The Ex-Wife They Begged To Keep - Chapter 172: Chapter 172

No one expected that Serena's words would actually come true.
The very next day, a group of people stormed into the studio, waving banners and accusing Serena of completely ignoring their design requirement. On top of that, she charged them outrageous fees.
Soon, people started to believe their accusations, and many shop owners from nearby came out to watch the commotion. Serena and Lana stood at the studio entrance, watching the man opposite them with icy indifference.
The man started a livestream, and as he glanced over, his face was full of smug satisfaction.
"They don't know the first thing about design. I honestly have no idea why they even opened a company." The man held up a decorative piece and his original design sketch, putting them right in front of the camera.
He said to the viewers, "Everyone, take a look. This is what I originally asked for, and this is the final product their studio gave me. Does it have anything to do with what I wanted in the first place?"
His voice was provocative, and although there weren't many viewers at first, the platform quickly pushed the stream to more people, and soon the chat was flooded with new faces.
Viewer A commented: [Hey, isn't that Siren, the designer? Didn't expect her to screw up like this.]
Viewer B commented: [When did Siren start her own studio? But honestly, that piece looks nothing like what the client wanted.]
Viewer C commented: [They've been hyping Siren as some genius designer, but now she's totally crashed and burned. This is too funny.]
More negative comments flooded the livestream channel.
Lana was watching the livestream too, and she found the comments absolutely ridiculous. She thought, 'This guy is just twisting the facts, and people are actually buying his nonsense?'
"There are probably a ton of paid trolls in the chat," Serena said, watching the barrage of comments fly by.
She thought, 'Normally, a nobody going live wouldn't get this much hype. He clearly set this up from the start to frame us.'
Sure enough, after the first wave of negative comments, some people in the chat started to question things.
Viewer D: [There's no way Siren would do something like this. I just don't buy it.]
Viewer E: [Yeah, finally someone reasonable spoke up. That piece is super detailed and clearly made with care. Why would Siren go out of her way to make something totally different from what the client wanted?]
Once someone asked questions, more and more people started backing Serena. The guy clearly hadn't seen this coming, and his face turned sour fast.
He said, "Every word I'm saying is true. I just want everyone to judge this fairly. I know a lot of you are fans of Siren, but the truth is, she didn't deliver a proper design."
Not far away, a crowd of reporters had already shown up—all called in by the guy. The moment they heard it was about the famous designer Siren, they were all buzzing with excitement.
"Alright, it's time," Serena said.
Her calmness was contagious, and Lana found herself steadying too. If it were just up to Lana, she would've already stormed over to argue with the guy.
The reporters swarmed around the studio, turning the place into a full-blown press conference.
Serena, who had stayed silent until now, finally stepped forward, meeting the crowd with her usual poise and composure.
"Sir," Serena said, her voice steady and clear, "even though your requests were quite unusual, our studio still handled your commission with utmost professionalism."
She turned and pulled out a few sketches. "Four days ago, you placed an order on our website, asking us to design it exactly as you specified. My team revised the design five times, but you were still completely unsatisfied. We offered you a refund."
As she spoke, Serena tapped her phone a couple of times.
Then, the recording of their phone call started to play from Serena's phone.
Serena maintained a genuinely courteous and professional attitude throughout, and everyone present could see that, at least in this phone call, she handled everything impeccably.
She added, "Naturally, perhaps because you trusted our studio, you chose to meet in person to resolve your concerns, so we arranged to meet yesterday.
"We spent nearly three hours revising the design on the spot according to your feedback. In the end, you personally approved the version you now hold.
"Even when your requests ended up being completely different from your original specifications, our designer still made every change you asked for."
In the sunlight, Serena spoke with clear, methodical composure and laid out all the previous drafts she had drawn. Under the camera, everyone could plainly see the traces of each revision.
"What nonsense are you spouting? Those weren't my requirements at all. I only agreed in the end because talking to you people was impossible," the man protested, still trying to wriggle out of responsibility.
But Serena remained unfazed, simply nodding as if deep in thought.
She asked, "Then why did you refuse our refund offer and make a scene at our door after the project was finished?
"Should I take it that you were just looking for something to use against our studio, deliberately trying to make trouble for us?"
Serena's voice was calm and smooth, and every piece of evidence she laid out was clear and organized.
A lot of people had already been on Siren's side, but after seeing all this, they were now completely convinced she was innocent—anyone could tell she was being framed.
Watching Serena win everyone over with just a few words, the man started to lose his cool and panic.
This was definitely not how he pictured things going down.
He thought people would hate Serena, pegging her as some greedy, shady designer—but now, everything had totally backfired.
Serena said, "This is just senseless troublemaking and a setup. I've already handed all the evidence over to the police, and they should be here any minute now. Our studio will finally get the real answer we deserve."
The moment Serena finished speaking, the crowd burst into applause. It took her less than ten minutes to turn everyone from doubters into die-hard supporters.
Meanwhile, everyone in the livestream was spamming screenshots and blowing up the chat with comments.
Viewer A: [Omg, she's gorgeous and totally badass! I never realized Siren wasn't just a design genius—she's got such a sharp tongue too.]
Viewer B: [Exactly. I always thought Siren was just super nice, but I forgot that being nice doesn't mean she's a doormat.]
Lana turned her back to the crowd and gave Serena a thumbs-up.
'Gosh, she's so cool. I'm about to fall for her,' Lana thought, practically swooning.
Serena felt a bit helpless but still winked at Lana.
Not only did the livestream leave the studio's reputation untouched, but it gave them a huge publicity boost. As soon as the stream ended, orders started pouring in from all directions.
They'd already been struggling to keep up with demand before, but now, seeing the avalanche of new orders, Lana couldn't help but marvel at how things had turned out.