Zhang Caiyu, standing to the side, looked from Gu Qichen to Fang Ruonan.
She indeed wanted to befriend the Fang family. If she could win over Fang Ruonan, the Fang Corporation would invest in her. Then, the shareholders of her brand, seeing the money, would naturally stop causing trouble and pursuing the mica issue!
But Gu Qichen was standing in front of her—
Fang Ruonan's defeat was already a foregone conclusion. It was no longer useful for her to try and appease the Fang family!
Zhang Caiyu took a deep breath and flung Fang Ruonan's hand away!
"Fang Ruonan! I never imagined you'd lie to me! I actually believed that formula was written by you two years ago, and for this, I almost wrongly accused Miss Qin. You are utterly shameless!"
Fang Ruonan's legs were already weak. When Zhang Caiyu shoved her, she fell to the ground in a pathetic heap. The surrounding people moved away, and no one stepped forward to help her.
She looked up in disbelief, her eyes burning with intense hatred.
"Zhang Caiyu, what did you say?!"
Zhang Caiyu recalled the content of the recording. Yes, she had cursed Qin He and asked Li Ai to steal Qin He's formula.
But there was no recording about the photo album. She could claim Fang Ruonan had deceived her, making her hate Qin He for so long!
Zhang Caiyu's heart hardened. Since she had offended the Fang family, she had to align herself with the Gu family or Qin He!
She turned, her eyes brimming with tears, and looked pitifully at Gu Qichen. "Mr. Gu! It was my poor choice of friends. I always thought Fang Ruonan was a good person. She always spoke ill of Qin He to me, which made me dislike Qin He intensely! I thought Qin He was truly as Fang Ruonan described, which is why I asked my cousin to steal the formula! But later, Fang Ruonan told me Qin He plagiarized her work…"
Zhang Caiyu quickly concocted a plausible excuse for herself.
Qin He, standing to the side, felt a sense of admiration.
No wonder Zhang Caiyu could create her own independent brand. Her capabilities were mediocre, but it turned out she relied entirely on her eloquent tongue!
Zhang Caiyu continued, "Fang Ruonan misled me, causing me to wrongly target Miss Qin for so long!"
As she spoke, tears were almost falling.
Seeing Gu Qichen's indifferent gaze, Zhang Caiyu gritted her teeth and pressed on. "This time, I will voluntarily withdraw from the competition. As for Miss Qin, I must take responsibility for my actions and apologize for my misunderstanding and targeting her!"
With that, Zhang Caiyu turned and walked in front of Qin He, bowing deeply. "Miss Qin! I'm so sorry. I was deceived by Fang Ruonan and have been targeting you. I hope you can forgive me. I still wish to be friends with you. Can you give me an opportunity to compensate you?"
Qin He looked at Zhang Caiyu noncommittally.
"What kind of opportunity do you want?"
"Collaboration!" Zhang Caiyu suddenly looked at Qin He. "Miss Qin, you know I have my own perfume brand. I can collaborate with the Gu Corporation and drive the development of the Gu Corporation's new spice brand!"
Qin He almost burst out laughing!
Shameless, utterly shameless.
"Zhang Caiyu, do you think I'm stupid? Don't you know your brand is involved with mica and child labor? You're profiting from exploitation, and yet you want to bring your shameful company to collaborate with the Gu Corporation's soon-to-be-launched spice brand?"
The surrounding people understood. The general director scoffed, "Even without the previous issues, your brand is like child's play compared to the Gu Corporation. How dare you even think of collaborating with them?"
"This is what she calls an opportunity to compensate? She's trying to leech off Qin He! After all the trouble she caused earlier!"
Amidst the murmurs, Fang Ruonan, who was still on the ground, had gotten up.
She hated Qin He to the core, but now, her greatest hatred was directed at Zhang Caiyu!
Qin He made her hate, but Zhang Caiyu made her feel utterly disgusted!
"Zhang Caiyu! Go to hell!" Fang Ruonan, feeling wronged by Zhang Caiyu, but lacking any evidence from her own past schemes, was consumed by rage.
Fang Ruonan lunged forward, pouncing directly onto Zhang Caiyu!
She clawed at Zhang Caiyu's face with both hands, her finger digging into the corner of Zhang Caiyu's lips and yanking it open viciously.
A scream echoed on the beach as the corner of Zhang Caiyu's lip was torn open!
Fang Ruonan, still not satisfied, dug ferociously into the wound. Blood gushed out, flesh tearing, and the director immediately ordered the live broadcast to stop.
The broadcast room went black, and all the viewers were stunned by the dramatic "show" they had just witnessed!
On the beach, all the management personnel from the organizing committee had arrived.
There was no other choice; the situation had become too shocking. What was initially intended to be resolved by a single judge had spiraled into an unforeseen mess.
The gray-haired president stomped his foot in anger. "Shameful! Having the two of you participate in our competition is the greatest disgrace in the history of our event!"
"Expel them both and permanently ban them from participating in any future competitions. We will issue a Weibo statement from the official competition account detailing their actions and join the industry in boycotting them! People like them are not fit to be perfumers!"
The president was furious, while Wang Qide and the judges tried to calm him down.
Qin He stood quietly, watching Fang Ruonan and Zhang Caiyu tear each other apart.
Zhang Caiyu lay on the ground wailing, grabbing Fang Ruonan's hair. Fang Ruonan, in a fit of madness, slapped Zhang Caiyu's face repeatedly after being pulled away.
Staff quickly moved in to drag the two away. Among the contestants, most were young women, and they were all now petrified.
"Zhang Caiyu's face seems to have been torn open from the corner of her lip!"
"Oh my god, I'm going to have nightmares tonight. Fang Ruonan is scarier than a ghost; she was so brutal—"
The president of the organizing committee looked at Qin He, seeing her calm expression, and sighed deeply.
"Miss Qin, regarding the previous events, the organizing committee sincerely apologizes. We almost misunderstood you!"
Qin He shook her head, her smile not reaching her eyes. "This has nothing to do with the organizing committee; they intended to deceive you from the start."
After the "excitement," all that remained was a mess.
Qin He felt a sudden chill. There were no winners in this battle; she had only managed not to be slandered.
Some people, it seemed, were simply created to be disgusting.
Qin He took a deep breath and turned to see Li Ai, who had been scared stiff. Li Ai had always been timid, and seeing Fang Ruonan tear her cousin's face apart, she had collapsed onto the ground.
"Li Ai." Qin He stepped forward, her voice gentle.
She was truly grateful to Li Ai today. She had initially thought the timid Li Ai had been coerced by Zhang Caiyu and Fang Ruonan into stealing her formula.
But she never expected that Li Ai's initial intention was to help her, even at the risk of being expelled from the competition.
Qin He felt a warmth in her heart and reached out to Li Ai.
After helping Li Ai up, she turned to look at Gu Qichen, who had not yet left.
"Gu Qichen, there's something I need your help with."