Chapter 244 Intense Reaction, Slander
"The bronze medal goes to Bianca.
The silver medal goes to...
And the gold medal goes to Emily!
Please come up on stage to receive your awards. Congratulations to all three, everyone give them a round of applause!"
The host announced this right after Bianca sat down.
Bianca's name was called first because some award ceremonies announce starting from the gold medal.
And Bianca was certain she would win the gold medal.
So she didn't even catch that the host said "bronze medal" - she only heard her own name and was smugly thinking: just as she expected.
Then she heard that Emily was actually the one who won the gold medal.
"Impossible! How could Emily win the gold medal? It's rigged, yes, it's rigged!"
Bianca jumped up excitedly, her voice shrill, her face twisted with anger as she shouted uncontrollably.
This was completely different from her pitiful, bullied appearance just moments ago.
Hearing "rigged," everyone in the audience couldn't help but look in Bianca's direction.
The reporters Bianca had invited thought this was some kind of publicity stunt on her part.
After all, if it was just a design competition, plus her status as the Johnson family's daughter, it might not create much of a stir.
But if you add some "rigging" scandal, given how people love gossip, they definitely wouldn't be able to resist paying more attention.
That's basically creating buzz.
"Contestant, why are you so sure there's rigging?"
A reporter seized the opportunity to ask.
Bianca frowned.
She recognized this reporter as someone she had invited, and cursed them silently for being an idiot.
Shouldn't they be questioning the organizers right now, demanding they uphold justice or something?
Instead they came to ask her.
She couldn't very well tell them she had paid to bribe the judges and that first place was supposed to be hers.
Emily was almost amused by this reporter's assist.
She had already noticed earlier that those reporters were working with Bianca, and if she hadn't observed this beforehand, she would have thought this reporter was specifically here to help her.
Emily smiled, her grin widening. "That's right, Bianca. Since you're questioning the fairness of the competition, you need to give a reason. You can't just question the competition's fairness because you didn't win first place. That's unfair to all the judges, to the winners, and even to the organizers."
Emily just looked calmly at Bianca, waiting for her to explain herself.
Seeing Emily so composed, Bianca felt an inexplicable panic rising in her heart.
But she reminded herself that she had arranged everything, and that judge was on her team - they would definitely cooperate with her.
Bianca spoke up: "I apologize, everyone. The reason I reacted so emotionally just now wasn't to question any of you, but because I have the clearest understanding of Emily's - my sister's - abilities.
She got second place in the preliminaries, which could be called lucky, but I don't believe she can be that lucky every time. Before, she never even studied design formally or achieved any results. How could she suddenly know design and even win the gold medal?
Everyone in the finals, aren't they all like me, having studied hard for years with famous teachers guiding them? If she wins the gold medal, wouldn't that make us all look like fools?"
Bianca deliberately dragged everyone else down with her, so that Emily's gold medal would essentially offend everyone.
She sneaked a challenging look at Emily, as if mocking Emily's naivety.
Sure enough, this comment made those who didn't win good rankings start whispering among themselves.
Some couldn't help but mutter aloud: "We entered this competition because the Green family organized it, with their reputation for fairness and justice. If there really is cheating or anything suspicious, we need to properly ask the organizers what's going on."
Facing the questioning, Emily remained composed.
She looked at Bianca. "Is that just a guess? But my abilities - don't you know them better than anyone? Bianca, you're so used to taking my things, have you really started thinking they're yours?"
"What does Emily mean by that? What does she mean Bianca took her things? Aren't we talking about the design competition?"
"Could it be that the work used in this competition was also taken from Emily by Bianca? How could that be possible? This was an on-site exam."
Bianca was originally thinking about how to refute this, but hearing the audience's discussion, she suddenly got an idea.
She spoke up: "You have no proof. I know you're jealous of everything I have because you didn't grow up with our parents like I did, including my excellence, but you can't just make up lies that are so easily exposed."
After Bianca finished speaking, she bowed to everyone. "I'm sorry. Although it's not my mistake, I am the older sister after all, so I apologize to everyone for Emily's nonsense.
This time, I'll put justice before family. I think it's necessary to bring out the judges and ask them who really deserves the gold medal."
Bianca insisted.
The host, seeing this situation, glanced toward a dark corner on the side, then, as if receiving instructions, spoke up: "Our competition's number one principle is fairness and justice. Since there are doubts, we will definitely investigate thoroughly. We won't allow such things to happen, and we'll give everyone an explanation. So please welcome today's judges."
Everyone knew the host didn't have decision-making power themselves, which meant this was the organizers' decision.
Soon, all the invited judges were brought to the front of the stage.
The host spoke: "Judges, because a contestant has questioned the fairness of the competition's selection, the winners list is displayed on the screen. Please look and see if it matches the results you selected."
He turned to the side, pointing at the big screen for the judges to look.
Bianca's eyes were fixed tightly on the two judges she had bribed.
Those two avoided her eyes guiltily.
Bianca had a bad feeling.
Then she heard all the judges unanimously nod and respond: "That's right, this is the result we selected based on the works. We can display the winners' works so everyone present can look and judge for themselves!"
The judges' representative spoke.
Following the request, Emily's and Bianca's works were also displayed on the big screen.
They were even enlarged so everyone could see them clearly.
Since people came to participate in this competition, aside from the contestants' relatives, the others were naturally from the same industry and knowledgeable.
If in the preliminaries the difference between first and second place might not have been that obvious, now the gap was clear.
Bianca's "work" was also quite good, but somewhat off-topic.
When Emily's work was shown, people already wanted to commission this design from Emily.
The comparison made it even more obvious.
But Bianca was obsessed and had no mind to look carefully at the works.
She said excitedly: "How is Emily's work better than mine? Impossible! I prepared for so long. The work - Emily cheated! She used her beauty to seduce the person in charge of the organizers. She must have found out the exam questions too. If this isn't cheating, what is?"