Several people stood on the stage, their expressions varied.
Jiang Yueshan was delicate and weak, but her eyes were like venom.
The female host beside her, upon accidentally catching a glimpse, thought she had seen wrong.
But after blinking and looking again, the other person's expression remained the same.
She couldn't help but feel suspicious.
The male host, seeing the female host staring intently at the people on stage, couldn't help but look over as well.
He happened to see Jiang Yueshan's fierce gaze.
The male host couldn't help but flinch.
He dared not continue looking at Jiang Yueshan, so he shifted his gaze to Su Ciliang.
This young man looked simple and naive. Could such a pure-hearted person truly do such a thing?
But the young man was also smart and knew not to say anything.
Just then, a student entered carrying a large stack of drawing papers and placed them on the seats in the first row below the podium.
The seats in this row were occupied by the leaders presenting awards that day and the judges of the selection event.
Before Su Ciliang could speak, Jiang Yueshan said softly, "Distinguished leaders, esteemed teachers, these are my practice works from over the years."
"Bring over the award-winning pieces!" a man in the center, around fifty years old, said sternly.
He was a leader from the cultural department and the person in charge of this event.
Therefore, he did not want any scandals to occur during this event. Everything had gone smoothly before, but unexpectedly, at the very end, something had gone wrong.
And it wasn't just something wrong; it was a shocking scandal.
If this got out, what would happen to his reputation?
But he was not someone who would punish without cause. Regardless, he wanted to give this young man a chance.
In this era, even when attending university, most people would study practical subjects. Very few actually studied painting.
Since the leader in charge of the event had spoken, staff quickly brought over all the award-winning works.
They then opened them one by one and placed them in front of the leaders and judges.
"Minister Gu, these are the two paintings that won the first prize."
Someone proactively introduced them to Minister Zhao. Minister Gu, the stern-faced man, picked up a work signed by Su Ciliang and examined it carefully.
Then, he found the painting signed by Jiang Yueshan among the award-winning works and looked at it just as closely. Finally, he looked at the work signed by Su Ciliang that won third prize.
He was not a specialist in calligraphy and painting, but he could understand enough. How could he not see that these paintings, from composition to brushwork, were all in the same style, clearly made by the same person?
Moreover, he was familiar with this painting style; he had seen it before.
Minister Gu's face immediately turned cold, and he asked the judge beside him, "Did you not notice any issues during your evaluation?"
One of the judges quickly replied, "Minister Gu, we did feel that these paintings had similar styles at the time, but we didn't think much of it. After all, if two people were imitating the same artist's work, or studying under the same teacher, such a possibility exists."
As the judge spoke, he cast a meaningful glance at Cao Gaoxuan.
Cao Gaoxuan, caught off guard by the glance, became a little timid.
Why was he being looked at?
Such a reason was merely a fabrication and couldn't truly convince anyone. However, among hundreds and thousands of works, it was not easy to single out these few paintings, and it was understandable that they might not have noticed immediately.
Minister Gu clearly knew that the judges were not to blame for this, so he nodded.
He was also confused. Even if the signatures were different and it was the same person's work, they couldn't disqualify them from winning prizes for that reason alone.
The problem lay with the two people in front of him.
Minister Gu's gaze returned to the man and woman standing before him.
One of them must have lied, but who it was still needed further determination.
"You two, tell me separately, who did you study under?" Minister Gu suddenly asked.
Jiang Yueshan was momentarily bewildered.
Who did she study under?
Could it be that Su Ciliang had taken a master?
But Teacher Cao had asked Su Ciliang, and Su Ciliang had said he hadn't taken a master.
Could it be that Su Ciliang had lied?
Jiang Yueshan couldn't help but glance at Su Ciliang, and Minister Gu happened to catch her glance.
Minister Gu frowned. Although this young lady appeared delicate, she always gave off a feeling of having ill intentions.
"Leader, hello. I have been learning painting from Teacher Cao Gaoxuan for several years!" Jiang Yueshan said softly.
Su Ciliang then spoke, "After I started university, I also became Teacher Cao's student. I hadn't taken a master before, but when I was in the production brigade, I learned some things from a grandmother!"
This statement was no different from his previous answer when Cao Gaoxuan had asked.
Hearing Su Ciliang's consistent reply, Cao Gaoxuan felt much more at ease.
He was truly afraid that Su Ciliang would suddenly say something shocking that he couldn't bear to hear.
"From the production brigade? Is she from your brigade?" Minister Gu's expression suddenly became more cautious.
Su Ciliang slowly shook his head and said, "No."
Su Ciliang thought Minister Gu might continue to question him, but to his surprise, Minister Gu merely nodded.
This slight nod made both Jiang Yueshan and Cao Gaoxuan extremely nervous.
But to their surprise, Minister Gu did not press further. Instead, he said to the other judges,
"You all take a look at these practice works first."
Cao Gaoxuan and Jiang Yueshan visibly relaxed.
The leader probably didn't suspect anything, right?
Others, like Cao Gaoxuan and Jiang Yueshan, couldn't guess the leader's thoughts at all. They could only follow the leader's instructions and carefully examine the evidence provided by Jiang Yueshan.
After a cursory look through the stack of papers all signed by Jiang Yueshan, these people, through comparison, believed that these paintings and the three award-winning works were likely drawn by the same person.
"Teachers, can you now prove my innocence?" Jiang Yueshan said in a low voice, her tone laced with grievance, as if she had suffered greatly!
Seeing the aggrieved Jiang Yueshan, the judges looked at Su Ciliang with disgust.
Their previous admiration for Su Ciliang, the highly talented author who had won two awards at once, had turned into extreme disappointment.
This young man, it was fine if he didn't work hard or lacked talent, and it was fine if he lived an ordinary life, but his character was corrupt, and that was a serious matter! He still couldn't recognize his mistakes, which was truly disappointing!
However, since the leader, Minister Gu, had not spoken, the others also remained silent.
"Junior, do you have anything else to say?"
Jiang Yueshan was extremely smug. She hadn't expected these practice works from back then to be so useful.
This time, let's see what Su Ciliang could do.
But she concealed it well. Even at this point, her words remained soft and gentle.
Heaven knew that it was precisely this delicate appearance that made Cao Gaoxuan grant her every wish!
However, Su Ciliang merely responded with a cold snort.
He disdained to say another word to such a person!
His action only made the judges even angrier. This was simply incorrigible.
"Su Ciliang, it's not important if you lack ability, it's not important if you lack talent, and it's not important if you live an ordinary life. But it is important if your character is corrupt! You still cannot recognize your mistakes; it's truly disappointing!"
One of the judges, unable to contain his anger, directly reprimanded Su Ciliang.
Since one person spoke, a second would follow.
"I will write a letter to your school principal, suggesting that such a student be expelled!"
"Professor Zhu, I'll join you in signing it!"
At this moment, the judges vied with each other, as if afraid of being left behind.