Old Lady from the Beginner Village
Seeing that the two colleagues were about to start arguing, the remaining three hurriedly stepped in to stop them.
After this interruption, the judges didn't say much, and after giving a brief comment, they let the next contestant on stage.
Returning to his seat, Xia Yu's hand was grabbed by Zhong Yunze.
"You actually tied the world record!" Zhong Yunze looked at Xia Yu's fingers excitedly.
"It's just sixty-six seconds," Xia Yu said.
"Only sixty-six seconds?" Zhong Yunze was speechless.
For Xia Yu, it really felt done with ease. If it weren't for the challenge in controlling the rhythm, he could have been even faster.
"At least you can advance, while I can only accompany you in running one round." Zhong Yunze sighed, feeling somewhat lost.
Rather than comforting Zhong Yunze, Xia Yu turned his attention to the next contestant, his acquaintance Feng Ma.
Feng Ma's performance was just standard, and, after each judge gave a brief comment, he was quickly passed over.
After the fifteenth person finished performing, the morning competition came to an end.
The competition resumed at two o'clock in the afternoon, with the latter fifteen contestants appearing.
After listening to the performances of the three certain to advance contestants that Zhong Yunze mentioned, aside from An Siyao, Xia Yu had a grasp on the skill level of this competition area.
As he had expected, these three were all at the upper level of Lv3, the same as Xia Yu's current real level.
As for An Siyao, she was probably at the higher level of Lv4 or Lv5, but Xia Yu could not determine that as his skills were not sufficient.
In any industry, there are always some talented individuals who can outpace the others.
There was still a fair amount of time before the third round of the competition, and by the time it arrived, he should be able to reach Lv4. Although there would still be a significant gap between him and An Siyao, advancing to the finals shouldn't be a problem.
After making his calculations, he continued to listen to the performances.
An Siyao was arranged to perform last, probably a behind-the-scenes manipulation by the organizers so that the exceptional An Siyao wouldn't affect the performance of the contestants ahead of her. It was also so that An Siyao's exceptional piece wouldn't make the audience feel bored with what followed.
By the time the penultimate contestant stepped down, everyone in the venue, including the judges, shifted in their seats, adjusted their clothes, and prepared to enjoy An Siyao's performance.
As An Siyao took the stage, the audience immediately put down their activities and waited solemnly.
It was then that Xia Yu noticed that the dress An Siyao was wearing looked familiar.
The style was the same as the one he had worn when he went to Fang Zhang City and attended the banquet hosted by An Siyao's stepmother.
Slightly adjusting her skirt, An Siyao sat down at the piano and placed her hands on it.
With a smile on her face, she even intentionally glanced in the direction of the camera.
"Damn, she's actually smiling. Does this smile mean 'I can finally crush all you losers'?" Zhong Yunze said.
Xia Yu didn't acknowledge him; An Siyao had already pressed her fingers down.
A somewhat chaotic prelude sounded.
Listening to a few notes with his eyes closed, Xia Yu understood the piece that the girl was playing.
It was Aimless Saint, a relatively basic piece.
But this simple piece, under An Siyao's performance, burst forth with intense emotion.
This was the characteristic and soul that the judges had mentioned when they praised Xia Yu's performance of the Fran Wolfe song earlier.
The dull piano sound echoed through the hall, and under the fragmented notes, the hearts of the audience slowly clenched.
Their hearts slowly sank into the emotions of the music.
The aimless saintess, blind with no purpose, darkness causing fear.
The melody of the first part conveys such a terrifying emotion.
The audience closed their eyes, feeling the unease and fear of the blind saintess.
Gradually, the melody of the piece changed, a few cheerful notes mixed in with the fear and unease.
It was an event or a person that had intruded into the saintess's world.
The cheerful notes gradually increased in proportion, and when it reached almost half, it began to compete with the gloomy notes.
The heart of the listener was sometimes peaceful, sometimes panicky; the peaceful times grew longer, the panic faded away, and the notes gradually became more melodious until finally, they turned into a cheerful tone.
The last note echoed and disappeared, and applause rang out in the theater.
"This melody flows like a stream down a mountain, both gentle and rapid, as natural as can be. The emotions are like the playful fish during a swim, lively and adorable, truly a rare piece of music!" the first judge said with a smile.
The second judge stared at him for a while and said, "I think so too."
The third judge opened his mouth, looked at the first judge resentfully, and said:
"I feel the same."
"This description is spot on."
"Absolutely brilliant."
After the five judges finished their comments, the competition was considered over.
However, Xia Yu couldn't leave just yet. Tomorrow morning, the rankings would be announced, and those who have advanced will perform three pieces each in the theater.
Leaving the theater and returning to the hotel room, the repressed principal finally couldn't help but ask.
"Is your violin really that good?"
"Actually, I play the guzheng better," Xia Yu replied.
"Hahaha!" the principal laughed heartily, thinking that Xia Yu was joking with him in a secondary humor style.
After laughing, he continued to reminisce about the violin performance.
Although he preferred the piano to the violin, that piece still left him in awe.
An Siyao, too, was thinking about Xia Yu's violin.
The girl was a little emotional; although her skills were superb, Xia Yu had completely stolen the limelight.
She didn't care about the attention from others, but what if "he" watched the live broadcast or recorded it, and his attention was drawn to the other party?
As her emotions subsided, An Siyao began to think about something else.
The boy could both play the violin and the piano, just like "him."
Frowning, the girl began to ponder.
"His" piano skills were much better, but she had only seen him play the violin a few times.
Unable to judge rationally, An Siyao began to use her feelings to perceive.
However, comparing someone without a physical presence through emotions was too difficult.
By the time Xia Yu came to An Siyao's side, she still hadn't sensed it.
"You played very well," Xia Yu praised the girl.
"I'll play even better tomorrow!" An Siyao said.
"Alright."
After a moment of silence, the girl said again, "Do you like the violin? I can also play the violin, although I can't play Flight of the Bumblebee as fast as sixty-six seconds."
Xia Yu was startled, almost thinking that An Siyao was testing him, but on second thought, the silly girl didn't have such scheming.
"I still prefer the piano a bit more," Xia Yu said.
"Hmm." The girl cheered up.
Her happiness puzzled Xia Yu; even with his high emotional intelligence, he couldn't fully understand the twisted thoughts in the young girl's mind.
After chatting with the girl for a while, Xia Yu finished washing up, went to bed, and snuggled into the quilt.
Ever since he had napped using the black cat's body last time, Xia Yu found that sleeping with different bodies had different flavors.
Anyway, sleeping would also give him game points.
"Good night," Xia Yu said to An Siyao.
"Good night."
Sleeping with An Siyao's body didn't feel as comfortable as with his own or the black cat's body.
After a long while, Xia Yu finally fell asleep successfully.
Eight hours later, he returned to his own body.
The next day, the competition results came out, with the top five advancing; Xia Yu ranked second, and the boy with the golden glasses ranked fifth.
In the second day's performance, the boy with golden glasses dodged him.
After finishing the performance, Xia Yu returned to Ziling.
His classmates invited him for dinner; Yuxue called with excitement; and Kong Hanyue also asked him to come over in the evening to receive the mission reward.
Declining his classmates' dinner invitation, Xia YU went home and had dinner with Yuxue before heading to Kong Hanyue's villa.