The Domineering Older Man Snatches His Cold And Aloof Wife - Chapter 2

The competition progressed very smoothly. In less than a month, Lou Qingshuang and her team had made it into the resurrection round. They were on the verge of entering the finals to go head to head with the truly large corporations.

“I don’t know why, but I just have this uneasy, churning feeling in my stomach,” Bai Wan said, her nerves getting the better of her. If they could make it into the finals today, then even if they ultimately got pushed out, it would still mean their company’s strength had been recognized by consumers.

This time, Lu City was hosting a global competition. Thirty-two companies had been selected to stay. As for the rest who hadn’t been chosen but still possessed strength recognized by consumers, they had a chance to enter the resurrection round to battle it out one more time.

This round pitted the few companies at the tail end of the finals against the companies that had revived through the resurrection round.

Whoever won would enter the true finals.

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

Sitting on the sofa, Lou Qingshuang rubbed her temples. For this competition, the required range of cosmetics and skincare products was massive, they had to submit no fewer than five types of products.

She had poured all her energy into upgrading the products and hadn’t slept properly in nearly a month.

Suddenly, her phone rang. Lou Qingshuang pulled it out and saw it was from Shen Yue. “Yueyue, what’s wrong?”

“I don’t have to work overtime today, so I figured I’d call you while I have a moment. How are things looking on your company’s end?” Shen Yue asked caringly.

Hearing her concern, a gentle smile graced Lou Qingshuang’s face. “It’s going alright. The data and scores will be announced in half an hour.”

Right at that moment, someone from the organizing committee rushed in, frantically 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 head official for this specific section. With the results about to be released, having this kind of drama pop up put the official in an incredibly foul mood, it was nothing but trouble.

Lou Qingshuang was stunned. She hung up the phone with Shen Yue and followed the official out. At the same time, she instructed her assistant to immediately notify Bai Wan to rush over to Meeting Room 301B for a discussion.

Meanwhile, Liu Yu was sitting in her car, resting with her eyes closed.

Receiving a notification, the assistant turned around and pressed a button. The partition panel separating the front and back rows slowly slid open. “Chairman, something has happened on Ms. Lou’s end.”

Liu Yu didn’t even open her eyes. “What is it?”

“Her company has been accused of plagiarizing the products of the competitor they’re up against. The other side provided detailed core data.” The assistant quickly scanned the document that had just been sent over.

“This data is indeed very similar. The similarity between the core formulation data is as high as 90%,” the assistant summarized.

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

“Lan Dai. It’s an old-brand skincare company, though it has been on a downward slope in recent years,” the assistant quickly supplied the key information.

Inside the meeting room, Lou Qingshuang was currently locked in a confrontation with the organizing official and the representatives from Lan Dai Company.

“Heh, your data is identical to ours. You stole our formulation and you still won’t admit it?” Lan Dai’s representative was aggressive and unyielding, branding Lou Qingshuang as a thief the moment they opened their mouth.

She looked down at Lou Qingshuang with sheer disdain. Lou Qingshuang’s brow furrowed slightly. She flipped through the data report, her gaze turning piercingly cold. “It’s not yet certain who plagiarized whom. Just because you’re striking first to gain the upper hand doesn’t change the fact that you are the plagiarist.”

Lou Qingshuang was equally unyielding in her speech. But as she rapidly flipped to the end of the report and saw that every single formulation metric matched the data obtained from her own laboratory, her heart skipped a beat.

Who stole her data and formulation?!

Liu Yu’s assistant had people monitoring the development of the situation while simultaneously investigating the patent application times for both companies, ranging from formulation efficacy patents to core ingredient patents, and even external packaging design patents.

The patent application times for both companies were one right after the other, with a difference of less than an hour.

The assistant raised an eyebrow. This was a glaringly obvious act of commercial warfare via plagiarism.

The assistant peeked at Liu Yu. Having read the report, Liu Yu already knew exactly where to start handling the matter and where to investigate the mole.

“Zhu Yan, go deliver a grand gift to Ms. Lou, and then invite her to join me for tea.” Liu Yu narrowed her eyes, a trace of a smile playing within them.

As Liu Yu looked at the name of Lan Dai Company’s chairman, she chuckled.

“Chairman, I’m afraid it might be too late for that. Lan Dai Company posted it directly onto the internet, and the data has already blown up completely.” Zhu Yan looked at the web, where big name bloggers with millions of followers were already driving the narrative and inciting public outrage to curse them out.

Online, the heat was reaching a boiling point. This was probably the most famous Ms. Lou’s company had ever been.

In an instant, they had jumped from an obscure, small-time company for commoners into a viral sensation, except virtually everyone was screaming curses at them. Some netizens even mocked them, asking where such a tiny company got the nerve to clash with a giant like Lan Dai.

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

“Let’s go take a look at the convention center. We’ll take the hidden entrance.” Liu Yu didn’t want to end up on the entertainment news headlines just yet.

When Bai Wan saw the press releases flying all over the internet, she was driven mad with anxiety. Had their company, which had only been established for three years, really hit a dead end?

Having received the call from the assistant, Bai Wan was currently rushing to the venue, deeply terrified that her close friend wouldn’t know how to defend herself and would be torn apart by insults.

The representative from Lan Dai carried a sinister, mocking sneer. In reality, she had known all along that of Wanshuang Company’s two founders, the one responsible for external affairs was still at their company office, while the one right in front of her was the core technical personnel who had developed the formulations.

By the time Bai Wan managed to rush over, the online smear campaign would already be set in stone, haha.

As long as they splashed the dirty water first to leave these people reeling, and then followed up with a succession of coordinated moves, this matter would be definitively sealed in the public eye.

Lan Dai Company wanted to re-establish its reputation as a classic skincare brand and regain market sympathy, this was the perfect stepping stone.

By stepping on a small company to rise back up, they could ultimately acquire it at a rock-bottom price, completing their entire strategic leap.

After Lou Qingshuang finished reading all the data, the veins in her temples throbbed violently, making her head spin.

It was entirely their company’s core data. From formulation efficacy to core ingredients, the metrics were almost identical, it looked exactly as if she herself had handed the data over.

But those files were supposed to be locked away in the company safe, requiring both Bai Wan’s and her keys to open simultaneously.

What should she do now?

Dizziness washed over Lou Qingshuang, but she forced herself to maintain an outward appearance of calm. “Our company’s core data has been stolen.”

“Furthermore, our company filed for the patents before you did.” Lou Qingshuang could only use this method to stall for time so she could go back and consult with Bai Wan.

“Heh, applying for a patent first doesn’t mean you didn’t plagiarize.” The Lan Dai representative’s face was a picture of pure mockery.

Lou Qingshuang dug her thumb tightly into her index finger, forcing herself to quiet her mind.

“Whether your company saw that we are small and stole our data, or whether you are turning around to bite us after plagiarizing our work, we will let the courts decide.” Lou Qingshuang directly steered the conversation toward legal proceedings.

At this point, simply bickering back and forth would do nothing to salvage their ranking in this competition.

The best outcome now would be for the organizing committee to disqualify both of their companies.

If that announcement went out, consumers wouldn’t completely lean to one side to blast their company for plagiarism, and everything could proceed through legal channels.

This was the only stalling tactic Lou Qingshuang could think of right now.

She knew better than anyone that the thief was the one crying thief.