Chapter 244 - Busted

Meng Zhong believed in Wang Ming, so he directly proposed to watch the recordings. The production crew cut the broadcast immediately after Cheng Kecheng accused Wang Ming of cheating. But it was too late. They hadn't expected him to do something like that. So they didn't cut it in time. Most at home saw Cheng Kecheng accuse Wang Ming before the show went to a break.

Hearing that the famous Cheng Kecheng accuse a new face made the ones supporting Wang Ming conflicted. They didn't want to believe that Wang Ming's cheating, but it's Mr. Cheng who's accusing him. If it had been any other chef, they wouldn't have believed it, but since it's him, they had to give his words some merit.

But since they had gone to a break, those at home could only contemplate and talk with each other, the truth would be revealed later.

"Wang Ming, do you agree with us to watch the footage back? Or do you want to solve this in another way?" Meng Zhong asked, even though they could watch the footage without his consent, as it's the production's property, its common courtesy.

"I don't mind, I have nothing to hide."

It didn't take long for the production crew to find the recording they were looking for. But watching over the recording together with the judges and the MC's made their head scratch even more. They couldn't understand what was happening in the video at all. Even after watching the video repeatedly, none of them could understand how Wang Ming was pressing the button.

Seeing the participants staring at them and growing impatient, Meng Zhong turned to them and explained the situation. "I'm sorry that it's taking time, but we don't understand the recording. Would you guys want to watch to see for yourselves?"

Since you're all nodding, then we'll play it on the big screen. Playing the video on the big screen, none understood what was happening except for Wang Ming. In the clip you could see that right after Angela finished asking her question, Wang Ming's button lighted up. But between her finishing the question and the button lighting up, no one saw Wang Ming pressing the button.

"See, what did I tell you, they're cheating! None of you saw him press the button, right? Right?" Cheng Kecheng felt ecstatic. They had caught him red-handed, there's nothing he could say to explain this.

"Wait, can none of you see I'm pressing the button? Not a single one of you?" Wang Ming felt curious. If he strained his eyes to the maximum, he could barely see that he's pressing the button. So he wanted to know if anyone else could also see it as well. But everyone shook their heads. Most only thought he tried to gaslight them to find someone to testify for him.

"Can you slow down the recording 10 times please, you'll all understand by then."

"What's the point? We can all see that you cheated! Stop wasting everyone's time and get out of here. I respect you Uncle Zhang, so I won't say anything bad to you, but don't you ever bring this brat anywhere close to a competition ever again, such a disgrace!" Mao Qingling had waited for this opportunity. It felt so good to use this opportunity to stomp on Wang Ming's head.

Still level headed and smiling, Wang Ming answered. "Who are you to decide that? Are you the judge or the production? I'm telling you just watch the video in slow motion then you will know if I cheated or not. Judges, Mr. Meng and Mrs Angela, production do you agree to my simple request? If even after slowing down the video you can't see anything, I will leave this competition and even compensate the production with 20 million yuan, all the money I have. I'll even talk with Fu Hong, to publish an article about how I tried to cheat in this competition."

Mao Qingling turned around and said nothing. She was losing this battle. Saying anything more would just make her look bad.

Xie Xiu, who had barely said anything throughout the competition, stood up from her chair and said. "Everyone, listen to me. This is a very severe case. We need to handle it with care and caution. If what Mr. Cheng said is true, it could ruin Wang Ming's career. To be fair to both parts, we'll do what Wang Ming wishes, let's not judge him before we can prove he's cheating either. This is just two incidents we would need to see through every time Wang Ming has answered to see if the same thing has occurred as well."

Slowing down the video on the big screen 10 times, everyone there stared at the video to see if Wang Ming told the truth. Right after Angela finished the question in the video, all the people there finally understood what Wang Ming said.

No one thought it would be possible, but Wang Ming hit the button so fast that it was close to impossible to see, if you look at the video at normal speed. The two who felt most shocked about this were Cheng Kecheng and Mao Qingling. Because of their bias, they didn't even consider that they might be wrong.

But Cheng Kecheng didn't want to give up. Since he's already made his shot, he had to follow through. "That is just one incident! What about all the other times he pressed his button? Just because he didn't cheat on one, doesn't mean he didn't cheat on any of them."

Cheng Kecheng tried, but even after watching through every single clip, the result was still the same. Wang Ming just pressed the button too fast. It cleared up all the confusion. Other participants also doubted Wang Ming at the start, but then after he stopped pressing the button they didn't think too much about it anymore.

His face turned more and more ashen for every single clip that went by. At the last clip, Cheng Kecheng wanted to find a bag to cover his head. He couldn't understand how Wang Ming could press the button so fast it made little sense at all. "How can he press the button so fast?! They must have rigged his button somehow."

Xie Xiu didn't buy Cheng Kecheng's bullshit at all. He had never seen the man so desperate before. Even though she respected him as an elder, this was just too much.

"Mr. Cheng! That's enough. If you are accusing him of cheating, then it's your and our job to prove that he is. It's not his job to prove his innocence! Since you can't give us any evidence that he's cheating then this is over. There are many unexplainable things in this world, like how some talented people with enough training can cut a bullet flying in the air. So for Wang Ming to press the button faster than our eyes can see isn't that farfetched. Bruce lee with his one inch punch could punch faster than what cameras could record."

"Fine. I take back my words. I'm sorry Wang Ming." Cheng Kecheng's apology was so insincere that even the chefs who were his fans cringed. But he did apologize, no one could force him to do anything more than that.

"Wang Ming, do you accept his apology?"

"It's fine, I don't care. Though it's the first time, I've seen an elder act like a kid throwing a tantrum."

"You!" Cheng Kecheng was about to blow up. But he couldn't act up anymore.

"Well, now that's all out of the way. Production please turn on the broadcast again. We have stalled long enough. It's time to give them an explanation." Xie Xiu said.

After seeing the cameras being turned on, Xie Xiu said directly to the cameras. "Hello everyone, thank you for your patience. You might have seen and heard that Mr. Cheng accused Mr. Wang of cheating just before the break. That was just a bad accusation, we've cleared everything up, Mr. Wang didn't cheat. I'll announce now that Wang Ming is the first person to enter the next round!"

The chefs backstage all applauded Wang Ming, the production crew also played off an applause sound effect. After the noise died down, Xie Xiu then said. "But to accuse someone of cheating cannot go unpunished. I propose to remove all of Cheng Kecheng's points. Does that sound fair?"

Cheng Kecheng wanted to object but was deafened by everyone clapping in the background. Looking around, he saw everyone supported Xie Xiu's suggestion. If he knew this would happen, he wouldn't have bothered to accuse Wang Ming. He was only 3 points from getting to the next round, now he might not even qualify at all.

"Please stop everyone." The clapping had gotten too loud that Xie Xiu couldn't even say anything.

"Since you all agree then, Cheng Kecheng will start with 0 points. Now let's start the competition again. Good luck everyone!"

In a normal case Cheng Kecheng wouldn't have been deducted all his points, but since they hadn't cut the broadcast in time. And everyone at home knows about it. It could lead to an uproar if they didn't clear Wang Ming's name and punish Cheng Kecheng.