CHAPTER 2123: CHAPTER 1945: ALL OF THEM

Staring at the screen.

Ten minutes.

...

Twenty minutes.

...

Half an hour.

...

One hour later.

"Ha!"

"I’m so foolish!"

"Faster."

"Even if it’s fast, it’s impossible to get a response today. With so many design drafts, just the initial selection takes a few days." Mu Youyou grimaced, but this was the final straw, her mind constantly preoccupied, unable to shift focus.

Dinner?

Not eating.

No winning bid, why eat dinner, losing weight.

At this moment.

"Clack!"

The sound of the door opening was heard at the entrance. Although it was a glass partition, there were only two girls inside, and there were many companies on this floor, messy too, so they usually kept the door locked. Mu Youyou looked up.

Saw her partner.

Yan Xiaomei.

Youmei.

Beautiful.

Sounds beautiful, reads beautiful, looks beautiful.

But unfortunately.

Life is not beautiful. She and Yan Xiaomei have different specialties; she’s good at exterior design, and Yan Xiaomei is good at decoration and color matching. If it weren’t for Yan Xiaomei often taking some small graphic design outsourcing jobs.

They would have been broke long ago.

"How was it?"

Yan Xiaomei walked in.

"No news."

"No rush, it’s still early." Yan Xiaomei put down a file in her hand. A factory was planning to build a new building; after inquiring, they went to negotiate. As usual, got disgusted by some people again.

No need to say.

The talk fell apart.

"And you?" Mu Youyou asked.

Upon hearing.

Shrugged shoulders.

"Same old." Yan Xiaomei said helplessly, once thought of hiring a male to run business affairs, but those they hired had poor business skills and ulterior motives, making them feel disgusted again.

Later.

An accident.

The money that was supposed to last two or three years was gone, putting them in such a tough spot. Otherwise, no matter how unreliable, they wouldn’t have started a business so eager without preparing even a year’s expenses.

Not that foolish.

"Forget it."

Mu Youyou sighed deeply.

"At least we’ve tried hard; it’s not our fault."

"Hmm."

Yan Xiaomei nodded.

Growth.

Costs a lot. Although they haven’t made money, at least they’ve experienced it. She always admired Mu Youyou’s talent and loved those designs so much, that’s why they persisted until now.

Unfortunately.

The odds of dreams meeting reality are too low.

After speaking.

The room was somewhat silent.

Suddenly.

"Ding ding!"

An email notification sounded.

Looking down.

Mu Youyou glanced casually, and the next moment, her pretty face changed, quickly opening it, once she had finished reading.

"Ah!"

A shriek.

Scared Yan Xiaomei out of her wits.

"What happened?"

"A mouse?"

In memory.

Only mice would make Mu Youyou scream; she wasn’t even afraid of cockroaches. After the chaos, Mu Youyou showed an expression akin to ’I just found a hundred bucks’, her eyes shining.

"What is it?"

Yan Xiaomei asked.

Hearing this.

Mu Youyou looked up, her face unable to hide her smile, her voice trembling slightly.

"We got it."

"Huh?"

"We got it."

Mu Youyou stood up, grabbing Yan Xiaomei’s shoulders and shaking them vigorously. Yan Xiaomei barely managed to break free and soon understood what Mu Youyou meant by ’we got it’.

"Really?"

"Yes."

Mu Youyou nodded vigorously.

"That’s great."

Yan Xiaomei exclaimed excitedly, "I told you, your designs are flawless. Even if the client is demanding, one piece is bound to get selected, haha, one is enough to sustain us for two years, and we can hire staff."

"It’s not just one." Mu Youyou shook her head.

Instantly.

Yan Xiaomei’s smile froze.

"Not even one? Then how did you... no... you mean..."

Her eyes grew wider.

"Exactly."

"More than one."

"But rather."

Paused.

"All of them."

Once Mu Youyou finished, Yan Xiaomei’s eyes were already wide open, exclaiming, "All of them." No wonder she was so surprised; after all, winning just one bid meant a significant design fee.

However.

Doubt followed.

"Wait."

"Is it shortlisted, or is it a winning bid, and if the client disagrees, wouldn’t it be for nothing?" As her mind calmed down, she realized it was only a day, the design institute couldn’t have given the client the drawings.

Yet.

Mu Youyou just shook her head and smiled.

"Winning bid."

"Not just shortlisted, but the client confirmed they want it."

"What?"

Yan Xiaomei screamed again, her heart racing, quickly walking around the office desk to Mu Youyou’s side to look at the email on the computer that hadn’t been closed, reading it word by word carefully.

"Hello, your studio’s design drafts sent to our institute, a total of five, have been shortlisted by the client, all five passed. Please come to our institute to sign the contract within three days, thank you for your support."

Very brief.

But the content was substantial.

Passed.

All of them. As for the price, Yan Xiaomei wasn’t worried because that design institute publicly stated that for designs won by other design institutes, they wouldn’t take a penny; all fees would go to the designer.

Therefore.

Everyone was so willing to participate.

Otherwise.

If the money wasn’t discussed well and they got scammed, what then?

"Haha."

"We’re set."

"We’re set."

Yan Xiaomei laughed with immense joy. Finally seeing the light, five designs, based on their design area, the design fee wouldn’t be less than two million RMB, but even if it’s halved, they still profited.

Millions.

It’s only 2009, but it’s a big number.

Woo-hoo!

Instant noodles with sausage tonight.

Pfft.

Forget instant noodles, let’s go for barbecue. But no, better wait until they get the design fee, save now, otherwise, they can’t even afford the ticket to that design institute.

"Ding ding!"

At this moment.

An email came again.

"What is it?" Mu Youyou moved closer.

In her heart, praying.

Hoping it wasn’t a ’sorry, the previous email was sent by mistake’.

After a look.

Luckily.

Reality didn’t give them a blow again.

A link.

Sent from that design institute.

Clicked into it, it’s a website with the design institute’s logo, followed by a list, the names that passed the client’s review, but there were only twelve.

Among them.

Their studio’s name took up five.

"Wow!"

"Going to be famous."

Yan Xiaomei couldn’t stop smiling.

Indeed.

Youmei Studio was now famous nationwide, with over a thousand design institutes, thousands of designs submitted, expecting the review to take several days, yet it was done in one afternoon, and an email reply too.

No.

Can’t do.

Not satisfied.

...

A whole bunch of nos, leaving them pretty frustrated. Later, they sent another link, and the mood improved greatly; with so many design institutes, thousands of drawings, only a dozen passed the client’s review.

In hindsight.

It wasn’t incompetence.

Because.

Out of twelve that passed, only eight units, one of which won five projects, catching the attention of major domestic design institutes, each staring blankly at the screen.

Where did they come from?

Never heard of them.

Moreover, it’s a studio.

Too impressive, and as for doubting the client’s results, no one dared because the email reply explicitly pointed out issues that couldn’t be avoided, obviously strictly screened, no perfunctory actions.

Thus.

Regarding the published list, they believed it genuinely represented excellence.