Chapter 354 - J-mine The competition FJ set up was truly a major topic for discussion amongst young ladies, older women and those interested in Fashion and Styles. It was not new news that the site for the competition, closed less than an hour after it was opened. Now, the next topic of attention was the number of stages the competition had and FJ did not say what they were all about. It was only the first competition which was already taken place, that they announced the requirement to pass it. As it was normal for some people to play smart during competitions, FJ came prepared and that is the reason the first stage of the competition, involved verifying the information the applicants submitted. Those that faked identities, college, achievements were immediately disqualified. Now looking out for the perfect resumés, FJ selected the best that were put in order. As all those that gave false information to FJ were disqualified, those that passed, automatically moved over to the next stage for the competition. A week after the applicants' entry into the competition, FJ announced that they have managed to select about 500 people after their details were verified and were in order. They also put up the criteria to move over to the second round. It was a big shock to most people that a large number of people were eliminated after the first round of competition. 'How tough was it?' The spectators thought. Those that followed these competitions up, could see how tough it was when it was only getting started. Bai Jun sighed in relief after she made it to the first round. She almost lied in her resumé but because of Miss Chyou's advice to be genuine and transparent, she was lucky that she wasn't eliminated. "FJ is not here to joke." Bai Fen said after she laughed in relief. "It looks like they have enough time on their hands." Bai Jun said with a sigh. "This only proves how tough this competition is. They really took their time getting a thousand resumé." Bai Fen said from the side. "Mum, I'm going out for a cup of coffee." Bai Jun said as she stood to her feet. "Where are you going to? The rules to get into the third round will be announced soon, do you think you have enough time to walk around?" Bai Fen asked with a frown. "Mum, I will be back soon. I just want to relax my brain." Bai Jun replied. "You can relax your brain after you must have passed the second round of competition. Come back here and practice your sketches." Bai Fen commanded. Bai Jun sighed tiredly and came back to sit down. She wanted to have alone time in order to think about her steps in this competition. She was thinking how she would have lost in the first round of competition if she had followed her heart. Thinking about it made her scared and she wanted to lighten the burden in her head. Back at Jia Li and Fu Hua's place, Fu Hee prepared a delicious meal for Jia Li which included all her favorite. "This is for passing the first round of the competition. You need to eat more and have the strength for the next phase." Fu Hee said as she served her some food. "Thank you, Mum." Jia Li said with a grateful smile. She wanted a delicious meal and she got what she wanted. She needed the physical and mental strength to go on with the competition. When Fu Hua came back from work, he washed his hands and came to join Jia Li at the dining table. "Welcome back." Fu Hee welcome him with a smile and he replied with a 'hum'. Fu Hee was already satisfied that he chose to reply to her and the words were not necessary to deliberate on. The rule for the second round of competition was Emailed to the qualifiers of the first round and they were also asked to select one fabric of their choice they would like to work with, from the pictures of more than 20 different fabrics that were under the rules for the second round of competition. Jia Li chose the one she thought looked mature and beautiful, before shutting her system and going on to look at all her sketchbooks. The rule for the second competition says that the contestants were to submit one image (front and back) of their design, which will be posted on FJ's official Instagram page and the site opened just for the competition. The community would vote for their favorite designs. In this competition, there was no face or name reveal, as all the designers used their nicknames or initials. To make it fair, the contestants who have built a fan base or some reputation for themselves in one way, can not use their popular nickname. Instead of using JL which was popular, Jia Li used, 'J-mine' which means, Jasmine. It was only Fu Hua that understood the nickname she decided to use. FJ gave the contestants 24 hours to submit their designs, which didn't have to be fresh work. Because there were 500 people at this stage, it would be difficult to select one favorite design, so FJ developed a method for it. The 500 contestants were divided into 20 groups, with 25 candidates in each group, so it would be easy to select a favorite from each group. And the shocking thing about this stage is that only the Top 100 contestants with the most votes would move over to the next round of competition. This was crazy! With this difficult stage, this meant that the contestants had to make their best choice amongst all the drafts they have ever had or better still, come up with a new one. 𝕗𝐫𝚎𝗲𝘄𝐞𝕓𝐧𝕠𝘃𝕖𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝚖 A theme was given to them for this round and that was what they were going to work with. This made a lot of the contestants start designing new works. Someone like Jia Li chose one of her already made sketches.. She modified the draft a bit, before submitting it without showing it to Fu Hua.