Plagiarism is not uncommon.
It is not only limited to paintings but also literary works, a single idea, a concept, or even a small cover have been involved in plagiarism scandals that appear online in various ways.
Plagiarists and those they plagiarize often confront and criticize each other, attracting quite a crowd eager to watch the drama unfold.
But no matter the type of plagiarism, everyone’s attitude towards it is quite consistent: no matter how curious one might be about a scandal, people deeply detest the act of plagiarism itself.
At this moment, everyone looked at Lin Nuo standing on stage, his face full of hatred, and listened to his powerful voice, momentarily feeling taken aback.
Coupled with the painting "The End of the World" hanging nearby, evoking a sense of despair tinged with a glimmer of hope, some people could not help but think: Could there be something more to this story?
Could he have been wronged back then?
After all, there are indeed people in this world who cannot stand seeing others better than themselves. They might even resort to dragging others into the mud, preventing them from ever rising again.
Especially among today’s audience, there are those who have been plagiarized by so-called friends before. Even if they weren’t hurt as deeply as Lin Nuo was, they could still empathize with him at this moment.
In a fit of impulse, someone stood up from their seat, cupped their mouth to amplify their voice, and shouted toward the stage: "Lin Nuo, you said you found evidence, why not show it on stage. If you were truly framed, Mr. Li and Mr. Zhang can stand up for justice. And we, the audience, can’t help much, but we can discern right from wrong. When the show airs, millions of viewers who watch will surely see the truth!"
The sudden outburst from the audience startled the show’s staff more than the guests on stage.
The staff hadn’t arranged for this segment, the audience’s behavior was entirely spontaneous and unexpected.
Seeing this, they hurriedly tried to intervene but were stopped by the director.
Chen Weiwen waved his hand, "Don’t rush, let’s wait and see what happens."
He had a gut feeling that Mr. Li wasn’t bringing up Lin Nuo’s old story impulsively. There must be a motive behind it.
Directly stopping it would be a bad move. Since Mr. Li intended to assist Lin Nuo, it might be best to just observe and adapt to the situation.
With this additional conflict, the show might attract more attention when it airs.
Lin Nuo just realized that Mr. Li wasn’t trying to reopen his wounds but rather giving him a chance to defend himself publicly.
With a grateful glance at the elder in front of him, Lin Nuo abruptly turned his head and stared directly at one of the seats in the audience.
When he caught sight of that face looking a bit more flustered than before, a sense of relief washed over him.
He didn’t know why this person would come to watch the show; perhaps to see him make a fool of himself, or maybe to see him futilely attempt to clear his name, given how arrogant this person always was!
Let’s see who will be the real joke here!
"Many people present might not be familiar with the plagiarism incident in the national youth painting competition three years ago, but you can find plenty of information online by searching the right keywords."
"But today, I want to tell my side of the story, and all I ask is for you to lend me your ears and listen."
"Three years ago, on the eve of the competition, my girlfriend A-Lin had just accepted my proposal. We had planned to meet each other’s parents with the prize money from the competition to buy our dream wedding home. Thus, the painting ’Under the Moonlight’ was not just a competition entry but also a token of our love, my proposal gift to her."
In a corner of the recording hall, A-Lin’s eyes were red, and she was covering her mouth tightly to stop herself from crying out loud.
They say the past is unbearable to remember, but for them, that upheaval truly became an unbearable part of their history.
The audience members listened with empathy.
"If Lin Nuo was really wronged back then, how happy the couple should have been!"
"Since he’s brave enough to speak about it now, he was likely falsely accused. Who could be so malicious?"
"If it were me, I might never recover. But he managed to create ’The End of the World,’ I really admire him!"
Two people sitting nearby exchanged a few words until someone seated in front turned around, "Enough of the endless chatter, isn’t it annoying?"
One of the two was about to retort, but a nudge from their companion and a glance prevented it, so they took a deep breath and held back.
"Why can’t I talk back when this person is so arrogant?"
"Didn’t you recognize him?"
"Who is he, some kind of celebrity?"
"Not exactly a celebrity, but he does have almost a million followers online. A wealthy young man with some artistic talent. As you saw, he is somewhat handsome, the type many girls are into because there’s not many like him. I just didn’t expect him to have such a bad temper; I almost thought he was going to hit someone, which is why I stopped you. We can’t afford to mess with someone like him!"
"Well, unlucky me. By the way, do you know his name?"
"Not sure about his real name, but I remember his online handle might be..."
Just then, a voice from the stage reached them first, "...when my ’Under the Moonlight’ was awarded the first prize in the competition, a trending topic online claimed my winning piece plagiarized ’Moonlight’, which had already been uploaded to his page by the young master from the Chen Family. I was shocked when I saw the trending topic, immediately checked ’Moonlight’, and recognized it as the first version of my creation, which I thought wasn’t perfect enough, leading to the second version later."
Offstage. Original content can be found at N0v3l.Fiɾe.net
"What is his name? You stopped in the middle of telling me!"
"Uh," the companion being questioned looked complexly at the figure sitting in front of them, "His name is the young master from the Chen Family."
"Could this be... a coincidence?"
"Probably not." Meeting a look of bewilderment, this person slowly shook their head and whispered, "I don’t know if this Chen Family young master was really plagiarized, but not long ago, he did use his family’s legal team to sue a minor online celebrity whose account name was very similar to his. It’s said that the little online celebrity not only lost the case but had to pay a significant amount of money."
Now, the two didn’t know what to say for a moment.
Just as they decided to remain silent and closely follow the unfolding events, the young master from the Chen Family, seated in front of them, suddenly stood up, pointing straight at Lin Nuo on the stage, "You’re damn lying! Stop accusing, it was clearly after seeing ’Moonlight’ that you created ’Under the Moonlight’. Let’s see what evidence you can produce!"
Just who is this person who just stood up?
As almost all eyes in attendance focused on Lin Nuo and the person who had just stood up, Jiang Lingxi discreetly turned off her mic and subtly moved next to Shen Yunqing, signaling him to turn off his mic as well, whispering: "This show is getting more exciting!"