Chapter 7

Song Zhuyue finally went to the provincial capital to study.

Of course, it is not safe for a girl to travel alone, fortunately Song Zhehao escorted her all the way.

Song Zhehao told his parents that he happened to have a business in the provincial capital, so he took Song Zhuyue with him.

Just like before, the old couple gave Song Zhehao a lot of instructions, such as asking him to take care of his health; the difference was that this time they asked him to pay more attention to Song Zhuyue.

Song Yutang knew that they, as parents, had not fulfilled their responsibilities. After Song Zhuyue went to the provincial capital, they were even less able to fulfill their responsibilities. They could only rely on Song Zhehao to help them take care of her.

After hearing this, Song Zhehao told Song Yutang and his wife not to worry.

The provincial capital is also a day and a night away from Hucheng. On the way, Song Zhuyue sat alone in her carriage and did not speak to Song Zhehao.

However, when Song Zhehao asked her, Song Zhuyue would also answer.

Soon, Song Zhuyue arrived in the provincial capital and attended the only women's university there.

Compared with today's schools, that women's university seemed very simple, but it was rare at that time.

To Song Zhehao's surprise, when he sent Song Zhuyue to the school gate, Song Zhuyue suddenly turned around and said, "Thank you, brother!" as she walked in with her walking stick.

Song Zhehao didn't react for a long time, and then a faint and warm smile appeared on the corner of his mouth.

It had been such a long time since he came here, but this was the first time Song Zhuyue called him brother.

If I'm not mistaken, Song Zhuyue would not call the original owner brother.

After seeing Song Zhuyue off, Song Zhehao returned to his home in the provincial capital.

In the past few years, Song Zhehao's medicinal materials business has been doing well. He often comes to the provincial capital to discuss business, meets a few friends by the way, and invests in several newly opened factories, making a lot of money.

Although things in this era are different from the real world, the general trend remains unchanged.

Song Zehao knew that during this period, private factories would experience unprecedented development, so investing money in them would be a sure-win business.

Moreover, the prospects of several factories invested by Song Zhehao are also very good.

Therefore, in a small county town like Hucheng, in the eyes of everyone, although Song Zhehao made some money, he was just a small drug dealer; but in the provincial capital, he was already a well-known young talent and business celebrity, and the people he interacted with were either rich or noble, and celebrities in society.

After Song Zhehao returned to the provincial capital for a while, he dealt with some affairs and had nothing to do. Just when he was feeling bored, an invitation suddenly came to his door.

The person who delivered the invitation was a servant of Kou Yuanzhi, a wealthy businessman in the provincial capital. He said that there had been frequent floods in several northern cities recently, and the people had lost their crops and were displaced. As a representative of the provincial chamber of commerce, Kou Yuanzhi wanted to invite representatives from all walks of life in the provincial capital to hold a disaster relief fundraising event together.

At first, Song Zhehao thought it was some kind of cocktail party and was planning to just throw the invitation away and ignore it. But now that he saw it was a disaster relief fundraising event, of course he had to go.

In the past few years, Song Zhehao has not spent much of the money he earned. The only thing he spent a lot of money on was this kind of fundraising activities.

In the original world, Song Zhehao was a person who cared about charity. Even after traveling through time, his passion for charity did not diminish.

The venue for the fundraising activity was in a famous hotel in the provincial capital. As soon as Song Zhehao entered the hotel, he saw all kinds of people.

When he arrived at the hotel where the fundraising event was held, Song Zhehao saw that representatives from all walks of life in the provincial capital had also come, and Kou Yuanzhi was a representative of the business community, and he organized and led people from the business community to attend the event.

Of course, these wealthy people are the highlight.

The rest, such as those from the literary and art circles, the education circles, etc., were just there to make up the scene. The donation boxes were in the most conspicuous position in the hotel lobby. Several female students wearing light blue jackets and black long skirts were surrounding the donation boxes.

Song Zhehao took a few glances and saw a familiar face. He couldn't help but mutter to himself, "So she's here too?"

That girl was none other than Ni Ning, who was the one the original owner had been thinking about day and night and who later caused the original owner's family to be destroyed.

I had heard from people in Hucheng a long time ago that Ni Ning's family was well off, thanks to the support of her noble relatives in the provincial capital. It was said that one of her aunts married a wealthy businessman in the provincial capital as a concubine, so she supported her natal family in Hucheng.

The original owner pursued Ni Ning relentlessly, but Ni Ning hated the original owner extremely. It was not until Qu Yangze was disgraced and Song Zhehao became successful in business that Ni Ning started to be nice to him.

Moreover, Song Zhehao met Ni Ning several times, and Ni Ning, intentionally or unintentionally, extended olive branches to Song Zhehao several times.

But Song Zhehao had no good feelings for her, so he ignored Ni Ning's kindness. Ni Ning felt ignored, and her face looked very ugly when she saw her again.

Seeing Ni Ning, Song Zhehao walked into the dark. It was not because he was afraid of her, but because he didn't want to make things difficult for himself.

The event officially began when the wealthy businessman Kou Yuanzhi appeared with his family.

Kou Yuanzhi was a person who liked a sense of ceremony. Everyone was waiting in the lobby on the first floor of the hotel. After the Kou family housekeeper announced, Kou Yuanzhi slowly walked down the stairs from the second floor. The people surrounding him on his left and right were his wife and concubine, and next to his wife and concubine were two young girls.

Mrs. Kou often socialized with her husband, so Song Zhehao naturally knew her. The girl next to Mrs. Kou was their daughter, and Song Zhehao had also met her once.

The unfamiliar woman on the other side was probably Mr. Kou's concubine. Song Zhehao was very familiar with the girl next to the concubine. She was Ni Ning.

Only then did Song Zhehao realize that Ni Ning's aunt was Kou Yuanzhi's concubine.

Everyone watched them walk down slowly, and cast envious glances at Kou Yuanzhi. Kou Yuanzhi said a few polite opening remarks, and then the fundraising activity officially began.

Representatives from all walks of life donated money first, and the business community, as the highlight, naturally stayed until the end.

Song Zhehao spent relatively little time in the provincial capital, so he didn't know many of the people who came, so there was no need to say hello, so he just went to a corner and sat down.

Just when he was feeling bored, he suddenly heard a familiar voice.

"etc!"

Ni Ning's voice suddenly froze the lively atmosphere at the scene.

Song Zhehao looked up and saw that the fundraising team at this time was representing people from the education sector, several officials from the Education Department, and some teachers and student representatives.

At this moment, a female student was about to hand the money in her hand into the donation box.

Ni Ning called out to the female student, walked quickly to her side, snatched the money from her hand, counted the few banknotes on her fingers, and a sly smile appeared at the corner of her mouth.

"Song Zhuyue, isn't it a bit inappropriate for you to donate such a small amount of money?"

Hearing these three familiar words, Song Zhehao frowned slightly and looked carefully at the girl who was stopped by Ni Ning.

That’s right! It’s Song Zhuyue!

She cut her hair, leaving only shoulder-length hair, and wore a school uniform, blending in with a large group of students. No wonder Song Zhehao didn't recognize her when he entered the door!

Song Zhehao thought that perhaps she was participating in the fundraising activity as a representative of the freshmen.

At this moment, Ni Ning's actions caught Song Zhuyue off guard. A look of panic flashed across her face, but she quickly calmed down and said, "Oh? The fundraising event is to help the victims. Everyone present is doing their best, and there is no specified amount of money to donate. I don't know if there is anything inappropriate in what I did?"

After Song Zhuyue finished speaking, several female students who were traveling with her also spoke up for her, saying, "That's right! We are all students with limited abilities. This little money is also saved from our living expenses. What's wrong with that?"

"Yes! Not everyone is as rich as your Ni Ning family, otherwise we wouldn't be willing to donate it."

Looking at the disgusted looks of several girls towards Ni Ning, and then looking at the provocative expression on Ni Ning's face, Song Zhehao immediately guessed that this was probably not the first time they were confronting each other.

The person Ni Ning targeted was Song Zhuyue, but Song Zhuyue and Ni Ning had no grudge against each other in this life. It was naturally because Song Zhehao neglected Ni Ning that Ni Ning took this opportunity to attack Song Zhuyue.

If you think about it carefully, based on Ni Ning's personality, she is capable of doing this kind of thing.

As soon as the girls finished speaking, Ni Ning continued in a mocking tone, "Your family is not well off, so it's understandable that you can't donate. But Song Zhuyue's hometown is close to mine, and I know her family's financial situation. The amount she donated is probably not even a fraction of her pocket money."

Just as Ni Ning finished speaking, a girl next to Song Zhuyue said, "Whether or not to donate is entirely up to the individual. It's their own will. Do we really have to force them to donate?"

Hearing this, Ni Ning said loudly with a generous and righteous look on her face, "That's not right! They say that every man has a share of responsibility for the fate of his country. Even if you make money, you can't just enjoy it yourself. You have to do something that benefits the country and the people. Song Zhuyue's brother is one of the largest pharmaceutical dealers in Lake City. Isn't it too perfunctory to give out such a small amount of money?"

The remark was clearly directed at her. Song Zhuyue said coldly, "My brother is my brother, and I am me. His money is not my responsibility."

"Haha," Ni Ning continued aggressively, "You're not married, so how could you possibly be single? I think some people made ill-gotten gains, and in the end, they're reluctant to even give away a few small fortunes. It's hard not to be angry."

As soon as these words were spoken, the people below began to respond, saying, "This young lady is right! Since you are making money from the people, what's wrong with using it to help them now that they are in trouble?"

After the first one, there was a second person who responded and said, "That's right! People can't just care about money, they also have to care about their conscience."

"If you don't have the sincerity to raise funds, why come here?"

"Little girl, you should persuade your brother!"

For a moment, everyone started talking to each other, and all of them targeted Song Zhuyue.

They all saw that Ni Ning was a relative of Kou Yuanzhi. If Ni Ning suddenly stood up and said such words, it might be at the instruction of President Kou.

Although they didn't know what Kou Yuanzhi was up to, as long as they said this to Ni Ning, they should be able to win Kou Yuanzhi's favor.

At this moment, Ni Ning looked at Song Zhuyue's embarrassing situation with a smug look on his face.

Ni Ning's idea was simple. She targeted Song Zhuyue today for two reasons: firstly, to avenge Song Zhehao's indifference and neglect of her; secondly, there were many classmates present, and she wanted to let them see that her family was related to the Chamber of Commerce President Kou Yuanzhi, so they should be more careful when talking to her in the future and not discriminate against her because she was from a small place.

As for Ni Ning's aunt, she was also a simple-minded person. Seeing her niece shine, she glanced at Mrs. Kou proudly, thinking that she should let her see that although she came from a small place, her mother's family also had such a presentable descendant.

Kou Yuanzhi, on the other hand, looked embarrassed at this moment. Originally, his goal had been achieved as long as the event could be successfully carried out. The reason why he brought Ni Ning to attend was because his second wife begged him to do so. She said that his niece from his hometown was getting old, and bringing her out to see the world and let those prominent families see her might help find her a good marriage.

Kou Yuanzhi thought about it and decided it wasn't a big deal, so he agreed to his second wife's request.

Now that Ni Ning had caused such a scene, Kou Yuanzhi lost the little good impression he had of her, and was wondering how he should smooth things over next.

I felt a little disgusted with Ni Ning, thinking that she was indeed a country girl who couldn't control herself after seeing the world.

Faced with this scene, Song Zhehao's face looked a little ugly. When the last person finished making trouble, Song Zhehao stood up decisively.

Suddenly, everyone's attention was drawn to Song Zhehao again.