As soon as they finished speaking, many contestants' towers, built very high, collapsed.
Tian Tian, who had been falling behind, now surpassed many people, currently ranking third.
Under everyone's nervous gaze, the competition time ended, and all contestants stopped their actions.
However, at the very last moment, the tallest tower collapsed, and the contestant's expression was full of helplessness.
So, the tallest doesn't necessarily win, and falling behind doesn't necessarily mean losing.
After tallying everyone's rankings, it was time for the second round of contestant duels.
To accommodate Tong Tong's height, the table where he built his blocks was significantly shorter than the other contestants'.
As the competition began, the contestants did not prioritize speed like the first group.
This was because they realized that building too quickly made the foundation unstable, greatly increasing the chance of collapse.
Therefore, everyone focused on stability, not speed.
Tong Tong also built his blocks at a leisurely pace, and everyone's height seemed to be similar.
However, once they reached a certain height, the blocks began to sway, and at this point, no one dared to add more blocks rashly.
Everyone carefully placed one block at a time, gently stacking them upwards.
Despite this, some contestants' towers still collapsed, and those whose towers remained standing became hesitant to add more blocks.
This was because no one knew if their tower would collapse the next second.
So far, Tong Tong's height ranked fourth. Everyone thought Tong Tong had reached his limit and that his performance this time would not be outstanding.
Liu Yifeng watched his son, who had a calm expression, continue to add blocks and silently encouraged him.
He believed in Tong Tong and knew he wouldn't make mistakes; this child had always been steady!
As he expected, several contestants had already stopped adding blocks, waiting for the competition time to end.
Apart from those whose towers had collapsed and were trying to catch up, only Tong Tong was continuously adding blocks.
His hands were small, and the blocks appeared very large in them.
Yet, his movements were consistently steady. No matter how he added blocks, the tower didn't shake, as if the blocks were glued together.
Soon, Tong Tong's tower was the tallest, causing a sense of crisis among many contestants. Among them, Song Yicheng, unwilling to be surpassed by Tong Tong, couldn't help but pick up blocks, wanting to add a few more.
The result was that the more anxious one became, the more mistakes one made. He, who had finally reached third place, had now ruined all his previous efforts, and his tower collapsed.
He immediately broke out in a sweat out of frustration, but there was nothing he could do; he had to start building again.
However, he had only built a few layers high when time ran out, and Tong Tong's tower remained perfectly still.
Next, the rankings would be tallied, and then based on the results from these three rounds, a final ranking would be determined to see who advanced and who would need to participate in a tie-breaker.
The host announced a fifteen-minute intermission before announcing the list of qualifiers.
Afterward, the big screen began playing video clips of other contestants again, this time showing Tian Tian's video.
She had previously lived abroad and returned to the country a week early for the convenience of the program team filming daily videos.
Tian Tian came from a wealthy family, living in a small mansion and driving a Ferrari. Her home's interior design was like an ancient palace, opulent and radiating wealth.
In the video, Tian Tian appeared very polite and shared her study methods, which benefited many.
Although most viewers came from ordinary or at most well-off families, Tian Tian's study methods did not require financial investment. Even those with less favorable financial backgrounds could follow them.
This was much simpler and easier compared to Song Yicheng's usual study methods.
To this day, many people were still intimidated by Song Yicheng's study methods.
Even now, they held significant prejudice against Song Yicheng's mother.
But what they found most perplexing was that Tong Tong's video showed no scenes of studying, only glimpses of his art and chess skills.
Everyone was curious how Tong Tong, at such a young age, absorbed so much knowledge. Didn't geniuses also need to learn through practice?
Therefore, how Tong Tong became a genius remained an unsolved mystery.
With ten minutes left before the show resumed, Liu Yifeng walked to Tong Tong's side and asked if he needed to use the restroom.
Tong Tong hadn't drunk much water and didn't seem to need it, saying, "Daddy, I don't need to pee!"
"Then Daddy is going to the restroom, you stay here and don't wander off!" Liu Yifeng instructed.
Xia Qianqian added, "Don't worry, Tong Tong is with me!"
With Xia Qianqian watching, Liu Yifeng was completely at ease and turned to leave the recording studio.
The moment he turned, his eyes met Yun Duo'er's. Yun Duo'er immediately averted her gaze, as if she were dodging a disaster.
Liu Yifeng felt puzzled. Didn't this woman proactively approach him at noon? Why was she now avoiding him like the plague?
Indeed, women changed their minds faster than the weather, but he didn't think much of it. He wasn't concerned about Yun Duo'er's thoughts.
The fifteen minutes quickly passed, and the host walked onto the stage, recited all the advertisements as usual, and then returned to the main topic.
"The three rounds of competition have concluded. Do the four judges have any comments on the contestants' performances?"
After the host finished speaking, the four judges spoke in turn, affirming the contestants' performances.
However, Tong Tong's performance was the most memorable to them, and they gave him the highest praise.
As the person concerned, Tong Tong humbly accepted the judges' compliments and expressed his intention to continue working hard.
Soon, it was time for the most exciting moment: waiting for the host to announce the list of qualifiers.
It was unnecessary to guess for Tong Tong and Tian Tian; their performances had always been outstanding, so they were sure to be on the list of qualifiers.
There were also several contestants whose performances in all three rounds were average, making their advancement to the tie-breaker rounds a foregone conclusion.
The most agonizing were those contestants whose performances were all similar, as no one knew whether they would advance or have to enter the grueling tie-breaker rounds, facing the possibility of elimination.
As the contestants waited nervously, the host held a list of qualifiers and a list of those advancing to the tie-breaker rounds.
After the host read out the names of the qualifiers, the contestants whose names were not called wilted like eggplants in frost.
Among them was Song Yicheng, who was surprised to find himself on the tie-breaker list and immediately expressed doubt: "How am I being eliminated? My previous performances were all very good, and I haven't used my special guest privilege yet!"
Facing his doubts, the host provided a reasonable explanation: "Contestant Song Yicheng, your performance in the first and third rounds was not very good. You only ranked in the top eight in the second round.
In the first round, you ranked ninth, and in the third round, you ranked last. The overall result placed you ninth, so you need to enter the tie-breaker rounds."
After hearing the host's words, Song Yicheng said no more, but Yun Duo'er began to worry.
Although Song Yicheng was not directly eliminated, he still faced the risk of elimination.
If he were eliminated today, she would also have to leave the program.
This would mean fewer screen times, and the longer one stayed in the competition, the more memorable they would be to the audience.
"Yicheng, during the tie-breaker rounds, you must answer seriously and don't get eliminated!" she whispered.
Song Yicheng, already unhappy about entering the tie-breaker rounds, became even more annoyed by her words: "So you're saying I haven't been answering seriously before? Why don't you do it during the tie-breaker rounds? You answer the questions?"
Yun Duo'er was choked and speechless. She was only trying to help him, hoping he would advance; otherwise, she wouldn't waste her breath.
Seeing Tong Tong secretly chatting and laughing with Xia Qianqian, Yun Duo'er couldn't help but recall Sister Jin's words, and her mood became inexplicably irritable, so she stopped talking.
It didn't matter anymore whether Song Yicheng advanced or was eliminated; she wouldn't concern herself with it.
After all, Song Yicheng couldn't compare to Tong Tong, and he would definitely be eliminated by Tong Tong later on.
As his mother, she no longer held any significance in Tong Tong's heart, and he wouldn't intentionally lose to Song Yicheng just because she was his mother.
Losing sooner or later was still losing; everything would happen naturally!
"Let us congratulate the eight qualifiers, and we also hope that the contestants entering the tie-breaker rounds will have wonderful performances tonight. As for which six contestants will advance, let's wait and see!
Now, there will be a two-hour break, and we will see you again at seven-thirty!"
After the host finished speaking, he went backstage, and the audience and contestants also left the resting area.
Liu Yifeng walked up to Xu Muqing and asked, "Mu Qing, let's go have dinner first, and then you can drive back. Otherwise, you'll be hungry on the way!"
Tong Tong had no more competitions tonight, but as a participant, he needed to stay on-site for the recording!