Chapter 22
Cui Youyi glanced at Zhou Yunkai and Zhou Yunchao with contempt.
Zhou Yunkai wanted to argue again, but Zhou Yunchao held him down and said in a mocking tone, "I hope your sharp tongue can make you smile more on the court."
Cui Youyi curled her lips slightly, gave a look that everyone understood, and went inside to wait for the opening ceremony of the ice sculpture conference.
Soon, Wang Jun, as the county magistrate, began to burn incense and pray for blessings.
Several people from Ningguta's ice sculpture families followed closely behind, while new contestants like Cui Youyi could only be seen at the end of the team as their shadows from afar.
The first ice sculpture competition is an individual competition.
The 108 contestants were divided into 12 groups, each with nine people.
The competition adopts the principle of nine to four, the top four qualify for the next round, and the remaining five players are eliminated.
To ensure fairness, in the first ice sculpture competition, each group will have a different guest draw a theme of the same difficulty. The theme drawn by Cui Youyi's group is the picture of winter plum blossoms.
This theme is the most popular in Ningguta, using ice to represent the proud and noble character of a cold plum blossom.
Cui Youyi couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief when she heard the topic. Fortunately, it was a conventional theme like the Picture of Winter Plum Blossoms. If it was a topic that tested the allusions of an idiom in classical Chinese, she might have been at a loss as to how to approach the topic.
Servants were working in groups of two using ice tongs to carry ice cubes into the venue. On the other side, many spectators also entered with tickets. Because the ice sculpture competition lasted a relatively long time, some people carried food boxes and some carried portable fire buckets, making the whole place very lively.
At the command of Zhibin, the competition officially began.
Like Cui Youyi, all contestants face two difficult choices:
The first is to carve a regular winter plum picture, but this kind of picture lacks originality, and will be relatively disadvantageous in the voting and scoring by the guests, and the luck factor plays a relatively high role. The advantage is that it is not easy to make mistakes.
The second type is to redesign a picture of winter plum blossoms. Every part needs to be redesigned and adjusted, striving to make it refreshing and stand out. This type of picture is relatively time-consuming, and any mistakes in the design will result in points being deducted.
Furthermore, if the voting scores are the same, the one who takes less time wins.
Cui Youyi felt that she had only been thinking for three seconds when many contestants had already started carving, and the sound of ice breaking could be heard one after another.
Cui Youyi picked up a tool that was convenient for her and did not move.
"Hey, look!" A man in the audience pointed at Cui Youyi.
"Why is there a woman mixed in here?"
"She's an ice sculptor too? Look at her, she can't even use the tools!"
"Isn't this a waste of our ticket money? Can you give us a refund for one contestant later?"
The discussion on the field became louder and louder. A few contestants were still concentrating on carving, while the others kept looking at Cui Youyi.
These voices were difficult to block out, and Cui Youyi felt angry when she heard these doubts.
She had no choice but to bite the tip of her tongue lightly, trying to make her mind clearer. She still had to design a new picture of winter plum blossoms and couldn't be disturbed by these people.
There are two difficulties in carving the image of winter plum blossoms. One is that the thickness and twists of the plum branches are difficult to carve, and the other is that the different shapes of the plum blossoms are difficult to replicate.
In a high-quality painting of winter plum blossoms, each flower bud blooms at a different angle, which requires a lot of imagination from the ice sculptor.
The voices of doubt and abuse grew louder and louder. Cui Youyi thought that if they had rotten eggs or vegetable leaves, they would probably all swarm and throw them at her.
These people questioned her ice carving skills, criticized her character, and made all-round comments about her simply because she was a woman.
Cui Youyi remembered a sentence she had read:
No snowflake is innocent in an avalanche.
Why don’t these sounds sound like heavy snow that’s about to overwhelm you?
Cold plum, cold plum, only the cold plum can stand proudly against the snow.
Cui Youyi's desire to carve a picture of plum blossoms blooming in the snow became stronger and stronger.
Just do it if you want to.
Cui Youyi put on a simple protective suit, put on her own disguised goggles, picked up a hand saw and started working skillfully.
A male guest wearing a long robe and a mustache stood next to Cui Youyi on purpose.
Seeing Cui Youyi fully armed, he was not dissatisfied and just said, "Tsk, what a fake trick."
Zhao Feizhang, the guest of honor who had just drawn the topic, heard the voice and glared at him seriously. He was the head of the guests of honor in Group C and a member of the Zhao family's side branch. The male guest of honor with a mustache was still a little afraid of him. Seeing this, he hurriedly touched his mustache and went around to inspect other places.
Zhao Feizhang suppressed his dissatisfaction and took over his position. He was also very curious about Cui Youyi.
After all, she slapped the Zhou family in the face as soon as she arrived, and later had a connection with the Qiao family. He also wanted to see whether this little girl was really capable or was just flattered to a high position by people who didn't understand ice sculptures.
Seeing this, he secretly approved.
First of all, the girl had steady hands, sawed quickly, made no mistakes, used moderate force, and produced little ice chips, which reduced the effort required to reshape the piece later.
From this we can see that Cui Youyi has a solid foundation and is at least not a vase.
Moreover, the glasses she wore looked very practical. After the game, he could go and find out where they came from, Zhao Feizhang thought.
Many years ago, his good friend accidentally had flying ice chips get into his eyes because he was not paying attention while carving. He still has blurry vision to this day.
Later, he paid more attention to protecting his eyes, but with little effect. He had many eye protection tools, but none of them seemed as useful as Cui Youyi's.
Although Zhao Feizhang had his own thoughts, he remained expressionless. He went to inspect other people with a serious face.
Cui Youyi, who was immersed in the carving, had no idea of the complicated thoughts of Zhao Feizhang, the guest of honor.
She had already sawed off the excess ice and was about to start carving using ice picks of different sizes.
First of all, there are the branches of the plum tree. Cui Youyi plans to carve a solitary tree growing in the wilderness. The base should not only serve as a support but also have the artistic conception of the wilderness.
She glanced at the hourglass and estimated the time she had available to carve this part before starting.
"What is she carving? Grass?" The sharp-eyed audience started discussing again.
"Isn't the theme of this issue the Winter Plum Blossom Picture? Isn't she putting the cart before the horse?"
"Girl, girl, the theme is not grass, it's winter plum!" The old lady in the stands slapped her thigh anxiously, not caring about the rules, and yelled at the top of her voice.
After hearing this shout, people who had not paid attention to Cui Youyi also turned their attention to her.
The voice was very penetrating, but Cui Youyi was still immersed in her own world - after all, once the carving inspiration and touch were interrupted, it was difficult to recover to normal.
The other ice sculptors did not have such good concentration, and they looked at Cui Youyi again following the old lady's voice.
This action pushed Cui Youyi to the forefront of public opinion.
"Tsk, your kindness is in vain. People won't pay any attention to you after hearing it."
"The girl isn't very capable, but she has a terrible temper!"
I don't know where this pedantic scholar came from, but he couldn't stand seeing Cui Youyi competing with men on the same stage, and kept saying, "It's an insult to civility, an insult to civility."
…
The stands were abuzz with activity, and every new move Cui Youyi made sparked heated discussion. The enthusiastic mothers-in-law and aunts fought ten people at once, scolding many people so badly that they could not even lift their heads.
If it weren't for the yamen runners stationed there to maintain order from time to time, fighting would have broken out long ago.
After carving the base, Cui Youyi began to carve the main body. She rubbed her wrists and moved her neck to adjust herself to the best position.
The thickness, length, and folds of the trunk must be designed to match the height of the ice sculpture you envision.
As the saying goes, a slight error can lead to a huge loss. Cui Youyi did not dare to be careless and replaced it with a more sophisticated ice chisel and ice pick.
From the trunk to the branches, Cui Youyi carved every stroke very steadily, which, combined with the position she reserved for the flower buds, made it look a bit out of place.
Cui Youyi's carving design looked very strange compared to others, and the guests who were inspecting the place always liked to walk around her.
Cui Youyi didn't care much, but the two people next to her were in a terrible state. They kept meeting Zhibin's eyes from time to time, and were in a panic for a while. It took them a long time to recover from this state.
Cui Youyi carved all the branches within the time she had reserved. She looked at the hourglass again and breathed a sigh of relief.
She was so scared that she thought the time had expired.
It just so happened that she could be the one who carved the most complicated and error-prone part.
There are thousands of flowers in various shapes and colors. Based on the principle of continuous improvement, Cui Youyi wanted to carve flowers that were naturally unique.
It was a cold day, and the blooming flower buds were suddenly hit by falling snow.
The cruel wind is merciless and destroys flowers wantonly, but the flowers also have their own pride and will never bow their heads or accept their fate.
They rely on their dense, nutrient-absorbing leaves to stubbornly resist the flying snow.
Even if the branches are covered with snow, even if they become broken.
The wind and snow stopped, the ice and snow melted, and the flowers dragged their remaining bodies and proudly declared: they won.
Behind them are millions of flower buds that have not yet bloomed.
They still have infinite hope and an endless future.
The flowers carved by Cui Youyi are strong-willed and bloom proudly in the wilderness.
The countdown gong sounded, as if waking everyone up.
Cui Youyi took off her goggles and looked at her work with satisfaction.
She felt like she had touched the path she had carved, and she clearly felt that this ice sculpture seemed to have its own soul.
Cui Youyi felt a little relieved. If only her grandfather and father could see it, she would no longer be that craftsman-filled ice sculptor.
All contestants waited in place, waiting for the host to announce the voting results.
Each group's competition works will be transported to a unified place. After the names are covered, they will be voted on by guests from other groups. At the same time, spectators will also be randomly invited to vote.
"There's no dispute about the first place in this group!" A lucky audience member who was able to vote exclaimed in surprise.
They entered the venue to vote after the guests voted, and could also see the results of the guests' votes.
In addition to their own technical judgment of beauty and ugliness, the votes of the guests are also a reference for them.
The top four in each group received votes evenly, with only a few votes difference, but this group was particularly different.
"Oh, really!"
"Then I'll vote for this too. Will you guys vote for it?"
"They are indeed more beautiful than the others. Look at these flowers, each one looks different!"
"This flower looks really pretty, and the others all look pretty much the same. Ugh, how am I supposed to vote?"
"Listen to me, vote for this one who looks different first, and feel free to vote for the others..."
"You are irresponsible. We are the guests of honor and should make our own judgments. I think this work is better." The man went through great pains to select a work from this group for voting and successfully took away some votes.
Those who voted were noisy, and those who waited for the results were also noisy.
"Who do you think will be the first place?" Everyone started to talk and place bets. Cui Youyi was happy to listen to the fun. She moved a stool and chatted with the aunties who were watching the game. She even got a fire barrel to keep warm.
One contestant couldn't stand it anymore and came over: "Miss Cui, everyone is waiting for the results. What you are doing is really inappropriate."
Cui Youyi moved her hand closer to the fire barrel: "What did you say?"
"It's really inappropriate for you to do this!"
Cui Youyi was puzzled: "What did I do?"
"Every contestant is on stage waiting for the results, and you're the only one coming down to chat with them. Is that appropriate?"
When he said this, the ladies refused to agree.
"What's wrong with chatting with us? Why are you looking down on others like that?"
"Exactly. Looking at your miserable appearance, you're definitely at the bottom."
…
The aunties never lost in fighting, and what's more, they were always right. Those who came to accuse Cui Youyi were scolded and couldn't leave.
Those who stayed where they were couldn't help but secretly rejoice.
Fortunately, the judge who announced the results arrived in time and saved everyone.
"Group C, carving theme: Winter Plum Blossoms, the fourth place winner is—"
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