Chapter 123: The Plagiarism Scandal

Jiang Xiaoxiao was brimming with confidence.

She had already quietly begun to tidy her appearance, eagerly awaiting the moment she would step onto the stage to receive applause from around the world.

“The winner of the Golden Summit Award is—”

“Jiang—”

At that very second, Jiang Xiaoxiao felt as if her life had reached its pinnacle.

She took a step forward, unable to contain her excitement as she hurried toward the podium.

Yet her moment of triumph lasted only a single second.

“—Ci—You—”

The host announced loudly the name of the designer who had won the Golden Summit Award.

In that instant, Jiang Xiaoxiao’s step faltered.

The smile on her face vanished completely.

She stood frozen as if turned to stone.

For a moment, the world spun around her.

Then, she watched helplessly as Jiang Ciyou emerged from the crowd and once again ascended to the dazzling golden throne.

Jiang Xiaoxiao was utterly stunned.

Impossible. This absolutely could not be happening!

How could it still be Jiang Ciyou?

Over the years, no designer had ever won two major awards simultaneously.

Why should Jiang Ciyou be the exception?

Moreover, with such a high overall score,

there was no way she wouldn’t have won at least one category award.

No, this was absolutely impossible!

Jiang Ciyou was already standing on the podium.

As the host prepared to hand the Golden Summit Award trophy to Jiang Ciyou,

Jiang Xiaoxiao suddenly rushed onto the stage like a wild woman.

Before everyone’s eyes, she vociferously protested, “This is unfair! This is unfair! Both Jiang Ciyou and I scored the highest overall, 95 points. Why does she win two major awards while I get none? There must be something shady going on here.”

“I protest! I protest to the end!”

Jiang Xiaoxiao’s emotions ran high.

Of course, her words were translated by the system into multiple languages and transmitted to the earpieces of judges from all over the world.

For a moment, everyone looked at Jiang Xiaoxiao as if watching a joke.

Their eyes were filled with disdain.

They whispered and pointed in languages Jiang Xiaoxiao could not understand.

Though she could not comprehend their words,

Jiang Xiaoxiao clearly saw the contempt and scorn in their eyes.

She couldn’t understand it.

During her presentation of the Four Seasons Garden collection, their gazes were full of astonishment and admiration.

How could it have turned into this in just a few hours?

The host came to Jiang Xiaoxiao’s side.

Speaking fluent Chinese, he said, “Miss Jiang, your work is indeed excellent. A high score of 95 is well deserved.”

Jiang Xiaoxiao was slightly taken aback.

Could it be that she was simply too impatient?

Perhaps a greater award awaited her later?

But suddenly, the host’s tone shifted, and his expression grew serious.

“Unfortunately, your work is plagiarized.”

The two words struck Jiang Xiaoxiao like a heavy hammer to the forehead.

She was immediately stunned.

Her first reaction was guilt.

But she quickly regained her composure.

No one could possibly know she had plagiarized.

Her design portfolio was a unique masterpiece, a treasure bestowed upon her by heaven.

It was impossible for anyone else to know.

She had searched the entire internet.

No one had ever published a similar work online.

So there was simply no way anyone could know.

Although her fingers trembled with guilt,

she still raised her head and argued slyly, “Don’t slander me without evidence. If you accuse me of plagiarism, you must have proof!”

At that moment,

the live broadcast chatroom exploded five minutes earlier.

[Proof! The proof is online. No wonder she can’t check her phone right now—she doesn’t know that the original author of this work has already published the design drawings.]

[So it turns out Jiang Xiaoxiao plagiarized Miss Y’s work, and it’s from Miss Y’s student days?]

[Who is Miss Y? Is she famous in this circle?]

[Miss Y is not known for fashion design, but as a world-renowned genius jewelry designer, one of the three chief designers at QUEEN.]

[Wow, a genius is a genius. A crossover genius indeed.]

[Just five minutes ago, Miss Y publicly shared her Instagram account, which has a large collection of fashion designs. This work is exactly the same as a dress Miss Y designed six years ago, even down to the name Four Seasons Garden.]

[Jiang Xiaoxiao is really bold—she didn’t even bother to change the name when plagiarizing. It’s laughably foolish.]

[Not only this piece, but several dresses Jiang Xiaoxiao designed for Qing Ben Jia Ren were also plagiarized from Miss Y, though poorly altered. But this Four Seasons Garden is copied entirely without change. Miss Y has publicly declared she will pursue legal action against Qing Ben Jia Ren for infringement.]

[These works were originally private on Miss Y’s Instagram, visible only to herself. After all, these are her works from six years ago. Miss Y probably didn’t care about Jiang Xiaoxiao’s previous botched plagiarism attempts, but this time Jiang Xiaoxiao went too far—directly copying her work to enter an international competition! Utterly shameless.]

[But if Miss Y didn’t make her works public before, how did Jiang Xiaoxiao plagiarize them?]

The chatroom was ablaze with heated discussion.

The hashtag #QingBenJiaRenPlagiarism quickly soared to the top three trending topics.

Jiang Jinhui watched all this unfold off-screen.

He felt as if he had plunged from the clouds into a bottomless abyss.

“Traitor! That traitor!”

Jiang Jinhui smashed the computer before him onto the floor.

He had been waiting for the two works belonging to Qing Ben Jia Ren to win awards simultaneously,

to launch Qing Ben Jia Ren into the ranks of top-tier brands.

But at this moment, with the plagiarism scandal exposed,

Qing Ben Jia Ren was instantly associated with plagiarism, piracy, inferiority, and theft.

Jiang Jinhui’s mood was like a roller coaster,

plummeting from the heights to the depths.

“I told you, she’s a disaster. We should never have accepted her back then!”

Jiang Jinhui paced anxiously.

“Our Jiang family, all my lifelong efforts, will be destroyed by this traitor!”

Yao Shulan was also shocked.

After all, Jiang Xiaoxiao was her biological child.

When the baby was swapped at the hospital, as a mother, she bore an inescapable responsibility.

So even though Jiang Xiaoxiao had done many foolish things over the past three years,

Yao Shulan had tolerated and indulged her out of guilt.

The only virtue she saw in Jiang Xiaoxiao was some design talent.

But now, was even this sole merit stolen?

Elsewhere,

Jiang Xiaoxiao could not believe the accusations of plagiarism.

She continued to argue loudly.

Only when the officials displayed all of Miss Y’s Instagram works on the large stage screen

did Jiang Xiaoxiao finally lose all composure.

Each design bore a date of publication.

The Four Seasons Garden appeared six years ago.

Every detail of the design matched perfectly with the one she presented today.

Jiang Xiaoxiao felt as if she had been struck on the head.

She stood there, dizzy and disoriented, utterly unable to recover.