After several seconds of preparation, the host Wen Wan glanced at the prompt card in her hand and announced, "Now, please get ready for the quick response round, everyone!"
The quick response round consisted of thirty questions, each correct answer earning one point while each incorrect answer would deduct two points. Without full confidence, attempting to answer could only lead to predictable results.
"Half sober from the night’s drink, my head still heavy; newly shed my winter clothes, my body feels suddenly light. My mind empty from sleep, recent dreams of home seldom complete. What does ’sleep’ in the poem mean? Start answering now!"
As soon as she finished speaking, the beeping sounds of the quick-response buzzers followed one after another.
However, the first to hit the buzzer, naturally, was the quickest responder, Qianxun.
After getting the question, Qianxun coolly replied, "It means waking up."
Beside her, Yuan Yuan couldn’t help but grind her teeth in frustration.
Damn it, why so fast!
"For the poem ’The Peacock Flies to the Southeast’, how old was Liu Lanzi when she married Jiao Zhongqing?" This part of the session was naturally tense, thus Wen Wan swiftly moved on to the next question.
Her words "Start answering now" had barely left her lips when Qianxun, with a composed face, pressed the buzzer again.
"Beep! Su Qianxun answers!"
"Seventeen years old," Qianxun confidently replied.
"From the following five idioms, select one character from each to form a line of poetry. Outer versus inner, pillage and plunder, guests thoroughly enjoying, everywhere across the mountains, tread through fire and boiling water, start answering now!"
"Wildfires cannot be completely extinguished!" It was Qianxun again.
Following that, the sound of the beep was incessant, but each time it was Qianxun who got to answer.
For a moment, even the host couldn’t help but joke, "It seems that contestant Su Qianxun’s reactions are exceptionally sharp, no wonder she achieved such a good score of fifty-six questions in the first round!"
This was simply phenomenal!
She wasn’t giving anyone else a chance.
Given the current scores, unless Su Qianxun got all the next answers wrong, it was without doubt that she would be the top scorer moving into the peak competition.
Upon hearing the host’s words, Qianxun replied calmly, "It’s just speed trained from playing ’Whack-A-Mole.’"
The audience burst into laughter at this remark.
However, the expressions on the faces of the contestants onstage weren’t as pleasant.
At this rate, they stood no chance at all.
Especially Yuan Yuan, who had known about the topics of this Poetry Conference all along thanks to her family’s connections. But what good did that do!?
She simply couldn’t outpace the hands of Su Qianxun, which people almost wished could be chopped off!
Meanwhile, Qianxun was breezily pressing the buzzer and confidently answering the questions.
Seeing this, Yuan Yuan felt her teeth itch with hatred.
Meanwhile, backstage.
Seeing Qianxun’s performance, the director was not only amazed but also showed a hint of regret.
For this competition, the Yuan Family had heavily invested in promoting Yuan Yuan as a talented lady, filling the director’s pockets with money; he couldn’t just stand by and watch Yuan Yuan lose so miserably to Su Qianxun in the finals.
Soon, the director subtly signaled to the staff.
Consequently, when the fifteenth question was announced, Qianxun was the first to press the buzzer, but there was a half-second delay.
This, naturally, allowed Yuan Yuan the chance to answer.
Seeing that she had actually managed to get the question, Yuan Yuan immediately showed an expression of pleasant surprise.
Then, she quickly responded.
Following that, she continuously managed to get the questions.
Once or twice could be an accident, but three or four times was no coincidence.
Realizing this, Qianxun couldn’t help but sneer inwardly.