Against the Light - Chapter 50
Chapter 50: The Support Group
Qin Qiong caught a glimpse of Gu Xinran out of the corner of her eye and was startled. Suddenly, it all clicked into place. She had indeed seen this dress before, but when she saw it, it was just a design sketch, not a finished product. And that very sketch had come from the hand of Little Fairy, Gu Xinran!
During the filming of 【A Good Show】, Gu Xinran had once used a brick as a makeshift pen to draw a design sketch on the ground. While some of the finer details had been altered, Qin Qiong remembered that the overall design of that sketch was remarkably similar to the dress before her now!
Meanwhile, Gu Xinran had been stunned the moment the model appeared on stage. As she listened to Ye Ting describe her design philosophy, insisting over and over that she had personally designed the dress, Gu Xinran's expression grew so dark it looked like storm clouds were gathering.
This was clearly the dress Yilan had designed for her in her past life! This woman had the audacity to shamelessly claim it as her own! To take Yilan's heart and soul and pass it off as her own work—how dare she!
Gu Xinran's face flushed red with anger, a vein throbbing on her forehead.
Seeing her like this, Qin Qiong was startled and quickly pulled her aside. "Sister Ran, calm down first. D-don't get worked up! L-let's just analyze this rationally."
Seeing Gu Xinran's clearly uncontainable rage, the usually composed Qin Qiong began to panic. She was genuinely afraid Gu Xinran would do something impulsive, like… storming onto the set to confront Ye Ting. That was definitely something she could see her doing!
"I…" An idea struck Qin Qiong. She quickly borrowed a phone from an assistant and searched online for the design Little Fairy had drawn on 【A Good Show】. However, after a thorough search, she only found a few blurry, long-distance shots from the cameras. You could only vaguely make out what looked like the shape of a dress on the ground.
Qin Qiong then found the show itself, only to discover that the version currently available online was a condensed cut, not the complete livestream version!
A sense of foreboding washed over Qin Qiong. She clicked on the first episode, and just as she feared, it cut straight to the start of the official recording. The scene where Little Fairy drew the design had happened the day before, during an impromptu party the cast had thrown.
Holding the phone, Qin Qiong had no idea how to console Gu Xinran.
"You… you don't worry just yet. I'll… I'll go ask Teacher Lu if she knows anyone on the production team. Maybe we can find the original livestream footage. Don't worry, what's yours is yours. No one can steal it! Besides, it was a live broadcast. So many viewers saw it. I refuse to believe that not a single one of them remembers!"
After offering a word of encouragement, Qin Qiong immediately dialed Lin Guo's number and quickly explained the situation. Lin Guo said she had never even heard of this trashy design show, but she quickly looked it up. The moment she saw the dress, she recognized it too. She hung up without another word and immediately went to find Lu Qing.
Soothed by Qin Qiong, Gu Xinran calmed down slightly and took out her own phone to search online. She found a forum for 【Star Wardrobe】 where someone had actually questioned the dress's design, saying they remembered seeing something similar on a show before.
However, the replies below were almost all attacks on the poster, with comments like, "Get lost," "Put up a picture or shut up," "Trying to stir up drama?" and "Poor Sister Ting, her rivals try to drag her down every day, but she's indestructible [doge]." And so on. The original poster never surfaced again.
Gu Xinran was so angry she had to laugh. This designer has quite the fanbase, doesn't she?
As Gu Xinran was reading, a few WeChat messages popped up. They were from Lin Guo, who said she had already told Teacher Lu, and Teacher Lu was helping to contact the production team. She told Gu Xinran to rest easy and sent a string of hugging emojis. The gesture warmed Gu Xinran's heart, and her anger subsided a little. She replied with a "Thank you."
"Hey, that dress… why does it look so familiar?" Jin Shuang noticed the crowd gathered together and wandered over curiously to take a look. The moment she saw the finished garment, she frowned. She studied it carefully; she felt like she had seen it before.
"Familiar? What do you mean?"
"I can't remember where, but it just looks really familiar," Jin Shuang said, propping her chin on her hand as she tried to recall.
"You're kidding. Sister Ting just designed this. The finished dress was only unveiled last night. There's no way you could have seen it."
"Hey, now that Sister Shuang mentions it, I think it looks a little familiar too," someone else from Bai Yilan's crew chimed in.
"Right? I'm sure I've seen it somewhere."
Several members of Bai Yilan's crew gathered around for a look. "Hey! Isn't that the design sketch Little Fairy drew on the ground during 【A Good Show】?" someone exclaimed, having recognized it.
"Huh? Oh, that's right! How did I not remember! Yes, yes, that's the one! Look at this three-tiered hem and the petals on the dress. Though, I think her sketch had complete flowers on it, didn't it?"
"Emmm, I don't remember it that clearly. I just remember the layered hem. I was even complaining at the time about how hot it would be to wear."
"Yes, I remember now!"
The members of Bai Yilan's crew were discussing it animatedly, while everyone from Yu Hua's crew looked completely bewildered.
"Are we talking about the same dress?" someone from Yu Hua's crew asked.
"Yes, this one. It was designed by Little Fairy—oh, that's Gu Xinran. Her codename on 【A Good Show】 was Little Fairy. You didn't know?" Jin Shuang seemed a little surprised. Who hadn't heard of Little Fairy these days?
"We were working day and night to meet our deadline back then, so we didn't catch the livestream. But I've seen all the edited episodes, and I never saw the part you're talking about."
"You're kidding, right?" Jin Shuang was a bit stunned herself. She immediately pulled out her phone and searched. Sure enough, that scene was missing from the edited version.
"Well…" She paused, looking at the others from her crew, who all looked just as lost.
Back when the show was airing, because their own director was a participant, Young President Ming had made everyone watch the livestream together every day. She even had them flood the bullet comments with praise for their director. As a result, almost everyone on Bai Yilan's crew had seen the full version of the show.
The expressions on the faces of Yu Hua's crew turned strange. "So you're saying that Ye Ting plagiarized a design sketch Gu Xinran drew on a show?"
"Yes!" Jin Shuang said firmly.
"That… seems unlikely. Ye Ting is a famous designer, after all. She wouldn't stoop to plagiarism, would she? That would be ruining her own reputation."
"So are you saying we're lying? That all of us are ganging up to trick you?"
"What kind of talk is that? Can't we just discuss this rationally? There's no need to get so heated, is there?"
"Yeah, let's be rational. At the very least, the design you're talking about isn't in the show that's available now." The members of Yu Hua's crew were also at a loss. Jin Shuang and the others spoke with such conviction, but they themselves had never seen the sketch, so they didn't know who to believe.
The members of Bai Yilan's crew exchanged helpless glances, feeling a frustrating powerlessness at being unable to prove what they knew to be true. Besides, it was admittedly hard to accept that a famous designer would be associated with plagiarism.
"Why don't we ask Young President Ming? She was obsessed with Little Fairy back then. She's bound to remember the drawing, right?"
"Right, right." Jin Shuang nodded and quickly gave Ming Zhen a call.
"What are you all doing?" When Yu Hua came out of her break room, she expected to see everyone back at their posts, ready to start work. Instead, she saw the two crews in what looked like a standoff and thought they were about to start a fight.
"Uh, Director, um… something's come up. Could I please ask for some time off?" Qin Qiong looked at Gu Xinran's state and figured she was in no mood to act.
"What's wrong?" Yu Hua had, of course, noticed Gu Xinran's dark expression. She walked closer to get a better look and asked.
"It's a bit complicated…"
"I'll give you the short version," Jin Shuang interjected. "Xinran drew a design for a dress on a show a while back, and now that design has been plagiarized."
"Sister Shuang, isn't it a bit rash to call it plagiarism?" someone countered. "After all, none of us have seen the sketch you're talking about. You should at least present some evidence before making claims like that."
"Exactly…"
"My own two eyes are the evidence!"
"Mine too!" Fang Jinghai had also recognized it and immediately spoke up in support of Jin Shuang, while simultaneously sending a quick message to inform Qu Qi.
"You all…"
"What is all this? Are you going to argue all day? Do you want me to clear a space for you to have a proper fight?" Yu Hua glared, and both groups immediately fell silent.
Although the two sides were bickering, Jin Shuang's one sentence had thankfully made the situation clear. Yu Hua frowned. This was a new one for her.
"Is this true?" Yu Hua looked at Gu Xinran, leaned closer, and asked in a low voice.
Gu Xinran's gaze was intense as she gave a solemn nod.
Yu Hua nodded back, then turned to look at the crew. Everyone looked indignant, and they had clearly split into two camps: one, led by Jin Shuang, was Bai Yilan's team, claiming Ye Ting had plagiarized Gu Xinran; the other was her own team, insisting they needed to see evidence before they would believe it.
This? This was the situation? It would be a miracle if anyone could get any proper work done like this.
Yu Hua thought for a moment. They were well ahead of schedule, so there was no rush. Besides, this matter seemed incredibly important to Xinran. In the past half-month, she had never seen her look so grim. If this wasn't resolved, she probably wouldn't have the focus to act properly. And having one's work plagiarized was indeed infuriating.
"Director Yu, I'd also like to request some time off," Jin Shuang said. "This needs to be settled. At the very least, Xinran was our boss's wife once. We can't just stand by and watch her get bullied! Our boss isn't here, so we have to protect her wife for her!"
"That's right!" the members of Bai Yilan's crew responded in unison.
Gu Xinran looked at them, her brow relaxing slightly. She gave Jin Shuang a small, grateful smile, deeply moved.
"Fine. Talk is cheap in a situation like this. Since you're all so convinced there's a problem, go find your proof. We'll see who can convince whom," Yu Hua said, gesturing casually between the two opposing crews. Then she turned, clasped her hands behind her back, and headed back to her break room.
Yu Hua's attitude was a great relief to Gu Xinran, and she felt incredibly grateful.
"Jinghai, ask Fang Yi if she's free," Gu Xinran ordered in a low, serious voice.
"Oh, right! When it comes to anything online, Er Gou is the person to call!" Fang Jinghai's eyes lit up, and she immediately dialed Fang Yi's number.
Half an hour later, Ming Zhen, Fang Yi, Lu Qing, and Lin Guo arrived one after another.
Everyone from Yu Hua's crew was dumbfounded. Was… was this the entire support group showing up?
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