Now, Zhou Changgui was speechless and couldn't explain himself no matter what.
Isn't this the poem written by Jiang Sheng? How could it have been published three years ago?
Zhou Changgui was a little confused, but he quickly realized what was going on.
Could it be that this kid deliberately found a poem that was published three years ago to set a trap for him?
His face turned extremely pale, but when questioned by the editor-in-chief, he could not admit that he had plagiarized the work.
Otherwise, if I, a respected English teacher, were to be exposed for plagiarism, I could forget about working at the school in the future!
Forget about staying at the school, it's impossible for me to continue being a teacher in the future!
Faced with the editor-in-chief's angry expression, Zhou Changgui's mind raced, and he immediately spoke up, finding a reason and excuse for himself.
"It's like this, Editor-in-Chief, would you please let me explain first?"
Before Zhou Changgui could finish speaking, he was interrupted by the editor-in-chief.
I don't want to hear any explanation from you!
"Smack!"
The editor-in-chief slammed his hand on the table, so angry he didn't know what to say.
"Let me tell you, just because I trusted you so much, I got a complaint about this poem as soon as I submitted it. My boss gave me a severe dressing down. If I hadn't been speaking up for you, I wouldn't even have kept my job!"
The editor-in-chief grew angrier the more he thought about it, and finally glared fiercely at Zhou Changgui: "Forget about the column I mentioned before. Our newspaper doesn't employ those morally bankrupt plagiarists!"
Not to mention that, just because I got a severe scolding from my boss today, the editor-in-chief is increasingly suspicious that the article "Facing the Sea, with Spring Blossoms" that Zhou Changgui submitted was also plagiarized from a poem by an unknown author!
He's now living in fear, terrified that if any more original authors come to complain, his position will be completely in jeopardy!
"Please let me finish speaking before you make a decision."
Zhou Changgui was genuinely panicked, but he quickly explained, "When I was writing this poem, I felt it was vaguely familiar, as if I had seen it somewhere before. To make sure no one else had written it, I specifically looked for it and confirmed that no one else had written it. Only then did I carefully write this poem based on my memory. But I didn't know that someone else had written it..."
Zhou Changgui really didn't know what to say, so he could only try his best to minimize the worst consequences of this matter.
He looked at the editor-in-chief, whose expression had softened and was no longer as grim as before, and continued, "Editor-in-chief, I really didn't plagiarize on purpose. If I had known that this poem had already been published by someone else, I would never have used it under any circumstances."
Looking at Zhou Changgui, who was so sincere he was almost in tears, the editor-in-chief seemed to realize that what he had just said was a bit too much.
His expression was somewhat unnatural, but he still asked, "In that case, are you sure you wrote the story you wrote before, 'Facing the Sea, with Spring Blossoms'?"
A fleeting look of guilt crossed Zhou Changgui's face, but the editor-in-chief didn't notice.
He simply nodded very seriously: "That's right, I can guarantee that I wrote this myself, and there's absolutely no way that the editor-in-chief, Ning, will be blamed for this. If I'm lying again this time, I'm willing to be struck by lightning..."
Seeing Zhou Changgui make such a firm vow, and judging from his expression, he didn't seem to be lying.
Although the editor-in-chief was somewhat skeptical, he still believed Zhou Changgui's words.
He sighed: "I don't care whether what you're saying is true or false. The poem you gave me a few days ago has been found to be plagiarized. Now, your explanation can only minimize the impact. Fortunately, the poem hasn't been published yet, otherwise, I'm afraid I really wouldn't be able to protect your reputation."
Although that's what the editor-in-chief said, Zhou Chang knew that while his column might not be able to stay, at least he hadn't made things too ugly with the newspaper.
"The original author..."
Now that everything that needed to be said had been said, Zhou Changgui couldn't help but probe, "Since things have come to this, I would like to trouble you to act as a go-between. I want to sincerely apologize to the original author. Although it hasn't been published yet, in order to express my sincerity, I must let everyone know that I really didn't plagiarize. It's just that I had a familiar memory in my mind, and it was probably a memory lapse that made me think that I had written it myself."
Seeing Zhou Changgui's sincere expression, the editor-in-chief sighed.
He nodded and said, "That's no problem. However, regarding your column, I still need to plead with my superiors and hope they can accept these reasons. As for the original author, I'll let you know when there's news."
"Thank you so much, Editor-in-Chief!"
Seeing that the matter had come to a satisfactory conclusion, Zhou Changgui finally breathed a sigh of relief.
He looked at the editor-in-chief with gratitude and thanked him repeatedly. Knowing that the editor-in-chief was no longer angry with him, Zhou Changgui then spoke up to make a promise.
"I will definitely write better poems in the future, and I will show them to you, editor-in-chief, then!"
"And I assure you, the poems I write next will absolutely not be plagiarized, and will definitely satisfy both you and the boss!"
Although after this incident, Zhou Changgui will probably no longer be able to plagiarize poems from Jiang Sheng.
But it doesn't matter. Even if we can't plagiarize poems from Jiang Sheng, the poems written by his former students, though not as good as Jiang Sheng's, can still be considered masterpieces.
With this in mind, Zhou Changgui's face was filled with confidence.
Looking at Zhou Changgui, who was both sincere and full of apologies, the editor-in-chief finally relented.
After exchanging a few polite words, Zhou Changgui left the newspaper office and immediately prepared to go find Jiang Sheng.
All he knew was that Jiang Sheng was definitely at the cannery. Luckily, he had been there once before and knew the exact location.
Filled with doubt and anger, Zhou Changgui pedaled his bicycle quickly toward the Shengde Processing Plant.
In just ten minutes, Zhou Changgui had already arrived at Shengde Processing Plant.
The old man who guarded the gate recognized Zhou Changgui from a previous visit, but was unaware of the feud between the two. He simply smiled and stepped forward.
"This must be Teacher Zhou. I remember you came here with our factory manager last time."
Zhou Changgui's face immediately broke into a smile, full of humility and sincerity.
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