Chapter 26
"I don't accept it!"
"How can a woman like her be number one? There's something fishy about this result."
A group of men in brown coarse cloth pushed through the crowd, raised their arms and shouted, and came at them with such a fierce look that it seemed as if they wanted to nail Cui Youyi to the pillar of shame.
"You." He pointed at Wang Jun.
"And you." He pointed at Cui Youyi again. "I saw the county magistrate bring you food myself. You two have a close relationship. Now the county magistrate says you're number one. Who would believe it?"
Cui Youyi laughed angrily: "Are you saying that I cheated? Do you have any evidence?"
Wang Jun also stepped forward and said, "Miss Cui is intelligent and kind, and has provided many suggestions for improving everyone's lives. This is how I became acquainted with her. Everyone in the yamen can attest to this."
"Today, you have slandered this woman's innocence with empty words, and you also accused me of partiality and abuse of power. If you can't provide any evidence, you are slandering an official appointed by the court. I wonder what your punishment should be!"
The atmosphere became solemn and everyone's eyes were on the three of them.
The man took a half step back, a little nervous, but still gritted his teeth and said, "I saw it with my own eyes, how could it be fake?"
"If you two have no connection at all, how could you, a county magistrate, send food to the daughter of an exiled criminal? Who would believe this if I told anyone?"
"Do you believe it?" He grabbed the person standing next to him and asked him in the face.
The man who was inexplicably dragged into this: ... Are you sick? You dragged me into this. I don’t want to talk...
Seeing the man hesitating, he wanted to pull other people over to ask, but those who were close by quickly stepped back, not wanting to get involved in this.
What a joke! The person he was criticizing was the county magistrate. How could they survive if they offended the county magistrate?
Besides, they cast the votes and they have their own judgment. If the work was really carved by Cui Youyi, then she deserves the first place.
As for the rest, what does it have to do with them?
"Enough, what does it have to do with you how we get along? Since you said I cheated, why don't you just present the evidence?" Cui Youyi didn't bother to argue with him and went straight to the heart of the matter.
"Yes, if you have evidence, just bring it out directly. We can help you to bear witness in public." The man who was grabbed took the opportunity to speak and broke free.
"I...I..." The man began to stammer, "You guys are all in the same group, so naturally, whatever you say is what you mean."
Wang Jun sneered, "That's enough. Since you keep saying you have evidence, for the sake of Ningguta's thousand-year-old grand event, I will give you a chance."
"Come here, go and invite the elders of the Zhao, Zhou, Wu, and Chen families over here. Let's make a clear judgment on this matter today in public. Don't accuse me of being unfair afterwards."
When the man heard this, his originally panicked heart calmed down. After all, the person who said this to him was the young master of the Zhou family.
When people become stable, they tend to become a little arrogant. His sudden change in expression naturally attracted the attention of Cui Youyi and Wang Jun.
It seems that someone is behind this.
Since this guy had another trick up his sleeve, Cui Youyi was too lazy to waste time arguing with him. In her opinion, it was most likely Zhou Yunkai who was up to no good again.
She wanted to see what new tricks Zhou Yunkai could come up with this time.
The old men of the Zhao, Hou, Zhou, Wu and Chen families also served as the guests of honor for this event. They even arranged a special rest area near the venue. When they heard the county magistrate's summons, they all arrived within an incense stick of time.
When many people heard that there was a cheating incident at the ice sculpture competition, they rushed to the scene and surrounded the place.
Cui Youyi looked at the people present, exchanged glances with Wang Jun, and said directly: "Now that everyone is here, let's settle this matter properly."
Cui Youyi walked over to the man and pressed him, "You said I cheated to get a good score in the ice sculpture competition. When did you see me cheating? How did I cheat?"
The man quickly glanced at the Zhou family's talents and then said, "You have an unusual relationship with the county magistrate. Who knows if you stole the questions..." He was afraid of offending the county magistrate, so he had to throw all the problems onto Cui Youyi.
Cui Youyi sneered: "Why don't you produce some evidence? You think you are dreaming by staying here every day?" She really overestimated the Zhou family and thought they would set up a big game to frame her, but after the incident became so serious, at the last minute, this is it?
"That's right, if you have evidence, just show it. I've been talking for so long and it's just your guesses. Isn't this a waste of our time?"
"I'm afraid it's because you're not as skilled as others and you're not convinced."
"It's so boring. A man without any ability would just bark here."
"What you're saying doesn't make sense. If that woman is innocent, why are you picking on her? Maybe you're just using the difficulty of finding evidence to make trouble..."
…
Seeing that the time was almost right, the man raised his neck and spoke condescendingly: "Of course I have evidence. The evidence is on your ice sculpture."
"In that case," Old Master Zhao spoke first. "Your Excellency, County Magistrate, please send someone to bring up Contestant Cui's ice sculpture, as well as the entries from the other contestants in his group."
"Let us, the elders, take a look at what's wrong." The old man of the Wu family added, "If it's really as you said, we will never tolerate anyone who disrupts the ice sculpture competition."
Wang Jun nodded in agreement, and soon the person he sent came back in a hurry.
"My lord, this is bad."
"Miss Cui's first round of ice sculptures has melted."
This statement caused a huge uproar, and everyone was talking about it for a while.
"Miss Cui, do you have anything else to say?" Old Master Zhou narrowed his eyes, wanting to convict Cui Youyi directly.
"The ice sculpture won't melt at this point. Tell me, what did you do when you carved it?"
He actually wants to play the trick of calling a horse a zebra and leaving no evidence behind. Cui Youyi will not admit defeat.
"That's hilarious, old man," Cui Youyi sneered. "You guys arranged the ice for the competition, and there were so many people watching when we were carving. So, could you tell me what I can do about it?"
"Besides, my work has been judged by numerous judges. If there really were problems, how could it have escaped so many rounds of judging? If I remember correctly, there were people from the Zhou, Wu, Chen, and Zhao families among the judges in each round of judging, right? Why not call them up and confront them on the spot?"
Trying to accuse her of replacing the ice or using drugs to melt it to make ice sculptures easier is just hilarious. If there's something wrong with my work, are you, the Zhou family's guests, just sitting there doing nothing?
Cui Youyi specifically pointed out this point to remind these old men that if they want to take advantage of the situation and frame others, they should consider whether their family's reputation can be ruined.
Zhibin couldn't tell the quality of the ice sculptures, nor could he find any abnormalities in the ice. If the news got out, he would be completely humiliated.
"Young friend, you've misunderstood." The Chen family's old man smiled and stepped out to smooth things over. "We have records of every competition selection, and the county magistrate has appointed a special person to oversee it. The results are naturally reliable. As for the matter of the melting ice sculpture, I'd like to ask the county magistrate to investigate further."
"There are many strange things about what happened today. Why not wait until the results of the investigation are out before announcing them?" The old man of the Wu family came out to offer suggestions at this time, just to let the matter go without saying.
If there is no result today regarding Cui Youyi cheating at the ice sculpture competition again, she will be stabbed in the back in Ningguta tomorrow.
"In that case, Your Excellency the County Magistrate," Cui Youyi said loudly, "I, too, want to report this. I think Zhou Yunkai and Zhou Yunzhao from the Zhou family, as well as Wu Wenxuan and Chen Wen from the Wu family, are cheating at the ice sculpture competition!"
The situation came to a standstill. These families had always had grudges against other ice sculptors, especially Zhou Yunkai from the Zhou family, who had been teasing others and now had successfully advanced. This planted seeds of suspicion in everyone's hearts, and the way they looked at the three families was not right.
Realizing this, Mr. Zhou was furious: "You little brat, you are talking nonsense." The old men of the Wu and Chen families also looked unhappy.
"I have evidence," Cui Youyi said calmly, her voice still resounding. "I participated in the Ice Fighting Competition with them back then. I know their level better than anyone else. Do you dare to say that they advanced without your help?"
"Exactly. My eldest nephew's ice sculpture skills are amazing. He's actually better than Zhou Yunkai's."
"I don't believe there's anything fishy about this!"
"Who says they aren't? Every year, the champions of the ice sculpture competition come from these families. They probably know each other and can take turns to be the champion just by greeting each other!"
"Why hold an ice sculpture conference? There's no way for us ice sculptors who come from poor backgrounds to make a name for ourselves. We might as well just go and have fun."
There were more and more such voices in the crowd, and several young masters of the Zhou, Wu and Chen families were also criticized from all sides. No one cared whether these things were true or false. No matter what the old men said, everyone had something to refute.
When they are severely bullied, everyone will want to pounce on them and tear off a piece of their flesh and blood whenever they get the chance.
"Silence." Wang Jun spoke, and many yamen runners came in to maintain order.
"Today's matter is of grave importance. If we don't get to the bottom of it, there will inevitably be rumors and gossip about the ice sculptors in the future. Therefore, I will once again publicly announce the selection process for the Zhibin. If you have any questions, please feel free to ask."
"Ms. Cui's first round of works have melted, but her second round works are still there. This ice sculpture technique can't be improved overnight, so everyone can still see it clearly."
Wang Jun had already made full preparations. Every guest who voted for a work had to leave a token of their own. Every vote and every reason used were recorded in a book, and now he could just send someone to take it out and display it.
If you think there is something fishy about the Zhibin voting, you can also step forward and vote on your own. Anyway, they have prepared plenty of tickets for voting, and there is plenty of time today, so we can just have another public vote.
Wang Jun also offered huge rewards. The top three works in the voting will receive rewards of fifty, thirty, and twenty taels respectively.
Of course, someone will pay him.
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