Xu Qingzhu's eyes reddened as she watched.
She wiped away her tears again and tapped the screen to reply: "I asked Liang Shi, and the Liang family can't help us."
This time, her mother sent a voice message: "It's okay, the Liang family has helped us enough. Aren't you resting yet? Has your sister caused you any trouble?"
Xu Qingzhu replied: 【Ya Ya is quite well-behaved.】
She chatted with her mother for a while, and her mother apologized to her repeatedly and tried to calm her down.
It also indicates that Minghui has not yet reached the end of her road, and her father can hold on.
Minghui Jewelry is a family business passed down from her great-grandfather, but her father is definitely not cut out for business.
The family business was passed down to them, but it began to decline within a few years.
Even though it had just secured 30 million in funding a few months ago, it still couldn't escape the fate of bankruptcy.
Xu Qingzhu thought for a moment and sent her father a message: "I'm planning to join the company."
Chapter 18
It was already past ten o'clock when Zhao Xuning came over after checking the rooms.
She wasn't on the night shift tonight, so after her rounds, she had some free time. She came to see Xu Qingzhu, and since there were no problems, she went home.
Xu Qingzhu was dozing with her eyes closed in the ward when she heard footsteps. She opened her eyes, saw Zhao Xuning, and gave a weak smile. "You're here."
Zhao Xuning nodded. "Are you feeling any better?"
"Much better." Xu Qingzhu sat up.
The two weren't particularly close; Xu Qingzhu and Bai Weiwei were closer, as they were high school classmates and college roommates.
They've known each other for many years, but Bai Weiwei and Zhao Xuning met online; they played an online game together.
For a while, Bai Weiwei kept referring to me as an online friend.
Later, Bai Weiwei suffered from acute gastroenteritis and was admitted to the hospital. Her attending physician was Zhao Xuning. Bai Weiwei saw the message she had sent to Zhao Xuning on his phone, which he had left in the ward, and the two unexpectedly met in person.
And so we became friends in the real world.
After graduating, Bai Weiwei did not inherit the family business but became a talent agent.
He was so busy with work that he didn't have time to play games, or even flirt with Zhao Xuning.
Zhao Xuning's attitude towards her seemed indifferent.
However, Zhao Xuning was too reserved, and neither Xu Qingzhu nor Bai Weiwei could quite guess what she was thinking.
When Bai Weiwei was hospitalized, Xu Qingzhu took care of her in the ward, which is how she met Zhao Xuning.
She would occasionally come to the hospital, and Bai Weiwei would always tell Zhao Xuning to take care of her. Over time, they became familiar with each other.
Xu Qingzhu did indeed ask Zhao Xuning about Zhou Yi'an's matter.
Because Zhao Xuning was also present when Liang Shi played that voice message, after Liang Shi and Bai Weiwei left, Zhao Xuning came over again to ask her if she knew about the relationship between Liang Shi and Zhou Yi'an.
Xu Qingzhu did know some things. For example, Liang Shi once said to Cheng Ran, "To hell with Zhou Yi'an, a bastard like that wants to eat swan meat."
At that time, she didn't know what had happened. She just looked up the name online but couldn't find anything.
People who conceal their gender inject themselves regularly, and only close relatives know their gender. They apply to the National Security Bureau to become people who conceal their gender and are protected by the state. No information related to their gender will appear on the internet.
Correspondingly, the application process to become a person with a hidden gender is complicated and requires an expenditure of 20 million.
Therefore, there are not many people in China who are currently hiding their gender.
Those who choose to hide their gender are generally attracted to people of the same gender, but fear public criticism, so they choose to pay a high price to conceal their gender.
Zhou Yi'an is a typical example.
Once someone becomes a person who has concealed their gender, the state will protect them, and they will not be subject to public criticism.
After telling Zhao Xuning the truth, Xu Qingzhu asked, "Does Zhou Yi'an like Alphas? Or rather, does she like Liang Shi?"
Zhao Xuning paused, then said ambiguously, "The answer is what you think."
This can also be considered a reminder to Xu Qingzhu.
So Xu Qingzhu went to Liang Shi's ward.
She originally wanted Liang Shi to help her.
Although she was reluctant to speak, her mother's phone call put her in a difficult position, so she went to see Liang Shi anyway.
However, I heard some unpleasant things.
She had heard the gist of what Liang's mother said.
She overheard the argument between the mother and daughter, which caused her to have a slight emotional breakdown.
Fortunately, they managed to stop at the last minute.
How could she possibly rely on Liang Shi?
That's Liang Shi.
Although... that doesn't quite resemble Liang Shi.
"Still thinking about Liang Shi?" Zhao Xuning's words pulled Xu Qingzhu back from her wandering thoughts. She shook her head and pressed her temples with one hand. "No."
Then she changed her answer, "Yes."
"Have she and Zhou Yi'an confirmed it?" Zhao Xuning asked.
Xu Qingzhu nodded, "I called her and I know the general idea."
"That's fine then." Zhao Xuning paused, pulled up a chair and sat down. She meticulously buttoned the top button of her white shirt, casually tied her long hair up, and then slowly took off her glasses, revealing a beauty mark under her eye. She held the glasses between her fingers and casually twirled them a few times. "You called me here because you want to know about Liang Shi, right?"
"Yes." Xu Qingzhu didn't deny it. "You said before that Liang Shi was showing symptoms of amnesia, right?"
“Yes, she had some symptoms of amnesia when she first woke up. I arranged for her to have a brain CT scan, which showed that there were no problems. Her intelligence and physical condition had not declined.” Zhao Xuning said, “But she has been acting very strangely these past few days, as if… she has suddenly become a different person.”
"You've known her for quite a while, why do you think that is?" Xu Qingzhu asked.
Zhao Xuning shook his head, "Although I know her, we're not close."
She was not keen on associating with someone like Liang Shi.
Everyone in their small circle knew that Zhao Xuning and Liang Shi didn't get along.
That guy was arrogant and domineering since elementary school, carving out his own territory, forming cliques, a real little tyrant. He relied on his two older brothers and his family's wealth and power. Back then, the Liang family was even more powerful than it is now, considered one of the most well-known wealthy families in Haizhou City's upper-class circles.
Over the years, the Liang family has fallen on hard times.
But Liang Shi's personality remained unchanged.
They even went so far as to escalate their actions.
Only... after she was kidnapped once when she was a child, Liang Shi also showed some strange symptoms at that time.
Sometimes she would fall asleep in class, and then suddenly wake up and say, "I am not myself, who am I?"
Talking nonsense.
However, everyone privately felt that it was because she had been kidnapped, which made her slightly disoriented.
I heard that another little girl who was kidnapped was in a coma for two months after she returned, and she has been unable to speak since.
At that time, Zhao Xuning did not know that the person was Xu Qingzhu.
Zhao Xuning has always been aloof and has good grades. She is unwilling to interact with people, and many people thought she was pretentious when she was in school.
Moreover, she has a pretty face, and every now and then someone sends her love letters, which arouses the jealousy of many people.
Everyone starts to differentiate between the ages of 15 and 18.
Before the age of 15, I didn't know what my gender was.
Even so, many people still experience romantic feelings before the age of 15.
When Liang Shi was in junior high school, a girl he liked gave Zhao Xuning a love letter. After school, Liang Shi led some people to ambush Zhao Xuning.
The two even arranged a fight.
Both men were injured that day, but Zhao Xuning was better off, and from then on Liang Shi never provoked Zhao Xuning again.
Zhao Xuning always looked down on Liang Shi.
Or rather, she doesn't think much of these second-generation rich kids who act recklessly just because their families are wealthy.
Therefore, Zhou Yi'an is also among those she dislikes.
“But she is indeed very different from before,” Zhao Xuning said truthfully. “She has suddenly become polite, humble, gentle, and even a bit approachable.”
After a moment of silence, Xu Qingzhu said, "Is it possible that this isn't Liang Shi?"
“I had my suspicions, but I reviewed all the surveillance footage after she was admitted to the hospital and verified her blood type and DNA. All of this proves that she is Liang Shi.”
"What other reasons could cause her to change her personality so drastically overnight?" Xu Qingzhu asked. "Have there been similar cases before?"
“There have been cases like this before. Some were transferred to a secret national organization for research and imprisoned for decades. Others were later proven to have made changes purely from the heart, but they were usually triggered by major events.” Zhao Xuning paused. “Which category do you think she belongs to?”
Xu Qingzhu shook her head. "I don't know."
A moment later, Xu Qingzhu thought, "That day I was in heat, and she tried to forcefully mark me. I pushed her away forcefully, and her head hit the wall with a particularly loud thud. Could that be related?"
“It’s possible, but I’ve checked, and there’s no blood clot compressing her nerves in her brain, so it doesn’t seem like amnesia, but it could be caused by other factors.” Zhao Xuning said, “I’ll give her a full body check-up tomorrow.”
"Will she agree?" Xu Qingzhu asked.
Zhao Xuning paused abruptly as he turned his glasses, and said firmly, "She will now."
“However…” Zhao Xuning paused, “Isn’t she good now?”
“It’s very good, unbelievably good,” Xu Qingzhu said.
"So why bother?" Zhao Xuning said, "Whether she's a prodigal son who has turned over a new leaf or has suddenly realized her mistakes, as long as things are good enough for now, isn't that enough? Sometimes you can't be too fixated on the answer."
Xu Qingzhu suddenly smiled and said, "You're right."
After Zhao Xuning left, Xu Qingzhu lay on the bed, lost in thought.
After a long silence, she sent Liang Shi a message: "I was out of control earlier, I'm sorry."