Chapter 372: Someone Wants to Make Things Difficult for Zi Yi
Feiya did not reveal who the person was and she merely said, “I can’t touch that person. You just need to know that you have to compete for the top three and that will do.”
“Why?!”
Meng He clenched his fist. Wasn’t this woman very capable? But yet she was asking him to fight for the top three. A flame of fury inexplicably rose up and he could not help but sneer. “Aren’t you supposed to be very capable? Yet, you can’t even handle two women now.”
Feiya looked at him and her heart slightly turned cold. She said expressionlessly, “You can at most compete for the top 2, I’ve already bought an internet army group. If you still can’t win against Dou Xiangling, it’s because you’re incompetent.”
“You–”
Meng He did not expect Feiya to say that. In order to have him marry her and have children together, this woman had been heeding all his whims in the past. Yet, she had said that today. This caused him to suddenly feel that it was unfair.
That feeling caused his already fierce gaze to intensify. He gritted his teeth and said, “The first place must be mine. I don’t need you to do anything and I can beat them myself.”
He opened the car door and quickly alighted without even bothering to turn back.
Feiya looked at his departing back view and her clenched hands loosened ever so slightly. She glanced at the palms of her hands that were swollen due to her nails and said to the driver after a long time had passed, “To the Lu Group.”
The Lu Group had a branch office in Country X. Feiya felt that since Zi Yi was the President’s woman, he must have arrived here too. She intended to meet with him.
…
There was another round of competition in the afternoon and the contestants were only given an hour of break time in between.
When Zi Yi and Dou Xiangling walked out of the art museum together, the group of reporters who saw them were all extremely excited, seemingly about to swarm over to them like bees.
Yet, a group of well-trained bodyguards swiftly appeared and stopped the reporters from approaching.
At the same time, Housekeeper Ye, who was wearing a suit, had walked up to Zi Yi and Dou Xiangling. “Ladies, I’ll be fetching you home for lunch.”
Dou Xiangling was a little surprised to see him. “Why has Housekeeper Ye come here?”
“The Second Young Master instructed me to come and fetch the two ladies.”
Hearing his words, Dou Xiangling looked at Zi Yi with a smile.
The corner of Zi Yi’s lips had also curled up.
The two of them then followed Housekeeper Ye and headed to one side.
The reporters did not even have the chance to ask questions. They kept taking photos and made random guesses as to who were the ones who brought them away.
Just then, a group of contestants who came out, just so happened to see the three of them leaving.
One of them said sarcastically, “As expected of the Dou Family. They’re able to be so high-profile even in these types of International competitions. I feel like we’re here to fill up the numbers for this competition.”
The person next to him begged to differ. “Even though the Dou Family is world-famous, they’re known for being low-profile. It’s obvious that the group of bodyguards are men of that housekeeper, who is under Zi Yi.”
Another person suddenly snorted coldly. “With such a great show of resources, is she trying to tell us that she has a powerful backing? She’s merely a woman from China, I don’t believe that her backing is so powerful that she could manipulate the competition.”
His words caused a group of people to suddenly turn silent and some thoughts started to bud in their hearts.
Their conversation had reached the ears of the reporters who were eavesdropping on them.
The reporters were all excited.
When Zi Yi and Dou Xiangling returned to the villa and were about to have lunch, Shadow suddenly appeared.
Dou Xiangling and Housekeeper Ye were momentarily surprised.
Zi Yi seemed to have guessed that something happened and asked, “What’s wrong?”
“Master, news that you used your backing to manipulate this competition will be released online soon.”
Dou Xiangling and Housekeeper Ye’s expressions sank at his words.
“Yiyi…”
Zi Yi gave Dou Xiangling a look as if to calm her down as she asked Shadow, “Which media companies are involved?”
Shadow mentioned several companies.
There were not only just a few media companies. Instead, there were dozens of them. Moreover, their influence over the internet was not to be looked down on.
Zi Yi pondered for several seconds before she said, “Let them release the information.”
The corner of her lips curled up. “Not only are you to let them release the information, but also help them publicize it.”
“I understand, Master.”
Shadow turned invisible after it responded.
Zi Yi was met with both their surprised and puzzled gazes and she said, “It just so happens that we can get everyone to be aware of this competition. When the time comes, we’ll use our capabilities to shut their mouths.”
Dou Xiangling was momentarily stunned upon hearing that. She suddenly recalled that Zi Yi had never appeared in the Painting and Calligraphy circle before and many people would use malicious intentions to suspect her abilities. If that’s the case, wasn’t it better to use real abilities to make them shut up?
Dou Xiangling nodded in agreement. “This sounds good.”
Zi Yi was about to start eating, when her phone suddenly rang.
The phone call was from Lu Jingye. He seemed to have also gotten to know of this matter.
Zi Yi explained to him about her plans and they ended the call afterwards.
While they were halfway into their lunch, Zi Yi’s phone started to ring again.
This time around, there were N number of messages coming in.
She picked up her phone to take a look. All of them were messages from people she knew asking her what had happened and why there was all this negative information about her over the internet.
Zi Yi was too lazy to reply to them one by one and said to Shadow, “Help me reply to their messages and inform them of my plans.”
After the meal, Housekeeper Ye sent Zi Yi and Dou Xiangling to the art museum.
This time around, there was even a larger crowd outside the venue and all of them appeared to be very agitated.
The moment Zi Yi alighted from the car, reporters shouted out loud as they were blocked by the bodyguards.
“Miss Zi, many netizens are spreading that you’re a young lady from a rich family in China and you parachuted into the finals?”
“Miss Zi, were you already aware of the contents of this morning’s competition, which was why you had completed the painting so quickly?”
“Miss Zi…”
…
This group of reporters seemed to have been injected with stimulants, as their questions were sharper than the other.
It just so happened that the other eight contestants who managed to advance to the next round arrived at the entrance too.
The moment they heard what the reporters asked, they stopped at the same time.
Dou Xiangling furrowed her brows and whispered to Zi Yi, “Yiyi, are you sure you’re not intending to say anything?”
“I won’t respond, let the others talk.”
As Zi Yi remained silent, the question that the reporters asked became even more explosive.
At this moment, Meng He used a casual tone to speak to the contestant standing next to him. “To know if she had cheated or not, we can adopt a real-name registration system for the next online voting and let the netizens come up with the topic. The system can then randomly select a topic to use as the topic for the round.”
When the contestant next to Meng He heard what he said, he felt that it was a good idea and mentioned this suggestion out loud.
At first, everyone remained silent as they heard it.
Shortly afterwards, the other six contestants agreed to it.
The reporters were also excited after having heard what they said.
One of the reporters asked in a loud voice, “Miss Zi, what do you think of your opponent’s suggestion?”
Zi Yi spoke. “Sounds good.”
The reporters were broadcasting live at this moment and the netizens started to discuss this competition due to the suggestion.
All of them felt that it was a good idea.
Soon, the people from the Painting and Calligraphy Association also got to know about this. After a round of discussion, they agreed to this mode of selection.