Xia Xiang had heard that there was a large cash prize for the winner of Xiangcheng Piano Competition, so he signed up for it.
Then he changed the subject and asked, "Are you a high school student?"
"Yeah, I'm in Senior Three."
"Which school?" Xia Xiang continued.
"Shengye Middle School."
"Wow, awesome! It's the best middle school in our province. Are you an art student?"
"No, I'm not."
They stood there chatting for a while, and then the judges arrived. There were two men and a woman entering the classroom.
One of them declared the start of the initial audition and asked them to keep quiet.
A boy numbered 701 walked in. He was a handsome boy, about Song Yan's age. Song could tell from his expression that he was quite nervous.
In the initial audition, players could choose their favorite music.
Not long after No. 701 entered, the sound of music came from within the classroom. He played Mr. Raindrop, a famous song.
Song Yan had memorized tens of thousands of pieces of music recently. After hearing the performance, he shook his head in resignation. The boy was so nervous that he made more than five mistakes.
As Song Yan had expected, the boy walked out of the classroom, dejected. Obviously, he didn't pass it.
No. 702, a fat boy, entered the room and came out in high spirits within five minutes. People thought he had passed the audition. Song Yan, however, knew he also failed as his hearing was much better than ordinary people.
The audition moved quickly. Some poor performers were stopped by the judges before they could finish playing. 56 people had performed by 11 AM, but less than one-third passed the audition.
Xia Xiang was the next one. Before entering the room, he spoke to Song Yan, "It's my turn. Talk to you later." Then he walked proudly into the room.
A piece of sad music came from within the room. To Song Yan's surprise, Xia Xiang was not second to Huang Quan in playing piano. Xia must have reached Professional Level 7.
Soon, Xia Xiang stalked out of the room with a pride of a peacock.
"Congratulations!" Song Yan said with a smile.
"Aha, it's a piece of cake!" Xia Xiang shook his head, trying to be modest. But everyone could tell he was proud of himself.
Song Yan thought Xia Xiang would leave, but the latter said he would wait for him.
When Song Yan entered the room, it was 11:43 AM.
"Good luck!" Xia Xiang waved his fist to cheer him up.
"Thank you."
Song Yan bowed to the judges after entering.
"Please start the performance," said the male judge sitting in the middle.
Song Yan sat down in front of the piano and rested his fingers on the keyboard. Then, a sad piece of music came out.
The judges' eyes lit up on hearing that and buried themselves in the beautiful music.
After the performance, the judge in the middle nodded in approval. "Wonderful! Pass!"
"May I know the name of the music please? Did you write it?" asked the female judge.
"It's called Blue and White Porcelain and I wrote it," answered Song Yan.
"Great! I'm looking forward to your future performance. Pass!"
"You are a gifted player. Pass!" Another male judge said with a smile.
"Thank you." Song Yan bowed to them again before leaving the room.
"Hey, bro, did you make it?" Xia Xiang came up to him.
"Yes, I did."
They went downstairs together, but Song Yan saw his aunt-in-law and cousin at the staircase. Yang Yanli and Song Xue were both shocked by the fact that Song Yan was here.