After Jing Yang went onstage, the judges flipping through his information exchanged glances with each other. The King of Music's first student finally took the field. This student who had never shown any remarkable performance before, after only 15 days of being Hai Weixiu's student, actually dared to come participate in the Dawatt Piano Skill Competition. They really wanted to see what kind of performance he could show. After all, this was a good opportunity for them to return fire on Hai Weixiu.
The audience members were also discussing spiritedly. Avi this person was truly too unfamiliar—after some people found out he was Hai Weixiu's student, they were all very shocked. And upon asking about his previous performance, everyone shook their heads, expressing that they had never seen him receiving an award in any of the big competitions.
This kind of obscure and unknown person, in the end why he was able to become Hai Weixiu's student, they were all very curious. Would Hai Weixiu's almost legendary life encounter a defeat in his student? They were ready to wait and see.
Corrica stayed standing backstage. He wanted to personally hear how Avi would humiliate Hai Weixiu. Hai Weixiu had definitely heard his performance just now, and with Avi in comparison, Hai Weixiu would definitely regret having chosen Avi and not himself.
After Jing Yang sat down, he warmed up his fingers for a couple seconds, and then started his performance.
The first song he played was <
The judges and audience were all stunned. This person was really audacious, he actually dared to play <
Corrica lowered his head and rested his chin on his hand. Ridicule and disdain flashed through his eyes, Avi really overestimated his own capabilities.
Everyone perked up their ears and raised their spirits, waiting for him to make a mistake. For this kind of song, it was impossible to not have a single mistake. They wanted to properly count how many mistakes he would make.
The light and lively music was like a fountain controlled by the instrument, first erupting sequentially and rhythmically, and then swaying in a light and graceful dance…
Suddenly, over a hundred fountains simultaneously erupted, the streams of water evenly and successively swaying in beautiful patterns. The listeners seemed to have seen a magnificent landscape in front of their eyes, with so many fountains, not a single stream was off, every single stream was expressed perfectly. Even the thickness and height of the streams were controlled perfectly, without even the least bit of error. That scene was really beautiful~
The listeners had already forgotten to listen for his mistakes, completely immersed in the rapidly flowing music.
All the way until Jing Yang finished playing his first song, the listeners finally snapped out of their daze. The small music hall exploded with enthusiastic applause.
The audience members could already no longer distinguish whether in the end it was because they had become too engrossed in the music that they weren't able to hear any mistakes, or whether he never made any mistakes in the first place. But no matter what happened, his performance was extremely amazing.
The judges clapped while looking at each other in dismay—they didn't know whether they should be happy or unhappy. They had all heard even every musical scale correctly, and this student actually did not have a single mistake.
Corrica, who had kept his head lowered this entire time, could not resist sinking his expression. He consoled himself that it was impossible for him to perform every song so perfectly, and in the later two songs, he would definitely make errors.
The following two songs, <
In order to ensure that this competition would be foolproof, Jing Yang still used the assistance of the system. In this kind of competition and performing this kind of music, he simply did not need to invest much emotion into it, and only needed to play it accurately. So his performance could be said to be extremely perfect.
As time went on, the judges became more unsure about what kind of expression they should be revealing. They were even more unsure about whether they should say with regret that it was a pity that he was Hai Weixiu's student, or whether they should sigh with lamentation that he was really worthy of being Hai Weixiu's student ah.
If this student could become part of the Dawatt faction, then their school could have hope of reviving, because not only was his performance according to the standard, but also gave other people a sense of intoxication and beauty. So they should still be regretful ba, regretful that the people who attacked the Dawatt School had gained another valiant individual.
The entire hall got up to give him a standing ovation, the clapping continued for a very long time. Jing Yang stood up several times to bow but the clapping still never stopped. This treatment was something the previous competitors had never received.
Corrica's expression was extremely ugly, and he couldn't resist trembling from head to toe. He didn't dare to believe that this was real, how was it possible that there was someone who could perform these three songs completely without a single mistake? That person was even actually Avi, it was impossible!
Faith saw that Corrica's state wasn't right and hugged him nervously. "Corrica, are you all right?"
Corrica shook his head to say that he was fine. He consoled himself in his mind that Hai Weixiu had criticized the Dawatt School multiple times in public, so the Dawatt faction was definitely indignant in their hearts. Avi was Hai Weixiu's student, so no matter how well he played, those people would still definitely not let him take first place, he himself still had hope, he didn't need to worry, he didn't need to be scared.
When Jing Yang was passing through backstage, he saw Corrica weakly leaning on Faith with a pale complexion and smiled at him. "Many thanks for your encouragement just now."
Corrica looked directly at Jing Yang, but wasn't able to say anything.
~
All of the competitors sat in the hall, waiting for the results of the competition to be announced.
The judges had all entered the meeting room to discuss the ranking for this year's competition.
The group of judges were all silent for quite a while before someone finally opened his mouth. "Should first place be given to Avi?"
A full-bodied middle-aged judge said, "According to our Dawatt School's competition rules, of course it should be given to him, but…, he is Hai Weixiu's student."
A tall and slender middle-aged judge continued, "At that time Hai Weixiu was also around 20 years old and took first place three times in a row, and then he began to wantonly criticize the Dawatt faction. And now his student also came to participate in the competition, if we give first place to him, I can already imagine what it will be like in the future."
The seven or so judges each started quietly discussing with their neighbors. This was truly a difficult question ah.
They had still not been able to come to a conclusion after a very long time. Everyone trained their gazes toward the silent Huff Bach. "What do you think? Mr. Huff Bach."
Huff Bach spoke in an aged yet resonant voice, "There's no need to discuss so much, naturally we should give it to whoever deserves it."
The full-bodied middle-aged judge said, "But, Hai Weixiu will definitely criticize us even more presumptuously in the future."
"Could it be that because we are afraid of his criticism, we would deliberately not follow the rules and not give first place to his student?" Huff Bach leaned back and gravely said to the other judges, "Our Dawatt School pursues correctness and standard, rigor and justness. Could it be that everyone has forgotten? If we lose our justness because we are afraid of being criticized, the Dawatt faction would really have reached the end of its road."
Huff Bach's words brought another long silence.
~
The ranking had already been finalized, so all of the competitors went backstage to wait for them to announce the top three and then go on stage to get their award.
Corrica tightly clenched both hands into fists, and forcefully took deep breaths. He constantly told himself that the judges would definitely not give first place to Avi.
The host brought the list of the top three places on stage and in his other hand he held the microphone. "Next, we will be awarding the top three of the finals for the Dawatt Piano Skill Competition. Now I will be announcing the third place contestant is…Corrica Mooney!"
Corrica walked to the front of the stage in the midst of the applause, working hard to maintain his calm. He actually only got third place, there were still two people in front of him, Avi would definitely not be in there!
The host continued to announce, "The second place contestant is…Christopher Conroy!"
A boy wearing glasses who looked quite serious and grave walked to the front of the stage and stood.
Corrica closed his eyes and roared in his heart, no! It won't be him!
"Finally, the first place that our judges unanimously agreed was the most outstanding and remarkable performance—let us give the warmest round of applause—congratulations to Avi Deere!"
In the enthusiastic and protracted applause, Jing Yang walked to the center of the stage, and three judges came up to give him the award.
Huff Bach gave the first place trophy and certificate, as well as the award check, to Jing Yang, and reached out his hand to him. "Congratulations."
"Thank you." Jing Yang shook his hand.
After the awards, once he returned backstage, Corrica had no way to restrain his difficult breathing, showing an appearance of fainting at any second. Faith hurriedly hugged him and took out some medicine to feed him, rubbing his back while consoling him in a whisper.
The competitors who were walking out all looked at him strangely. He had already gotten third place, how did he still have an appearance of getting ready to die at any second.
When Jing Yang was passing by them he glanced at the two, thinking in his heart, you are already unable to withstand something like this, even more powerful matters are still coming in the future.
He was just about to walk to the VIP corridor when he saw Hai Weixiu coming toward him. He happily strode over and raised his trophy to show him. "Teacher, look."
Hai Weixiu held his hand and pulled him into his arms, rubbing his hair. "You did well."
"Hai Wei."
Hai Weixiu turned. "Mr. Huff."
"Congratulations, this time you won again." Huff Bach said.
Hai Weixiu looked at Jing Yang and smiled at Huff Bach. "Many thanks."
"It seems like our Dawatt School is going to have to endure even fiercer attacks from you in the future."
"Mr. Huff, I think you know that I actually really respect the Dawatt School, and also really respect you. My criticism is only for more people to attach more importance to the meaning of the music."
"The meaning of music is varied." Huff Bach looked at Jing Yang. "But I have no choice but to say that your luck has been good as always."
"Indeed." Hai Weixiu's eyes were full of pride.
The full-bodied middle-aged judge looked back at Hai Weixiu and Jing Yang, who had already walked far away, and said to Huff Bach, "Mr. Huff, you seem to be quite regretful."
Huff Bach sighed. "Hai Wei that kid has always been cared for by the God of Fortune, his fortune is too prosperous, and his ability too strong, this is a good thing for the entire music world. But for our Dawatt School, this is very dangerous. If I had been able to bump into that child a bit earlier, I would definitely have been able to raise him into someone who could have helped the Dawatt faction contend against Hai Weixiu, but it's a pity that Hai Weixiu found him first and took him in as a student. It's even very likely that he could become the next Hai Weixiu, and could be a force against the Dawatt School, what a pity ah!"
Huff Bach actually gave this child named Avi such a high evaluation, this made the middle-aged judge very shocked. Then he thought about what he said again, and his face also couldn't resist showing a regretful expression.
~
Hai Weixiu poured two glasses of red wine and gave one of them to Jing Yang. "You won first place, so according to our previous promise, I will satisfy your wish."
Jing Yang took the red wine and looked at him doubtfully. He thought, when did I ask a reward of you?
Hai Weixiu pulled Jing Yang's hand, and the two people walked to the pool behind the villa. Hai Weixiu put down the red wine and took off his robe. He was only wearing a pair of swim trunks underneath, and he jumped into the water.
Jing Yang sat down by the pool and dipped his toes in the water, stealthily looking over Hai Weixiu's body. This fellow's physique was really too good.
Hai Weixiu swam to Jing Yang's side. "Didn't you want to see? Today I will let you see enough."
"See what?" Jing Yang didn't understand what he was saying at the beginning, but after seeing Hai Weixiu's gaze full of banter, he finally remembered him saying last time that if he got first place he would let him see his chest.
Jing Yang immediately denied, "I absolutely do not want to see."
Hai Weixiu held his hand and pulled, and Jing Yang instantly fell into the water. Hai Weixiu hugged him to his chest with one hand, the other hand lifting his chin. "I have always hated hypocritical people, but why are you so cute even when you're being hypocritical."
Jing Yang lay on his chest and couldn't resist blushing. He struggled to get out, but was instead hugged to the center of the pool.
"Teacher!!" Jing Yang had his shirt removed in the water, and when Hai Weixiu was about to remove his pants, he wanted to reach over to stop him. He was wearing underwear, not swim trunks!
But he still failed in stopping him, and Jing Yang was stripped until he was only left with his underwear in the water. Hai Weixiu hugged him from behind his back, the two people's skin tightly sticking together.
Jing Yang wanted to escape, but wasn't able to swim out very far before being captured back by Hai Weixiu and then encircled back in his arms. Jing Yang couldn't escape and could only be teased by him, so he simply didn't try to escape again and focused on resisting against him. In his heart he thought, I can't just be blindly taken advantage of by you, what you take from me, I will definitely also take back from you.
The two people messed around in the pool for an afternoon, and in the end Jing Yang leaned in Hai Weixiu's arms, totally drained of energy.
Hai Weixiu hugged him out of the pool, and also carried him all the way back to the room. When he was about to personally help him change his pants, Jing Yang jumped off him and ran into the bathroom, locking the door.
During dinner, the two people still had a small celebration. Jing Yang drank a few extra glasses, and could already barely hold up his eyelids at the dinner table.
Hai Weixiu carried him back to the room and placed him on the bed, gently stroking his fair but slightly rosy face. That touch made him unwilling to part with it. That peaceful sleeping face, no matter how he looked at it, was completely adorable, making him unable to resist wanting to kiss it and touch it.
Before he could no longer control his desires, Hai Weixiu left Jing Yang's room.
After the door closed, Jing Yang opened his eyes, then turned his body and closed them again. He had even thought that he would have done something.
Translator Notes:
[1] discussing spiritedly – 议论纷纷, idiom, means tongues are wagging
[2] obscure and unknown – 默默无闻, idiom, an outsider, a nobody
[3] defeat – 滑铁卢, literally means Waterloo
[4] wait and see – 拭目以待, idiom, literally means to wipe their eyes and wait
[5] fountain – idk if you guys have been to Las Vegas, but picture this like the Bellagio fountains
[6] foolproof – 万无一失, idiom, means surefire, absolutely safe
[7] valiant individual – 猛将, literally fierce general or valiant leader, figuratively brave individual but I feel like valiant sounds better
[8] Huff Bach – 赫夫巴克, pinyin he fu ba ke, I'm just using MTL here
[9] you – 您, polite you, he should be a highly respectable person
[10] the end of its road – 穷途末路, idiom, literally means end of the road but means an impasse, a dead end
[11] Christopher Conroy – 康罗西特, I honestly give up with this one
[12] as always – 一如既往, idiom, means just like in the past, as before
[13] hypocritical – 口是心非, idiom, also means duplicity, probably doesn't mean hypocritical really here but just like lying/pretending
[14] totally drained of energy – 精疲力尽, idiom, means spirit weary and strength exhausted
Random Notes:
Around 1.5 hours: 6 pm – 7:30 pm, for 4.4k characters to 3k words. Definitely a shorter chapter. They're coming so close, guys. The ambiguity and heart atmosphere is killing me. Everything's still PG in this chapter, guys. Nothing's going on here.