Standing on the stage, Shen Xingruo was also drawn to the synchronized chanting of Zhao Langming and Li Chengfan. However, there was some distance between the stage and the audience, so she couldn’t hear very clearly. She only saw the “Star” LED boards held high by the two of them and subconsciously thought it was Lu Xingyan’s doing, so she nodded in that direction.
The format for tonight’s final match was quite simple:
First, the teams were paired off by drawing lots. Each pair would compete in a round of 25 rapid-fire questions. Points were awarded for each correct answer and deducted for each incorrect one.
After the rapid-fire round, the team with the higher score would proceed directly to the final round, called the “K” round. Additionally, the team with the higher score between the two pairs would be given one chance to use a live assistance device in the “K” round.
The lower-scoring teams from the initial rounds would then compete in another “K” round. The winning team from this round would join the other two teams in the final round, starting a marathon of question-answer sessions.
In the marathon round, questions would be directed at individual team members in a rotating order. If a team member failed to answer a question, they would be eliminated from the game, putting more pressure on their teammates.
Once all team members from a team were eliminated, the game for that team would be over.
After the teams introduced themselves, the first round of drawing lots began. Dà, having been the top scorer previously, had the privilege of drawing first.
As the team names scrolled on the big screen, the captain of Dà called for a halt, and the screen immediately stopped on South City University.
—Dà and South City University would form one team, while the remaining T University and F University would form another.
The captain of South City University’s team was Yu Si, tall and handsome, with strong answering abilities. In the previous round of five into two, he turned the tide and secured the last spot in the semifinals for South City University. He also performed well in the semifinals, leading South City University to enter the finals with the second-highest overall score.
Online, Yu Si and Shen Xingruo were paired up as a couple, but in reality, they hadn’t spoken much to each other. Rumors circulated in the elite circles. After the round of five into two matches, Shen Xingruo’s teammates gossiped with her, saying that Yu Si was quite a player, changing girlfriends every other day. Recently, he had been dating a girl from the Music Academy who was also a social media influencer, and he had allegedly stolen her from someone else.
Shen Xingruo had heard plenty of outlandish rumors before and wasn’t one to blindly believe them. But she didn’t have a favorable impression of a guy who would meet backstage, immediately exchange WeChat, invite her for drinks, and subtly suggest cooperation in creating gossip.
Shen Xingruo’s coldness was particularly thorough. Yu Si wasn’t stupid; seeing her attitude, he didn’t bother to engage further. With such a cold and distant relationship between them, some viewers still forced a sugar-coated interpretation of their appearances together in the first two episodes of the competition, turning it into a highlight of this season’s campus tour. The program planners knew what was being discussed online and had to force cues about them into the scripts for the hosts.
Now that Dà and South City University were paired together, the host took advantage of the opportunity to ask, “Shen Xingruo, when you faced off against Yu Si in the round of five into two, what did you think of his answering ability?”
Shen Xingruo was succinct. “Very good.”
The host looked at her expectantly, but her smile gradually stiffened.
Was that all?
The host hesitated for a moment, realizing that she had nothing more to say. He quickly regained his composure and continued with the next question. Among the contestants, some were as succinct as Shen Xingruo, and others loved to show off. After going around the circle, this segment had wasted about seven or eight minutes.
When the audience began to nod off, the rapid-fire round finally began.
“The first question, please listen carefully. What is known as the liquid bread?”
Someone quickly buzzed in with “Milk.”
“The correct answer is, Milk! Dà team scores one point!”
“The second question, please listen carefully…”
The first few questions were relatively simple, and most of the audience sitting in the studio or watching TV knew the answers. It was purely a matter of who could buzz in the fastest.
After a few rounds, everyone understood just how crucial the word “rapid” was in “rapid-fire.” As soon as the host mentioned the keywords, someone would already be buzzing in before he finished the question.
Yu Si was the ace of their team, with quick reflexes and accurate guesses. Without warning, he achieved a “pent-akill,” pulling their team ahead by a large margin.
Many girls in the audience were cheering excitedly, and he even playfully made a money-counting gesture to the audience, adding to the lively atmosphere.
Li Chengfan and Zhao Langming didn’t understand much, but it didn’t stop them from getting engrossed. They whispered to each other, “Sister Ruo isn’t fast enough, didn’t even manage to buzz in once. I think this rule puts women at a disadvantage. The men are all well-trained!”
Lu Xingyan glanced at the two of them, arms folded across his chest, leaning back in his chair with a look of indifference. After a while, he finally uttered two words, “Oily feeling.”
By the time they reached the tenth question, the overwhelmingly one-sided situation on stage finally began to loosen up.
The host said, “The ‘Qingming Riverside Scroll’…”
Yu Si buzzed in, “Zhang Zeduan!”
The incorrect answer buzzer sounded in the arena, and the host chuckled, saying, “Yes, Zhang Zeduan is indeed the author of the ‘Qingming Riverside Scroll,’ but this question isn’t about the author. It’s about which museum currently houses the ‘Qingming Riverside Scroll.’ South City University’s team loses one point.”
The members of the South City University team all looked disappointed.
In the next three questions, South City University buzzed in twice without waiting for the full question, and both times, their answers were incorrect, costing them the points they had gained.
Both teams entered a deadlock, hesitant to buzz in randomly. Moreover, as the questions progressed, they became increasingly difficult, leaving many unable to answer.
By the seventeenth question, the situation began to turn around. Shen Xingruo, who hadn’t answered a question before, quietly buzzed in and answered three questions in a row, all correctly!
The host asked, “Describing a woman with long eyebrows and willow-like figure. Who is this describing?”
Shen Xingruo replied, “Li Shishi.”
“The king of roadside trees refers to?”
Shen Xingruo answered, “Banyan tree.”
…
The South City University team refused to be outdone, intensifying their efforts to answer questions. The scores of both teams were neck and neck, all the way to the final question:
“Now, both teams are tied at 99 points. The last question will be crucial. The answer to this question will determine which team can directly enter the final round of the ‘Ocean of Questions’ competition.”
The host paused for a moment and picked up the question card. “The last question, please listen carefully: What are the three main types of solo harmonica?”
While South City University was still considering whether to buzz in cautiously, Shen Xingruo seamlessly pressed the buzzer as soon as the host finished speaking.
The arena erupted into a frenzy. The host added suspensefully, “Alright, Shen Xingruo from the Dà team has buzzed in for this question. What will her answer be? Is it correct?”
All eyes were on Shen Xingruo, including those of her teammates, who were nervous. They didn’t know much about music and had never discussed this topic before, so they were unsure whether Shen Xingruo genuinely knew the answer or was simply buzzing in out of habit.
Shen Xingruo adjusted her microphone and replied, “Chromatic harmonica, diatonic harmonica, and tremolo harmonica.”
The host nodded slightly as he looked at the question card and said, “Let’s take a look at the correct answer. The three main types of solo harmonica are chromatic harmonica, diatonic harmonica, and… blues harmonica.”
When he mentioned blues harmonica, his voice lowered.
Then, he put down the question card and suddenly raised his tone for a twist. “Blues harmonica is also known as a diatonic harmonica. Congratulations to Shen Xingruo for answering correctly! Congratulations to the Dà team for directly entering the final round of the ‘Ocean of Questions’ competition!”
As the sound effect for the correct answer rang out, enthusiastic applause erupted throughout the arena, interspersed with Li Chengfan and Zhao Langming’s loud cheers of “Sister Ruo, you’re awesome!”
With the buzzer round over, the Dà team secured the first seat in the final round of the “Ocean of Questions” competition. The next half hour was uneventful for them. Shen Xingruo was backstage drinking milk and exchanging voice messages with Lu Xingyan while the competition continued on stage.
First, T University competed against F University, with both teams neck and neck, relying solely on guesswork for their answers. Despite scoring high, they also incurred many penalties, and in the end, T University won with a score of 87.
Then it was South City University’s turn to compete against F University. The fate of the match was decided by three difficult questions, and in the end, South City University narrowly won.
With a slightly higher score than T University, the Dà team earned an extra chance to seek help from outside the stage in the final round of the competition.
This opportunity was precious. When discussing backstage, the team captain suggested that Shen Xingruo had the strongest answering ability and should be the one to use this opportunity. After the discussion, everyone agreed.
However, to their surprise, despite starting strong and holding the chance for outside help, the Dà team lost one member during the third round of the “Ocean of Questions” competition, followed by two more members in the fifth and sixth rounds, one after another.
With each question, the host asked if they wanted to use their chance for outside help, and each time, they chose not to.
By the time they reached the forty-fifth question, only Shen Xingruo and the team captain remained on stage for Dà team. South City University still had four members, while T University had all their members still in play. The atmosphere became tense.
In the deadlock at the forty-fifth question, the team captain struggled to answer within the fifteen-second time limit. The host asked, “Your team still has one chance to seek help from outside the stage. Do you want to use this opportunity?”
After much deliberation, the team captain ultimately chose not to use it.
With only Shen Xingruo left to fight for the Dà team, while South City University and T University still had three members each, it meant that each member from South City University and T University would answer one question while Shen Xingruo had to answer three.
Everyone thought Shen Xingruo might not be able to hold on much longer. But her expression remained unchanged. When a question was asked, she answered calmly, without haste.
“What does ‘China’s First Archway’ refer to?”
“Shunfeng Mountain Archway.”
“Who is known as the ‘Father of Symphony’?”
“Joseph Haydn.”
“In the Chángdōng Autumn Auction, the painting ‘Splendor of the Milky Way’ was sold at a high price. Who is the author?”
Shen Xingruo paused. “Shen Guangyao.”
Li Chengfan watched in astonishment, marveling, “What kind of auction is this? Who is this painter? I’ve never heard of it. Sister Ruo is amazing. She knows even the most obscure things!”
“…?”
Lu Xingyan tapped his head, “My father-in-law.”
Li Chengfan: “???”
As the questions became increasingly difficult, and the tension in the competition heightened, Shen Xingruo answered thirteen questions in a row. Unconsciously, only she and Yu Si remained on stage.
T University had the advantage initially, but several questions hit their blind spots consecutively, leading to the elimination of their members one by one, with Yu Si being the first to be eliminated.
In truth, Shen Xingruo felt that she had relied on luck to hold on until now. She was not good at sports-related questions at all, but none of those questions came her way throughout the competition. Moreover, the questions that led to T University’s consecutive eliminations were ones she didn’t know the answers to either.
She and Yu Si answered another seven or eight questions, but Yu Si was clearly struggling, often guessing the answers correctly only in the last few seconds.
“Xiao Qiao’s original name is?”
“Qiao Wan.”
“The longest epic in the world is?”
“Ramayana?”
There was no prompt for the correct answer. He guessed again, “The Iliad? The Mahabharata?”
The prompt sounded, and he breathed a sigh of relief.
So far in the competition, luck mattered more than skill.
The question returned to Shen Xingruo, “The teams involved in the match known as the Ruhr Derby?”
Shen Xingruo paused. A sports question. Finally.
She had no idea about this question. She didn’t even know if the host was referring to a basketball match, a football match, or some other sport.
The fifteen-second countdown quickly began.
Lu Xingyan sat below, stunned for two seconds. Shen Xingruo didn’t know?
As the countdown ended, Shen Xingruo felt no pressure. She said directly, “I’ll use the chance for outside help.”
“Okay, Shen Xingruo is using the outside help!”
The director switched the camera to the audience. It slowly panned across the front rows. Some people wanted to search online, but they realized too late that the signal in the venue was blocked!
The host asked, “Many people raised their hands. Shen Xingruo, who do you want to choose?”
She didn’t hesitate and chose Lu Xingyan.
The microphone was quickly handed to Lu Xingyan.
Lu Xingyan continued to be baffled. He didn’t even raise his hand. How did Shen Xingruo know whether he knew or not?
Seeing the casually picked handsome passerby, the host asked again, “Shen Xingruo, why did you choose him? Do you know him?”
“He’s my boyfriend.”
Lu Xingyan was still contemplating whether he should stand slightly sideways to look slimmer on camera, and if holding the microphone in his left hand would be better to show off the ring more prominently. But he never expected Shen Xingruo to define their relationship so clearly in just one sentence!
Although he had gone through a whirlwind of emotions in the few seconds he stood up, he managed to maintain a calm demeanor. He took the microphone and paused for a moment before answering, “The teams involved in the Ruhr Derby are Borussia Dortmund and Schalke 04.”
“Do you believe your boyfriend’s answer?”
“Yes.”
“Congratulations, the answer is correct!”