“I’m not in a hurry. I’ll walk you to the door.”
With those skinny little arms and legs of hers, it would be a struggle for her to walk there on her own.
Zhou Suisui’s hand paused on the door handle. She turned to look at him.
After a long moment, she curled her lips into a meaningful smile and drawled, “It’s not that I’m worried about troubling you. Mainly…I’m afraid my brother will beat you up.”
Jiang Zongyan froze for a second.
When he realized what she meant, his handsome face instantly turned as dark as coal. Gritting his teeth, he said, “I was going easy on him last time.”
If he had truly fought Zhou Sui'an, he would never have stood a chance against him.
“All right, all right. You were going easy on him. Our Young Master Jiang is the strongest.”
Zhou Suisui responded smoothly as she unfastened her seat belt and pushed open the door.
Anyone could tell she was brushing him off, soothing him as if he were a child.
Behind her, Jiang Zongyan stared at her departing figure in utter confusion.
This woman…she had actually treated him like a child?
Zhou Suisui suddenly turned around and gave him a crooked smile. “Chinese, Western, French—I’ll treat you to every kind of food.”
“…”
Jiang Zongyan’s heartbeat stuttered.
“Thank you for driving me home, Brother Yan. Bye-bye.”
Zhou Suisui closed the car door and hurried toward the Zhou residence.
The dusk had already faded away. The dim yellow glow of the streetlamps blurred into a hazy shimmer across the car window.
The girl’s thick hair was gently lifted by the evening breeze, sending little ripples swirling along her slender waist.
Her back was straight, and her steps were light and lively.
“…”
Jiang Zongyan suddenly smiled, his expression carrying a touch of helplessness—and an indulgence he himself hadn’t even noticed.
He didn’t start the car and leave right away.
Instead, he lowered the window and let the cold wind rush in.
It was as though the sweet fragrance of the young girl still lingered in the car.
Through the rearview mirror, he watched her figure grow farther and farther away. Then he pulled the cigarette from his pocket again and lit it.
Smoke slowly curled upward, blurring his cold, chiseled features.
His dark eyes remained fixed on the bouncing figure in the rearview mirror.
His gaze was heavy.
It carried a possessiveness he himself had yet to recognize.
—
“Where did you go today?”
The moment she stepped into the villa, Zhou Sui'an sat coldly on the sofa, looking as though he intended to settle accounts with her.
Zhou Suisui raised her head and met her brother’s stern, icy face.
“Brother, I went to the hospital today.”
“The hospital?”
At those words, Zhou Sui'an immediately grew tense.
“Why did you go to the hospital? Are you feeling unwell somewhere? If you don’t feel well, you have to tell me! Why did you go to the hospital alone?”
Before Zhou Suisui could say anything, Zhou Sui'an rattled off a whole string of questions.
He had clearly been furious only moments ago.
He had assumed she’d gone off somewhere with that Jiang Zongyan fellow again, fooling around. He’d even decided that once she came home, he was going to give her a beating.
But the instant he heard that she had gone to the hospital, all that remained was worry and heartache.
“Brother, I’m not sick. Aunt Jiang is.”
“What happened to her?”
At the mention of Mrs. Jiang falling ill, Zhou Sui'an’s brows immediately drew together. “Is it serious?”
Mrs. Jiang had been a close friend of their mother’s. After their mother passed away, Aunt Jiang had cared for them like a mother.
Naturally, he was extremely worried to hear that she was ill.
Zhou Suisui answered honestly, “They found a small cyst on one of her lung lobes. She’s having surgery to remove it tomorrow.”
“She needs surgery?”
Then it really was fairly serious.
Zhou Sui'an had originally been full of questions for his sister, but now he no longer had the heart to interrogate her.
“I’ll go to the hospital with you tomorrow to see her.”
Zhou Suisui nodded. “Okay.”
Seeing how tired she looked, Zhou Sui'an’s heart ached.
“Go upstairs and get some rest. Don’t worry too much. Aunt Jiang is a good person—she’ll be fine.”
“You should get some rest too, Brother.”
After saying that, Zhou Suisui secretly let out a sigh of relief.
That had been close.
Fortunately, she had thought ahead.
Otherwise, the Zhou residence would have descended into another fierce battle by now.
Behind her, Zhou Sui'an watched her retreating figure, the more he thought about it, the more something felt wrong.
Then it suddenly hit him.
Wait.
Mrs. Jiang was sick and in the hospital. There was no way Jiang Zongyan wasn’t there.
In other words, Suisui and that Jiang Zongyan fellow had spent the entire afternoon alone together at the hospital again?
At that thought, Zhou Sui'an felt as though the sky had collapsed all over again.
He remembered that he had just withdrawn his orders for A-Biao and A-Ling to keep watch over her, and realized he had been completely played.
No wonder his sister had sounded so gentle and spoken so sweetly back then. So that was what she’d been waiting for!
—
Second floor, the princess bedroom.
The first thing Zhou Suisui did was take a bath, washing away the smell of disinfectant from her body. After changing into a clean cotton pajama set, she finally felt alive again.
Because of what had happened in her previous life, she had always disliked hospitals.
After her brother had been forced to jump from a building, his body had been taken to the hospital.
Afterward, the people there had called her to come and identify him…
Zhou Suisui patted her head, forcibly banishing the unpleasant scene from her mind.
Her brother was still here, healthy and full of life, with boundless energy every day to spar with her in their endless battle of wits.
That was enough!
The terrible previous life could be treated as nothing more than a terrible dream.
Once she woke from it, everything ahead was a future filled with hope.
Remembering that she still had some of the materials left to read, Zhou Suisui took them from her bag.
After an exhausting day, she kept reading until the black words on the white paper gradually blurred into a hazy point before her eyes.
With her head resting on the pillow, Zhou Suisui drifted into sleep.
The next morning.
Zhou Suisui suddenly jolted awake.
The instant she opened her eyes, a numb, stinging sensation spread across her cheek.
Ow.
What was going on?
Had someone slapped her in her dreams during the night?
Once she focused, she discovered that the open booklet was lying conspicuously on her pillow.
She must have fallen asleep while reading it last night.
Her delicate skin had been pressed against the rough pages all night.
She rubbed her reddened cheek and was just about to throw off the covers when the corner of her eye caught sight of the portrait in the booklet—and the glistening puddle of drool smeared across it…
Oh my God!
She had actually fallen asleep with her head resting on the page featuring Jiang Zongyan, and drooled all over his portrait!
Her cheeks felt as though they had been set on fire, burning fiercely.
With a loud snap, she slammed the booklet shut.
They were going to the hospital today.
One of her cheeks was slightly swollen and looked terrible.
Girls cared about their appearance, so Zhou Suisui carefully applied a natural-looking makeup.
Zhou Sui'an had been waiting for her downstairs for quite some time.
When he saw his sister walking down from the second floor, the young girl’s brows were lightly swept, her beauty pure and elegant.
A flash of amazement crossed Zhou Sui'an’s eyes, and the corners of his lips rose proudly.
His sister really was beautiful. Even a little makeup made her look breathtaking.
Wait—a little makeup?
Why had she put on makeup?
The proud curve of his lips stiffened in an instant.
She had dressed up so carefully because she was going to see Jiang Zongyan later, wasn’t she?
“Brother?”
Zhou Suisui looked up and met her brother’s deeply aggrieved expression, slightly startled.
