Page 30

At Fang Huiwang's reminder, the others came to their senses as well. Everyone present had worked in the entertainment industry; being an artist was practically the pinnacle of a celebrity persona. Xie Ran had debuted so many years ago—if he truly had that kind of accomplishment, there was no way he would not have made a thing of it.

Seen that way, it did seem more reasonable. The location depicted in Xia Xi's work was so difficult to identify that even industry experts had yet to reach a conclusion. Naturally, it was even less likely that Xie Ran could have known.

Meng Xixi immediately let out a surprised "Huh?" "Then does President Xie actually know where that painting was based on? Or are people online just guessing?"

"It's not a guess." Xie Ran did not look at Fang Huiwang. He simply said calmly, "The place I photographed was the location depicted in New and Old Xi."

Xie Ran's answer was certain, but the others merely exchanged looks, all wondering if he was taking the opportunity to boast.

"If Xiao Ran thinks it is, then that's what it is to him." Having achieved his goal, Fang Huiwang took on the role of peacemaker. "Art is subjective. Unless the original artist comes out and confirms it personally, speculation will always just be speculation. Don't you all agree?"

The moment he finished speaking, a staff member beside them suddenly blurted out, "Holy shit!" Then he cried, "Xia Xi herself posted on Instagram! She confirmed that what Brother Ran photographed really was the location!"

Everyone on site: ?!!!!

"Really?" Everyone hurriedly crowded around to look at the staff member's phone.

The staff member explained, "It looks like someone specifically got past the firewall and sent Brother Ran's photo to Xia Xi herself."

And quite a few people had done so, which was why Xia Xi had been alerted so quickly and made an Instagram post.

Sure enough, the screenshot open on the staff member's phone was from Xia Xi's official Instagram account.

Xia Xi had directly posted Xie Ran's photo alongside her original work, formally acknowledging the location.

What was more, she had specifically emphasized that the photo not only depicted the location from New and Old Xi, but that its composition and angle were exactly the same as the scene she had chosen for her painting, with almost no difference at all.

That meant the photographer needed not only a high level of artistic appreciation and broad knowledge, but also extraordinarily precise judgment and an ability to capture the image.

As soon as Xia Xi's Instagram post went up, Weibo erupted. The foreign internet was stunned too, and Twitter trends kept climbing.

Those who had mocked and questioned him instantly fell silent and vanished. The entire internet was left with nothing but amazement and people asking who exactly had taken the photo.

The production crew and guests were equally dumbfounded. Fang Huiwang in particular looked as though he had been slapped across the face on the spot, unable to hide his agitation and embarrassment.

After quite a while, Zhu Chuanjia was the first to recover. He sincerely gave Xie Ran a thumbs-up. "President Xie, you're incredible. I never expected you to know so much about art!"

Xie Ran glanced at him and replied blandly, "No. It was just a coincidence."

Everyone collectively: ...President Xie, that was enough. If he kept showing off like this, it would be too much!

Zhu Chuanjia bravely voiced everyone's thoughts. "Cut it out. How could this possibly be a coincidence? Go on, tell us how exactly it was a coincidence that you happened to photograph the location of a famous painter's work?"

Xie Ran raised his eyes and looked at the director following him around. "Didn't I go to the art museum the day before yesterday? I happened to see New and Old Xi there."

The production crew froze. The director quickly had the filming director pull up Xie Ran's itinerary from two days earlier. When they checked, they discovered that while Xie Ran had been viewing the exhibition of emerging painters at the museum, he really had stopped in front of a painting.

That painting was the original New and Old Xi.

Everyone: ...

Zhu Chuanjia trembled. "You recognized the location depicted in someone's painting after just one look?"

Xie Ran said, "Not me. Data."

Meng Feixuan possessed a complete aesthetic logic and precision algorithms far beyond this world. Identifying, breaking down, analyzing, and locating a painting was no difficult task for him.

Returning to the location and recreating it was even simpler.

He was telling the truth, but no one else took it in or understood it. Everyone was busy clutching their heads and weeping.

With tears streaming down his face, the director instructed the post-production team to include the entire scene of Xie Ran viewing the exhibition in the show. At the same time, he clasped Xie Ran's hand and sighed. "President Xie, we ended the voting too early this time. Otherwise, your vote count would definitely have soared. You're the true superstar of the photography world!"

When the day's recording ended, the production crew found Fang Huiwang and returned his phone, telling him that Kuang Youfang needed to speak with him.

Somewhere Else with You was filmed for seven days, and these guests were all people of status with plenty of work on their hands. It was impossible to make them completely cut off contact with the outside world.

If something urgent came up, they would generally still be allowed to contact people privately.

Fang Huiwang was already frantic. He quickly hid in a corner and called Kuang Youfang. The moment the call connected, he demanded, "What's the situation now? Is the online sentiment still okay?"

"Not very good." Kuang Youfang's voice was low and heavy, carrying a trace of exhaustion.

The explosive popularity of the New and Old Xi location photo brought more than just traffic to the photo itself. It also made gossip-loving netizens reexamine the other five photos.

As a result, Fang Huiwang's photo, which had received far more votes than the others, came under particular scrutiny.

When the attention had not been so great before, their paid commenters could control the discussion as much as they wanted. But with the entire internet watching, paid commenters were insignificant.

Fang Huiwang's photography skills were decent enough; otherwise, he would not have dared use this to hype himself up. But compared with Xie Ran, his work looked far too mediocre.

And his vote count was abnormally high, while the praise he received clearly exceeded the quality of the work itself.

Sharp-eyed netizens immediately caught the scent of a scandal and began digging into his data. Sure enough, they quickly found clues.

Fang Huiwang felt his temples throbbing. "You couldn't keep it under control?"

"Barely. Luckily, the moment we realized something was wrong, we started deleting comments, so there isn't much evidence left." Kuang Youfang still sounded shaken. Fortunately, most people were focused on the New and Old Xi location right now, and only a limited number were digging into them. Otherwise, they probably really would have been exposed this time.