The next day of rehearsal, Regulus accompanied Jing Yang over, and before the rehearsal, the two sat together in the lounge to rest.

Jing Yang leaned in Regulus’s arms. Regulus held him from behind and taught him to play a game just released by his company.

When McDonnell knocked on the door and came in, he choked after seeing the two people’s posture.

Regulus glanced up at him and then bowed his head and continued to hold Jing Yang’s hand, teaching him to play the game. “You’re here, sit.”

McDonnell walked over to the couch across from them and sat down. “Boss, you’re looking for me?”

“This season’s new launch, I know that you’re not satisfied with this batch of models. Even though you still do have to use all of the people, you don’t have to restrain yourself. If there are places you are unhappy with, you can still vent it out, and criticize what you should criticize. But…” Regulus continued. “Aim your gun a bit, don’t hurt my people by mistake. Or else you may not be able to afford the consequences.”

Regulus looked up at him. “Do you understand?”

“I understand, Boss.” McDonnell responded very earnestly.

“Go then.” Regulus looked down and saw that Jing Yang had already passed the level, and kissed him on the cheek. “Really good.”

Jing Yang smiled with pride, but still used a disgruntled tone to say, “I’m not a kid anymore, I don’t need this kind of encouragement.”

When McDonnell walked out of the door, he saw the two of them playing together very intimately. After closing the door, he let out a long breath of relief. He was somewhat glad that he had not picked at Jing Yang yesterday, even though this was because he really had nothing to critique him on.

The reason why McDonnell dared to be so arrogant and unafraid of offending people was because he was very clear that as long as there was Regulus to support him, it didn’t matter who he offended. It’s just that he never thought that Arthur Yang and Regulus would actually be in that kind of relationship, really risky.

But since Regulus and Arthur Yang were lovers, couldn’t he just directly let him become the lifelong spokesperson for the Fernelea group, what was he still doing this kind of competition for? McDonnell remembered what Regulus just said to him and instantly understood. Arthur Yang had almost been completely destroyed by Dilumo, and suddenly making him the lifelong spokesperson for the Fernelea group would only cause even greater public outcry. All he needed was a chance to make a comeback and change his image. And Dilumo was also one of the contestants, according to Regulus’s , he would naturally not let him live well. So what Regulus had just said was to let him aim his gun better at some cannon fodder, and the direction of the target naturally referred to Dilumo.

The process of models walking the catwalk was very demanding on the details, including the models’ position and order of appearance, the time of entry and exit, the time to show the clothing, every step had to be right. So before the official catwalk, there were a lot of intense rehearsals.

McDonnell walked up to the models and said, “Today we will first go another time using the order and positions from yesterday’s rehearsal, and then I will pick one of you as the . My eyes cannot tolerate the slightest flaw, so everyone please bring out your best state. If you think that it’s just a rehearsal so you deliberately slack off, please quit right now.”

As the models began to rehearse, McDonnell shouted, “Number three, your steps are too big, number four, why are you walking in such a hurry? Are you running to be reincarnated? Number nine, your lack of energy is because you didn’t eat? Straighten your waist! Number thirteen your entrance order is wrong! Everyone restart!”

Originally, arranging models’ position and rehearsal would all be done by the show director, and in rehearsal, seeing the show director scolding models making mistakes was very common. But in McDonnell’s fashion shows, he conducted all of his rehearsals, so the show director generally had little influence on the proceedings.

“Some of you I really don’t know how you were able to muddle your way up to a famous model, I can’t see the least bit of professionalism. If you have time practice as much as you can, do not think that just relying on the media can allow you to become a supermodel.” McDonnell said this while looking at Dilumo, and the meaning of his words were extremely clear, everyone would tell what he was implying. “This time’s lead model will be Arthur Yang, but if there is the smallest mistake in the middle, I will replace you.”

During rehearsals, even though almost everyone was scolded, Dilumo was definitely the one scolded the most miserably. When he made another mistake that forced everyone to restart, McDonnell continuously berated him for three entire minutes.

Dilumo’s anger slowly boiled in his heart, and finally exploded out of control. “Have you scolded enough? Do you think that being a designer is so great?! So that you can insult people at will?”

McDonnell very calmly replied, “Me being a designer is really not anything great, and you can also choose to opt not to walk in my show. I’ve never casually insulted people, I only insult those who are unprofessional and who make mistakes again and again.”

“Then I won’t walk, if it weren’t for the competition, do you think I would want to walk your show?” Dilumo’s mind had already gone blank from anger, and he had completely forgotten that he was now being live streamed.

“You can leave now, please step out. Don’t look back, and don’t come back to beg me.” McDonnell showed him out.

Dilumo flung his head and really walked out.

Conley immediately followed up and pulled him in the hallway. “Dilumo!”

“Let me go!” Dilumo shook off his hand. “I don’t want to walk his sh*t runway!”

“Now it’s not about whether you want to walk the show!” Conley grabbed his shoulder. “If you don’t take part in the show, you would have effectively withdrawn from the competition, and lost the chance to become the lifelong spokesperson for the Fernelea group!”

“Do you want me to go back to continue being scolded by him? Why do I have to be insulted so badly?!” Dilumo was unwilling.

Conley looked around and confirmed that no camera was watching them. He pulled Dilumo into a room, closed the door, and whispered. “Don’t forget our current situation! If you can’t become the Fernelea group’s lifelong spokesperson, will swallow us up completely sooner or later!”

As soon as Conley finished speaking, Dilumo’s cell phone in his hand starting ringing. It was Chenilu who had just called.

“Pick it up yourself.” Conley handed him the phone.

“Hey, what’s the matter?” Dilumo picked up the call, and after listening to the other side speak, he roared quietly, “Money again?! I already gave you all the money I could! Before asking me, you couldn’t think about whether I could give it?!”

“I am only competing in the competition, and I haven’t become the lifelong spokesperson for the Fernelea group yet, where would I come up with a lot of money for you?!”

“…Stop! I will find a way, you better calm down a bit, if I’m done for, you can stop wanting to get another penny, no one will live well!” Dilumo hung up the phone, trembling with anger.

“Are you awake now? Hurry back and apologize to McDonnell, or it will really be too late.” Conley said.

Dilumo closed his eyes and told himself that this was all for the sake of being able to live better, and he had to resist.

Dilumo walked back to the practice room and saw McDonnell sitting in the lounge drinking water. He clenched his teeth and walked over to give a seemingly sincere apology. “I’m sorry Mr. McDonnell, I apologize for my gaffe earlier, please give me another chance.”

“You thought it over quite quickly.” McDonnell looked up at him and handed the water cup to an assistant. “Weren’t you unwilling to walk my show? How come you regretted it so quickly? I even thought you were somewhat unyielding.”

“I’m sorry, just now I was too impulsive. No matter what, please give me another chance.” Dilumo bowed to McDonnell.

“I have long heard that you this person’s temper in private is not very good, your pride is also humongous, and attitude towards the staff was quite bad. A famous two-faced person in the modeling world.” McDonnell slowly said. “From what I saw today, sure enough it was , I’ve criticized countless models, and only you dared to have a temper. Do you know why the other models didn’t get angry after being criticized and didn’t talk back? Because they knew that I didn’t scold them incorrectly, and their work ethic allows them to withstand the criticism. Only you, not only do you not know your own mistakes, but still show an appearance of being right when you’re making mistakes, and that we aren’t allowed to criticize you after you go wrong. Who gave you this self-confidence? If you’re so strong, why are you modeling? Wouldn’t it be better for you to go back home and be a big young master?”

Dilumo clenched his fists tightly, he was already faint and dizzy from anger. He bit his lips hard to make himself endure. McDonnell actually said in front of the camera that he was a two-faced person, which was equivalent to exposing him in front of all of the netizens. And it had to be in this kind of situation, when he couldn’t refute him.

The entire process of this matter, besides the time when Conley went to persuade Dilumo and when Chenilu called, the netizens had seen everything.

The netizens felt that McDonnell’s scolding was really somewhat excessive, but he only scolded when the models were wrong or didn’t perform well. They could tell that McDonnell was not like some sort of madman, seizing someone and randomly scolding them. He had his own professional standard, and his high requirements naturally couldn’t endure those frequently making mistakes. And every rehearsal, they could see that there were many staff members busy behind the scenes. It was not like they thought, that the models alone could support a show.

Because of the mistakes of one person, including the models, all of the staff behind the scenes had to repeat everything again. As a model who could not be considered new, if he could not do well even to this extent, even a fairy would get angry.

And McDonnell said to his face that he was a two-faced person, with a very bad temper in private, and a horrible attitude towards the staff. He should not have deliberately wronged him, or else he wouldn’t say it in front of his face. The netizens were all very clear about McDonnell’s personality, his mouth was very poisonous and would say whatever he wanted, never hiding and just directly saying what he meant. But he had a special characteristic, and that was that he never blindly criticized someone, and never lowered himself to making up facts.

So many netizens started questioning Dilumo’s character and professional standards. No wonder Dilumo rarely walked live shows before, and most of his work were ads or edited videos. Either it was because he knew that he wasn’t good at walking live shows, or it was because his level simply couldn’t get onto shows.

“Do you think that I’m scolding you to vent my emotions and then deliberately target you?” McDonnell said. “You made mistakes again and again, have you ever thought about the feelings of those staff members? If I didn’t scold you to help them out, would they feel comfortable? Since you are a professional model, you should at least perform to a professional standard. If you practice more normally, you wouldn’t do so poorly right now.”

In the eyes of the netizens, McDonnell was rarely giving him some , and the words he said were also very reasonable. But in Dilumo’s ears, they turned into burrs, stinging at his heart again and again, so that his heart became even more twisted and angry, intensifying his hatred for McDonnell.

“I understand my mistakes, and I will definitely improve in the future.” Dilumo was almost spitting blood from anger, but he still held back the fury in his heart.

“The people you should be apologizing to isn’t me, but the staff and other models. You’ve delayed them quite a bit of time, and added a lot of workload to them. Be more sincere, if they are willing to forgive you, I don’t mind giving you another chance.” McDonnell made his stance clear, and even Dilumo’s fans had nothing to say.

Dilumo went to apologize to the staff members one by one. This was the first time he had lowered himself like this, and even in front of so many people.

After apologizing to the staff, he went to apologize to the other models. When he stood in front of Jing Yang and said the word sorry, the unwillingness in his heart spiked. He never thought that one day he would stand in front of this person and apologize. He had always felt that he had lost in his own hands, and that was because of his own stupidity and incompetence. In this society, there was only winning and losing, and no right or wrong.

Even though the situation was now reversed and he himself was at a disadvantage, he did not feel that he had been defeated. The person who would laugh in the end, would definitely be him.

Jing Yang just faintly glanced at him, and already knew what he was thinking. Who could laugh at the end, they would see later. Not only would he make it so that he couldn’t laugh, but he would also make him cry.

———

[1] – 護短, literally means short protection, basically means he is very protective over someone/very few people

[2] – 主秀, literally means main model, I don’t know much about different terminology for models, I just know there’s an opening model for runway shows

[3] – 切尼魯, pinyin qie ni lu

[4] – 不同凡響, idiom, not quite sure in this context but means like outstanding, not common, not necessarily in a good way though

[5] – 苦口婆心, idiom, means earnest persuasion