Chapter 8
When Cui Youyi said this, Hou Yi burst into laughter as if he had heard something funny, and Zhao Boqian couldn't hide his smile either.
However, Wang Jun felt a little strange, as if this was the second time he heard Cui Youyi say such words.
"Why do you say that, Miss Cui?"
Cui Youyi originally wanted to laugh it off and change the subject, but when Wang Jun asked her this, she felt a little guilty for no reason and had to pretend to be stupid.
"I just said it casually," Cui Youyi continued calmly, "I wonder what you meant by what I said just now?"
"Could it be that today's Ice Fighting Conference holds something else?"
They went to so much trouble to prepare for such a competition, and invited ice sculpture masters and many people from Ningguta to come. It can't be just playing house with someone, right?
Who has so much free time!
Also, don’t go back on your word and not give the Cui family any protection or money, otherwise she will really make a fuss!
"Just wait and see, young lady, and you'll know." Wang Jun kept the secret and went to other guests.
Cui Youyi looked at Zhao Boqian.
Well, he still looks like a gentle gentleman, and I can’t tell why.
Cui Youyi looked at Hou Yi again.
The child just chuckled and ran away guiltily.
Cui Youyi laughed in anger. What kind of people are they? They always do things to keep people in suspense. Damn her curiosity.
"System, system."
"Say something, system! Your host is about to be hung upside down!"
After a series of unsuccessful calls, Cui Youyi was completely exhausted and had no choice but to walk back to the back of her ice sculpture and wait obediently for the trial and the revelation of the secret.
In a corner where no one cared, the servant holding the gong struck the gong again.
Cui Youyi was frightened and before she could calm down, she heard Wang Jun speak.
"A quarter of an hour has passed. Please vote, everyone. Each guest has an ice sculpture token, which you can give to the work you like."
"Each spectator can receive an ice flower with their ID card. If they like a piece, they can place the ice flower in the basket in front of the piece."
"Now, the audience will form groups of twenty and step forward to vote."
?
Have the voting rules changed?
Or did I miss the voting rules?
Cui Youyi remembered that the information provided by the system did not record such voting rules. How were the weights of votes from ordinary spectators and guests of honor determined?
Cui Youyi had a lot of questions, but seeing that no one around her raised any objections, she couldn't help but feel that she had missed some information.
In order not to appear timid and to fit in better, Cui Youyi pretended to be calm and "went with the flow."
The voting was carried out in an orderly manner, with voters moving back and forth around Cui Youyi one by one.
"You are indeed quite capable, little girl. But..."
“Tsk…Ah…”
…
Cui Youyi politely smiled back at everyone who came to see her work, but almost everyone would say something confusing, repeating it endlessly, which gradually consumed Cui Youyi's patience.
Dear uncles and aunts, what is going on?
Cui Youyi, who has always been patient, is really angry. Are they treating her like a monkey on Mount Emei and making fun of her?
No matter what, she's going to lie down and give in.
She was tired after standing all day. Instead of being a wooden stake like the Zhou, Wu, Zhao, Chen, and Hou families, she might as well bravely enjoy the world.
For example, find a place to sit.
Cui Youyi took a quick look around and picked out a Feng Shui spot next to the ring that was sheltered from the wind. The key point was that there were many chairs there.
Isn't this just for her?
While everyone was huddled together admiring the ice sculptures and weighing their votes, Cui Youyi headed straight for the Feng Shui location she had chosen.
She has had enough of being a monkey, she wants to be a human.
But when she arrived at the Feng Shui treasure land, Cui Youyi was stunned——
The county magistrate had already occupied this position before her, and his position was further back and less likely to be discovered.
Cui Youyi and Wang Jun looked at each other in surprise.
"Haha, sir, what a coincidence." Cui Youyi broke the silence first and found a seat at the back and sat down in a familiar manner.
Wang Jun twirled the corner of his book uncomfortably. "Why isn't Miss Cui waiting on the stage for the voting results?"
Cui Youyi said nonchalantly: "It's inevitable that I'll get the votes that don't belong to me, but I can't get the votes that don't belong to me, so why waste my smile?"
A qualified ice sculptor, in addition to having superb skills, must also have a strong heart that will never waste his energy.
Unfortunately, she has already trained herself to not waste her energy on internal affairs.
Wang Jun was amused by Cui Youyi's straightforward words.
"Miss Cui is truly different from others."
"Oh, what's the difference?" Cui Youyi wanted to hear Wang Jun's evaluation of her. After all, she had a strategy mission to complete.
When she thought of the strategy mission, she thought of the unreliable system, but she had to be thankful that the system was not ordinary.
If the strategy gave her the task of making the target person fall in love with her, she estimated that she would fail at the first step.
"Don't you know it yourself, girl?" Wang Jun put down the book in his hand and asked instead of answering.
Cui Youyi suddenly met those sparkling peach blossom eyes, and inexplicably felt as if she had drunk fine wine, her cheeks burning and her heart pounding.
As expected, as long as a man is handsome, he can look at a pig with deep affection, Cui Youyi thought, covering her chest.
"Ahem..." Cui Youyi shifted uncomfortably, trying to escape from Wang Jun's sight. "Everyone has their own unique faces."
"But what do I look like in your eyes?"
Cui Youyi calmed down, put on a pair of smiling eyes, and looked at Wang Jun expectantly, hoping to get some good comments.
After all, today is the last day of the strategy mission, her system has been malfunctioning, and she doesn't know how much Wang Jun likes her.
Cui Youyi had made up her mind. She would take the initiative to get close to Wang Jun, and it would be best if she could take him down directly to complete the task.
If the system detection strategy progress is not enough, then it must be a system detection error. Who knows whether the system has been repaired?
"She is truly a remarkable woman." Wang Jun suddenly leaned closer. "In the blink of an eye, she recovered from her serious injuries and is now a completely different person."
"It's rumored that the fifth daughter of the Cui family is extremely frail, like a willow in the wind, panting every three steps. But I heard that day that the girl was an excellent sword dancer."
So who is this girl? Wang Jun asked in his heart.
"Haha." Cui Youyi put on a fake smile. "I had a near-death experience that day. It was a huge shock. When you told me about the past today, it felt like a dream. I have no recollection of it at all."
Wow, the Cui family hasn’t doubted my identity yet!
You, a stranger whom I have only met a few times, actually doubt my identity!
Cui Youyi couldn't help feeling a little frightened.
Since the system had allowed her to take over Cui Youyi's body in this world, it should help her sort out these minor details, right? She didn't want to be treated as an alien and burned to death.
Wang Jun said with an ambiguous tone, "Maybe it's the outstanding people and beautiful scenery of Ningguta."
"Your Excellency is right." Cui Youyi laughed stiffly, trying to change the subject.
"Sir, what exactly is going on in today's Ice Fighting Competition?"
Wang Jun raised his eyebrows and signaled Cui Youyi to continue.
"First of all, this match is very strange. I'm just an exiled woman. Even if I defeated Zhou Yunkai and brought shame to the Zhou family, I'd still be nothing more than an ant in front of the major ice sculpture families in Ningguta. Why would they send their rising generation to compete with me in an ice battle?"
"For them, this matter has no benefits, whether they win or lose. They can't go to all this trouble just to vent their anger, right? The Wu and Chen families might still be a possibility, but what do you want from the Zhao and Hou families?"
"Especially since you went all the way to the village to pick me up, this is a small matter that could have been done by a servant."
Cui Youyi analyzed incessantly.
"Back to the competition, I originally thought the voting rules would be based on a comparison, but the adults actually arranged for the spectators to vote first. As far as I know, the ice sculpture competition does not have such a voting rule."
"I'm going to hazard a guess. Could it be that the voting rules for this year's ice sculpture competition have changed?"
"Young lady, you know a lot about the ice sculpture competition," Wang Jun said cryptically. "I've only been in Ningguta for a few years now, and I'm just figuring out the rules!"
Wang Jun was originally from Hanzhong. After ten years of hard study, he finally became the top scorer in the imperial examination. However, because he refused the solicitation of a powerful official in the court, he was exiled to Ningguta to serve as a county magistrate.
He took up his post with his widowed mother, but found that Ningguta was very different from the outside world.
Perhaps it is because this place is bitterly cold all year round, the people lack food and clothing, and the people are quite tough, making it extremely difficult to govern.
According to the yamen documents, Ningguta was not conducive to farming. The people had no choice but to buy food if they wanted to eat. However, the money was too much for too little, which led to many problems. A certain county magistrate, after a long period of hardship, united with the local dignitaries and gentry to vigorously promote the art of ice sculpture.
Over time, Ningguta formed a culture of respecting ice sculptures, and the people lived a harmonious life.
Blessings and disasters go hand in hand. During the decades of development, the art of ice carving has been monopolized by the powerful and wealthy families. Not only is it difficult for ordinary people to become ice carving masters, but the vast majority of them have become laborers in various aspects of ice carving.
After Wang Jun took office, after a long struggle, he finally had the opportunity to unite people with lofty ideals to initiate a reform.
Cui Youyi's arrival, especially her victory in the ice hockey competition with Zhou Yunkai, gave them such an opportunity.
Today's ice fighting competition is actually a trial of new voting rules.
In the past, the winners of ice sculpture competitions were mostly decided by guests, and the votes of ordinary spectators played no role. Every year, the ice sculpture competition became a competition among the ice sculpture families of Ningguta.
Wang Jun wanted to provide ordinary people with an additional way to survive, and Zhao Boqian wanted to make the ice sculpture skills no longer stagnant, and the two hit it off.
The ice sculpture competition system needs to be reformed urgently, so that the competition can return to a test of skills rather than a contest of family background. Only then can the ice sculpture competition play its due role.
Only when ordinary spectators truly have the right to vote can ice sculptors from poor families have a chance to come to the fore. Only then can the ice sculpture pattern in Ningguta be broken and they can have the opportunity to help the people at the bottom live a better life.
Wang Jun didn't say much, but his words always revealed his contempt for the monopoly of ice sculpture art and his disgust for those black-hearted families.
Perhaps because Cui Youyi was dragged into his boat from the very beginning, he did not deliberately conceal it.
Cui Youyi felt a little frightened.
She has been learning ice carving since she was young. In addition to her family background and her true love for it, she also wants to pass on this craft.
Here, ice sculptures are given different meanings——
It concerns the survival of the people of Ningguta, how ordinary people survive, every family, and every living person.
Cui Youyi lived a wealthy life since childhood. Most of the people she came into contact with had no worries about food and drink. She had never experienced poverty, nor had she seen people who could not survive because of poverty.
She was panicked as she came into this world inexplicably.
In particular, the system told her that if she died, the other members of the Cui family would not be able to survive either.
In order to survive, she unknowingly took the responsibility of killing six people.
Now, someone suddenly came and told her that her ice sculptures were related to the life and death of thousands of people in Ningguta. Cui Youyi really thought it was nonsense.
Why should she bear this kind of pressure? She wasn't from this world to begin with. She just wanted a chance to survive.
"Why me?" Cui Youyi thought so and asked this question.
Wang Jun was silent.
"The right time, the right place, and the right people, maybe this is fate."
Wang Jun has trained ice sculptors from humble backgrounds over the years, but the time required to train a true master ice sculptor is so long that none of them can wait.
"This is moral kidnapping." Cui Youyi lost her composure. "I don't accept it."
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