HC Chapter 37: I Don’t Love You (VII)
Dong Ci’s physique was such that even the slightest injury magnified the pain felt by an average person several times. She had already experienced the pain of getting a tattoo once, and she didn’t want to suffer again. However, even when she found out that removing a tattoo was more painful than getting one, she didn’t change her decision.
If pain was the price to pay, then so be it.
Dong Ci had first-hand experience of seeing the reactions of other people to the mark on her finger. She would rather suffer a little bit than keep it for another day!
Since their last meeting Jing Rong hasn’t appeared in front of her, and even the black car that constantly followed her before – completely disappeared. When Dong Ci thought back to the night when he laid his head on her shoulder and whispered those last words, her heart hurt for a moment.
Regardless of whether he loves her, just the mention of Jing Rong’s name would make hatred surge in Dong Ci’s heart. But, at the same time, she would sometimes feel sorry for him.
She thought she knew Jing Rong. After all, this man has been with her since they were teenagers – holding her in his grasp in the most possessive way but sometimes inadvertently revealing a trace of hurt and loneliness.
After all those years together, Dong Ci understood one thing very clearly – Jing Rong didn’t know what ‘love’ meant because he has never been loved himself.
When Dong Ci was about to go for the tattoo removal, the studio where she had an interview a few days ago called her to tell the good news – she could go to work starting the next day.
This studio was well-known – it specialized in the designing of costumes of many large-scale popular dramas, and its designers were famous for their wedding dress creations. It was to the point where many celebrities would work with this studio when they were getting married.
And this was what Dong Ci needed the most!
Because of the lack of experience and works, the position that she initially applied for was of a designer assistant. She wanted to start from the basics, but she didn’t expect the manager to directly accept her into the designer position and let her be in charge of cooperating with a filming crew.
The director of this crew was Wang Shenghua, and he was famous in the filming industry. Over the years, he has won many awards for his TV series, but his temper was weird compared to other directors – he was famous for being unsmiling and rigorous even in his daily life.
What Wang Shenghua was going to film this time was a fantasy drama set in ancient times. In terms of costumes, he strived for perfection. When Dong Ci contacted him to discuss the ideas, he made many requests that she meticulously noted down.
To understand director Wang Shenghua’s preferences, Dong Ci searched for the costumes of his previous TV series. She started the drawing of new designs only when she was sure that she understood what he wanted.
Dong Ci’s ideas were novel. Many of the costume concepts had the design elements that her father thought up in his notebook but never had the chance to implement. As such, Dong Ci was confident that the clothes she designed would draw everyone’s attention.
And sure enough, when the sketches were shown to the director and actors of the play, everyone was satisfied. But the person Wang Shenghua praised wasn’t Dong Ci, but another designer – Zhao Qing Qing.
Zhao Qing Qing was the designer who was famous for her wedding dresses. When Dong Ci took charge of her project, Zhao Qing Qing often came to her and was the one who paid the most attention to her progress.
Often, she would praise Dong Ci for her novel concepts.
When the designs were about to be finished, Zhao Qing Qing suddenly showed her own drawings to the director. Seeing it, Wang Shenhua immediately decided to adopt her ideas, and Dong Ci was left confused over the matter.
The drawings that Zhao Qing Qing put forward were basically the same as the ones Dong Ci created – especially the elements that she used from her dad’s notebook. Zhao Qing Qing added all of those elements to her designs, but the positions she used were slightly different. Admittedly, her concepts were indeed more interesting than Dong Ci’s.
“Director Wang, she plagiarized my concepts!”
In the end, her lack of experience showed through – Dong Ci made the mistake of trusting others from the very beginning. Newcomers – who were new to the workplace and had no connections, no fame, and no works to speak for themselves – would face disbelief from others that they could create such eye-catching works.
“Dong Ci, I know that you want to get ahead, but you don’t have to pour dirty water on me.” Zhao Qing Qing was neither anxious nor impatient about the evidence presented by Dong Ci. She put two drawings together and showed them to the colleagues around them.
“Yours is a semi-finished product, and mine is a finished product. Although I don’t want to disparage you, anyone with eyes can see which of the two designs is better.
“You claim that I copied you. Do you think that I, a designer who is famous and has experience in designing costumes for many crews… would I copy you, a young newcomer?”
The expressions of the surrounding people changed.
Dong Ci hurriedly took out the notes that her father left to prove that those elements belonged to her, but Zhao Qing Qing quickly grabbed the book and scolded: “Dong Ci, you are too much! How dare you steal my notebook!”
“…” Dong Ci admitted that she couldn’t beat Zhao Qing Qing.
A young assistant who entered the studio earlier than Dong Ci couldn’t stand it any longer. She pulled Dong Ci aside and whispered, “Dong Ci, don’t fight with her. She has strange relations with Director Wang, and who knows how many stars in the entertainment circle. If you offend her over this, your future development won’t be easy.”
“But those are my concepts! And that notebook was all that my father left, it contains his dreams! I didn’t steal it!”
“I know.” The little assistant nervously looked around and whispered into her ear. “Zhao Qing Qing suppressed many newcomers the same way. In fact, most of her award-winning works don’t even belong to her!”
“…”
How could it be like this? Just because she is weak, does she deserve to be bullied?
Dong Ci’s heart was full of helplessness and resentment. Zhao Qing Qing not only plagiarized her concepts but also shamelessly took away the notes left by her father. Dong Ci didn’t want to accept this just like that, but if she came forward, she would only get humiliated.
Later, Zhao Qing Qing even put everything on the internet, turning right into wrong. Many stars reposted the matter while expressing support and encouragement, telling the world that Dong Ci was the villain.
This time, Dong Ci finally understood why her talented father struggled for so many years trying to pursue his dreams. She was too naïve, thinking that she and her dad’s talents would be recognized even though she had no background and no support. These difficulties, her father never expressed to his wife and daughter.
Dong Ci’s designer career met its end. She knew that because of Zhao Qing Qing’s lies it would only be harder to survive in this circle in the future. And just as her mind was full of negative thoughts, director Wang Shenghua suddenly found her.
“Dong Ci.”
Wang Shenghua no longer showed off his overly serious temperament. Instead, he smiled and grabbed Dong Ci’s hand, kindly telling her, “Uncle Wang knows that you were wronged. I always wanted to find an opportunity to help you.”
Dong Ci endured the nauseous feeling of a sweaty hand covering her own and asked, “How do you want to help me?”
Wang Shenghua smiled, leaned closer to the girl, and mysteriously said, “It’s not easy to talk about this. Why don’t you go to this address tonight, and we will talk in detail then?”
At this point, if Dong Ci still couldn’t understand what the matter was about, she was a complete idiot. She pulled out her hand from Wang Shenghua’s sweaty palm and coldly said, “Forget it. I won’t be troubling you with this matter.”
“It’s not a trouble, not a trouble!” Wang Shenghua didn’t give up and continued talking with a greasy smile. “Think about it. With my help, you will not only be able to restore your reputation, but I can also let you take over the designing costumes for this show. I can even recommend you to other directors. If you want resources, isn’t it the fastest way?”
Dong Ci didn’t expect that the director who so seriously cooperated with her at the beginning would have such a disgusting face in private. As no one was in the studio, Wang Shenghua wanted to come closer and grope her, but Dong Ci avoided his hands and raised her hand.
“Go away!”
She slapped Wang Shenghua’s face.
Suddenly, three or four employees came in. Wang Shenghua’s expression changed as he shouted before Dong Ci could speak:
“You are so improper at such a young age! I could be your father, yet you dare to seduce me! How were you employed by this studio? Shameless!”
“You are lying!” Dong Ci’s eyes widened – unexpectedly, this man can be so audacious. She thought that with all her experiences over the years, she was already strong enough. But in the end, she couldn’t help it as tears rolled down her cheeks. She angrily swept everything that was on the table onto the ground, squatted down, and cried, chokingly repeating: “You are all liars!”
The drawings previously placed on the table floated in the air around her as the sound of rustling paper quickly covered up Dong Ci’s sobs. More and more people came into the office to watch, but no one dared to come forward and help Dong Ci. And when Zhao Qing Qing came, everyone suddenly started throwing accusations of deliberately destroying office equipment.
The person who ended this farce was Wang Ming, the owner of the studio who accepted Dong Ci into this position.
Dong Ci thought that Wang Ming would immediately fire her after those series of events happened. But not only did he not do it, he even comforted and told her to continue working without worrying about other things.
Wang Ming wasn’t someone who got along with others, but he seemed particularly tolerant of Dong Ci. This tolerance, if one looked at his behavior carefully, seemed to hide a bit of cautiousness.
Before Dong Ci could figure out the reason for Wang Ming’s attitude, series of reversals followed.
The company that originally invested in Wang Shenghua’s TV series suddenly withdrew its capital. Before he could find another investor, the entertainment circle went into an uproar because of the exposure of many photos full of him cheating on his wife with celebrities and other women. And Zhao Qing Qing’s pictures with this man were the most numerous.
As soon as Zhao Qing Qing saw that things weren’t looking good for her, she quickly put forward a clarification on the internet. She claimed that she was unwilling.
However, it was useless. Soon, the news broke out that Zhao Qing Qing plagiarized many newcomers’ ideas to win her design prizes, and a lot of evidence immediately followed.
Even with that, Zhao Qing Qing refused to admit anything, claiming that someone was falsifying everything.
Just when Dong Ci thought the woman would die without admitting it, she unexpectedly took the initiative to confess to the media the next day after the incident broke out. Not only did she admit to plagiarizing the newcomers’ ideas, she even took the initiative to clarify Dong Ci’s matters and returned her father’s notebook.
Could it be that the saying ‘God has eyes and the wicked will be punished for their misdeeds’ was true?
Dong Ci didn’t think that these series of reversals were a coincidence. And after working in this studio for two months, she was sure of it.
After Wang Shenghua and Zhao Qing Qing were publicly shamed, they both disappeared. The studio regained its previous calmness, and Wang Ming assigned Dong Ci to a new project. This time, it went without any accidents.
Dong Ci’s talents and abilities were finally revealed to everyone. Although she still wasn’t well-known, the attitudes of her colleagues changed a lot.
It’s just that Wang Ming’s attitude towards her still puzzled her to no end. She was obviously a subordinate, but Wang Ming obeyed her in every matter. Many times, Dong Ci felt as though their positions were reversed and she was the boss.
Because of this, Dong Ci was more and more sure that Jing Rong was once again involved in her matters. To confirm it, she checked who was the investor that withdrew the capital from Wang Shenghua. And as expected… it was really related to Jing Rong.
Once again, everything made sense. Jing Rong sent Wang Ming to recruit her into the studio. He then invested in Wang Shenhua and made him cooperate with Wang Ming’s studio. He then assigned Dong Ci as the costume designer in charge of this project and even helped her eliminate the people who bullied her.
People who bullied her…
A suspicious thought unraveled in Dong Ci’s mind.
Wasn’t he bent on suppressing her? Why would he kindly help her all of sudden?
A car was parked nearby, and two people were talking inside. After a while, the car window slowly rolled down, and a hand holding a cigarette was exposed for outsiders to see. It was slender and white, with only a shiny ring worn on the ring finger decorating it.
The car’s window was almost completely rolled down, and Dong Ci could vaguely see half of Jing Rong’s face. Except for the times when he inhaled the smoke, his lips were constantly pressed tightly together.
He didn’t speak, obviously listening to the person next to him speaking.
It didn’t take long for the cigarette to burn out. Jing Rong turned his eyes in the direction of the window as he threw out the remains. He seemed to be aware of something because his gaze suddenly locked in Dong Ci’s direction…
It was a peak time as many people were leaving work. Many people were moving between the two of them, but when Jing Rong noticed Dong Ci, a trace of surprise appeared in his eyes.
He didn’t expect Dong Ci to come to him.
Zefelina's Translations 