The attic connects the past and present; I became a tycoon and got rich overnight!

Chapter 20: I Released the Recording, Shocking the Nation

Seeing that Song Youan was unmoved by reason, Gu Xiaoman's patience ran out.

"That means there's nothing to talk about?"

She's a senior figure in the industry, so why is she sitting here being humiliated by a young girl?

Liang Bei quickly raised his hand to signal Gu Xiaoman not to rush, and then turned to Song Youan and said, "Ms. Song, we are very sincere. Here, you can name your conditions. I still have a lot of say in the company. As long as it is within my power, I will do my best to meet it."

Song Youan looked at him expressionlessly and shook her head slightly: "I have no demands, because I don't want to cooperate with your company at all right now. Your company's practices disgust me."

She spoke very bluntly because only in this way could she express her inner anger.

Looking at the booklet on the table, she knew that QG had printed out her designs. She didn't reach for it, but continued, "I won't take the design drafts, because I know you must have backups. But let me make this clear: if your company publishes my designs without my consent, I will fight you to the bitter end."

Seeing Song Youan's tough attitude as a recent graduate, Liang Bei finally lost his composure and said with an unfriendly expression, "Ms. Song, are you really going to make things this ugly? I have to remind you that QG is one of the most well-known fashion magazines in the world. We have the strongest legal team and handle a lot of copyright disputes every year. We are not afraid of you."

"Heh..." Song Youan laughed in anger: "What? Is Director Liang trying to rob me outright? Fine, I think your company is so powerful, so the compensation amount will definitely satisfy me. I have nothing to lose, so bring it on."

Song Youan shrugged, looking completely indifferent.

Gu Xiaoman raised her hand and took off her glasses, revealing her imposing gaze. She glared at Song Youan and said in an almost warning tone, "You'd better think this through. If you offend QG, you can forget about working in this industry in the future."

A blatant threat, and it is precisely this kind of threat from large corporations that is often the most effective and deadly for recent graduates like them.

No one would gamble with their future.

But they happened to encounter Song You'an, who was a billionaire.

Song Youan chuckled, patted her chest as if startled, and retorted in a provocative tone, "I was scared to death!"

Finally, she stood up, gave the three people present a big eye roll, and turned to leave.

As soon as Song Youan left, the atmosphere in the conference room plummeted to freezing point, and the secretary behind her didn't dare to breathe.

With a loud bang, Liang Bei slammed his fist heavily on the table, gritting his teeth as he said, "You ungrateful wretch!"

Gu Xiaoman was no longer calm; her heart was racing from Song Youan's final disdainful expression.

"What should we do? We need to finalize the draft immediately, there's no time left," she asked Liang Bei.

Liang Bei looked at her: "Didn't you find any of the other submissions satisfactory?"

Gu Xiaoman shook her head: "The quality is far too low. If it's published, it will definitely be ridiculed by everyone. There's also the Golden Plum Award ceremony in October. I don't want to ruin my reputation at this critical juncture!"

The two of them turned their attention to the design draft on the table. This was the best choice, the most outstanding and the most stunning.

"I'll take it back and revise it..." Gu Xiaoman said softly.

Liang Bei nodded slightly. The so-called revisions were simply deleting or adding elements to the original manuscript. As long as it wasn't exactly the same, they could claim it as their own.

Moreover, given Gu Xiaoman's fame, it would be difficult to convince the public without substantial evidence of plagiarism.

Unexpectedly, the conference room door opened again.

Song Youan poked her head in and grinned, "Sorry, I left my phone here."

Then, to the astonishment of the other three, Song Youan walked to her seat, picked up her phone, and waved it. The screen displayed the words "Recording in progress" in large print!

"Bye!" Song Youan raised her hand and said goodbye to the three people who were petrified on the spot.

Just as I got into the taxi, Cheng Muzi messaged me. I was so excited on my way to QG that I told her about the interview.

Cheng Muzi: [How's the Youan interview going?]

Song Youan: [Smooth sailing is worse than eating poop.]

Cheng Muzi: [Huh? What happened? No noodles?]

Song Youan: [Don't even mention it! Such a huge corporation wanted to plagiarize my design and put it under Gu Xiaoman's name. I've never seen anything so shameless!]

Cheng Muzi: [What? Gu Xiaoman? You've mentioned Gu Xiaoman to me several times before? Isn't she a master?]

Song Youan: [Ha! I used to think so too, but today I've really seen it all. It's like the old man sweeping the floor—the grandpa cleaning.]

Cheng Muzi: [It's okay, You'an. They did this because your design was good, proving you have real ability.]

Song Youan: [Sigh, the main thing is I feel like this isn't the first time they've done this. I didn't give in, but how many fresh graduates like me have their talents and dreams stifled in the cradle by people like this as soon as they enter the workforce? With people like this around, it's really hard for newcomers to get ahead.]

Cheng Muzi seemed to sense the indignation in Song Youan's words and understood that the consequences of Song Youan offending QG would definitely be much more serious than expected.

Before Cheng Muzi could even offer some words of comfort, Song Youan's message popped up again.

Song Youan: [Mu Zi, I have a little plan...]

Cheng Muzi [How so?]

Song Youan [Can't say yet]

Cheng Muzi: [I understand, but I will support you no matter what. I have to go now, my master is calling me.]

Back at the villa that evening, Song You'an spent the night there for the first time. Her father called to remind her to make sure all the doors and windows were locked, as the suburbs were remote and she needed to be careful.

After washing up, Song Youan turned on her computer and searched for posts about the design industry on various forums and online communities.

You won’t know the result until you search, and you’ll be shocked when you do.

Countless posts share her experience, and most are from recent graduates. This is because design students design graduation projects every year, and these projects are almost always submitted to various companies along with their resumes when applying for jobs.

It was a massive wave of design drafts, a time when companies, like hungry wolves, were scrambling to find their prey. They picked out their favorites from countless graduation projects, but none of the original designers had the chance to have their work credited.

Those who have the opportunity to meet and receive some benefits, like she did today, are considered lucky. There are others who don't even have the right to know, and by the time they see the work, it's already been published in a magazine with the name of a famous designer attached.

No recent graduate dares to challenge big companies head-on, so even when posting online, they remain anonymous and dare not specify which magazine issue or company it is.

The increasingly chaotic industry environment made Song You'an angrier and angrier, and she felt more and more hopeless for her peers.

She couldn't even imagine whether she would have made the same choice in the QG building today if she hadn't been so fortunate to have acquired her current wealth.
The answer is no ifs, because she is Song Youan, and she would never compromise on such a thing, never!

With her plan growing stronger, she uploaded the recording of today's event online with a sensational title: "Rebirth: QG Tried to Steal My Design Drafts, I Expose the Recording and Shock the Nation!"
Please vote and give me a five-star review! It's very important to keep reading during the PK period, so please don't let the story sit unfinished!



(End of this chapter)