CTS 31

Shen Mo was startled and immediately stood up from his seat.

He remembered Ji Mingxuan mentioning several times that Ji An’an had always been in poor health. If anything felt off, she had to be taken to the hospital right away. Ji An’an always seemed cheerful and didn’t look like someone frail, but her complexion was indeed paler than most.

Worried, Shen Mo made his way toward the elevator in the lobby while dialing her number.

But no one answered.

As he pressed the elevator button, watching the red numbers flicker on the display, he suddenly felt something was off. Ji An’an had gone into the private suite with Madam Zhou. If she really felt unwell, wouldn’t the Zhou family take care of her? Why would she call for him so urgently? Even if she saw him as someone she could rely on, a direct phone call would have been enough. Why send a text?

His eyelid twitched. Everything about this felt strange. But once the elevator arrived, he stepped inside and called Ji Mingxuan.

Ji Mingxuan genuinely adored his sister. As soon as he heard what happened, he said, “I’ll be there right away.”

It would take at least thirty minutes to get from the company to here. After thinking for a second, he added, “An’an is with the Zhou family. She should be fine. I’m just worried about her health. If anything seems wrong, call an ambulance.”

Shen Mo was surprised. Was Ji An’an’s condition really that serious? Or was Ji Mingxuan just panicking because he cared too much?

Still, he replied, “Okay. I’ll speak to Miss Ji first.”

Right after he hung up, the elevator arrived on the sixth floor.

Whether or not that message had really come from Ji An’an, something was clearly going on. He headed straight to Room 6018. Knowing that Ji Mingxuan was on his way gave him some confidence. Whatever tricks or schemes might be involved, he’d go check it out first.

When he reached the door of Room 6018, he saw it was slightly ajar. There were faint sounds coming from inside.

“An’an?”

He called out softly and pushed the door open.

It was a two-bedroom suite. The living area was empty, but from the bedroom, a shirtless man emerged, grumbling, “What took you so long just to grab some clothes?”

The moment Shen Mo saw him, both of them froze.

“Shen Mo?” Zhou Yang was the first to recover and asked, “What are you doing here?”

Shen Mo didn’t answer him. Instead, he asked, “Where’s Miss Ji?”

“An’an? She’s downstairs having tea with my mom.”

Shen Mo let out a breath of relief. Knowing this wasn’t the place to linger, he turned around to leave.

But just then, he heard a loud bang behind him. It was the sound of the door slamming shut.

He rushed over to open it, but no matter how hard he tried, the door wouldn’t budge. It seemed someone had tampered with it.

“What’s going on?”

Zhou Yang came over and tried the door too, but of course, it was no use. After a brief moment of thought, his expression darkened. “That bastard Zhou Chu!”

Shen Mo asked, “Your brother set this up?”

“He spilled coffee on me on purpose, then booked this room so I could change.” Zhou Yang glanced at Shen Mo. “What about you?”

“He used Miss Ji’s phone to text me.”

“What a coincidence. You and An’an are at this hotel too?”

“Miss Ji really likes one of the desserts here. We’ve been coming by a lot recently.”

Zhou Yang frowned. “Today was Zhou Chu’s idea. He suggested coming here for afternoon tea.”

So it wasn’t a coincidence. It was all planned.

Shen Mo immediately thought of the car show that day, how Zhou Chu had leaned against the wall smoking. “Your brother probably already knows about our past.”

Zhou Yang’s expression shifted.

Shen Mo found it a little amusing. “What are you afraid of? Is he going to out us? Besides, there’s nothing between us anymore.”

Zhou Yang was left speechless.

But Zhou Chu had gone through a lot of trouble to trap them here together. He clearly had something bigger in mind. Shen Mo didn’t want to waste time. He called the hotel front desk, asking them to send someone up to open the door. Then he remembered Ji Mingxuan was still on his way and quickly called him too.

“Hello, Mr. Ji—”

He had just spoken a few words when his phone was suddenly snatched from his hand. Zhou Yang glanced at the screen, saw who was calling, and threw the phone across the room.

Shen Mo’s phone wasn’t very sturdy. The moment it hit the ground, it powered off. Shocked, Shen Mo asked, “What the hell is wrong with you?”

He reached down to pick up the phone, but Zhou Yang yanked him back.

“You think Ji Mingxuan is a good person?” Zhou Yang grabbed Shen Mo’s arm and said, “He’s no different from Zhou Chu. They’ll do whatever it takes to get what they want.”

A chill crept up Shen Mo’s spine. “What are you talking about?”

“I’ve already looked into what happened back then. It was my fault for hiding the truth about going overseas with An’an. But do you know what Ji Mingxuan did?” Zhou Yang let out a cold laugh and said, word by word, “He was the one who told my parents about us.”