After the congratulations were over, the host drew the the for the next elimination round under the silent or defeated gazes of all the composers.
The large screen displayed a single word: Classical.
This "Classical" the was a bit interesting. Music from the ancient era, what was known as the "ancient style," counted as classical.
However, pop music from the 21st century of the old calendar was also considered classical.
Whether a piece was judged to be of the ancient style depended on the master brain’s analysis.
This ant those who chose to perform pop music were taking a risk. They themselves might not even be able to tell if their work truly fit the the’s style.
In their eyes, the songs Jiang Qin had released before also fell into the classical category.
But Jiang Qin, for her part, had no such worries.
After the the was chosen, the random teammate selection began.
Jiang Qin was paired with soone with an unfamiliar na; she hadn’t noticed this person before.
Ethan.
This ti, there was only one teammate, which ant she had a neighbor again.
As usual, the audition took place that very night.
His technique was good, and he conveyed emotion well when he sang. His only weakness could also be considered a strength.
After the audition, Jiang Qin didn’t say much, only telling him to go back and get so rest, and that they would talk more tomorrow.
Compared to her calm deanor, Ethan’s attitude was much more enthusiastic. He was not only deferential, but also showered her with endless complints.
Before leaving, he even caringly told Jiang Qin to rest early.
This was treatnt Jiang Qin had never received before.
’It’s true that status changes with strength,’ she thought. ’After all, no one thought highly of at the beginning.’
Everyone thought she was just there to burnish her reputation, that even with talent, she would only last two or three rounds at most.
No one expected her to completely crush a group of long-established, veteran composers.
***
For three days, everyone was busy practicing.
Cang Hong wasn’t matched for this round, so he didn’t have a chance to perform.
He wanted to drop by for a visit, but he was afraid of being suspected of gathering intel, and he also worried about wasting Jiang Qin’s ti, so he ultimately stayed away.
With Light Computers unusable, he still hadn’t added Jiang Qin as a friend, and he couldn’t help but feel a little uneasy.
’Will she refuse to be friends with because Tianwen Entertainnt and Star Entertainnt are rivals?’
Despite his anxiety, he had no intention of giving up.
’Anyway, I can afford the contract termination fee now. Worst case, I’ll just break the contract after I get back to the Federation.’
’A job is definitely not as important as pursuing a female, after all.’
He truly wanted to be Miss Jiang Qing’s mate—he’d even be happy as one of ten!
Jiang Qin was completely unaware of his thoughts, her mind completely focused on her career.
She spent three days practicing the song intensively with Ethan.
The main issue was that his voice wasn’t particularly special; he couldn’t hit high notes or sing in falsetto.
Therefore, she would also be performing on stage this round.
「At 6:00 PM.」
Today was the elimination round to narrow the contestants from twenty to ten. People who didn’t want to waste ti watching the long prelude to the show were starting to tune in.
The number of online viewers reached as high as three billion.
This was the limit of the broadcast room, not the limit of the entire Interstellar population.
The live audience was even more excited.
The top ten would advance to the finals.
[The result is already obvious, really.]
[Yeah, Jiang Qin is probably the only one from the Federation who’ll make the top ten. All five composers from the Empire should get in, and for the remaining four spots, two will go to the Elf Clan and two to other clans.]
[So the Federation is still pretty pathetic this year. They only managed to produce one Jiang Qin.]
[If Jiang Qin wins the championship, their cha tournant team probably won’t get curb-stomped so badly next year.]
[The robots will probably be improved too, right?]
[It’s true, the Federation has capable people. They just don’t have the channels to purchase materials, so there are a lot of things they can’t build.]
[If Jiang Qin can win the championship this ti, the Federation’s purchasing quota will increase by ten percent.]
[The Empire’s high command is way too arrogant. How could they make a bet like this?]
Normally, when a person won the championship, their faction would only receive an increase in their purchasing funds.
For example, if they could originally buy ten million units of core Energy mine, they would get an additional million on top of that.
Whether the base was one hundred million or one billion, the increase was still one million.
The amount of the increase was fixed.
But perhaps the Empire looked down on the Federation too much, or perhaps they genuinely wanted to give the Federation, which was also part of the Beastman Clan, a glimr of hope.
In any case, they had made a bet back then.
As long as a Federation person won a championship in any competition hosted by the Empire, their purchasing quota would increase by ten percent.
That was why the Federation placed so much importance on every single industry.
They even issued a strict directive: the top three entertainnt companies had to send their currently strongest contender to participate in the program.
This ti, Tianwen Entertainnt had chosen Jiang Qin, and the Federation Governnt had also taken note of the uproar on the Star Network.
They had even made inquiries.
Under Tianwen Entertainnt’s confident assurances, they didn’t press the matter further.
After all, with matters like this, they could force the general direction, but getting too hung up on minor details could easily push people into a corner.
So, as long as they didn’t pick three complete newcors, the Federation wouldn’t intervene.
...
While the netizens were busy with their discussions, the host had already drawn the performance order.
Jiang Qin was first to perform.
The other composers felt like the sky was falling.
"It’s over, it’s over! There go the votes again."
"Holy crap, how is she first again?"
"Don’t panic. The audience probably won’t use up all their votes right away. They have to consider the people performing later, right?"
"You can’t be sure about that. What if most of the audience tonight are her fans? What then?"
"What’s there to be afraid of? If you don’t get votes, neither will anyone else."
"Look on the bright side. What if her partner gets nervous? Just because she’s amazing doesn’t an every partner she’s assigned is just as good."
The composers around him thought that made sense.
Jiang Qin might not be afraid of going first, but that didn’t an her partner wasn’t.
Everyone knew that performing first usually ca with the most pressure, and you also had to deal with the audience holding back their scores.
If the performance wasn’t absolutely stunning, most of the audience would choose to save their votes for the contestants who ca later.
The judges were the sa. Unless you were truly spectacular, they would only give a conventional, middle-of-the-road score.
Of course, this didn’t apply to Jiang Qin.
Because of her brilliant performances in the previous rounds, the judges would probably give her a decent score even if she was diocre this ti.
But there was still hope.
Just as everyone was hoping her partner, Ethan, would get nervous and make a mistake, they discovered that for this performance, Jiang Qin herself was taking the stage.
...the composers fell into a collective silence.
They could already foresee how many votes were about to be lost.
***
Jiang Qin walked onto the stage in a pink Tang-dynasty style Hanfu, a Zither in her arms.
With her was Ethan, dressed in a black robe with gold-embroidered patterns.
Both were dressed in an ancient style, accessorized with what looked to be very expensive jewelry.
This was especially true for Jiang Qin. Her hair was adorned with gold pins and pearled ornants, a floral marking was painted between her eyebrows, and her makeup was both charming and stunning.
Ethan’s robe was embroidered with golden dragons. His long, golden hair was tied up high with a golden coronet, and a dragon-shaped Jade Pendant hung from his waist.
Unlike the previous performance outfits, this set was one Jiang Qin intended to take back.
’Ordinary clothes are one thing,’ she thought, ’but an intricately detailed ancient-style costu like this... I can’t bear to give it away, especially not to another clan...’
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