Flash Marriage: She becomes Mrs. CEO after the Failed Dowry Talk

Chapter 260: Preliminary Round

The City No. 1 High School Gymnasium.

Hundreds, if not thousands, of people filled the stands.

In the very center of one row sat the judges for the competition, five in total from left to right.

Nora Northwood’s gaze fixed on the first row and finally landed on Elaine’s face.

She said to the person beside her, "Master Elaine is one of today’s judges."

Jasper Sinclair replied, "The queen of The Perfumery Circle appearing here is not surprising."

Today was the preliminary round, and Jasper Sinclair and Megan Underwood accompanied her to the site.

The competition consisted of three rounds; the first one required identifying the ingredients and their proportions from a fragrance, which was effortless for Nora Northwood.

The host, holding a microphone, announced powerfully on stage, "The second round is about to begin, please listen to the rules, contestants..."

Nora Northwood sat obediently in front of a small counter, a vivid shine in her eyes, only moving after the host said "start."

Placed in front of her were precisely one hundred reagent bottles, neatly arranged.

Unlike before, the reagent bottles didn’t have any labels; they had to identify and use them by their scent alone.

The content of this round was to create a woody fragrance, which happened to be Nora Northwood’s strength and advantage.

Every perfumer has things they excel in and those they don’t; most people prefer sweet fruity scents, but she, on the contrary, loved pine and sandalwood scents.

To be cautious, Nora Northwood initially selected only thirteen types of essence.

She managed the time for the initial selection within fifteen minutes, ensuring her sense of smell wasn’t disrupted while maintaining good control over the overall duration of the competition.

At the reselection stage, Nora Northwood chose only eight of the scents.

Next was a crucial step, the scent test.

She gently dripped the mixed liquid onto the back of her hand, rubbing it quickly with her fingertip until her skin became warm, then brought it close to her nose.

After a slight adjustment to the essence, she took one-tenth of the fixative, quickly blending it with a glass rod.

When choosing the alcohol, Nora hesitated slightly.

Should it be double-deodorized alcohol or aldehyde-deodorized alcohol?

Both had their advantages.

She glanced at the remaining time and, to quickly evaporate the essence scent, opted for double-deodorized alcohol.

With a series of operations complete, the minute hand on the clock pointed to eight; only twenty minutes remained until the deadline.

Nora Northwood confirmed once over with no mistakes and submitted her creation ahead of time.

Yuna Hughes, who was stuck in the blending stage, was naturally anxious seeing her opponent already finished.

Elaine had once criticized her: she knew a lot of theoretical knowledge but lacked practical experience.

Yuna Hughes had memorized all the book content thanks to her exceptional memory, but her reluctance to experiment personally led to many detailed problems during scent formulation.

As the second hand stopped, the host announced, "The competition is over, all contestants please submit your work to the designated area."

As she left her seat, Yuna Hughes broke into a cold sweat, relieved that she managed to complete in time.

She glanced at Master Elaine in the audience, feelings of mixed emotions in her heart.

Meanwhile, Elaine was also anticipating her results.

Of course, her anticipation wasn’t reserved for just her but also for Nora Northwood.

Many contestants went backstage to rest, waiting for the start of the third round.

Yuna Hughes, heedless of the consequences, sidled up to Nora Northwood, "Seeing you submit first, anyone who didn’t know would think you’re amazing!"