Unexpected Second Chance at Love

*Ding

The elevator chimes upon arrival, and the metal door slides open to allow Yue Ling to exit. She didn’t arrive on the level of her office but on the floor lever right below.

She walks out of the elevator and makes her way in the direction of the design room.

Upon nearing the room, she could hear hysterical laughter and chattering resonating from inside. However, her steps never ceased.

”Well, she always wants to be in the spotlight, so now this is the perfect chance for her.”

”Yup. She will be Imperial’s talk for a long, long while. I wonder how she plans to get out of this mess.”

”She reaps what she sowed. No one told her to convey such evil thoughts in the first place. She stole what didn’t belong to her. Boss even paid for the dress.”

”From the looks of it, only she is dealing with news. Sources said Gu Ting Fei booked an early flight and left Imperial this morning to escape the mess.”

”Really? Damn it. I wanted to see that bastard’s reaction, too.”

”Should we wait until he comes back and inflict trouble again?”

”Why wait for his return? I can locate his whereabouts, and we can stir trouble for him wherever he is right now.”

As the conversation inside the room continues, Yue Ling sighs with a light shake, finding their conversation humorous. She enters the room, and the second her existence is in full view, the once noisy room quickly turns silent.

The seven people in the room felt the air turn cold, and their eyes were directed at Yue Ling.

No one dared to make a sound or even let out one.

Seeing their reactions to her arrival, Yue Ling was at a complete loss. Her eyes blinked multiple times before she let out another sigh and walked further into the room.

”Why did you all stop? It isn’t like I will fire you for having a little laugh.”

Hearing her words, Ju Suo, sitting near the room door, jumps up from her seat. She skips over to her boss and grins with her teeth in view.

”Boss, we didn’t stop because you came. You know that we never hide anything from you. We just saw the most amusing news of all time.”

Yue Ling stares at the petite woman and nods her head once. At the same time, she didn’t forget to look at the other people in the room.

Judging from the looks on their face, she knew her suspicion was correct.

”I understand you all have your reason for doing something like this, but try to keep it minimal. I don’t want to cause any trouble for my grandfather.”

She knows her team is responsible for the news of Ji Chu Hua and Gu Ting Fei spreading like wildfire around Imperial. As one should understand, no one in Imperial would dare cross the line with any prominent family like the Ji’s and Gu’s.

Of course, this doesn’t apply to the Lu family and her since she is part of the Ji family.

Tang Zhonghui sulks in response when he hears his boss. He leans against the wall and crosses his arms over his chest.

”It’s not our fault she decided to cross the line. Besides, if Grandfather Ji knew what we were doing, I’m positive he would have taken part in it, too.”

Everyone knows that Ji Chu Hua is part of the Ji family, but the old man doesn’t favor her well. She can only walk around with her chin high because her grandfather and Grandfather Ji are brothers.

On her (Ji Chu Hua) grandfather’s deathbed, Grandfather Ji promised to take care of the second Ji family.

Grandfather Ji would have long cut off the second Ji family if it were not for that promise.

Yue Ling sighs at the youngest member of her team. She says nothing and decides to push the subject aside.

”Alright, that’s enough about the news since I’m turning a blind eye to it. What have you all got done so far?”

Her question sounded confusing, but her team knew exactly what she was referring to, and everyone turned severe.

Lian Ni Shang picks up her tablet and walks over to her boss.

”Last night, I created a few designs with Shan Sinan. We combined our pattern-making and textile expertise to find the best colors and materials for the dress.”

As the pattern maker voiced her ideas to her boss, Gui Tian Lan and Gui Zhongmin didn’t forget to chime in.

”We also came up with some ideas to match theirs. Here, take a look.”

The younger twin, Gui Zhongmin, hands Yue Ling a tablet and takes a small step back to give her space.

”Some designs also came from Qi Li and Tang Zhonghui.”

Gui Tian Lan nods in agreement with his brother while walking to a chair and sits down.

”We did all this while we were out enjoying the night. Don’t worry. We made sure to separate work from personal matters.”

While each person elaborated on their ideas, Ju Suo remained at her boss’s side. Her head never forgot to nod to each person.

When it was her turn, she placed her fists at her hips and raised her chin.

”Don’t worry, boss. We may not look like it, but while we were out waiting for our target, we made the decision to put all our minds into one.”

She moves one hand away from her hip and points at herself with her thumb.

”As De L’amour’s fashion forecaster, I’ve seen all the good and bad in the industry. Thus, I provided the trendiest trend for your dress.”

She chatted away with pride, but everyone except for Yue Ling rolled their eyes.

Tang Zhonghui scoffs at her words and slightly tilts his head.

”Wow. We should all applaud Ju Suo for taking Qi Li’s idea to combine our brains.”

The young man robotically applauded with sarcasm, shaking his head like he was disappointed. He looked to the quiet man in the room and pointed to the fashion forecaster.

”Qi Li, will you really let her take the credit for you? You were the one who suggested we all combine our designs into one.”

Being the quiet one on the team, Qi Li had every right to be angry with Ju Suo for taking his suggestion, but he shrugged his shoulders with indifference. He doesn’t see why he should make a big deal over something so small.

”If this is all, I’m going to check how the preparations for the new launch are coming along.”

He walks out of the room but doesn’t forget to nod his head in greeting his boss.

Yue Ling watched the man leave, and she couldn’t help but feel proud to have Qi Li on her team. Although her team was good at their job, she felt Qi Li had a more apprehensive mindset.

Even in the past, he never complained about the small things.

Thinking this, she turned to Lian Ni Shang and returned the tablet to the woman.

”Forward the details to me. I’ll look over them in my office.”

She turns around to leave but stops and looks back at the patternmaker.

”I need you and Shan Sinan to go to City Z. I’ll have Secretary Jiang book the flights. I’ll also inform Kang In-sung of your arrival, and have him prepare the necessities for your visit.”