Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
The banquet officially started at 8:20 P.M. The splendid chandelier lights in the banquet hall suddenly dimmed significantly as all the lightings focused onto the big screen right in front of the banquet hall.
The first scene on the screen was a group of children in old, patched up, yet rather clean clothes, wearing bright red scarves and saying in unison, “We thank all uncles, aunties, elder brothers, and elder sisters for your caring help. We’ll definitely study hard, strive for constant improvement, grow up to be useful people to give back to society, and help those in need—just like all of you.”
The young, clean faces, and pure, untainted spirits, when presented in front of everyone, shook all those present! The scenes included the children being unhindered by the rain, storms, cold, and heat, scaling mountains and crossing rivers to walk to school, as well as them cheering at having a new school.
They included scenes of disabled infants at the roadside, abandoned by their parents, them suffering all sorts of unusual looks and being bullied by society, as well as scenes of them unfaltering despite their physical handicaps, studying hard, and integrating into society!
Momentarily, everyone at the banquet was touched as they watched the big screen intently—many of them couldn’t help but retrieve their handkerchiefs to dry their tears.
Seeing such a situation, Zhou Huiyan secretly gave Wen Xinya a thumbs up.
Wen Xinya also returned the thumbs up. Seeing the huge success of the opening video, she felt a sense of meriting someone else’s trust and instantly felt a load off her chest.
Just then, Wen Haowen came before her, fuming, pulled Wen Xinya’s arm, and dragged her to a corner. “Come here with me!”
Violently pulled and dragged by him, Wen Xinya staggered and the 10 cm heels under her feet nearly twisted her ankle. “Father, you’re hurting my wrist!”
Wen Xinya could roughly guess that Xia Ruya had probably told Wen Haowen about her attending the banquet with exaggerated details, and Wen Haowen, thinking that she had come to the banquet on her own accord, felt ashamed, fueling his actions towards her.
Of course, Wen Haowen didn’t care if her wrist was hurting or not—his anger was already feasting on his sense of logic bit by bit. He flung Wen Xinya’s hand away.
Wen Xinya staggered and almost fell to the floor. Fortunately, she acted swiftly, held onto the handrail beside her, and managed to barely remain standing. However, her young face was pale and overcome with panic and fear!
“Leave here immediately. I’ve already called my chauffeur to come and get you.” Wen Haowen gave Wen Xinya a death stare, as if he couldn’t wait to swallow her alive. He totally didn’t expect her to actually have the guts to come to the banquet alone, without being brought by a senior, and behind his back. How would the people in the circle view this? They would definitely feel that her family didn’t teach her manners!
Wen Xinya widened her eyes in shock and asked, “Father, why?”
Wen Haowen was so angry that his expression darkened, the ugly veins on his forehead throbbing, and completely filled with ruthlessness. “You still dare to ask why. You actually dare to come to such a banquet on your own accord, without being brought by a senior—are you representing your Grandpa, me, or the Wen Corporation? You’re an underage girl, can you represent the entire Wen Family and the Wen Corporation? In the eyes of outsiders, they would think that our Wen Family’s daughter doesn’t have manners, throwing the Wen Family’s face for no reason.”
Wen Haowen looked at Wen Haowen in disbelief. “Father, who told you that I came to the banquet on my own accord?”
Wen Haowen’s expression instantly became twisted. “Do I need people to tell me? Your Grandpa didn’t attend today’s banquet—if you didn’t come here on your own accord, what else can it be?”
Wen Xinya hurriedly explained, “Father… It’s totally not what you think it is. Listen to my explanation…”
Filled with anger, Wen Haowen totally couldn’t absorb her explanation. Irritated, he cut her words off. “What’s there to explain? This isn’t a place that you should come to. Your tactless action totally didn’t care about the Wen Family’s reputation—such behavior is just extremely detestable.”
With a pale face, Wen Xinya wanted to clear things up with him. “But I didn’t…”
“You don’t have to say anymore. I’m clear about what happened.” Interrupted Wen Haowen. If it were not for the occasion, he really wanted to give her a tight slap.
Not giving up, Wen Xinya continued explaining, “Father, it’s Aunt Zhou…”
At this point, Wen Haowen’s phone rang. He retrieved the phone and pressed on the answer button—it was a call from his personal chauffeur. Upon hanging up, he tugged at Wen Xinya’s arm and pulled her towards the exit of the banquet hall. “Follow me. My chauffeur is already waiting outside—I’ll get him to send you back to the Old Mansion.”
Wen Haowen’s hand was cold and hard and locked onto her arm tightly like pliers, making her wrist hurt. “Father… I didn’t come to the banquet on my own accord, it’s because…”
Wen Haowen interrupted and roared at her. “Don’t tell me it’s your Grandpa who asked you to come over. Although your Grandpa dotes on you, he definitely won’t do such an inappropriate thing.”
Wen Xinya tripped and almost fell to the ground. “No, Father, I…”
Wen Haowen interrupted her once again. “Otherwise, what else do you have to say?”
The pushing and pulling between Wen Haowen and Wen Xinya had already attracted many people’s attention at the banquet. Everyone looked at this father-daughter duo with judgmental eyes, most of them with the attitude to watch the show and gloat at others’ misfortunes.
It was no secret in the circle that Wen Haowen and Wen Xinya didn’t get along. With a stepmother wedged in the middle, everyone actually knew about such a complication which could only be understood and not said—after all, they were all in the same circle, and such things didn’t only happen to the Wen Family alone.
However, everyone highly disapproved of Wen Haowen’s behavior. He didn’t care about his own daughter and was always flaunting about with someone else’s daughter—guess he was addicted to raising others’ daughters!
Just then, Zhou Huiyan got wind and rushed over. When she saw Wen Haowen clamping Wen Xinya’s wrist, she hurried over and asked, “Mr. Wen, what’s happening?”
Wen Haowen didn’t expect his actions to alarm the organizer of the banquet and instantly felt embarrassed. As he scanned the banquet hall and saw those guests looking on with gossipy eyes, his expression turned awful. He subconsciously released Wen Xinya’s arm, feeling even more unhappy with her deep down. As he thought about how Wen Xinya came to the banquet on her own accord, he didn’t know what to say.
“This… Xinya is ignorant and actually came to the banquet on her own accord. Thus…” Wen Haowen felt a sense of awkwardness and cursed Wen Xinya in his heart a thousand times.
Wen Xinya looked extremely mistreated. As she hung her head and saw her bruised wrist, her tears fell uncontrollably like pearls, landed on the floor which was brilliant enough to reflect one’s image, and burst into beautiful flowers of tears.
