The afternoon.
After a good rest, Qiu Xi followed Teacher Yang to the competition venue again.
"Xiao Xi, over here."
Upon arriving, Yang Yue led her to a wall plastered with the manuscripts written by over thirty classmates.
Qiu Xi walked over, her eyes scanning the wall.
At first glance, disregarding the content and focusing only on the handwriting, most of it was good, pleasing to the eye.
However, not all of it was like that; upon closer inspection, a few exceptions were found.
The standard ones were fine; at least they were written neatly.
There were a few exceptions because they were genuinely unattractive. Anyway, Qiu Xi, who was here to look, had no interest in reading them, even if others told her the content was particularly good.
While Qiu Xi was looking, Yang Yue took photos of all the manuscripts with her phone, planning to study them thoroughly later.
"Alex, this handwriting is so beautiful~"
"It is quite beautiful, but Annie, yours is also very beautiful~"
Qiu Xi, standing nearby, noticed their conversation.
Not for any other reason, but because the manuscript they were both staring at happened to be hers.
"Hehe~ Alex, yours isn't bad either~"
"Yes, it's written very well. It seems the teacher can rest assured this time."
......
"Xiao Xi, have you seen enough?"
Yang Yue, having roughly scanned all the manuscripts, asked Qiu Xi.
Qiu Xi nodded, "Yes, Teacher."
She had glanced over them, and it was almost enough.
She had a good estimate of the situation, she just couldn't match the names yet.
"Alright, if there's nothing else, then we should get ready to go back."
She would go back and study carefully, and Xiao Xi could prepare for tomorrow's competition.
"Let's go back."
There was nothing else worth seeing.
"Okay, then let's head out."
Upon returning, Qiu Xi didn't see Hua Linglong or Tang Siran in the hotel. She guessed they had gone out.
This was good, as it allowed her to study her materials peacefully.
......
The second day of the competition.
The morning began with the announcement of the public voting results from the previous day.
"Hello everyone, after yesterday's... the eliminated contestants for the first day have been decided."
"Before that, let's first look at yesterday's public ranking."
As soon as the host finished speaking, the information was projected onto the screen on stage.
With a swipe, the names of over thirty people, along with their manuscript titles, appeared before everyone in two columns, ranked from top to bottom.
Qiu Xi scanned them at first glance. As expected, she was at the top of the list.
What she found interesting was that the next two people were exactly those she had overheard yesterday, one named Alex and the other Annie, ranking second and third respectively.
As for the Japanese name, Tanaka Tsumiko, she was precariously hanging on as the last name on the list of contestants who were not eliminated.
It was hard to say whether he was lucky or disgraced to be in that position.
After a while.
The host's voice rang out again from the stage.
"Contestants who are not eliminated, please be prepared to move to the side of the stage to draw lots and prepare for the upcoming speeches."
As soon as the words fell, the crowd slowly stood up and began to shuffle towards the drawing area.
Qiu Xi followed behind leisurely, showing no sign of nervousness.
When it was her turn to draw, only a few solitary lots remained in the transparent drawing box.
She casually drew one and took it out, Qiu Xi opening it unhurriedly.
13...
Not a good or bad number, just an average order of appearance.
But Qiu Xi didn't care. She rolled up the drawn slip and returned to her seat, quietly waiting for the competition to begin.
This year's competition was the same as in previous years: keywords would be given, then manuscript writing would commence, with forty-five minutes for preparation. Once time was up, participants would take turns on stage to speak.
Therefore, whether one went on stage early or late depended on luck.
After all, luck was also a part of skill.
So, after everyone was seated, the host began to announce the theme keyword.
"...The theme keyword for this international speech competition is... Pressure."
Pressure?
A very ordinary word, but with extraordinary meaning.
Hmm... it also fit the tone of this kind of competition.
"Countdown begins!"
As soon as the host uttered these words, pens were lifted in people's hands.
With only forty-five minutes, they had to hurry.
Time waits for no one!
However, for Qiu Xi, this was more than enough.
This topic was normal, requiring a bit of effort to try and get lucky.
However, setting aside these external factors, the most important thing was empathy.
So, it wasn't difficult...
After thinking for a moment, Qiu Xi began to work.
Her hand speed was very fast; in just a few minutes, the outline was complete.
As for the full manuscript, time was limited, and she still needed to organize her thoughts for the speech in her mind. Therefore, Qiu Xi did not write a full script but expanded on the outline, ensuring that the structure she organized would not have problems and that she could speak it.
So, Qiu Xi spent some more time refining and organizing, and soon put down her pen.
For the remaining time, Qiu Xi sat there, constructing a mind map based on the outline in her head, and silently organizing her language.
The tense time always passed quickly. As Qiu Xi reviewed it again and again and began to recite the manuscript silently, the countdown timer in front of them started.
There were still many people on the field holding papers and fighting, likely preparing to go on stage with their manuscripts.
This was also allowed in the competition.
In fact, without absolute confidence, no one would choose to truly speak from memory, even though it would earn higher scores.
However, this was only when one was particularly proficient and could properly make eye contact with the audience... that they would choose this method...
"Time's up!"
"There will be a 5-minute break now, after which contestants will begin their speeches in order of the previously drawn lots."
Although the host announced a break, not a single person on the field looked up.
Every pair of eyes was fixed on the papers in their hands, wishing those 5 minutes could be used as 50 minutes.
However, no matter how slowly time passed, these 5 minutes went by quickly.
In the blink of an eye, the surrounding lights dimmed slightly, and the stage lights ahead suddenly illuminated.
The competition... started on time!