Chapter 1
At the celebration party, however, my husband credited all the success to the new intern, saying her creativity was “the finishing touch.”
As a reward, he publicly gifted her a limited edition designer “labubu” worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.
The team felt sorry for me, but when I confronted him, he pushed me away.
He gave me ten dollars and said with a smirk, “At your age, you should go buy a cheap toy from a street vendor.”
I finally woke up and resigned the next day, taking the entire design department with me.
My husband mocked us, holding the intern, “You think you can find better jobs without any real skills? I’d like to see where you end up!”
Three months later, at the industry’s largest brand bidding conference.
My ex-husband took the stage with the intern, presenting our proposal and talking about future brand strategies.
What he didn’t know was that I had already been hired by a top client company with a high salary, and I was the sole decision-maker for this bidding conference.
“Olivia Lin, don’t say I didn’t warn you. Women who’ve lost their youth shouldn’t be jealous of young girls’ opportunities.”
He said, turning away with a swagger.
I looked down at the crumpled ten-dollar bill in my hand.
So, in his eyes, all the hard work of my team and I was only worth a cheap toy.
I smiled, but tears kept falling.
I wiped my tears and returned to the table.
My deputy, Jack, looked at me with concern.
“Boss, are you okay?”
I slammed the ten dollars on the table, my voice low but clear.
“Jack, get ready.”
“We’re all resigning tomorrow.”
The next morning at nine.
I walked into Andrew Chen’s office with resignation letters from the entire design department.
He was holding Bella White, both intimately looking at the computer screen, laughing at something.
Seeing us come in, he wasn’t surprised at all.
He took the resignation letters and tossed them on the desk without even looking.
“Olivia Lin, you really dare to make a scene.”
He sneered, holding Bella tighter.
“You think you can find better jobs without any real skills? I’d like to see where you end up without my platform!”
Bella leaned into his arms, glancing at me timidly before flashing a smug smile.
Andrew stood up and announced in front of all of us.
“Well, I might as well announce something too.”
“From today on, Bella White is the new Design Director of the company.”
The whole office was in an uproar.
An intern who had only been there for three months and could barely use design software was now the Design Director.
It was the biggest joke in the industry.
The members of my team had looks of absurdity and disdain on their faces.
I didn’t say another word and left with my team.
Walking out of the company gates, I looked back one last time at the place where I had poured eight years of my heart and soul.
I felt nothing but disgust.
That afternoon, I consulted a lawyer.
The answer I got felt like a bucket of ice water.
The legal representative of the company had always been Andrew Chen alone.
I didn’t have any shares in my name.
When we got married, he had promised earnestly that the company belonged to both of us, and he would give me half the shares after we succeeded.
For him, I had resigned from a top internet company in the country and worked day and night by his side.
Now I realized that all those promises were nothing but empty checks.
Eight years of dedication might all be in vain.
I sat in the coffee shop, looking out the window in despair.
Just then, a call came in from an unknown number.
“Hello, is this Design Director Olivia Lin?”
“Yes, it is.”
“Hello, I’m the project director from the brand collaboration we just signed. My name is Zhang. I’d like to discuss some detailed design specifications with you for the follow-up.”
It was the client’s director.
I took a deep breath, trying to keep my voice as calm as possible.
“Director Zhang, I’m sorry, but I’ve already resigned from that company.”
There was silence on the other end for a few seconds.
“Resigne on the other end for a fewd? The whole team resigned?”
“Yes.”
Director Zhang’s voice suddenly became excited.
“That’s great! Director Lin, to be honest, for this collaboration, we were interested in your team, not your company!”
I was stunned.
“We’ve internally assessed that your design concepts highly align with our brand’s future development direction. To be honest, we were worried that the personnel might change later, affecting the project quality.”
“Now that you’re out, things are much easier.”
Her words were like a beam of light, shining into my despair.
“Director Lin, on behalf of our company, I’d like to formally invite you and your entire team.”
“The salary will be double what you were getting before.”
“The position is a core brand management role in our newly established group, which you’ll be directly responsible for.”
“We hope you can bring your entire team to join us.”
Double salary.
Core position.
The entire team packaged together.
I suppressed my heart that was almost jumping out of my chest, my fingers tightly pinching my palm.
“Director Zhang, thank you for your appreciation. It’s just that we’ve just completed the resignation process, and there are still some procedures to handle.”
“No problem, we can wait. Talented people are worth waiting for.”
“I’ll send the formal letter of intent to your email later. Take a look first, no need to rush with a reply.”
After hanging up the phone, I looked at the sky outside the window, feeling it was brighter than ever before.
My phone buzzed again, it was a WeChat message from Andrew.
“Olivia, I know you’re still angry. Stop making a fuss, doesn’t our years of relationship mean more than a moment of anger?”
“I know I was wrong, I shouldn’t have said that to you.”
“Come back first, help Bella out, finish handing over the project. When this blows over, I’ll give you a grand apology ceremony, okay?”
Looking at the words on the screen, I felt nauseous.
Help Bella out.
How could he say that?
I turned off my phone, completely ignoring that message.
The game had just begun.
I used my savings to throw a grand “resignation party” for the team at the best five-star hotel in the city.
Celebrating our escape from trash, welcoming new life.
Everyone raised their glasses and cheered, their faces radiating relief and hope for the future.
“Boss, it’s a good thing we left with you, or we’d have been infuriated to death in that company!”
“Yeah, making an intern the director, has Andrew Chen lost his mind?”
“He must be in a panic now!”
After a few rounds of drinks, we started to review the collaboration proposal for this project.
“The core design language ‘Breakthrough’, and all the VI application standards, the most detailed version is actually only in our heads,” said my deputy Jack.
“I held back at the time, only submitting the basic version. Many extended applications and special scenario specifications weren’t included in the final document at all.”
I nodded.
“Well done. These are our real value.”
The new week began.
Andrew and his new “Design Director” Bella officially started interfacing with the client.
Soon, they ran into trouble.
The client needed a complete brand VI usage manual for subsequent material production and market promotion.
They searched through all the design files but couldn’t find it.
Bella, relying on her own intuition, worked overtime to produce several design drafts.
The next day, they were all sent back by Director Zhang.
Zhang’s email was copied to everyone, with harsh wording.
“These designs completely misunderstand our brand tone. The colors, fonts, and compositions are all problematic! Are you even professionals?”
Bella cried on the spot in the office.
Andrew’s call quickly came to my phone.
“Olivia Lin! What do you mean? You took the design source files and standard manual when you left?”
His voice was full of anger.
I was in my new company’s office, looking out at the river view, my tone calm.
“Mr. Chen, you can eat carelessly, but you can’t speak carelessly. All the files I handed over are on record.”
“As for that manual you mentioned, that’s our team’s core creative asset, a trade secret, no comment.”
“You dare!” he roared in exasperation, “Don’t you believe I’ll sue you for stealing company trade secrets!”
I chuckled lightly, reminding him of a fact he had overlooked.
“Mr. Chen, I don’t think we ever signed a confidentiality agreement or non-compete agreement.”
“Moreover, according to copyright law, the creative copyright for this proposal is in my personal hands. Are you sure you want to sue me?”
On the other end of the phone, there was only heavy breathing left.
He hung up.
The client side pressured again. Because the design specifications couldn’t be confirmed, the entire collaboration project came to a standstill.
Several channel partners who had already signed contracts began to express dissatisfaction.
Andrew’s company’s reputation in the industry began to be affected.
Bella was completely at a loss, crying every day and complaining to Andrew that the client was deliberately making things difficult for her.
The company’s internal morale was low, and rumors were flying.
Andrew was in a frenzy.
He spread the word that he would spare no expense to hire top designers who could solve this brand design problem.
However, a week after the news was released, no one responded.
The circle was only so big, and everyone knew this project was led by me.
In this situation, no one was willing to wade into these muddy waters, let alone offend me and my new employer behind me.
He had pushed himself into a dead end.
Just when Andrew was about to despair, a team calling themselves “Wind and Cloud Design” actively contacted him.
They claimed that they had been studying my design style and were 100% confident that they could perfectly recreate a VI manual identical to the original.
Bella grabbed onto this lifeline.
She whispered in Andrew’s ear, saying this team must have seen that I had gone to the client’s side and came specially to help.
“Honey, this shows we have more supporters! That Olivia Lin is just petty!”
Andrew was convinced by her and gritted his teeth to hire this outsourcing team at three times the market price.
Three days later, they delivered a seemingly flawless VI manual.
Andrew immediately sent it to the client.
After reviewing it, Director Zhang only replied: “We can proceed now.”
Andrew and Bella were overjoyed.
They thought the crisis was completely over.
The next day, Andrew called a company-wide meeting.
At the meeting, he singled me out by name, criticizing me for “lacking professional ethics, holding back after resigning, attempting to blackmail the company.”
He was beaming, full of vigor.
“This proves that the earth keeps spinning without anyone! Some people shouldn’t overestimate themselves!”
“From today on, our company officially cuts ties with all resigned design department personnel, no more entanglements!”
The employees below had various expressions, but no one dared to speak.
I sat in the conference room of the new company, watching the video of his impassioned speech, and smiled.
This was exactly what I was waiting for.
I immediately had the lawyer send a lawyer’s letter to his company based on this public “cut ties” announcement.
Demanding that he pay the multi-million project bonus promised earlier to the entire team, as well as severance pay for everyone.
The promise in black and white, plus his public acknowledgment of “no more entanglements,” left him without even an excuse to default.
To maintain the company’s reputation, he was forced to pay this huge sum.
The company’s cash flow, already tense due to the project stagnation, instantly went from bad to worse.
I looked at the string of zeros added to my bank card, feeling no ripples in my heart.
This was all we deserved.
On the same afternoon.
On my desk, I received an email from the group headquarters.
The sender was the secretary of the client’s big boss.
I opened the email, the title clearly stated:
“Notice on Appointing Ms. Olivia Lin as the Overall Responsible Person for Next Year’s Full Product Line Bidding Conference for This Brand”.
Three months later.
Late autumn.
The industry’s largest annual brand bidding conference was held at the International Convention Center.
I sat in the center of the judges’ seats, in the capacity of the client’s Brand Director.
Below were top advertising companies and design teams from all over the country.
My ex-husband, Andrew, and his new director Bella, also came.
They walked into the venue with high spirits, their faces wearing confident smiles.
Andrew soon saw me.
He was stunned for a moment, then a contemptuous smile appeared on his face.
He said something in a low voice to Bella beside him.
I read his lips.
“Look, some people can only come to such occasions to steal ideas after leaving me.”
Bella covered her mouth and let out a coquettish laugh, her eyes full of superiority.
They thought I was just a former employee coming to listen and learn.
The client colleagues beside me and some industry peers who knew me all looked at him with eyes as if looking at a clown.
But he was completely unaware.
The host began to introduce today’s judges according to the procedure.
“First, let’s welcome with warm applause the overall responsible person for this bidding conference, who is also our brand’s core Brand Director - Ms. Olivia Lin!”
The spotlight instantly shone on me.
I saw the smile on Andrew’s face freeze instantly.