Jiang Qin still had no idea that even before her song was finalized, her fans had already secured hundreds of millions of votes for her.
In addition to mobilizing those without Light Computers offline, the online appeals were just as fervent.
Major strears like An Zeyu went live to rally their fans.
Prominent bloggers did the sa, posting one after another to canvass for votes.
The titles were clear and direct: Do Your Part for the Federation’s Honor.
[Jiang Qin isn’t the first composer to make it into the top ten, but she is the first to win first place in every single episode!
Even the Empire’s own Mr. Karl, despite winning the championship multiple tis, had fluctuating ranks in between.
This just goes to show how powerful Jiang Qin’s skills are.
We can’t let her lose because of a popularity vote!
Everyone needs to believe that when the Federation stands united, we are in no way inferior to the Empire!
Whether you watch *Interstellar Composer* or not, please take three minutes to cast your vote in three days, between 7:00 and 9:00 PM.
Even if you’re one of Jiang Qin’s anti-fans.
When faced with a greater cause, please be rational.
Pause the infighting. Let’s present a united front against the outside!]
This was a post Ning Feiyu published on the forums.
Since becoming a Jiang Fan, he had rarely reviewed music or television shows anymore.
He was afraid his sharp tongue would cause people to take their anger out on Jiang Qin, since everyone knew he was one of her most loyal fans.
So, his account had gone quiet.
Many of his followers had already unfollowed him and left.
But many others had fallen down the Jiang Qin rabbit hole right along with him.
Now, his account was dedicated entirely to Jiang Qin.
He would repost her new songs or videos, and share beautiful photos of her that he got from his fan groups.
In fact, he was currently in the Empire and had managed to snag a ticket to watch the semi-finals live.
It was just that his photography skills were nowhere near as good as the fansite masters in the group, so he had to settle for reposting their work.
***
As luck would have it, Jiang Qin’s partner for the semi-finals was the rookie from Tianwen Entertainnt.
’To be honest, while I don’t want to assu the worst, I’ve made a habit of preparing for it.’
’At a critical mont like this, if I were matched with a partner from the other side, one small mistake would be enough to bring down.’
’In fact, if the the wasn’t rap, I probably would have perford this one myself.’
’But... of all things, it had to be rap.’
’My voice isn’t right for it, and it’s not my forte.’
’Rap might sound simple, but performing it well is another story entirely.’
’Of course, if my partner couldn’t handle it either, I’d have to perform it myself.’
’It’s better to be conventional and play it safe than to make a mistake.’
’As long as I don’t slip up, I can still pull my score back up in the finals.’
So for the past three days, she had been practicing with her partner.
Luckily, Fu Jie was a rap enthusiast himself.
It was just that rap wasn’t mainstream in the Interstellar era, so he had never released that type of song.
But he had perford a few rap songs on his own and had studied the genre seriously. His vocal coach was also a rap enthusiast.
Having been imrsed in it, he had quite a bit of exposure.
Normally, because of his company and agent, he could only dabble in it privately. He never expected to be able to openly perform this genre on stage.
So he was both excited and extrely cooperative.
He took whatever Jiang Qin said as gospel, practicing tirelessly on any part that wasn’t perfect and only stopping when she gave him a nod of approval.
If nothing else, his attitude was excellent.
Plus, his voice was a perfect fit—a magnetic, youthful tone far more suitable than her own.
...
Three days passed, and all the composers remained engrossed in their work.
No one had ti to snoop on others’ compositions, nor did they have the energy to socialize.
Only the singers who remained with the show had ti to socialize, occasionally visiting one another to expand their networks.
However, they all tacitly agreed to only chat among the singers who hadn’t been chosen for this round, careful not to disturb the ten who had been selected.
Cang Hong and Yue Ji hadn’t been chosen this round either, and they were feeling pretty frustrated.
Yue Ji in particular.
She had co here seeking a challenge, but she’d ended up benched for three consecutive rounds.
If she wasn’t chosen for the next round, she was seriously going to cause a scene!
Still, even though these singers hadn’t been chosen, they would get a few monts of screen ti during the live broadcast.
The cara would periodically pan over to the guest seating area.
When the cara landed on Jiang Qin, everyone saw her outfit for the day.
She wore a black pantsuit, her tie knotted a little loosely.
Her hair was styled with highlights, giving her a very cool look.
She was dressed this way because she would be on stage later to accompany Fu Jie, and also to be there to keep things steady.
If Fu Jie made a mistake, she could imdiately step in and salvage the performance.
***
Soon, the performance order was released.
Jiang Qin and Fu Jie were scheduled to perform third.
First up was Mr. Karl and his partner, a male singer from his own company.
He was also the sa partner Karl had when he previously won the championship.
You had to admit, his luck this round was incredible, getting paired with soone he was already familiar with.
An intro with an incredibly strong beat kicked in, and a handso man in a semi-tallic suit leaped onto the stage from below.
Backup dancers sward around him, moving to the rhythm.
Lights of every color flashed across them.
His first verse was, surprisingly, in English!
A rap that mixed Chinese and English... setting aside everything else, the novelty alone was enough to earn praise.
[Whoa, lyrics using a minority language!]
[Master Karl’s skill is undeniable. He just wasn’t taking it seriously before.]
[It’s laughable how ecstatic the fans of a certain *female* are.]
[Are you sure he wasn’t taking it seriously? Don’t forget, Jiang Qin has multiple songs on the trending charts right now, and those add a lot of points.]
[So what? Ever heard of the newcor surpassing the veteran?]
[Wow, look at Mr. Cultured up there.]
[Heh, we’ll just sit back and laugh. We’ll see if the newcor really surpasses the veteran, or if soone’s just not up to the task anymore. Who knows?]
[Haven’t you all had enough? She only won a few rounds. What’s there to be so arrogant about?]
[This is Mr. Karl’s mont. Can the fans of a certain *female* please get lost?]
[If you want to gloat, co back after you’ve won the championship!]
[??? Weren’t you the ones making passive-aggressive digs at our Qin Bao first? Whoever started it is the one in the wrong, get it?]
...
The atmosphere in the live chat was explosive, and the director was very satisfied.
After all, how could a show without controversy ever generate any buzz!
At least this year’s show had enough drama. In previous years, the champion always seed to be predetermined by the Empire, with no surprises.
Over ti, people had lost the patience to watch, just tuning in for the semi-finals to cast a vote and be done with it.
This year was different. In anticipation of a reversal, everyone was following each episode closely.
Even though no such reversal had happened yet.
But that was fine. There were still two rounds left. Nothing was set in stone, so there was still hope.
This would probably be the year the citizens of the Empire were most united in their voting.
In the past, who had ti to pay attention to a show about composers? They only followed the more action-packed programs.
Like the survival live streams in the latter half of the year.
But this year, the Empire’s top trending topics were all about Jiang Qin.
The sentint, both spoken and unspoken, was that the Empire’s music scene was about to be knocked off its pedestal by the Federation!
Words like that were sothing no red-blooded Imperial citizen could tolerate.
So today, many people had co specifically to see Jiang Qin, wanting to see for themselves what kind of *female* could actually threaten the Empire’s standing in the music world.
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