What Are Your Tastes? chapter 62
Do You Have Any Shame?
“Director, there’s a gentleman insisting on seeing you.”
“I see.” Meng Xiao nodded at the subordinate who came to inform him and headed to the reception downstairs. Spotting Lu Yunchu, he wasn’t too surprised, a smile playing on his lips. “Yunchu, you’ve finally come to see me?”
“Meng Xiao,” his composure only fueled Lu Yunchu’s anger. “Do you have anything to explain to me?”
He gestured with his right hand, signaling “please,” and said to Lu Yunchu, “Let’s go sit next door.”
Next door was a coffee shop, but Lu Yunchu didn’t immediately move.
“What,” he asked sarcastically. “Are you afraid your company will find out you’ve plagiarized someone else’s design?”
Lu Yunchu’s voice wasn’t loud, but it did attract the attention of a few passing employees.
Meng Xiao, unbothered and calm, leaned closer to his ear and said, “Yunchu, I’ve told you that we’re soulmates. If you can come up with an idea, why can’t I?”
“Meng Xiao,” Lu Yunchu also lowered his voice, “beating you up—it’s still not a problem for me.”
“I’m just reminding you that words alone aren’t convincing; no one will believe them,” Meng Xiao said, seeing Lu Yunchu was about to lose his temper again. “Why don’t you sit with me for a bit? I’ve been waiting for you for a long time.”
Lu Yunchu was taken aback by Meng Xiao’s audacity.
The floral-patterned brooch he had made only once was given to Professor Lisa De Luca, who had valued him greatly at the time.
When he met her, she was already over fifty. Despite her age, she had a youthful heart, loving sweets, flowers, cute animals, and pretty dresses. Unfortunately, this vibrant elder was diagnosed with cancer, which had progressed to the middle or late stages.
Upon learning this, Lu Yunchu was deeply saddened and made a unique gift by hand, encouraging her to keep fighting the illness.
He created a dreamlike piece using De Luca’s favorite floral and bird elements, and the finished product was indeed appreciated by her.
As for De Luca’s illness, doctors had predicted she had no more than a year left, but she miraculously survived for nearly five years. She passed away early last year.
Earlier, when Lu Yunchu and Meng Xiao were together, Meng Xiao had not only seen him make the brooch but also accompanied him to deliver the gift.
When Lu Yunchu saw the advertisement, the only possibility that came to mind was Meng Xiao. Inquiring further, he found out that the packaging design for this series was indeed handled by Meng Xiao’s company.
Of course, it was impossible to recreate the details so accurately just from a few years-old memory. Aside from the outer circle of product names, there were no changes. Lu Yunchu recalled something he had long overlooked: he had left some things behind when moving out of the shared apartment that year, including a sketchbook with some design drafts.
The designs in the book were either abandoned ideas or ones he had used and had no intention of using again, such as the brooch for De Luca. He didn’t care about it much and had discarded it. Unbeknownst to him, Meng Xiao had kept the book, making it convenient for him to plagiarize Lu Yunchu’s ideas.
“Yunchu,” Meng Xiao said, sitting opposite him, “do you remember now?”
“Is it that you stole my sketchbook?”
“Don’t you remember what you told me?” He shook his head. “I kindly told you that you had forgotten something, and you said—‘Forget it, do whatever you want with it.’
“Since you said to do whatever I wanted, what’s wrong with bringing your unwanted design back to life?”
Lu Yunchu’s chest heaved slightly, his eyes filled with an icy frost.
“Do you have no shame?”
The coffee shop staff noticed the unnatural atmosphere at their table and occasionally glanced over, but they were oblivious.
“I have no shame,” Meng Xiao sneered, “when have you ever cared about my dignity?”
Lu Yunchu was seething with anger: “Care about your dignity? Should I find a few mistresses for you to prove that I care?”
“Hmph… Yunchu,” he smirked, “you still don’t understand where things went wrong between us.”
It was frustrating to dredge up old grievances, and hearing Meng Xiao’s tone made it seem like he was the one in the wrong. Lu Yunchu couldn’t understand how Meng Xiao could so easily turn things around.
“Of course, you don’t understand,” Meng Xiao’s face lost its smile. “The most annoying thing about you is your self-righteousness!
“Have you forgotten how you used to guide my assignments? In your eyes, my ideas were worthless!”
Lu Yunchu didn’t want to recall anything about his past with Meng Xiao, but he was shocked by Meng Xiao’s true feelings. It turned out that Meng Xiao had harbored resentment for a long time, while he had been the only one believing that they were still in love before that summer.
“When I discussed ideas with you I was only—”
“Helping me improve?” Meng Xiao sneered again. “Please, you have talent and look down on others’ trial and error. You’ve become accustomed to putting others down. Do you know why I accepted William? He respects me, he appreciates my talent, unlike you—who treats everything I do as garbage!”
“You think I look down on you?” Lu Yunchu laughed angrily. “It doesn’t matter anymore. Ever since you got together with him, I’ve indeed looked down on you.”
“Stop moralizing,” Meng Xiao said. “If you truly respected me back then and considered my feelings, I would have been willing to spoil and pamper you. But you said you loved me while ruthlessly trampling on my self-esteem. I was so confused. What exactly did you love about me?”
“So, you stole my design just to get revenge?”
“Revenge? Not really, Yunchu,” Meng Xiao put back on his nonchalant smile. “You have plenty of talent. Taking a small idea like this is just like—when you guided me on my assignments, isn’t it?”
As it was getting dark, Zhou Yanchuan drove to the cultural and creative district. Recently, Lu Yunchu had been busy until this time almost every day. Assuming he hadn’t left yet, he wanted to invite him out to eat. A new private dining restaurant had opened nearby, and it was said to be quite good.
“Has your boss left?” Zhou Yanchuan asked the worker who was preparing to lock the door, “Just left, right?”
“No, he left a long time ago. It seems he had something urgent.”
“Oh, thanks.” Zhou returned to his car, unsure what Lu Yunchu was dealing with. He didn’t understand work matters, but if it was something else… he felt uneasy and immediately made a call.
After two rings, the call was answered with a “hello,” and Zhou Yanchuan relaxed a bit. “I just passed by your studio. Have you left yet?”
“Yeah, I had something to take care of, I’ll be back soon.”
“Is it about work?” he asked, “It’s not urgent, right?”
“No, it’s not. I might be a bit late, you go ahead and eat.”
“Alright, be safe.”
Meng Xiao watched as Lu Yunchu finished the phone call, not missing the noticeable softening of his expression when he answered, instantly guessing who was on the other end.
“You didn’t tell your boyfriend you were meeting your ex in secret?”
Lu Yunchu’s face quickly turned angry. “You know exactly why I’m here.”
“Of course I do,” Meng Xiao smiled suggestively. “Yunchu, would you like to get back together with me?”
“In your dreams!”
“Exactly, you should know that just because you make a request, doesn’t mean others have to agree,” he said smugly, “So why should I admit to plagiarizing your work?”
Lu Yunchu had underestimated his shamelessness: “Do you think that’s comparable?”
“Isn’t it? You can’t prove you thought of it first, can you? The notebook is with me, it has no timestamp, and the brooch… Your teacher died last year, can she testify for you? Or are you going to find her family? Just for a little trinket that might not even exist, and bring up painful memories of their deceased loved one?” Meng Xiao looked at him provocatively, “I remember her husband isn’t in good health either… You wouldn’t be that heartless, would you?”
The lemon water on the table remained untouched as Lu Yunchu stood up, expressionless.
He walked around the booth to the side of the long table, and when he faced Meng Xiao again, he grabbed the glass of water and splashed it on his face.
Surprised whispers and murmurs erupted around them, and Meng Xiao, now drenched, scrambled for napkins.
Lu Yunchu put down the empty glass and walked out of the coffee shop without looking back.