Chapter 38: Turning The Tables

Mo Ting had ordered his people to prepare a bunch of dresses for Tangning. He even personally picked out a gold-patterned strapless dress with a white lining. The pattern resembled an oriental ink painting. As the dress gave off a strong oriental aura, once worn on Tangning's body, she completely exuded the classic elegance of an oriental beauty - there was no doubt they matched perfectly. Paired with Tangning's slender waist and long legs…her feminine beauty and charm, in an instant, emanated from her body like a fragrance in the wind.

Mo Ting stood behind Tangning and used his chest to firmly press against Tangning's back as he wrapped his hands around her waist - not willing to let go, "You are like a piece of art."

"It's because you have good taste," Tangning returned the praise. She never knew Mo Ting understood her to this extent - he knew Secret wanted to shoot the Oriental Trend and knew Secret humiliated her for being a newcomer - so, he intentionally picked out this dress for them to see, by not picking Tangning, they had made a huge loss.

"Why must you be a model, I just want to keep you to myself," Mo Ting placed his chin on Tangning's shoulder and complained.

"Look who's talking, why not mention that even Han Ruoxue was going crazy at the sight of you?" Tangning immediately complained back before she let out a laugh, "Don't worry, aren't we only allowed to have physical contact with each other?"

"Of course." After speaking, Mo Ting turned Tangning around and kissed her lips as they stood before the mirror, the two were extremely affectionate. Tangning could see her own expression through the mirror; Mo Ting's kiss really brought a person pleasure. Most importantly, whether it was affectionate or passionate, his lips belonged to only her. Just the thought of another woman kissing him made her heart uneasy.

"That's enough, I'm going to be late," Tangning's face flushed red as she gently pushed Mo Ting away from herself.

"When you get home, you better think of a way to compensate me," Mo Ting released her from his embrace.

Tangning nodded as she kissed Mo Ting on the ear, "You can have whatever compensation you want…"

The photography exhibition was to be held at 7pm inside one of America's abandoned parks. Tangning arrived not too late nor too early because, by the time she handed over her invite, there were already loads of famous people inside. Of course, amongst these people were her mentor, Ms. Bertha.

Everyone was trying their best to stand out, but most of them had a Western style. Only Tangning was dressed in a charming oriental mini dress, immediately drawing the attention of people around her, including…the person in charge of Secret who had just rejected her earlier that day, Mina.

She walked over to Tangning holding a glass of champagne with an amused expression before she spoke in a ridiculing tone, "I never thought, for the sake of the front cover of our magazine, you would follow me all the way here."

Tangning laughed gently in a dignified manner, "I think you have misunderstood, Miss Mina."

"I don't think so. You obviously knew our theme would be the Oriental Trend so you deliberately dressed like this and appeared here. Unfortunately, once I've made a decision, I don't take it back." Mina thought, when Tangning said she would regret, she was referring to her appearance at this moment. Although she was indeed beautiful, Secret wasn't going to change their mind for the sake of one model.

"Also, Tianyi's President Han said you have a bad personality. Judging by what I see before me, he is right, you are indeed taking advantage of the situation to promote yourself."

"I've said it already, my appearance today has nothing to do with Secret," Tangning emphasized again with a louder voice attracting the attention of Ms. Bertha, who was currently showing some guests around the exhibition.

"You've really put in a lot of effort, no wonder Ruoxue told me to be careful of you."

"Miss Mina, you must really think highly of yourself." After speaking, Tangning's gaze diverted to the person standing behind Mina - it was Bertha. A smile appeared across her face, "Mentor."

Bertha looked at Tangning surprisingly before she emotionally wrapped Tangning in her embrace, "Oh, my precious dear, it's been a long time. How have you been?"

"I've been good. But mentor, I've got a problem," Tangning explained.

After hearing this, Bertha remembered why she had walked over here in the first place, she had heard two people arguing. So, she released Tangning and turned to Mina, "What is all this?"

How could this be?

Mina was shocked. Wasn't Tangning here because she wanted to get back her front cover shoot?

How does she know the editor of Royal Magazine? And why is their relationship so close?

Tangning didn't hold back, she explained the entire incident to Bertha. Upon hearing everything, Bertha absolutely felt the people at Secret were out of their mind. In a straightforward manner, she released her anger upon Mina, "This is why your magazine has been failing. How dare you reject my precious and choose a B-grade model instead, yet be so proud of yourself? My god, this is ridiculous. Did you know how many awards Kira received when she walked down the runways in France?"

"She…isn't she a newcomer?" Mina was dumbfounded.

"She's appeared at Master Bonne's show, in fact, she was in the finale. At that time, she was only 17 and you were still a nobody!" After speaking, Bertha affectionately hugged Tangning, "My precious, don't be upset. Whatever front cover you want, just let me know."

Mina watched in disbelief as the two walked into the distance. Her blood began to boil. Because she had listened to Han Ruoxue, she gave up on Tangning. She couldn't believe she was stupid enough to 'buy the case and return the pearl*'.

She couldn't let this happen, she had to get Tangning back.

Inside, Mina only had this new objective, she had completely forgotten what she said earlier about changing her mind for the sake of one model.

Tangning did not look back at Mina, because she could already guess what Mina was thinking right now. She turned down Bertha's offer as she began to recount all that had happened to her in the past few years, "Mentor, I am clear on my position right now. I will take one step at a time to completely get back what was mine…I'm thankful for your good intentions."

"My precious, the most important thing in life is to know what you want. It's never too late to start again," Bertha nodded understandingly.

"Thank you, mentor."

"Look at you, you completely stand out in the crowd. You haven't changed at all."

Upon hearing her praises, Tangning smiled humbly. She was humble because she knew there were so many people in this world with amazing abilities; she felt she was nothing in comparison.

After the photography exhibition ended, Bertha ordered someone to escort Tangning home. At this moment, Mina suddenly came running out and stopped Tangning's car, "Can you give me 5 minutes for a chat?"

"What else do we have to chat about?" Tangning asked directly.

"As long as you are willing to shoot our front cover, you can make whatever request you want - I will make sure to fulfill it."

"Even at the expense of going against Han Ruoxue?" Tangning asked as she looked out the car window, in a casual but dangerous tone, "I am a vengeful person."

"I've said it already, you can make whatever request and I will fulfill it, regardless of the expense."

"Then…I'll wait for you to show your sincerity," Tangning laughed as she wound up the car window and asked the driver to leave.

Han Ruoxue, tomorrow you will realize, everything's changed…

Translators Notes:

* Buy the case and return the pearl (買櫝還珠) - used to explain someone with poor judgment that doesn't know the true worth of something. This idiom originated from a story about a man that tried to sell his pearl by making a case from molan wood, embellishing it with gems and fumigating it with incense. In the end, a buyer buys the case and returns the pearl. Although the original story was more a mockery of the seller who failed to sell his pearl. The idiom these days is used to mock the buyer who failed to see that the pearl was worth much more than the case.