HBWMA -Chapter 158 Shen Qingyu’s Request for Help

A couple of “damn idiots” were currently meeting guests in the central circle.

Shen Lanxi followed Shen Zhuang, while Shen Guiling followed Shen Qian.

Although Shen Qian had been transferred down to Nanwan City, everyone knew he would eventually be promoted again. So the people present were still quite polite to him on the surface.

Those seated in the central circle were mostly heads of old-money and rising families, while those in the outer rings were mostly favored younger members of those families. The crowd was almost entirely male.

Old Madam Gu wore a string of imperial-green jade beads around her neck and a bright yellow cheongsam. Time had taken her beauty, but it had given her an even more refined and dignified presence. As the only female family head present, her aura far surpassed ordinary people.

She lifted her eyes slightly and saw Shen Qingyu being surrounded by a group of young women. She raised her hand and called over Gu He.

“Go, bring A-Yu over.”

Even an illegitimate son could enter the main hall and be treated as an equal—why should her grandson be pushed to the margins?

“Mother.”

Gu Cifeng glanced at the old lady somewhat awkwardly. “Isn’t this… a bit inappropriate?”

Old Madam Gu let out a cold snort. “What’s inappropriate about it? Which point is Shen Qingyu worse than any of them here? If you think it’s inappropriate, then go sit over there yourself and give your seat to him.”

Gu Cifeng immediately shut his mouth. The old lady had always been ruthless in her decisions—if she really made him step down later, his reputation as a judicial supervisory council member would be gone.

Meanwhile, Shen Qingyu noticed Gu He walking toward him. Without thinking, he grabbed Jiang Huashan and turned toward the entrance hall.

Jiang Huashan was confused and was about to struggle when she saw Gu He weaving through the crowd toward them.

She suddenly understood and glanced toward Old Madam Gu’s direction, but before she could get a clear look, the grip on her wrist tightened. A rush of wind hit her as they turned—behind them, the brilliant banquet hall turned into dim courtyard shadows.

Shen Qingyu was practically fleeing in panic. Jiang Huashan tried to break free but failed, and in the end simply gave up and jogged along behind him.

Finally, Shen Qingyu brought her under an arched corridor. After confirming no one was around, he slowly let go and said lightly, “It’s too stuffy inside. I just brought you out for some fresh air.”

“….”

Jiang Huashan didn’t bother exposing him and turned to leave.

Shen Qingyu grabbed her braid. “It’s too weird if I sit here alone. Stay with me?”

She took one step and couldn’t move. Suppressing her temper, she pulled her braid back. “Isn’t it even weirder if there are two of us?”

Shen Qingyu simply ignored her refusal, pulled her down to sit, then thought for a moment and stuffed a strawberry cake into her hand.

“Eat something. If you’re eating, it won’t feel awkward.”

“I can’t eat,” Jiang Huashan said expressionlessly.

She stood up again to leave, and Shen Qingyu pushed her back down. She stood up again. He pushed her down again.

Finally, Shen Qingyu laughed out of frustration and used his trump card.

“If you sit properly, you won’t need to return that 700,000 from before.”

Jiang Huashan immediately sat back down.

Shen Qingyu raised an eyebrow. “So poor?”

“Yeah.” Since she couldn’t leave anyway, Jiang Huashan picked up a small spoon and started eating the strawberry cake.

Shen Qingyu studied her with interest. “Because of your mother?”

Jiang Huashan originally didn’t want to talk much with him, but such a good chance to subtly throw shade at Fang Mei shouldn’t be wasted. She nodded.

“Yeah. My mom spends a lot.”

After saying that, she focused on eating cake again.

“Sir.”

At that moment, Gu He chased out from the banquet hall and hurried into the corridor. When he saw Jiang Huashan beside him, his expression tightened slightly.

“Sir, the banquet is about to start.”

“Let it start,” Shen Qingyu said irritably. “I’m not even the main character tonight.”

Gu He hesitated. “Sir… the old madam has made up her mind. Avoiding it like this isn’t a solution.”

Shen Qingyu, already annoyed, picked up a cake from the table and threw it straight at Gu He.

“Get lost.”

Gu He was splattered with cream but didn’t dare say anything. He silently glanced at Shen Qingyu and left dejectedly.

The atmosphere turned awkward for a moment.

Jiang Huashan calmly switched to a blueberry cake and kept eating.

Shen Qingyu had still been irritated, but seeing how calm she was made him even more unhappy. He casually picked up the blueberry cake plate and smashed it onto the ground.

Jiang Huashan paused for a moment, then silently picked up another cherry-flavored one.

Shen Qingyu raised an eyebrow. Resting his chin on one hand, he swept the porcelain plate with the other.

Smack.

The cherry cake was gone.

Jiang Huashan didn’t even lift her eyelids. Calmly, she switched to a vanilla-flavored one.

Shen Qingyu casually knocked that one over too.

Almost at the same second the cake hit the ground, Jiang Huashan raised her hand and struck Shen Qingyu’s forehead with the silver spoon.

“Seven hundred thousand. I can tolerate at most three mini cakes.”

“……”

Shen Qingyu froze. His expression went blank for a full half-minute. When he finally came back to his senses, his face looked complicated and unreadable.

“Are you really stupid, or are you pretending to be clueless?”

Jiang Huashan tilted her head. “What?”

“You can’t tell I’m in a bad mood?”

“I can,” she replied. “That’s exactly why I didn’t want to deal with you. What if you take it out on me?”

“……”

Shen Qingyu almost laughed in anger. She already dared to hit him directly—why would she be afraid of him venting on her?

Suddenly, the bump on his forehead throbbed painfully. He rubbed it, then picked up another coconut cake and placed it on the porcelain plate.

“How’s the game planning going?”

Jiang Huashan raised a brow and studied him from head to toe.

“I’ve been thinking since this afternoon. Why do you keep pushing me to organize activities? What exactly are you planning?”

Shen Qingyu directly tossed out a gold card.

“Help me mess up tonight’s banquet. After it’s done, I’ll double it.”

“Mess it up?” Jiang Huashan dropped her silver spoon, crossed her arms, and looked at him leisurely. “Do you misunderstand me? Why do you think I’d help you do something like that? The old man put a lot of effort into this banquet. If anything goes wrong, it’s the Shen family’s reputation that suffers. I’m not taking that kind of dirty money.”

Shen Qingyu hadn’t expected her to be so principled. He was slightly surprised.

“I can pay more.”

Jiang Huashan stood up. “It won’t matter how much you add. My loyalty to Grandpa is priceless.” She turned to leave.

“I’ll double it again—two hundred times!”

Jiang Huashan looked insulted. “Can’t you understand human language?”

Shen Qingyu: “Three hundred times.”

Jiang Huashan paused.

She coughed lightly. “I already said, I’m loyal to the Shen family—”

Shen Qingyu gritted his teeth. “This is everything I have left. Take it or leave it.”

All drained?

Jiang Huashan’s eyes flickered. She quietly sat back down.

“…We can still talk.”

“Tell me first why you want to ruin the banquet.”

Shen Qingyu said irritably, “I just don’t like that bastard. What’s wrong with paying to make him unhappy?”

A reason that shallow might fool someone like Fu Sui’er, but not Jiang Huashan.

She glanced at him, then stood up again.

“Everything you said earlier sounded like bargaining, but one thing is true—I do value my loyalty to Grandpa above everything. Since you’re not sincere, find someone else.”

“Sit down,” Shen Qingyu said, temples throbbing. He glanced at her sideways. “Do you get tired getting up and down like that? Anyway, I really don’t have any money left.”

Jiang Huashan knew she had squeezed him dry. She quietly sat back down.

“Last chance. If you don’t say it, I’m really leaving.”

Shen Qingyu fell silent for a moment, then slowly spoke.

“My grandmother wants to take me away.”

Gu Yingci was the most favored daughter of the Gu family. In her prime, she married Shen family’s second son, Shen Yuan. They were once a celebrated couple in elite circles, but things didn’t last.

After giving birth to Shen Qingyu, Gu Yingci developed postpartum depression. Her condition relapsed repeatedly for five years, until she eventually slit her wrists at home and died.

Because of this, there had always been an unspoken rift between the Gu family and the Shen family.

Shen Qingyu’s grandmother doted on him greatly. Over the past ten years, she had repeatedly proposed taking him back to the Gu family to raise him, but Shen Zhuang and Shen Yuan always refused.

So now, the old lady planned to use the Shen family heir’s return banquet to publicly sever ties with the Shen family—both to vent the anger over her daughter’s death, and to take back the only bloodline of her beloved daughter.