Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
Master Wei put his hands on the table and glanced at Dai Ran. “That’s what you think? Do you think I put Qin Ran at the end for her sake?” he asked, his voice rumbling.
“I know you want your disciple to take the last performance, but I also want that for my disciple,” said Dai Ran, glancing at him.
5
Master Wei’s eyes were muddy but speckled with a ray of light. He listened to Dai Ran and sucked in a deep breath. “Ok.”
1
Silent, he just turned around and took back the information from the staff.
Seeing how Master Wei had come to terms with him, Dai Ran smiled and heaved a sigh of relief.
3
Master Wei was still Master Wei, after all. Although Dai Ran had gained a foothold in the association because of a few apprentices, he would have his hands tied if Master Wei insisted on changing the order.
It was naturally a good thing that Master Wei didn’t argue with him.
1
Wen Yin sat between the two and knew that Master Wei had ordered Qin Ran to be the 20th performer.
But now, she was Number 11 instead. Glancing at Dai Ran’s expression, Wen Yin knew without thinking what he was deliberating. He couldn’t help but shake his head.
Unlike Dai Ran, Master Wei had arranged Qin Ran as the last performer for the sake of the previous performers. Since people from Continent M were present, Master Wei had considered the big picture.
1
If Qin Ran performed in front… Wen Yin could predict the resulting scenes of devastation.
1
Dai Ran…
In the loop, Wen Yin turned to the stage and stayed silent.
**
As the only senior student who appeared in the fifth-grade these few years, the teachers paid more attention to her than to Qin Yu.
She was still casually-dressed as always, wearing a white T-shirt and black trousers.
1
Simple and clean.
A teacher watched her rise to the stage and couldn’t help but glance at Master Wei. “Master Wei, Wang Zifeng and Tian Xiaoxiao have both been promoted. Will it be the same for Qin Ran?”
Master Wei just smiled without answering.
He glanced at Qin Ran anticipatively.
Seeing Master Wei’s expression, the others exchanged glances…
Dai Ran, in particular, narrowed his eyes slightly, lost in thought.
“Did she really reach the sixth-grade?”
They could still understand if it was the third- to fourth-grade and the fourth- to fifth-grade, but the fifth- to sixth-grade… in less than two months…
“No, no way?”
“She’s not that perverted…”
1
“I also think she’ll only reach the sixth-grade next month…”
Analyzing the situation rationally and realistically, this group of people felt like it was simply an impossible feat. But Tian Xiaoxiao and Wang Zifeng’s performance just now inadvertently rattled them a little.
1
They stared at Qin Ran.
**
Qin Ran also performed her own composition.
Onstage, a bunch of white spotlights lit up!
She opened her eyes abruptly.
Under the spotlight, her pitch-black pupils were visibly hidden in depth. Despite not smiling, her simple presence exuded a sense of neat charm.
“It’s Qin Ran! I know her, she’s the Chief Disciple of Master Wei!”
“It’s finally her turn! I’m so excited!”
“I wonder how many points she’ll get? It’ll definitely be higher than Wang Zifeng’s, a few 90 points, right?”
In the past two months, news of Qin Ran being Master Wei’s apprentice had spread fiercely in the association. But unfortunately, her arrival was always unforeseeable, and none of these people managed to catch a glimpse of her.
Her performance began!
2
Her emotions were apparent the moment she got on stage!
Everyone’s hearts shook severely.
From the beginning, Qin Ran used the heavy staccato and martele in an appassionato style!
The emergence of the double-string tremolo and advanced fingering stupefied not only the listeners but also the seven judges. She was capable of showing off such a multitude of skills since the beginning?
What was next?
The music gradually reached its climax. Qin Ran’s composition was extremely intense. Her vibrato extended from the beginning, and when the performance climbed to the climax, the tension in her music was on the verge of exploding!
Pizzicato!
Glissando!
This was her own arrangement, but wasn’t the use of techniques and the control of style too adept?!
Ordinary people were incapable of creating such an arrangement.
Their minds were slightly boggled.
After a tense staccato, a beautiful sound suddenly rang—
Wait…
The eyes of all the teachers lit up. This… this was the most beautiful overtone of the violin!
It was also Master Wei’s most famous skill that shook the whole of Continent M.
The overtone that every violinist exuded was different. It required numerous training and a profound understanding of the violin!
These were all extremely difficult violin techniques. From the beginning till now, almost no one had skillfully played the overtone. If they didn’t play it well, points would be deducted.
But this time, the overtone was done beautifully. Such a beautiful vibrato was a rare sight even among the advanced students.
It was too beautiful!
It was completely different from the previous 11 performers.
It was a rare sight even in Continent M’s Association!
Three and a half minutes passed in the blink of an eye.
The music abruptly stopped when everyone was still lingering on it.
Both the audience and the group of teachers in the first row were left breathless and fell into a momentary row of silence.
Accustomed to seeing such big scenes in Continent M, Mr. Engel turned to look at Master Wei. His excitement stirred up. “Out of this world! Your apprentice has blown me away. Even in the Continent M Association’s young talent list, she’ll be ranked in the top three!”
2
Master Wei didn’t respond, because he hadn’t expected this as well. He stared at Qin Ran in shock. Aware of her frivolous attitude, he had only expected her to reach the sixth-grade.
1
But now…
Qin Ran had taciturnly reached the seventh-grade, be it in terms of technique or performance!
2
The teachers’ discussion reached the ears of the audience.
They exchanged glances, at a loss for words.
“The teachers mean that Qin Ran has reached… the seventh-grade, right?”
“It seems like it…”
They had previously guessed it would be difficult for Qin Ran to soar from the fifth- to sixth-grade, but unexpectedly, she actually jumped two grades and reached the seventh-grade?
2
A freshman reaching the seventh-grade within a year of joining the association?
1
Wasn’t this breaking new ground in the association?
The group of students had been shocked when Qin Yu reached the sixth-grade last month. After all, there weren’t many under the age of 25 who could reach the sixth-grade in the association. Moreover, Qin Yu was so young…
But compared to Qin Ran’s pervertedness right now, it seemed insufficient.
1
In the end, Master Wei spoke, “Okay, let’s score.”
Both Master Wei and Mr. Engel gave the highest score out of all the performances. 90 points.
Without a word, Wen Yin directly gave her full marks.
The other teachers all gave 95 points. At any rate, they still had to consider the other performers’ feelings.
2
But even so, Qin Ran was the only student with scores of 90 points and above!
1
As the last judge, Dai Ran sat in his seat blankly, tongue-tied.
4
Wen Yin shook his head inadvertently. Since Qin Ran’s performance was placed in the middle, the students behind her were basically mediocre and wouldn’t achieve better scores than the previous performers.
Qin Ran’s performance was too out of this world.
1
Most of the students were around the fourth-grade, while Qin Ran was in the seventh-grade. How could they be compared?
But this wasn’t what Wen Yin was concerned about. He just reminded Dai Ran. “Teacher Dai, it’s time to score.”
1
**
The people backstage felt regret more intensely than Dai Ran.
1
All of their expressions changed instantly. Qin Ran’s performance had been too potent. They predicted that even if the first ten performers were on the same level as the last ten, the scores of the former would definitely be higher.
1
They almost lost their minds. At first, the veteran student had exchanged Qin Ran’s and Qin Yu’s number plates so as not to be affected by Qin Yu’s sixth-grade skills.
Who knew that, in exchange, they had changed the most outstanding Qin Ran to Number 11?
1
The students’ expressions darkened. They had gone along with the veteran student for their own interests at the beginning, but all that was left now was regret.
Especially Tian Yiyun. As the performer just behind Qin Ran, the influence on her was definitely the biggest. The staff was already calling her name.
1
She took her violin and went onstage, on pins and needles.
After all the scores, her highest score was only 75 points. Under normal circumstances, she would have at least scored three 80 points!
The others weren’t much better than her.
None of the next few performers reached 90 points.
Almost all of them scored 70 to 80 points.
Qin Ran only scored 95 points, so how impressive must they be to score 90 points? Were you in the seventh-grade? Or in the sixth-grade?
As for Qin Yu, the only sixth-grade performer who performed last—
If she had been ranked first, she would be the first to reach 90 points.
After all, a sixth-grade student at her age was a rare sight.
But because Qin Ran had performed before her—
3
Mr. Engel and Master Wei only scored 80 points. As for the others, some scored 90 points, while others scored 89 points.
In the end, Qin Yu’s score was similar to Wang Zifeng’s. But they were obviously…
One grade apart.
Qin Ran didn’t know Qin Yu’s score. She went to Beijing University after her performance.
1
Cheng Juan followed slowly behind her.
At the end of August, freshmen had to start school.
