The girl was looking at the top - news on her phone when she stole a glance at Fang Siyan, who was trying hard not to laugh.
She seemed to understand something.
"Old Fang, don't tell me this was your doing!"
The man gave Ding Ruola a sidelong look. He took a sip of black tea, sat upright, coughed lightly, looking as if he was about to announce something important.
"I don't have that kind of ability!"
After saying that, Fang Siyan continued to read the newspaper in his hand.
Ding Ruola tilted her head and stared at the man.
Keep pretending! Pretend as hard as you can! But it was probably better this way. It was good to be low - key, staying out of the limelight and causing fewer troubles in the future.
Just as the two were talking about the Xu family, there was a sudden knock on the door.
The man was a bit annoyed by the sudden knock. He frowned slightly and slowly walked to the door.
The moment he opened the door, Fang Siyan was overwhelmed by a strong smell of perfume.
This smell made Fang Siyan recall his high - school days, the red - light district full of hair salons behind the school. The whole alley was filled with this kind of smell.
"May I ask who you are?"
Fang Siyan gasped with difficulty. He lowered his head, trying to avoid the intense perfume attack from the woman.
Obviously, it didn't work. He could only lead the woman to Ding Ruola with tears in his eyes.
As a girl, Ding Ruola had never seen anyone use perfume like this.
"May I ask what you want from me?"
The woman opened her Hermès bag and took out an invitation, handing it to Ding Ruola.
There was a penguin on it, the logo of Tencent.
Ding Ruola wondered to herself. Could it be that Tencent had taken a fancy to her talent and wanted to cooperate with Solaka?
"Can I open it?"
The woman nodded and handed Ding Ruola a letter - opener.
It was an invitation!
Design 101, a newly launched design reality show. Tencent hoped to select a group of top - notch domestic design talents through this event and then create a design team exclusive to Tencent.
The concept was good, but Ding Ruola felt uncomfortable. This kind of business model immediately reminded her of the show that Song Yan had held before.
It was just the same old stuff in a new package. Didn't they just want to create traffic and make money?
Now they were looking for some bait, and they had set their sights on Ding Ruola.
"I'll think about it and give you a reply."
The woman was very polite and didn't pester Ding Ruola. After leaving her contact information, she left decisively.
"Oh my God! Who is this person?"
Fang Siyan came out of the kitchen. Since the air was filled with the smell of perfume, he had to stuff toilet paper into his nose.
After the woman left, he came out of the kitchen and immediately opened all the doors and windows.
As soon as the window was opened, a wave of heat rushed towards Fang Siyan's face.
The temperature in the room immediately rose.
"Old Fang! I don't want to go!"
Fang Siyan was standing by the window. Since the hot wind from outside was blowing into the room, he could only hear the sound of the wind and couldn't hear what Ding Ruola was saying.
Seeing that Fang Siyan didn't respond, the girl simply hid the invitation. It wasn't really hiding. She just casually opened the drawer under the tea - table and stuffed the invitation into it.
"What's up?"
"Nothing!"
Since she had already decided not to go, wasn't that nothing?
Ding Ruola made up a random lie to fool Fang Siyan. She told him that the woman was a salesperson promoting health products and that her personal information had been leaked.
Fang Siyan actually believed it.
This identity also suited the woman's image. She didn't look like a head - hunter from a big company at all.
Ding Ruola's work was on the right track. One noon when she was having lunch, Ning Qing suddenly sat down in front of her.
Ning Qing always kept to herself. The probability of her sitting with someone else was almost zero.
"What's up, Goddess Ning!"
"I received an invitation from Tencent!"
Ning Qing knew that this was just a game of capital. They just wanted to make money from them. But she still wasn't willing to give up.
She wanted Ding Ruola to participate with her. She was still not satisfied with the result of the competition three years ago. She wanted to compete with Ding Ruola again.
Ding Ruola kept stuffing food into her mouth and didn't say a word.
When the plate in front of her was empty, Ding Ruola slowly said,
"If you want to go, I'll handle the resignation procedures for you."
Ding Ruola didn't say whether she would go or not, but from her words, Ning Qing could guess that Ding Ruola wasn't very interested in this competition.
Maybe Ning Qing would never get a chance to compete with Ding Ruola again in her life.
When Ding Ruola got up, she noticed Ning Qing's look. She understood what Ning Qing was thinking, but she could only do so much.
She was also afraid of losing the competition.
When Ding Ruola got home, she came out of the kitchen with a popsicle in her mouth and saw Fang Siyan sitting on the sofa.
The man's eyes were fixed on the table.
The girl walked over and saw clearly - wasn't this the invitation from Tencent before?
Could it be that Fang Siyan had also received it? But the tear - mark on this invitation looked so familiar.
"Why didn't you tell me?"
Based on the smell on it, Fang Siyan could roughly tell that this was the invitation the woman had given Ding Ruola a few days ago.
"I didn't want to go, so I didn't tell you!"
Ding Ruola knew she had done something wrong. She lowered her head, twiddling the sleeve of her clothes with her fingers and muttering to herself.
Fang Siyan was very curious. He didn't understand why Ding Ruola wanted to give up this competition.
He wanted to hear Ding Ruola's explanation.
The girl lowered her head and mumbled for a long time. Fang Siyan didn't hear a single word.
"Speak louder. I'm not blaming you. I just want to hear your opinion on this."
There had to be at least some basic respect between the two of them.
"I'm just afraid of losing!"
Ding Ruola had already been recognized internationally, and she had made her relationship with DIMO public. If she didn't perform well in this competition or was outshined by a rising star, her reputation and the reputation of the title DIMO would be ruined.
The burden on the girl was too heavy, so much so that she forgot how to take it off.
"And Ning Qing will also participate."
In Ding Ruola's mind, Ning Qing was a respectable opponent. During her time in the studio, whether it was the quality of her work or her work attitude, Ning Qing was much better than other designers.
In terms of Western design styles, Ning Qing was even better than Croatia in some aspects.
With such an excellent person participating, how could Ding Ruola not feel pressured?
"You've also said that with art, just because insiders like it doesn't mean outsiders will."
Fang Siyan wanted to comfort Ding Ruola, but when a person wanted to avoid something, every word out of their mouth was an excuse.
No matter what Fang Siyan said, Ding Ruola could always find an excuse.
She was too afraid of winning and losing. She regarded an entertainment event as a real competition. Her desire to win was too strong.
Fang Siyan stopped talking. At this moment, even if he wore his lips out, Ding Ruola might not listen.
He had to go to the kitchen to cook so that Ding Ruola could have dinner and rest early.
While cutting vegetables, he was thinking about how to contact Tencent to learn about the simple competition process.