Chapter 290

The second contestant's performance was a bit terrible. She was probably too nervous when she got on stage.

Her speech was halting and stuttering. It was just an article from the internet. Xiao Qi had looked through countless speeches in preparation for this speech contest. The speech chosen by this girl was one Xiao Qi had recited by heart, but halfway through, this girl got stuck for a good few seconds when she forgot her words. The students in the audience were quite tolerant. When she paused, there was no ridicule but applause instead.

Her face flushed red as she finished reciting the content and almost ran off the stage.

According to the introduction, she was from Agriculture and Forestry University, which was not bad in Jingnan Province compared to private universities like Enhua. The admission score line was not low either. It was a second-tier university, and during good years, the admission line was close to first-tier universities. Of course, it was different from top universities like Qingmeng with admission lines 40-50 points above first-tier universities. But with this contrast, Xiao Qi felt the gap was too big.

The first contestant was just an ordinary student from Qingmeng University, while the second contestant was the cream of the crop sent by Agriculture and Forestry University to compete.

It was like Xiao Qi, who had competed in a round at her own school already.

But here, the contrast was too stark. This must be the real gap in the real world.

One step behind meant falling further and further behind.

After getting off stage, that girl started crying. She happened to sit near Xiao Qi.

Xiao Qi saw her eyes red and tears streaming down her face. She didn't know what to say.

The third contestant was also from another school, Meng City Normal College. She was also female. Her performance was slightly better than the second contestant's. At least there was no forgetting of words. Her English was also good, very fluent. From start to finish, there were hardly any halts or stutters. Unfortunately, Xiao Qi had also recited this speech before. The other party had modified some of the content, but it was still quite familiar.

It gave the impression that she was a hardworking student. But compared to the first contestant with the broadcaster voice, there was obviously still a gap. And she was also slightly nervous.

Xiao Qi felt that her past self was probably like the second contestant, wanting to do well but never able to. There were too many things, unable to prioritize. There was an element of relying on luck, cramming at the last minute but still feeling like she had tried her best, yet ultimately unable to do well and feeling ashamed.

The slightly more mature version of herself was possibly like the third contestant, working hard to recite well, striving not to embarrass herself, but that was it.

The fourth contestant was a short-haired girl from the English Department of Qingmeng University, slightly chubby. She came up with a cheerful smile, giving off a very amiable feeling. Her speech was also very steady. At a glance, she was clearly the kind of student who would be very good at Chinese speeches too. She had a certain aura about her, like a class monitor or leader, with leadership qualities.

Her English was also very good. Accompanied by her chatty laughter, there was laughter in the auditorium too.

This was her stage. Her name was Ouyang Huiyan, a name most of the audience remembered.

Xiao Qi remembered her too.

Of the four contestants so far, Qingmeng University was clearly much stronger, almost like high school students competing with middle schoolers.

The fifth and sixth contestants were from other schools and did not win back any face for the other schools, performing below expectations.

No wonder people said this was really just an internal competition for Qingmeng University.

It was a bit like the table tennis competitions in China, where the fiercest battles were not at the World Olympics but domestic competitions.

As each contestant went up and came down, Xiao Qi kept adjusting her own state. Fortunately, this time there was no urge to keep running to the toilet. At the very least, she had overcome the bad habit of needing to pee when nervous. That was a huge improvement for her.

But she also didn't dare drink too much water, worried she would really need to pee.

Taking small sips of her own water, she also went through her speech script.

She could recite it fluently now. For speaking style, Xiao Qi had three real-life role models — the student council president, very steady and reliable; her calculus teacher Lu, who gave off a very witty and profound vibe when speaking; and she had also watched videos of the English Department goddess Wu Xinyue from her school, known for both her English speeches and singing. Xiao Qi felt Wu Xinyue also had qualities worth learning from.

Wu Xinyue was very proactive and ambitious. At first glance, she gave the impression of being a girl with great drive to better herself. In this society, such qualities were not unlikable. At least she was straightforward.

Sitting in the contestant area watching student after student go on stage, it was Tang Baolin's turn at number 10.

She could be said to be the most beautiful of all the contestants. When Xiao Qi first saw her photo in the contestant introduction, she thought it must have been Photoshopped. After all, girls' photos these days were unreliable, too deceptive. But seeing her in person, Xiao Qi realized this was really how she looked — the kind of girl whose ID photo would look amazing too, very elegant and refined. Xiao Qi was rather envious of this aura, giving the impression of a comfortable upbringing and great happiness since young, as well as being outstanding herself. Especially when she smiled, it felt very sweet.

Xiao Qi felt her own looks were quite decent, but she didn't have that kind of fresh beauty. Her temperament was also different. She didn't have that kind of purely happy vibe. This was ingrained and unchangeable, unable to be faked.

As soon as Tang Baolin got on stage, the applause was very enthusiastic. The mood in the auditorium became exceptionally lively compared to before.

She was clearly very popular at Qingmeng University.

Standing there in front of the desk, she adjusted the mic a little. The previous contestant was male, so the mic was too high up. She jokingly said in English that she was too short, again eliciting applause and laughter from the audience, as well as shouts of "Tang Baolin I love you!".

Xiao Qi realized top universities like Qingmeng also had fangirls, and they were more passionate and straightforward.

The atmosphere was very heated. Tang Baolin was composed and graceful on stage, looking especially beautiful when she smiled. She had dimples that made her even sweeter.

Most importantly, not only was she exceptionally good-looking, her English speech was also very smooth and melodious. Her voice sounded sweet and clear through the mic, like a mountain spring. Her speech topic was happiness - its definition, how to attain it, her own insights on happiness, with content that was her original work, talking about little things around her, simple and relatable. Together with her smiles, the entire speech was pleasant to listen to. Even if one didn't understand English, it was still visually appealing and aesthetically pleasing.

Her concluding summary was also very good. She felt that happiness was a state, better than before with room for improvement. From this perspective, the richest were not necessarily the happiest, and the poorest not necessarily the most miserable. High salaries and luxurious homes did not necessarily mean happiness, just as a lack of material possessions did not necessarily mean unhappiness.

The applause was even more thunderous after she finished her speech, with continuous screams. She was also the only contestant to receive an on-stage flower bouquet, handed to her by a sunny-looking male student who ran up on stage. It did not elicit teasing laughter but was gracefully accepted.

The scoring mechanism for the speech contest combined the judges' scores with the students' scores, each making up 50%. Scoring was done during the interval before the next contestant.

As expected, Tang Baolin had the highest score so far. The teachers' impression of her was great, and the students loved her too. Her final score was 9.5 points. In contrast, the first male contestant with the broadcaster voice that Xiao Qi thought performed decently only scored 8.2 points. The second contestant did even worse. Although she was given benevolent applause when she forgot her words, scoring was still harsh. She only scored 5.9 points, below the passing line.

The third contestant scored 6.4 points. Generally, contestants from other schools who scored above 8 points were very few.

Ouyang Huiyan scored 9.0 points. Xiao Qi felt Ouyang Huiyan's performance was also very good, though she was slightly lacking in terms of external image compared to Tang Baolin.

The eleventh place was Qingmeng University's own, still affected by the tenth place, the performance was average. The previous contestant was too amazing, the later contestants would be more disadvantaged, because people's emotions have a constant value. The excessive draining in the front, the latter is a bit tired. What she said was not bad, but the score was only 7.9 points.

As a result, the twelfth and thirteenth place contestants were both from other schools, even more unbearable by comparison. This may also be due to the home advantage of Qingmeng University.

The twelfth place contestant scored 7.1 points, and the thirteenth place contestant scored 6.8 points.

Next, the host announced that the fourteenth place contestant, Xiao Qi from Enhua University, took the stage.