Shadow and Light: The Bride Who Clicks Her Way to Love-Chapter 143 - 144: Who Is Her Backer?

Su Xingyu submitted the application materials and walked out of the office.

The office door closed behind her, and Mr. Qiu rubbed his hands together as he spoke to Miss Zhuang, "Oh, Miss Zhuang, I am so sorry. If I had known earlier that you knew Miss Su, we certainly wouldn’t have given her a hard time. Don’t worry, I will make sure Miss Su’s matters are taken care of. As long as her work isn’t bad, whatever award she applies for, we’ll make sure she gets it."

Zhuang Heng gave a slight smile, "What if she’s applying for the Best Photo of the Quarter? Will you give her that too?"

The editor was stunned for a moment, then rubbed his hands with a smile, "That can’t be, right? Isn’t your name also on the shortlist for the Best Photo of the Quarter? This Miss Su wouldn’t be so tactless as to compete with you, would she?"

"Not necessarily," Zhuang Heng said, gesturing for the editor to open Su Xingyu’s application materials.

The editor opened them. It was a set of photos and two application forms, one for the Best New Photographer Award and the other, unsurprisingly, for the Best Photographer Award.

The editor was dumbfounded, "This..."

Zhuang Heng calmly said, "I’m only acquainted with this Miss Su, not really friends with her. As for her application, there’s no need to be troubled, just handle it fairly."

The editor cautiously observed her expression, "Then, should we remove her from the Best Photographer Award and leave her with the Best New Photographer Award?" Actually, the quality of the photos Su Xingyu submitted was quite good, and she had a competitive shot for the Best Photographer Award of the quarter. Her photos were on par with those submitted by Zhuang Heng. If the selection were made seriously, it was really unclear who would win. Handling it like this was clearly an attempt to curry favor with Zhuang Heng.

Zhuang Heng made no comment, elegantly reaching out to flip through Su Xingyu’s photos. She saw that they included the set taken for Ouyang Yi featuring the sword shattering blossoms, and the street-style preliminary shots of the beggar and the butterfly. Each one was a masterpiece, showing significant skill.

"These are quite good works," Zhuang Heng said softly, "but it’s not necessarily good for a novice to be too dazzling. Since she recently won an award in the Blade Group’s street photo contest, there’s no need for her to win too many this quarter, lest she becomes too cocky and ends up being killed with kindness. What do you say, Mr. Qiu?"

Mr. Qiu wiped the cold sweat off his forehead, understanding Zhuang Heng’s implication that she had no intention of leaving any award for Su Xingyu at all!

This was truly a complete extermination!

But since Zhuang Heng had said so, he had no choice but to agree, "Yes, yes, how could a newcomer possibly win the Best Photographer Award? Isn’t that a joke? And as for the Best New Photographer Award? There are so many promising newcomers emerging each quarter in the photography world, we should give more opportunities to other newcomers who haven’t won awards yet, and strongly support them."

Zhuang Heng nodded with satisfaction and further instructed, "If Su Xingyu applies again, whatever she applies for, suppress it." 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝘦𝓌𝑒𝑏𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝘭.𝒸𝘰𝑚

This kind of suppression wasn’t like the rejection at the door from the front desk, but rather accepting her work but not letting her win any awards, more covert and more malicious.

Mr. Qiu repeatedly promised compliance, though he was very puzzled in his heart. Since this Miss Zhuang wanted to act so ruthlessly against Su Xingyu, why was she pretending to be so friendly earlier? This Miss Zhuang was truly terrifying.

Zhuang Heng gave her instructions and picked up her Hermès Birkin bag, stepping gracefully out of the Light and Shadow World building.

She got into her white luxury car, gently massaging her temples, and asked, "Which direction did Su Xingyu go after leaving just now?"

A man in the passenger seat replied, "Miss, she got on the No. 92 bus and went in the direction of the Cloud Group."

"That’s also the direction of the Blade Group." Zhuang Heng’s tone was somewhat cold, "Are you sure it’s Cloud?"

"Yes, it’s the Cloud. Our people saw her enter the Cloud Building."

"Good." Zhuang Heng said.

The man in the passenger seat acknowledged with a sound, hesitated a bit, and asked Zhuang Heng, "Should we continue to follow her after she leaves the Cloud Group? As you know, the last few times we sent people to follow her, they disappeared when she was about to return home at night, and never came back. We’ve already lost several elites, do you think..."

Zhuang Heng was silent for a moment before she said, "Forget it, if someone is determined to prevent us from knowing where she lives, then there’s no need to follow anymore. Long, are you sure she’s broken off with the Su Family?"

"Yes," the man named Long in the passenger seat said, "The private detective reported that not long ago, Su Xingyu signed a severance document with the Su Family. It seems there was a forced marriage involving the Chen Family, but the detective couldn’t find out anything from the Chen Family, as their people kept silent and were very secretive about this matter."

Zhuang Heng gently rubbed her forehead again, "Do you think the forces behind her are more likely to be Ouyang Yi or Lu Shifeng?"

Long also fell silent. After a while, he carefully answered, "It’s really hard to say."

"Indeed," Zhuang Heng laughed, her beautiful face like an icy lotus flower with a hint of coldness, "Both Ouyang Yi and Lu Shifeng have the means to protect her from being tracked and investigated by others. All clues break off at a certain point, but I don’t believe... that I can’t force her to reveal her fox tail." Since their last encounter at the Blade Group, she had been secretly investigating Su Xingyu for some time now, but all she could find was that Su Xingyu might have ambiguous relationships with both Ouyang Yi and Lu Shifeng. As for which of the two was really backing her, she couldn’t find any clue.

Long tried to comfort her, "It wouldn’t be Mr. Lu, Mr. Lu is known for keeping himself clean, and hasn’t had any scandals all these years. On the other hand, Ouyang Yi is notorious for being dissolute and is very likely to keep a mistress like Su Xingyu."

Zhuang Heng sighed softly, "Perhaps, but I won’t feel reassured until I verify it myself."

A woman who can freely enter Lu Shifeng’s office, enjoying special privileges — how could she be at ease?

The more frightening thought is, as Long said, if Mr. Lu, known for being so clean for so many years, does develop feelings for a woman, it would be a very scary thing.

Just the thought of it made Zhuang Heng feel a deep pain, and she let out a cold laugh, "From today, do everything you can to obstruct any event that Su Xingyu participates in. Isn’t she good at pretending? Taking public buses wherever she goes, and never using her special privileges, I want to see how long she can keep up the act, if she can consistently resist exposing her financial backer during successive setbacks."

"Wise decision, Miss," Long said.

As a result, when the next month’s issue of the Light and Shadow World magazine was published, Su Xingyu couldn’t find her photography work anywhere in the magazine.

All the quarterly awards were announced, with the Best Photographer Award going to Zhuang Heng’s "Colors of Sky and Ocean," and the Best New Photographer Award going to a little-known young man.

Su Xingyu stared at those two photos for a long time, very angry. How could this happen? She thought those two photos were not as good as hers!

She called the Light and Shadow World magazine, asking what the criteria were for judging?

Of course, the other side couldn’t tell her the truth, dismissing her with a few words.

"A bunch of bastards!" Su Xingyu was particularly unhappy, so mad she ripped up the magazine at home.

Lu Shifeng pushed the door open and came in, "What’s the matter?"