This warm and friendly little interaction naturally did not escape the ever-present camera lenses. Compared to the high-and-mighty wealthy madams holding forth in front of the cameras while keeping their distance from the common folk, the pure and genuine beauty of children interacting with one another was far more worth documenting.
Within moments, Ge Furen noticed that where there had just been one camera following along, now several reporters had quietly slipped over to shoot close-up shots!
She couldn’t help but lower her voice and up the ante: “These are just a small token of our foundation’s appreciation. In addition, two million yuan worth of supplies will be gradually delivered to the welfare home in the coming days, in hopes of effectively improving the children’s quality of life.”
As she spoke, her trusted aide Chen Ying brought over a plastic foam board bearing the words: “Jiang Group Donates Two Million Yuan to the Welfare Home.”
Such a grand gesture drew the cameras back over.
Ge Furen’s reasoning was simple and straightforward: the charity foundation was her domain. No matter what the eldest branch’s intentions were, she had to strike first and decisively cut off any designs they might have on this territory.
Today was deliberately orchestrated by her. She had learned from the family office that the eldest branch had purchased five hundred thousand yuan worth of supplies to bring to the welfare home, so she had prepared three million yuan to quietly show them up, and invited media reporters to seize the spotlight first.
“Watch out!”
A little girl tripped and fell while dodging a sandbag during a game. Yu Xiang hurried over and scooped the child up, squatting down to let the girl sit on her lap. She lifted the girl’s dress to reveal her knee and saw the scraped skin. “Does it hurt?”
The girl shyly shook her head, then nodded.
Yu Xiang took the wet wipes that Qiuyun handed over and gently cleaned the dust around the wound. “Tell me if it hurts. Auntie will be very gentle.”
In the sunny welfare home, the cameras focused on the immaculately dressed young madam of the wealthy family, and the small, thin, slightly dirty little girl in her arms.
Qiuyun was not at all surprised that the cameras had shifted over again.
Ge Furen was pure performance. Dressing in plain, folksy clothing was just her persona for the day. Not to mention the children—she didn’t even give the director a proper handshake, only a superficial touch of fingertips.
Although the young miss had been given some pointers by Qiuyun, once children started playing, such reminders went out the window. She was naturally genuine and unpretentious.
As for the madam herself, she had always been a kind-hearted person, good to her servants and to underprivileged students, and she frequently donated to elementary schools for underprivileged children.
That was Qiuyun’s view. Ge Furen, however, felt quite differently.
She simply thought the mother and daughter were putting on an act. With such a dirty bunch of kids, they had really gone all out!
In wealthy families, the position of chairperson of a charity foundation was a very important one.
To begin with, the foundation held a large amount of liquid capital in its accounts, and it had a team of people responsible for formulating the foundation’s long-term strategy, working guidelines, and annual budget. This team also chaired board meetings, reviewed funding plans, and evaluated and held management accountable.
In other words, a charity foundation was a company that didn’t need to figure out how to make money—only how to spend it.
With charity as a convenient cover, it served as the public face of the Jiang family. Internally, it was a passport into the inner circle of wealthy wives. Without money, no one would play with you.
Thus, for Ge Furen—the de facto but unofficially titled madam of the Jiang family—the charity foundation was the very core of her actual interests.
Ge Furen’s expression began to stiffen, but she still smiled and called out: “Yihua, have Xiao Xiang and Little Seven come over for a group photo!”
She had gone to all this trouble today to highlight how the eldest branch was just putting on a show with a measly five hundred thousand yuan, not to let them steal the spotlight!
Just then, Qiuyun answered a phone call. “Alright, drive right in. The playground here is quite spacious.”
At the end of the road leading to the welfare home, more than a dozen trucks appeared, pulling up in neat rows in the large playground.
Qiuyun walked over to coordinate with the person in charge who stepped out from the passenger side of the first truck. “Start unloading.”
Compared to Ge Furen’s thirty-odd boxes, the trucks filling half the playground practically blocked out the sun!
A few reporters gathered around, eager for exclusive material: “Are these all donated by President Jiang?”
Qiuyun pointed to the young miss not far away, who was watching the commotion together with the children from the welfare home, and answered truthfully: “No, these were donated by President Jiang’s daughter, Miss Jiang Chuling.”
“Whoa!”
“That’s a lot!”
“So much stuff!”
Qiuyun picked what she wanted to answer and faced the cameras with a smile: “It’s not that much—fifty thousand yuan worth of supplies in total.”
Huh?
Fifty thousand?
But the thirty-something boxes stacked against the wall over there—that was supposed to be one million?
Qiuyun began directing the unloading.
First, rehabilitation and care equipment: 20 electric nursing beds, 15 wheelchairs, 2 axillary transfer devices, 30 bedside commodes, and 20 air mattresses.
Then rehabilitation training equipment: 20 pairs of crutches, one upper-and-lower limb exercise rehabilitation trainer, and two transcranial stimulation devices.
Next, long-term consumable food supplies: 8,000 jin of rice, 3,000 jin of flour, 800 liters of canola oil, and a three-day, hundred-person share of various meats, eggs, dairy, and vegetables.
Daily necessities: 100 sets of sportswear, 200 short-sleeved T-shirts, 200 long-sleeved T-shirts, 150 pairs of sports shoes, 100 quilts, 100 four-piece bedding sets, 50 boxes of diapers, and 20 boxes each of dish soap, laundry detergent, and soap.
Learning and entertainment supplies: 5 tablet computers, 300 children’s picture books, 100 stationery and backpack sets, 20 basketballs, 50 jump ropes, and 50 sets of educational puzzles and toys.
Finally, environmental improvements: 10 air conditioners, 3 cafeteria sterilizers, 5 washing machines, and 10 emergency call devices.
One item after another was unloaded from the trucks, and even the social media reporters—who were used to covering charity events—were dumbfounded. They all asked: “This… fifty thousand? No way?”
Wasn’t this just making the thirty-odd boxes over there look absolutely ridiculous?
Reporters swarmed over for interviews, and Qiuyun glanced toward the man standing at the edge of the crowd.
Jiang Yihua waved his hand, letting her handle it as she saw fit.
Qiuyun understood. He was still in the stage of trying to lower the old patriarch’s guard, so an interview with no real substance like this wasn’t worth him showing his face for.
Qiuyun directly presented the procurement list to the media.
These items were indeed purchased for a total of 500,000 yuan: rehabilitation and care equipment cost 168,000 yuan, rehabilitation training equipment cost 101,000 yuan, food purchases approximately 45,000 yuan, daily necessities 81,000 yuan, learning and entertainment supplies 53,000 yuan, and environmental improvements 52,000 yuan.
The reporters snapped photos of the list Qiuyun held up. Click, click, click!
Good heavens!
This was the kind of thing they had never gotten their hands on before!
No way they’d miss it now!
Qiuyun continued: “Even though there seems to be a lot—like the rice, flour, and oil—when you do the math, they’re not expensive. Rice is 2.95 yuan a jin, flour 2.4 yuan a jin, canola oil 17.2 yuan a liter, adding up to only 44,560 yuan.
As for the bedding, since the welfare home uses 0.9-meter beds, one quilt costs only 60 yuan. A hundred quilts is just 6,000 yuan, and with bulk purchases, there’s a factory discount. The prices aren’t high.”
Outside the crowd, Ge Furen’s face was greener than the lawn.
