LWDC Chapter 14

Chapter 14: Such a Coincidence

Chapter 14: Such a Coincidence

Chapter 14: Such a Coincidence

A celebration party during fashion week hosted by a top-tier luxury brand is a very typical arena of fame and fortune.

Figures from the fashion and entertainment industries, and even some from the political and business worlds, mingled here. Everyone was dressed meticulously, as if prepared to face the cameras perfectly at any moment. Especially the models and entertainers, who had changed into their second, or even third, outfits of the day. Their dazzling appearances rivaled a red carpet event, making the entire venue sparkle.

This wasn’t Su Cenxi’s first time at such an event, but it had been a while since he’d been here “flying solo.” In his eyes, everyone’s gestures and movements at this party felt like acting. The atmosphere seemed lively at first glance, but it was actually suffocating—or rather, suffocating for Su Cenxi. He had barely stepped into the venue and hadn’t even greeted anyone before he felt a nervous, faint stomachache, and his vision seemed to be darkening.

Oh, the darkening vision could also be due to low blood sugar.

To present the best physique, Su Cenxi had eaten and drank very little all day, consuming only two small pieces of chocolate.

Just as Su Cenxi was considering finding a place to sit down and rest, Gaselin, who was beside him, suddenly exclaimed in a low voice, “Holy crap… someone is wearing the same outfit as you!”

Su Cenxi looked in the direction she indicated and saw that the person wearing the same outfit was actually a female model. The suit pants she was wearing were indeed the same brand, the same series, and the same main color as Su Cenxi’s, only the specific style was slightly different. The female model’s jacket had a more staggered and flowing cut, and the waist was more defined, while Su Cenxi’s was relatively stable and three-dimensional. To an outsider, this might not be considered a big deal. But everyone at tonight’s party was an industry insider, and anyone who glanced at them would know that Su Cenxi and this female model were wearing the same outfit.

To make matters worse, this female model was from ST, and she was a top supermodel who had broken into the top ten in last year’s fiercely competitive female MDC rankings. If Su Cenxi dared to play the “it’s not scary to wear the same outfit, whoever looks worse is the embarrassing one” game with her, it was likely that Su Cenxi himself would be the unlucky one.

“I clearly inquired about other male models and male entertainers borrowing A-brand clothes, how come there’s a female model wearing suit pants! And to be so unlucky as to run into us…” Gaselin complained in a low voice, making Su Cenxi feel dazed. He vaguely realized that Gaselin was shirking responsibility. If Ning Fei were handling this, he would never have allowed him to wear the same outfit as someone else. Even if it happened, Ning Fei’s reaction would be to immediately adjust the styling to make the matching less obvious, rather than nagging and explaining that she had already done her best.

What was even more ridiculous was that while Su Cenxi was thinking about his manager’s negligence, he didn’t even consider taking emergency measures himself.

So, while neither of them took any effective measures, an even greater crisis arrived—the female ST model who was wearing the same outfit actually noticed the situation and, after saying a few words to her companion, turned and walked towards Su Cenxi!

Su Cenxi seemed to have lost the ability to move until the other person stopped in front of him and smiled at him: “Hi, I saw that we’re wearing the same outfit, what a coincidence, I came to say hello.”

Her foreign language had an accent, and it just so happened that Su Cenxi’s foreign language skills were not very good, so he didn’t understand most of it. Fortunately, he barely understood the “say hello” at the end, so he replied: “…Good evening, Annie.”

“Oh, you know me, that’s great, I don’t need to introduce myself.” Annie looked him up and down, “Are you a model too?”

Annie might not have had any ill intentions, but as her gaze shifted, Su Cenxi couldn’t help but tense up: “I’m a model, Annie, my name is Su Cenxi. I also walked for A brand today.”

“Are you from ST’s Greater China branch?”

“No.” Su Cenxi replied haltingly, prompted by Gaselin’s low voice, “I’m with my own studio.”

“Oh—” Annie wasn’t interested in asking more and instead made a request: “Since it’s such a coincidence, how about we take a photo together? I want to post it on my account!”

Su Cenxi’s cold sweat started to pour down after hearing Gaselin’s translation.

What was she trying to do? Really do the “who looks worse is more embarrassed” thing?

Su Cenxi couldn’t figure out if the other party was doing this out of malice, nor did he know if it was good or bad to be on a photo with someone in the TOP 10. He couldn’t make up his mind for a moment, and Gaselin didn’t give any feedback either. Gaselin claimed to be a gold-medal agent, but she had never encountered a big star like Annie before, and she couldn’t figure out what this woman wanted to do.

In just a few seconds, Annie saw that he kept smiling and didn’t object, so she took out her phone from her handbag and handed it to Gaselin to help take the picture.

Gaselin was in a difficult position and had to help take the picture, secretly thinking of ways to make Su Cenxi not be outshone in the lens. The scary thing was that as they took pictures in a fixed spot, reporters, photographers, and even busybodies with a keen sense of smell also came over to take pictures.

Once professional equipment arrived, the flashlights flashed continuously for a while. Annie was a bit of an attention hog and struck several poses, changing them as she took pictures, and also interacted with Su Cenxi. Since things had developed to this point, Su Cenxi could only bite the bullet and cooperate. He couldn’t act like a wooden stake when he was with a supermodel, could he? He felt dizzy from the flashing lights and only relied on instinct to tense his body and pose.

After taking a few pictures, Gaselin gradually had an idea in her mind: how about… making their clothes look like couple outfits? At least that would be better than wearing the same outfit!

Having made up her mind, Gaselin was just taking out her own phone to take pictures when a male voice suddenly came from behind her: “What are you taking pictures of?”

Gaselin turned her head, and the owner of the voice stepped forward through the crowd—it was Duan Yunhong!

“Andrew!” Annie smiled, finally leaving Su Cenxi’s side, “Look at this boy’s clothes, what a coincidence, I just wanted to take a photo and post it on my account! I can take pictures, right?”

“I have no objection.” Duan Yunhong said, glancing backward, “What do you think, Mr. Ryan?”

Only then did Su Cenxi see that behind the crowd of photographers stood a silver-haired, silver-bearded man in his forties, dressed fashionably—it was Ryan, the current chief designer of A brand!

Ryan should have come with Duan Yunhong, and his tone was casual as he replied: “Whatever, take pictures if you want.”

Duan Yunhong nodded and glanced at Su Cenxi again, saying lightly: “A brand’s replicated classic series this year has been changed to only include women’s clothing. Mr. Su’s men’s clothing is from the eighteen-year-old version, right?”

These words sounded very much like he was criticizing Su Cenxi for not being fashion-sensitive and not being able to wear the latest clothes. But it was all spoken in a foreign language, and Su Cenxi didn’t catch up. He only felt that Duan Yunhong was a bit “ill-intentioned.” Fortunately, Gaselin finally played a role this time, opening her mouth to explain: “Su Cenxi is indeed wearing a classic vintage piece, one of the original collection.”

“There are original collections of these too?” Ryan exclaimed casually, “I’ve seen all the original classic pieces designed by my teacher at A brand, and I’ve never seen this one. Based on my understanding of my teacher, he definitely wouldn’t have designed such proportions back then…”

He spoke quickly, and Gaselin couldn’t quite grasp everything, so she could only pick out some key words to understand and translate: “Ryan hasn’t seen the original of this piece of clothing, he thinks the proportions of this clothing are different from the original design…”

Su Cenxi felt his stomachache and dizziness become more obvious.

This outfit was borrowed by people from the studio. When Su Cenxi tried it on, he was praised to the skies. How could he have asked about the origin of the original piece, whether it was reliable, whether it had been modified, or whether there were any collectible anecdotes? This wasn’t something that Su Cenxi necessarily needed to know, it was the job of the agent to confirm everything!

But right now, Gaselin didn’t answer these key questions, she only cared about translating.

Su Cenxi didn’t know that Gaselin’s translation had any deviation, he only felt that the more he listened, the more it sounded like Ryan was saying that this vintage men’s outfit was fake, a high imitation. He didn’t know if this outfit was real or fake, but if Ryan said it was fake, then even the real one would become fake. If he was caught wearing a counterfeit at A brand’s celebration party, Su Cenxi didn’t even dare to imagine what the consequences would be!

On top of that, a nosy reporter on the scene asked: “Su Cenxi, is this outfit yours Mr. Gu’s collection? If not, where did it come from?”

Su Cenxi smiled reluctantly: “It’s not from Gu Hechen’s collection, it was borrowed from the studio.”

The reporter asked again: “Then has this piece of clothing been modified from the original? Who modified it?”

Su Cenxi didn’t dare to tell the truth that he didn’t know anything about it, and he didn’t dare not answer, so he said ambiguously in a dizzy state: “This, this should be asked to the original collector…”

He didn’t even know what he was saying himself, and just as he felt like he was done for, he didn’t expect the reporter to change the subject: “By the way, why didn’t Mr. Gu come with you today? He didn’t even come to see your show, what’s the reason?”

Su Cenxi was stunned for a moment, and then said: “He has his work, and I have my work.”

The reporter asked again: “It’s been revealed online that there are spies within Gu’s company, and a president has even been arrested, what do you think about this matter?”

Su Cenxi said: “I don’t know about this matter…”

Gu’s gossip was obviously more interesting than a piece of clothing. Even if Su Cenxi kept saying he didn’t know, he was, after all, Gu Hechen’s darling boyfriend, and any wrong or leaked words would be worth writing a news article about. The reporters became interested and rushed forward, surrounding Su Cenxi, as if they wanted to find out everything about Gu Hechen’s recent itinerary.

Duan Yunhong wasn’t interested in these farces. He looked at Annie, who had been cast aside, and said: “Come with me, someone wants to measure your thirty-million-dollar steps.”

“Here I come!” Annie immediately followed her boss, and whispered, “Andrew, did you deliberately want me to wear this tonight? Are you satisfied with the little fun I just had?”

Duan Yunhong glanced at her: “It’s just a coincidence.”

“OKOK, ‘coincidence’.” Annie stretched out the index and middle fingers of both hands, hooked them, and made a quotation mark gesture, then asked, “What are we doing now, really going to measure the speed?”

Duan Yunhong: “Yes.”

Annie asked: “What am I going to cooperate with? Fast or slow?”

Duan Yunhong: “It’s not certain whether it will work or not, if it works, you will have to cooperate with a ‘great beauty’ in the future—a steel great beauty.”

Annie: “…Huh?”

The two didn’t walk far, they hadn’t even left the party hall, when they suddenly heard a commotion behind them.

“Quick, someone, Su Cenxi has fainted!!!”