As the company staff were busy with the renovations, the Century Cup quietly arrived.
Unlike the preliminary rounds before, the number of people here was directly halved.
Coincidentally, Li Du also made it in.
"Xiao Xi, do you have confidence?"
Even though Li Du had advanced to the finals, he still had no idea about his chances.
"It's a competition, confidence depends on the opponents. You don't need to be so nervous."
Qiu Xi could tell that Li Du was so nervous that his hands and feet were shaking uncontrollably, with no pattern at all. So, she didn't answer directly and instead spoke to ease his nervousness.
But if you ask Qiu Xi if she was prepared, the answer would definitely be only one.
However, if you ask her if she was confident, it was hard to say. After all, there's always someone better, and everyone who reached the regional finals definitely had their own strengths.
Take Li Du himself, for example. Despite his extreme nervousness, his skill was evident.
Li Du smiled uncomfortably after hearing Qiu Xi's words, "I don't want to be, but I can't control it!"
Although he had been tempered in the preliminary rounds, his current condition was even worse than before… After all, this was his first time seeing such a scene!
"Me too, I'm extremely nervous."
The third girl to reach the finals, Yu Xinxin, overheard their conversation and quietly joined their chat.
"We're all the same, just do your best."
"Mm!"
As they chatted, they felt much better.
Only when the teacher started calling names did they walk over.
"Just cheer up, the three of you. Don't put too much pressure on yourselves."
The supervising teacher looked at the three students with nothing but relief and happiness in his eyes.
Reaching this stage, their competitors were all outstanding individuals, so nervousness was normal, but they shouldn't be burdened with too much pressure.
"Teacher, don't worry, we're just a bit nervous because it's our first time seeing such a big event."
"Haha~ That's normal, you're all still kids."
"Let's go, I'll take you in first to get ready."
The three nodded, "Okay."
As Qiu Xi walked in, she realized that the backstage area was much smaller, but a glance made her understand.
The regional finals had significantly fewer participants than the preliminary rounds; the numbers had drastically shrunk.
Looking at the current venue, there were probably fewer than 50 people.
And according to the information they had previously obtained, only 8 people would advance from this round.
The competition was indeed fierce!
"Alright, you can prepare here. We'll call you over to your seats when it's time."
"Mm."
Unlike the preliminary rounds, where there were too many participants and everyone prepared backstage, and to listen to other contestants' speeches, one had to find a spot at the front and avoid disrupting the competition.
This time, for the regional finals, the number of participants was manageable, so the organizing committee directly arranged seats for everyone below the stage. When it was your turn, you could go up and prepare in advance.
"I'm going up in the first batch. I can't control my legs anymore."
As soon as the teacher left, Yu Xinxin wanted to chat with her two schoolmates.
The competition rules changed every year, and this year's was quite strange. The participants were divided into three batches, not based on their preliminary performance, but on the stroke count of their surnames, which caused many teachers and students observing the competition to complain privately for a long time.
Having reached this point, they still had to compete with luck.
"It's okay, sit down and rub them. Let's take a breather."
Qiu Xi also thought of the character "Yu," which needed to be reviewed before the exam.
However, seeing her standing and walking around constantly, she knew it wasn't a good idea, so she reached out and pulled her to sit on a nearby stool.
Calm down, let's take a moment.
Then, Yu Xinxin, who had sat down, along with Li Du, began to practice breathing exercises.
Admittedly, it didn't have much effect, but it was somewhat helpful. At least by the time they were called to the front stage, their legs were no longer visibly trembling.
As time slowly passed, the preparatory work of theme setting and scriptwriting was completed, and the stage speeches began to unfold.
As expected, the topics were regional, with regional characteristics, not much different from the preliminary rounds.
The preliminary round discussed zero-sum games and win-win cooperation, while this time the topic directly pointed to a community of shared future.
If there was any difference, it was that the subject matter was very timely, and even the requirements leaned towards personal subjective arguments based on practical application.
This kind of topic could easily lead people astray.
The more you read, the more you will use it. You won't be afraid of not knowing, but you'll be afraid of knowing too much and unconsciously starting to plagiarize.
It's like reading a book. What you know is correct, but when the teacher asks you to understand it, you recite it. While you might be correct, the content will definitely not be brilliant.
Another type is those who don't read at all; they either can't articulate or what they say is empty and superficial, lacking empathy.
However, those who have reached this stage can at least say something.
So, after the first person officially took the stage, they went down one by one. Due to time constraints, many problems did arise to varying degrees.
For Qiu Xi, Yu Xinxin was the first to go. Her performance was standard, the kind that teachers would appreciate, but not the kind that would evoke spontaneous admiration.
However, being in the first batch and performing steadily, her score was not too low.
On the other hand, Li Du, who was in the second batch, approached the stage with a stable mindset. At least Qiu Xi saw him speak through it for the first time with such composure.
However, when she went up to prepare earlier, she overheard some teachers whispering, just a few sentences.
They said she had the presence, but the content wasn't brilliant enough; fortunately, she managed to cover it up.
Qiu Xi, who was next, didn't have time to listen further.
Since she was also in the second batch, and she had only half-listened to Li Du's speech earlier, she didn't fully grasp what he had said before she was already getting up.
With Ding Yujing's guidance, as a teacher who thoroughly understood the exam format, his advice was not ordinary.
At least this topic was within the scope of their previous preparation. Considering the preliminary round's topic, he had specifically found time to discuss it with Qiu Xi.
Therefore, after going on stage, Qiu Xi felt absolutely no pressure; she even had the mental capacity to pay attention to her delivery, showing great courage!
This scene was also noticed by the judges.
After hearing the end, Liu Qingyun and Yuan Qing exchanged glances.
They never expected that this old fellow, despite his age, could encounter such a promising talent.
However, the specifics would only be determined after they truly understood her.
Otherwise, if they were tricked by this person again, being tricked from youth to old age, they were truly afraid of being deceived.
Qiu Xi, who had already finished, was completely unaware that she had just entered the observation list of two judges.
Now, as she came off stage, she was already being pulled by Li Du, ready to grab something to eat and prepare for the next round.