Boss Lu: A reborn life is destined to be without regrets!
Chapter 312 - 235. Can I be unhappy?

Chapter 312: 235. Can I be unhappy?

The prominent figure of the Law School, Luo Yongfei, had withdrawn from school.

No one knew how he had explained it to his family, but the outcome was clean and swift.

He packed his bags and left composedly in the depth of an unknown night.

The details of Lu Jincheng’s group could be called professional. The leading lady in Luo Yongfei’s video seemed entirely bewildered, unaware of what was happening.

All she knew was that the boy she liked was gone forever.

Phone, WeChat, QQ, Weibo... all canceled without a word.

Luo Yongfei’s existence had been like a sudden downpour, leaving several small ripples in the middle of Nanhu, then disappearing without a trace.

"Luo Yongfei, due to personal reasons, has decided not longer to participate in our project group, so from now on, the two of you will have to handle more tasks than before."

Inside the Law School building of Jiang City Finance University.

Professor Li Suying entered the room, bringing news that was not unexpected.

"Today, let’s continue with our study, focusing on the concluding part of the paper..."

Named the Intellectual Property Paper Writing Project Group, after the complete dropout of light-bulb moments, it became a scene where the young couple openly dated in the large classroom of the academy.

After the basic framework teaching of the paper had ended, Professor Li Suying split Luo Yongfei’s tasks into two parts, assigning them to Guan Yongyi and Lu Jincheng, then hurriedly left the classroom.

"These are the basic writing methods, next time the project group meets, you can show me the initial drafts."

"Understood, Professor Li."

A master leads you to the door, but learning depends on the individual.

Regardless, to craft a paper from zero to one still requires the collective hands-on effort of two people.

"You just told Professor Li there’s progress; where exactly is the progress?"

Only a man and a woman were left in the empty classroom.

A short-haired girl leaned on one hand, her other hand spinning a signing pen back and forth between the delicate tips of her fingers, turning her head to exhibit a jawline anyone could claim was perfect.

"You didn’t go to the law firm yesterday, did you?"

Lu Jincheng asked with a smile.

"No, I was really busy all day yesterday, classes in the morning, scheduled debate team training in the afternoon, and it was almost dark when training finished."

Guan Yongyi shook her head.

Since Luo Yongfei’s withdrawal, even the debate team he founded had lost the will to compete, eventually disintegrating.

There were no choices but to find other sparring partners.

Fortunately, the preliminary stage of the White Horse Cup had almost entirely concluded.

What follows would be the brutal official competition.

"Yesterday we finalized a contract with Le Ying Law Firm, agreed to have Attorney Shang Lingzhi represent us in the infringement case, and we will officially file the lawsuit soon at Hang City Shangcheng District Court, does that count as progress?"

"That counts, that counts."

Guan Yongyi’s eyes sparkled a bit more, nodding and adding a word.

"Hmm... I might even have to go to Hang City on a business trip with Sister Lingzhi."

"You definitely should go! The court proceedings are crucial material for our paper; make sure you take good notes."

"Psh, as if I need you to tell me."

The girl pursed her lips, turned her face away, and put away the pen that had been spinning at her fingertips.

According to the principle of territorial jurisdiction, the court where the incident or defendant is located was determined to be the Hang City Shangcheng District Court.

During this period, the three-step strategy laid out by Lu Jincheng had been impressively effective.

The term "pangolin" was incredibly descriptive; used frequently by many fashion influencers, it quickly sparked a movement within the JK uniform community to combat counterfeit products.

Influencers regularly featuring JK uniforms in their daily outfits were naturally the first group targeted on social media.

JK uniforms indeed looked good and youthful in photos.

However, when pictures were posted on social media platforms, the comment section was not as harmonious as with other outfits.

[It looks nice, but sis, isn’t that a counterfeit?]

[Identified as pangolin; why wear counterfeits when you can afford better, blocked.]

[Don’t expect you to support local brands much, but at least don’t buy counterfeits? The original is from Tanhua Customization’s All Dreams line, not that expensive.]

Le Ying’s plan under Mr. Lu’s guidance maximized the influencers’ impact.

They not only advised girls on how to discern authentic from counterfeit but also indirectly prompted countless enthusiastic netizens to join in identifying fake products.

Thus, the vibe gradually shifted.

Young influencers on social media, probably the most image-conscious demographic, quickly caught wind of the correct trend direction, hurriedly went to genuine stores to make purchases, and reshared their original posts.

With tailor-made captions and pictures, they swiftly joined the ranks against counterfeits.

Imagine identifying a major influencer wearing a knock-off; what a joke, how embarrassing!

Merely shouting about moral high ground regarding their choice of pangolin was enough to garner significant traffic.

Following this deliberately laid public opinion, the days for several copycat shops on Taobao grew increasingly difficult.

Their ratings plummeted due to what seemed like an organized brigade of negative reviews, sales were halved, and reputation hit rock bottom, making them the target of widespread scorn.

Even Plaid Story, which started with knock-offs and swiftly became the sales champion across all categories, began to show signs of decline.

"Something’s off."

In Hang City, Ma Shiduo immediately called an internal meeting with all the staff.

Being capable of growing his store to this scale, he was naturally not one to just sit back and wait for ruin.

Ma Shiduo made an immediate decision; the store would officially transition to original designs and completely sever ties with the knock-off business.

The decision was based on straightforward reasons.

First, the current widespread sentiment was anti-counterfeit, favoring original creations, which meant there was no point resisting the trend.

Second, counterfeiting local brands was not cost-effective, unlike more expensive foreign brands.

An All Dreams piece alone was just over a hundred yuan!

Even with cost-saving measures in knock-offs, how much profit could they really squeeze out?

Better to allocate some funds towards design at this point, where pricing power would eventually be in their hands.

Third, he always felt something was amiss.

Having mingled in the JK uniform community for so long, Ma Shiduo had never seen all the influencers on the internet agreeing on the same thing.

The overwhelming comments flooded toward his shop’s backend, making his scalp tingle for a moment.

Being young himself, Ma Shiduo could easily guess one fact.

That the wave of deliberately guided public opinion was absolutely and intricately linked to "Tanhua Customization."

Beneficial to national brands, beneficial to originality, beneficial to sales...

One could see with their feet that the strategy behind this series of maneuvers was targeting knock-offs.

Most crucially, Ma Shiduo’s store had the most severe knock-offs; they were the most ruthless and sold the cheapest.

Thin profit margins but high volume sales!

Aside from the increasingly intense clamor online, as of now, competitors still hadn’t reacted at all to his knock-offs—sales continued as usual.

But Ma Shiduo, after the meeting, decisively pulled all knock-off products from the shelves.

He had to make a clean break from knock-offs.

"Plaid Story’s" new page was now pristine, displaying only one blurry product that bore eight big characters.

"Original national brand, stay tuned."

But the internet remembered.

Ma Shiduo thought he had covered his tracks, but detailed evidence had already been collected and was sitting on the lawyer’s desk waiting for the court session.

"Shall we go?"

The classroom was empty, the gloomy evening sky visible through the window.

It was winter, and even the atmosphere felt like a youth film.

Chatting sporadically, Lu Jincheng packed his stationery and materials into his backpack and glanced at the short-haired girl beside him.

"You’re in a rush for a date, aren’t you?"

Guan Yongyi stood motionless, arms crossed, and the corners of her lips drooped, her voice devoid of any emotion.

"...No, didn’t everyone agree to go together..."

Listen to the tone, not just the words.

Lu Jincheng was taken aback, cut his sentence short, and his movements paused.

He didn’t understand why Guan Yongyi would suddenly come out with such a comment.

The idea of all three of them going to eat French cuisine had been unanimously agreed upon in the group chat.

Women really are unreasonable—how did it become a date now?

But as a man attentive to details, he was very clear about one thing.

Guan Yongyi had put considerable effort into her makeup today, from her hair to her accessories, each detail was done with meticulous care.

Leaving aside the effort spent on her full makeup, the bold lip shape outlined by contrasting lipstick shades that she used today was especially telling.

Not to mention, she even applied eyeshadow.

A fine shimmering eyeshadow.

The color palette harmoniously complemented her lip gloss, highlighting her Hong Kong style beauty and subtly illustrating a bit of a fragmented, glass-like fragility.

All in all, she was irresistibly captivating.

Why all this beauty?

"Not at all, let’s sit inside for a while longer, no rush."

Lu Jincheng stretched out his arm, pulling the short-haired girl into his embrace, and spoke softly.

"You’re just anxious, not willing to spend a bit more time with me."

Her shoulder pressed tightly against his, her response was soft, seemingly tinged with an almost imperceptible resentment.

"Every time you go out of your way to pick her up from her dorm, it’s obvious you’re biased."

"Why do I keep smelling vinegar lately?"

Hearing her say that, Mr. Lu chuckled as he gently ruffled her hair near her ear, unable to suppress a laugh.

Brother Dafei’s disappearance had indeed brought changes to their initially stable secret relationship.

"Do I even need to say it?"

Guan Yongyi got up from his shoulder, her eyes misty.

"The moment we leave this classroom, you don’t dare to hold my hand, let alone hug me."

"May I ask if I can be a little unhappy seeing you both hand in hand later?"

"..."

Lu Jincheng’s heart softened.

"Come on, it’s just the school; we need to show some decorum. Just bear with her..."

"Bear with her? Haven’t I bore enough?"

Guan Yongyi shrugged off his attempt to hold her hand, stood straight, and raised her voice.

"Sweetie, she will be coming here soon. Could we let her wait downstairs this time?"

Lu Jincheng took out his phone and carefully worded a message to Zhou Sinin.

"There, your lipstick looks really pretty today."

After settling that, he awkwardly changed the subject.

"..."

Guan Yongyi gave him a cold glance, treating him as if he were air.

"Let hubby taste what flavor it is~"

He pulled the short-haired girl into his arms, lowered his head to softly peck her moist lips, their noses brushing against each other intermittently.

"Get off!"

The girl’s face flushed red, she pretended to push him away forcefully but ended up getting kissed squarely.

"Mmm..."

She turned her head, squinted her eyes, and took a deep breath.

Ignoring the vibrating phone on the table, Guan Yongyi wrapped her arms around him.

"One more kiss~"

"Don’t rub against my face! It’ll ruin my makeup..."