Zhou Sui'an lowered his eyes, staring at the hand clutching his arm. His gaze traveled up that arm and finally settled on the woman's pale face.
Su Wan's eyes were red-rimmed. “Sui'an, why didn’t you keep bidding just now? You promised me!”
Zhou Sui'an shook off her hand and let out a scornful snort.
“Eleven billion for a lousy diamond? Do I look like an idiot?”
Su Wan was struck speechless.
Zhou Sui'an had never spoken to her like that before.
Whenever she wanted something, he would prepare it without a second thought or a single complaint, practically wagging his tail as he rushed to fulfill her wishes.
Only now did she realize how good Zhou Sui'an had once been to her.
But it was too late. Nothing could go back to the way it was.
Not even knowing who she was really angry with, Su Wan laughed furiously and decided to throw caution to the wind.
“As the president of the Zhou Group, you can’t even come up with eleven billion? You deliberately tricked me because you didn’t want to buy it for me!”
She had already made a big announcement on Weibo. Now Zhou Sui'an hadn’t bought the pink diamond, and things had taken such an unexpected turn.
Jiang Zongyan and Xiang Lingxiao had fought over it in an extremely high-profile bidding war. It was bound to make tomorrow’s headlines.
And she, Su Wan, would become a complete laughingstock online.
Fortunately, she had sensed that things were going south and secretly deleted that Weibo post. All she could hope for now was that no one would bring it up again.
At the entrance, Zhou Suisui’s ears perked up when she heard Su Wan’s aggrieved voice, and she immediately stopped.
She glanced back.
The feelings she had finally managed to calm stirred up all over again.
Angrily, she grabbed Jiang Zongyan’s hand and tugged him toward the door.
“Brother Yan, take me home.”
“Wait…”
A soft, warm little hand slipped into Jiang Zongyan’s palm. Its silky touch brushed against him like a feather.
The man’s prominent Adam’s apple bobbed.
His fingers unconsciously tightened around the brocade box in his pocket.
“Hmm?”
Zhou Suisui turned to look at him, studying him in confusion.
“What is it?”
“I…”
Jiang Zongyan took the brocade box from his suit pocket and was about to speak.
Zhou Suisui lowered her eyes and glanced at the jewel-encrusted box in his hand. Her heart tightened.
The next second, she looked up abruptly, her cheeks puffed out in displeasure.
She extended a slender, snowy finger and lightly poked him in the chest.
“So, Brother Yan has someone he likes now? You’re giving them something this expensive. Are you planning to propose?”
She herself didn’t even notice how sour her voice sounded.
The muscles beneath his chest were hard as stone. Even through his perfectly tailored suit, her finger hurt from the poke.
How annoying.
“Propose?”
Jiang Zongyan lowered his eyes to her puffed-up face. He paused, then the corners of his lips curved up involuntarily.
“I hadn’t planned on it originally, but your suggestion… sounds pretty good.”
His low, husky voice drifted out, like the lowest note of a cello, lightly brushing against her ear.
With that, he opened the brocade box and held it out to her.
Eight dazzling pink diamonds lay neatly arranged on the soft velvet.
Under the blazing lights, they reflected a breathtaking brilliance. Zhou Suisui was dazzled and instinctively narrowed her eyes.
Holy crap!
Eight!
A full eight!
This was wealth on an entirely different level. It was outrageously extravagant!
She opened her mouth in excitement and blurted out, “Brother Yan, is it too late for me to start pursuing you now?”
Jiang Zongyan froze.
Even with an IQ of 160, he hadn’t expected her to say something like that at a moment like this.
A moment later, he let out a helpless laugh and pushed the box a little closer to her.
“All right. They’re yours. Consider it a proposal.”
“Huh?”
Every joking word Zhou Suisui had said instantly lodged in her throat. She couldn’t get a single sound out.
Her large, limpid eyes stared blankly at him.
It was as if her brain had crashed, leaving her unable to think.
After a long moment, she finally came back to her senses. Her cheeks flushed bright red, and in a panic, she turned and ran.
“Sister Wu is still waiting for me. I have to go. Bye!”
“Why are you running? Didn’t you say I should take you home?”
Realizing that she was about to flee, Jiang Zongyan’s eyes sharpened. He instinctively reached out to grab the back of her collar.
But Zhou Suisui slipped away like a loach, darting several steps away in an instant.
“…”
Jiang Zongyan grabbed nothing and stood there in stunned disbelief.
Watching her retreating figure flee in panic, he shook his head helplessly after a moment.
—
Not far away, Zhou Suisui didn’t dare look back, as though a hungry wolf were chasing her.
She yanked open the car door with a bang, climbed into the passenger seat, and slammed it shut.
The door divided the inside of the car from the outside, creating two separate worlds.
Only then did she feel a little safe. She let out a long breath, patted her chest, and said to Cui Wu, “Sister Wu, drive! Hurry up and get us out of here!”
Thinking she was still upset with Zhou Sui'an, Cui Wu began consoling her.
“Miss, don’t be angry. At least Young Master didn’t buy the diamond, so everything turned out all right. But Young Master Jiang looked so handsome when he kept bidding just now…”
Recalling the dramatic twists and turns of the auction, Cui Wu chattered excitedly without stopping.
Zhou Suisui didn’t hear a word.
Leaning back in her seat, she felt her heart pounding wildly, like a little deer lost in the forest and crashing around in every direction.
Jiang Zongyan had just said… that box of pink diamonds was for her.
Right. She finally remembered.
She pulled her phone from her handbag and tapped open the little green chat icon.
J: Do you like them?
Below the message was a picture of seven glittering diamonds.
How had she replied to him at the time?
Seven isn’t enough…
Zhou Suisui covered her face, wishing she could find a hole to crawl into.
This was so embarrassing.
Jiang Zongyan… When he said proposing would be fine, was he just teasing her?
But his gaze had been so serious. He hadn’t looked like he was joking at all.
The more Zhou Suisui thought about it, the drier her mouth became. Her heart pounded as if it were about to leap out of her chest.
Please, be quieter! Someone’s going to hear you!
Meanwhile, when Zhou Sui'an saw Zhou Suisui leave, he immediately abandoned Su Wan and chased after her. But all he saw was Jiang Zongyan standing alone beside the car, still holding that flashy brocade box.
No one knew what he was thinking. The corners of his lips were curved in a faint smile, and his eyes were filled with the dreamy look of a man in love.
The diamonds were still in his hands.
Zhou Sui'an breathed a temporary sigh of relief.
Thank goodness. Thank goodness his sister hadn’t accepted them.
“Showing off tens of billions’ worth of diamonds in public like that—aren’t you afraid CEO Jiang will get robbed?” Zhou Sui'an walked over and sneered.
Jiang Zongyan snapped back to reality and raised a brow at him. His low voice was arrogant and domineering.
“Everyone in Tang City knows that this diamond belongs to me now. Who would dare steal it? Besides, this car has been modified and is bulletproof. What kind of fool would dare rob me in broad daylight?”
Zhou Sui'an was momentarily rendered speechless. He had no interest in arguing about any of that.
All he could think about was getting home as quickly as possible to beg his sister for forgiveness.
“Then take your tens-of-billions diamond home and play with it like a glass marble. I’m going home to find my sister.”
As long as Jiang Zongyan wasn’t giving it to his sister, Zhou Sui'an didn’t care about anything else.
After he left, Lin Zhou walked over.
“CEO.”
Jiang Zongyan handed him the brocade box.
“You personally deliver the diamonds to the Zhou residence.”
“Yes, CEO Jiang.”
Lin Zhou took the box.
Once inside the car, he gripped the steering wheel and glanced at the box beside him. Cold sweat instantly coated his palms.
This was worth tens of billions!
Boo-hoo.
President, is this really how you test your loyal, honest old employee?
He could sell just one of them and have enough to live on for the rest of this life, the next life, and the life after that—even if he did nothing but lie around.
Should he take the diamond and flee overseas?
But at the thought of the CEO’s terrifying ability to retaliate, Lin Zhou shuddered and immediately dismissed the idea.
Forget it, forget it. He might have the luck to get his hands on it, but not the life to enjoy it.
Quietly posting another chapter. No one should notice~~
I’m off, I’m off~~ I’ll continue tomorrow!
