Deer
Shen Ziying’s mouth dropped open in surprise. She murmured under her breath, disbelieving, “Nine people and only one gets to stay under the chief designer? That’s a bit extreme, isn’t it?”
Beside her, Wen Yin folded the words into her hearing, lowered her eyes, and drifted into a quiet thoughtfulness.
Shen Ziying’s whisper had barely died when she realized Qin — the woman speaking at the front — was staring straight at her. Her heart almost leapt out of her chest. Everyone in the industry knew Qin; she was a name that carried weight. If Qin had heard her complaining…
A few seconds later Qin’s gaze slid away as if nothing had happened.
“Now I’ll announce the theme for the assessment.” Qin’s voice cut through the room.
Wen Yin pursed her lips and listened closely as Qin outlined the rules. The company always staged a small show for a newbie designer’s first assessment, inviting partners and potential collaborators to judge the newcomers. It was a public showcase — a real chance to be seen. The winner would not only be personally mentored by Qin, but might also be invited to work on a new product line.
Wen Yin braced herself, curious about what the theme would be, and how free or strict Qin would be.
Qin’s lips parted and, clean and decisive, she said a single word.
“Deer.”
Then she fell silent.
The newcomers exchanged puzzled looks, but the room remained quiet. Qin’s presence filled the space; no one dared speak up.
“Any questions?” Qin lifted her head slowly and scanned the room, her gaze catching on Wen Yin for a beat.
Wen Yin stood completely still, an upright figure of calm. Her posture was composed, not servile, and when she met Qin’s eyes there was none of the reverence or fear shown by the others. Qin only scanned her briefly — the girl seemed vaguely familiar.
“Miss Qin, will there be any specific requirements for this theme?” A newcomer finally found the courage to ask, then ducked her head immediately after making eye contact.
Wen Yin’s dark eyes flashed; she had a feeling she already knew what Qin would say.
“This isn’t a simple homework assignment,” Qin replied, folding her arms. “I don’t want rules and constraints. Don’t trap fashion in imaginary boxes.”
She wasn’t tall, but she had a presence that made her impossible to ignore.
After the briefing, the company assigned each designer a private studio. On the way, Shen Ziying pouted, sounding put-out.
“What on earth are we supposed to design with a theme that vague…”
“Wen Yin, are you ready?” Shen Ziying sidled closer, leaning just enough to be near her.
Outside Qin’s office, the other newbies were already whispering — mostly gripes about the odd theme and Qin’s blunt dismissal of rules.
“She’s got a strange temper. Qin’s famous in the industry — I wonder if I’ll even get to learn under her.”
“Without rules, how are we supposed to know what to make?”
Wen Yin halted steps and turned to Shen Ziying. Her black eyes were calm as still water.
“I agree with Miss Qin. Fashion shouldn’t be confined by these made-up restrictions.”
Her voice was quiet but steady. Heads turned; a few people had already recognized her, but that sentence drew every gaze to her.
Wen Yin bowed slightly and then stepped into her studio.
“Was that really Wen Yin? She looks so much better in person than on TV!” a murmur rose around the room.
“You only just noticed? I recognized her as soon as she walked in. I can’t believe someone like her would stoop to come work here — it’s unreal.”
“I watched her livestream the other day. She’s gorgeous. Wish I could get an autograph.”
Shen Ziying eavesdropped subtly, seeing nothing but praise directed at Wen Yin. She raised an eyebrow minutely, then damped the small spark of chill in her look. She hadn’t expected Wen Yin to be so popular.
Too bad you can’t share this kind of thing, Wen Yin thought lightly. Everyone who’d come to work here had signed NDAs; private information about other designers couldn’t be aired. Wen Yin didn’t mind either way — she was a minor celebrity at best, hardly the target of paparazzi. Designers usually lived and worked in the shadows; their personal lives stayed buried.
She sat at her drafting table and turned over Qin’s one-word theme in her head. She hadn’t drawn a design in six or seven years — counting the life before and this one — and the blank paper in front of her felt both foreign and charged. Across the top, in a neat, graceful hand, someone had written a single character: deer. The stroke was delicate but firm, perfectly composed.
“Final show is Friday night,” she murmured. Time was short. That was likely intentional — the company was testing each designer’s overall level under pressure.
Wen Yin set herself up to live in the studio for the next few days. She pulled out her tablet and started pulling up footage of past runway shows.
—
At the Wen residence, Wen Zhi sat on her bed. A plate of sliced fruit and a cup of yogurt sat untouched on the table next to her. Her tablet kept flipping through hot search results; each headline made her jaw itch with anger.
“Who’s behind this? Who spent so much to buy trends and smear me?” she snapped, then flung the tablet onto the bed, everything suddenly irksome.
“Did Xiao Mo really go looking for Wen Yin? Why does Wen Yin look totally fine?” she fumed. She remembered Wen Yin sleeping on the plane the day she returned — not crushed, not crying. She couldn’t wrap her head around it. Shouldn’t Wen Yin be devastated? Instead it looked like Xiao Mo was the one who’d been knocked sideways.
She peeled a face mask out of the packet in a huff and slapped it onto her skin. The phone rang, startling her.
“What now?” she snapped into the line, her words slurred by irritation but unmistakably sharp.
“Who pissed off the young madam this time?” The voice on the other end was noisy and teasing, practically shouting with laughter.
Wen Zhi rolled her eyes. “Hang on.” She let out a half-laugh, half-growl. “Don’t you dare keep teasing me.”
“Don’t hang up! The Wen family’s drama is the best entertainment. I still can’t get over you sending your sister to some little company like LeR. With the Wen family’s clout, why not a big firm? Was she trying to ‘experience life’ or something?”