What Are Your Tastes? chapter 64
520-May 20th
Three days later, a newly registered user named “Ms. Rossi” posted on Weibo, accusing the packaging design of the latest series by “K Brand” of plagiarizing a brooch her mother received six years ago. The post included close-up photos of the brooch and images of her mother wearing it before she passed away.
Rossi’s Weibo also tagged the brand and the original designer, Lu Yunchu. The post was quickly retweeted by several advertising industry influencers, generating high levels of attention and discussion. K Brand had to suspend the product’s promotion and sales, ordering the advertising company to investigate and verify the claim.
Afterward, Rossi called Lu Yunchu to inquire about the progress.
“The media response has been very smooth, thank you.”
Rossi had almost no prior relationship with Lu Yunchu, but she was a very just person and knew that her mother had always liked that brooch. After De Luca passed away, she kept the brooch and other important keepsakes in the old house, never touching them.
Learning that the cherished brooch’s design had been stolen, she left her current phone number in an email, allowing Lu Yunchu to discuss the matter further. She then drove back to Rome, found the relevant evidence in her parents’ old home, and entrusted Lu Yunchu with registering on Weibo and posting the pre-prepared statement.
“I will also send you the original, so you can proceed with the legal process.”
“Great,” Lu Yunchu felt a weight lifted off his shoulders, “thanks to you.”
“I should thank you too; my mother always liked the gift you gave her. If you come to Italy again, feel free to visit me.”
“Sure.”
As Rossi mentioned, there would be further legal action. That afternoon, after the Weibo post, Lu Yunchu received a call from a stranger claiming to be “Mr. Mo’s classmate,” a lawyer named Guo, asking when he would be available to discuss the lawsuit.
Lu Yunchu was stunned for a moment before realizing that “Mr. Mo” might be Zhou Yanchuan’s friend, whom he had visited before.
He quickly called Zhou Yanchuan, “Did you find a lawyer for me?”
“Oh, did Lawyer Guo contact you?”
“Yes.”
“Ziyang recommended him,” he said, “just leave it to him, don’t worry.”
Warmth filled Lu Yunchu’s heart. He wanted to say something but found it too sentimental. Zhou Yanchuan, sensing his thoughts, said, “Alright, let’s talk about the rest tonight. You should first sort things out with Lawyer Guo.”
“Okay.”
Mo Ziyang happened to be in Zhou Yanchuan’s office. Hearing him on the phone, he asked, “Did Xiao Guo contact your boyfriend?”
“Yes,” Zhou Yanchuan relaxed and rubbed his temples, “thanks a lot this time.”
“Don’t mention it,” Mo Ziyang said nonchalantly, sitting down on the sofa and making tea. “You two haven’t had it easy. Just got together and already dealing with a bunch of annoying issues.”
The worst part was that Lu Yunchu was betrayed by someone he had a serious relationship with.
So, after discussing it, Zhou Yanchuan didn’t stay idle. He bought promotions and trending topics on Weibo to help create momentum and asked Mo Ziyang to find a lawyer. He couldn’t let Lu Yunchu face the mess alone.
“The brand and the advertising company apologized,” Mo Ziyang said, scrolling through Weibo, “that Meng Xiao… he won’t be able to work in this industry anymore.”
“Really?”
“Of course,” he sipped his tea, “Plagiarism is a big taboo, especially when it blows up like this. Who would want him?”
“That’s good.” Zhou Yanchuan lowered his head and signed the documents just delivered by his assistant.
“That’s all you have to say?”
“What else should I say?”
“I thought you’d want to beat him up to vent your anger.”
“I do want to,” Zhou Yanchuan chuckled darkly, “But I’m not a gangster. We just need to make sure he can’t get by within our means.”
For someone who makes a living by design, having a ruined reputation in the industry was more satisfying than a physical beating.
Mo Ziyang found his sinister smile somewhat chilling: “What’s with that victorious look?” After all, the online uproar couldn’t have escalated without Zhou Yanchuan fanning the flames.
“Hey, that kid brought it on himself,” Zhou Yanchuan protested, “No one intended to mess with him.”
Things progressed smoothly, and in a few days, Lu Yunchu’s expression brightened up again. However, Zhou Yanchuan noticed he seemed to be working on something, keeping it a secret.
He hadn’t seen Lu Yunchu bring work home before. Although it was just during some spare time before bed, Zhou Yanchuan was curious.
“What are you doing?”
“I’ll tell you when it’s done.”
Not long after, Lu Yunchu handed over the finished piece that had caught Zhou Yanchuan’s attention—it was a leaf-shaped pendant.
“Put it on your keychain.”
“Is this for me?”
“Yes,” Lu Yunchu said, “I realized I haven’t made you any small gifts yet.”
“Didn’t you give me that ornament before?” It was said to be inspired by soy-braised bones.
“That one can’t be carried around,” he explained, “I wanted to make something you could hang on your keys.”
Considering Zhou Yanchuan’s conservative aesthetic, he designed a simple leaf shape, cleverly incorporating the initials of their names into the leaf veins. It didn’t require much work, and he finished it in a few days during the spare moments before bed.
“…Alright.” Zhou Yanchuan took it, attached it to his keys as suggested, and then played with it in his hands for a while.
With a childlike expression and movements, Lu Yunchu didn’t look away.
They had known each other for a year, starting with some unpleasantness but gradually growing closer. Reflecting on his almost love-at-first-sight with Meng Xiao, he realized he didn’t even know when Meng Xiao started to harbor resentment towards him.
He sighed slightly, blaming his younger self for being too naive and unable to discern people’s true intentions.
“What’s wrong?” Perhaps hearing his sigh, Zhou Yanchuan turned around.
Lu Yunchu didn’t avoid the question and took the opportunity to ask: “Do you think I’m too self righteous?”
“Self righteous?” Zhou Yanchuan didn’t quite understand the point of his question and half-jokingly said, “Yes, I still remember how aloof you were last year.”
But he liked it.
Even when their relationship wasn’t as good back then, he didn’t dislike Lu Yunchu’s personality.
To his surprise, Lu Yunchu’s expression turned serious, without a hint of joking: “Really?”
Zhou Yanchuan put away his teasing: “Why are you asking this all of a sudden?”
“That day…” Even though he no longer cared about Meng Xiao, he was still annoyed by those words, “He told me he hated me even before he cheated, saying I looked down on him and always hurt his self-esteem.”
“Said you looked down on him?” Zhou Yanchuan snorted, “That’s because he had low self-esteem. Didn’t I tell you before? People with low self-esteem need constant praise. Even if you look at them normally, they feel like you’re looking down on them.”
“Maybe.” Meng Xiao was certainly like that.
“Besides, how could you hurt someone?” Zhou Yanchuan switched to a more casual tone, “You called me old-fashioned, and I didn’t mind.”
Lu Yunchu looked embarrassed: “When did I say you were old-fashioned?”
“Hahaha, isn’t that what you meant? Alright, don’t let unimportant people affect you,” Zhou Yanchuan hugged him, “Don’t overthink things around me. It’s exhausting to worry about every little thing with your own people.”
Lu Yunchu suddenly felt a weight lift off his shoulders, followed by Zhou Yanchuan asking, “Can you get off work early tomorrow?”
“I think so, why?”
Zhou Yanchuan kissed him on the cheek: “To spend 520 with your old-fashioned boyfriend, of course!”
TN:
520 is homophonic to “I love you” in Chinese! The 20th of May (520) is pronounced （wǔ èr líng）which sound very similar to 我爱你（wǒ ài nǐ）I love you, that is why the 20th (and 21st) have been labeled as the unofficial Valentine’s Day in China（网络情人节）.