When there had been a half hour break Lily noticed that it had thinned out to less than half of the participants and counted that there were 39 left. All her girls had moved on, but Rosie was not present. She didn't doubt her girls or clone and wasn't worried about them. Valentina and the others had also moved on and she now knew that it would be a perfect harvest.
Flora looked at her and said, “We plan to withdraw after this round because Celestia will complain that there are too many contestants. The judges will halve the number to make her happy and avoid offending her family.”
Lily nodded, understanding her. She went back to their room and changed into the white hanfu and put her hair up in a bun at the back but left some hair hanging down loosely. She put a white lily in her hair which she had received from the man who had given her the earrings.
"Do you have a pair of white flat shoes suitable for a hanfu?" she asked.
“I recommend this pair of shoes.” replied the system and Lily took out a pair of white shoes that looked like silk and had flowers on them.
They were flat and looked like what people called hanfu shoes, which were what you wore to a hanfu. She put them on and went out to the others and sat down in her seat. When they saw her clothes, they looked at her in surprise but did not ask questions.
When it was her turn, she looked at them all and said, "The effect is better if you see the live performance."
They all nodded and hurried around the stage so they could make it before she got on stage.
Lily walked onto the stage and saw that William and Ace were still present so that meant their competition started at a different time or it had already ended.
“You can start.” said a judge.
Lily nodded and took out a green pillow and sat on it which surprised the audience, and many started laughing at her.
"Is she going to play while sitting on the floor?" asked a man mockingly.
Lily waited for complete silence and said, “This song is for some important people to me who have helped me since I was blessed.” and looked at Ace and William who immediately blushed because they understood her words.
“Now just play. You are wasting our precious time. We’ve not come to hear your life story.” one man said mockingly.
This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.
Lily took out the gold zither and placed it in front of her, gently touching the strings without playing a note. As she was getting ready, she noticed Aaron, Melech and the other men coming running from the left side and they were gasping for breath. They sat down on some empty chairs and looked at her anxiously. She could figure out they had come to see her perform and didn't want to disappoint them.
"My hands are a little rusty." She apologized and played the first note of her song and in the same second, she activated a small illusion, and a white flower petal flew out from the zither.
She started playing the song and every time she hit a note more flowers and flower petals flew out and at one-point flowers and flower petals flew floating around her and towards the audience who were completely captivated and hypnotized. It looked like they were dreaming and couldn't believe their eyes. One of them caught a flower and felt it was real and his eyes widened in surprise. Seeing that she had caught their attention, Lily finished playing the song. When she hit the last note there was complete silence and you could only hear the sound of nature and the wind blowing past them.
A full minute passed before a man stammered, "C-can you play one more song?"
Lily looked around and saw that there were flowers all over and all around her and the area was covered with them, but the audience looked like stone and didn't move because they felt hypnotized by the beautiful piece of music and the beautiful illusion.
She smiled and said, "It sounded like you weren't interested before, so I won't waste time here anymore." and stood up but as she was about to take a step, she heard Ace say, “Please. Then play a song for me.”
That man really knew how to charm his way into her, and she couldn't turn him down because it was him and pouted. She turned and nodded and sat down again and when she was about to take out the zither, she thought it was too boring to play the same instrument again and chose to play something else.
"Get ready for an unforgettable experience." she said and smiled and took out a gold harp.
She started playing it and opened her mouth and started singing and suddenly golden butterflies flew out in front of her and flew out to the audience landing on their noses. Suddenly the area changed into a large flower field surrounded by a forest in a wild nature. The weather was warm and there was a nice warm breeze blowing past them. The sky was blue, and the sun was shining, and they could smell everything around them. Some touched the flowers and felt they were cool, and others walked around touching trees and plants to confirm if it was an illusion. They could still hear Lily's beautiful voice and the sound of the harp which made them feel like they were being carried on a gentle wave.
Lily sang 5 songs to give people the experience of a lifetime which she had promised them.
When the last note was sung the area stopped transforming back into the stage and they sat in their chairs again and were surprised. There was complete silence where no one said anything for a long time because they needed to recover from what they had just experienced.
Lily looked at Ace who hadn't seen her illusion before and saw that he had red eyes.
Argh, it was obvious he had been crying and she now felt bad because she wanted to impress him but instead, he got upset.
Sighing and hoping he didn't give her minus points, she bowed to the audience and hurried backstage and sat down. She heard people clapping loudly and saw on the screen that everyone looked happy even the judges had smiles on their faces so that meant she had progressed.