Chapter 70: Standing Up for Shu Run
The banquet hall occupied three floors, with the young people mainly clustered on the first floor. The younger ones were fifteen or sixteen years old, while the older ones were in their twenties. In addition, there were some small business owners who had not been formally invited and were simply there to freeload off the banquet.
In this circle, Yi Han is considered a core figure. Besides her, her only brother, who shares the same parents, is also here.
Yi Jun is highly respected among his peers. Relying on her brother's popularity, Yi Han is thriving here, surrounded by several girlfriends chatting and gossiping together.
The conversation quickly turned to Liang Chaoluo.
For the past few years, there have been rumors that the Yi family and the Liang family are inclined to form a marriage alliance, and Yi Han has tacitly acknowledged this in the face of everyone's teasing.
My friend asked, "Hasn't he broken up with that girl yet?"
Liang Chaoluo's posts showing affection on his WeChat Moments didn't block anyone, so everyone who added him as a friend knew he was in a relationship.
I just didn't take it too seriously.
The other party is just a girl from an ordinary family. Families like the Liang family are bound to break up sooner or later, and in the end, she will still find a marriage partner in the entertainment industry.
"Soon," Yi Han replied with a perfunctory smile.
She said it would be soon, but she wasn't really sure. She didn't know what Liang Chaoluo was up to. He had seen those photos, yet he was still talking to her without holding a grudge. Was he really that in love?
Aunt Fu's attitude was also quite subtle; she had been lukewarm towards her ever since she returned to China.
"I heard Liang Chaoluo has been transferred to headquarters."
“I heard about this from my dad, so does this mean…?”
"Does this even need a symbol? He's the only son of the Liang family, and he's the sole heir."
Yi Han was somewhat absent-minded and didn't join in her friend's conversation. Her gaze was blank when she caught sight of a figure and suddenly stopped.
Isn't this Liang Chaoluo's girlfriend?
The other person was of the pure and lovely type, with an eye-catching appearance and figure, but there was a hint of unease in her expression, indicating that she was not used to such places.
That's so petty.
Yi Han curled her lips, pointed in a direction, and embellished her words as she told her sisters some things.
The women were indignant. "What? How dare she keep pestering me? Is she trying to use the child to climb the social ladder?"
"There are always people who have unrealistic ambitions and think they can marry into a wealthy family."
"Don't worry, Hanhan, we'll stand up for you."
Their sympathy for Yi Han wasn't so much out of loyalty, but more out of boredom; they wanted to join in the fun when something interesting came up.
On the other side, Shu Run frowned in confusion; she had come with her boss.
The incident stemmed from the company encountering financial difficulties, which recently triggered a wave of project cuts and layoffs.
The project she was involved in was one of them.
The boss went to great lengths to find investment. After hearing about the banquet, he managed to get an invitation and, under the pretext of needing a female companion, brought her along.
Shu Run agreed because her boss said she could rest during the day if she attended the banquet, and she had been working overtime for many days in a row and desperately needed this day off.
On the other hand, I'm also a recent graduate who wants to try many things and broaden my horizons.
But she didn't expect things to turn out like this. The boss was leading her around, clinking glasses, and it was indeed about discussing investment, but the investors were looking at her strangely, even lecherously.
Shu Run felt very uncomfortable. As soon as the investors left, she told her boss that she wanted to go back.
The boss's expression immediately changed, completely abandoning his previous gentle demeanor. He spoke in a fierce tone, saying that if she left now, she shouldn't come to work tomorrow.
When Shu Run was feeling troubled, a girl walked over and "accidentally" tripped, spilling wine all over Shu Run. A very noticeable wine stain appeared on Shu Run's off-white dress.
The girl covered her mouth in surprise and said, "Oh, I'm so sorry... Well, I brought a spare dress with me, can I pay you back with that?"
Shu Run felt a bit unlucky, but thinking that the other party hadn't done it on purpose, she could use this as an excuse to go back early, so she said no thanks.
I thought this little incident was over.
As a result, the girl's companion looked Shu Run up and down, asking with a hint of curiosity, "I've never seen you before, where is your family...?"
Shurun's boss spoke up first, "This is my assistant. The dress is a small matter, haha, no need to pay for it. I'll take her to change it later."
Her companion raised an eyebrow. The man looked unfamiliar, but judging from the watch on his wrist, he must have some assets, though far less than hers, not to mention the fawning smile on his face.
In short, this is someone you can bully.
She completely ignored their earlier statement that they didn't need to pay, and took her friend's hand, saying, "Huanqi, even if you do pay, it should be at the same price. Your spare dresses might be enough to buy a hundred of the ones she's wearing."
"Hahahaha." The sisters next to me laughed in agreement.
The commotion attracted a number of people, including a wealthy heiress whose identity was known, and people of unknown origin dressed in cheap clothes. They were all there to watch the spectacle.
Some mischievous young masters originally wanted to help the beautiful girl out of the predicament, but they were scared away by Yi Jun's gaze the next second.
Boss Shurun is very perceptive and could tell that these people were deliberately trying to find fault with her.
Their families are all prominent figures in Jiang City, and he can't afford to offend them.
I just don't know when Shurun offended them.
Amidst the crowd, Yi Han held a glass of wine, sipping it slowly and deliberately, a disdainful smile playing on her lips as she watched the commotion with detachment.
Being bumped into for no reason and then mocked is enough to make even the best temper crumble. Shu Run's face fell, her heart raced slightly, and being watched by so many people made her nervous but mostly angry.
"Ha." The girls were still laughing.
"Since we don't need to pay compensation—"
A voice suddenly came from not far away. Everyone looked in the direction of the sound and saw Zhuang Fuyao and Huang Jiayu walking over.
The two of them got tired of staying on the third floor. Even if they stayed in an inconspicuous corner, people would still come up to talk to them. Rather than that, they might as well go downstairs and stay with the young people for some peace and quiet.
As soon as they came down, they saw a crowd gathered there. When they came over, they found that it was their own people being bullied.
Zhuang Fuyao walked over to Shu Run and looked the arrogant girl up and down. She said in a forceful tone, "Since you don't have to pay compensation, then apologize to my friend."
"Who are you—" The girl didn't recognize Zhuang Fuyao and was about to retort when she was pulled back by the person next to her.
Hearing her friend whisper something in her ear, the girl's expression changed slightly. Before she could react, the girl who had just spilled the wine immediately apologized to Shu Run, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to get your dress dirty."
Zhuang Fuyao glanced at the group that had just been mocking her, "And what about you guys?"
Although these people were afraid of Zhuang Fuyao, they hesitated to apologize because of their pride, saying, "We didn't get her clothes dirty."
Seeing that things were not going well, Yi Han came over to try and speak up for her friends, "Aunt Fu..."
"Don't speak," Zhuang Fuyao interrupted her.
Yi Han fell silent, a hint of embarrassment flashing across her face.
Yi Jun, standing next to her, was giving her a look that seemed to ask what was going on.
Yi Han shook her head; she didn't know either.
Zhuang Fuyao continued to ask the group, "Did your families fail to teach you manners?"
Zhuang Fuyao was an elder, and when she got fierce, she had a very imposing presence. The group of people who had been arrogant and domineering just moments before were now as quiet as little quails.
But there was still no apology.
The air pressure dropped to zero. Zhuang Fuyao clearly had no intention of letting it go so easily. She asked them, "What were you laughing about just now? Your dress got spilled with wine. Are you embarrassed?"
They remained silent, their faces growing increasingly grim.
"Heh." Zhuang Fuyao raised her lips slightly, holding the wine in her hand, and poured it over herself little by little.
"Aunt Fu!" Yi Han was startled. She didn't expect things to escalate so much, and she certainly didn't expect Aunt Fu to stand up for Shu Run.
Zhuang Fuyao knew that these people were used to being pampered and were the best at bullying the weak and fearing the strong. Seeing their panicked appearance, she curled her lips and looked at the person who was the most arrogant in front of Shu Run, "Now I have wine stains on me too. Do you feel embarrassed?"
The girl's lips turned pale with fright. "No, no... I'm not embarrassed."
If it were just an insignificant person who got spilled wine, even if they didn't apologize, at worst they would just get a mild scolding when they got home.
The situation is different now; they can't afford to mess with the other party. If this matter escalates further, it might affect their family, and if that happens, it won't be so easy to resolve.
"We're sorry, we were wrong!"
Although these people felt aggrieved, they thought of their families and the wealth and glory they would enjoy later, so they were able to bend and stretch. Their attitude was very serious, and the one who had just been questioned by Zhuang Fuyao even bowed.
A few low laughs came from the surroundings, but this time the target of the laughter was these wealthy heiresses.
However, no one said a bad word about Zhuang Fuyao. Not only did they not think there was anything wrong with Zhuang Fuyao's behavior, but they even looked at her with admiration.
"This is so cool." Huang Jiayu stood up for his sister, and poured the wine from his glass onto himself as well. "This is a kind of stain art."
One is the ex-wife whom the CEO of Changting Group still can't forget, and the other is the fiancée whom the host of the banquet publicly claims to be. In addition, given their good looks, it's easy for them to lead a fashion trend among wealthy wives.
After the banquet ended, a controversial, poorly selling stained dress from a certain luxury brand suddenly became a hot commodity among these wealthy women.
But that's a story for another time.
After bringing Shu Run out, Zhuang Fuyao asked her gently, "Now can you tell me what's been going on lately?"
She and Song Qing had wanted to go to Shu Run's house to ask about the situation before, but Shu Run never had time, even after making an appointment for a long time.
This happened so many times that they couldn't tell if Shurun was genuinely busy or if she was deliberately avoiding them.
"I..." Shu Run choked up. She had indeed been too tense and under too much pressure lately.
Zhuang Fuyao handed her a bottle of mineral water, saying, "No rush, take your time."
Shu Run took a sip of water to calm her emotions from the banquet and then truthfully recounted some of her recent difficulties.
However, she only talked about work-related matters and didn't mention her love life or the pressure from her aunt and uncle to get married. She's a bit conflicted about this, worried that it might affect the purity of her sisterly relationship.
Upon hearing Shu Run talk about the overtime work she'd been working lately and the industry's prospects, Zhuang Fuyao said, "Baby, have you ever considered quitting your job and going solo?"
"Actually, I've thought about starting a social media account. I really enjoy wearing traditional Chinese costumes and drawing ancient-style figurines, which gave me an idea. I'll start by drawing the figurines, then transition into videos of myself dressed in traditional Chinese costume as the figurines. I'll begin with transition videos, and once I have a certain number of followers, I'll start moving on to..."
When talking about this, Shu Run's eyes lit up.
Zhuang Fuyao was very optimistic about this.
Shu Run: "But this requires a lot of courage. I can't guarantee that I will be able to start a business. If I don't succeed, it will be difficult to find a job in the current job market. My current savings are not enough to support me for a long gap year."
Zhuang Fuyao: "How is it not enough? Don't you also have part-time design work at Qingfeng Pavilion? I'm very generous when it comes to paying my employees."
Shu Run glanced gratefully at her sister, but still shook her head. "But I don't want to do that. I want to rely on myself."
“You work for me, and I pay you a salary. How can you say you’re not relying on yourself? The little figures you designed are quite popular with customers. I’m even planning to develop some derivative products, which all require your designs.” Saying this, Zhuang Fuyao raised an eyebrow slightly. “You don’t think I’m deliberately giving you money after hearing your concerns, do you?”
Shu Run remained silent; that was indeed what she was thinking.
Although I sometimes joke with my friends that I'll be taken care of by one of them once she becomes a rich woman.
But if a wealthy female friend were to "support" me, I would feel embarrassed to accept it.
Zhuang Fuyao snorted, opened the armrest box, and took out a contract. "Look, this isn't something I suddenly conjured up, is it?"
While Shu Run was looking at the contract, Zhuang Fuyao continued, "This is something I had planned beforehand, thinking I would give it to you next time we met. I didn't expect you to have been busy for so long."
After reading it, Shu Run sniffed, and tears fell like pearls, soaking the contract paper.
Zhuang Fuyao took a tissue to wipe her tears and teased, "What's wrong? You don't have to cry just because you think your salary is too low."
Upon hearing this, Shu Run burst into laughter through her tears, "It's clearly too much."
This part-time income is enough for her to focus on her self-media work.
Zhuang Fuyao: "Let me make it clear first, I did not intentionally offer high salaries. This level is at most average among my employees' salaries... I am a boss who values humanistic care. If the money is enough, the employees will naturally be motivated to work."
"Hmm...I know."
"Would you like to think about it?"
He said he was giving the person a chance to think it over, but Boss Zhuang had already handed the pen to them.
This attitude is practically saying: "Sign it or not, if you don't, I'll force you to sign it."
Shu Run chuckled.
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