HBWMA -Chapter 209 Resolute Defense

After Jiang Huashan stepped into the banquet hall, her attention was immediately drawn to the giant screen on the stage.

It really was a charity gala. On the crystal display above the stage, a scrolling list continuously showed various companies and industry chairmen donating funds to Golden Bay’s education initiatives—“XXXXXX yuan,” line after line.

The charities listed were also highly diverse, but the most eye-catching was the Tian’en Education Charity Foundation, whose donation amount far surpassed the rest at a staggering fifty million.

Behind the donor honor wall was another massive backdrop. It clearly displayed the before-and-after comparison of the past five years of Golden Port, along with improvements in local education resources and teaching staff.

Inside the banquet hall, the guests were either elegant and composed or dignified and graceful. With glasses clinking, their conversations revolved either around praise for Golden Bay’s leadership or discussions of future development plans.

A high-end gathering.

Jiang Huashan peeked around like a child who had accidentally wandered into an adult jungle, curious about everything she saw.

“This kind of old folks’ gathering—what did your stepmother call you here for?”

Shen Guiling fell silent.

How did she manage to be this sharp-tongued and not even try to hide it?

Yao Ge entered the banquet shortly after and glanced between the two of them before raising a brow and signaling to Mo Ran.

Mo Ran understood immediately and stepped forward with a smile toward Jiang Huashan.

“Miss Jiang, the juice and desserts are over there. Shall I take you?”

Yao Ge naturally patted Shen Guiling on the shoulder.

“A-Ling, some of your father’s old friends are over there too. Come with me and say hello.”

Jiang Huashan rolled her eyes, then grabbed Mo Ran.

“Where did you say the juice was?”

Mo Ran immediately led the way.

“I’ll take you there.”

Yao Ge led Shen Guiling toward the officials’ seating area.

“Governor Yan.”

Yan Meiting was speaking to her secretary when she suddenly heard Yao Ge’s voice. She looked up—and was slightly startled by the young man in front of her.

Exquisite features, noble bone structure.

Even someone as experienced as her had rarely seen such striking looks.

Yan Meiting quickly composed herself and stood with a polite smile.

“Mrs. Shen.”

Yao Ge turned to Shen Guiling.

“Governor Yan, let me introduce you. This is… my husband’s youngest son, Shen Guiling. A-Ling, this is your father’s old friend, Governor Yan.”

Shen Guiling’s expression remained gentle.

“Hello, Aunt Yan.”

Yan Meiting’s smile stiffened slightly before she nodded.

“So you’re A-Ling. I often hear Director Shen mention you.”

Back then, Shen Qian had been transferred to Nanwan as the local publicity department director. His position was several ranks lower than Yan Meiting’s.

Yao Ge signaled subtly to a server, and someone immediately brought over two glasses of red wine.

“A-Ling, Governor Yan is your father’s good friend in Nanwan. Since this is your first meeting, why don’t you have a drink with her?”

Shen Guiling took the glass of red wine.

Yan Meiting gave Yao Ge a meaningful glance, then smiled and picked up a glass of plain water instead.

“I have an early meeting tomorrow morning, so I’ll substitute water for wine.”

Shen Guiling obediently lifted his glass, just about to drink, when someone suddenly squeezed in between him and Yao Ge.

The next second, a soft palm covered his fingers, and before he could react, the red wine glass in his hand was taken away.

Before Shen Guiling could even process what had happened, a glass of orange juice was placed in his hand.

“You’ve been told so many times already. You have to protect yourself when you’re out—why don’t you ever listen?”

Shen Guiling stared at the orange juice in his hand for three seconds before slowly lifting his gaze.

Jiang Huashan was holding a strawberry juice in one hand and the red wine in the other. She wasn’t looking at him at all—her smiling eyes were fixed on Yan Meiting.

Yao Ge didn’t immediately react to where she had suddenly popped out from and turned back to glare at Mo Ran.

This was Jinwan. Yan Meiting had never seen anyone dare to be so brazen in Jinwan before. But having weathered the ups and downs of politics, she wasn’t the kind to lose her composure over something like this.

Yan Meiting smiled faintly and shifted her gaze to Yao Ge. “And this is?”

Yao Ge gave an awkward smile. “Please excuse her. This is a niece from the family. Shanshan, this is Governor Yan of Jinwan. Call her Aunt Yan.”

Hearing she was from the Shen family, Yan Meiting’s eyes gained a bit more warmth.

Jiang Huashan frowned and glanced Yan Meiting over. “So you’re just the governor of Jinwan? Auntie, why were you bowing and flattering her so much earlier? I thought some incredible big shot had arrived.”

Yan Meiting’s expression froze slightly.

“!”

She’s acting up again!

Yao Ge’s smile nearly cracked. She forced a laugh to cover it. “Governor Yan, please don’t mind her. The child is just talking nonsense and doesn’t understand manners.”

“Auntie, you do know we’re children, right? Shen Guiling won’t turn eighteen until the month after next. Strictly speaking, he’s still a minor—yet you’re forcing him to drink?”

Yao Ge and Yan Meiting’s eyelids both twitched.

Shen Guiling slowly lowered his gaze and continued staring at the orange juice in his hand.

Yao Ge quickly said, “What do you mean forcing him to drink? I just asked A-Ling to come over and say hello.”

“Oh.” Jiang Huashan nodded and casually handed the red wine in her hand to Yan Meiting. “If it’s just saying hello, what kind of logic is it for adults to drink water while a child drinks alcohol?”

Yan Meiting looked at the glass of red wine, the smile at the corner of her lips turning cold.

“Mrs. Shen, your family’s child is quite… humorous.”

Yao Ge was about to speak when Jiang Huashan directly swirled the glass and splashed half of the red wine out.

“What? Governor Yan looks down on this toast from a junior? Seems like I’ll have to ask my grandfather to make a personal trip here.”

Yan Meiting’s expression changed slightly. In Jinwan, she was a dominant figure—but outside Jinwan, she was nothing. The reason Yao Ge treated her so politely was entirely because they hoped she could help with Shen Qian’s election for speaker. If it weren’t for this critical period, she wouldn’t have been someone the Shen family needed to fawn over.

Yao Ge sensed the atmosphere turning wrong and gritted her teeth to smooth things over. “Shanshan, just give your aunt a bit of face. Can you stop making a scene?”

“Making a scene?” Jiang Huashan lifted her eyes, looking at Yao Ge coldly. “Aunt thinks I’m making a scene? If you weren’t the one disgracing the Shen family, would I, a child, need to step in?”

What is a Jinwan governor worth?!

Her grandfather had even dared to knock out Fu Lingnan’s fake teeth. If he found out Yao Ge was forcing Shen Guiling to drink just to help Shen Qian get votes, he would probably be so furious he’d spit blood on the spot.

This wasn’t just humiliating Shen Guiling—this was humiliating the entire Shen family.

The honor her grandfather had painstakingly upheld for a lifetime—she would not allow anyone to destroy it.

Seeing that Jiang Huashan would not back down, Yao Ge also grew angry. “Enough! Don’t think just because you have the old master backing you that you can act without limits. If you keep this up, don’t blame me for having you thrown out.”

Jiang Huashan smiled slightly and lifted her chin. “Alright, then go ahead and throw me out—if you can bear the consequences.”

Yan Meiting was shaken by the smile in her eyes and couldn’t help but blurt out, “What consequences?”

Jiang Huashan said, “Jinwan has no mountains and no old systems. Even today, its education development still makes it a poor region in Country A. Its children can only go to school thanks to donations from all kinds of charitable people. Is it really that the people of Jinwan don’t work hard enough? Or is it that everyone sitting here isn’t working hard enough?”

Yan Meiting’s expression changed slightly.

She no longer treated this as a simple conflict—instead, she escalated it straight into a political issue. At that moment, she finally gained a clear understanding of how terrifying the children of powerful families could be.

Not just her—the Jinwan officials behind her also could no longer sit still.

Jiang Huashan swirled her glass again, the smile in her eyes fading.

“Now then, there’s no more toast.”

After becoming engaged to Shen Lanshan, she had also studied under Shen Zhuang on how to become a proper Madam Shen. What she had failed to protect for the Shen family in her previous life—this time, she would defend in the name of Shen Zhuang’s granddaughter.

The crystal glass tilted over, and red wine flowed down along its rim.