ECG -Chapter 149 His Stomach Felt Slightly Uncomfortable

There were some things Lin Hao was very cautious about, and this carefulness came from his previous life.

In 2001, a male singer he had really liked since he was young had his voice ruined after someone drugged him. After that, he swore that he would never drink water of unknown origin outside.

Of course, this rule of not drinking water from outside only applied to water with an unknown source; it wasn’t an absolute rule. For example, buying a bottle of mineral water from a convenience store on the street, or ordering a pot of tea at a restaurant—those were all perfectly fine.

In his previous life, Lin Hao wasn’t some huge celebrity, and his fame didn’t extend beyond the industry. Ordinary people didn’t know him.

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But within the music circle, whether it was piano or any other instrument, Lin Hao was one of the top musicians in China. He was practically a legendary existence.

There might be people in the circle who didn’t know him personally, or had never met him, but no one would be unaware of his name.

His reputation mainly came from two aspects:

First, his professional skills were truly incredible. Whether it was traditional Chinese music or Western music, he could handle any instrument he picked up.

Second, his temper was extremely bad. He would even dare to show attitude toward popular singers during rehearsals. Of course, those people wouldn’t tolerate him either, so things only got worse, his relationships became poorer and poorer, and many celebrities disliked him.

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But because his ability was so outstanding, whenever some singers were recording albums or performing and encountered especially difficult pieces, they would still have to hire him in order to pursue the highest quality.

Because of his terrible temper, his income was extremely unstable when he was just over thirty.

Later, he came to terms with it and simply went into teaching. He started moving between various piano shops in Yanjing, while also going out to perform at venues at night. Since he played piano well and was also good at imitating the voices of celebrities, his income gradually became much more stable.

In his previous life, he had seen too much of the deception and schemes in the entertainment industry. With all those experiences and lessons, he naturally intended to learn from them in this life.

So there was no way he would drink this kind of beverage!

The finals were arranged in the largest theater of this venue. When Lin Hao entered, the seats were already almost full. There were also many parents who had brought their children to watch.

Lin Hao couldn’t figure out whether this competition required tickets or whether anyone could come watch for free. Why were there so many parents? Could it be that they had partnered with some training institution?

Looking toward the stage, he saw a nine-foot white grand piano placed there. The words “Baisi Piano Store” were stuck on the piano case, and he immediately understood.

Because obtaining a private education license was extremely difficult, many piano stores actually also included training schools.

Looking at it now, this Baisi Piano Store was probably a sponsor invited by the organizing committee, which was why there were so many young piano students here watching the competition.

A row of tables was arranged in the first row, and more than a dozen judges were sitting behind them, chatting with each other.

The air conditioning in the theater was pretty good. Even with so many people, it didn’t feel stuffy or hot. Lin Hao put on the suit jacket that had been draped over his arm. He was the fourth performer, so he wanted to sit below and watch for a while first.

He originally wanted to find a seat near the front, but after looking around and seeing no empty spots, he could only sit at the back.

After a while, he saw Wan Yong pull Chen Chen into the theater. Chen Chen was seventh in line, so she probably wanted to watch first as well.

The two of them couldn’t find seats. They originally wanted to move farther back, but Wan Yong spotted Lin Hao at a glance. He pulled Chen Chen in another direction instead, and in the end, they also sat in the back row, only quite far away from Lin Hao.

The host went on stage and explained the rules of the finals. Then a thin organizer representative came up and gave a few inspiring words. This person was quite straightforward and didn’t drag on with a long speech, so the competition began very quickly.

The first person to go on stage was a student from Tianjin Conservatory of Music. She was a girl around the same age as Lin Hao. She played a piece called “Serenade.” The melody was graceful and full of atmosphere; closing your eyes and listening was definitely an enjoyable experience.

Unfortunately, because the difficulty level was slightly low, her highest score was 9.15 points and her lowest score was 8 points. In the end, her final score was only 8.7 points.

The second contestant was a student from Shengjing Conservatory of Music. He was a chubby little guy who looked rather funny and cheerful. Standing in front of the piano, he introduced his name and his school, then explained the piece he was about to play, causing bursts of laughter from the audience below.

He played a Hungarian piece called Csárdás. It was a folk dance, and in his previous life, Liszt’s Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2 had been composed based on this dance.

The first part of the piece was called “Lassú,” meaning “slow.” It was music for a solo dance. The latter half was called “Friss,” meaning “fresh.” This section was fast-paced and passionate, and it was music for a duet dance.

When Lin Hao heard the second half, he couldn’t help but secretly shake his head. The young man’s skill was fairly decent, but he really didn’t know how to choose a piece. Although this song was a classic, its difficulty was too low—actually, it was even easier than the previous Serenade.

As expected, the highest score was 9.0, the lowest was 7.5, and the final score was 8.4.

The third contestant went on stage. Lin Hao couldn’t keep watching anymore, so he quickly got up and walked toward the backstage along the edge.

At this moment, Wan Yong suddenly felt that his stomach seemed a little uncomfortable. Before he could react, he wondered whether something he ate at lunch had caused a problem.

Chen Chen turned her head and glanced at him. Seeing the frown on his forehead, she reached out and held his hand, asking worriedly, “What’s wrong? Are you feeling unwell?”

“It’s nothing. Maybe it’s because I ate ice cream right after lunch. My stomach feels a little uncomfortable. How about you?”

“I’m fine! That’s strange!”

“You’ve gotten even fatter. Eat fewer sweets in the future.”

“Annoying…”

Lin Hao, dressed in a neat suit with shiny leather shoes, stood backstage at the side of the stage, listening to the third piano piece. This piece, Winter Wind, he didn’t know who the composer was, but in his previous life, it had been one of Chopin’s famous works.

This piece tested the rapid movement of the fingers. It mainly consisted of broken fourths and sixth scales, and one section of the piece had extremely awkward finger runs, making the difficulty very high.

The performer was a tall, thin young man wearing glasses. He had a very refined appearance and was a third-year student at Huaxia Conservatory of Music.

Lin Hao felt a little regretful for him. This young man was obviously nervous. There were two awkward sections where he made small mistakes. Although they didn’t affect the smoothness and completeness of the entire piece, Lin Hao believed the judges would definitely be able to hear them.

After finishing his performance, the young man stood up. Under the bright stage lights, Lin Hao could clearly see sweat on both sides of his nose from where he was standing.

Although the scores had not yet been announced, Lin Hao had already judged him in his heart. His highest score would not exceed 9.5.

Sure enough, the highest score was 9.79, the lowest was 8.7, and his final score was 9.45—only 0.05 points lower than Lin Hao’s estimate.

Lin Hao walked onto the stage with confident steps.

After bowing to express his thanks, he gently placed his right hand on the piano. “My name is Lin Hao, and I come from the Piano Department of the Music School of Long Province Art Academy…”

This competition required contestants to be students from freshman to senior year and did not include graduate students.

At this moment, Lin Hao had already obtained his graduation certificate and would be starting graduate school in September. Therefore, Fan Gang insisted that he keep his year vague. If it weren’t for the matter of entering graduate school, he should have registered as a sophomore at this time.

However, competitions like this were usually based on schools submitting contestants, and the organizing committee wouldn’t verify it. When Fan Gang registered him, he had written sophomore year, but he still insisted that Lin Hao not say it himself on stage. Lin Hao knew that his teacher was doing this for his own good.

If he said he was a sophomore student now, it wouldn’t matter if he remained unknown in the future. But if he became famous, sooner or later someone with bad intentions would dig up this matter and accuse him of cheating.

Although this kind of thing wasn’t a big deal, having people constantly bring it up to disgust him would still be very unpleasant.

“My competition piece is Flight of the Bumblebee. This was a piece I improvised on the spot during my entrance exam!”

After saying that, Lin Hao bowed toward the audience again, then sat down on the piano bench.