Chapter 129 - The Ending (Part 1)
Miao Qing's fans remained stubborn, claiming that even if it was confirmed that Jiang Mingyue took the art academy exam, how could they prove that the painting was actually done by Jiang Mingyue?
[Miao Qing's fans have questionable intelligence; the exam room has surveillance cameras. Please @Huaxia Academy of Fine Arts check the surveillance footage.]
[Whenever someone asks to check the security camera footage, they usually say the camera is broken; this tactic is all too familiar.]
Don't force Sister Jiang to prove herself; she really can paint another one exactly the same.
I overheard what the person upstairs was planning even from abroad.
[Don't go off-topic. Let's get the China Academy of Art to show Jiang's entry. I want to see if they dare to lie with their eyes open.]
That evening, the Huaxia Academy of Fine Arts was eerily quiet, and there was no response from Miao Qing's side.
Around 11 p.m., the official Weibo account of Huai County Culture and Tourism posted a wide-angle comparison photo of Huai County Ancient City from ten years ago and last year, inviting netizens to find the differences.
Netizens compared the photos one by one with magnifying glasses and actually found the differences. They discovered that ten years ago, the ridge ornament on the eaves of the south gate of the ancient city was worn and mottled from wind and sun, and the gourd it carried was only half of its original shape. However, the ridge ornament in last year's photo had been completely renewed.
Ridge bracing is generally used for decoration or lightning protection, and ordinary people can hardly notice it unless they look closely.
In Sister Jiang's painting, the ridge beam is exactly the version from last year, which indirectly proves that only people who are very familiar with the ancient city of Huai County can notice this detail.
Let's see how Miao Qing's fans can argue now.
[As expected of Huai County's cultural and tourism sector, they've pulled off a game-winning move right from the start.]
[We should have the Huai County Culture and Tourism Bureau interview Miao Qing, haha, she'd be exposed as soon as they asked her a question]
Despite Huai County's impressive cultural and tourism offerings, Miao Qing's fans persisted in their sophistry, insisting that the painting was indeed done by Miao Qing, and even citing culturally relevant details in other works that Miao Qing had shared.
If you are truly innocent, you have already come forward to prove yourselves.
[I urge you fans to be more rational and not be foolish enough to be used by Miao Qing.]
[Let Miao Qing's parents handle this; isn't she a famous rich and beautiful girl from the China Academy of Art?]
Why does it smell sour?
[Ha, aren't you jealous? Just wait to be proven wrong. People have already photographed her with questionable lifestyle.]
Online rumors about Miao Qing allegedly stealing paintings are escalating, and Miao Qing is reportedly throwing a tantrum in a villa in Beijing.
She was originally supposed to go back to school that night, but after the topic trended on Weibo, she immediately asked her instructor for leave.
"It's all your fault for insisting on using Jiang Mingyue's painting! I already told you she might be that celebrity, Sister Jiang! Now look what's happened, Jiang Mingyue has completely exposed us, how am I supposed to go back to school tomorrow?!"
The villa's owner, Gong Fengnian, vice president of the Jinghua Academy of Fine Arts, remained calm and unhurried, completely disregarding Jiang Mingyue.
He held Miao Qing in his arms and coaxed her gently, "Oh, my little darling, don't worry, I'm here for you. What is Jiang Mingyue anyway? She's just a retired actress, she can't cause any trouble!"
Miao Qing's eyebrows furrowed, and she raised her fist to slap Gong Fengnian, but only lightly a few times, still hoping he would help solve the problem.
"Honey, you absolutely have to help me resolve this safely. I just landed several advertising deals, and I haven't received half of the payment yet. Once the money arrives, I'll treat you to a trip."
Gong Fengnian is in his fifties. He has a daughter who is studying in high school abroad, and his wife cannot return for two years in order to obtain immigration status.
Two years ago, Gong Fengnian led a group of ten students from the oil painting department to Neuschwanstein Castle for sketching. He and Miao Qing hit it off and secretly started dating before returning to China.
Miao Qing was young and beautiful. She coaxed Gong Fengnian into buying her a townhouse in Beijing, and she would come here every Friday to meet Gong Fengnian in secret.
Miao Qing's food, clothing, and daily necessities were all provided by Gong Fengnian. Her parents were ordinary factory workers in Beijing. In front of her parents, she lied and said that she earned her income by selling paintings.
Gong Fengnian loved Miao Qing's coquettish tactics the most. Even though he knew that Miao Qing was after his fame and fortune, he still willingly succumbed to her charms.
Being with twenty-year-old Miao Qing, Gong Fengnian felt as if he had returned to his youth, full of energy and enthusiasm every day.
The next morning, Gong Fengnian received a call from Dean Fan Tianfeng while he was still in bed. Fan Tianfeng asked him to come to the school immediately to deal with the online public opinion issue.
"Okay, Dean, I'll be right there."
Gong Fengnian's eyelids twitched violently. Why had Fan Tianfeng returned to China so early? She was supposed to be back in another week.
Originally, Fan Tianfeng was to be the judge for the second round of the traditional Chinese painting competition. However, Fan Tianfeng went abroad for medical treatment, so she handed over the important task to Gong Fengnian. In order to promote Miao Qing, Gong Fengnian secretly asked someone to switch the painting.
Miao Qing also painted an ancient city, but it wasn't the ancient city of Huai County, but the ancient city of Beijing.
From a holistic perspective, the two are quite similar, which gave Gong Fengnian an opportunity to take advantage of the situation.
Miao Qing also sat up, looking at Gong Fengnian anxiously, "Honey, Dean Fan is back?"
Gong Fengnian squeezed Miao Qing's hand, signaling her not to panic. He would go to the school to find out what was going on and told Miao Qing to continue pretending to be sick and not to go to school this week.
Anyway, it's Thursday today, so it doesn't matter if we miss two days of classes.
Miao Qing sat down in Gong Fengnian's lap, trying to please him and make him remember her kindness so that he wouldn't abandon her in a crucial moment.
"Honey, don't you want a son? As long as you can resolve this matter smoothly, Qingqing is willing to have a child for you!"
Gong Fengnian's eyes lit up. "Really? You're not kidding me?"
His wife was pregnant with their second child years ago, but she miscarried. His mother has always been resentful about it. If Miao Qing is willing to give birth to his son, he will divorce his wife and give Miao Qing a proper status after the baby is born!
Miao Qing nodded, feigning shyness, "Don't use that later."
When the young girl threw herself into his arms, Gong Fengnian completely forgot Fan Tianfeng's instructions and immediately took his artificial son into his arms.
Dean's Office, Huaxia Academy of Fine Arts.
Gong Fengnian arrived late, right as the clock struck ten. He was covered in sweat and claimed that his vehicle had collided with an electric scooter on the road. The other party had called the police, and he had to pay compensation before he could come over.
Fan Tianfeng was too lazy to look for loopholes in his words, and asked him what exactly was going on with Miao Qing's painting from the oil painting department.
"In this year of abundance, online opinion is overwhelmingly against Miao Qing, with netizens believing that our Huaxia Academy of Fine Arts condoned and protected her for taking first place by substituting someone else's work!"
Gong Fengnian quickly took out a tissue to wipe the sweat from his forehead. "Dean Fan, don't worry. I already knew about this last night and immediately had someone investigate the surveillance footage of Jiang Mingyue and Miao Qing's separate exams. It has been confirmed that they did participate in this year's Chinese painting competition."
"Okay, please continue."
Fan Tianfeng arrived at the office at 7:30 and also got someone to provide the surveillance footage of the day's exam, confirming Gong Fengnian's statement.
"Dean, all ten thousand paintings were personally reviewed by ten professors who worked tirelessly for three months. The top twenty were also selected through repeated screenings. Furthermore, each participant was given a registration number randomly generated by the system, and they filled in their registration number during the exam. There is absolutely no possibility of cover-up or fraud!"
"You know that female celebrities these days will do anything to gain popularity. Would you rather believe her than the students from our school?"
"Of course we will continue to investigate this matter, and we are already looking through Jiang Mingyue's paintings, but it will take one to two days."
Besides the top twenty paintings being collected by the Academy of Fine Arts, the remaining paintings will be sealed in one place until a year later when there are no objections, at which point the Academy of Fine Arts will arrange for their unified destruction.
Due to illness, Fan Tianfeng's energy was not as abundant as in previous years. Except for major events that required her attention, the rest of the school's affairs were basically handled by Gong Fengnian and several other leaders.
She pondered for a moment, "We need to investigate and get the results as soon as possible, and also respond to public opinion today to show that we are handling the matter."
Gong Fengnian nodded repeatedly, "Don't worry, Dean, I'll take care of it right away."
At 11 a.m., the Huaxia Academy of Fine Arts responded to Jiang Mingyue's question, stating that it was reviewing the exam papers internally and would provide an explanation as soon as possible.
The two bland and uninspiring sentences failed to win over fans, and netizens felt that the China Academy of Art was being too perfunctory, especially since they hadn't even promised a completion date.
【The Delaying Tactic】
[It's not so easy for Huaxia Academy of Fine Arts to drag things out. If there's no result in a day, we'll keep urging them.]
Is the Huaxia Academy of Fine Arts really not worried about its student enrollment being affected next year? Other art academies should hurry up and act, don't miss this wave of enrollment opportunities.
Thanks to the netizens for their suggestions, Haicheng Academy of Fine Arts has started promoting its admission brochure on Langyin (a Chinese social media platform), and even specially edited a one-minute video of the formal examination process, making the veiled criticisms all too obvious.
Jiang Mingyue noticed that the Huaxia Academy of Fine Arts was slow and inefficient in its work.
She wasn't in a hurry; she gave them two days. If things didn't resolve themselves after three days, she would have her own way of dealing with it.
With the Haicheng Intangible Cultural Heritage Exhibition just around the corner on September 10th, Jiang Mingyue has prepared three works, which she will personally deliver on the 6th.
That day, she went to Qin Xue's place to paint. Qin Xue revealed something to her: the selection of the top twenty exam papers was not handled by Fan Tianfeng, the president of the China Academy of Art, but by Gong Fengnian, the vice president.
“A student I taught before is now a teacher at the Huaxia Academy of Fine Arts. He told me that Fan Tianfeng only returned to the school yesterday, after she had been abroad for medical treatment.”
"Does the master suspect that the vice dean tampered with the evidence?"
Qin Xue opened the chat interface on her phone and clicked on Gong Fengnian's photo. "Aren't you good at reading faces? You should learn about him first to know yourself and your enemy. If it's not him, that's best. If it is, then you'll have a better understanding of the situation."
Gong Fengnian had a dignified appearance, but his flirtatious eyes betrayed him.
Jiang Mingyue opened Weibo again, found Miao Qing's photo, looked at it, and then laughed.
"Master is incredibly insightful; Gong Fengnian and Miao Qing have a romantic relationship."
Qin Xue looked disdainful upon hearing this, which made sense.
“Gong Fengnian is supposed to have a family, so Miao Qing must be his mistress. But it seems inappropriate for us to make a fuss about this, since we don’t have any concrete evidence.”
"Master, don't worry. The relationship between these two is already a tightrope walk. Even if we don't reveal it, it will be exposed by others sooner or later."
Sure enough, three days later, a student from the Huaxia Academy of Fine Arts exposed online that the vice dean, Gong Fengnian, was having an affair with Miao Qing, a third-year female student in the oil painting department. The student also posted photos of the two kissing in a car and entering and leaving a villa.
This incident immediately caused an uproar throughout the art academy, like boiling water being poured into a pot of oil.
[Ha, a fifty-something-year-old man with a bag/adopting a college student girl]
The timing of this revelation is quite intriguing.
It seems that quite a few people in your art academy have doubts about Miao Qing's "rich, beautiful, and successful" persona.
If Gong Fengnian were single, I wouldn't object to this May-December romance, but if he's already married with children, well...
According to reliable sources, Gong Fengnian's wife and children are all abroad.
Investigate Gong Fengnian; see if he was behind Miao Qing's painting.
See? What good will come of offending Sister Jiang?
Sister Jiang's words were very apt; the China Academy of Art is nothing special.
[Haha, Sister Jiang is the number one anti-corruption activist in universities!]
The Academy of Fine Arts in China handled the matter swiftly. Dean Fan Tianfeng immediately suspended Gong Fengnian from his management duties and personally investigated the matter.
On September 6th, Yan Qian accompanied Jiang Mingyue to Haicheng and they stayed in the presidential suite of a five-star hotel in Haicheng.
At 2 p.m., staff from the Haicheng Intangible Cultural Heritage Exhibition personally came to the hotel to pick up Jiang Mingyue and take her to the exhibition hall. They also handed over matters related to the exhibits in front of a group of media reporters inside the hall.
Jiang Mingyue's three double-sided embroidery works are a gourd and a cat, a dragon and wheat ears, and the ancient city of Huai County and the people of Huai County.
The official Weibo account of the intangible cultural heritage exhibition posted updates in real time, instantly attracting the attention of many fans and netizens.
The three works are enlarged proportionally, and the most stunning of them all is the ancient city of Huai County and the people of Huai County. The scene of the ancient city is so lifelike that it is even more beautiful than her traditional Chinese painting.
The story of the people of Huai County on the other side consists of one hundred characters, each with a different appearance and expression, all smiling and radiating a positive and energetic vitality.
Sister Jiang's seclusion is truly dedicated.
I'm bidding for the gourd and the cat; nobody can take them from me!
[Don't worry, sisters, I only want the dragon and the wheat ears. I love this dragon; it's so realistic and cute!]
[Nobody wants the ancient city of Huai County and its people?]
[Is this something we don't want? Go look at who's signed up for the election under the official Weibo post.]
A group of fans clicked on the registration link below the work, and after opening it, they realized, wow, they couldn't compete with it.
All nine guests from the variety show were present, along with official Weibo accounts from the show's production team, Shiliu TV, Huai County Culture and Tourism, Ping An Nanyuan, Ping An Lingcheng, Ping An Nandao, and others.
In addition, the group discovered that Jinghua Group was also among them, along with some elderly intellectuals they did not recognize.
The so-called elderly intellectuals were actually Don Juan's parents, Yan Qian's parents, and Ms. Qin Xue, among others.
At first, netizens didn't take these elderly intellectuals seriously, until a student recognized them in the comments section.
"Oh my god! My PhD advisor is bidding against me too! Waaaaah, should I give in or not?!"
"Professor Wu and Professor Tang are a perfect match."
"Don't even mention it. Our Dean Zhang is here too. I can't let her see me slacking off at the nurses' station."
"Wow, the renowned Chinese painting master, Ms. Qin Xue, is here too!"
The revelation of these highly respected and educated individuals shocked their fans.
Sister Jiang has a huge national influence.
I have a feeling they all know Sister Jiang; maybe she's an elder of one of the guests.
[Sister Jiang's Weibo followers are about to surpass 90 million, and we're looking forward to her breaking 100 million.]
[First break 100 million, then break 200 million]
[Sister Ginger is a true winner! Last Chinese New Year, I received her "Fu" (good fortune) character wallpaper, and this year I successfully passed the exam!]
On the 7th, the investigation results from the Huaxia Academy of Fine Arts came out, confirming that Jiang Mingyue's entry had been misused by Miao Qing, and the culprit was none other than Vice President Gong Fengnian.
Gong Fengnian was expelled from Huaxia Academy of Fine Arts, and Miao Qing was also expelled from school for misconduct.
The Huaxia Academy of Fine Arts issued a formal apology to Jiang Mingyue and expressed its willingness to bear the consequences of the incident.
Jiang Mingyue ignored the matter. Once is never enough; she would never participate in any competitions again.
The Haicheng Intangible Cultural Heritage Exhibition on the 10th was a great success. Jiang Mingyue's three works were sold immediately, breaking historical records.
Jiang Fen won the bid for the gourd and cat painting for one million, while Huaxia Grain Group won the bid for the dragon and wheat painting for four million. Finally, the painting of the ancient city of Huai County and the people of Huai County unsurprisingly fell into the hands of Jinghua Group.
Jinghua Group is tactful; they indicated they would include the work in the exhibition hall of Huai County Film and Television City.
Although I didn't manage to snag any, Jiang Jie's three works have been carefully preserved, which is really great.
The design of the dragon and wheat ears is absolutely brilliant, and the meaning is wonderful too. The grain group has great vision.
[Don't worry if you didn't manage to grab one. Sister Jiang said she'll try to attend the Haicheng Intangible Cultural Heritage Exhibition every year and do her best to contribute to public welfare.]
On the last day of the exhibition, during the press interview, a bold reporter pressed Jiang Mingyue on how she would prove that the painting was hers if the China Academy of Art had not exposed the affair between Gong Fengnian and Miao Qing.
Facing the curious gazes of reporters and more than a thousand people at the scene, Jiang Mingyue smiled gently and gestured for everyone to open their phones and view the painting.
"The main theme of this painting is my hometown. My hometown is Huai County, so I painted the ancient city of Huai County. Therefore, the ancient city occupies 95% of the entire painting."
"What everyone sees most directly is the ancient city, and they tend to overlook the trees in the background on the top and bottom. In the Song Dynasty of China, some painters would hide their signatures in the paintings, which is called hidden signature. I have adopted this feature and hidden my name on the ginkgo tree trunk in the lower right corner of the ancient city."
The group suddenly realized something and began searching for the name Jiang Mingyue. In the next moment, many people raised their hands to indicate that they had found it.
Hahaha, brilliant, absolutely brilliant!
No wonder Sister Jiang asked if the China Academy of Art and Miao Qing had seriously looked at her paintings; it turns out she was waiting for this.
[I bow down in utmost respect, you're awesome!]
[Everyone stand up and cheer for Sister Jiang!]
[The prestige of the Huaxia Academy of Fine Arts is only so-so; its value is still rising.]
When Jiang Mingyue's explanation of the hidden inscription came out, it timely inspired a wave of netizens who love traditional Chinese painting to dig up the works of predecessors.
Her Weibo followers surpassed 100 million that very night, making her arguably the fastest female celebrity in Chinese entertainment history to reach 100 million followers—oh, a retired female celebrity.
That evening, Jiang Mingyue finally kept her promise and had dinner with Wei Lai and other guests from the reality show.
Everyone noticed the large diamond ring on Jiang Mingyue's left middle finger and pressed her to tell them if she was in a relationship.
Jiang Mingyue openly admitted that she was dating Yan Qian.
Wei Lai clutched her chest and cried out in pain, jokingly saying, "Mingyue, I was still shipping you and Tang Ge, and you actually broke up the CP yourself. Your CP fans will definitely be heartbroken when they find out."
Don Juan was also there today. Although he had already guessed that Yan Qian had gotten there first, he felt somewhat disappointed when he heard Jiang Mingyue admit it herself.
Jiang Mingyue smiled and said that Don Juan was a good person, more like her brother.
One word, "brother," is enough.
Don Juan raised his glass to her, "Mingyue, we're waiting to drink your wedding wine."
The others raised their glasses in a toast, and Jiang Mingyue smiled and said that marriage was still a long way off, but on the wedding day, she would definitely arrange for them to sit at the head table.
While Wang Xia and Jiang Mingyue were in the restroom, Wang Xia asked Jiang Mingyue why she didn't choose Don Juan.
Mr. Yan is rich, and the movie star is also not short of money. As for their appearances, both of them are exceptionally good-looking and about the same age.
Even Wang Xia, who has been through it all, couldn't understand it.
Girls understand girls better. Sister Xia is not an outsider. Jiang Mingyue did not directly state the reason, but simply asked Wang Xia a question.
"Sister Xia, do you want to grow old together with your brother-in-law?"
Wang Xia was stunned for a moment, then suddenly realized what was going on, and patted Jiang Mingyue on the shoulder with a hint of regret.
Ordinary people's lives are filled with mundane matters like firewood, rice, oil, salt, soy sauce, vinegar, and tea; endless tasks like checking in, taking photos, and making videos; conflicts between children and classmates; visits from relatives in the husband's family; and the fading of feelings between middle-aged couples—a whole host of trivial matters.
If a couple's relationship is strained and they are constantly arguing, it might not be a good thing if the other spouse leaves early.
In wealthy and powerful families, love often blossoms, and couples are deeply in love. However, if one of them passes away first, the other may not be able to withstand the pain and may even feel that life is worse than death.
Jiang Mingyue didn't want to live the life of her aunt Cao Hualan. If she were to get married, she wanted to find someone who would live a long life and stay with her until old age.
After the dinner, Yan Qian personally came to pick up Jiang Mingyue. When Wei Lai and the others saw him, they couldn't help but tease him a bit.
"President Yan, we are all Mingyue's family. You must treat her well and not bully her."
Yan Qian was very courteous, exchanging pleasantries with each of them and welcoming their supervision at any time.
Don Juan and Yan Qian exchanged only a few words, shaking hands, their unspoken understanding unspoken.
The unspoken understanding between men.
After Yan Qian and Jiang Mingyue left, Wei Lai and Ji Wenxuan stepped forward and grabbed Tang Huang, and the three of them continued to the next stall.
Wei Lai: "Brother Tang, you should have made a move sooner. It's such a pity about you and Mingyue."
Ji Wenxuan: "The ginger and candy couple is so great, sigh."
"Yes, I was too reserved." Don Juan let them pull him into the car and readily admitted, "However, it's not shameful for me to lose to Yan Qian. Yan Qian is indeed quite good."
On the other side, in the minivan.
Yan Qian helped Jiang Mingyue take off her coat. "Yueyue, Grandma misses you. How about you come back to Beijing with me tomorrow and stay for a few days?"
Jiang Mingyue kicked off her high heels and lay down in Yan Qian's arms. "Okay, nothing much to do these next few days."
After two and a half months of seclusion embroidering, Jiang Mingyue was indeed exhausted and needed to go out for a hike and to enjoy the scenery.
"Okay, I'll book the tickets now." Yan Qian draped his suit jacket over her shoulders.
Back at the hotel, Jiang Mingyue took a shower first. When she came out, Yan Qian had already arranged the itinerary for the next week.
"There are dinner parties every six nights. Saturday is spent at home with my grandma, Sunday is my parents' invitation to you, Monday is my second uncle, Tuesday is my three aunts, and Wednesday is He Qi and He Yan..."
Jiang Mingyue felt increasingly uneasy as she listened. While applying a face mask, she glared at him and asked, "Does your family know we're dating?"
Yan Qian picked up a hairband from the coffee table and put it on her, then tied up her long hair to prevent it from getting on her face mask.
“I didn’t say it outright, but I’ve been going to Huai County a lot for the past six months, so they’ll guess.”
That's true.
Jiang Mingyue found it troublesome and suggested that they eat together, instead of wasting money by treating each person separately.
Yan Qian had guessed that she would say that. "That was my suggestion at first, but they said it was disrespectful to you. They also said there are so many good restaurants in Beijing, and since you rarely have time to go, we should definitely let you try a few more."
Jiang Mingyue turned to wash her hands. "Do I need to prepare a gift?"
She didn't quite understand what she needed to prepare for her first formal meeting with Yan Qian's family as his girlfriend, but she knew that if she didn't bring a gift, they wouldn't even acknowledge her.
Author's note: [Fireworks][Fireworks] Hahaha, I've finally gotten to this point!
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