Chapter Sixty-Seven: Winner I

Yan Jin rubbed his chin from under the stage, thinking about how this was an unexpected surprise.

Nan Chan stuck out her tongue on stage, as if to imply that she had gotten caught in the act.

“What kind of situation is this? How can there be such a score!”

“Contact that designer immediately! Hurry, now!”

“Who is that person? Mr. Mystery? Never heard of them!”

“Aren’t the organizers going to explain anything? What do they mean by this?”

Messy, chaotic pandemonium erupted.

A designer that no one had heard of before, and an individual work that triumphed above all other corporate works. In addition, they won the number one title in the ranking.

The only people in the audience who had some semblance of an idea as to what was going on probably consisted of the minority of YL and SI’s employees.

Those few people did not include SI’s chairman, Zhou Jinrong.

“Where are the organizers? What do they mean by this?” Zhou Jinrong’s reaction was probably the most exaggerated. After all, such a ranking would conveniently squeeze SI’s exhibition booth right to eleventh place.

Even though there was only a difference of one rank, the difference for the exhibition booth was very drastic!

No one paid attention to the last two scores for the individual works. Even when the evaluation segment had ended, the audience was still in chaos.

The organizers quickly announced that there were some issues with the scores and they would do the adjustments accordingly after an internal discussion with the judges. They would proceed to the banquet segment now, and the final results would be out afterwards.

Yan Jin, who was simply watching like a bystander amidst this huge chaotic mess, only did one thing. It was neither contacting Fish and Hamster – You Can’t Have Both, nor giving instructions to his secretary and directors about the exhibition booth matters. It was –

To remove his sim card from his mobile.

His mobile had a dual-sim function. Back when Fish and Hamster – You Can’t Have Both submitted his entry for the competition, he mentioned that it was inconvenient for him to give his own number, so Yan Jin had given him a number that he seldom used for submission purposes.

Thankfully, because of his superior memory, he had not forgotten about that. If he were to pull his sim card out a minute later, his phone would probably have gotten harassed relentlessly.

Yan Jin was well-prepared. He watched as the crowd erupted into chaos while he sat at the sidelines watching them.

And so, Xiao Yu became the unlucky person. He did not expect that the people who could not contact the designer would immediately turn to QQ to harass him.

Xiao Yu, who had not grasped the development of the situation at all, started mass receiving hundreds of friend requests. The QQ app froze instantly.

With no other choice, Xiao Yu could only close the QQ app and reopen it. Thankfully, although the friend requests were still there, his QQ was working.

Xiao Yu switched on the ‘reject friend requests’ option and clicked on the conversation with Grey-white SS.

[Fish and Hamster – You Can’t Have Both]: What’s going on?

[Grey-white SS]: image.jpg

[Grey-white SS]: shrugshoulder.jpg

That image was taken from the dim audience seats, and it showed the stage. It was not very clear, but the main point was obvious –

The digital screen in the middle of the stage displayed all of the works’ scores, and right in first place was the designer known as Mr. Mystery.

Eh?

Xiao Yu was puzzled.

Even though the high scores made him happy, wasn’t this too exaggerated?

Do they know what it meant for an individual work to rise above every other corporate work? Xiao Yu acknowledged that he was a top-class designer. However, he did not have a team supporting him after all. The works he was commissioned was limited – it was as if he was fighting alone and unable to show his true capabilities.

In addition to that, the name Mr. Mystery was still a nobody in the design business. He should not have gotten support from those senior leaders.

Xiao Yu clearly remembered that in his previous life, this mystery designer’s work did not attain first place.

Just when Xiao Yu was dumbfounded, Yan Jin sent another message.

[Grey-white SS]: One of the invited guest created a mess, which led to this result.

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

[Grey-white SS]: It’s impossible to attain first place. The two big players from City H will not allow such a rank to be finalized. Even if they did, it would be like a ticking time bomb. They are already having internal discussions.

With that explanation, Xiao Yu got the gist of it.

His rank would probably be demoted.

Xiao Yu had personally attended the conference in his previous life. There weren’t so many complicated twists, and the mystery designer’s work only came in third place.

Of course, that was a relative comparison. For an individual work to get into the top three at the conference itself was an incredible feat.

It was the astonishing performance at the Ragnarok competition that allowed the mystery designer to have an extremely high-profile debut in front of the public.

[Fish and Hamster – You Can’t Have Both]: Don’t worry, the ranking definitely won’t be lowered. Don’t try to push away the offer for my exhibition booth.

[Grey-white SS]: ……

Yan Jin did not know how to reply to that.

It was a seller’s market, but it turned out that this seller approached him to lose money instead of earn.

Could it be that Philocalist theory wasn’t made up? Or was this a new type of wooing method?

Yan Jin didn’t really get it.

The banquet for the Autumn Release Conference was very sumptuous. It was catered personally by five-star chefs. The buffet smelled, looked and tasted great. There were no shortages of expensive ingredients being served. They even had a symphony orchestra performing live to improve the diners’ appetite.

However, tonight’s banquet was destined to be desolate.

Almost half of the guests had disappeared without a trace after the evaluation segment had ended. The other half of the guests who stayed inside the dining area were feeling more anxiety than before.

The gourmet food and the music did not attract their interest. Everyone’s focus was on that overnight celebrity, Mr. Mystery.

The employees of the big corporations ran in and out of the room to deliver the latest news. The remaining people who knew that they would not be able to participate in this struggle between the corporations had gathered together to guess who that Mr. Mystery was.

Of course, that did not include Yan Jin.

The chairman was leaning slanted on the wall as he happily teased his hamster.

[Grey-white SS]: Did you bully Chu Ge?

[Fishy]: Hn, of course. Are you angry?

[Grey-white SS]: Well done. Continue your hard work.

In the past, whenever there were such gatherings, the Yan family’s Yan Jin, who had rarely made any appearances, would always be the target for the crowd to gather around and try to make friends with. This time, that mystery designer who could not be contacted no matter what made things more relaxed for Yan Jin.

What an accidental surprise (x2).

Secretary Fang, who was not far away, walked towards Yan Jin under everyone’s anticipating stares. She calmed herself before speaking: “Chairman Yan, is that mystery designer…”

The previous time when they had competed with SI for the deal, this Mr. Mystery had appeared once, so they were all holding on to the hope that Chairman Yan might have some way of contacting that grand master.

“Hm. Regardless of the outcome, we have the exhibition booth. The contract is in my bag. You may go and retrieve it.” Yan Jin replied halfheartedly without even lifting his head.

Secretary Fang was stunned beyond words.

Contract? What contract? There was even a contract made? When was that contract signed?

Even though her mind had frozen, her body’s movements were not affected. Secretary Fang strode in her seven-inch high heels as she ran out of the dining area along with YL’s colleagues.

In the resting room, her hands trembled as she took out that contract that seemed to weigh a ton. She read through every word written on it as every clause she read made her dizzy.

Transfer of exhibition booths? And no compensation transfer on top of that?

Aside from the authorship rights, they were given every other copyright?

This was like selling his entire life’s fortune to YL and even forfeited their compensation.

Secretary Fang could not figure it out. Where was there such an idiot that would sign such an unfair contract?

(The Xiao Yu from far away: Achoo. Squeak.)

If the first party was not Chairman Yan, she would probably help this idiot sue the first party for cheating.

“Fuck how does this work?”

“Chairman Yan is simply too mighty. This is simply a case of robbery.”

“Goddammit. Chairman Yan can handle all these by himself. Why would he need us?”

“The meaning of staying alive was to support Chairman Yan 24/7.”

The contract was passed around YL’s employees as they read it. Regardless of who read it, they all felt amazed and went crazy.

Secretary Fang was thinking slightly deeper than this group of people who had lost it.

Yan Jin’s bag had been kept in the resting room before three o’clock and no one had touched it. That implied that the contract was received even before the results were out.

What was even more terrifying was that Secretary Fang was fully aware of Yan Jin’s schedule for these two days. It was impossible for the chairman to get the contract signed without her knowing. And that would mean that it was very likely Yan Jin had received this contract even before the Ragnarok competition had ended!

Ohmygod, could it be that Chairman Yan had known long ago that this person’s work would attain an extremely high placing, which was why he had acted early?

Secretary Fang couldn’t help but to prostrate herself in admiration.

In reality, Secretary Fang’s guess was still somewhat conservative. That contract was actually signed before the Ragnarok competition even started.

Back then, the chairman was just doing this out of convenience. He did not expect that there would really be a chance that he could actually used this contract. As for the no compensation transfer clause, it was not done on purpose by Yan Jin. It was mainly because Fish and Hamster – You Can’t Have Both was not willing to even reveal a single detail about himself. To be able to receive monies from the company under such an unclear and unexplainable situation would make it seem as if there was corruption going on. To avoid problems, Yan Jin simply left it as a no compensation transfer.

Furthermore, to mention that the copyright value of a number one exhibition spot, plus the value of the participating work, would only be worth one million dollars… the Yan Jin right now would not dare to write that down.

What Yan Jin did not expect was that the clause was such a splendid idea. Even the recipient of the monies would not know whose money that was. In the end, it would still become ‘dirty money’ and eventually return to his own pocket.

Secretary Fang looked at the signature that was signed on the last page. No matter how she looked at it, she could not help but feel that it looked familiar. When she finally saw the identity on the phone, it was then that she finally realized everything. She knew that person. He was a famous second-gen tycoon who was of mixed blood. He did plan to live overseas, but somehow ended up following Yan Jin back to the country. He was like chewing gum that stuck with Yan Jin closely. Two days ago, he even brought his new girlfriend to show off to Yan Jin. In the end, he was stopped by Yan Jin to sign a bunch of papers.

The second-gen tycoon obediently signed everything. After that, the person who signed without a care was ‘invited’ out of the office with the excuse that Yan Jin was busy with work.

… This is why there was a saying to choose your friends wisely.

At that point, Secretary Fang still did not pay attention to what that second-gen tycoon had signed. Right at this moment, she finally understood this complicated relation. Once again, she was deeply impressed by Chairman Yan, who had planned ahead.

Then, another problem surfaced… When did this tycoon even come to the office?

Secretary Fang did not dare to continue thinking about it. The more she analyzed it, the more she felt like kneeling to him.

It was just that the person was obviously a substitute found by Yan Jin. It was just like how they gathered a few new recruits for the mystery designer team previously. This time around, Yan Jin was even more careless when dealing with it, because the second-gen tycoon had a loose screw in his head, and he knew quite a few people in the entertainment industry – Not the designing industry, but the entertainment industry.

What the hell…

Secretary Fang shook her head from the crazy thoughts and went to look for the organizers to discuss further.

Yan Jin had already done everything up to this step. Hence, all other details would be small matters. Secretary Fang believed that she could handle everything on her own and thus rejected the company of the design director and the people who were just messing around.

The employees who enjoyed chaos made big strides into the banquet.

With such a wild, tyrannical, ruthless and awesome chairman, the employees felt bliss.

At a corner of the dining area, Zhou Jinrong was taking his anger out on his subordinates.

“We haven’t gotten a hold of that person? Are you hired to fool around?”

“We’re sorry Chairman Zhou, we…”

“What’s the use of apologizing? What are you waiting for! Go hunt that person down, now!”

In this incident, the party that was affected the most was SI. Even after the rank demotion, as long as this outstanding individual work was not kicked off the top ten, SI was destined to not get a desirable exhibition booth.

Zhou Jinrong, who was burning with anger, saw Yan Jin relaxing at a corner. As if he had found a way to vent his anger, Zhou Jinrong went over.

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