TGSS - Chapter 19

Chapter 19: Staying Over

On the day Chu He was discharged from the hospital, the temperature had dropped even lower. A few degrees below zero in the south without heating was bitter cold, and the damp, biting wind cut through clothing and chilled people to the bone.

Even though Chu He was quite resistant to the cold, she did not dare to test the limits of the human body any further and obediently bundled herself in a down jacket, hat, and scarf. Her palm-sized face was covered so that only her eyes showed.

"Why are you here? Where is Tan Qing?" Chu He sniffed, her voice muffled and nasal. Her gaze darted everywhere except toward Liang Zhouyi.

Liang Zhouyi, unsure what she was being awkward about, glanced at her phone as she answered, "He is busy rushing a proposal with Xu Lu."

Somehow those words hit a nerve. Chu He's tone turned strange. "Oh, the IP proposal for Wen Xiaoying, right? Then why didn't you go with them? Oh, did picking me up get in the way of your important work?"

Liang Zhouyi: "..."

"What does your silence mean? You are tacitly admitting it?" Chu He watched Liang Zhouyi stay silent and could not help grinding her teeth, her tongue brushing the base of her teeth, her tone very stiff.

"It has already been three days," Liang Zhouyi said, her head beginning to ache faintly. "How long are you going to keep talking to me like this?"

These past few days, getting along with Chu He had been especially exhausting. If Chu He could be kept from dragging Wen Xiaoying into things, it was still manageable. But once she found an opening to slip her in like just now, it was all over. For instance, yesterday when she had helped Chu He walk in the corridor to get some exercise, they had almost bumped into a woman with long straight black hair, and she had said a couple more words to apologize.

Chu He, who had been calm and indifferent, had returned to the room and said to her with a half smile, "Long straight black hair is still the prettiest, so pure."

Driven to both exasperation and amusement by Chu He's indiscriminate sarcasm over the past two days, Liang Zhouyi stood at the hospital entrance looking at the heavily bundled Chu He and finally could not help asking to break the stalemate.

"Talk how? Have I not always talked like this?" Chu He whipped her head around, and because the movement was too large, her neck twinged with pain for an instant. She stared wide-eyed at Liang Zhouyi as if she had no idea what she was asking.

Liang Zhouyi sighed. Looking at the bristling Chu He, she took the initiative to step closer and link arms with her, her voice clear and soft. "Are you jealous? Over a friend from the past?"

Jealous? Chu He tugged her arm irritably and let out a cold laugh. "Jealous? Are you crazy? I just feel like I have been betrayed by my forever single alliance."

The day she had suddenly understood Liang Zhouyi's feelings for Wen Xiaoying, Chu He had felt like a kettle that had just come to a boil, bubbling over in an instant, her head buzzing. The first thing she did when she came to her senses was to interrogate the System.

"Didn't you say all her Romantic Luck had been swapped to me? Then what the hell is this Wen Xiaoying?"

Ignoring Chu He's exasperation, the System replied in a businesslike tone, "Host, this is the last time I will explain this to you. Having no Romantic Luck and being incapable of liking someone or going on blind dates are two different things. The concepts are not the same."

Chu He only heard the key words. "You are saying she likes Wen Xiaoying?"

The System said, "...I was just explaining the theory to you. Do not overgeneralize."

Chu He said nothing, as if she had already accepted reality. So she had been the only forever single one all along.

"Host, Liang Zhouyi having liked someone else does not seem like it would affect your going home, so why does it make you so angry?" The System's tone seemed to carry a hint of coaxing guidance.

"Whether I am angry or not, what does it have to do with you?" Chu He keenly sensed the System's untimely curiosity and immediately shot back.

Helping the stubborn Chu He into the car, Liang Zhouyi climbed into the warm interior and pulled the door shut. The cramped space felt a little stifling.

"Do not worry. For the foreseeable future, I will remain forever single," Liang Zhouyi said, her eyes hard to make out in the car, the corner of her mouth seeming to hold a helpless smile.

For the foreseeable future? Chu He thought again of Liang Zhouyi's blind date, and for a moment she felt torn and uncertain, unable to see through what Liang Zhouyi intended for the future. If she liked women, why would she accept a blind date arranged by her mother?

"You were hospitalized with an injury, and your family did not come to see you?" Liang Zhouyi asked suddenly as she looked at the navigation to Chu He's home on her phone.

Chu He frowned slightly. Come to think of it, she had been in this world for some time now, and she had never really interacted with the family the System had arranged for her.

"They are all very busy. Besides, it is not like I suffered some life-threatening injury. We are all adults. You still have to go to work when you need to," Chu He said, finally seeming willing to let the unpleasant topic go and returning to her usual guarded state.

But an hour later, the independent and strong President Chu was proven wrong.

Chu He lived in a very large place, a flat of nearly two hundred square meters. Although it was not as good as the house she had so carefully designed in her previous life, it could still be called luxurious. Liang Zhouyi looked up at the building near the company, where housing prices were terrifyingly high, pressed her lips together, and then followed her up.

At the entryway, Chu He tried to bend down to get slippers and was immediately stopped by Liang Zhouyi. After Liang Zhouyi took them out and placed them on the floor for her, she gave her a reproachful look. "Didn't the doctor tell you to bend over less? Even if money fell on the floor, do not pick it up. Are you just letting it go in one ear and out the other?"

Chu He was amused by those words, as if she had not expected to hear a reproach from Liang Zhouyi, but she smiled and nodded obediently.

The view inside the large flat was very open. Through the glass you could even see the tall company building in the distance. The location really did justify the price.

Chu He brewed a cup of black tea and handed it to Liang Zhouyi. Stepping across the carpet, she sat cross legged on the soft white sofa and hugged a pillow. "I do not know if you are used to drinking this. I see you often drink coffee. Have you considered drinking tea instead?"

What was there to be used to or not? Besides, she only drank coffee to stay alert. Liang Zhouyi nodded and took a sip of the tea, discovering that this black tea was not as bitter as she had imagined. Its taste was fresh and fragrant with a sweet aftertaste.

"I knew you would like it," Chu He said with satisfaction, with the excitement of having something she liked be acknowledged. Her expression brightened. "I will bring you some tea leaves to the office another day. Do not drink coffee on an empty stomach all day. Of course, I am not telling you to drink tea on an empty stomach either..."

Liang Zhouyi quietly watched Chu He chatter away with raised brows, occasionally adding a gesture. Although she only listened the whole time without saying anything, Chu He still talked animatedly and happily on her own. Something in the softest part of Liang Zhouyi's heart seemed to be pinched by an invisible hand, very lightly, yet leaving an inexplicable ache.

"It is snowing..." Liang Zhouyi's gaze fell outside through the glass, her voice tinged with surprise.

"It really is."

Snowflakes filled the sky, fluttering down, so fine and dense against the dark night that they could not be ignored.

Draped in a blanket and wearing fluffy slippers, Chu He ran to the window. The view was even better from up high. Once the snow started, the whole city was washed clean and became beautiful and quiet.

"Liang Zhouyi, why don't you just not go back tonight?"

Liang Zhouyi's brow twitched. Seeing Chu He leaning against the window with her arms crossed, her expression calm and natural, she realized there was no hidden meaning in those words.

"No," Liang Zhouyi refused flatly.

Upon hearing that, Chu He's expression suddenly froze. She held her waist and cried out softly, "I suddenly felt a pain in my bones. I wonder if I twisted something when I turned just now. I still have to stay alone in this room. Just think how pitiful that is. If something happened at night..."

"Do not talk nonsense," Liang Zhouyi cut her off, her gaze falling on the spot Chu He's hand covered. Such clumsy acting, and she still thought she could fool her.

Although she knew full well what Chu He was up to, she could not stand to see the usually flamboyant woman show a vulnerable look, even though she knew Chu He was pretending. Liang Zhouyi half reluctantly accepted her request. It was only one night. Surely that was not so hard to accept?

No, she still resisted. When Liang Zhouyi saw Chu He carrying a quilt into her own master bedroom, she could not help rubbing her temples and asking, "You have a place over a hundred square meters and you do not even have a guest room?"

"Why sleep in a guest room? Of course you will sleep with me," Chu He said matter-of-factly as she tossed the quilt onto the bed and gestured for Liang Zhouyi to spread it out. Her ribs still ached faintly, so she still valued her life.

Liang Zhouyi did not move for a long moment. Her voice cooled a bit. "I am not used to sleeping with other people."

Chu He's gaze snapped to her face, examining every subtle expression carefully, before she said coldly, "How do you know you are not used to it? Who have you slept with before?"

?

Liang Zhouyi's heart skipped a beat at her tone. She realized she had accidentally dug herself a pit. If she had known Chu He was so... petty? She would have phrased things differently when she talked about Wen Xiaoying.

"Fine, fine, I will sleep with you, okay? There is no one else. Would I not know my own sleeping habits?" Liang Zhouyi sighed heavily, discovering that boundaries were the kind of thing that retreated step by step. What was more frightening was that she had no idea where her boundaries were when it came to Chu He.

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