Chapter 179: Chapter 179: Unlike the Sherman Family, the Shaw Family Doesn’t Take in Trash

’What else could it be? It had to be about the advisory board.’

Sophia Shaw didn’t have time to chat. "Godmother, I have an important call to make," she said. "I’ll talk to you next time."

After hanging up, Sophia Shaw immediately called Old Master Sloan.

"Faye, is something wrong?" On the other end, it was Ms. Warren’s voice again, thick with drowsiness.

It had to be the middle of the night in Mador.

The matter was urgent, so Sophia Shaw had no choice but to disturb her.

"Ms. Warren, has my mentor returned yet?"

Ms. Warren replied, "Not yet, but he should be back in the next day or two. Seraphina said there’s an important event where he needs to make an appearance."

"Seraphina rarely asks him for anything, so I accepted on his behalf."

"Do you know what kind of event it is?" Sophia Shaw asked urgently.

Ms. Warren thought for a moment. "She said it was related to aerospace, but she wasn’t specific. When it comes to aerospace, it’s usually either your Lead Aerospace or the Cathan National Space Administration. Your mentor wanted to do something to help you all, too."

Sophia Shaw’s voice was frantic. "Ms. Warren, you have to cancel his trip immediately!"

"What’s wrong?"

"The ones having him make an appearance this time are Grant Horizon! And it’s not just an appearance—they want him to be an advisor." Sophia Shaw’s voice was tight and strained. She never imagined Seraphina Vaughn would make such a deal with Joanna Sherman.

"H-How could this happen?"

Ms. Warren panicked.

"Why wasn’t Seraphina clearer about this?"

It was only because it was Seraphina Vaughn that she had dared to agree.

"This Grant Horizon... what exactly do they do?"

Ms. Warren spent most of her time in Mador and wasn’t familiar with the situation here.

Sophia Shaw explained Grant Horizon’s situation.

"You mean... a company that just launched its first rocket is already planning a rideshare satellite launch?"

Sophia Shaw nodded. "Yes."

Ms. Warren was so frightened her phone clattered to the floor.

Grant Horizon didn’t want Old Master Sloan as an advisor; they wanted to use him as an advertisement, to have him endorse them!

If Zenith were to have a problem, Old Master Sloan’s lifelong reputation would be ruined!

"Seraphina... How could Seraphina do this to her own father!"

Ms. Warren picked up her phone with a trembling hand, her voice shaking uncontrollably. "Faye, what do we do now? This has already been announced. Everyone in Cathan must know by now."

"It’s all my fault. I’ve doomed Old Master Sloan!"

"Ms. Warren, please don’t panic," Sophia Shaw comforted her. "I’ve already thought of a way to handle this."

"Really?" Ms. Warren clutched her chest, feeling as if the shock would give her a heart attack.

If this couldn’t be resolved properly, she felt she could only atone with her life.

"Don’t worry."

After hanging up, cold sweat beaded on Sophia Shaw’s gentle face.

’It’s my fault, too. I should have asked for details last time.’

If she hadn’t run into Seraphina Vaughn last night, her mentor would have been ruined by her!

"Jacobs!" she called out.

Jacobs came in. "Ms. Shaw."

"When does that Central Television interview we talked about yesterday start?"

Jacobs checked his watch. "It’s already started."

"Tell them I’ll be there!"

When Sophia Shaw arrived at the recording studio, Joanna Sherman was already seated on the guest panel with the host.

Joanna Sherman, with one pale, slender leg crossed over the other, was speaking eloquently, "Our Grant Horizon is by no means reckless. This time, we will only be sending two satellites into orbit."

"For us, the client’s interests are paramount. We would rather lose money ourselves than let our clients lose a single cent."

Jacobs’s chest tightened with anger as he listened. "This Joanna Sherman... every word she says is a veiled jab at Lead Aerospace and you, without ever mentioning either by name."

If Joanna Sherman weren’t in the middle of a taping, Jacobs really wanted to go up there and give her a piece of his mind.

Sophia Shaw had long anticipated what Joanna Sherman would do, her expression remaining calm.

A staff member glanced down at their watch. "There are still two minutes until the mid-show break. If you two could please wait a moment."

"Alright, thank you."

Sophia Shaw’s politeness made the staff member look at her a couple more times. They smiled and said, "You could also go to the dressing room to touch up your makeup."

Sophia Shaw didn’t usually wear much makeup, but she went into the dressing room anyway.

She took out her lipstick and applied it to her lips.

Her lips were naturally a pale pink. The deeper color made her fair face look bright and beautiful.

The soft click-clack of high heels approached, and Joanna Sherman pushed the door open. She strode to the mirror and began applying her makeup, filling in her eyebrows as if no one else were there.

Today, she wore her long, wavy hair down. As she leaned toward the mirror, her hair cascaded forward, revealing a slender, well-defined waist.

She glanced up, her eyes filled with arrogance and disdain.

While applying her lipstick, she spoke with feigned nonchalance. "Don’t overthink what happened yesterday. I know your family values holiday reunions, so I spent a long time persuading Cedric and Vincent. They reluctantly agreed to go. Consider it me helping you save face."

She finished and turned, looking at Sophia Shaw with a smirk. "After all, you can’t have your uncle and grandmother find out you can’t even keep your own son and husband in line. How utterly embarrassing for you!"

Sophia Shaw slowly capped her lipstick, then slowly placed it back in her bag before letting out a soft "Oh."

Her tone was even more nonchalant than Joanna Sherman’s. "Why didn’t you say so sooner? If you had, I could have turned them away. They’d just be an eyesore at my uncle’s house."

With that, she stood up.

She met Joanna Sherman’s gaze coolly. "After all, the Shaw Family is different from your Sherman Family. We don’t like taking in trash."

She pushed the door open and left.

Leaving Joanna Sherman alone, her eyes wide with a murderous glare.

’She actually called Vincent Grant and Cedric Grant trash!’

’And called me a trash collector!’

’Who gave her the nerve to be so arrogant in front of me!’

SNAP!

The lipstick in her hand was snapped in two, the red wax crumbling between her fingers.

Sophia Shaw walked out and took a deep breath.

She didn’t care to investigate whether Cedric Grant and Vincent Grant were persuaded by Joanna Sherman or had decided to go on their own.

’People you’ve cast aside are trash. I won’t care about them!’

「Three minutes later, the interview resumed.」

The two-person seating arrangement had become a three-person one.

The host gave a brief introduction for Sophia Shaw.

This time, Joanna Sherman was even more bombastic than before. She bragged at length about how hard she worked every day, how strict her project standards were, how iron-fisted her methods were, and how she obsessed over the smallest flaw.

Sophia Shaw, in contrast, sat quietly in her seat, not saying a word. She let the host and Joanna Sherman sing each other’s praises, elevating Joanna to the status of a star in the sky.

Even though she knew the host was biased toward Joanna Sherman, she didn’t raise a single objection, not even showing the slightest desire to interrupt.

It was as if she had come specifically to be part of the background.

Joanna Sherman then began to boast about how popular she was.

"The senior experts on my advisory board all contacted me proactively, asking to join. They are all top figures in the world. I was truly stunned at the time."

The host said, "They were moved by your artisan spirit, Miss Sherman, and wanted to give you a push. I can guarantee with one hundred percent certainty that your achievements will surpass those of any rocket engineer in Cathan."

After praising Joanna Sherman for a while, the host seemed to realize it was improper for only the two of them to talk. He turned and addressed Sophia Shaw by name. "Miss Shaw, Chief Engineer Sherman has just shared a lot about Grant Horizon and herself. Could you tell us about Lead Aerospace’s Five Pearls launch?"

He then added deliberately, "After all, the entire internet is mocking Lead Aerospace right now, saying they made a poor choice in leadership. They’re also saying you’re very unprofessional and that you’re just playing around with your clients’ money. As the person at the center of it all, is there anything you’d like to say?"

The host’s tone was sharp, using online gossip to preemptively nail her to the pillar of shame.

Now, no matter what she said, it would sound like she was just making excuses.