TGSS - Chapter 29

Chapter 29: One Year

When Chu He found Liang Zhouyi following the WeChat message, she was smoking in the stairwell, her brows relaxed, sitting on the steps with a rare, casual ease. The instant Liang Zhouyi saw Chu He, she instinctively moved to stub out her cigarette, but Chu He stopped her.

"Give me one too," Chu He asked.

"You smoke too? I've never seen you smoke," Liang Zhouyi said, reaching for her cigarettes with a frown.

Chu He smiled. "I used to smoke heavily. I've quit now, but I can keep you company."

Liang Zhouyi's fingers holding the cigarette trembled slightly. She laughed. "What am I, a high schooler? I need someone to keep me company to smoke? Did you think this was something good?"

Despite saying that, Liang Zhouyi still tossed a cigarette to Chu He. She watched Chu He catch it and hold it loosely between her lips, a hint of allure in her eyes. She tipped her chin, signaling Liang Zhouyi to light it for her. Liang Zhouyi took a hard drag from her own cigarette before standing helplessly to light Chu He's. They leaned very close, almost close enough to kiss, and the atmosphere grew strangely charged amid the swirling smoke.

"Tan Qing told you," Liang Zhouyi said, not minding that the steps were a little dirty as she sat back down, her voice neither light nor heavy.

Chu He took a sharp inhale, coughed lightly from unfamiliarity, and then gave a faint hum. "It's fine, take it slow. This was never something that could be done overnight anyway."

Liang Zhouyi shook her head. "It's not about time. Have you ever thought that maybe I will never be able to do it in my whole life? The moment I pick up a camera I see my stepfather's face covered in blood. So often I think I don't care anymore, that I should be fine, but when I actually try to do something I realize it was all my illusion."

Chu He let the cigarette in her hand burn slowly. She frowned and listened quietly to Liang Zhouyi's murmuring. The smell of nicotine filled her nostrils. Leaning against the door, her expression was a little wistful. "Zhou Yi, regret and guilt are often the two feelings hardest to dispel."

Looking at the dejected Liang Zhouyi, Chu He was at a loss, less able to think clearly than she had been in her previous life when she could not secure investment and her company was nearing bankruptcy. Only much later, when she looked back on this feeling, did she understand that this was heartache.

Liang Zhouyi stared at the scarlet ember at her fingertips and smiled without speaking. Only after it had burned to ash did she stand, brush off her pants, straighten up and look at Chu He. "That was true before, but with you here, things should be different, so don't lie to me, okay, Chu He?"

There was an inexplicable solemnity in Liang Zhouyi's joking tone that made Chu He feel as if someone were squeezing her heart. She could hardly breathe, yet she still smoked with a leisurely posture, her voice lazy. "Don't worry, as long as I am in this world for one day, I will stay with you for one day."

"You make it sound like I'm some invalid who can't take care of herself," Liang Zhouyi said, a faint smile appearing on her pale, thin face. "Then I'll take you at your word."

No matter what their relationship would be in the days to come, she would keep this woman tightly bound to her side. She had given her a chance. It was Chu He who had insisted on provoking her.

Liang Zhouyi and Chu He left the stairwell smelling of smoke. Chu He lagged half a step behind, her expression grave as she confirmed with the System: "System, after I complete the mission, Liang Zhouyi will forget me, right?"

"Yes."

The answer to this question had not changed, but the answer Chu He wanted had. She suddenly felt that it might not be a bad thing for Liang Zhouyi to forget her. A long time passed, so long that the System thought Chu He would not speak again, before she asked a question the System had not expected.

"Suppose, I'm just saying suppose... if I never complete the mission, will I get to stay here?"

The System's mechanical voice sounded exceptionally cold: "I advise the Host not to harbor such negative thoughts. The time we Systems have to alter the World Consciousness is limited. If you fail to complete the mission within a year, your existence will be directly erased, and your soul will dissipate as it grows weaker and weaker."

"A year?" Chu He repeated silently in her heart. "That's really very short. You didn't remind me before."

The System said helplessly, "The Host's mission progress has been so fast that your humble System never imagined failure was possible if you actually applied yourself."

"Chu He," Liang Zhouyi suddenly turned to look at the person standing motionless behind her. "What are you spacing out for?"

"Coming," Chu He snapped back to herself, only then realizing she had been standing there in a daze for a long time without knowing it. She forced a smile, hands in her pockets, and quickly caught up with Liang Zhouyi.

"What is this?" Liang Zhouyi was the first to enter Chu He's office and pointed at the exquisite box on her desk, looking at her with an unfriendly expression.

Chu He pressed her forehead. She had clearly told Wen Xiaoying she did not like sweets, yet Wen Xiaoying had secretly sent a cake over. Wasn't this just trying to get her in trouble?

"You eat it, I don't like sweets either," Chu He said, rubbing her temples and putting on the jacket hanging nearby, looking as if she did not care about the thing at all.

"Heh." Liang Zhouyi picked up the box and examined it carefully, sparing a glance for Chu He. "How could that be okay? It was given with such kind intentions. It wouldn't be good for President Chu to just pass it on, would it?"

Chu He's head instantly felt twice its size. She pinched the hem of her clothes, her palms sweating slightly. In this moment she felt what it meant for fortune to turn. So this was how Liang Zhouyi had felt when she had been sarcastic to her because of Wen Xiaoying before.

Chu He smiled. "This definitely can't be as delicious as what you make, so when will you make one for me? My birthday is coming up soon."

Weren't you just saying you don't like sweets? Liang Zhouyi raised an eyebrow. "When is your birthday?"

"The 15th of this month," Chu He answered without thinking, responding on instinct. She did not notice the flicker of doubt in Liang Zhouyi's eyes. As far as she remembered, Chu He's birthday was not at this time.

"That's still early," Liang Zhouyi said, hooking the ribbon on the cake box on the desk. "So, you don't think there's anything between me and Wen Xiaoying now?"

Chu He swallowed and laughed dryly to brush it off. "I never thought there was anything between you two."

Besides, even if there was something, what could she do? Her heart clogged again, and she looked at Liang Zhouyi with dark eyes. "Wen Xiaoying isn't right for you. She has no bottom line in how she does things."

Liang Zhouyi did not make a sound, tacitly accepting Chu He's words. She followed Chu He to the elevator before speaking. "Next week I have to go to A City with Wen Xiaoying for a shoot."

Chu He frowned. "What are you going there for? Why do they have to bring you along?"

"The executive director on the team asked for leave. Tan Qing said that since I wrote it, I know best how to shoot it. Anyway, I'm the one who liaised with that intangible cultural heritage inheritor, so I'll just make the trip," Liang Zhouyi said in a drifting voice, her emotions hard to read.

"Is Xu Lu dead?" Chu He sneered unhappily. "Dumping everything on you to do, and you're willing to go along with it."

Liang Zhouyi ignored her. She was not Chu He, able to do as she pleased at work. Could she really hand work back to her boss? Besides, she also wanted to try watching Tan Qing's shooting. For all these years she had only focused on writing and never participated in filming. Since back then it was filming Wen Xiaoying that had led to so much trouble afterward, if she wanted to completely resolve this matter now, she had to get past this step.

"If that's the case, then I'll go too," Chu He said, holding the elevator door open with half her body outside. "If Wen Xiaoying wants to pivot and capitalize on the attention and goodwill surrounding intangible cultural heritage, each of her videos is destined to span a long time. This trip of yours has to count as a business trip, right?"

Liang Zhouyi watched her block the elevator and pushed her, going out together with her. She pursed her lips. "It won't be that long. I'm just filling in for that director for a few days, three to five days at most."

Chu He fell silent. Three to five days. She did not have much time left in this world in total. With a vague sense of crisis, her tone was firm. "Fine, I'll go with you." Anyway, she could rearrange her work and squeeze it in. This project was a key project for the company anyway, so her going would not give people cause for gossip. Speaking of that, gossip in the company had been rampant lately.

There were already many people in their industry whose orientations were fluid. Now many employees in the company already regarded her and Liang Zhouyi as a couple. At first Chu He had been speechless upon hearing it, but now when she thought of that kiss she could only smile bitterly. It seemed she could not steadfastly claim that she and Liang Zhouyi were innocent, and Liang Zhouyi had shown no intention of bringing the matter up anyway.

Without insisting on driving Liang Zhouyi home, Chu He watched Liang Zhouyi's retreating figure and suddenly thought of that wobbly little electric scooter and found it amusing. Recalling Liang Zhouyi straddling the bike with a cold face and wearing that cute helmet, she found herself charmed. Alas, she was truly hopeless.

She shook her head and sent a message to Chen Xinluo saying she wanted to apply for a business trip. Chen Xinluo asked as if she had expected it whether she was going to A City. Chu He confirmed, and the other side did not press further, just telling her to go through the process.

A City, if she remembered correctly, was where her bonus older brother's company was located. For so long, she and Chu Ze seemed not to have exchanged a single message. She did not know to what extent the System's deception of the World Consciousness had gone. So far, she had not yet met anyone in this world who truly doubted her.

Just as she was thinking about it, Chu Ze sent her a message: "You're coming to A City?"

Chu He narrowed her eyes and replied, "I just made the decision, your information is a bit too well informed."

"Xinluo told me."

Oh right, Chen Xinluo seemed to be Chu Ze's girlfriend. Chu He tapped her head. The information the System gave her was like toothpaste, only squeezing out a little at a time.

"Since you're coming back, stay at home," Chu Ze's words were brief but carried an unmistakable command.

Stay at home? Chu He sneered and turned off her phone. She would not listen to him.

"You can bring that good friend of yours home too." The phone lit up again quickly. This message made Chu He's heart tighten. She subconsciously felt that this brother did not come with good intentions and did not seem to have much affection for her. How could she dare to rashly bring Liang Zhouyi back?

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