Chapter 44

Chapter 44

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Both of them frequently went abroad, so the pertinent procedures were rapidly completed. His secretary helped them arrange tickets for a flight early the next morning. Once they were seated on the airplane, Jian Yan’s heart sighed with admiration. This Head He handled matters with such efficiency.

“What are you thinking about?” He Xiu turned his head to look at Jian Yan. In order to keep their movements secret, only the two of them were heading to France.

Jian Yan blinked and said to him, “I’m just thinking about when I used to work at Starlight General Merchandise; I had discovered that it wasn’t that many customers weren’t interested in silk scarves, but they simply didn’t know how to tie silk scarves properly. After they bring a silk scarf home, it would be left to the side and forgotten. They naturally wouldn’t buy a second one.”

He Xiu nodded, hinting for her to continue. Jian Yan explained, “Not every girl is so nimble with her hands. Many of them can’t even tie a proper bow, let alone silk scarves. And as for the many varied uses of silk scarves, don’t even mention using them as a headband, there are many different styles to just simply tie it around their necks. That’s why I think we cannot just sell silk scarves and be done with it—we should teach them how to tie them as well.”

Once she finished speaking, a solution naturally appeared in her mind. “I can draw a tutorial for silk scarves, introducing all kinds of tying methods inside. We can print these out on cards and treat them as complimentary gifts for every client who purchases a silk scarf. What do you think?”

“A very wonderful solution.” He Xiu raised an eyebrow at her, though, and asked, “Do you know how large of an author’s remuneration Teacher Tang Zhi should receive?”

Jian Yan solemnly thought it over. “Considering you delivered food to me for so many days, I’ll gift this to you free of charge.”

He Xiu couldn’t help but chuckle. “Do you have the final say in this? I reckon Chief Lin will seek me out tomorrow, demanding payment.”

“Don’t worry about this. I’ll take responsibility for persuading her,” Jian Yan solemnly vowed.

He Xiu shook his head, smiling as he said, “The silk scarf promotion will be held at Fantasy Wardrobe. The sales staff will be there with the duty of guiding the clients. I also want to have everyone understand the charm of silk scarves, so I plan to borrow some equipment from the factory and display it in the store at that time. This will make the clients understand the entire manufacturing process for silk scarves.”

“That sounds excellent!” Jian Yan was also interested. “Many clients think that such a small square cloth is sold too expensively and that it’s not worth buying. Yet from the design and the printing to the dying and cutting, it all consumes a lot of manpower, as well as mental and physical efforts. Making this artistry is exceedingly more complex than making clothing. It’s a good thing if we can make everyone understand. I think this silk scarf promotional will definitely be a success; I’m already itching for it to start!”

“Mn, so am I.”

The two of them ate, chatted, and slept in the plane. The very long journey was not too unendurable.

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It was 2:00PM when they reached Paris. Without any time to adjust to the different time zone, He Xiu took Jian Yan straight to the factory. He had already contacted the person in charge of the factory, so the factory had already arranged for an employee to receive them.

Jian Yan immediately took responsibility for talking with the print-making artisan, confirming every detail with him. She had taken French as an elective during university, but her level could only be considered mediocre. He Xiu was there to be an interpreter, though, so she and the artisan’s discussion proceeded very smoothly.

Once the dust had settled for this matter, the two of them sighed in relief simultaneously. After leaving the factory, He Xiu didn’t take her anywhere else, calling a taxi to take them to the hotel they had booked a reservation at.

Jian Yan recalled that He Xui had secretly taken a photo when she had been discussing with the artisan and asked him, “Did you just take a picture of us just now without our permission?”

He Xiu bluntly admitted, “Yes.”

“…What are you trying to do?”

He Xiu smiled and answered, “Don’t be nervous. I sent it to the company’s Public Relations department so they can begin to warm-up for the silk scarf promotion.”

“Warming up so early?” This silk scarf factory said that the earliest it could send over the first shipment was April.

He Xiu said, “We have already suffered a loss. We have to be ahead of Graceful in everything before they announce a silk scarf promotional so that we can steal the opportunity.”

Jian Yan suddenly nodded in revelation. “Then why hasn’t Graceful made an announcement yet? Didn’t they sign with Samuel?”

“Probably because the factory hasn’t settled on a decision yet. Even if Samuel does not honor contractual obligations, he is still conscientious of his work. I assume that Graceful has promised him that the promotion will be announced once all the arrangements are determined. He requested this of us as well. Otherwise, we would have made an announcement of him signing with us.”

Jian Yan contemplated this for a moment and became a little worried. “Then since we submitted the designs to the factory before the deadline, would they find another factory to manufacture their silk scarves?”

He Xiu said, “Samuel’s actions have already breached his contractual obligations, so if he gives up his bottom line as well, then he would no longer need to mix with this community.”

Jian Yan felt that his words were somewhat thought-provoking. “What, don’t tell me that the community already knows he violated a contract?”

A chuckle escaped He Xiu as he said, “Matters can never stay a secret from the community, let alone…” He glanced at Jian Yan, pausing for a moment before continuing, “Do you remember when I previously told you about having staff personally fly to France to find designers? They naturally explained the entire story to the other designers; they probably expelled a bellyful of bitter complaints in passing.”

Jian Yan: “…”

She realized, in other words, that this matter had been publicized widely.

“Head He…deserves to be called Head He, nice strategy.” Jian Yan sighed in admiration. These businessmen—sure enough, each and every one of them were definitely sinister.

He Xiu cheerfully accepted her ‘praise.’ “Samuel violated a contract. Naturally he should pay the price for this kind of action, right?”

“Right, right.” She was now completely worried about that photo He Xiu had sent. This man—she could not treat him lightly! Opening the internet, she logged into Weibo.

Starlight General Merchandise’s official blog had, as expected, posted news about the silk scarf promotion——

「Starlight General Merchandise joins hands with Teacher @Tang Zhi to create a luxurious silk scarf promotion! Teacher Tang Zhi, in charge of all the designs, visits France, amiably conversing with the artisans about the process! 『laughs up sleeve』Please continue to pay attention as we report more later~ XOXO! 『image』」

What made her happy was that, the person posting on the Weibo was considerate and had stuck an adorable sticker over both her and the artisan’s faces. She glanced at He Xiu and commented, “Mn, you even censored the image—not bad.”

He Xiu preened, “I specifically ordered this, knowing that our Teacher Tang Zhi wants to keep a low-profile. She obviously could rely on her face but stubbornly relies on her talents only.”

Jian Yan laughed and didn’t respond. She casually reblogged the Weibo post.

Tang Zhi 【V】: 「Second collaboration with Starlight General Merchandise. Expressing thanks to Starlight General Merchandise for acknowledging and trusting me『shy』I used my entire lifetime’s worth of study to design these silk scarves 『smile-cry』I hope everyone ultimately likes the products ^_^」

After she posted this, she didn’t forget to add geographic location to prove that she really was in France.

He Xiu and Jian Yan checked in when they arrived at the hotel. They discovered that there was only one room card, causing Jian Yan to frown. “You only arranged for one room?”

He Xiu had a completely innocent expression on his face. “It was my secretary who made the arrangements. She might have been under the impression that arranging one room would be enough.”

“…” Then how come she didn’t arrange for only one flight ticket?! Jian Yan sucked in a breath of air before smiling at He Xiu and saying, “It’s fine. I can just book one now.”

“Don’t be so troublesome. You shouldn’t meaninglessly increase the receptionist’s workload.” He Xiu said this before forcefully dragging Jian Yan away from the lobby.

Jian Yan: “…”

She was still angry when they were in the room, deciding to ignore He Xiu for the time being by scrolling through Weibo.

「Can see Teacher Tang Zhi’s body! Even if the face is obstructed, we know she is a incredibly beautiful woman!」

「Who stuck the sticker! Why so unthoughtful!」

「Teacher Tang Zhi really is very fashionable! Her clothes are gorgeous.」

「Visually appraising the clothes on Teacher Tang Zhi’s body from top to bottom and from inside out to be Bunny, Bunny, Maggie, biubiu. In conclusion: my Teacher Tang Zhi really is very wealthy QAQ」

「I made a comparison. This should be the same person as the one from the photo the paparazzi released! So Teacher Tang Zhi really is with Eldest Master He!?」

「Aaaaahhhhh no wonder they’ve been collaborating so often recently! Eldest Master He is also very handsome! Talented man and beautiful woman…no, talented female and handsome man?」

「 I’m just asking one thing; did she go with Eldest Master He? 『naughty laugh』」

「Wait a minute. If it’s the same person and the face is covered by a sticker, you compared the legs??」

「Hahaha at this time, shouldn’t we @ leggy Pei Pei?」

Jian Yan: “…”

She re-evaluated the focus of her Weibo message. Don’t tell me it wasn’t…silk scarves?

Jian Yan had some doubts about humanity.

He Xiu saw her unsightly complexion from his seat beside her and proceeded to take preemptive action and admit his wrongdoing. “Don’t get angry. Just adjust to the different time zone today; I’ll take you to eat delicious food and have fun tomorrow. Treat it as an apology, okay?”

Jian Yan handed over her tablet computer and glared at him. “All the messages beneath the silk scarf post is about our relationship. No one cares about the silk scarves.”

He Xiu scanned through the comments and laughed lightly, countering, “People are naturally more interested in gossip, but don’t worry. When the silk scarves are released, they will definitely pay attention because people have no resistance to beautiful things as well.”

“I hope so.” She seemed to recall something once she voiced this and asked He Xiu, “We’re staying here for several days?”

“Mn, since we’re here, we’ll explore for two days before returning. You’ve already turned in your drafts anyway, so you shouldn’t have any work on hand to do, right?”

“I still need to prepare for my new project…” Jian Yan saw the wronged expression on He Xiu’s face and amended her words, “but two days spent having fun is not out of the question.” Her new project had already been delayed once anyways.

He Xiu immediately switched his wronged expression into a beaming a smile at her as he responded, “Where do you want to go for fun? Le Louvre? Champs élysées? Eiffel Tower?”

Jian Yan rejected them all, asking, “Don’t tell me you want to waste our time in these places?”

“…Then where do you want to go?”

Jian Yan picked up a paper from the table to write on. Shua! Shua! Shua! “I had wanted to eat at these restaurants for a very long time, but every time I came here, I was in a rush. I have only eaten at a handful of them. The remaining ones…I want us to go back and eat at them all!”

He Xiu: “…”

He stared at the long list of restaurant names Jian Yan put together and felt that this mission would be very difficult.

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Author’s Note:

Why did you all become so dirty when I said they’re heading to France? What’s wrong with France? 『doge』

Expressing thanks to sponsors

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