Liang Shi refused to admit defeat, saying, "You can say I'm not good at anything else, but I can't handle alcohol."
Sally suddenly smiled ambiguously, "Is there anything else you can't do?"
Liang Shi: "..."
She smiled and didn't reply.
“At first I thought you were terrible,” Sally said. “Cherry told me not to have any hope for you, but after meeting you, the more I spend time with you, the more I like you. You’re such a warm person, you smile at everyone, it’s so comforting.”
Liang Shi chuckled, "Are you going to cry again?"
“You can do everything, you’re a treasure!” Sally put her arm around her shoulder, making Lin Luoxi facepalm. She said coldly, “If you’ve had too much to drink, go home, wash up, and go to sleep. Stop talking nonsense here.”
He even betrayed her!
This woman really deserves a good beating.
Sally remained unmoved, instead giving her a sidelong glance. "Let me tell you, Cherry, after all these years away from here, what I miss most isn't the food, but you! I'm so heartbroken! How could I love you so much?!"
Lin Luoxi rolled her eyes. "Should I sing praises to your great love that you can abandon anytime, anywhere?"
Sally: "..."
They chatted back and forth, while Xu Qingzhu sat to the side holding a wine glass and watching, when suddenly her phone rang.
She glanced at the contact name; it was Bai Weiwei!
She answered immediately, her voice unusually cheerful, at least Bai Weiwei was willing to contact her, "Weiwei."
"Xu Qingzhu, what do you mean?" Bai Weiwei questioned immediately. "Liang Shi hasn't even entered the industry yet, and you're already buying trending topics to suppress Chen Liuying. What did Chen Liuying do to you? Oh right, it's me who did you to offend you, isn't it?!"
Xu Qingzhu looked completely bewildered. "What do you mean? When did Liang Shi start entering the entertainment industry?"
"Still pretending?" Bai Weiwei's voice was choked with sobs, but it only made her angrier. "Can you stop pretending? Does it make you so great to act high and mighty? Are you trying to step on Chen Liuying to get Liang Shi to fame quickly? I'm not dead yet."
"No, Weiwei, what exactly do you mean? What trending topic did I buy?"
"You fucking see for yourself," Bai Weiwei cursed angrily. "It's disgusting."
He hung up the phone after saying that.
My good mood was completely ruined by this abusive phone call.
Xu Qingzhu, whose phone call was disconnected, immediately opened Weibo and saw that the top trending topic was #Even a dog pulled from the roadside has better acting skills than Chen Liuying#.
Bai Weiwei's shouting was so loud that Lin Luoxi heard it too, and at that moment she opened the trending topics.
Both of them frowned and clicked on the entry. Below it was a short video clip of Liang Shi and Chen Liuying acting together. On set, the difference in acting skills wasn't so obvious, but when compared through the lens of the camera, Liang Shi's acting was indeed much better than Chen Liuying's. After all, Liang Shi had a much better sense of how to look in front of the camera.
The blogger's caption reads: "[The entry does exaggerate somewhat, but they really did just grab someone randomly from the street that day. The previous actor went on strike, and this young lady stepped in, and surprisingly, she did a great job. This proves that Chen Liuying's acting was indeed terrible.]"
Xu Qingzhu had mixed feelings after reading it.