Chapter 378: Rivals Are Everywhere

She stopped dwelling on why her mother was unhappy and instead told her something that made herself very happy: "Mom, Dad also invited Sister Bingbing to attend the event. Don't give her any attitude when you see her in a moment; Sister Bingbing is my idol."

Shi Youxuan:...

Wang Bingbing had indeed come.

There was another commotion at the main entrance, and the reporters all abandoned her and ran toward the entrance.

Wang Bingbing appeared before everyone, radiant and glowing, surrounded by people, having regained her former glory.

Sheng Hanyu stepped forward to greet her, the two shook hands and exchanged pleasantries, and then Wang Bingbing naturally took Sheng Hanyu's arm and walked toward the stage.

That wasn't all; Shi Ran also skipped over and affectionately called out, "Sister Bingbing."

Wang Bingbing crouched down, affectionately kissed the little girl on the forehead, and then led her with her other hand; the three of them walked warmly to the stage, where she signed the advertising wall behind the stage, and the three of them accepted interviews from reporters together...

The three of them cooperated tacitly, handled the reporters with ease, and interacted from time to time, as if they were a family of three.

Sheng Hanyu introduced Wang Bingbing to the reporters as the brand ambassador for this charity gala, while Shi Ran was the ambassador, and their companies, Dingsheng and Tianma Group, were the organizers.

As a capital stakeholder, it was clearly inappropriate for him to be on the stage alone.

So he called Jian Yining up as well.

Shi Youxuan:...

Of course, even if they had asked her up, she wouldn't have wanted to share the stage with Wang Bingbing.

But voluntarily refusing and being ignored were two different things, so Shi Youxuan felt even more uncomfortable inside, as if she had been abandoned.

Jian Yining spoke eloquently on the stage, first talking about the necessity of this charity fund, and then focusing on the importance Tianma Group placed on the foundation and their future, deeper cooperation with Dingsheng, and so on.

The speech was very official, but there was nothing wrong with it.

After Jian Yining finished speaking, he stepped off the stage and walked toward her.

Shi Youxuan sank her face, preparing to accept Jian Yining's explanation.

That speech clearly wasn't improvised; it was definitely a prepared script, and since he was speaking on behalf of Tianma, didn't he need to explain it to her?

Apparently not.

"Hi! Ze Rong, you said you'd treat me to a meal last time; when are you finally going to make good on that?"

Jian Yining brushed past her without a single word of explanation!

Sheng Zerong: "You brat, you're still calling me by my first name? Call me brother-in-law."

"Brother-in-law isn't as intimate as 'buddy,' right? I'm just used to calling you by your name..."

The two of them laughed and joked, while Yun Zhehao, Jian Yixin, and Ma Ling'er also joined in the teasing; the group chatted and laughed, making for a lively scene.

But no one mentioned Shi Youxuan; despite being so close, no one came over to talk to her or invited her over.

She was isolated.

Shi Youxuan's sudden calling off of the wedding this time had left her friends with opinions about her.

Whoever saw her criticized her, saying she had gone too far, and that if she had hurt Sheng Hanyu's heart this time, she would never find anyone as good to her as Sheng Hanyu again.

If one or two people said it, she could ignore it.

The problem was that everyone was saying it, and after saying it, her friends didn't want to bother with her anymore; even Jian Yining had distanced himself from her now, and Shi Youxuan felt a sense of being deserted by everyone.

This feeling was unpleasant, but no matter how unpleasant it was, it wasn't as painful as Sheng Hanyu's attitude toward her.

Sheng Hanyu and Wang Bingbing seemed to be having a very congenial conversation; Wang Bingbing laughed until she shook from time to time, and he smiled the whole time, even gentlemanly fetching red wine for Wang Bingbing and helping her fend off interviews from reporters she didn't like.

He even reminded her to watch the steps while walking, showing the utmost care.

These had all once been Shi Youxuan's "patents," but now they had suddenly changed to someone else, and without any warning at that.

Shi Youxuan didn't want to stay here; it was quite boring.

Especially since her daughter was also surrounding Wang Bingbing like a little fan, which made her angry.

She couldn't control others, but couldn't she control her own daughter?

She went to her daughter's side and took Shi Ran's little hand: "Ranran, come home with Mom."

"I'm not going back; I still want to chat with Sister Bingbing." Shi Ran shook off her hand and refused to go back.

"I can't even listen to you anymore, is that it? Are you going back or not? If you don't go back with me this time, don't ever come back again." Shi Youxuan's suppressed temper erupted, and she snapped at her daughter.

"Waa—"

The little girl wailed and cried, pointing at her while crying: "Mom is bad, you're not a good mom, you don't keep your word and you're mean to me, why are you being mean to me?"

When Shi Ran cried like that, everyone looked over.

In public, Shi Youxuan couldn't save face.

She tugged at her daughter to leave, but the little one hid behind Wang Bingbing and refused to go back with her no matter what.

She even said: "If you don't want me, you don't want me; someone else will."

If Shi Ran had hidden behind Sheng Hanyu, Shi Youxuan wouldn't have been too angry, but she had to hide behind Wang Bingbing, and Wang Bingbing was actually taking herself seriously.

She urged Shi Youxuan not to be like this, to have patience with the child, so that the child would like her...

It would have been better if Wang Bingbing hadn't tried to persuade her; her persuasion only added fuel to the fire, escalating the conflict.

The anger in Shi Youxuan's heart erupted to the peak, and she snapped at Wang Bingbing: "Get lost, I don't need you to pretend to be a good person here; Ranran is my daughter, I don't need you to teach me how to raise a child."

As she spoke, she went to pull her daughter, trying to drag Shi Ran out from behind Wang Bingbing.

The little girl dodged nimbly; she knew that if she got caught, it wouldn't end well. Her mother was angry right now, and regardless of whether it was her fault or not, according to past experience, she would get a beating first.

Wang Bingbing was blocking her way and was very much in the way, so in her anxiety, Shi Youxuan gave her a tug—"Ah!" Wang Bingbing suddenly fell backward!

Shi Ran was still behind her.

The little girl reacted quite quickly; knowing her small body couldn't catch an adult, she "whooshed" and ran away.

Just as Wang Bingbing was about to fall to the ground, Sheng Hanyu caught her from behind: "Are you okay?"

Wang Bingbing leaned into Sheng Hanyu's arms, soft as if she had no bones, and thanked him coquettishly: "Thank you for saving me, I think I hurt my ankle, it hurts so much!"

Sheng Hanyu: "Wang Yong, bring a chair for Miss Bingbing."

Wang Yong heard it, but did not move from his spot.

It was his follower Lao Qi who brought over a chair and let Wang Bingbing sit.

Sheng Hanyu crouched down and personally examined Wang Bingbing's ankle, right in front of Shi Youxuan.

"Does it hurt here?"

Wang Bingbing said coquettishly, "Ouch, it hurts so much!"

"How about here?"

"Mm, it hurts here too."

The two of them interacted right in front of her as if showing off their affection; Shi Youxuan did not want to keep watching and turned to leave.

"Stop."

Sheng Hanyu called out to stop her: "Are you just going to leave after pushing someone? You need to apologize to Miss Wang Bingbing."

So she turned back around and stared into Sheng Hanyu's eyes: "I won't apologize, so what?"

"Nothing."

Sheng Hanyu did not argue with her, nor did he even say much to her; instead, he had Lao Qi take Wang Bingbing to the hospital, to the best hospital, to find the best doctor, and to get the best medicine, with all expenses charged to him.

Shi Youxuan:...

She was very angry, so angry she wanted to destroy the whole world.

Was he blind?

That woman was clearly faking it; when Shi Youxuan pulled her, Wang Bingbing didn't even move her foot, so how could she have sprained it?