Chapter 22 Someone copied my style
When Su Hexi heard the noise, she turned around suddenly and saw Zhou Lin staring at her. She immediately let out a scream of fear and shame!
She frantically grabbed the clothes she had just taken off and held them tightly to her chest. Her body trembled violently with anger and humiliation, and her face instantly turned red as blood!
"Get out! Zhou Lin, you filthy bastard! Bastard! Get out!" Her voice was sharp and tearful. She grabbed a spool of thread on the table and threw it at him!
The spool of thread hit Zhou Lin's chest. It didn't hurt, but it jerked him back to his senses. He felt like he'd been burned, his face flushing crimson. He was so panicked he didn't dare look at her again, practically crawling out of the room.
He leaned against the cold earthen wall outside the door, his heart still beating wildly. The thrilling white scene just now flashed repeatedly in his mind, unable to be shaken off.
Suddenly, the door was pushed open from the inside with a bang.
Su Hexi had already put on her clothes, her hair was still a little messy, but her eyes were burning with rage, like a little beast that was completely enraged.
She rushed to Zhou Lin and, without hesitation, punched his chest and kicked him. Her voice trembled with anger and grievance: "What did you see just now?! Why did you come in! Why didn't you wait for my permission before coming in! You rascal! Shameless! Vulgar!"
Zhou Lin let her beat him without dodging or evading, his face filled with guilt and embarrassment. He explained awkwardly, "I... I didn't mean to... I really didn't know you were changing clothes... I just finished showering and wanted to come in to ask about the material... The door wasn't locked, so I..."
"You can just barge in without locking the door?! This is my place!" Su Hexi refused to listen to any explanation. Shame and anger filled her, she hit him even harder, "Get out! Get back to your dorm right now! Don't sleep here anymore! Not even on the floor! I feel sick just by looking at you!"
Letting her live in the same room with a man who had just seen her naked? Absolutely not!
When Zhou Lin heard she was going to kick him out, he immediately got anxious. "No! I can't leave!" He grabbed Su Hexi's flailing wrist and said firmly, "It's too dangerous for you to live alone! What if someone else..."
"That's none of your business!" Su Hexi struggled to break free, tears streaming down her face again. "I'd rather be killed by a bad guy than live with a scoundrel like you!"
"Xiaoxi!" Zhou Lin was anxious and helpless. Seeing her crying so hard, he felt uncomfortable too. He had to take a step back. "Then...then I'll build a tent in the yard to sleep in! Can I not go into the house? I can just sleep in the yard and watch the door to prevent you from getting into danger."
Su Hexi had beaten him, scolded him, and her strength was almost exhausted. Although she was still irritated by what he said, she was also afraid of living alone. She glared at him fiercely, which was considered as tacit consent, but she still said harshly: "You are not allowed to enter my room again! Stay away from me!"
"Okay, okay, I won't go in. I'll stay away." Seeing her give in, Zhou Lin quickly agreed.
"Let's get on it now!" Su Hexi ordered.
Zhou Lin looked at the pitch-black sky and said with embarrassment, "It's too late now. I can't see anything. Tomorrow, tomorrow morning, I'll do it, okay? Tonight... tonight I'll sleep on the floor. I promise to stay away from you! I'll sleep facing the wall and I won't even look back!"
Su Hexi also knew that it was unrealistic to build a shed now. She bit her lip, glared at him fiercely, turned around and went back to the house, slamming the door loudly.
In the early morning, Su Hexi was still angry and looked very bad. It was obvious that she was still angry about what happened last night.
Seeing this, Zhou Lin knew what was going on and quickly went to set up a shed in the yard to avoid angering Su Hexi.
However, Zhou Lin was very reluctant. Once the shed was built, he would find it harder than climbing to the sky to sleep in the house, even if it was just on the floor.
He pretended to be busy, but in fact he made no progress at all.
He would steal a glance at Su Hexi from time to time, fearing that she would suddenly come over to check his work.
Su Hexi was concentrating on making clothes in her room. After a whole morning, she was suddenly surprised. Until today, no customers had come to her shop.
Normally at this time, there would be several people coming to her to order clothes, but today it was strangely deserted, not a single person in sight.
Su Hexi couldn't help but feel puzzled, but didn't care much.
Until the afternoon, several customers who had previously ordered clothes did not show up on the day they were supposed to pick up the clothes.
A feeling of uneasiness came over her.
"I'll go out and take a look." She said to Zhou Lin, walked out of the shop, and wanted to walk around the nearby streets to find out what was going on.
Not far away, she saw two familiar faces on the street corner who had ordered clothes from her before. They were walking and chatting, wearing shirts and pants that looked very similar to the ones in her store! But upon closer inspection, the stitching was a little rougher and the fabric seemed to be of a lower quality.
When the two men saw Su Hexi, their smiles suddenly became awkward, and they quickly walked away with evasive eyes.
Su Hexi's heart skipped a beat, but she remained calm and walked back to the street where she used to sell her wares.
Sure enough, I saw several women wearing similar styles of clothes. Although the details and texture were quite different, the general design elements were imitating her!
She pulled over an auntie she knew and asked casually, "Auntie Zhang, this new dress is very beautiful. Where did you make it?"
Aunt Zhang's eyes flickered for a moment, and she laughed dryly, "It's...it's made by the new tailor shop on the street ahead. It's cheap..."
"A newly opened tailor shop?" Su Hexi asked.
"Yeah!" another woman interrupted with a hint of hostility in her tone. "That lady boss used to work in a textile factory, so she's very skilled! She can make clothes like yours, and the labor costs are almost half as much as yours! You made a lot of money from us before, didn't you? Now that there's a cheaper deal, of course we'll go with the cheaper one!"
"That's right," Aunt Zhang agreed. "It looks similar, so as long as it works, who cares about the stitches and threads? Affordability is what matters most!"
Su Hexi's heart sank to the bottom in an instant.
Plagiarism! Low price competition!
Her worst fears had finally come true. Her designs, without patents, were easily copied. Others, using inferior fabrics, crude craftsmanship, and undercutting prices, easily stole her customers. Those customers, however, couldn't distinguish between good and bad, only caring about the immediate bargain.
She returned to the shop in a daze, with a grim look on her face.
Seeing her like this, Zhou Lin quickly asked, "What's wrong? What happened?"
Su Hexi plopped down on the stool, her voice weary yet tinged with anger: "Someone copied my designs! Their labor costs are half of mine! They've taken away all my customers!"
Zhou Lin was stunned.
He didn't understand what plagiarism competition meant, but he knew that no customers meant no income. He looked at the piles of high-quality, expensive fabrics that had just been brought in, as well as the clothes that had been cut but not yet finished, and frowned.
"Then...then what should we do?"
He asked somewhat helplessly.
He was good at fighting, but when he encountered something like this in business, he had no idea how to deal with it.
The shop fell into a suffocating silence. All the previous hustle and bustle and hope seemed to be drained away in an instant.
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