A few more days passed, and the speech contest finally kicked off.
Upon arriving at the venue with their teacher, the group had no mind for anything else, diligently preparing for the upcoming competition.
After the host finished the opening remarks, the contest officially began.
Qiu Xi's school was placed in the middle of the order, so they weren't up to speak very early.
Once they were ready, the group began to watch the speeches of students from various campuses with rapt attention.
It had to be said, there were truly many talented individuals. The moment some of them started speaking, one could feel the pressure; the competition was quite fierce.
"Everyone is so amazing," Song Daiyao murmured softly after watching, afraid of disturbing others who were watching the competition.
"Mhm," Qiu Xi heard and nodded.
Liang Yunfei glanced at Song Daiyao. "Daiyao, listen carefully!"
"Okay, okay." Hearing this, Song Daiyao closed her mouth and focused on the competition again.
More than half the time had passed when the supervising teacher began calling them to the front to prepare.
As it was about to be their turn, Qiu Xi put down her script and began to cheer everyone on.
"Just do your best later, don't be too nervous. Believe in yourselves, you can all do it."
"I'm getting nervous now, my legs are a bit shaky." Song Daiyao put away her script and started taking deep breaths.
Shen Yan felt a little uneasy too, and then the psychological effect kicked in. "I'm a bit like that too. I really need to go to the restroom. This always happens to me when I get nervous."
"Me too."
Listening to everyone, Qiu Xi couldn't help but feel a little nervous herself.
"It's okay, we'll just do our best. Come on, let's cheer together!" With that, she extended her hand first, then gestured forward.
"Cheer!"
Seeing this, everyone extended their hands and cheered each other on.
Right after they finished, the registration for the stage began. The first to go up was a girl from their class.
As time went by, although there were some stumbles in their speeches, everyone at least completed them successfully. Their impromptu topics also seemed to have gone well. Now, they just had to wait for the results.
"Sigh, what should I do? I feel like I'm going to fail." This was the only male in their group. He sighed that he was going to fail right after he came off stage.
"Relax, the results aren't out yet," Qiu Xi said words of comfort.
In fact, ever since everyone had finished, Qiu Xi had been talking non-stop, doing so until now, all to alleviate the torment of waiting.
"They're out!"
Suddenly, Shen Yan, who had been very quiet, became excited.
Qiu Xi rarely saw her like this, which indicated how much she was looking forward to it.
"Listen quickly!"
"Quiet, let's listen."
As soon as the host finished speaking, there were cheers and sighs from the audience.
But there was nothing that could be done; that was the nature of a competition.
"It's okay, you were all amazing. There will be other opportunities," Qiu Xi could only say this.
By this stage of the competition, only Qiu Xi, Shen Yan, and the boy who had said he would fail had advanced to the next round.
"Oh wow! What am I even thinking? Right now, it's just one word: relief!" Song Daiyao's mindset had truly relaxed, and she even made a joke.
It couldn't be helped; the recent busyness had truly worn her out.
"Yes, we all know that."
"This way, I can focus on preparing for the upcoming welcome party dance performance. The seniors who rushed it before have already said so." Clearly, Liang Yunfei was also thinking optimistically.
"That's good."
"Since everyone feels this way, let's go for a meal together after this is over. After all, we've formed a bond of comradeship."
"Okay."
"Sure, no problem."
And so, in such a simple manner, everyone didn't overthink things.
Instead, they were eagerly looking forward to the upcoming gathering. This was the first meal they would share since meeting, and in a sense, it was quite significant.