Lord Yan, The Little Ancestor Has Fallen Off The Horse Again!
Chapter 143: Three-Player Fight the Landlord

Chapter 143: Chapter 143: Three-Player Fight the Landlord

There were five judges in total for this piano competition, and the final score was the average of the five judges’ scores.

Master Yao Nan was one of them, and the other four were vice-presidents and mentors of the Piano Association.

Bai Hui was constantly monitoring the scores of the players before her, noticing that their scores were average, neither high nor low, which secretly relieved her.

However, Master Yao Nan was truly strict and demanding. While other judges were giving scores in the eighties and nineties, he only gave scores in the sixties and seventies, which significantly lowered the average score.

Her palms started sweating nervously when Shen Xuan took the stage.

Shen Xuan looked innocent and was methodical during her introduction, catching the judges’ attention immediately.

As the piano was too large, competitors couldn’t bring their own pianos, so it was provided by the Piano Association. They considered each contestant’s habits and allowed them time to tune and test the piano.

She played a few notes on the piano to familiarize herself with its sound and, making sure there were no issues, began her performance.

She had her own carefully revised sheet music placed in front of her, and her performance was smoother as a result.

Her fingers coordinated well, managing the beat and changes during the performance while keeping the overall sound precise and fluid, keeping up with complex rhythms and speeds, mastering a moderate level of difficulty, and infusing her own emotions into the piece.

After finishing her piece, she exhaled deeply, having been worried about hitting a wrong note during the performance, but fortunately, she didn’t, and she performed even better than during her practice sessions.

She composed herself for a moment before standing up and facing the judges to wait for her score.

Generally, judges would reveal their scores immediately after a performance, but this time she had to wait a little longer.

She noticed the palms of several judges sweating with nervousness. The scores from other judges probably wouldn’t be too low, but what she was most concerned about was Master Yao Nan’s score and critique.

After all, her goal this time was to become his direct disciple.

"Is this piece your own composition?" Vice-president Cheng Jianfeng asked her.

Shen Xuan pursed her lips, glancing at Yao Nan’s expression, which seemed initially indifferent.

"There was a small section where I drew inspiration from someone else’s piece to create this one. After several revisions, I’ve integrated my own emotions into it," she explained.

In the art world, plagiarism was a huge taboo. She couldn’t ensure that Master Yao Nan hadn’t heard the other piece before, but since it was well-played, there was a good chance he had. It was better to admit it than to be suspected.

Moreover, only 15 seconds of her piece resembled that other piece and it had been modified by her. It blended seamlessly with her whole piece, something the other judges probably couldn’t even detect. However, Master Yao Nan, known for being particular, could likely discern it.

She had been paying close attention to Master Yao Nan’s expressions, and seeing his initially furrowed brows relax after she spoke, she breathed a sigh of relief, confident that her approach was correct.

Before coming here, she had inquired about Master Yao Nan’s preferences; he valued personal character and piano skills, so admitting it herself was better than having him raise questions.

He looked down and entered a score of 82.

Her hands trembled slightly with excitement.

82!

That was currently the highest score on the stage, with the other four judges also awarding scores of 95, making her score the highest in the venue.

"Thank you, judges," she said appreciatively, somewhat dazedly walking off the stage, her smile unstoppable, and, barring any surprises, she was set to be the highest-scoring contestant in this competition.

If Master Yao Nan was to take on a disciple, she was most likely to be the one.

"Mom, aunt," her voice trembled slightly, her palms sweaty with nervousness.

"You performed well. To get such a high score from Master Yao Nan is really impressive."

After all, earlier scores were only in the sixties and seventies. Coupled with the other judges’ scores of 95, her score was currently the highest, making it difficult for subsequent contestants to surpass her.

"Mm." She curled her lip corners in response, and then the three of them happily went to the lounge, where Shen Lin and Bai Hui immediately made phone calls to spread the news.

Shen Xuan slightly curled her lip; fate was in her own hands, and she had changed her destiny through her own efforts.

Shen Xuan’s scores put considerable pressure on the contestants following her; they hadn’t expected someone so young to demonstrate such impressive capabilities.

The contestants who had been assessed earlier were secretly relieved that they went before Shen Xuan, or else their scores would have been pushed down even further.

Sun Hong was constantly monitoring the scores of each contestant; this competition by the Piano Association adhered to principles of fairness and transparency, with live broadcasting and openly displayed scores for each contestant.

Thus, when viewers watching the live broadcast saw Master Yao Nan gave Shen Xuan a score of 82, they were extremely surprised.

Master Yao Nan was known for being overly picky, so it was unexpected for him to give such a high score.

[This young lady looks so pure and has such a good temperament, and she plays the piano so well, too. Love her.]

[Of course, she has several million followers on social media.]

[I’ll go have a look.]

Shen Xuan held her phone, watching the live comments of her performance, then she checked her social media and saw her followers had increased by thirty thousand in just a short period.

And they were still increasing; there were three hundred thousand viewers in the live broadcast, most of them piano enthusiasts.

Shen Lin hung up the phone with a brighter smile on her face, "Xuanxuan, elder sister, my dad has booked seats at Tianshi Restaurant to celebrate. The results are likely to be announced this afternoon. Let’s go have lunch first."

"Tianshi Restaurant? Won’t that be too costly?" Bai Hui knew this, a meal at Tianshi Restaurant was anything but cheap, costing at least tens of thousands, and the private rooms were even pricier and hard to reserve.

"No, Grandpa is happy because Shen Xuan performed so well; celebrating is appropriate." Shen Lin look satisfiedly at Shen Xuan, it had to be said her niece excelled in every aspect, and finding a good husband for her in Beijing would bring glory to their whole family.

...

"It’s over, the scores behind are so low..." Sun Hong was completely panicked.

Ruan Yingtong, contestant number 36, saw an increasing number of people in the live stream room; they were mostly her fans and haters. If she didn’t perform well, she might be harshly criticized.

The three of them gathered around a small table playing cards, giving her anxious looks.

Sun Hong didn’t want to talk to these three heartless people; other contestants were extremely nervous, yet they could sit there comfortably playing cards.

A voice came from the loudspeaker.

"It’s contestant number 34’s turn, you should head backstage now."

Ruan Yingtong, holding the cards in her right hand, furrowed her brow, "Okay, give me a minute to finish this round."

Sun Hong: "..."

She anxiously waited on the spot for a minute until Ruan Yingtong slowly got up; she immediately ran over to adjust her dress and touch up her makeup.

"Don’t be nervous, just show your acting skills, you can definitely do it."

Ruan Yingtong joked, "Then I might as well just get eliminated."

"..."

Sun Hong glared at her annoyedly, "Pish! Such a jinx! You definitely can do it!"

The requirements weren’t very high; being a member of the Piano Association would suffice.

Ruan Yingtong touched her nose; her acting skills were mediocre at best and nowhere comparable to her piano skills; after all, she had won countless awards in piano since she was young, but she had never won any for acting.