Sober and beautiful, my husband and son begged for my forgiveness on their knees.

Wen An disliked the other person's tone, but considering that they were guests, he still led them to Ning Yao's office.

Ning Yan walked inside, looked around, and said in a rather unfriendly tone, "The internet raves about your 'Shattered Star' place, I thought it was some great place, but it's so shabby."

Wen An couldn't bear to see Sui Xing being belittled like that, so he immediately stopped in his tracks. "Judging from your tone, you don't seem to be here to have a dress custom-made, but rather to cause trouble. I'm sorry, we cannot accommodate you."

"Who do you think you are, daring to kick me out?" Ning Yan looked down at her, her posture extremely arrogant.

Ning Yao, who was dealing with Xiao Xiao, heard the noise at the door and immediately looked towards it.

At a glance, he recognized the person as Ning Yan.

Ning Yao immediately went over, and Xiao Xiao followed.

"Ning Yan, what are you doing here?"

Ning Yan stood still. When she saw Ning Yao arrive, she noticed that Ning Yao was no longer as timid and cowardly as before, and a dark glint flashed in her eyes.

“I came here, of course, to find you. Someone told me before that you were the designer of ‘Shattered Star,’ and I didn’t believe it. I didn’t expect it to actually be you. Humph! You were so ambitious back then, I thought you could do something earth-shattering, but it turns out you just came to be a lowly fashion designer. Don’t you think you’re ridiculous!”

Ning Yao guessed that she was up to no good, and her eyes were cold.

"I don't think I'm ridiculous. You're the funny one. Why bother coming to me, a 'little designer'? You don't know I designed Jiang Tian's dress, so you're trying to ride on my coattails, do you?"

"you--"

Ning Yan gritted her teeth in anger at her words.

Ning Yao gestured for Wen An and Xiao Xiao to go about their own business.

As soon as the two left, Ning Yan seemed to have finally found an excuse and immediately spoke up to mock them.

"Ning Yao, don't be so smug in front of me. So what if you've gained Jiang Tian's approval? The little bit of hard-earned money you make isn't even enough for me to buy a bag. You're so shallow that you'd even look at these paltry sums."

Ning Yao crossed her arms, facing her as she leaned against the desk. "I used to think you weren't very bright, but I never imagined you were mentally ill. You look down on 'Shattered Star,' so why did you come all this way?"

Before Ning Yan could reply, she stated her position first, "Let me make it clear that I will not accept any of your 'Shattered Star' orders."

"You're not taking my orders?" Ning Yan didn't expect her to be so blunt, and she clenched her fists in anger. "Ning Yao, don't be so sure of yourself. I have some standing in Whale City's socialite circle. If you don't take my orders, you might not get any orders starting tomorrow."

In her previous life, Ning Yao would definitely have believed those words.

But now she doesn't believe a single word of it.

The Ning family does have some status in Whale City, but it's far less than they think. It's almost impossible for Ning Yan to resist her on her own.

"Fine, then I'll wait for your ban."

Seeing that she showed no panic and even opened the door to ask her to leave, Ning Yan was so angry that her chest heaved violently and her breath became thick with rage.

"Ning Yao, you just wait and see how I make you regret what you did today!"

Ning Yao nodded perfunctorily, signaling her to hurry up and leave.

Ning Yan rushed out with her bag in hand. As she passed a corner blocked by a screen, she noticed a lot of scrap paper there.

She quickly looked around, and finding no surveillance cameras, she casually grabbed a card and stuffed it into her sleeve.

Ning Yao didn't notice her actions. After she left, she told Xiao Xiao and Wen An not to let this person in again.

That evening, Ning Yao returned home and, as soon as she turned on the TV, heard the host mention the hospitalization of the young master of the Lu Group.

She was drinking water when she heard this, so she put down her glass and started watching TV.

In the video, Lu Jingmo is being interviewed.

"Mr. Lu, I heard that Lu's Group will be launching a new project in the second half of this year, and you seem very interested in it. May I ask what this project is?"

Lu Jingmo, dressed in a formal suit, has handsome features and an elegant demeanor.

His dark eyes looked at the camera, and he said calmly, "I'm sorry, I can't reveal this information at the moment. If you want to know, please continue to follow Lu's Group."

"I heard that you also inquired about actress Jiang Tian's designer before. Could it be related to your new project?"

Ning Yao was somewhat surprised. Although Lu's business scope was very broad, she had never heard of Lu's entering the clothing industry, let alone Lu Jingmo personally asking Jiang Tian for information.

"I did inquire with Ms. Jiang, but it has nothing to do with the project."

"If it's unrelated to the project, then is it related to your...family? I've heard that you've been related to the Ning family through marriage for many years, and even your young master is five years old, but you've always been reluctant to let Mrs. Lu appear in public. Could it be that you're looking for an opportunity to introduce Mrs. Lu to everyone by meeting that mysterious designer this time?"

Ning Yao curled her lips coldly and turned off the TV.

From the moment she was brought back by the Ning family and married into the Lu family, she was a disgrace in the eyes of both the Lu and Ning families.

Lu Jingmo never takes her to social events, nor does he proactively introduce her to his friends.

Even if she takes the initiative to suggest going out with him, he will coldly refuse, saying that he can't handle his own social circle.

But every time, she would receive photos of Ning Yan.

Sometimes, it's Ning Yan and Lu Jingmo getting close and cheek to cheek.

Sometimes, it was Ning Yan who got drunk, and Lu Jingmo would protect her and help her leave.

Various kinds, each one aimed at the heart.

"Buzzing..."

Her phone suddenly vibrated, jolting her awake from her nightmarish memories.

She then realized that her face was cold, and when she touched it, her fingertips were covered in tear stains.

She wiped it away decisively and answered the phone.

"Sister Yaoyao, something's happened! A young lady from a prominent family posted a design draft online, specifically claiming that it was designed by our 'Shattered Star'."

“The design draft was not only mediocre in style, but the color scheme was also a mess. Wen An and I specifically checked at the company and found that we had never served this client. But strangely, the design draft that the client showed did have our Suixing logo on it.”

Ning Yao was well aware of the impact such negative public opinion could have on the company during the early stages of its business.

So he immediately said, "Send me the design draft, I want to take a look."

Soon, Xiaoxiao sent her the design draft.

Ning Yao opened it and saw that the design was indeed very bad, just as Xiao Xiao had said, but what was up with the Shattered Star logo?

She looked at the design drawing carefully and suddenly realized something was wrong.

This design is somewhat similar to her previously discarded designs, especially the upper body.

She immediately recalled Ning Yan's appearance when she left that afternoon, and her eyes suddenly widened in surprise.

It's no coincidence that this happened as soon as Ning Yan arrived.

"Please check the rejected drafts. I have something to take care of. Contact me anytime if there are any issues."

Private club.

Ning Yan and Lu Jingmo were invited by friends in the industry to a private room, where all their friends were already present.

Everyone was used to seeing the two of them arrive together and invited them to sit down with smiles.

During the meal, everyone talked about the broken stars.

"Unexpectedly, 'Shattered Star' was just made popular by the Best Actress and then this scandal, which is not worthy of its reputation, appeared."

"Yeah, I also queued up for an appointment before, luckily it wasn't my turn yet, otherwise I would have been furious."

"Kayalin is in a terrible situation..."

Upon hearing their words, Lu Jingmo's gaze darkened, and he was about to inquire about the details.

Suddenly, the door to the private room was opened—