The Pampering CEO: Don't Mess With My Secretly-Married Sweet Wife novel Chapter 163

The result of the voting was announced at 12 o'clock o n the first night.

First place had accumulated 1.93 million votes, which was 500 thousand votes ahead of second place. And the winner of the night was Susan.

"I won first place?" Susan questioned, bewilderment written all over her face.

This was something completely out of her expectation. Mr. Reed had heavily criticized her work, so she was almost certain that she would finish dead last. She never expected that she would get first place on the first day.

Glancing over at the result, Julian said nonchalantly," Well, it seems that they have good taste."

'Just like me,' he finished his sentence inwardly.

Susan was still in shock. She found it difficult to accept the truth that she could garner so many votes i n one night and that she was far ahead of other competitors.

'How is that possible?’ She wondered inwardly. As she racked her brain searching for an explanation, an idea suddenly popped up in her mind. She turned her head towards Julian and said in an unsure voice, "Julian... Please tell me you have nothing to do with this.”

After all, given Julian's resources and connections, it was a piece of cake for him to gather 20 million votes, let alone two million votes.

Looking at Susan's questioning gaze, Julian raised his brow and asked, "Why are you denying yourself of your achievement? You don’t believe in your own abilities?"

"It's not that I don't believe in my own abilities, it's just that... I was quite confident at first, but Mr. Reed

seems to have some doubts about me..." Susan said hesitantly.

Truth be told, she would not feel as bad if it were other designers, or even if Sheldon, who was a master himself, rated her work. She would never take their comments to her heart no matter how harsh their remarks were.

However, it was Mr. Reed who evaluated her design. H e was the most reputable designer in the design industry. He had a good eye for talent, and his opinions were all very spot-on.

'If he said I'm not good... then maybe I'm really not good enough..."

"Mr. Reed is not a god, so there's bound to be some occasions where he would bark up the wrong tree. Besides, your ability is recognized in Lanyard and your works are highly rated by our clients. There are s o many people who recognized your effort, so why do you have to doubt yourself just because Mr. Reed

doesn’t approve of you?” Julian said.

Susan looked at Julian and then sighed, "When did you become like an old man who loves to give advice, Julian?”

Julian's brows twitched at her remark. Just when he was about to say something again, Susan quickly went forward and soothed him.

Thanks to the brief interlude, Susan had calmed down a little now. She figured that since she did not commit any misdeed and all of the votes were given to her voluntarily, she just had to accept it.

Susan still had the upper hand until the third day.

On the third day, the second place made a comeback and gained a whopping 3 million votes in one day on the last day. In the end, it overshot Susan's votes and replaced her.

"So, I got second place in the end," Susan said. She was a little disappointed, but that was all she felt. After all, only ten of them could enter the finalist round, so she was content with what she had landed the spot.

On the second day, Susan received a notification from the judges. On that night, they would announce the top 10 finalists and the final round would be held at the same time as well to decide the champion.

"We have to go to Central Stadium for the final round? I wonder how they’re going to assess us this time," Chance said.

He was the last of the ten finalists who made it into the final round.

"I've no idea," Susan shook her head.

"Susie, Lanyard Construction is the largest investor in this competition. Mr. Shaw sure knows something. Maybe you should go and ask him for some lowdowns," a voice interjected.

"Yeah. You should go and ask Mr. Shaw so that you and Chance can get a better result."

Susan was stunned for a moment. Then, she said, "I don’t think so. It's not fair to the others."