Chapter 336: Dominated
Translator: _Min_ |
Li Ying, her face growing increasingly pale, listened to the voices criticizing her. Under mounting pressure, she finally bowed her head and apologized, “I’m sorry for calling you an ugly woman. Can you let me go now?”
Gu Dai replied coolly, “As I recall, you didn’t just slander me.”
Li Ying instantly understood Gu Dai’s implication. She was expected to apologize to Wei Jia as well, but the thought was unbearable.
Her disdain for Wei Jia was common knowledge; apologizing to her in public would be a humiliating blow to her own reputation.
Moreover, Wei Jia couldn’t afford a lawyer, so why should Li Ying be afraid of her?
Gu Dai spoke indifferently, “Don’t get any false hope. I will hire a lawyer for Wei Jia.”
Envy drove Li Ying to the brink of madness. She couldn’t fathom why Gu Dai would help Wei Jia. With red eyes and a choked voice, she apologized reluctantly, “I’m sorry.”
Feeling utterly humiliated, a sudden thought struck Li Ying. She looked up at Gu Dai and accused, “Did you rig the competition for Wei Jia to win first place?”
Before Gu Dai could respond, Li Ying continued, “It must be so. How else could my superior work not win first place?”
Zhen Chan, her face turning instantly cold, interjected, “Our competition was fair and impartial. Your failure to win first place was due to your technical flaws and many small imperfections.”
Li Ying, momentarily stunned, regained her composure and retorted, “My work is clearly perfect. How could it have flaws? And Master Zhen Chan, you’re a cultural inheritor of Suzhou Embroidery. Now, for the sake of money, you’re lying. Doesn’t your conscience hurt?”
Zhen Chan was so infuriated that her breathing quickened.
Gu Dai, noticing Zhen Chan’s state, gently tapped a few acupuncture points on her body to help her calm down. Then, she softly consoled, “Auntie Zhen, this trivial matter is not worth getting angry over.”
Gu Dai’s gaze turned cold as she addressed Li Ying, “I can show you exactly where your work is flawed.”
A minute later, staff handed over the materials for Suzhou embroidery to Gu Dai.
Li Ying had embroidered a scene from a wealthy family’s evening banquet. To make the differences clearer, Gu Dai also chose to embroider the same scene.
With skilled movements, Gu Dai quickly finished her embroidery.
The onlookers, seeing Gu Dai put down her needle, were somewhat stunned and began whispering to each other.
“Did the beautiful sister just finish embroidering?”
“That was so fast. If it were me doing Li Ying’s piece, it would take half a day at least. She finished in less than twenty minutes?”
Hearing the crowd’s comments, Li Ying looked at Gu Dai with a sneer curling her lips.
Mao Ni, a bit worried, leaned close to Wei Jia and asked, “Jiajia, what if the beautiful sister couldn’t finish the embroidery?”
Wei Jia looked down first and then, looking at Gu Dai, said with conviction, “I believe the beautiful sister can do it!”
Li Ying happened to hear Wei Jia’s words and scoffed, “Your blind faith is really funny! I bet she doesn’t know how to continue. Even if she does finish, it will definitely be terrible!”
Gu Dai, overhearing Li Ying’s comment, glanced at her nonchalantly.
Li Ying looked around. No one was near her, yet she felt an overwhelming sense of fear.
The host took Gu Dai’s work and compared it with Li Ying’s on a large screen.
Li Ying looked up, but upon seeing Gu Dai’s Suzhou Embroidery, she was dumbfounded.
The contestants were equally shocked, and then they all erupted with excitement.
“Oh my, this work is just too perfect.”
“I thought Li Ying’s work was not bad, even doubted the competition results. But after seeing the beautiful sister’s work, I realized how poor her work was.”
“I even feel I could never reach this level in my lifetime.”
“I regret thinking the beautiful sister couldn’t do it. I should have realized that someone invited as a special guest by the organizers is no ordinary person.”
Li Ying, in disbelief, rushed onto the stage, pushing the host aside, and scrutinized Gu Dai’s work.
The more she looked, the redder her eyes became, her face twisted in frenzy as she kept repeating, “This is Impossible, this is impossible, how could she embroider something this good!”
Li Ying turned to Gu Dai, raising her hand to point at her and accused, “You cheated, didn’t you?”