That same day.
After Xiang Lingxiao learned that Zhou Suisui had left, he immediately rushed back.
But the moment his plane landed, two men in black dragged him into a secluded corner behind the airport.
They pulled a sack over his head and beat him mercilessly.
By the time he struggled to his feet, they had already disappeared without a trace.
Furious, he called the police on the spot. Unfortunately, all the surveillance cameras in that corner of the airport happened to be under repair that day.
Xiang Lingxiao was left with a bruised and swollen face.
With no sufficient evidence, the matter ultimately went nowhere, and Second Young Master Xiang had taken a beating for nothing.
A-Biao and A-Ling were quite experienced at handling this sort of thing.
After all, ever since Zhou Suisui had come of age, every boy who wrote her love letters or secretly followed her home had been “educated” by them in exactly the same way.
Of course, that was all in the past.
Zhou Sui'an put away his phone. Seeing how listless his sister looked, he asked with concern, “You barely ate anything tonight, did you? Are you hungry?”
Zhou Suisui had originally intended to say no, but her stomach betrayed her with an indignant growl.
Zhou Sui'an smiled. “Come on. Your brother found a popular noodle shop online. Let’s go try it.”
Zhou Suisui hadn’t wanted to forgive him so quickly, but seeing the ingratiating look on his face, she suppressed the tiny bit of resentment in her heart and nodded.
The noodle shop was small, a hole-in-the-wall place tucked away in an alley.
Perhaps because it wasn’t mealtime, there weren’t many customers inside.
The shop was run by an elderly couple.
“Miss, the cilantro and scallions are over there, along with the seasonings. Help yourselves.”
“Thank you.”
Zhou Sui'an took the bowl from the old woman and added some scallions and a little vinegar to the steaming noodles.
He placed the noodles in front of Zhou Suisui and asked, “What would you like to drink?”
“Iced Coke,” Zhou Suisui answered immediately.
“…Girls shouldn’t drink too many cold things. Otherwise, you’ll have a stomachache again in a couple of days.”
Zhou Sui'an muttered under his breath, but he still went over and brought her a small bottle of Coke.
It wasn’t iced. It was room temperature.
“Here.”
“Thanks, bro.”
Zhou Suisui accepted it happily. After taking a bite of noodles, her eyes lit up.
“Not bad, right?”
“The flavor really is great. You should try it too, Bro.”
Zhou Sui'an sat across from her. Seeing how enthusiastically she was eating, he began chatting on and on about the embarrassing things she had done as a child.
“Do you remember? When you were four, you secretly drank Coke. You drank so much that you ended up hugging the toilet and vomiting all afternoon. You nearly lost half your life. You scared your brother to death.”
“And when you were seven, you insisted on climbing trees because you saw other people doing it. Then you fell and chipped one of your front teeth. You cried your eyes out, saying you’d turned into an ugly monster.”
Zhou Suisui couldn’t help laughing.
When Zhou Sui'an saw that she was finally smiling at him again, he was practically overwhelmed with relief.
His little sister was finally willing to talk to him.
The more he spoke, the more excited he became. “Suisui, do you remember how you used to follow Jiang Zongyan around all the time when you were little, calling him ‘Big Brother’? That guy was so aloof. You could call him for ages, and he’d only answer with one word—‘Mm.’”
Of course she remembered that.
Who would have thought that the cool, cocky boy from her childhood would grow into the man who now lowered his head and carefully blew on her hand?
She put down her chopsticks and said with some emotion, “Bro, actually, I don’t remember a lot of what happened when we were little.”
At that, Zhou Sui'an’s eyes dimmed briefly. In a low voice, he said, “Maybe it’s better that you don’t remember. Sometimes, forgetting isn’t a bad thing.”
For some reason, Zhou Suisui suddenly felt a dull ache in her chest, as though an invisible hand had given her heart a gentle squeeze.
Just then, the phone Zhou Sui'an had placed on the wooden table lit up, and an entertainment-news notification appeared.
He glanced at it casually, but his body stiffened.
On the screen was a beautiful, glamorous woman in a couture gown, smiling seductively at the camera.
The headline read:
[Actress Fu Ends Her Hollywood Career Plan and Will Officially Return to China Tomorrow!]
Zhou Sui'an’s brows drew tightly together.
“Bro, what is it?” Zhou Suisui asked worriedly when she saw the change in his expression.
Zhou Sui'an immediately turned off the screen. He looked up at Zhou Suisui, his tone suddenly becoming somewhat grave.
“Suisui, listen to your brother. From now on, you should stay away from Jiang Zongyan.”
After all, his white moonlight was coming back.
Although Zhou Suisui didn’t understand why her brother had suddenly said that, she obediently nodded.
She thought, I’ll explain everything to him later. For now, I can’t tell him.
Zhou Sui'an let out a sigh of relief. He picked up his chopsticks and was just about to enjoy his noodles when his phone gave a faint buzz.
His brows instantly furrowed.
It was the special ringtone he had set for Su Wan. He had been busy these past two days and hadn’t gotten around to changing it.
Zhou Suisui looked at him suspiciously.
“Who messaged you? Why aren’t you checking it?”
A flicker of guilt crossed Zhou Sui'an’s eyes. He hurriedly made up an excuse. “Just some spam ads. I get tons of them every day. They’re such a nuisance.”
“Oh.”
Zhou Suisui nodded and lowered her head to continue eating, but her eyes had completely darkened.
She gave a mocking curl of her lips.
What spam ads?
It was clearly Su Wan’s special ringtone.
Hah!
Without changing his expression, Zhou Sui'an opened the message. His face changed instantly, and he shot up from his stool.
“Suisui, something urgent has come up. I need to go back to Tang City.”
Zhou Suisui’s expression changed as well. She sprang to her feet, slamming her chopsticks onto the table.
“Go ahead. I dare you.”
Meeting his sister’s red-rimmed eyes, Zhou Sui'an felt a sudden pang of fear.
“Suisui… what’s wrong?”
“You’re going back to see Su Wan, aren’t you?”
“No…”
When he met his sister’s clear, transparent eyes, Zhou Sui'an’s gaze flickered.
Zhou Suisui stared straight at him and held out her hand. “Give me your phone.”
Zhou Sui'an frowned, gripping his phone without moving.
The siblings stood there, neither willing to back down first.
Zhou Suisui felt her entire body begin to tremble. An icy chill rose from the soles of her feet and spread through every limb.
She couldn’t understand it.
Why did her brother still want to involve himself in Su Wan’s affairs?
Even after everything that had happened…
Perhaps because she was so furious, a cramping pain suddenly began twisting in her lower abdomen.
“Sui—Suisui? What’s wrong?”
The pain grew worse and worse.
Zhou Suisui’s face turned deathly pale. She felt a warm liquid rushing uncontrollably down between her legs.
What was happening to her?
Had her brother angered her so badly that her period had come early?
That couldn’t be right!
Her period wasn’t due for another week, and it had always been extremely regular.
Every girl had experienced a similar fear to some degree—the fear that she might have some terrible, incurable disease.
All the color drained from her face, and panic surged through her.
If she really had a terminal illness and died, what would her brother do?
“Suisui, say something! Don’t scare me!”
“Good heavens!”
The shop owner suddenly cried out. “Little girl, why is there so much blood behind you?”
—
I’ll give everyone an extra update tomorrow~~
