Although nobody there besides Meixiu and Yu Rou knew the identity of the masked contestant, they could somehow tell that he was a professional just by the manner he walked onto the stage and how he sat behind the piano.
"Yu Rou, this person… He's very skilled." Xia Jingyi said with a serious expression on her face.
"I think so too." Yu Rou nodded, still pretending to be ignorant.
Once the atmosphere was completely silent, Yuan placed his hands on the piano keyboard and started playing the piano.
The audience felt chills going down their spine when they heard the first 10 notes being played, and their ears vibrated with bliss.
They have never heard or seen such a flawless performance before, nor did they expect to witness something this profound in such a small competition.
Yuan's performance continued to be played flawlessly for the next four minutes, playing the whole song without making a single mistake.
Every movement he made seemed to be made with elegance and grace, looking like he was dancing while playing the instrument.
The spectators quickly began speculating that Yuan was a professional disguised as a beginner to surprise them, but they were unable to guess his identity.
"Heavens… Who is this person?"
The judges there were left speechless by Yuan's performance. In fact, they only needed to listen to his performance for half a minute to be convinced that he was going to win this competition without anyone getting close.
The whole performance only lasted 4 minutes, but it felt like only a few seconds had passed for the spectators, as they were fully absorbed in his performance, feeling like they were in a dream-like state throughout the whole performance.
After playing his last note, Yuan stood up and turned to face the dazed audience before giving them a bow.
The audience remained silent for another moment before they exploded with cheering and admiration.
"That was amazing!"
"Play another song!"
"Encore!"
The judges agreed with the audience, and one of them said, "Contestant Tian Yang, can you do us a favor and play another song? You can pick the song. And don't worry, it won't affect your scores regardless of your performance."
Yuan pondered for a moment before nodding his head and returning to his seat behind the piano.
After taking a deep breath, Yuan began playing another song.
However, nobody in the audience recognized this song— nobody but Yu Rou.
Yu Rou's eyes widened with shock when she heard this song.
"Brother…" she muttered in a low voice, trying her best to not shed any tears in public.
The song being played by Yuan was a song he'd created for her when he was still actively playing for the Yu Family.
However, there weren't any good memories behind this song, as the day after he created this song, Yuan's body started to break.
This song didn't last long and only lasted half as long as the previous song, but it was so intensive and face-paced that it sounded longer than the previous song, and there were more than twice as many notes in this song.
After finishing his second song, Yuan didn't stand up and waited for ten seconds before starting his third song.
Despite this, none of the judges or spectators complained. In fact, even the contestants there remained silent, as they knew that if they played after his performance, it would only make themselves look bad.
When she heard the third song, Meixiu could feel her heart throbbing faster and faster, as this was her favorite song, and memories began flowing inside her head.
Whenever she was sad and brought to tears by her training, Yuan would play this song for her before comforting her with a hug, and it would work every single time, allowing her to endure another day of training.
About three minutes later, Yuan stopped playing and stood up.
He then bowed to the audience for a second time.
The audience immediately erupted into a frenzy this time, and it was much louder than the previous cheering.
Yuan started leaving the stage a moment later, and when the judges saw this, they stopped him.
"W-Wait a minute, contestant Tian Yang!"
"What's the matter?" Yuan turned to look at them.
"Can you tell us a little more about yourself? Who taught you how to play the piano? How long have you been playing?" The judges asked him, as they wanted to obtain some information from him so that they could use that information to guess his identity.
Yuan then said, "I have been playing since I was young. As for my teachers… I had many teachers throughout my career— too much to name."
"You can tell us a few names if it's too many."
"I'm sorry, but I'd rather not." Yuan politely refused.
"Then can you tell us how old are you currently?" Another judge asked him.
"I am currently 18 years old, approaching 19," he said.
"Y-You're only 18 years old?!"
The judges were shocked to learn this information.
If this information was true, then one can only imagine how far he'll go when he's already this talented at his young age.
However, this raised more questions than answered.
Although there were many talented individuals at his age playing professionally in the music industry, the judges didn't know of any professional at Yuan's age with his level of talents— and this was true even for the older professionals, so does this mean he's actually a new pianist who's just stepping into the professional scene?
Where has he been this entire time? How can someone this talented remain as a nobody?
The judges proceeded to ask Yuan a few more questions, hoping to learn more about him, but Yuan skillfully answered their questions without giving them any information that would give away his identity.
The judges eventually gave up and allowed him to leave the stage.
Of course, the moment he left the stage, the spectators surrounded him for autographs even though this was his first appearance, as they were certain that he will become famous in the industry with his talents.