Chapter 143: Chapter 137: Lu Fan Enraged! He Will Handle This Personally

Jiang Silu, now on the front lines of the drama, was only just realizing what had happened.

It turned out that the design they had worked so hard on had been flagged for plagiarism by the judges during the preliminary review.

Jiang Silu was shocked and wanted to understand what was going on.

Although she had participated in the project, the part Jiang Silu was responsible for was only a fifth of the whole.

The rest had been completed by her seniors. ’Could they have plagiarized someone else’s work?’

So, she quickly asked in the group chat, "Why did this happen, everyone?"

Kong Le was the first to explain, "We don’t know either, Junior Sister. Did anyone reference other works for their part?"

Liang Jing: "I designed the overall structure based on the terrain. I didn’t reference any other works."

Kong Le: "Me neither. Liang Jing, can you ask the organizers which part was plagiarized? They should at least give us a straight answer. Being left in the dark like this is awful for everyone."

Liang Jing: "Okay, I’ll go ask."

At that moment, Jiang Silu thought back on the part she had designed.

She suddenly remembered the day she was sick, when the architectural designer her father had brought over, Sister Xiaoya, had helped her refine her design and suggested a few changes.

At the time, she had even stressed, "This is the current mainstream style for pocket park designs."

Jiang Silu listened to Sister Xiaoya’s advice and thought it was excellent.

So she incorporated it.

’Could that be where the problem is?’

Jiang Silu instantly grew tense.

If her carelessness was truly the reason the entire project was branded as plagiarism, she’d never be able to clear her name.

In a panic, Jiang Silu quickly called Lu Fan.

"Hello? Silu, what’s wrong?" Lu Fan asked curiously from the other end of the line.

After all, Jiang Silu wouldn’t call him this late at night unless it was something serious.

Her voice thick with tears, Jiang Silu asked fearfully, "Could you please help me contact Sister Xiaoya, the one who helped me refine my design?"

"What’s wrong?" Lu Fan was a little puzzled.

"The preliminary results for the Jiangnan Garden Cup came out today, but our project didn’t pass and was eliminated. My senior went to ask the organizers why, and the judges said our work was too similar to another one and involved plagiarism," Jiang Silu said, sounding wronged.

Lu Fan was surprised. "Plagiarism? How could it be plagiarism?"

"I don’t know either." Jiang Silu was instantly bewildered. "I asked my seniors, and they all said they didn’t reference any other works. That’s why I’m wondering if the problem is with the part I was responsible for."

"Okay, send the project directly to me. I’ll have someone look into it and see where the problem is," Lu Fan said comfortingly. "Don’t you worry. If it’s confirmed that your project isn’t plagiarized, Dad will help you."

"R... Really?" Jiang Silu’s voice was still choked with tears. "Thank you. I’m so scared right now. If it’s really my fault that the project was judged for plagiarism, I’ll feel so guilty. I’d be letting down all my seniors’ hard work."

"It’s alright. Don’t worry about it for now. Let me investigate first."

A short while later, Jiang Silu sent the project file to Lu Fan.

Lu Fan immediately had Jiali contact Xiaoya.

When Xiaoya learned that Jiang Silu’s project had been accused of plagiarism by the competition judges, she was quite surprised.

The design clearly had the style of a student’s work.

’How could it possibly be plagiarism?’

Lu Fan then asked, "When you were refining the work, was your style too polished, and the judges noticed?"

Xiaoya replied firmly, "President Lu, I discussed every detail I modified in the project with the Young Miss. Even if some parts were referenced, that’s very normal in the design industry. As long as the referenced portion doesn’t exceed 5% of the total, there’s no issue."

"Alright. Then help me look into it and see where the problem is."

"Of course, President Lu. I’ll check on it right away."

After the call, Lu Fan had Jiali investigate who was organizing this Jiangnan Garden Cup and who exactly was on the judging panel.

"Send me the list. I’ll have Elder Meng look into it."

"Yes, Boss."

Lu Fan leaned back on the sofa, thinking that Jiang Silu probably wouldn’t be able to sleep tonight.

He had to get to the bottom of this for her.

If it truly was plagiarism, he would respect the organizers’ decision.

But if it wasn’t, and they had arbitrarily judged the work as plagiarized just because of some similarities, then Lu Fan would have to fight for his daughter’s rights.

Jiang Silu didn’t sleep well that night, her mind completely occupied with the design project.

She decided to go to her academic advisor the next day to explain the situation and see if she could find out what was going on.

...

The next morning, Jiang Silu woke up early.

She went to the office to wait.

Her advisor, Teacher Chen, saw Jiang Silu as soon as she arrived at the office.

Jiang Silu immediately greeted her, "Good morning, Teacher~"

"Silu, good morning. What brings you here so early?" the advisor said with a smile.

Jiang Silu quickly replied, "Teacher, I came because there’s something I’d like to talk to you about and ask for your help with."

"What is it?" the advisor asked.

"My seniors and I entered the Jiangnan Garden Cup competition. We submitted our project a couple of days ago, and last night the organizers notified us that our work didn’t pass the preliminary review because it’s suspected of plagiarism. We don’t know what went wrong," Jiang Silu explained.

Teacher Chen was surprised. "Plagiarism? Didn’t you design the project yourselves?"

"We did design it ourselves, but I don’t know why the judges said it was suspected of plagiarism," Jiang Silu replied.

Teacher Chen immediately contacted the department head. "Hello, Head? It’s about Silu from our class participating in the Jiangnan Garden Cup with some sophomores and juniors. You know about that, right?"

The department head on the other end of the line replied, "I know. What about it?"

"The organizers responded that their project is suspected of plagiarism, and they don’t know what happened. Head, could you please look into it?" Teacher Chen replied.

Ordinarily, the department head wouldn’t want to get involved in such matters, since the students’ subject teachers could handle it.

But when he remembered that Jiang Silu was one of the participants, he knew he had to take it seriously.

If he wanted Elder Meng to come give another lecture at Jinling University in the future, this girl could be a great help.

Her family’s connections and network must be anything but ordinary.

So the department head agreed, "Alright, no problem. I’ll go ask about it now."

Only then did Teacher Chen turn to Jiang Silu and say, "Don’t worry, the Head will ask for you. After all, you’re representing Jinling University. I’m sure you wouldn’t plagiarize someone else’s work. If the judges made a mistake, we, as your teachers, will have to clear your names."

"Thank you, Teacher!" Jiang Silu was very moved.

She immediately told her seniors in the group chat.

Kong Le was shocked: "My god, you actually got the department head to help us look into this?"

Jiang Silu was confused: "Is something wrong?"

Kong Le: "I already messaged my year’s advisor about this last night, but he said they didn’t have any way to contact the organizers."

Kong Le: "Advisors can’t be bothered to get involved in things like this. It’s a real hassle to investigate—you have to contact the organizers, find the specific judges, and ask for the reason. Never mind the department head; he’s even busier."

Liang Jing: "Silu, did your year’s advisor really go to the department head?"

Jiang Silu: "Yes, I heard the head say he would help us ask."

Liang Jing: "That’s great! With the head on the case, he can probably find a way to reach the organizers."

Peng Chengshuai: "But I don’t think we should get our hopes up. The list of preliminary finalists is already out. Even if they eventually rule we didn’t plagiarize, they probably can’t add us back in, right?"

Liang Jing: "That’s true. Sigh... Sometimes, these competitions are just like that. They give you some random reason, and you’re eliminated."

This was Jiang Silu’s first competition, so naturally, she couldn’t accept it: "Seniors, we can’t give up. If we really didn’t plagiarize, then we have to defend our rights as original creators. Even if we can’t win an award in the end, we can’t let ourselves be falsely accused."

Kong Le: "Our junior is right. Anyway, the head has already agreed to help us. I’m sure he’ll get us a satisfactory answer."

Although the other group members also regained a glimmer of hope, they knew the chances of being added back to the list of finalists were practically zero.

After all, the biggest, ugliest flaw of those competition judges was that they would never admit their own mistakes.

This phenomenon existed in every kind of competition.

For now, Jiang Silu could only pin her hopes on her biological father, Lu Fan, and the department head coming through for her.

...

「Jinling Institute of Technology.」

As soon as his class ended, Jiang Sifan immediately headed for the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Building.

He was eager to know whether his application form had been approved.

If things moved quickly, he might even get an empty classroom for his workshop this week.

He arrived at the office and saw the door was shut tight.

He peeked inside through the glass.

It was empty.

Jiang Sifan waited outside the office for a little while before noticing a contact number posted on the side.

He quickly called the teacher in charge of the Dual Innovation Department.

"Hello, Teacher Zhang? I’m a freshman applying for a startup workshop. My name is Jiang Sifan. I was wondering if you’ve seen my application form? I came to the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Building office today, but no one is here," Jiang Sifan explained.

Teacher Zhang replied from the other end of the line, "You should contact the head of the Dual Innovation Department, Xu Junjie. I’m not at the school right now."

"Alright, sorry to bother you, Teacher."

Jiang Sifan immediately looked at the phone numbers on the contact list again.

He found the list for the Dual Innovation Department and dialed Minister Xu’s number.

Because of what happened yesterday, Jiang Sifan wasn’t exactly eager to communicate directly with this senior.

He had a feeling the guy was flippant and unreliable.

But since Xu Junjie was the one who had submitted his application, Jiang Sifan had no choice but to swallow his pride.

That’s just how it was when you had to ask for a favor.

But when he called, no one picked up.

So Jiang Sifan dialed again.

He kept calling for several minutes, but the other party still didn’t answer.

Jiang Sifan had no choice but to give up, deciding to try calling again in the afternoon or evening.

「Meanwhile.」

After waking up, Lu Fan asked Jiali for the results of the plagiarism investigation.

Jiali relayed the information she had gathered.

"Yesterday, Xiaoya compared the project against others piece by piece and found no evidence of plagiarism."

"I also contacted the organizers, and they gave me this response."

With that, Jiali handed a tablet to Lu Fan.

Lu Fan looked at the two images and asked, "Is this the point of plagiarism?" 𝐟𝐫𝕖𝗲𝘄𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝕧𝐞𝚕.𝕔𝕠𝐦

"When the Young Miss’s group members were making the final rendering, it happened to be somewhat similar to the rendering of an award-winning piece. The organizers’ representative replied that the judge saw this rendering and determined that it was plagiarizing that award-winning work, which is why they weren’t selected for the preliminary round," Jiali explained.

"These don’t even look that similar." Lu Fan examined them closely. "Maybe there’s a slight resemblance, but great minds often think alike. Besides, didn’t Xiaoya say it? As long as it doesn’t exceed 5% of the total, it’s not plagiarism. This is nowhere near that."

Jiali then replied, "The judge who made the plagiarism call was the advisor for that award-winning project. So he insisted that the Young Miss’s design was a copy of his student’s."

"So it’s a case of a higher-up throwing their weight around!" Lu Fan grew uncharacteristically angry.

Jiali asked cautiously, "Boss, should we hand this over to Elder Meng to handle?"

"No, I’ll handle this myself!" Lu Fan said grimly. "Send all of this judge’s works, and all of his students’ works, to Xiaoya’s team. I want them to find any similarities between their works and others within one day. If they find anything, have them collect it all."

"Of all the people to bully, they dared to bully my daughter!"