Chapter 125 Downstairs in your dormitory, come down
Every minute and every second of the last three days was difficult to endure.
It wasn't just Meng Tang who had this feeling. Everyone was feeling restless and anxious as the holidays were approaching, and they couldn't suppress it.
When we walk on the street, we are always discussing where to go for vacation.
If your mind is not at peace, it is not suitable to go to a wood carving studio.
Meng Tang simply made an appointment with people in the group and asked if anyone wanted to go shopping.
Shi Lan was the first to reply: [The sun is rising from the west, are you going shopping?]
Meng Tang: [I don't have any suitable clothes for going out, so I want to buy two.]
Yang Ke: [You know what? I don’t have any suitable clothes either, and I don’t want to wear last year’s clothes.]
Xie Lingyin: [I've run out of sunscreen, so I'm going to buy a makeup bag.]
Meng Tang: [Want to go? I don’t have classes this afternoon.]
Xie Lingyin: [Let’s go.]
Shi Lan: [I need to go back to the dormitory first. I need to change my clothes. They got dirty while I was painting.]
Meng Tang: [I'm in the dormitory, you guys go back.]
After waiting for twenty minutes, Xie Lingyin and the others returned to the dormitory.
They have fixed places to go shopping. Meng Tang doesn't like online shopping. Whenever she needs something, she goes to a few shopping malls.
Xie Lingyin took Meng Tang's arm and said, "Summer is coming soon, and the colors of the clothes in the store are getting brighter."
Meng Tang looked at the bright colors and said, "It's not suitable to be dull when going to the beach, otherwise the photos will not look good."
"Try this?" Xie Lingyin pointed to a red floral tank top not far away. "It should look great on you. You have fair skin."
Meng Tang gave up as soon as he saw the color, and pointed to the ink-colored long skirt beside him: "How about this one?"
Xie Lingyin: "...How can this color be suitable for the beach? Even if you don't choose red, pick blue or light yellow."
Shi Lan also came to persuade her: "You should try it. It's actually still cold at the beach in May. This camisole has a white knitted outer layer. You can buy the whole set."
Yang Ke said, "It's okay. Clothes are useless just looking at them. Why don't you try them on?"
Meng Tang looked at them again: "Is it really suitable for me? Are you trying to trick me?"
Xie Lingyin pushed her directly into the fitting room. "I promise it'll look good on you. You look different from us. I'm suited to light blue and yellow, but you have a cooler look, so red would suit you better."
The shop assistants were all very smart and took the clothes directly and said, "I'll get you another pair of pants to go with it."
Meng Tang couldn't refuse the invitation, so he went in and changed his clothes.
There was also a mirror inside, so she looked at herself and found that it was indeed okay and suited her skin.
When she came out, she could clearly see the surprise in Xie Lingyin's eyes.
"It looks nice," Xie Lingyin said. "There's also an accessory here that you can tie around your neck or your hair."
I have to say, clothes still need to be tried on.
Wearing red is not as flashy as you might imagine.
Meng Tang didn't like to hesitate when buying things, and directly asked the clerk to pack up a set of clothes.
Afterwards, Xie Lingyin also bought a blue dress. As for Yang Ke, she never liked wearing skirts, so she bought two short-sleeved shirts.
"Let's go look at hats again." Shi Lan brushed her short hair. "The wide-brimmed straw hat that Meng Tang wore just now is suitable for her."
Xie Lingyin said, "Go ahead. Now that you're out, you have to buy everything you need."
Yang Ke teased, "So, are you three going to buy bikinis?"
"I'm not buying it." Meng Tang immediately made his attitude clear. "It's only May, do you want to freeze to death?"
Shi Lan chuckled and said, "I won't buy it either. I don't have a boyfriend."
Xie Lingyin: "...I'm not buying it either!"
It was okay to wear it in front of Xu Heqing, but if Liang Heng and the others saw it, Xu Heqing would probably punish her.
He is the most cunning person!
Meng Tang bought a hat and a bag, and it can be said that he returned home with a full load.
It was already very late when they returned to the dormitory. As agreed, Meng Tang sent Wei Chuan a message saying "good night".
Normally she would send a few more messages, but today she had walked a lot and now she just wanted to sleep.
The next day passed uneventfully. In the evening, it was the last day for voting in the wood carving competition.
Meng Tang habitually checked the Internet and was stunned when she saw that her ticket price had increased by 10,000 overnight.
The second place had only 300 fewer tickets than her.
This is a bit strange because she has always been more than 3,000 votes higher than the second place.
Now the gap between her and the second place has narrowed down overnight, and she has left others so far behind, which is really weird.
Meng Tang controlled the mouse and turned to the message page, only to find that there was a huge quarrel going on inside.
Because some people said that the first and second place votes were rigged.
Meng Tang immediately contacted the organizer according to the contact information on the page, but the lines were busy after several calls.
I waited for about twenty minutes before the call was connected.
"Hello, I'm Meng Tang, the author of 'Blind Monk Listening to the Piano' for this competition. May I ask if there's a problem with your technical department?"
The other party replied no.
Meng Tang: "But there's an abnormal increase in votes. Didn't you see the post in the comment section?"
"There is no problem with our technical department, and there is no fraudulent ticket sales."
The other party spoke and hung up the phone.
Meng Tang frowned. How could there be no problem?
If the number of votes increases abnormally, we must apply for a temporary freeze in statistics and ask the contestants to cooperate with the investigation.
Meng Tang had no choice but to call Chen Xunli.
Chen Xunli quickly comforted her: "Wait a moment, I'll go ask."
"Okay." Meng Tang said helplessly.
The others had heard the noise from her side a long time ago and came over after she hung up the phone.
"What's wrong?"
Meng Tang turned his head and said, "I participated in the wood carving competition. The number of votes was abnormal near the end. I suspected that someone had rigged the votes, but they didn't want it to be too obvious, so they rigged mine as well."
Shi Lan was dumbfounded: "Can it be operated this way?"
Xie Lingyin said, "Of course, but all of this can be found. Doesn't the organizer have any explanation?"
Meng Tang shook his head.
Yang Ke glanced at her computer and said, "It seems that the second place winner did it. Does he have any relationship with the organizer?"
"I've already contacted Dean Chen," Meng Tang said. "Let's wait and see what they say."
Xie Lingyin said, "Luckily, I have some connections. If it were an ordinary person, they wouldn't be vulnerable to online bullying. I see the comments section is already starting to ferment."
What Meng Tang is most worried about now is that the competition will be cancelled because of this behavior.
After a while, Chen Xunli called back, but he didn't give any substantive answer. He just said it was too late and he couldn't get the answer clearly, so he asked her to go to bed and talk about it tomorrow.
Seeing her reluctance, Xie Lingyin consoled her, "It's really too late now. Why don't you rest first and talk about it tomorrow?"
What else could she do if she didn't go to sleep?
Meng Tang washed up and went to bed, forgetting to send Wei Chuan a "good night" message.
When Wei Chuan woke up in the morning, he felt like the sky had fallen. He had a messy hair and dull eyes.
Shao Yiming patted his bed: "Brother Chuan, wake up, what are you daydreaming about?"
Wei Chuan said: "I haven't heard from Meng Tang."
"I'll go." Tian Yu was so annoyed that he couldn't bear to watch it anymore. "We'll go back this afternoon and ask her when we get back."
"She won't forget." Wei Chuan got out of bed and put on his jersey. "What do you think? Could something have happened?"
Shao Yiming: "Can you please stop imagining things all day long? Hurry up and wash up, so we can go eat."
Today is the last day, no one wants to argue with him here, they just want to go on vacation quickly.
Wei Chuan collected his thoughts and put his phone into the drawer.
Meng Tang didn't sleep well last night and got up very early.
Today was Saturday and she had no classes, so she didn't call Chen Xunli until eight o'clock.
But I couldn’t get through.
Just when Meng Tang was helpless, Li Hanjin called.
The last time she met Fu Hansong, he was the leader of the Woodcarving Association. She did not exchange contact information with him.
Thinking of this, Meng Tang quickly answered Li Hanjin's call.
Li Hanjin said on the other end of the phone: "Don't contact Chen Xunli anymore. Come to me about this matter and I'll tell you."
Meng Tang was stunned: "Does the abnormal number of votes have anything to do with you?"
Li Hanjin said, "I'll be at the main gate of your school soon, please come out."
Meng Tang hung up the phone and went to the school gate.
When she arrived, Li Hanjin was already waiting.
Meng Tang raised his head slightly: "What do you know?"
Li Hanjin said, "The second place had something to do with the organizers. His work was ranked in the top ten. This time he wanted to be in the top three, not for the money, but for the fame."
Meng Tang's eyes turned cold: "What kind of fame?"
Li Hanjin said: "They used their ranking in the competition to establish a persona and set up an online account and studio."
"Do you know who it is?" Meng Tang sneered, "What happened to my ticket?"
Li Hanjin: "Your votes were naturally jacked up together. You have a lot of votes, so you've always been first. Even if you jacked up your votes, you'd still be first. It doesn't make any difference to you. The first place prize is 50,000 yuan, so just take it."
"Li Hanjin, I'm really impressed by you." Meng Tang laughed speechlessly, "If I don't cheat, first place will be mine. If I cheat, first place won't be mine because I don't recognize it."
"Why are you so stubborn?"
"I will withdraw from this competition and protect your people."
"Meng Tang." Li Hanjin caught up. "Those messages have been cleared. This is a small-scale competition and won't expand."
Meng Tang suddenly stopped, turned around and slapped him.
The crisp sound attracted a lot of attention.
Meng Tang said coldly, "It should have been three slaps. The first one was for betraying my grandfather's teachings; the second one was for trying to drag me into this mess; the third one was for simply wanting to hit you. This slap today should make you realize that you and I are two different people from the beginning to the end."
She doesn't dare to claim to be noble, but she still has the moral cultivation of a craftsman.
This industry is already difficult, and the number of participants is less than one-third of that of other competitions.
In Meng Tang's view, these people's ability to participate in the competition is the first step for traditional handicrafts to be valued.
But now it has been ruined by their greed.
It is true that people with different ideals cannot work together.
After Meng Tang left, he called the organizer and said that he would give up the competition and asked them to issue an official statement.
The organizer confirmed it many times, but Meng Tang said he would give up the competition.
She didn't return to the dormitory until she saw the official update.
Just at this moment, Chen Xunli called again.
Meng Tang picked up the phone and said, "Hello."
"How come I heard you gave up the competition?" Chen Xunli said, "I've already found out. The person who cheated with the tickets has some connections with the organizers and has quite a background."
Meng Tang said, "I already know. It has something to do with Li Hanjin. They even said that the first place was also mine, there's no difference."
Chen Xunli: "...Then you can't just give up the game."
"Dean, I'm not arrogant, but my works are. I've poured my heart and soul into every cut. I'm participating in this competition simply because I want more people to see boxwood carvings."
"Now that they're doing this, it just makes me sick."
"I don't share the same ideals, so why not just not participate?"
Chen Xunli knew Meng Tang was just saying this in anger, and felt sorry for her, so he said, "Don't be angry yet, I'm still investigating this matter. What if we can't afford to offend her?"
Meng Tang said: "No need, if you can't afford to offend me, you can afford to avoid me."
After hanging up the phone, Meng Tang lay on the table for a while.
Xie Lingyin patted her on the back and asked, "Isn't it resolved yet?"
Meng Tang shook his head and recounted the incident briefly.
Xie Lingyin frowned. "It has something to do with the organizers. This kind of shady dealings will most likely not be resolved with justice."
They are just a group of students, and even Chen Xunli may not be able to deal with them.
"It's actually okay if you quit, it's just a waste of the bonus." Xie Lingyin comforted him.
Fifty thousand yuan is indeed a bit uncomfortable, but what they did is disgusting.
"I won't say anymore." Meng Tang clicked on the competition page again and found that her work had been removed.
She searched for the second-place candidate's name and went to the other school's official website.
Before they could find out anything, the competition officials suddenly released a message.
Meng Tang did not unfollow the post, but clicked on it subconsciously. When he saw it, he almost got angry to death.
They explained that there was no problem with their technical department, but someone had deliberately swiped the tickets, and the matter has now been handled.
Combined with their previous update, the spearhead was directed at Meng Tang.
She was the only one who withdrew from the competition. Doesn't this mean that she cheated with votes?
Soon, many people went straight to her short video account, and in addition to private messages, there were also many questions and insults.
Meng Tang was so angry that he laughed at this reversal of right and wrong.
She is still young and lacks experience in handling things, so she was cheated.
The second place winner was perfectly invisible, so she took all the blame.
Meng Tang endured it and went to the competition page to download and save all the second-place works.
She opened the pictures, enlarged them one by one and studied them, holding a pen in her hand, recording something from time to time.
After being busy for the whole morning, Xie Lingyin still went to buy food during lunch time.
Seeing her still typing away on the keyboard, Xie Lingyin handed her the meal. "Are you still busy? Isn't there enough work to do?"
"Thank you." Meng Tang took the food. "I'll need to search for some information for comparison."
Xie Lingyin laughed. "Having messed with your professional area, this vote-rigging guy has hit a wall."
Meng Tang smiled and buried his head in eating.
Many people don't understand wood carving, so she must have comparative evidence when pointing out mistakes.
After working until four in the afternoon, Meng Tang finally took a break.
She exported the organized things as images and created a new folder.
While she was naming the folder, her cell phone rang. She glanced at it out of the corner of her eye and paused.
Caller ID: Wei Chuan.
Meng Tang picked up the phone blankly. The other end was silent for two seconds, then whispered, "It's me."
"You...you're back?" Meng Tang stood up quickly.
Wei Chuan chuckled: "It's downstairs from your dormitory, come down."
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