Facing Du Xixi's angry and slightly hideous interrogation, Meng Ruozhao opened the call log on her phone.
Then, the screen illuminated her suddenly cold expression - the missed call log was empty.
That meant that not only had Yan Qiubai not looked for her yesterday, but no one from the Du family had either.
"Interesting," she said, turning the phone towards Du Xixi.
"Can you check my call log before you make up lies?"
She calmly bent down to change her high - heels, but her words didn't stop.
"Or did Yan Qiubai look for me but only call you?
"Are you the messenger between us?"
The sarcasm on her face was so intense that Du Xixi's fingernails dug into her palm.
There was still a fever - reducing patch on her forehead, and her calves were shaking under the silk nightgown. It was hard to tell if it was because of the fever or anger.
Last night, she pretended to have a stomachache and went to the hospital. After a bunch of examinations, she still failed to keep Yan Qiubai.
He didn't get the jealous reaction he wanted from Meng Ruozhao, so he was so angry that he didn't even give her a good look.
After instructing the medical staff to take good care of her, he left the hospital regardless of her pleading eyes.
Since Yan Qiubai had left, there was no point for her to stay in the hospital. After all, if the audience had left, there was no need to act anymore.
Originally, she was quite proud because making Yan Qiubai and Meng Ruozhao quarrel was her goal.
Who knew that maybe the midnight wind was too cold, or the air - conditioning in the hospital was too strong.
As soon as she got home, she started feeling unwell.
She vomited and felt dizzy. Not long after she lay down, she received a call from Yan Qiubai.
She thought he was calling to care about her and was going to act weak again.
Who knew that before she could say a word, the other side directly asked why he couldn't get through to Meng Ruozhao and if she was at home!
Although it annoyed her that Yan Qiubai called to look for Meng Ruozhao, as long as it could make Meng Ruozhao uncomfortable, she was happy to cause trouble.
So she immediately went to Meng Ruozhao's room and confirmed that she hadn't come back.
When she told Yan Qiubai the situation, she didn't forget to add fuel to the fire under the guise of being sensible.
"Oops, is Ruozhao still angry? That's why she deliberately didn't come back and made us worry."
"I should have known better than to let you accompany me to the hospital. I'll call her and explain."
Sure enough, Yan Qiubai got angry immediately. "Angry? She won't be angry. She simply doesn't care."
Even so, he still asked her to call Meng Ruozhao.
When she also got the prompt that the number couldn't be reached, Yan Qiubai sneered twice on the phone and then hung up.
Du Xixi originally thought that Yan Qiubai would ignore Meng Ruozhao for a few days like before.
Who knew that after that, he called her every twenty minutes, asking her to confirm if Meng Ruozhao had come back.
She was already unwell and felt dizzy. Being tossed around like this, she finally fell seriously ill.
But she didn't dare to provoke the angry Yan Qiubai, and she also wanted to fan the flames, so she could only go and check again and again.
Now that Meng Ruozhao had finally come back, Du Xixi was both gloating and angry because of the whole - night's torment.
More importantly, half an hour before Meng Ruozhao came back, Du Feng called and scolded her.
The three - million - dollar order that she had been following for two months had fallen through.
They were about to sign the contract, but the other side suddenly completely rejected the plan she had given.
They said they had never seen such a half - hearted plan and didn't dare to give such a big order to her.
It was obvious that the other side just wanted to break the contract, and this was just an excuse.
But Du Feng was convinced that she had messed it up, so he scolded her without even listening to her explanation.
She couldn't talk back or deny it. She could only meekly accept it all.
Now seeing Meng Ruozhao, this grievance turned into anger.
Since Meng Ruozhao returned to the Du family, everything had gone wrong for her.
The two kinds of anger intertwined, making it impossible for her to maintain her usual disguise.
She almost shrieked sharply, "Stop pretending to be so noble! A slut who stays out all night doesn't deserve me to be her messenger!"
Meng Ruozhao stared at her coldly. "What, are you so used to being a slut that you like to call others sluts to make yourself look noble?"
She had never lost a verbal fight with Du Xixi.
"Flirting around and then shifting the blame? You're such a..."
Du Xixi was so angry that her face turned even redder. Suddenly, she grabbed the ceramic ornament in the hallway and threw it at Meng Ruozhao again.
"Smash!"
While dodging, Meng Ruozhao quickly pressed the playback button of the smart door - lock surveillance.
The 4K - quality video clearly showed Du Xixi lingering at the door at three o'clock in the morning, repeatedly focusing her phone camera on the window of her room on the second floor.
"So the young lady of the Du family has become a private detective?" she said with a smile as she took a picture of the screen with her phone.
"This composition is good. Sending it to the Haicheng Evening News might make it onto the society page, right?"
"What should the title be? How about 'Elder stepsister tracks younger stepsister's whereabouts for brother - in - law late at night'?"
"By the way, why didn't I notice before that you cared so much about me?"
"When my shop first opened, I slept in the shop for several nights in a row, and you didn't even care to ask a single word."
"Moreover, if you were really worried about me, why did you make Yan Qiubai stay in the hospital with you all day yesterday?"
"Didn't you hear him tell me to wait for him in the restaurant when he sent you to the hospital? Are you deaf or amnesiac?"
Her series of questions left Du Xixi speechless.
It was obvious to anyone that if she really cared about Meng Ruozhao, she wouldn't just keep checking at the door if she had come back.
Instead, she should have told Du Feng directly and gone to look for her.
After all, it was pouring rain last night. She was just a girl left waiting in the restaurant for a long time. Weren't they afraid that something bad might have happened to her?
Du Xixi didn't expect that as soon as she started, Meng Ruozhao would "go crazy".
She was so different from her usual cold and gentle appearance.
She really should have taken a picture of her aggressive look and shown it to Yan Qiubai.
Who was the person he really liked?
Actually, Meng Ruozhao was also a little surprised by her own reaction.
Normally, she wasn't a strong - willed person.
But for some reason, when facing others' malice, there was always a voice echoing in her heart:
Don't be afraid. Just fight back. I'll hold up the sky for you even if it collapses.
She didn't know where this voice came from, but it gave her a sense of security.
So she wasn't afraid to fall out with Du Xixi at all.
Du Xixi was so angry that she trembled all over. Unable to say a word for a moment, she started smashing the things at hand to vent her anger.
Just as the two were at a stalemate.
The sound of slippers came from the spiral staircase. When Du Changlin appeared with dark circles under his eyes, he saw Du Xixi trembling lips.
The young man had grown up with Du Xixi and only recognized her as his sister.
To him, the suddenly - returned Meng Ruozhao was like an intruder.
He immediately got angry and shouted directly at Meng Ruozhao, "Annoying woman! As soon as you come back, you only know how to make my sister unhappy and cause trouble!"