As soon as Bai Xiaoyu spoke, Ning Fangyuan on the stage was clearly taken by surprise. A trace of panic flashed in his eyes before he awkwardly touched his nose.
There was a great silence in the venue at first, followed by a constant buzz of whispered conversations.
"What does Minister Bai mean by this? Who exactly is in first place? Why is he asking someone else to come up and talk about their design concept?"
"Yeah, who is the first place winner? Or is it neither of them? I'm totally confused!"
"If you ask me, there's definitely something fishy going on! Didn't you see the judges' faces were off during the evaluation just now?"
As soon as someone mentioned this, those in the know began to look at Gu Xiaoer differently. Then, with indifferent faces eager to see the drama unfold, they waited for the truth to emerge.
Gu Xiaoer also took a long time to process before realizing that Bai Xiaoyu had indeed been calling her name. She, like the other students, had assumed that as Ning Fangyuan presented her design concept, the first place was undoubtedly hers and had completely given up hope. But now, being asked to take the stage and speak, what was the meaning of this?
It wasn't until Ai Le tugged at her clothing that Gu Xiaoer walked onto the stage with apparent unease.
The varied gazes from the hundreds in the audience truly made her nervous.
Fortunately, when talking about her design project, it was relatively smooth sailing. However, the more she spoke, the stranger the expressions became among the students below. Especially in the judges' area, where the atmosphere was profoundly secretive.
After she finished speaking and handed the microphone back to the Abbot, she stood beside Ning Fangyuan at the side of the stage. As she turned, she didn't see the complexity in Ning Fangyuan's eyes that flashed by.
At the same time, the huge screen behind the stage suddenly lit up, casting a cold white light upon the few people on the stage.
"Whoosh!"
The screen displayed the content, and the venue instantly exploded into chaos. Disregarding the presence of school leaders and representatives from Shenghan, the students were in an uproar.
"My God! What is that?"
"Heavens, such a thing happening at our school! Did they not think of the consequences!"
The noise was so overwhelming, yet Gu Xiaoer still faintly heard something. Out of the crowd, Ai Le's gaze was particularly noticeable. She was staring at Gu Xiaoer, looking so anxious, so worried.
What on earth had happened?
Gu Xiaoer, already conspicuous on the stage, felt it was inappropriate to turn around and look at the screen behind her despite the chaos below.
Glancing at Ning Fangyuan beside her, she had slowly turned her body, her eyes steady on the large screen.
Unable to contain herself, Gu Xiaoer turned around.
Her heartbeat spiked in an instant.
What was that on the big screen?!
No, she recognized the design on the screen; it was her own. But what was that other, similar design?
A terrible thought suddenly popped into her mind. Could it be that the other design was Ning Fangyuan's?
During Ning Fangyuan's earlier presentation phase, Gu Xiaoer, dismayed at being passed over, hadn't been paying attention to her design concept. Consequently, when she later discussed her own ideas, she didn't notice the peculiar looks from below the stage.
Could it be...
The mere thought made Gu Xiaoer's heart feel as if it were being gripped forcefully. Her slender body shook with barely suppressed distress.
Things couldn't be as she imagined... could they?
Bai Xiaoyu had been standing quietly to the side of the stage, observing the expressions of the two women. Yes, the big screen was displaying the design projects of these two students.
Two designs with an eighty percent similarity.
To say it was a coincidence of creativity, hmph, after so many years as a designer, he simply didn't believe in such fairy tale possibilities.
The only truth was that someone had committed plagiarism!