You're dumping me, huh? Fine, then I'll just pick up the school beauty and make her my wif

Playing the piano blindfolded is itself a cognitive shock to everyone present.

The audience had no idea what a sustain pedal was; all they saw was a blindfolded girl playing a whirlwind melody on the piano.

Those dense notes were like a battlefield with howling winds, and every tremor made their hearts pound wildly.

"Is that really a person playing?"

"Playing Rachmaninoff blindfolded? I'd have a hard time even playing two tigers with my eyes open."

"Su Qinghe is about to be deified!"

Amidst the discussions, the music transitioned into its second theme.

This requires extremely delicate emotional processing; the volume suddenly decreases from a raging storm to a gentle stream.

Su Qinghe's fingers groped for the feel of the piano keys in the darkness.

She can't see, so she doesn't need to look down at the keys to find her position.

It was this darkness that allowed her to fully immerse herself in the ultimate perception of touch and hearing.

She spent two months in darkness.

That was her world back then—only sound, only touch, only the most primal feelings from the depths of her soul.

Darkness is not a cage, but her kingdom.

That's where she can truly strip away all appearances and directly touch the essence of music.

The sound of the piano echoed in the auditorium. The tone, which had become dry due to the pedal malfunction, now sounded as if it were a deliberate treatment by Su Qinghe.

Like the heavy light and shadow cast on a black and white photograph, it dissects all the pain, struggle, and anger in the music, laying them naked before every listener.

The judges were all deeply impressed.

The elderly professor in the middle, with his white hair, was so excited that his hands were trembling uncontrollably.

He has listened to piano music for most of his life and has heard countless performances by top musicians.

But he had never heard of anyone being able to play Rachmaninoff with such a powerful and moving force without a sustain pedal.

This is no longer just about technique; it's about playing with your soul!

The music then progressed to its final, brilliant climax.

This is also the most technically challenging part of the entire work.

A dense, rapid scale needs to span from the lowest register to the highest register of the piano in just a few seconds.

Professional pianists also need to be fully focused when playing this passage, using the sustain pedal to connect the tonal layers.

But Su Qinghe didn't have a pedal.

She only has ten fingers.

In an instant, the musical notes poured down like a torrential rain.

Although it was a series of large-span chords, Su Qinghe made no mistakes in each jump.

The girl's precision in controlling her hands was so remarkable that it sent chills down the spines of everyone present who had ever played the piano.

After the last note faded, the lingering sound lingered above the hall for a long time before slowly dissipating into the air.

The audience was silent.

Su Qinghe slowly raised her hands from the piano keys and removed the black ribbon covering her eyes.

She then gracefully rose, turned to face the audience, and bowed.

The audience was deathly silent.

Then, applause erupted like a tsunami.

Su Qinghe straightened up, and the spotlight made her deep blue dress look like a star-studded night sky.

Her breathing had not yet fully calmed down, and her chest was rising and falling slightly.

But there was no joy in those beautiful eyes, only a cold calm.

Her gaze passed over the judges in the front row and landed on the first row of the audience.

Ye Qingru was sitting there.

The moment their eyes met, Su Qinghe clearly saw the resentment and unwillingness hidden in Ye Qingru's eyes that she could not suppress.

The girl sneered inwardly.

Ye Qingru, do you think that by damaging my dress and breaking the pedal, you can embarrass me on stage?

You underestimate me, Su Qinghe.

She calmly withdrew her gaze and gracefully turned to walk towards the side platform.

Just after Su Qinghe left, the host took the microphone and went up on stage, cleared his throat, and prepared to continue the program.

"Thank you, Su Qinghe, for your wonderful performance. Next up, please welcome—"

And just as the host finished speaking—

The lights on the ceiling of the auditorium suddenly went out.

Immediately afterwards, the giant LED screen above the stage went black without warning.

A wave of puzzled commotion immediately arose from the audience.

"What's going on? Is the equipment malfunctioning?"

"Why did the screen suddenly go black?"

The host was also stunned. After saying "Please calm down, everyone" into the microphone, he quickly walked to the side stage to ask the staff about the situation.

The next second, the black screen lit up again.

However, the image on the screen was no longer a background picture of the competition proceedings, but a surveillance video.

Late at night, the backstage corridor was deserted. The green indicator lights for the emergency exits glowed faintly in the darkness.

The timeline shows: 10:27 PM.

Two figures appeared in the frame.

The girl walking in front was slender, with long hair swaying behind her head, her steps quick yet composed.

A boy followed behind her, looking around nervously; he was clearly not an experienced person in this kind of thing.

A moment later, the girl stopped at the door of the dressing room, and then the boy stepped forward, took out a key from his pocket, and opened the door to the dressing room.

Just then, the surveillance video suddenly stopped.

The image is then zoomed in on.

Everyone immediately looked closely at the center of the image and saw that the girl's face was clearly visible even in the dim light.

The thousands of people in the audience gasped simultaneously.

Because this girl was none other than Ye Qingru.

The scene shifts, and the time is now 10:42.

Ye Qingru appeared on the stage.

She walked up to the grand piano, squatted down, and frantically tried to pull the sustain pedal with her hands.

The image froze at this frame.

The entire room fell into a deathly silence.

This immediately caused a huge uproar—

"Holy crap!!! It's Ye Qingru?! She actually did something like this?!"

"So she broke the pedal?! No wonder I didn't hear any sustain when Su Qinghe played earlier; Ye Qingru sabotaged it!"

"Is this guy even human? How can he be so vicious?!"

Thousands of eyes turned from the screen to the first row of the audience.

Countless gazes shot like arrows towards the girl in the burgundy dress.

Angry, disdainful, incredulous, gloating.

Ye Qingru's expression underwent several changes in just a few seconds.

At first, she was bewildered because she hadn't yet realized what was on the screen.

Then came horror, because she recognized herself as the person in the picture.

Then came the deathly pale.

The blood rushed down her cheeks, Ye Qingru's lips trembled, her fingers gripped the armrests of the seat tightly, and she was completely at a loss.

How could this be?! How could this be?!

She clearly had the power to the surveillance cameras inside the auditorium cut off!

Moreover, she also asked the staff member she had bribed, and he clearly told her that there were no cameras on stage!

Where did this video come from?!

Impossible... This is absolutely impossible!

Ye Qingru suddenly stood up and loudly defended herself: "This isn't real! It's fake! Someone's framing me!"