### Chapter 147: Gan Yan Yu’s Idol
For all art students, regardless of satisfaction or regret, the countless sweat and footprints left behind during the unified exam stories have come to an end.
Life must go on; there are still school examinations and the college entrance examination waiting for everyone.
For Lin Tian, this unified exam was much easier than he had imagined—at least the pressure was significantly less than the time he faced a concert.
Not that it was particularly hard.
It’s just that Lin Tian always aimed for perfection. As a top student whose cultural scores had never dipped, once he chose to take the art examination, he had to aim for the best.
That’s why he put in a serious effort beforehand to level up his solo performance skills.
Though the unified exam scores wouldn’t be out for a while, Lin Tian felt he had given it his all, and that was enough for him.
In fact, this unified exam wasn’t as crucial as he thought.
At least, for Lin Tian and Gan Yan Yu, it wasn’t that significant.
To simplify the purpose of the unified exam for art students—
It’s just a threshold.
With an excellent score in the unified exam, art students can compete with regular exam-takers on the same finishing line, even with relatively lower cultural scores.
For example, to enter a bar dance university, regular students need a score of 690.
But for art students, who calculate a composite score, the threshold might be just over 500.
If the unified exam score is high enough, they could even get into the bar dance university with a score that would usually only qualify for a second-tier university.
Sounds cool, right? It might even make many cultural students green with envy.
However, here’s the catch.
Slightly prestigious art universities don’t consider the unified exam scores.
They have their own admission tests, and only students who pass the unified exam get a chance to take those.
No matter how high your unified exam rank is, if you want to attend those art schools, you have to obediently show up on the designated dates and take their entrance exams.
Only if you pass that will you receive their “certificate of qualification,” which you can then use to compete in the college entrance exams against other competitors with the same certificate, ultimately securing an acceptance letter.
For students merely looking to make the “art examination” route easier for the college entrance exam, but not planning to attend an art university, taking the unified exam might let them grab a place in a second or even first-tier university that they wouldn’t have gotten otherwise. It’s quite tempting.
But for students genuinely aspiring to an artistic dream, the road is much tougher.
To reach their ideal art university, the unified exam score means nothing; only the school exams matter—those are the real battlefields.
And the Flower Music University?
It’s clearly the bloodiest battlefield for music students.
When the time comes, Lin Tian will be facing not just the art students of Qingjiang Province but high-quality music students from all over the country, all sharing the same dream of music.
The difficulty of passing will surely be much greater than the unified exam.
Of course, if Lin Tian manages to become the music champion of Qingjiang Province, it would be unacceptable not to pass the school exam.
But before the exam arrives, it’s hard to say anything.
In any case, the school exams for Flower Music University will wait until next year.
We’ll deal with that when the time comes.
Right now, having just finished the unified exam, Lin Tian could finally relax for a bit.
“.”
“Next week, December 20th, Parrot Zither Cup preliminary round.”
He barely got two days off.
In Lin Tian’s living room, while tidying up the lunch plates, he heard hellish words from Gan Yan Yu.
“As my piano accompanist, Teacher Lin Tian, give it your all! We’re participating together this time.”
Gan Yan Yu said seriously.
“.”
The scariest round was finally upon him.
Last week, he was in the music unified exam facing the formidable seniors.
Next week, he would have to go head-to-head with a bunch of monsters from Qingjiang Province.
It felt like you killed a bronze-level Yasuo in your last ranked game, and the very next day, you’re headed to the S-League finals.
You’re expected to go for the mid-lane against Faker.
There’s a limit to raising the stakes, right?!
“Eh.”
At that moment, while staring at her phone, Gan Yan Yu suddenly gasped, “Teacher Tuoba is coming to Qingzhou!”
“Teacher Tuoba? Who’s that?”
“Tuoba Jianhui! Haven’t you heard of him?”
Gan Yan Yu quickly lifted her phone and held it up to Lin Tian’s face.
On the screen was a music news article.
[Renowned conductor, composer, professor at Flower Music University, and executive director of the Flower Composer Association, Mr. Tuoba Jianhui, has arrived in Qingzhou and will serve as a judge for the upcoming Parrot Zither Cup cello competition!]
“.Never heard of him.”
If Lin Tian really knew about these older musicians, he wouldn’t have spent so long with Grandpa Gan without realizing his identity.
“Really? You haven’t heard of him? The ‘Waves Music Ensemble’ was formed by him!”
“Nope.”
“There’s a famous piece—‘Forest Waltz,’ have you heard of it?”
“Never.”
“.Oh.”
Gan Yan Yu gave up trying to communicate.
Choosing not to ask any more questions, she sat down on a chair, staring blankly at her phone.
“.”
Although Lin Tian really wanted to understand Gan Yan Yu’s excitement at that moment, it wasn’t that he didn’t want to cooperate; he just hadn’t heard of him.
The titles might be long and sound impressive, but until Lin Tian heard the works, he couldn’t make a proper evaluation.
“Do you really like this conductor?” Lin Tian asked.
“Yeah, I really do!” Gan Yan Yu turned her head and nodded vigorously, “He’s incredibly talented; the stage he conducts is the most beautiful and moving I’ve ever seen. I’ve been watching his tapes since I was a kid…”
“I see.”
A conductor capable of earning such recognition from Gan Yan Yu must indeed be impressive.
“A big part of the reason I want to go to Flower Music University is to attend one of his classes.”
“Oh, that makes sense.”
If he’s Gan Yan Yu’s idol, that’s perfectly understandable.
Just imagining that one of the most important competitions in her life will be judged by her idol watching every single performance must be incredibly exciting.
Thinking back, if Lin Tian could have this Tuoba Jianhui guy officiate his wedding, he might just snag it all in one shot!
“I honestly didn’t expect Teacher Tuoba would come for the Parrot Zither Cup.”
At this point, Gan Yan Yu’s eyes sparkled with hope, “We might actually get to meet him during the preliminaries.”
“Gan Teacher, do you want to check out this interview video first?”
Lin Tian seemed to have discovered something and called out to Gan Yan Yu, handing his phone to the young woman.
[Teacher Tuoba, for this Parrot Zither Cup, is there any contestant you’re particularly looking forward to?]
[Not quite looking forward, but there is indeed one contestant I’m very interested in—]
With a weathered yet dignified face, Tuoba Jianhui faced the reporter’s camera and microphone with calmness.
[Her name is Gan Yan Yu.]
(End of Chapter)
