Her Archenemy's Younger Brother Had Taken a Fancy to Her

Just then, Shao Enci's phone rang.

The sudden ringtone brought Lu Xiaoxiao back to her senses. Flustered, she raised a hand to smooth the loose strands of hair by her ear and looked at the elderly women dancing in the square beside her.

Shao Enci glanced down at the screen, his expression shifting. He put the phone to his ear and asked in a detached tone, "What is it?"

On the other end, Shao Chengke's voice was flippant, as if he were deliberately letting the barbs in his words show. "Brother, Dad's sick. Even if you're the Guanghuan Group's largest shareholder and have the upper hand over him, you still have to show some filial piety."

Shao Enci's jaw tightened. "Which hospital?" he asked coldly.

"Guangming Hospital, the VIP suite on the twenty-sixth floor."

Shao Chengke hung up. He was sitting in a black sedan not far away, and as he lowered the phone from his ear, his gaze passed through the windshield and settled on the two figures standing side by side at the edge of the square.

An inscrutable smile touched his lips. His slender fingers rested on the edge of the car window and tapped twice, and his gaze lingered on Lu Xiaoxiao's back for two seconds. "Han Ling, if I stole the girl my brother has his eye on, do you think he'd go crazy?"

A young woman sat in the driver's seat, her figure graceful and her long hair stirred by the evening breeze. She glanced in the direction he was looking, then looked away, her red lips curving mockingly. "That girl might not be interested in you."

Shao Chengke chuckled, as if he hadn't taken the remark to heart. "Then I'll give it a try."

Han Ling turned her head and looked at his face, getting straight to the point. "First, you have no inheritance rights. Second, you're not as smart as your brother. Third, you're not as handsome as him. If I were that girl, I wouldn't even bother looking at you."

The corners of Shao Chengke's mouth turned down slightly, and the amusement vanished from his eyes. "Since I'm inferior to him in every way, why is the eldest Miss Han so eager to come crawling to me?"

Han Ling's fingertips paused on the steering wheel, the rhinestones on her manicure glinting faintly beneath the streetlights. "If your brother could be bothered to pay me any attention, do you think I'd have come to you to work together?"

Shao Chengke leaned back languidly in his seat and narrowed his eyes. "It's the first time I've seen a legitimate eldest daughter lose to an illegitimate son."

Han Ling's gaze turned cold for an instant, and her fingers tightened on the steering wheel. "If anyone's to blame, it's my father for favoring sons over daughters. When it comes to ability, I'm not the least bit inferior to Han Siyu."

Shao Chengke glanced down at his watch and sighed softly. "All right, take me back to Guangming Hospital first. I don't want Shao Enci stealing the spotlight."

Han Ling fastened her seat belt and started the car, a faintly mocking smile on her lips. "Such a dutiful son."

Meanwhile, Shao Enci and Lu Xiaoxiao got into the car.

The car was quiet for two seconds, and the atmosphere grew a little charged.

Lu Xiaoxiao had thought his condition would be to take advantage of her.

On the way back, she looked down at her fingers, feeling a trace of anticipation she couldn't quite explain.

But Shao Enci simply fastened his seat belt, gripped the steering wheel, and released the brake, letting the car glide into the night.

She paused, then sat up straight and placed her hands on her knees.

Shao Enci caught sight of her posture out of the corner of his eye, and a faint smile appeared on his lips. "What were you daydreaming about just now? Did you think I was going to do something to you?"

"If you were that kind of scoundrel," Lu Xiaoxiao said in a soft, sweet voice, turning to look out the window, "I wouldn't have come out to dinner alone with you."

"Lu Xiaoxiao, you really have a double standard." While waiting at a red light, Shao Enci turned to look at her, his tone languid. "It's fine when you take advantage of me, but if I take advantage of you, I'm a scoundrel?"

Lu Xiaoxiao watched the streetlights retreating past the window and pretended not to hear him.

Shao Enci didn't press her. He turned his gaze back to the road ahead and tapped his fingertips lightly on the steering wheel twice. "Forget it. I'll save that condition for later and ask you when I think of something."

After a long silence, Lu Xiaoxiao finally spoke, her voice a few notes higher. "You can only save it for a month. After that, it expires."

Shao Enci's lips moved, as if he wanted to say something. In the end, he turned his head to look at the red light ahead and said only, "Fine."

He parked downstairs from her home. Lu Xiaoxiao pushed open the car door and got out. Standing under the streetlight, she said to him, "Be careful on your way back tonight."

"Okay." The car window was half open, and the warm yellow light of the streetlamp fell across the side of Shao Enci's face. He didn't linger; he watched her disappear into the building's entrance, then looked away, started the car again, and drove toward Guangming Hospital.

The lights were on in the twenty-sixth-floor VIP suite. Shao Qiansong lay in bed recovering in a hospital gown, his face somewhat pale, while his stepmother, Jiang Yiru, kept watch at his bedside and tended to him with care.

She had no idea Shao Enci would suddenly show up. Slowly stirring a bowl of sea cucumber congee, she complained nonstop, "You've been in the hospital for a whole week, and Chengrui keeps making excuses not to come see you. Does he even care about you as his father?"

Shao Qiansong breathed heavily. "He still holds a grudge over how I had no choice but to give up custody of him back then."

"It wasn't your fault. You originally planned to bring him back to the Shao Family and raise him, but the old master insisted on opposing it and forced you to give him up."

"Forget it. Whether he comes or not, my condition won't get any better."

No sooner had Shao Qiansong finished speaking than someone knocked softly on the door. Shao Enci walked in carrying gifts.

His expression was cold and indifferent. He lifted his eyes wearily to look at his father in the hospital bed, treating Jiang Yiru beside him like she was thin air. "I heard you were sick. What illness is so serious?"

Jiang Yiru stood up, a warm smile on her face, as if she hadn't said a thing just now. "Xiao Rui, you're here! Your father just has his old ailment. There's a bit of trouble with his liver..."

"Aunt Jiang." Shao Enci swept a cold glance at her, his tone impatient. "I've told you many times already. My name is Shao Enci."

Jiang Yiru's smile froze. Her lips moved, but before she could speak, the door was pushed open again.

Shao Chengke walked in with his suit jacket draped over his arm. When he saw Shao Enci, hostility lurked in his eyes. "Shao Chengrui is the name Dad carefully chose for you back then. You can throw it away just like that if you want, but we won't forget how much thought Dad put into it."

Shao Enci sneered, his voice icy. "Aren't you tired of playing the dutiful son all these years?"

"Shao Enci!" Shao Chengke was instantly enraged.

"Oh," Shao Enci said mildly. "So you do know my name."

"If you two want to quarrel, take it outside." Shao Qiansong leaned against the headboard, his voice breathless, and raised a hand to his forehead. "Don't bother me here."

Jiang Yiru hurried over and patted his back, then looked back at her son and gave him a meaningful glance. "Xiao Ke, don't be disrespectful to your brother. Hurry up and apologize to him."

Shao Chengke glanced at his mother. A moment later, he composed himself and lowered his voice. "Brother, I got carried away just now. I'm sorry."

Shao Enci didn't respond to the apology.

After a moment's rest, Shao Qiansong spoke up, asking him to stay. "Enci, I'm being discharged this weekend. It's been a long time since you came home to have a meal with us. You should be free this weekend, right?"

Shao Enci said without mercy, "I'm not."

Shao Chengke chimed in from the side, his tone casual. "Of course my brother isn't free. He recently got a girlfriend and has to make time for dates."

Shao Qiansong and Jiang Yiru both froze for a moment.

Jiang Yiru was the first to recover. She spoke tentatively. "Enci, you have a girlfriend? What's her name? Which family is she from? You can bring her along this weekend so we can meet her."

"No. She's just a college classmate." Shao Enci's expression was cold. His dark eyes settled on Shao Chengke's eminently punchable face, and he said icily, "But I'm curious. How did you know about her? Were you following me?"

Shao Chengke slipped one hand into his pocket, a roguish smile on his lips, as if he had been waiting for that question. "When I was seeing off a guest for Dad tonight, I happened to see you dancing in the square with a girl."

"Dancing in the square?!" Shao Qiansong's face darkened abruptly, as if the words had shocked him. "Shao Enci, you're Guanghuan's future heir. How could you disregard your dignity and do something so disgraceful?"

Shao Enci stood where he was and raised his eyes to the pale-faced middle-aged man in the hospital bed. Expressionless, he said, "I don't think I should have come to see you tonight."

With that, he turned and walked straight out of the hospital room.