Xia Cheng ignored the reporter and said earnestly, "Xi Xi, you're really too much of a fool. You made everyone know about your dissatisfaction. Now, it seems that I can't hide this matter anymore. For the sake of the collaboration with the Luo family, as well as Xia Ji and Mengyan, I can only tell the truth."
Qiao Xi sneered in her heart. She quietly watched Xia Cheng put on an act.
Xia Cheng was silent for a long time before he said helplessly, "I didn't want to say this at first, but now that Xi Xi has blown things up, I have to explain it clearly. This matter is a secret of our Xia family. Mengyan is young and doesn't know about it. Now, I'll tell the whole story in front of everyone!
"These designs were… created by Xia Ji, not Yunqiu." Xia Cheng's eyes were filled with sorrow. "As Xi Xi said, they were created 24 years ago. Mengyan thinks that they were created 18 years ago. That was when my son, Xia Ji, took out all the designs and sorted them out. At that time, Mengyan happened to see those designs, so she always thought that Xia Ji drew them 18 years ago.
"We've been keeping it a secret, so we never told Mengyan the truth. Please don't blame Mengyan, everyone. If you want to blame someone, blame me. If I hadn't hidden it from her, she wouldn't have said the wrong thing."
Everyone frowned. What secret did the Xia family have to keep? Someone finally could not help but ask curiously, "Chairman Xia, what secret are you talking about? Why couldn't you tell Miss Xia?"
Xia Cheng sighed helplessly. "Xi Xi, don't blame me for being heartless. Now that things have come to this, I have to say it.
"Yunqiu has been dead for so many years. As her father, I wasn't willing to make this matter public. Even if I had to let Xia Ji suffer, I didn't care. However, this concerns the Xia family's reputation and the collaboration with the Luo family now. I can't hide it anymore."
Xia Cheng spoke for a long time but was still keeping them in suspense. This made everyone even more anxious. They all wanted to know what the secret behind this was.
The old man seemed to have fallen into his memories. He shook his head helplessly. "24 years ago, after Xia Ji completed the designs, Xia Yunqiu borrowed them. At that time, she said that she wanted to borrow them, but she kept them and refused to return them. After a long time, she treated them as her own work.
"Xia Ji carried the reputation of an illegitimate child. He was mocked by others outside and couldn't raise his head at home. He already felt that he had let Yunqiu down, so he didn't pursue the matter. It was only when the Luo family came to ask for a collaboration that he dared to say that they were his designs. Who knew that Xi Xi would reveal this incident in public today?"
Everyone gasped. They did not expect the situation to turn around again. In other words, the person who really occupied someone else's work was Xia Yunqiu.
Xia Ji felt that he had let Xia Yunqiu down, so he had been hiding this matter. If the Luo family had not come to collaborate with the Xia family, the Xia family would have kept this secret forever. No one would have known that the real Xia Yunqiu was so unbearable.
"Sigh! Perhaps Miss Qiao didn't know that Xia Yunqiu was such a person either. After all, from the evidence she provided, it was clearly Xia Ji who plagiarized Xia Yunqiu's designs. Who would have thought that the truth would be like this?!"
"Chairman Xia is doing this for his daughter's own good. He has been keeping this secret all these years. Xia Yunqiu said that she wanted to borrow those designs but never returned them. How is this any different from daylight robbery? If Miss Qiao hadn't come looking for trouble, I don't know how long we would have misunderstood the Xia family!"
"Miss Qiao wanted to seek justice for her mother, but who knew that her mother was the one who plagiarized someone else's work?! Hehe!"
Xia Mengyan shed tears aggrievedly. "Father, you've suffered all these years."
Xia Ji smiled and waved his hand. "It's nothing. Yunqiu is my younger sister. She wanted my designs, so I just gave them to her. As long as she liked them, it didn't matter even if I suffered a little.
"However, we had to make things clear with the collaboration with the Luo family this time. That's why these designs are under my name. If I had known that this would involve this past, I would've kept Yunqiu's name on them. Sigh…"
Xia Ji said helplessly, "Xi Xi, you're still too young. You're rash when you encounter problems. It would've been better to talk about it at home. How could you come to the company to kick up a fuss?"
Qiao Xi glanced coldly at him, and a cold light burst out from her eyes.
She knew that the Xia family would not admit to plagiarizing her mother's work and would push all the blame on her and her mother. However, she did not expect the Xia family to be so shameless. They did not even blush when they lied and even looked helpless as if they had suffered a lot.