CH 51.1

At the end of November, the Imperial Capital Cultural Exchange Conference

As soon as Shi Yunnan entered the venue, he saw Yuan Rui waiting at the entrance. On this rare occasion, the other party was wearing a three-piece suit, and after his hair was slightly tidied, he had lost his youthfulness and had a bit of an elite appearance.

“Yuan Rui.”

“Ancestor, you’ve come!” Yuan Rui ran up, unable to hide his nervousness.

When Shi Yunnan heard the address, he immediately laughed, “I’m not too late, am I?”

“Sign in first, sign in first!”

Yuan Rui dragged him to the front desk, where he carefully supervised Shi Yunnan’s signing and receiving badge, and then he was secretly relieved.

Shi Yunnan hung the work badge that he brought with him around his neck, and followed Yuan Rui into the venue together.

The Imperial Capital Jewelry Auction Charity Gala has been held for nine consecutive years, and there have been up-and-coming designers whose jewelry designs have fetched a high price of ten million in the gala, thus becoming famous in one fell swoop!

Therefore, it has attracted more and more designers to gather.

Where there was jewelry, there was no shortage of rich businessmen and wealthy ladies who came to the auction. The total price of jewelry sold at auction was also higher than the last, and it had even become the trend of jewelry design in China.

The auction banquet hall had a large area which was divided into an auction area and an exchange area.

There was still half an hour before the official auction. Shi Yunnan did not rush to sit down. He took a thin auction brochure and brought Yuan Rui to the exchange area on the right.

A total of 22 design works would be auctioned at the ninth charity gala, but the most interesting of them were the last two “X Designs.”

In other words, they were the designs that weren’t displayed on the auction brochure.

“The two best designs of the designer (group) who participated in the auction for the first time?” Shi Yunnan read out the rough description of the ‘X designs’ and raised his eyebrows slightly, “I remember you told me that our work was selected as the ‘X’ design.”

Yuan Rui was busy with their studio participating in the auction, and he knew all the ins and outs very well. After hearing this, he replied, “The organizer came up with this tricky plan. I don’t know if it’s a good thing or a bad thing.“

Shi Yunnan asked, “Why?”

Yuan Rui explained, “This is a kind of recognition of our design by the organizer selection team, right? But again, it was arranged at the end of the auction.“

On one hand, it was to arouse the guests’ enthusiasm for the auction and prevent them from leaving the venue after seeing all the auction exhibits in advance.

On the other hand, the curiosity of the guests was brought to the highest point, but if the actual jewelry on display did not meet their expectations, it was likely that the auction price would not go up.

After all, when the auction progresses to the end, many guests who really like collecting design items tend to empty their “budget” early, and they will have to sit for another two hours. How can they have the patience to bid for work that is “less than expected”?

“Don’t you hope that your design and our studio can gain popularity and fame in this auction?”

Yuan Rui quietly placed hope, “I even listened to my mother this morning and went to the temple in another city to pray.”

Shi Yunnan couldn’t help but chuckle when he heard the second half of the sentence. He glanced at him and teased, “You still believe in these?”

“Well, it’s always good to pray to God.” Yuan Rui was a little embarrassed and changed the subject, “Anyway, I hope your design will become a hit! wouldn‘t that be good for our studios?”

Shi Yunnan asked again, “What about the other X design work?”

“Enemies are bound to meet on narrow roads!” Yuan Rui subconsciously gnashed his teeth and reported a familiar name, “Lingyu Jade Design.”

Although Lingyu Design was an established company in the jade design industry, they had never participated in charity auctions before.

For some reason, they also participated in the offline screening with their design work this time and were selected for ‘X Design’ at the same time.

Compared with other design exhibits that have been printed in the auction brochure, the two exhibits selected for “X Designs” formed a silent competition—

Who was more popular with the wealthy guests? Whose work will fetch a higher price at auction?

If there’s a comparison, there will be winners and losers. If there are winners and losers, criticism and contempt are unavoidable.

What’s more, Lingyu and Yuan had peer competition and feuds before this.

Shi Yunnan asked, “Their design is still unknown, right?”

“Yes, it’s all confidential.” Yuan Rui replied, “I handed in our work this afternoon, and I specially hired a person to guard it, so nothing could go wrong.”

Once bitten, twice shy.

Yuan Rui was afraid that the situation with Xie Keyue would happen again, so he took extra care to protect their own design, and even the money to hire the specially-assigned guard was all from his own pocket.

Shi Yunnan smiled and said nothing.

In less than a month, Yuan Rui had become “mature and stable” in all aspects, although the baby fat on his hadn’t completely cleared up.

The two took a few steps forward, and Yuan Rui suddenly stopped in his tracks with a grim expression. Shi Yunnan followed his gaze and saw three figures—two men and one woman.

One of the young men was Yang Sen, the designer who had been dug out of their studio and jumped to Lingyu.

Standing in the middle of the three was a man of about twenty-seven or twenty-eight years old, wearing a dark golden three-piece suit. His pair of narrow phoenix eyes were staring at the surrounding environment, and his thin lips adorned a faint smile, which gave people a kind of indescribable calculation.

The other woman was wearing a black strapless dress. She had long, curly hair, delicate makeup, and plump red lips. At this moment, she was very close to the man in the dark golden suit, and it could be seen that the relationship between the two wasn’t ordinary.

In contrast, Yang Sen was more like a migrant worker following the leader.

After a brief look, the other party also noticed Yuan Rui and Shi Yunnan.

The man in the dark-gold suit came over first. His slightly playful gaze slid around the two of them, and he said with a smile, “Young Master Yuan, it seems you’ve made great progress after not seeing each other for a period of time.”

“This is the designer from your studio?” He gestured slightly to Shi Yunnan, “Designer Shi Yunnan? I have long admired your name.“

Yuan Rui didn’t show any obvious disgust on his face. He then whispered to Shi Yunnan, “That’s Gu Jue, he took over Lingyu Design last year.”

His identity in the Gu family was similar to that of Yuan Rui in the Yuan family, except that he took over Lingyu Design Department two years earlier.

When Shi Yunnan heard the name, he finally had a reaction—

In the original book, after Xie Keyue and Yuan Rui expanded Yuan Jade Design, they acquired Lingyu Design, whose performance was declining, and Gu Jue was also one of Xie Keyue’s many “admirers.”

Unexpectedly, the current situation was reversed.

Xie Keyue and Gu Jue reached an agreement on investment cooperation, but they became rivals with the Yuan family.

Shi Yunnan quickly restrained his emotions and showed a little politeness, “Mr. Gu, you’re too kind.”

Gu Jue didn’t speak and just stared at Shi Yunnan with interest.

Perhaps because Gu Jue’s gaze lingered on Shi Yunnan’s face for too long, Yuan Rui and the woman in the black dress beside Gu Jue reacted at the same time—

“Mr. Gu, won’t you introduce me?”

“Gu Jue, what are you looking at!“

The woman in the black dress was jealous and wanted to redeem her own sense of existence; Yuan Rui, on the other hand, was purely a “rabbit protecting its carrot.” He was afraid that Gu Jue wanted to “poach Shi Yunnan” and was always on guard.

Gu Jue retrieved his thoughts and gave a nonchalant introduction, “This is the design supervisor of our Lingyu Design Department 1, Song Miaoke.”

“I heard that Mr. Shi’s design is also one of the finale’s ‘X designs‘?“

Song Miaoke raised her chin slightly and said words that sounded friendly, but there was a trace of disdain in her eyes, “I look forward to seeing your work at the auction gala later.”

Shi YunnYuan subtly raised the corner of his mouth without responding to her.

Song Miaoke probably felt that she had lost face, and her breath was stuck in her throat. She hurriedly looked sideways at Gu Jue, seemingly hoping that the other party could say something for her.

Yang Sen, who was standing at the back, saw the woman’s small movements and his face showed a speechless expression.

Song Miaoke was said to be the supervisor of the design department, but in fact she was Gu Jue’s little lover.

According to the gossip of employees inside the company, the other party hooked up with Gu Jue as soon as she graduated from an unknown design school. Apparently, she didn’t have much design ability, but she jumped to the high position of design supervisor just like that.

What she usually liked to do most was to take the manuscript designed by the interns, “modify” it a little, then turn it in as her own work. But because of Gu Jue’s favoritism, no intern dared to fight against her.

Gu Jue naturally sensed his little lover’s intentions, but he didn’t really care.

To be honest, he was already tired of Song Miaoke and was waiting to dump her at the end of this charity auction.

However, the Yuan family was their long-time “sworn enemy.” How could he easily let go of this opportunity to “humiliate” his opponent?

Gu Jue once again aimed his gaze at Yuan Rui and lightly dropped a sentence, “I heard that Lu Zhao’an has resigned from Yuan?”

“…..”

In one sentence, Yuan Rui’s sore spot was touched, “What does it have to do with you?”

“What a pity.”

Gu Jue shook his head regretfully, “In Lu Zhao’an’s hands, the Yuan family may still have a way to survive, but if someone else takes over, our Gu family is likely to lost a competitor.”

These words were explicit and implicit, all referring to the fact that the Yuan family would collapse in the hands of Yuan Rui.

Yuan Rui’s face stiffened, trying desperately to suppress his anger in public, “Gu Jue, what do you mean?”

“What does it mean? Isn’t the meaning of Mr. Gu very clear?“

“Yuan family didn’t continue doing jade carving, which you’ve always excelled at, but halfway switched to jade design and came to participate in such a charity auction,” Song Miaoke said softly, but there was a needle hidden in the cotton. “Young Master Yuan and Mr. Shi thought of relying on this gala to collect a wave of fame because your design couldn’t progress any further?“

She could stay with Gu Jue, who has always been fond of the new and dislikes the old, for so long. Naturally, she knew how to cater to and flatter him.

Sure enough, Gu Jue raised his lips when he heard this, and he felt even more intrigued when he saw Yuan Rui’s angry face that was gradually reddening—

In the past, when the two sides met on any jade-related event, Lu Zhao’an always stepped in to deal with the situation.

Lu Zhao’an has a temperament that doesn’t eat hard or soft. Every time Gu Jue tried to provoke him, it was like punching cotton. He couldn’t get a response from the other party, which was very boring.

But Yuan Rui was much more fun.

They were both from jade families. How could Gu Jue not know what kind of person he was? He was nothing but an arrogant young master who was so well protected by his parents and brother! Can he have any real ability?

Without Lu Zhao’an, the Yuan family was doomed to fail in Yuan Rui’s hands! Now, switching to jade design halfway was just their dying struggle.

He heard that after Yang Sen and others were pulled into Lingyu by Xie Keyue, this “X design” was completed by Shi Yunnan alone?

Can Shi Yunnan, no matter how powerful he was, compare to the success of their entire Lingyu design department?

He looked at Yuan Rui’s suffocating-but-unable-to-vent face, and felt the pleasure of playing his opponent between his palms.

Yuan Rui clenched his hands into fists on both sides, and his chest, hidden under the suit, was fluctuating rapidly.

If he could, he would have punched Gu Jue in the face a long time ago, but not now. The charity auction strictly prohibited fights between designers and design studios. In serious cases, one will be directly disqualified from the auction.

There were surveillance cameras around this hall, and if he made a move, he would definitely be caught!

Yuan Rui’s fists clenched, but he told himself over and over in his heart to calm down—

It’s okay for him to be insulted by Gu Jue, but he can’t implicate Shi Yunnan!

The jade piece designed and created by his friend with great effort should never be disqualified from the auction because of his own irrationality.

During this period of time, when Yuan Rui went to recruit designers, he had been rejected and had heard many taunting remarks, more than he could count. Why should he care about this time?

Yuan Rui barely stabilized his mind and looked sideways at his friend with a smile, “Yunnan, let’s go. It’s almost time. Let’s take a seat and wait for the auction to start.”

Shi Yunnan looked at the fog under Yuan Rui’s eyes, which he tried desperately to suppress, and grabbed his wrist without saying a word to stop him from leaving, “Yuan Rui, wait, I have something to say to Mr. Gu and the others.”

Hua: I’m back huhuhu, I survived the busy week （＞人＜；）