The high-rise wooden scaffolding suddenly shook, and a tin rolled off one of its racks.
Xia Tianxing only had time to shout a warning, but the tin had already fallen on An Ziqi’s shoulders.
After leaving a rapidly spreading sea of yellow on her white dress, the tin hit the ground with a loud clang.
Panicking, Xia Tianxing rushed forward to help An Ziqi up. “Ziqi, are you okay?”
Pale-faced, An Ziqi soothed her shoulders, wincing in pain. She carefully avoided Xia Tianxing, saying, “I’m okay. Don’t come near me. You will be tainted with the paint.”
They were almost due to go on stage. She did not want anything untoward to happen to Xia Tianxing, too.
“This was definitely Lin Kelan’s doing. I will settle this with her.”
Barely containing her anger, Xia Tianxing glared at the back of the departing Lin Kelan who was still within their line of sight.
“Don’t go. Not only do we not have any evidence, but you are about to go on stage any time now.”
Raising her head, An Ziqi looked at the wooden scaffolding beside the passageway.
She could tell that, on a wooden scaffolding located not far away, there were also tins of paint that had most likely been left behind by workmen involved in the venue setup.
The workmen had left the venue too quickly and forgotten about the paint.
Lin Kelan must have noticed the tins of paint when she was waiting to go on stage. Counting on the fact that there would be no closed-circuit monitors along the passageway in the staging area, she staged the incident.
At that moment, the designer who was standing up front began signalling to them, indicating that they should prepare to go on stage soon.
“What do we do?”
Looking anxious, Xia Tianxing reached out, wanting to wipe away the paint on her.
Suddenly, An Ziqi had an idea and quickly blocked Xia Tianxing from touching her.
“Don’t panic. Go on stage first and try to buy me as much time as possible. I have an idea. ”
Resigned, Xia Tianxing could do nothing but prepare to go on stage.
An Ziqi rushed over to the wooden scaffolding, stood on tiptoe, and reached for the tins of paint.
From amongst the tins, she picked out the red one and poured it on her body.
That done, she dipped her finger into the paint and drew a slanted line upwards from her right eyebrow.
Then she ran to the front of the passageway and prepared to go on stage.
When the designer saw An Ziqi’s body covered in big patches of paint, she froze in shock.
An Ziqi did not have time to explain to her. Instead, she went on stage to do the catwalk.
On the runway, Xia Tianxing was perspiring nervously because she had just about exhausted her range of poses and was beginning to stir up unwanted attention from the audience below.
Suddenly, there was a huge uproar amongst the audience.
Xia Tianxing knew for sure that An Ziqi had made it on stage and was extremely relieved.
However, when she turned around and saw An Ziqi’s appearance, she gasped.
An Ziqi gave her a reassuring glance and walked confidently.
The red and yellow patches on her body perfectly complemented the red hues of the colored diamonds that she wore on her neck, enhancing their radiance and added a burst of liveliness to the product.
The upward slanting red line from her right brow seemed to reflect a youthful energy.
With her dazzling smile, An Ziqi looked like a sunflower, emanating youthful energy. She was so beautiful that the audience could not keep their eyes away from her.
In the VIP suite on stage…
Xiao Moli saw the person on the runway, and his brows furrowed.
Seated on the side, the lead designer noticed Xiao Moli’s deep frown and literally sweated in trepidation.
Getting to his feet, he rushed forward to explain. “Mr. Xiao, this is truly an accident. We did not have this in our original designs. There must be an issue with that model. I will send someone backstage to look for her.”
Xiao Moli shot him an icy glance.
The lead designer turned pale.
He had continuously nagged at them to make sure that there were no mistakes, and yet, they were now faced with a monumental mess.
If the launch were ruined by this incident, no one in their entire department would be able to withstand the wrath of Mr. Xiao.
On the other hand, James, who was seated on one side, shouted excitedly at the pair, his eyes shining brightly.
“Wow! I like this accident. She has given me new inspiration. Mr. Xiao, can you please take me backstage and introduce me to this model later?”