Chapter 15: City A's Interschool Singing Competition

The A City's Interschool Singing Competition (ACISC) will be held mid December. This year's competition will be a two day event held at a W Hotel in S City. The venue changes annually and is run by the ACISC Organization. There are a total of 60 contestants ages 12 - 17 yrs old from schools all over A City. The prizes for the competition are exceptionally high value: 1st Prize Gold Trophy, 20,000 cash prize, 3 yr exclusive contract with XIIN Entertainment; 2nd Prize Silver Trophy, 12,000cash prize, 2 yr exclusive contract with XIIN Entertainment; 3rd Prize Bronze Trophy, 8,000 cash prize, 1 yr exclusive contract with XIIN Entertainment.

Su Ning harbored no illusions that she would win a prize in the ACISC. She is very talented but she is lacking in training compared to individuals that have received professional vocal lessons for several years. The stage is a completely different level this time. Instead, Su Ning managed to convince Mother Qin to allow Li Youqing and Lin Miao to come with them to S City. The contest will be held on Thursday and Friday and Su Ning wanted to explore S City with her close friends that weekend. Mother Qin spoke to Li Youqing and Lin Miao's parents to ask permission for the girls to request a 2 day leave from school to accompany Su Ning. Their parents eventually agreed after much coaxing from their children. Su Ning was very excited since this is her first out of town trip since her high school trip in her past life!

The train ride to S City from A City takes 3 hrs. The three friends spent the time chatting, munching snacks, and taking selfies on their phones. Lin Miao has gotten quite close to Su Ning and was showing character sketches for her manhua. "MiaoMiao! You are so good at this. Don't forget me when you become famous, okay." whined Su Ning. "That's right MiaoMiao! You have to let us read the manhua first!" quipped Li Youqing. Lin Miao was slightly embarrassed but happily said, "Of course. Both of you can read all the chapters earlier than anyone else!" Mother Qin who was sitting in the row across from the girls smiled contentedly. Life has been so kind to their family. Su Ning is healthy and happy and she and Su Kun have stable jobs.

The group of 4 checked into a double room at W Hotel. Then Su Ning and Mother Qin left the 2 girls at the room to meet up with ACISC representatives to check-in for the program and receive their performance number. Along the way, they met up with Chu Han and his mother, Ming Tan, a kind looking middle aged woman. Mother Ming was not used to the luxurious hotel accomodations and overall grandness of the contest. She was relieved to meet Mother Qin who began to calm her nervousness. Mother Qin has seen all kinds of luxury in the Gu Mansion and though the W Hotel is not something the Su Family can normally afford, they have been invited here based on their children's abilities. Since that is the case, then what is there to be embarrassed about? The two moms chatted happily while Su Ning and Chu Han nervously awaited for their performance numbers. "Chu Han Senior, I don't want to perform last again. I will be so hungry waiting for our turn." Su Ning whined coquettishly. Chu Han looked at Su Ning with a doting look, their relationship have grown close in the past months to that of an older brother and younger sister. "Su Ning Classmate, the program is only 3 hours long. You will be fine." Chu Han responded with a laugh. "Hah! You are saying this now. I specifically bought a dress with pockets so I can bring candies. See if I give you any." "You.. really" Chu Han shook his head helplessly.

"Contestant Chu Han and Su Ning from Chang Yue School. Please come up to receive your numbers" said the representative. Chu Han and Su Ning looked at each other and gulped. On the first day, Chu Han will be performing his solo as participant no. 10. On the second day, they will be performing the duet as participant no. 5. Satisfied with their performance numbers, the group went back to their hotel room.

On the first day of the event, Su Ning and her group woke up early to eat breakfast. Su Ning had no performance today but she wanted to cheer for Chu Han. Together with Li Youqing and Lin Miao, they prepared some light sticks, banners, and a bouquet of flowers and proceeded to the W Hotel Auditorium. Su Ning was especially cute today, she wore a white long sleeved shirt under a blue denim dress. Her curled hair was tied up into two ponytails. Meanwhile Li Youqing was wearing a green cardigan with a white skirt and Lin Miao was wearing a plain long sleeved shirt with pants. Mother Qin who was escorting them was wearing a floral dress.