Chapter 134 What a Grand Occasion!

[My goodness, is this evening banquet too grand? It's being livestreamed the whole time, and there are so many young faces I've never seen before!]

[Yeah, in previous years, these families only sent one or two people, right?]

[Whoa! Even the Federation is here! The Federation also sent people to participate!]

[Hiss—that guy looks so familiar. I think I've seen him somewhere.]

[The person who just passed by is our president's son, you know? A very famous and promising young man. It's natural that people from your Empire find him familiar.]

[Not really, I think… he looks familiar probably because…]

[Ah, brings back some unpleasant memories…]

Julian stepped off the starship and onto the red carpet leading to the palace where the banquet was being held. His steps were steady, and his smile was just right—any more would seem obsequious, any less would seem stern.

"Young Master, your performance was perfect."

Following behind him was his father's secretary-general, who quietly commented on Julian's performance.

"Of course."

Julian's eyes were filled with joy upon receiving the praise. Secretary-General Qiong was his father's most capable assistant, and receiving his affirmation was very important to him.

Moreover, this was the first time he was attending such an important occasion in place of his father, and he had been a little nervous just now.

While observing all of Julian's reactions, Qiong also received a rough overview of the online comments about Julian from his smart device.

The comments about their young master were somewhat influenced by his previous game livestream, but these were just minor setbacks on his path to growth. As he gradually appeared in the public eye, he would have to learn to handle all of this…

Julian's walk down the red carpet also signified the arrival of all the important members of the Federation delegation, but there were still many starships queuing up in the sky behind them, as if another group of people was about to make an entrance.

[Whoa!! Hua Lan Star!! Is the Hua Lan Star delegation making such a grand appearance this year?]

The broadcast lens specifically provided preliminary notes and explanations for the personnel appearing later, and then the barrage exploded again very quickly.

[Mei Qiu!!!!]

[Holy crap! Mei Qiu is representing Hua Lan Star?!!]

[General Mei Qiu has returned to Hua Lan Star?!]

[WTF? Minister of the Hua Lan Star Region Security Department?! Is this General Mei Qiu's new position?]

[Why are you still calling him "General"? He's now called "Minister Mei," got it? He's not even a member of the Empire anymore. Why are you all so excited?]

[Hey! None of your business! We're excited, so we're excited!]

Just as everyone was discussing Mei Qiu, the first member of the Hua Lan Star Region forces to appear, to the point of a barrage explosion, they saw that Mei Qiu did not immediately walk onto the red carpet after disembarking from the starship, but stood in place waiting, his gaze fixed on the opened hatch.

Everyone: [?]

The next second, a doting smile appeared on Mei Qiu's face as he reached out towards the starship hatch, and the moment he led a young woman wearing a light blue fishtail gown out of the starship, the livestream screen went blank for more than a minute.

Then, it exploded again in a geometric progression!

[The Mysterious Merchant?! My fourth wall is broken?]

[No, no, no!! Ahhhhh! My language center is malfunctioning $%#@% help!]

[Whoa! Who is that?!]

[The female companion that General Mei Qiu brought!! Who is she?!]

[Idiot! Look at the notes in the lower right corner, that's General Mei Qiu's younger sister! What are you all getting excited about?]

[The Mysterious Merchant miss is General Mei Qiu's younger sister?]

[??? What Mysterious Merchant??? What are you talking about?]

[Hey! Stop calling him General Mei Qiu! Call him "Brother"! Brother! Your future brother-in-law is here, look at me!]

[Good grief! You guys are already eyeing his younger sister? Beasts!]

…

Mingmei looked at the 360° no-dead-angle livestreaming equipment around her like little bees, and the proper and friendly smile she originally wanted to show disappeared due to nervousness.

She knew that although there were only dozens of lenses in front of her, behind those lenses were tens or hundreds of billions of interstellar viewers!

A socially awkward salted fish was trembling!

Thus, when the brother and sister walked onto the red carpet, everyone realized that the two were complete extremes.

Mei Qiu gave people a feeling of gentle spring breeze, and after meeting his amorous eyes, it was as if everyone who looked at him could be drowned in his eyes;

Many viewers watching the livestream couldn't help but close the barrage and take a screenshot, turning this man directly into one of the protagonists of their nightly fantasies.

Then, the sister beside him was… completely the opposite.

With her dark hair and snow-white skin, and her exquisite features that could not be more refined, she was stunning at first glance, but as soon as people noticed the chilling winter aura around her, they subconsciously wanted to immediately withdraw their attention, for fear of being frostbitten.

But even so, there were still many daring people who were not afraid of death and still wanted to look at Mingmei from head to toe through the lens, but in the end, they were all defeated when they met her eyes.

Mingmei's eyes were so still and unperturbed that looking into them felt like seeing an endless desert, without life, without emotion, without hope.

Looking at them for a little longer, even the most lively person felt like they might become depressed.

[Emmm, no, she just looks like the Merchant miss, my Merchant miss is cold on the outside but warm on the inside, this one…]

[This one feels heartless?]

[But, she seems to be the good friend that Zaizai mentioned?]

[Ah, does Zaizai have such a unique taste in friends?]

[My Zaizai makes friends… isn't she just a simp for pretty faces?]

[……]

Mingmei had no idea how terrible an initial impression her social anxiety had given everyone.

At this moment, she only knew that she had to leave quickly. As long as she entered the banquet hall, she would no longer be the only one being watched by all the livestream viewers!

After all, there were many imperial nobles, and many people from the Federation, with plenty of people who were hot topics. She and her older brother would not be the only focus of the viewers watching the livestream!

Unfortunately, Mingmei's plan sounded good, but when she and Mei Qiu entered the banquet hall, she was dumbfounded to see that her classmates, whom she usually only saw online or occasionally offline, were all here as family heirs.

One by one, Lu Xiaoyao, Bai Xiao, Hu Yue, Yuan Fang, Leng Youyou…

Mingmei: "…"

So, everyone has a pretty big background?

The others were equally shocked to see Mingmei enter with Mei Qiu, and then Mingmei felt even more eyes on her!

Mingmei: Holy crap! Help!

"Let's go, what are you blocking the door for?"

As if he didn't feel the various gazes around them, Mei Qiu continued to pull Mingmei along until they reached the imperial royal family, and Mingmei finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Because here with the royal family, Mingmei felt that even the prying eyes around her had decreased a lot~

This made the socially awkward Mingmei feel greatly relieved.

"You can wander around on your own. Aren't there a lot of people you know over there? Go over quickly, I have something to say to Cheshire."

Mingmei: "…?"

Is my brother crossing the bridge after getting what he needed?

The relief lasted only a second before she suddenly felt a lot of pressure.

He's telling a socially awkward person to wander around?!

Just as Mingmei was wondering how to maintain her image in front of her homeroom teacher while still being able to glare at her second brother, there was another small commotion at the door.

Mingmei turned her head and naturally followed everyone's gaze to the entrance of the banquet hall.

The Hua Lan Star Region diplomat's family stationed in the Imperial Central Star had also arrived.

Leading the way was a woman who looked ageless but was dressed in rich and gorgeous clothing, followed by a young man, who caused many of the younger generation present to exclaim in low voices. Mingmei almost called out as well.

Because that young man was none other than Mu Chen. Mingmei didn't even need to think about it, she knew that the players or viewers watching the livestream who played the escape game were already in an uproar.

During the day, she had mentioned Mu Feize and the Mu family to Mei Qiu, so she had asked Guigui to search for information about the Mu family.

The Mu family was a very old and established family on Hua Lan Star, and was also among the first group of families to leave Hua Lan Star and venture into the stars. Family members were distributed in the imperial business and military circles, and the entire family could be considered to have produced many outstanding people.

Later, when Hua Lan Star's status in the interstellar community rose, the Mu family strongly supported it, and the entire family's star registration returned to Hua Lan Star. Since then, the head of the Mu family had always been the diplomatic consul of Hua Lan Star stationed in the Empire.

"The Empire's attitude towards Hua Lan Star is really friendly… there are people from Hua Lan Star in the Imperial military department, the Empire is really open-minded…"

Julian couldn't help but be startled by the appearance of Mingmei and Mu Chen, but what surprised him even more was the Empire's attitude towards Hua Lan Star.

Julian had also heard a little about the Mu family's affairs, and considering Mei Qiu and the Mu family, who had all been influential figures in the Empire, had now all returned to Hua Lan Star, Julian even felt that the Empire's attitude towards Hua Lan Star was too tolerant.

In contrast, the Federation was not as friendly to Hua Lan Star as the Empire was.

"Young Master, you should know the history of the rise of Hua Lan Star and its star region. The people of Hua Lan Star deserve to be valued and befriended by others in the interstellar community. Moreover, you should know the location of the Hua Lan Star Region in the universe, they are not too far from the Zerg."

Qiong whispered to Julian, "Giving them convenience is also beneficial to the Empire."

"What about us? The Empire values and woos Hua Lan Star, are we just… sitting around and waiting for our doom?"

"Young Master, you must know that playing all sides is not a good job~ The fact that we are lukewarm to them on the surface is something they yearn for~"

Qiong smiled and raised his glass to clink with Julian's wine glass. Then, he reached out and pushed Julian towards a young man, saying, "Young Master, it's time for you to build up your own circle of friends~"