Chapter 242: A Thunderclap from Out of the Blue—This Black Gold…

Immersed in showing off, Professor Huang didn't notice Old Man Huang's unusual behavior. Upon hearing this, he subconsciously replied, "Yes, Jiaze told me a lot about the homework he did to draw this design. In the end, he chose this naval theme after careful selection..."

"Oh, it was chosen after careful selection..." Old Huang slowly drawled out his words, "Then why do I feel a sense of déjà vu?"

"Father, what do you mean by that?" Professor Huang frowned immediately. "Have you seen similar topics elsewhere...?"

His father, Mr. Huang, had worked in Great Britain when he was young, and only returned to Hong Kong in the 1970s to settle down and retire. Great Britain has a long history of football, so it is not surprising that Mr. Huang may have seen similar themes before.

Even if his father had seen similar styles before, with his own experience studying in Great Britain and his years of experience in Hong Kong, he was still amazed by this naval design drawing – which means that even if there had been similar designs before, they were from a very long time ago.

Ideas clashing are quite common in the design world. If they come from close together, there will be controversy, but if they come from far apart, there are generally no major problems.

Of course, even though that's what he thought, Professor Huang, just to be on the safe side, still pressed on with another question: "Dad, do you remember what that jersey you saw looked like? How similar was it?"

If the two jerseys are too similar, then I'll have to help my nephew make some modifications.

Hearing Professor Huang's response, Old Man Huang no longer bothered to pretend and simply sneered: "How similar are they? The difference between a draft and a final version—what do you think?"

"Dad, what do you mean by this?" Professor Huang finally began to understand the true meaning behind the smile on Old Man Huang's face.

"The day before yesterday, another student of yours, Zhou Huichang, came to me with a draft of this design. She said that she had drawn it a bit beyond her expectations and asked if I wanted to change the collar back to a common style..." The more Mr. Huang spoke, the more Professor Huang's face darkened.

“And I told her, no need. This collar is the finishing touch to your design. If you remove it, the blue and white color scheme, which is well-matched but uses two overly common colors, will only make her design blend into the crowd.” Old Huang said slowly, then pointed to another black folder in Professor Huang’s briefcase, “This folder contains Zhou Huichang’s young woman’s ‘design drawings,’ right?”

"Yes, because I'm talking to Qizhi tonight, so I brought everything with me."

"I'm going now. After you finish visiting him, I'll go see Qizhi..." Professor Huang said, head bowed.

"You said that Jiaze was 'just passing by' delivering the design drawings for his junior sister, but the design drawings that I've seen before are actually in my senior brother's folder. What exactly happened here? Can't you open it and check it carefully?" Old Huang's sneer deepened.

The lingering influence of his former mentor and father figure, coupled with the apparent involvement of his cousin's alleged misappropriation of design elements, prompted Professor Huang to open another black folder with trembling hands. He immediately saw that next to his own design for Qizhi's home jersey was a modified "navy collar jersey design."

However, this design clearly bears the mark of a clumsy imitation and rushed production, lacking the exquisite color scheme and natural perfection of the design in the blue folder—though after looking at both designs, it's quite obvious that the former was influenced by the latter…

It could even be said that it was precisely because they saw the brilliance of the latter that the former, despite its own differences in color, tried to clumsily imitate the innovation of the former.

Such blatant and clumsy "imitation" can be simply described as "plagiarism."

Recalling what Huang Jiaze had said earlier, Professor Huang's complex emotions were even more intense: his cousin, whom he loved like his own son, not only stole other people's design drawings out of jealousy of his junior sister's talent, but also seemed to be deliberately setting a trap to frame and slander his junior sister for plagiarism!

Otherwise, why would Huang Jiaze specifically mention his junior, Zhou Huichang, when discussing creative inspiration, saying that the two of them did their homework together to find inspiration?

The evidence was so conclusive, and it was revealed by his own father, leaving him no room for rebuttal...

"I told you before, those who forget their roots are bound to be talented but lacking in character; you just never believed me." Old Huang sighed and slowly sat down on the sofa.

Although his son wasn't as ungrateful as Huang Jiaze's family, always thinking about immigrating abroad, in this era that yearns for the West, he inevitably picked up some foreign-worshipping ideas and felt that his own things were inferior to those from outside.

Fortunately, it hasn't completely "declined" yet.

To be honest, his son still couldn't stand this kind of unscrupulous act of plagiarism and stealing other people's works.

"However, Jiaze is still our family's child... Although Professor Huang was very dissatisfied with his nephew's bad behavior this time, he couldn't help but soften his heart when he thought that he was the only son in their family this generation."

In his early years, he was arrogant and dissolute, always proud of his ability to flirt with countless women without getting attached. However, as he grew older, he developed a greater fondness for children. Unfortunately, because he was too promiscuous and unwilling to take responsibility when he was young, he no longer had the energy to be responsible and have children when he got older.

This led him to cherish his cousin's nephew like a treasure. Even though he felt that his cousin's family's ideas were too extreme, he didn't say much. Instead, he tried to help repair the relationship between his nephew and his biological father.

"Oh, so your nephew is a child, but other people's daughters aren't?" Seeing his son's expression, Old Huang's disgust grew even more. "Let me tell you, other people's daughters aren't easy to bully either. Her big-star cousin brought her to me to become my apprentice, and this is what happened. When the TV station exposes this, not only will your nephew be in trouble, but you won't get away with it either!"

He cursed and swore at his confused son, but in the end, he couldn't bear to see his son so conflicted. So, Old Huang picked up the landline phone from the bedside table and dialed the mobile phone number that Li Sishi had left behind, referring to the notes in his notebook.

When Li Sishi, who was watching the training with Zhou Huichang at the Qizhi training ground, answered the call and listened to Old Huang's apologetic explanation, she couldn't help but sneer inwardly.

"Changchang, I have something to tell you..." Li Sishi carefully chose her words and told Zhou Huichang what it was about. Zhou Huichang's eyes widened immediately.

“But senior brother, senior brother doesn’t seem like that kind of person. He’s usually very gentle and kind…” Zhou Huichang stammered.

Li Sishi gently patted her head: "There are some people in this world who have two completely different ideas—when they are in a position of power, they like to help those who are not as good as them, as this satisfies their ego..."

Although this idea is not good, he did do something, and if we judge by his actions rather than his intentions, he can barely be considered a "good person".

"However, conversely, when they find themselves inferior to others, they develop malicious intentions and want to pull down those who are more capable than them..." Li Sishi explained slowly.

In fact, many people have had this mentality at some point: "I can't stand seeing others work too hard, but I also can't stand seeing others drive Land Rovers."

Whether one chooses to succumb to evil thoughts and commit bad deeds, or to suppress evil thoughts and maintain one's true nature, is the choice that will ultimately lead to different outcomes.

While resting, Lei Shenglin saw Li Sishi and Zhou Huichang about to leave. He put down his water glass and ran over: "What's wrong?"

Changchang's design drawings were

"They've switched the story; I'm taking her to get an explanation," Li Sishi explained briefly.

"Such a thing happens? What do you plan to do then?" Lei Shenglin frowned.

Thinking that this matter also concerned the new jerseys for Qizhi, Zhou Huichang immediately lowered her head, looking troubled and aggrieved: "The professor should have some previous drafts; maybe he can revise them later..."

"Didn't you also have a 'backup draft'? Why not use yours?" Lei Shenglin looked over. "It's the one you showed me today, and I think it's excellent!"

Especially with the inspiration of lightning and the black and gold color scheme—recalling the fat lightning bolt that he mistook for corn, when he saw Zhou Huichang bring this design to him in the morning, he had a strange feeling that it was destiny.

"But, but the Hong Kong team's jerseys weren't black before..." Zhou Huichang told Lei Shenglin about the research she had done.

Lei Shenglin smiled and shook his head: "Just because it didn't exist before doesn't mean it won't exist in the future. Traditions are meant to be broken. If Qizhi had followed 'tradition,' then it wouldn't have its current completely new appearance."

With the approval of Lei Shenglin, the captain of Qizhi, Zhou Huichang seemed to have mustered up the courage to submit her black and gold design as Qizhi's new away jersey for the year.

In a way, this is a blessing in disguise: compared to the navy blue and white color scheme jersey, which was both unconventional and conservative, this black and gold lightning bolt pattern jersey was like a thunderbolt from a clear sky, directly trampling the traditional jersey design concepts of Hong Kong into the ground...

According to Zhou Huichang's original calculations, for her jersey, which broke with traditional concepts and took too big a step, to be worn by Qizhi players like Lei Shenglin, she would need to gain at least several more years of experience.

Due to time constraints, the details of the negotiations could not be elaborated upon at the moment. In any case, after submitting the new design drawings, the merchant expedited the printing of the brochures and even held a press conference the following afternoon.

The plan is to have this year's designers showcase the new jersey designs for each team, explain their design concepts, and try to attract more sales.

As the newest champion team in the Group A league, Nanfang was the second to last to play, and coincidentally, Qizhi, who was newly promoted this year, was designed by the same person, so Professor Huang and his two teammates had quite a bit of time left.

After Professor Huang briefly introduced the design sketches of the two teams' home jerseys, he called out to Huang Jiaze with a complicated expression.

Come on, let him introduce the navy blue and white away jersey he designed for the Southern Football Team.

Dazzled by the flashing lights, Huang Jiaze took a deep breath, stood up from his seat, and tried his best to remain calm. He then repeated the "design inspiration" he had mentioned to Professor Huang earlier.

"...Of course, the person I need to thank most for the success of this design, besides my professor Huang Sir, is my junior Zhou Huichang, who has been helping me find inspiration and do my homework all along." Huang Jiaze smiled and pulled up Zhou Huichang, who had been looking somber. "It just so happens that my junior is also the designer of Qizhi's new away jersey. Although she is only a freshman, she has her own ideas..."

While pretending to be a good senior brother, Huang Jiaze pulled Zhou Huichang to his side and took the initiative to help her flip through the picture book. At the same time, he was already mentally preparing to make a complex expression of surprise, disbelief, sadness, and anger.

Not only in terms of his expression, he even deliberately stretched out his hand and handed the sketchbook to the front, preparing for the reaction that if someone discovered the problem, he would realize something was wrong, then pull the sketchbook back from behind, and then discover that his junior sister had "copied" his work.

Being exposed for plagiarizing his senior's work at such a high-profile event, let's see if Zhou Huichang can still stand in the design industry of Hong Kong!

As long as Zhou Huichang is gone, there will be no newcomer stronger than him in Hong Kong's design industry...

Thinking this to himself, Huang Jiaze's page-turning motion almost carried a hint of fierceness. "My junior sister is probably a little shy and embarrassed to introduce her work, but let me tell you, her designs are truly incredibly innovative—"

Seeing Huang Jiaze's words and actions, Professor Huang, standing beside him, sighed imperceptibly.

As Huang Jiaze turned a page of the album, fearing that the reporters wouldn't be able to see the contents clearly, he tried to move the album, which was already placed quite far in front of him, forward a little further. Then, as he had hoped, he heard a commotion erupt in front of him, as if struck by lightning.

"Wow—this black and gold color scheme is truly unprecedented!"

"But it's so beautiful and cool. When I saw it, it felt like I'd been struck by lightning—is this what they call being smitten?"

When will this 'Black Gold Lightning' set be available for purchase? I want to buy it!

Faced with the stunning and delighted expressions before him, Huang Jiaze, who had already feigned surprise, instantly froze.