Chapter 48
Yoda walked to Shixing's office, hesitant. He had stormed out yesterday, ready to start a one-sided cold war, but after seeing the message Shixing sent to his former self last night, Yoda's heart softened.
Yoda comforted himself, thinking that the apology he gave on the day he wanted to break up was directed at his present self.
Just as I was about to knock on the door confidently, Liu Si rushed over from behind: "That's great news, Sister Yoda! Li Chong has been prosecuted!"
"What?"
Yoda took the phone and saw that not only Li Chong, but also the officially opened shopping mall had been sued.
The font used on the cultural wall, which forms the core of the design, was designed by a renowned calligrapher to commemorate a deceased relative, and it is never authorized for commercial use.
However, I was only allowed to use this font in a recent charity design competition because I promised to donate all the proceeds.
The organizers of the design competition even used this as a starting point for their promotion. Unexpectedly, before the competition even started, a shopping mall opened and immediately adopted it.
When Li Chong opened the shopping mall, he pretended to be profound on stage and said that he had put a lot of effort into the font design, that he had personally designed every part of it, and that it was all his hard work.
The more effort they put into their publicity, the easier it was for the opposing side to collect evidence when they were sued.
Suddenly, Li Chong became a celebrity in the design circle, and everyone knew he had stolen.
Wang Mian laughed from the side: "This kid sees the negative online opinion and wants to change his story and say it wasn't designed by him. Isn't that stupid? If it was designed by him, he's just claiming someone else's font as his own. If it wasn't designed by him, then he's just stealing someone else's design. Switching back and forth, isn't it all plagiarism?"
Liu Si turned to Yoda and said, "Sister Yoda, you're right. We can only do our own thing well. Bad people will definitely suffer the consequences of their own actions."
Yoda nodded, glancing at Shi Xing who had appeared out of nowhere, and thought to himself: This is probably the real punisher.
After everyone left, Yoda stood there, looking down and glancing around erratically.
Seeing Shi Xing approaching, she preemptively said, "You weren't angry at all before, was it because you already knew this would happen?"
Shi Xing nodded: "The last order you took was so easily canceled. At that time, I suspected that there were people from their organization in the firm." But we didn't have any clues before, and we had all gone through the firm's restructuring together. Suspecting anyone would be hurtful.
At the time, Shi Xing didn't say anything, but he always kept it in mind.
Yoda: "Did you come up with this idea because of me?"
Although Yoda's tone was calm, Shi Xing keenly sensed the unhappiness beneath it. He subconsciously explained, "Not entirely. I feel it's never good to have someone in the firm who's always ready to betray us, so on one hand, I wanted to find out who this person was, and on the other hand, there just happened to be a project like this, so I just did it on the side."
Yoda was somewhat agitated: "But this project is your life's work, you can't use it to fight back against them. If they aren't discovered and prosecuted, all your hard work will be wasted."
Shi Xing: "But your hard work is still hard work."
The same words had left Yoda speechless yesterday, but after a day apart, he could be viewed with a slightly different eye. Yoda had already thought of how to refute Shi Xing last night, and now he spoke without hesitation: "But the situations we encountered were different. At that time, my firm was in the process of restarting, and making a big fuss would not be good for anyone."
Shi Xing said, "Yes, so now I'm just waiting for things to blow up." Shi Xing was very confident in the mall's design; he was sure his design would be well-received. After all, the other party had contacted him only after being very satisfied with his other designs.
So if there really is a mole in the firm, they will definitely tell Li Chong. Having had the experience of taking a shortcut once, it would be hard for them not to do it again.
The design competition rules were transparent, and the organizers had strong legal resources. Shi Xing had calculated that if Li Chong plagiarized his design, he would definitely be held accountable, which is why he did this.
Yoda: "But that font is no longer allowed for commercial use, so why are you still using it in your design? Won't that cause problems?"
Shi Xing said, "I only used it in the design scheme. I proposed this scheme but it was not actually put into use. And even if it were put into use, we could either change to another font, but the effect would definitely not be as good as this one. There are ways to use it. I contacted the font licensor through friends in the industry and I am prepared to promise him that all the proceeds from this project will be donated to public welfare."
Judging from the font owner's support for public welfare, this request is likely to be granted. However, there's no point in saying anything now, since Li Chong has already taken over the project regardless.
Yoda was still a little uncomfortable and complained to Shixing, "What's wrong with the mall? They clearly asked you to design it, but they changed their minds all of a sudden."
Shi Xing: "That's normal. I was only in the negotiation stage with the mall, and I hadn't even presented the final design to them yet when it was stolen. It's understandable that the mall saw the design that Li Chong had taken, was satisfied with it, and chose it. But," Shi Xing smiled and said, "I was prepared at the time, so when I was initially negotiating the contract with the mall, I stipulated in the contract that the font authorization was the responsibility of the designer, and if there were any problems with the authorization, all losses would be borne by the designer."
Although the cooperation between Shixing and the shopping mall ultimately failed, the mall's management did not draft a new contract; they simply changed the name of the second party and signed it with Li Chong.
Because of this, the relationship between the mall staff and Shixing remains good. They were the ones who broke their promise, but Shixing's caution allowed them to escape unscathed. As stipulated in the contract, the mall apologized and was forgiven.
After all, the market is only so big, and everyone you encounter is someone you already know. Shi Xing didn't want to cause trouble for the business. So, compared to the information Wang Mian and the others received from the outside, Shi Xing already knew the specifics.
Yoda suddenly realized a blind spot: "But what if Li Chong finds out about the design competition? He'll know this font can't be used, and he can change it. Wouldn't your plan fall through then?"
At this point, Yoda still felt that Shi Xing allowed others to steal his designs because of his own fault.
Shi Xingdian pointed to Yoda's protruding chin: "So, do you know about this design competition?"
Yoda lowered her gaze; she truly didn't know.
Shi Xing smiled and said, "Although the design competition is well-known in the industry, it is mainly aimed at independent designers, and the design style tends to be conceptual. You can think of it as runway clothes and factory production. Although it is the same industry, even if the masters in the garment workshop do not know where each clothing style comes from, they can still make clothes."
It can be said that every move in Shi Xing's plan was an open conspiracy. If Li Chong hadn't been greedy, hadn't interfered with Shi Xing's design, or had only made minor changes after taking the design, the incorrect use of the font wouldn't have been discovered.
Or perhaps he puts his heart into design and pays attention to industry news, so he wouldn't be completely unaware of the font's origin and dare to claim it as his own. But then again, someone who puts their heart into design wouldn't think of repeatedly stealing other people's designs and passing them off as their own.
Yoda sighed, "But your design is still a waste. Didn't we agree that yours and mine are equally important? Let's not do this again; we can use other methods." After thinking about it, he realized there wasn't a better solution. He was caught in a dilemma, feeling relieved on one hand, but also worried that Shi Xing's approach was dangerous. He almost missed a crucial step, and his design would have been used to gain fame for someone else.
To reassure Yoda, Shi Xing quickly added, "Actually, I really did use this shopping mall to gain experience. I visited an abandoned factory project during a previous business trip, which needed commercial renovation. This shopping mall happens to require design, so experience can't be stolen."
Shi Xing visited the site; it was a coal mine production area. When the coal mining industry was booming, a small commercial center developed around the mining area. Although the coal mine is no longer in operation, the commercial center is still thriving. With the expansion of the commercial center, the once vast coal mine site is now facing redevelopment.
Because a mature commercial district has already formed in the surrounding area, the renovation of this factory must be integrated into the surrounding area in order to make good use of it.
Yoda leaned closer to look at the project photos Shi Xing had collected. Seeing a series of pictures of forests, he asked, puzzled, "Where are the coal mines?"
Shi Xing pointed to the area beneath the trees: "The area beneath the forest is entirely occupied by coal mining operations."
The abandoned factory buildings were originally left over from coal mining operations. In order to design a work that could both preserve historical memory and integrate into modern development, Shih Hsing also visited the original mining area.
As a mining area with a long history of extraction, it has experienced various mining methods. The most primitive method involved directly hollowing out the area. Therefore, before planting trees on top to restore the ecological environment, the ground was backfilled with gravel and waste materials to prevent ground subsidence.
Compared to the vast mining area, the project only involves designing and renovating the existing surface buildings, which still cover a considerable area. A large area means a large workload. In addition, one problem with renovating this industrial relic is that the existing factory areas, warehouses, employee dormitories, and office buildings vary in height and function.
Transforming these buildings, which were once designed solely for practicality, into a unified style while also meeting the need for redevelopment and commercial value is a significant challenge for Shixing.
Yoda looked at the data Shi Xing had already collected on his computer. Challenges are what ignite passion. Yoda was relieved and no longer dwelled on Shi Xing's previous actions of allowing others to steal designs. After all, they had already achieved the desired result; the future was more important.
As Liu Si stepped out of Shi Xing's office, she overheard Wang Mian quietly asking, "Do you know about this design competition?"
Liu Si shook her head. The more she'd felt a surge of satisfaction talking about Li Chong's self-inflicted suffering due to ignorance, the more guilty she felt now. They exchanged a glance, both feeling like hopelessly illiterate figures in the design world.
As Yoda walked out, the two women locked eyes and spoke in unison, "Sister Yoda, do you know?"
Yoda nodded confidently: "I know."
He relayed exactly what Shi Xing had told them earlier, and then encouraged them, saying, "The design industry requires continuous learning and constant updating of knowledge. Keep it up!"
Seeing the two nod earnestly, Yoda smiled with satisfaction.
Only after returning to her office and closing the door did she dare to shush softly. Thankfully, she had learned the truth from Shi Xing earlier, otherwise she would be the one looking timid now.
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