Qi Yong grinned and said, "Three are enough, thank you for making it happen, Elder Tong." As he spoke, Qi Yong personally handed a list over to Tong Zhentian.
Tong Zhentian glanced over it casually, then turned to Su i and said, "Master Su, now that everyone is here, let’s begin, so as not to waste everyone’s precious ti."
Su i nodded. Soon, ten young n entered from the corridor next to the eting room and distributed a slip of paper to everyone. At the sa ti, a young man hung a prepared list at the front of the eting room for all to see clearly.
"Ladies and gentlen, these are the candidates. Please write the na of the person you consider suitable on the slip and hand it to our staff," Su i said. "We are now selecting the Vice President of the Martial Arts Association, please cast your votes."
Dozens of participants silently wrote nas on the white slips of paper. Soon, the staff collected all the slips from everyone and handed them over to Du Kang.
"I will now count the votes," Du Kang said, taking out a slip and reading the na on it. A young man imdiately added a mark below the person’s na to record the vote count.
After a few minutes passed, seeing the na with the most votes, Tong Zhentian and Su i nodded in agreent. The eyes of everyone were sharp; everyone knew who was qualified to be the Vice President of the Martial Arts Association.
"Alright!" Tong Zhentian stood up from his seat and said, "The first round of voting is over. Congratulations to Tian Boliang on becoming the Vice President of the Martial Arts Association."
Tian Boliang, one of the renowned figures in martial arts, is now over sixty, proficient in Inner Boxing, with many disciples under him, holding a certain prestige in the martial world. Before the voting started, Tong Zhentian was already optimistic about him, believing he had a strong chance of being elected.
Upon being elected, Tian Boliang slowly stood up, smiled, and cupped his fists toward everyone present, saying, "Thank you all for your support and recognition. I will do my utmost to promote Huaxia’s martial arts."
"Sir Tian serving as Vice President is indeed well-deserved."
Everyone offered their congratulations.
After the venue gradually returned to quiet, Tong Zhentian continued, "Both the President and Vice President have been elected. Next, we will select six committee mbers. But first, let emphasize that the Martial Arts Association is not a one-man decision. Even as the President of the Martial Arts Association, I do not have the right to make any major decisions alone. In the reford Martial Arts Association, all major matters in the martial world will be decided by a vote among us nine. Therefore, the six committee mbers must be people of integrity and competence."
At Tong Zhentian’s indication, the staff re-entered the eting room. This ti, everyone took longer, seemingly contemplating their choices seriously.
After more than ten minutes, all the slips were collected.
Du Kang picked up the first slip, raised his eyebrows slightly at the na on it. After a brief pause, he slowly announced, "Qi Yong!"
Hearing the na ’Qi Yong,’ both Tong Zhentian and Su i were taken aback; they hadn’t expected the first na to be Qi Yong.
Tong Zhentian furrowed his brow, glancing at everyone in the eting room. He was curious to know who would nominate Qi Yong.
At this mont, Du Kang picked up another slip and read, "Qi Yong!"
Qi Yong? Again, Qi Yong! Tong Zhentian and Su i exchanged a glance, both looking sowhat displeased. This election seed to be slipping out of their control.
After Du Kang had read out ’Qi Yong’ five more tis, other nas started appearing. However, by the ti Du Kang finished reading all the slips, Qi Yong’s votes far exceeded everyone else’s, ranking first.
This result left everyone feeling incredulous. This Qi Yong, seemingly erging out of nowhere, unexpectedly had such a wide network, to everyone’s surprise.
Although Tong Zhentian and Su i had many doubts about this outco, as President and Vice President, they couldn’t openly express skepticism. Otherwise, people might think they had a bias against Qi Yong.
Among the six individuals with the most votes, Tong Zhentian noticed an issue. Besides Qi Yong, there were five other spots. Of these, only two were people arranged by Su i, while the remaining three, though slightly renowned in the martial world, were not the most distinguished candidates. Tong Zhentian couldn’t understand why they were chosen.
Thinking quickly, Tong Zhentian glanced at Su i. Seeing her frowning with a stern expression, it was clear to Tong Zhentian what she was thinking. Before the vote, Su i had already arranged for at least four of these slots to be her people. However, the result didn’t align with her plan.
"Hahahaha!" Suddenly, there was a hearty laugh. Qi Yong stood up from the crowd, cupped his fists toward everyone present, and said with a smile, "Thank you all for your recognition and esteem, I will endeavor to do my best." After a pause, Qi Yong looked over at Tong Zhentian and Su i and said courteously, "I look forward to your guidance in the future, Elder Tong and Master Su."
Tong Zhentian nodded, saying nothing more.
This voting result left Tong Zhentian and Su i in no mood to continue the eting. After hastily announcing the results, Tong Zhentian left the eting room.
Su i and Du Kang followed closely behind, along with Tian Boliang, as the three followed in Tong Zhentian’s footsteps to the Martial Arts Association’s office.
"Elder Tong, what’s really going on here?" asked Su i as soon as they entered.
"Don’t ask , I know nothing," Tong Zhentian said seriously, sitting in his chair. "There are definitely problems with the voting results."
"Indeed, I feel the sa. For soone like Qi Yong to receive such a high number of votes is clearly abnormal," agreed Su i, turning to Du Kang: "Elder Du, what do you make of this?"
"It was anonymous voting, so we don’t know who voted for Qi Yong. Asking them directly would only lead to speculation, which could have bad repercussions."
"So what do we do? Are we really letting Qi Yong join the Martial Arts Association?"
"The voting results are out. Do you want us to reverse them?" Tong Zhentian asked. "No matter what, we can’t rashly change the results. Otherwise, who would trust us in the future?" After pondering for a mont, Tong Zhentian said, "Mr. Du, we’ll have to trouble you to investigate this quietly, particularly regarding Qi Yong. Maybe we can find a reason in all this."
"Don’t worry, I’ll keep an eye on him personally."
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