Chapter 20 - Even Cheap Things Can Be Beautiful

A red carpet was laid out from the side door of the villa to the garden, and pots containing half-metre tall Chinese enkianthus lined the sides of the carpet. The miniature bell flowers radiated with multi-coloured light which accentuated the uniqueness of the red carpet at the centre.

The cameramen and staff were already busying themselves setting up, while the models were getting ready to present their outfits. The programme team, in collaboration with the video broadcast site, was now accessible to the public again after being discontinued for the entire afternoon to build a sense of suspense for tonight’s party. The main venue for tonight’s live broadcast was the villa’s rear garden.

The guests began to make their appearances one by one with the emcee giving each guest an introduction. The first guest to make his appearance was naturally Zhuo Yiyan, followed by a few familiar faces who were at the opening show. The top three winners of the first season were the last to arrive, holding each other’s hands.

“Teacher Zhuo, I’m so happy to see you once again~” The former second-runner up bounded over to Zhuo Yiyan’s side.

“I’m happy to see all of you as well,” Zhuo Yiyan tactfully replied. By using ‘all of you’ instead of ‘you’, he would be able to avoid any misunderstandings from arising.

In contrast to the lively second-runner up, the champion appeared calmer, respectfully greeting every single guest with the first-runner up following behind her.

“Being able to see the three of them again, I really can’t help but lament at how fast time has passed!” Guiliana, one of the judges from the first season, exclaimed as she looked at the three modern girls who’d cast away their inexperience.

“That’s right, three years have passed in the blink of an eye.” As the chief of the judging committee for the second season running, Zhuo Yiyan’s emotions were no less than what Guiliana felt. Three years ago, he was still an unrestrained, hot-blooded youth who spoke out at whatever he felt was incorrect. Many participants had been reduced to tears by his words. After three years, his personality had mellowed out significantly, and the maturity in his thinking made him calmer.

“Yiyan, how are this season’s participants in comparison to the contestants from the first season?” Guiliana asked.

The surrounding people quieted down as though interested in Zhuo Yiyan’s reply.

“Those who participated in the first season were all very brave, and the aptitude of the ladies participating this season isn’t bad either,” Zhuo Yiyan replied objectively.

Those who were sharp instantly understood his words. It was obvious that this season’s participants were of a higher standard in comparison to their seniors.

No one present had a low IQ, so they naturally understood the meaning behind Zhuo Yiyan’s words.

Currently, the three warriors…correction; seniors, were feeling upset. All of them had participated in the National Supermodel competition before. On what grounds were the newcomers better than them? On what basis?!

The three of them looked towards the villa. They truly wanted to see just how good these newcomers were!

The main camera swivelled towards the brightly lit crimson carpet. With an utterance of ‘It’s starting!’ from someone, the first figure made her appearance.

The girl that stepped out was dressed in a long, red, sleeveless dress that trailed to the floor. A slit in the side of her dress allowed for a glimpse of her thighs. The girl’s curls draped over her left shoulder, and her lips were as red as flames, radiating with charm.

“That’s Luo Yi.” Zhuo Yiyan flipped over the name list provided by the crew, arriving at Luo Yi’s information on the very first page. Then, he awarded her 8.5 points in the scoring bracket.

The other judges also began to give their scores, and it was clear that the overall results were high.

“This lass isn’t bad, and the way she carries herself is passable.”

“Based on the information given, she’s already been in the modelling industry for 3 years. No wonder she’s so unfazed.”

“It’s a pity she’s not pretty enough. I think that’s what’s holding her career back.”

A few of the judges began discussing the girls amongst themselves.

As the first participant, Luo Yi had already walked offstage awaiting further instructions under the crew’s direction.

The second person appeared on stage.

The runway’s order was determined by the order displayed on the namelist, so the judges didn’t need to know the name of the model and were only required to score them sequentially.

The models who appeared on stage first were all from Luo Yi’s group. Each one of them were decked out in high quality clothing. There were some that hadn’t selected clothes that complimented them or clothes that matched poorly with their style, lowering the overall impression and resulting in them receiving mediocre scores from the judges.

“I heard that the contestants selected their clothing from two different locations today. One group even had to choose their clothing from wholesale distributors. By the looks of it, the ones coming out next should be that group. I really pity them,” a female judge commented while smiling.

The first half of the runway presented a slew of high-quality garments. Even if one of the girls had a poor aesthetic sense, the quality and style of the clothes could still be expressed should they have a good figure. However, it was a different story altogether for clothes that were bought from wholesale distributors.

Cheap things weren’t good enough, while good things weren’t cheap.

The clothes must be mass-produced if they were sold at wholesale distributors, and there’s a limit to how well mass-produced goods were made.

If someone with a bad fashion sense and style were to wear poor quality clothing with no style, they would only look worse.

It looked like Team Luo Yi was going to win tonight without much of a fight from Team Xiao Yang.

Almost everyone watching had the same thought.

The next few models that came on stage confirmed everyone’s speculations. There was no need to even make a comparison as some of the models from Team Xiao Yang were dressed in attire painful to see.

As it was evident to everyone that the clothing was randomly selected, the models were instantly decimated by the elegance of Team Luo Yi’s clothing.

Why are my eyes teary? It’s because I’ve been slapped hard by the cruel concept known as reality.

The contestants who’d had no choice but to wear the clothes they’d bought from the market in the morning were extremely put out. Regardless of how immaculately they’d done their makeup, it was all rendered useless in the face of their overly-casual runway attire.

The location where they’d picked their clothes was already bad enough. Coupled with the ten minute time limit, the task was simply too difficult for anyone to accomplish!

In order to be able to choose an entire set of clothes that matched and fit the model in the short span of ten minutes, one must really rely on their good luck.

Due to the short duration, the clothing that the models were wearing weren’t at all pleasing to the eyes. Some items were either too tight or loose, some were too drab, and others were too old-fashioned.

The judges had hand cramps from their literary onslaught of bad reviews.

Everyone in Team Luo Yi was smiling. They were revelling in schadenfreude!

“Is this the end for their team?” There were some judges that didn’t wish to see anymore.

Zhuo Yiyan flipped to the back of the participant’s name list. There were three people left; Xu Jiaojiao was the second-to-last, while Xiao Yang was to follow her.

He didn’t know what kind of clothing they’d picked, but he could vaguely conclude that they wouldn’t amount to much judging by the harsh rules. Tonight’s event was intended to make use of a team’s terrible results to highlight the other team’s elegant clothing, advertising them by making use of visual contrast and impact.

The third last contender almost completed her catwalk in tears as the zipper at the back of her skirt was unable to be pulled up, awkwardly revealing the small of her back.

The judges’ faces turned ugly. Not only was it painful to the eyes if one were to see such unsightly things for too long, it was also uncomfortable being forced to see something that goes against one’s aesthetic senses.

While the neon lighting on both sides of the red carpet continued to shine, a beautiful pair of white, slender legs stepped onto the carpet.

The cameraman at the main camera took the opportune moment to bring the camera closer, panning it upwards from a long pair of legs wearing clogs, past her black slanted skirt, the gold belt around her waist accentuating her slender figure, and up to her comparatively looser front-buttoned jacket. Then, it travelled to her slender, beautiful neck, and beyond that…

The broadcast screen was instantly flooded with comments from the online viewers.

[OMG, too pretty!!!]

[Who is she? Who is she?? Who is she???]

[Hubby, why are you inside my screen? Hurry up and come out~]

[What sort of demon is this? Hurry up and get into my bowl!]

[Now licking the screen…]

[F*ck, isn’t this breaking the rules?!!]

The judges present were taken aback as well.

Even Zhuo Yiyan was entranced by the sight. The girl walking over had combed her short hair back in a suave fashion, and her impeccable makeup skills allowed her soft facial features to appear more striking. The robe like skirt didn’t seem out of place due to her belt adding the final touches to her look, giving her a unique disposition. The girl, who was wearing a pair of plain clogs, looked completely ordinary from head to toe. Yet, it was this ordinariness that made her seem modernistic and outstanding.

The person languidly walking down the runway had used a classic matchup of colours and clothing styles, and had coupled it with makeup that gave her an androgynous appearance. Altogether, she looked like a modernistic beauty that wouldn’t be brought down by cheap clothing.


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