Don't Talk to Me About Dignity - Chapter 9
Chapter 9
I didn’t sleep all night.
Early the next morning, I went straight to see Xu Yan’s assistant.
“Did she go to her father for help because of my dad?”
The assistant remained silent.
The longer she stayed silent, the deeper my heart sank.
After a long while, she spoke in a low voice, “President Xu told me not to say anything.”
“So she did.”
The assistant hesitated for a moment but eventually spoke up.
“President Xu was originally on very bad terms with her family. She barely went back at all these past two years.”
“After Uncle Shen’s accident, the hospital resources were difficult to coordinate.”
“The approval for the subsequent expenses wasn’t something that could be handled immediately, even with money.”
“Chairman Xu set conditions. He wanted her to return to the company to take over projects.”
“And… she couldn’t postpone the meeting with the Zhou Family any longer.”
The Zhou Family.
That meant the woman from the parking lot that day.
I felt a chill run through my entire body.
“She agreed?”
The assistant nodded.
“Because she said your family can’t afford to wait right now.”
I stood frozen for a long time.
It turned out that what I saw wasn’t her starting a new life.
She was trading her own way out for a chance for my family to breathe.
And I had stabbed that very same blade back into her.
At noon, I went to the Xu Corporation building.
I waited in the lobby until evening. When the elevator doors opened, Xu Yan walked out.
She was wearing a gray suit, her expression cold.
It was as if she had locked herself away again.
Seeing me, her footsteps faltered slightly.
“Why are you here?”
“I want to talk to you.”
“If it’s about the expenses, the assistant will coordinate with you,” she said flatly. “I have something to do in a bit.”
I felt a pang in my chest, stung by her businesslike demeanor.
“It’s not about the expenses.”
She stared at me for two seconds before finally leading me to a nearby empty reception room.
As soon as the door closed, I spoke.
“My mom told me everything.”
Xu Yan’s gaze shifted slightly.
“Auntie shouldn’t have told you.”
“What about you?” I looked at her with reddened eyes. “Were you just going to keep it from me forever?”
She remained silent.
“When my mom went to see you back then, why didn’t you tell me?”
“Tell you, and then what?”
Xu Yan looked at me. Her voice was soft, yet it hurt more than when we were arguing.
“Let you be caught in the middle? Or let you turn against your family once more for my sake?”
My breath hitched.
“Zhiwei, things were messy enough for your family back then.”
She lowered her eyes.
“I didn’t want you to lose the last thing supporting you just for me.”
“So you decided for me?”
“Yes.”
She answered so quickly that I was the one who was stunned.
“I did decide for you.”
She looked up at me, her eyes filled with exhaustion that had been suppressed for too long.
“Because all I could give you back then was even more trouble.”
“It’s the same now.”
My tears fell instantly.
“Then what about this time?”
“This time, you went to beg your father and went to see the Zhou Family.”
“Was that also because you felt I didn’t need to know?”
Her lips pressed into a thin line. It took a long time before she said, “This has nothing to do with you.”
Just as she finished speaking, her phone vibrated on the table.
The screen lit up.
The caller ID read: Dad.
Xu Yan glanced at it but didn’t answer.
The ringing stopped for less than ten seconds before a message popped up.
I didn’t mean to look, but I still saw that line of text.
*The Zhou Family has already arrived. Don’t make me send someone up to find you.*
My blood ran cold.
So it wasn’t that she wanted to go.
Someone had been pushing her from behind all along.
I almost laughed out of anger.
“You’re trading your own life for my family’s affairs, and you still say it has nothing to do with me?”
“At least this way, you can accept it with peace of mind.”
“Peace of mind, my ass!”
My voice was trembling uncontrollably.
“Xu Yan, do you think that as long as you don’t say anything…”
“I can just go ahead and misunderstand you, hate you, and curse you?”
“And then it’s like you won’t hurt as much?”
She froze.
I was crying a mess, but I still stared at her fixedly.
“What right do you have to always choose for me? Why do you always think that by making yourself the villain, I’ll be better off?”
Xu Yan looked at me, her eyes slowly turning red.
After a long time, she finally spoke in a low voice.
“Because I was afraid.”
I went completely stiff.
“I was afraid that if I said anything, you would turn back.”
Her voice was raspy. “But back then, I couldn’t catch you at all.”
She closed her eyes, finally voicing the hardest thing to say.
“Two years ago, my father used your job, your father’s compensation, and the house you lived in to pressure me.”
She looked at me, her voice trembling.
“For the first time, I realized that wanting to protect someone too much can actually drag them into the mud.”
“When Uncle Shen had his accident this time, the moment I got the call, I only had one thought.”
She paused.
“I couldn’t be a step too late again.”
My tears fell even harder.
It turned out that all her coldness and hardness were driven by the same kind of fear.
