Rebirth: The Time-locked Girl
Chapter 199 Slapping the Zhou Family’s Face! Explosion【1 Update】

Chapter 199: 199 Slapping the Zhou Family’s Face! Explosion【1 Update】

The young man was among the first group of technical employees to join Pulling the Sky Company, working under Jiang Xulin. Naturally, his responsibilities fell within the realm of fashion.

When an economy is in a period of rapid development, human culture and spirit are given importance; hence intangible cultural heritage has indeed become a hot topic in this era.

Additionally, Pulling the Sky Company had fired the first shot in the jewelry market, attracting quite a few envious competitors. There had been numerous attempts to poach employees recently, but none had succeeded.

This time, the company trying to poach was an established foreign brand—Saint Leys—with lines in ready-to-wear, bags, and jewelry, though its main focus was ready-to-wear.

Their prices positioned them in the affordable luxury segment of the market, with a piece of clothing ranging from three thousand to ten thousand.

Saint Leys had entered the Shenzhou market at the beginning of the twentieth century but had never made significant waves, hovering in a lukewarm state, which is why they were willing to pay a high price to poach talent.

The young man’s core team had also mastered quite a bit of Su embroidery skills. Although they were far from Jiang Xulin’s level, they were already capable of creating Su embroidery garments independently.

Offered an annual salary of ten million by Saint Leys, he certainly chose to switch companies.

Luxury brands take years to build up their reputation, and Pulling the Sky still had a long way to go.

Jiang Xulin suddenly became furious, rising abruptly, "Shi Yongxin, you—"

Ye Wanlan raised her hand, placing it on Jiang Xulin’s shoulder, and said indifferently, "If people want to leave, they can’t be kept. Forcing them is futile. Let them go."

"But!" Jiang Xulin suppressed his anger, "But we are at a critical moment in clothing production. Losing a team will delay the company’s progress!"

"Director Jiang, why don’t you see it as clearly as this young lady?" Shi Yongxin shook his head slightly, "Regardless, you can’t keep me. I bid you farewell."

The office door closed.

Jiang Xulin’s anger blazed even hotter, "These ingrates learned intangible heritage skills here and now they turn around to jump ship. When we were in urgent need of manpower, we didn’t even sign a non-compete agreement with them!"

A non-compete agreement is a common type of contract in companies, aimed at ensuring that core technologies and information don’t leak out.

Employees who sign a non-compete agreement are not allowed to work for a competitor in the same type of job within a specified period after leaving the company.

"There’s no need to be angry. Our goal is to promote and expand the reach of intangible heritage skills. Having more people know these skills is also a means of spreading them," Ye Wanlan’s voice remained calm. "But if they act out of mere greed, maliciously disrupting the atmosphere, even without a non-compete agreement, can they really remain comfortably within this industry after they leave?"

Jiang Xulin was stunned for a moment before catching on, "Do you... do you have a backup plan?"

Ye Wanlan slowly sipped her tea, then suddenly smiled, "Whether I have a backup plan depends on whether they learn to behave."

"I still can’t stomach this!" Jiang Xulin massaged his temples, "We’ve only just started a few months ago, and now an affordable luxury brand is poaching our people. What about in the future?"

How could they rise against such hungry competitors?

Ye Wanlan’s eyebrows lifted, "Alright, don’t think about these things anymore. The HR department has just recruited a batch of new people. Take a few days off, then continue to lead."

"Okay." Jiang Xulin nodded, falling silent for a moment before hesitantly speaking again, "Miss Ye, lately I’ve felt like someone is watching me in secret, but every time I go to look, there’s no one there."

Ye Wanlan’s gaze flickered slightly, "Do you suspect that the person who once harmed your parents is now targeting you?"

"Exactly," said Jiang Xulin. "Although I don’t know why they want to destroy the legacy of Su embroidery, my taking up embroidery again will certainly attract their attention."

Ye Wanlan hummed in acknowledgment, "I will arrange more bodyguards for you. Be extremely careful with everything, and contact me immediately if there’s any trouble."

Having said this, she passed him a sachet.

"What is this?" Jiang Xulin asked as he took it, smelling a faint scent of medicinal herbs.

"To prevent you from being poisoned, it’s a precaution I’ve prepared in advance," Ye Wanlan said indifferently, "I like to be fully prepared, even if many precautions turn out to be unnecessary."

After all, even the best-laid plans can have their weaknesses.

Jiang Xulin silently stored the sachet away.

Compared to being poisoned, perhaps the likelihood of him being killed by Jiang Zhengxue’s iron fist was even greater.

**

The next day, at the Zhou Family’s home.

Madam Zhou prepared a table full of delicacies specially to entertain Madam Fang and Fang Qingli.

At the dining table, while appraising Fang Qingli, Madam Zhou kept showering her with praise.

Fang Qingli accepted all the compliments without the slightest blush on her face.

"Qingli, what do you think of our Hechen?" Finally, unable to hold back any longer, Madam Zhou asked, "He is a few years older than you, but that makes him more mature, with more understanding, better than those young lads."

"Ah? Aunt Zhou, are you talking about Zhou Hechen?" Fang Qingli exclaimed in surprise, "What kind of good stuff can someone who finds a stand-in be? Is the Starman Federal Empire too far away, or is it that your family can’t afford even a plane ticket?"

These straightforward words turned Madam Zhou’s complexion pale, leaving her unable to catch her breath at first.

"Hey hey, Qingli, what kind of way is that to talk?" Madam Fang feigned anger before comforting Madam Zhou, "Mindan, don’t take it to heart, Qingli has grown up away from us and always speaks bluntly."

Madam Zhou’s face got even paler, as if she had swallowed ten thousand flies.

"That’s just how I talk," Fang Qingli dragged out her tone, "Some men want it both ways, claiming to have a ’moonlight beauty,’ yet go looking for a stand-in. After finding a stand-in, they pretentiously vow to keep themselves pure for their ’moonlight beauty,’ but as soon as the stand-in runs away, they pine for the stand-in again. Such a joker."

"You—!" Madam Zhou was thoroughly enraged, but because Madam Fang was present, she didn’t dare to express her fury and had to forcefully restrain herself.

"Mindan, hasn’t Hechen already gotten engaged to Yunyi?" Madam Fang pretended to be clueless, "Plus, we’ve only just found Qingli and certainly haven’t thought about marrying her off so soon."

Madam Zhou forced a smile, "A girl’s got to get married sooner or later, better to go with someone familiar."

"Oh, but you can’t really say that," Madam Fang said slowly, "Although our Fang Family is not yet on par with the Zhou Family, we have a large family and business, too. I could easily have Qingli marry into our family, so why should she marry out? Whatever she wants, I can give to her."

The banquet ended in discord.

Madam Zhou was so infuriated she ended up with a headache and had to go to the hospital.

After saying goodbye to Madam Fang, Fang Qingli hummed a tune on her way to the office.

In the chairman’s office, Ye Wanlan was reviewing the company’s quarterly reports.

"Sister Lan, today I stood up for you," said Fang Qingli with a pumped fist, "The Zhou Family actually thought I would marry that guy Zhou Hechen. I gave him a piece of my mind right then and there."

Ye Wanlan looked up, her voice already frosty, "They want you to marry him?"

"Of course, I would never marry him," Fang Qingli replied, "But the Zhou Family had the idea, probably because they saw Madam Sheng and now Madam Zhou doesn’t want Sheng Yunyi for a daughter-in-law anymore."

"It’s a nice fantasy," Ye Wanlan responded coolly, "If the Zhou Family troubles you, let me know, and I’ll handle it."

"Don’t worry, Sister Lan, my parents are super protective of me," Fang Qingli said earnestly, "Without you, Sister Lan, I would not even know how many times I could have died."

"We’re friends, and friends don’t talk about such things," said Ye Wanlan as she pushed a folder forward, "The new products for the ready-to-wear line are launching soon. You’ll be busy again, hard work."

Fang Qingli gleefully picked up the folder, "I love working the most, leave it all to me."

The two set out and bumped into Jiang Xulin, sporting a pair of dark panda eyes.

Fang Qingli tilted her head, "Who is this? Did he go coal mining late at night?"

Jiang Xulin said irritably, "I just didn’t sleep well, I—"

"Chairman Ye, Director Jiang, Director Fang, there’s been an incident!" The head of marketing gasped as he ran in, "Our first-season new release has coincided with Saint Leys’ this season!"

"Saint Leys?" Fang Qingli frowned, "Isn’t that like a light luxury brand?"

Jiang Xulin scoffed coldly, "It’s that foreign brand Shi Yongxin and his team switched to. I knew they wouldn’t stay put!"

"Although you are right," the head of marketing clenched his teeth, "Saint Leys announced just five minutes before us, and now the internet is saying we are the copycats. This is outrageous."

Ye Wanlan was very calm, "Let me see."

The head of marketing handed over a tablet.

#SaintLeysNewProduct#

#PullingTheSkyOfficiallyLaunchesReadyToWearLine#

#PullingTheSkyPlagiarism#

#SuEmbroidery#

Whenever plagiarism is involved, especially between domestic and international brands, it becomes highly viral.

Add to that the fact that Pulling the Sky Company really had stepped on many people’s toes, drawing countless envious eyes, the controversy escalated quickly.

[Can’t believe it, I just ordered Pulling the Sky’s ancient jewelry, and now this happened? I’m going to cancel my order right now.]

[But isn’t this our Su embroidery? If there was to be copying, shouldn’t it be the foreign brand copying us?]

[Plagiarism isn’t defined like that, it’s about design. Su embroidery is a unique craft, an intangible cultural heritage, with no specific copyright.]

[Has Pulling the Sky gotten too arrogant? How dare they copy a foreign brand? Did selling jewelry for a few billion make them overconfident? Do they really want to disgrace Shenzhou?]