Be Good for Me - Chapter 12
Chapter 12
In the first week after the engagement banquet was canceled, I lost a great many things.
My father suspended me from my position at the gallery.
The foundation entered an audit.
None of the cars at home were available to me anymore.
My name was dragged through the circle again and again.
Some said I had gone mad.
Some said Jiang Zhaoye had bewitched me.
Some said the obedient daughter the Xu Family had raised for more than twenty years had, in the end, ruined herself over a man who had fallen from grace.
I heard all of it.
In the past, it would have hurt.
It still hurt now.
But I didn’t fall apart.
I simply moved out of the Xu Family home.
I rented a small apartment.
One bedroom, one living room, with windows facing north.
On the first night, I sat on the floor eating a convenience-store rice ball.
Jiang Zhaoye knocked and came in.
In his hands were a pot, bowls, slippers, and a very cheap bouquet of lisianthus.
I looked up at him.
“Young Master Jiang, have you switched careers to delivering warmth now?”
He set everything down.
“After-sales service.”
I couldn’t help laughing.
After I laughed, I suddenly felt like crying.
He saw it, but he didn’t call me out.
He turned and went into the kitchen to boil water.
The kitchen was pitifully small.
When he stood inside, his shoulder nearly bumped into the cabinet door.
I leaned against the doorway.
“How’s your project?”
“Dead.”
He said it very calmly.
My heart still sank.
“Do you regret it?”
“A little.”
“You’re really honest.”
“I do.”
He turned to look at me.
“That was the fastest path. Missing it hurts.”
That was more like him.
Not giving up everything for love and pretending not to care at all.
Jiang Zhaoye wanted to win.
He always had.
I asked, “Then why did you still come?”
The water boiled.
White steam rose.
He said, “Because I realized that before, I wanted to return to the table because I wanted them to see me again.”
“I still want to go back now.”
“But not on my knees.”
“And not by stepping on you to get there.”
I asked, “Then what are you planning to do?”
“Start over.”
“From where?”
“From no longer being your assistant.”
“Then what are you doing right now?”
He walked up to me.
“Pursuing you.”
I froze.
He said it so naturally.
So naturally that, for a moment, I had no idea how to respond.
Jiang Zhaoye said in a low voice, “Xu Zhiyi, let’s renegotiate our terms.”
I crossed my arms and looked at him.
“What bargaining chips do you still have?”
“Me.”
“The bankrupt edition?”
“The rebuilding edition.”
I couldn’t hold back a laugh.
He laughed too.
After the laughter faded, the air fell quiet.
He said, “Before, I pretended to be obedient because I wanted to get something from you.”
“Now, I’ll still listen to you.”
“But I won’t be pretending.”
I looked at him.
“Then what if I don’t want you to listen?”
His gaze slowly deepened.
“Then I won’t.”
That was more like Jiang Zhaoye.
I reached out and grabbed his collar.
“Jiang Zhaoye.”
“Mm.”
“I don’t have a supplementary card now. No car. No Xu Family backing me up.”
“I know.”
“So pursuing me right now is a terrible value proposition.”
He sighed.
“Xu Zhiyi, can you stop relating everything to cost-effectiveness?”
“You taught me that.”
“Then I’ll teach you again.”
“Teach me what?”
He touched my hair lightly.
“To take what you want, and refuse what you don’t.”
“It’s fine to be afraid.”
“But don’t keep waiting for someone else to decide for you.”
My eyes grew hot.
“You sound very much like a life coach right now.”
He lowered his head and leaned closer.
“Then I’ll change the line.”
“To what?”
“Be good.”
My heart slammed hard against my chest.
He smiled.
“Show me.”
I pushed him.
He didn’t budge.
He held my wrist.
This time, his grip was very light.
It wasn’t control.
It was waiting for my permission.
I looked up at him.
“Jiang Zhaoye, I’m not good anymore.”
He lowered his head and laughed.
“Perfect.”
“I’m not pretending anymore either.”
That night, we didn’t kiss.
Nor did we rush to define our relationship.
Jiang Zhaoye washed the pot for me and arranged the newly bought slippers by the door.
I sat on the floor, watching him bend down to put away those cheap daily necessities.
Only then did I feel that this was more undignified than any banquet could ever be.
It was more real than any banquet.
He asked me, “Do you want me to go with you when you meet the lawyer tomorrow?”
I said, “No.”
He nodded.
“Okay.”
After a while, he added, “Then I’ll wait downstairs.”
I looked at him.
“Do you not understand what no means?”
He tied up the trash bag.
“I do.”
“Then why are you still waiting?”
“Going with you and waiting are two different things.”
I had nothing to say to that.
This man always managed to step over the line in the exact place that made my heart soften.
After that, we didn’t instantly get our perfect ending.
I was busy finding a lawyer, organizing the foundation’s documents, and learning how to handle bills and rental contracts on my own.
Jiang Zhaoye was busy rebuilding his team.
He never touched the Qiming connection again.
Instead, he went to two former clients who were willing to make small follow-up investments.
It was slow.
But it was clean.
Sometimes, he would disappear for three days.
I would get angry.
He would coax me.
If he couldn’t coax me out of it, he would argue with me.
Neither of us was exactly gentle.
Neither of us was very good at backing down either.
But I grew more and more certain of one thing.
I was no longer the obedient daughter in the Xu Family’s display case.
And he was no longer the down-and-out young master I had bought.
A month later, Jiang Zhaoye came to pick me up after work.
He was holding a cup of hot coffee.
No sugar.
It was the way I liked it now.
I had just come out of the opening ceremony for a small art exhibition.
That exhibition wasn’t a resource the Xu Family had handed me.
The venue was small, and the lighting wasn’t particularly beautiful.
But every painting on those walls was there because I had negotiated it myself.
Lu Siheng came too.
After viewing the whole exhibition, he said to me, “You’ve changed a lot.”
I asked, “Have I?”
He smiled faintly.
“You’re harder to approach than before.”
I smiled too.
“That’s good, then.”
Jiang Zhaoye happened to hear that line.
He handed me the coffee without cutting in.
Lu Siheng looked at him.
“Mr. Jiang, is rebuilding your team going smoothly?”
Jiang Zhaoye said, “It’s going all right.”
“I heard you turned down the Xu Family’s partnership.”
“Mm.”
“Why?”
Jiang Zhaoye glanced at me.
“I don’t want anyone saying I’m relying on her again.”
Lu Siheng asked, “Then what are you relying on?”
Jiang Zhaoye gave a small laugh.
“On the fact that when she can’t stand me, she’s still willing to yell me awake.”
I nearly choked on my coffee.
I asked, “Are you treating me to dinner?”
“I am.”
“Did you strike it rich?”
“No.”
He paused.
“But if I’m pursuing someone, I can’t always let you pay.”
I slipped my arm through his.
“Today, it’s my treat.”
He raised a brow.
“Why?”
I looked at him very seriously. “Because I want to.”
Jiang Zhaoye froze for a moment.
Then he smiled.
That old pride of his finally returned to his eyes.
It no longer stung.
All that was left was brightness.
He said, “Fine. I’ll listen to you.”
I tilted my head to look at him.
“So obedient?”
Jiang Zhaoye lowered his head and leaned close to my ear.
“I’m faking it.”
Laughing, I pushed him away.
He took my hand.
This time, we didn’t hide.
Nor did we perform for anyone.
The wind was strong by the street.
Jiang Zhaoye brushed my hair aside for me.
I said, “I thought you weren’t pretending anymore.”
He looked at me.
“I’m not.”
“Then what is this?”
“I want to take care of you.”
He said,
“This time, it’s free.”
My heart softened.
Then I gripped his hand tightly.
“It’s not free.”
“Then what are you giving me?”
I looked ahead.
In the night, the city lights came on one by one.
Not a single one belonged to me.
And yet, it felt as though every single one could become a place to go.
I said, “I’ll give you a chance.”
Jiang Zhaoye smiled.
“For how long?”
I thought about it.
“Three months to start.”
He stopped walking.
I looked back.
“Too short?”
Jiang Zhaoye held my hand and pulled me back to him.
“Xu Zhiyi.”
“Mm?”
“This time, I’ll renew the contract myself.”
At last, I burst out laughing.
Not because it was proper.
Not because it was polite.
Only because I wanted to.
There was no applause at the street corner.
No blessings.
No one to prove for us that this road was definitely the right one.
But for the first time, I felt that even if it was wrong, it didn’t matter.
Because this time, I had chosen it myself.
