LIGHTNOVELONLINE
Chapter 208
For three consecutive days, the Ruochu Foundation was on the top of the trending topics list, with most of the heat coming from posts expressing gratitude from the families who had previously received help from the foundation, apart from the initial list of donors.
The fame of the Ji family needs no explanation, as even the official Weibo account actively likes their posts. Afterwards, more and more people wanted to find ways to donate to the foundation.
And as the person in charge of the foundation, Ji Tingting, whose contact information was posted on the foundation's official website, came into the public eye under these circumstances.
"The person in charge of the foundation is Ji Tingting? I feel like I've heard that name before."
"Familiar? There are a lot of people with that name, so it's not that strange."
"I've heard that this person in charge, her family was in very poor economic conditions, and could only afford to support one child. She was sponsored by the Ji family to go to university, and in return, she changed her surname and signed a 20-year contract with the Ji family. Later, she went to an international top school, and after graduation, she joined the Ji family, and the foundation is just one of her jobs."
"I know who she is now!"
Soon, a screenshot from a previous variety show caught the attention of netizens.
The image showed a little girl wearing patched clothes, standing obediently among a group of well-dressed children. The little girl's face was a bit dirty, but her bright eyes seemed to belong to a porcelain doll in the group.
That porcelain doll was none other than Ji Ruochu, who had appeared on the variety show for the first time.
With this, Ji Tingting's identity was clear.
Netizens sighed, "Wow, this is the legendary 'benefactor's help', isn't it? Who would have thought that the little girl who couldn't even get enough to eat back then due to her family's gender bias, is now a graduate from an international top school, and has a coveted job."
They wished they could travel back in time and hug Ji Ruochu's "golden thigh".
Regarding the praises from netizens, Ji Ruochu did not accept them complacently. She replied to the comment with the most likes:
"Tingting is a very outstanding talent. Her high school entrance exam scores were enough for her to get a tuition-free spot at a top school, and there were many people who wanted to sponsor her. I just happened to know her first."
This comment immediately sparked a heated discussion among netizens.
"Wow! Is it true that Miss Tingting is also so outstanding!"
"Wah, wah, wah... Thank you for shattering my daydream."
This was not the end. After fielding calls for hours, Ji Tingting, who had only focused on Ji Ruochu, immediately responded to the first comment:
"It's not true. If Ji Ruochu hadn't sent me books, found me a tutor, and helped me transfer schools, I would have already been a stay-at-home mom by now. My current achievements are all thanks to clinging to Ji Ruochu's 'golden thigh' when I was young."
Netizens: ...
Okay, okay, we netizens are just a part of your display of affection, aren't we?
After replying to the message, Ji Tingting once again found herself bombarded with calls from various parties.
These calls had a very unified purpose - to shower her with money.
Some people decided to donate because they trusted the foundation, while others came for the Ji family's personal favors, and some were attracted by fame and fortune.
However, regardless of the reason, Ling Chujin, one of the founders of the foundation, politely declined all of them. As for the reason...
The current person in charge of the foundation, after confirming with the Ji family, immediately issued the following statement:
"Thank you for your trust, but unfortunately, our Ruochu Foundation is just a small family workshop. Our current capabilities can only sustain ourselves.
We will only take on as much as we can handle, and for now, we are not considering accepting donations from well-intentioned members of the public. We hope everyone can understand. Thank you!"
In simple terms, it's: We're not really that short of money, and we don't want to make things too complicated, so we're politely declining, okay!
As soon as this news was released, the public's evaluation of the foundation became even more positive, especially for Ling Chujin, the woman behind the man, the sister behind Ji Ruochu, who was completely overwhelmed by the praise from netizens.
Not long after, the trending topic "Ji Mochen, what are you worthy of?" was quickly pushed to the top.
Having an outstanding daughter is one thing, but having an outstanding wife as well? Damn, what kind of savior was this guy in his previous life?
The unworthy Ji Mochen... his sense of crisis immediately skyrocketed, and he stuck to his wife for several consecutive days, until the 29th of the Lunar New Year.
This clingy behavior made even Ji Ruochu feel a bit overwhelmed, and after dinner, she directly gave him a pass and went to play with her friends.
In recent years, the members of the "small i" class were mostly scattered, either going abroad as exchange students or following their mentors on projects.
This year, however, it was a rare occasion that they all quietly returned before the Lunar New Year's Eve.
Ji Ruochu, with her hands in her pockets, went to visit her girlfriends. Before she had gone far, she ran into her friends holding magic wands.
"You guys are..."
"Ruochu!" Ren Yujun saw her and immediately smiled. "We were just about to go find you!"
"That silly Qi Yibin actually bought a whole box of magic wands. We're worried he won't be able to use them all up, so we decided to help him out a bit," Mi Siyu said with a smile.
"Hey!" The named Qi Yibin was immediately annoyed. "I said it was my grandpa who bought them, not me!"
His family was newly rich, and when he was little, he used to play firecrackers with the village kids during the New Year. After moving to the city, since fireworks were banned, he hadn't touched them in years.
This year, due to the heated discussions about "the fading sense of the New Year" and "firecrackers becoming a national intangible cultural heritage of other countries", the authorities had finally allowed people to set off fireworks in designated areas.
As soon as his grandfather knew about it, he immediately bought several boxes of fireworks and firecrackers. He was just helping to move them into the warehouse when he happened to make eye contact with Fang Zhiyuan, who was having coffee on the balcony opposite.
And... that's how it ended up like this.
"Oh well, it doesn't matter. Come on, I've already found the location for the fireworks display, it's not far from here," Jiang Zhi said, hooking his best friend's neck. "Zhiyuan and Chao are already waiting at the garage door."
Under the bright street lights, a group of young people walked towards the same direction, their laughter and chatter filling the air, which even made the mother on the balcony couldn't help but smile.
"The friendship of youth is indeed beautiful."
As soon as the words left her mouth, two heads poked out from the balcony across.
"Who says it's not?"
"Oh, are you all so free this New Year?"
They chatted and laughed, and someone was sent to set up the small banquet hall, with tea, drinks, and everything ready.
Not long after, the men of the households were beckoning, either to drink alcohol or tea, and if they felt like it, they would go to the back to play golf.
The women, on the other hand, cheerfully set up the mahjong table.
The busiest were the elders of the families, joyfully preparing the New Year goods and discussing the menu for the New Year's Eve dinner.
Since all the kids were back this year, they decided to have the New Year's Eve dinner together, to make it lively.
In this way, the quiet high-end villa area suddenly became lively.