Chapter 1533: The Highest Score Yet
Actually, when Mr. Ronda had handed over Wen Xinya’s designs, her daring creations already left the judges dumbfounded. Even though some of them felt her designs were too unorthodox, they still couldn’t help praising her talent.
Wen Xinya’s profoundly knowledgeable and interesting narration had given everyone a brand new insight into her three designs. They now felt that the soul and meaning behind her creations were even more rich and vivid than before.
Jill sang her praises there and then. “Oh Wen, you have indeed not disappointed me. Your previous creation in the finals—you merged religious culture with modern beauty so perfectly, infusing your design with such sumptuous meaning and intensity.
“And this time, you have brought together the greatness of Greek mythology with the essence of contemporary times to give birth to designs so beautiful and full of rich character. And you have used protection as your concept, to reflect the might and wisdom in your creations, boldly giving rise to the new and innovative.
“The avant-garde and unique styles give an extraordinary modish flair to your creations. Your own extensive knowledge and wealth of spirit and meaning imbue your three designs with so much soul.
“More importantly, these three creations are actually a matching set. Everyone here knows that when designing jewelry in a set, it is extremely challenging to ensure every piece holds a fresh new look while maintaining the same quality and harmony with the other pieces. Every piece must complement each other.
“I have seen your previous ‘red color’ series and cannot deny your extreme talent displayed then. However, I had expected this ‘red ruby’ theme to be a major challenge to you. Nevertheless, you managed to use a similar style to once again astonish me. I see now that your abilities and talents have reached breathtaking heights.”
Jill was very excited. He had proposed the theme of using red rubies with the express intention of testing Wen Xinya. He never imagined she could have progressed at such an astonis.h.i.+ng pace. Her designs this around were immaculate. Of course, as a professional and highly-skilled jewelry design judge, Jill could still detect some imperfections. Nevertheless, those flaws were not enough to distract from the beauty of her creations. There was no doubt that she would become an extremely outstanding jewelry designer in time to come.
His pa.s.sionate praise triggered a wave of exuberance in the audience.
Wen Xinya was full of grat.i.tude. “Teacher Jill, thank you for your evaluation.”
Jill gave Wen Xinya 97 points.
The rest of the nine judges each gave their own scorings. The lowest was 91 points, with the reason that the style was overly-bold and too radical, and may not be marketable enough. Even so, he acknowledged her skills were indeed excellent and didn’t score her too badly.
One judge even gave Wen Xinya full marks. He explained that there was a need to continuously innovate and surpa.s.s oneself in the field of jewelry design. The value of creation would forever be the two key aspects of soul and meaning and not marketability. And Wen Xinya had proven that there were no limits as to how far her talents and skill could go.
Meanwhile, the audience members had also given her very high marks—the average score was 92, far higher than Wen Xinya’s expectations.
The higher-than-expected score boosted the atmosphere to a feverish peak.
The host was extremely animated. “Let us see what is the average score for this jewelry designer from Country Z’s Capital University, Wen Xinya.”
The eyes of the crowd were drawn toward the large screen on stage. The bright red figures on the screen flickered rapidly as everyone waited with bated breaths. Their hearts pounded with every change in the number.
After a whole 30 seconds, the s.h.i.+fting figures finally started to slow down.
The host announced buoyantly. “95 points, she got 95 points. This is the highest score we have so far. Let us give Miss Wen a most enthusiastic round of applause.”
The highest score for the first four compet.i.tors was 90. A whole five points behind Wen Xinya.
Five points might not appear like much, but in such a major compet.i.tion, even one point was a gulf that would be very difficult to breach.
The host’s exuberant voice triggered a thunderous round of applause from the audience.
After the applause faded, Wen Xinya said in a rather emotional manner, “Thank you, judges. Thank you, members of the audience, for giving me such high scores.”
With that, she gave a bow toward the judges below the stage.
Her elegant wrap dress was full of a cla.s.sic, ancient flavor. It was just a simple bow, but having been trained in Country Z’s traditional ways of comportment, Wen Xinya’s manner of bowing was extremely poised and refined.
“Despicable. She only knows how to curry favor with the judges and audience.” Yan Menglu glared hatefully at Wen Xinya, who was basking in the glow of public approval and looked as dazzling as the G.o.ddess Athena herself. Jealousy surged within Yan Menglu.
Wen Xinya’s high score had all the other compet.i.tors feeling a tremendous amount of pressure. Especially those who had yet to go on stage to introduce their designs, including Shen Siwen.
Shen Siwen gazed at Wen Xinya with a complex expression. The furor caused by Wen Xinya’s three designs still resounded in her ears. At that point, there was an inexplicably complicated mix of emotions churning within her, making her chest feel extremely constricted.
She thought that Wen Xinya would not be able to do well with the “red ruby” theme as she had done something similar before. She didn’t believe it possible for someone to exceed oneself within such a short period of time and give rise to such miraculous creations. As a result, she had not feared Wen Xinya, even though she was her biggest compet.i.tor.
She never expected that Wen Xinya’s designs could still achieve such high scores.
A whirlwind of complex emotions swirled within Shen Siwen’s heart as she involuntarily succ.u.mbed to feelings of jealousy.
Previously, as guarded as she was against Wen Xinya, she had maintained her status as a senior within the world of jewelry design and never felt the need to be jealous of a mere junior. But now that she was faced with Wen Xinya’s obvious talents, she couldn’t help feeling greatly threatened.
“Next up, let’s invite Country H’s compet.i.tor, Miss Shen Siwen…”
“Miss Shen Siwen…”
Shen Siwen gave a start as she snapped out of her trance. The spotlight s.h.i.+ning on her was harsh and piercing. She suddenly realized that it was now her turn, and she had nearly committed the faux pas of being inattentive.
The most shocking thing was that Shen Siwen’s three designs also comprised of a matching set of ring, bracelet, and brooch.
This made Shen Siwen feel all the more anxious. She no longer had the chance to stir up the crowd with the original idea of designing a matching jewelry set for this compet.i.tion.