J: [Did I scare you just now? Sorry. You know what I want!]
“……”
Zhou Suisui stared at the message, her finger hovering over the screen. For a long time, she had no idea how to reply.
If she said she had been scared, that was certainly true, but…
Zhou Suisui rubbed her hair.
In the end, she chose to pretend she hadn’t seen it and replied: [I’m going to sleep. I don’t know.]
She thought Jiang Zongyan would press her for an answer, but after a while, he only sent back two letters:
[an]
Zhou Suisui stared at the two letters, stunned.
An?
I love you?!
Her hand trembled. With a slap, she shoved her phone beneath the pillow, as if doing so could make her pretend nothing had happened.
She tried her best to close her eyes, hoping that after sleeping, everything would return to the way it had been.
-
Early the next morning, Zhou Suisui climbed out of bed with two dark circles under her eyes.
“What happened? Why do you look so awful?”
Seeing how listless she was, Zhou Sui'an was extremely worried. “Didn’t sleep well last night? Don’t go to the office today. Stay home and rest.”
“No need, Brother.”
Zhou Suisui shook her head and gulped down a large mouthful of milk. She looked utterly drained. “It’s better to find something to do. I feel like something bad will happen if I have too much free time.”
Zhou Sui'an laughed. “What could possibly happen just because you take one day off?”
He assumed she had simply had too much fun with Jiang Ruitian yesterday.
“By the way, what did you two do yesterday? Anything fun?”
He had been dealing with things until late the previous night and hadn’t had a chance to ask his sister.
“Was it fun?”
“Not at all… It wasn’t fun in the slightest!”
Zhou Sui'an suddenly remembered that Jiang Ruitian seemed to have posted something on her Moments. He had been busy last night and hadn’t looked closely.
He took out his phone and opened WeChat.
“Let me see…”
Before he could finish, the rest of his sentence caught in his throat.
He looked up in shock, his face dark as he stared at Zhou Suisui. “This is where you went yesterday? You hired male models at a tourist attraction?! And openly harassed them in front of all those people in broad daylight—touching their abs?!”
Zhou Suisui stiffened all over. Realizing things were about to go badly, she set down her milk and bolted for the door.
“Brother, I’m going to be late for work! I’m leaving first! Take your time eating!”
“Don’t run! Explain yourself before you leave!”
Zhou Sui'an gritted his teeth and chased after her, panting.
Zhou Suisui hurriedly unlocked her car with the key, climbed into the driver’s seat, and sped away with one hard press of the accelerator.
Behind her, Zhou Sui'an shouted furiously, “If you ever hire male models again, I’ll break your legs!”
Cui Wu emerged from the house and was stunned by Zhou Sui'an’s words about hiring male models.
Well, well. The young lady had grown up—and turned bad.
But who said women couldn’t hire male models?
Good for her. I support you.
-
As soon as Zhou Suisui arrived at the office, Fu Jie hurried in.
“Young Boss Zhou, we’ve just received word.”
He lowered his voice. “At ten this morning, Zhang Qiming is meeting Xiang Lingxiao aboard the Victoria.”
“The Victoria?”
Zhou Suisui frowned. “That’s a private yacht. We can’t get on without an invitation.”
“I’ve already managed to get two invitations.”
Fu Jie took two gold-embossed cards from his pocket. “If we leave now, we’ll arrive just in time to catch their meeting.”
Zhou Suisui nodded, grabbed her bag, and headed out.
-
Meanwhile.
The entire Jiang Group was shrouded in a gloomy atmosphere.
The boss had been in a terrible mood from the moment he arrived at the office, picking faults with everyone and everything.
As the president’s special administrative assistant, Lin Zhou was the first to bear the brunt of it.
“Lin Zhou, is this how you train newcomers? Your people can go out whenever they want, come to work whenever they feel like it, and leave whenever they please?”
Lin Zhou stood nervously before him, silently accepting the full force of his anger.
He was completely bewildered by the accusation.
Which newcomer had he trained? Oh… right. He remembered now—the young lady.
No way. What had Miss Zhou done to make the president so angry?
“President, Miss Zhou has been looking through documents every day lately…” He coughed. “It really has been hard on her.”
She fell asleep the moment she opened a document. Young people really did have incredible sleep quality.
But he wisely kept that part to himself.
For all he knew, the president would be furious now and then turn around and feel sorry for his little sister.
Lin Zhou had that much sense.
“From now on, make her work strictly according to office hours. If I catch her slacking again, I’ll deduct it from your salary!”
“Yes… What? President, why are you deducting it from my salary?”
“Figure it out yourself!”
Lin Zhou walked out of the office and clutched his chest, heartbroken.
Miss Zhou skipped work, and he was the one who got his salary docked?
Where was the justice in that?!
Why not deduct it from Miss Zhou’s salary instead?!
Still, Lin Zhou felt that his boss’s anger had come out of nowhere.
It was like the resentment of a man who hadn’t gotten what he wanted.
When he returned to the office and saw Jiang Ruitian playing games at her desk, his vision went dark again.
Another little terror.
“Ahem…”
Remembering the president’s instructions, he walked over and cautiously reminded her, “Miss, you can’t play games during working hours. Otherwise, you’ll get your salary docked.”
Heh. Technically, it was his salary that would be docked, but some things didn’t need to be explained too clearly, did they?
“Docked salary?”
Jiang Ruitian looked up, her eyes sparkling. “Lin Zhou, how much is my salary?”
Lin Zhou thought for a moment. “Two thousand?”
“Exactly! You expect me to risk my life for two thousand yuan?”
Jiang Ruitian scoffed and began pounding away at her phone even more vigorously than before, apparently playing with added fury.
“……”
Lin Zhou was completely speechless. No wonder the president had threatened to deduct his salary.
There wasn’t even any salary to deduct from Miss Zhou.
No. He couldn’t let anyone deduct his salary. There was still time to salvage the situation.
“Miss, is the president in a bad mood? Do you know why?”
Jiang Ruitian didn’t even look up. “He’s jealous.”
“Jealous?”
Lin Zhou was struck by another bolt of thunder.
Then, as something occurred to him, he pulled out his phone with a dry laugh and began asking around through his contacts at the Zhou Group.
“Our young lady went out on business with Finance Director Fu.”
After receiving that information, Lin Zhou froze for a moment before immediately hurrying to the president’s office.
Jiang Zongyan sat behind his desk, his phone in his hand. The screen was still open to his chat with Zhou Suisui.
After Zhou Suisui had messaged him last night to say she was going to bed, she hadn’t sent him a single word of greeting since.
What was that supposed to mean?
Hadn’t she been bombarding him with messages before?
Could someone tell him what had happened?
How had her attitude toward him changed so drastically overnight—from enthusiastic to… cold?
“President! Big news!”
He was still lost in thought when Lin Zhou pushed open the door and entered.
Jiang Zongyan put away his phone and cast him a chilly glance. “You’d better have big news. Otherwise, you’ll be the next big news.”
Lin Zhou wiped the cold sweat from his forehead. “President, Miss Zhou is going out with Fu Jie later to find evidence against Zhang Qiming. Zhang Qiming is meeting Xiang Lingxiao aboard the Victoria today.”
“She certainly has a lot of nerve!”
The moment he heard this, Jiang Zongyan’s expression changed. He stood up and headed straight for the door.
“President, wait for me!”
Only then did Lin Zhou realize what was happening and hurried after him.
-
Zhou Suisui and Fu Jie drove to the pier. From a distance, they could already see the white luxury yacht moored by the shore.
“Finance Director Fu, have all the media outlets we contacted arrived?”
“They have!”
“Good. What about Zhang Qiming’s little lover in the entertainment industry?”
“She’s been notified as well.”
“Perfect. We’re in for a good show.”
Zhou Suisui flashed an evil grin.
Zhang Qiming and Xiang Lingxiao had secretly arranged to meet here. Today, she would make sure the evidence that they had joined forces to bleed the Zhou family dry was set in stone.
“Miss, the sun is scorching today. Leave these matters to me. You can find a café nearby and wait for the news.”
“It’s fine.”
The ground along the shore was covered in rough stones. Zhou Suisui had barely slept the night before, and after being scorched by the sun overhead, she stumbled.
“Careful!”
Fu Jie quickly moved forward and caught her.
“I’m fine…”
Just then, Zhou Suisui froze. She sharply sensed a gaze falling on her.
She looked up in surprise.
Not far away, Jiang Zongyan was leaning against a black SUV, a cigarette held between his fingers. His cold eyes were fixed on her—or, more precisely, on the arm Fu Jie was using to support her…
The instant their eyes met, Zhou Suisui’s heart jolted. She turned around and tried to escape.
Jiang Zongyan stubbed out his cigarette and walked over.
His gaze settled on Zhou Suisui, carrying a trace of barely concealed anticipation.
“You’re boarding the yacht too?”
“Mr. Jiang.”
Fu Jie was just about to nod when Zhou Suisui cut in first, her tone stiff. “No, we’re not.”
Fu Jie blinked. “Miss, weren’t we here to—”
“Let’s go! Don’t disturb Mr. Jiang while he’s handling business!”
Zhou Suisui interrupted him, grabbed his arm, and pulled him back the way they had come.
Despite her small hands, Zhou Suisui was surprisingly strong. Fu Jie was dragged along before he could even react.
“Miss, what happened? Why aren’t we going anymore? This was such a great opportunity.”
Zhou Suisui released him and said with a perfectly serious expression, “Boarding the yacht now would only alert them. We’ll go back and think this through.”
“??”
Then what had they rushed all the way here for?
Utterly bewildered, Fu Jie couldn’t help looking back.
Jiang Zongyan’s tall, imposing figure was still standing where they had left him. He watched them disappear, the smile on his face gradually fading until his expression turned completely cold.
Did she really not want to see him that badly?
Or had she… grown to hate him?
“Miss, this really isn’t like you.”
Once they were back in the car, Fu Jie finally couldn’t hold back any longer. “That was obviously the perfect opportunity. If we’d gone aboard, we might have gotten evidence of their collusion.”
Zhou Suisui glanced out the window, her eyes darting away.
“Jiang Zongyan was there…”
As soon as she said it, she caught herself.
Right. Why had she been afraid of Jiang Zongyan?
Well, she had done something guilty, after all. Feeling uneasy was only natural.
“Besides, we already know he’s the mole. We’ll have plenty of opportunities in the future,” she said, coming up with an excuse for herself.
Fu Jie pressed his lips together.
The young lady seemed to be avoiding Jiang Zongyan.
What had happened between them?
On the yacht.
Jiang Zongyan stood alone on the deck, his fingers unconsciously tightening around the railing. A closer look revealed an earpiece tucked into his ear.
Lin Zhou stood quietly behind him.
Through the earpiece, two voices could be heard speaking in low tones.
“Zhou Suisui really isn’t easy to deal with. She spotted the flaw in the project at a glance.”
Zhang Qiming’s gloomy voice drifted through. “But it doesn’t matter. I’ve buried another trap in the contract. As long as she dares to sign it, the Zhou family will be finished.”
Xiang Lingxiao let out a mocking laugh. “Once the Zhou family goes bankrupt, who knows how much that little girl will cry?”
“Oh, Young Master Xiang, you’ll have to take good care of her then.”
“Of course.”
With that, Xiang Lingxiao and Zhang Qiming broke into smug laughter.
“…”
Jiang Zongyan’s fingers curled into a tight fist, and a cold, cutting smile curved his thin lips.
Hah. That toad was still harboring designs on Zhou Suisui.
Want to get his hands on Zhou Suisui? Since when had it been his turn?
Lin Zhou shuddered behind him.
It seemed someone was about to suffer.
Whenever the president wore that expression, someone was bound to pay the price.
Lin Zhou asked, “Mr. Jiang, should I send the recording to the police?”
A murderous chill rose in Jiang Zongyan’s eyes. But then, as though he had thought of something, he sighed and said, “Send it to the Zhou family… Wait. Email it anonymously to Fu Jie.”
He would leave this for her to deal with.
If he alerted the enemy too soon, that little thing might pout for days.
At the thought, Jiang Zongyan rubbed his temples with a headache.
He couldn’t move forward, but he couldn’t retreat either.
What was he supposed to do with her?
If he took one step forward, he would scare her away.
If he took one step back, there was Fu Jie by her side, not to mention the lecherous Xiang Lingxiao—every one of them watching her covetously.
She used to chase after him, calling him “Brother Yan” at every turn. Her sweet voice had been so cloying, and she had loved acting spoiled and cute.
Now, whenever she saw him, she acted as though she had spotted a vicious beast and turned around to run.
Was he really that frightening?
Was it such an unreasonable request that she not touch another man’s abs?
That little brat!
Suppressing his anger, Jiang Zongyan shoved his phone into his pocket and turned to leave the yacht.
-
