“What about the outfit you brought? Where is it? Let me see.”
A trace of smugness hid at the corner of Lin Siwan’s lips.
She knew it—at a moment like this, Shen Nanyue would definitely grab onto her like a lifeline.
Lin Siwan sneered inwardly, though her face still carried a pleasant smile.
“I already prepared it.”
As she spoke, she clapped her hands, and her assistant entered carrying a dress.
The moment the assistant saw Shen Nanyue, she subconsciously greeted her.
“Miss Shen.”
Lin Siwan secretly shot her a glare before snatching the outfit away herself.
Then she turned and ripped off the dust cover draped over it.
The dress hanging underneath looked nearly eighty percent identical to the one Shen Nanyue’s studio had prepared.
Shen Nanyue frowned.
“Who designed this dress?”
“A newly hired designer at the company.”
Lin Siwan could barely suppress the smug smile on her face.
When she looked at Shen Nanyue, her triumph was almost impossible to hide.
“You’re not working at the company anymore, so you probably don’t know. After the fashion show is over, I can introduce this designer to you, Sis.”
As she spoke, Lin Siwan pushed the dress toward the model.
“Hurry and change into it. The competition’s about to begin.”
The model hesitated as she took the dress.
She glanced up at Shen Nanyue, and seeing that Shen Nanyue didn’t object, she carried the outfit into the changing room.
“I’ll leave the rest of the makeup work to you, Sis.”
With that, Lin Siwan left backstage together with her assistant.
Lu Sheng stood nearby, her face dark with anger.
Only after Lin Siwan left did she finally look toward Shen Nanyue.
“Senior, that woman’s dress is almost identical to the one we designed. This is definitely plagiarism!”
“And how could there be such a coincidence? Our outfit gets cut up, and she just so happens to bring over a knockoff for the model to wear. She’s clearly trying to use this chance to promote her own brand! We can’t let her get away with this!”
Lu Sheng was young and hot-blooded.
Her face had turned red from anger.
Meanwhile, Shen Nanyue’s icy expression from earlier disappeared completely.
She smiled and patted Lu Sheng on the shoulder.
“Alright now. Getting angry over someone like her really isn’t worth it.”
“Senior! Why aren’t you worried at all? What can we even do now?”
“Of course there’s a way.”
Shen Nanyue answered with certainty.
Lu Sheng’s eyes lit up immediately, and she grabbed Shen Nanyue’s arm.
“What do we do?”
Shen Nanyue’s gaze drifted toward the fitting room.
At that moment, the model had already changed into the outfit Lin Siwan brought over.
It was a qipao with a deep red base, blooming peonies spreading across the right shoulder and left hip.
One side of the skirt split high along the thigh, while the silk inner lining flowed naturally to the floor, giving it an elegant and graceful appearance.
But it lacked soul.
A mocking smile curled at Shen Nanyue’s lips.
Even when copying, she still couldn’t copy it properly.
…
The fashion show officially began.
Zhou Yushen sat among the audience, while Zhao Xuan sat at the judges’ table.
As the show was about to start, the surrounding lights dimmed, leaving only the T-shaped runway illuminated.
Zhou Yushen’s seat was near the front.
He leisurely watched the fashion show when suddenly his phone vibrated.
It was a message from Zhao Xuan.
‘President Zhou, I heard your future wife’s outfit was deliberately cut apart. I’ve already had someone secure the surveillance footage immediately.’
Zhou Yushen’s handsome brows furrowed slightly.
Concern rarely appeared on his usually elegant and lazy-looking face, but now it surfaced clearly.
He didn’t reply to Zhao Xuan right away.
Instead, he pulled up Shen Nanyue’s number and called her.
The phone rang for a long time before finally being answered.
“What is it?”
It sounded like Shen Nanyue hadn’t been holding her phone properly.
On the other end, Zhou Yushen first heard her startled exclamation, followed by a loud bang as the phone hit the floor.
After a burst of chaos, Shen Nanyue’s voice finally returned clearly.
“My phone fell just now. Go ahead.”
Zhou Yushen asked, “Nothing happened over there… right?”
“It’s fine. Just a little accident. Someone cut up the outfit.”
As if she had finally found someone to vent to, Shen Nanyue complained to him while helping the model with her makeup.
“So what are you going to do?”
“It’s fine. Who do you think I am? I’ve got plenty of ways to handle this. Just wait and watch the show.”
Her tone lifted slightly.
Her cool voice had always carried an unmistakable confidence.
Hearing how relaxed she sounded, Zhou Yushen finally felt relieved.
“I won’t keep talking then. I’m busy.”
Shen Nanyue hung up first.
Only then did Zhou Yushen reply to Zhao Xuan’s message.
“Find out who did it. Preserve the evidence.”
“Understood.”
Only then did Zhou Yushen put down his phone and lean back against his chair again, the cold aura returning to his face.
Sitting at the judges’ table, Lin Siwan’s gaze shifted across the venue, immediately locking onto Zhou Yushen seated in the front-right section near the runway.
Although he sat among the ordinary audience seats, his cold nobility stood out sharply from the crowd of regular businessmen around him.
One leg crossed over the other, he leaned lazily against the backrest with both hands resting on his knees.
The warm-toned Buddhist prayer beads around his left wrist reflected an icy gleam beneath the runway lights.
His features looked as though they had been meticulously sculpted by the gods themselves—so refined that no one could look away after a single glance.
Lin Siwan’s heart trembled.
It was a feeling she had never once experienced even toward Chen Mu.
The very first time she met Zhou Yushen, his handsome appearance had already filled her with delight.
Later, after learning that he was the Zhou family’s only young master—even if he was an illegitimate son, he was still the sole heir of this generation—her feelings only deepened.
The Zhou family stood at the very top of the elite circles in the capital and even across the entire nation of A Country.
Calling them wealthy enough to rival a nation would not be an exaggeration.
For a family like that, even a flawed background could easily be forgiven.
As if sensing her gaze, Zhou Yushen suddenly lifted his eyes and looked directly toward her.
Those eyes seemed wrapped in the icy chill of early spring, carrying a fierce wind sharp enough to pierce straight through her.
Lin Siwan’s girlish fantasies were instantly shredded apart.
Goosebumps rose all over her skin.
She hurriedly looked away, her face paling several shades.
Meanwhile, Zhou Yushen calmly withdrew his gaze as though nothing had happened at all.
“Distinguished guests, leaders of the fashion industry, and friends who have traveled from afar, good evening everyone! Welcome to tonight’s fashion show jointly hosted by Fengcheng officials, the Zhou Group, the Shen Group, and many outstanding enterprises…”
Only after the host began the energetic opening speech onstage did Lin Siwan finally recover herself.
She couldn’t lose confidence.
Back then, she had managed to steal Chen Mu away from Shen Nanyue.
Now, she could naturally steal Zhou Yushen too.
She knew exactly what men liked.
Shen Nanyue would never be her match.
After comforting herself, she took a deep breath and turned her attention back to the stage.
Today’s runway would become yet another one of her victories after Chen Mu.
Along with the soft and elegant music, the models finally began appearing one after another.
Smiling confidently, they strode across the stage lap after lap.
Zhou Yushen watched with little interest, still wondering what method Shen Nanyue had come up with.
Meanwhile, Lin Siwan silently counted the numbers.
When contestant number twenty-four was about to appear, she curled her lips into a smile, ready to welcome her own victory.
Unfortunately—
The moment number twenty-four stepped onto the runway, the smile froze on her face instantly.
The model who should have been wearing her design was instead dressed in an entirely different outfit with a completely different style.
— The end of the Chapter–
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