☆ Chapter 97 Who plagiarized whom?
Aunt Li is a cook who helps the embroiderers cook. She can chat with anyone. Xu Qiuyun was one of the first embroiderers recruited. She doesn't talk much. These two people live in different parts of the village, one in the east and the other in the north. They never seem to interact in the embroidery workshop. How could they create such similar works?
The two works were passed around, and after the people in the front row looked at them, they were all in an uproar. Someone said, "How come these two works look exactly the same to me? Did they share the same brain? Or did one copy the other? Who copied whom?"
"Regardless of who copied whom, neither of their works will be shortlisted, and both will be fired!"
"Yes, Gillian Chung said she would fire him if she found out. She's a woman of her word, she'll definitely carry it out!"
"If you can't design, then don't design. Just do your own job well. It's not like you're not getting paid. Now that your work didn't make the shortlist, you're going to be fired from the embroidery workshop. What's the point? Sigh, what a pity to lose such a good job like this!"
"What's there to regret? Gillian Chung already said what the consequences of plagiarism and theft would be. The fact that they still did it clearly shows they didn't want to work anymore. It's not Gillian who made them lose their jobs, it's them who lost theirs!"
"Exactly! Why should we sympathize with plagiarists? If the similarity weren't so high that it would be obvious at a glance, what if someone was particularly clever and deliberately made some changes? If they got shortlisted, who knows whose spot they would have taken!"
Aunt Li and Xu Qiuyun were both shocked. Xu Qiuyun pointed at Aunt Li and said, "You, you plagiarized me?!"
"Who copied you? This is a drawing I painstakingly created myself, working through several sleepless nights! You're the one who copied me!"
"Nonsense! I drew this myself! I drew it myself! You can ask Xiulan if you don't believe me! Xiulan saw me draw it!"
Xiulan, whose name was mentioned, nodded and said honestly, "I did see Qiuyun drawing the draft. I watched for a while. There was a part that Qiuyun drew that looked a bit strange, and I gave her some feedback."
Xiulan pointed out the changes on Xu Qiuyun's design drawings: "Look, it's the style of the collar here. It's very obvious. It looked pretty good before, but after the change, I think it looks more natural."
This is also where the difference between Xu Qiuyun's and Aunt Li's works can be seen at a glance. If Xiulan hadn't given Xu Qiuyun some advice and made changes, the two works would probably be exactly the same, with only the difference in painting skills remaining.
Indeed, that was the case. Aunt Li was illiterate, while Xu Qiuyun had learned to read and write in the embroidery workshop. Her brushstrokes were much more steady than Aunt Li's, while Aunt Li's appeared very immature, like a child's, and she didn't even understand the difference between solid and light lines.
Xu Qiuyun immediately said, "Xiulan has already testified for me, proving that I painted this myself! It was Aunt Li who secretly looked at my work without my knowledge and wrote it down! Ajiao, I was unaware of this, the one at fault is not me, it's her! I'm a victim too!"
"What a victim! I drew it first! I drew it in the kitchen! There's a huge oil stain behind the drawing! Everyone should go see for themselves!"
Yang Xiaoya turned the painting over and, sure enough, saw a large patch of oil stain on it.
"After I finished the drawing, I was in a hurry to cook, so I put it in the kitchen and weighed it down with a bowl. That's why there are oil stains and bowl marks there! Xu Qiuyun must have seen it when she was eating lunch and then secretly memorized it! Xu Qiuyun! How could you bully me just because I can't read? Even though I can't read and my drawing isn't good, it's still my drawing! How could you copy it?! Ah Jiao, it's her who copied it!"
"You copied it!"
"You copied it!"
Seeing that their verbal sparring was about to escalate into a fight, Zhou Mujiao coldly interrupted, "Stop arguing. You both claim to be the original authors, so can someone tell me where these two works came from?"
Those were two works that were very similar to those of Xu Qiuyun and her colleagues. It was clear that they were derived from the same concept, and even the painting ideas were the same. The difference between the two works was that the painting skills were more obvious, and there were not many changes in the details.
So now, there are four works that involve plagiarism!
"Tell me, what's going on here? Xu Qiuyun, you say you're the original author, so how do you explain this work being more complete and better than yours?"
Xu Qiuyun was dumbfounded: "This, this... I don't know, I really don't know! Ah Jiao, believe me, I'm the original author! Really!"
Zhou Mujiao threw another piece in front of Aunt Li: "How do you explain this? How come your design is exactly the same as this piece, even the style of the lines?"
Aunt Li bit her lip, her face ashen: "I, I, I..."
"Because I drew this dress!"
Eighteen squeezed through the crowd, climbed onto the table, and said in a crisp voice, "This is what I drew for Sister Jiaojiao! This Peter Pan collar brings out Sister Jiaojiao's cuteness and youth. I tore off a piece of the skirt to highlight Sister Jiaojiao's legs! Sister Jiaojiao's legs are so beautiful!"
And this outer layer of waves—oh, those aren't waves, they're gauze! It adds to the flowiness of the dress! Aunt Li, do you know what flowiness means? Sister Xu, do you know? I don't know either, but Sister Jiao Jiao told me! Anyway, it looks really good! But hers is even better drawn!"
The painting with eighteen fingers, which is the one that Xu Qiuyun is holding, was originally Zhou Mujiao's work!
"I was supposed to participate in the competition! But my drawing is missing! I played games every day and forgot about it until I woke up this morning... Ugh, now I can't get first place, how annoying! I hate it so much!"
The little girl was so angry! She stomped her feet on the table, put her hands on her hips, and waved her arms wildly. Finally, she threw herself into Aunt Zhao's arms, sullenly crying, "Mommy, Eighteen's painting was plagiarized, boohoo..."
Aunt Zhao comforted her, "But you and Sister Jiao Jiao drew the same thing, so it's not your original work."
"They're not submitting this one to the competition! Xiaoya and Xiulan both saw the one they're submitting, and they both said it could win first place, sob sob... But I forgot to submit it, sob sob..."
Oh my, this little cutie, crying like this, it really breaks my heart.
Before the important business was finished, Aunt Zhao quickly took the little girl away. Eighteen's cries were loud and clear, but they suddenly stopped, which was a bit unusual for everyone.
“Xu Qiuyun, Aunt Li, you two should explain yourselves. What happened?” Zhou Mujiao said.
Registrar Du slammed his fist on the table: "Speak up if I tell you to! If you keep dragging your feet, I'll take you back to the government office for questioning!"
Terrified, Aunt Li knelt down with a thud: "My lord, my lord, spare my life! I confess! I confess everything! That picture wasn't drawn by me, it was drawn by Shiba! Shiba put it in the kitchen, and I put it away... I was bewitched and did something wrong! Ajiao, I'm so sorry! Please give me another chance!"
"And you, Xu Qiuyun? You also saw Shiba's work?"
Xu Qiuyun knelt down and shook her head repeatedly: "No, I didn't see Shiba's work."
"Is that what Aunt Li told you? Or did you secretly peek at the artwork in Aunt Li's hands?"
“No.” Xu Qiuyun pointed over. “It was her. She told me how to draw it!”
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