However, just as Zhou Suisui picked up the clothes and got to her feet to head for the bathroom, the heavy hotel door behind her was suddenly smashed open with brute force.
“Bang!”
The deafening crash was followed by an enraged roar.
“Zhou! Suisui!!”
It all happened so suddenly that Zhou Suisui shuddered in fright, her steps faltering.
She cried out as her body pitched uncontrollably forward.
The loose bathrobe slipped from her snow-white shoulder.
Jiang Zongyan’s pupils contracted sharply.
He rose in a flash. With one long stride, he pulled her firmly into his arms, then snatched the black windbreaker beside him and wrapped it tightly around her.
Everything went dark before Zhou Suisui’s eyes. Before she could even clutch her bathrobe closed, the man’s unique scent forcefully filled her nose—a cool, woody fragrance that made her heart race.
The color drained from her face, and her heartbeat thundered.
Uneasily, she reached out and gripped the front of Jiang Zongyan’s shirt, as if doing so could give her a little more security.
She had indeed wanted her brother to misunderstand, but she had never expected things to unfold like this.
Her clothes were disheveled, and she was sprawled against Jiang Zongyan’s chest.
Through the thin layer of shirt fabric, the girl’s soft body was pressed tightly against his without the slightest gap. Her sweet, delicate fragrance kept drifting into his nose.
The fabric over his chest seemed to catch fire.
Jiang Zongyan unconsciously tilted his head back slightly, his Adam’s apple bobbing once.
“…”
Standing in the doorway, Zhou Sui’an took the entire scene in. His expression looked as if it were about to shatter.
“Jiang Zongyan!! Let go of my sister!”
“Brother…”
Zhou Suisui’s face went pale. Coming back to herself, she hurriedly tied the belt of her bathrobe and then put on Jiang Zongyan’s coat.
Zhou Sui’an watched as she fumbled to get dressed.
His hands hung limply at his sides, clenched tightly into fists.
On closer inspection, even his tall body was trembling faintly.
His handsome, refined face had turned deathly pale. A faint red tinged the corners of his beautiful, flirtatious eyes, and a thin mist clouded them.
He looked as though he had suffered a devastating blow. In an instant, the blow crushed his usually straight back.
Behind Zhou Sui’an, Lin Zhou and the hotel manager were sweating anxiously as they hurried forward to intervene.
“CEO Zhou, please calm down. Let’s talk this through. Please, calm down.”
Clearly, they had failed to stop him just now, which was why things had come to this.
At that moment, Zhou Sui’an felt as if the world were spinning around him.
His sister, who was only nineteen, was in a disheveled state, embracing Jiang Zongyan.
There were only the two of them in the room. What had they been doing just now?
In that instant, all the blood in his body rushed to his head, and his reason snapped completely.
“Jiang Zongyan, I’ll kill you!”
His remaining rationality burned to ashes.
With bloodshot eyes, Zhou Sui’an looked like a lion whose forbidden territory had been violated. He swung his fist viciously at Jiang Zongyan’s indifferent face.
He could tolerate anything in this life.
The one thing he could never tolerate was anyone touching his sister.
Jiang Zongyan’s gaze turned icy.
He had won a Muay Thai championship back in his school days, so he could have easily dodged the punch.
But if he did, there was no guarantee Zhou Suisui wouldn’t be hurt.
He shifted his body slightly, keeping the arm around Zhou Suisui steady.
He did not fight back, allowing Zhou Sui’an’s fist to graze the corner of his lips.
A faint taste of blood spread through his mouth.
Jiang Zongyan seized his wrist. He was furious now too, and he growled in a low voice, “Zhou Sui’an, have you had enough?”
“Had enough? She’s my sister, not yours, is she? If you’ve got a problem, come at me!”
Zhou Sui’an clenched his fist hard, the blood vessels in his eyes nearly bursting.
In the enormous room, the two men—equally proud, cold, and intimidating—stared each other down. Neither was willing to back down.
“So you do remember that she’s your sister?”
Jiang Zongyan suddenly gave a laugh and ran his tongue over the blood at the corner of his lips.
The faintly salty taste spread across his tongue.
He let out an almost wicked sneer and shoved Zhou Sui’an away.
“Zhou Sui’an, you spend all day with that third-rate actress, putting all your attention on her. When have you ever genuinely cared about your own sister? You don’t even know whether she’s dating someone or has a boyfriend. What kind of brother are you?!”
He could not even figure out that Jiang Zongyan was not Zhou Suisui’s boyfriend. That alone showed how little attention Zhou Sui’an usually paid to her.
He could have taken the opportunity to expose her little act.
But when he thought about it, he inexplicably softened.
Zhou Sui’an really was asking for a beating.
“…”
Those words seemed to carry an amplifier for every emotion.
Zhou Suisui’s nose suddenly stung.
Jiang Zongyan had actually chosen not to expose her!
In the few days since she had been given a second chance at life, she had forced herself to remain calm every day, planning carefully and proceeding step by step, terrified of making even one wrong move.
But this was her brother.
The most important person in her entire life.
She cared about him more than anything. She was afraid she wouldn’t be able to help him or change his tragic fate.
Yet for some reason, when she heard Jiang Zongyan say those things, she suddenly felt like crying.
“You don’t know whether she’s dating someone! You don’t even know which man has deceived her!”
Jiang Zongyan’s mocking words were like an ice-forged blade, stabbing mercilessly into Zhou Sui’an’s heart.
“And you’re one to talk! Aren’t you the man who deceived her?”
Zhou Sui’an’s chest heaved violently. He was practically enraged beyond words.
“What kind of sarcastic nonsense are you spouting?”
Jiang Zongyan: “…”
Zhou Suisui pressed a hand to her forehead.
This was bad. The misunderstanding had only grown worse.
Before she could explain, Zhou Sui’an dropped another bombshell.
“Take responsibility for my sister!”
Responsibility?!
Zhou Suisui’s heart jolted.
Oh my God!
Responsibility for what?
“Brother, let’s go home first!”
“It was all a misunderstanding!”
“Don’t be afraid, Suisui. Your brother’s here.”
A man over six feet tall—the decisive CEO of the Zhou Group—actually had tears welling in his eyes.
Things had already reached this point, yet his sister still didn’t dare ask Jiang Zongyan to take responsibility.
Just how humble had she become?
Zhou Sui’an’s heart ached terribly for her.
A few days ago, Suisui had looked at him with a completely innocent expression and asked what that thing was.
His sister was still so young, as pure as a blank sheet of paper.
She had not even seen contraceptives before.
No matter how he looked at it, this was all Jiang Zongyan’s fault.
“Jiang Zongyan, are you really going to let this matter go just like that?”
Jiang Zongyan’s dark eyes settled heavily on Zhou Suisui. Then, suddenly, he laughed in exasperation.
“Zhou Suisui, do you agree with your brother? Do you want me to take responsibility?”
He had merely eaten a meal she had cooked. What responsibility was he supposed to take?
“No, no, no! Forget it!”
Zhou Suisui waved her hands frantically, her scalp prickling.
Worried that her brother might say something even more shocking, she quickly walked over and took Zhou Sui’an’s hand.
“Brother, let’s go home first. We can talk about everything once we’re back.”
“No. He has to give you an explanation today.”
If his sister truly liked him, Zhou Sui’an would force Jiang Zongyan to take responsibility, even if it meant making the entire Zhou Group part of her dowry.
He could afford it.
“…”
Zhou Suisui had a pounding headache.
She did not dare look at Jiang Zongyan’s expression as she forcibly pulled Zhou Sui’an toward the door.
“We’ll talk when we get home. I’ll tell you everything you want to know.”
At the entrance, the hotel manager and Lin Zhou, along with the twin brothers on the rooftop across the way, all watched the spectacle with wide eyes.
If the two of them kept this up, they could both make the headlines in Tangcheng’s financial and entertainment sections tomorrow.
