“Can’t get it taken down? She used the Zhou family’s connections!”

Zhen Wenxiu frowned at Ji Ya’s words.

Who hadn’t used connections before?

Without relationships, how could Elegance have held a fashion show on Wangfujing Street?

Did she think just anyone could block off Wangfujing Street for half a day?

Moreover, numerous newspapers have covered Elegance’s fashion show today. Regardless of the page space given, with Beijing as the epicenter, news of the Elegance fashion show would spread to more and more people.

When those influential magazines publish their issues, it would bring even more publicity!

Fashion-conscious women would come to know the name “Elegance.”

If Ji Ya insisted on competing with Xia Xiaolan, Zhen Wenxiu felt this wasn’t a business-minded approach. In business, everyone should focus on their work and see who develops better. If Elegance could surpass Luna, it would naturally squeeze out Luna’s market share—trying to compete right after establishment, even though Zhen Wenxiu didn’t understand business, seemed difficult to achieve.

“It’s not just about connections. The Zhou family might make it easier for her to contact Central TV people, but I heard she paid over a million for this advertising slot. She paid for it, and there’s nothing wrong with the ad content—how can we get it removed?”

Did the Ji family have such connections?

This wasn’t something money alone could solve.

Zhen Wenxiu didn’t dare help with such matters.

Someone paid real money for the advertising slot; arbitrarily removing it would make Ji Ya lose face everywhere.

Zhen Wenxiu considered Ji Ya a good friend, but even the best friend couldn’t compare to her husband or daughter. How could she ask Zhen Wenxiu to persuade her husband to handle this?

Impossible.

Helping personally was one thing, but involving the Ning family was another matter entirely.

If she dared involve the Ning family, her father-in-law Ning Yanfan would be furious. Zhen Wenxiu wasn’t that foolish.

“So, I just have to watch her use the fashion show I spent money and effort on to promote her clothing brand?”

What could Zhen Wenxiu say?

Even if that was the case, she brought it upon herself!

Why hadn’t she learned her lesson after being outwitted by Xia Xiaolan several times? Why invite Xia Xiaolan to the fashion show—although Xia Xiaolan was shameless, and would likely have come to cause trouble even without an invitation, the initiator was still at fault. If this matter were brought up now, others wouldn’t say Xia Xiaolan was wrong.

It was the same principle as Tang Hongen bringing Liu Fen and Xia Xiaolan to the wedding banquet—if Ji Ya had just held her wedding with George without inviting Tang Hongen, nothing would have happened!

“Ya, there’s no good solution now. You achieved your fashion show’s purpose, and you’ll be able to open smoothly in a while. Currently, Xia Xiaolan only has a few stores. If your quality is better and prices aren’t higher than hers, surely you can outsell Luna?”

Zhen Wenxiu still held onto old thinking patterns.

Products must succeed through quality. Xia Xiaolan spent over a million on advertising; it would take a long time to recover that cost.

Good products sell themselves—not only was Elegance’s quality excellent, but many newspapers and magazines would cover it. Zhen Wenxiu believed it had greater long-term potential.

Ji Ya couldn’t be bothered to argue with Zhen Wenxiu.

Zhen Wenxiu simply didn’t understand. American television was filled with advertisements; brands competed for consumers through intensive exposure.

Ji Ya also wanted to run TV advertisements for Elegance, but she looked down on poor time slots, and couldn’t afford the good ones. Opening several stores in Beijing plus garment production… George’s funding wasn’t unlimited. Even with the strong dollar, going through official channels meant using the official exchange rate.

The black market rate was 1:10, but that was for small-scale scattered exchanges!

Ji Ya had inquired about Central TV’s advertising slots—she couldn’t afford several hundred thousand yuan, which was why she focused on the fashion show approach!

But she hadn’t expected Xia Xiaolan to produce so much money.

Where did Xia Xiaolan get the money?

Why was there no reaction when the news reached Song Nanzhen? The Song family seemed to have taken no action against Xia’s mother and daughter.

Since when had Song Nanzhen become so magnanimous?

The Song family had watched Tang Hongen very closely. In the early days of their marriage, Ji Ya even suspected Song Nanzhen had other feelings for Tang Hongen.

“Strange, why has there been no reaction…”

Seeing Ji Ya sink into her emotions again, Zhen Wenxiu quietly left. Ji Ya’s mental state was somewhat problematic—she thought about things too obsessively. Zhen Wenxiu feared triggering Ji Ya.

Better to avoid any arguments!

The next day was the 26th, and there was still no news about Luna in the newspapers, but Ji Ya felt no joy.

Suppressing the newspaper coverage was useless—tonight Central TV would broadcast the commercial Zhang Xiao filmed. Once the advertisement aired, she couldn’t suppress the newspaper discussions anymore!

Ji Ya couldn’t understand why Song Nanzhen did not react. She decided to visit her, having heard that Song Nanzhen stayed in Beijing year-round rather than returning to Shanghai. Ji Ya was confident Song Nanzhen would meet with her.

She wasn’t wrong—Song Nanzhen didn’t turn her away.

“Ji Ya, we haven’t seen each other for over ten years, have we? You’re still as beautiful as ever!”

Song Nanzhen politely offered her coffee.

Ji Ya had been beautiful in her youth—fashionably beautiful, different from all of them.

After spending over ten years in America, she naturally had more of a Western air about her.

Song Nanzhen had to admit Ji Ya was beautiful.

But what use was beauty when Tang Hongen would rather marry a country woman than remarry Ji Ya?

Ji Ya disliked Song Nanzhen, and Song Nanzhen felt similarly about Ji Ya. After not seeing each other for so many years, knowing that her young rival had fallen on hard times secretly pleased Song Nanzhen.

In her youth, she had been immature enough to compete with Ji Ya overlooks.

Now in middle age, Song Nanzhen had gradually come to understand.

Only women who had nothing else going for them were obsessed over their looks because appearance was all they had.

Going deeper, things like music, art, and dance—these accomplishments had little use beyond decoration… If a woman came from a prestigious enough background, did she need these decorative elements?

What did it matter if she couldn’t play the piano? Others would naturally avoid the topic to accommodate her habits.

She had been wrong from the start, competing with Ji Ya over such external things.

Ji Ya’s only chance to catch up to and surpass her had been to hold onto Tang Hongen!

But unfortunately, this fool had lost Tang Hongen.

Thinking of this, Song Nanzhen showed a gentle smile: “I heard you started some kind of clothing brand, quite lively on Wangfujing Street. I’ve been reading about it in the papers these past few days.”

Ji Ya, tired of this fake pleasantry, interrupted Song Nanzhen’s small talk:

“Third Song, you don’t know why I’ve come to see you?”

Song Nanzhen nodded, “Of course I know, but why should I help you? Ji Ya, the world doesn’t revolve around you—just because you want something doesn’t mean others must help you unconditionally… I’m sorry, but I’m not one of those men you’ve enchanted.”