Chapter 544: Honorary Chairman

Jun Chenling's expression didn't change at all, "Do you need it?"

Lin Ning hurriedly waved her hands, her hands almost leaving afterimages, "No, we're decent people."

She had always thought that Ling-ge was that gentle and steady type; today she got to know him again.

Jun Chenling didn't argue further, instead offering the second suggestion: "If you don't want to see her at school again, I'll just say hello to the college side."

Lin Ning said honestly, "No need, I just find her unpleasant to look at, not that I want to get rid of her. Besides, if she suddenly disappeared, I'd have no one to be angry at—how boring."

Mu Youyu was amused by her logic, "What kind of mindset is this?"

Lin Ning straightened her back, "You don't understand; life needs a bit of seasoning. She's my spicy snack—spicy and useless, but without her I'd feel bland."

Jun Chenling withdrew the slightly imposing aura from earlier, his green eyes returned to calm, "Oh."

Lin Ning didn't dare continue the topic.

The lights dimmed, the short clip on the big screen finally finished, and the host began to read the opening remarks.

Mu Youyu zoned out after listening halfway, poking several holes in the small cake with her fork.

Jiang Liangjin, who had been paying attention to this side, reached out and took her fork, placed it on the edge of the plate, then pulled out a napkin and wiped the cream off the edge of the plate clean.

Finally, he cut the four-inch cake into neat small pieces and pushed them back toward her, "Eat up."

Mu Youyu lowered her head, speared a piece and put it in her mouth, praising, "A Jin's cake-cutting skills are getting better and better."

Jiang Liangjin folded the napkin neatly and placed it on the table, "Practiced."

After the host's speech segment ended, next came the foundation's annual report segment, with the person in charge from the secretariat going on stage to speak.

After each segment he spoke, he paused a few seconds to give the audience below time to applaud.

Mu Youyu gave a symbolic clap, then continued lowering her head to eat.

She had grown so accustomed to this process that she was nearly immune; she had attended countless charity galas from childhood onward, the speeches were all much the same—changing the soup but not the medicine.

Just as she thought the evening would pass uneventfully, the person in charge on stage suddenly shifted tone: "—Next, please welcome our foundation's honorary chairman, Ms. Mu Youyu, to say a few words."

Mu Youyu nearly choked on the food in her mouth.

She lifted her gaze to the stage; the person in charge was smiling toward her direction, his face full of sincerity.

Mu Youyu: "Alright, she won't speak so absolutely again."

Jiang Liangjin took out a napkin and handed it to her, pressing his lips slightly, clearly holding back laughter, "Go on, honorary chairman."

Mu Youyu glared at him, took the napkin and wiped her mouth, stood up, and walked toward the stage.

Jun Chenling smiled, not surprised at all, "Sis, do your best."

Lin Ning was completely bewildered, "What chairman?!!!"

Mu Youyu walked onto the stage, the lights shining on her; she scanned the crowd and finally realized that man was no longer there.

She withdrew her gaze; she had attended events big and small, and even if she hadn't been on stage, she had practiced writing essays and watched others speak, so this was no problem.

Thus, Mu Youyu blurted out, "Good evening, everyone. First, thank you all for coming tonight..."

She didn't speak for long; a few sentences ended her speech, and she walked off the stage amid applause.

By the time she returned to her seat, Jiang Liangjin had already refilled her half-drunk glass of juice.

Mu Youyu sat down, lifted the cup and took a sip, turned to him, her eyes sparkling, "How did I do?"

Jiang Liangjin, who had been recording the screen and not listening, put down his phone, looked at her seriously, "Very good—unlike some people who talk for ages without saying anything."

Mu Youyu: "Who are you talking about?"

Jiang Liangjin kept a straight face, "I wasn't referring to anyone in particular, just speaking generally."

Lin Ning rolled her eyes from the side, "Can you two not do this?"

Next came the main event of the banquet, the charity auction segment.

The first auction item was an oil painting, with a starting bid of 200,000 and each raise not less than 10,000.

Mu Youyu turned her head and whispered to Jiang Liangjin, "It's Lin Teacher's brushwork, but I don't think I've seen this painting before."

Jiang Liangjin also focused his gaze on the painting on stage, "Possibly an early work of his, not included in the album."

The bidding began, the price rose from 200,000 all the way, quickly surpassing 500,000.

Mu Youyu didn't raise her paddle; she no longer had much desire to collect Lin Tingsong's paintings.

At the family estate there is a villa specially made into a painting studio; the storage room for his works inside is already packed to the brim, to the point that not even the walls can hold more.

Before, many friends had teased her about a wall's worth of money.

Unknown who raised the paddle to lift the price to 4,000,000, Jiang Liangjin suddenly changed his mind, raised his paddle once, pushing the price to 9,000,000, and then stopped adding.

Jun Chenling thought, "This person is really a dog thief."

In the end, that painting was bought by a man sitting in the front row for 10,000,000.

When Mu Youyu lowered her head, Jiang Liangjin got a clear look at his face; unsurprisingly, he had recognized him by voice earlier—this person was exactly whom he had just thought of, the one who used to call him "dry dad."

When the auction reached the sixth item, Mu Youyu unexpectedly spotted a person not on the list but very familiar.

The person seemed to have just arrived at the scene, turned half sideways, with flaxen long hair falling over the shoulders, wearing a black mask, and was lowering his head to focus on his phone.

Mu Youyu recognized her cousin, instinctively sitting up straight. She hadn't seen Mu Xianyan for a while.

She was about to get up to go say hello when she saw the suited man lean over to Mu Xianyan's side, smiling, his lips moving, apparently saying something enthusiastic.

Mu Xianyan didn't even lift her head, scrolling on her phone, completely treating the person beside her as nonexistent.

Shi Che leaned in closer to her side, his voice faintly audible: "Yanyan, look at this—I just snapped it, it's already signed and can be taken home later, isn't it nice?"

He held up his phone; the screen showed exactly the painting he had just bought for 10,000,000.

Mu Xianyan finally lifted her eyelids, expressionless, "Oh."

Shi Che's smile froze; he lifted the cup before him and took a sip of water to hide his embarrassment.

Ah! Actually his heart was bleeding, his brother's money!

Just now the bidding was chaotic; he also didn't see clearly who raised the bid—if it weren't for his brother saying Mu Xianyan liked oil paintings, he wouldn't have bid.

Mu Youyu watched this scene, the corner of her mouth twitching, feeling that the picture was inexplicably stress‑relieving.

Lin Ning obviously also recognized Mu Xianyan, whispering, "Isn't that your sister Xianyan? How did she come too?"

Mu Youyu seemed thoughtful, "Maybe she came with friends."

She did not deliberately emphasize the subtle nuance of the word 'friends'.

But Lin Ning had already imagined a lot, his gaze darting back and forth between Shi Che and Mu Xianyan several times, letting out a meaningful 'oh~'.

Friends? That attitude, she looks like a servant.