Chapter 125

Fortunately, her memory wasn’t bad, and her mind was quick enough; otherwise, she really would’ve been at a loss right now.

Xie Shiqing cried for a while and then fell asleep. Crying was physically demanding, requiring both physical and mental strength. Her body was already weak, and she was also in her heat period. Without needing any medication, after making a fuss for a bit, drowsiness overtook her. She yawned a few times, then closed her eyes.

Once she was asleep, Zhong Ning waited until her breathing settled, then gently laid her down, tiptoed to the bathroom, wet a towel with warm water, and, by the dim light of the night lamp, softly wiped her face clean.

After wiping her face, she wiped her hands too. She didn’t touch the rest of her body for now, afraid of waking her again.

Xie Shiqing’s face was flushed red. With her eyes closed, she looked quite well-behaved—her face was so small. Zhong Ning spread her palm out beside it for comparison and felt like her face wasn’t even the size of her hand.

She was cute while asleep, but once awake, she became as troublesome as a demon king.

Zhong Ning took a fresh thin blanket from the cabinet and carefully replaced the one on the bed. The bedsheet, however, wasn’t easy to change. When she laid Xie Shiqing down earlier, she had deliberately chosen a dry spot, leaving herself with the side that was clearly damp and uncomfortable to sleep on.

There really weren’t that many spare blankets in her home. Living alone, one set of bedding was usually more than enough.

She hadn’t expected such a sudden situation to arise.

Zhong Ning stared at the bed in distress for a while, folded up the used blanket, selected a clean and dry part of it, and placed it over the mattress—she’d just have to make do with that for now.

In any case, she didn’t mind using something that belonged to Xie Shiqing.

She briefly wondered if the mattress also needed to be changed… That thought flashed through her mind, but before she could think more deeply, she drifted off to sleep.

After only three or four hours, the alarm clock rang dutifully.

Zhong Ning’s hand moved faster than her brain; she grabbed her phone and turned off the alarm before her mind slowly caught up and started to boot up.

So tired!

She hadn’t set too many alarms for herself—just one a day or so—because even on days without classes, she had to report to the Zhong Corporation building. There was no time to sleep in.

Dragging herself off the bed with great difficulty, her hair a tangled mess, she turned around and saw that Xie Shiqing was still asleep. Her fan-like lashes cast a distinct shadow, the blanket pulled up to her chest, revealing her delicate collarbone, and one arm was exposed outside the blanket.

She had been quick to turn off the alarm, so she hadn’t woken the omega.

Zhong Ning tiptoed off the bed, walked to the other side, gently lifted Xie Shiqing’s arm, and tucked it under the blanket. Then she turned on the air conditioner, setting the temperature to 26 degrees, letting it blow gently—not enough to wake her from the heat after sleeping too long.

Barefoot, she left the bedroom, closing the door at a snail’s pace. Considering the issue of soundproofing, she deliberately went to the other bathroom to wash up. She also sent messages to the bodyguard and butler, asking them to come over and watch the place in case Xie Shiqing woke up and couldn’t find anyone.

After getting herself ready, she left the house.

Today would be another extremely busy day—or rather, from this day forward, every day would be extremely busy. Studies and work, interests and responsibilities… how to balance all these would be a question she needed to study thoroughly in the future.

During class, Zhong Ning inevitably spaced out for a while, thinking about who she could ask regarding Xie Shiqing’s childhood.

After pondering for a bit, a name surfaced in her mind—Qi Wan.

As a relative, she ought to know some things that outsiders wouldn’t. Fu Nanshuang could also be someone to ask—when it came to major events, an outsider’s perspective might also be valuable. Qi Wan was a doctor, and perhaps she didn’t care much for the undercurrents of the business world.

Once she had made up her mind, Zhong Ning refocused on the lecture.

She genuinely had little interest in economics or talent management. It was only thanks to her intelligence that she didn’t find the material difficult to learn.

And since she couldn’t avoid it and had to study it anyway, Zhong Ning found herself slowly growing a bit interested in it—something developed later on, perhaps brought on by a bit of self-hypnosis.

Since she had to learn it no matter what, she might as well try to like it. Otherwise, it would just be too painful.

After class, she slipped away to the library to look up books related to psychological disorders. At the same time, she didn’t forget to message Qi Wan, asking if she could talk a bit about Xie Shiqing’s childhood.

【I want to understand more about her past. You know what she’s like—with her personality, it’s really hard for her to talk about these things.】

【I just… want to see if I can act as her personal therapist and help stabilize her emotional state.】

After a while, Qi Wan replied, 【Does she know about this?】

Zhong Ning: 【No, this is something I want to do on my own.】

The typing indicator in the chat box kept blinking on and off. Zhong Ning caught it in her peripheral vision, but her mood stayed calm. It would be great if Qi Wan could help, but if not, that was okay too. She would just come up with another solution.

After a good while, Qi Wan finally sent a reply: 【What do you want to know?】

Zhong Ning’s eyes lit up instantly: 【Everything—anything and everything. The more, the better. The more detailed, the better.】

In her office, Qi Wan stopped twirling the pen in her hand. A frown formed between her brows.

Aside from the butler, she probably was the person who knew the most about Xie Shiqing’s situation.

Regardless of their family roles, the two had essentially grown up together. In her heart, Qi Wan saw herself more as an older sister to Xie Shiqing. They had a sisterly relationship.

The Xie family’s situation wasn’t particularly rare among the upper class. In the early years, Madam Xie and the family head had gotten together through mutual love. Not long after they married, the Head cheated, however.

She liked to chase after young and fresh girls. After marrying Madam Xie, her feelings cooled. But she was only interested in the thrill of pursuit and the passion of infatuation.

But since theirs was a business marriage, divorce was never on the table. Madam Xie, though someone who valued love, also had her own accomplishments in her career—she was involved in charity work.

Perhaps it was precisely because she was too kind, and because she had love in her heart, that she was more easily deceived.

After being hurt emotionally, she poured her attention into the foundation and into raising Xie Shiqing. She even raised Qi Wan alongside her.

It could be said that Qi Wan’s choice to pursue medicine was directly influenced by this gentle woman.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep