Chapter 79: Chapter 79: The First Show of Force
Life on the spaceship was quite boring.
When she occasionally came out for a walk, she would run into other composers and singers.
Aside from superficial pleasantries and polite greetings, no one engaged in deep conversation, especially since they all came from three different companies.
As the top entertainment companies on the Main Star, the three were constantly in competition.
So, of course, there was never any scene of them chatting happily together.
But Jiang Qin seemed to be ostracized by all three parties.
The three singers from Tianwen Entertainment were fine. After all, singers generally wouldn’t go out of their way to offend a composer.
Especially a composer as widely beloved by the public as Jiang Qin.
But the two veteran composers from Tianwen Entertainment were more obvious about it.
Since boarding the spaceship, they hadn’t even responded to Jiang Qin’s greetings, ignoring her completely.
Jiang Qin wasn’t one to offer a warm welcome only to be met with a cold shoulder. After that one attempt, she didn’t speak to them again.
Anyone with eyes could see their internal strife.
In contrast, Four Seas and Star treated their newcomers much better.
After all, of their two new composers, one had been famous for two and a half years, and the other for two.
The seniors at their companies treated them as juniors.
Ares and An Ran also played the part of respectful juniors perfectly.
This only further displeased one of Tianwen Entertainment’s veteran composers, Xini.
He snorted coldly. "Some people don’t have much skill, but they sure have a big temper. As a newcomer, it’s better to be a little more humble."
Everyone knew who Xini was targeting, but no one dared to speak up.
The people from the other two companies even lingered in the spaceship’s promenade area, ready to watch the drama unfold.
Xie An’an bit her lip, her eyes red with anger. She wanted to curse the man but was afraid of causing trouble for Jiang Qin.
But Jiang Qin, the target of his passive-aggressive remarks, didn’t even spare Xini a glance. She calmly leaned against the glass, staring blankly out into space.
Her small, pale face looked listless, giving her a frail appearance.
She was wearing a white dress today, and her slender figure looked as if she could faint at any moment.
Some people couldn’t help but feel a sense of pity for her.
’As a senior, and a male at that, to make things difficult for a young female... he really has no class,’ they mentally criticized Xini.
’How could anyone have the heart to bully such a delicate female?’
An Ran was one of those who couldn’t bear to watch.
He had been through it himself and knew very well how difficult those high-and-mighty seniors could be.
But he couldn’t speak up for her.
’My respect for these seniors is just dwindling by the day.’
’I used to think it was just the seniors at my company who were hard to deal with. Turns out all seniors are the same.’
***
When Xini saw Jiang Qin ignoring him, he grew even more furious.
But there was nothing he could do, so he could only snort coldly and storm off.
Jiang Qin faintly lifted her eyelids. ’I knew it,’ she thought. ’The status of a female Beastman is so useful.’
Even if she didn’t bow and scrape, these old-timers who pulled rank couldn’t do anything to her, other than making things difficult for her behind the scenes.
’It doesn’t matter. It’s just a path I’ve walked before in my first life.’
’What’s there to be afraid of, doing it all over again?’
For the next two days, Jiang Qin would, without fail, bring her people out for a walk every morning and afternoon.
She ignored the scrutinizing gazes.
Xini, on the other hand, wasn’t as comfortable. He hadn’t left his room since that day.
Finally, on the night of August 13th, they landed in the Empire’s Immortal City.
Before their eyes was a bustling city, shimmering with all sorts of colorful lights.
The skyscrapers here were basically all a hundred stories or more.
Most of the Flying Cars speeding through the sky were models never seen in the Federation.
There were many robots on the streets, performing their designated tasks.
The roadside shops each sold things cooler than the last.
And then there were the pedestrians.
There were some obvious differences in appearance between Federation people and Imperial people.
For example, hair color!
Take aqua blue. A Federation person’s hair looked normal on its own, but compared to an Imperial person’s aqua-blue hair, it was like a budget version versus a premium one.
The hair color of Federation people was a bit duller, while the Imperial people’s hair seemed to be illuminated, with a better sheen and higher purity of color.
Jiang Qin suddenly thought of Lan Yuyan’s hair color.
His hair was the type that had a sheen.
’It’s probably because his Beastman Genes are purer,’ she mused.
The ones responsible for leading the team to the Empire this time were the vice ministers of the three companies’ composition departments, along with their assistants.
Tianwen’s vice minister was surnamed Qi, and the assistant he brought was Xiao Zheng.
On the spaceship, it had always been Xiao Zheng arranging the trivial matters; this Vice Minister Qi had never once appeared.
Jiang Qin hadn’t even seen him when they boarded the spaceship.
This was the first time she was seeing him.
He was younger than she had imagined, looking like a young man in his twenties. However, she couldn’t rule out the possibility that he just looked young and was actually much older.
After all, it was really difficult to judge the age of Interstellar People by their appearance.
He had short, choppy, flaxen hair and rugged features. He didn’t seem to smile much either.
To be honest, he didn’t look like a vice minister of the composition department.
Jiang Qin thought he seemed more like the Federation Army type.
She heard he was also a rare S-level male.
’It’s insane. A single entertainment company has two S-level males in its composition department alone. The Main Star really is full of talent.’
When they disembarked from the spaceship, two staff members from the program team were there to receive them.
’Hmm... two B-level males. Their positions don’t seem very high. Maybe they’re just errand runners for the program team?’
In any case, after their Minister Qi saw these two, the cold aura around him intensified.
He was completely unwilling to exchange pleasantries with them, making Xiao Zheng handle all the negotiations.
It was the same with the other two companies; the assistants went forward to talk while the vice ministers didn’t even move.
Xie Lili leaned close to Jiang Qin and whispered, "This is a tradition for the program every year."
"The Empire always sends some low-level grunts to pick up the people from the Federation. They just want to put us in our place."
"One year, these errand runners even showed up late on purpose, leaving our Federation team waiting at the port."
"They only arrived a full hour later."
"The three vice ministers leading the team at the time made a scene, and the program team just perfunctorily fired the guys and called it a day."
"But Later, our side made it clear that if the Empire didn’t have the personnel to host us, then they shouldn’t bother sending us an invitation next time."
"Only after that did they stop intentionally leaving us hanging."
"But the people who pick us up are still those low-level lackeys, while the program’s director and assistant director will only receive other races."
"They’ll probably give us the cold shoulder at the reception banquet tomorrow, too..."
Jiang Qin nodded in understanding.
’So, the seniors of the past were right: a weak country has no diplomacy.’
’When you’re on someone else’s turf, you can only swallow your anger and endure.’
And they couldn’t just skip this stupid program, because the Empire had the Federation by the throat.
Because these competitions were also related to the pile of obsolete goods the Empire sold to the Federation.
If they didn’t participate, the Empire would directly cut off the trade.
It wasn’t just the film, television, and music industries; inventors, Mecha Warriors, Mechanics, and various other professions all had competitions like this.
And all of them were live-streamed programs, the purpose being to let the entire Interstellar world know how powerful the Empire was in every field.