Zhou Sui'an stood there without moving.
His eyes were still bloodshot as he glared at Jiang Zongyan through clenched teeth.
“Jiang Zongyan, are you going to say something or not?”
Zhou Suisui was at her wit’s end. She stamped her foot. “Are you coming back or not?”
“Don’t worry, Suisui. As long as you like him, he has to take responsibility today—”
“If you’re not coming, I’m leaving!”
Pretending to be angry, Zhou Suisui let out a cold huff and turned to leave.
Sure enough, Zhou Sui'an followed after her.
“Wait for me, sis! Wait for your brother!”
Before leaving, Zhou Sui'an did not forget to turn around and glare viciously at Jiang Zongyan one more time.
The door closed again.
Once the commotion had died down, the enormous presidential suite finally returned to its dead silence.
Lin Zhou looked at Jiang Zongyan’s hard, cold jaw. Seeing the faint swelling across his pale skin, he stepped forward with concern.
“Mr. Jiang, I’ll take you to the hospital to have that treated.”
“No need.”
Jiang Zongyan’s dark eyes were heavy with gloom. Casually, he pressed the tip of his tongue against the corner of his lips.
He walked over to the floor-to-ceiling windows and watched the red Ferrari below disappear into the endless stream of traffic.
The girl’s soft touch seemed to linger in his arms.
The sweet scent of her still clung to the tip of his nose.
He could not shake it.
He had lived for twenty-seven years.
He had always been calm and self-controlled, and had never taken any woman to heart.
Yet just now, he had actually been teased into getting aroused by a young, inexperienced girl...
But this little liar had tossed him aside the moment she was done using him.
Before leaving, she had not even given him a proper explanation.
The more he thought about it, the stronger that inexplicable anger inside him grew.
Mixed in with it was an emotion even he could not describe.
The corner of his lips curved into a faint smile. He turned around and looked at Lin Zhou.
“Go investigate something for me immediately.”
“What would you like me to look into, Mr. Jiang?”
“Find out exactly who Zhou Suisui is dating.”
A dark glint flashed through Jiang Zongyan’s cold eyes.
He had truly had enough!
He did not want to keep taking the blame for this for even one more second.
Once he found that good-for-nothing, he would beat him up himself, even if Zhou Sui'an did not do it first.
What kind of boyfriend hid behind his own woman and made her deal with her family all by herself?
What was Zhou Suisui thinking?
She actually liked a man like that?
At those words, Lin Zhou froze.
Wasn’t the CEO dating Miss Zhou?
The two of them had just been holding each other so intimately. Why was he asking him to investigate anything?
“Hmm?”
Jiang Zongyan lowered his gaze and swept him a cold look.
Lin Zhou immediately straightened his back and nodded hurriedly. “Yes, sir. I’ll take care of it right away!”
Although he did not understand why Mr. Jiang wanted him to investigate Zhou Suisui’s boyfriend, his boss’s orders were absolute.
Never ask questions. Questions got your salary docked.
-
The red Ferrari moved smoothly through the night.
The atmosphere inside the car was so oppressive it seemed frozen solid.
Zhou Sui'an sat in the driver’s seat, his distinctively knuckled fingers resting on the steering wheel.
His gaze remained fixed straight ahead, the muscles in his shoulders taut.
A thick, murderous fury churned in his eyes. He looked as though he was forcing himself not to explode.
Zhou Suisui secretly glanced at her brother.
Then she shifted closer to the car window.
Stay as far away from her brother as possible and keep a low profile.
She truly hadn’t expected something like this to happen tonight.
All she had intended was for A-Biao and A-Ling to take a few photos or videos of her looking “ambiguous” with Jiang Zongyan and send them to her brother.
She wanted to lure him away from Su Wan’s apartment.
She was afraid ordinary scenes wouldn’t be enough to provoke him, so she had boldly suggested that Jiang Zongyan carry her to a hotel to change clothes.
She knew her brother was a very traditional man.
The mere thought of getting a hotel room was his absolute taboo.
She had been certain that once he received the message, he would come rushing over.
But she hadn’t expected him to barge straight into the room and happen to see her and Jiang Zongyan in each other’s arms, their clothes in disarray.
And so, the perfect misunderstanding was born.
The siblings remained silent the entire drive home. The car was so quiet that they could hear the wind rushing past the windows.
They didn’t speak until the car pulled into the Zhou family villa.
The two of them got out.
Zhou Suisui walked ahead while Zhou Sui’an followed behind.
Normally, the siblings had endless things to talk about. But now, they both tacitly kept their mouths shut.
They passed through the parking lot outside, went around the fountain by the entrance, and were walking past the rockery when Zhou Sui’an suddenly stopped.
Without a word, he reached over and snapped off a willow branch from the old weeping willow beside them.
The emerald-green branch had only just sprouted new leaves.
Willow branches were remarkably flexible. A strike across the skin wouldn’t damage the muscles or bones, but it could instantly leave the skin split and bleeding.
Zhou Suisui watched him do it.
Her face changed, and she darted toward the living room like a frightened rabbit.
“Bro, calm down!”
“Zhou Suisui, stop right there!”
Zhou Sui’an chased after her.
Zhou Suisui pumped her legs as hard as she could, wishing she could grow a pair of wheels of fire beneath her feet.
“If I didn’t run, would I just stand there and let you hit me? Am I stupid?”
“You’re saying you’re not stupid? If you weren’t, would you have pulled something like this tonight? If you don’t explain everything tonight, it’s going to be a matter of life and death for one of us!”
“I’ll explain! I’ll explain!”
Zhou Suisui hadn’t gotten far before Zhou Sui’an caught up with her.
With his long, one-meter legs, every step he took was worth two of hers.
When she met her brother’s murderous gaze, Zhou Suisui lost her nerve. She meekly took hold of both her ears with her hands.
Just like when she had done something wrong as a child, she stood obediently in front of him and admitted her mistake.
“I shouldn’t have gone looking for Jiang Zongyan tonight, and I definitely shouldn’t have gone to a hotel alone with a man.”
That was what she said, but inside, she wasn’t convinced in the slightest.
She pouted.
Honestly.
She hadn’t even gotten angry, so how did he have the nerve to be angry at her?
She had personally learned to cook tonight just to prepare him a meal, and ended up with blisters all over the back of her hand.
And what did he do? The moment his plane landed, he had hurried off to see Su Wan.
Her proactive confession of guilt reminded Zhou Sui’an of her childhood.
His little sister had always been mischievous. While other girls liked dolls and pink princess dresses, she liked climbing trees and playing in the mud, spending all day filthy from head to toe and showing not the slightest trace of girlishness.
Whenever he got angry, she would grab her own ears and obediently apologize to him.
Back then, he was sure to calm down and could never stay angry with her.
Before he knew it... those childhood days had vanished.
His little sister had grown up.
She had actually gone so far as to do something as heart-pounding as getting a hotel room with a man.
They stared each other down for several seconds.
In the end, Zhou Sui'an’s heart softened.
The hostility in his eyes vanished completely, leaving only exhaustion and dishevelment on his face.
The corners of his eyes were still tinged red.
At just twenty-six and in the prime of his life, the tall young man looked like an old father who had weathered years of hardship.
“Suisui, you saw Jiang Zongyan’s attitude just now… He clearly has no intention of taking responsibility.”
He had no choice but to cruelly expose the truth.
Uh…
Zhou Suisui was speechless.
All she had done was invite him over for a meal she had cooked herself. What was there to take responsibility for?
But she couldn’t tell her brother that.
Her silence only made Zhou Sui'an feel even more sorry for her.
“All right, don’t be sad.”
He tossed aside the willow switch, walked over, and ruffled the top of her head with his palm.
His little sister had gone to see Jiang Zongyan late at night—she must like him.
Perhaps it was even an unrequited crush, with her throwing herself at him despite everything.
“My sister, Zhou Sui'an’s sister, is worthy of anyone. If someone doesn’t appreciate you, then he’s the one with poor judgment.”
Not only did Zhou Sui'an refuse to hit her, he even turned around and comforted her.
At Jiang Zongyan’s age, he had already spent years making his mark in the business world. He was a cunning fox whose thoughts were difficult to read.
Suisui, on the other hand, was still a student who hadn’t even left school, as innocent as a blank sheet of paper.
Besides… Jiang Zongyan himself was a dangerous yet captivating man.
Before he realized it, his thoughts had drifted back to his school days…
