Su Xingyu looked at the voting results on the official website, and her emotions were complicated. The city was divided into ten districts according to administrative regions, and not only did she rank first in her district, but she also had the highest overall score among tens of thousands of photos. If the competition consisted of only one stage, how nice that would be; with this overall score, she could directly clinch the championship!
Feeling deeply shortchanged, she went to Lu Shifeng: "I’ve already got the highest overall score. Is there any need for the next round of the competition? You should just allow me to be a photographer right away."
Lu Shifeng responded with a nonchalant expression: "Highest overall score? Why didn’t you make such a request before the competition started? Were you afraid you wouldn’t get first place? Bringing it up now that the results are out? It’s too late."
Su Xingyu’s opportunistic scheme was exposed, leaving her feeling gloomy.
In her heart, she was furious with Lu Shifeng, thinking, what the heck, this man is really petty and calculative.
The comments on the official website weren’t overwhelmingly positive either, with quite a few photographers dissatisfied, nitpicking Su Xingyu’s photos for their color and detail, calling them "not detailed enough," "not accurate enough," "too blurry, like a child’s scribbles"...
Taking time out from his busy schedule, Lu Shifeng unusually paid attention to this kind of competition. He read these comments and said to Su Xingyu with implied meaning: "It seems you haven’t managed to fully convince everyone."
Su Xingyu really wanted to chop this man up, separate the pieces, throw them into the sea, and feed them to the sharks.
She gritted her teeth with a cold smile, opened her computer, logged onto the website, and quickly typed in the model and data details of her shooting smartphone.
Soon, the entire website was in an uproar—
"What? The first-prize ’Beggar and Butterfly’ was taken with a smartphone?"
"It’s incredible that a smartphone can shoot to this level!"
"How’s that possible? It’s a scam, right? This far surpasses the limits of that smartphone!"
The issues they previously discussed, like the photo’s "lack of color refinement" and so on, were based on the premise of using a professional camera. Who would have thought the top prize-winning photo was shot with a smartphone? This photo’s color and clarity might seem lackluster for a camera, but for a smartphone, to produce such a photo is a masterpiece!
Many curious onlookers didn’t believe it, so they found smartphones of the same model as Su Xingyu’s and tried them on similar streets with similar weather and lighting conditions, but they couldn’t replicate Su Xingyu’s quality.
The doubts grew louder, with many suspecting whether Su Xingyu was faking it. ᴛʜɪs ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ ɪs ᴜᴘᴅᴀᴛᴇ ʙʏ novelFirｅ.net
Su Xingyu continued to sneer, throwing in all her previous savings from her assistant job along with maxing out her credit cards, and hired an authoritative notarization agency to supervise sending her phone along with the original photo to a professional institution for testing, which concluded that ’Beggar and Butterfly’ was indeed shot with that smartphone.
All the skepticism vanished, replaced by fervent applause.
They praised her skills, while also wondering, "Miss Su, why didn’t you use a camera for the shoot?"
Su Xingyu replied with deep-seated bitterness on the official website: "Because I’m poor. My husband won’t give me money."
"So Miss Su is actually married?"
"Your husband is really a jerk, not supporting a photography genius like you in taking photos!"
"Does he have no money, or is he just withholding it from you? What’s the point of marrying a man like that, divorce him!"
The posts quickly went off-topic, turning into a spitting battle criticizing her husband. Su Xingyu watched with delight, feeling much better, hummed—Lu Shifeng, although I can’t do anything to you, the power of the internet is infinite!
Lu Shifeng, who had been following the competition’s progress closely, darkened his expression.
Because the competition was organized by the Blade Group, Su Xingyu had discussed with him beforehand about not publicly disclosing their marital relationship. Since if it were discovered she was the young mistress of Blade Group—in more precise terms, not just an ordinary young mistress, but the important Crown Princess Consort—people would suspect foul play.
This competition might not even continue.
That’s why, under their deliberate concealment, no one knew her husband was the high-ranking Crown Prince of Blade Group.
The netizens were zealously lambasting him, their central thesis being Su Xingyu’s husband was too stingy, even unwilling to buy her the cheapest point-and-shoot camera, forcing her to use her phone to shoot such a sensational competition.
Unable to bear it anymore, Mr. Lu made a decision.
The next day, he walked into the company and summoned Secretary-General Xie Jian into his office over the phone.
"What is the prize for the preliminary round of this street photography competition?" he asked.
Xie Jian, as an important company figure, was originally not interested in this kind of regional competition that the marketing department could casually arrange with a small team, but knowing the BOSS’s wife was also competing, he had already done his homework: "Since it’s the preliminary round, the prizes for the top ten in each administrative district are all the same, a set of Blade NXG camera protective gear."
Don’t underestimate this set of protective gear, many photographers long for it, it’s more expensive than many brand cameras themselves.
Lu Shifeng said: "Change the prize for first place in each district to cameras."
Xie Jian was a bit surprised but then felt it was reasonable. He had also seen the slander on the official website recently, though unsure of what happened between the BOSS and his wife, but this camera must be intended for her, right?
He quickly arranged it.
Ordered the marketing department to change the first-place prize to a camera very suitable for street photography.
Before the preliminary round started, the website had already been promoting what the prizes were, and now suddenly changing them stirred quite a commotion among the public: "Why change the prizes suddenly? Only the district first-place prizes were changed, could it be even Blade’s official can’t stand Su Xingyu’s scumbag husband and specially sends her a camera?"
"I think that’s it. Otherwise, how will she participate in the subsequent semi-finals and finals? She can’t shoot with a phone every time, right."
"It’s nothing new for these camera brands to organize competitions. Customarily, even if the preliminary rounds don’t require specific equipment models, the final rounds will certainly require using the host brand’s cameras."
"If Su Xingyu is eliminated for such a reason, it would truly be a shame."
"That’s why Blade is undoubtedly giving her special care."
While words were said without much thought, the listeners took them seriously.
Although the marketing department didn’t understand why they had to change the prizes out of the blue upon receiving Xie Jian’s orders, the netizens’ remarks gave them inspiration—
"Congratulations Miss Su on winning, this camera is for you, the dream your husband can’t give you, Blade gives you."
The marketing department staff published the award announcement on the website, feeling incredibly clever.
In the top-floor office, their BOSS darkened his face, staring at the computer screen, contemplating a difficult decision—should he fire this employee then? Or fire them? Or fire them?