Inside the venue was a long corridor, its walls lined with introductions to the charitable activities and projects the Tomorrow Charitable Foundation had undertaken.
The young masters and socialites walking ahead of Ji Hanxing, who came here often, had long since grown accustomed to these displays. They looked straight ahead and walked briskly farther inside.
Ji Hanxing, however, looked on with curiosity, carefully reading about every project the Tomorrow Charitable Foundation had undertaken. The more he read, the more astonished he became.
The Tomorrow Charitable Foundation had truly done a great deal. They had traveled all over the country, helping countless people. As Ji Hanxing walked, he came to a stop.
He stopped before a photograph with an orphanage in the background. Although the boy handing a doll to a little girl in the photograph had a youthful face, Ji Hanxing recognized him at once. It was Yan Jinyue.
In the photograph, Yan Jinyue wore a white shirt. He was tall and stood straight, his teenage frame somewhat thinner than it was now, like a young white poplar.
Yan Jinyue had one hand behind the little girl's back, while the other handed her a teddy bear. His expression was cool, revealing no emotion, but from the little girl's openly delighted body language in the photograph, Ji Hanxing could judge Yan Jinyue's sincerity.
As someone who had grown up in an orphanage, Ji Hanxing understood these children all too well.
Most children in orphanages were sensitive. They picked up on strangers' feelings and attitudes toward them immediately and responded accordingly.
These children could sense whether someone was sincere or merely putting on an act.
"Well, if it isn't our Young Master Ji. I never expected to run into you here."
"It's been years."
A sarcastic voice broke into Ji Hanxing's thoughts. Looking toward it, he saw a young man wearing a garish pink suit, with at least two pounds of mousse in his hair and a little mustache he clearly thought looked handsome. To Ji Hanxing, he looked far too unkempt, like the homeless men he had encountered before.
From his tone, Ji Hanxing was certain this man was not on good terms with him.
Soon, Ji Hanxing dug the man's identity out of his memories. This flashy, slovenly man was Sun Yushan, the Sun Family's second young master and Ji Hanxing's high school classmate.
The Sun Family had originally been somewhat better off than the declining Ji Family and was considered a prominent family in City A. They mainly dealt in jewelry and jade and had no shortage of money.
Sun Yushan had always been arrogant. In their class, he considered his family the most powerful, and many classmates flattered him in every way. Sun Yushan thoroughly enjoyed it, but one person ignored him: Ji Hanxing.
Ji Hanxing was handsome and academically outstanding. Apart from being aloof and rarely engaging with others, he had no shortcomings. At first, Sun Yushan had not wanted to fall out with Ji Hanxing and had even extended an olive branch, but Ji Hanxing gave no response and continued keeping to himself.
Sun Yushan thought Ji Hanxing was far too pretentious. Not only did he steal his limelight, but he also ignored him like this. During his school years, the person Sun Yushan disliked most was Ji Hanxing.
Sun Yushan began targeting Ji Hanxing, but Ji Hanxing continued studying in his own way and paid him no attention whatsoever. Although the Ji Family had been declining at the time, they were still not far behind the Sun Family. Sun Yushan wanted to go further, but did not dare.
After Ji Hanxing's father, Ji Changhe, left home for his young lover, Ji Hanxing was the Ji Family's only remaining heir. If anything happened to him, Old Master Ji would not let it go. However brainless Sun Yushan might be, he did not dare go too far.
That did not stop him from making a nuisance of himself. From his memories, Ji Hanxing knew that this man had thoroughly disgusted the original owner of his body, as irritating as a large fly constantly buzzing around him.
Fortunately, they had not remained classmates for long. For Old Master Ji's sake, Ji Hanxing had stayed in the country to study finance at University A, while Sun Yushan, whose grades were poor, had opted early on to go abroad and coast his way to a degree. The two had never met again.
Ji Hanxing glanced at Sun Yushan, then turned and walked away without so much as a greeting.
Sun Yushan's gaze darkened, and he reached out to grab Ji Hanxing. Xue Hui caught his wrist and demanded sharply, "Sir, what are you trying to do?"
The attendant also stepped in front of Ji Hanxing.
Sun Yushan's brows shot up as he glared fiercely at Xue Hui. "I should be asking you that!"
"Ji Hanxing, what kind of nobodies are you keeping around you? Are they really this ill-"
Ji Hanxing turned his head and looked coldly at Sun Yushan. "Are you sure you want to make a scene here?"
His words were like a ladle of cold water poured over Sun Yushan. Sun Yushan immediately looked around and saw that many people were already looking their way. He forcefully pulled his hand free and promptly offered an apologetic smile, with a trace of ingratiation and lingering fear.
"A misunderstanding, just a misunderstanding."
Ji Hanxing took in every change in Sun Yushan's expression, and a suspicion arose in his mind. Keeping his expression unchanged, he turned and continued on.
Sun Yushan remained where he was, staring at Ji Hanxing's retreating figure with an icy gaze.
This brief incident did not attract much attention. Everyone was focused solely on the people they wanted to get acquainted with. That was why they had come.
Following the attendant, Ji Hanxing passed row after row of large round banquet tables and reached a round table at the very front.
The attendant smiled brightly and warmly. "Mr. Ji, this is the seat President Yan arranged for you."
Ji Hanxing was in no hurry to sit down. "Since it hasn't started, I won't sit down yet. Where's the lounge area?"
Guessing that Ji Hanxing might not want to sit in such a conspicuous spot just yet, the attendant immediately led him to a smaller banquet hall beside it.
In the middle, a large rectangular table dozens of meters long ran from east to west, covered with fruit, desserts, and alcohol. This banquet hall held even more people. It seemed that before the dinner formally began, more people were socializing and chatting here.
Ji Hanxing found a spot in a corner and sat down, observing the various people in the banquet hall. Some faces were familiar to him, while others were not.
Ji Hanxing had initially felt somewhat awkward, as he was unfamiliar with places like this. But sitting in a corner where no one would pay attention to him, he gradually relaxed.
The guests attending the Yan Family's charity auction dinner were either rich or influential. Everyone came to occasions like this to socialize and expand their connections. Who would waste such an opportunity by hiding in a corner?
Apart from Ji Hanxing, no one.
Xue Hui brought Ji Hanxing some fruit and desserts. Ji Hanxing's eyes brightened, and he was just about to reach out when he remembered that eating little cakes on an occasion like this was far too inconsistent with his domineering CEO persona. He gave a light cough.
"You must know some people here, Assistant Xue? I saw someone greet you just now. Go ahead. I'll call you if I need anything."
Xue Hui smiled and nodded. "All right."
Xue Hui did indeed know people here, including classmates from his major and assistants to CEOs at other companies whom he had met through routine business dealings.
At first, Ji Hanxing remained seated with great restraint. After quite a while, he looked around and, seeing that no one was paying attention to this spot, shifted farther into the corner, his eyes shining as he gazed at the exquisite little cakes before him.
He had only just reached out when he heard, "Brother Ji, why are you hiding here?"