Summer Kiss

Chapter 12 Cut off the beard
Fu Xicheng's voice broke the silence between them. His eyes were deep, as if he could see through Jiang Yuning's thoughts.

Jiang Yuning was slightly taken aback, then came to her senses and said, "Mr. Fu, what a coincidence."

Fu Xicheng's lips curled into a meaningful smile. "I thought Miss Jiang wasn't going to talk to me anymore."

"I don't really like people who are petty and calculating."

Suddenly, Fu Xicheng noticed that the atmosphere between the two of them was a little awkward, as if the other person could turn around and leave if he wasn't careful with his words.

Fu Xicheng pondered a solution.

Jiang Yuning pursed her lips and suddenly asked, "Mr. Fu, could you help me ask if there's a second invitation letter that your friend gave you?"

Fu Xicheng wasn't sure if Lu Zhiqian had a second invitation, so he said, "I'll ask him about it for you."

"Oh, by the way, your car is all fixed now. I'll send you the location so you can pick it up tomorrow if you have time."

"Thank you, Mr. Fu."

Fu Xicheng nodded.

Jiang Yuning raised her wrist and pointed to the time on her watch, and Fu Xicheng immediately understood.

……

Jiang Yuning returned to her residence, and after she finished washing up, she found an email in her inbox.

After reading the email, Jiang Yuning beamed with joy. The client she had been working with for two months had finally finalized the design drafts and would ask her to come to their company to sign the contract the next morning.

After replying to the email, she noticed several red dots on her text messages. Jiang Yuning has a compulsion; she has to open any unread messages on her phone, otherwise she feels uneasy if she doesn't.

When she saw the text message, she angrily punched the bed several times. How could Gu Yan be so persistent? She had already blocked and deleted him, but he kept sending her text messages from different numbers.

She had never seen such a petty and narrow-minded man.

...

The next morning, Jiang Yuning got up very early. She first went to the 4S store to pick up her car, and then drove to the company. She arrived just in time and was almost late.

She prepared the client company's information, explained the situation to the director, and drove to the client company.

This wasn't Jiang Yuning's first time here; she had been here many times before, so she easily found the other party's design department.

The assistant to the design director led her to a meeting room.

"Ms. Jiang, please wait a moment. The director is currently meeting with a guest."

Jiang Yuning sat on the sofa and waited for about ten minutes. At this time, her assistant knocked on the conference room door and said, "Ms. Jiang, our director would like to see you."

Jiang Yuning stood up and followed her assistant into the director's office.

As soon as Jiang Yuning entered the office, she saw Gu Yan sitting on the sofa, chatting with the design director. She froze, wondering why Gu Yan was here.

She had a feeling that signing the contract today might not go so smoothly.

When the design director saw Jiang Yuning arrive, he got straight to the point: "Designer Jiang, this is Director Gu from Shijiu Group. Director Gu just showed me their design proposal, and I think their company's design drafts are slightly better. So, Designer Jiang, I'm really sorry to have made you come all this way for nothing."

With a smile on his face, Gu Yan pretended not to recognize Jiang Yuning. He said slowly, "This is also my fault. If I had arrived a step later, Director Lin would probably have already signed the contract with Designer Jiang."

Director Lin chuckled twice. "Designer Jiang, even if this collaboration doesn't work out, we can continue to collaborate next time."

What else could Jiang Yuning say? All of this seemed normal, but it was actually Gu Yan's doing. The key was that she had no way to deal with him.

"Director Lin, I look forward to our next collaboration. You and Director Gu can talk first, I won't disturb you any longer."

"Wait," Director Lin called out to Jiang Yuning from behind, "Designer Jiang, don't you want to take a look at the design drawings provided by Director Gu? "To see exactly where the difference lies between your two companies?"

Jiang Yuning had always been well aware of how difficult Director Lin was. He made her revise a single design draft dozens of times, and every time the draft was finally finalized, he would make excuses and delay signing it.

Even last night, after I agreed to sign the contract with her, she still felt something was off.

Jiang Yuning took a deep breath, a graceful smile on her face. "Director Lin, you're right. We should really learn from you."

Jiang Yuning glanced at Gu Yan's design draft, and her eyes widened instantly. This design draft was 90% similar to hers.

She pointed out the problem directly, "Director Lin, have you seen the design draft I gave you?"

Director Lin nodded. "Designer Jiang, to be honest, I'm glad I didn't use that design draft of yours."

Jiang Yuning asked in confusion, "What do you mean?"

"Didn't Director Lin notice how similar my design is to Director Gu's?"

Gu Yan knew exactly where his design drafts came from. He sneered, "Does Designer Jiang mean that my Shijiu Group plagiarized your designs? Designer Jiang, you need to understand that you're just a small-time designer."

Sensing the tense atmosphere, Director Lin immediately stepped in to smooth things over, "Director Gu, please calm down. Designer Jiang didn't mean that."

Gu Yan's face was gloomy as he stared coldly at Jiang Yuning.

Jiang Yuning remained calm and unfazed, not afraid of adding fuel to the fire. "That's exactly what I mean."

She opened the folder she had brought with her and handed it to Director Lin.

"Director Lin, this is the final design draft from our company. As you know, I revised it dozens of times according to your ideas, and this design draft completely meets your requirements."

Director Lin glanced at it briefly before closing the folder in his hand.

"While Jiang's designs are perfect, our company also has to consider costs. Director Gu's offer is significantly lower than yours. Jiang, you understand what I mean."

Jiang Yuning could easily understand that Director Lin was clearly trying to lower the price; the price was not something she could decide, nor could she make the decision herself.

Despite the similarity of their design drafts, it seems that Jiang Yuning can only suffer in silence now.

She was somewhat resentful, but powerless to do anything about it.

"But Director Lin, Director Gu's design is very similar to mine. Have you thought about that?"

“We are discussing the price. If the price offered by Designer Jiang is not lower than that offered by Director Gu, I will have no choice but to sign the contract with Director Gu.”

This deadbeat clearly agreed last night, but changed his mind this morning.

Jiang Yuning stood up, instantly losing all desire to sign the contract. "I'm sorry, Director Lin, you should sign the contract with Director Gu."

Jiang Yuning left the director's office, but she didn't rush to leave. Instead, she stood by the window, thinking about what had just happened.

How did things turn out this way?

...

In the office.

Director Lin burst into laughter, "Director Gu's move is indeed brilliant, I have to admit it."

"If Director Gu hadn't contacted me last night, I probably would have signed the contract with Designer Jiang this morning. I have a question in my mind: Is there some grudge between Director Gu and Designer Jiang?"

(End of this chapter)