“He’s your husband, yet you don’t even know whether he has an illegitimate child? What exactly is going on? I remember you and Lu—”
Once Miao Ya started talking, it was hard for her to stop, so Qiao Xi quickly changed the subject.
“It’s a long story. I’ll explain everything when we have time to meet. Make sure Xiao Ze goes to bed early!”
After hanging up the phone, Qiao Xi rubbed her temples.
For the past three years, she had been searching for Xiao Ze’s father, but every lead ended in disappointment.
Then again, after searching for so many years, how could every random person she met possibly be him?
After Qiao Xi left, there was still no trace of relief on Nangong He’s face.
He opened the safe in the corner of the room and took out an old box.
Although the box was delicate and beautiful, it clearly had many years behind it. The wooden decorations had lost their paint, making it look weathered by time.
Inside were colorful sheets of paper and several outdated toys.
In the center was a photograph of a boy and a girl sitting on opposite ends of a seesaw.
Nangong He’s long fingers trembled slightly as he gently caressed the photo.
His expression remained calm, but the sorrow in his eyes was impossible to hide.
If she were still alive, their child would probably already be three years old by now, right?
“I’ll find you,” he murmured softly.
…
Two days later, the list of approved contestants for the competition was released one after another.
To Qiao Xi’s surprise, Qiao Ying’er was among the first batch announced, and her entry had even been classified as S-rank.
Looking at the information on the list, Qiao Xi frowned slightly, a trace of disdain flashing through her eyes.
Other people might not know, but she understood Qiao Ying’er all too well.
With her level of skill, there was no way she could have reached S-rank without Qiao Qilin and the others pulling strings behind the scenes.
When she reached the end of the list, Qiao Xi checked it over and over several times.
Her name wasn’t there at all.
How was that possible?
She had already mentally prepared herself—even a C-rank result would have been acceptable.
It wasn’t arrogance. If someone at Qiao Ying’er’s level could carve out a place among rookie designers, then why couldn’t she?
Qiao Xi was not the kind of person who accepted fate willingly. Even if there was only the slightest chance, she would fight for herself to the very end.
After going through all sorts of trouble, she finally tracked down the competition committee and decided to confront the person in charge directly to ask what exactly was going on.
When she arrived at the committee building, security was especially strict because the competition was still in its review stage. She had barely reached the entrance when a security guard stopped her.
Qiao Xi showed no fear and immediately introduced herself.
“My name is Qiao Xi. I’m one of the contestants in this competition, and my work didn’t pass the review.”
“So please make an exception and let me meet the judges on the committee. Even if my work was eliminated, I should at least have the right to know why.”
She looked at the guard steadily as she spoke, her voice calm yet firm.
After hearing her out, the guard impatiently waved his hand and shoved her.
“What’s with all the questions? If it got eliminated, then it got eliminated. Nobody else came here asking why like you are!”
Qiao Xi stumbled from the push but refused to back down.
“Sorry, but I’m going to see someone today. Otherwise, I’ll file a实名 complaint accusing the competition of being unfair.”
“This competition promoted itself on the principles of fairness and transparency. Every part of the review process was supposed to be open and public.”
“So I have the right to know why my work was rejected.”
Every word she spoke rang with force, as if striking heavily against the ground, leaving the guard momentarily unsure how to respond.
At first, he had assumed she was just here to cause trouble, but now it was obvious she had come prepared.
After a brief silence, his tone became even nastier.
“I said no, and that means no! Stop asking so many questions. Don’t think that giving a long speech means I’ll let you in!”
“If you can’t accept losing, then you can’t accept losing. Talking about the moment things don’t go your way—who do you think you are? Get lost!”
Qiao Xi grabbed his wrist in one swift motion. Her eyes carried nine parts icy coldness and one part untamed defiance.
“I’m not going to repeat myself. If you don’t want this place turning into a target for reporters, then let me in.”
She had grown up in the slums and suffered through far too much unfair treatment.
The only way to solve anything was to fight back herself. Otherwise, nobody would help her.
A fierce aura radiated from her body, enough to make even the guard feel intimidated.
Despite looking thin and delicate, she had seized his arm so tightly that he couldn’t even break free.
“What? Are you going to hit someone now?” the guard shouted sharply.
For that brief moment, Qiao Xi really was angry enough to consider it.
But she quickly realized that even if fighting got her inside, she would probably lose her eligibility to compete afterward.
At that point, the organizers could easily expose the incident and use any excuse they wanted to kick her out of the competition.
She had spent so much time creating those design drafts and gone through endless hardship to preserve them so carefully.
All because she hoped that one day, through this competition, she could completely turn her life around and let everyone know that Qiao Xi was also a designer.
But the situation had already developed far beyond her expectations. It was utterly disgusting.
What disgusted her wasn’t a lack of ability.
It was the fact that she wasn’t even given the chance to show her ability.
If her journey in this competition ended so carelessly like this, how could she possibly accept it?