Xu Jiaming knew that he had to strike while the iron was hot. If he didn’t bring up a pay raise now, it would be hard to revisit the matter later. But he just couldn’t bring himself to say it.
Luckily, Young Master Xie was there.
His desire to make money was a hundred times stronger than Xu Jiaming’s, and he was the type who couldn’t keep things bottled up.
That said, Xie Heng wasn’t stupid enough to ask for a raise outright, doing so would only get him scolded. More importantly, Ms. Lu wasn’t stupid.
He had to take a more roundabout approach.
With that in mind, Xie Heng suddenly stopped walking, stretched lazily, and frowned.
Lu Xi glanced at him. “Why are you stopping? Keep walking.”
Xie Heng rolled his neck, producing faint cracking sounds. “Not walking. Taking a break. I’m exhausted.”
“…” Lu Xi stared at his blue hair, which was so vibrant it almost seemed like a sign of intellectual bankruptcy, and was at a loss for words.
This kid could play basketball for hours without a single complaint, and now he was claiming to be tired after walking a few steps? Who was he trying to fool?
She exchanged a glance with Yang Yihan. They both saw the same amused look in each other’s eyes. Then, crossing her arms, Lu Xi smirked, wearing a face that clearly said, “Alright, let’s see what little scheme you’re playing at.”
But Xie Heng wasn’t done laying the groundwork. He added, “All three of us are tired.”
Xu Jiaming remained silent, carefully avoiding Xie Heng’s gaze. He looked at the ceiling, his toes, the window, anywhere but at Xie Heng.
Suddenly, he felt a little embarrassed. Forget it. He didn’t really need the extra money that badly.
As for Song Siyang, he was completely out of the loop. “Huh? I’m not tired,” he said blankly.
Xie Heng shot him a glare.
Lu Xi smirked. “Alright, spill it. What do you want?”
Seeing that his setup was complete, Xie Heng cut straight to the chase. “I think five thousand is too little. We need a raise.”
After speaking, he carefully observed Lu Xi’s expression.
She didn’t scold him. She didn’t even furrow her brows. She simply asked calmly, “Oh? Then how much do you think is reasonable?”
Xie Heng wiggled his eyebrows. Hearing this, he knew there was room for negotiation. His imagination ran wild, and he held up five fingers. “Not much, just another five thousand.”
“For all three of you?”
“…Five thousand each!” Xie Heng clarified. “Not in total.” What, did she think he was an idiot?
Lu Xi did, in fact, think he was an idiot.
Clearly, her Young Master had no understanding of the job market. He was still too naive to realize how hard it was to make money, so he just threw out a number.
Narrowing her eyes in a smile, she rejected him mercilessly. “Nice try, but no. You’re all inexperienced, and this is your first time modeling. Five thousand is already generous.”
Xie Heng was momentarily stunned. He frowned in dissatisfaction. “Come on, even if we’re inexperienced, just look at us! We’re just as good as professional male models. Only five thousand? That’s an insult.”
Song Siyang thought to himself, Five thousand is an insult?
Then what about me, working for free? Am I just volunteering to be humiliated?
Since Xie Heng had already gone this far, he raised his chin and pressed on. “If we walked a runway outside, we’d get way more than this.”
The atmosphere grew tense.
Yang Yihan subtly clenched her hands, feeling nervous for Lu Xi.
She knew how hard it was to be a stepmother. She had to maintain a good relationship with her stepson, not being harsh, but even being nice didn’t guarantee his approval. Especially with someone like Xie Heng, who was rebellious enough to disregard even his own father.
If this wasn’t handled well, Young Master Xie might just walk away from the job entirely.
Did he really care about the money?
Probably not.
But this was Lu Xi’s family matter. As an outsider, Yang Yihan couldn’t interfere. She could only watch in anxious silence.
Yet Lu Xi remained unfazed.
Leisurely, she admired her perfectly manicured nails and said lightly, “Wake up, Young Master Xie. You’re underage. No one but me would be kind enough to hire you as a model.”
“…Ha! Don’t try to fool me. I looked into it, we can sign entertainment contracts.” Xie Heng scoffed smugly.
Lu Xi lifted her eyelids slightly, a trace of surprise flashing in her eyes.
Not bad, kid. You actually did some research. That’s progress.
Still, not enough. Smiling, she said, “Entertainment contracts require a guardian’s signature. I’m your Mom. I don’t agree.”
Xie Heng was dumbfounded. His mouth opened, but he had no words.
His blue hair drooped in dejection.
In the end, the old saying was true. Where there’s a will, Mom has a way. He lost, and he lost badly.
And just like that, his grand campaign for a pay raise was swiftly put to rest before it could even begin.
…
The three boys left in defeat. The butler couldn’t help but smile as he watched, then waved the servants away to resume their work.
Lu Xi, too, couldn’t suppress a victorious smile.
“Xixi, you’re amazing,” Yang Yihan couldn’t help but sigh in admiration. Before, she had thought of Lu Xi as just a young, chatty friend, someone she could easily relate to—a little sister, almost. But now, she was genuinely impressed.
For a moment, she had actually panicked, afraid that Young Master Xie would throw a tantrum over Lu Xi calling herself his Mom.
Yet he had swallowed the loss without a single retort.
Truly unexpected.
Lu Xi smiled back at her. It wasn’t the right time to explain everything, so she simply said, “Xie Heng has been behaving better lately.”
In reality, she felt a little guilty saying that.
After all, she and Yang Yihan were friends, and she was also a fan of hers. Friendships were built on sincerity, and if possible, she’d like to be completely honest.
But logically speaking, she knew, this wasn’t the right moment yet.
Both she and Xie Yizhao had a mutual understanding. Unless absolutely necessary, there was no need to explain her identity to anyone. Other people assumed she was Xie Heng’s stepmother, but that didn’t affect her life, because those people were never really part of it anyway.
Wouldn’t it be exhausting to explain everything to everyone?
But friends were different. Lu Xi thought she would wait for the right time to tell her. There was no need to mention the whole time-traveling part. Given Yang Yihan’s emotional intelligence, she probably wouldn’t pry too much.
Yang Yihan smiled and said, “I really made the right choice moving back.”
Being neighbors with a friend was great. She wasn’t home most of the time, but Xu Jiaming could visit the Xie family and had even made two new friends. Knowing this put Yang Yihan at ease while she was busy outside.
The two chatted for a while, and then Lu Xi, feeling excited, brought out the school uniform designs she had been working on.
The housekeeper brought down two sets of clothes.
Unfortunately, the two girls weren’t there to try them on, but even just looking at them, they were beautiful. Yang Yihan suddenly felt that kids these days were really lucky. Back in her school days, the uniforms were so ugly it was tragic. Worse, they were mandatory. Everyone had to buy and wear them every single day. It was one of the darkest parts of her childhood.
Just as Lu Xi was about to have the clothes taken upstairs—
“Wait a second.” Yang Yihan suddenly frowned, sensing that something was off.
She stared at the spring/summer uniform and asked the housekeeper to bring it closer so she could take a better look.
Seeing her expression, Lu Xi asked, “What’s wrong?”
Yang Yihan glanced at Lu Xi, hesitated for a moment, and then decided to be honest, but she softened her tone. “I just feel like I’ve seen something similar before.”
Not wanting Lu Xi to think she was accusing her of plagiarism, she quickly added, “But I might be mistaken.”
Lu Xi was momentarily stunned.
She understood what Yang Yihan was implying.
But she had confidence in her own designs, it wasn’t easy for her work to resemble someone else’s. The key question was: just how similar was it?
For creative professionals, originality was crucial. This could be a small issue or a major one. Lu Xi pressed further.
She remained calm, showing no sign of displeasure, just curiosity. Since she asked so openly, Yang Yihan had no reason to hesitate.
Just two days ago, Yang Yihan had met up with an old friend for a meal. That friend’s child also attended Mingli, and she had participated in the school uniform design competition.
“I don’t know if you’ve heard of Miss Zheng, Zheng Suxin.”
Lu Xi was momentarily taken aback before she couldn’t help but smile.
Oh, she knew Zheng Suxin, alright.
In fact, they were old acquaintances.
Not to mention, Zheng Suxin was actually Zheng Wei’s older sister. She wondered how she was doing now.
Lu Xi didn’t say much, only replying, “I’ve heard of her.”
Yang Yihan went on to explain that the other day, Zheng Suxin had received some design drafts from someone and had casually shown them to her. She had even mentioned that she had hired a designer to enter the competition just for fun.
“I think your design looks a lot like hers. Especially the sleeves, you both have a dragonfly motif.”
Lu Xi was speechless.
She realized the seriousness of the situation.
The little dragonfly logo was part of her vacationwear collection, she had drawn the design herself. When sketching the girls’ school uniform, she had spontaneously added a dragonfly, thinking it was cute, and decided to keep it.
Later, she included the motif in other uniform designs as well. Dragonflies symbolized youth, elegance, and vitality, which felt like a perfect fit.
This wasn’t just a case of similar designs.
Lu Xi was certain she hadn’t copied anyone. That left only one possibility.
Plagiarism was disgraceful. A designer without originality had no business in the industry. She was furious and wanted to confront the person responsible right away. But first, she had to make sure there was no misunderstanding.
With a serious expression, she asked Yang Yihan to help her get in touch with Zheng Suxin.
“No problem. I hope I was mistaken,” Yang Yihan said. She understood that this could be a big deal. Luckily, she had a long-standing friendship with Zheng Suxin, more than twenty years. And Lu Xi wasn’t the type to jump to conclusions. She believed they could handle this rationally.
But she still hoped it was just a false alarm.
Right then and there, she called Zheng Suxin and briefly explained the situation.
Zheng Suxin immediately frowned.
It was just a small high school design competition, mainly filled with socialite Moms. Most parents entered for fun, treating it as a social event. Almost all of them had hired professional designers to create the uniforms.
They paid for the designs in a fair transaction, nothing shady about it. The school was aware and had never objected.
But that didn’t mean they were clueless or willing to tolerate plagiarism.
No one wanted to pay for stolen work.