Roommate Won't Spoil His Pretty Boyfriend? Fine, I'll Do It - Chapter 6

Fucheng DEW Clothing Design Company.

Mu Nian had secured a major account: a large-scale fashion show to be held in Quzhou the month after next, complete with live streaming. As long as the clothing designs were eye-catching enough, it would provide a massive boost to the company’s reputation.

The first set of garments had already been cut. Mu Nian, along with the company’s photographer, director, and makeup artist, had been waiting for half an hour, but the model still hadn’t arrived.

Leaning against the desk, Mu Nian sketched his design unhurriedly and steadily.

The air was tense. After a series of sighs, the photographer couldn’t wait any longer and called out, “Director Mu, when is this person going to arrive? I have other things to do. We can’t just keep everyone waiting here, can we?”

Mu Nian drew the final stroke on his drawing board with a pencil and said with unruffled composure, “Don’t rush. I’ve already sent Su Yi to urge them.”

The others clicked their tongues impatiently. A short while later, Su Yi returned.

“Brother Mu, stop waiting. The model isn’t coming.”

Mu Nian finally lost his patience. “What’s going on? With so many people waiting here, he says he’s not coming just like that?”

Su Yi lowered her head and said, “It’s President Qin… President Qin said he is using the model himself and won’t lend him to us anymore. As for the event, he told us to figure it out ourselves.”

…

Mu Nian’s gaze flickered.

Qin Quan was Mu Nian’s college classmate. After graduation, they co-founded DEW and walked hand in hand up to the present. Because Qin Quan had suffered a psychological blow some years ago, he hadn’t produced any good works in recent years and remained lukewarm in the industry. Whenever people mentioned DEW, they only thought of Mu Nian.

Yet, before starting the business, the two of them had made it very clear: each would earn their own keep. Although they were in the same company, the division between them was very distinct.

Mu Nian had risen to great fame in the past two years and naturally earned more than Qin Quan. The company’s employees also favored Mu Nian more, and the seeds of jealousy had long been buried in Qin Quan’s heart.

Though the two appeared harmonious on the surface, Mu Nian knew that a falling out was bound to happen sooner or later. He just hadn’t expected it to be today.

Mu Nian told the others to head back first, then took his assistant Su Yi and went straight to Qin Quan’s office.

Mu Nian knocked on the door until his fingers hurt, but not a single sound came from inside.

He asked Su Yi behind him, “Is Qin Quan in his office?”

Su Yi didn’t dare to speak and gave a slight nod.

Mu Nian twisted the door open and walked straight in.

Sure enough, Qin Quan was sitting in the boss’s chair, feigning business as he sketched something on his graphics tablet.

Mu Nian walked closer and slapped the desk, his tone extremely sarcastic, “Stop acting. You haven’t landed any gigs this month, have you? What are you drawing?”

Qin Quan tossed his pen aside. Seeing Mu Nian’s attitude, he simply stopped pretending. “Are you getting full of yourself now? More and more lacking in basic manners? Did I tell you to come in?”

“I knocked for so long without a response from President Qin, and I thought something might have happened to you in here, so I rushed in to check,” Mu Nian said with veiled sarcasm. “Is President Qin alright?”

“Sorry to disappoint you, I’m doing just fine.”

Mu Nian raised his eyes. “Since you’re doing just fine, care to explain the business about stealing the model?”

Qin Quan licked his lips, looking as though he had prepared a countermeasure long ago, and showed not a shred of panic. “Mu Nian, when we first opened the company, wasn’t it made very clear? Projects are separate, but resources are shared. Jiang Qiong is a company model. The company isn’t yours alone, Mu Nian. Why on earth shouldn’t I use him?”

“You didn’t want him earlier, and you didn’t want him later, you just had to snatch him away the moment I needed him?” Mu Nian said in a deep voice. “Is President Qin letting a little bit of success go to his head?”

Qin Quan’s eyes turned cold. He turned around, pulled a contract out of the cabinet, and slammed it onto the desk. “It is written clearly right here: in the event of a resource conflict, priority is given based on urgency and importance, and secondary projects must step aside.”

Mu Nian smiled. “The premise of that rule is that you actually have a more important project than mine.”

Qin Quan let out an unexplained hum, his eyes fixed unblinkingly on Mu Nian. “Mu Nian, don’t be too confident. Do you think the whole world belongs to you?”

“You have a heart condition, and the projects you snatched from me in the past two years, I didn’t argue with you about. But seriously, don’t overestimate your own importance.”

Qin Quan pulled open a drawer and took out a brand-new contract from inside. The prominent characters “Duan Group” were clearly written across it.

“That fashion show thing you were negotiating, tsk, can it possibly compare to the Duan Group?”

…

Mu Nian stared in wide-eyed shock, picked up the contract, and flipped to the final page. The official seal of the “Duan Group” was stamped clearly upon it.

…How is that possible?

The Duan Group was the largest conglomerate in Fucheng, with subsidiary companies spread all across the world. By comparison, the project in Mu Nian’s hands was practically insignificant.

“How is it possible?” Qin Quan let out a sarcastic laugh. “I said, don’t overestimate your own importance. How about that? According to the contract, Jiang Qiong belongs to me.”

The thin skin at the corners of Mu Nian’s eyes tightened. He steadied his emotions, put the contract down, and said, “Fine. You’ve got skills; Jiang Qiong is yours. Do me a favor and pass a message to him as well: from now on, my projects will never use him again.”

With that, Mu Nian turned on his heel and walked out without looking back.

Su Yi hurried to follow him, asking anxiously, “What are we going to do now, Brother Mu? President Qin, how on earth did he manage to sign the Duan Group? Did he, did he use some kind of underhanded trick?”

“Don’t speculate. I don’t care how he secured it; it has nothing to do with us. Just focus on doing a good job with the project in your own hands.”

…But all the models are gone now. How are we supposed to do it?

Mu Nian glanced at her sideways. “Is Jiang Qiong the only model in the entire world? Replace him.”

Su Yi looked as though she had more to say. Hesitating for a moment, she offered, “But all the clothes were made according to Jiang Qiong’s measurements…”

To reassure her, Mu Nian said, “I’ll figure something out regarding the models. You all just do your respective jobs.”

Su Yi acknowledged the instruction and left.

Bearing the heavy pressure, Mu Nian returned to his office. It looked like he was going to have to pull an all-nighter tonight.

He sighed and unlocked his phone. There was an unread message on WeChat.

It was from Not a Valley.

【Can I seduce him over? His boyfriend isn’t as handsome as me.】

The emotions Mu Nian had bottled up dissipated slightly at the sight of these words.

This Not a Valley had added him a few months ago. Because he had many clients and a high volume of friend requests, he would usually accept them all in batches at night.

In the beginning, this person didn’t talk much and simply sat quietly in his contacts list.

Gradually, however, the user began liking his Moments posts and occasionally offered a word or two of concern.

With a wide social circle, Not a Valley didn’t post any Moments either. The profile picture was merely a cute puppy, with nothing else to give away identity, so Mu Nian couldn’t guess who it was. Yet, faced with such sincere care, Mu Nian couldn’t bring himself to delete him.

Later on, as they chatted more and more familiarly, the user even mentioned having a crush on someone.

With a mischievous streak, Mu Nian teased him, saying that unless he was one hundred percent sure, he shouldn’t confess his feelings to the other person, otherwise they might not even remain friends.

Not a Valley had replied that they weren’t even friends yet.

Mu Nian answered: If you aren’t even friends, then it’s even more out of the question to confess, one hundred percent failure, failure, failure!

After that, Not a Valley stopped bringing it up.

Today, however, the user suddenly told him that he was going to give up on this crush.

Mu Nian smiled faintly, guessing that this person couldn’t be very old.

He typed out a response:

【Sorry, I’ve been so busy until now that I just saw the message.】

【My advice is don’t do it. Isn’t it a bit wrong to ruin someone else’s relationship? Since you’re handsome, there are plenty of fish in the sea, right?】

Usually, Not a Valley replied to his messages instantly, but this time it took a little longer.

True to form, the reply came laced with concern:

【Understood. You’ve worked hard today; get some rest early.】

A warm, tingling sensation rippled across Mu Nian’s chest. Out of so many people in his contacts list, only Not a Valley ever told him “You’ve worked hard” and “Get some rest early.”

He casually replied with a goodnight, then switched over to find Ye Qinfan’s WeChat chat.

Today, Ye Qinfan had only posted a single Moments status tagging him. Aside from that, he hadn’t sent Mu Nian a single message.

In truth, Mu Nian was quite laid-back. If Ye Qinfan didn’t take the initiative, he wouldn’t either.

Pretending he hadn’t seen that Moments post, he put his phone away and went back to work.

By 1:30 in the morning, his phone rang.

He received a call from the hospital, informing him that Ye Qinfan had been injured.