Chapter 181 - 180: Arc 4: 28 Hours Of Not Sleeping

In the designing room, Chuan Huan Jing stopped the crinkling sound of the sewing machine and walked across his untidy room to place the last piece to the dress in the mannequin. He looked up to fix his gaze from the thick curly bang in covering his face and smiled with how satisfied he felt from his creations. 

He stretched his back counting how many hours he hadn't slept while staring emptily at the clock. "Twenty eight hours of not sleeping." He muttered to let out a big yawn. "No wonder I'm sleepy now. I should eat something first before sleeping." He kept on talking to himself to open the door and walk to see the messy office to be cleaned.

His eyes froze. "A burglar?" He shook his head. "There's no way a burglar would go out of his way to clean before stealing..., right?" 

"Exactly." A voice appeared behind him making Chuan Huan Jing to run toward the nearest pillar like a startled kitten. Xiao Yun looked at his reaction with a little giggle. "There's no way a burglar would clean your office."

"T- that's true..." He murmured and looked down to see a vacuum on Xiao Yun's hand and felt the blood on his face run cold. "I'm very sorry!" 

Xiao Yun took a step back when she saw him crouching to the floor to kowtow. Xiao Yun hanged her hands mid-air in a startle. "Wait, what are your doing, stop it-" 

"I shouldn't have made you clean the company, boss. I'm very sorry for my negligence." Chuan Huan Jing kept on the rambling sequence of apologizes. Xiao Yun stood there to scratched her itching head and spoke between her sigh. "Stand up now." Chuan Huan Jing stood up and hanged his head low. 

"You do know that an office reflects the company and it should never be dirty nor messy, right?" Xiao Yun crossed her arm. If someone else other than her came to make a joint project or perhaps an invitation to a designer fashion show. After seeing how dirty the office was, they would instantly turn over to walk out of the office. 

"Yes. I'm very sorry for my mistake. I promise this would never happen again." knowing how important image was in the fashion industry, he could only apologize again. He had been too stuck in creating the newest dress from his design and forgot the rest of his responsibility. 

"I know that you have your own work and how this office lack of personnel. Before we could make a name for ourselves, I will hire a few members of the company. Zi Gong, can I leave you with that?" Chuan Huan Jing looked over to the person beside Xiao Yun nodding. 

"Also, I have something to discuss with you and Zhu Yi Nian, but where is he?" Xiao Yun's scrutinizing gaze fell on Chuan Huan Jing. 

"Actually boss, Yi Nian have often missed his timing to come here." Chuan Huan Jing replied. For the last three days, Zhu Yi Nian had been looking a little out and disappeared from time to time. 

"Do you mean he has been cutting his time to work?" Xiao Yun asked to see her subordinate nodding. As they spoke, Tian Yi felt a presence coming to the company and sent a hint to Xiao Yun. 

"Speak of the devil." Xiao Yun whispered and saw Zhu Yi Nian running inside in haste to see Xiao Yun standing with a vacuum on her hand. 

"My apologies Ms. Yu for my friend's mistake." Zhu Yi Nian apologized in a different manner that made the corner of Xiao Yun's lips to twitch. 

'Apologize for Huan Jing mistake even though he is also responsible for this office? How shameless.' Xiao Yun thought silently. Her eyes tracking Zhu Yi Nian's watch to be a little more expansive than what he usually wore. Not to mention, the clothes that he wore and his confidence also boosted out of nowhere. 

"Let's stop talking about that." Xiao Yu raised her hand and looked across her shoulder at Zi Gong. "Let's take a seat, I have something else to discuss with you two regarding the fabric company." 

The four people sat in the meeting room where Xiao Yun began to start her open discussion. "As I have heard from Huan Jing, the fabric company that we have been working raise their price single-handedly. For that, I decided to break our contract and work with a different company."

Zhu Yi Nian and Chuan Huan Jing nodded along to follow the rest of Xiao Yun's discussion. "This fabric company originated from Hangzhou, it's a small company but their quality is something that should be praise. Their price is also lower by nearly thirty five percent of the previous one. As you two are the designer here, I want to hear your words about this."

Chuan Huan Jing rubbed his chin. "Certainly, I do agree with your words, boss. The fabric company we are working now also began to make a demanding price that we wouldn't be able to afford, I agree with your choice."

Zhu Yi Nian also agreed belatedly. 

"Good then, Zi Gong can I leave you with the contract?" Xiao Yun turned her face to the person sitting beside her. 

"Yes, boss." 

Xiao Yun was satisfied by their dexterity in making choices wisely and stood up from her seat to remember the most important thing that she came for here. "Huan Jing, I saw that you were working in something, would you show me what did you just made?" Chuan Huan Jing hopped out of his seat immediately. Although Xiao Yun couldn't see the upper half of his face, she could guess with clarity that his eyes were giving out brilliant sparks. 

Behind them, Zhu Yi Nian who would usually wag his tail to gain Ciao Yun's attention stood back this time. His eyes scanned over Xiao Yun silently with a smile creeping through. 'The poor young lady didn't know.' He berated. 

A few days ago, after Xiao Yun left for her trip Zhu Yi Nian went to raged out at the fabric company for raising their price in a crazy amount. But when he was there, he heard a fascinating offer from a rich young lady. 

"Do you want to work with me?" Her eyes looking up and down with a smirk. 

"What work?" Zhu Yi Nian asked skeptically. 

"Your friend, he seems to be having quite a talent-" the beautiful lady whispered, making the inferiority complex that Zhu Yi Nian has to worsen. 

"What do you mean?" He curtly shouted but the woman didn't falter as though she had guessed what was coming.

"My name is Lin Chang Lu, the CEO of Golden Tree. I have asked your friend to work with me but unfortunately, he rejected me." Lin Chang Lu spoke with her trickling tone to pass he name card to Zhu Yi Nian. 

Zhu Yi Nian had been in a sour mood after failing to negotiate with the fabric company and the rich lady haughtily compared him with the thorn in his life, Chuan Huan Jing. He took the name card harshly and clenched on it to almost wrinkle the small paper into a ball. 

He took a moment to see the Golden Tree Logo and finally remembered the name of the company. Golden Tree is the leading company in the fashion business at the moment, the highest top rating, and a renowned company. How could he forget such an important thing? 

"I have an offer specially for you, Mr. Zhu." Lin Chang Lu's trapping tone crawled to his ears. 

"What offer?" He asked, intrigued by the offer she spoke of. 

"But first I have a question, would you betray your friend for fame and position?" 

Zhu Yi Nian kneaded his palm into a fist, a jealous and hateful smile webbing out of his face. "If I could get more than what I have, I would." He determinedly fell as the piece of pawn to Lin Chang Lu's hand.

Lin Chang Lu didn't ask much and gave him an offer with an open hand. "If you could continue to spy in the company and steal his designs off the office, I will compensate for your effort handsomely. You could also become the chief designer of our company."

"Steals his designs?" 

"What do you say?" Lin Chang Lu raised up one of her well-kept brows. She extended out her hand, waiting for Zhu Yi Nian to accept her handshake. "Deal or no deal?" 

"Of course there is only one answer. Deal." Zhu Yi Nian received back Lin Chang Lu's handshake. Greed had found its way over his head. He couldn't care less about the outcome when Lin Chang Lu's offer was very enticing. Betraying his friend who has treated him well was nothing in exchange for his bright future. 

'With this, I'm going to be rich! And he would be bellow me! Forever!' 

Zhu Yi Nian sat at the meeting room with an impatient smile, he stared at Chuan Huan Jing's back and placed a malice smile. 

'You will be my step stone to the top, Huan Jing! All this time for me being compared with you would soon end!!'