Chapter 48: Such a Low-level, Formulaic Vocal Technique

For lunch, there was bamboo shoot tip and fish soup.

Jiang Qianqian preferred a savory and fresh flavor, but not too salty. The bamboo shoot tip and fish soup was very suitable to have before a vocal music exam, as it had the effect of warming and nourishing the throat.

The bamboo shoots had been foraged by Li Xingming the last time he went down into the ruins, and the fish was a fresh crucian carp bought from the vegetable market. Actually, there were frozen ancient-breed fish in the refrigerator, but since they were already frozen, it felt like boiling them in a clear soup wouldn't be fresh and delicious enough; it was better to save them for making fish and chips.

When Li Xingming brought the fish soup to the table, he noticed that Jiang Qianqian's expression was somewhat solemn, and guessed that she had something on her mind.

In fact, he had already guessed it. Jiang Qianqian had been very eager to prove herself lately. Presumably, the arrival of the new team members had put a bit of pressure on her, but the fact that she was huddled by the dining table playing with her mobile phone instead of coming over to help Li Xingming carry the fish soup proved that she was facing even greater pressure from another angle.

"What happened?"

"The music teacher just told me, you know. She said that for the last subject of the awakening test this afternoon, professors from prestigious schools will be coming to inspect."

"Professors from the industry?"

"Mm, yeah."

"What are these professors doing idling around Maple City for nothing? Team building?"

"It actually seems to be team building, but they were heading to Mount Maca for a trip and passed by our place. They said Maple Sugar Heavy Industries is footing the bill to let them stay in a luxury hotel for a day, and since it's free accommodation, they might as well take it, and by the way, check out the situation of the awakening test." Jiang Qianqian bit her lip, looking a bit nervous. "Those who perform exceptionally well in vocal performance will be directly recruited."

"Do you want to be directly recruited?"

"Well, if possible, that would certainly be a good thing. But direct recruitment seems to require going to school in another city ahead of time, so forget it."

"True. Just take things step-by-step." The implication was that Li Xingming had already arranged the transcendent path for Jiang Qianqian.

However, Jiang Qianqian also wanted to show off a little! Just imagine, if she sang particularly well and caught the attention of the professors, and then magnificently rejected them... That would show how much Jiang Qianqian cared about and cherished her daily life with Li Xingming!

Heh heh.

"Even if a professor wants to directly recruit me, I'm still going to finish my third year of high school and go to college with Ah Ming!" After saying that, Jiang Qianqian took a sip of the fish soup, using her peripheral vision to observe Li Xingming's expression.

Li Xingming looked contemplative.

This child seemed a bit too clingy... Be that as it may, a Singer of All Beings didn't really need to rush down any particular path anyway. Or rather, in Li Xingming's eyes, the so-called spiritual qi revival was still in the primary stage of the transcendent era.

Rushing was useless anyway.

"It's fine, whatever you want. It depends on your thoughts." Li Xingming produced his trademark Buddhist-style laid-back attitude, and added, "Always look on the bright side. Perhaps the professors aren't interested in you at all to begin with."

"…Hate you, why are you crushing my self-confidence again!"

Li Xingming pinched her little cheek and smiled cheerfully.

Yet Jiang Qianqian was fully galvanized. She booked Li Xingming's head massage service, took a satisfying afternoon nap, and greeted the afternoon's vocal performance in the most spirited state possible.

City No. 1 High School.

The iron fence beside the school gate was draped with Virginia creeper, and the vines were withered and drooping, reminding Li Xingming of the swine-bodied demonic spirits he had seen that morning.

He wondered if the aftermath of the demonic spirits had been properly dealt with; hopefully, City No. 1 High School's logistics department possessed some humanitarian—oh no, demon-itarian spirit.

"Hi~ Handsome and beauty~" A middle-aged woman dressed in trendy attire took off her sunglasses to greet the two of them. It was Jiang Qianqian's music teacher.

Art students often followed a traditional apprenticeship model similar to a master taking on disciples. Unlike the centralized lectures of regular liberal arts and science majors, an art student's upper limit in college admission quality was often determined by their teacher's level, comprehension, and connections.

After the dawn of the transcendent era designated as the "Seventh Epoch," this situation had improved slightly. Student talent began to play a greater role, such as the perception of rhythm and the degree of resonance with corresponding paths...

Without a doubt, Jiang Qianqian was the student with the best innate talent the music teacher had ever taught. Consequently, the teacher showed her extreme care—in her own words, "Even closer than my own biological niece!"

"Teacher Gu, the professors coming to audit this afternoon, um, relatively speaking, what kind of musical style do they prefer?" Jiang Qianqian asked, somewhat nervous.

"They can listen to whatever they like; you just sing your song." Li Xingming tapped Jiang Qianqian on the head. "Do you really need to change your musical style just to suit the professors' preferences? You're not on the Siren path, don't be so utilitarian."

The music teacher chimed in, "Exactly, exactly. What your Ah Ming says is right. With our voice, we can get a high score no matter what we casually sing. In this day and age, proper powerful-voiced singers are far too rare. Besides, you look so petite, which creates this main-character contrast. Just standing there will stun the examiners."

"Really?"

"Really. Our Qianqian is the best. Come on, follow teacher to the preparation area over there and warm up your vocal cords..."

The music teacher led Qianqian away.

Before leaving, she exchanged a glance with Li Xingming, and only started moving after seeing Li Xingming nod.

Back when she first enrolled in the first year of high school, Li Xingming had personally sought her out and entrusted Jiang Qianqian to her tutelage.

Such private commissions usually required teachers to pour much more energy into the students, and correspondingly, required the commissioner to pay a higher price.

Li Xingming had helped the music teacher handle some tricky private matters. From that time on, the music teacher knew that this young master's influence ran far deeper than anything floating on the surface.

The slightly apprehensive vocal warm-up session.

Entering the neighboring classroom in advance to wait for her number to be called.

Eavesdropping through the wall on the melodious singing of the candidates ahead... well, not so melodious.

They were all so mediocre.

The walls of the examination rooms in the art building were embedded with spiritual power isolation runes. In other words, even if the music inside stirred the resonance of certain entities, it wouldn't affect the outside, but the singing itself could still be heard.

Jiang Qianqian heard that the first few candidates in line all used formulaic vocal singing techniques. Their musical styles and emotional expressions basically followed the two most mainstream paths of the "vocal music faction," namely "Triumphal Song" and "Spring Water."

Both generated value by bestowing buff abilities upon music. The former mainly added positive buffs related to excitement, while the latter primarily enhanced the flow of vitality. Their main application scenarios were "private enterprises with long-term massive amounts of overtime" and "hospitals, nursing homes, psychiatric hospitals, and other places where the flow of vitality was sluggish," respectively.

Moreover, these buffs had almost no side effects; they were infinitely superior to concoctions like the Big Brain Elixir and the like.

What Jiang Qianqian practiced was neither Triumphal Song nor Spring Water, but an original path recorded on an ancient ruin's original scroll that Li Xingming had supposedly picked up from somewhere, called the "Singer of All Beings."

Originally, she had been a little worried that practicing something so niche would make the professors frown upon hearing it. As it turned out, she had worried needlessly.

Usually, the music teacher held her to extremely high standards. The result was that once she arrived at the examination hall for the awakening test, Jiang Qianqian suddenly woke up to the realization that she was actually quite formidable.

Heh heh.