Chapter 171: Le Zi Qian (1/2)
Chapter 171: Le Zi Qian
This Professor Le was an average man man, not strikingly handsome. He exuded an erudite and scholarly air that was enhanced by the pair of gold-rimmed glasses pressed up on his nose. He had the sort of face that made him look as though he were always absorbed in thought, no matter the time. It looked like it would be a chore for anyone to intrude upon his own little world.
Upon hearing Wu Junyi’s words he nodded ever so slightly, but said nothing.
“Look, Professor Le, what do you think? Which students should participate in the competition? Lir University suddenly changed the competition date on us, and now we have no time to prepare.” Wu Junyi complained.
Le Ziqian shook his head. “There’s no need to be worried about this educational exchange. Cold feet solve nothing. Besides, our National Scholars are exceptional students. As far as I’m aware, that Zhou Qianlin from Professor Tan’s class is a fair choice. Then we have Yang Zi Mo and Jie Guangsheng from my own class. Those three should be sufficient.”
“Alright.” Wu Junyi wasn’t interested in discussing the matter, and settled it quickly. And regardless of his own opinions, Le Ziqian was definitely the authority when it came to this.
Tan Lingyun was seated next to the brooding intellectual. As he spoke her eyes were glued to him, her face calm. But there was a look in her eye – a lingering flash that was hard to pinpoint.
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Were one to look down upon the NEU campus from on high, they would see it as a shifting sea of blue. What’s more, it looked shut up so tight not even a drop of water could escape from it.
Scores of police and security personnel were on hand to lock down the exits. If you weren’t a student or teacher, you weren’t getting in – period.
Eventually one o’clock arrived. The various members of the media were permitted to enter, but only after a rigorous security check. It was a process that everyone had to endure, students included.
The NEU’s auditorium was the largest in the Alliance, capable of housing over ten thousand people. If necessary, however, it could fit three times as many.
At this moment the auditorium was empty. This area was still blocked off by the security guards for the Poseidon concert, who kept it free of media and students. There was, however, a single exception.
A red-haired young man was sat comfortably on a chair in the middle of the first row. Despite all the chaos outside, he was seated cross-legged like he had not a care in the world. His eyes were on the stage in front of him.
“A-Jue, why aren’t you here yet? Didn’t A-Li tell you to arrive early? We’ve already set aside a seat for you. Later there’ll be a mess of people pushing in here, you’re gunna get trampled.” Chu Cheng lazily drawled in to his communicator, grinning with pleasure at the prospect of his friend’s forthcoming difficulties.
“At the door,” Lan Jue’s voice replied.
And he was indeed, handing a golden card to the guards blocking passage beyond. Once they saw it, they let him pass with bows and scrapes and a great deal of respect.
The moment he stepped in, Lan Jue’s eyes lit up. He’d never actually entered the auditorium before – more like an arena, in truth – but he absolutely hadn’t expected it to be like this.
In a glance he could confirm that indeed the arena could hold a downright frightening number of people. It was beautiful and large, with three fifty-meter tall walls hemming it in. Each were covered top to bottom in fresh forget-me-nots. The ceiling above them dripped with shimmering crystal lights. They were in the shape of various sea fauna; fish, crustaceans, clams, starfish and sea urchins. Anything one could think of when considering the ocean, was present in some fashion or other. This was underlined by the largest piece – a thirty-meter long crystal whale. Never mind how the damn things were made, how were they even safely suspended like that?
The lighting of the auditorium interior was still dim, but the gentle light was working from several angles. It’s reflection off of the towering walls covered in flowers gave everything a soothing blue hue. As the lights shone through the shimmering crystals, too, their reflections filled the arena. It looked like they were underwater, with reflections of sunlight dancing on the ocean floor.
The crystalline figures hung a few dozen meters from the ceiling, and as Lan Jue cast his eyes around he was convinced there must have been ten thousand or more of the exquisite decorations hanging here and there. It was of course the stupendously large whale that especially gave Lan Jue pause. Were that thing to fall 1 the death toll would be staggering.
A thick curtain hung heavy over the stage, hiding the contents of the stage from view. Every seat he passed on the way forward sported a single blue flower, and a copy of Poseidon’s Sounds of Nature.
Each album was a treasure, as far as the common man was concerned. Poseidon’s releases always came with a steep price, the last release running around four hundred NED. This album would be more expensive, undoubtedly. More than ten thousand seats, which meant ten thousand albums. It was an enormous profit to be giving away for free.
Lan Jue shook his head in wonderment as he walked. It wasn’t long before he arrived at the front and took a seat beside Chu Cheng.
“I’m a teacher here,” Lan Jue complained. “If I’m seen up here sitting so close to you it could bode poorly. I’ll stay a while then move to the back.”
Chu Cheng chortled at his friend’s concerns. “You think there’ll be space in the back? Stay here, trust me. I’ve seen one of Hua Li’s concerts before, and the second it kicks off no one will be able to keep their head. No one will be paying attention to you, I promise. Besides Hua Li’s already thought about your potential troubles, so he set your school luminaries off to one side. We’ll have international big-wigs and Poseidon staff on either side of us, so no one will recognize you.
“So be it,” Lan Jue answered grudgingly. “I have to say, Poseidon Media 2 certainly knows how to do these sorts of things. But the amount of money they threw in to this must have been insane. And that’s not counting the whole rest of the school they decorated!”
Chu Cheng chimed in. “Just the surface, bro. The amount of money they give the school just to do the performance here would cross your eyes. You think all these stuffy suits would let some star take over their school for a concert otherwise, much less attend themselves? But in the end you know this is a good thing for the university – not just because of Hua Li and Poseidon Media’s name, but also the fact that it’s a benefit concert.”
Lan Jue shook his head. “This guy! It seems like being a superstar is anything but worth the effort and hardships. And having to hide every time you want to go out… it looks like even Hua Li is tired of it.”
Chu Cheng laughed. “What can he do about it? It’s in his blood, a product of heritage. If he wants to be rid of it, he’s gunna have to find a woman to birth the next victim. A son, and then he’ll have to wait for him to come of age. Only then will he have the ghost of a chance at a normal life. The reputation of the Poseidon line is the product of generations. when you think about it, it’s like it has a life of its own, an amazing thing.”