“Who gave you that?”
Zhou Sui’an asked even though he already knew the answer.
Zhou Suisui: “…”
She instinctively tightened her grip on the little ornament, as if worried her brother might suddenly lunge over and snatch it away.
She had only gone out to meet that man. Who else could have given it to her?
Zhou Sui’an stared at the ornament.
It was quite cute, and looked five or six parts like his sister. Its features were small and delicate…
Realizing what he was thinking, he immediately darkened his expression.
“Why did it take you so long to eat?”
“I ran into someone I knew and got held up for a while.”
Feeling guilty, Zhou Suisui didn’t dare meet her brother’s eyes.
Hah! Someone she knew?
Zhou Sui’an walked over and reached for the ornament.
“Don’t touch it!”
Zhou Suisui froze, then hurriedly shielded the ornament against her chest.
“…”
The moment the words left her mouth, both siblings were stunned.
Zhou Suisui’s heart gave a nervous jolt.
Zhou Sui’an stared blankly for a moment before withdrawing his hand. The corners of his lips curled into an eerie smile.
“Your brother just thought the ornament was cute and that it looked like you. Do you really have to protect it like that?”
Awkwardly, Zhou Suisui rubbed her nose and forced the corners of her lips upward.
“It does look quite a bit like me…”
“Things like this can only fool an innocent little girl.”
Zhou Sui’an couldn’t stand seeing her treasure the ornament so much, and in the end, he couldn’t resist adding a sarcastic remark.
Zhou Suisui broke out in a cold sweat.
Her brother was prejudiced against Jiang Zongyan.
When Jiang Zongyan had previously given her a pink diamond worth a fortune, he had said it was nothing more than using money to win someone over—something that could only fool a little girl.
Now he was saying that this little trinket was worthless and could only fool a little girl.
In short, in her brother’s eyes, everything Jiang Zongyan did was an attempt to deceive an innocent girl.
Thinking about what had happened outside the restaurant earlier, Zhou Suisui hesitated for a long time before finally speaking with concern.
“Brother, there’s something I want to ask you…”
“What is it?”
Zhou Suisui furrowed her brows. “Brother Yan…”
The moment those three words left her throat, Zhou Sui’an’s sharp gaze swept over.
“Don’t call him that. I’m your only brother, understand?”
“Uh…”
Zhou Suisui sighed helplessly. “Back when you were all in high school, did something happen?”
“A lot happened in high school. Who could remember…”
Before Zhou Sui’an could finish, he suddenly stopped, remembering the video the twins had sent him.
His casual expression vanished, replaced by a trace of solemnity.
“You want to ask about the girl who jumped off the building because of Jiang Zongyan, don’t you?”
“J-jumped off the building?”
At those words, Zhou Suisui’s heart clenched. Even her breathing quickened.
Zhou Sui’an nodded.
As he recalled the scene from back then, his face still turned slightly pale.
“Suisui, do you know why I’ve always stopped you from clinging to him?”
Zhou Suisui shook her head.
Zhou Sui’an looked out at the gloomy sky, and a soft sigh drifted through the air.
“It was during the lunch break. The weather was unbearably hot, hot enough to make your skin peel…”
The moment the bell rang, he had rushed impatiently toward the little shop outside the school gate.
He bought several ice pops, unwrapped one, and put it in his mouth. Eating it as he walked, he headed back toward the classroom building.
Just as he reached the foot of the building, something heavy suddenly came crashing down in front of him, landing only a few meters away.
He froze on the spot, all the blood draining from his body.
The girl had leaped from the top floor. Blood poured from her eyes, nose, and mouth, and her lifeless eyes remained fixed on the spot where he stood.
For many years afterward, he couldn’t bring himself to eat another ice pop.
Every time he saw one, he would remember the girl who had jumped from the building and feel sick.
Her death had been too gruesome.
“What did her jumping have to do with Jiang Zongyan?”
As she listened to her brother describe the scene, Zhou Suisui’s fingers curled tightly into fists at her sides, her knuckles turning white from the force.
“That girl liked him. She confessed to him several times. Apparently…”
He studied his sister’s expression and raised an eyebrow.
“Apparently, she went to confess to him again before she jumped. He rejected her, and probably said something… The girl couldn’t take it and jumped straight from the top floor.”
Recalling the incident, Zhou Sui’an couldn’t help but sigh.
Zhou Suisui’s heart was wrenched painfully upward, and her hands and feet turned cold.
“What did he say to her?”
Zhou Sui’an shook his head. “I wasn’t there. I’d gone to buy ice pops, so I don’t know exactly what he said… But the girl’s parents insisted that Jiang Zongyan had humiliated their daughter, which was why she jumped. The incident caused a huge uproar at school. Jiang Zongyan had always been cold by nature, but after that, he became even more withdrawn and taciturn.”
High school?
Zhou Suisui’s eyes darkened.
She suddenly remembered that there had been a period when Jiang Zongyan had moved out of the Jiang family home and lived alone in an apartment.
Could it have been related to this?
“Brother, do you also think that girl jumped because of him?”
Zhou Suisui was deeply shaken.
What kind of feelings could drive someone to leap from the top of a building after being rejected?
She thought of how she had felt when she jumped in her previous life—despair. Utter, complete despair. She could no longer see any hope of living.
She had been driven into a dead end.
Knowing Su Wan as she did, if she had fallen into that woman’s hands, she would have been better off dead. That was why she had chosen to jump and follow her brother in death.
But this girl had only been a high school student. Her wonderful life had barely begun.
Could a simple rejection really drive someone to choose such a horrific death?
It was completely beyond her understanding…
There was more to life than romance. There were family and friends, too!
She had heard of women jumping from buildings after being deceived by men for money or sex, but she had never heard of someone taking her own life simply because her confession had been rejected.
Suddenly, Jiang Ruitian’s words came back to her—
“My brother doesn’t like women. There’s something wrong with him. Last month, he even fired a blonde, blue-eyed secretary just because she bought him breakfast…”
A dense, prickling pain suddenly spread through Zhou Suisui’s chest.
He hadn’t been born picky about people, nor had he been born cold and indifferent.
He was simply afraid now.
When it came to women he didn’t like, he refused to leave them even the slightest bit of hope. He would cut himself off from them cleanly and decisively.
“Ah…”
Zhou Sui’an let out a long breath.
Thinking about what had happened, his usual dislike of Jiang Zongyan strangely turned into sympathy and regret.
“Actually… you can’t blame him entirely for this. He didn’t like her. Was he supposed to have no right to reject her?”
He muttered under his breath, “If you don’t like someone and still refuse to reject her, wouldn’t that make you a scumbag?”
“But, Suisui, listen to your brother… Although it would be unfair to place all the blame on Jiang Zongyan, he really is the kind of man girls are drawn to. He could just stand there, and the girls peeking at him would fill an entire hallway…”
“A man like that, to put it plainly, won’t give his heart to a single woman. His career and his family—either one of them is more important to him than a woman…”
“And with the psychological trauma this incident caused him, he’ll never be able to form a deeply intimate relationship with a woman. Do you understand?…”
“Hey, where are you going? I’m not finished!”
“Brother! I’m going out for a bit!”
Zhou Suisui suddenly stood up, grabbed the car keys, and hurried out—
