Chapter 70: Find out who the insider is

The host opened the black envelope in his hand, drew out a card, and on it was written the name of the winning design company; besides him, no one else could see it.

Many people at the scene unconsciously clenched their fingers, held their breath, and silently repeated their company's name in their hearts, as if the more they chanted, the greater their hope of winning.

"I announce that the winner of this design draft is Bo Ya Design Company! Congratulations!" The host looked down at Xia Xi; he had almost forgotten the representatives of the design companies before, but since Xia Xi had just gone on stage to demonstrate, he remembered her well, "I look forward to the cooperation between the Xu Clan and Bo Ya."

Bo Ya won.

The design teams whose hopes were dashed let out regretful sighs, turned their heads, and cast envious glances toward the Bo Ya team.

If one were to say they weren't convinced, there would certainly be some of that; everyone thought their own plan was the best, having poured too much effort into it, yet to say they doubted the result would be nonexistent.

They had seen Bo Ya's design drafts, and they were indeed outstanding.

The fairness and justice of the open design competition are evident here; each side can see the other's strength, and there is no sneaking through.

On the contrary, everyone at Bo Ya was dazed, unable to believe what they heard. Yesterday their plan had been stolen, they felt the apocalypse had come early, before them was utter darkness, only bewildered helplessness remained.

Today Xia Xi summoned everyone over; they were like walking corpses, until Xia Xi reminded them before entering to lift their spirits and not let the enemy see a joke, which spurred them to straighten up and put on a strong front.

Actually, only they themselves knew how empty they felt inside.

No one expected Xia Xi to conjure up such a brilliant plan like a magic trick, turning defeat into victory and overturning the odds.

Even after Bo Ya's victory was announced, they still felt surreal, wondering if they were daydreaming.

"Did we win?"

"Did I hear right?"

"Was the Xu Clan taken down?"

"Who can pinch me?"

"Am I still not awake?"

Hearing the team's silly questions, Xia Xi laughed and shook her head, firmly telling them: "Yes, you heard right, we won, Bo Ya won."

Hearing that answer, several people looked at each other, and after a few seconds, they all had hot tears welling up.

"I thought it was impossible, but Xia Gong gave us such a big surprise!"

They stood up, wanting to come over and hug Xia Xi; Xia Xi curled the corner of her mouth, pushed off with her feet, pulling the chair back, and warned softly: "Stay calm, there are still others present."

One sentence stopped their movement to surround her.

The other design teams present didn't know what had happened to them, only feeling their behavior was overly dramatic; at a moment of victory, shouldn't they be slapping hands and cheering?

Why were they all about to cry? Gao Ge hadn't wanted to cry, but they'd made the atmosphere too intense, so she couldn't help tearing up; she lifted her hand to fan beside her eyes, forcing herself to hold back.

*The design draft ended perfectly; Wang Xiao left first, walking and calling Xu Yanfeng to report the result: "General Manager Xu, the design draft is over, Bo Ya Design Company received the most votes."

Xu Yanfeng was not surprised by this result; Xia Xi's grades had been outstanding since school, and during her undergraduate years Professor Li Zongyu had taken notice, wanting to recommend her for direct graduate admission and to be her advisor.

Unfortunately she dropped out midway, which made Li Zongyu so angry his blood pressure rose.

"Hurry up and finalize the contract."

"I know."

Wang Xiao waited for the other side to hang up, but after a few seconds of silence, Xu Yanfeng suddenly said: "Later, announce this news: tonight the Xu Clan will hold a banquet at the Lord Auspicious Hotel to celebrate the cooperation with Bo Ya Design Company. The design teams that didn't win, if they aren't in a hurry to leave, can stay for a drink to promote exchange."

"Okay, I'll take care of it right away." Wang Xiao agreed readily.

After the call ended, Wang Xiao didn't delay; he immediately ordered his assistant to send emails to all participating design teams, inviting them to the Xu Clan's banquet tomorrow night. Thus, the team members who hadn't left yet, upon receiving the email, all sighed that the Xu Clan handled things thoroughly, without flaw.

Although the banquet's theme is celebrating the Xu Clan's cooperation with Bo Ya, it also doesn't exclude these unsuccessful design teams; having such an exchange opportunity naturally brings only benefits, no drawbacks.

The Xu Clan's projects are not limited to Jingyu Yuan; who knows if there will be other cooperation opportunities? At the banquet, the Xu Clan's management will certainly be present, and in conversation they might just settle on a certain project.

So, nobody rushed to leave; they chose to stay an extra day to attend tomorrow night's banquet.

Xia Xi couldn't care less about the banquet; she just wants to go home, lie in bed, and sleep, leaving tomorrow's matters for tomorrow.

By ill chance, she ran into Present Cypress people in the hallway; the sleepiness in her body vanished instantly, and she gave an icy stare to the leader, Zhang Wanli.

Zhang Wanli's face was darker than the suit he wore, his gaze gloomy; the few people behind him had the same complexion as him.

How could he have imagined that Xia Xi had a backup plan, capable of turning around such a dire situation?

"Some people are shameless, not using their brains, stealing others' plans empty-handed—what's the result if not defeat? I really want to curse them as deserving! But they're a bunch of old turtles, not human, so they probably can't understand human language." Xiao Pei, standing beside Xia Xi, sneered mockingly.

As soon as he spoke, the team members immediately chimed in: "Xiao Pei, you're something else—how can you call others old turtles? You should call them old rats, hiding in the sewers!"

"Don't say more, or they'll be angry to death."

"If they make me angry enough, I'll go set off fireworks!"

"Then you gotta set off two hundred bangs!"

"Hahahaha."

The Present Cypress folks had their teeth chattering, their facial muscles trembling with rage, yet they couldn't utter a single rebuttal; for if they responded, it would mean admitting they were the ones who stole the plan.

This is called "knocking out teeth and swallowing blood"! "Let's go, go rest." Xia Xi chuckled.

The team members surrounding her all said in unison: "Okay."

The group entered the elevator first, while the Present Cypress people stood outside, the two sides facing off, tension high.

At the hotel entrance, Bo Ya's members, just as when they came, split into two cars, preparing to head home.

Xia Xi pulled out a neck pillow and put it on her neck; just as she closed her eyes, her phone rang. She didn't open her eyes, reached into her bag, felt around, pulled out the phone, then squinted at the screen through a narrow gap.

Lu Mingji's call came in; without answering she knew it was to ask about the result, so she tossed the phone to the person beside her: "Please answer."

After uttering three words, Xia Xi's upper and lower eyelids stuck together.

Gao Ge pressed the answer key, turned on speakerphone, and told Lu Mingji they had won. Lu Mingji, though aware of Xia Xi's ability and believing she had a countermove after yesterday's calm response, still found the result unexpected.

Lu Mingji was excited for a while, joking: "I didn't think we could win, so I hadn't even booked a celebration dinner."

Gao Ge was in a good mood, her tone light: "No need to book; the Xu Clan Group is holding a banquet tomorrow night to celebrate for us, saving you money, President Lu."

"No no no, the Xu Clan is the Xu Clan, you are Bo Ya's great contributors; this money shouldn't be saved. When we find time later, we'll make up the celebration dinner!" Lu Mingji declared, insisting he was absolutely not a stingy boss.

Xia Xi couldn't sleep from the noise, she lifted her arm to cover her eyelids, and Youyou said calmly: "Put the celebration dinner aside for now; finding out who the insider traitor is is the most urgent, we can't let that person stay at the company."

When the insider traitor was mentioned, everyone in the car except the driver wore solemn faces, even the joy of victory was diluted.

Xia Xi is right; if the insider continues to hide in the company, who knows what damage they will do to the company's interests later.

Lu Mingji fell silent on the phone for a moment, because he didn't know the internal situation of their team and couldn't intervene, so he could only hope in Xia Xi: "Do you have a way to ferret out that person?"

Guess who did it! (End of chapter)