Yu Zhiwan stared at the bed, letting her imagination run wild for a few seconds.
Suddenly, her phone rang.
It was a call from her academic advisor.
Yu Zhiwan was majoring in fashion design, and Professor Liang Yulan had been her advisor since her freshman year.
“Professor Liang, hello.”
“Zhiwan, I have good news!” Liang Yulan sounded extremely excited. “Registration for the Jinhua Fashion Design Competition has opened! Make sure you sign up. Try to bring home a trophy!”
Yu Zhiwan’s eyes lit up.
“Professor Liang, when does registration begin?”
“Tomorrow at ten in the morning. Oh, and Zhiwan, I want you to continue competing under the pseudonym ‘Wanyan.’ I truly believe that with your talent, you have an excellent chance of winning!”
As she spoke, Liang Yulan sighed.
As Yu Zhiwan’s teacher, she had recognized her extraordinary talent and ability in design very early on. Yu Zhiwan was even more talented than many professional designers.
She had once asked Yu Zhiwan about it and learned that she had been teaching herself fashion design since high school.
During the second semester of Yu Zhiwan’s freshman year, there had been a newcomer fashion design competition.
Liang Yulan had insisted that Yu Zhiwan participate. Whether she won or not, it would be valuable experience.
But the Yu family refused.
Yu Xiangxiang, the family’s adopted daughter, was also studying fashion design.
The Yu family was afraid that Yu Zhiwan would outperform Yu Xiangxiang and take away her ranking, so they refused to let her register.
They even manipulated Yu Zhiwan emotionally, claiming that they were only preventing her from participating because they were worried she would be devastated if she lost.
Unable to bear watching such a talented student have her potential buried, Liang Yulan came up with an idea.
She suggested that Yu Zhiwan compete under the pseudonym Wanyan.
During the competition, Yu Zhiwan stayed backstage and directed the models on how to present the clothes. She never appeared publicly, so no one from the Yu family saw her.
In the end, Yu Zhiwan lived up to expectations and won the championship.
Yu Xiangxiang only came in third.
Even when it was time to receive the award, Liang Yulan went onstage in her place, claiming that “Wanyan” was the daughter of a friend.
Later came the Starlight Design Competition, a much higher-level event that attracted designers from all over the country.
Liang Yulan once again encouraged Yu Zhiwan to compete under the pseudonym Wanyan.
This time, Yu Zhiwan stunned countless people with a Chinese-style formalwear design and won the championship.
Her reputation skyrocketed.
Naturally, Liang Yulan still accepted the award on her behalf.
Wanyan had extraordinary design talent but had never publicly shown her face.
This mysterious and gifted designer quickly became extremely popular within the industry, and countless people wanted to see what she actually looked like.
Remembering all of this, Liang Yulan warmly encouraged her student.
“Zhiwan, Jinhua is one of the highest-level fashion design competitions in the country. There will be countless top designers, and the competition will be fierce. But I believe in your abilities. You have an excellent chance of winning! Keep going!”
Yu Zhiwan smiled.
“Thank you, Professor Liang. I’ll definitely do my best.”
At the same time, at the Yu family home.
Yu Xiuqi sat on the sofa, holding his phone with a serious expression as he politely sent a message.
[Professor Wanyan, are you there?]
[Professor Wanyan, you haven’t replied to me lately.]
[Have you really decided not to continue working with Yu Group?]
[Or did we do something wrong and upset you?]
[If we’ve done anything wrong, we’ll apologize immediately. We sincerely hope you’ll forgive us!]
After sending the messages, Yu Xiuqi still received no reply.
He wearily rubbed his temples.
The Yu Group’s main business was a high-end fashion brand, so he naturally knew quite a bit about fashion design.
During the newcomer competition back then, he had originally hoped that Xiangxiang would win first place.
Instead, Wanyan had suddenly appeared.
He could immediately tell that Wanyan’s designs were exceptional.
Not only were they several levels above Xiangxiang’s, they were even better than the work of many professional designers.
At the time, the Yu family’s fashion brand had fallen into a slump.
Without good designs, business was getting worse and worse.
Xiangxiang had wanted to help, but her designs were still too inexperienced.
Yu Zhiwan had also offered to help the family.
Yu Xiuqi had simply scoffed at her.
He hadn’t even bothered to look at her properly.
She really doesn’t know her own limits.
If even Xiangxiang can’t help the family, what could she possibly do? She’d only make things worse.
With no other choice, Yu Xiuqi found Wanyan’s Weibo account and sent her a private message explaining that he wanted to work with her.
To his surprise, Wanyan readily agreed.
Later, Wanyan won the Starlight Design Competition with a Chinese-style collection, and her popularity continued to soar.
More and more major brands wanted to work with her.
Yet Wanyan only worked with the Yu family.
She designed exclusively for Yu Group.
The wealthy young women and celebrities who admired Wanyan’s designs followed her lead and began buying Yu Group’s clothing.
Little by little, the Yu family’s fashion brand came back to life.
The Yu family prospered along with it.
It could be said that Wanyan had single-handedly saved the Yu family’s fashion business.
She had brought enormous benefits to Yu Group.
Calling Wanyan the backbone of their fashion brand would not be an exaggeration.
But three weeks ago, Wanyan had suddenly decided to stop working with Yu Group.
No one knew why.
Because Wanyan had never publicly revealed her identity, Yu Xiuqi could only contact her through private messages on Weibo.
He had sent countless messages asking for an explanation.
Wanyan hadn’t replied to a single one.
Yu Xiuqi frowned deeply.
What exactly happened?
Did they somehow offend Wanyan?
But they had never even met her.
How could they possibly have offended her?
If Wanyan left Yu Group, the wealthy young women who had been attracted to the brand because of her would probably leave as well.
They would stop buying Yu Group’s clothing.
And those women were some of the company’s most important customers.
At that moment, Yu Xiangxiang walked over holding her phone.
She looked hurt and upset.
“Big Brother, I just messaged Sister on WeChat. I discovered that she didn’t only block our phone numbers. She blocked us on WeChat too.”
Yu Xiuqi frowned irritably.
“Xiangxiang, I know you care about your sisterly relationship, but stop lowering yourself to contact Yu Zhiwan.”
“She doesn’t deserve it. She’s not even worthy of comparing herself to you, let alone worth making you upset.”
Hearing her brother praise her so openly, a shy blush appeared on Yu Xiangxiang’s cheeks.
“Big Brother, I know you care about me, and I know Sister can’t compare to me.”
“But she’s a girl, and she left home like that. She doesn’t even have anywhere to stay. I’m worried about her…”
“That’s enough, Xiangxiang.”
Yu Xiuqi interrupted her.
“I still have work to deal with. I don’t have time to worry about Yu Zhiwan.”
“Just hearing her name irritates me now. She’s the one who insisted on leaving home. If something happens to her out there, she brought it upon herself.”
After saying that coldly, Yu Xiuqi comforted Yu Xiangxiang and sent her back to bed.
Then he continued messaging Wanyan.
[Professor Wanyan, please reply to me.]
[If I’ve done something wrong, please tell me. I’ll fix it immediately. I only ask that you don’t ignore me!]
[I really need you. The Yu family needs you too!]
At Lanxi Garden.
Yu Zhiwan looked at the messages from Yu Xiuqi in her Weibo inbox.
If this had happened before, seeing her eldest brother lower himself like this would have made her feel sorry for him.
She would have tried every possible way to help her family and do her part for the Yu family.
But now…
Yu Zhiwan put down her phone.
Her beautiful face was completely cold.
She didn’t even want to spare Yu Xiuqi another glance.
Whether the Yu family prospered or fell apart, lived or died, had absolutely nothing to do with her anymore.
Yu Zhiwan gathered her clothes and prepared to take a shower.
Just then, the bedroom door opened.
Xie Jingmo returned from the study.
Yu Zhiwan looked at his impossibly handsome features.
After thinking for a moment, she couldn’t resist asking,
“Um… how are we going to sleep later?”
Xie Jingmo glanced at the clean clothes she was holding.
His eyebrow lifted slightly.
Then he slowly drawled,
“Of course… we’ll take a shower and then sleep together~”
Yu Zhiwan: “…?”