Chapter 28
There was a lot of noisy discussion in the audience, with people talking non-stop about things like buying and selling, and gossiping about other people.
On the field, there was only the clanging of ice picks, scattered in pieces, and ice chips flying everywhere.
The arms are raised high, but then lowered gently. Every movement requires a bit of skill.
Her neck was numb and her arms were shaking, but Cui Youyi's heart was indeed burning with excitement - she still submitted an answer sheet that satisfied her within the specified time, and all that remained was the final evaluation.
Guests and audiences will vote on the spot to decide the winner, but the final result will be announced together with the results of the team competition.
What is more humane is that the team competition will be held seven days later, and Cui Youyi finally gets a chance to catch her breath.
With mixed and excited emotions, Cui Youyi and her teammates stood on the court again.
The theme of this carving - auspicious dragon and phoenix - was announced early in the morning.
Because of this, Cui Youyi and others knew that the works of the winners of this ice sculpture competition would be shipped to the capital as tribute to celebrate the Empress Dowager's birthday.
Not only will they be rewarded, but Cui Youyi's family may even be pardoned. Now that the court structure has changed, this will be the fastest way for the Cui family to regain their freedom.
Everyone put their best efforts into doing this.
"Everything is going according to plan." Before the game started, Cui Youyi and others looked at each other and cheered each other up.
They stayed indoors for several days and discussed the design of the auspicious dragon and phoenix to be carved. It can be said that the ups and downs of the dragon's beard and the phoenix's tail were carefully designed.
In order to stand out from all the works, Cui Youyi and others decided to incorporate the technique of hollow carving into important details. Cui Youyi originally wanted to teach everyone, but after many rounds of contact, everyone was still unable to complete it, so this part of the work had to be taught to Cui Youyi independently.
In order to ensure sufficient time, Cui Youyi's team quickly divided the work and gathered all the manpower to repair the parts that required hollow carving. The other four people then went back to carve other parts.
The amount of carving work in the team competition is huge. For three consecutive days, the contestants can only rest in their own carving areas. In order to ensure that the works will not be maliciously damaged, the ice sculptors also arranged people to take turns on duty. In this cold winter weather, it can be said to be hard work.
On the day the results were announced, the venue of the ice sculpture competition was already surrounded by Ningguta residents who were closely watching the results of the competition.
The gamblers were shouting even harder, trying to get people to increase their bets, so the atmosphere was always very lively.
"Everyone, please."
"Sir, please."
As the official of Ningguta and a witness of the ice sculpture competition, Wang Jun rarely changed into official uniform. The guests from various families also dressed luxuriously, showing full respect for the competition.
The guests of honor were in their seats, the ice sculptors were in their seats, the audience were in their seats, Wang Jun, as the parent official, came on stage to sing the lyrics, and everyone worshipped the gods.
Then the real evaluation began.
There are a total of eighteen groups participating in the team competition. The audience will start the first round of voting. The eight groups with the lowest votes will be eliminated directly, and the remaining ten groups will be ranked by Zhibin.
If the ranking of the audience vote is not much different from the guest vote, the final winner of the ice sculpture competition will be directly determined. If the difference between the two is huge, a re-vote will be initiated.
Only when voting occurs do ice sculptors like Cui Youyi have free time to sit down and rest.
Cui Youyi sat there, drinking tea calmly with Lin Yinniang, but Hou Yi was fidgeting.
"Brothers and sisters, I'm so nervous!"
"You can actually drink tea!" Hou Yi expressed his incomprehension.
"Have a cup of tea to warm yourself up." Mr. Li said with full experience. Now the tea is warm but the heart is cold, but it is hard to say what will happen in a while. He knew the result in previous years and his heart was very cold.
However, Li Sheng glanced at Cui Youyi and felt that there might be a turning point this year, right?
Cui Youyi noticed Li Sheng's gaze, smiled slightly, and picked up the teacup.
"Come on, let's bump into one, as a tribute to ourselves for never giving up."
Everyone was stunned, but Lin Yinniang was the first to react and followed with a quilt of tea.
"I salute ourselves for never giving up, and I salute you, too. If it weren't for you, I would..."
Cui Youyi knew what Lin Yinniang was going to say. She picked up her teacup and clinked it gently with hers. "Sister Lin, please don't say that. You seized the opportunity yourself. The past cannot be retrieved. From now on, you must look forward."
"Come on, let's stop thinking and have a fight!" The five people were in high spirits and the atmosphere was peaceful.
Cui Youyi heard the noisy footsteps outside and thought someone was coming to inform them to go to the front to wait for the vote count. However, she never expected that as soon as she arrived at the venue, everyone was pointing at her.
"That's her! She stole the Zhou family's ice sculpture techniques and dared to display them at the ice sculpture conference. Isn't that like showing off your sword in front of Guan Gong?"
"No wonder the Zhou family won't let her go! If anyone steals my family heirloom, I will definitely fight her to the death!"
"If you ask me, the Zhou family incident was probably a misunderstanding. People with such bad behavior should be expelled from Ningguta."
"It's really a disgrace to ice sculptures and an insult to the name of ice sculptors."
"There wasn't this kind of thing at the ice sculpture festival in previous years. If it were you, the county magistrate shouldn't have let these women interfere. Don't you think their involvement ruined things?"
"We can't let them get involved next year! Instead of staying home to take care of the husband and children, they want to come out and show themselves in public."
…
The atmosphere on the field was not very good. Cui Youyi, listening to the chatter from the audience, realized that the Zhou family was making trouble and throwing dirty water again.
Wang Jun's face also turned pale. "Cui Youyi, the Zhou family accused you of stealing their heirloom and secretly learning the Zhou family's hollow carving techniques. Do you have anything to say?"
Hearing this, Cui Youyi suddenly looked up, her face full of confusion.
No, how did this hollow carving method become unique to the Zhou family?
She asked why there was no trouble before the game, and it turned out that they did this to kill her.
In this era, the relationship between master and apprentice was highly valued. The Zhou family accused her of stealing the family letter and secretly learning the art of hollow carving. This was to force Cui Youyi to admit that all the ice carving skills she learned came from the Zhou family. This was a skill that could help her make a living.
If the Zhou family's accusations were true, Cui Youyi would become a petty thief.
She was the enemy of the Zhou family in every way, ruined their reputation, and was treacherous.
If Cui Youyi is unable to refute, she will be nailed to the pillar of shame from then on. According to the rules of Ningguta, the Zhou family has the right to cripple her hand.
Everyone knew this rule. Cui Youyi sneered in her heart, and Hou Yi and others were so anxious that they were sweating profusely.
Hou Yi was sweating profusely from anxiety: "Does the Zhou family have any evidence to support their accusations?"
Faced with people who wanted to capture Cui Youyi, Lin Yinniang, Li Sheng, Lin Erwen and others directly protected Cui Youyi behind them.
Cui Youyi sneered in her heart. It turned out that the Zhou family designed this big drama before the results of the ice sculpture competition were announced, just to destroy her hand.
If they cannot become qualified ice sculptors themselves, they will use underhanded means to eliminate qualified ice sculptors. With such means available to aristocratic families like the Zhou family, it is no wonder that ordinary ice sculptors in Ningguta have never been able to make a name for themselves.
Zhou Yunkai stared at Cui Youyi viciously: "I knew you wouldn't cry until you saw the coffin."
After saying that, Zhou Yunkai carefully took out a book from a sandalwood box.
"This book was passed down from my ancestors. The one in my hand is the second volume that records the art of hollow carving. I have already asked Lord Wang to review the contents of this book."
Hearing this, Cui Youyi couldn't help but look at Wang Jun.
Wang Jun's face turned pale as he nodded with difficulty. "I have read the book presented by the Zhou family, and the contents recorded in it are indeed the method of hollow carving. I have had people examine the paper and ink, and this book is at least a hundred years old."
The book is correct, but is there really no problem with the content? Cui Youyi couldn't help but wonder, if the Zhou family lost such a treasure, given their behavior, would they not turn Ningguta upside down?
Seeing Cui Youyi had no idea what to do, Zhou Yunkai said proudly, "The first volume of this book was lost several months ago. At that time, our Zhou family even went to the county government to report the case. This is documented."
"Our Zhou family didn't want to argue with a weak woman like you. We challenged you to an ice fight as a warning, hoping you would show some sense and return the book to our Zhou family. However, we never imagined you would be so shameless and brazenly use the stolen ice carving techniques at the ice sculpture competition."
"According to our Ningguta rules, people like you are not worthy of participating in the Ice Sculpture Competition. Your previous achievements should be invalidated, and you must leave your hand to our Zhou family as an apology!"
Hearing this, Cui Youyi smiled.
So that's what she was thinking. She was wondering why the Zhou family went to so much trouble to target her. It turned out that if they didn't pull her down, the Zhou family would become a laughing stock this year.
Cui Youyi could conclude that her name would be among the top three in the individual competition of this year's ice sculpture conference. In previous years, the Zhou family had relied on the top three status to negotiate cooperation. She vaguely heard that the Zhou family had used this ranking as a bargaining chip to negotiate a lot of business.
If no one from the Zhou family makes it into the top three this year, they will have to pay a large sum of money as compensation. Doesn't that mean they will have to resort to underhanded tactics to compete for a ranking?
"Master Zhou, are you so used to being so domineering in Ningguta that you think every blade of grass on the road belongs to your Zhou family?" Cui Youyi stood up with a smile, not panicking at all.
"Although I've only been in Ningguta for a short time, I've never heard of the Zhou family's expertise in hollow carving. How come as soon as I entered the competition this year, the Zhou family jumped out and claimed that this technique belonged to them?"
"Does anyone of you remember this?" Cui Youyi asked the onlookers.
"Hey, I don't think I've seen any hollow carving techniques appear in the Zhou family's ice sculptures!"
"That seems to be true. I've been to every ice sculpture convention in recent years, and I've never even heard of this nonsense."
"That doesn't make sense. Why wouldn't you use such a powerful carving method? You can't just not want to use it, right?"
Seeing these people change the subject after a few words, Zhou Yunkai swallowed his anger and said, "Stop talking nonsense. The key point now is that you stole our Zhou family's carving technology."
"Oh?" Cui Youyi raised her eyebrows and asked, "But how did Master Zhou know that I can do hollow carving?"
"If I remember correctly, I've never used this method in public. Could it be that someone has been spying on our group's sculptures?"
"That's right, Master Zhou. According to the rules of the ice sculpture competition, participating ice sculptors are not allowed to peek at the works and skills of other contestants. How did you know that our group used the hollow carving method?" Li Sheng added sarcastically.
He once had a good friend who was also accused of the same crime by the Zhou family. His hands were broken by the Zhou family and he died of depression. He had tried countless times to clear his friend's name but could not find any evidence. Now it seems that the Zhou family is going to use the same trick again. If they can clear Cui Youyi's name, can they also take this opportunity to clear their friend's name?
Li Sheng then reminded the spectators, "If I remember correctly, five years ago, the Zhou family accused several ice sculptors from humble backgrounds of stealing your ice sculpting techniques and even had their hands broken. Now this is happening again..."
"Tsk tsk." Li Sheng's unfinished words gave people endless room for imagination.
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