Chapter 257: Crisis in the Wedding Procession

What should we do? What on earth should we do?

Niu Hongchang never imagined that at the most critical moment something like this would happen. His body began trembling uncontrollably, and his mind was a complete mess. There was no time to wonder why both the main and backup sedan chairs malfunctioned at the crucial moment. Just yesterday, during the final rehearsal, everything had been fine. It was an eerie coincidence.

Most importantly, both the primary sedan chair and the backup had been meticulously decorated over several days. After the Cultural Expo’s opening performance, a traditional Long Kingdom wedding display was scheduled.

How on earth could he arrange for new sedan chairs in less than three hours?

Those small sedan chairs from wedding companies were simply not fit for such an occasion. Displaying them would only bring further shame! Now that media from various countries were watching the first performance, if things went wrong, Long Kingdom would lose face. He was nothing short of a traitor to his own nation.

It was nearly impossible to rearrange the schedule at the last minute.

All the processes had been set. Changing one part would disturb the entire system, and several international media had already reported on the sequence. A last-minute change would not only raise suspicions but also expose loopholes to H Country. In the end, it would not only lose the project but also bring disgrace. ‘What are we going to do?’

At that moment, Niu Hongchang nearly wished for death.

“What’s happening?”

In front of the monitors, the Leader noticed that Niu Hongchang didn’t seem right. Frowning, he walked over.

“Leader, something has gone wrong over here.”

Under the Leader’s gaze, Niu Hongchang’s lips began trembling uncontrollably as he spoke.

If there is one thing that is absolutely fair in this world,

it is time! Time won’t stop for the poor or the rich, nor will it pause just because there’s an issue with Jinlong Ancient City’s sedan chair. There’s no extra time to be given.

Before long, it was nine in the morning.

The traditional Cultural Expo of Long Kingdom had officially begun! Not only was Long Kingdom TV’s comprehensive channel broadcasting, but its International channel was also live. It could be said that at least one-fifth of Lanstarr’s population was watching this joint Cultural Expo by Long Kingdom and H Country.

Besides domestic websites, forums, and netizens debating, the topic had even taken over the front page of a top international forum.

“I think Long Kingdom will win!”

“Exactly. Long Kingdom in the far east has thousands of years of history. H Country can never match them.”

“Come on, it goes without saying—they’re far more authentic.”

“We all know H Country’s style!”

Some international netizens quickly shared their opinions.

Of course, many H Country netizens were also relentlessly flooding the chat with self-congratulatory posts.

“Our great H Country boasts an ancient culture dating back 8,000 years. In fact, those traditional practices in Long Kingdom were originally passed down from us.”

“Exactly! How can Long Kingdom even dare to run a simultaneous project with us? They even arranged two venues. It’s simply laughable!”

“Just wait. The projects in our H Country will completely overshadow Long Kingdom’s soon enough.”

“Long Kingdom netizens will soon face reality!”

International forums brought together netizens from all over the world, and naturally, Long Kingdom fans were not in short supply.

Many Long Kingdom users, angered by H Country netizens’ arrogance, immediately started clashing online. “Heh, wait and see who truly faces reality,” they sneered.

“Two venues? Forget the main venue. Wait until our branch venue shows you how it’s done!”

“Even the foreigners dare to act up.”

Online and in reality, the opening ceremony of H Country’s Cultural Expo began almost simultaneously. However, the key preparers—Park Qi Ye and Cui Xiaozhong—were nowhere to be seen at the main stage.

Instead, they were seated in the backstage area. And on the table before them were two monitors.

One screen displayed the live scene from H Country, while the other showed the broadcast from Long Kingdom TV’s international channel.

“Heh, just now we got word from Long Kingdom. Everything’s been taken care of!”

Cui Xiaozhong glanced at the screen and said with a smug tone.

At that moment, they finally felt they could relax a little, following the preset plan.

“Our people haven’t been discovered, have they?”

After a brief pause, Park Qi Ye turned to Cui Xiaozhong.

“No, everything was pre-planned. Every little detail was executed flawlessly. Even if the surveillance is later uncovered, it will all seem like mere coincidence—a small operational error at worst.”

Cui Xiaozhong immediately shook his head.

Their cunning plan was simple: exploit procedural loopholes over there to completely ruin the two sedan chairs of Jinlong Ancient City.

In doing so,

they would achieve victory without a fight!

Even if Long Kingdom’s wedding display mimicked Jinlong Ancient City’s in every way, the moment the sedan chairs were unveiled, the superiority would be clear!

“Good, it’s not easy to nurture talent these days.”

“Indeed. I must admit, it feels like fate is on our side this time. If Long Kingdom’s main and branch venues ran their projects simultaneously, many viewers might get distracted by the food display. In the end, the timing was set to deliberately separate the showcases. With the traditional wedding display opening the event, all media and public attention is on that first act.”

Now, let’s see how Jinlong Ancient City handles it. I’d bet the person in charge there is already ready to end it all!

Cui Xiaozhong couldn’t help but laugh.

“To be honest, we never expected this. In a strange way, Jinlong Ancient City did us a favor.”

Park Qi Ye nodded in agreement.

This time, they completely abandoned the food display. Originally, they were worried that Mingsha City would steal the limelight right after the opening ceremony, but now, it was practically perfect.

“Enough. Regardless of what happens in Long Kingdom, we must not falter on our end!”

“Agreed!”

Time ticked by minute by minute.

Perhaps because the focus of the Cultural Expo was on the performance projects, the Leader’s speech and various performances at the opening scene felt like a mere formality. Long Kingdom had its stars, creating a grand spectacle, and H Country had its own top-tier celebrities, investing heavily in the pageantry. As a result, there wasn’t much heated discussion.

Until the broadcast from Long Kingdom switched to a panoramic view of Mingsha City and an introduction to the projects, the barrage section and forums suddenly exploded with activity.

Even Park Qi Ye and Cui Xiaozhong gasped in surprise upon watching.

“Is this the food display area of Mingsha Ancient City?”

After a long moment,

Park Qi Ye finally snapped back to attention.

The panoramic view earlier had genuinely frightened him. Especially seeing Lutai and the Zhaixing Pavilion encircled by ancient buildings—it left him momentarily stunned, so much so that he barely noticed the other display areas.

“Thank goodness I called Chairman Chen, or else the structures atop Lutai would have…”

Cui Xiaozhong subconsciously swallowed.

After watching Mingsha City’s food display, he had one thought: even a simple home-cooked dish, when showcased in that context, would be elevated to something extraordinary.

Clothes make the man, as they say. If we had to compete with Long Kingdom’s traditional cuisine, we’d be utterly outclassed.

At that moment, even he, a rival, was curious about what kind of dishes would be presented this afternoon in the display area. What sort of culinary masterpiece could possibly match the grandeur of those ancient structures? Not to mention the netizens.

“Luckily, the food display has been rescheduled, and Mingsha City was given only five minutes of screen time!”

After a pause, Park Qi Ye turned to Cui Xiaozhong.

“Mingsha City is truly frightening. No wonder Chairman Chen had that harsh criticism! I bet netizens from all over are now debating Long Kingdom’s branch venue at Mingsha City.”

“Indeed!”

“But thankfully, Jinlong Ancient City is the main venue. Once the wedding display starts, all attention will shift back to the traditional wedding performance. That’s when we’ll seize the spotlight.

Even if Mingsha City wins over in one aspect, so what? They only have five projects, while Jinlong Ancient City boasts twenty-five.

We’re confident those twenty-five will secure a decisive victory!”

“Just wait!”

Nodding, Park Qi Ye glanced at the time. The artistic performance of the opening ceremony was drawing to a close, and in half an hour, the first project would kick off.

One minute, two minutes… As the host slowly left the stage, both Long Kingdom and H Country immediately shifted their cameras to where the project display was set to begin.

Then,

on the two monitors in front of Park Qi Ye, nearly identical images appeared.

Both showed an ancient alley entrance, from which the bridal procession would emerge.

Moreover, the introduction by the project host for the traditional wedding was strikingly similar—even though H Country had phrased it differently, the meaning was essentially the same.

The first act of the wedding was the groom’s procession to fetch the bride, followed by the wedding ceremony and finally entering the bridal chamber! At that moment,

the forums exploded with fury, especially among Long Kingdom netizens who were on the verge of overturning their tables in anger.

Could they get any more shameless? Anyone with eyes could tell what was going on, yet H Country users had the audacity to claim that Long Kingdom was the copycat.

What was even more disgusting was that as the bridal procession slowly emerged from the ancient alley, the Long Kingdom crowd noticed that the number of bearers carrying the gifts and the drum troupe in H Country outnumbered their own by dozens.

In that moment, Long Kingdom’s display just didn’t measure up.

“Ha, did you see that? They claim we copied, but if we were to copy, how could our ceremony ever look as grand or intricate as theirs?”

“Exactly!”

“How can a small-scale show accuse a large-scale event of plagiarism? It’s laughable! Just look at our procession’s attire and the sense of ceremony—there’s no comparison!”

At that very moment, H Country netizens were at the peak of their arrogance.

“What on earth is going on at Jinlong Ancient City? Don’t they know the importance of the first project?”

Finally, many Long Kingdom netizens, frustrated by their inability to counter H Country’s claims, tried to defend Jinlong Ancient City. Every comment was shot down by the opposing camp. In fact, some admitted that Jinlong Ancient City’s display did seem a bit inferior.

But just as the netizens were about to criticize the person in charge at Jinlong Ancient City, the screen flashed—and both bridal processions’ sedan chairs began to emerge slowly from the ancient alley.

For a moment, as viewers took in the elaborate decoration of the sedan chairs, Long Kingdom netizens were stunned. Then, excitement kicked in as they pounded on their keyboards.

“Look at our sedan chairs compared to theirs. Can you compare? Kids, you can mimic some things, but certain details you can never replicate!

If you think you can even copy the Wan Gong Sedan Chair, go ahead!”

On the screen, although both sides had sixteen sedan chairs, the ones from H Country were merely decorated, whereas Long Kingdom’s looked like a golden mini palace.

The superiority was undeniable!

“This…”

At that moment, H Country netizens were utterly dumbfounded. And it wasn’t just them—both Park Qi Ye and Cui Xiaozhong were left gasping in disbelief.

They even rubbed their eyes repeatedly, trying to make sense of what they were seeing, wondering if it was all a hallucination.

There was no doubt now—Jinlong Ancient City’s two sedan chairs were a lost cause, with no other preparations. So, where did this suddenly appearing Wan Gong Sedan Chair come from?

And it looked eerily familiar!