CHAPTER 570: CHAPTER 568: CHILDISHNESS

Yu Zimu has been increasingly restless lately, so much so that Mai Qiqi has started to tread carefully around him.

"Chuchu, things are not looking good," Mai Qiqi couldn’t help but call Wan Chu’er to report the matter.

After giving it some thought, Wan Chu’er said, "Let’s have a meeting. Call Lingling back from her academy too, this afternoon."

"Okay, I’ll notify everyone in the studio," Mai Qiqi agreed.

Wan Chu’er arrived early at the studio in Jinhui Imperial Building that afternoon and went straight to talk to Yu Zimu.

Yu Zimu’s workshop was very spacious but somewhat messy. He was painting with his head down, but every now and then, he would furiously crumple up a piece of paper and toss it away. The area around the desk was littered with crumpled paper balls.

Wan Chu’er walked over and snatched the pen from his hand.

Startled by the sudden loss of his pen, Yu Zimu looked up angrily, but when he saw it was Wan Chu’er, his anger turned into a sigh, "You’re here."

Wan Chu’er put down the pen and pulled over a chair to sit.

"Is that person having such a big impact on you?"

Yu Zimu initially couldn’t believe it, but seeing Wan Chu’er’s serious expression, he was shocked, "How do you know?"

Wan Chu’er calmly responded, "The person who invited her back is Lin Jiayi, who has some connection with me. I checked who gave Lin Jiayi such confidence, and then I found out about your relationship."

Indeed, the person Lin Jiayi recruited from abroad is that woman who had harmed Yu Zimu, a fellow Chinese. With China’s rapid development in recent years, becoming a significant fashion market, she wanted to tap into that early. Lin Jiayi also wanted to venture into the high-end clothing industry. They happened to meet at a gathering and quickly hit it off.

Lin Jiayi and that woman have been very active during this period. The woman had some fame abroad and managed to sway many people, so it was only a matter of time before Yu Zimu found out.

Wan Chu’er did not expect Yu Zimu to lose his composure like this, underestimating the hatred he harbored for that woman.

Yu Zimu said, "Just thinking that she and I are in the same city, there’s a fire burning in my chest. I wish I could find her and reduce her to ashes, but that still wouldn’t satisfy me."

"She parades around, flaunting with my works, getting chased by people, and here I am having to suck up to others just to get familiar faces. How do you expect me to stay calm?"

"This is too slow; my patience isn’t as good as I thought. I feel like a trapped beast; I don’t even know what to do."

...

Yu Zimu indeed is a chatterbox, even in his outrage and complaining, he went on for quite a while. Only when he started to calm down, Wan Chu’er finally spoke.

"You’re right; this is too slow, so let’s change our strategy."

"How should we change?" Yu Zimu immediately asked.

Wan Chu’er took out a printed paper from her bag and placed it in front of Yu Zimu.

Puzzled, Yu Zimu picked up the paper and read aloud, "’The 5th CWF Cup National Clothing Design Contest’? What does this mean? Are we joining the competition?"

Wan Chu’er nodded, "This fashion design contest is very authoritative and influential. If we can win a prize, we could make a name for ourselves. Most importantly, that woman, Rose, plans to participate in this contest too."

"I’m in," Yu Zimu said without hesitation upon hearing that the woman would be participating.

Wan Chu’er smiled and nodded, "Good, now you have a chance to compete with her fairly. If you beat her at that time, we can devise a plan to expose her plagiarism during the final award moment when all spotlights are on her."

"Really? Can we do that?" Yu Zimu asked excitedly.

"We can try."

"Okay." The thought of defeating Rose under the public’s watch excited Yu Zimu, confident in his own abilities.

After agreeing, the two went to the meeting room for a meeting. They discussed and announced the studio’s direction for the coming period.

Yu Zimu focused on preparing for the contest, while another designer created as many designs as possible, which Yu Zimu would then review to select the best and most suitable for production by the factory, in preparation for the flagship store called "Time."

Mai Qiqi handled the selection and decoration of the flagship store’s location, and also contacted the OEM factories.

They planned to make the Time brand known immediately after the contest.

Time flew, and Jiang Lingling soon finished her studies at the academy and returned to the studio, where under Yu Zimu’s guidance, she began designing clothing.

Jiang Lingling was very talented, but her skills and experience were somewhat lacking. However, her works would always shine after some tips from Yu Zimu, winning unanimous applause from everyone.

Eventually, Yu Zimu even registered Jiang Lingling for the contest, saying it was to gain some experience.

Two months later, the results of the contest preliminaries came in. There were twenty designers who made it to the finals, Yu Zimu was ranked second, and Jiang Lingling surprisingly made it into the finalist list as well, though her name was the last on the list.

Having two designers qualify for the finals excited everyone in the studio, and they even discussed celebrating. However, when Yu Zimu saw the list, he didn’t say a word and locked himself in his workshop for a whole day, alarming everyone.

Mai Qiqi couldn’t stand it and called Wan Chu’er. Wan Chu’er had no choice but to drop off her twins at their grandmother Mrs. Jiang’s place and drove to the studio.

"Chuchu, Yu Zimu’s behavior is off. When he saw the final results, not only was he not happy, he turned ashen and locked himself in there all day long. No matter who knocks, he doesn’t respond. Please go and check on him."

Wan Chu’er walked up to Yu Zimu’s workshop door and pressed her ear against it, hearing nothing.

Mai Qiqi couldn’t help but laugh, "When we were renovating, Yu Zimu had high requirements for soundproofing; you can’t hear anything standing there."

Wan Chu’er had no choice but to knock on the door, knocking several times with no response from inside.

"Yu Zimu, I am Wan Chu’er, open the door."

"Yu Zimu, don’t act like a child, speak up. You’re making everyone worried."

"Yu Zimu, you’re always so talkative, why play mute now?"

"If you don’t open the door, I’ll have to break in."

After shouting for a long time, Wan Chu’er worried that something really might have happened to Yu Zimu inside, which would be troublesome. She shook her head, feeling exhausted and thinking that Yu Zimu should have grown from such a setback. However, he was still being stubborn, making her realize why, after so many years, he had never noticed that he had been deceived by Rose.

She dug out a slim metal wire from her bag, bent it, and started poking it into the lock.