The face-slapping came as fast as a tornado.

Wu He was a devoted fan of Zhao De. Before hearing Ji Fanxing’s "Absolute Infatuation," he had once believed that Zhao De was the sole hope of the domestic entertainment industry.

With the current uproar causing such a massive commotion, it was inevitable for him to pay attention. As both a fan of Zhao De and a casual fan of Ji Fanxing, Wu He’s heart leaned toward Zhao De when it came to their wager.

After all, Zhao De came from a prestigious lineage; the accumulation of his years of hard work and progress was simply incomparable to someone like Ji Fanxing, who had risen through unorthodox methods.

Although Ji Fanxing possessed some talent, her foundation was far too shallow, and such talent might not necessarily endure for long.

When the news broke exposing Ji Fanxing for vote-rigging, his immediate reaction was, "As expected." Perhaps even Ji Fanxing herself lacked true confidence, which was why she had resorted to underhanded tricks.

Up until the very second Wu He clicked on the official webpage of the exchange conference, he was mentally mourning for Ji Fanxing.

Who could have imagined that the moment the page refreshed, the content that popped up nearly caused his brain to crash!

Completely contrary to the rumors, the website showed that the vote count for "Free and Easy" actually ranked first.

Not only that, but its vote count surpassed "Pipa Language," which ranked second, by more than half a million votes!

In the screenshots that exposed Ji Fanxing for vote-rigging, the total vote count hadn't even reached one million.

As someone who followed them both and kept an eye on their wager, he would drop in from time to time to check the battle status.

Right before falling asleep last night, Ji Fanxing was only leading Zhao De by a few tens of thousands of votes.

Where on earth did these extra hundreds of thousands of votes come from?!

"This has to be a joke..."

Wu He rubbed his eyes involuntarily, counting the two vote counts back and forth many times until he finally had to admit a harsh truth.

If anyone was truly rigging the votes, that person could only be Zhao De!

Wu He's realization mirrored the realization of nearly all the netizens following this affair.

Across the internet, the situation instantly blew up.

Those who had previously hurled abuses at Ji Fanxing now felt as though they had been slapped heavily across the face, their cheeks burning with intense pain.

They never imagined they would actually be played for fools!

[Holy shit! Did I read that right? Zhao De's vote count is actually higher than Ji Fanxing's?!]

[This... how is this even possible?!]

[I'm totally baffled, but thinking about it carefully, it's not impossible. During yesterday's preview session, Ji Shen's "Myriad Realms of Chang'an" was so breathtaking that Zhao De clearly couldn't compete. Besides, when the camera panned over to Zhao De back then, his expression was terribly ugly.]

[Yeah, Zhao De is no good guy. The last time when Sheng Sheng was live-streaming, I saw how disrespectful he was to Master Fang. He even tried to have security throw Ji Fanxing out just because she disagreed with him.]

[No way, is Zhao De really that disgusting?]

[It's true. You can find videos of all this online.]

[So Zhao De realized he was going to lose, and therefore rigged the votes for himself?]

[This plot twist almost made me unable to hit the brakes.]

[I told you so! How could Ji Shen ever do something like that?!]

[Zhao De, to think you come from a prestigious background, yet your methods are so vile!]

[Zhao De, you're a complete disgrace to all men, bullying a young girl like this...]

"How can this be?!"

On the other side, Zhao De abruptly stood up, the teacup in his hand slipping and shattering into pieces.

Qu Feiyang was also startled by Zhao De's reaction and asked in bewilderment, "What is it?"

Pointing at the computer screen with a trembling voice, Zhao De said, "Teacher, you... take a look for yourself..."

With a slight frown, Qu Feiyang quickly glanced at his phone screen.

The next second, his pupils violently constricted.

The screen that had moments ago been completely flooded with vitriol cursing Ji Fanxing had vanished entirely. In its place were rows of scathing comments:

[Where is the organizing committee? Hurry up and disqualify Zhao De right now!]

[Exactly! Scumbags like this don't deserve to attend the exchange conference!]

[Organizing committee, if you don't step forward, we will collectively boycott the exchange conference!]

[... ]

Netizens were filled with righteous indignation, bombarding the official account of the National Music Exchange Conference and demanding Zhao De's disqualification.

Staring at the overwhelmingly one-sided comments online, Zhao De’s face turned ashen. Weren't these people supposed to be cursing Ji Fanxing? Why was it him now?!

What on earth had happened?! Who on earth was trying to frame him?!

The response from the organizing committee of the "National Music Exchange Conference" was exceptionally swift.

On the homepage of the official convention website, a striking announcement appeared dead center on the screen.

[In view of the fact that contestant Zhao De engaged in malicious vote-rigging during this exchange conference, which severely violated the convention rules, the organizing committee has verified the situation and decided to disqualify him from participating in the current event. His eligibility for future participation will remain under review.]

Beneath the announcement was a back-end comparison result provided by the official website.

The data showed that the vote growth for Ji Fanxing's "Pipa Language" was completely normal, whereas Zhao De's "Free and Easy" had magically gained over half a million votes overnight, with the identities traceable to most of the voting accounts appearing completely blank.

Zhao De's vote manipulation was backed by conclusive evidence.

[???]

[What is going on?!]

[Zhao De has been disqualified!!]

[The organizing committee of this conference is cold-blooded and ruthless enough. I used to think their decisions were specifically targeting Ji Fanxing, but it turns out they just target everyone equally.]

[Hahaha, treating everyone the same, I love it. Looks like the domestic entertainment industry isn't as dark after all.]

[I just want to know what Zhao De's mood is like right now.]

[Karma comes back so fast, just like a tornado!]

Netizens chimed in one after another, mocking and ridiculing Zhao De mercilessly.

From their perspective, Zhao De was simply reaping what he had sown.

Staring at the glaring red characters of the announcement on the computer screen, Zhao De felt his vision go dark, and he nearly fainted on the spot.

"Teacher, what... what is going on here?!" Zhao De's voice trembled, unable to believe his own eyes.

Qu Feiyang's face was livid. He remained silent, his gaze locked rigidly onto the computer screen.

How could this happen?!

This was impossible!

He had clearly arranged everything meticulously; why would such a thing occur?!

Where on earth did those hundreds of thousands of votes for Zhao De come from?!

Qu Feiyang's mind was in utter chaos, a whirlwind of thoughts thrashing about in his head.

Could someone have deliberately framed Zhao De?

Could it be Ji Fanxing?

No, absolutely impossible. She was merely a girl in her early twenties; how could she possibly possess such deep scheming abilities?

Then who could it be?

In an instant, numerous names popped into Qu Feiyang's mind. No, no, those people were wishing nothing more than to see Ji Fanxing crushed by him; they would never interfere.

Fang Zhijing possessed an upright and unyielding personality; he could never pull off something like this either...

"Teacher, what should we do now?" Seeing Qu Feiyang remain silent, Zhao De felt even more panicked.

Qu Feiyang took a deep breath, forcing himself to calm down.

The most important thing right now was to protect himself.

"Go back and get some rest first. I will handle this matter," Qu Feiyang said indifferently, his tone devoid of any emotion.

Hearing this, Zhao De felt as though he had plunged into a frozen abyss.

Did the teacher mean he was going to wash his hands of him?!

"Teacher, you... you can't do this!"

Zhao De's voice choked with sobs. The organizing committee clearly had no intention of investigating further; if the teacher refused to help him as well, this stain would likely haunt his professional career forever!

Closing his eyes, Qu Feiyang refused to look at Zhao De's face.

He couldn't help Zhao De, because if they dug any deeper, they had indeed engaged in vote manipulation.

Though Qu Feiyang was confident he had covered his tracks cleanly, he dared not take the risk. He was a master of music; he could never afford to have such a stain on his record!

"I will give you an explanation regarding this matter." Having said that, he ignored Zhao De entirely and strode straight out of the room.

Left standing blankly in place, Zhao De watched Qu Feiyang's departing back, his eyes filled with utter agony.

Meanwhile, Fang Zhijing, in high spirits, personally paid a visit to Ji Fanxing's hotel.

"Ji girl, I brought you something wonderful."