“Stop talking. Eat first, then give me your review.”
Zhou Suisui was already impatient to dig in. Cradling the bowl in both hands, she ate with crescent-shaped eyes and puffed-out cheeks, looking like a happy little hamster.
Jiang Zongyan sat down in the chair across from her, his gaze settling on her.
The hard lines of his brows and eyes softened without him realizing it, and even the corners of his lips curved into a smile he himself had not noticed.
Seeing that her mouth was smeared with oil, he handed her a clean tissue and dabbed at the corner of her lips.
“You eat like a mess.”
“…”
Zhou Suisui froze. Two adorable patches of red bloomed across her fair cheeks as she took the tissue from him.
“Th-thank you.”
Jiang Zongyan held his chopsticks, his expression serious. “Zhou Suisui, we need to talk.”
“About what?”
“Tell me—whose blame are you trying to make me take?”
Zhou Suisui went still. Her guilty eyes darted everywhere. “I… I’m not making you take anyone’s blame. I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
Her fingers tightened around the chopsticks until her knuckles turned faintly white. Her heart began to race, though she stubbornly maintained an outward calm.
At that, Jiang Zongyan turned his head and glanced out the window.
From where he sat, he could see A-Biao and A-Ling across the way, perched behind a telescope.
The meaning was obvious.
He knew what she was doing.
What was she trying to hide?
Had she started dating at such a young age, but her brother refused to let her? So she had found someone else to divert her brother’s anger?
“You’re deceiving your brother!”
That was the most likely explanation Jiang Zongyan had come up with over the past two days.
He could actually understand it. If Jiang Ruitian found some unreliable man online and started a virtual relationship with him, he would want to find that man too and beat him up badly.
If he did not even dare acknowledge himself as her “boyfriend,” what kind of boyfriend was he?
Zhou Suisui’s face went pale with fright.
This sly old fox was impossible to fool.
What was she supposed to do?
What if Jiang Zongyan found out the truth and reported everything to her brother?
Then all the effort she had put in over the past few days would be wasted.
She had thought she was putting on a flawless act, but she had not realized that every trace of her panic had fallen into the man’s eyes.
Jiang Zongyan asked, “You’re in an online relationship?”
Though he phrased it as a question, his tone was one of certainty.
“Huh?”
An online relationship?
Zhou Suisui was completely stunned.
Her brother’s imagination was already wild enough. How had Jiang Zongyan’s imagination somehow become even wilder?
How had she ended up with yet another label? At this rate, she was collecting hats faster than she could take them off!
She finally understood the line she had read in her textbook as a child: Once a person tells one lie, they have to use countless more lies to cover it up.
“Ah, that… There’s nothing like that. My standards for a partner aren’t that low.”
“Zhou Suisui, you really are dating someone? You’re only nineteen, and you’re still a junior in college.”
Jiang Zongyan’s impression of Zhou Suisui was still that of the fifteen- or sixteen-year-old girl who used to hide whenever she saw him.
She had spent all her time with Jiang Ruitian.
In his heart, she was practically his second little sister.
That was why he had indulged her willful temper time and time again.
“Nineteen is old enough to be an adult, isn’t it? Our principal just came back from the United States, and he said at the university-wide assembly that college students can date. It’s part of young people’s journey toward discovering themselves. Don’t be like my brother, acting like some old-fashioned scholar.”
“You actually think you have a point?”
Jiang Zongyan rubbed the bridge of his nose, looking exasperated. Then he threatened her coldly, “I’ll let it go this time. But if you do this again, I’ll tell your brother. Put those little schemes of yours away and focus on your studies.”
Zhou Suisui choked on her words and resentfully stuffed another mouthful of meat into her mouth.
“Got it.”
Only then did Jiang Zongyan relax.
Zhou Suisui quickly picked up a slice of meat and placed it in his bowl, taking the opportunity to curry favor with him. “Brother Yan, hurry up and eat!”
Jiang Zongyan picked up the slice and put it into his mouth.
The meat was tender and free of any unpleasant smell, its rich flavor spreading across his tongue.
“Pretty good, right?”
“Mm.”
It was rare for Jiang Zongyan to approve of something she had done. Zhou Suisui’s nose nearly turned up toward the ceiling.
“I really am a genius. There’s nothing I can’t do.”
“…”
Her words seemed to remind Jiang Zongyan of something. He said in a low voice, “Try to be more discreet, especially at work. Don’t let people set their sights on you. Bad people have no bottom line.”
Zhou Suisui immediately understood what he was referring to.
She was a little surprised that he knew what had happened at the Zhou Corporation.
But then she thought about it. The Jiang and Zhou corporations worked closely together, and it was common for their employees to interact. It was only natural that he had heard about it.
She raised her brows indifferently, her tone calm. “They’re nothing more than a few petty villains. My body can die at any time, but if they want my soul to submit to them, they’ll probably have to wait until my next life.”
“…”
A sudden pang of grief flashed through Jiang Zongyan’s heart, vanishing so quickly that it was almost impossible to catch.
Was that really something a nineteen-year-old girl should be saying?
Just how had Zhou Sui’an been taking care of his little sister?
She had matured far too early. It was heartbreaking.
After eating her fill, Zhou Suisui rubbed her round belly and let out a satisfied sigh.
“Well, I’ve eaten. Since Mr. Jiang doesn’t welcome me, I’ll be leaving now. I won’t disturb your rest.”
When she needed him, he was “Brother Yan.” Now that she was done using him, he had become “Mr. Jiang.”
Jiang Zongyan was both amused and irritated.
From beginning to end, this girl had treated him as nothing more than a shield. Now that she had gotten what she wanted, she intended to pat herself down and walk away.
Seeing her about to stand, he reached out and pressed down on her shoulder. With a little force, he pushed her back into her seat.
“Wait.”
“Hmm?”
Zhou Suisui blinked at him in confusion.
He stood and walked back to the cabinet by the door. From inside, he took out a miniature first-aid kit.
“Put some medicine on it first. The wound will get infected.”
Zhou Suisui froze.
Just moments ago, he had joked that the wound would have healed if she had waited any longer. Yet now he had turned around and brought her a first-aid kit.
He was always so rigid and matter-of-fact. Even when he was showing concern, he still looked as though he were in a bad mood.
Her eyes rolled mischievously. Instead of taking the first-aid kit, she reached out, grabbed his sleeve, and gave it a little tug.
Her voice softened like melting cotton candy, thick with coquettish pleading.
“Brother Yan~ My hand hurts. I’m too full to move, and I can’t see the wound myself. Could you put the medicine on for me~?”
She sat in the dark European leather chair, looking up at him with shining eyes.
The oversized bathrobe hung loosely around her, its black fabric revealing glimpses of her fair skin and delicate figure.
At nineteen, she was at the brightest, freshest age of her life.
Like a rose covered in morning dew, she was vivid, delicate, and dazzlingly beautiful.
Jiang Zongyan’s Adam’s apple bobbed unconsciously, and his eyes darkened in an instant.
He wanted to refuse, but when he met her glistening eyes, the words died on his lips and became nothing more than a helpless sigh.
“Sit still.”
He set down the first-aid kit and knelt on one knee in front of her. Lowering his head, he took a cotton swab between his distinct, bony fingers and dipped it in povidone-iodine. His hand paused, and he looked up at her.
“It’ll sting a little. Bear with it.”
“Then be gentle.”
Zhou Suisui had been afraid of pain since she was little. She actually wanted to refuse, but running away now would make her look like a coward. Besides, she was the one who had claimed to be an injured person.
Unexpectedly, the cotton swab brushed over the wound with such care that it did not hurt at all…
Well, it still hurt a little, but it was within the range she could endure.
Zhou Suisui lowered her eyes and watched him.
The man had thick, long lashes, a high, straight nose, and a sharply defined jawline that looked as though it had been carved with a knife. Even while applying ointment, he kept his noble, aloof expression, looking as solemn and serious as if he were presiding over an international business meeting.
The longer Zhou Suisui looked at him, the more perplexed she became.
She was, after all, the campus belle elected by popular vote at A University. There were more than enough people pursuing her to count on both hands, so how was it that she seemed to have no appeal at all in front of him?
A mischievous idea instantly sprang to mind.
Her eyes shifted, and she deliberately raised her injured leg. Her pearly white toes, still damp from her recent bath, lightly kicked him in the chest.
“Ouch!”
She knitted her delicate brows and cried out dramatically, “It hurts! It hurts so much… Brother Yan, be gentler…”
“…”
The coquettish voice instantly made Jiang Zongyan’s body tense.
A cascade of speechless black lines seemed to fall over him.
He abruptly released her ankle and stood up.
His handsome face was as dark as the bottom of a pot, and even the veins at his temples seemed to twitch faintly.
“W-what’s wrong?” Zhou Suisui was startled by his sudden movement.
Jiang Zongyan glared at the mischievous girl in front of him and forced the words out through clenched teeth, his voice hoarse with restraint.
“Shut up. If you make one more sound, I’ll throw you out right now.”
“…”
Zhou Suisui immediately closed her mouth and raised a hand, miming zipping it shut.
“Apply the ointment to the burn on the back of your hand yourself,” Jiang Zongyan snapped irritably.
Huh?
At his words, Zhou Suisui lowered her head and looked at the blister on the back of her hand.
Earlier, while learning to cook from the chef, a few drops of scalding oil had accidentally splattered onto it.
Her skin was naturally delicate, so the red marks stood out clearly.
She herself hadn’t paid much attention, but Jiang Zongyan had noticed.
At the thought, a warm feeling spread through her chest.
For all his bad temper, he was actually quite attentive.
Just then, her phone vibrated again.
Zhou Suisui tapped it open and quickly glanced at the message.
Assistant Wen had sent her another text:
“Miss, CEO Zhou is already upstairs.”
Oh no!
The smile in Zhou Suisui’s eyes vanished instantly. Her expression changed, and she hurriedly got to her feet.
“Brother Yan, I have to go. Bye!”
