Honey, Open The Door. I Want To Give You The Room Key - Chapter 2

The competition was proceeding very smoothly. In less than a month, Lou Qingshuang and her team had reached the revival round. They were on the verge of entering the finals to compete against truly large corporations.

“I don’t know why, but I have a persistent feeling of unease,” Bai Wan said, feeling extremely nervous. If they could make it into the finals today, even if they were eventually pushed out later, it would represent an acknowledgment of their company’s strength by consumers, the market, and major conglomerates.

This time, Shanghai was hosting a global competition. Thirty-two companies remained; those who hadn’t been selected but still possessed strength recognized by consumers had a chance to compete again in the revival round.

Those participating today were several “revival” companies pitted against each other. The winner would then face off against the company ranked at the very bottom of the main bracket.

A victory there meant entry into the true finals.

Lou Qingshuang was also a bit nervous. Today, the consumer data and the votes from regional distributors would be announced.

Sitting on the sofa, Lou Qingshuang rubbed her forehead. The scope of cosmetics and skincare products required for this competition was vast, requiring no fewer than five types of products. To upgrade their products, she had hardly slept for an entire month.

A phone rang. Lou Qingshuang took out her mobile and saw it was Shen Yue. A slight smile touched her cold face. “Yueyue, what’s up?”

“I’m not working overtime today, so I thought I’d call while I could. How are the preparations at your company?” Shen Yue asked with concern.

Hearing her care, Lou Qingshuang relaxed quite a bit. “It’s going alright. The data and results will be announced in half an hour.”

Just then, a representative from the organizers hurried in, looking for the person in charge of Wanshuang Company.

“Your company has been reported for suspected plagiarism. The opposing party has provided core data. Come with me.” The newcomer was the official in charge of this section. With the results about to be released, this incident had put the official in a very foul mood—it was nothing but trouble.

Lou Qingshuang was stunned. She hung up on Shen Yue and followed the official out, leaving instructions for her assistant to notify Bai Wan immediately to head to Meeting Room 301B for a discussion.

Liu Yu sat in her car with her eyes closed, resting. Her assistant received a notification, turned around, and pressed a button to slowly lower the rear partition. “Chairman, something has happened regarding Miss Lou.”

Without opening her eyes, Liu Yu asked coldly, “What is it?”

“Her company has been accused of plagiarizing the products of the company they are competing against. The other party provided detailed core data.” The assistant quickly glanced at the information sent over.

“The data is indeed very similar; the core formula data has a similarity rating as high as 90%,” the assistant summarized.

“What is the name of that company?” Liu Yu asked, her eyes still shut.

“Lan Dai. It’s an old-brand skincare company, but it has been on a downward slope in recent years. They barely made it into the finals this time and were pulled out to compete against the company coming up from the revival round. As it happens, the company that beat Lan Dai was Miss Lou’s,” the assistant relayed the key information swiftly.

Lou Qingshuang was currently in negotiations with the organizers and the representatives from Lan Dai.

“Hah! Your data is identical to ours. You stole our formulas and you still won’t admit it?” The representative from the other side was aggressive and overbearing, immediately branding Lou Qingshuang a thief.

She looked at Lou Qingshuang with contempt. Lou Qingshuang frowned slightly as she flipped through the data reports, her gaze piercing. “It remains to be seen who plagiarized whom. Just because you spoke up first doesn’t change the fact that you are the plagiarizer.”

Lou Qingshuang was equally unyielding in her speech. She finished scanning the report quickly. Seeing that every item of formula data matched the results derived from her own laboratory, her heart skipped a beat. Who had stolen her data and formulas?

Liu Yu’s assistant had people monitoring the progression of the situation while simultaneously investigating the patent filing times for both companies—ranging from formula efficacy patents to core ingredient patents and packaging design patents.

The filing times for both companies were back-to-back, with a difference of less than an hour.

The assistant raised an eyebrow; this was a blatant act of plagiarism and corporate warfare.

The assistant glanced at Liu Yu. After reading the report, Liu Yu knew exactly where to start and how to find the mole.

“Zhu Yan, go deliver a ‘big gift’ to Ms. Lou, and then invite her for tea,” Liu Yu said, her eyes narrowing with a hint of a smile.

Liu Yu looked at the name of the Chairman of Lan Dai and laughed.

“Chairman, I’m afraid it might be too late for that. Lan Dai has posted directly to the internet. The data regarding this incident has already exploded online.” Zhu Yan watched as major bloggers with millions of followers were steering public sentiment, leading a wave of vitriol.

The internet was in a frenzy. This was likely the most famous Ms. Lou’s company had ever been.

In an instant, they went from an obscure, small grassroots company to a “trending” company—though one that everyone was cursing. Some even mocked, wondering where such a tiny company got the nerve to go up against Lan Dai.

“Chairman, what should we do next?” Zhu Yan waited for her instructions.

“Let’s go to the convention and take a look. We’ll enter through the hidden door.” Liu Yu didn’t want to end up on the gossip headlines just yet.

Bai Wan saw the press releases flooding the internet and was frantic with worry. Was the company they had founded only three years ago about to go bankrupt?

Having received the call from the assistant, Bai Wan was still rushing to the venue, deeply afraid that her friend—who wasn’t particularly eloquent—would be bullied and insulted.

The Lan Dai representative wore an air of snide arrogance. In reality, she knew that of the two heads of Wanshuang Company, the one primarily responsible for external affairs was still at their office. The one in front of her was the core technical person, someone who was not skilled at public relations.

By the time Bai Wan arrived, the online smear campaign would already be in full swing. Haha!

As long as they threw the first stone and kept the pressure on so their opponents couldn’t react, the subsequent follow-up moves would seal the deal.

Lan Dai wanted to re-establish its reputation as a legacy skincare brand and regain market sympathy; this was the perfect opening move.

By stepping on a small company to rise, they could eventually acquire it at a low price and complete their strategic leap.

After reading all the data, Lou Qingshuang’s breathing became slightly ragged, but she struggled to maintain her composure.

It was all of her company’s core data—from formula efficacy to core ingredients, the data was almost identical. It was as if she herself had handed the data over.

But that data was locked in the company safe, requiring both her and Bai Wan’s keys to be present at the same time to open it.

What should she do now?

Lou Qingshuang felt dizzy, but she forced herself to remain steady. She said to the head of the competition committee, “Our company’s core data has been stolen.”

The group leader in charge of the revival round remained silent.

Lou Qingshuang continued, “Most importantly, our company applied for the patents before you did.” This was the only way she could stall for time to go back and consult with Bai Wan.

“Hah! Applying for a patent first doesn’t mean you didn’t plagiarize,” the Lan Dai representative mocked.

Lou Qingshuang pressed her thumb hard against her index finger, forcing herself to stay calm.

“Whether your company saw that we were small and stole our data, or whether you are the ones playing the victim while being the thief, is a matter for the courts to decide.” Lou Qingshuang moved the conversation directly toward legal proceedings.

At this point, mere arguing would not save their ranking in the competition.

It would be best if the competition disqualified both companies.

That way, when the news broke, consumers wouldn’t all lean toward one side and curse her company for plagiarism; everything would follow the legal process.

This was the only way Lou Qingshuang could think of to buy more time.

She knew better than anyone that this was a case of the thief crying “thief.”