Chapter 41 Cat is the best
The evidence Ling Yue brought was too embarrassing and destructive.
Needless to say, Yinggong, who was already feeling guilty, had cold sweat oozing from his forehead and his back was almost soaked.
Even the chief judge, who tried to remain calm, began to look panicked.
The winning work that was submitted by Ying Gong and received high scores from the judges, and the crumpled paper that Ling Yue found, both fell into Ji Huaiyuan's hands.
Mr. Ji sat at the head of the judging panel, his gray eyebrows furrowed.
He first picked up the first-place work and looked at it carefully for a moment. His old eyes swept over the judges who were sitting on pins and needles.
The judges were sweating profusely.
Mr. Ji shook the rice paper in his hand and asked, "What do you think? Is this piece of writing very good? So good that it can secure the first place in this final?"
Judges: “…”
Who could have thought that the final assessment would suddenly fall on them.
Everyone was silent and didn't dare to respond.
Ji Huaiyuan's gaze returned to the work, and he tapped the ink with his finger. "The ink is indeed dark and shiny, but it doesn't look like it was written carefully. Let's not talk about whether this is cheating or not, just look at these characters!"
“It has a similar shape but no character, the strokes are soft and the structure is loose.”
There was obvious anger in Mr. Ji's tone. "It's more like copying some authentic masterpiece, stroke by stroke, without any of my own inspiration or understanding!"
Yinggong's heart suddenly tightened, and he frantically tried to defend himself.
"That's because I... I admire the calligraphy of the Crown Prince of Pei so much. When I practice calligraphy, I always subconsciously try to learn from him, so my handwriting inevitably carries some of the Crown Prince's style..."
As soon as these words were spoken, Pei Heng and Shen Shi, who were standing not far away, fell silent at the same time.
Even Yan Ke, who always kept his emotions secret and was as steady as an old dog, twitched the corner of his mouth and almost couldn't maintain his expression.
The chief judge at the side closed his eyes in pain, cursing Ying Gong a thousand times in his heart.
This idiot!
Things have been exposed to this point. The more excuses you make, the more loopholes you will find, and you will only die faster!
Sure enough, Ji Huaiyuan looked like he had heard an extremely ridiculous joke, and his beard was curled up in anger.
"Worship and learn from him? Forget about you! Even if the former Crown Prince of Pei were reborn, he might not be able to imitate the essence of his calligraphy to such a realistic level. How dare you flatter yourself!"
Pei Heng, who was silently sipping his milk tea, said: "..."
He bit the straw and thought: That’s not the case.
Ji Huaiyuan was obviously very angry. He crumpled up Ying Gong's winning work and threw it into the wastebasket next to him.
The old man angrily scolded, "Nonsense! This is a complete disgrace to calligraphy. This competition actually allowed such a piece of trash to make it to the finals. It's a joke!"
He picked up the wrinkled evidence that Ling Yue had found, unfolded it and took a look at it. His brows furrowed even tighter and he became even more disappointed.
"What kind of bullshit is this?"
There were some covers-mouthed laughs from the contestant booth.
Yinggong felt a lump in his heart.
Compared to the previous work, his hands were shaking when his handwritten words were criticized like this.
Upon seeing this, Yan Ke took out Pei Heng's calligraphy from the entries that had been sorted out nearby.
He carefully spread the rice paper on the table in front of Ji Huaiyuan. "Mr. Ji, calm down. Why don't you take another look at this work and see if it's worthy of the title of first place?"
Pei Heng was just about to continue drinking his milk tea as if it had nothing to do with him, but he didn't expect the fire to suddenly burn himself.
He immediately sat up straight and quickly hid the cup of milk tea in his hand behind his back.
He was afraid that this stern old gentleman would find out that Xiao Pei was not doing his job properly in such a serious occasion.
When I looked up, I happened to see Ji Huaiyuan looking over at me following the sound.
Pei Heng straightened his back and pursed his lips, looking like an excellent student who was earnestly waiting for the teacher's comments.
Ji Huaiyuan seemed a little surprised by his appearance and demeanor, and then looked at the spread out rice paper.
Upon seeing this, the old man's expression changed.
First he was focused, then he was surprised, and then a look of delight appeared on his face.
He looked extremely carefully, his fingers even unconsciously hovering above the paper, moving gently along the strokes of the characters.
"Good...good!" Ji Huaiyuan couldn't help but exclaim in praise. He raised his head and glanced at Pei Heng who was sitting upright, his eyes full of admiration.
"The writing is powerful, the flow is smooth, and the layout and composition are quite ingenious. At such a young age, he can write with such style and artistic conception. The intention is even more profound, and he has the style of an ancient sage."
"It's rare, really rare!"
At this point, Ying Gong's expression was no longer just ugly, as if he had seen the first place and generous reward all grow wings and fly away.
Even...worse.
He looked at the chief judge in panic.
The chief judge's scalp was tingling as the situation was about to get completely out of control. He quickly stepped forward, put on an apologetic smile towards Ji Huaiyuan and the others, and said in a humble tone, "Master Ji, please calm down. It was our jury's fault. We were not careful for a moment and let some fake things slip through the cracks. I'm sorry to have made a fool of myself."
"We will correct this immediately. First place is definitely won by this contestant Pei Heng. He is well-deserved. All the rewards, including the precious set of calligraphy by the Crown Prince of Pei and the jade ring, will belong to contestant Pei Heng."
As he spoke, he stole a glance at Ji Huaiyuan's face, trying to bring in someone to back him. "This is just a small matter, it's really not worth the trouble for you to come all the way here. If my father-in-law knew that I had alarmed you, he would definitely blame me for not being able to do things..."
Ji Huaiyuan raised his hand to interrupt him, "You don't need to use your father-in-law to pressure me. I didn't come here today just to deal with your dirty deeds on the field!"
The chief judge's heart skipped a beat. He felt that there was something else behind Mr. Ji's words, as if he was holding some other evidence. He was afraid that he would reveal some more explosive inside information on the spot, so he quickly wiped the sweat off his forehead and said.
"Yes, yes, yes... You're right, but there are too many people here, and it's not a good place to talk. How about we go somewhere quiet first, and then I'll report to you in detail?"
After hearing what the chief judge said, as if he wanted to downplay the cheating incident, the other contestants in the waiting area nearby stopped working.
Everyone worked hard to compete, but encountered such blatant shady dealings, and they all voiced their doubts.
"Why change the place?"
"You must give an explanation right here and then!"
"Why did this kind of favoritism and fraud occur? Did the judges accept bribes?"
"We demand openness and transparency! Give us an explanation!"
The scene was a little chaotic for a while.
In the end, it was the highly respected Ji Huaiyuan who stepped forward. He raised his hand and motioned for everyone to be quiet. "Children, please be patient. Since I, Ji Huaiyuan, have come across this matter today, I will definitely handle it to the end!"
"I guarantee you a fair and just result. Everyone go back and rest. The results will be announced as soon as possible."
Fortunately, the contestants' emotions were temporarily calmed and order was restored in the venue.
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