China, early spring in February.

In front of the gate of the Huaxia Conservatory of Music, except for the staff who maintained order, there were almost all young boys and girls standing there.

This group of young people are all students who come to take this year's art exam.

They seemed very anxious, frowning one by one, and looked down at their watches every once in a while, or called softly to report the real-time situation to their family.

The art exam was like a spy team interview.

But, this is very understandable.

Because in addition to requiring students to meet the college entrance examination scores, all art colleges in China will also open on-campus test sites in February and March every year to assess students' professional proficiency.

The implication is that those who study art must take pictures, those who study music must take singing, and those who study music instruments must take playing.

This is what 'art exam' means.

Students who have successfully passed the assessment will receive a "Professional Certificate" issued by the school.

Only by relying on this certificate of conformity can art candidates choose their favorite art school when filling out their application. Otherwise, even if the college entrance examination score meets the standards, they will be considered invalid.

Therefore, in addition to reviewing like ordinary college entrance examination candidates, art candidates also have to take the time to learn "professional courses" from their busy schedules.

However, the Pop Music Department of Huaxia Conservatory of Music plans to recruit 49 students this year, with 1,697 signing up!

Among these more than a thousand art candidates, there are many talented people who have had musical foundation since childhood.

Ultra-high elimination rate means time-consuming and expensive, and it may not necessarily be rewarded.

Therefore, all the candidates standing in line here have paid great efforts and money.

The thousands of young men and women present were under great mental pressure at this moment, and their expressions were naturally not much better.

Therefore, Zhao Cheng seemed particularly strange among this group of people.

Because he had no expression at all, he neither played with his cell phone nor communicated with others, and he also closed his eyes and hugged his arms in front of his chest.

If Zhao Cheng hadn't been holding the exam materials in his hand, the people around him would have thought he was asleep.

There was a young woman with a camera on her neck and a black baseball cap on her head. She stared at Zhao Cheng in surprise.

The camera woman is an intern photographer at Capital Daily. She has received a task these days and is responsible for taking valuable live pictures from major art colleges.

Huaxia Conservatory of Music was her last stop.

Before this, the camera woman had already been to the Theatre Academy and the Film Academy.

The appearance conditions of performance students should be more outstanding than those of music students.

This is the judgement of the camera woman before seeing Zhao Cheng.

The weather in February is mixed with biting cold wind.

Looking around, everyone was wrapped tightly.

But when wearing heavy down, other students looked bloated and cumbersome, like a walking big dumpling.

However, Zhao Cheng stood out among the crowd with his upright figure and handsome face.

And with his eyes closed, he exuded a strong aura that was calm and unyielding.

It seems that there is a kind of magic that can inadvertently attract everyone's attention.

As a photographer, even though she had taken enough live pictures of the Huaxia Conservatory of Music, she still subconsciously raised the camera in her hand and took a snap with Zhao Cheng as the center.

The woman doesn't know about the camera.

This photo she took casually will soon defeat all the photos taken by official photographers in the newspaper.

Then, the editor-in-chief selected the front page of the newspaper to accompany the pictures, and the signature of "2009 Most Handsome Art Candidate" was attached below the picture.

If he told the person involved Zhao Cheng about this matter, he would not only not be surprised, but would instead sigh that fate would be caught again.

Because Zhao Cheng had known about this for a long time, he was reborn in 2025.

It took nearly an hour this morning before Zhao Cheng truly confirmed that he had returned to 18 years old.

But this does not mean that he can accept it calmly, so until now, he is still digesting this fact with his eyes closed.

A person who struggled in the entertainment industry and was unknown until his forties, actually returned to the age of 18 on the eve of the college entrance examination.

Zhao Cheng opened his eyes, looked at the admission ticket in his hand, and recalled.

Unfortunately, he signed up for the popular music department that competed for this year.

The examination of this department is divided into three parts.

The first part is [First Examination]. At this stage, candidates only need to memorize the score and sing a song in front of the judges.

Then, one song determines life and death.

Losers will be eliminated directly and lose the qualification to enter the college.

Students who pass can come to the school to participate in the [re-examination].

[Re-examination] is the second part of the assessment, accounting for 60% of the total score, and it is also the key to whether candidates can be admitted to colleges and universities.

During the [Re-examination], the candidates still recited the scores and sang in front of the judges.

But from one song to two songs, and the entire re-examination environment was carried out "scan the curtain".

"Clicking the curtain" means hanging a large light-impermeable curtain between the judges and the candidates, and the scores are still measured, but only listening to the sound but not seeing people is equivalent to blind evaluation.

Neither side can see it, so it can avoid undercover operations to the greatest extent.

The entire process of candidates participating in the [Re-Examination] will be recorded by the college and the school will be made into a [Double Video Tape].

The judge's review of this volume of [duplex video tape] the next day became the third part of the assessment.

Zhao Cheng looked around for a week.

The thousands of students who were queuing in front of the Huaxia Conservatory of Music today were all students who came to participate in the [Re-Examination].

In the eyes of candidates who failed the first exam, those who can participate in the second exam are super lucky.

Zhao Cheng is also among the lucky ones.

However, only Zhao Cheng, the reborn person, knew that he would soon lose his decay.

Because of this re-examination, he will be defeated and will not have the chance to enter the Huaxia Conservatory of Music, which he has been obsessed with throughout his high school.

From childhood to adulthood, Zhao Cheng has a very talented singing talent, especially in the bass part, where he can sing a hoarse voice that is difficult to imitate, which is very personal.

In addition to his cheating condition, it is completely a gift from God.

But people's luck is sometimes very strange.

The two songs Zhao Cheng sang during the re-examination were both reference songs provided by the college, so the accompaniment audio was naturally used by the school.

As a result, when it was Zhao Cheng's turn to sing, the accompaniment audio could not be played.

And no matter how you debug, you can't make a sound.

This has not been done in previous years' exams. It is no wonder that the judges and teachers are used to it. The accompaniment has become a cappella.

For the 18-year-old boy with an unstable heart, Zhao Cheng was a little confused at the time, and then he performed abnormally and failed the re-examination.

Failing the art exam is the norm.

However, this seemed to ruin Zhao Cheng's luck.

In the next half month, Zhao Cheng went to two concert colleges in the north and south for examinations. As a result, due to the large temperature difference, he suffered from a severe cold, which caused his voice to fail to perform at its best.

Later, both colleges and universities notified him to go for the re-examination, but neither passed.

In addition to the Huaxia Conservatory of Music, there were three re-examinations in total, which made Zhao Cheng fall into self-doubt.

What’s even more urgent is that Zhao Cheng will not find a school that is willing to admit him, and he will embark on the road of re-studying his senior year.

Art exams are much more expensive than ordinary college entrance exams.

The family's financial situation could not support his resumption of the school.

So, Zhao Cheng gave up.

He had never learned any performances before and signed up for the Capital Film Academy, and this action could be said to have changed the trajectory of his life.

The memories are over here.

Because the staff began to arrange for them to enter the school.

There are many students around who are carrying musical instruments or suitcases.

There are also students like Zhao Cheng who only holds admission tickets, but there are still not many in general.

Following the crowd, Zhao Cheng came to the hall of a teaching building. If he remembered correctly, the examination room of the Pop Music Department was on the third floor.

The floor sign posted on the wall confirms his memory.

The lobby on the third floor was fenced with guardrails, leaving it specifically for students who came out of the examination room to go downstairs.

Some of these students who finished the exam were confident, while others were depressed. They could tell whether they were satisfied with their performance from their expressions.

One of the burly young men came out along the guardrail aisle and sighed deeply.
To be continued...