Chapter 276: Chapter 276: Didn’t Receive the Award Ceremony Invitation Chapter 276: Chapter 276: Didn’t Receive the Award Ceremony Invitation Competitors were all arranged to stay in this hotel, and Jiang Fanyue also wanted to see if she could run into any familiar faces to ask around.

So she called the interpreter to come along.

It was strange, though, that Jiang Zhe and Xun Yining weren’t staying at this hotel, and nobody knew where they were.

Jiang Fanyue wore a strappy dress with a cape that made her look very elegant, drawing lots of attention as soon as she entered the coffeehouse on the hotel’s ground floor.

People turned to look at her, and Gu Jiaheng felt a sense of pride on his face as he took her hand.

After they sat down, the interpreter came over.

“Miss Jiang, young master Heng, I came from over there and saw that quite a few competitors have already received their invitations,” the interpreter said, knowing what Jiang Fanyue was waiting for and keeping her updated.

Jiang Fanyue immediately looked over in that direction, and indeed, quite a few competitors had received them.

Some held them in their hands while others, after a glance, looked rather disappointed and put them away in their bags.

Clearly, they had seen their scores and knew what they had to do the following night.

Jiang Fanyue stirred with her finger, and the interpreter suggested, “I’m afraid the first-place winner will come a bit later.”

Gu Jiaheng told the interpreter, “Go and find out exactly which places those people came in.”

The interpreter quickly gathered the information and came back with a not-so-pleasant expression, prompting Jiang Fanyue to ask anxiously, “What’s the situation?”

“Miss Jiang, I heard people there say the second place is Drew, third place is Ulysses, and the first eight are all determined,” the interpreter revealed.

“What’s my place?” Jiang Fanyue only cared about one thing.

The interpreter said in a low voice, “I didn’t hear your name, but they mentioned that the first-place winner is a very young talented boy.”

Jiang Fanyue’s head felt like it exploded.

A very young talented boy could only be Xun Yining.

But Xun Yining’s score was clearly lower than hers!

No matter how the rounds went, it couldn’t possibly be his turn to be ahead of her!

How could he possibly be the champion!

“Could there be some special award?” the interpreter wondered, “Something even more prestigious than the champion?”

Jiang Fanyue thought it over, and there had never been such a practice in the history of the competition.

It was unlikely that this year would be an exception.

She knew the scores of both Drew and Ulysses, which were a little less than hers and Xun Yining’s.

If she truly didn’t receive an invitation and had no rank, it must mean Jiang Zhe had tampered with the results!

Gu Jiaheng also reached this conclusion, how could Jiang Zhe do such a thing!

They had both personally witnessed Xun Yining heading backstage after the competition, and later saw Jiang Zhe and Liang Hani having dinner!

Gu Jiaheng felt angry but somewhat powerless; this was N Country, and with the language barrier, even if they wanted to expose this kind of malpractice, it would be quite troublesome!

But just like that?

Not to mention Jiang Fanyue, Gu Jiaheng was not willing to accept it either.

The Jiang family’s fashion business had always been very profitable, and with just a little improvement, it could continue to make a lot of money!

The Gu family and the Jiang family were bound together, and Gu Jiaheng had even put in his own private funds, so he certainly couldn’t let Jiang Fanyue lose just like that!

“Find Drew for me,” Gu Jiaheng told the interpreter.

Drew was a native of N Country, with a nature that hated evil; nearing thirty, he had a wealth of industry experience.

Before Gu Jiaheng arrived, he and Jiang Fanyue had already researched every competitor’s background.

…

The day of the awards ceremony.

Xun Yining put on a formal suit and tied a bowtie.

“Not bad, you look quite presentable,” Fen Ye commented, seated nearby.

Xun Yining hardly dared to recognize herself in the mirror.

Jiang Zhe said, “At the award ceremony, everyone will have earpieces for simultaneous translation. You just go up on stage and say what you want to say, no need to be nervous.”

“Mhm,” Xun Yining nodded heavily, silently memorizing the words in her mind.

“And what about you?” Fen Ye asked Jiang Zhe.

Jiang Zhe was still dressed in her school uniform, with the zipper pulled all the way up to her chin, all prim and proper, completely different from the style in which she conducted herself.

“I’m quite fine like this,” Jiang Zhe said, without much concern.

Fen Ye turned his head, as if remembering something, “So, you’re one of the jury members this time?”

“What about it?” Jiang Zhe asked him.

“Nothing, just a bit surprised… No, not really surprised. Anyway, whatever you two do is within my scope of acceptance,” Fen Ye remarked.

After Xun Yining had changed into her outfit, everyone had a quick dinner and then headed to the venue.

Liang Hani welcomed them in, and the other jury members and guests greeted Jiang Zhe.

Seeing Qin Jingchen and Fen Ye, Aisha joked with her, “Boyfriend?”

“Neither of them,” Jiang Zhe replied in N Country’s language.

Fen Ye noticed a distinct deepening in Qin Jingchen’s eyes.

He then heard Jiang Zhe say, “Fiancé.”

Fen Ye witnessed Qin Jingchen’s expression change faster than flipping a book, and quietly breathed a sigh of relief.

Aisha joked, “Wow, when are you going to invite me to your wedding?”

“We’ll see,” Jiang Zhe said, choosing a place to sit.

Liang Hani led Qin Jingchen and the others to the audience seats below the stage.

Then, Liang Hani came back and whispered to Jiang Zhe, “Jiang Fanyue has arrived.”

“Didn’t we not send them an invitation?” Jiang Zhe asked.

“She swapped her invitation with a contestant who left early.” Liang Hani had no reason to prevent her from entering.

Jiang Zhe knew that Jiang Fanyue wouldn’t let the matter rest easily.

She had given Jiang Fanyue face, unwilling to bring domestic issues to the international stage to be torn apart.

Since Jiang Fanyue insisted, Jiang Zhe didn’t mind publicly embarrassing her.

Dressed in her prepared evening gown, Jiang Fanyue and Gu Jiaheng sat in the back row with heavy hearts.

Translators and reporters followed her.

The translator quietly explained the situation to the reporters.

The reporters were indignant, “So they just replaced Miss Jiang as the champion like that? That’s too much!”

“It’s good that we came together! Otherwise, if anything happened, there would be no one to speak up for Miss Jiang!”

“I mean, I’ve met Jiang Zhe before, she seemed pretty, but how can she be so sly? Even in such a competition she thinks of using tricks to get rid of the competition, isn’t this just losing face internationally?”

“Miss Jiang, don’t worry, we absolutely won’t tolerate this kind of behavior!”

These two reporters were invited by Gu Jiaheng from the start; once the preconceived impression entered their minds, they lost the objectivity of their own identities.

They had already started their own live stream and explained the whole situation.

Instantly, a large number of fans flooded into the live streaming room.

Everyone was still unclear about what exactly happened, but hearing that someone used unfair means in an attempt to strip Jiang Fanyue of the championship really caught their attention to follow the development of events.

“What’s with the people from N Country? Are they trying to deliberately pick on our country’s contestant?”

“If there’s something fishy going on and it’s a deliberate target at us, then it’s an attack on all of us!”

“Yes, even though I really don’t like Jiang Fanyue, I have to say, we won’t allow people from other countries to bully her!”