Chapter 97: Being Taken Advantage of as Usual

News that YL and SI were fighting over an order quickly spread.

This was the first time that the jewelry giants at City S publicly fought on the same stage. This could be called the battle of the year that was in a class of its own, and it attracted everyone’s attention. For the most part, the audience was there to watch the excitement. Only a small portion truly cared about the two enterprises, as this affected the future of City S’ jewelry business.

Competition within the market was always a topic that could not be avoided. Ever since YL rose up, the two enterprises could not avoid butting heads. Every time the two enterprises fought in the last couple of years, there would be a lightning and storms, but it would ultimately fizzle out. They would battle it out and then they would settle down peacefully, ending with a conclusion where both seemed to develop harmoniously.

Only this time, the more experienced industry insiders were able to smell the scent of gunpowder in the air.

It looked like they were ready to tear off their facade and really go to war with one another.

In these last few days, Xiao Yu saw the overwhelming amount of posts about the two corporations fighting over the order on the forums. The degree of publicity this incident received was comparable to the Autumn Release Conference that only came once a year.

This kind of notoriety was not a bad thing. In this industry, profits were directly connected to their popularity. That was why neither SI nor YL tried to shut down the discussions.

You could tell just by looking at the sales of YL’s new items. The jewelry series guest starring Xiao Yu in the commercial, borrowed the momentum to charge up the annual top 100 sales ranking.

This sales ranking was calculated from statistics gathered from across the nation. Since this list included every product that was released, being able to enter the top 100 meant that that item did extremely well. This year, five items from YL were able to enter into the top 100. Two of the five were designed by the mysterious designer, while the Luxuriant Flowers series relied on the mysterious designer’s Jade Court to become popular.

The Jade Court had an intricate design and an exorbitant price. Due to the fact that it did not have much practical use, YL ultimately decided to wait until their crafting technique improved before putting this design back into production. After this news was released, they received a lot of criticism on their main webpage. Many industry insiders felt that YL’s decision was very stupid and that they were destroying their own brand. However, this item that won them the most recognition at the release conference didn’t seem to have much market value. While this point seemed to disqualify the Jade Court as a successful product, it did boost the Luxuriant Flowers series to number nine on the annual sales ranking. And so, this incident gave the jewelry industry a new idea for promoting their products. In this way, the Jade Court could be considered a milestone.

It should also be mentioned that as the person who created this milestone, Xiao Yu himself indicated that while it was fine for him not to receive any benefits from this, he should not have been subjected to Yan Jin’s forceful confession before ultimately being treated coldly. It was enough to make anyone who heard his story feel aggrieved on his behalf.

It was good that he currently wasn’t human. If this incident made it onto the news, Yan Jin’s reputation in this industry would be ruined. Then where would he find designers who dared to work for him?

Hold on, if the truth was known… it was possible that the opposite would be true.

After all, someone who bent both ways like Yan Jin was someone you could only encounter by chance and not be sought out.

Feeling like he was forced to suffer in silence, Xiao Yu unhappily signed onto QQ.

[Fish and Hamster – You Can’t Have Both]: Are you there?

After sending the message, Xiao Yu looked at the time. It was 11:40.

It wasn’t time for Yan Jin’s lunch break yet, so it looked like he needed to wait for a while.

Xiao Yu thought that Yan Jin wouldn’t reply and did not expect him to respond so quickly.

[Grey-white SS]: What is it?

Xiao Yu, who was just loading a game, could only despondently turn it off and turn QQ back on.

[Fish and Hamster – You Can’t Have Both]: Don’t you only use your business account at this time?

[Grey-white SS]: Because of a certain person, this account has currently been upgraded to my business account.

Those words full of irony made Xiao Yu feel guilty subconsciously.

It could be said that right now, with the fight over the order so publicized and YL and SI appearing like they were willing to fight to the death, as the chairman, it was normal for Yan Jin to pay more attention to messages from the mysterious designer.

… Wait, was that the real reason?

Even when Heart Lock was released at the Year End Competition, he did not see Yan Jin so enthusiastic. At that time, the mysterious designer truly was a key person. This time, it was a fight between two enterprises. Anyway you looked at it, he could only be considered an outsider in this struggle.

Speaking of which, Yan Jin had been contacting his “Fishy” account more often than before. One hour ago, he received a warning from Yan Jin not to play too many games…

Xiao Yu decided to stop dwelling on this topic that might make his heart hurt.

Whatever, he would pretend he believed Yan Jin this one time.

[Fish and Hamster – You Can’t Have Both]: But you can’t use this as an excuse to exploit my talents.

[Grey-white SS]: ? ?

[Fish and Hamster – You Can’t Have Both]: Although the Luxuriant Flowers was not my design, I should be given credit for how well it sold.

[Grey-white SS]: Oh, so you’ve seen the Annual Sales list?

[Grey-white SS]: The Luxuriant Flowers can’t be considered much. It’s easy for items in a series to sell well. The real profit is from your Heart Lock and Manacles.

[Fish and Hamster – You Can’t Have Both]: Hn, so how are you planning to repay me?

[Grey-white SS]: Whatever you want.

Seeing his response, Xiao Yu immediately stopped worrying. It looked like he was already halfway to his goal.

[Fish and Hamster – You Can’t Have Both]: Forget about the money, I’m not that kind of person.

[Grey-white SS]: Okay.

[Fish and Hamster – You Can’t Have Both]: How do you plan to settle the fight with SI for this order?

[Grey-white SS]: I personally contacted the gaming company. When the flowchart comes out, I will send one to you. Right now, both YL and SI will be designing couple rings based on the characters in the game. There will be a total of five pairs. Each pair will come in two colors, so the workload won’t be small. Let me know which pair you want to design and I’ll split the rest within the company.

The design drafts at YL had to go through a selection process and edits before it could be considered a finished product. For Yan Jin to indicate that they would use the mysterious designer’s work as is already gave Xiao Yu enough face.

But Xiao Yu was not an easily satisfied hamster.

[Fish and Hamster – You Can’t Have Both]: And if I say that I want to do all of it?

[Grey-white SS]: …

[Fish and Hamster – You Can’t Have Both]: What? Feeling reluctant now? Afraid I’m not good enough?

[Grey-white SS]: No.

[Grey-white SS]: What else do you need us to do?

[Fish and Hamster – You Can’t Have Both]: I only need you guys to worship my design drafts every day.

[Grey-white SS]: …You go on then, I’ll support you all the way.

YL Corporation, CEO’s Office.

Yan Jin held his cellphone and rested his chin on his hand as he pondered.

“Anyway Chairman Yan, for this order, I suggest hiring a few well-known designers from out of this area. At the moment, it will be difficult to complete three orders at the same time with the people we currently have.” The design director concluded.

Yan Jin nodded.

Just now, the design director spent an hour to convince him that YL might not be able to handle the gaming order because they did not have enough designers.

Originally, things should not have developed to this state. Not long ago, because of a certain hamster, Yan Jin had to pass on this order. Coincidently, it just so happened that he accepted two new orders afterwards. Thinking that this was not a busy period for the company, he signed the contracts for both.

This was why when Fish and Hamster – You Can’t Have Both strongly promoted this order, Yan Jin was so hesitant to accept it.

The issue with fighting over an order affecting their reputation was only one of his considerations. The more important factor was the ability of YL’s designers, which could not be called top tier. If he accepted too many orders, it was possible that YL employees would not be able to cope, leading the quality of their work to decline. That was the kind of conclusion that Yan Jin least wanted to see.

Even if he added the mysterious designer into the equation, Yan Jin still felt that he didn’t have enough hands on deck.

Although the mysterious designer said that he was one hundred percent certain, Yan Jin completely disregarded it.

In such a short period of time, how could one person design five pairs of rings with two color options for each pair? This was a total of twenty different rings. Other than Yan Jin feeling like this was going against his own conscience, he also thought that this matter was impossible for one person to complete.

If the mysterious designer had a team, he might be able to accomplish this objective. But from Yan Jin’s experience, he could tell that the mysterious designer was a loner without any teammates.

That was why, when Fish and Hamster – You Can’t Have Both contacted him online, Yan Jin thought that he only wanted to talk to him about this time’s design drawing in order to decrease his workload. Selecting one pair out of the five pairs of rings was not bad.

Then ——

[Fish and Hamster – You Can’t Have Both]: And if I say that I want to do all of it?

Yan Jin: …

“Chairman Yan, what do you think?” The design director asked.

Yan Jin did not answer his question. Instead, he asked: “What do you think of the mysterious designer?”

“Are you finally going to reveal Mr. Mystery’s identity?” The design director was excited.

Ever since the Autumn Release Conference, the mysterious designer had reached legendary status at YL. All of their employees wanted to catch a glimpse of his true appearance, but unfortunately for them, Chairman Yan had hidden him too deeply. Even Secretary Fang was unable to dig up any useful intelligence.

As the director of design, he was very interested in a genius designer like the mysterious designer.

“No.” Yan Jin blinked: “I’m asking how you feel about having the mysterious designer take charge of this entire order?”

“Is he planning to come to YL and personally guide us?” The design director did not hesitate: “We would welcome him warmly. Even now, YL does not have a Chief Designer. Actually, if this person is young, it would be a pity for him to just direct us.”

Even Yan Jin felt that his next topic was too shocking, so he tried to downplay it as much as he could, saying:

“He feels that YL’s standards are too low, so he decided to take care of all the design drawings by himself.”

The design director froze for five seconds, then rushed to ask: “All of it?”

“Yes.”

“But there are only two weeks left.”

“Since he was the one to bring up this matter, he should have a way to meet the deadline.”

The design director pondered for a good while, then carefully asked: “This, does he have any requests? In terms of money.”

“None at the moment.”

Yan Jin thought about the last couple of design drawings that he seemed to have bought so cheaply and decided he should not speculate about the price Fish and Hamster – You Can’t Have Both would set. It was not good for his heart.

Compared to the employees at the company who did not know anything about the mysterious designer, as one of the core personnel, the design director knew a bit about when happened earlier with him. From his perspective, the only reason the mysterious designer would sell his talent for such a low price was undoubtedly because he wanted to increase his reputation and influence within the industry.

And now, after becoming so well known, the mysterious designer’s worth was estimated to be above ten million. But still, the other was unexpectedly delivering himself to them at a discounted price.

“Isn’t this the same as being taken advantage of?” The design director mumbled.

Yan Jin wore a slight smile.

That was also how he felt.

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