er wave. Secretary Ge of West Village felt restless and joined in shouting slogans for West Village. Spectators from other villages burst out laughing. The officials, including the Party Secretaries, seemed to be behaving quite undignifiedly!

However, Deputy Secretaries Liu and Fu had a different perspective. They believed that officials who could advocate for their people were truly good officials. Secretaries who dared to stand up for them were the best. Even though their voices were hoarse from shouting, they continued, feeling it was worth any sacrifice. The competitions proceeded orderly until the first wrestling match, when complications arose due to the referees.

Earlier, it was noted that the judging panel had the final say. If there were any disputes, the judges would make the final decision. Without disputes, judges respected the referee’s scores. Professional referees were either selected by the villages or hired externally. Those hired sought fairness but, witnessing the partisan cheering from both sides' secretaries, prioritized their safety and the hiring fee over justice.

The real kicker was that eight of the ten referees were village representatives from East and West Villages. Under immense collective honor pressure, hired referees caved and unfairly favored their side. The scores from all ten referees ended in a tie, effectively splitting their allegiance.

Faced with this deadlock, the organizing committee decided to keep the professional referees and select odd-numbered individuals from the external audience to judge. Thus, East and West Villages' fairest competition in history began.

Villages indeed hide many talents. Among the makeshift referees pulled, one turned out to be a provincial-level professional. The match results were astonishing, except for the tug-of-war, which was somewhat acceptable. All other events ended with the rules being violated, and the fewer violations led to victory.

For instance, in table tennis, players ended up throwing rackets at each other's heads. Wrestling matches devolved into biting, and in badminton, players would crawl under the net to the opponent’s side to retrieve the shuttlecock. Basketball matches saw more scoring in the opponent’s hoop than one’s own, and dragon boat races had competitors pulling each other’s boats in the water. Despite the absurdity, the spectators along the riverbanks roared with laughter, entertained thoroughly.

The professional referee decided to let the chaos unfold, joining the audience to watch the spectacle.

The games continued until one side admitted defeat. However, there were also high-caliber events, such as poetry recitations, which added a certain level of prestige to the games. Unfortunately, few appreciated this, and only Liu Xiaoyan and Fu Le part

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