Be Good for Me - Chapter 9

Chapter 9

I didn’t leave with Jiang Zhaoye.

Not because I didn’t want to.

But because I didn’t want to be dragged away by anyone ever again.

I stood up and said to Lu Siheng, “I’m sorry. Let’s call it a night.”

Then I turned to Jiang Zhaoye.

“And don’t follow me.”

That night, I went back to the Xu Family home.

My father was waiting for me in the study.

On the desk lay a prenuptial agreement.

And an asset authorization document.

He told me to sign them.

“The engagement banquet has been moved up to Saturday.”

I looked down at the papers.

“What’s the rush?”

“You’ve been making far too much of a scene lately.”

“So you want to hand me off as soon as possible?”

My father pushed the pen toward me.

“Sign.”

I didn’t take it.

“And if I don’t?”

He looked at me.

“Then the foundation projects under your name will be suspended. The gallery will get a new person in charge. And the house your grandmother left you will have its usage rights reassessed by the family trust.”

Every single thing he mentioned could be set in motion immediately.

More than half the foundation’s board were his people.

The gallery’s lease was under a Xu Family company.

The house my grandmother left me listed me as the beneficiary, but it had always been managed by the family trust.

Those were the rules of the Xu Family.

They gave you the key.

But they kept the keychain clenched in their own hands.

He didn’t curse at me.

He didn’t lock me up.

He simply laid out everything I had in front of me.

Made me see it clearly.

Those things had never fully belonged to me.

In the past, when I played the obedient daughter, what I received was the right to use them.

Not the right to choose.

I picked up the pen.

My mother visibly let out a breath of relief.

My father’s expression eased as well.

But all I did was put the cap back on.

“I need a lawyer to review this.”

My father frowned.

“Xu Zhiyi.”

“I’ll review the prenuptial agreement.”

“I won’t sign the asset authorization.”

My mother called softly, “Zhiyi.”

I turned back.

There were so many things in her eyes.

Worry, fear, and a trace of envy I had never understood before.

I asked her, “Mom, do you think I’m making a scene too?”

Her lips moved.

In the end, she didn’t say yes.

My father said coldly, “If you walk away from this table now, don’t expect everything to be waiting for you exactly as it was.”

I nodded.

“I know.”

Those three words were harder than I’d imagined.

Because I really did know.

I would lose a lot.

I would regret it.

I would be afraid.

I would want to turn back.

But if I waited forever for them to give me permission not to be good, I would never make a single decision of my own in this life.

I turned and went upstairs.

Only after I closed the bedroom door did I realize my hands were shaking.

At two in the morning, I went downstairs.

Jiang Zhaoye was waiting outside the courtyard gate.

I asked, “What you said at the restaurant today-was it an act?”

He fell silent.

Then he said, “At first, I thought about it.”

“I thought about letting Lu Siheng see us. Thought about throwing the whole situation into chaos.”

My heart sank little by little.

But then he said, “But when I walked in, I forgot.”

He looked at me.

“All I saw was you sitting across from him.”

“Like you were about to go back to where you started.”

“I couldn’t stand it.”

I asked, “Jiang Zhaoye, is it me you want, or the Xu Family?”

He lowered his head and gave a soft laugh.

“Now I’ve realized that wanting you is a lot more trouble than wanting to get back to the table.”