DF Chapter 42

Chapter 42: You Have What You Stand On

For Sheng Jia, this was a very magical world.

Dazzlingly luxurious jewelry was displayed in the showcases, each item priced exorbitantly, enough to make one gasp. There was a mingling of cups and clinking glasses, a scene of extravagance and indulgence.

Behind them, Li Mingliang was being forcibly escorted away, his mouth covered.

Most people, out of politeness and good breeding, didn’t openly mock, but they stood in their respective corners, watching the spectacle. They were probably speculating about the identities of these two young girls. Subtle and not-so-subtle gazes converged, causing Sheng Jia to frown involuntarily.

However, Song Ji’an beside her didn’t change her expression in the slightest. She seemed accustomed to being shrouded in such scrutinizing gazes, a faint, appropriate smile gracing her lips.

Since childhood, Song Ningqiu had cultivated her as an heir. No matter her true personality, she would never embarrass her mother in public.

Someone wanted to come forward and strike up a conversation, but Song Ji’an, having probably been through countless such occasions, expertly pulled Sheng Jia along, looking straight ahead, directly through the hall, and into the adjacent terrace.

A night breeze swept through, and the terrace was filled with well-maintained greenery, interspersed with white lilies of the valley. The drooping flower buds swayed in the wind, bringing a delicate fragrance.

There weren’t many people here. Song Ji’an quickly led her through the flower garden and reached the edge of the terrace, finally sighing with relief.

“See? This is why I don’t like coming to these events.” Song Ji’an leaned on the railing, gazing at the luxury cars still streaming into the manor, and chuckled, “You know, a lot of people in this circle are very boring. Chasing fame and profit is the most normal thing. Actually, I’m doing that too. But they always want to use their reputation and status to step on others. Those in high positions mostly look at those in lower positions with polite disdain.”

“Li Mingliang, on the other hand, is a ridiculous anomaly,” she said softly, “This kind of malice that comes directly at you is the easiest to deal with. Other malice is hidden. Even those two internet celebrity ladies that Ms. Fu Minglang personally invited are still finding it difficult to integrate, subtly ostracized.”

“What do you want to say?” Sheng Jia stood beside her, but didn’t look at her. Her dark eyes weren’t looking at the ground, but instead gazing up at the stars.

“I hate this,” Song Ji’an scoffed, “Most people have their current reputation and status not because of their own efforts, but because they were born well. I don’t like this kind of condescension. Like tonight, if my identity wasn’t the daughter of Song’s Heavy Industry, but a small entrepreneur or even just a small internet celebrity, then I wouldn’t be able to refute Li Mingliang’s insults. If it blew up, it might become a disaster for us. We would become the kind of people who not only get picked on but also get asked to leave.”

“But unfortunately, Li Mingliang just kicked a steel plate. We happen to have enough power to make him suffer and make a fool of himself.”

“But is that really satisfying? Not really, because I’m not relying on my own ability either, nor on fairness and justice, to get the other party to repent and apologize. I’m relying on my background. That only means that if the next person with an even higher status than me appears, and they happen to be someone like Li Mingliang, then I won’t be able to get justice for myself, nor will I be able to punish the other party, unless I sacrifice something.”

“There’s no point in dwelling on these things,” Sheng Jia finally turned to look at her, “With Song’s Heavy Industry’s position in the country, you won’t even encounter such a person. Besides, there’s never been absolute fairness in this world.”

“Maybe I just get sentimental at night, but I’ve always liked pursuing this kind of thing since I was little, and the good thing is that my mom is willing to support me.” Song Ji’an rarely spoke about her childhood, “When I was in elementary school, she didn’t let me reveal any background information. I was bullied and went to the teacher, but the other party’s parent was a relative of the teacher, so the teacher criticized me, saying I was making trouble.”

“After I went home, I told my mom about it. She didn’t give me any advice, just told me to do what I wanted to do.”

“Later, I relied on my top ranking in the grade to tell the whole story in public during a speech under the national flag. There were even many parents in the audience at the time. That teacher was condemned and faced a joint complaint from many parents. The final result was that he was fired. But I still feel like I used my advantages. If I wasn’t number one in the grade, would I have had this opportunity? I really want to pursue absolute fairness, but I realized very early on that no one’s conditions are exactly the same. This world can’t even achieve relative fairness, let alone pursue absolute fairness.”

“So now I can only be glad that I’m someone with the ability to fight back.”

Song Ji’an rarely revealed her inner thoughts like this. Perhaps for someone growing up in a family like hers, thinking about these issues was inconceivable. But she had indeed had these confusions since she was little, especially when she was offended or when she saw the snobbery in the circle, these confusions became even stronger.

But this wasn’t something a seventeen-year-old girl could solve, so she could only think about it.

“What if you lost your current identity?”

Sheng Jia’s sudden question made Song Ji’an’s heart tremble for some reason. She turned to look at the other girl, and happened to meet her unfathomable eyes, “What did you say?”

Sheng Jia stared at her, slowly asking, word by word, “If one day, you couldn’t use your current identity, but encountered a problem like today, what would you do?”

“I…” Song Ji’an paused slightly, appearing hesitant. It wasn’t an expression of not knowing how to answer, but of having an answer in her heart, but not knowing if she could say it.

“You’ve thought about this question, haven’t you?” Sheng Jia saw through her at a glance.

Song Ji’an smiled helplessly, turned around and leaned back on the terrace railing, “Don’t tell me, I really used to think about what I would do to pursue fairness if my family went bankrupt. Now I can handle things with ease, but if one day I can’t solve the problems I face anymore, maybe I’ll become very extreme and use more violent ways to solve problems, in order to maintain the equality I want in my heart.”

She put it delicately, but Sheng Jia understood.

Beneath the steady and confident exterior of Song Ji’an was a fire that she suppressed. When status and power couldn’t uphold fairness and justice, she would choose mutual destruction.

That’s why she hesitated when she spoke. Not everyone could accept her way of thinking.

But Sheng Jia was different. Sheng Jia didn’t care what other people thought. Like now, even if Song Ji’an revealed the fire in the deepest part of her heart, Sheng Jia would just nod calmly, which made her breathe a sigh of relief.

Thinking about it, she felt that it was a bit of a disadvantage to reveal her innermost thoughts that she had never mentioned to anyone. She asked jokingly, “What about you? If one day you become successful and famous, or if you started out in my position, what would you do?”

Sheng Jia replied, “You have what you stand on. I would only use the conditions I have in my hands to do what I should do.”

She was a typical pragmatist. She wouldn’t think about equality. She would only think about how to maximize her own interests.

“That’s exactly the answer I’d expect from you,” Song Ji’an took two glasses of champagne from the side wine stand and handed one to Sheng Jia, “Then I wish you get what you want.”

At this moment, she seemed to see Sheng Jia’s ambition in concrete form. This territory was quiet and mysterious, only revealing a corner to Song Ji’an, but it was enough to make her feel gratified.

At least in this conversation, it wasn’t just her one-sided output, but a collision of her thoughts with Sheng Jia’s.

Sheng Jia didn’t move. She held the champagne glass, gazing at Song Ji’an’s smiling face under the amber light overhead. When the other girl started to look puzzled, she slowly clinked glasses with her.

“Thank you for your blessing,” she said softly.

Song Ji’an tilted her head, quite pleased with herself, “You’re welcome.”

“I think next time I should specify at the reception that alcoholic beverages are not allowed to be served to guests under the age of eighteen.”

Their conversation was not over when a sudden voice came from behind them, prompting them to turn their heads.

A lady also dressed in a suit walked out from the flower garden. Her silver-white hair was smoothed back meticulously. She wore a pair of reading glasses. Behind her was a woman in her thirties. Hearing her words, the woman just smiled, “Then shall I instruct the banquet managers now?”

The moment Song Ji’an saw her, her eyes widened instantly. She instinctively placed the champagne glass back on the tray, “Grandma Fu?”

“I think that although some guests are under the age of eighteen, they already have good self-management skills, and it should be permissible for them to have a few sips of champagne,” she straightened up, smiling as she defended herself, “And elderly people eavesdropping on young people’s conversations by the flower garden should also be condemned.”

Fu Minglang glared at her upon hearing this, “Am I old?”

“Okay, you’re not. You’re the great philanthropist, Doctors Without Borders, my excellent role model, Ms. Fu Minglang,” Song Ji’an put on a standard announcer’s voice, making Fu Minglang couldn’t help but laugh.

“Only you know how to be glib.” Fu Minglang scolded her with a smile, then turned her gaze to Sheng Jia. For some reason, she paused slightly, but the pause didn’t last long, “Is this your good friend?”

“Yes,” Song Ji’an put her arm around Sheng Jia’s back and introduced her, “This is my best friend, Sheng Jia. Sheng Jia, this is the donor of this auction, Ms. Fu Minglang.”

“Hello,” Fu Minglang’s eyes swept over Sheng Jia’s face, “I’m Fu Minglang.”

There was no contempt in her eyes, her attitude was equal and serious.

Song Ji’an had just vented about how this circle was hierarchical and snobbish, but the woman in front of her, who was clearly at the top of the pyramid, was enough to make someone who had never been in this circle question whether what Song Ji’an had just said was true.

From the beginning, she gave people the feeling of a spring breeze.

“Hello, I’m Sheng Jia.” Sheng Jia shook the hand that the other woman extended.

“Sheng Jia?” Fu Minglang repeated her name, and suddenly smiled, “I seem to have heard of you. Are you the top student in Jingjiang No. 1 High School? Your Principal Lu Jing and I were classmates and good friends. The student’s name she mentioned the most this year was yours. She has high expectations for you.”

“What a coincidence? You even know our principal?” This was a little-known fact that even Song Ji’an didn’t know. She was a little surprised.

“Little Ji’an, there are many things you don’t know about me,” Fu Minglang said, then stared at Sheng Jia, “But there’s something familiar about this young woman’s eyebrows and eyes. Have we met before?”

“I haven’t met you,” Sheng Jia replied, “Before this, I’ve never left Jingjiang. Maybe I just have a common face.”

“Then maybe I remembered wrong. A talented young girl like you, I should have a deep impression if I’ve met her,” Fu Minglang didn’t dwell on it too much, and reminded her gently, “The auction is about to start in twenty minutes. Aren’t you going in?”

“Okay, then we’ll say goodbye first,” Song Ji’an said goodbye to her.

The two quickly walked out of the terrace side by side and headed towards the auction site, but Fu Minglang stood by the terrace railing where the two had just stood. She lowered her eyes and showed a contemplative expression, and the woman behind her waited quietly for her.

“Ru Ping, what do you think of my memory now?”

Ru Ping replied, “I think your memory is very good. You even remember the alcohol I secretly drank three months ago.”

“Stop joking, I’m serious.”

Ru Ping then replied truthfully, “It’s really good. You remember the identity information of every girl you’ve helped, and also remember the information of every animal you’ve rescued. That’s a huge amount of information.”

“Go back tonight and find a photo album for me,” she looked at the manor entrance in the distance. At this moment, it had stopped letting guests in and returned to peace, with only the endless mountains in the distance overlapping, “Help me find the photo album where I left memories with my old friends.”

Her fingertips gently touched the railing, but Sheng Jia’s face floated into her mind again.

“She looks a lot like an old friend of mine…”

She sighed softly, a sentence that even Ru Ping didn’t hear.