Su Wan had never taken Zhou Suisui seriously. In her eyes, Zhou Suisui was nothing more than a canary that had been well protected—someone who knew nothing about the ways of the world.
But now, it seemed that was not the case at all.
A powerful sense of unease swept over her in an instant.
Faced with Zhou Suisui’s blatant provocation, she could not even find a reason to argue back.
“Zhou Suisui, do you really have to be so aggressive?” Su Wan’s eyes brimmed with tears. This time, she was genuinely crying.
Zhou Suisui raised an eyebrow without a trace of emotion. There was even clear disdain in her eyes.
“Su Wan, you’re supposed to be the female lead. You can’t be this sensitive. And you certainly shouldn’t be crying like this, or your fans will be disappointed in you.”
“You! How can you be so heartless?”
Su Wan’s tears were abruptly trapped in her eyes.
If she continued, she would only humiliate herself further.
Furiously wiping away her tears, Su Wan shot her a venomous look. “Zhou Suisui, don’t get too pleased with yourself. When Sui'an comes back, he’ll stand up for me.”
“Then I’ll be waiting.”
Su Wan stormed out of the room.
She nearly collided with Fu Jie, who was hurrying over.
“Miss… Assistant Zhou, are you all right?”
Hearing this, Zhou Suisui looked up.
Fu Jie had rushed over with an anxious expression and was looking her over worriedly. Only when their eyes met did he seem to realize how awkward he looked.
“I heard that Su Wan came to the company to see you.”
It was the first time Zhou Suisui had seen Fu Jie looking so flustered. She teased him, “Were you worried I’d suffer at her hands?”
The tips of Fu Jie’s ears turned red, and he nodded.
Zhou Suisui smiled. “Maybe… I wasn’t her match before, but now… that won’t happen again.”
Fu Jie finally let out a sigh of relief.
—
At the same time.
At the towering headquarters of the Jiang Corporation, which seemed to reach into the clouds.
The assistant pushed open the door and entered. Standing ramrod straight before Jiang Zongyan, he held a thick stack of documents in his hands, a knowing look in his eyes.
“Mr. Jiang, these are the documents you asked me to collect regarding Wang Zhengfei’s embezzlement of company funds and gambling.”
After a pause, he added, “Only, it seems… we may not need this evidence anymore.”
“Hmm?”
At that, Jiang Zongyan stopped signing and looked up at his assistant.
The man’s expression was stern and imposing.
The assistant hurriedly explained, “Mr. Jiang, Miss Zhou went to the company for her internship today. She joined forces with Fu Jie from the finance department, fired Wang Zhengfei directly, and even had him sent to the police station.”
“You’re saying Zhou Suisui had Wang Zhengfei sent to the police station?”
Jiang Zongyan set down his pen, a flicker of interest appearing between his brows.
Zhou Sui'an was indecisive. If there was something that needed to be dealt with immediately, he could never handle it at once. Yet this young girl actually had the nerve to act so decisively!
“I just asked around at the Zhou Corporation. They said that Miss Zhou is now the president’s special assistant, with the authority to exercise the president’s powers directly. They also said she’s been quite the force to be reckoned with—she found an excuse and took Wang Zhengfei down on the spot.”
Quite the force to be reckoned with?
Jiang Zongyan froze for a moment.
As if remembering something, he curved his lips into a meaningful smile.
When that little one got all fierce, she probably looked like a bristling little fox, didn’t she?
But still… after pushing things this far, wasn’t she afraid of revenge from a desperate criminal?
The assistant couldn’t resist indulging in some gossip. “Mr. Jiang, CEO Zhou has gone abroad these past few days to attend an industry summit. He’s been so infatuated with Su Wan lately. What do you think his reaction will be when he gets home and finds out that Miss Zhou fired Su Wan’s cousin and even had him sent to the police station?”
Thinking of Zhou Suisui’s mischievous, clever eyes, Jiang Zongyan replied meaningfully, “That’s his problem.”
During their last few encounters, Zhou Sui’an had been played around by his little sister until he was completely at her mercy.
This time, the fact that she had dealt with Wang Zhengfei so decisively meant she had probably prepared a backup plan.
Suddenly, he let out a cold snort. “Zhou Sui’an really does deserve a lesson.”
The assistant froze. “Mr. Jiang, you really think that highly of Miss Zhou? She’s only in her teens—a junior in college.”
After all, there were very few people who had ever earned Mr. Jiang’s approval.
What exactly was so special about this Miss Zhou?
Jiang Zongyan had no intention of satisfying the assistant’s curiosity. He merely instructed, “You don’t need to follow up on this for now. Continue having people monitor the Zhou Group’s movements and report to me immediately if anything comes up.”
“Yes, sir.”
The assistant was about to leave when Jiang Zongyan called him back.
“Wait. Where is Zhou Suisui now?”
The assistant raised his eyes, looking at the man behind the desk in surprise. “Mr. Jiang, Miss Zhou just drove away from the company. She went home.”
A flicker of surprise crossed Jiang Zongyan’s eyes. “She went straight home? She didn’t go meet anyone?”
“No.”
The assistant found it rather strange. “Miss Zhou leads a very simple life. She practically goes back and forth between three places.”
“I see. Go get back to work.”
“All right.”
The moment he closed the door, he stopped and glanced suspiciously at the closed door behind him.
Had the CEO smiled just now when he mentioned Miss Zhou?
And not just once, either.
Inside the office.
Jiang Zongyan replayed the assistant’s words in his mind, his long fingers tapping lightly against the desk.
She hadn’t gone to meet anyone?
Her brother had gone abroad. Wasn’t that the perfect opportunity for her?
She could have gone to see that “secret” boyfriend of hers.
Why had she become even less anxious once her brother left?
His gaze suddenly turned cold.
Zhou Suisui, what kind of secret are you hiding in your heart?
—
The detention notice from the police station was soon delivered to the Wang family.
Wang Jianguo was so furious that he nearly suffered a heart attack.
His wife, Zhang Meilian, bombarded Su Wan’s phone with calls, cursing her as a disaster and a jinx, and berating her for not even being able to save her own cousin.
“Su Wan, I was the one who helped you latch on to Zhou Sui’an in the first place. Now that your cousin’s in trouble, you want to wash your hands of it? Let me tell you this: if Zhengfei doesn’t get out, we’ll all go down together.”
Su Wan’s face turned livid with rage. “What good will threatening me do? Go ahead and report me, then! You’ve been fired too. We’ll all be living on air from now on!”
“Su Wan, your wings have grown, haven’t they? How dare you speak to your uncle like that?”
“I’ll handle this matter. But if you keep forcing me, none of us will survive.”
After hanging up, Su Wan immediately called Wang Zhen.
“Sister Wang, there’s something I need your help with—”
Before she could finish, a torrent of furious abuse came roaring through the phone.
“Su Wan, you idiot! What did I tell you this morning? You had to placate Zhou Sui'an—make absolutely sure you placated Zhou Sui'an! And now look what happened. The Zhou Corporation is suing our company.”
“What? Sister Wang, what are you talking about? What do you mean, they’re suing us?”
“The Zhou Corporation is suing our company—and me!”
Wang Zhen pinched the bridge of her nose, her head throbbing. “Call Zhou Sui'an immediately. I don’t care what you have to do—make him withdraw the lawsuit at once.”
“But he won’t answer my calls.”
Only then did Su Wan realize how serious the situation was. She asked anxiously, “Sister Wang, what are we supposed to do now?”
Wang Zhen snapped, “Pretend you’re sick.”
“Pretend I’m sick?”
“That’s right! Pretend you’re sick!”
After hanging up, Su Wan gripped her phone, her eyes filled with venom.
“Zhou Suisui, I’ll make you pay a hundred times over for humiliating me today!”
Once she had vented her anger, she turned around and weakly lay down on the bed before taking a picture of herself for the camera.
She sent the photo to Wang Zhen.
Wang Zhen immediately forwarded it to Zhou Sui'an.
【CEO Zhou, Wanwan is sick. Where are you?】
【She’s this ill, and she still won’t let me tell you. Where’s your conscience? You won’t even answer her calls.】
Far across the ocean, Zhou Sui'an finally landed in New York after more than ten hours of travel.
The moment he turned on his phone and saw the picture Wang Zhen had sent, his expression changed.
He hurriedly called Su Wan on video.
“Cough, cough…”
Su Wan lay weakly on the bed, her cheeks and lips deathly pale. “Sui'an…”
Before she could say anything else, she was already sobbing uncontrollably.
“Wanwan, what happened to you?”
“Sui'an… I’m… so scared being here alone. Could you come stay with me?”
They say people are at their most vulnerable when they’re sick.
Zhou Sui'an had always been hopelessly devoted to her. Seeing her in such a state, he wished he could fly back immediately and stay by her side.
“I’ll be back in three days. I’ll call Wang Zhen and have her take you to the hospital right away.”
Zhou Sui'an looked extremely worried.
Su Wan hurriedly stopped him. “No… don’t… I don’t want to trouble her… I’m fine, Sui'an… Cough, cough… I just got too worked up…”
“What happened?”
“Suisui had a bit of a disagreement with my cousin. She misunderstood and thought he was harassing an intern, so she fired him and had him taken to the police station. She even sued the company.”
The fact that both incidents had happened one right after the other nearly made Su Wan faint with rage.
Zhou Suisui was truly heartless.
“…”
Zhou Sui'an froze, disbelief flashing through his eyes.
“You’re saying… Suisui fired Wang Zhengfei? That doesn’t sound like her. Suisui… wouldn’t fire an employee without a reason.”
As for the lawsuit against the company, Suisui had already discussed it with him before she left.
Zhou Sui'an instinctively defended his younger sister.
She wasn’t someone who couldn’t tell right from wrong.
Su Wan was momentarily at a loss. Her fingers tightened around the bedsheet.
What was wrong with Zhou Sui'an?
Whenever Zhou Suisui was involved, he always took her side.
With red-rimmed eyes, Su Wan said aggrievedly, “Sui'an, could you ask her to let me off? I know she’s targeting my cousin because she doesn’t like me. I… if she doesn’t approve of us being together, I just won’t see you anymore…”
As expected of an actress—the tears streaming down her face made her look as pitiful as could be.
Yet Zhou Sui'an said, “Suisui never objected to us. She even wanted to help you get revenge!”
“……” Su Wan was left speechless.
Softening his tone, Zhou Sui'an said, “Wanwan, Suisui did this for your own good. The relatives around you do nothing but smear your reputation, and your agency is nothing more than a crooked middleman. Next time, I’ll buy you an entertainment company and poach a top-tier agent for you.”
Zhou Sui'an wore a smug expression.
He had thought everything through so carefully. Su Wan had to be touched, right?
He was willing to spend a fortune just to make her smile.
Little did he know that, upon hearing this, Su Wan was so furious she nearly fainted.
How dare he call their company a crooked middleman?
“Don’t interfere in this matter. The Zhou Group is suing your company. Since your company is in the wrong, Wang Zhen will naturally have to compensate Tianyu for the breach-of-contract damages.”
“……”
Su Wan couldn’t even cry anymore.
She had originally thought that getting her cousin out would be as simple as Zhou Sui'an saying the word.
She never expected Zhou Sui'an to take Zhou Suisui’s side. From the way he spoke, it was clear he had known about everything from the beginning.
Wait—she suddenly remembered what her cousin had said.
He had said that Zhou Sui'an and Zhou Suisui had joined forces to set him up……
If that was true, she couldn’t even imagine the consequences.
After hanging up, a trace of worry flashed between Zhou Sui'an’s brows. He immediately made another call.
His little sister couldn’t have been bullied on her very first day at work, could she?
