The International Jewelry Competition held by the Milan World Expo had always been praised by many in the jewelry field for its highly regulated and exclusive competition arrangements. Every round of the competition was so perfectly arranged.
Only people with the Milan World Expo’s invitation could participate—this effectively controlled the number of participants as well as the standard of the jewelry designers, raising the bar of the competition to that between the best of the best.
The competition had five rounds—elimination, audition, selection, ranking, and the grand finals.
And the grand finals was the highlight of the competition.
The Milan World Expo Jewelry organizers and all important members of all associations would all attend the grand event.
All reputable major jewelry associations around the world, as well as jewelry businesses, would be invited to attend the competition.
The competition also invited the world-renowned jewelry designers to watch the competition as guests.
Additionally, the competition also invited many reputable characters in the jewelry field, as well as reputable characters in the world, and even famous artists to hype up the event. With so many important people gathered, naturally the event would attract the media of countries all over the world.
Wen Xinya chatted a while with Teacher Jill. In the process, no looks were given to Yan Menglu and Shen Siwen. They were also very awkward because of this as they stood rooted to the ground, not knowing whether to leave or stay, and they couldn’t quite maintain their expressions.
Very quickly, Teacher Jill had to leave for something else.
Wen Xinya also took the opportunity and said, “Miss Yan and Miss Shen, very sorry, I’ve got to leave to attend to something else.”
Saying which, she nodded to Shen Siwen and Yan Menglu before turning her back and leaving.
Wen Xinya was wearing a high-waisted oriental wrap dress. The white blouse, paired with the light blue pleated skirt with floral prints, as well as the lotus leaf designs on her sleeves, added a vintage and fashionable touch to this wrap dress. The thin, white fox fur cape on her arm covered the upper half of her exposed arm. As she walked, the pleated skirt swayed in a manner which sparked an elegant and vintage gorgeousness, making Wen Xinya look even more elegant and classy.
As she left, Yan Menglu and Shen Siwen watched as the flowy pleats of the skirt behind her danced in such a graceful and gorgeous manner and their expressions became even more awful uncontrollably.
“I didn’t expect that Wen Xinya is actually on such good terms with Mr. Jill de Castei.” Shen Siwen was slightly better. Although she wasn’t as good at pretending as a real white lotus, she was at least a fake white lotus and could at least control her temper. Nevertheless, her current expression still exposed the horrible emotions boiling within her.
To be able to befriend such a world-renowned jewelry design judge was a dream for every jewelry designer. A good judge was equivalent to a tutor on a jewelry designer’s design journey.
A tutor could only teach you about jewelry design, but a judge could accurately point out the weaknesses in your designs and give you constructive feedback.
She had been in the jewelry design field for a long time and also knew a number of jewelry design judges. However, she didn’t know anyone as reputable as Jill de Castei.
This aggrieved Shen Siwen.
Yan Menglu had always been arrogant. Seeing that prideful expression of Wen Xinya, as if she didn’t have a care in the world, Yan Menglu gritted her teeth. “What’s so great about that? She has merely taken advantage of that wretched, short-lived mother of hers. Just look at how arrogant she looks—it disgusts me.”
Yan Menglu had slightly better talent in jewelry design compared to Shen Siwen. Her tutor had once said that if she were to participate in the Jewelry Design Competition by the Milan World Expo three years later, she would have been stunning. She was only twenty-one-years-old this year and would only be twenty-four-years-old three years later. Then, she would have attained Shen Siwen’s standard at twenty-six-years-old, so the tutor had rather high hopes for her.
And her talent in jewelry design also made her popular in the upper-class society in Harbor City. This had also made her extremely pampered in the Yan Family. Yan Menglu, who had always lived with the halo of a princess, upon meeting Wen Xinya, seemed to have lost all of her glow as if it were snatched away by Wen Xinya. She couldn’t accept being neglected, ignored, and transparent.
Shen Siwen’s gaze flickered as she said with a sigh, “A person’s background and luck is also a kind of capability. Who can control her being fortunate, having a mother who can help her on her jewelry design journey?”
The seemingly resigned words seemed vaguely sour.
It was a sour taste not only directed at Wen Xinya but also at Yan Menglu.
She knew that the tutor had higher hopes for Yan Menglu than herself because the tutor thought that Yan Menglu had more talent in jewelry design than her. However, she couldn’t take it.
Because of her good family background, Yan Menglu had started with an early and strong foundation in jewelry design, which naturally contributed to her talent.
However, she didn’t have such a good life as Yan Menglu and only started jewelry design in university. She was even more talented than Yan Menglu and had only lost to her because she didn’t have such a good background.
Yan Menglu was filled with jealousy towards Wen Xinya and naturally didn’t notice Shen Siwen’s odd emotions. “Senior, Jill de Castei is the judge for the grand finals and Wen Xinya has such a good relationship with him. Will it affect the fairness of the grand finals?”
Yan Menglu had also participated in many jewelry design competitions and had met all sorts of things happening behind the scenes, such as bribing the judges and even participants who betrayed their bodies to please the judges. Thus, she felt slightly worried.
“Lulu, don’t spout nonsense. Mr. de Castei is a world-renowned jewelry design judge, has judged numerous high profile jewelry design competitions, and knows many jewelry designers personally. He has such a good reputation in this line not merely because of his fair character and extraordinary judgment. The fact that he came to participate as an invited guest judge also shows the fairness of this competition.”
Although Shen Siwen was very sensitive and was also very affected by Wen Xinya, having been in the jewelry design field for so long meant that she was also quite smart and knew clearly that such accusatory remarks towards judges couldn’t be said. Otherwise, if words got out accidentally, her reputation would also be affected. Naturally, she wouldn’t damage her reputation to tarnish Wen Xinya’s name.
Although these words were said by Yan Menglu, Yan Menglu was her junior and had accompanied her over this time. She was the participant of the finals and when the time came, she would definitely be implicated.
Yan Menglu wasn’t dumb, either. She was just in a fit of anger just now and now that she heard Shen Siwen’s words, she recovered quickly. However, she still insisted by saying, “Hmph. Wen Xinya has always been full of tricks and is cunning. Who knows if she has some unscrupulous methods.”
Recalling the series of tactics that Wen Xinya used against Xia Ruya in the Capital city previously, she despised Wen Xinya thoroughly.
