Chapter 171 - "We can do a livestream that is complete with presentation, taste, and aroma!" (2)
Gu Xi logged out of the forum after everything was settled.
After class, Gu Xi handed in the application for the Youth Technology Innovation Competition to her class teacher. She was even stopped by her class teacher, who asked her attentively whether she felt that there had been too much homework assignments and that she had been stressed.
Her attentiveness almost made Gu Xi felt uncomfortable.
Once they had returned to the class room, Gu Xi showed the details of the competition to Dong Mingming.
"So, all you need to do is to turn in a somewhat completed innovative idea?" asked Dong Mingming after she had read the description.
"That's right." Unlike the Battle at the Summit of Tianchuang, competitions that were geared toward young adults and high school students did not require actual products or research results. Mostly an innovative idea or a simply model would suffice.
"That's easy. Why don't we just propose some space project or a submarine that could go as deep as 15,000 meters? Oh right, I've heard something about green energy on the news before. Maybe we can go that direction as well!"
The more Dong Mingming talked, the more excited she got but she was slowly intimidated by Gu Xi's you-must-be-joking look.
"No? We can't do that?"
Gu Xi, "How about something more practical?" At least something that they could remotely do.
Even though they would not need to come up with the actual products, the expert team would still grade the ideas basing on feasibility.
"What do you consider as practical? Dog-walking gear? Shopping carts?" asked Dong Mingming after some thoughts.
"Mmhmm, something along that line." Gu Xi nodded, then asked, "Say, what's popular and trendy right now?"
"Hmm, let me think. Trendy......"
Dong Mingming thought about it some and said, "Aesthetic medicines, celebrities, livestream, etc.? Oh right, and general health improvement."
Her dad worked on improving his health virtually in his friend's circle every day.
Gu Xi's eyes lit up all of a sudden when she heard Dong Mingming's words. She had an idea, "I get it!"
"What is it? Do tell."
"We can do a livestream that is complete with presentation, taste, and aroma!"
"Complete with presentation, taste, and aroma?" Dong Mingming's eyes lit up when she heard Gu Xi's words. She wasn't sure what Gu Xi meant by that exactly.
But that didn't stop her from thinking that it was a great idea.
"Right." Gu Xi nodded, then carry on to explain. "Right now, eating shows or shows about perfume or delicacies have to rely on the hosts' description to convey how the food taste or how good or bad the product smells, etc. I am thinking whether it is possible to allow the viewers to be able to share the smell and taste remotely.
"To put it simply, those who were watching the livestream will not only be able to see that host eating, but will also be able to find out what they smell or taste like through the livestream."
Gu Xi's voice made Dong Mingming's eyes widened. "Oh my gosh. That would be so amazing if we can do that!" All those nights when she was watching eating shows in the middle of the night, it was awful to be able to see and not eat and could only rely on her brain to conjure up how they taste.
It was like staring at something sour in taste so her mouth would water and use that to quench her thirst.
Besides, just because she knew that the food tasted good didn't mean she could have them. How much weight did she want to gain?!
If she could experience the smell and taste, life couldn't be any better!
After her initial shock had past, however, Dong Mingming couldn't help but frowned. She asked dubiously, "But, is that really possible?"
Either way she looked at it, it didn't seem very plausible.
Em, unless, of course, they knew magic.
Dong Mingming mumbled to herself.
"It isn't as complicated as you might think." Gu Xi smiled and said, "Nobody thought we will be able to video chat on our phone some 10 years ago either.
"My idea of transferring smell and taste is the same principle." It wasn't exactly allowing the smell or taste to go from where someone was to another.
"Let me give you an example, it is substances like alcohols, ketones, amine chemicals, etc. that allow us to experience smell and that could be reproduce artificially. In addition, the sour, sweet, bitter, or spicy taste in food also came from certain chemical composition in the food and those, too, could be imitated artificially.
"We can place some sort of a detector on the host end that can capture and analyze the smell of the food. Then, these data will be sent to the receiving end through the internet just like regular data.
"If a viewers is to install a respective receiving device on their end, these data will then be interpreted, the chemicals stored in the devices would then combined the chemicals respectively and release them, allow the viewers to smell the food."
"In additional......" Pausing, Gu Xi thought about it some and added, "As for the sensation, we should be able to utilize electromagnetic waves to stimulate one's nerves to provide us with the relative sensation.
"That's about all the I could think of so far." As Gu Xi talked, she turned and saw the frightful look on Dong Mingming and the shock on her.
***
Chapter 172 - "I have been elected the Student Representative." (1)
"Wait. Wait, wait, wait. Can you repeat that one more time?" Dong Mingming held onto Gu Xi's arm.
What Gu Xi had just said had already exceeded her current knowledge. Gu Xi had already finished talking before her brain could process the information.
Gu Xi was taken aback a little, "Was I not clear enough in my explanation?"
Dong Mingming nodded, then shook her head. No, Gu Xi enunciated and her speed was moderate. It was Dong Mingming who didn't quite get it.
"That's really doable?" Dong Mingming couldn't help but asked again. She didn't quite understand everything that Gu Xi had said but it sure sounded very mighty.
"Theoretically, yes," said Gu Xi with a smile.
Could she produce the finished product? No. But the ST Youth Innovation Competition only asked for submissions of propositions and be able prove that the idea and invention were feasible.
Perhaps other experts or professional organizations could produce the product.
"Do you want me to explain it to you one more time?" asked Gu Xi.
Dong Mingming closed her mouth and shook her head violently.
"It's alright as long as you get it!" She would rather not listen to it!
If she had made a mistake in the past, she would rather be punished by the teacher instead of being sent a "monster" to be her deskmate. She couldn't handle attack on her intelligence like this at her young and formidable age.
***
"That being said, instead of this competition, I think you should start thinking about your 'Student Representative' performance," said Dong Mingming solemnly as she looked at Gu Xi.
Nobody had thought that Gu Xi's votes would have grown so far before now so they were only focused on participation.
Things were different now. Gu Xi's vote count had already exceeded that of Gu XueEr's and became #1. All they needed to do was to wait till the afternoon and the voting was closed, then everything would be set in stone.
There would be the teachers' judging segment as well but those were not a concern for Gu Xi.
Naturally, an outstanding student like her would be able to score high marks with the teachers.
As such, instead of the Youth Innovation Competition that was still 2 weeks away, the Art Festival performance would take precedence.
Gu Xi, too, nodded in agreement with what Dong Mingming had said.
"Will I really get extra credits from that?" asked Gu Xi.
"......" Why was it that she is always so concerned about extra credits?
Dong Mingming thought silently to herself but she nodded and said, "Yes, really. The class sending the representative will receive 3 extra points and the individual student will receive 2 more points on top of that."
"Am I right, Art Committee?" said Dong Mingming as she poked the back of the Art Committee member sitting in front of her with her pen.
The Art Committee member turned around and confirmed it to Gu Xi.
"So, Gu Xi, have you decided what you are going to perform yet?"
"Hmm, not yet." Gu Xi shook her head and then asked. "What do people normally perform in the past?"
"Singing, dancing, magic. Whatever you want," said the Art Committee member.
"What did our class do as a group in the past?" asked Gu Xi again.
"Em......" The Art Committee member exchanged a look with Dong Mingming and had an embarrassed look on her, "Poem recital."
"Our class's main focus was academic. Everything else is secondary. Oh hahaha." Dong Mingming went on to explain but, the more she talked, the more guilty she felt.
They had wanted to do a group dance last semester but they were not able to gather enough talents.
"Well, what kind of talents do you have, Gu Xi?" asked Dong Mingming.
Gu Xi thought about it some and shook her head – what a coincident. It seemed her strength, too, was in studying.
"What should we do then?"
"Maybe Gu Xi can do a poem recital as well?" Dong Mingming suggested in a low voice.
"That's too formal?" said the girl from the Art Committee.
Their class performing a poem recital among other performance was one thing. It could be considered as a filler program. But Gu Xi was going to be the closing performance.
With all eyes on her, and poem recital... solo poem recital at that......
That was unimaginable.
***
Chapter 173 - "I have been elected the Student Representative." (2)
"Em, dancing then?" suggested the Art Committee girl after some thoughts.
Dancing was a relative safe bet and not easy to screw up.
Having said that, the Art Committee girl looked over at Gu Xi and asked, "What are your thoughts, Gu Xi?"
"I've ever tried that before." Gu Xi replied honestly.
"It's fine. It's fine. Gotta give everything a try, right?" said Dong Mingming next to her.
The Art Committee girl nodded as well and said, "Dancing is not difficult. The audiences will be mostly focusing on the effects and completeness of the stage. It just needs to be pretty. Nobody will pick on your skill level. I'll help you come up with a simple choreography that you can practice......"
"What day is today?"
"Thursday."
"You still have a week's time. That ought to be more than enough," said the Art Committee girl. Seeing the hesitation on Gu Xi, she said, "Don't worry. It's not that difficult. Besides, you will be dancing solo. Nobody will spot any errors even if there is any. It will be fine as you as you don't fall off from the stage."
That sort of made sense......
As such, Gu Xi nodded.
***
During the afternoon break, the Art Committee girl took Gu Xi and the others with her to the dance studio.
The Art Committee girl pulled out a video. "Take a look at this, Gu Xi. I found this online. Super easy, right?"
Gu Xi, "Easy....." ?
"I have further simplified some of the moves and analyzed the moves. You just follow what I do and you will pick it up in no time!"
The Art Committee girl confidently started Gu Xi's lesson.
Twenty minutes later......
Not only was the Art Committee girl, even the others around them felt desperate.
They noticed that Gu Xi's body had no coordination at all!
Gu Xi took every move very seriously and she seemed to have nailed every move but, for some reasons, they just looked off.
Dong Mingming, next to her, had already laughed so much that her stomach was hurting. "Hahaha. No way, Gu Xiao Xi, you can't do this dance."
"Really. It doesn't work for you," said Dong Mingming seriously as she patted Gu Xi on her shoulder.
Nevertheless, she felt that that was fine. Gu Xi was already a maniac. Having a weakness actually made her seem more like a real person.
The Art Committee girl, too, stopped and looked at Gu Xi, troubled. "Should we come up with something else?"
"How about singing?"
"Maybe piano or some other kind of instrument?" That could be a talent as well.
"Can you play the piano, Gu Xi?"
"A little," said Gu Xi.
Gu Xi had attended the same grade school and junior high school as Lin Anxin and there was piano class at private schools.
Gu Xi did not have private tutor or moved up in rank but she could perform something basic.
"Okay." The Art Committee girl nodded and said, "Piano it is."
Even though having a piano performance as the closing act was very blah and not showy but at least they could fill the spot.
Dong Mingming nodded as well. "I think that will work as well."
Having said that, Dong Mingming was a little worried. She worried that if Gu Xi's performance wasn't impressive enough, Gu XueEr would use that as a reason to smear Gu Xi afterward.
"Wouldn't it be kind of dry to only have the piano performance? Maybe we should be her backup dancers?" It was better than nothing at all.
Dong Mingming's suggestion was shot down by the Art Committee girl the very next second. "You can chuck that idea. There was a bizarre rule that this performance must be a solo performance."
Having said that, the Art Committee girl received a message on her phone from her teacher having her submit Gu Xi's program to her.
The Art Committee girl showed the text to the others and said with a smile, "It looks like the voting was over and the scoring from the teachers is also more or less done."
"One way or another, it's nice that Gu Xi is the winner."
The group talked among themselves and finally decided on submitted the "piano performance" to their teacher.
***
Chapter 174 - "I have been elected the Student Representative." (3)
That night, after she had returned home and completed her homework. Gu Xi started seriously contemplating about her performance during the Art Festival.
Her piano performance would be sufficient for the shell but, just as Dong Mingming had worried: A simple piano performance would not have a wow effect.
Wanting to improve her piano skill and reach the level of a grandmaster was, obvious, unrealistic. Without the skill level then, she would have to make up for that with effects.
Gu Xi contemplated some realistic visual effects during her piano performance.
She thought about it some and pinged [AAA] on her phone.
[AAA]: What's up?
[X]: I have a question for you. I want to have a light screen effect on a screen at the back of a stage and also for them to change with the music. Can that be done?
[AAA] replied quickly: That won't be very difficult. We just have to have an output placed on the piano and have the piano hooked up to the control system of the back screen. Then all you will need is a program that that will vary with the music.
Before Gu Xi replied, [AAA] asked again: You are planning on a piano performance?
Gu Xi was a bit surprised by his question: His question was somewhat abrupt.
Su Xiuying, too, had also noticed that and quickly added: [Are you the performer or is it someone else? What kind of a performance is it going to be? Is it for school or somewhere else? Is it some sort of an activity?]
His string of questions now sound eve more like he was trying to cover something up.
Gu Xi was straightforward with him: [It is for the Art Festival at our school. I plan on delivering a piano performance but felt that that is sort of plain. As such, I am thinking about some other kind of display for the stage.]
[AAA]: That will work.
[AAA]: That's a very good idea.
[AAA recalled a message.]
Su Xiuying, "......" He almost let out another string of praises uncontrollably.
[AAA]: I'll create that for you.
Gu Xi was pleasantly surprised when she saw [3A]'s reply. She only meant to consult with him; she hadn't expected that he had such great team spirit!
Gu Xi send him an emoji after she had thanked him.
It was one that she had stolen from [AAA] in the past –– the one with black background with a big bouquet of roses in the middle with a "I won't be able to sleep tonight" look.
__
On the other hand, looking at the familiar emoji, Su Xiuying did not feel well. His ear burned from embarrassment. He had no idea that it was Gu Xi on the other end when he sent that emoji.
No, he never should have used that stupid emoji from his grandfather!
Su Xiuying received another message from Gu Xi: [Oh, I just got another idea!]
[AAA]: What is it?
[X]: Just a minute.
[AAA]: Okay.
***
Gu Xi went over to the study.
Inside the study and before he saw Gu Xi, Gu Shao stopped working when he heard footsteps by the door.
"Dad."
"What's the matter?"
"I want to tell you something."
"Sure. C'mon over."
"Okay." Gu Xi scooted over to where Gu Shao was.
Looking at the excitement on the girl's face, Gu Shao's eyes flickered. Was she thinking about joining some other competition again?
Gu Shao sighed to himself and said, "Go ahead."
"Next week is our school's Art Festival and I was elected the stupid representative." Gu Xi tried to make her tone sound as calm as possible but she wasn't able to hide the praise-me look in her eyes.
Upon hearing that, Gu Shao's lips curved upward a little and, looking over at Gu Xi, he said, "Very nice."
Gu Xi smiled when he heard Gu Shao's praise. She then said, "The student representative will be performing the closing show during the Art Festival and I planned to perform a piano show."
Gu Xi explained the situation to Gu Shao simply.
"What do you need from me?" asked Gu Shao.
"I would like to add some effects on stage, the kind that will display lights in the middle of the stage." Gu Xi described her needs to him.
Gu Shao got it right away. "Like holographic projection?"
"Uh huh, something like that." Gu Xi nodded, then said to Gu Shao, "Equipment like that......"
Before Gu Xi had finished what she was saying, Gu Shao said, "Yes, I have it."
"I can prepare a set for you."
"Really?!" Gu Xi had a happy look on her.
Looking at the pleasant surprise look on the girl, Gu Shao, too, had a mellow look on him.
"Thanks, Dad!"
"Do you need me to get you a piano tutor too?" asked Gu Shao.
Gu Xi sook her head. "No, that will not be necessary. I had some piano classes in my previous school and I had already talked to the girl in the Art Committee. She will be helping me with practice over the next few days."
***
Chapter 175 - "Should I go in suit or something more casual." (1)
A dim look crossed the deep part of Gu Shao's eyes.
He did not know that Gu Xi could play the piano.
He never felt this way before but now he felt regretful that he had missed so much of watching her grow up.
Gu Xi finally remembered that [AAA] was waiting for her after she had returned to her room. She quickly sent him another message.
[X]: Are you asleep?
[No.] The response came instantly.
[X]: Same question as before. Can I use the method we have discussed earlier on holographic equipment?
Su Xiuying was a bit surprised when he heard "holographic equipment". Then again, recalling that her father was Gu Shao and Uncle Gu would, naturally, have all kinds of equipment, Su Xiuying was calmed again.
[AAA]: Yes.
The idea behind them was the same, just a matter of more codes when it came holographic equipment.
[AAA]: For the effects that you want, we can do one of two approaches. One of them is to pre-program according to what you are going to perform and play it on site.
That would require the performance to practice a lot ahead of them for the performance and the pre-programmed effect to sync up. There was no room for discrepancies or any spontaneous changes.
[AAA]: The second approach is to smart automate the program and had the light change with your piano keys and music and tune real time.
[AAA] didn't point it out but Gu Xi could gather that the latter would be a much require a much more complicated code.
[X]: If it is a lot of hassle, the first option will be fine.
[AAA]: Not a hassle.
[AAA]: Let's go with the second one then.
The second one would work better for Gu Xi's situation.
And its effect would be better.
Gu Shao didn't think that Bro A would be such a nice guy. She was very touched.
[X]: Thank you so much! I'll treat you when we meet!
Su Xiuying, "......" No, no, no. Let's not meet, ever.
Finally, after struggling with it some, Su Xiuying gave her the reply that would work under any situation: "Goodnight."
Gu Xi was still unaccustomed to the concise Bro A.
When Gu Xi arrived at school the next day, the Art Committee girl had already booked her a music room.
"I booked the time between noon and the afternoon and we will have the room all the way until the day before the Art Festival!" The Art Committee girl came over and said to Gu Xi with a smile. She then paused, blinked, and added, "And, I got us the best music room."
Gu Xi was a bit surprised when she heard that. "How did you pull that off?"
The best music room is a hot commodity.
How was she able to book it just like that?
Gu Xi mumbled to herself.
The Art Committee girl went on to say, "I gave them your name. I said you needed it for practice and the teacher helped me get it."
She didn't even dare ask for the entire afternoon. That was arranged for them by the teacher in charge of the music rooms.
Recalling the supportive look on the teacher's face when they heard that the room was needed by Gu Xi, the Art Committee girl had thoughts about that. Who wouldn't want to be a valedictorian if possible? A good student was so well-liked by all the teachers.
"Let's go over in the afternoon," said the Art Committee girl quickly.
Their poem recital last year was called filler by many. Now that her class was responsible for the most important performance of the year, she definitely wanted a comeback.
"Okay." Gu Xi nodded and, looking at the excitement on the Art Committee girl, also felt that she should treat this more seriously.
***
The group headed over to the Art Building in the afternoon and the teacher responsible for the music rooms showed them to the room with an excited look.
To Gu Xi's surprise, even the music teacher was there.
She didn't know that they would get a teacher for booking a music room nowadays.
Gu Xi looked over at the Art Committee girl, giving her an appreciative look.
Lo and behold, it wasn't just Gu Xi, even the Art Committee girl looked equally baffled.