Warsaw, Poland.

September 27th.

There was no sunlight entering the house, and even with the curtains open, the whole house still felt foggy.

Fu Tiao's biological clock caused him to get up from bed before eight o'clock, looking out the window with a slightly serious expression.

He put on the cheap suit and trousers that he had prepared before, walked to the floor-length mirror in the room, and tidied up a little.

Although these clothes were bought at a very cheap price in China, they did not look cheap when placed on Fu Tiao's body.

On the contrary, these clothes just make Fu Tiao look extremely clean and refreshing.

Fu Diao buttoned the two small buttons on his cuffs, opened the door with an extremely nonchalant expression, and walked downstairs.

Although the sky in Warsaw is still extremely gloomy, and the whole city seems to be sinking in thick fog, the city has already become active, with countless people traveling through the city, busy with their day's work.

Fu Tiao stopped at a roadside newsstand, bought the cheapest cup of coffee for two zlotys, drank it in one gulp, and walked towards the concert hall.

Today is the first meeting before the start of the Chopin International Piano Competition.

All contestants of the Chopin International Piano Competition need to come to the concert hall and wait for the staff to decide the order of the subsequent competitions for them.

In addition, they also need to accept the invitation from the Chopin International Piano Competition Organizing Committee and record a short Q&A on why they participated in the Chopin International Piano Competition.

The Q&A was a little longer than NHK's Q&A, about three to five minutes, and it was considered a showcase of each contestant's personal style.

Compared with NHK's selective entry, the answers you give to the Chopin International Piano Competition Organizing Committee will include you in a more formal way.

They will enter your information on the official website of the Chopin International Piano Competition and save your information from the preliminary round, to the first interview, to the first round, the second round, the third round, and even the final round.

Everything plays.

Even the scores of their competitions will be made public, and each judge's score for each contestant will be clearly displayed.

If you have any doubts about the results of the competition, you can report the judges' scores through their reporting system, and the organizing committee will even re-examine based on your report.

Although there are definitely still loopholes in some places, but... this is the most transparent and fair they can achieve so far.

Fu Tiao walked toward the concert hall very calmly. Many people around him looked at the direction Fu Tiao was going and what he was wearing. Their eyes couldn't help but reveal a trace of surprise and curiosity.

There were even many people looking at Fu Tiao with expressions of envy and admiration.

Once every five years, the age limit is 18-28. Almost all the strongest Chopin piano players of the younger generation gather here.

These people, the players who challenge and climb towards the highest peak of Chopin, are the idols of all Chopin players.

When they saw Fu Tiao, the fluctuations in emotions in his eyes were very restrained. After all, they knew...

Fu sent them into the concert hall to make final adjustments and prepare for the competition starting on October 1st.

No matter how excited you are at this time, you cannot disturb these players.

Besides...it's still only the first round of the top 80, and we haven't really entered the finals yet.

Fu Tiao passed through everyone's sight and walked into the concert hall. At this moment, the concert hall was already crowded with countless people.

There are not only ordinary players in the concert hall, but also many staff members of the Chopin International Piano Competition.

For example, photographers, reporters, field staff and other staff, as well as some teachers and friends of the players, also gathered in this concert hall.

Some people noticed Fu Tiao's arrival and didn't pay attention, just glanced at him briefly.

Now they are not completely rivals. Their real rivals are the performers who followed them on the same day, or more accurately, the people before and after them.

And not these people who have just entered the market.

Fu Diao didn't care about being ignored by everyone. He walked to the front and said hello to the staff who were counting the player lists. After confirming his arrival, he stood aside, folded his arms and looked at everyone in the room.

Not sent.

At this moment, everyone in the room is actually divided into factions.

For example, players from the same country will choose to stand together.

There are also many students from different countries who have the same teacher and choose to stay together.

Even some players from different countries and different teachers, but who have communicated and competed together before, will also choose to chat together.

For example, I saw Kobayashi Aimi and Tanda Kyohei at the airport before. They did not choose to stand with other Japanese pianists, but chatted with the contestants from the University of Massachusetts.

While Fu Tiao was silently observing everyone, someone suddenly tapped him on the shoulder, and a familiar voice came from his ear.

"Hey! Fu Tiao!"

Yu Tianyou also appeared in front of him wearing a suit. The buttons on his chest shirt were not fully buttoned, but were loosened a lot, revealing his chest muscles with obvious signs of exercise.

The whole person is extremely relaxed and exaggerated, and does not seem to put this competition in front of him at all.

Yu Tianyou seemed to notice that Fu Diao's eyes were drifting towards his chest. He immediately clicked his tongue twice, jumped to the side and raised his eyebrows at Fu Diao.

"How's it going? Are my chest muscles big? Do you want me to lean on you? How do you sing that line? Hey, hey, hey, I've built my chest muscles. If you still want to lean on me, if you're brave, just show off~

"

Fu Tiao's expression immediately became strange when he looked at Yu Tianyou. He looked around at the other people around him and then at Yu Tianyou. He couldn't help but step back twice: "You..."

"Hey, I know what you want to say." Yu Tianyou immediately stretched out his hand to interrupt Fu Diao's words, raised the corners of his mouth slightly, and said cheerfully: "Don't you just think that I have changed a bit, don't you? You don't recognize me anymore?"

I never thought that I could be so coquettish? Let me ask you, do you remember what I said to you before? I said how many times I participated in the Chopin International Piano Competition?"

Fu Diao thought for a while and hesitated: "Three times?"

"Yes! Three times exactly! Please! It was only my third time that I entered the main competition of the Chopin International Piano Competition! When I received the news, I was about to kneel on the ground, burn incense, worship Buddha and worship my ancestors, okay!" Yu Tianyou acted incomparably.

His exaggerated actions seemed to attract the attention of some of the surrounding security staff, who immediately walked towards him with frowns on their faces.

"you……"

"Sorry, sorry! I just ran here. I'm a little hot. I'll tie it up now. I'm very sorry."

Yu Tianyou looked at the security guard and immediately restrained his figure, buttoning up his clothes honestly, and his previous showmanlike appearance disappeared in an instant.

After the security guards left, he sighed and helplessly spread his hands to Fu Tiao.

"Well, I was a little too excited just now. I didn't expect that I would be able to enter the main competition of the Chopin International Piano Competition, so..."

"understand."

Fu Tiao nodded, glanced at the other players in the room, and suddenly felt something was wrong.

The number of people in this room obviously did not reach eighty, but seemed to be a few less.

Those people clearly looked like players, not friends who came with them, or mentors, or staff.

"Speaking of which, must there be eighty contestants in the first round?"

"Are you talking about the number of players?" Yu Tianyou also scanned around and roughly calculated.

It is now past nine o'clock, and grouping will begin at ten o'clock. At this time, there are already more than sixty players in the room, and there are still people entering from behind.

Obviously, the first round of contestants should not be the full 80 people.

Yu Tianyou probably knew Fu Diao's doubts and explained to Fu Diao.

"Actually, the number of people in the Chopin International Piano Competition is not completely fixed. For example, eighty people will be admitted. In fact, there will occasionally be a few more people. The most important thing is to see what kind of performance level the judges think is acceptable.

Entering the first round, remember what I told you before, that it often happens that you don’t win the first place in the Chopin International Piano Competition?”

"There is no first place..." Fu Diao thought for a while and nodded: "I know, because the first place cannot meet the minimum requirements for first place, so the first place is not given."

"The same applies to the last place. If these people can meet the requirements for last place, then the organizing committee will also think about it and let some people enter the first round, but not many, certainly not more than 90 people.

"

As he spoke, the door at the door slowly closed, and it was obvious that the last player had entered the venue.

A staff member stood in front of everyone and poked the microphone gently, and a huge thumping sound sounded around everyone.

Everyone immediately looked towards the front of the concert hall. A staff member with long black hair and a European-style white dress nodded slightly to everyone and spoke in standard English.

"Welcome to all pianists to come to the pre-match meeting for the main competition of the Chopin International Piano Competition. Please enter the conference hall, where our competition grouping ceremony will be held."

After the words fell, the door of the conference room next to her opened, and a simple small conference hall appeared in front of everyone.

There is only a simple Chopin International Piano Competition poster in this conference hall, and a burgundy high table with a paper bathtub.

Facing the poster are countless seats.

Obviously, this seat is for their players.

Without any hesitation, everyone swarmed towards the house and found a place to sit down.

Fu Tiao and Yu Tianyou sat at the very back of the room, in a very inconspicuous corner.

The staff on the stage discussed in low voices and pulled the microphone to the burgundy high-top table, and everyone's voices decreased.

The previous staff member stood up again, picked up the card in his hand, and spoke to everyone.

"Now, I would like to invite the Minister of National Cultural Heritage of Poland, Prof. Magorzata Omilanowska, to take the stage."

Wow! Applause broke out.

A smartly dressed elderly woman with beige short hair with a high flat top walked up from the edge of the stage with a smile, took the microphone from the staff, and said with a smile.
To be continued...