After settling things at home, she threw herself into revising her work. The competition was scheduled for next Monday, and for three days in a row she squeezed in time to eat and sleep, finally falling asleep on the sofa in the middle of the night.
On Saturday morning, sunlight streamed through the gaps in the curtains, illuminating Gu Anran's sleeping face, where faint dark circles were visible beneath her eyes.
With a slight tremor of her eyelashes, Gu Anran slowly opened her eyes and looked up to see the clothes on the mannequin opposite her.
After so much hard work, she finally finished making the outfit she was going to wear for the competition.
Gu Anran took out her phone and sent a message to Marry, informing him that she was ready to submit her work.
Marry helped her contact the competition organizer, who quickly gave her a reply, along with an email confirming her flight to Paris, which the organizer had booked for her.
Time is of the essence; we must depart tonight.
Gu Anran quickly packed her luggage. Since she was only going to participate in the competition for a few days and would be back soon, she didn't bring too many clothes. She just carefully packed her artwork.
This was the most important thing she carried with her.
"Mom, when are you coming back?" Gu Xiaotian, dressed in childish pajamas, stood at the door watching her pack her luggage.
"Mom will be back after the competition and will bring you a present." Although she was reluctant to leave, she had to go to the competition. Gu Xiaotian didn't say anything else, but just tiptoed up and gave her a kiss before going to sleep.
Gu Anran rushed to the airport without stopping, handling her artwork with great care throughout the journey. She carried the artwork with her until she arrived at her hotel in Paris, when she finally took it out of her suitcase.
The people staying at this hotel are all contestants who will be participating in the competition tomorrow. They come from different countries and have different skin colors, but most of them are already very famous designers.
Many designers looked at Gu Anran with strange expressions when they saw her unfamiliar face.
They assumed Gu Anran wouldn't understand them, so they didn't try to hide their conversation from her, and Gu Anran overheard everything.
"How come there are designers I've never heard of before? This has suddenly lowered the standard of our competition."
"Ignore her, she's definitely not very strong."
Gu Anran took the red wine from the waiter and deliberately shook it as she passed by the two white men, pretending that she was about to spill it on them, which startled the two ladies who hurriedly dodged away.
However, the red wine did not spill on them. Instead, Gu Anran apologized to them in fluent French and gave them a disdainful look.
The two ladies were surprised by Gu Anran's excellent French. They glanced at each other awkwardly for a moment and didn't continue the conversation.
The next day was the official competition day. This competition adopted a member recommendation system, and the members who were qualified to recommend were all leaders in the industry, so the designers they recommended were also extremely talented.
Gu Anran also saw several senior designers on the judging panel, and her originally calm heart immediately became nervous.
It seems this competition is even more grand than she imagined.
However, the nervousness only became Gu Anran's motivation to keep going. She was busy backstage helping her models put on their designs and making final touches.
To ensure the fairness of the competition, each person has their own backstage dressing room to ensure that no work is seen beforehand.
Therefore, none of the players know their opponents' strategies before the official competition, which is what makes it unsettling.
The staff member glanced at the door to Gu Anran's dressing room and said, "Designer Gu, you're next. Please get ready."
Gu Anran pulled her model along to the backstage to prepare. As the music started, the model, wearing her clothes, walked onto the runway.
As soon as Gu Anran's work was unveiled, it instantly attracted everyone's attention, including the contestants who had already presented their work.
After the model walked around the runway, Gu Anran took the model's hand and led her to the center of the runway. She saw that the judges' eyes were full of approval, and that the judges were exchanging words with each other.
The two ladies who mocked Gu Anran in the hotel banquet hall last night were also sitting below, and their faces turned green.
This match was broadcast live globally. In a country thousands of miles away, Ye Lichuan looked at the smiling woman on the computer screen and a slight smile appeared on his lips.
At this point, the host had already tallied the results given by the judges, announced the scores of all the contestants in public, and displayed the final rankings on the big screen.
Most of the scores were in the eights and a few were excellent designers with scores of nine points or one, but Gu Anran's name was never mentioned.
She nervously clenched her hands, waiting for the moment her name would be called.
"As you have all seen, designer Gu Anran's work is now ready. The final score is 9.9."
Gu Anran's eyes widened instantly. This was a score she had never expected, almost perfect.
The scene erupted in uproar. The designers who had been secretly mocking Gu Anran earlier now felt utterly ashamed. Their once-proud skin color hadn't brought them good results; instead, they had become Gu Anran's defeated opponents.
She accepted the trophy from the organizing committee, thinking that she could give the father and son a surprise when she got back; they would never have imagined that she had won first place.
Gu Anran booked a flight back to China that night, eager to tell Ye Lichuan the news.
"I'm going back to China tomorrow."
"Okay, Xiaotian and I will come to pick you up," Ye Lichuan said gently.
She had already made plans, but as soon as she returned to the hotel, she received several calls from designers who had watched the live broadcast of the competition and greatly admired Gu Anran's design style, and wanted to work with her.
Truly capable people prefer to join forces rather than go it alone.
Gu Anran readily agreed to their request, feeling that her trip to Paris was the right one.
She left all their contact information, promising, "As long as you are willing to return to China with me, the company's doors are open to all designers."
The designers cheered, and several stepped forward to shake her hand, saying, "Designer Gu, we will definitely follow you to create even greater glories."
For their sake, Gu Anran stayed in Paris for two more days and met with many designers.
Finally, three days later, Gu Anran and her newly recruited "troops" embarked on their journey back to China.
After a long international flight and jet lag, Gu Anran felt lightheaded when she landed and was about to fall asleep on the ground.
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