The need to be selfish

Alix took a deep breath and said in a dead set on voice, "Jin, I am now Zhang Caishen's wife. Whatever happened in the past is past. You keep bringing up Wang Tao's name as if you don't know what he did to me? 

How much money did I dump into his career before he dumped me? How many nights did I cry because he refused to answer my calls? When I could hardly pay the rent for the school, you me and Holea gathered up our savings but he refused to respond to my texts and blocked me. 

He eventually sent me ten yuan after five days and said he had not been paid for his new movie. 

Today morning, I asked Caishen for a loan and he gave me six million for free. I can afford to keep the doors of the school open, we can hire more teachers, more instruments and advertise. 

We can sign up our students for competitions national and international ones. That man is stable, and it's what I need the most. I want to be able to lean on someone for once in my life.

I will be a good wife to Zhang Caishen as long as he is a good husband to me. Jin, I am tired and for once I want to be selfish. Can't I do even that or is it reserved for Lin Billi?" 

Jin Kang noticed that Alix was trembling, the more she spoke. She was agitated, angry, sad, and experiencing many heightened emotions. 

She came closer to her friend, sat down and rubbed her back gently. 

"It's okay, I was simply sharing my worries with you. Xi-Xi, you are a grown up, and you can decide for yourself what you want. If it's Zhang Caishen, then let it be him. 

I am just worried because of the stories about his ruthlessness. I don't want him to be a worse beast than Wang Tao to you. He is a man with money, influence and resources. You cannot just walk away from a man like that if you wrong him." 

Alix sniveled and wiped her eyes with the sleeve of her coat. "I will not wrong him. I will really make this marriage work." 

"Then I will help you, I am the man eater Jin Kang, whatever it takes to make Zhang Caishen fall for you, we will do. Hmm, stop being sad." 

Alix laughed at the way her friend was wiggling her eyebrows and shaking her head as she called herself a man eater. 

If she could call her friend anything, it was party girl. Jin Kang was a party girl, but she was no man eater. 

"What's this about your nanny by the way? I heard that your father sent goons to starve and lock her in." Jin Kang handed Alix a bottle of water as she asked this. 

"That wretched ex father of mine really doesn't see me as his daughter. He threatened me that he would have her killed." Alix replied through gritted teeth with new anger in her eyes. 

How could someone starve an old woman? 

"What are you going to do about her? Even if you get her a new apartment they will find her and it will not be long before they find Holea's place too. Your father is back to his old tactics, he has always controlled you using your nanny until you hid her away. 

Now that you have married Zhang Caishen, he will want to control you even more so that you funnel money from them into Lin power holdings, his company." 

Alix snorted as she thought about the company which her father started with her mother but now, all traces of her mother gone. Even the shares her mother had left her had been gobbled up by him. Her father was no different was a monster that could eat it's own child. 

"He can dream on, I will not let him taste a single coin. I know Jing Hee and Lin Billi are already trying to get their hands on the entire company. More than half of the shareholders are on her side and she has bought secret shares. 

I will use the power and influence of Zhang Caishen to bring down the company rather than watch it go into Billi's hands." 

Jin Kang wagged her finger and shook her head. "No, no no, you must be smart about this Alix. After he falls for you, just tell your husband to take over that company and make it part of his business empire. You can become a share holder and live your life as a rich woman while pursing your dream of building the best music school in the country." 

Alix smiled and wrapped her arms around Jin Kang. "I knew it, nobody looks out for me like you do." 

Jin Kang laughed and tickled Alix who broke out into loud happy laughter. "I am looking out for myself too. If I have a millionaire friend, my life will be set. You will buy me a car, a house, take me for vacations." 

They laughed and fooled around for a while, cracking jokes about the life after they had made it. 

"By the way, did you see the official company press release from your husband's people put out. They attached an old document which is proof of a betrothal between you and Zhang Caishen signed by his grandfather years ago. 

It's like I am watching a movie, who in the world is betrothed a marriage in this day and age?"

"The rich." Alix answered. "They are called arranged marriages these days. That's why the rich marry the rich and the poor only marry them in dramas and novels." 

"You know that you are the poor in this case, right?" Jin Kang asked her. 

"I am the exception." Alix answered arrogantly. 

"Ho, you are growing wings now young madam." Jin Kang joked. 

"That's because I slept in a mansion last night." Alix joked as well. 

But her friend's eyes lit up when she mentioned this. "Tell me everything, what was it like entering the mansion? Is it just like we see in the dramas? Do they really have tens of servants lining up, fleets of cars, tables filled with food for breakfast, wine cellars and swimming pools in which the entirety of my apartment could fit?" 

Alix was of course willing to narrate her entrance into the world of the wealthy and when she was finished, Jin Kang had gasped at least ten times. 

"If you do not come in one of those cars tomorrow I will quit." she threatened. 

"My fingers cannot grip a steering wheel." Alix answered. 

"Then use a driver." Jin Kang told her in a whiny desperate voice. "Friend, let's stop taking taxis and trains, hmm." 

Alix laughed and slapped Jin Kang's hands away. "I will think about it, I have only joined the family. Let me settle in first. By the way, time has gone and I need to pack my belongings." 

It was already going to four o'clock. 

"Send me Qing Ru An's recorded sessions and sign her up for the music competition she wants. I have sent money to the school account. Use it for the things we need the most."

"Yes young madam." Jin Kang replied in a soft voice but her lips were smiling.