You all chase after the innocent school beauty, then I'll choose the rebellious female school b

The letter was written in English, followed by a Chinese translation. The English was fluent and idiomatic, but the Chinese was far from satisfactory, riddled with grammatical errors and numerous typos.

The letter was written by Lisa Thomas, who was far away in Europe.

The letter was quite long, but it can be summarized into the following points:

First, Lisa sent Lu Yuan New Year's greetings, and the package contained a carefully prepared gift. She had started preparing this gift two months in advance, and it took a long time to finally deliver it to Lu Yuan.

Secondly, she has been studying fashion design for the past six months and feels she has made significant progress. She enclosed some of her design sketches, hoping to exchange ideas and learn from Lu Yuan. She has also been diligently learning Chinese and can now converse with her Chinese teacher; the Chinese translation she provided is a testament to her learning.

Third, it was on behalf of her father, Mr. Thomas, who hoped to obtain some new design ideas from Lu Yuan, thereby deepening the cooperation between the two families.

Ye Yixian also came over to read the contents of the letter.

Although her English wasn't as good as Lu Yuan's, she could still understand the general meaning by referring to the Chinese translation.

"You still have contact with that foreign girl?" Ye Yixian asked, somewhat surprised.

Beneath that surprise lay a barely perceptible hint of jealousy.

She recalled meeting Lisa Thomas during the summer vacation. She was indeed a very beautiful girl, with blonde hair, blue eyes, and fair skin. She was completely different from girls in China, like an elf in a European or American movie, with a unique beauty and exotic charm.

Lu Yuan frowned slightly, but didn't hide anything. He nodded and said, "We're in contact, but not much. She's abroad, so it's difficult for her to call or text me directly. I don't use email much, so chatting is practically impossible."

Hearing him say that, Ye Yixian felt a little relieved.

"She said she prepared a gift for you, what is it?" Ye Yixian couldn't help but ask.

The letter didn't mention it, and Lu Yuan was quite curious, so he took action and opened the cardboard box.

Upon opening it, I found two beautifully decorated little boxes side by side, one rectangular and one square.

He first opened the rectangular one, inside which lay a fountain pen.

This fountain pen is entirely black with gold patterns and a ruby ​​set in the body. Judging from the craftsmanship, the patterns are almost certainly made of pure gold, and the gemstone is genuine. Its exact value is hard to say, but it definitely has collectible value.

He then picked up the square box, inside which was a round object, also glittering gold, carefully wrapped in two pieces of transparent plastic film.

Lu Yuan took it out and examined it carefully. He recognized it as a beautifully decorated gold coin.

It should be an antique. Even disregarding its historical value, just melting it down would be extremely valuable, because it's a genuine pure gold coin.

"Wow! Lu Yuan, your international friend is so generous, preparing such an expensive New Year's gift for you." Ye Yixian couldn't help but exclaim.

Lu Yuan was also somewhat surprised. He hadn't expected that the young foreign girl living abroad would value him so much.

Of course, it's also possible that the other person comes from a wealthy family and has given such expensive gifts to other friends before.

However, this is unlikely, because such ancient gold coins are extremely rare. Even if the Thomas family were very wealthy, it would be impossible for them to acquire several and give them away.

If the gold coin is an antique, then this pen is most likely not a new product either; it is probably an old item passed down in the Thomas family and is equally valuable.

If both gifts are so valuable, then the young woman's true purpose in giving them is worth pondering.

Lu Yuan believed that no matter how charming he was, he shouldn't have been the object of a well-traveled foreign girl's interest for so long.

Unless, there is a deeper meaning behind this gift.

"Does she have a crush on you?" Ye Yixian asked directly.

Lu Yuan gave a wry smile: "It shouldn't be that bad."

He picked up the letter and explained to Ye Yixian, "If I'm not mistaken, the designs we sold to Mr. Thomas during the summer vacation must have given them a taste of success. They want more designs from me."

Ye Yixian was somewhat puzzled: "If they wanted more designs, they could have just told you. I remember they're very wealthy; surely they'd be willing to pay for them?"

"Mr. Thomas did mention it to me, but I declined."

"Refuse? Why? Don't you want to make money?"

"Of course I want to make money, but I have my own pace. I can't just sell all the good stuff to foreigners."

Upon hearing this, Ye Yixian thought for a moment and quickly understood the implications.

Selling your design ideas to foreigners is indeed a quick way to make money. But quick money is often one-off; even if you earn a lot more in the future, you can only watch helplessly as the profits dwindle, unable to sustain them.

Lu Yuan's ideal has never been to be someone else's ghostwriter, but to build his own brand. Naturally, he can't just hand over all the good things to others.

However, thinking about this, Ye Yixian became a little worried: "Lu Yuan, doesn't your family's garment factory have a partnership with Mr. Thomas? If they find out in the future that you're hiding something good, won't it affect the cooperation between the two parties?"

You should know that during the summer vacation, Lu Yuan went to great lengths and racked his brains to negotiate a cooperation agreement with Mr. Thomas.

If the two sides fall out in the future, wouldn't all the previous efforts be in vain?

Lu Yuan shook his head and smiled, "If the Yuanxian Wardrobe brand grows bigger and stronger in the future, even if they know I'm keeping things to myself, they won't break ties with us. Instead, they'll be even more eager to seek cooperation."

"Oh? What do you mean?"

Ye Yixian adjusted her posture slightly and listened attentively. She knew she could always learn a lot from Lu Yuan.

Lu Yuan was happy to explain to Ye Yixian: "It's actually very simple. Strength is the key to business cooperation."

"Let me put it this way: if I'm just a designer, or even not a top-tier designer, and my designs aren't satisfactory, will they still want to work with me?"

Ye Yixian frowned, pondered for a moment, and shook his head: "Probably not. They might look for other designers."

"You're right." Lu Yuan reached out and patted Ye Yixian's head. "That's right. The Thomas Group has a place in the European and American clothing market, and you can imagine how big it is. It's not difficult for them to find a great designer."

"The designs I can come up with might be things other designers can't think of; and the things other designers can think of, I might not be able to think of. In short, as someone who makes a living by selling my creativity, I'm always on the defensive when facing a big boss like Thomas. And I especially hate being on the defensive."

Ye Yixian nodded, suddenly realizing, "I understand. You want to build your own brand and influence so that you can cooperate with Thomas on an equal footing in the future."

"Absolutely correct."

Lu Yuan gave Ye Yixian a thumbs up.

Ye Yixian smiled happily, then her gaze fell back to the manuscript at the bottom of the cardboard box: "Look, the clothes she designed are quite nice too."

She only flipped to the top one. Although she didn't understand professional design, she still had basic aesthetic sense.

Lu Yuan took out the little foreign girl's manuscript, quickly glanced through it, and nodded, saying, "It's really good. I'm not a professional designer, so I can't make any rash judgments, but it's clear that she will definitely achieve something in the future in the field of fashion design."

Lu Yuan tried hard to recall, but among the famous designers he knew in his previous life, he wasn't sure if there was one named Lisa.