Otaku Translation: My Girlfriend Is a Cello Player C137

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Chapter 137: The Beauty of 's Foundation

“I… I didn’t lose?” Gan Yanyu’s mouth hung open in disbelief as she mumbled under her breath.

“Oh, I see now.” Lin Tian finally caught on.

Before the competition, he and Gan Yanyu had actually discussed this very issue.

The question was whether classical music would be at a disadvantage in this contest.

At the time, Gan Yanyu had concluded that in at least, such bias was rare—certainly not something one would expect to see at a grassroots-level competition like the .

But what no one had expected was how things had changed this year.

The domestic music scene had begun shifting with the political winds set by the . A wave of music critics and media personalities—those who saw themselves more as commentators than musicians—had started using the association’s standards to judge performances, all in the name of “political correctness.”

Meanwhile, professors from conservatories and established composers—those with traditional musical backgrounds—tended to approach different genres with a more balanced perspective.

Yet out of the twelve judges, five belonged to the first group.

That number alone had already tilted the scales dramatically.

It was clear now why ’s innovative adaptation of into had stood out so much. Her performance was fresh, trendy, and perfectly aligned with the aesthetic favored by the international crowd. It was the musical equivalent of designing a video game where a male-to-female trans vegan with a foot fetish ends up falling for a tall, conventionally beautiful female student who also happens to be part of a marginalized ethnic minority and an animal rights activist.

And yes, it included LGBTQ+ themes and interspecies romance—just the kind of progressive content that would get praised by both the Muslim community and PETA.

So winning the Game of the Year award at TGA wasn’t entirely surprising.

Okay, maybe the analogy was a bit over-the-top.

But the point still held true.

Under such a strong scoring advantage, Bai Xi’s position had been unfairly boosted.

explained, “I’ve analyzed the past two months’ worth of data from eighteen major music competitions across the country, comparing scores given by judges with similar biases—let’s call them the ‘.”

“If two performers are equally skilled, but one plays classical and the other modern music,” he continued, “the modern musician will consistently score between 13.46% to 23.6% higher.”

With that, He Zhichen quickly typed away on his tablet.

“Let’s assume the modern player gets a score of M, and the classical player gets G. For M, the range is 113.46 to 123.6. For G, the target is 100.”

Finally, he showed the results to Lin Tian and Gan Yanyu.

“In order for Miss Gan to match Bai Xi’s score,” he said, “she would need to perform approximately 1.85% to 5.85% better than Bai Xi did.”

“Of course,” he added, “since the number of ‘international-style’ judges varies per event, these numbers could be even higher in real life.”

Lin Tian stared at the screen, overwhelmed.

This was getting too complicated.

The bottom line? If you were playing against the current trend, you had to be just a little bit better to stand a chance.

“And after adjusting for that 13.46% to 23.6% boost,” He Zhichen explained, “the scores between Bai Xi and Miss Gan are practically equal.”

“In other words,” he said, “from a pure performance standpoint, it was a draw.”

“Draw?”

Another statement that left them speechless.

Gan Yanyu sat frozen, her mind racing.

So…

Her performance wasn’t worse than Bai Xi’s?

She hadn’t truly lost in the cello duel—it was only the final score that decided the outcome.

As she struggled to process the information, she suddenly slammed her head onto the table.

“Miss Gan!” Lin Tian jumped back in alarm and rushed to catch her.

“…” She lifted her head, eyes glistening with tears, yet a smile broke through.

“Wah! That’s great! I didn’t lose!” She cared more than she let on.

Lin Tian chuckled helplessly.

All those days of pretending not to care—probably just a front.

“Even if you won the cello battle, you still lost the overall competition,” he reminded her. “We can’t afford to relax.”

Then, he turned to He Zhichen.

“What about the ? How many ‘international-style’ judges are there?”

“We don’t know yet,” He Zhichen replied. “We’ll have to wait for the official list.”

But then he added, “Still, the Parrot Cello Contest is hosted by the . Their judging panel is far more professional. There will be fewer media figures and critics, so the evaluation of classical music should be fairer.”

That was enough reassurance.

Losing the Starlight Cup was indeed painful.

And with that loss, Gan Yanyu had also lost her chance to qualify for the next round through the wildcard entry. Now, the only path to the was the Parrot Cello Contest—and she had no choice but to win it.

Gan Yanyu’s challenge was over.

Now, Lin Tian’s awaited.

Only two days remained until his .

His preparations were nearly complete.

What was left was to rest, eat well, stay healthy, and keep his mind calm.

On that day, after a long period of silence, the system finally popped up its settlement interface.

[Sadness" emotion value: 513,577 / 500,000]

[Task completed: Compose a musical piece performed as a duet video, achieving 2 million likes and evoking 500,000 units of "sadness" from viewers across any platform.]

[Reward received: Makeup Skill (Master Level)]

It had taken some time, but the task was finally done.

Even for a common emotion like sadness, reaching half a million points wasn’t easy.

After all, when first came out, few people understood it, let alone felt anything from it.

And yet, somehow, the task had been completed—well beyond the supposed 15-day deadline.

Had the timer actually started counting from the day the music was released?

Lin Tian pondered.

If that was the case, then maybe tasks could be saved and used later when the right composition was ready.

A wave of refreshing energy surged through him.

When he opened his eyes again, everything around him seemed clearer.

Looking at himself in the mirror, he suddenly realized something strange.

He looked... different.

Wait, was he always this good-looking?

The perfect facial proportions, the nose at a golden angle, eyes straight out of a boy protagonist in a manga—this was the face of an international supermodel.

No wonder he’d never really believed in his own looks before. He simply hadn’t known how good he really was.

Turns out, it wasn’t confidence he lacked—it was just poor self-perception.

Once your taste improves, you start seeing the beauty in yourself.

He had always been low-key.

But now, with this stunning foundation, wouldn’t makeup make him absolutely unstoppable?

Thoughtful, Lin Tian immediately reached for his phone and called Gan Yanyu.

“Hey Miss Gan, do you have any makeup? Can I borrow some?”

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