From Hatred to Passionate Love Amelia Hart

Chapter 342 Sam, the Champion No one made a sound.

The crowd's earlier hostility toward Penelope had vanished.

Thinking about the $80,000, Penelope felt even happier.

She had gained both fand fortune! Finally, something to make the whole family happy! "Alright, let's not get too excited," the host said, "Sam, you can step down and take a break. We can talk about taking on private students after the competition" Sam raised his hand.

The host handed him the microphone. "Go ahead, Sam." "Thanks for the appreciation. I don't want to affect the next contestants," Sam said, "Let's keep the competition fair. Thank you." He bowed and gracefully exited the stage.

Competing after Sam was stressful.

No one could play a piece better than his! The world's toughest piece! He nailed it at three years old! A once-in-a-lifetgenius! After all the performances, it was tfor judging.

To keep it fair, the final score was divided into two parts: 70% from the judges' scores and 30% from the audience votes.

Combining these, the highest score would win! The judges went to the judging room to give their scores.

"No doubt, Sam will be first." "Yeah, if he's not, something's fishy!" "From any angle, Sam is perfect!" Penelope had faith in Sam from the start. Now, she felt even more relaxed.

Just waiting to collect the prize money and the bet! Half an hour later, the judges' scores were announced.

"Sam, the judges' average score is 9.8." Lucy asked in her sweet voice, "Why didn't Sam get a perfect score?" "Well," Penelope thought for a while and explained, "not everyone likes the sthing. Everyone has their own tastes." Lucy nodded, unsure if she understood.

Penelope was puzzled too.

Logically, Sam should've gotten a perfect score.

But the other contestants' scores hovered around 9.5.

Maybe the judges were just strict.

Then the host announced a contestant's name, paused, and said, "9.9! The highest score of the night!" The audience erupted.

What was going on? This contestant was good, but compared to Sam, the gap was clear! Why did he get 9.9? Penelope was stunned.

Other parents, who had been down, suddenly perked up.

"Sam's mom, better think about that $80,000 bet." "9.9, did you hear that?" Planning your weekend reading? Ensure you're on novi L5sfor uninterrupted enjoyment. The next chapter is just a click away, exclusively available on our site. Happy reading! They resumed mocking and sneering.

Penelope ignored them, frowning as she looked at Sam.

He frowned too but stayed calm.

At that moment, the big screen switched to the audience voting tally.

Votes were pouring in fast.

Sam was solidly in first place.

Penelope quickly did the math. With the judges' scores accounting for 70%, how many more audience votes would Sam need to close the 0.1-point gap and secure first place? The more nervous she got, the slower her mind worked.

Before she could figure it out, Lucy pointed at the screen and shouted, "Mommy, look!" Sam's votes were skyrocketing.

In less than a minute, his votes were three times higher than second place! A landslide victory! And the voting twas counting down.

"Ten, nine, eight, seven..." When the tstopped and voting ended, Sam was still in first place! Penelope didn't need to calculate anymore.

The 0.1-point difference in the judges' scores was insignificant compared to the millions of additional votes! Sam's win was secured by the audience, vote by vote! Penelope couldn't believe it. During the voting tally, people watching on TVs and big screens in malls were all rallying for Sam.

"This is rigged! That 9.9 contestant must have connections!"

Planning your weekend reading? Ensure you're on novi L5sfor uninterrupted enjoyment. The next O chapter is just a click away, Just a exclusively available on our site. Happy reading! "Vote! We have to make Sam number one!" "Yes, vote for him! Give him all our votes!" "We can beat the 9.9 contestant!" "Sam is our number one! No way will we let someone with connections win!" By now, there was no need to tally the votes.

Sam was undoubtedly number one, yet he remained calm throughout.

He just quietly watched the screen.

He knew where the 0.1-point difference cfrom.

Sam was smart and had memorized the scoring mechanism.

Someone must have bribed two judges to give him low scores, bringing his average to 9.8.

And that 9.9 contestant got similar scores from the judges, narrowly leading him.

The person behind this probably didn't expect that while judges could be bribed, milions of viewers couldn't be fooled! An emotional audience member shouted, "Sam, champion! Sam, champion!" Once someone started, many others joined in.

The competition venue felt like Sam's personal fan meeting.

In the end, the championship still belonged to Sam! Swere happy, swere sad.

At the award ceremony, Sam stood center stage, receiving the trophy, wearing the crown, and holding the certificate.

He was undoubtedly the champion! The host said, "Congratulations to Sam for winning the youth piano competition! With his piece 'Virtuoso's Ascension,' he conquered the judges and millions of viewers!"

"Let's all congratulate this piano prodigy! Tonight, all the spotlights are m on him!" Despite the grand award and deafening cheers, Sam remained calm and composed, showing little expression.