The group didn't dare to raise their heads. Su Jin looked at them, having said everything she needed to say.
"You may go now. In learning your craft, you must first learn to be a decent person."
Like beaten dogs, they left Su Jin's office without ever lifting their heads.
Su Jin picked up her phone and posted the audio clip on Weibo.
She might be older, but she could still keep up with the times. Her smartphone skills were no worse than those of young people.
Su Jin's Weibo account had quite a few followers. As the chairperson of the People's Alliance, she felt obligated to step forward and clarify the situation immediately.
She had originally intended for the People's Alliance's official account to clarify the incident, but she couldn't wait. She knew that as soon as she posted an update, the official account would surely repost it.
This competition had indeed been an oversight on the part of the organizers. Out of six judges, four had accepted money from contestants. It was truly laughable when you said it out loud.
So when Su Jin posted on Weibo, her first sentence was to admit the mistake and apologize proactively. The second sentence stated that although the judges had accepted money, they hadn't been bought off.
The post was accompanied by the recent audio recording.
As she expected, immediately after she posted on Weibo, it was reposted by the People's Alliance's official account.
The incident had already been fermenting, consistently ranking among the top trending topics on Weibo.
Moreover, Shen Yin's work had gone viral beyond their circle. This was no longer just a matter for the People's Alliance.
When Su Jin posted on Weibo, she also included a hashtag, which was then reposted by many industry bigwigs.
Soon, Su Jin's Weibo post shot to the top of the trending list.
The comments section became a spectacle of people devouring the latest gossip.
Netizens were exclaiming "Holy crap!" in their minds at this latest twist. One plot twist had already shocked them.
The fact that four judges in a major national competition had been bought off was infuriating to netizens. It seemed that ordinary people indeed couldn't defeat capital, which was why the topic was so hot. They cursed at capitalism, cursed at Shen Yin, cursed at Xu Xiuhe, and even the stock price of Xu Xiuhe's Heyuan Group started to fall.
Liu Bo was sweating profusely in Rong City. The company held an emergency meeting.
Xu Xiuhe was also pulling strings to clarify the matter, but he was one step behind Su Jin.
Su Jin's Weibo post was incredibly timely.
Another twist, with the gist being: "We're sorry, we did indeed accept money, but our scoring remained fair. Shen Yin's championship is well-deserved, and the bribery was done by someone else."
After listening to the recording, netizens started to pay attention to other people.
For instance, Qi Shengwen.
The recording clearly stated that Qi Shengwen had money and his brother had power.
[Damn, how should we comment on these judges? They took the money but didn't do the job.]
[Wow, I'm impressed, 666]
[So, my sister Yin is innocent. Someone else did the bribing. She's the most innocent one.]
[Exactly! I've been saying all along that "The Phoenix Peony Embroidery" completely crushes all the other entries.]
[In the end, I never expected it to be a plot within a plot.]
[I admit, I was a bit harsh on sister Yin earlier.]
[Guys, haven't you noticed this Qi Shengwen?]
Soon, Qi Shengwen's information was dug up. Qi Shengwen, from Rong City, brother is the deputy mayor of Rong City, has participated in the embroidery competition for five consecutive years, made it to the finals last year and this year.
This year, she placed second in the regional competition.
[Second place, a veteran contestant, should have some skill. Why would she think of bribing the judges?]
[If the bribe had been successful, it might have been worth it. But spending money and not succeeding? That's pure foolishness!]
[Who says it wasn't successful? Didn't she get third place in the national competition? That might be what the bribe bought. After all, a national top-three finish is already quite an achievement, very rare.]
[The person above makes a good point.]
[Hope they re-evaluate the scores. Anyway, I believe in my sister Yin's skills. She'll still be the champion.]
[Exactly! With real skill, there's nothing to fear. I've been following my sister Yin since the regional competition. She's beautiful and talented. Her approach in this final was so bold. She did double-sided embroidery, with a peony on one side and a phoenix on the other. Who else would dare to try that? Even if they tried, who could complete such a time-consuming and labor-intensive piece in just 6 hours?]
[My mom does embroidery. She does double-sided embroidery too, but even with a simpler pattern than this, it takes her half a month. So if sister Yin didn't get first place, then there really would be something fishy with the judges.]
[Oh my god, those four judges really crack me up. Taking money but not doing the job. In the recording, they were all so nervous, their voices were as quiet as mosquitoes when facing Old Su.]
[Speaking of Old Su, she's really impressive. Calm in the face of danger, with an imposing presence. Those people were probably so scared their legs turned to jelly.]
The People's Alliance official naturally paid attention to online public opinion. Currently, there weren't many negative comments about the People's Alliance itself. Most of the criticism was directed at the four judges and the person who offered the bribe.
Of course, there were also many people praising Shen Yin.
They also noticed that many netizens suggested re-scoring and re-voting on the entries, demanding fairness, justice, and openness. If that wasn't possible, they suggested letting netizens vote.
When this news reached Su Jin, she directly replied:
Cancel the third place of the contestant who offered the bribe, and ban them from participating in all future competitions held by the People's Alliance.
The result was quickly announced online, with netizens calling it deeply satisfying. This punishment was indeed appropriate, just like having one's score cancelled in a college entrance exam, leaving one in despair.
Moreover, this ban on participation was essentially equivalent to being placed on a permanent blacklist.
Xu Xiuhe's side wasn't idle either. They quickly found concrete evidence of bribery by their briber, and the name Qi Yan soon appeared in netizens' view.
[No wonder. So it's the deputy mayor's daughter. No wonder she was so bold as to attempt bribery all the way in Hua City.]
[If the daughter behaves like this, I wonder what that deputy mayor is like. Could he be a big tiger?]
[This definitely needs to be investigated. As the saying goes, 'like father, like daughter'. If she's like this, her dad probably isn't any better.]
Netizens quickly found footage of Qi Yan from the competition venue.
The clip where she said "Who knows who will win the championship" was suddenly dug up by netizens and posted online.
[The way she said that, it's solid proof of her bribery.]
[So disgusting, that expression is so disgusting.]
[Am I the only one who noticed she was saying this to that little darling?]
[The little darling is so cute, he looks like Shen Yin's son.]
[Damn, that woman called Qi Yan should be taken out and shot. The little darling is so adorable, how can she look at him so fiercely and speak in such a harsh tone? What if she scares my little darling?]
[Doesn't this little darling look like the main female character's son in "Yanxi Biography"?]
[Wow, sister, now that you mention it, it really is! I was wondering why there was no information about this little actor online. It turns out he's Shen Yin's son. This explains everything.]
