"……Um?"
That one sentence caused Zhu Jinzhao's not-so-bright mind to freeze instantly. She opened her eyes wide in confusion, staring blankly at Zhu Mingyue.
"W-what did you say..."
Zhu Mingyue raised an eyebrow and smiled faintly, but did not answer.
Zhu Jinzhao stared blankly at her, and it took her several seconds to realize what she was talking about.
"Ming...Mingyue." Zhu Jinzhao licked her lips and asked cautiously, "What do you mean? How did you find out about that?"
Yang Min clearly promised her that she wouldn't mention this to anyone. Zhu Mingyue wasn't there, so how did she know?
"..." Zhu Mingyue withdrew her gaze, smiled and looked ahead, still without answering.
Zhu Jinzhao didn't understand what she meant. Now that she already knew about her relationship with Su Ying and had brought it up herself, why was she suddenly becoming silent and ignoring her?
She pursed her lips, glanced at Zhu Mingyue with a questioning look, and fell silent, full of doubts.
The Zhu Group was not far from the Zhu family villa, and twenty minutes later, a black Cayenne pulled up in front of the villa.
Zhu Mingyue and Zhu Jinzhao got out of the car together and walked side by side into the living room.
“Chaochao, even though you’re not the Zhu family’s biological daughter, you can still go home and complain if you’re bullied. You don’t have to bear it all by yourself and agree to Yang Min’s deal just to get revenge.”
Zhu Mingyue suddenly spoke up, bringing up the topic that had just been put aside again.
Zhu Jinzhao looked up at her, persistent in asking the question: "Mingyue, how did you know about this?"
"Hmph..." Zhu Mingyue only smiled and did not answer.
Zhu Jinzhao bit her lip. Given that Zhu Mingyue's attitude towards her had been relatively friendly recently, she boldly guessed, "Did Yang Min tell you?"
"No," Zhu Mingyue denied.
"..." Zhu Jinchao frowned, his mind suddenly blank.
The only people who knew about this were Yang Min, Jiang Jingwen, and Shi Jing. If Yang Min hadn't told them, then no one else could have informed Zhu Mingyue.
Seeing her conflicted expression, Zhu Mingyue sighed helplessly: "Chaochao, that's not the point, don't keep dwelling on it."
"Okay." Zhu Jinzhao obediently agreed, but secretly felt conflicted inside.
Zhu Mingyue walked into the living room, strode around to the sofa and sat down, suddenly raising her voice: "You haven't answered my question yet."
Zhu Jinzhao consciously followed behind her and sat down on another sofa some distance away from her: "I, I just don't want to trouble my older brother."
"Troublesome?" These two words caused Zhu Mingyue's smile to change slightly. Clearly, she did not agree with Zhu Jinzhao's idea.
Zhu Jinzhao lowered her head, staring at her fingers, and explained in a muffled voice, "You said it yourself, I am not the Zhu family's biological daughter. The Zhu family raised me for twenty years for nothing, and now they are willing to keep me here instead of sending me back to that hellhole. They have already done more than enough for me. I really don't want to cause them any more trouble."
“I’m an adult. Even if I’m not very smart, I have to learn to handle things myself. I can’t take advantage of how good they are to me and make demands without restraint.”
As she spoke, Zhu Jinzhao raised her eyes and looked at Zhu Mingyue with sincere eyes: "Mingyue, I know my place. In the Zhu family, I know very well what I should and shouldn't do."
"Hmm." Zhu Mingyue nodded gently after hearing her words. "What you said makes a lot of sense. But Chaochao, have you ever thought that your decision to agree to cooperate with Yang Min on your own might bring even more trouble to your three brothers?"
"How could that be?" Zhu Jinzhao hadn't considered this possibility, nor did he agree with it. "I promised Yang Min I'd enter the entertainment industry, and once I debut, I'll be an independent artist. When I fight with Su Ying again, it'll be a battle of popularity against popularity, fans against fans. I'll bear the consequences of winning or losing alone. How could it cause more trouble for my brothers?"
Zhu Mingyue: "You make it sound so easy. Whether you win or lose, you have to bear the consequences alone... Zhu Jinzhao, your three older brothers have never treated you like an outsider. Do you think they would stand idly by if you got into a fight with someone in the future? And do you think Su Ying's fans would only attack you?"
"These days, fans and netizens love to pull the chain of guilt by association. Once you get into trouble, everyone connected to you will be dragged down. The bigger the traffic, the bigger the storm, and the impact you bring will be a hundred or a thousand times greater than when you were an ordinary person!"
"If you win the argument, that's fine, but if you lose, the entire Zhu family will be drowned in public opinion!"
Zhu Jinzhao had anticipated this outcome, so as soon as Zhu Mingyue finished speaking, she offered her own solution.
“Yang Min has a secretly recorded video of Su Ying hitting me, and I also have two witnesses. With both witnesses and evidence, as long as we wait for the right moment to strike, Su Ying will definitely be exposed. I don’t think I will lose.”
Zhu Mingyue kept a straight face, suppressing all her smiles, which made her look more serious than ever before.
"Zhu Jinchao, nothing in this world is absolute. Su Ying is no pushover; what if you lose?"
Zhu Jinzhao: "If you lose, you will immediately sever ties with me and tell the public that I was actually kicked out of the Zhu family a long time ago. If fans still harass you after that, you will join the trend to smear and criticize me."
"As the saying goes, the enemy of my enemy is my friend. As long as you do as I say, neither your fans nor onlookers will cause you any trouble. In fact, they might even support you."
Zhu Jinzhao spoke these words calmly yet firmly.
Zhu Mingyue stared at her intently, her heart feeling as if it had been struck hard by a sledgehammer, a dull and painful sensation.
“You…” She instinctively wanted to accuse Zhu Jinzhao, but once she opened her mouth, she didn’t know what to say.
Zhu Jinzhao let out a deep breath, and after saying what had been weighing on her mind, she felt much lighter.
"I chose this path myself, and I'll take responsibility for it regardless of victory or defeat. Mingyue, I'd like to ask you to keep this a secret for me. Please don't tell my three older brothers, especially my eldest brother! Is that alright?"
"..." Zhu Mingyue did not answer.
She looked at Zhu Jinzhao with a complicated expression, her eyes showing a mix of helplessness and inexplicable irritation.
Finally, she said, "With your brain, how can you tell what kind of timing is right?"
Zhu Jinzhao: "I can tell the difference!"
"You don't know anything about it..." Zhu Mingyue glared at her, but there was no malice in her eyes. "Fine, once you're in the industry, you should listen to me and not act recklessly on your own."
"...Huh?" Zhu Jinzhao was a little confused by this. "Listen to...listen to you?"
Zhu Mingyue withdrew her gaze and stopped looking at her: "Yes, listen to me! What, are you afraid I'll hurt you?"
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com