When Qin Feiwan returned to her office after the meeting, An An was no longer there.
She took out her phone and called Qin Ningyi while carrying documents towards her desk.
"Aning, where's my nephew? Did he go to you?" Qin Feiwan put down the documents and opened a drawer to continue drawing.
"Yes, that Tang Zhenzhen needs to be managed." Qin Ningyi said faintly.
Qin Feiwan knew that her previous passive attitude made Qin Ningyi very uncomfortable. Wasn't she worried for him? Although Tang Zhenzhen was mediocre, at least she was proactive.
Just as she was about to answer, the design draft book in her hand fell to the floor. The pages she had prepared for the WAN competition were covered in drawings.
"Who came in?" she asked Lili, who had followed her in.
"No one came in, right? An An was playing inside, and I told them not to disturb him." Lili brought in water and saw the design drafts on the floor, scribbled all over, and exclaimed in surprise, "Oh my god, what happened?"
Qin Ningyi heard the commotion on the other end of the phone and asked, "What happened?"
Qin Feiwan hesitated and said, "The design drafts for the competition have been destroyed."
Soon, Qin Ningyi came down with An An. Those who weren't in the meeting also gathered outside the studio.
Lili was questioning everyone about what they were doing during the meeting.
"Where are the design drafts?" Qin Ningyi asked Qin Feiwan, who looked a little tired.
Qin Feiwan handed him the design drafts.
They were almost unrecognizable, covered with drawings of small trees, houses, and flowers, with childish strokes.
Qin Ningyi frowned and looked at Qin Feiwan. A hint of helplessness flashed in her eyes. There was one thing she didn't say, and that was that these strokes could only belong to a child.
And the only child who had entered her studio and touched things on her desk was An An.
Qin Ningyi clearly thought of this too, which made him very troubled.
Although An An had always been well-behaved and sensible, he was still a child, and playing was his nature. He also didn't know the importance of these design drafts.
"Do you have a backup?" Qin Ningyi handed the design drafts back and asked in a low voice.
Qin Feiwan shook her head. Tang Zhenzhen chimed in, "Sister Qin likes to draw by hand. She only makes electronic files once the draft is finalized. We all know this, so we never casually enter Sister Qin's studio."
After saying that, she glanced at An An and said meaningfully, "I'm afraid it was someone ignorant who did this."
Qin Feiwan didn't want to blame An An, so she hadn't mentioned him at all. Seeing Tang Zhenzhen shift the focus to An An, she gave her a displeased look, full of warning.
An An stood beside Qin Ningyi and saw the terrible state of the design drafts when he handed them back.
Qin Feiwan took the drafts and touched the designs on them, saying nonchalantly, "It's okay, I drew it myself. Can't I draw another one?"
Tang Zhenzhen's resentment deepened when she saw that they weren't blaming An An at all.
Qin Feiwan, who always treated her design drafts like children, had previously told her to get out coldly just for touching her drafts with unwashed hands.
Why was she so indifferent to this cheap nephew?
"Sister Qin, these design drafts were drawn before the competition. After so long, even if you designed them yourself, you probably can't recreate them perfectly," Tang Zhenzhen said regretfully. "What a pity for these designs."
Qin Feiwan heard the hostility in her words towards An An and sternly stopped her, "That's enough, Zhenzhen. Stop talking. It's fine, everyone go back."
Tang Zhenzhen didn't want to let it go. "Sister Qin, this is your hard work. You're just letting it go without even investigating?" She pointed at An An. "Even if he's a child, doesn't he need to apologize for his mistakes?"
Everyone turned their attention to An An.
An An smiled and looked at Tang Zhenzhen. "Auntie, you came in to find me, didn't you forget?"
Tang Zhenzhen looked at him in disbelief. "I was in the design room the whole time. My assistant can testify for me. I left for a while, but I was looking for Mr. Qin."
At this point, Tang Zhenzhen drooped her eyebrows, looking extremely wronged. "Assistant Xiao drove me back, everyone saw that. After that, I stayed in the design room and didn't come out."
Tang Zhenzhen's assistant immediately nodded, confirming that what she said was true.
An An listened to her words and looked at the expressions on the faces of the people around him. He guessed that everyone didn't know about Tang Zhenzhen entering the studio.
An An tugged at Qin Ningyi's pants. "Daddy, it wasn't An An. It wasn't An An."
Qin Ningyi picked up An An and patted his back without saying anything.
Qin Feiwan smiled and patted An An's face. "It's okay, An An. Auntie can draw another one herself."
An An could tell that his aunt was trying to comfort him, and she thought he had just scribbled randomly.
"Auntie, An An won't cause trouble. It wasn't An An who drew it." An An tried hard to defend himself. Auntie was so kind and was even making clothes for him; how could she misunderstand him?
Amidst the gathered crowd, murmurs began. "This kid is too naughty. It's obvious a child drew this. Who else could it be!"
"Exactly. Sister Qin spoils him too much. And he calls Mr. Qin 'Daddy'? Did he just appear out of nowhere?"
"What a pity for the design drafts. I saw them before Sister Qin left, and they were really amazing. If they were submitted for the competition, our WAN would definitely have advanced further!"
"Yeah, after so long, the drawings are almost unrecognizable. It's probably impossible to recreate them."
"He's caught and still won't admit it. Kids these days are too good at pretending."
...
An An's face crumpled with grievance as he listened to their discussions.
Tang Zhenzhen glanced at her assistant and gave her a satisfied look.
You brat, let's see how smug you can be! So what if Mr. Qin is your dad? You ruined Sister Qin's drafts, and Sister Qin won't like you as much anymore.
I'll see how your mother handles being caught in the middle!
Qin Ningyi saw Tang Zhenzhen's momentarily concealed triumphant expression and narrowed his eyes. He gestured to Xiao Konglin behind him.
"Check the surveillance," he said, his voice very low so that only he and Xiao Konglin could hear.
Xiao Konglin was stunned for a moment before remembering that they had installed micro-surveillance at the entrance of each office a few days ago to improve company security.
He hurried out.
Meanwhile, Tang Zhenzhen was lowering her head, feeling pleased. An An suddenly spoke, "Auntie, An An can prove it."
As the childish voice rang out, the murmurs stopped, and everyone looked at An An, as if seeing a mischievous child's last desperate struggle.
An An continued with a firm voice, "An An can prove that those things were not drawn by me."