Host Porter walked onto the stage, holding an envelope containing the nas of tonight’s top three winners.
He ssed up his spiky hair and shook his hand, "Does everyone want to know who tonight’s champion is?"
"Yes!"
The audience in the venue began to get excited.
Porter laughed, "But I don’t want to tell you! Hahaha, just kidding with everyone, actually, I really want to know too! Now, let announce tonight’s third place."
He opened the envelope and found a white card, "Wow, third place goes to Elinda from Country B! Congratulations to her! Let’s invite Elinda to the stage!"
A blonde-haired, blue-eyed woman walked onto the stage, a newcor in the design field, and she was satisfied to have won third place in her first competition.
She stood next to her model and struck a pose.
Porter then took out a silver card from the envelope and announced the runner-up, a veteran designer from Country A, Deya.
Backstage, Zhuo An was very uneasy, "Moon, could the champion be Mu Anyan? Why aren’t we in the top three? Our designs were amazing! Galaxy must have rigged it!"
Moon gritted her teeth, "Galaxy is just favoring their own studio, if the winner is Mu Anyan later, you go up and accuse her!"
Zhuo An widened her eyes, "?"
Moon looked at her coldly, "If not you, then who? ? Do you still want your revenge or not?"
Zhuo An did want revenge, but she didn’t want to be used as a pawn.
She sounded a bit timid facing Moon, "You also have a grudge against Mu Anyan, don’t you?"
Moon scoffed, "Fine, I do hold quite a bit of information on you after all!"
Zhuo An looked at her in astonishnt, "Are you threatening ?"
"How does it matter? Zhuo An, you need to understand your position, If you weren’t still useful, I wouldn’t bother associating with you!" The woman grabbed Zhuo An’s collar, "If you fall, I still have the power to take that bitch down. If I lose this ti, both you and I are dood forever, understand?"
Zhuo An felt like a lamb on a spit over coals, about to be burnt alive, and she had no choice in the matter.
Her eyes turned bloodshot as she gritted her teeth.
Upon hearing the host announce that the champion was Mu Anyan from Hua Country, she stepped onto the staircase leading to the runway.
At the sa ti, Su Yue also walked onto the runway.
She raised an eyebrow at Zhuo An and sent a disdainful glance her way before striding directly to the front of the runway.
Backstage, Zhou Wenwen frowned, "What’s going on, why is Zhuo An going up?"
Gao Min narrowed his eyes, "Probably because she can’t accept not even making third place."
Ruan Qingqing looked worried, "Where did An Yan go, and why is Su Yue going up?"
Gao Min chuckled lightly, "You’ll see her in a bit."
Ruan Qingqing blinked, taken aback, then regained her composure.
Host Porter looked at the two approaching, stunned for a mont because the pictures of the awarded designers on the card weren’t the two who ca up, but he recognized Su Yue, President of Galaxy Design Studio.
Su Yue nodded slightly, "I am Su Yue from Galaxy Design Studio, representing Mu Anyan on stage because she needed to attend to a matter."
Porter shook her hand to congratulate her, then turned to Zhuo An, "And who are you?"
Zhuo An held her chin up, "My na is Zhuo An, one of the top five designers who made it to the finals. I object to the results of this competition."
The audience began to whisper.
Judge Lawrence held the microphone, "What objection do you have?"
Zhuo An pointed at Galaxy sitting in the judging panel, "She’s from the Galaxy Design Studio, obviously biased toward her own studio’s designers. I demand to see everyone’s scores!"
An Yan shrugged, "Of course, please display all the contestants’ scores on the big screen."
As requested, the staff quickly displayed Zhuo An’s scores on the big screen, and Galaxy had given her a score of zero.
Zhuo An was furious, "Look, just to make sure her studio’s designer could win, she gave a zero! That’s outrageous!"
The murmuring in the auditorium grew louder.
Tears stread down Zhuo An’s face, "I believed the Gold Scissors Competition was fair, only to discover such an insider plot, I’m so disappointed!"
She glared at Galaxy, "You must have been afraid I’d win the championship, that’s why you gave zero!"
The murmur in the audience grew louder as they began questioning the fairness of the competition as Zhuo An suggested.
Zhuo An loudly questioned, "Galaxy, you explain! Explain to the whole world! Why did you give zero points while you gave Mu Anyan a perfect score of ten! Did the other judges collude with you? And why is Mu Anyan’s design style exactly like yours? Did she purchase your designs for a good na? You agreed to her demands to satisfy her vanity and disrupted the purity of the design industry! I want an answer!"
Lawrence, with his gray hair down to his shoulders, adjusted his silver glasses, "I’ve lived for seventy years, and this is the first ti soone has doubted like this. Designer Mu received full marks because her design style deserved it. I gave you nine points because your style, despite having so rits, didn’t handle so details well. There was a feeling of copying another’s work."
Dennise nodded, "Indeed, so aspects were like adding legs to a snake, but Designer Mu handled it well, and the audience’s eyes are sharp; if they didn’t like it, her work wouldn’t have won the highest audience vote."
Jessia continued, "I agree with the two judges, your design style leans towards Galaxy, but your execution is not smooth, far from it. On the other hand, Designer Mu’s style and detail handling are exceptionally perfect. I have no reason not to give her full marks."
Zhuo An was extrely resentful. This was a result of her and Moon’s joint efforts, and she couldn’t accept being labeled inferior to Mu Anyan.
She yelled, "Galaxy, speak up, don’t be a shrinking turtle!"
At that mont, Galaxy, who was An Yan, calmly looked at Zhuo An, who was hysterical on stage. Leaning casually against the back of the chair, her slender, pale fingers gently tapped on the table.
Tap after tap, the previously noisy audience gradually quieted down, leaving only the tapping sounds, which grew faster and faster.
The air, previously serene, now grew tense. Zhuo An looked at the profound and eerie eyes behind the woman’s mask, her anger gradually extinguished, replaced by unease.
She swallowed, her lips pressed tightly, her gaze no longer as firm as before, slightly guilty.
However, with things as they stood, she could only play the victim and use the power of the public to bring down Galaxy, to see her fall from grace.
She took a deep breath and looked at Galaxy, "What’s wrong, nothing to say? Maybe Mu Anyan doesn’t dare to co on stage because she’s worried her dirty laundry will be aired, ashad, right?"
As her words ended, the tapping also abruptly stopped.
An Yan waved to a staff mber nearby, who quickly approached.
She handed him a USB drive, "Play it."
The staff mber nodded and imdiately complied.
In less than half a minute, a video appeared on the big screen, showing cleaner Li Xiuju installing a tiny cara in Su Yue’s office.
Su Yue was seen reviewing several design drafts, the content clearly visible.
Zhuo An’s pupils shook violently, but she forced herself to suppress her nervousness.
The scene shifted, showing a pair of female hands in front of a laptop.
She hacked into a computer, easily restoring deleted files from it, including this surveillance video.
An Yan chuckled, "Do you want to know who owns this laptop? Zhuo An, does it look familiar?"
It was clear to everyone present that the owner was definitely Zhuo An.
Sweat ford on Zhuo An’s forehead, but she vehently denied, "I don’t know!"
An Yan commanded, "Bring Li Xiuju up on stage."
Han Yang was walking forward, followed by two bodyguards and a woman.
The woman stood awkwardly on the stage, her eyes darting around as she recounted the story of being bribed to install the cara, and swore that if she lied, heaven would strike her with lightning.
An Yan tilted her head and smiled, "Zhuo An, won’t you admit it now?"
"I didn’t do this, what is there to admit!"
An Yan humd lightly, "Okay, then let’s continue watching."
She stepped down to the computer and began using the mouse.
The computer desktop displayed several folders marked with design drafts 1, 2, 3, 000, and final version.
While opening them, An Yan said, "Drafts one to three are old discarded drafts, 000 is from the surveillance video snapshots, and the final version is edited from the 000 version. So, Zhuo An plagiarized Mu Anyan’s drafts and has the audacity to stand here and question!"
Zhuo An’s gaze beca frantic, "That’s not true! It’s all your framing!"
An Yan chuckled lightly, "We’re framing you? Five years ago, you were kicked out of Galaxy Design Studio for plagiarizing Mu Anyan’s drafts, and now history repeats itself. Zhuo An, you really are shaless!"
Zhuo An shook her head in denial, "I didn’t plagiarize, I didn’t!"
"Truth needs evidence, re words are not proof," An Yan clicked on another video, the one showing Zhuo An plagiarizing An Yan’s drafts five years ago.
Zhuo An trembled violently, "You all are the capital; you can manipulate people however you want."
An Yan clicked her tongue lightly, "Still stubbornly denying even in death? Zhuo An, you once downloaded that surveillance video to your phone for convenience. There’s sothing called digital cloud which automatically syncs to your cloud album. So, as soon as we access the cloud, the truth is evident."
Zhuo An was speechless, realizing she had underestimated her opponents.
It didn’t matter, she still had one last move, "Then tell , why is Mu Anyan’s design style the sa as yours? It must be you who sold her the finished drafts! Do you dare to admit it!"
An Yan slightly curled her lips, "Since you’ve admitted it, I can’t deny it either. Yes, the drafts were drawn by ." The audience instantly erupted.
Both Zhuo An and Moon backstage revealed sinister, sly smiles.
Zhou Wenwen was the most shocked, "How could this be?"
Ruan Qingqing narrowed her eyes, a barely noticeable smile flickering across her gaze, but it quickly turned into concern.
Both looked at Gao Min, "Director Gao, what should we do?"
Gao Min was not worried at all, instead smiling broadly, "Just let it marinade."
Hearing the skeptical voices of the crowd, An Yan slowly stood up, turned to face the audience, and reached a finger towards her ear.
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